The establishment of a three-way alliance between the Holy Papal State of Lubelius, the Western Holy Church, and the Monster Nation would be formally recognized in official documents and declared to every nation.
The paperwork was undoubtedly complicated, but with all the representatives present, things moved quickly.
Hinata was practically the representative in her own right, and in any case, she had come with full authority. She signed the agreement without any issues, and the matter was settled.
The relationship was fundamentally one of equals.
Trade relations would be left to market principles — determined by the balance of power between merchants and nations. At that stage, I could already call this a favorable arrangement for us.
Hinata and Luminas had no interest in commerce. They had agreed to leave things to the market, which played right into our hands. This meant we could now expect enormous profits through trade as well.
In terms of food self-sufficiency, improvements had been made to the point where it was workable, as long as we didn't get too extravagant. However, apart from the upper echelons — meaning me — the food situation at the level of ordinary citizens still had plenty of room for improvement.
To acquire foodstuffs at a wide variety of quality levels, trade with the Holy Papal State of Lubelius was exactly what we needed. After all, Lubelius was an agricultural powerhouse.
Luminas didn't actually oppress her citizens that much. Rather, she protected them quite generously. But her approach was limited to making them grow their own food and watching over them to ensure they never starved.
If that was the case, then the smart move was for each country to specialize in different crops and explore the cultivation of richer, more diverse agricultural products.
This was the kind of thing I could arrange freely under the name of "market forces." We'd need to investigate climate conditions and expedite the development of crops suited to each region.
Potato-based agriculture could be left to Lubelius, while we should probably focus on rice cultivation as our mainstay.
As for the rest, in terms of technology, the Monster Nation held an overwhelming advantage. By trading rare ores and specialty products, we could push negotiations in our favor.
Myourmile would handle all of that without missing a beat, I was sure.
The land spreading to the west was rather poor compared to the territories where Demon Lords resided or the granary regions of the Eastern Empire.
The wars between former Demon Lords had spread the Land of Death far and wide, and the pervading Magicules were draining the soil of its nutrients.
But this called for a shift in thinking. Rather than plants that were resistant to Magicules, we should develop crop varieties genetically modified to convert Magicules into nutrients.
If left unchecked, the ever-expanding desert would eventually swallow the Holy Papal State of Lubelius as well. Luminas seemed to think that if her nation ceased to exist, she would simply lead her subjects and seize some other territory, but that kind of thinking wouldn't work so easily anymore.
We should make effective use of the land we had and truly aim for mutual coexistence and prosperity.
When I offered these observations casually and requested that her people accept our investigation team—
"That's fine. I leave all such trivial matters entirely to you."
Luminas granted permission just like that.
She did say that entry into the underground kingdom where she lived was off-limits, naturally, but we were free to do as we pleased with the human nations on the surface.
She prepared a letter of commission under the Pope's name, and just like that, we obtained development rights over the human territories of the Holy Papal State of Lubelius.
There was, however, one condition.
She wanted us to include vampires in the joint research we were planning with the Dwarven Kingdom and the Magitocracy of Sarion.
Apparently, while the surface-dwelling humans were kept at a low level of civilization, the underground held quite an advanced level of technology.
"After all, it was troublesome having the angels take notice of us. So all important research was conducted underground. I may boast, but among the Demon Lords, I am the one who possesses the greatest wisdom and technical skill."
So she said.
Unlike humans, vampires had lifespans exceeding even those of elves, along with near-immortality.
Furthermore, high-ranking noble vampires didn't even need blood to sustain themselves — they could maintain their existence by draining only a minuscule amount of life force from humans…
It seemed the bored nobles had been indulging in their hobbies, crafting all manner of things purely for their own amusement.
Luminas probably figured our joint research would serve as an excellent pastime for them.
Those capable of tolerating sunlight — called "Overcomers" — were said to be few in number, but those who qualified could participate in research anywhere.
So we agreed to allow a few Overcomers — in other words, members of the ruling class — to join.
Well, having seen the carriage Luminas rode in, there was no doubt about their extraordinary level of technology. This was shaping up to be quite a good deal.
With both sides satisfied, we exchanged promises.
Then came the Western Holy Church.
Needless to say, this was the very heart of the religious world.
There were countless lay followers out there. The Church agreed to issue a proclamation to all of them stating that we were not an evil existence.
This organization possessed an almost inexplicable amount of money and influence. Having them as a backer was a huge deal.
Some nations already knew that we had fought against the Holy Knights. But by quickly publicizing the improvement in our relations, we could prevent the Church's authority from collapsing too badly.
The fact that we hadn't killed a single Holy Knight also mattered. We would frame it not as a war, but as a discussion between us and the Church's doctrine — a mutual recognition that we could understand each other. That was the narrative we agreed upon.
In other words, the story was revised to say that the Holy Knights had been dispatched to prove that we were not an evil existence.
A handful of people knew the truth, and those few were holding their heads and groaning.
"Fine, fine, I get it! I just keep my mouth shut and spread the narrative as planned, right?!"
Fuse screamed, having apparently reached his breaking point.
Well, he caught on fast. That was helpful.
But this guy — he really did show up at the most convenient times. No need to go track him down for meetings; he just appeared wherever he was needed.
Maybe I'd treat him to something delicious sometime. That thought crossed my mind.
"Can I count on you? That would really help," Hinata said, looking at Fuse.
"O-of course! Leave it to me! This Fuse will do everything in his power to meet your expectations! Now that you've entrusted this to me, you can rest easy — just relax and enjoy the ride!"
His face turned beet red as he struggled to contain his excitement while answering Hinata.
He said his own name twice — what was he thinking? Was it because it was important, so he said it twice?
His reaction was far too transparent.
Fuse was clearly smitten with Hinata. Well, she was way out of his league, so it wasn't going to happen.
"Thank you. I'll leave it to you," said Hinata.
Hearing those words, Fuse was fired up and ready to go.
What a fickle guy. Maybe I wouldn't need to treat him to anything after all.
And so, with things roughly settled like this, the alliance was established. The finer details would be worked out by
From a national strategy perspective, this made future developments much easier — a major achievement.
The real issue, however, lay in the original purpose behind all this.
Or rather, to put it plainly, it was about the subjugation of Yuuki.
"Now then, that should be enough regarding the alliance. The real question is how we deal with the Free Guild."
"Right, that's the problem. The Free Guild has branches in every nation, but how far does the headquarters' will actually reach?"
"Yes, perhaps I should explain what I've found," Fuse said, and began laying out his findings.
The relationship between Free Guild headquarters and its branches across various nations — both large and small. The earlier explanation had given us a rough picture, but I wanted to hear the details.
According to Fuse, in large nations, inspectors were dispatched to ensure the headquarters' directives were properly communicated.
These inspectors served as conduits for the Supreme Commander's will. For everyone else, they determined who had been subjected to thought manipulation based on when they'd been hired and whether they'd worked at headquarters — and the conclusion was that the number wasn't that large.
"Of course, this is all based on the premise that thought manipulation can only be used on people the Supreme Commander has met directly," Fuse concluded.
Thought guidance was a simplified version of the skill — it could obstruct perception or create false thoughts, but that was about it. Think of it as an enhanced version of hypnotism or a con artist's patter.
So with mere guidance, if you carefully analyzed what the other person was saying, you could prevent it to some degree. But just as people never stopped falling for master con artists, it was difficult to prevent being deceived even when you were on guard.
Conversely, this also made it hard to undo the effects. So I put that matter aside for later.
The ability in question — actual thought manipulation — required planting a "Curse Crystal" in the target to implant thought control.
This "Curse Crystal" could apparently also perform high-level mental domination. But was it possible to spread that kind of ability without even meeting the target, by using someone who had already been controlled?
"It's impossible. I can say that precisely because I've been subjected to thought manipulation myself. The ability isn't that omniscient. If it were, every Holy Knight would have been under his control," Hinata stated firmly.
Fuse was surprised to hear Hinata confess that she had been subjected to thought manipulation, but he said nothing about it and simply produced his documents.
"These, then, are the individuals who have met the Supreme Commander directly and hold senior positions in the branches. However — myself included — even branch directors who have met him aren't necessarily under thought manipulation."
He showed me a list of key personnel at each branch with their names.
Sure enough, Fuse had met Yuuki but hadn't been manipulated. So even branch directors in small nations were being ignored? No — thought manipulation probably had its limits.
Controlling Hinata must have been enormously difficult, and right now, Yuuki was controlling Chloe, the strongest Hero — and even that was incomplete.
If that was the case… perhaps Yuuki's actual reach of control wasn't that great after all?
[Analysis. That assessment appears to be correct. With all his effort devoted to the Hero, he likely has no spare capacity to allocate to thought manipulation.]
It turned out that Masayuki had actually had a tiny parasite attached to him as well — one so small I'd crushed it unconsciously. The parasites Yuuki had placed even before the Hero's resurrection had been at that level. I was now confident there was nothing to fear in the current situation.
After all, Professor Raphael's predictions were always perfect.
"Alright, I've decided. Yuuki's thought manipulation is not a current threat. Aside from those genuinely devoted to him, he can't forcibly control anyone. We could go branch by branch, normalizing them one at a time… but I think we should strike at the heart all at once. What do you think?"
My proposal was to put the branches aside for now. We'd hit headquarters directly, crush Yuuki before he could carry out any more of his schemes, and cut off his ability to act in the shadows.
Even if Heroes showed up, both Luminas and I would be there. I could handle Chloe while someone killed Yuuki.
As for
The three of us should be plenty. That was my simple reasoning, but—
"Wait. I can't fight like I used to. The Holy Spirit's blessing is still with me, and I can still use Thought Acceleration, but my soul power has been drastically reduced. Ultra-acceleration combat — fighting under Thought Acceleration — will only last a few seconds at most. I'm afraid I no longer have any power as a Hero."
Hinata made this announcement with a pained expression.
Now that she mentioned it, I realized the drop in Hinata's presence value hadn't been my imagination.
But we needed to strike soon. The biggest reason was that I wanted to rescue Chloe quickly, but more than anything, I didn't want to leave Yuuki free to do as he pleased any longer.
Most of the problems we'd been dealing with traced back to Yuuki when you followed them to the source.
Even if Hinata was out of commission, I still judged that hitting headquarters was the right call.
"I agree with striking headquarters first. But there's nothing wrong with hitting the branches at the same time, is there? My subordinates, your followers, and every Holy Knight — we mobilize everything and strike all at once," Luminas suggested, proposing something rather extreme.
I had considered that plan but dismissed it to avoid causing chaos… but then again, it might be a good opportunity to see what Luminas's subordinates were really capable of. Maybe it was worth reconsidering.
Chaos? That was easily dealt with.
And so, we set about planning our strategy once more.
……
……
…
After the meetings were concluded, the unit assignments were finalized.
First, Hinata would oversee headquarters operations, serving as the liaison point for all units.
Mixed teams would be deployed to apprehend suspicious individuals at each branch. These would consist of guides from Fuse's organization,
We would ignore small nations entirely, focusing only on suppressing inspectors in major countries.
And most critically, the assault on Free Guild headquarters.
Luminas and I were locked in, of course. We'd bring
Luminas would apparently bring her personal guard force, the "Seven Star Sages."
Veldora would hold position in the sky, destroy the barrier protecting the Kingdom of Ingracia, and then erect an anti-escape barrier.
We planned to set up the barrier immediately after our infiltration.
I thought it was a perfect formation.
We also had
No matter how powerful Yuuki was, we could take him down while we held the Hero Chloe in check.
This was an enormous fighting force. If we still managed to lose with this lineup, the only option left would be an all-out war with no regard for consequences.
"My my, it's been quite a while since the last battle. I can hardly contain my excitement," Diablo said.
"Hee hee hee. Diablo, no hogging — I won't allow it," Shion added.
Diablo and Shion looked worryingly happy.
The two of them should be more than enough to handle someone at Kagali's level.
Luminas insisted that Yuuki was her prey, so I reluctantly agreed to let her have first crack at him. Once Kagali was taken down, though, Diablo and Shion would join the fray.
I would handle Chloe.
I didn't want to hurt her, and beyond that, her power level was unknown. Underestimating her could easily lead to defeat.
According to Luminas:
"As much as I hate to admit it, Chloe is probably stronger than I am. If you let your guard down, you could die too."
Just how strong was she?! I thought. But everyone unanimously agreed that I was best suited to stall for time, given my wide variety of tactics.
Anyway, the plan was simple: kill Yuuki, and the problem would be solved.
I had wanted to talk to him a little before killing him, but this was no longer the kind of situation where that was possible. To rescue Chloe, we had no choice but to eliminate him swiftly.
If Chloe proved stronger than expected, Ranga and Veldora could also join the fight.
We would not be careless.
And so, we would defeat Yuuki and save Chloe.
The plan was set, and events began moving swiftly toward execution.
And so, with that grand declaration, we launched our assault…
The result was failure.
Well, not everything was a failure — the overall situation had improved — but we allowed Yuuki, the heart of the operation, to escape.
We had infiltrated as planned, and Veldora had deployed the barrier on schedule. But by the time he did, Yuuki had already withdrawn.
In a move that was almost impressive in its decisiveness, Yuuki had abandoned Free Guild headquarters entirely and fled.
Ten years' worth of work, everything he'd built — he'd tossed it all away without a second thought.
Enemy or not, I had to admire that kind of nerve. If we didn't take him down here, there was no telling what he would attempt next — that uncertainty made this a clear failure.
Naturally, rescuing Chloe was also off the table.
But it wasn't all a waste. The inspectors at each branch had already fled as well, but some among the royal families had been subjected to thought guidance or even weak thought manipulation.
We succeeded in rescuing those individuals.
With Holy Knights accompanying us, we were able to explain that all the wrongdoing had been Yuuki's doing, and that explanation was accepted without issue — that was significant.
Despite some confusion in both large and small nations alike, stability was quickly restored.
And so, while the original operation had failed, we had succeeded in cutting off the roots of Yuuki's control.
As a byproduct of this, the groundwork was laid for the Monster Nation to be accepted by the wider world.
It had been rough treatment, but draining the wound and building a new framework toward unity was possible.
When the upper echelons of Free Guild headquarters fled, the Western Holy Church moved swiftly to fill the vacuum, demonstrating formidable organizational skills and building a new system.
Things hadn't gone as expected, but striking headquarters first had not been a mistake.
Except for letting Yuuki slip away, the situation had improved — that was what I meant.
For a time, the nations belonging to the council — centered on the Kingdom of Ingracia — remained in a state of confusion.
But once things stabilized, Yuuki's deeds as Supreme Commander of the Free Guild came to light, drawing the fury of every nation involved.
In the midst of all this, the Western Holy Church's efforts were praised, which fortunately contributed to restoring the trust that had begun to waver.
We, too, were formally recognized as a nation — not as a member of the council, but we were accepted nonetheless.
In other words, formal diplomatic relations were established with every nation.
In our pursuit of coexistence and prosperity with humanity, we had taken a significant step forward.
In the future, as we fought against Yuuki and the Eastern Empire, the nations surrounding the Great Forest of Jura would inevitably be drawn into conflict. Before that happened, I wanted to form a military alliance that included the Monster Nation.
Letting Yuuki escape was a failure, but in terms of our preparedness against the Eastern Empire, things had taken a favorable turn.
There was no guarantee the Eastern Empire would launch an aggressive invasion, but countermeasures were necessary.
Given all of this, the various nations could no longer ignore the Monster Nation — that was the reality.
This incident served as the catalyst. The Monster Nation was formally recognized as a sovereign nation and would eventually grow into the leading power of a military alliance encompassing the nations of the Great Forest of Jura.
Money, technology, military might.
The Monster Nation's rise, with its overwhelming advantage in all these areas, was perhaps inevitable.
But that was a story for a little further down the road…
The failure of the subjugation of Yuuki remained a lingering concern for the future.