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The Green Demon Lord is heading to Taizu. 

It is not like I didn’t consider this possibility. 

This can’t even be considered a brag, but a lot of Demon Lords have come to Taizu thanks to my friend. 

Thinking the Green Demon Lord alone is an exception would be weird. 

We put a stop to the meeting and have all the knights within the castle grounds convene. 

And then, we had them hurry the preparations of the barrier we made beforehand. 

This barrier isn’t in order to block the invasion of someone, but in order to show a fake sky to the people of Taizu. 

“We have finished setting the barrier! The only ones who can confirm the state of the sky are the people of this castle!” 

“Good work. We can’t show what will be happening from here on to the people of this nation after all.” (Marito)

The Green Demon Lord is going to be appearing in the castle that is the symbol of a country. 

This is obvious, but I don’t think at all that the Green Demon Lord is coming here on foot to have fun. I don’t think he has the consideration to come here in carriage so it doesn’t catch the eye of people. 

If the Green Demon Lord is going to be appearing, it will be as I imagine…

“A giant shadow is approaching from the skies… A dragon!” 

A single dragon is leisurely heading to the castle. 

It is clearly different from the many dragons that we had Kayle draw. They were all overflowing with wild manliness, but the dragon headed this way is polished like a sculpture carved by proficient artisans. 

Its scales are shining like gems and were shining green with the light of the sun. 

“The populace must be tasting a mysterious phenomenon right about now. We may be faking the sky, but that would block the light of the sun…” (Marito)

“Uooh! A dragon!” 

“It is rare to see you be so excited…” (Marito)

This is my first time seeing a dragon just like my friend, so I do feel a bit excited as well. 

Even though that could become a calamity that can bring fire to the nation… Is this the romance that my friend speaks of? 

“Niruryates, I can’t tell well the size from this distance, but can that dragon land here?” (Marito)

“Hmm, it should be somewhat fine if it is at the place where the knights train normally. I feel like he might end up crushing one barrack at least though.” (Niru)

“It is fine as long as there’s no casualties, but you are the one paying for the repairs.” (Marito)

“…Ehe!” (Niru)

She totally wants to leave it vague. 

Looks like I need to have my friend hold her reins tightly. 

The Green Demon Lord’s dragon skilfully landed on the grounds while creating a gale on the surroundings as we were worrying about this. 

Being able to be considerate towards the surroundings despite being a monster really does make me wonder. 

No, this is most likely the thorough discipline from the Green Demon Lord. 

Pathetic displays are not forgiven no matter what when it is the ride of a king. 

Now then, the issue is that I can’t let the man behind me meet the Green Demon Lord, but…now that he has shown himself in person, I can’t stay hidden as the king. 

If that’s the case, I need him to hide well…

— (Of course I understand. Please act as if I am not there, Your Majesty. I will do my part afterwards.)

I don’t get the logic behind it at all, but a voice rang inside my head. 

Don’t speak directly into someone’s mind. 

It can’t be helped since Niruryates is nearby, but at least give me a warning beforehand.

(It is not only His Majesty. I am also sending my voice to Close Friend-san.) 

That’s not the issue. 

So that’s the reason why my friend reacted all of a sudden. 

Of course you would be surprised. I was too. 

But let’s leave the happiness of having experienced the same thing for later. 

The dragon slowly lowered its head and the Green Demon Lord walked down from above it. 

The Green Demon Lord that showed up was the spitting image of me. 

All the knights that saw him were visibly agitated. 

It feels pretty weird even for someone like me who heard about it beforehand. 

The Green Demon Lord gave a cursory glance at the surroundings and directed his gaze at me and my friend. 

His appearance is exactly like mine, but his personality is that of a completely different person. 

I would never look at people with eyes that look down on others like his. 

“—I see. You are like a joke that I can’t laugh at. To think you would make such a pathetic face with a face like mine. It is to the point that it even drains the energy for me to feel disgust.” (Green)

“Welcome, Green Demon Lord. We didn’t prepare a landing point for dragons in this country, you see. If you don’t know how to ride a carriage, please come walking next time.” (Marito)

I see, this truly is problematic. 

I may be tolerant of the rudeness of others to a certain degree, but I end up mixing thorns in my response when I am provoked by someone with the same appearance as mine. 

I need to have my friend hold the reins in this conversation if I want to proceed with this peacefully. 

But what should I do with this atmosphere?

“Awawa… Y-You must not, Taizu King! Acting like that towards My King is…!” (Niru)

“I don’t mind. Having someone with the same face as me is more unpleasant than I thought. In that case, there will be times when mindless utterances will come out from his mouth even if I can’t read his mind.” (Green)

As if you have the right to say that -is what I want to say, but if I were to respond to him here, it would be like admitting the Green Demon Lord is right. 

Also, it is dangerous to take a further provocative attitude towards this Demon Lord.

Endure, endu—

“No, you don’t have the right to say that.” 

“Pft!” (Marito)

I ended up spurting at the retort of my friend. 

This is bad. The face of the Green Demon Lord is stiffened and the others have extremely pale faces. 

Cause you know, he straight on said what I wanted to say, this friend of mine. 

“K-Kahiyu…” (Niru)

“What’s the matter, Niruryates? Making a weird sound like that.” 

“Do you want to die?! You must want to, right?! I am fine with dying because of my own fault, but I definitely don’t want to die because of someone else!” (Niru)

“You are the one who shouldn’t get all unnerved by the advanced joke of the Green Demon Lord. It wouldn’t be right to talk here, so let’s go in. I will at least prepare some tea to welcome you.” 

No, the person himself said I was like a joke that he can’t laugh at though. 

My friend really doesn’t falter. The reality is that there must be a lot of burden placed on his mind just from having anger directed at him though…

“—Right. Guide me at once.” (Green)

“Eh, uhm, My King?” (Niru)

“Shut up.” (Green)

“Y-Yesh!” (Niru)

He is not as hard to please than I thought? 

But judging from the reaction of Niruryates, it feels like this is an unbelievable response compared to how he normally is. 

My friend most likely has noticed this change, but I can’t really ask about it right now. 

I ordered the knights to keep an eye on the dragon and its course, and head to the room where we welcome guests. 

◇◇

“To think the day would come that I would be having a seat with Green in this fashion.” 

The room has me, Marito, and the 3 Demon Lords sitting down. 

There’s Lord Ragudo, Ilias and Wolfe, Niruryates, Ekdoik, and Dyuvuleori as bodyguards respectively. 

Anbu-kun…normally doesn’t have a presence, so he is most likely here. 

“I have no business with you Demon Lords. Just seeing you is an eye-sore.” (Green)

“Oh my, oh my, that’s scary. We are both Demon Lords, so I would like to join in on the conversation every now and then, you know?” (Purple)

“It is not to the same degree as Purple, but I am also acting together with that man. I should at least have the right to hear this.” (Blue)

“—Hmph, a being that was like a puppet has regained quite a lot of her human faculties.” (Green)

“Even you are saying it like that?! …That’s my own business.” (Blue)

The Green Demon Lord directed his gaze here as if saying his conversation with the other two Demon Lords is over. 

The Green Demon Lord coming here personally to tell us something means that’s how important it is, but…what’s certain is that it is not good news. 

“You know what the objective of Nektohal is?” (Green)

“He is trying to slip through the surveillance of the Colorless Demon Lord and become a Demon Lord —is the highest possibility I can think of. Is this talk related to that?” 

“That’s right. Colorless is observing the net that Yugura set. It is made so that it reacts when someone from this world approaches the forbidden. But I have set up a net of my own.” (Green)

I had faintly noticed this. 

Anbu-kun could have won against the Purple Demon Lord before, but he said that the Green Demon Lord would notice him if he were to move. He was most likely referring to this.

“Judging from how you say it, it sounds like the precision is higher than that of Yugura Nariya’s.” 

“It obviously is. The one that Yugura prepared was one made in order to target the people of this world, but the one I made targets everyone.” (Green)

“Meaning that, after Yugura Nariya defeated all the Demon Lords, you could have detected him putting a hand on space-time magic too?” 

The Green Demon Lord nodded. 

The Green Demon Lord really is closer to a being like Yugura Nariya compared to the other Demon Lords. 

This Demon Lord alone might be able to use stuff like resurrection magic just like Yugura Nariya did. 

“You get why I am talking about this, right?” (Green)

“…The progress of Nektohal is faster than you thought, huh.” 

“I confirmed the existence of someone who slipped through the surveillance of Colorless and tried to tinker with the forbidden. This is being repeated even as of now. Nektohal must have started working on forming the resurrection magic after having broken through the surveillance.” (Green)

I thought it would be a bit further into the future for him to finish his research due to them trying to overthrow the nations with the guilds and were searching for Illegitimate, but…this means there’s other reasons, huh. 

“How much time do we have until they complete the resurrection magic?” 

“Ask him. But that speed is still abnormal even for him. He already has an Illegitimate who can affect souls, so he must have grasped the means to it.” (Green)

The face of Raheight surfaced in my mind, but thinking about it calmly, Raheight would be a woman, a child, and all other people whenever I met him, so I doubt he has the same face. 

There was information that the corpse stored in Mejis has been stolen, so there’s a high chance he has repaired that body and is using it, but…I only know that face through sketches. 

Well, I do know the ins and outs of his personality as if we were a hateful unbreakable bond though. 

The Green Demon Lord went out of his way -out of the kindness of his heart- to come to Taizu to talk about this? There’s no way that’s the case.

I could feel pressure in the tempo of the conversation as if saying ‘come on, you understand what I am trying to say, right?’.

“…You came all the way here from the Taizu Nether. You must really like reminding people.” 

“No matter how loudly ‘this thing’ was to clamor, it wouldn’t be able to tell you my will perfectly.” (Green)

Leaving aside Niruryates who seemed to be a bit happy being called ‘this thing’, what the Green Demon Lord wants to say is this…

“I do plan on stopping the completion of the resurrection magic, and even if Nektohal or someone from his group were to become a Demon Lord, we will deal with it properly. Green Demon Lord, I won’t let you take the trouble of dealing with the aftermath.” 

“I hope that’s the case. The monsters of my Nether can’t tell riff-raff apart.” (Green)

The Green Demon Lord doesn’t acknowledge new people becoming Demon Lords, not just Nektohal. 

The Green Demon Lord is saying that, if resurrection magic were to spread, he will use the simplest method of burning everything down. 

The monsters of the Taizu Nether were mostly like giant kaijuus. If such a giant army were to attack the nations, damage incomparable to that of the Scarlet Demon Lord would be happening. 

“I would like to ask one thing. Is there the need for you to do something similar to that of the Colorless Demon Lord?” 

“Colorless is keeping an eye on things under the orders of Yugura. I am acting in order to protect my own country. Even if the objective is the same, the meaning and will behind it is different.” (Green)

Demon Lords are people who were instigated by Yugura Nariya to seek a new life. 

Even if what they want is different from each other, for the Green Demon Lord, his own must be everything for him. 

The Taizu Nether where there’s no populace and there’s only Niruryates and monsters as his subordinates. 

I do feel like trying to comprehend just how much importance that has to him, but let’s leave that for some other time. 

The Green Demon Lord doesn’t seem to hold animosity towards humans at the very least. 

But he most likely would show no hesitation in eradicating humans if it is for the sake of his objective. 

He truly is someone who has forsaken his humanity. 

“Got it. Green Demon Lord, I will respect your wishes as much as possible. I shall use Niruryates thoroughly for the sake of it.” 

“She is someone who doesn’t die even if you were to crush her. Do as you please.” (Green)

I felt bad for how he was treating Niruryates and looked at her, but she is making a happy face as if this were normal. 

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