I— am busy.
Ever since sealing Black away, things have been popping off left, right, and center.
I've been running around putting out fires nonstop.
First up, Ogre-kun did exactly what I predicted and crossed the mountain range into the protected territory.
Immediately after, some absurdly strong old man challenged Ogre-kun, and they've been locked in a death battle ever since.
From what I can tell, Ogre-kun's Status is overwhelmingly higher, but the old man is fending off every attack with exceptional swordsmanship.
Oh my, this old man is wonderful.
So wonderful, in fact, I almost feel it'd be a shame to have him exit the stage at a place like this.
But the soul deterioration is severe.
His soul is so damaged I genuinely worry whether he'll even be able to reincarnate next time.
I can't even imagine what someone would have to go through to end up this bad.
He's putting up a decent fight against Ogre-kun, but he's purely on the defensive and the tide isn't turning anytime soon.
I'll have Ogre-kun lose and protect his soul.
Over with the elves, there's been some movement too.
A new reincarnator has been isolated in their area.
But something's off — this one's clearly different from the surrounding reincarnators. There are signs of training.
Someone's definitely pulling their strings.
Actually… I've seen them before.
That's right — from the Divine Word Religion.
Which means a spy from the Divine Word Religion.
I don't want to make any moves prematurely, but I need to keep tabs on their activity.
Depending on how things go, I might even have to go after the bigwig at the Divine Word Religion who sent this reincarnator in.
This one needs careful watching.
Next, the Demon race territory.
They've also started moving quite actively.
First, the punk has officially taken over the Seventh Army.
With that, the deputy commander seat in the Fourth Army — where the punk used to be — opened up, and Mela filled it.
Well, I'll be surprised.
Mela's been quietly climbing the ranks in the Fourth Army, huh.
Well, she was raised alongside the vampire girl, so she's probably way stronger than your average demon.
Fast promotion makes perfect sense.
It looks like the Demon King hasn't interfered with Mela at all, so this is purely on her own merit.
Honestly, that's impressive.
Occasionally setting traps for the elves, or conversely leaking information about inconvenient demons to the elves so they'll take care of them.
That said, the elves have probably started to catch on that they've been losing their edge lately, so their movements are becoming more passive.
I'd love it if they just stayed quiet, but they're clearly scheming something, so I can't let my guard down.
I also met with the other army commanders, claiming to be the Demon King's envoy.
The Second Army's commander was all about the boobs.
I don't think I could beat that mass of weaponry.
If I hadn't been told beforehand she was a succubus and a peerless beauty, I'd have instinctively lunged for her chest.
That's the first impression, but her mannerisms matched the look — seductive gestures, alluring speech.
Total femme fatale energy.
However, despite being called a succubus, to my eyes she looked like nothing more than an ordinary demon.
When I looked into it later, she only had a tradition of succubus ancestry — she was mostly regular demon.
My theory is that she's been trained since childhood, taught to acquire seduction Skills and groomed to appear that way.
In practice, her mannerisms certainly give that impression, but if you watch closely, there's something performative about it.
Behind those alluring gestures, you can catch glimpses of scheming to one-up whoever she's talking to.
And yet she shows no real drive to seize the upper hand.
My guess? Deep down she's actually a pretty serious, timid person.
Hmm — how should I put it? She radiates small-time energy.
Like, a lot. No — a lot lot.
The only impressive thing about her is the chest, and I don't really feel the need to be on guard.
If even that was an act, I'd have to admit total defeat, but I'm pretty sure it's not.
If she makes any funny moves I'll cut her down immediately, but even if I leave her alone, she's unlikely to become a real problem.
The Third Army's commander was — well, hopeless.
A pacifist and a coward.
The only reason someone like that commands an army is because he's strong enough to back it up, barely.
Not too bright either — the Third Army is in essence run by his subordinates.
And those subordinates? They're a bunch of boneheaded loyalists who were drawn to the commander's personality.
Total bruisers.
Waste of time to worry about.
The Fifth Army's commander was a… warrior type?
When I told him I was the Demon King's envoy, he rolled out the red carpet treatment.
We met, and he launched into this passionate speech about serving the Demon King.
No hint of deception, and he didn't seem like the scheming type either.
Apparently he'd been decided to serve the Demon King since childhood by family policy, which shaped his personality accordingly.
And yet the previous Demon King had vanished, so he never actually got the chance to serve — which is probably why he's overflowing with even more unnecessary enthusiasm than he needs to be.
Is that… okay?
Hmm.
Well, as long as his resolve to be useful to the Demon King is genuine, I guess it's fine.
The Sixth Army's commander was a shota.
Word is he only recently became commander.
A genius mage, apparently.
Beyond that, not much to report.
I could only spare him a brief time, so I barely got anything useful from a face-to-face meeting.
No suspicious movements so far, and I'll keep surveillance going, so there's probably nothing to worry about.
The Eighth Army and beyond have retreated deep into the Demon race territory's hinterlands and don't come out, so I'm ignoring them.
Honestly, they're more like garrison soldiers than an actual army by name.
Can safely be treated as non-existent.
The biggest problem inside the Demon race territory is the vampire girl.
That girl has formed a reverse harem.
What the hell is she doing?
Sucking blood.
Oh no.
The vampire girl was literally going around sucking the blood of her reverse harem members.
I mean, she's a vampire so technically it's not wrong, but— I never gave any such order.
Problems were also brewing in the Human race territory.
Just when the monitoring system in Human race territory was finally falling into place, I spotted the teacher.
Seems she's attending the academy.
And there are multiple reincarnators there.
Nothing but the prelude to chaos.