Chapter 98: The Sage Deduces the Mastermind

That night, there was a new report from the spy.

It seemed that a civil war broke out in the Republic.

There were disagreements between the representatives on the state's management of opposing factions which had finally broken through a critical point.

The “Warring Faction,” who sought to attack the Demon Lord, and the “Submissive Faction,” who sought to minimize the damage, were facing each other head-on.

The stage of their battle expanded from just beyond their desk to their whole capital, and it was said the scale only kept getting bigger.

I wouldn’t have minded it if that was all that happened.

It wasn’t rare for a disagreement to lead to a conflict.

My problem was the fact that the devils who relocated there were also participating in that war.

Those devils fought as part of the “Warring Faction.”

Because of that, the chaos spread even further, and the situation didn’t show any signs of stopping.

At present, the capital of the Republic was in danger of being destroyed.

Information gathering became more convoluted due to the many skirmishes that were occurring.

Some spies also got caught in the fighting as collateral damage and were injured as well.

I used telepathy and ordered the spies at the capital of the Republic to withdraw.

Indeed, information might be important, but the lives of the spies were even more so.

That capital was in the midst of confusion anyway, so there wouldn’t be any decent information.

There was no point in staying there.

It wasn’t worth losing capable spies.

It would be enough to just get an overview of the situation in the meantime.

Regarding the matter of the Republic's civil war, I was just going to observe for the time being.

I didn’t know how it would turn out, and I didn’t want to get dragged into it because I'd carelessly interfered.

To tell the truth, I wished to stop the conflict.

However, it wasn’t commendable to take action without thinking in an uncertain situation.

There was a chance it would instead lead into further chaos if I arrogantly jumped into the situation.

This was the period where I should suppress my panic and silently observe.

Seriously…

I put down the report and looked up at the ceiling.

I couldn’t hide my mental fatigue.

My response always seemed to be too late.

While some parts couldn’t be helped due to my strategy, I did notice something was off.

None of those events were accidental either.

The devils were allied with the warring factions.

The fact they helped at this time meant they knew the civil war would brew when they relocated to the Republic.

On the contrary, they might have been invited there for that very reason.

Did someone arrange for all this to happen?

Naturally, this question came to mind.

Considering the state of the civil war, it seemed they had been in contact with the remnant of the previous Demon Lord’s army in various places.

Even the devils at the Old Devil territory had a long-term exchange with them.

Regardless of how fast it could be, it would still take several years of preparation.

Then they used the strength they got this way to gain an advantage for the warring faction.

Looking at the series of events from afar, it was really well planned.

It was cunning and well prepared.

Things definitely progressed according to someone’s wishes.

I needed to admit that.

I was still waiting for the analysis report in the meantime, but wouldn’t that demon beast's occurrence also be connected to this?

I had a feeling the Republic was also involved in it.

I doubted that it was just me overthinking about it.

This isn’t the Will of the World. I feel the malicious intent of an individual instead.

I didn’t know who it was, but they were definitely still moving behind the scene.

While I didn’t know what their goal was, it felt that it would be against what I wished for.

I had to find their identity and whereabouts somehow.

As I looked at Luciana, she closed her mouth and pondered.

She had an unusually serious expression, and was glaring at empty space and biting her nails.

It was a figure that was unimaginable from the usual Luciana.

Both her current expression and gesture weren’t something she had shown before.

In the silence, Luciana noticed my gaze and went back to her usual self.

She then put her usual bewitching smile and tilted her head as if to cover up her earlier actions.

Perhaps it was something she didn’t wish to be seen.

I ignored that and asked.

“It seems you have something in mind.”

Of course, we were talking about the civil war of the Republic.

Both of us were thinking about the same thing.

Luciana put a finger to her lips as she answered.

“This kind of insidious and annoying method reminds me of a certain person who really loved using it.”

“Fumu…”

Her way of phrasing made me understand.

Perhaps person in Luciana’s mind was also somebody I'd known about.

Certainly, this event reminded me of something.

In fact, a similar method was used in the past.

“Is it that man?”

“It’s that guy.”

Luciana said bitterly.

It seemed my guess was correct.

Luciana, one of the four heavenly kings of the previous Demon Lord, was good at sabotaging and gathering information.

She eroded other nations from the inside and used her succubus subordinates to control the enemy’s upper echelons.

Then they controlled their behavior.

By the time people noticed something was wrong, it would already be too late. 

The man within our mind was also great at moving behind the scene.

The difference between Luciana and him was, the results he got tended to be more intense.

The man was endowed with a talent as an instigator.

At the time, he demonstrated his outstanding ability and destroyed various nations through civil wars and rebellions.

However, this series of actions couldn’t be the work of that man.

Because that man was already dead.

It was I who killed him back then.

And it had already been more than a decade since it happened.

While the development reminded us of that man, it was actually impossible.

The most likely possibility was his successor was the one pulling the strings.

I doubted that a mere human could come up with this kind of arrangement.

If the mastermind really was related to that man, then the devils’ involvement made sense.

If my guess was correct, I would have more of a reason to resolve it.

This wasn’t just because of my duty as the Demon Lord.

It was also to settle any loose ends I left behind during my period as the Sage.

At that time, I received a telepathic message from Grom.

I decided to turn my focus there.

“De, Demon Lord-sama! Can you hear me?”

“I can hear you. What happened?”

“Demon beasts spawned in the Slave Autonomous Region! Some of the slaves there suddenly transformed into demon beasts.”

“…What?”

I instinctively asked back to confirm.

That was how unbelievable the report was.

“Many of them turned at the same time, and we’re lacking personnel to handle them. I feel bad asking for Demon Lord-sama’s help, but could you please lend us your help…?”

“Alright. I’ll go there right away.”

I replied with that before cutting off the telepathic communication.

Grom made a good decision.

Rather than choose to not trouble me, the situation would be worse if he didn’t ask for my help.

The situation must be very serious for him to immediately ask for my help.

Luciana called out at me as I stood up

“What’s wrong?”

I briefly explained the situation to her.

When Luciana heard that, she sighed deeply.

“Some troublesome things sure are brewing…”

“You’re right.”

There was a civil war at the Republic in the south.

There was a rampage of demon beasts in the north.

We were getting into troublesome things, one after another.

Even so, I still had to deal with them.

I calmed myself down and thought.

Feeling frustrated here would only help the mastermind.

I changed the direction of my thoughts and gave instructions to Luciana.

“Continue to collect and organize information. Better we act under the assumption that man is involved in this.”

“I see, I understand. Be careful out there, Demon Lord-sama.”

“I know.”

After nodding to Luciana, I transferred myself toward the Slave Autonomous Region where the Demon Lord’s Army awaited.