The moment I devoured
And then he declared: "Magnificent. I hereby recognize you as a Demon Lord from this day forward.
Does anyone object?"
No one raised any objections.
It seemed I had been officially recognized as a Demon Lord.
What a relief. Honestly, I'd been thinking that making enemies of the other Demon Lords at this point would be suicidal.
"I believed you were someone who gets things done when it counts, Rimuru!
If you want, I could even acknowledge you as my disciple!"
"Oh, I'm all set on that front—no disciples needed, thanks!"
"What?! Come on, why not?! It'd be great if you'd just humbly become my disciple!"
In response, "Hee hee! Rimuru is my friend, you know. Apparently, she doesn't want to get along with you!"
"Huh?! No way—hold on, Rimuru, you're joking, right?"
"Bwahahaha! You're being left out, Ramiris!"
"What did you say?! Take this!"
At those words, Ramiris launched a flying kick at Milim's face, which Milim nimbly dodged.
Watching the two of them, Luminus spoke with a resigned expression: "Hmph. As much as I'd rather not admit it, I suppose I have no choice. I haven't forgotten my grudge against that evil dragon over there.
But fine. I'll recognize you for now. If you survive the next Great War, I'll give you a proper fight!"
She said this while glaring at me with an intensely murderous look, so I'd thought this beautiful girl would be the toughest obstacle—but apparently not.
"We recognize you too. Right, Guy?"
"Indeed. I had no objections to begin with."
Having met and talked with the two of them earlier probably helped. They'd tried to shield me just a moment ago too. Good people, those two.
"Hmph, I don't care who becomes a Demon Lord or not. Do as you please."
That was Leon. Cold as ever, same old guy.
Now, two remained.
Thinking this, I glanced at
Then she said: "May I make a suggestion? Since we're in the middle of a feast, this seems like the perfect timing. I have a request to make."
This was what she came out with.
Luminas's butler was resetting the round table I'd kicked back into position.
There were some significant dents, but it was out of my line of sight. Better not to acknowledge it.
No way I was paying for a fancy round table like this.
The Demon Lords took their seats at the round table.
Two maids circulated with tea.
Once things had settled down, Frey began speaking again.
"First of all, I have no objection to recognizing that slime over there as a Demon Lord.
What I'd like to propose is entirely unrelated to that matter.
...Well, not entirely unrelated, actually.
Watching that fight earlier confirmed it for me. As a Demon Lord, I'm too weak.
Against Clayman, at best it'd be a draw.
In aerial combat, I'd have the advantage, but... there's no room for excuses when it comes to Demon Lords.
I've decided to pledge my allegiance to Milim.
She's reckless and someone needs to watch over her.
I may be inferior as a Demon Lord, but as a military asset, I'm still quite capable.
What do you think? Would you accept this proposal?"
Frey looked back and forth between Milim and Guy as she spoke.
She doesn't really seem that weak to me, though...
If anything, Clayman turned out to be a schemer who acted on impulse. This Frey isn't the type who relies on schemes—she's the unsettling kind who never lets you see what she's really thinking.
Well, she's the textbook "women are terrifying" type, so that probably makes her even more unnerving.
Before Milim could respond to the proposal: "Wait a minute. If that's how it is, I've got something to say too.
I also lost to Milim in a one-on-one fight. I'll accept my defeat and submit gracefully.
If it were a Hero, that'd be one thing, but it'd be pretty tasteless for a loser to keep calling herself a Demon Lord, right?
So, starting today, I'm becoming one of Milim's subordinates. Nice to meet you, Boss!"
This one didn't even bother confirming whether the other party was willing.
Milim didn't have any subordinates, so technically no one under her could object...
But was it really okay for two Demon Lords to become subordinates?
"Hold on, Carrion! The one-on-one was Clayman's fault!
I was being controlled! I had nothing to do with it!"
That's a bit of a stretch.
Even I think that excuse won't fly, Milim.
The other Demon Lords also wore exasperated expressions, clearly thinking "don't be ridiculous."
"Hey, don't play dumb! Just a second ago you yourself said— 'Controlling me is impossible, right?' 'I'm quite skilled at breaking things like that!' Didn't you?!"
An incredibly accurate voice impression of Milim.
Turned out she had some hidden talents.
"Mmph! W-Well, that was..."
"Now, who cares about that muscle-head over there, I'm good, right, Milim?"
"H-Hold on! If you become my subordinate or underling, you won't talk to me so casually anymore, will you?!
You won't come up with evil schemes with me anymore?!"
To Milim's protest, Frey shook her head: "No—it means we can be together all the time, and maybe we can do even more fun things together!"
See? This right here—this is exactly why you can't let your guard down.
As for Carrion: "After all, you're the one who blew up my country, aren't you?!
You have an obligation to support us!"
She started trying to confuse Milim with complicated-sounding arguments.
More of a schemer than I'd expected.
Milim's eyes were starting to spin—she was on the verge of a shutdown.
And finally: "Fine, fine, fine!!! I understand already! Do whatever you want!"
Like a volcanic eruption, smoke billowed from her head and she simply stopped thinking.
Leave it to Milim.
She seems smart, but she really can't handle thinking for too long.
"Ha ha ha. Very well! From this day forward, Frey and Carrion are no longer Demon Lords.
You shall serve under Milim."
Guy declared this with a laugh.
No one seemed to object. Naturally, I had no objections either.
And so, my coronation as a Demon Lord was officially ratified.
At the same time, three Demon Lords were struck from the roster—one was condemned to eternal death, and two became direct subordinates of Demon Lord Milim.
The Ten Great Demon Lords had now become the Eight Great Demon Lords.
"So we're not the Ten Great Demon Lords anymore, huh?"
At my offhand muttering, the Demon Lords perked up.
"This is a problem. From a standpoint of dignity, we'll need to come up with a new name,"
Dagruel said.
Huh? Is that really that important?
"Fortunately, we're right in the middle of the Demon Lord Banquet.
With all the Demon Lords gathered here, a good idea is sure to come up."
Luminas chimed in with complete seriousness.
Come on, who cares about the name?
Besides, humans would probably just come up with one on their own anyway.
"Wasn't the 'Ten Great Demon Lords' name decided after like three months of deliberation last time?
I'm out. I don't have the mental energy for this."
No, no. Forget about lacking the energy—there's no way you have the motivation to think about anything at all.
Don't act like you've been working so hard on this.
And wait—why would it take three months to come up with a name?!
Though she seemed dead serious... Are Demon Lords actually this bored...?
Apparently, while they'd been deliberating for three months, the humans had already settled on calling them the Ten Great Demon Lords.
In the end, they went ahead and adopted that name, though none of them were satisfied with it.
"Calm down, all of you. Times like these call for the kind of cooperation you don't normally show—let's power through this!"
Guy said.
"Huh? Eight Grea..."
She caught herself mid-word as the silent pressure from those around her shut her down.
Then hastily, "That's right! Guy just made a great point! Let's all work together!"
Ramiris corrected herself.
No one seemed to accept "Eight Great Demon Lords."
But as if cooperation were utterly meaningless: "Bwahahaha! You guys can handle that stuff!"
"I'm not interested. Not my problem."
Sure enough, these people who didn't have a shred of cooperation in them immediately started getting in the way.
Truly, these were Demon Lords.
I'd assumed cooperation was impossible, but apparently it really was.
And just as the awkward atmosphere was about to set in: "Oh, if that's the matter, then it's something my friend Rimuru excels at!"
Veldora, who'd been getting bored behind me, suddenly spoke up.
Tch. If you were going to say something like that, you should've just kept reading your manga.
At least today he'd read the room and refrained from reading by himself with total disinterest.
But there were those who nodded along with Veldora's words.
"Now that you mention it, he gave my butler a name in no time flat!"
It was Ramiris.
She's not your servant, you know. I wanted to say that, but now wasn't the time.
But this one... I was starting to see a pattern of her gradually building up precedent. I'd need to put a stop to it before I ended up trapped.
Well, it's fine, I guess... It depends on
Glancing around, I found the Demon Lords' expectant gazes all converging on me.
Crap... The encirclement was already complete.
They exchanged glances, and Guy spoke: "Rimuru, who was just recognized as a new Demon Lord today.
I'd like to grant you a wonderful privilege.
Yes—the right to name our new title!
This is a tremendous honor, so of course you'll accept, right?"
And there it was—a sweet, coaxing voice.
When I neither confirmed nor denied it in silence: "To be honest, you're the one who reduced our numbers in the first place.
So stop dawdling and take responsibility—name us!"
He immediately dropped the pleasant facade and hit me with a full Intimidation.
He really couldn't be bothered, huh.
Fine. I gave in.
"Alright, alright. Just don't complain, okay?"
At my concession, the Demon Lords beamed with relief.
Some even called for refills on their tea. They'd completely handed the job off.
Well, whatever. I could ignore these guys.
Eight Demon Lords—the Eight Great Demon Lords was probably fine, but something felt off about it.
I couldn't forget that the moment Ramiris had started to say "Eight Great Demon Lords is good, right?" a moment ago, the surrounding silent pressure and threatening stares had shut her down instantly.
Rejected.
In that case— "How about Eight Star Demon Lords?
I was inspired by the eight-pointed star.
What do you think?"
After those words, a moment of silence descended.
The Demon Lords closed their eyes, savoring the name.
Then, all at once, they opened them.
"It's decided. Splendid."
"With this, we shall prevail! A new era dawns!"
"I knew it! I knew you'd come through, Rimuru!"
"As expected! Bwahahaha!"
"Hmph. Fine, I suppose I can acknowledge that."
"That was quick! Impressive. What were those three months last time for?!
"..."
No objections, it seemed.
Good.
If anyone had objected, I'd been planning to make them come up with the name.
Though actually, I was curious too—what did they do for those three months...
And so, from this day forward, the Demon Lords came to be called—and feared as— the Eight Star Demon Lords.
The Eight Star Demon Lords.
Demon Race— "Dark Emperor"
Dragonewt Race— "Tyrant of Destruction"
Fairy Race— "Labyrinth Fairy"
Ramiris.
Giant Race— "Wrath of the Earth"
Dagruel.
Vampire Race— "Queen of Nightmares"
Luminus Valentine.
Dino.
Human-Demon Race— "Golden Demon"
And me— Demon-Slime Race— "Rising Star"
I wished I had a cool epithet of my own too.
Something that stoked the flames of one's inner chuunibyou—something truly awesome.
Well, someday, somewhere, someone would probably come up with one.
By being recognized as a Demon Lord, my territory was formally allocated.
Currently, my domain encompassed the entire Great Forest of Jura.
An extraordinarily generous deal.
The territories of Frey, Carrion, and Clayman were consolidated and placed under Milim's control.
Of course, the "ruling" was nominal at best. The actual day-to-day governance would be handled by Carrion, Frey, and Milim's people.
Some Demon Lords had no territory, some wandered aimlessly, and some kept their domains hidden, so not everyone's whereabouts were known.
However, each Demon Lord was given a ring that allowed communication between them.
I received one as well.
The Demon Lord's Ring. Beyond its communication function, it could apparently also summon teleportation gates.
Which meant, naturally, that anyone could freely teleport to this venue...
In other words... I could have made my way here without needing someone to come pick me up...?
No, better not to think about it. Dwell on that too hard and it'd just be exhausting.
And so, the chain of events set in motion by Clayman's scheming came to an end, and I was formally recognized as a new Demon Lord.
The existence of Clayman's true master was still on my mind, but for the time being, the problems on the demon faction's side had been resolved.
And thus, I ascended to the throne of Demon Lord.
−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−− Guy observed the Demon Lords' reactions with a thin smile.
Now, having received their new title, the Demon Lords had gained even greater power.
The Eight Star Demon Lords.
He thought it a magnificent name—a fitting symbol for the new generation of Demon Lords.
The balance of power had stabilized. An equilibrium had been reached.
He was confident they held the upper hand in the coming Great War.
Whether they won or lost, it wouldn't make much difference to him, but if he was going to fight anyway, he'd rather win.
That was the extent of his thinking, but...
According to what Dino had told him, the Eastern Empire was rapidly accumulating military strength.
The unit that Veldora had once demolished had been reorganized and reborn as something far more formidable.
And behind the Eastern Empire lurked "Scorch Dragon Veldgrind."
If the Empire made its move, that Dragon species might become active as well.
Things were getting interesting.
The Great War—a contest to place pieces upon the world's stage and seize dominion over it.
Each participant would be wagering everything they had in this battle.
A diversion from five hundred years of boredom.
The coming Great War promised to be worth anticipating.
His own Ultimate Skill, Prideful King.
Milim's Ultimate Skill, Wrathful King.
And the ability possessed by the new Demon Lord Rimuru was believed to be the Ultimate Skill Gluttonous King.
The three individuals possessing what were considered the strongest among all Ultimate Skills had assembled.
He hadn't expected the strongest to line up in order of power, but it was a pleasant miscalculation.
Furthermore...
Dino had "Sloth."
Luminas had "Lust."
He estimated that both of their Ultimate Skill awakenings were just around the corner.
And then, the exciting part...
And the seed of "Envy" he'd glimpsed within her.
Frey, Carrion, and Shion.
He'd confirmed that all three of them carried this seed simultaneously.
He could only speculate who would be the one to make it bloom, but whoever awakened to it would be a cause for celebration.
He hoped they would not be consumed and crushed by Envy.
If they couldn't wield Envy properly, awakening to it would be nothing but a distant dream.
Guy let his thoughts drift toward the future, savoring the pleasant reverie for a time.