Alright.
I wheedled some recognition out of the punk, and in return I've secured my right to three square meals a day.
Now I can laze around without a care in the world — or rather, devote myself to my actual work.
As for my split bodies, the ones tackling the Great Ello Dungeon should be reaching the opposite entrance around now.
The thing is, there's a fair amount of foot traffic from the Human race, so I'll have to be careful not to let any of them get spotted. I'll have to send them through one at a time, keeping a low profile.
At this rate, sneaking past people might actually take longer than clearing the dungeon itself.
By the way, the Babies have already started heading back to their original nest.
I'll have them rendezvous with the Babies currently escorting the Queen while she's in suspended animation, then let them roam freely inside the dungeon for a while.
Unlike the split bodies, they've already formed independent selves from me, so I ought to grant them a degree of freedom.
Next up: the information-gathering detail in Demon race territory.
Just like what I leaked to the punk, the Seventh Army has been making unsettling moves.
The punk's supposed to handle the response, but just in case, I'll lend some covert support from behind the scenes.
Having the Demon race's forces fall into disarray right now would be very inconvenient.
Besides, I need to flush out the ones pulling strings behind the curtain on this.
The ones who instigated Varkis, the Seventh Army's Legion Commander, to stage a coup.
I connect to one of my split bodies that's been monitoring the Seventh Army.
There, in the most remote room of the lord's manor in the city where the Seventh Army is stationed, stand Varkis and the masked man.
"We should be done bringing in the last of the weapons soon. That'll put our preparations nearly across the finish line."
The man with the face that screams "I'm the villain" speaks to the masked man.
He practically radiates goonish lackey energy. His face just looks greedy from every angle, and you can practically see the scene where someone dangled the Demon King's throne in front of him and he swallowed the bait whole.
The lackey — or rather, Seventh Legion Commander Varkis — puffs on a cigarette with equally obvious villainous flair.
"I'm grateful to you. Thanks to you, we should be able to move ahead of schedule."
"It's a matter of mutual interest. There's no need for gratitude."
The masked man responds in a flat, dispassionate tone.
This is him.
This is the true mastermind behind the coup.
The one who supplied the Seventh Army with weapons and other provisions, controlled the flow of information, and set the whole stage.
Honestly, this coup was doomed to fail from the start — a farce, plain and simple.
Acting alone with just the Seventh Army is a foolish move that shows zero long-term thinking.
They're probably aiming for a short, decisive battle, but they'd have to launch a disadvantageous siege while their forces are exhausted from the march, against the unscathed Fourth Army.
If time drags on, reinforcements will pour in from other cities and crush them. And even if it doesn't, the odds of winning are slim.
Even if everything somehow went perfectly, the Demon King alone could effortlessly scatter an entire army.
From the very beginning, the Seventh Army never had a prayer.
And yet, the reason I leaked this information to the punk was because of this masked man.
He reeks of something dangerous.
I've been using my split bodies to keep tabs on him, but he always manages to give me the slip halfway.
There's no way he could fool my split bodies' eyes, so he must be escaping through spatial magic.
Very few people can use spatial magic.
In this world, the number of Skill holders with spatial magic probably fits on one hand.
Spatial magic is that difficult.
Even with the System's assistance, it's not something you can just pick up on a whim.
The spatial magic users I know of are the Demon King and that wizard who wanted to become his apprentice.
The Demon King had the spatial magic Skill, but his Skill Level was low, so he couldn't do much with it.
So in the end, the only spatial magic user I know of is that wizard.
That's how rare it is.
I didn't have that impression because I was spamming it left and right myself.
Incidentally, Black was spamming it just as much.
The mere fact that he can use spatial magic is more than enough reason to be wary.
To top it off, I don't know his objective.
As I kept watching, I discovered that among the information the masked man had given the lackey was the existence of the Demon King.
Or rather, this coup appears to be a scheme to eliminate the Demon King.
I don't know why someone would do that.
But what matters is that the masked man knows about the Demon King's existence — something that only a select few should be aware of.
He evaded my surveillance and uncovered the Demon King's identity. That kind of skill is no joke.
Ever since arriving at the Demon King's territory, I've perfected a surveillance network using my split bodies.
If anyone suspicious showed up in the Demon King's domain, I would not let them slip by.
Which means the masked man learned about the Demon King from outside.
How?
The answer: he was most likely already monitoring the Demon King before arriving, during the journey itself.
If that's the case, then the masked man's identity becomes clear.
He's an elf.
Come to think of it, ever since I saved the vampire kid, that elf leader guy — Pon-something — already knew about the Demon King.
Given the Demon King's power, it would hardly be strange for those stealthy types to have placed at least one spy.
I just didn't expect it to be at a level where even I wouldn't notice.
If they'd been watching all along, it all adds up.
The elves probably didn't recognize the Demon King as the Demon King specifically, but rather kept tabs on the Most Ancient Divine Beast.
Then, upon arriving at the Demon King's territory, they formed the hypothesis that the Most Ancient Divine Beast had become the Demon King.
And finding that prospect threatening, they incited the Seventh Army to eliminate the threat.
That explains the general logic.
But there are still things I don't understand.
If the elf recognizes the Demon King as the Most Ancient Divine Beast, he should know what kind of power that entails.
There's no way he'd think throwing the Seventh Army at the Demon King could kill him.
Is there some other objective?
Or perhaps some secret weapon for taking down the Demon King?
Either way, I can't afford to let my guard down.
So I had the punk make the first move — a preemptive strike to knock them off balance.
One clean hit out of the gate.
That'll show me how the other side responds.
Killing the elf leader probably wouldn't do much since he'd just pull something like my egg revival trick and come back, so there's not much point.
In that case, I'll drag out every last one of their plans, then crush them flat.
Simple and straightforward, right?