181. Summit Meeting
181. Summit Meeting
"...I don't feel great about this."
"Hey, First Sword... does the Empire not teach manners these days? This is a situation where you should be groveling with your head to the floor before your seniors, and it still wouldn't be enough."
As expected, everyone reacted fiercely.
Receiving the baptism itself wasn't a big deal, but the fact that Edmund was being suspected at all would be intensely unpleasant. After all, any of them would have felt the same if the situation were reversed.
"Manners? Since when did we care about stuff like that?"
The Director sneered at Edmund's words.
"All the Masters of the Empire have already received baptism. If you have nothing to hide, there's no reason to refuse, is there?"
That hadn't been Edmund's intention, but the Director, who had recently received baptism due to a national event, spoke confidently.
"Why be scared? Got something to hide?"
"Why you...!!"
As the Director provoked him further, Edmund kicked his chair and shot to his feet.
Once the summit began, arguing was allowed, but fighting was forbidden.
Everyone knew this, which was why their words were even more barbed.
"Um..."
While everyone was on edge, Rui carefully raised her hand.
"The baptism... is a religious rite, correct? I hold a different faith, so it will be difficult for me to perform that rite.
However, if there is an alternative method, I am willing to do that. The Sword Saint's becoming a demon-touched was a shock to me, too, so I want to use this opportunity to at least confirm that the Masters here are safe."
There had been a fifty-fifty chance that Rui, who held an indigenous faith, would agree, but fortunately she gave a positive response.
When she, who seemed the most difficult to convince, readily agreed, Edmund, who had been angrily yelling, struck the innocent table with his hand, seemingly having lost his momentum.
[....The baptism is a secondary issue. If a demon-touched enters this place—which, if nowhere else, is filled with holy relics—they will suffer far more than from baptism.
For that reason, I believe the Sword Saint became a demon-touched fairly recently... At most three years ago, since the last summit was held then.]
Since the atmosphere seemed to be overheating, McIntosh steered the discussion back on track.
[What is important now is that their forces have grown to the point of attempting to swallow an entire kingdom.
We did not know that the Clover Kingdom was being taken over. We were unaware, despite there being so many churches within the kingdom.
The confidence that other nations would not suffer the same fate has vanished.
In that case... let's move on to a new agenda item, continuing from the previous one.
In light of the explosive growth of the Demon Church, the Holy See believes that 'active armed intervention' by Masters is necessary.]
"...Originally, the Church alone could handle it. Has some anomaly occurred?"
[It would be best for the Shadow, who experienced the situation firsthand, to explain that.]
Hohenheim, who had been dozing off, quietly opened her eyes.
This topic seemed quite interesting.
"Recently, the Demon Church has carried out three terrorist attacks on the Academy alone. I dealt with one of them because a Demon Archbishop came in person.
When I raided the Demon Church's base after pursuing them, I witnessed the Authority of the Demon Archbishop I had killed being used again.
It had only been a few days since the predecessor died."
"Ah~~ I guess they just replaced them since they lost their head. They work fast, but is that strange? Aren't you just making a fuss over nothing??"
Edmund made a bored expression.
It seemed he genuinely didn't understand what this meant.
I'd heard he'd never seriously fought a demon before, and he didn't even seem to want to know.
But what could I do? I'd been pinning all the previous raids on their hideouts on Edmund.
He may not know it, but he's already deeply involved.
"Since you don't seem to understand, old man, let me kindly explain.
A Demon Archbishop is a demon-touched who has contracted with a Great Demon. They aren't created so easily. At least until now, the Great Demons have taken a very long time to find a new contractor.
Because if they just contracted anyone, the contractor couldn't withstand the Great Demon's power; their body would explode or their reason would evaporate.
And yet, for them to be replaced this quickly... either they've solved the side effects, or they'd prepared a spare in advance."
[We must pray it is the latter.]
McIntosh, having heard my explanation, let out a heavy sigh.
Because if it were the former, the situation would become several times more serious.
The biggest reason Demon Archbishops, who can freely wield the Authority of Great Demons in this world, are cautious is because their skill is insufficient to face Masters head-on.
If they die, it takes a long time to select a successor, so if they act out and get slaughtered, it would create a massive vacuum.
The Great Demons, wary of that, hid and built up their forces together... but what if they could just grab anyone and make them a contractor?
The current situation, where humanity seems to have the advantage, could be reversed in an instant.
If a Great Demon like Belphegor were to constantly scatter the Authority of Dominion, and even if you kill the contractor, they immediately contract with another believer...
It wouldn't end until every person around them was dead.
It would be the start of a horrific hell where only our side suffers unilateral attrition.
'It would be fortunate if it were just excessive worry, but the fact that the first one to be resurrected was Belphegor's Demon Archbishop makes me even more concerned.'
"Hmm... is that so?"
Everyone wore grave expressions, but Edmund alone tilted his head.
"They're just heretics anyway. If we just kill them all as they switch contractors, it's no problem, right?"
As expected, he still didn't seem to grasp the situation.
[Haa.... Then we shall decide. Those who believe Masters must intervene due to the Demon Church's explosive rise, raise your hands.]
Ignoring Edmund, who was still spouting nonsense, McIntosh proceeded with the vote.
"Moving myself for mere heretics isn't worth it."
"We're an island nation, so that would be difficult."
The two Masters both expressed their refusal.
There were various reasons, but they didn't seem to feel the need to step forward themselves.
Rui, hailing from an island nation with strong indigenous faith, suffered little demon damage and thus failed to grasp the severity of the situation. Edmund, who was aware, simply seemed to dislike having to move just to deal with heretics.
"Would you look at these bastards, so that's why all three of you came flocking here."
The three Masters from the Empire all had their hands raised.
Those who hadn't yet raised theirs were Van Hohenheim and Hulan.
'Hulan said he'd agree.'
The Teacher tapped his finger on my thigh, sending a hand signal.
"Hmm... it seems right, but..."
"Mister, you're an individual, so do as you like. Don't worry about what I think."
I wondered why that fellow Hulan was dragging his feet when he'd agreed to it, but it seemed he was watching for Rui's reaction next to him.
So he cared more about Rui's opinion, whom he'd gotten close to while waiting, than mine, whom he'd only met briefly.
There was truly no one to trust.
If both voted against, this agenda would end right here.
If we couldn't crush the Demon Church's forces here, the original despair-inducing plot development I had thoroughly wrecked could still happen later.
That was something I absolutely could not allow.
'In that case... I'll have to target someone else.'
If they were going to play that way, I had a plan too.
There was one more person still hesitating to decide.
I decided to help Hohenheim out a little so she could resolve her dilemma.
"Hohenheim."
"...What is it? I'm pondering, so don't talk to me."
Hohenheim rested her chin in her hand, deep in thought.
She seemed to be contemplating even more deeply, aware of how her decision would affect this agenda.
Still, the fortunate thing was that she hadn't cast a swift vote against it.
"Did you know? There was an expedition that recently conquered the Snow Country, and they say, just as rumored, there are ruins of an Ancient Kingdom there."
"...And what of it?"
"They said no truly important artifacts were found... but I have an acquaintance who was on that expedition, you see...."
Upon hearing that, Hohenheim's eyes widened, and she raised her hand.
Because I had torn through the plot as I pleased, I no longer knew this novel's future, but at least the past events that had already occurred hadn't changed.
I recalled the fact that Hohenheim had been researching Ancient Kingdom technologies, and when I tossed out this bait, she immediately bit.
"Fine, I'm in favor. The information about the Demon Archbishop was quite interesting."
"I'm already working on dealing with demons, anyway."
Seeing Hohenheim raise her hand, Hulan raised his as well.
[Five votes in favor, two against... With a majority in favor, the motion to 'intervene' has been passed. Now then, for the division of zones...]
"Dealing with the Demon Church is ultimately the Church's job, not something I need to step forward for!"
Edmund fiercely protested, as expected.
From his position, the idea of a supreme Master like himself stepping forward just to crush lowly heretics like the Demon Church must have been unthinkable.
He was the type who greatly enjoyed ruling over others, just like the Sword Saint.
I gave up on persuading that man.
It was impossible to make everyone understand.
"We're not demanding anything unreasonable. It's very rational. Since we're already doing it, we're just telling you to join in."
"Already doing it?"
"Including the ones that were recreated, we've already killed three Demon Archbishops. And...."
I pulled out a bundle I had brought just in case.
"I cut off Asmodeus's horn in Hell. If I'd been a bit more prepared, I could have killed him, which is a shame."
"...It truly is part of a Great Demon."
Hohenheim showed great interest in the horn of Asmodeus I had produced.
"Ah, fine, if you don't want to, don't. But I hope you won't block the path when we go to hunt Demon Archbishops."
"What did you say?"
"Why do you think I've been telling you this? I see you haven't grasped the situation, but the hidden bases of the Demon Archbishops aren't somewhere else.
They're all thoroughly embedded in your countries. If you don't want to do it, I'll do it as I always have, so just open your borders."
When I said, out of frustration, that I'd do it myself, the reaction turned icy.
"Open our borders... the vile conqueror shows his true colors!"
The one who reacted most fiercely was Rui.
Her nation had endured invasions from the Empire, so she harbored great hostility toward being told to simply open her borders.
"If you don't want to, just deal with the ones in your own regions yourselves."
Even though the motion had passed, Rui and Edmund, who had voted against it, were bristling with hostility.
"...If it's come to that, I'll grant you one. Seeing you speak so confidently, I suppose you've developed a tracking magic that can pinpoint the Demon Archbishops' locations?"
"Hohenheim... you too?! You said before you didn't have time for that!"
"That's in the past. The Demon Church is a pest that becomes bothersome if left unchecked. If they're in my house, it's only right I deal with them myself."
Hohenheim, who had been watching the situation, expressed her agreement.
Perhaps because the bait of the Ancient Kingdom ruins had improved her mood, she wasn't even drowsy anymore.
[In that case, I shall share the locations of the hideouts identified so far.]
Seeing the majority in agreement, McIntosh magically projected a map into the air.
The map had several marked locations, which were the places I had indicated beforehand.
Seeing that, Edmund shouted.
"Are you all serious...! A Master doing such petty errands is absurd. Do you have that much time on your hands??"
[Is the Five Kingdom Alliance not participating...? That would be extremely regrettable.]
"That's right, that was the Church's job!"
[Well, it's impossible to force a Master who refuses. In that case, I shall attempt to handle it with the Church's personnel within the kingdom.]
"Ha... ha! Yes, that can be done! It doesn't have to be me..."
Edmund's face brightened as if he might have found a way out.
But McIntosh didn't seem inclined to let that happen.
[If we do that... we would have to divert most of the personnel dispatched to the kingdom, making it difficult to continue the relief activities for the common people.]
"Wh..what?"
This was the kind of regret the Holy See could express.
As the relief activities in his kingdom were held hostage, Edmund gritted his teeth.
"Using people's lives as hostages...! And you still call yourself...!!"
At a glance, it seemed like he cared deeply for his people.
But one had to remember that even when his people were dying en masse from drought, he'd been coolly swimming in a pool and had never given a single penny.
He was simply irritated that tax revenues had decreased due to the drought.
Sensing he was about to explode if provoked further, I smiled and said to McIntosh.
"There's no need to do that. Keep the relief activities going. I'll go and deal with things as I always have. Just tell them to open their borders.
The old man here seems too scared of demons to step out, so just leave him be."
"This brat...!"
Unable to endure the provocation, Edmund finally drew his sword.
'He took the bait.'
.
.
.
.
Making Edmund draw his sword had been one of the plans I had improvised.
Though it also seemed like the Director's personal matter.
The summit had its minimal rules.
There were various things one didn't really need to care about... but the most important rule was not to draw a 'weapon' and make a 'preemptive strike' within the venue.
If an opponent drew a weapon and launched an attack threatening one's life, McIntosh would recognize drawing a weapon in return as self-defense.
The one who drew a weapon first would have their 'right to speak' revoked at all summits for a certain period, depending on the severity of the incident.
Using the host's authority, their mouth could be shut.
The Director had said it would be convenient for future movements if Edmund were crushed.
And now, as a result of constant provocation, I had succeeded in making Edmund unable to hold back and draw his sword.
.
.
.
Edmund closed the distance at incredible speed, proving his boasts of skill weren't just hot air.
But it was a manageable level.
I had also been prepared to draw my sword at any moment, so I was able to react immediately.
Neither of us used our Aura Blades.
Because to use them would be tantamount to declaring war between nations.
By the time I had fully drawn my sword, Edmund's blade had already closed in on me.
-Kwang!!
And then Edmund's head was slammed into the table with tremendous force.
"Where do you get off drawing your sword so impudently?"
Hulan, who had been watching the situation, had grabbed Edmund by the back of the neck the moment Edmund lunged and slammed him into the table.
He struck so hard that the long table split in half.