Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka?

Chapter The Third Informal Conference ①

Author’s note: The pope’s point of view.

「To summarise, you are saying that it was due to mismanagement on your side?」

In response to my question, Shiro-sama silently nods her head in assent. I somehow manage to stifle the urge to hold my head in my hands, and glance down at the nearby document. The circumstances of the current incident are written there in detail. As well as what Shiro-sama is trying to achieve with those actions.

For the moment the large-scale invasion by the demons has ended, and right when I was in the middle of processing the aftermath, that document suddenly arrived. I had a bad premonition when it was handed over by Ael, the Puppet Taratekt that Ariel-sama had left here. Then, when I looked at the contents that premonition became real. It was a written report from Shiro-sama. The unexpected contents covered the steps taken to prepare for overthrowing the Anareich Kingdom.

「So like, sorry? This was so unexpected you know. Like, really, seriously.」

Ariel-sama makes apologies while staring somewhere far into the distance. While she has a light tone, I somehow sense that she is genuinely feeling apologetic, or is that just my misunderstanding?

「First of all, we request that the brainwashing is released.」

According to this document, Yurin Uren, who is studying abroad at the Anareich Kingdom academy and who is one of the reincarnators in the service of our Divine Word Religion, along with several other believers dispatched there have been brainwashed in order provide support. The one who did the brainwashing is Prince Yuugo of the Rengzand Empire. Prince Yuugo is working under the control of Shiro-sama, but due to him being left to his own devices, this mistake occurred.

I understood why Shiro-sama had not disclosed the secret agreement between her and the Divine Word Religion to him. For myself as well, this secret agreement has only been told to the few humans that can be trusted. It would be the same for the demons as well, especially for any companions who are not human, moreover the Prince of the Empire. You can never know where this information could leak from and if such a thing ever happened it would cause a situation that cannot be undone.

However, it would be unreasonable to say that what has occurred was merely unfortunate. Although it is outside the scope of the agreement, this is a clear case of the demons conducting an offensive strike against the Divine Word Religion. While the offender might be the Prince of the Empire, since Shiro-sama was acting behind the scenes, that can be considered as an attack from the demons. Even if it was unintentional, this is not something that can be simply settled by sweeping it under the carpet. historical

「Please allow me to explain.」

The one who spoke, was not Shiro-sama, but the girl sitting next to her. This girl going by the name of Felmina is clearly quite a strong demon. What is odd is that amongst the members on the demon side, she alone is a demon. This single demon seems to have a lowly position amongst the members on their side.

「Firstly, we wish to request that the brainwashing is maintained on Yurin-jou and the other members.」

There is a disturbance amongst the other members in attendance on our side. I quell that by raising a hand, and fix my eyes straight on Felmina-jou. Despite being caught in my gaze, Felmina-jou shows no sign of nervousness on the surface. Assuming that she is probably still young for a demon, that’s some courage she has. Perhaps it is due to her being in frequent contact with high level beings such as Ariel-sama and Shiro-sama?

「May I ask for your reasons?」

Calmly, but forcibly, I place my will in my voice. As if being engulfed in the tension, Felmina-jou swallows once, then began her explanation.

「Before we get to that, there is something we wish to inform you of. Recall that during the recent war that the Hero passed on, and that a new one would be chosen. Regarding that new Hero, according to our investigations we have confirmed him to be the 4th Prince of the Anareich Kingdom, Shurein Zagan Anareich.」

Again, there is a disturbance on our side. I make sure not to show on my face any of the unrest in my innermost thoughts. The demons determined who the new Hero was first, beating the intelligence network of Divine Word Religion. You could say that we were completely defeated in information warfare. Terrifying.

「For him to be appointed as the new Hero was outside of our calculations. We would prefer for the reincarnators to survive, as much as possible. However, as I am sure you are aware, due to the principle of causality the Hero is an existence capable of defeating the Demon King regardless of the difference in strength. Taking that into consideration, we wish to either keep the new Hero as far away from the battlefield as possible, or otherwise it will be necessary for him to die.」

For Ariel-sama who became the Demon King, the Hero is her natural enemy. Considering her unsurpassable status values, if there is any way for Ariel-sama to be beaten, then it could only be either be by a god who is free from the restraints of the System, or the Hero who has the potential to vanquish the Demon King regardless of the difference in status. It could be said that keeping the Hero as far away as possible is to be expected. For the demons who possess an intelligence network that far surpasses our own, I’m sure that it would be a simple matter as soon as the new Hero was discovered. So long as he wasn’t a reincarnator.

For Shiro-sama who is a reincarnator, it appears to be her policy for the other reincarnators to survive as much as possible. If that is so, then she cannot afford to carelessly deal with young Shurein, the new Hero. It would be expected that she would proceed with as gentle methods as possible. On our side as well, we would be reluctant to casually allow a person who can defeat Ariel-sama to simply die. All the more so since he is a reincarnator, a talented person with high status values even before becoming the Hero.

However, I cannot simply accept the excuse from Shiro-sama’s side on blind faith. Before the war began, Ariel-sama stated that she and Shiro-sama would not directly participate in the war. But, considering the actual results, Shiro-sama took actions that were equivalent to killing the Hero Julius. That disproves the statement made here. Perhaps because this is informal, I must consider that any statements made here will not necessarily be completely honoured.

That being the case, just how credible are her words that she wants the reincarnators to survive as much as possible? In the first place, if those words could be believed, then Yurin should have been immediately released from the brainwashing. Since she too is a reincarnator.

「Accordingly, we wish to constrain the actions of Shurein-shi.」

「Hrm. So, how is that related to our brainwashed believers?」

In response to my question, Felmina-jou presented to us another set of documents.

「Indeed. On this occasion, we are requesting that the Divine Word Religion openly provide backup for the Empire, and consequently for Prince Yuugo.」

Written within that document, was a detailed plan for the overthrowing of the Kingdom, and also what is requested of the Divine Word Religion.