Pope's Perspective "So you're saying this was your side's blunder?"
At my question, Shiro nodded silently.
I fought down the urge to clutch my head and let my gaze fall to the documents in front of me.
There, the whole affair was laid out in painstaking detail.
What Shiro had been aiming for when she took such action.
The documents had been delivered without warning while we were still buried in post-operation cleanup following the Demon race's large-scale invasion.
The bad feeling had started the moment the messenger turned out to be
And once I read the contents, that premonition became reality.
It was a report from Shiro.
Describing, in terms I never could have anticipated, how preparations to overthrow the Analeit Kingdom were steadily progressing.
"I'm sooo sorry about that? I really didn't think it'd turn out like this. Seriously, I swear, I really didn't."
Ariel stared off into the distance as she offered her apology.
Her tone was light, but did I only imagine that she genuinely felt bad about it?
"At the very least, I'd like that brainwashing lifted."
According to the documents, Yuriun Uren — one of the reincarnators belonging to our God Word Religion, who had been sent to study at the Analeit Kingdom's academy — and several believers dispatched to support her in-country had been brainwashed.
The culprit was Prince
Prince Hugo had been operating as one of Shiro's pawns, but since he'd been given latitude to act on his own discretion, this sort of mishap had occurred.
I understood why Shiro hadn't told us about the secret pact with the God Word Religion.
I myself had only confided in a handful of trustworthy people.
The Demon race would be no different, and besides, the other party wasn't even a member of the Demon race — they were Human race, and a prince of the Empire at that.
Who knew where that information might leak and lead to an irreversible situation.
Still, it was hard to simply say "well, these things happen."
Even if it fell outside the scope of the agreement, this was a clear, individual attack by the Demon race against the God Word Religion.
The perpetrator might be an Imperial prince, but if Shiro stood behind him, it was fair to characterize this as an attack by the Demon race.
Calling it an accident didn't make it something we could just accept with a nod.
"Allow me to explain."
The one who spoke up wasn't Shiro, but the young girl seated beside her.
Her name was Fermina, and it was evident she was a demon of considerable power.
Strangely enough, among the Demon race side's attendees, she was the only actual demon.
And that sole demon appeared to hold the lowest position among their group.
"First, regarding Brainwashed Yuriun and the rest of your personnel — we would like to maintain the brainwashing as-is."
The members of our side murmured in unrest.
I raised one hand to quiet them and fixed Fermina with a steady gaze.
Even under my stare, Fermina barely showed a flicker of tension.
She was probably still young by demon standards, yet she had remarkable composure.
Perhaps from constant exposure to high-ranking beings like Ariel and Shiro.
"Might I ask the reason?"
I spoke quietly, but loaded my voice with an authority that left no room for argument.
Fermina swallowed her tension with a single gulp and began her explanation.
"Before that, there is something I must inform you of. In the recent battle, the Hero perished, and a successor has been named. That new Hero, our investigation has confirmed, is Shurein Zagan Analeit, the Fourth Prince of the Analeit Kingdom."
Once again our side stirred.
I kept my own alarm from showing on my face.
The God Word Religion's intelligence network hadn't yet identified the new Hero, but the Demon race had already pinpointed him.
In the war of information, we had suffered a total defeat.
Terrifying.
"His appointment as the new Hero was unexpected on our end as well. We generally favor keeping reincarnators alive where possible. However, as you are aware, by the laws of causality, the Hero possesses the ability to slay the Demon King regardless of any gap in combat strength. With that in mind, we need the new Hero, Shurein, kept as far from the battlefield as possible — or alternatively, eliminated."
For Ariel, who had become the Demon King, the Hero was her natural nemesis.
The only beings who could defeat Ariel — who outstripped everyone else by a wide margin in Status — were gods who had broken free of the system's constraints, or a Hero who held the potential to fell the Demon King regardless of Status differences.
Naturally, one would want to keep such a Hero at a distance.
The Demon race, whose intelligence network dwarfed ours, could easily have taken care of the new Hero the moment they found him.
If he weren't a reincarnator.
Shiro, herself a reincarnator, apparently adhered to a policy of keeping fellow reincarnators alive when possible.
If that was the case, no heavy-handed moves could be made against the boy who had become the new Hero.
Everything would have to be arranged to proceed as smoothly as possible.
On our end, too, it would be a waste to let the one person who could defeat Ariel perish for nothing.
Especially a reincarnator who already boasted high Status even before becoming the Hero.
However, I couldn't simply take Shiro's side at face value.
Before the war began, Ariel and Shiro had explicitly stated they would not directly participate.
Yet when all was said and done, Shiro had taken action to kill Hero
She was contradicting her own statements from that meeting.
Perhaps because this was unofficial, I had to keep in mind that not everything said here would necessarily be honored.
If that was so, how much could I trust her claim of wanting to keep reincarnators alive?
In fact, if I took that claim at face value, she should be releasing the brainwashed Yuriun immediately.
Yuriun was a reincarnator too.
"Therefore, we need to place Shurein in a situation where he has difficulty moving freely."
"Indeed. And what about the relationship between him and our brainwashed believers?"
In response to my question, Fermina slid another set of documents across to me.
"Yes. We'd like you to openly back the Empire — and by extension, Prince Hugo — on behalf of the God Word Religion."
The documents outlined the detailed plan for overthrowing the Kingdom, along with exactly what the God Word Religion was being asked to do.