"……This is certainly not a pretty sight."
My tongue moved on its own. My mind still hadn't shaken off the shock. But I hadn't trained my tongue so meekly that it would just sit still and display this kind of situation.
"I'm not entirely sure, but from what I've heard, that man is a slave merchant. One who captures people and sells them. Defending such a person would only alienate the public. To think a Saint who claims to care for the common people would stand up for a slave merchant — how surprising."
Yes. Well said!
Denying that the magical image was fabricated here and now wouldn't be a wise move. I had no idea how they'd managed to attach the alias "Lolita" to me, but they were coming out this confidently — they must have the means to prove the truth…… Wait a minute.
How did they know Lolita was me?
I had used that alias meticulously. I had revealed my name to Laura, but I had never once told Jack that I was Dantalion. So how…… Could they have figured out it was me just from my appearance? Impossible. I was nothing more than an unnamed Demon Lord. There was no way to investigate me. But then, how……
…….
Paimon.
"So it was you."
My thoughts snapped out of paralysis in an instant. My brain started spinning faster than ever before. Right — Lapis had told me. Paimon was gathering information about me.
Jack Orland. That guy's father was supposedly a tycoon who dominated the Kingdom of Sardinia. He must have thrown all his financial resources into finding out who Lolita really was.
Paimon, Jack's father — two people investing their resources to obtain information about me…… That was when their intelligence networks connected. So that's how it happened.
Paimon had been suspecting that I was the one who spread the Black Death. And at that very moment, she discovered that I was operating in disguise as a herb merchant. Using Black Herb as bait, I had manipulated the mercenary guilds and caused the city to go up in flames…… From Paimon's perspective, I must have appeared to be someone who spread the Black Death and then freely strutted around using Black Herb as he pleased. Stupid woman!
"Of course, the fact that you brutally tortured a young man is also important, but there is a larger issue at stake. And that is the fact that you are the one who spread the Black Death."
"Ha."
Fine. With that attack of yours, I've realized something for certain, Saint Gracia.
The plan was to first advertise my cruel image as a Demon Lord, then pin the blame for the Black Death on me? And to back it up with all the evidence Paimon has been stockpiling? Damn, that's brilliant. A perfect one-two punch.
No good. Letting this drag on over the Black Death won't do me any favors. The truth doesn't matter to the masses!
The mere fact that I'm suspected of being involved with the Black Death puts me at a disadvantage in this war of words. The ones who suffered the most from the plague were the common people. I'd be drawing all their aggro. …I have to deny that footage… But how?
"Claim it was fabricated."
Bad idea. What if they bring out an artifact verification procedure to confirm whether it's real or fake? I'm completely ignorant when it comes to magic. There might be some magical process to determine whether an artifact is genuine or forged. No, there definitely is. That's why she's so confident. If I make a half-baked accusation and get counterattacked, I'll really lose all momentum.
"Deny that it was me."
That wasn't me — it was someone else impersonating me. This world has polymorph magic. Perfectly imitating me would be entirely possible. Even if there's magic to verify whether an artifact is real or false, there probably isn't any magic to verify whether the person projected by that artifact is the real deal or a fake.
"No, that won't work either!"
If I went that route, it would mean the human faction had gone as far as deploying polymorph magic just to take down little old me, fabricating the lie of the century in the process. In a situation where they don't even know who'll be their representative speaker, they singled me out specifically?
Paimon must have leaked information to the human faction. But I have no way to prove that right here and now! It becomes circular reasoning. Even though I have the truth on my side, it turns into baseless conjecture… Damn it, how can a situation this unreasonable even exist?
"We know that you, Dantalion, were the first to discover the efficacy of the Black Herb. According to this ledger…"
While I kept a stoic expression on the surface while desperately devising a countermeasure in my mind, Saint Gracia continued her monologue as she pleased.
Exactly as expected. Some nonsense about the Kunkuska Trading Company came spilling out.
Hah. Paimon has been a long-time customer of the Kunkuska Trading Company. She'd have connections there. She obtained ledgers and such through those connections and handed them over to the humans… That woman, she really planned this out… No. Let's think about Paimon later. Right now I don't have the mental bandwidth to spare on that.
"Saying that ledger is fabricated."
No good — same logic, same trap! Those ledgers, magnified by magic for all to see, were covered edge to edge with the name Dantalion written in cursive script. They were contracts between the Kunkuska Trading Company and me regarding a Black Herb plantation. Fabricating that many documents right after the debate began would be impossible.
Even if I claimed it was fabricated from here… They'd come back with something like, "Are you saying we went to all this trouble to forge documents just to frame you, the 71st ranked individual, when we don't even know you're the representative speaker?" How could I possibly argue against that? That it was forged with magic… No, isn't there also magic to verify whether documents have been enchanted or not?
What do I do?
Continuing to deny involvement in the Black Death is easy enough. I could just say it's all fabricated by those idiots, absolute nonsense, and flatly deny everything. But what about the public after seeing that much evidence? Would they believe me? Me, who just brutally tortured Jack Orland right in front of them?
Or would they believe the Saint?
The answer was obvious. Of course they'd trust the Saint! Damn it, Jack Orland!
"You created the Black Death. The fact that you discovered a cure before the plague even spread, and that you even mobilized the continent's entire Herbalist Guild to collect the cure — these are the most damning pieces of evidence. If you weren't the mastermind behind the Black Death, how could you possibly have known the specific remedy for a disease that didn't even exist yet?"
"......"
"You unleashed the plague upon the world and used it as an opportunity to line your own pockets. Even now, the people of the continent writhe and die under the Black Death...... You sacrificed the entire continent for nothing but your own profit!"
"Don't be ridiculous. How could anyone artificially create such a plague?"
I needed to end this topic quickly.
......Right. The play here was to go on the offensive with another personal attack. Expose every dirty secret of Saint Grasia, and in the confusion that followed, sweep this whole matter under the rug. Suspicion toward me would remain regardless, but I could still turn the situation around......
That was when it happened.
"That's absurd."
Someone stepped up beside me. It was Paimon — the mastermind behind this entire catastrophe.
"You......"
I nearly hurled a string of profanities at her. Don't tell me this woman was planning to throw me under the bus and defend the Saint on the other side at a moment like this. If she did, it really would be over!
The fallout from a Demon Lord publicly naming another Demon Lord as the culprit would be enormous. But then again, Paimon, you'd become an irrevocable enemy of the Plains Faction...... Were you really willing to bring me down knowing full well what that risk entailed?
Think it through, Paimon! Consider the future of the Mountain Faction! You're the leader of the Demon Lord Army's largest faction! Even if it stings that I outmaneuvered your little scheme just now, letting personal grudges sabotage the bigger picture wouldn't just make you a fool — it'd make you a damned one. Please, just think rationally!
Whether she caught my gaze or not, Paimon opened her lips.
"The items you presented were all fabricated."
What she said was the last thing anyone expected.
The Saint on the other side widened her eyes in shock. I was just as stunned. Everything pointed to Paimon and the Saint having struck a secret deal. Paimon would hand over the materials and prop me up as the spokesperson, and the Saint would unleash her prepared evidence to bury me. Wasn't that the plan?
"......Fabricated? You're saying this volume of evidence is all fabricated?"
"Yes. Every last piece. It doesn't hold up to even basic common sense. How could a mere individual create a plague that could tear the entire continent apart?"
Paimon let out a soft laugh.
"Besides, the one standing here — Dantalion — is ranked seventy-first. He's the weakest among all the Demon Lords. If someone like that could produce the Black Death at will, the continent would have fallen into our hands long ago. I am Paimon, Demon Lord ranked ninth. And I declare here and now: Dantalion possesses no such ability whatsoever."
"……."
Saint Gracia glared at Paimon. That was the look of someone who'd been betrayed.
Paimon merely smiled with easy confidence. I couldn't read her intentions at all. On the surface, she seemed to be defending me. But it was far more likely a deception—she and I were enemies, after all.
The Saint spoke.
"……In the end, it's simply a Demon Lord defending a Demon Lord. There is no reason whatsoever to trust your words. You claimed this was all fabricated testimony from the start, so tell me—how could any of it possibly be fabricated?"
"For starters, the footage of Dantalion torturing humans is obviously doctored. What proof is there that the person appearing in it is really Dantalion?"
The Saint scoffed.
"The voice is identical. The appearance is identical. There is nothing to cast doubt on."
"He must have used a polymorph spell. In this world, there exists magic that can perfectly disguise someone as another person entirely. Even I, a 7th Circle elementalist, am capable of it."
Paimon lightly swung her arm. She chanted a spell roughly three sentences long, and a red light enveloped her. After a moment, the light faded, and standing in its place was not Paimon, but Saint Gracia herself.
"See? Perfect mimicry of appearance—quite possible."
Paimon, wearing Gracia's face, smiled. She waved her arm again to dispel the magic.
"There are plenty of mages in the Human Realm just as skilled as I am. Allow me to offer my theory. You hired a mage to cast a spell on an actor who looks like Dantalion. They went into some convenient stretch of forest and put on a little play. That's the truth of the matter."
"Then you're saying we must have known long in advance that you would appoint Dantalion as your spokesperson!"
Saint Gracia shouted.
"Are you seriously going to claim that this entire process—finding an actor, preparing the magic, even filming the footage—was all completed in just one or two days! That man revealed himself less than an hour ago. Are you saying we produced all of this—every piece of evidence, every magical artifact, every document—in that single hour?"
She spat out a bitter laugh.
"How impressive. Now I understand exactly how Demon Lords twist the truth."
The counterargument I'd predicted came out almost word for word. She was right. None of it made sense.
I couldn't accept those pieces of evidence as truth. Naturally. But neither could I attack them as fakes—they were far too elaborate and voluminous to have been fabricated on the spot.
It was a dilemma. I couldn't affirm it or deny it. All I could do was press on with a strained defense. I had no idea why Paimon was suddenly trying to help me, but overcoming Gracia's logic would be extraordinarily difficult.
I turned to look at Paimon. What the hell are you scheming? You're the one who set this trap, aren't you? Don't think for a second that I'll be so touched by your little assist that I'll be grateful.
……Ah, I see. So the plan is to play the helpful one and slip free of suspicion that way. What an absurdly clumsy trick. Did you really think Barbatos and I would let you off the hook for that? Foolish.
Paimon slowly opened his mouth.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. Of course you all fabricated those documents ages ago."
"Ha. Are you claiming we have prophetic powers? That we somehow foresaw Dantalion would step forward as the Demon Lord's chief spokesperson? Give me a break."
"Of course you don't have prophetic powers."
Paimon smiled brightly.
"But I did have advance information that Dantalion would be the chief spokesperson. After all, it was I—Rank 9, Paimon—who secretly passed that information along to you."
My jaw dropped.