I watched the Pope staring down the documents, cold sweat trickling down my back despite myself.
Will he bite?
Frankly, I'm well aware I'm making some pretty outrageous demands.
Here's the plan.
First, have Natsume brainwash everyone around Yamada, one by one.
Then, from there, brainwash people who are close to the Kingdom's upper echelons.
Use those brainwashed people to massacre those who have been infiltrated by
And pin the role of mastermind on Yamada.
Quite the plan that would have people screaming "You monster!"
Have the Divine Word Church corroborate the story and declare that Natsume is in the right while Yamada is the culprit.
The Divine Word Church is a religious organization with tremendous influence among the Human race.
When such a large organization makes a declaration, every nation will accept it as truth, regardless of the actual facts.
Yamada would end up essentially on an international most-wanted list, unable to move freely.
We could grab him during the chaos, but I'll play that by ear.
If things go badly, it could snowball into immediate execution or something along those lines.
Since Yamada has become the Hero, he absolutely must be kept far away from me, the Demon King.
But I don't intend to kill him either.
Killing him would only produce the next Hero.
To prevent that from happening, we even killed the previous Yamada's older brother, but unnecessary interference has made things more complicated.
Overthrowing the Kingdom is a done deal.
If that's the case, we need to deal with the Reincarnated ones who are there.
Yamada will inevitably end up at the center of the turmoil, so I'm afraid he'll have to play the victim to the fullest this time.
As for the other Reincarnated ones, I'll have Natsume brainwash them and forcibly bring them to our side.
It'd be troublesome if they sided with Yamada.
We can undo the brainwashing after everything is sorted out — no rush.
So, this is the plan I came up with after thinking of every possible way to smooth over these unexpected developments.
Seriously, that duo really did a number on me.
"Because he was getting all cozy with that person and it ticked me off."
"Because she kept creeping up on Big Brother and it was annoying."
The two culprits, made to sit properly, gave such flat, emotionless excuses.
That is completely personal grudges!
Well, yeah.
I kinda feel like I picked the wrong people for this, but honestly, both Natsume and his sister were dragged into this more out of necessity after things went wrong.
There was no way that kind of haphazard staffing would work out.
Now, under the vampire girl's supervision, they should be moving properly as instructed.
Should be!
I'm incredibly anxious about it since the vampire girl is the way she is, though!
There's no one else suited for the job, so what can you do!
So, the vampire girl isn't here today.
I brought Mela as a stand-in, but this might have been a mistake.
When the vampire girl's homeland was destroyed, she was still a baby.
Even though she's a Reincarnated one with her own consciousness, her homeland was destroyed before she could form any deep memories, so her grudge against the Divine Word Church isn't actually that deep.
I think it's more of a "they were mean to me back then, so I don't like them" kind of feeling.
But Mela is different.
Mela's hatred of the Divine Word Church should be incomparably greater than the vampire girl's.
She seems calm for now, but I have no idea what's going on inside.
It'd be nice if she were as easy to read as the vampire girl, but she's not that simple.
Knowing Mela, I don't think she'd lose her temper, but I'll stay cautious just in case.
Sigh.
This wasn't supposed to involve the Divine Word Church at all originally.
Well, it's not like I hadn't anticipated it at all.
The reason I wanted to establish a cooperative relationship with the Divine Word Church is because of the strong influence they hold among the Human race.
The calculation was that there might be situations where, if something went wrong, we could smooth things over by leveraging the Divine Word Church's power.
The more cards you have to play, the better.
I reached out with that insurance in mind, and it turned out to be the right call.
Of course, whether the Pope will nod along here is another matter.
Since this mess is our fault, I expect he'll demand something.
At worst, the cooperative relationship could collapse.
Well, if it comes to that, so be it.
It'll only make the tragedy for the Divine Word Church that much greater.
The question is whether Black would overlook it.
Probably wouldn't.
But that's not going to happen.
The Pope wants our cooperation.
To defeat the Elves and save the world — and by extension, the Human race — he'll do anything.
Yes, anything.
Even if it means committing acts that violate all principles of humanity.
If he determines it's necessary, he'll become any kind of monster.
That's this Pope.
A monster wearing human skin — a different kind of monster from the Demon King.
A monster like that wouldn't push our hand away here.
He would even discard his own Reincarnated pawns to achieve his goals.
And one more thing.
This incident is our screw-up.
Which means we need to show sincerity.
If the proposal is something that benefits the Divine Word Church, he should take the bait.
"If you cannot agree to this plan, we will immediately release those who have been brainwashed. However, if you do agree, we will return a portion of the fortresses that the Demon race captured in the last war. Furthermore, we will cede full occupation rights over the Elven village for the next joint assault. Naturally, this will be done after we have recalled the Queen Taratect that holds territory near the Elven village."
Return part of the fortresses the Demon race seized in the last war, and once the Elven village is captured, hand over all of it.
The forest where the Elven village is located has the Demon King's Queen Taratect in it, but we'll recall her too — so do as you please.
For the Human race, retaking the captured fortresses should be enormously beneficial from a defensive standpoint.
And the forest where the Elven village sits is a treasure trove of natural resources.
On top of that, there's definitely something sinister lurking in the Elven village.
If we offer to hand all of that over, the Pope should understand just how extraordinary those terms are.
At the same time, it also signals that we have no concern for the power balance between the Human race and the Demon race afterward.
Returning the fortresses would be tantamount to throwing away everything the Demon race gained in the last war.
Moreover, even if they attacked the Elven village and suffered casualties, there would be nothing to gain.
For the Demon race, it's essentially telling them to work for free and die.
Meanwhile, the Human race would reclaim their fortresses without effort, and after borrowing the Demon race's strength to conquer the Elven village, they'd walk away with everything.
Talk about unequal.
To be blunt, this is far too generous as compensation for having brainwashed a single girl.
"We accept this proposal."
Just as expected, the Pope answered immediately.
I knew it.