In the "inner sanctum" that Hinata had just left.
Having confirmed that Hinata's presence had faded, four individuals began to converse.
"Poor girl. What sort of Hero is she?"
"Indeed… compared to the previous one, she's far too immature."
"She can't even hold a candle to that person."
"But there's no denying she's our strongest fighter at present."
"Still, is this truly alright? Deploying Hinata without the Princess's approval?"
"The Princess is furious… Gold, Earth, and
"Until just now, all seven of us were trying to appease her, and even that wasn't enough."
"But her power is beyond what it used to be…"
At that, they exchanged glances.
Each silently confirming the other's thoughts, "Whoever did it, this may have been a blessing in disguise."
"Indeed. Thanks to them, the Princess has awakened."
"But we can't simply leave this be."
"We must bring that person back, no matter what."
And once more, they nodded in agreement.
For them—the Seven Sages—the only thing that mattered was the true Hero.
Someone appointed as a substitute was of no consequence.
It was true they had raised her with care, and in recent years she had been their finest specimen.
But— She was too weak of heart.
A force of will too strong, spiritual heights unreachable by ordinary humans.
And yet, even at that level, she had never overcome the weakness she was born with.
That was precisely what made her defective.
She herself probably didn't even realize it—that her Physical Body had stopped aging.
She had stopped growing roughly two years after arriving in this world.
Her body remained that of a seventeen-year-old, and thanks to the grace of the Holy Spirit, she no longer aged.
And yet, despite being so loved by the Holy Spirit, she could never overcome external factors.
Calm and rational.
She tried to help the weak—herself included.
And yet, what she fundamentally lacked was emotion.
She could not love people.
Having been loved by no one in her childhood had twisted her heart.
One who cannot love others cannot recognize love directed at them, either.
She never accepted the Holy Spirit's love, and so she never awakened.
A pity, but there was no point in waiting any longer for an awakening.
If that was the case, then putting her to use analyzing the combat strength of the new Demon Lord—the new threat—would be the wisest course.
"You understand, don't you?"
"Of course. If she wins, wonderful. If she loses…"
"We announce that it was Hinata's own unilateral decision."
"Indeed. And then we shall formally recognize the Monster Nation."
Hinata was a disposable piece.
If she won, fine. If she lost, she would be cut loose.
And she would take full responsibility before vanishing.
All for the sake of their grand ambition.
All of it, shrouded in darkness…
Before long, the Sages' presences faded and disappeared.
--- The report that Sakaguchi Hinata had deployed toward the Monster Nation reached me promptly.
She was accompanied by only a hundred Holy Knights in full armor.
She was deploying her strongest forces without hesitation, weeding out anyone who would slow her down.
As expected of Hinata.
She must have instantly recognized that anything less than a top-tier force would only be a hindrance.
But still—I felt a twinge of disappointment.
Cutting us Monsters off as an evil existence and snipping any possibility of mutual understanding in the bud— What exactly did she hope to achieve by doing that?
If we could never understand each other, then the only option left would be to annihilate each other entirely…
And that would invite an even greater war.
Anyone living in modern Japan should know that more blood has been shed under the banner of religion than almost anything else.
What Hinata was doing was, in the end, nothing more than unilaterally forcing her own beliefs onto others.
It was an act that ignored the other side's circumstances and refused to even listen to what they had to say.
There was no true justice in any of that.
Did Hinata not understand even this?
From the first time we'd met, she'd been the type who wouldn't listen to a word anyone said.
But if the other party was a Monster, she apparently felt no need to hear them out.
Did she believe that even if a greater conflict erupted as a result, she could cut through it with her own strength?
And besides…
Come to think of it—I'd assumed this was common sense for anyone living in modern Japan, but maybe Hinata lacked that common sense?
She'd come to this world at around fifteen, so perhaps she wasn't well-versed in world history?
Actually, I wouldn't know since I wasn't up to speed on the current state of education, but how much of this were they even teaching these days?
Well, whatever.
In the end, whether you could apply the knowledge you'd gained was up to the individual.
Not having acquired the knowledge was no excuse, and it had nothing to do with us.
Even if Hinata was still running on a child's knowledge while being burdened with immense power and responsibility, it was too late to do anything about it now.
She had chosen to stand against us.
That was all there was to it, and saying anything more at this point would change nothing.
I shook my head and switched gears.
If she was going to oppose us, then we'd crush her.
I gathered the executives and reviewed the situation.
First, I had
On my orders, we had planted spies in major cities across the Ingracia Kingdom, the Farmus Kingdom, and beyond.
Gathering intelligence was the fundamentals of strategy.
From the moment we'd sent the messenger back, I'd had spies conducting surveillance all the way to the distant Holy Papal State of Lubelius.
And sure enough, something odd had emerged: a sudden influx of knights entering and exiting the Holy Church headquarters in the Ingracia Kingdom.
Going inside would be too dangerous, so they'd hired informants with money to merely count the numbers going in and out—but the fact that they could pull intelligence from sources like that was impressive.
I'd taught Souei a thing or two about the ways of a Ninja, but he'd developed it into his own style.
So much so that it surprised even me, the one who'd taught him.
As it turned out, the real secret was that he'd been receiving practical guidance from Fuse on all sorts of things.
If simply teaching some dubious tips was all it took, anyone could do it. I nodded in understanding.
He'd dispatched subordinates—Soka and the others—to various regions, using local contacts to gather information.
Even without my instructions, they'd seamlessly taken up intelligence operations on their own.
Among the intelligence they'd gathered, the suspiciously large number of knights converging on the Ingracia Kingdom had caught their attention.
What struck them as odd was the abnormally fast travel between the Holy Papal State of Lubelius and the Ingracia Kingdom.
No matter how well-maintained the roads were or how safe the route was with almost no Monster sightings, the speed was too great.
And the number of people leaving exceeded the number who had entered.
In the end, it had taken three days for roughly a hundred knights to emerge.
The decisive piece of intelligence was confirming the presence of Sakaguchi Hinata—Chief Knight of the Papal Imperial Guard Division.
She was so famous that the informants naturally recognized her.
A hundred riders had departed in a natural formation, heading toward the border regions of the Farmus Kingdom.
In other words, they were heading straight for our nation via the shortest route.
They would arrive in under two weeks.
I should commend Souei for detecting this information so quickly.
At an emergency executive meeting, Souei delivered his briefing with perfect composure.
He'd truly become reliable.
"As expected—gathering intelligence early is crucial. I'm counting on you going forward as well."
"No, this was nothing. I'll continue to improve."
When I praised him, Souei accepted it quietly.
Truly the shadow.
When someone that good-looking did it, even that didn't come across as pretentious—it just suited him.
Now then, since we'd gone through the trouble of gathering this intelligence, let's think up countermeasures.
They hadn't managed to confirm whether each knight was truly a Holy Knight, but based on the situation, they'd concluded it was almost certain.
So—A-rank and above, a hundred of them. Led by Hinata.
Compared to the fifteen thousand regular troops from last time, this batch of a little over a hundred was far more dangerous.
This time, I had no intention of going out there alone. That would be suicidal.
What to do?
The executives began a free discussion.
"Why not just slaughter them all?"
I won't say who, but honestly, people who don't think at all are truly invincible.
They spoke purely in terms of results without considering whether something was possible or not.
Maybe that was exactly why they'd awakened to such an outrageous, absurd Unique Skill.
"Should we have a proper showdown? If so, there will inevitably be casualties."
Yeah.
He was conducting proper combat analyses now, able to assess both sides' fighting strength accurately.
He'd been sparring with Hakuro many times in training bouts, and his growth was evident.
He'd once said "Leave the army to me!"—and maybe it really would be fine to trust him.
"How about my unit, the Dragon Riders, attacking from above?"
"That has merit, but they're Holy Knights. Every single one is an A-rank top-tier knight.
Even aerial attacks wouldn't break through their Multi-Layered Barriers.
For simply buying time, entrusting it to Geld would be the best option."
"Indeed. My unit has the advantage in numbers. For a holding action, the casualties would be minimal."
They exchanged various opinions like this.
Casualties, huh.
Everyone had been safe and sound. Talking about casualties now was ridiculous.
But the opponent was Hinata. That woman was dangerous.
During our last encounter, I'd focused on fleeing, but if we'd clashed for real, I almost certainly would have died.
And she hadn't even been serious.
Currently, I was probably the only one who could handle Hinata.
I didn't think I'd lose, but with the Holy Knights providing support, it was anyone's guess.
And then there were the Holy Knights themselves. Dealing with them was also a problem.
Should we go in with killing intent, or should we try to keep them alive?
They were positioned as protectors of humanity, knights blessed by the Spirits.
In our world, Monster attacks were no laughing matter. It was the Holy Knights' duty to protect villages and frontier towns without charge.
They were the refuge of those who had survived Monster attacks. Many harbored hatred for Monsters. These knights carried the expectations, hopes, and prayers of all those people.
That was what a Holy Knight was.
If my conversation with Hinata this time had gone well, perhaps there could have been a path to clearing up the misunderstanding.
But unfortunately, we were Monsters—and to them, there was no room for negotiation with an evil existence.
I could understand their reasoning.
Some of them were survivors of villages destroyed by Monsters, or had lost their parents to them.
And the reality was that mindless Monsters were still rampaging out there.
Monster attacks around the Monster Nation had ceased.
And there were no Monsters that had leaked out and migrated elsewhere.
But in other regions, Monsters were still spawning and wreaking havoc.
If we annihilated the Holy Knights here, who would protect those frontiers?
I felt it would be irresponsible to simply abandon them.
It was infuriating. All of this was because Hinata was too stubborn.
That said, since there was no way to earn their trust, a clash was unavoidable…
And keeping them alive while still winning wasn't going to be easy, either.
After all, these were anti-Monster experts. Take them lightly, and we'd be the ones who got hurt.
If we could win overwhelmingly, maybe we could make them listen.
What a pain.
Regardless, one thing was clear: I wanted to win with as few casualties as possible.
If that was the case, then a one-on-one duel.
A decisive battle with Hinata, breaking the Holy Knights' spirits in the process.
It was a complicated affair.
With the enemy's strength and numbers uncertain, there was no guarantee things would go the way I wanted…
"All right, I've decided. Considering the future, we need to achieve victory while minimizing Holy Knight casualties.
For that purpose, it would be meaningless if we suffered losses on our side either.
So here's the plan.
First, the Yellow Legion, led by Geld, will deploy around the perimeter of the Monster Nation.
Do not allow the Holy Knights to breach the perimeter—devote yourselves to defending the nation.
The Green Legion, led by Benimaru, along with the Crimson Flame Corps, will deploy inside the Yellow Legion's formation.
If hostilities break out, you will strike from the interior, targeting isolated enemies one by one.
Listen—the line Geld establishes is the final defensive line.
If the enemy reaches that point, hold nothing back and annihilate them.
And
The Violet Corps will engage in direct combat. You probably won't win, but use your immortality to buy time.
Next, Gobta and the Goblin Wolf Soldiers will support the Violet Corps' engagement with the Holy Knights.
Execute hit-and-run tactics while disrupting the flow of battle.
Don't do anything reckless—avoid getting captured. Focus on mobility.
The Dragon Riders will hold in the air above.
Rescue any Goblin Wolf Soldiers who get caught, and fill any gaps that open in the defensive line.
Also, I'll be trying to force a one-on-one duel, so act accordingly.
If you can position the Holy Knights to witness my fight, that would be ideal.
Souei will monitor the battlefield from the shadows.
If there's an exceptionally powerful knight, I'll need you to handle them. Same goes for the other executives.
Benimaru, you're in charge of the final defensive line. Geld, fall under Benimaru's command.
Also, if the Holy Knights' combat strength exceeds expectations and we can't win even with our full forces, Benimaru's group will immediately transition to a fighting withdrawal.
Fall back to the Boarfolk settlement.
Veldora—if I'm defeated, I'm counting on you to handle Hinata.
That is all."
This plan—if you could even call it that—was decided.
Even in the worst case, if the town were to be attacked by surprise, having Benimaru and Geld defending would ensure safety.
The executives mulled it over, then moved on to examining the plan in detail.
I closed my eyes and ran through a battle simulation once more.
Honestly, this was the strategy that the Wise King's calculations suggested would minimize casualties.
Or rather—the Wise King didn't doubt my victory for a second.
If I struggled or—God forbid—actually lost here, the entire strategy would fall apart from the ground up.
Was the Wise King really going to be all right?
I wondered about it every time, but it was hard not to feel like it was a bit too confident.
After all, it trusted me way too much.
The Wise King's confidence was in my strength. A stark contrast to my own lack of faith in myself.
Well, whatever.
The executives' opinions had all come in.
Everyone looked at me.
And then— "So basically, we just slaughter them all, right?"
"…"
"I'm kidding!
In other words—defeat the Holy Knights without killing them, while maintaining our forces without losing a single person. And during that time, Lord Rimuru defeats the enemy leader. That's the plan, right?"
She'd understood after all.
For a moment there, I'd genuinely panicked—was she actually dense, or what?
If Shion could understand it, the rest should be fine.
I'd deal with the sleeping Gobta later. No issues there.
"Everyone seems to understand, but let me say it once more.
If the enemy's combat strength exceeds expectations and maintaining the situation becomes difficult, move immediately to total annihilation.
That decision will be made by Diablo in consultation with Benimaru.
Everything else—continue reporting the battle situation in real time through the Mental Link, as usual.
I'm counting on everyone to make it through safely this time as well. That is all!"
"Yes, understood!!!"
Everyone nodded in unison.
Now then, all that was left was to wait for the battle.
To secure a certain victory, I'd set up some traps on the battlefield.
The traps I'd prepared weren't anything spectacular.
Even for my executives, the Holy Purification Barrier was dangerous.
If it was activated and any of them were caught inside, it would mean immediate defeat.
So these were countermeasures against it.
The Wise King's analysis had already revealed how it worked.
The mechanism was simple: through the intervention of the Holy Spirit, it absorbed and purified Magicules. However, it required an extraordinary amount of concentration and spiritual energy.
That was likely because wielding an attribute-less Holy Spirit was no ordinary feat. At minimum, four or more users were probably required.
So how to counter it?
In principle, we could simply overwhelm it by releasing a massive amount of Magicules to neutralize the Holy Spirit's purification—but there was a more efficient approach.
All we had to do was create holes in the barrier.
By pre-installing a large network of tunnels underground, connecting them to the Monster Nation.
The exits would naturally be at the points where Benimaru's forces concentrated their fire.
So even if the enemy discovered the tunnels, it wouldn't matter.
I'd placed the entrances at the location I intended as the battlefield.
Since we knew they were coming from the Farmus direction, predicting the battlefield was straightforward.
I didn't want to damage the forest, so I'd guide them to fight in a suitably open area.
Since I could retrieve them later, I'd spared no expense in constructing and deploying tunnels made of
Then it occurred to me—I asked Veldora to wait inside one of the tunnels. And I had him release the Demon Aura he normally kept suppressed the moment the battle began.
With this, our countermeasure against the Holy Purification Barrier was complete.
All preparations were in place.
Now, all that remained was to await the second encounter.