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In a room at the Taizu Castle, there’s a giant table in the middle with Knight Captains and government officials surrounding it. It is the room used to discuss the direction the country will be taking.
There’s currently several people from this country present.
There’s the representative of the Yugura Church present today, and it is the day when they will be making contact with the Colorless Demon Lord.
First of all, from Taizu, there’s: Marito and Lord Ragudo.
From Mejis, there’s: Pope Euparo who stayed in Taizu, Yox, and 3 other Archbishops.
One of them is the one in charge of the Taizu branch, Maya-san.
The remaining two are Archbishops stationed in Mejis.
One of them is someone I know well, Archbishop Ukka. The teacher of Rakura and the person that I met in the matter with Raheight.
The one other Archbishop is an elderly man who is making a really conflicted expression.
Archbishop Seraes is the person with the most weight in his words even within the Archbishops of the Yugura Church.
Maya-san is here because she is in charge in Taizu, but Archbishop Ukka and Archbishop Seraes are the ones Pope Euparo chose.
The stance of these two are almost polar opposites.
Archbishop Ukka is the quiet type. He consents to my way of being to a certain degree.
In contrast to that, Archbishop Seraes apparently raises his voice loudly to deny my way of being.
I heard he is even more hard-headed than Yox, so it is pretty scary.
“…”
Yup, he has been staring intently at me for a while now. Lends credence.
By the way, he is not only glaring because of this Earthling here.
There’s 3 people behind me.
My bodyguard Ekdoik, the Gold Demon Lord, and the Purple Demon Lord.
The two of them haven’t made contact with the Colorless Demon Lord until now, so they wanted to see his face.
With the Purple Demon Lord, who left a deep scar in the land where the Yugura Church originated, it can’t be helped that the strongly religious Archbishop Seraes would be pissed.
By the way, Ekdoik and the Gold Demon Lord are as usual, but special measures have been taken for the Purple Demon Lord.
It is the mask covering her mouth.
This mask was prepared by the Yugura Church, and you can’t speak at all when wearing it.
It is in order to seal the Enticement of the Purple Demon Lord.
She can freely control others just by calling their name, so it can’t be helped if she is going to participate in occasions like this. The Purple Demon Lord herself just said ‘is that so’ and wore it.
Marito checked it beforehand and it has been proved that there’s no danger to it, and Dyuvuleori is hiding in her shadow.
“Now then, it is about time we begin. Greetings…are unnecessary, huh.” (Marito)
Marito stood up and walked over here.
Marito is the one who will be taking the lead in this meeting.
I would like to be spared from people like Archbishop Seraes who glare at me, so this is great.
“Ready?” (Marito)
“Yeah. I will be calling him now, okay?”
I took out the switch that was given to me by the Colorless Demon Lord, which looked like it would be used in a quiz show, and placed it on the table.
Having eyes on me is pretty nerve wracking.
What will you do if I am rendered unable to push the button with you all staring daggers at me?
I wanted to push the button as if it were a quiz show if Archbishop Seraes wasn’t here, but if I were to do that here, I might get killed by their eyes.
I think this as I push the button.
Now then, what will happen…?
“Oh, you’ve got some nice tea and snacks here! Can I eat them?”
That man appeared in the spot that was prepared for him as if he was there from the very beginning.
He threw his legs on top of the table, giving off the full blown atmosphere of an outlaw.
Black hair and black eyes; the clear difference to me would be his ground black skin.
A half-naked man with a hood that has a stealth feature that lets him blend into the scenery; the Colorless Demon Lord.
“Yeah, you can go ahead. Need an explanation of the situation?”
“No need. With the Yugura Church’s Archbishops and Pope gathered, I can tell even if I didn’t want to.” (Colorless)
The reaction of the people who saw the Colorless Demon Lord was to show visible wariness as expected.
Everyone has their attention directed at the spot where the man should be appearing at —and yet, in the end, this man showed no traces of how he appeared, creating an illusion as if he was there from the start.
“Things will proceed faster if you know about me. First of all, I would like to confirm the truth of things.” (Euparo)
“It is stressful to say the same stuff though. If it is about how I was made a demon by the Hero and current White Demon Lord Yugura and am hindering the spread of the language and knowledge of Earth as the Colorless Demon Lord, then it is true. You guys should be able to tell if something is a lie with the technique that Yugura left behind, right?” (Colorless)
“…I see.” (Euparo)
This guy, he proved the one thing that the Yugura Church wouldn’t want to believe the most.
The Yugura Church’s clerics having the technique to see through lies is common knowledge, but that was knowledge given to them by Yugura, huh.
The reaction of the Archbishops is…there’s not much to point out aside from Archbishop Ukka holding his head.
Pope Euparo and Maya-san believed it wasn’t a lie from the very beginning, so that’s normal, but Archbishop Seraes having no reaction is a bit scary.
“Oh, aren’t the ones over there the Gold Lass and the Purple Princess? This is the first time we meet face to face like this, right?” (Colorless)
“Right. Yer tongue really rolls well despite not saying one word in the recurrent meetings and just showing yer presence.” (Gold)
“It is the recurrent meetings of the Demon Lords after all. It would feel wrong for me to speak when I am a Demon Lord in just name only.” (Colorless)
“Can this one ask ya something too? The recurrent meetings we have were readied by Black before making us Demon Lords and freeing us to move as we please.” (Gold)
“That’s right… The Black Demon Lord made it so.” (Colorless)
“But Yugura became a Demon Lord himself right before defeating Purple who rampaged in Mejis. Black and Yugura were enemies since that moment, so I doubt Black would tinker with it afterwards. In that case, Colorless, ya showing up in that place after becoming the Colorless Demon Lord would be too late. In the first place, Yugura spoke of the existence of Colorless at the time when he proposed the location of the recurrent meetings. Considering that, yer standing is a bit unclear.” (Gold)
“Hmm, that’s great.” (Colorless)
The Colorless Demon Lord sipped tea as if not interested.
This tea is good. I should ask Marito later where he got it.
But that conversation just now…it felt somewhat off.
“…Does that mean you have no intention of answering seriously?” (Gold)
“I can only snort at someone who asks a question anyone would come up with if they were to think for a bit yet act all smart for asking about it. You should think for yourself at least that much. Hey, Earthling, you answer her straight to her face.” (Colorless)
The unexpected killer pass almost made me spurt my tea.
“Why are you throwing it to me?”
“I don’t want to waste my time talking to a bunch that throws questions of this level. Show me how well the gears in your brain turn. If you miss, this talk is over, okay?” (Colorless)
He suddenly threw me something extremely unreasonable.
Yugura and the Colorless Demon Lord knew each other from the very beginning.
Yugura researched resurrection magic, and he knew the Colorless Demon Lord before creating the Black Demon Lord, so it wouldn’t be strange for him to prepare a seat for the Colorless Demon Lord to spectate in the recurrent meetings.
There’s even the possibility you can show up in those meetings without being a Demon Lord.
But he is telling me to show how well the gears in my brain turn… Fumu.
“This problem has a lot of speculative elements. Do I have to get a perfect answer?”
“I am a man who is famous for being soft in my grading, so I can give you some spare room if I see effort. How about I give you 3 chances?” (Colorless)
“In that case, I can go for a decently risky one… It is because you are the little brother of the Black Demon Lord.”
“…”
Ah, tea is leaking out from his mouth. So nasty.
The people around are also making pretty shocked expressions.
“Wait, wait, tell me first how you leaped to that answer.” (Colorless)
“So it was correct.”
“It is, but I don’t remember giving you any hints to allow you to go that deep in though?” (Colorless)
“You tell others to think, yet you yourself don’t?”
“Shut up. Want me to take your share of tea and pastries?” (Colorless)
“That would be troubling. I am planning on bringing some back for Wolfe… The Colorless Demon Lord knew Yugura from the moment he came to this world. It wouldn’t be strange for you to be in a relationship with him where you research magic together. You are a complete backseat character that didn’t interact with the other Demon Lords as you acted, but your seat was readied in the recurrent meetings in order to observe the other Demon Lords. Yugura must have planned this to be how it would be from the very beginning. So he readied the seat only first, then made it real. You weren’t an actual Demon Lord but a demon though.”
“Yeah, that would be the optimal answer for the question of the Gold Lass. Please tell me the logic beyond that.” (Colorless)
What lies ahead of here is filled with conjecture, but it clicked well, so I just tried saying it.
I take a sip of the tea and explain the flow of my thoughts.
“The Gold Demon Lord and Purple Demon Lord didn’t know about the Colorless Demon Lord in the shadows and didn’t meet him. But the Black Demon Lord was the one who prepared the seats, so there’s a high chance they knew you -the Colorless Demon Lord. What Yugura gave to the Black Demon Lord, who was the first one he created, was the power of Omnipotence; most of his knowledge. With those factors taken into consideration, I could deduce that Yugura Nariya, the Colorless Demon Lord, and the Black Demon Lord knew each other from a pretty early stage. Also, the Black Demon Lord and the Colorless Demon Lord are related in some way aside from them being Demon Lords. It was between: friends, coworkers, lovers, or family.”
“Right. I can agree to your deduction so far. However, I don’t know how you managed to narrow it down from there.” (Colorless)
“You said it just now. You called the Gold Demon Lord ‘Gold Lass’, and the Purple Demon Lord with ‘Purple Princess’.”
The Gold Demon Lord was originally a girl living in a demi-human village; the Purple Demon Lord was a human princess.
Gold Lass and Purple Princess are nicknames that relate to their origins.
“Yet, you called the Black Demon Lord alone with Black Demon Lord. If you were friends or coworkers, there would be no need to hide it and could have called them with a nickname too, yet you didn’t. I felt like you did this with the express intention of hiding your relationship with them because it would reveal your relationship if you were to call them how you usually do. Also, you showed a bit of apprehension when speaking the word ‘Black Demon Lord’. From that, I could infer that, rather than close and equals, you were slightly below. In that case, you are not lovers but relatives; either parent and child or siblings. Parent and child felt off, so I went with little brother.”
“…I see, so your deduction progressed from the moment I hesitated in saying Black Sis, huh… To think you would deduce our relationship with the way I called her. Is that normally possible?” (Colorless)
“Far easier than learning magic.”
“That’s definitely not true… Well, a promise is a promise. I will stay here for a bit longer.” (Colorless)
Looks like I passed. That’s a relief.
My throat dried from all that talking. I sipped on the tea once more and was checking the state of the others, and then the Gold Demon Lord talked to me.
“Hey, Ser, could it be that yer using ‘that’?” (Gold)
“The Comprehension? I have my promise with Ilias, so I haven’t.”
Of course, comprehending the other party and reading their thoughts would increase the credibility of it drastically.
But I can naturally feel when things are off with the information even without using it.
There’s no burden in reading those normally and forming speculations, so it is pretty useful.
I wouldn’t want to run totally on speculations when my life is on the line though.
“Umumu… Yer good.” (Gold)
“I think even Marito would be able to pull that off. Do your best, Gahne King.”
“Hn, don’t tell that Foolish King what we talked about just now, okay?” (Gold)
What came afterwards was a reconfirmation of the things I heard together with Marito before.
Yugura learned magic after he came to this world, and cooperated with the Colorless Demon Lord to learn a variety of techniques.
Yugura researched the things that he judged as taboos: resurrection magic, dimensional magic, and space magic. Because of that, he caught the eye of the creator of this world and was made to take a break once.
The Colorless Demon Lord was answering all with a face as if he found this to be pain.
“So it is a repeat of the same in the end? It reeks of government work. What a drag.” (Colorless)
“Then, allow me to speak.”
The one who spoke was Archbishop Seraes. This is the first time I have heard his voice since this began.
“Yeah, what is it?” (Colorless)
“Is there a way to completely kill the Demon Lords?” (Seraes)
The two behind me react faintly at those words.
Of course they would have their own thoughts regarding being asked right in front of them how to kill them.
I thought Dyuvuleori would jump out here, but it seems like he managed to endure.
“Hooh, that’s a good question in front of Demon Lords. I am not immortal, so if I were to be killed even once, I am done, but the others have the effect of the resurrection magic after all.” (Colorless)
“And so, is there one?” (Seraes)
“There’s one in theory. But that would be impossible for you guys.” (Colorless)
“What do you mean by that?” (Seraes)
“It is simple. The Demon Lords are immortal because of the effects of resurrection magic. In that case, just erase the effects of resurrection magic. Resurrection magic is magic that’s cast on the soul. In order to erase it, you just have to get back what was paid. The thing that the Demon Lords -excluding Yugura- paid was their name in this world. But the existence of the Demon Lords’ names has been erased from this world completely.” (Colorless)
“Wouldn’t that make it impossible in theory instead?” (Seraes)
“There are exceptions. Ain’t that right, Earthling?” (Colorless)
“…Explain yourself.” (Seraes)
Uwaah, the gaze of Archbishop Seraes hurts a whole ton.
The way to kill Demon Lords. Again with an unsavory thing to ask me.
And then, I realized it…or more like, I remembered it.
That’s right. The details of the book that were the center of a strife and made me have no opinion other than hoping I hadn’t read it.
I would like to feign ignorance here, but Pope Euparo and Maya-san know about this.
I must avoid actions that only worsen their impression of me.
“…The name of the Blue Demon Lord was written in the book of the Blue Demon Lord that’s under the custody of Mejis… It means that it can be left behind if it is in the language of Earth, huh.”
“That’s how it is. Yugura has written down the names of the Demon Lords in the language of Earth as insurance. In other words, the only one who can translate it is the Earthling. Too bad, purists, the man over there is currently the ally of the Demon Lords after all.” (Colorless)
This dude…he is provoking them.
Immortals… Demon Lords that live for eternity.
However, there’s a way to be freed from that curse.
If you can provide the name of the Demon Lords that perished from this world at the same time when the resurrection magic was used on them, you can dispel the resurrection magic.
And the intonation of their name has been stored in the language of Earth beforehand by Yugura.
That means that, at the very least, I currently have the method to kill the Blue Demon Lord.
…No, no, I don’t want to shoulder that risk though?!
Archbishop Seraes stared at me silently and sat down as if saying he is done here.
They must be done with their questions, there was no one asking any more.
In that case, let’s throw some questions too. What I personally would like to ask would be that.
“Ah, can I ask another question?”
“Yeah, that’s fine, Earthling. Give me a good one.” (Colorless)
“Why was I sent here from Earth?”
“Oi, isn’t that the same damn question as before?” (Colorless)
“Then give me the same answer. I’ve got lie detectors on my side this time around.”
The Colorless Demon Lord suddenly stopped his flippant expression.
He went silent for a moment and sighed.
“You’ve got me there. I am impressed you managed to see through my lie.” (Colorless)
“It has been made clear just now that you were hiding your relationship with the Black Demon Lord after all. The place where I showed up in this world was the Black Demon Lord Killer Mountain; the place where your sister died. Despite knowing a lot of things, you answered with an ‘I don’t know’ without even giving it proper thought which felt like you were just trying to get out of it.”
“That’s right. Lies really aren’t worth it. It just invites more trouble than not. Next time, I will just keep silent.” (Colorless)
“You can keep silent if you want though. I will simply draw guesses with the premise that you know.”
“Earthlings really are a pain! Every single one of them!” (Colorless)
Being put in the same category as the conceited bastard that created Demon Lords and saved the world is incredibly displeasing though.
“It is not like everything is a lie. The ones with the possibility of using dimensional magic are only Yugura, Black Sis, and me. Yugura is waiting to resurrect and I don’t remember you, so there’s only one person left that could have called you to this world, right?” (Colorless)
“—So the Black Demon Lord called me here.”
“That’s right.” (Colorless)
The first Demon Lord I heard of -the Black Demon Lord- was the one who transferred me to this world.
This being established is a big piece of information, but it just doesn’t click.
My only perception of hers was that she is the Demon Lord that was defeated by a slime after all.
“That face is saying: ‘why me?’” (Colorless)
“Obviously. I have no idea why she would call me here.”
“I don’t think she tried to call you specifically, you know? I have lived together with Black Sis, and I can state with certainty that there’s absolutely no chance for her to have known you.” (Colorless)
There should be no chance for her to have known an Earthling that tried to live safely in his world after all. Even if she did, I would just be a speck within massive amounts of information; a grain of sand within the desert.
“This is just a guess of mine, but it is most likely not wrong. The people under the effects of resurrection magic resurrect in the place they died. And then, there’s a dangerous one in that place.” (Colorless)
“The slime.”
“The Mana Eater is something you can’t do anything about. It is a being that eats everything that has mana. Moreover, its appetite increases the more mana the other party has. To be straight with you, even I can’t approach that.” (Colorless)
Even one of the strongest in this world as of present is saying that.
I seriously think it is a miracle that I survived as someone who was attacked by it.
This at the same time has proved that the Slime-san is the top of the food chain in this world.
“The other guys have revived several decades ago. It wouldn’t be strange for Black Sis to have resurrected too. But if the place you resurrect is the nest of the Mana Eater, it is not possible to escape. You would just get eaten the moment you resurrect.” (Colorless)
One of the fun killers in FPS <First-Person Shooter> games is to spawn kill people at the respawn point. She must be in a similar situation to that.
If you have mana on the level of a Demon Lord, the Slime-san would be able to sniff it and attack you even if it is far.
Being swallowed by a slime the instant you resurrect must be annoying.
“The objective of Black Sis is just as you humans know well: the extermination of humans. But after realizing that she won’t be able to realize that ambition of hers with her dying over and over in the nest of the Mana Eater, she tried to entrust that wish to someone else. And then, if we talk about someone who doesn’t have mana in their initial state and has a chance to escape from the Mana Eater…it would be you, Earthling. She called you.” (Colorless)
“…The reason she called me is even more of a mystery now.”
It goes without saying, but I don’t have the strength and no intention of eradicating humanity.
I might think ‘screw this world’ if my toe were to hit the corner of a drawer or something early in the morning, but being transferred to an isekai for that reason would be way too sad.
“Dimensional magic…in this occasion, it would be more accurate to call it summoning magic, huh. Summoning magic needs a catalyst. You need a connection with the person you are calling in order to bring someone from a different world. The reason you were called must have been because of that catalyst.” (Colorless)
“Catalyst…? Is there a connection that would be tied to me? No, in the first place, she was attacked by a slime right after resurrecting, so there’s no way she would be able to prepare something like that.”
“She does have one thing: herself.” (Colorless)
“Herself…? Are you saying the Black Demon Lord herself was the catalyst?”
“That’s right. If she called someone close to her, the chances of being able to entrust her ambitions would be higher, right? That’s why Black Sis used herself as a catalyst and called someone that had the closest connection to her. The result was you.” (Colorless)
I see, I don’t get it.
I understand the objective of the Black Demon Lord, the reason why she used summoning magic, and why she used herself as the catalyst, but…why me?
“Does the Black Demon Lord resemble me?”
“Black hair, black eyes; that’s all the resemblance you have with her in outward appearance. The shape of your face, gender, and talent are completely different.” (Colorless)
“If I was called by just the color of my hair and eyes matching with hers, me getting called had astronomically low chances.”
“It is not only that. The most similar part with her is here.” (Colorless)
The Colorless Demon Lord said this and smacked his chest.
“Was she flat chested?”
“Don’t joke around. She had massive honkers— That’s not it. Her heart; her way of being. Black Sis was disappointed in this world and hated everything, but…even so, she loved the world. She wailed at the state of the world and cursed in anger. Black Sis was normally the silent type, but she showed incredible proactiveness once she got passionate about something. I think you and Black Sis are similar on that front, you know?” (Colorless)
The type that can’t be stopped once kindled, huh.
I am self-aware of this, so I can’t really say I don’t understand, but…don’t know what to say about that.
“It is because of that that I got interested in you.” (Colorless)
“I am not into men.”
“I myself am into women with big honkers. What I am interested in is your future. You currently don’t have one bit of mana and haven’t accepted this world. But once you have accepted it, once you have obtained knowledge equal to that of Yugura, once you have been dyed by the same ideology of Black Sis, just what kind of future will you show me? I am really looking forward to it.” (Colorless)
“…Even if you tell me that, I simply want to live peacefully.”
“I see, I see. Well, that’s why I don’t plan on being your enemy for the foreseeable future. I plan to continue being the guardian of order as long as the people in this world don’t touch the forbidden.” (Colorless)
This is how my conversation with the Colorless Demon Lord ended.
I obtained a lot of important information like: the reason why I was summoned and the method to erase the resurrection magic.
…I feel as if the Colorless Demon Lord got me here.
He purposely revealed important information.
He could have done so before if it were just revealing information.
But he purposely feigned ignorance once and created an opportunity for conversation again.
He lured in the Yugura Church by doing that, and increased my importance in front of them.
With this, I am not only the native of Yugura’s planet that accepted Demon Lords as allies, but it has also been instilled in their minds that I am one of the means to eliminate the Demon Lords, and the pawn that was prepared by the Black Demon Lord.
Of course, there’s a high chance Pope Euparo and Maya-san will show understanding despite this.
But the eyes of Archbishop Seraes…those are bad.
Within those eyes of disdain and denial, there’s a stickiness that feels like those of a hunter that has found their prey.
The Yugura Church is not a monolith. I shouldn’t lower my guard.
No, it is not only the Yugura Church.
This also means that my threat level with the Gold Demon Lord and Purple Demon Lord has increased.
Planting the seed of friction within my comrades… That Colorless Demon Lord is one piece of work.
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