Chapter 195
Chapter 195
Chapter 195
Preparations for War (3)
Sonya Bluephil Bellatrix was recently being called the woman who was the envy of all imperial citizens.
Even when examined in detail, it could be said that Sonya truly had everything.
In terms of power, she was a duke of the empire who held a position second only to one and above ten thousand.
In terms of her own achievements, she was also an 8th class Great Magician.
Even in terms of honor, she was the head of the Bellatrix school, the continent's greatest magic academy.
Moreover, her appearance was so young and beautiful that it was hard to believe she was in her forties, so saying she had everything was neither boastful nor false.
"...Ugh."
Though Sonya was receiving all the admiration and envy of everyone in the empire, for some reason lately her wrinkled face couldn't seem to smooth out.
"I'm tired..."
In fact, she had been running at the peak of happiness just three weeks ago.
When her son Gray returned after achieving unimaginable accomplishments, she praised herself, saying she had a perfect life where even raising children had been successful.
Moreover, the ten types of legendary artifacts that Rudian brought as payment for lending her son were truly the crowning achievement of her life.
But... from then on, her mood began to gradually plummet.
"What? Three weeks? You want me to gather all the kings of every nation on the continent in just three weeks?"
"Yes, if we personally run around and bring them, it's not that difficult a task."
"...Wait, wait. I can't follow the flow of this conversation."
"I'd like to just grab them by the collar and drag them here to sit them down, but... they are distinguished guests after all, so we'll need time to prepare a seat befitting their status."
In fact, it wasn't particularly surprising that Rudian would say things like 'Three weeks is enough, hmm!'
Originally, that guy was only a count in title, and had almost no experience or knowledge as a noble or bureaucrat, so such statements were understandable enough.
But the problem was that among those who agreed with that absurd opinion were not only Princess Luciella, but also Count heir Elvin and Maria, and even her own son Gray.
"Ah, son? Even if there's enough time to prepare adequate protocol, you know well that we can't handle diplomatic issues between nations in such a manner, don't you?"
If handled wrongly, there was a possibility that the Morian Empire could turn hostile with the remaining 16 nations.
"Ah, you don't need to worry about that. My brother already took care of... handled it."
"...Huh?"
Sonya was shocked to the point of nearly fainting when she saw the names of the newly crowned Queen Terese de Rohans of Kingdom of Rohans, King Cole Slain of Ergon Kingdom, and Pope Fabricio II of Luuren on the agreement that Rudian brought.
"This, this is...!"
Luuren aside, it was incomprehensible that Kingdom of Rohans and Ergon Kingdom, who had been at war until recently, had completely changed their stance.
But her surprise didn't end there.
"Elves? Dragons? You're going to have other races participate in this meeting too?"
Rudian answered that question.
"Yes, this meeting won't only include humans. In addition to that, leaders of various religions will also participate."
The practical goal was to select useful forces from each nation, but the scale was certainly too impressive to end with just that.
Such a historic gathering would have sufficient impact just from its symbolism alone.
"Since it's come to this... eliminating war from the surface for about a hundred years wouldn't be bad either."
"How about just unifying the continent? With our current forces, it seems like there's enough possibility."
"Continental, continental unification...?"
"That's also a good idea, but we don't have time. Even if occupation itself is easy, it would take at least ten years just to suppress the resistance of each region and truly integrate them as imperial citizens."
"Well, that's true, isn't it?"
Sonya lost her words and fell silent.
She was even more speechless because that conversation had just taken place between Princess Luciella and Gray.
A few days ago, she had received reports of what had happened during the past time while sharing drinks with her son who had physically become a complete adult, but even so, she wondered if a person could change too much.
"The attendees of this meeting are 'officially' the monarchs of the continent's 17 nations, the popes of the Seven Great Divine Orders, 8 representatives of other races from the Southern Great Forest, and five Dragon Lords from the southern continent."
"Officially? Then what about unofficially?"
Facing Sonya who was frowning, Rudian continued naturally.
"Yes, besides that, unofficially, there's Giovanni, the head of Celestial, and the heads of four secret organizations we succeeded in recruiting this time. And Demon King Baal plus 4 other supreme Demon Kings... and lastly, Archangels Uriel and Gabriel from the heavenly realm will join us."
"...Who did you say?"
Sonya blinked her eyes.
Her cognition couldn't keep up with the scale that exceeded common sense.
"The Demon Kings and Archangels. Since my colleagues and I will also attend, it will be quite a large-scale meeting."
"......"
Instead of trying to understand, Sonya chose to just let her mind go blank.
"I wonder if everyone will be able to attend. Especially in the case of the Seven Great Divine Orders."
At that moment, Maria, who had been quietly present until now, rarely sneered and muttered quietly.
In fact, Psychic Luminous had decent relations with the orders, but their betrayal of abandoning humanity was something even Maria couldn't tolerate.
"North and Garganta Orders will naturally not attend. I'm not sure about the remaining three orders..."
Ruura Order was one of the early supporters of this meeting, and in Berus' case, there was only civilian faith with no order.
What remained were the Haniel, Satera, and Medaiel Orders...
Well, if they don't attend, that wouldn't be bad either.
It would also be proof that they had turned into enemies.
"Therefore, we'll handle the recruiting ourselves, so please convince His Majesty. After all, holding the meeting in the empire rather than on some remote island would also help elevate the nation's prestige."
"......"
"Then we'll be counting on you!"
This was the starting point of Sonya's three-week ordeal saga.
***
Emergency budget allocation for the continental nations' meeting, coordination of schedules for royalty and nobles, and the resulting diplomatic and military issues...
It was truly an almost impossible task, but Sonya demonstrated superhuman ability by resolving all of it in just three weeks without any significant disturbance.
"Heh, you look tired."
Today too, Sonya, who was in combat with documents and pen in her office, glared murderously at the young man leisurely sipping tea in front of her.
"...And whose fault is this!"
"At least it's not because of me. I'm just a guest, after all."
...Gritting!
Certainly, the young man in front of her hadn't caused Sonya's physical labor.
But he was the very person who had given her even more mental stress...
"Don't glare at me with those eyes. People might misunderstand and think I stole your son."
"...It wouldn't be a misunderstanding but a fact. My son became Celestial's successor."
The young man in front of Sonya was Giovanni, the master of Celestial.
Giovanni smiled brightly and spoke like this:
"Don't you think Bellatrix is too narrow a vessel to contain your son?"
"What did you say!"
"Did I say something wrong? Isn't it shameful for a school without a single 9th class magician to carry the grandiose modifier of 'continental number one'?"
"......!"
Tremble tremble!
Sonya trembled with anger, but she couldn't really refute anything.
Her opponent was someone who had reached the legendary 10th class, whose very existence she hadn't even been certain of.
He was someone who could not only seal all her magic with a flick of his finger, but could take away her very life as a magician.
That's when it happened.
"That's enough, isn't it? What kind of pathetic threat is that to someone else's mother?"
A cold but still youthful adolescent voice echoed through the office.
"Son!"
"Oh oh, did my disciple come?"
Both Sonya and Giovanni brightened and welcomed Gray who appeared there.
Gray warned Giovanni with still cold expression.
"The reason I decided to inherit Celestial was purely because of your words that it would help my brother. My roots are Bellatrix through and through."
"Hahaha, I know, I know. There's no way I'd forget that, is there?"
Giovanni had completely discarded the cool appearance he'd shown before, becoming completely like a father looking at a late-born child, nodding his head repeatedly.
"Anyway, once you inherit all my magic, whether it's Celestial or Bellatrix, it doesn't matter what sign you hang up. The essence won't change anyway."
"......"
Gray slightly frowned as if he didn't like those words, but he couldn't actually deny them.
It was true that Gray's magic operation method had now become much closer to Celestial than Bellatrix.
"Anyway, if you have nothing to do, help with work."
"Hahaha, I'm helping diligently. As the 'Duke of Bellatrix' requested, our Celestial is guarding this imperial castle like an iron fortress."
"Not that, paperwork."
"I'll lend you Eugene. He'll do very well."
"......"
"Originally, if I take on imperial work, that would be problematic in its own way. Wasn't it your opinion, disciple, to separate Celestial from the Morian Empire?"
"Your excuses flow like water."
No matter how you looked at it, Giovanni had no intention of working.
Moreover, since his words weren't exactly wrong either, Gray sighed and chased Giovanni away, then began helping Sonya with her paperwork.
Only after Giovanni left did Sonya's expression become much more comfortable, and after staying quiet for a while, she suddenly lifted her head as if something had occurred to her.
"By the way... where did that bastard go?"
Gray lifted his head and asked back.
"Brother Rudian?"
"Yeah, that bastard. Where the hell is that party responsible for making me suffer like this wandering around? It's been a week and I haven't even seen his nose."
Sonya gritted her teeth.
The gratitude for ten legendary artifacts, the thankfulness for making her son so wonderful and excellent - those emotions had faded quite dimly after three weeks had passed.
"If you mean brother, he said he was going to Helheim for a moment?"
"...He went where?"
"Helheim. It's one of the dimensions of the demon realm. But he said he'd be back soon, yet there's no news? The meeting is the day after tomorrow."
"...Why did that bastard go there again?"
Sonya, who had now become somewhat accustomed... no, transcendent, sighed with a deflated expression.
"War preparations. To be precise..."
Gray recalled what Rudian had said at the time and answered like this:
"He said there were quite a few strays he needed to collect, so he was bringing them back."
***
GUGUGUGU-GUNG!
SPLASH!
On a land where volcanic ash devoured the sky and lava flowed like waves.
In an environment where the laws of survival of the fittest and the strong preying on the weak were most clearly manifested, Rudian was surrounded by countless demons surrounding him.
GROWL!
GRRRRR!
"...There are more than I thought?"
In fact, the number of demons surrounding him wasn't that many.
No, 50,000 wasn't a number you could call 'not that many', but considering the nearly '100,000' demons that filled the surroundings densely, 50,000 was indeed a small number.
THOOM! KUWOONG!
Among such demons, a dog-headed giant over ten meters tall revealed itself, parting the demons like parting the Red Sea.
"Are you the bastard who dares to call himself successor to Lord Leviathan?"
"What if I am?"
"Grrrrr! How dare a mere human come to the demon realm and say you'll collect demons?"
Even though he spoke that way, the creature's attitude was quite cautious.
The creature, whose head size alone exceeded Rudian's height, crouched down like a dog and examined the seal of Leviathan carved on Rudian's wrist, its eyes slightly gleaming.
"It's certainly a trace left by Lord Leviathan."
"Then will you submit obediently?"
"Kekeke, as if!"
At Rudian's words, the creature snorted.
For demons, strength was everything.
Naturally, even if someone was a new master, if they were weak, there was no obligation to follow them.
Even if they had been keeping faith with Leviathan for over ten thousand years!
"Right, taking responsibility for stray dogs that left home is the new master's duty."
Rudian smiled brightly and wiggled his finger toward the creature.
"Kneel."
If the opponent was a supreme demon and a legion commander of the demon realm, it would be adequate as an opponent.
"Match your eye level with mine..."
Rudian's words couldn't continue to the end.
"KYAAAAAAK!"
Before his words could finish, the creature let out a shriek and swung its giant claws.