Harbingers of Change

Chapter 25

The man resting in a fairly well-made chair at the opposite end of the table had a rather unusual appearance for those who had the privilege to meet the Foreign Relations Minister, Lady Bukubukuchagama. While he was of modest political stature as a fairly rich merchant, his rather plump figure filled the rather spacious chair with ease. His large furred coat did not help with enhancing his appearance either, it didn't have the necessary bling nor did he have the demeanor to pull it off.

His oval face was decorated with a large handlebar mustache and neatly trimmed goatee. Yet his most striking feature was the streak of blonde hair running through the center of his otherwise flaring dark hair, a bold statement for a man living in later medieval times.

Gard Mjollmile, without a doubt, had a rather unique presence that many wouldn't easily forget.

"First, allow me to thank you for accepting my humble request, Lady Bukubukuchagama. I shall do my finest to propose my deal in a timely and efficient manner." He spoke smoothly, the all-to-distinct tone of a born salesman something Buku had heard many times over.

"If nothing else, I do admire your sheer persistence in contacting Tempest's upper echelons. So let's hear it." Buku replied, accepting the glass of wine offered by the hostess, noticing it was the finest type of red wine from Blumund. The dish was fine venison from a young buck roasted to a medium-rare, served with a side of creamy mushroom.

Aura too was subtly reaching for a wine glass, but Buku's glare stopped her.

{ What are you doing? } She messaged her daughter, activating Thought Acceleration and Thought Communication simultaneously.

{ I just wanted to taste it. I am a guest too, you know. } Aura replied with a pout.

{ You're not drinking any alcohol and that's final. } Buku leaned in her direction with the full authority of a mother.

{ Mom, remember that I have Poison Nullification. } Aura didn't give in, puffing her cheeks even more.

'This little… god dammit. This is what I get for making a tiny copy of myself in-game and then raising her as I was. She could at least wait til her mid-teens to have a mother-daughter drinking session…. I shouldn't be proud of her right now.'

{ Aha, and you also know how to turn it off! We're the same, so no alcohol missy! Especially in front of strangers. Now, be a good girl and behave! }

{ No fair. }

{ Life isn't fair. Live with it. }

Defeated, Aura accepted a glass of sweet fruit juice from the hostess, noticeably fruit juice being imported from Tempest.

Mjollmile noticed this seconds-long altercation but refrained from expressing his thoughts, knowing that revealing he had discovered an emotional pathway to Lady Bukubukuchagama wouldn't help him in the upcoming negotiations. He took a glass of wine as well, choosing to start with his roast venison steak.

The club they had been invited to for the meeting seemed similar to Butterflies of the Night, with beautiful women acting as hosts and waitresses anywhere one could look. The place was lauded for its high-quality service and drink, just like the club back in Dwargon's alleyway, but catered to a slightly different clientele. Its presentation more extravagant, its uniforms more formal, it was aimed at the richest of the rich such as herself and supposedly the businessman she was invited by.

Mjollmile handed over a folder to the hostess, who in turn quickly handed it to Buku. It was at least ten centimeters thick, made of expensive paper and thick leather, and if Mjollmile's dollar-sign eyes were anything it contained all the mercantile deals he wished to make in detail.

"My proposal is simple in nature; cut out the middleman between Western Nation consumers and Tempestian businesses. While the Free Guild does provide a lot of coverage into human nations, their commission rates and fees leave a deep cut into profits of both sides." Mjollmile proceeded to lay out his proposal, explaining in detail the potential benefits and opportunities that would arise from a close economic partnership between them.

"I see, but it seems you only have possible connections that the Free Guild does not have and not much else. I do not see how you dealing with us directly would provide even one-tenth of the guild's purchasing power," remarked Buku as she flipped through the extensively detailed pages with mild interest. She knew enough to avoid being tossed into unfavorable deals with foreign powers, but the nitty-gritty details the meeting would eventually boil down to was mostly in her brother's domain.

"Indeed. But my offer is not to become the new middleman. I wish to propose that Fushicho buys the majority of my company's shares and in turn, I will work closely with Fushicho to maximize profits for Tempestian natives." Mjollmile flashed his best salesman's smile, knowing if he did this right, he'd gain unparalleled access only rivaled by the Free Guild for his company.

'How the hell does he know Pero owns Fushico!? The clever bastard likely has the espionage networks and research capabilities of at least an entire minor nation, if not more. I guess I can dump him on my brother after confirming one final thing.' Buku quickly re-cast her illusion spells upon herself and Aura, ensuring neither of their surprises got through. Aura complained a little bit about needing to pause her eating but was quickly shushed as she returned to the conversation.

"Switch 'working closely with Fushicho' with 'working for Fushicho and its leadership' and you could work under us while keeping your benefits."

Mjollmile pondered for a moment as Buku dug into her venison and he sipped more wine, never letting their eyes off the other. 'If I accept this deal to meet with the person truly in charge of the largest private company in Tempest and has the backing of the fastest-growing government in the world. On the other hand, I'll become the worker I strove to avoid becoming for all these years….'

Buku, while eating, sent a detailed message to Pero about their conversation, pretty much forcing him to enter the negotiations and continue the talks.

{ Why are you doing this to me? I had just wrapped up my last bits of paperwork and was about to head home to end my work day. } Pero replied with a whine.

{ Payback for waking me up regularly. Either drag your lazy ass here or I'm telling the guy to fuck off. } Buku messaged with a venomous tone, enjoying the moment of petty vengeance as she internally chuckled.

{ Fair enough. Tell the merchant I'm coming with my ladies. My wives were getting themselves a night out one way or another. Might as well get it for free and at a quite fancy place. } Pero responded in a delighted, mischievous tone.

{ You can bankrupt his ass for all I care. He's got enough wealth to know your Fushicho's controlling the scene, tell your wives to order as much as they want. }

{ Gladly. I suppose I'll lighten up on the early morning calls for a few days. } Pero cut the conversation, likely to alert his concubines about their impromptu touristy night out all the way in an exotic human nation.

"You got your chance. My brother is coming," Buku announced, washing down her dish with a gulp of wine.

"Wonderful. Thank you for providing me with this opportunity," Mjollmile replied with a toothy grin, letting out a sigh of relief he didn't even know he had. He quickly pulled out a dozen more folders, each thicker than the last.

His gamble has paid off, immensely so. Sure, renting the whole club for the entire evening wasn't cheap by any measure, but if he played his cards right and made the right deals tonight, he could rapidly become one of the richest men outside of nobility within Blumund and, who knows, maybe even buy the title of baronet in the far future.

He didn't have to wait for long as a swirling, dark void formed quickly within the room, a few meters behind Lady Bukubukuchagama and Lady Aura. The legendary gate spell was reported by his informants to be used by the Lords of Tempest, but it was one thing to read about it and another to witness it in person, leaving him quite surprised at the instantaneous transportation.

The majestic birdman he had been gunning for, for the past few weeks was first to walk through, decked in a suit and tie that glittered like gold, followed by a group of beautiful women - none of whom, he noted, were human.

Goblinas, lycanthropes, a harpy, a kijin, an elf, some evolved sprites, and even a few other species all filed out of the gate. Taking their seats around the, thankfully, extremely large table. Lord Peroroncino sat down next to him, to his left a majin. The nearby hostess nearly panicked at the sudden burgeoning of customers, but hastily refined her expressions with her years of practiced experience. She would have to notify the cooks to cook for dozens more if the ladies chomping at their bits were anything, and she dashed off.

Mjollmile analyzed each of them as deeply as possible while attempting to remain neutral, giving each respected time before and during their formal greetings. The first thing he noticed were the extremely expensive and elaborate pieces of jewelry each woman was wearing, his experienced eye valuing even simple bracelets worth entire kingdoms. The average countess he knew - and many had wealth in spades thanks to his high-quality luxury goods - would choke green and die of envy upon seeing the treasures casually worn by these nonhuman women.

They also acted rather casually with each other and were clearly used to being treated like nobility, meaning the harem Lord Peroroncino had was quite harmonious and that he was very good with women, a possible route to negotiate with later. The majority was on the slimmer side, painting a clear picture of Perorocino's preferences, but two of them, a wolf lycanthrope and a harpy, were far curvier than the rest and were quite animated too.

Each of them wore a dress made out of material Mjollmile suspected was a very fine, high grade of hellmoth silk or something similar in quality, and was dyed in the brilliant rainbow-like silvery sheen, perhaps from interwoven magisteel thread. It was easy to see that Pero not only allowed but likely preferred that they show off their figures in rather daring dresses, given their quite snugly shown curves. One goblina, in particular, had her cleavage section cut in such a shape that all the way to her belly button was visible, and another wore practically nothing besides string to cover her back.

Moving on to the bird-like majin resting next to him as they exchanged small pleasantries, the suit he wore gave off so much light that Mjollmile was half-convinced there was magic involved. But a quick analysis of his suit's thread revealed it consisted of supremely thin orichalcum threads, expertly woven and decorated with veritable hundreds, if not thousands of tiny highest-quality raw magisteel ore bits. And that was just his suit, the total net worth of the cloth and jewelry was probably worth more than his entire net worth combined.

"My sibling informed me that you want to be my primary window to the human nations. How did you figure out my business model?" Pero addressed him in a rather carefree manner, accepting a glass of wine from a slightly nervous waitress.

The women in this establishment were professionals, but being in the presence of so many monsters was clearly pushing them to the limits. And if the gossip flying around the kitchen across the room was anything, they were even more stressed after somebody remembered Lord Peroroncino was a Lord of Tempest, and that meant almost everyone within the room besides Mr. Mjollmile was royalty.

Anyone would be nervous if they were serving over a dozen royal figures at once, especially ones as powerful as the ones in the room. Many of his wives held important positions in the government, and he was infamous across international borders for his feats. He would have to slide the waitresses a fat bonus at the end for their troubles and appreciated every ounce of their professionalism.

"Gut feeling, Lord Peroroncino-"

"Just Pero will do."

"Lord Pero. Tempest is a brand new and barely tapped market for almost any nation, humans included. As any decent merchant would, I kept tabs on my competitors, until I noticed that an abnormally high number of companies operating within your nation were owned by the same mysterious company named Fushicho, which no one knew anything about," Mjollmile cautiously explained, sending implied messages between the two.

"You're intelligent, I'll give you that. And I like working with intelligent people; they know the consequences of their actions," Pero spoke in a cheerful tone, but the point he was driving home was anything but, raising a cup of wine deftly placed moments before as he led the table in a toast for dinner.

'A clear warning that any sort of duplicity won't end well for me. If the rumors are true and Blumund is about to become Tempest's vassal, then it's paramount that I get the chance to work for Lord Pero directly. The amount of wealth I would handle would be staggering, beyond my wildest dreams, if the signs are anything.'

Considering how many nobles were indebted to him, it was trivial to obtain such information about Tempest and their economic support in exchange for conveniently extended payment dates. He could already count the number of zeroes rapidly rising within his eyes. Buku snorted as she knew Pero had his work cut out for him tonight, as she and Aura were heading home.

"I would not dream of going against such a lucrative, mutually beneficial partnership."

All that remained was to draw up agreements, and the deal was sealed as attendants from both sides shuffled up various papers and models hours later.

X

Relaxing on the tropical beach within Nazarick, her beloved Souei by her side, enjoying the sunny peace, and holding a slightly sweet cocktail in her left hand; she was in paradise. The sun was warm and pleasant and the sounds of the ocean gave a perfect ambiance. This weather would make those in Hawaii or Santa Barbara jealous, perfect in every way.

But like all good things, it had to come to an abrupt, noisy end. The loud and shrieking voice of her brother stole her from the illusionary realm of Morpheus and Doremy to the cruel reality of the bastard once again barging into her quarters at ungodly hours. She could sense it through the many barriers of her office, having even taken inspiration from the Free Guild's barrier, and knew exactly where he was.

"Ugh, that piece of shit!" she groaned, cracking open her eyes as she slammed her barrier alarms off.

"Oh, you're awake. I have to run a security meeting with my group." Souei grabbed his flak jacket, gave her a quick peck on her lips, and disappeared with a puff.

"Ah, you…ah forget it." She got out of bed, put on a morning robe, and pulled a morning star out of her inventory. She had it crafted by Kaijin for purposes like these.

She barged out of the bedroom and into her office, swinging straight for Pero's head. To her disappointment, he managed to avoid her attack, leaning to dodge the mace. The element of surprise was gone after the first few times she had used this tactic, so the avian knew what awaited him.

"Hey, sis! Had a productive night." He pointed at a cart full of papers and leaned backward from another swing.

"I will fucking murder you!" she screamed, trying to land a hit for some dregs of satisfaction, but Pero was far too fast for her.

"Anyway these are all the finance-related documents regarding your department! I'll be back with the rest once Mollie and I get the next set done." He cheerfully waved and teleported away, dropping another two carts from his inventory as he went.

"That fucking asshole! Get me some coffee!" Buku let out another shriek, now upon a completely unphased homunculus maid who had watched the whole exchange with a stony expression. The maid had watched this before and knew what to do.

The maid elegantly pulled out a prepared half-liter mug and a ginormous two-liter coffee pot, quickly pouring the only known liquid that would calm Buku down, adding in tons of sugar and cream. "Here you go, Lady Buku."

She just raised her eyebrow at the maid's foresightedness and took a long, large draft as she eyed the piles of paperwork. 'This is going to be a long day.'

Momonga, meanwhile, was having his excessively large but standard breakfast with his consorts as Diablo served them morning coffee and sixteen different types of croissants with jam. As a surprise twist, he had managed to rope the cooks into preparing drinks just for his master, as they had managed to brew up another sixteen different types of caffeinated beverages being served as well. As a proper butler, he had delved into the depths of Nazarick's library to draw inspiration for ways to impress.

{ Lord Momonga, I'm terribly sorry to bother you, but Lord Peroroncino arrived at Lady Buku- } A homunculus maid's voice rung within Momonga's mind as he bit into a plain croissant, the slightly casual tone and context identifying it as the one he had placed in Buku's office.

{ Anyone injured? }

{ No, my Lord. }

{ Then carry on and please be careful. }

'Not my problem. Not one bit. I'm just having a nice breakfast.' He chose to ignore the shenanigans of the siblings. As long as homunculus maids didn't get hurt, it wasn't his problem for the time being.

"Daddy did it again?" Shalltear picked up on his expression as he hadn't deactivated his energy body yet.

"Aha." Momonga sagely nodded.

X

Three days later, the time had come to make the announcement public for everyone to know, and to face their consequences. Everyone of even remote importance had gathered in the throne room of the Blumund's royal castle, from dukes to baronets, from religious clerics to rich merchants.

The King and Queen sat upon their respective thrones, with royal ministers standing on one side of them and Lady Bukubukuchagama on the other. Many religious figures were surprised, some having already inferred the decision made by her mere presence in the room. The merchants, not so much, thanks to the efforts of a certain chubby man with unusual hair.

Most of the gathered people there were already aware of the heavy decision the king had made after lengthy talks with nobles, generals, and the spymaster.

The Kingdom of Blumund stood no chance against the Tempest Hegemony in almost any metric, and the success of the church's crusade was equally dubious despite their grand proclamations of dealing a final blow to monsterkind's existence. The legendary Storm Dragon Veldora was free and ready to protect the nation that had declared him their holy guardian.

As capable as the saint Hinata was, few believed she would be able to slay the true dragon. Even if she could perform such an impossible feat, a new storm dragon would be reborn with memories of the old one a few decades later, and likely exact devastating vengeance upon their descendants, resulting in millions more casualties as their scattered defenses failed against his monumental might.

As the silence fell on the throne room the king spoke, regal as everyone expected. "Times of great turbulence are coming. Blumund cannot stand alone anymore against the incoming winds of change. We have prided ourselves as crafty and independent people, as did our ancestors and as we hoped for our children, but it's time to become part of something bigger. The Church of Luminism wants to use us as disposable pawns in their mad crusade-"

"What is this blasphemy!?" Archbishop Kalhuha shouted from the crowd, followed by exclamations of other religious figures and a few rich merchants who were invested in the church's monetary affairs.

"Silence!" the prime minister roared. Interrupting the king's speech wasn't something one could carelessly do, no matter the circumstances, as it was tantamount to treason. Even the queen couldn't, and she helped write the speech.

The royal guards turned their attention to the offending parties, tightening their grips around their halberds as their armor jostled. The priests and merchants gulped, edging towards the center of the back end of the room as they clutched their backup weapons and heavy jewelry.

"Their mad crusade to attack the monster nation, blessed by the Storm Dragon Veldora of legends. The country has been more than willing to extend an olive branch and engage in trade and diplomacy despite mankind's misconceptions about their kin, as it was the most beneficial interaction for all of us in the past. My loyal subjects, as your king, my utmost duty is to ensure your safety and prosperity, no matter the burden or cost upon myself."

The king took a dramatic pause and stood up. The queen took a place by his side as if to make room for somebody.

"After careful consideration, I have decided that the best way forward, for the safety and development of our nation, is to accept the Storm Dragon Veldora's divine protection, and for the Kingdom of Blumund to join the Tempest Hegemony."

"This can't be happening! King Drum has gone mad!" Kalhuha hollered at the top of his lungs. "The Church of Luminism will not stand such treachery against the goodwill of the God Luminous and the safety of humanity! You have sided with evil monsters, who aim to conquer your lands, massacre your men, rape your women, and enslave your children! You side with the destroyer of mankind, whose myths have torn apart nations! "

"The church tried to force us to go against a True Dragon, capable of destroying the entirety of the Western Nations ever since the True Hero disappeared decades ago! That is the real madness!" The prime minister screamed back, shaking his fists. The nobility and merchants quickly devolved into semi-organized chaos, whispers flying about the developing situation.

The King, meanwhile, ignored the clergyman's outburst and turned to Lady Bukubukuchagama with a bow. She made her move.

"Stop this heresy at once, I w-!" Kalhuha continued his shouting but fell silent as the people around him were violently pushed aside, and a monster in human skin stood before him. The aura pressuring him silenced any words crawling up his throat as his spine failed him.

The crowd instantly shied away from the pair, forming a circle around the duo. Buku's danger ranking was no secret to anyone who had an iota of wit, on a political or personal level. After her brother had taken down the legendary monster Charybdis on his own, both siblings were declared to be S-ranked by the Free Guild, based on the fact that both are considered equal in personal power. Being comparable to a Demon Lord of myths easily made her an impossible danger for a medium-sized nation like Blumund to deal with. Nobody wanted to get in her way - nobody wanted a taste of her magic. Very few in the world could rival her prowess, and none were either within the room or easily called upon, meaning she held the true power within the room and kingdom.

"Not everyone wants to enter a mindless slaughter in the name of a fake God, cardinal," Buku replied with a sneer, restraining herself from harming the man in front of that many witnesses, choosing instead to flare her aura across the room. It more than adequately displayed her power, with even the A-rank royal knights tensing up.

"Back off, monster!" Kalhuha bawled, growing increasingly hysterical as Buku kept pacing forward. He scrambled for his hidden holy-blessed knife, always within his robes for desperate situations, but it was nowhere to be found. The fact that Blumund would turn their back on the good of humanity, and join the detestable monsters, was an unexpected turn of events for him and something he hadn't made plans for. It wasn't hard to guess what would follow upon vassalization, to all citizens within Blumund. As the church planned to exterminate all monsters, it was only natural that the moment Tempest took over, they would do the same with all clergy, including himself.

"Or what?" Buku took a stomp towards the man, the thud reverberating throughout the regal hall.

"We will… we…" Kalhuha screeched in a high-pitched voice and fainted, falling to the ground as he simultaneously relieved himself. Nearby bystanders muttered in disgust and fear, inching away and leaving the man lying on the floor.

"Please continue, your Majesty," Buku addressed the king and returned to her spot, her slow, deliberate steps resounding throughout the dead silent halls.

"Lady Buku. Please accept our humble request."

The King and Queen declared, bowing again once Buku had returned to the podium where she stood before the sputtering clergyman rudely interrupted the, now her, ceremony.

"On behalf of the Supreme Overlord Momonga Tempest, I accept your request. From this day onward, the Kingdom of Blumund shall be part of Tempest Hegemony, and all its subjects are now Tempestian citizens." Buku declared, aura once again quickly washing over the inhabitants of the hall.

She extracted a contract out of her inventory, prepared long beforehand with Momonga's signature on it in anticipation of her political conquest, and patiently waited for the king to sign his signature.

Once the deed was done, she switched her attention as a gate opened behind her, a graveyard of liches coming through. The hall erupted into a cacophony of gasps and shrieks, before being silenced by her stare. Some who still harbored thoughts against Tempest outright fainted, learning that defense against the monsters was impossible.

"Welcome to the Tempest Hegemony. Serve us well and you will be rewarded. But I will give one warning; if you try to stand against us or think your position of power puts you above the law, you will end up as this fool."

Buku pointed a hand at the moribund archbishop propped up against the wall. The man let out a pained gasp and was mummified in mere seconds, making her point brutally clear as he turned into dust. They now served the monster nation, and any sort of attempt at going against its impossibly powerful leaders would be rewarded with a gruesome death. She then gestured to the hundreds of liches lining up behind her.

"Each noble will be assigned a dozen of our administrative staff to smooth out the takeover process and follow day-to-day operations. We have no intention of changing Blumund's current system of government. All noble titles are still hereditary, so long as the successors are deemed competent enough to carry out their duties on their own," Buku addressed the terrified crowd in a dignified manner as if she hadn't just killed a man mere moments before, a shock to the many nobles who had never been in a life or death situation.

"Lady Buku, what about the possibility of the Ruberios Holy Empire's immediate retaliation? Blumund remains one of their planned pathways to invade the Hegemony," One of the marquis asked, nervously shaking. Discussing it in private with the king was one thing, meeting the real monsters was another. A good portion of his population believed in Luminism, and he feared the worst for his people, his territory, and his family. At worst, the former nation would be engulfed in a civil war as religious ideology clashed with common sense.

"We will deploy a defense force in the border provinces alongside your own army. Tempest considers the safety of its citizens as a duty that cannot be overlooked, and we will work to annihilate the fanatical intruders aiming to destroy your land and people. Rest assured, you will be protected."

With no more questions from the crowd, her official part was done. Only one final thing remained before she returned home.

{ Demiurge, you can begin the purge of all opposition. }

{ The purge is already set in motion, Lady Buku. Only forty targets remain and will be dealt with within minutes. } The archdevil dutifully reported. Every religious or politically discriminant person of power had to go, regardless of their political or economic status. The human nation would find itself in the midst of a great cleanse of its filth, but it would survive.

{ Great. }

With Demiurge and Albedo in charge of most dealings regarding the human nation, Buku could pick up Aura and return home with the satisfaction of a job well done. They enjoyed a nice mother-daughter bonding moment over school homework mere minutes later.

X

Her pearl-white face seemed to be twisted into a permanent scowl these days, her fingers attacking any furniture nearby as she contemplated her life's decisions. She listened as Louis delivered the recent news, in place of Hinata since she had been sent out, and her table was already starting to form dents.

Besides the two of them, the only individuals present within the room were Roy and Gunther, three of the four of her closest confidants. As far as the rest of the world was concerned, this room didn't exist.

"The overall public sentiment is turning against the church after the Free Guild spread their lies of us kidnapping and temporarily replacing their human leader, Yuuki Kagurazaka. Adventurers in particular have sworn off Luminism in droves, citing fear for their own lives as their primary reason. Additionally Blumund, in response to our pressure to accept Luminism as their state religion, has instead become a vassal state of the Tempest Hegemony."

"How could you let this happen?" Luminous snarled in a tone that made her servants' blood freeze.

"My lady…"

"Why didn't you counter their propaganda with ours!?"

"I am redoubling my efforts in handling the situation, but the decision to antagonize the Storm Dragon was already very unpopular among most nations - most are terrified of retribution in the future. So far, only the Kingdom of Falmuth is in full support of us, with them providing large numbers of professional soldiers, hired mercenaries, and paid adventurers. They have also covered half of the logistical costs-"

"If possible, tell Hinata to make public appearances when she can." Luminous' suggestion was met with uncomfortable silence. With a rather obvious suspicion flitting through her mind, her mood soured even more.

"Louis!?" she hissed.

"Hinata has broken your order and now carries the sword all the time. She reasons that since she is targeted by Tempest's assassins, she needs the sword's power to stop them from harming either herself or the crusade. I am inclined to believe her. Tempest sent three unknown types of undead monsters and a brainwashed cleric against her, which reports say forced her to utilize the blade's power as Melt Slash had failed." Louis did his best to prevent his voice from shaking.

His mistress wasn't known for punishing the messengers who delivered bad news, but even she had her limits, and it was a fair guess that the said limits might have been reached.

Luminous slammed her fist on the table, enraged aura engulfing the room. A loud crack was all the proof Gunther needed that the furniture would need extensive repairs once again.

After a long exhale, she inquired in a calmer tone, "Is it possible to call the invasion off and enter talks with Tempest?"

It would've been easy to blame the sword's influence on her decision to send Hinata after the horrible reptile, but it was her desire for vengeance that clouded her judgment just as much. This rash decision threatened not only her power base over the human nations, but also her very kingdom in the case of Hinata failing to kill the dragon. If Hinata died, she would lose one of her strongest forces, weakening her nation in the eyes of other old-generation Demon Lords.

"While we could stop the crusade at the cost of the church's reputation, there is no guarantee Tempest will return our attempts at mending the situation. They have already released a public announcement of defending their lands and peoples against us," Louis replied.

"Do we have any other options?" Luminous slumped down in her chair helplessly, once again fingering her favorite sword from centuries past. It had helped her tremendously in the past, but it couldn't help her now. The situation had become something more than a mere target to kill.

"I could call for a Walpurgis. The Storm Dragon's actions are causing changes in the political climate, and no doubt multiple Demon Lords would like to investigate or stop it," Roy stated.

"We have no allies among Demon Lords, and I doubt Guy would refrain from informing the Frost Dragon Velzard of our attempts to kill her brother. Dealing with two of them at the same time is plain impossible." Luminous shut down the idea.

"I still would prefer to at least attempt gaining support, and that Lady Luminous-"

"Roy!"

"Lady Luminous. The situation has grown too unfavorable to continue in complete isolation. I think the option of allying with other Demon Lords should at least be considered." Roy refused to give in. "We cannot protect you on our own if Hinata fails."

Luminous glared at her subordinate for a moment, but her expression quickly grew somber, "She won't fail…" 'She can't. I won't forgive myself if I lose you.' "Fine. To whom do we talk first then?"

"Leon would be the most obvious choice even if he is an isolationist like us, due to his vested interest in keeping his nation as a majin powerhouse. Dino is another one we could get on our side due to his desire to keep world peace through lack of change. The ones having lands near Tempest likely won't get involved unless directly threatened, and thus are not viable for contact. That leaves Milim, Guy, Dagruel, and Ramiris, with none of them being viable choices for one reason or another. We have reports that Milim and Ramiris are residing within Tempest, and that Milim has been reported mingling with Tempest's upper echelons."

"I see. Contact Leon and Dino then, but do not push anything at the moment. Just keep the base correspondence."

"Understood, Lady Luminous."

"I'll keep that option open if everything else fails. Anything else we can use?"

"I'm afraid not. Lady Luminous, as catastrophic as it might be, perhaps it is better to recall Hinata and remove the sword from her possession. Her behavior is becoming more erratic by the day, even with clear evidence that she should be capable of killing the dragon," Louis cautiously stated.

'I have invested so much for a chance of vengeance. That monster deserves to die but… He already knows I'm out for his blood, and if he spreads his influence further into human nations, I will likely lose everything I have built either way. I have no option but to proceed. Hinata, I am sorry if I push you too far. I truly am.'

"No, proceed with the crusade," Luminous ordered, renewed determination flowing through her aura. It was too late for regrets, and they could only push forward.

"My Lady, at least let me prepare your backup sanctuary on the crooked horn island," Roy said. "We cannot lose you as the progenitor of our race."

"Very well. You can begin the preparations. Contact the vampires and warn them of a possible forced evacuation, and if worse comes to worst, an invasion unseen since the founding of the Church."

After dismissing the trio she was alone, once again. As of late, that had become the norm, not an exception with how busy they all were. When Chloe was still around, she at least had a constant friend who let her be just that, a friend.

In a moment of weakness, she contemplated contacting Hinata just to hear her voice. However, considering Hinata had broken her orders, the conversation likely wouldn't be pleasant.

'I need to get a friend or two. Chloe, why did nothing you told me come to pass? I looked forward to having a friend in the form of a slime,' she thought as she held her head in her hands, her god-tier sword shimmering on the table.

Edited by aidan_lo

Proofread by aidan_lo, Cakeeight, Aurodium, FantasyTroll, Lightflan, atharv, x4x, and Sluethen

AN: Thank you for reading the story, and if you have caught up to the latest chapter, you can check out my other work or join my discord server (https://discord.gg/WmGKVU3XG2WmGKVU3XG2) where additional chapters are available or if you are interested in becoming a beta reader (gives access to chapters months ahead of regular readers).