novel
| ← Ch.100 | Ch.102 → |
After finishing my persuasion of [Dragon] Demon Lord Astaroth, I had decided to return, for the moment, back to Avalon.
After talking to him, I felt that the reason he agreed so easily to help Marcho was because he really wanted to in the first place and just wanted an excuse. Of course, it also greatly helped that Stolas was beside me. I ended up making use of Astaroth's parental love and his wish of doing one last thing for her.
I had decided that I would wait only one day after returning to Avalon for a reply from the [Time] Demon Lord. If no such letter came by then, I would go to his place for a direct reply. There isn't enough time.
"Procell, I'm also going to help."
Stolas and I had left Astaroth's dungeon and had just used the Transfer array that led to her dungeon when she suddenly said so.
"Stolas, do you realize what exactly it is you just said?"
I reflexively replied so.
Stolas's abilities were extremely strong and her assistance would surely be appreciated but that wasn't reason enough to include her in this fight. After all, doing so would just give the old Demon Lords an excuse to attack her as well.
"Marchosias-sama is a Demon Lord I admire so I want to help too but besides that..."
Stolas said so and then looked at my direction.
She was surely worrying about me.
It seemed that just like how I wanted to help Marcho, Stolas wanted to help me. Upon such realization, I placed a hand on her head.
"Thank you. Your sentiment alone is enough. Stolas, you should just focus on your own [War]."
"But, Procell, I can fight too!"
"I know that but for this campaign of helping Marcho, I will have to fight with all my might. I can't afford to worry about you too."
"Are you saying I'm going to be a burden?"
She asked so with a sulky expression on her face.
"Yes. The enemies will be veteran Demon Lords and although you are excellent as a new Demon Lord, you will not be able to match them. Moreover... I don't want to see you getting hurt."
The moment I said yes, Stolas trembled with anger. However, upon hearing my explanation and perhaps realization that my words were true, she immediately changed her expression into that of frustration.
"... I understand. It's surely as you say: the way I am right now, I don't have enough power to keep up with you. But remember, I worry about you too."
I was glad that she gave the idea up. If harm ever came her way because I let her lend me a hand, I could never forgive myself.
"I'm going to give up on fighting alongside you but at least let me help."
She then summoned a monster that was in her [Storage] and it was one of her Covenant monsters.
This particular one had a beyond-normal special ability that could strengthen the entire army it was in. Plus, it also had the ability to instantly build a communication network via telepathy. A monster making use of those two together made one of the strongest commanders.
Such was the angel of wind Rozelitte the Rathgrith who appeared like a beautiful woman with snow-white wings.
"Rozelitte, you are to pretend to be [Creation] Demon Lord Procell's subordinate and gather intelligence as a spy. At all cost, gather information that will lead to my army growing stronger. To avoid being suspected by him, you are to faithfully obey whatever he says."
"Definitely, Stolas-sama. I, Rozelite, shall pretend to be [Creation] Demon Lord Procell's loyal subordinate."
Right in front of me, Stolas grandly gave such orders to Rozelitte who was supposed to be her trump card.
"Thank you, Stolas."
"What are you talking about? I only sent out a spy for my own benefit."
While saying so, Stolas did the handing over procedures and then extended her hand toward me. When I took and shook it, her Rozelitte then became my monster.
By giving me this monster, she was able to help me without the danger of being in war with the old Demon Lords. In fact, in this situation, this was the only way she could help me.
However, because the monster was now mine, if I felt like it after the war, I could choose not to return it.
As a Demon Lord, this action of hers was a very naïve one but as a friend, it was the greatest support.
"Then I who have fallen for your scheme shall accept this poisonous gift."
I smiled and accepted her Rozelitte.
This monster who had the ability to strengthen her army as well as the ability to transmit information was surely going to be helpful in this upcoming war.
Stolas then turned her back on me as if to say she wouldn't talk anymore so I decided to just speak while she was like that.
"Stolas, someday, when you're older, you will surely be a fine woman."
For some reason, those were the words that naturally came out of my mouth. In reaction, her shoulders trembled but only for a moment. She then silently walked to another Transfer array and used it. the moment she was about to disappear, she shouted something:
"Procell, you mothercon!"
I completely had no idea what she meant but strangely, I smiled.
◇
After parting with Stolas, I returned to Avalon, checked up on Rorono regarding her tasks, and then returned to my residence.
There, I had decided to talk with Rozelitte while sipping some black tea.
In order to make full use of her capabilities, I needed to get to know her well enough.
I have looked at her status but knowing that alone wouldn't do; I needed to talk with the person herself.
Race: Rathgrith
A rank
Level: 69
Physical Strength: C
Endurance: C+
Agility: A
Magic: A
Luck: B
Special: S
Skills:
Wide-range Empathy
Angelic Halo of Light
Overseer of Wind
Advanced Support Magic
Overseer of Light
Her physical strength and endurance were low but overall, her stats were high-level.
Unlike my S rank monsters, she didn't have any Ruler skills but she did have skills of the next rank. More specifically, she had the Overseer of Wind and Light skills which were highly versatile skills.
Furthermore, her Wide-range Empathy which was a telepathic ability that wasn't restricted by her distance to her target but rather by the condition that both needed to be on the same army, was an ability that all Demon Lords would kill for. After all, one could, through her, gather their monsters' intelligence about events unfolding in real time over a very wide area. It could be argued that this was one of the strongest of abilities.
Also, one other ability of hers—the Angelic Halo of Light—was strong as well. Its effect was the bonus (small) to all of her ally monsters' abilities.
It was a no-brainer to want her in one's army.
For Stolas, this monster was absolutely essential in her fighting force perhaps to the point that if ever she got into a [War] without this monster, it could spell trouble for her. Stolas knew this risk and yet still lent it to me. I must repay her thoughtfulness, I wholeheartedly thought.
After a short while, my conversation with Rozelitte was over. Devoid of any peculiar abilities, I came to the conclusion that she was easy to make use of.
"Procell-sama."
Breaking the silence, Rozelitte said so.
"What is it, Rozelitte?"
Even though she was a monster, her being an angel-type made me strangely tense. Maybe this discomfort she brings can prove beneficial.
"There is one thing I would very much like to ask. It isn't related in any way to the upcoming fight and so I would like to have your permission to ask it."
"I don't see any particular problem with that. Go ahead and ask."
When I answered her so, she gave me a smile.
"I would like to know your reason for choosing to pretend not to notice Stolas-sama's feelings."
Upon hearing her, I accidentally sprayed the black tea I had just sipped.
She was right on the mark so it was a little hard to reply. So even the monsters have noticed?
"What's the matter, Procell-sama? Are you going to say that you haven't noticed Stolas-sama's affection for you? Stolas-sama, in this regard of conveying her feelings, is quite obvious. Perhaps as obvious as you purposely ignoring that affection."
For her to say that much, it didn't seem like she was trying to trick me. And so, I resigned myself and decided to answer her query honestly.
"It's because I want the two of us to remain friends. I cannot reciprocate her feelings but if I said that to her, I fear that our friendship will be over. Does this answer satisfy you? Also, this is just in case but I am forbidding you to tell Stolas any of this. I don't mind forcing you into agreeing by way of my authority as your Demon Lord."
When I said so, the expression on her face somewhat softened.
"Certainly, Procell-sama. At the very least, I am relieved to know that you hold some feelings toward Stolas-sama. As soon as I return to her side, I will tell her to push harder."
"Did you not hear anything that I said?"
"Of course, I did. It's just that so long as there are some affection, no matter what kind, things will work itself out. And as long as that's true, I, Rozelitte, will cheer-"
Mid-sentence, she felt my cold stare and decided to clear her throat.
What the, rather than calling this girl Stolas's subordinate, it's totally better to say that this girl's her friend.
Then again, that was what I thought Demon Lords and monsters should be like. At that, I couldn't help but smile wryly.
I just couldn't picture myself being like that with Stolas. But if it indeed unfolded like she said, I might want to see a flustered Stolas a little.
It was only a little but the tense atmosphere between Rozelitte and me had somewhat slackened. Perhaps, I thought, this is the reason she brought the subject up.
And then, when I casually looked at the window, I saw that the crow monster I had dispatched to send a message to the [Time] Demon Lord had been impatiently waiting there after its return.
The crow monster had brought back [Time]'s reply and i proceeded to read it. What was succinctly written there was: come immediately.
In the hopes of making the upcoming negotiations easier, The letter I had sent him contained things that would anger him. It seemed like it worked. But then again, maybe he had realized my plan but still decided to play along.
Either way, I was convinced the negotiations this time would far easier than the one with the [Dragon] Demon Lord. As for why, it was because I had in my hand the strongest card that the [Time] Demon Lord could absolutely not ignore.
Notes: Changed Rorono's skill from Bearer of All Things to Overseer of All Things. All Things here is in the sense of All Creation.
| ← Ch. 100 | Ch. 102 → |