Executive Meeting
Executive Meeting
Anna the Great Spirit Summoner of Earth. Deceased.
I read the report left behind by the messenger over and over again.
I rubbed my eyes and glared at the letters again, but the written sentence didn't change.
I had already heard the news that Anna had joined the Allied Forces.
She was the top priority target who repeatedly blocked the Demon Beast King Army's advance and dealt them fatal blows.
A Spirit Summoner with the greatest talent in history, possessing the power to kill even the Four Heavenly Kings in an instant.
That talent was something off the charts, making beings that were the embodiment of the world's constituent forces devote themselves to her without caring for their own well-being.
She wasn't the type of kid to die just because a few demon beasts swarmed her.
Even if the Four Heavenly Kings gathered to ambush her, ambushes are meaningless in front of spirits.
'Considering what Anna has shown on the battlefield so far, those Four Heavenly Kings bastards can't catch her.'
Why else would the Dragon personally visit the battlefield where Anna appeared?
It's because the Four Heavenly Kings couldn't stop her, so he stepped in.
Even if Anna couldn't defeat the Dragon, there was enough of a skill gap for her to escape.
Even if all the Four Heavenly Kings went out, they couldn't catch Anna, who would escape even if she couldn't avoid injury.
I considered every scenario, but I just couldn't see any angle where Anna would die.
As my consciousness was buried in the news of Anna's death, the details of how she died finally caught my eye.
[Although she is an enemy, her sacrificial spirit to protect her allies is worthy of recognition.]
Thousands of Allied Forces members, as well as villagers, were taken hostage.
The Four Heavenly Kings joined forces to repel Anna, whose escape route was blocked.
"....Not enough."
I can't accept something like this.
I crumpled the parchment in my hand.
"Your Majesty. You don't look well."
Anemone, who was by my side, opened her mouth cautiously.
She, who had been the wife of the Lord of Fontaine, had fallen to the position of serving by my side, but there was no resentment toward me in her eyes.
"Did you hear any bad news?"
"It's nothing."
I tried hard to manage my expression, but I couldn't completely fool Anemone's eyes.
She brought out a new teacup and placed it on one side of the table.
"Even if you try to hide it, that child is the only one who disturbs your heart, Your Majesty. Is there something bad happening to that child?"
The warmth of the hot tea touched my fingertips.
I took a sip of tea to soothe my troubled heart.
The reason Anemone is favorable toward me is because I saved her son, Polica. Having joined the battlefield, he stands at the vanguard of the Allied Forces, surviving tenaciously and writing a legend.
But behind that miracle lies his mother's sacrifice and my touch.
It's not that difficult to cleverly twist the movement paths of the Demon Beast King Army.
The problem is always that it takes time to get information on the Allied Forces, but fortunately, Polica is an obedient child, so he has never strayed from his strategic position.
Thanks to that, I've been able to let him achieve minor merits, and he's been walking a path of success in his own way.
Since Anemone knows that fact, she treats me, who acts as a stooge for the Dragon, as a benefactor.
'I'd rather she curse me.'
Anna is dead.
Even when I heard the news that people I knew while living in this world had died, or had suspicions and certainty that they would die, I never felt as stifled as I do now.
I want to just collapse and sleep like this.
'There's no time to hesitate in a place like this.'
I stood up from my seat.
"....I have to go to the meeting."
It was time for the strategy meeting to be held.
I entered the meeting hall where a huge round table was placed.
The deputy executives of the Demon Beast King Army occupied the seats.
Just as I represented the Dragon's intentions, they each represented the will of the demon beasts.
The Four Heavenly Kings, the Demon Beast Legion Commanders.
On the outskirts of the meeting hall, the deputies of the Four Heavenly Kings stood at ease.
Executives who were influenced by the Dragon as the Demon Beast King Army attacked human nations.
There were various races, not just humans, but also beast-kin with animal ears and tails, and bipedal animal-type beast-kin.
As I sat at the head of the table, the atmosphere in the meeting hall became solemn.
As the meeting began, a cat-kin stood up abruptly and shouted first.
"Oh, great King of Dragons, there is very happy news today!"
Mira, the cat-kin.
She was the chief of a beast-kin tribe that voluntarily joined the Demon Beast King Army, and the head of an intelligence unit that carried out the Dragon's secret orders.
She attended this meeting as an adjutant to Behemoth, one of the Four Heavenly Kings.
"Report."
Mira smiled, revealing her teeth.
"We have finally eliminated one of the biggest headaches for our army!"
Her tail wagged happily.
"A big headache, you say?"
"The Four Heavenly Kings joined forces to defeat Anna the Great Spirit Summoner of Earth!"
She cheered, slamming her palm against the desk.
As she howled, spitting while she spoke, the meeting hall heated up.
I leaned back against the chair and pulled up the corners of my mouth.
"Impressive. How could you do that?"
My voice was no different from usual, and Mira answered without suspicion.
"I haven't received any report from you. I want to hear the great secret of how you caught an opponent that even the Dragon struggled against."
At my praise, Mira's shoulders rose high.
"It's very simple! We recruited an Allied Forces noble!"
Beska took out a piece of parchment.
He held it out on the round table to show off, but the tiny letters couldn't be seen from this distance.
"Nobles are so easy to handle. We promised them status in the Dragon King Nation, and they fell for it immediately. They handed over the Spirit Summoner's entire operational route, and thanks to that, the Four Heavenly Kings were able to ambush her simultaneously from a place that prickly girl wouldn't notice."
If an ambush doesn't work, you ambush from further away.
By even taking hostages to block her escape route, even Anna couldn't prepare in time.
"The bastards who wouldn't listen when I tried to recruit them fell for it quite well."
"They finally realized the terror of the Dragon."
Mira burst into laughter with a nasty smile.
She grabbed the contract with the noble in both hands and ripped it apart with a chwaak.
"Stupid humans. To think they'd be accepted after selling out their own kind. Thanks to that, we took out the Great Spirit Summoner, and I don't know how relieved I feel! Nyahahaha!"
The human executives present in the meeting hall couldn't refute Mira's words.
They even agreed.
"Hahaha! As expected, humans have to bite each other!"
"That was a very excellent operation!"
The laughter of various races mixed in the meeting hall.
I clapped slowly.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
The meeting hall became quiet.
"Excellent. To execute a plan I hadn't yet tried again and break the enemy's core strength. I cannot spare my praise."
Mira's ears perked up, and she cheered even more enthusiastically at my praise.
"You flatter me, Your Majesty. I just followed the path you laid out at the right time."
I nodded and moved on to the next agenda.
'That cat bastard.'
My insides were burning black.
Anna lost due to a scheme.
A talented kid who could even compete with a Dragon fell for the schemes of a cat bastard like that.
The noble who cooperated by selling information, too. The mindset that only they need to survive is rotten.
The reason I stopped recruiting halfway through was because I was worried about exactly this kind of thing.
I did think a fatal result would occur on the first attempt, but...
'To think Anna would fall into that trap.'
I buried my rotting insides.
I looked down at how the meeting hall was running, wearing a relaxed smile as if I were at ease.
How should I deal with these guys?
I was filled with that thought.
Mira's frivolous laughter swept through the meeting hall.
The meeting proceeded while excited by the lingering effects of the report of Anna's death.
Just then, a wolf-kin stood up from his seat.
Fenrir's adjutant.
Bulcard, who sat in the seat representing the will of the Wolf Four Heavenly Kings, pressed down on the meeting hall, which could have become noisy, with a heavy tone.
"I will report."
Bulcard's voice was low.
"Suspicious movements have been detected in the Empire's capital city."
"Suspicious movements?"
"Yes. All the Tower Masters of the Magic Tower, who were scattered across the Empire, are gathering at the capital city."
Tower Masters.
The peaks of those who handle magic are gathering in one place.
Even in peaceful times, it wouldn't be an ordinary matter if just three Tower Masters gathered, but with all the Tower Masters gathering, it was safe to assume they were plotting something on a scale that would cause a meaningful change on the battlefield.
It must mean that the old geezers of the Magic Tower are also feeling a sense of crisis at the Demon Beast King Army's advance.
'Should've realized it sooner.'
"Ah!"
Just then, Mira interrupted, raising her tail.
"That! I've heard of that too!"
Mira shouted at me with a smile in her eyes.
"Those old geezers are preparing a Summoning Ritual in the capital city!"
"Summoning Ritual?"
"Yes! They say they've restored an ancient magic circle that has been passed down through generations in the Imperial family! Isn't that probably why they're gathering?!"
Summoning Ritual.
At that word, I snorted without realizing it.
'Is someone like me being summoned?'
Of course, I happened to cross over by accident, but I'm still a Stranger from another world.
I just let out a hollow laugh, wondering if the Empire bastards were trying to summon a hero or something.
"Summoning, huh. Are they that desperate to grab at straws? You don't know specifically what they intend to call forth?"
"Not yet. I only found out recently, so I need time."
Mira glared at Bulcard.
Bulcard also shook his head.
"Mira, Bulcard."
"Yes."
"Whatever they summon, if it's something the Tower Masters are gathering to do, it will surely be a major event that will affect the front lines. You two find out more information about the Summoning Ritual that will be attempted in the Empire's capital city."
Bulcard bowed his head with his fist on his chest, and Mira bowed her waist with her hands behind her back.
I slowly stood up from my seat.
"If there are no other agenda items, we will end today's meeting here. Mira."
"Yes!"
"I will give you a reward later, so look forward to it."
Mira rejoiced, wagging her ears and tail. She glared at Bulcard as if to show off that she was superior.
The executives also stood up from their seats and paid their respects as I left the meeting hall.
'It's lonely.'
On the way out of the meeting hall.
In the sky I looked out at from the hallway window, rain clouds were thickly overcast.
It's dark even though it's daytime, just like my heart.
Anna is no longer in this world.
It was like this when I first came to this world.
Despair.
A tomorrow without hope is utterly bleak.
Tok.
A water droplet fell on the window.
I was slightly surprised because of its size, and when it passed through the window and came inside, I was surprised once more at its identity.