And so, we exchange

After I was told about how Colorless destroyed the space for the regular meetings, we headed to the place of Marito with Ilias, Rakura, Purple, and Dyuvuleori. Haakudoku can't act together with Purple, so I left him back at home together with Wolfe. Lord Ragudo and Mix were there too, so we decided to explain it to them as well. The office was a bit too cramped for this, so we moved to the meeting room where we called Colorless in front of the Yugura Church before. And then, I explain the details I was told by Purple. The people that listened to this didn't look too surprised. "I see. Colorless has done it now." (Marito) "Seriously. A number of my plans have crumbled because of it." That place is a doorway where Demon Lords will definitely meet up. I didn't think we would be able to persuade the Scarlet Demon Lord, but I did plan on using it for the future psychological battle, and to deal with the postwar as a negotiation tool. Depending on the situation, I could have tried moving the Green Demon Lord who doesn't care about anything, but now that that's gone, we have completely lost our method to contact the Green Demon Lord. We most likely won't be meeting the Green Demon Lord as long as we don't invade the Taizu Nether. "You could say it was in part because the Blue Demon Lord and Gold Demon Lord carelessly made provocations, but finding blame in that would only make things more complicated." (Marito) "Forgive them for at least that much. Leaving aside Gold, Blue was in a sense used by the Scarlet Demon Lord." Blue was an ally of the Scarlet Demon Lord through Raheight. The reality of it was that he manipulated Blue who sought her own death and had forsaken her own will. He was trying to tell the humans that the Demon Lords have resurrected in a flashy fashion. It probably didn't matter whether the invasion succeeded or not. In that sense, she was basically a sacrificial pawn. I should just be positive and consider Blue having a personal grudge as her mental state improving for the better. "So, this is not all there is to it, right?" (Marito) "Yeah. If possible, I wanted to call Gold and Blue here too though. I will tell those two later. There's something I want to confirm." What I took out from my pocket was a switch. It is the small device that the Colorless Demon Lord gave me to call him. A number of them noticed what I was trying to do and their expressions clouded. Marito is included in those people. "You are going to call him? Is he going to come?" (Marito) We have stopped contact after making him feel terrible with the matter of Nora. Well, I doubt he will come out easily after being made to experience that. I tried pushing it for now to see. No reaction. 2 times… 3 times… consecutive presses… but there's no signs of him showing up. "Well, that's within expectations." I look around the room and walk towards Rakura. Mix and Purple are by her side, so it is most likely over here. "Uhm, Counselor-sama? Wh—oh?!" (Rakura) I take out an Itoela Larva from my pocket and push it into the ear of Rakura. The insect hater Rakura was making an amusing teary face, but there's no real issue. I decide to glare at empty space and spit out threats. "Hey, if you don't come out quickly, I am going to be showing this guy from morning to night." "Argh, hey, don't joke around! I was in the middle of a meal, you know?! I can't believe there's a guy out there who shows a super nasty worm from up-close!" Alright, he showed up. I turned around to the direction where the voice came from and there was the Colorless Demon Lord glaring here with an angry look. The Colorless Demon Lord is observing us even if it is not on the degree of it being all the time. I thought he would surely be watching somewhere in a situation where so many people are gathering. As for the location, it would be in between the heads of Rakura and Purple where he can just barely get a peek, and also the place where I pushed the Itoela Larva at. I was wondering who he was more leaned on against between Rakura and Purple, but I judged he would be prioritizing the bigger one. "I am using it within the rule of once a month. Show up properly." "You… did you forget what you did to me?" (Colorless) "This and that are two different matters. Hm, destroying the space arbitrarily." "Hah? If you are going to complain, complain to the underhanded women who were trying to use the Hierarchy Curse to improve their standing. I simply did the obvious as a neutral party." (Colorless) The Colorless Demon Lord is smiling with a calm look. He heard what we were talking about before, so he must be feeling as if he one-upped us. "You simply blocked our chance of bringing the Green Demon Lord to our side against the invasion of the Scarlet Demon Lord." "…You seriously can read the minds of people. How creepy." (Colorless) "Wait a moment. What do you mean by making the Green Demon Lord our ally?" (Ilias) The one who interjected was Ilias. This is the natural reaction when hearing something that you can't just accept. "It is about the Illegitimate. The Green Demon Lord is searching for the Illegitimate. We have begun to catch the identity of that with the matter of Leitis. This Colorless was worried that we would use that information to our advantage to have the Green Demon Lord interfere in the battle against the Scarlet Demon Lord, so he made a move first." "…Really?" (Ilias) "That's right. It would have been interesting if the Green Lord were to join the Scarlet Beast, but joining your side would make it way too easy of a battle. That wouldn't be fair. Also, the Green Lord would crush the Scarlet Beast's long desire for the sake of their objective without mercy. I know it is not the choice the Wise King of Taizu would take, but I know that the Earthling over there is a guy who doesn't choose the means." (Colorless) "So the Illegitimate has that much worth." "Who knows. I have no intention of telling you myself. I don't mind tagging along with a matching of answers though." (Colorless) Colorless directs his gaze at me. This is a challenge of: 'Try telling me how much you know'. "I am fine with just matching answers. I called you here for the sake of that after all." "Then, answer. I will leave if you are wrong." (Colorless) "First is Leitis… no, a matter that I confirmed with the conversation with Ritial, but the Illegitimate appear like an outbreak. It refers to humans who are born with special talents. Haakudoku and Ritial, also Wolfe and Raheight must be within that category, too." "It seems Raheight has been killed by Archbishop Seraes though." (Colorless) "If you have been watching our actions, you should already know. I brought Blue to the place where Raheight's ashes were buried, and tried resurrecting him, but the only soul that got caught was the child's. Raheight's soul has escaped somewhere." Raheight used a special magic stone to move his soul. If he can move his soul without that, it would mean he has quite the special constitution. That said, there should be demerits in doing this without a tool. I just hope that has restricted his movements to some degree. "And so, let's hear about your deductions from there on." (Colorless) "Right. First, the one who created the Illegitimate is Yugura Nariya. You and the Green Demon Lord must be involved in it, too. Well, you are just like an extra in that though." "…Go on." (Colorless) I had some information about the parents of Haakudoku and Wolfe. They were normal people and didn't even have a portion of the talent that those two had. If they had, the treatment of the two would have been better. People who didn't take after their parents like these two and have recreated a part of the hero's power is rare. It would be one thing if it had been just one person, but Ritial and Raheight are also included in this. Having so many owners of one extreme talent is way too unnatural. It is different from Rakura who got a talent from the environment she was in. Even more so if it is a talent that's hard to control by the person themselves. "Leitis believes that there's an outbreak of Illegitimates in the whole world, and they were trying to search for them even if they had to go as far as controlling the nations. In other words, Yugura Nariya has finished setting it so that there's sudden outbreaks of Illegitimate in the whole world." "Do you have proof it was Yugura?" (Colorless) "The experiments must have been done with the use of the field of genetics. But genetics were within the forbidden list you gave me. Your first job was when you met me. In other words, the only one who could have created the Illegitimate would be someone who has touched the forbidden yet could still act. If there's such an exceptional case aside from Yugura Nariya, I would like you to tell me." "I see. So it would be easy to reach that conclusion if you know about genetics. Okay, okay. You are right." (Colorless) The Colorless Demon Lord clapped theatrically and stood up. And then, he stopped his fooling face and began talking seriously. "The Illegitimate were made in order to fight off the threat of the Demon Lords by giving special traits to the humans and demi-humans of this world with the blood of Yugura. The contributor of this is the Green of Prosperity; the Green Demon Lord. I was… well, an assistant." (Colorless) "I would like to know why the Green Demon Lord cooperated. Why did a Demon Lord cooperate in creating beings made for the purpose of opposing Demon Lords?" (Marito) Marito has a point. Someone like Wolfe with mana that rivals that of Yugura has been born, so the results of this can be said to be great. But that would only increase the amount of people who are aiming for their lives. "Because their objectives are different. Yugura did it to increase the survivability of humans, and the Green Lord created the Illegitimate system in order to take in people who have reached the peak and turn them into demons." (Colorless) "The ones who reach the peak?" "Green Lord hates humans, you see. The ones with inferior strength would envy the talents of others and waged unsightly wars because of it which they despised. But they thought it would be fine to take in people who can be proud of the talent of others into their own kingdom, so they accepted the invitation of Yugura. Well, Black Sis went wild in the middle of this plan, so it was put on hold though. And so, Yugura decided to murder all the Demon Lords once for now." (Colorless) Yugura had predicted that the Demon Lords would eventually become enemies of the humans, so he created the Illegitimate in order to increase the opposing power of the humans. As they were doing all that, the Black Demon Lord, Purple, Blue, and the Scarlet Demon Lord began to invade the territory of humans. Yugura was troubled by the way too early invasion, so he brought down the Demon Lords with his own hands, and then progressed with the Illegitimate plan, and decided to just leave it to run its course. The reason why he left the Hero Index was in order to let the Illegitimate properly know about the worth of their own talent… probably. "I have a general idea of the circumstances now. It is somewhat hard to believe, but there's a number of precedents, so I have no choice but to believe it." "That girl… her name was Wolfe, right? That demi-human is within the jackpots of the Illegitimate. Well, the biggest jackpot is… there's no need for me to even say it." (Colorless) The Colorless Demon Lord is looking at Marito… no, he is looking at Anbu-kun who is behind him, huh. He said himself that he was a descendant of Yugura. If he had obtained his power from the blood of Yugura, he didn't lie there. But in that case, that would link several events… I should ask Anbu-kun later. "I now have a good idea of the Illegitimate. Yugura really doesn't do anything decent." "So you say, but the existence of the Illegitimate are necessary in order to go against the threat of the resurrecting Demon Lords. It is true that Yugura created Demon Lords and brought chaos to the world, but he is taking responsibility in his own way, you know? And so, is that all you wanted to ask?" (Colorless) "No, there's one more thing. It is about what you were keeping silent about." This is actually my real objective. The Illegitimate were just as I deduced. But I have to confirm this one with the Colorless Demon Lord no matter what. "I think a man being mysterious is also cool, you know? Rather, it is not like I am going out of my way to keep silent. You would know even if I am lying, right?" (Colorless) "Then, tell me the reason why the mana of the Black Demon Lord is flowing in me." The Colorless Demon Lord freezes. This reaction… So he didn't know. Or more like, everyone is frozen. What incredible faces. "…Wait, are you seriously saying that?" (Colorless) "Yeah, I am." "No, no, the mana I feel from you is so minuscule, I wouldn't even be able to feel it unless I go serious in my detection, you know?!" (Colorless) "Then try going serious. You can at least differentiate the mana of your sister, right?" "…" The Colorless Demon Lord walked this way and looked at me with a serious face. I can tell he is putting incredible strength in his eyes. Is my mana really that low? "…It is true. It is super weak and super thin, but it is the mana of Black Sis." (Colorless) "There was no point confirming with you if you didn't know either." "Tell me one thing. Why did you think that was the case? You can't tell the difference in mana with your skills, right?" (Colorless) "Two reasons. Earthlings don't have mana to begin with." The first one to tell me I have a bit of mana once I came to this world was Maya-san. When I heard this, I misunderstood this as earthlings having mana even if just a tiny bit. After hearing that Yugura Nariya was the same from the talk of the Colorless Demon Lord, the misunderstanding worsened even more. The Colorless Demon Lord said that my difference with Yugura and me was my lingering attachments for Earth. If I throw away those lingering attachments, I would be able to get mana. "I didn't feel mana from Yugura at first, but soon after—" (Colorless) "Did you have the skills at that time to feel my current mana?" "…No. There was no one who could feel the mana when Yugura came to this world." (Colorless) "There's no lie in that Yugura adapted to this world and obtained mana. But his mana was most likely literally dry before that." That's basically what it is. The earthlings that came just recently to this world don't have any. The Demon Lord's mana is an ominous one that creates Nethers, but it is so thin that no one could feel danger from it -aside from one person. "Can I ask the one other reason?" (Colorless) "Haakudoku. It bothered me that he would lose consciousness when looking at me." Haakudoku's instinct reacts sensitively to dangerous beings. But even if it is me, thinking about it logically, there's no way I would be more dangerous than Ilias. In the first place, Haakudoku doesn't lose consciousness when seeing Ritial even though he is the same type as me. "He certainly was an Illegitimate that excelled in detection." (Colorless) "Haakudoku lost consciousness in the same fashion when seeing Purple before we came here. That's why I thought the mana inside of me was of the same quality." The sunglasses of Haakudoku have the effect of blocking not light but mana. Haakudoku can't see my mana at all when he is wearing those glasses. The amount blocked is minuscule, so it was pointless when in the face of Purple though. "If you consider the reason why you have the same quality of mana as a Demon Lord, you would of course reach the conclusion that you have the mana of Black Sis who called you to this world, huh." (Colorless) "So, this is going to be okay, right?" "It is outside my expertise. Rather, even if there's will in that mana, it won't be able to take any actions. It is on the level where it would whiff out just from making a fire, you know?" (Colorless) "…Even with this?" I take out one piece of parchment and give it to the Colorless Demon Lord. Colorless made a dubious look as he opened the parchment. He looked at the drawing inside of it. Both of his eyes opened wide and he glared at me. "…Oi, what's this drawing?! Why do you know about this tree?!" (Colorless) What was in that parchment was a single drawing. It is the sketch of the giant tree I saw inside my dream this morning. It had a peculiar shape, so I managed to grasp it pretty decently even while reminiscing about the dream. "I have been seeing those sceneries inside my dreams recently - sceneries I don't know of. Judging from your reaction, it must be a scenery that the Black Demon Lord knows." "…That's right. This is from before we became Demon Lords… So you are seeing the memories of Black Sis in dreams, huh." (Colorless) "The frequency of them has been increasing lately. Even if there's no direct harm, there's no doubt there's an effect from the Black Demon Lord." The Colorless Demon Lord was silent for a while. And then, he speaks as if he thought of something. "Do you remember our talk about the reason why Black Sis summoned you?" (Colorless) "Yeah." The place where the Black Demon Lord resurrects is the den of the worst slime in this world called the Mana Eater. She is devoured by the Mana Eater the moment she resurrects. That's why she used herself as a catalyst to call me with summoning magic. She believed that I would be able to get out of there since I have no mana. That I could become her substitute since it is someone with similar beliefs as her. "I think Black Sis left those dreams intentionally. They are faint thoughts in order to bring you closer to her beliefs -to her ideals." (Colorless) "Is that really all it is?" "I am not certain. But the closer you are to the thoughts of Black Sis, the deeper those thoughts will overlap. It seems like they are peaceful dreams at present, but it might influence you in the future." (Colorless) I think of possible reasons. Well, there are a lot. I have been me a lot more recently. Same goes for me. It means that's how often I get emotional in this world. "That's scary." "And good news for me. If you learn about the memories of Black Sis, it will be faster for you to sympathize after all." (Colorless) The Colorless Demon Lord laughs. He wants me to become the substitute of the Black Demon Lord. Even if it is indoctrination through dreams, if I am shown the memories of the Black Demon Lord every time, I might end up being influenced in some way. "Well, let's be satisfied with having gotten confirmation. It is not like you will be cooperating or giving me any countermeasures anyways." "I have no intention of interfering with what Black Sis is doing. But you have shown me something nice. Rather, show a bit more greed. This is so nostalgic it makes me want to cry." (Colorless) "Stop it. Don't get close to me. Don't get all touchy. It is disgusting." "Tch, Black Sis wouldn't say that." (Colorless) "So she was soft on her little brother." "No, she kicked me without saying a word." (Colorless) "That's horrible." The Black Demon Lord and I definitely don't resemble each other. I have not had such a violent sibling fight. I take distance from Colorless and he turns around as if saying that was enough. "Now then, I would like to frame you and stare at you if possible, but I will respect the wish of Black Sis and not interfere. There's a lot of people on edge with me being present here after all." (Colorless) "It is not 'many', everyone here hates you." "That's good news. Meaning that my efforts have been rewarded. See ya. Don't die a dog's death." (Colorless) The Colorless Demon Lord said this and disappeared. The people around softened their dicey atmosphere after that. He is on Yugura's level despite everything after all. "Now then, that's basically how it is. Looks like the nations should be the ones dealing with the Illegitimate." "…Yeah, that's right. Regardless of the reason why they are trying to secure the Illegitimate, we can't just stand idly-by if they are going as far as overthrowing the nations. There's the need to consider having them sheltered by the country. But… my friend, are you really okay?" (Marito) Marito is making a pretty worried face. After hearing about how there's the mana of the Black Demon Lord and how it is interfering with my mind by the day, of course he wouldn't be nonchalant about it. "Right now I am simply being shown peaceful sceneries. Well, I will think about a countermeasure." "…If you say so. It must be at a stage where there's no need to worry about the self-conscious symptoms." (Marito) "If the mana in my body increases visibly, I might have been able to use magic while being worried as a bonus though." "Haha, no doubt about it. But let's have Nora investigate little by little when you are in Taizu. It would be great if the Purple Demon Lord and the other Demon Lords were to help him out in turning normal." (Marito) "Got it. He is more important to me than Black anyways." (Purple) Purple agreed to this, but it seems like she does have a lot of thoughts regarding this. No, it should be better to say that she is already thinking about a variety of countermeasures inside her mind. I am in part happy about this, but also feel like there's no need to hurry that much. "But you have quite the rough life, Mister Friend. To think you would get approached by men and women." (Mix) "Don't say it in a way that invites misunderstandings, Mix. Right, I am going to be guiding Purple to the place of Troid-san. Can you take her there first?" "I don't mind but… do you have some other business?" (Mix) "I would like to arrange the talk just now with Marito. Wolfe is involved in this Illegitimate matter after all. I want to prepare a safe response to this." And so, the gathered members will be dispersing here. Everyone left the room aside from Marito and Ilias. "…Ah, Counselor-sama! Using an insect on me all of a sudden was cruel!" (Rakura) "That was such a late reaction." If you are going to complain, complain to that developed body of yours or Colorless. For now, I got permission from Marito to have her take back a bottle of wine as an apology and safely resolved this. With this, there's only 4 people in this room. "And so, Close Friend-san, you have something to ask me, don't you?" The first one to speak was Anbu-kun. I can't really pinpoint the location of the voice, but I can tell he is in front of me. "It is great that you are perceptive. Or more like, you calling yourself the descendant of Yugura is weird." "I thought things would move faster that way. But you are touching upon the truths of the world at such a fast pace. It worries me that you are going to burn out like a shooting star at this rate." (Anbu-kun) "I would like to avoid touching upon the forbidden. And so, there's something I would like to ask… The demon that attacked Taizu with a horde of monsters… was their objective you?" "?!" The only one who made a surprised face was Ilias. It seems like Marito also had a faint idea about this. "…Most likely." (Anbu-kun) "What's with the 'most likely'?" "I have met the Green Demon Lord directly in the Taizu Nether before. He invited me to become a demon and serve him at that time." (Anbukun) "You refused?" "I didn't want to void my humanity, so I ran away. And then, a few days later, monsters and demons began to roam around in search of me." (Anbu-kun) "So a part of them attacked the capital of Taizu." "There was no need to attack if it was just for the sake of achieving his objective. But it must have been a greedy demon… Are you not going to get angry, Lady Ratzel?" (Anbu-kun) I direct my gaze at Ilias. She is making a complicated expression, but there's no anger in it. "…I would like to ask one thing. It is not like you purposely dragged Taizu into that, right?" (Ilias) "Of course not. But I did know that if I were to fight off the demons and monsters in Taizu, the Green Demon Lord would have put strenuous efforts in attacking Taizu. That's why I couldn't provide any assistance." (Anbu-kun) The monsters of the Taizu Nether are larger in scale compared to other monsters. Stuff like dragons and wyverns that would be more fitting to be called kaijuus instead of monsters. If such monsters were to rush at Taizu as one whole army, they surely wouldn't have come out fine. "As a knight, I won't tell you that you should have thrown away your humanity. As such, I am not allowed to have words to chide you or emotions to push on you." (Ilias) "…Thank you very much, Lady Ratzel. You have become a good knight in both body and mind. I decided to become the close aide of His Majesty with the objective of keeping an eye on the Green Demon Lord as a way to repent. The contract magic was a show of my decision." (Anbu-kun) "Well then, I will be counting on you with His Majesty as you have." (Ilias) "No need to tell me." (Anbu-kun) It is good to see that no waves were made. But this is not the end here. "But you are pretty knowledgeable for an Illegitimate. You knew about the power of Purple and you seem to be an acquaintance of Colorless. You were also investigating any news of Yugura." "I am special after all. I have walked a pretty eventful life." (Anbu-kun) "So you are different from a normal Illegitimate… You noticed Wolfe immediately, right?" "Yes. She is most likely the peak amongst the Illegitimates that have been born naturally. I am the strongest though." (Anbu-kun) "You really don't break when it comes to that." "…Close Friend-san, there may come a day when you will learn about me correctly. I may look like a suspicious guy with a lot of secrets until then, but there's one thing I can promise you." (Anbu-kun) The voice of Anbu-kun turned serious suddenly. It is different from his aloof tone. It is a voice as if he were speaking to the world, peaceful yet with powerful will. "I am a being that will protect His Majesty until the very end and an ally of humanity. Of course, it is different from Leitis." (Anbu-kun) "…Yeah, it would be great if you do that." I raise my hand up towards empty space. When I did, I felt the sensation of a hand holding it. I don't know the details or even the face of Anbu-kun, but I can feel some sort of strong determination from him. I don't have a grasp of what this is as of current. However, he does make me want to believe in him. "It would be nice if I could show you my bare face one day." (Anbu-kun) "I am impressed you can say that when you were on the verge of showing it to me on the very first day