Somehow Oni-kun ended up joining in too, but it'd work out somehow.
And so, I kidnapped the vampire girl—who still hadn't grasped the situation—and teleported.
And here we are at the Divine Word Church headquarters!
Same as last time, we barged straight into the Pope's office.
As if welcoming our sudden teleportation, the Pope paused from shuffling through documents, the guards on standby reacted swiftly, and the attendants and scribes just stood there gawking.
Last time, Kusama had been chatting with him, so maybe they'd cleared the room then.
So there are usually quite a few people around, huh.
"Ah, six."
The moment the guards started to move, the Pope spoke up.
"It's Case 3. Inform them accordingly."
"Yes, sir!"
The guard responded to the Pope's order, then left the room without us.
The Pope's words were like some kind of code I couldn't quite decipher, but Case 3 probably meant my appearance, right?
Had they anticipated several possible scenarios and trained everyone to respond accordingly?
This might spell trouble.
"If at all possible, I would prefer you arrive through the front door rather than appearing out of thin air."
I ignored the Pope's complaint.
Even if we came through the front, there was no way we'd get a warm welcome.
What explanation could we possibly give to get ourselves admitted?
"That won't do. We're currently preparing a conference room. Could I trouble you to wait in the reception room until then?"
I felt like there was an unspoken message of "You showed up unannounced, so the least you can do is wait—we have things to prepare too, you know," but that was probably just my imagination.
I nodded to show my agreement.
"Then, please follow me."
The attendant directed by the Pope led us along.
We were ushered into the reception room as instructed, drank the tea that was served, and relaxed.
"Hey, where are we?"
The vampire girl asked that incredibly late question.
"The Holy Aleius Theocracy. That man just now was the Pope."
The Holy Aleius Theocracy was the Divine Word Church's headquarters.
And the Pope was the Church's top leader.
Even the vampire girl could understand the situation from just that much.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
I stand corrected.
I'd apparently only confused her further.
"Shiro. How much do you know about the so-called Divine Word Church?"
Instead of the useless vampire girl I'd been counting on, Oni-kun stepped in with a sharp question.
At this point, shouldn't I just leave the negotiations with the Pope to Oni-kun?
"Almost everything."
She apparently already knew quite a bit, and on top of that, I'd educated her.
Today, I'd come to find out whether the Divine Word Church was willing to align themselves with us.
"Then, this visit means the Demon race and the Divine Word Church are forging a secret alliance?"
Oni-kun's mind-reading skills were way too good and it was honestly scary.
Well, it couldn't be helped that he'd jumped ahead a bit.
Strictly speaking, we were still one step before that.
"If possible."
"In other words, this is the negotiating table."
Oni-kun grasped the situation and made a grave expression.
He seemed to be realizing just how important this place was, tightening his resolve as the weight of it sank in.
Depending on how things went, this could become a historic moment—the Demon race and the Human race secretly conspiring together.
"Hey! What's going on!? Explain it so I can understand!"
The vampire girl was making a fuss, but I ignored her.
I'd been a fool to put my faith in her.
I'd leave the negotiations to Oni-kun.
Things would work out one way or another.
Besides, the vampire girl had deep ties with the Divine Word Church, so meeting its leader once at a time like this wasn't exactly a waste.
There was a chance the vampire girl might go off the rails and derail everything, but it'd work out somehow.
If it didn't, the only casualty would be the Demon King's ulcer.
Also, Balt might work himself to death.
I'd be completely unaffected, so there was no problem at all.
After that, while I was hogging all the snacks, Oni-kun was patiently explaining the situation to the vampire girl.
I honestly couldn't tell if these two got along or didn't.
Well, they'd had a falling out over yesterday's incident, but they weren't fundamentally that incompatible.
If they actually sat down and talked, they could probably make up.
Though I had absolutely zero intention of playing mediator.
It took about thirty minutes before the preparations were finally done.
The vampire girl and Oni-kun had turned it into a little information exchange session, but the fact that neither of them asked me a single question was wise.
The two of them had quite an animated discussion, but since I'd let most of it go in one ear and out the other, I wouldn't have been able to answer even if they'd asked.
More importantly, I wasn't the kind of person who'd answer honestly even if asked.
The fact that both of them understood this about me—I suppose I should praise them for knowing me so well.
The attendant led us to a rather impressive conference room.
On top of that, barriers against eavesdropping and clairvoyance had been set up, making it clear the Divine Word Church was taking this meeting seriously.
They were dead serious.
I almost felt guilty about showing up with such a casual attitude.
But even if someone told me to get fired up, my mind was laser-focused on one thing and one thing only—how to say as little as humanly possible—and I had no bandwidth for anything else!
A large table sat in the center of the conference room, and we were guided to our seats.
Before I could protest, I was placed in the middle, with the vampire girl and Oni-kun flanking me on either side.
Well, yeah, that was how it had to be, but man—I had to be in the middle?
Across from us sat the Pope and several others who were clearly important figures.
Among them was one young person who looked a bit out of place.
Whether he was the Divine Word Church's representative reincarnated person or not, Kusama was sitting there, rigid with tension.
The kind of small-time everyman Kusama was—off-the-charts energy under normal circumstances, but an absolute wreck when it really mattered.
Was he going to be okay like that?
Well then, let's see how this plays out.
Do your best, Oni-kun.