Chapter 67: Two Schemes (8)

“……Oh?”

The corners of Barbatos’ mouth twisted.

Simple, that word alone was able to set Barbatos’ desire to win ablaze.

In conclusion, she had cleanly accepted her defeat; however, was it truly a defeat accomplished by absolutely perfect deductions? Wouldn’t there have been a weak point? Couldn’t Dantalian have deduced that she was the culprit through a little luck and intuition? Barbatos was curious about this.

There are many times in battles between warriors where the victor is determined by luck. Although it may be rare for battles to be determined by pure luck, battles being determined by a certain amount of luck happen fairly frequently. Barbatos knew this as well. Luck is naturally a factor of victory.

Nonetheless, Barbatos has always been a warrior by nature. She longed for battles that risked everything and lacked luck.

“All right! Dantalian.”

Barbatos tossed her empty glass on the floor. The crystal glass let out a clamorous noise as it shattered into pieces.

“I fully acknowledge that you’ve won. I have absolutely no complaints, regrets, or feelings of contempt. If anything, I’m delighted because you’ve exceeded my expectations. I give you 99 points. Do you understand what this means?”

“……You’re saying that I’m not a hundred points.”

“Kakaka! That’s right! The gap between 100 and 99 is similar to the gap between the ocean and the sky.”

She raised her right hand. Spirits responded to the great black mage’s gesture.

The air trembled drearily.

⎯ Goooooooh.

Something that resembled a mushroom surged out from the cold marble floor. It was a <Death Knight>, one of the greatest monsters. A beast that could easily kill the strongest monster that Dantalian commands which is a level 10 lowest-tier golem with a single swing of its sword. It wasn’t alone. Dozens, hundreds of <Death Knights> surged up from the floor solely to respond to their master’s call.

⎯ Gurururu…….

⎯ Gooooooh.

They filled the extensive hall of the Demon Lord chamber in an instant. Barbatos made a fist with her raised right hand. Once she did, 500 monsters pulled out their swords at the same time. The metallic sound of 500 swords being unsheathed resonated noisily. Not a single person moved and even the sound of breathing couldn’t be heard. The monsters had formed a perfect circle with Barbatos and Dantalian at the center.

“…….”

Dantalian didn’t show his emotions, but his heart pounded. He was being overwhelmed. It would most likely be difficult to find an army that could win against these 500 monsters anywhere on this continent. This army that was most likely one of the strongest in both the human and demon worlds was silently emitting an overwhelming pressure.

“These are my subordinates that I’m proud of!”

With a big grin on her face, Barbatos spoke.

“As they have participated in all of my battles for the past 2,000 years, all of them have tasted the honorable victories. They are my glory and my history. There is no Demon Lord that I respect more than these subordinates of mine. Dantalian! Try refuting me before these subordinates that I cherish more than anything else!”

She pointed at Dantalian.

“This is a duel. Although swords will not be swung and blood will not be shed, this will be a duel solely between our pride. In general, an appropriate number of spectators and a suitable reward is required for an interesting match. Dantalian, accept this duel. If you win, then I will give you 12 of my honorable knights.”

12 Death Knights!

Dantalian’s heart pounded more fiercely than before. At the moment, his dungeon was still level 3 so he could only purchase F rank monsters. If he’s able to gain 12 A-ranked Death Knights, then the benefits would be so immense that no calculations would be needed!

Contrary to his beating heart, Dantalian contemplated calmly. She said this was a match. Since she had offered an award for winning, then there should naturally be a price for losing. Dantalian spoke.

“That is quite a tempting prize. So, what would happen if I were to lose?”

“You will become my subordinate!”

Barbatos spread her arms out.

“I’ve taken a liking to you. The fact that I’ve taken a liking to you even though you’re a guy is really a fucking big thing. That’s how much your mind and ability interest me. I promise that I will never treat you poorly and, worthy of its name, you will be acknowledged as second-in-command of the Rank 8 Demon Lord’s army.”

Rage mixed into her voice.

“Currently, a majority of the Demon Lords are pieces of trash! They’ve forgotten the reason for our existence as Demon Lords and only care about their own singular lives. Why should we go out of our way to call them Demon Lords!? How are they any different from the numerous lords throughout the human world!? I can say with certainty that those guys are the worst type of trash out there. Dantalian, let’s burn all the trash on the surface together.”

Barbatos smiled sinisterly.

“We will then conquer the human world. We will build a world for demonkind. An empire that has never existed before and never will afterward! We will create a great empire! You will become the eternal prime minister of that great empire.”

“Kuhu.”

Dantalian laughed.

“There is no reason for me to refuse. I will accept this match.”

“All right! Then prove it to me!”

Barbatos waved her arm. A transparent screen appeared next to her and Dantalian. It was a list that was three times taller than Barbatos. Thirty-two names were written in large letters there.

“These are the names of the 32 Demon Lords that participated in the recent Walpurgis Night! Explain to me how you came to the conclusion that I, Barbatos, was the one who had engraved a mark on Riff’s corpse.”

“First, I removed the entire Mountain Faction from the list of suspects.”

Dantalian said confidently.

“The reason is simple. There’s no way that a member of the Mountain Faction would setup Belial, another Mountain Faction member.”

“Ha, how funny!”

Barbatos laughed.

“Why do you think a third party was the one who left the mark? There’s the possibility that Belial himself had left the mark. Dantalian, this is a sacred battleground. I will not permit even a single leap of logic. Elaborate!”

“This isn’t a jump of logic or anything. There was a mark left on Riff’s corpse⎯⎯this fact alone is enough proof that Belial wasn’t the one who left the mark.”

Dantalian continued.

“Let’s refer to the person who helped Riff’s party as his supporter. Why didn’t the supporter fight me directly? Why would they have secretly supported some group of human adventurers? There’s only one answer. In order to hide their identity.”

With his hands clasped behind his back, he walked around.

“If this is the case, then the actions of ‘secretly helping Riff’, and ‘leaving behind proof of their support on Riff’s corpse’ would clearly contradict each other. Therefore,”

He then drew a line with the tip of his finger across Belial’s name on the gargantuan list.

“The one who had left a mark on Riff’s corpse wasn’t the supporter. There was a ‘third party’ excluding Riff and the supporter. They’re the one who had left Belial’s mark on Riff’s corpse.”

“Kaka. Okay, I accept that.”

Barbatos waved her arm once. With a scraping sound, a line was drawn across the center of the words ‘Rank 68 Belial’. Dantalian’s attack was successful.

Barbatos didn’t seem to care. One suspect out of the thirty-two was cleared of suspicion. What about it? It was only one person. There were still thirty-one people left! It would still be painfully difficult to pick out who the third party was from all these people.

“Nonetheless, your logic is still flawed, Dantalian. How could you eliminate all members of the Mountain Faction from the list of suspects for the same reason?”

Barbatos grinned widely.

“Even if they are in the same faction, it is possible for people to hold grudges against one another. Even within the Plains Faction, it’s only natural for Demon Lords to butt heads. Do you think the Mountain Faction would be any different!? There might be a member of the Mountain Faction who did this because they fucking hate Belial.”

“An interesting argument; however, it’s pointless.”

Dantalian continued to slowly walk around the room with unwavering steps.

“I rather hate arguments for the sake of arguments. The number of times arguments that look fair from the outside turn out to be nothing more than a minor nitpick is innumerable. Belial is rank 68.”

He put more emphasis on his words as he repeated them.

“He’s only rank 68. If there’s someone out there who genuinely has to think up a ploy for a rank 68, especially a ploy like this one that’s completely roundabout, then they’d have to be someone who can’t face a rank 68 through normal means. In other words, someone weaker than a rank 68. Therefore, from rank 69 to 72, a total of 4 people become suspects. Oh dear, but how unfortunate.”

Dantalian raised 4 fingers. He then lowered his index finger.

“I killed Rank 72 Andromalius. Remove him from the list of suspects and 3 remain. Next, Rank 71 Dantalian is me, and I’m obviously not the culprit. Remove me from the list of suspects and 2 remain.”

“Hm.”

Barbatos waved her hand and a line was struck across the portion of the list that read ‘Rank 71 Dantalian’. Dantalian continued.

“Rank 70 Seere participated in the hearing and is alive, but they aren’t a part of the Mountain Faction. They haven’t joined any factions. Remove them from the list of suspects and only 1 remain. All that’s left is Rank 69 Decarabia.”

Dantalian shouted.

“However, Decarabia didn’t participate in the hearing, so they cannot be the culprit. Thus, your argument of there being a possibility that another Mountain Faction member had framed Belial is invalid.”

“……Kuh. But there is still a chance that someone above rank 68 had framed Belial!”

“That’s too much of a stretch. Look at this.”

Dantalian shook his head. He pointed at the list. The same exact names that were on the piece of parchment that Lapis had given to Dantalian before were on this list as well.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Rank 5 Marbas  ·　·　·  (Neutral)

Rank 8 Barbatos  ·　·　·  (Plains)

Rank 9 Paimon  ·　·　·  (Mountain)

Rank 10 Buer  ·　·　·  (  –  )

Rank 12 Sitri  ·　·　·  (Mountain)

Rank 14 Leraje  ·　·　·  (Plains)

Rank 16 Zepar  ·　·　·  (Plains)

Rank 20 Purson  ·　·　·  (Neutral)

Rank 21 Marax  ·　·　·  (Mountain)

Rank 22 Ipos  ·　·　·  (  –  )

Rank 27 Renove  ·　·　·  (Mountain)

Rank 31 Foras  ·　·　·  (Mountain)

Rank 33 Gaap  ·　·　·  (Mountain)

·

·

·

Rank 50 Furcas  ·　·　·  (Plains)

Rank 55 Orobas  ·　·　·  (Mountain)

Rank 57 Ose  ·　·　·  (Mountain)

Rank 62 Valac  ·　·　·  (Mountain)

Rank 68 Belial  ·　·　·  (Mountain)

Rank 70 Seere  ·　·　·  (  –  )

Rank 71 Dantalian  ·　·　·  (  –  )

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Rank 62 Demon Lord Valac is the next highest in rank. They are 6 ranks apart. Their rights to speak within the faction must be like heaven and earth. You’re telling me that a rank 62 would support a human adventurer party and do something trifling like put a mark on a corpse just to frame a rank 68? Furthermore, for the sake of getting revenge against me, Dantalian, of all people when my rank is much lower than theirs?”

Dantalian laughed.

“That’s ridiculous! The one who had framed Belial couldn’t have been another Mountain Faction member. It must have been someone outside the Mountain Faction that had put a mark on Riff’s corpse in order to put Belial in a predicament. It is clear that the third party had a different goal of their own!”

“…….”

The first argument was refuted.

Barbatos was certain that the culprit couldn’t be pinpointed exactly since there were 32 participants, but the price for that moment of carelessness was immense.

A total of 32 Demon Lords participated in Walpurgis Night.

Among them, 17 of them belong to the Mountain Faction.

She could only watch as Dantalian removed the entirety of the Mountain Faction from the list of suspects. The corners of Barbatos’ mouth twisted as she waved her hand.

⎯ Kkrrrrrrrr!

A line was drawn across 17 names in a single moment. The security which the initial number of suspects gave had disappeared in an instant.

“Now then, the total number of suspects has decreased from 32 to 15. Since I’ve also been removed from the list of suspects, it’s actually 14. This is still a considerable number, but it isn’t to a degree that it would be impossible to pinpoint the culprit.”

“……Kuh.”

Barbatos gulped. Dantalian’s face was radiating with confidence.

“Okay, let’s get rid of some more……before that, let me quench my throat a little.”

***

TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. My finals have finally ended and I’m in summer break. I might relax for a bit due to how stressful this semester was, but it won’t be for long. Maybe for like a day. I have been playing PSO2 a lot lately, so I might get distracted, but I usually try to reach a translation quota before I start playing.

In any case, not much else to say, so see you guys in the next release.