"……ase."
"……wake up……"
Indistinct sounds filtered through the haze of deep consciousness. Fragmented voices knocked against his skull, one after another. I scrunched my face and forced my eyes open. My skin felt heavy.
"Please wake up, Lord Dantalion."
"Mmgh... Lapis?"
I turned my head and found a half-Succubus girl in a suit standing there. It was Lapis. As she bowed, her pastel-pink twin tails drooped downward.
I yawned and spoke.
"What's going on?"
"I have an extremely urgent matter to report. It would be difficult to discuss here."
Lapis wasn't the type to report every trivial little thing. She handled most incidents entirely on her own, then asked for my decision and input. That was partly because I trusted her competence.
"Damn. Must be serious."
Lapis never exaggerated her expressions or inflated the importance of matters. Even though she spoke in her usual flat, emotionless tone, when she said something was extremely urgent, it truly was extremely urgent.
How long had it even been since we repelled the Class E adventure party, and now there was another incident?
Just as a headache was about to set in, Lapis spoke, her tone a shade lower than usual.
"The urgent matter I need to report may not seem so serious compared to the current situation, but still."
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"First, please put on your clothes. Maintain your dignity as a Demon Lord."
Ah.
Only then did I clearly realize I was standing in the water completely naked. And on top of that, Laura—also naked—was dozing softly in my arms. The raw aftermath of the scene had been discovered by someone else.
I opened my mouth.
"Squeak..."
"Squeak?"
Lapis tilted her head, her expression blank.
"Squeeeeeak!"
The underground pond echoed with the scream.
'I suppose the gender roles were reversed,' Lapis murmured in a tone of sheer disbelief.
Lapis and I sat facing each other at the desk in the Demon Lord's room. We had maps spread out before us, crafted by a dwarf artisan, and were discussing the current situation. Over by the bed, Laura lay fast asleep. I had allowed her to rest like that, since she'd been exhausted from her first time.
"Ahem. Please forget what happened earlier."
"I already have. It wasn't worth remembering."
"..."
So she had zero interest in my physique. I felt it whenever we spoke, but Lapis truly had a sharp tongue...
Wondering if she was disappointed by my pathetic display, I decided to check Lapis's mental state.
'Status Window.'
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Lapis Lazuli
Race: Half-Succubus Affiliation: Kunkuska Trading Company
Alignment: Neutral (-10)
Level: 24 Fame: 134
Occupation: Merchant (A-), Witch (B), Swordswoman (D)
Leadership: 59 Might: 32 Intelligence: 55
Politics: 74 Charisma: 50 Technique: 2
Affinity: 50
Current Mood: '……Idiot.'
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
'S-She really does think I'm an idiot!'
I fell silent. Spending the morning fooling around with a woman — of course she'd think I was an idiot. At least my Affinity hadn't dropped, so I'd have to take comfort in that. From now on, I needed to be an even more upstanding and exemplary Demon Lord in front of Lapis Lazuli — someone who never let women boss him around.
Regardless.
Enough small talk — we got down to business. Lapis Lazuli said she had found evidence from Leaf, and she warned me that I might end up clashing with a higher-ranked Demon Lord.
"The Demon Lord rankings aren't absolute. There are cases where a rank-60 defeats a rank-50, or a rank-40 beats a rank-30. For example."
Lapis Lazuli's slender finger pointed to a sheet of parchment. It was a document she had brought — emblems of seventy-two Demon Lords drawn in order.
"Lord Astaroth, ranked 29th. A hundred and fifty years ago, he fought Lord Aini, ranked 23rd, and forced his surrender. Seventy years ago, Lord Asmodeus, ranked 32nd, defeated Lord Forneus, ranked 30th. The reason both Demon Lords were able to win on battlefields where they should have ordinarily lost—"
"Faction warfare."
"……."
Lapis Lazuli's pupils widened slightly.
"……That's correct. Borrowing the power of a faction to stand against a more powerful Demon Lord."
"I learned that lesson thoroughly at Walpurgis Night — the infighting between Demon Lords is enormous. Even Paimon, who I humiliated, must have been the head of a faction. And probably—"
I pointed at a section of the parchment. Demon Lord Belial, ranked 68th. The same emblem that had been found on Leaf's corpse.
"This fellow Belial must belong to the faction Paimon leads."
"That is also correct."
Lapis was astonished. To others, it would have looked like her expression hadn't changed at all since earlier, but I could read her emotions.
"How did you know?"
"Because it makes the story more convincing."
"The story, my lord?"
"Yes."
I nodded.
"Basically, what you said is right, Lapis. When I thought about it, it was strange. How could Leaf, who was nothing more than a low-ranked adventurer, afford heavy infantry equipment? It would be impossible without some wealthy patron. There was no official evidence anywhere that Leaf had borrowed money or received sponsorship from anyone. However, the emblem of the 68th-ranked Demon Lord, Belial, was found on his corpse—and."
Anyone would grow suspicious.
So Belial was the one pulling the strings, sponsoring Leaf from the shadows.
"Why did Belial support Leaf? That question is easily answered too. Belial belonged to Paimon's faction, and Paimon had recently been humiliated by a mere Demon Lord ranked around 70th. Belial attacked me, Dantalion, in order to avenge the insult suffered by his faction's leader. There's nothing strange about it at all."
"I thought so as well."
Lapis nodded.
"Lord Belial is widely known as a fervent follower of Lord Paimon. Anyone in the Demon Realm knows that he is hopelessly enamored with Lord Paimon's temperament, ideology, and beauty. It is only natural for him to be hostile toward Lord Dantalion."
"Hmm."
I smiled.
"Doesn't that seem strange?"
"My lord?"
"Put yourself in the culprit's shoes. Leaf always stood at the front lines of battle. It wouldn't be strange for him to die at any moment. Would someone really want to leave such blatant evidence on a body like that? They might accidentally let us figure out who the culprit is. And in fact, we've now figured out who it is."
Lapis propped her chin on her hand. She was deep in thought.
Her eyes narrowed.
"...A scheme, then."
I grinned. I gestured for her to continue.
"It's a ploy to sow discord among the Demon Lords. The culprit isn't a Demon Lord."
"The scheme part is right. But you're wrong about the culprit not being a Demon Lord."
"...Why is that?"
"It's simple logic. Only an extremely small number of people knew what happened at Walpurgis Night. At the time Leaf's forces invaded, the only individuals who had grasped the full truth were the Demon Lords who participated in Walpurgis Night."
Under normal circumstances.
Paimon was supposed to publicly apologize for the crime of slandering me, in front of all the Demonkin.
However, I showed mercy to Paimon in the spirit of not ruining the event. My real intention, of course, was to gain Affinity with Marbas, the fifth-ranking Demon Lord who had served as moderator at the hearing. But regardless, as a result, Paimon settled the matter with a single apology to me at the ballroom.
The very moment that affair ended, Leaf's adventuring party arrived.
For rumors that "Paimon was humiliated by Dantalion" to spread among Demon Lords or factions who hadn't participated in Walpurgis Night, it would take at least a day or two.
After the hearing, I stayed in Niflheim for a week, and two days after returning to the dungeon, I immediately received word of Leaf's adventuring party. By that point, Leaf had already formed a village coalition army. So the latest Leaf could have formed the coalition was right after the hearing concluded!
An outsider learns the truth of Walpurgis Night in a mere three or four days, and then devises a conspiracy related to it? Not only devises a conspiracy but actually sponsors Leaf's adventuring party?
I declared with certainty.
"It's physically impossible."
I pronounced this with the same feeling as a high school student with a superpower that causes murders wherever and whenever they go.
"The culprit is among the roughly thirty Demon Lords who attended the Walpurgis banquet."
"That's remarkable."
Lapis exclaimed in genuine admiration.
"Master Dantalion's words are truly correct."
"Well, the chairman of your trading company, Ivar Lodbrok, is also on the suspect list, but..."
Ivar — outwardly an old man but in reality a lolita Vampire — currently had a firm hold of leverage over me. I had threatened her using her true body.
Judging from the fact that she possessed multiple clones, it was clear that Ivar was an extremely cautious personality. Having learned her lesson at the hearing, the likelihood of her recklessly scheming was slim. I decisively ruled her out of the possibilities.
"Let's narrow down the possibilities step by step. Lapis, can you find out exactly which Demon Lords attended Walpurgis Night? And which factions they each belonged to?"
"Yes. I'll mark them on the list."
Lapis drew a quill pen from her coat. Without the slightest hesitation, she began checking off the attendees on the parchment list.
*Just as I expected of Lapis.*
I was pleased. I didn't know if she had caught on, but I had just thrown something like a test at her. How would a mere merchant always remember who attended Walpurgis Night and which factions they all belonged to?
Yet now Lapis was naturally going through the list. The fact that she could perfectly organize all the necessary information — who attended the banquet, what their faction affiliations were — before ever coming to me, that was what it meant. The immediate response to a demand that was perhaps a bit excessive was proof of that. If that wasn't outstanding preparedness, what was?
If Lapis had been incompetent, she wouldn't have bothered bringing a cumbersome list of all the Demon Lords, wouldn't have remembered who attended Walpurgis Night, and wouldn't have known the faction relationship chart. She would have just come running in a panic claiming to have discovered some massive conspiracy. Lapis was on an entirely different level from such fools.
*A classic secretary style.*
Someone who, when the person they served became curious about something, had the ability and preparation to answer immediately. That was Lapis Lazuli. As one's power expanded, this kind of talent became absolutely necessary. Lau and I were both skilled at using information to deduce things, but when it came to procuring the information itself, there were inherent limitations. Though she was currently tied down with the Kunkuska Trading Company, I fully intended to formally recruit her into my Demon Lord's army someday.
"Done."
In less than a minute, the request had been fulfilled. Lapis stated it matter-of-factly, as though she had simply done what any normal person would do. That expression of hers only made me want her more. *Just you wait a little longer. The moment my Demon Lord's army becomes a more attractive workplace than the Kunkuska Trading Company, you're mine.*
The checked-off names on the list were roughly as follows:
────────────────────────
Rank #5 Marbas · · · (Neutral)
Rank #8 Barbatos · · · (Plains)
Rank #9 Paimon · · · (Mountain)
Rank #10 Buer · · · ( — )
Rank #12 Sitri · · · (Mountain)
Rank #14 Leraje · · · (Plains)
Rank #16 Zepar · · · (Plains)
Rank #20 Purson · · · (Neutral)
Rank #21 Morax · · · (Mountain)
Rank #22 Ipos · · · ( — )
Rank #27 Ronove · · · (Mountain)
Rank #31 Foras · · · (Mountain)
Rank #33 Gaph · · · (Mountain)
Rank #50 Furcas · · · (Plains)
Rank #55 Orobas · · · (Mountain)
Rank #57 Ose · · · (Mountain)
Rank #62 Balak · · · (Mountain)
Rank #68 Belial · · · (Mountain)
Rank #70 Seere · · · ( — )
Rank #71 Dantalion · · · ( — )
────────────────────────
I guessed that whatever was written on the right—Neutral and so on—must be the name of their faction.
"A total of thirty-two Demon Lords attended Walpurgis Night."
I nodded my head.
"Good. Give me a rough overview of the factions."
"Yes. First, there are three major factions among the Demon Lords. The first is the Plains Faction, which originated from the fact that its leader, Lord Barbatos, ranked eighth, has his Demon Lord's Castle situated across the plains."
Barbatos was the archetypal Demon Lord who advocated conquering the Human Realm. In other words, the Plains Faction was a bloc formed by those who truly loathed humanity—those who wanted to wipe them out and conquer them, just like the Demon Lords you'd hear about in stories.
"In truth, most Demon Lords belonging to the Plains Faction have their Demon Lord's Castle in the plainslands. Humans frequently inhabit the plains. When a Demon Lord's Castle is located on the plains, friction with humans is inevitably bound to increase."
"So they've built up a lot of old grudges against humans, is what you're saying."
These were also a faction that held favorable sentiments toward me. After all, I had crushed Paimon, Barbatos's sworn nemesis. Though I hadn't formally joined any particular faction yet, the other Demon Lords would probably see me as someone who was at least halfway aligned with the Plains Faction.
Most Demon Lords wouldn't believe that a mere seventy-first-ranked nobody like me had single-handedly defeated the ninth-ranked Paimon. They'd deduce that Barbatos must have been pulling the strings behind the scenes. Whether this misconception would work in my favor or not would be determined by my actions going forward.
"Next is the Mountain Faction. It's led by Lord Paimon. Out of the seventy-two Demon Lords, a whopping thirty-five belong to the Mountain Faction. It is, without question, the largest faction."
And my most likely enemy.
"The Demon Lords of the Mountain Faction mostly reside in mountain ranges. These are places dominated by monsters, locations beyond the reach of human influence. The Mountain Faction's Demon Lords have no reason to shed blood fighting humans."
In short, they were the type who were perfectly content sitting in their safe, comfortable territories and had zero interest in war. That was probably why Barbatos had called them trash content to wallow in complacency.
"It's only natural that Demon Lords should reign over the territories where monsters live. The Mountain Faction's status as the largest faction is no coincidence. Lord Dantalion's decision to turn the Mountain Faction into an enemy—however unavoidable the circumstances may have been—was not a particularly wise move. ……However."
Lapis swept her gaze across the list with cold eyes.
"Being the largest faction doesn't necessarily mean being the strongest. And there is still a way forward for you to break through, Lord Dantalion."
Her blue eyes gleamed darkly.
============================ Author's Notes ============================
Incidentally, I periodically delete author comments. For example, once Episode 50 is uploaded, the comments on Episode 47 and earlier serialized chapters are removed. All comments from three episodes prior are deleted. This is to prevent the author comments from bloating the length of the main text.
As a reader who also enjoys reading novels on Joara, I hate it when author comments make it look like there's more content than there actually is. Still, communication with you readers is important, so I only delete comments from three episodes prior.