Ch 14: The Puppeteer's Gambit

---This Chapter is written by Void-King---

A few weeks had passed since Luminous forcefully evolved Rimuru into a True Demon Lord for him to be able to save Shizue. Luminous now was stuck in her home country together with a pink-haired troublemaker who would always destroy the doors of her castle and sometimes steal her sweets.

"Millim, how many times do I have to tell you? You can't just come here unannounced, and to make it worse, you always destroy the doors of my castle," Luminous said to Millim as she tried to lecture the girl who didn't even bother to listen to her sermon.

During the thousands of years that the two had known each other, Millim had become attached to Luminous, like how she was attached to Rimuru in the other timeline that got destroyed. The only difference is that for some reason, Luminous can't replicate her attitude when she was lecturing Millim during her time as Rimuru.

"Millim, are you listening to me?" she asked, and Millim only continued to eat her dessert like a child who hasn't eaten anything but raw vegetables.

*Sigh*

Luminous sighed at Millim's childish behavior and proceeded to take a sip of her tea. That is when Millim suddenly stopped eating and talked to Luminous with an excited look plastered on her face.

"Ne, ne, Luminous, there's this plan that the new Demon Lord told me about!" Millim said to Luminous while munching her cake.

"What plan?"

"You see, this new Demon Lord named Clayman wants to create a puppet Demon Lord by using monsters from the Jura Forest."

"Clayman? That undead elf, doesn't he know that there's a pact that prevents anyone from entering or even doing anything to the Great Jura Forest so that the Storm Dragon won't be unsealed?" Luminous asked while playing clueless about Clayman's plan, even though already knows about this and she already knows that Rimuru had transported Veldora to his subspace.

"I know that, but I think his plan will work, and I want a new toy."

'Is this what she really thinks of this trouble, a plaything? Then again, I can't blame her; even I'm bored staying on the line to achieve the same outcome as the previous timeline. It's quite boring,' Luminous thought.

"Well, I just came here to eat and tell you about it. I'll be going now. Bye," Millim said and immediately left the room and flew off to who knows where.

"The Orc Lord incident is already in motion, so I must inform Hinata about this so no idiot human enters the Great Jura Forest." Right after she said that, a knock was heard on the door.

*Knock* *Knock*

"Come in," Luminous said, sensing Hinata's presence behind the door and immediately letting her in.

"Hinata, perfect timing. There's something I need to tell you!" she said and explained to Hinata about the Orc Lord who had appeared in the Great Jura Forest and that she would like Hinata to warn the humans not to get close to the Great Jura Forest in order to avoid putting themselves in danger.

"I understand, Luminous-sama, but shouldn't we assemble an army to take care of it so it won't turn into a bigger problem?" Hinata voiced her opinion.

"Don't worry. There's someone who will take care of it. Just focus on your task," Luminous replied to Hinata's opinion.

After their conversation, Hinata left to do her task, and Luminous looked at the sky and thought for a little.

"I guess I could use this incident to visit my past self and Shizue-san," Luminous said.

[I don't think that's a good idea, Master. Visiting them right now will change many future events,] Ciel warned.

"Don't worry, Ciel. I'm not going there as Luminous Valentine, the Ancient Demon Lord. I'm going there as Shizuku, the Conqueror of Ice," Luminous replied to her mana.

***

On the Puppet Kingdom of Jistva, a certain individual was standing on the top room of his castle and looking at the ground.

"I didn't expect that the boss would come here in person. I thought you were busy with your work back at the Guild," the man known as Demon Lord Clayman spoke while taking a sip of his wine.

"Don't be like that, Clayman. You know that I also want to visit my friends if I have free time," the man with short black hair spoke while taking a sip of his glass of wine. "Well, visiting is one of my purposes, but I also came with a warning: do not underestimate the Demon Lord Millim Nava, and be wary of the new power that has emerged in the Great Jura Forest."

"Don't worry. I won't let my guard down against the Demon Lord Millim. But are you even sure about that new power in the Great Jura Forest that you spoke of?"

"I am sure of it. Ask Laplace if you still have doubts."

"Well, I do trust the boss, so there's no need for me to do that."

"Anyways, I will get going now. Make sure your little toy will be useful to you," the man said before leaving the room.

"A new power in the Great Jura Forest?... I won't let it hinder my plan to create a Puppet Demon Lord for my own gain and for my friends. I'll make sure I won't fail," Clayman said while taking another sip of his glass of wine.

***

Back in the Great Forest of Jura, Rimuru and the others are being asked to take care of the Orc Lord that had terrorized the residents of the forest.

"Looks like everything is going well," Rimuru said. "Alright, everyone, we will depart immediately after the preparations, and our goal is the Marsh Land, the home of the Lizard Man," Rimuru announced.

Those who would participate in this battle with Rimuru are the Goblin Riders, Shizue, Benimaru, Hakuro, Shion, and Soei.

Tonight, the newly awakened Demon Lord Rimuru will make his first entrance to this battlefield.

Together with him were his trusted friends and one of his destined ones. The world shall now witness a drastic change to the story that was once told.

---To be continued...---

***

*A/N: Hey, I'm back! Hahaha. Anyway, I decided to do this story in my own way, and a lot of events will change. Some of the canon events will not happen due to Luminous' interventions.*

*Anyways, I'm glad that everyone is still reading this work of mine, so thank you for that. Anyways, that's it for today. I'll see you guys in the next chapter.*