In a white room with soft walls, as to prevent injury, stood an elderly man dressed in a lab coat, and a young girl, perhaps in her twenties, in a straight jacket. Though perhaps it would be more accurate to say that she was sitting rather than standing. Her expression was completely blank, and an empty bottle of pills was next to her.
ăClown, do you hear me?ă
The doctor addressed her. But he received silence in reply. Slightly worried, perhaps for his degree, he called again.
ăClown!ă
But she still did not reply. Hastily, he took out his flashlight to verify if she was still alive. As her pupils properly reacted to the light, she was still fine, it seemed.
And, she turned and looked him in the eyes.
ăWhat can I help you with, Doctor?ă
She asked in a clear voice.
ăClown? How are you feeling?ă
ăThat is not my name, Doctor.ă
Slight worry flashed in his eyes, and with some hesitation, he asked.
ăThen what is it?ă
ăI do not know. I was hoping you would give me one. I only did as you asked: I forgotă
The doctor sighed in relief, and after some though.
ăHow about Aiko?ă
Upon hearing the name, the girlâs face turned into an angelic smile. It was so dazzling that surely it would warm the hearts of anyone who saw it.
ăWell, as you seem to be on your way to recovery, Aiko. I will see if we can move you to a general ward.ă
The doctor said and left. Verifying that he was gone, a crooked smile appeared on the girls face and she laughed. Laughed. Quietly, as to not let anyone know. She laughed.
.
.
Saint Demon Confrontation Arc
086. Those who move in the dark
After being recognized by the other demon lords without any problems, I returned to the Monstersâ Country Tempest.
Coming over here was one thing, but returning was a quick leap via Spatial Movement.
âI came back and the country wasnât there!â Scenario didnât happen and seeing everyoneâs happy faces put me at ease.
As I ordered, various divisions have dispersed in a defensive formation.
And thus improving their skills, they are even contributing to the safety of the region.
Truly, our countryâs defenses are so superior to other countriesâ that they can hardly pose a threat to us.
After all, our average soldiers are mostly B ranked.
Such that surrounding magic beasts and youma steer clear.
And while itâs great that the vicinity has gotten rather peaceful, I worry that the monsters chased away from here would wreak havoc elsewhere.
I guess we need to investigate that some time.
While thinking these things I brought Veldora and Shion into the city.
When I entered the city, the citizens and the patrolling soldiers bowed on the the edge of the streetâopening a road.
Maybe they were practicing while I was away at the Walpurgis Banquet because they moved as one.
Just what are they doing, I thought, and then saw the Department Heads coming over.
And,
ăHither we sought to honor Your ascension to the seats of the demon lords!
We are filled with endless joy that You have returned to us!ă
Rigurdo exclaimed as the representative.
Well, this has gotten rather embarrassing.
Every time, every single time, his performance gets even more  grandiose. Honestly, Iâm happy, but far more embarrassed than happy.
And since every time we have a banquet follow so hasnât nearly every day of this month been spent in festivities? At this rate every week will attract tourists.
I guess itâs fine?
Our lord (well, meâŚ) had officially become a demon lord.
So I do understand if they wanted to celebrate. Though I guess the humans disagree, right~?
And because of this and that, before returning to my house, we held a banquet.
On the day following my return I decided to hold an urgent meeting with the department heads.
In the mean time, I ordered Souei to observe the movements of monsters in the region.
Souei accepted, albeit added thatăThereâ probably no longer a reason to worry about thată
What does he mean thereâs no longer a reason to worry about that? Are they all coexisting happily now?
Well, Iâd be happy if they were.
Eliminating the brainless monsters is probably a good idea.  And besides, since so many of us radiate powerful auras, the chance of a youma appearing has decreased.
After all, we need to insure that the human merchants are able to traverse our roads safely.
Moreover, the weaker monsters could also be a threat to the humans.  So I guess exterminating the said groups is our only option.
In response to my worries,
ăIn that case, how about we set up an anti monster barrier along the roads?ă
Bester suggested.
And as if planning this in advance,
ăDanna, we have succeeded! A magic tool that creates barriers!ă
Kaijin exclaimed with a satisfied smile on his face.
Seriously?!
These old geezers are too amazing.
I did know that they were developing this in secret, but itâs a real shame that it didnât come in handy during the earlier incident.
But to be able to create test products in less than a month, arenât they just geniuses?
Kaijin, Bester, and I guess Gabil have developed quite a few things already.
By now, Kaijin had completely left the smithy to Kurobee and wholeheartedly devoted himself to research.
Well, as someone who represents our entire Development Staff, I guess he canât spend all his time on research.
From what he said, the magic energy concentration around here is now able to gather easily. Moreover, superior auras tends to drift freely around here.
Even the concentration inside the cave, where B+ ranked monsters tend to spawn, has gotten denser. In other words, our country is rather abnormal.
As a result, they have been analyzing the effects of change in atmospheric magic energy concentration on the formation of demon crystals.
It seems that at the same time as magic concentration decreases, âDemon Crystalsâ tends to appear.
Moreover, as the concentration decreases, the chance of a monster or a youma spawning also decreases, thus rendering my worries meaningless.
Itâs a truly wonderful discovery.
This is crucial for our country to release competitive products.
And as a byproduct of their research, we have now obtained a way to obtain Demon Crystals and have also discovered the creation methods for Magic Stones.
Seems like the Magic Stones I acquired in the Ingracia Kingdom came in handy.
Well, they did tell me that creation of magic stones involved various large instruments, but it truly is an arduous process.
Even if we had discovered the method for creating them, it will take time for us to produce any.
On the other hand, we can easily use demon crystals alone as fuel.
Unlike the more purely concentrated energy sources that the Magic Stones are, using Demon Crystals is easy.
Now, what was recently developed was a barrier inscribed on top of Demon Steel.
It uses the artificial âDemon Crystalâ as a fuel source.
Itâs currently shaped like a cube with a volume of 1 meter. The thickness of the barrier is 50 cm.
Thus, itâs pretty heavy and hard to carry.
But, once you start it, it will naturally absorb magical energy from the surrounding and continue functioning indefinitely.
It would be great if we could reduce it to a single sheet of demon steel, but at least itâs easy to use.
So when we put this simple magic circle â we named it âBarrier-kunâ by the way â into operation along the 10 km long road we will ensure security along the route.
But I guess adjusting it so that it runs just along the route of the highway is the most praiseworthy part.
Iâve been told that it took the combined knowledge of not just Bester and Kaijin, but also Shuna and Kurobee.
It wasnât something theyâve been designing for the last month but something they were imagining for that long.
Itâs a bit moving.
I quickly gave my approval and had them plan to set it up along the highway.
I altered the order I gave to Souei to include observing the effects the barrier will have.
And so, the Monstersâ Country Tempest has been steadily trying to become the center of this worldâs commerce.
Next, I heard the current state of affairs.
I really should have heard this first, but people speaking out of turn got us sidetracked.
Things have gotten rather quiet.
There have been no changes in the region and no country is taking any visible measures.
I also heard Youmuâs circumstances. The King we released is also moving according to our expectations.
It really would be impossible for Youmu, who had never been a king, to control the nobles. So, it might be fun to watch the old king try to befriend us and use us to his advantage.
If he does befriend us, it might come in handy to Youmu later on.
While hearing the report I made this mental note.
Thus the report paused.
Everyone has been trying really hard to secretly resolve all my worries, so I just asked whether there were any new problems.
ăNot a problem, but I want to let my brethren know about Rimuru-samaâs ascension as a Demon Lord.
Would it be acceptable for me to visit every village as transportation skill practice?ă
Gerudo raised his hand and asked.
Now that he mentions it, weâve been so busy with the creation of the highway that I have no idea how the High Orcs are doing.
I had heard that the food situation was solved as expected but nothing after that.
I permitted his journey. And,
ăOh by the way. I hadnât mentioned this, but I have been given the Jura Forest as my domain.
Which is why â and I donât think it will happen â but if anyone comes to invade, weâll need to repel them.
Oh and how should I declare my reign over the region? Or should I just leave it as is?ă
My words caused everyone to stare at me.
What? Did I do something wrong?
ăUmm⌠the whole forest? Really?ă
Rigurdo asked hesitantly.
ăHey, hey, seriously? This area had been treated as neutral zone!
The treants being our acquaintances and them being mostly immobile is not a problemâŚ
But how the secret villages of the Elves react could be problematic.ă
Benimaru added.
ăWell, that shouldnât be a problem.
Unless they decide to fight us.
I mean, all the rights of the forest have been bestowed upon Rimuru-danna by the demon lords.
Which is amazing.
Until now, cities and villages have been developing into the forest taking the resources as they pleased.
We have done the same and didnât ask for permission. Because we didnât need to.
But now, even the Elves would have to ensure that they can still continue living in their hidden villages.
They will have to ask permission from Demon Lord Rimuru.
So this will be big you know?ă
Kaijin said, full of anticipation.
As he says, no one needed permission to live around here until now.
ăBut, will that go as you say? Theyâve been living here for so long, so isnât their presence already recognized?ă
I asked.
ăNo, no, the question is: will they come seeking the Demon Lordâs protection or choose to live as they please.
Of course, theyâll decide that by themselves.
But that would mean that they are opening themselves to an invasion.
If anything, our race will come to greet you. I will let my father know!ă
Panicked, Gabil said.
Somehow, I feel like this might become an important event.
Ignoring the carefree Veldora, Shion for some reason has a very proud look on her face.
If it was this important, I wish youâd tell me earlier⌠not that Shion would have noticed it.
By the way, Shion, this domain was not earned by any of your efforts, you know.
Seriously, unlike her secretary-like appearance, she canât do that job at all.
I despaired.
ăFufun! Thatâs only to be expected of Rimuru-sama!ă
And other similarly haughty lines Shion said with a proud expression.
In short, in order to get the Demon Lordâs protection, you have to come meet him first.
From now on we will be conducting an investigation of the Jura Forest to find out what kind of intelligent races live here.
Even though we had just finished building the highway weâll be busy again.
Well, we havenât built one leading into the Sorcerersâ Dynasty Sarion yet, so we have a lot of work left over.
As for Rigurdo, being sure that guests would come soon, he issued orders to our cityâs citizens to begin preparations for their welcome.
Seriously, I had expected that becoming a demon lord would be a pain, but to think that I was right to such an extent!
After ending the Department Headsâ meeting, I remembered a question I forgot to ask.
Right, did we get a response from Hinata yet?
ăBy the way, did the messenger we sent to the Western Saintâs Church safely deliver the message?
Did we get a response?ă
To my question,
ăKufufufufu. My master, of course it arrived safely.ă
ăRight, the regionâs defenses are impregnable but we didnât see anyone approach.
We have yet to receive a response.ă
Diablo confirmed the messageâs arrival and Benimaru noted the lack of a response.
Well, they might be still busy thinking.
I wouldnât want to fight Hinata, but that depends on her.
I donât think I would lose now, but I wonât be letting my guard down against her.
Honestly, and I know this is impossible, but I would rather they just apologize.
I want to focus on expanding as a country already.
And thus, facing problems the same way I did before I became a demon lord, I ended the department meeting.
ďźăďźăďź
In an unknown land of perpetual night, into a deep burial chamber, a single beautiful silver haired girl ventured.
Her name was Ruminas Valentine.
She is the ruler of this land and a demon lord known as the Queen of Darkness.
Inside a chamber sealed behind Ruminasâ powerful barrier sleeps her beloved girl inside a coffin of holy spirit energy.
There were few people who could venture this far and no one who could dispel her barrier. Or at least there should have been no oneâŚ
Ruminas
Her heart throbbing loudly, she proceeded towards the girlâs burial chamber.
And the moment she entered she noticed that something was off.
The chamber had been disturbed, and thereâs a left over smell of another human along with that of her beloved girl.
It was faint but her Vampire nose could not be deceived.
But that was a trivial factâŚ
Hidden within the burial chamber, the coffin of holy spirit energy had been erased.
Confused for the first time in her life, she couldnât accept what she was seeing.
As a demon lord, Ruminas thought this situation completely impossible.
But, her logical part winning over, she was able to recognize the situation at hand.
No matter how much she wanted to emotionally reject what she was seeing, calm reasoning displayed otherwise.
That her beloved coffin had been stolen.
And soon her expression turned to one of angerâŚ
While screaming her lungs out in anger she released all her hidden magic energy.
At the same moment, the burial chamber collapsed forming a whirlpool of raging magic energy.
One that no being could enter, a space of death itself.
And separate from her displaying her anger, she was calmly analyzing the situation.
Only she could break the barrier erected here.
No, truth be told⌠ones like her. In other words, Demon Lords could dispel this barrier.
Or perhaps those beings that could rival demon lords in power.
And, it had to have been someone who knew of the holy spirit coffin that was here.
Otherwise, there was no need to enter.
Moreover, they would be unable to achieve their goal while Ruminas was present.
In other words, to take advantage of her absence, they had to know of the Walpurgis Banquet.
Thereâs no way they invaded the moment she was away.
If so⌠the culprit isâŚ
Ruminas thought.
The current seven other demon lords; should she also include the no-longer demon lords too�
But after thinking about each one of them, she couldnât find any grounds to suspect any of them.
But.
ăWait a second⌠arenât I forgetting someone?ă
She muttered.
That was the currently dead demon lord.
Clayman.
He was so weak that she had already forgotten about him.
What was that he said before he died?
That⌠âCursed Lordâ Gazalim was now reborn or something?
He wasnât a demon lord but someone that rivaled them.
And if itâs Gazalim, then he would probably know of the Walpurgis Banquet from Clayman.
And if thatâs the case⌠then his real objective was to acquire the coffin all alongâŚ
ăHe ordered Clayman to hold a Walpurgis Banquet and sought to obtain the coffin in the meantimeâŚ?ă
So it didnât matter who called the Walpurgis Banquet.
He manipulated Clayman thinking that if he managed to subjugate any of the participants then that would be great.
So if thatâs his real objective, then the rest was just for show?
Ruminasâ anger turned redder as a sense of humiliation filled her heart.
She was certain that her conjecture was correct.
Anger towards he who stole her beloved, anger towards the demon lords who kept her away from home.
She lamented the fact that she didnât want anyone to touch her beloved and thus kept all the guards away.
But perhaps the guards would have not changed the outcome in the slightest.
Whichever the caseâŚ
ăUnforgivable. I wonât forgive you. When I find you, Iâll tear you limb from limb!ă
The dark ruins of the burial chamber were filled with the silver haired girlâs screams and her rampaging power.
That anger was not at all like the time Veldora had turned her country to ash, as this time her own heart had been torn.
And her unfulfilled lust caused Ruminas to change.
?Verified. Conditions have been fulfilled.
Unique skillăLustăhas evolved into ultimate skillăLustful King Asmodeusă?
The Voice of the World declared to the silent Ruminas.
And,
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ăI donât care! I donât care about that!!!ă
She shrieked.
Evoking one of the abilityâs skills: Life and Death.
She was truly fortunate that there was no life in the near vicinity.
In an unknown land of perpetual night resounded the never ending screams of a silver haired girl.