After putting together a fairly detailed military structure, I headed to
I was going to show him the newly drawn-up organizational chart.
Benimaru held command authority, but the supreme authority to appoint officers belonged to me.
It was a bit convoluted. In principle, supreme authority included command authority, but I had separated the two.
When it came to military command, I was an amateur and shouldn't be sticking my nose in.
So I had delegated all priority in matters of command to Benimaru.
As I'd explained before, Benimaru's orders took precedence over mine in anything related to military command.
However, strategic decisions were a different matter altogether.
The appointment of generals before a war, the judgment to end a war during wartime—those were my call.
Appointments below the rank of general were fine for Benimaru to handle on his own authority, but the appointment of legion generals fell under my discretion.
With that in mind, I handed the completed organizational chart to Benimaru.
"Seriously?
As expected, that was his first reaction.
Certainly, I could understand the unease about putting that idiot in charge of people's lives.
But I knew that Gobta's secret training had been for the sake of protecting this country.
More than anything, despite appearances, he had earned the deep trust of his comrades.
"He'll be fine, won't he? He's got charisma, even if you can't tell at first glance."
"Well, I'll admit that much. Let's give him a shot, then."
Benimaru nodded, apparently convinced.
He didn't say a word about
Gabiru was indeed a hot-headed type, but his personality was actually well-suited for a general.
He looked after his subordinates well and knew when to make a tactical retreat.
While he seemed to lack in strategic thinking, his judgment in tactical situations was spot on.
He could be given command of a single division without any problems.
Geld went without saying. He was a dependable general.
After discussing plans to reinforce observation posts at key locations in preparation for the Empire's movements, I left Benimaru's room.
The finer details could be left to Benimaru.
Things like confirming the assembly points for monster soldiers, coordinating food distribution with Geld—Benimaru had his hands full too.
I shouldn't keep intruding for long.
Huh? You want me to help? I have no idea what you're talking about.
Amateurs can't interfere. What a convenient phrase, I thought to myself.
Now then, the place I headed to after leaving Benimaru's room was
I wanted to check on the growth of the cultured magic golems and see whether souls had been generated yet.
Whether those dolls could become complete and act autonomously or not would make a huge difference.
They wouldn't be finished right away, and whether they'd be ready for the coming war was uncertain, but just knowing the outcome would be significant.
One thousand units with combat power equivalent to A-rank.
If they could act autonomously, the range of their possible uses would expand dramatically.
Well, even without autonomous action, deploying them in formation alone could create the strongest legion that surpassed any army.
They could be treated as a golem legion that feared no death—a force of pure destruction.
In that case, I was thinking of giving them simple orders and launching them on suicide charges.
I teleported and arrived instantly in Veldora's large chamber.
I passed through as a matter of course and opened the great door at the back to enter.
There was no sign of Veldora in his private room, so he was probably helping Ramiris again or running some foolish experiment.
Inside, a foolish experiment was indeed underway, just as I'd predicted.
She was using the magic crystals I'd given her to try out various combinations.
As always, Vester was taking notes.
He'd been mumbling about not wanting to work and spouting nonsense about sleeping, but there were probably times when he got roped into it without even realizing.
The familiar four—Ramiris, Veldora, Vester, and Dino—weren't the only ones present. There was a guest as well.
"Well, well, Lord Rimuru. It's been quite some time."
Treyni greeted me.
As always, she was a beautiful, semi-transparent young woman.
"Treyni, it's been a while. Thank you for your cooperation with the dungeon management."
"Not at all, not at all. You've even provided us a place to dwell within the dungeon...
As a subordinate of Lady Ramiris, it's only natural."
"No, no, we really are grateful for your help. I look forward to working with you going forward as well."
I offered my thanks.
Having her assistance with the dungeon's operations had been an enormous help, that was for sure.
Now then, what had I come here for again?
The answer was— "The cultured magic golems still won't accept souls, no matter what we try.
So, I gave it a lot of thought.
I could link them all through
And then—eureka!
What if we put them into the temporary bodies of spiritual life-forms like dryads or tree folk? That's what I came up with!
In fact, the data from Sarion already had information on possession by artificial humans.
So, I asked Treyni to help with the experiment!"
That was the gist of it.
I see.
Moving without a physical body was quite difficult. While it was possible for dryads, the restrictions on tree folk were severe.
Dryads were among the top-tier A-rank monsters—effectively stronger than demonfolk.
But existing without their physical bodies and letting magicules leak freely put an enormous strain on them.
As a result, once they moved away from their source tree, they could no longer wield their full power.
If they could use these cultured magic golems, not just dryads but tree folk as well would be able to move freely.
The tree folk could also exert abilities befitting A-rank, while dryads could unleash their true power even at great distances.
It was a brilliant idea.
The experiment was a tremendous success.
Compatibility was excellent—roughly ten dryads and well over a hundred tree folk would be able to gain new bodies.
Once completed, they planned to transfer into them.
Treyni was overseeing the experiment's progress. Apparently, she also had a strong interest in appearance and was doing her best to make the golems look as close to her own form as possible.
She was apparently also looking after the bodies for her sisters.
Dryads tended to be female in form, while tree folk tended to be male.
They supposedly had no gender, yet the forms they manifested in somehow ended up with clearly distinct appearances.
The tree folk didn't seem to care much about their looks—it was mainly the dryad sisters who did.
When I heard "beautiful girls," that was my cue.
I could sculpt them to some degree, so I offered my help.
Fundamentally, it was difficult to change appearance without modifying the skeleton.
There were apparently over a dozen sisters, so I received their desired forms through thought links and reshaped each skeleton accordingly.
After that, adjusting the flow of magicules and fine-tuning the muscle distribution would make them perfect.
As a bonus, I worked gold into the skeletons, transforming them into Sacred Gold Steel.
This would allow the owners to make adjustments to some extent through their own will as well.
In this world too, gold was the universal metal. It had excellent compatibility with magicules and integrated smoothly.
It was a rare metal, so I couldn't use it in large quantities, but mixed with
"Thank you so much, Lord Rimuru!"
I accepted Treyni's words of gratitude and swayed gently in response.
It was nothing, really. It was also a way of saying thanks for all the help I'd received as of late.
"Leave the rest to you then. Ramiris, let me know if it looks like souls are taking hold."
"Roger that! I'll fly over and tell you right away!"
After asking to be notified when souls were generated, I returned to my office.
Work was still waiting for me.
I wanted to stay and help with the research, but I couldn't do that exclusively.
Leaving a part of my consciousness behind, I returned to my room.
……
…
That demon rampaged, trampling through the realm of the demonic.
Within the spiritual world known as the Netherworld—or Hell—it became the embodiment of violence, toppling powerful demons one after another.
The powerless fled immediately, while the strong banded together to mount a defense.
But to that demon, the cries of the weak were nothing more than background noise.
It simply destroyed its enemies with absolute precision and continued its leisurely rampage.
Demons were spiritual life-forms.
Therefore, even if their physical forms were destroyed, given enough time they could self-repair and revive.
Knowing this—or perhaps not caring—the demon showed no mercy to those who came at it.
It was a terrifying incarnation of violence.
"Kufufufu. Gathering this many small fry is pointless.
Come to think of it, there were a few back in the day who could rival me. Perhaps I should pay them a visit."
With those cryptic words, the red-haired demon vanished from the spot through instantaneous teleportation.
All that remained were the remains of the demons.
……
…
Back in my room, I began planning a surveillance system.
Our intelligence operatives were stationed at key points throughout the Great Forest of Jura, along the coastline, and atop various mountain peaks, but relying on that alone left gaps in our information gathering.
In fact, I expected it would function poorly once actual combat began.
So, I was considering whether we could set up surveillance through magic.
I knew that divination-type spells for observation purposes existed within the field of sorcery.
But they were less practical than I'd hoped—they could only show you the appearance of a specific target.
They were inflexible and could only monitor a single location.
To look at a different spot, you'd need to cast the spell all over again.
Observing us Demon Lords or other high-ranking beings was impossible. The constantly maintained magic barriers would deflect such attempts.
So existing magic wouldn't do the job.
But I had a trick up my sleeve.
For example, the Physical Magic spell "God's Wrath."
That spell used water droplets to gather and focus sunlight.
If I placed these water droplets at various locations, I could project and relay real-time images of each area.
Or, from a high altitude, I could capture and magnify images to display on a monitor.
Essentially, creating a magical surveillance satellite.
Rafael had confirmed that this could be achieved by combining Physical Magic, Spirit Magic, and Spatial Law Manipulation.
All that remained was to compile the detailed requirements and coordinate with Rafael.
Once this surveillance system was operational, gathering intelligence would become effortless.
The volume of information available would be massive, and if the enemy deployed armies, tracking their movements would be a breeze.
During the Battle of Tsushima, the Japanese Navy under Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō annihilated Russia's Baltic Fleet.
It was said that the most critical challenge in that battle was whether they could even make contact.
Predicting where to intercept.
If that prediction had been off, the battle would never have taken place, and Japan would have lost.
In other words, our situation was similar.
If we spread our forces across multiple locations while numerically disadvantaged, the probability of defeat would be high.
The key to victory lay in identifying the Empire's movements and concentrating our forces accordingly.
If the Empire dispersed its own forces, we might even be able to calculate timing and defeat them in detail.
For the battle to go in our favor—and above all, for a guaranteed victory—this spell had to be completed.
So, I said with great composure, but in truth it was already done.
The requests I'd submitted to Rafael were more like complaints asking him to polish up the fine details.
Huh? You're not doing it yourself?
Don't be ridiculous.
Wisdom King was my own ability. So it was fair to say I was the one working hard.
I'd probably been overworking myself lately.
After taking a short break, I'd try out the completed surveillance magic.
With that thought, I asked the maid waiting in the next room to prepare some tea.
When
Everything was provided for.
She was originally a goblin who had evolved into a female form, but her appearance was nearly indistinguishable from a human's.
Recently, simple makeup had started becoming popular among them, and they were looking increasingly beautiful.
She prepared the tea and brought it over.
After serving me the tea, she bowed and said: "
He has requested an audience. What would you like me to tell him?"
I asked her to have him come here.
The maid bowed once more and left my presence.
She still seemed nervous around me—her movements were stiff.
For someone like Diablo or the other executive-class demons, they should just come in without standing on ceremony, but the others would stop them.
It was more trouble than anything.
Diablo entered with a smile on his face.
I hate to say it, but a smiling Diablo looked like the very image of evil.
If it weren't me, anyone else would see him as an omen of misfortune.
He practically radiated the aura of someone up to no good.
"Lord Rimuru, I have returned.
Today, I have brought several individuals I wish to present to you.
If you could see them, there would be no greater joy."
As always, Diablo greeted me with his deferential manner.
This guy had designated me as his sole master and treated me like a god.
He'd been mumbling something about gathering his former subordinates, so these must be them.
"Did anyone among them meet your standards?"
"Yes, though only about ten of them...
I apologize deeply for being unable to assemble a full legion. I am deeply ashamed of my own inadequacy."
"Oh, no. Don't worry about it. Let's meet them for now."
"Oh, thank you very much! Then, I have them waiting this way."
He was actually serious about preparing a legion.
What a terrifying demon.
I thought to myself as I followed Diablo.
Wherever we were going, it turned out he'd led me outside the monster nation's borders.
"I could have passed through the barrier, of course, but breaking through it would have caused problems."
Diablo apologized, but what on earth had he brought?
I'd incorporated a mechanism to activate large-scale barriers based on Leon's nation.
Thanks to that, a defensive barrier that distinguished friend from foe was constantly deployed over the entire city.
The only beings powerful enough to break through it were natural disaster-class monsters exceeding A-rank.
And even then, any attempt to breach it would be detected immediately and dealt with by the guards.
Mindless A-rank monsters were no match for our nation's highly trained soldiers.
But breaking through the barrier was something only high-ranking demonfolk could manage. There was a huge difference between passing through and breaking through.
Seriously, what kind of people had he brought? Were they really even demonfolk-class?
"I grant you permission to reveal yourselves. Manifest!"
Diablo, having come to a stop, issued his command.
Ten demons appeared.
Wait—three of them were Senior Demon Commanders!
Even with a high-level demon summoning, calling forth a Senior Demon Commander was an extraordinary feat.
Each one possessed the strength of a tactical-class fighter.
You'd need to prepare an enormous sacrifice just to make summoning possible.
When humans attempted it, a national-scale grand ritual would be required.
And there were three of them.
Come to think of it, Diablo had originally been a Senior Demon Commander himself.
They might have been acquaintances from that era.
The remaining seven were Senior Demons, but they appeared to be special individuals.
Each one had the bearing of an Archdemon.
"These individuals are my former companions...
They tearfully begged to be of service to Lord Rimuru, so I permitted them to accompany me."
Diablo explained with a smile.
The crying part was probably true, but I had my doubts about whether they'd actually said they wanted to serve me.
All of them bore marks of having been beaten up.
They looked like they had something to say, but none of them spoke a word.
Diablo must have given them a thorough warning.
"We are the faithful servants of Demon Lord Rimuru. Command us as you see fit!"
In unison, they bowed their heads and swore allegiance to me.
Diablo watched the scene with satisfaction, nodding approvingly.
Thank goodness they were on our side. What a terrifying guy.
Now then, these ten new additions—since demons were spiritual life-forms, they needed to be incarnated, or else manifesting would cause magicules to leak out constantly.
Ah, that explained why Diablo had made them wait outside.
Then it suddenly occurred to me—what about Treyni's golems from earlier?
Why not put them in the cultured magic golems?
I decided to act on it immediately.
First, I used
Then, bringing Diablo along, I teleported to Ramiris's workshop.
After explaining the situation to Ramiris and the others, I had each demon possessed into the dolls inside the culture capsules.
The result: incarnation was a complete success.
The demons floated peacefully in the magic water, as if asleep.
Once they awakened, they would become fully incarnated beings, ready to serve.
Oh right—I should give them names first. It'd be inconvenient not to.
Thinking about it, I decided to name them.
Being careful, since a large-scale magicule drain would be dangerous.
I allowed myself a comfortable margin, limiting it to one per day.
I'd start with the three Senior Demon Commanders, who were apparently old sparring partners of Diablo's.
The Senior Demons served as their respective deputies, two for each.
One had been a lone unique individual who'd apparently picked a fight and gotten crushed in the process.
Diablo had brought him along because he saw potential.
Anyway, I decided to start naming.
These were the names of the three Senior Demon Commanders.
The moment I named them, they completed incarnation and evolution in an instant, becoming Demon Peers who emerged from the culture capsules.
All three took the form of beautiful women.
When I named the first one, Testarossa, I was startled to witness the entire evolution and birth happen right before my eyes, but I was getting used to it by now.
Their power was terrifyingly overwhelming—a dimension of strength that defied all common sense.
"You're kidding me! They're more powerful than the former Demon Lords combined!"
Dino groaned, but Veldora and Ramiris were unfazed.
That's how it was, wasn't it?
Of course they were—Rimuru named them, after all!
That seemed to be the attitude, and they brushed it off casually.
Vester, off in the corner, was muttering in a trance-like state while tapping his own head: "I saw nothing. Hahaha, I know nothing. I have nothing to do with any of this..."
The scene was oddly wistful, but I decided to pretend I hadn't seen it.
Next came the Senior Demons.
I named each one of them.
These too, naturally, completed their evolution in an instant and emerged from the culture capsules.
As powerful Senior Demon Commanders.
It felt like I'd obtained an absurd fighting force, but this was still just the beginning.
"Lord Rimuru, we are overcome with joy at receiving such magnificent names and power.
We pledge our continued loyalty—please, grant us this one request.
The souls of those who served under us are here...
If you would permit us, we would like to place them into these golem bodies—"
I didn't know how many there were, but I gave my permission.
They appeared to be the souls of Lesser Demons, making them ideal candidates for the cultured magic golems.
They would likely possess Senior Demon-level abilities, but that was perfectly fine.
I'd consumed a massive amount of magicules, so naming more wasn't possible—but that was fine too.
Several dozen upper-tier Senior Demons.
If any of them possessed strength comparable to unique individuals, they might even surpass a standard Senior Demon Commander.
As I considered all this, I granted the request— It turned out the Senior Demons each had one hundred subordinates.
A total of seven hundred Lesser Demon souls were placed into the cultured magic golems.
Once these demons incarnated and emerged, the increase in fighting power would be terrifying.
No—the ten demons alone were already absurd enough.
I might have gone and done it again.
I'll just pretend I don't know.
It's all Diablo's fault anyway.
Irresponsibly, I sat down next to Vester and thought to myself.
After this, the demons born here would become incarnated Senior Demons.
Archdemon-class beings of terrifying power, surpassing even demonfolk.
My prediction was correct—the stronger among them were more powerful than the freshly summoned Senior Demon Commanders.
They would become a legion beyond imagination.
The Black Corps.
Seven hundred strong.
The smallest in number, yet the group that earned the title of "legion."
The strongest force in the monster nation—a symbol of terror.
When the demons were released from their culture capsules, that was the moment the Black Corps was born.
The demons' names came from the Super Car series.
It wasn't that their prices equated to their combat power.