The magic workshop sprawling beneath the Imperial Capital.
I was making my way through it, killing approaching mages and breaking through barriers as I advanced.
Under one arm, I carried a bundle of documents — materials I had found in this very workshop.
According to them, the Empire was developing weapons beyond just the cannons.
At present, only that artillery platform seemed to be complete.
Had I left them to their own devices for another few dozen days, several more types of weapons would likely have been deployed.
The workshop was vast, and I had only explored a fraction of it so far.
I intended to search the remaining rooms and take back every document that looked relevant.
As an aside, the documents I had gathered also revealed the existence of a nation allied with the Empire — one that supplied the Empire with raw materials, prototypes, and engineers.
Judging by the timeline, this partnership predated even my ascension to demon lord.
However, their recent research efforts struck me as particularly fervent.
They were unmistakably keeping the possibility of fighting a demon lord in mind.
I decided to table the matter of how to deal with this allied nation for now.
After all, once the Empire was weakened from this battle, I would need its ally to provide covert support.
From the ally's perspective as well, it would be inconvenient for the Empire to fall here.
If left alone, they would surely lend a hand.
(Suits me fine. I need humanity to hold hands with each other, after all.)
As I continued exploring the workshop, I discovered an open space — a room lined on the inside with a special metal.
Its durability was exceptionally high, and treatments had been applied to prevent any leakage of magical energy.
Quite the formidable facility.
Inside the room sat several prototypes still in the process of being manufactured.
I picked one of them up.
It had been resting on a desk, and outwardly resembled a small cannon.
A grip had been attached to one end.
It looked remarkably like a crossbow with missing parts.
(This was described in the documents.)
I leafed through the materials I had collected along the way.
I quickly found the relevant passage.
This weapon was apparently called a gunpowder firearm.
It had an explosive formula built into it, which was used to propel specialized ammunition.
There seemed to be various issues with its performance, and it was apparently still under calibration.
I held the weapon up and tested its weight.
Since the documents described how to use it, I mimicked what they said.
Its center of gravity was off — it was difficult to aim.
I am no military expert, but it certainly gave the impression of being unfinished.
This firearm and the other prototypes would be brought back to the Royal Capital later.
With a forbidden spell of spatial manipulation, that would be easy.
I had transported an entire World Tree forest before, so transferring something of this scale would take no time at all.
Perhaps I should construct a research facility like this workshop back in the Royal Capital.
As long as I gathered knowledgeable people from among my subordinates, it should be feasible.
Since I was going to loot them anyway, I had been hoping to advance my own weapons development as well.
I would discuss the matter with Grom and Luciana later.
Next to the room where the prototypes were lined up stood a room full of shelves.
The shelves were packed to bursting with documents.
They appeared to have been sorted by type and stored as best as possible.
(What kind of documents are these?)
I picked one up at random and began reading.
It contained an overview of the artillery platforms installed on the outer walls.
That weapon was called a magic cannon — designed to attack from beyond the range of mages and archers.
It was apparently intended to serve as the cornerstone of interception during base defense.
Development had begun five years ago.
With the cooperation of their allied nation, research had been carried out in secret.
Then, upon the appearance of the current demon lord, they had also begun work on imbuing holy attributes.
In other words, it had been transformed from a simple interception weapon into one specifically designed for anti-undead operations.
It was roughly the chain of events I had anticipated.
I continued by rummaging through documents stored nearby.
Among them, I found what appeared to be a paper written by the magic cannon's designer.
It was in the form of a journal, and quite thick.
Since the opportunity presented itself, I decided to read it right then and there.
The magic cannon was extremely high-performance, but the designer had apparently struggled considerably with its manufacture.
For years, no results had materialized, and pressure from the nation's upper echelons had been far from rare.
There were lengthy sections filled with complaints and bitterness directed at that situation.
I had no interest in the designer's personal anguish, so I skimmed past those parts.
What caught my eye was the latter half of the document — the point where the topic shifted to the current demon lord.
I slowed my page-turning and focused on the text.
One day, the designer received a new order from the upper echelons.
It was an instruction to integrate holy attributes into the magic cannon's ammunition.
In other words, a modification to combat the demon lord.
The designer had not even properly figured out the design of the cannon itself, and spent three days and three nights racking his brain over it.
It was not something that could be modified lightly, but he had neither the will to refuse nor the authority to do so.
He was on the verge of receiving punishment if he did not produce results soon.
Driven to the absolute limit, the designer received a sudden divine inspiration.
He threw out his half-finished blueprints and re-examined the magic cannon's structure purely on instinct.
And before anyone knew it, he had built a new prototype.
Development, which had been stuck for ages, suddenly proceeded smoothly, and before long they had reached mass production of the finished product.
The designer's excitement was vividly recorded on the page.
After that, he went on at length with self-congratulatory explanations of magical theory.
The intent behind the internal structure and various mechanisms were also described.
He must have been overjoyed by the magic cannon's completion.
At the end of the document, a blueprint template with added annotations was also included.
"…………"
When I finished reading, I pressed my hand to my forehead.
A wave of dizziness washed over me, and I instinctively leaned against the wall.
Had I still been human, I would have heaved a heavy sigh.
(Everything about this is absolutely insane……)
Naturally, this was my assessment of the designer's document.
With this magical theory and design, there was no way the magic cannon could remain stable.
In the worst case, a catastrophic explosion could have blown the entire workshop to pieces.
And yet, that cannon was complete and functional.
A string of spontaneous inspirations had come together like some kind of joke.
Even though I am the demon lord now, I was once called the Sage during my lifetime.
Despite a ten-year gap, I remain confident in my mastery of magical knowledge.
I believe I understand the contents of the blueprints as well.
The method described in this document had an astronomically low success rate.
Even if it somehow took shape, it could never have achieved the stable performance of that magic cannon.
From what I read, the designer's magical knowledge was shallow.
He may have been more knowledgeable than an average mage, but I was almost certainly more well-versed.
The blueprints were riddled with rough edges, and the impromptu modifications were numerous.
There were even parts where the designer himself could not understand why things had worked out.
The developers involved had apparently reacted the same way, but such questions were swept aside by the joy of completion.
Since mass production had also proceeded without a hitch, no one had troubled themselves over it.
(— It is obvious that some form of intervention took place.)
Having summarized the information, I reached my conclusion.
Otherwise, there was no explanation.
That said, this was not something that could be accounted for by mere scheming from any individual.
If I were to identify the most likely possibility, it would be the flow of the world itself.
The causal force to destroy the demon lord had been at work.
Interpreted that way, even this unnatural phenomenon became understandable.
The world's backing did not manifest solely through the awakening of a hero.
As in this case, it could also appear in the form of divine inspiration or miracles.
This was only my speculation, but I was unlikely to be far off the mark.
This was a situation that demanded I let my guard down not one bit.
Beneath the surface, efforts to eliminate me were already in motion.
And it was a multi-faceted operation unfolding simultaneously.
The world was humanity's ally, no matter what.
Just knowing this much gave value to this assault on the Imperial Capital.
Countermeasures would be difficult, but knowing this phenomenon could occur allowed me to formulate a policy.
The existence of a demon lord was something that had to be eliminated — thoroughly and without exception.
That was the moment I reaffirmed that truth.