Book 10: Chapter 20

Just as he stated, Vermudol was at the venue of the next day’s world conference.

What had turned into the venue was the Dimensional Castle Avaldia. In order to make it so that mankind could come and go to it, gates were created by the power of the Gods.

Seeing Vermudol’s figure as he appeared there, the commotion of the representatives of each nation showed no signs of settling down.

「……You’ve already been recognized.」

「It’s because it seems my portrait has been rapidly spread around. If there’s going to be diplomacy, it would probably only be natural for them to grasp what my face looks like.」

「There’s also that but. If I were to suddenly bring someone along, they would naturally check them out.」

In this world conference, it wasn’t like Ykslaas specifically had this sort of duty, but she had ended up taking a chairman-like role.

Incidentally, with her capability and beautiful looks, there were a considerable number of proposals for betrothal for her coming in, and all of them were also declined.

If that Ykslaas were to bring along some man, the degree of attention with that sort of meaning was also high.

「G, good morning, Ykslaas-dono.」

A single young man that was acquainted with Ykslaas called out to her.

「Ara, Arsley-dono. Morning. You look like you’re doing well today as well.」

「That is my job after all! B, by the way……Could that person be……」

「Yes, he is my king, Vermudol. Vermudol, this is Arsley Renka-dono of the War Nation Estrat.」

「Is that so. I am Vermudol. I will be making a sudden participation today, but it is nice to meet you.」

Arsley held out a hand with a smile……however, sensing that Vermudol had no intention of moving his hands, he reluctantly brought his hand back.

He probably wanted to make a handshake, but it would be troubling if he would start thinking that a friendship was formed with a greeting of that degree. 

If Vermudol remembered correctly, the War Nation Estrat was one among the mid-to-small nations, and he received a report that said that it was a 「strength is justice」 kind of nation that had established a large number of arenas.

In that sort of meaning, they might have an affinity with the Mazoku……but that was that.

In reality, starting with Arsley, he saw that the representatives of the other mid-to-small nations approached as if to say “me too, me too”.

Their aim was probably for a foothold to friendship, but being used as material for their own political stability was the most pointless thing to do to Vermudol.

In their heads, there was nothing about peace or friendship, but only thoughts about their own positions.

Well, it wasn’t like those sorts of ideas weren’t in the large nations, but at the very least, there wasn’t a single bit of value in another nation to Vermudol if they were unable to talk about the 「future」.

「In any case, we will probably be in the way of the representatives of the other nations if we start gathering here. Why don’t we hurry up and take our seats.」

「That’s true. That being said, the seats aren’t particularly decided though. It’s a round table.」

Although it was called an assembly hall, it was the Throne Room of Castle Avaldia that was in the Dimensional Gap.

It was probably the work of one of the Gods. A gigantic round table was placed there, and there were even precious orbs with Amplification Magic casted on them so that their voices would reach each other very well were set up.

There was no mistaking that this sort of venue was prepared in order to prevent disputes over the seating precedence.

With that being the case, when Vermudol took a random seat, Ykslaas sat next to him on the right……and behind them, some sort of whispers talking about something started to be heard.

It wasn’t malicious gossip, but a restraining match among them as to who would sit to the left of the Demon King.

After all, they could make an impression by sitting next to him, and it might be advantageous in discussions after this.

However, there was also the fear that they might become distant if they were to be guilty of bungling something up.

Therefore, no one amongst them could serve as the vanguard to take it but……during that time, a single white clothed man sat down to Vermudol’s left while saying 「Excuse me」.

「This is our first time meeting. I am the vice head judge of the Prayer Nation Celesfa, Azelia.」

「I’m Vermudol. I work as the king of the Zadark Kingdom.」

「I have heard many rumors about you.」

Speaking of the Prayer Nation Celesfa, Vermudol remembered that it was a nation that possessed a fair amount of national power among the mid-to-small nations.

It seemed to be a nation that was created by surrounding the capital city of the Spirit Kingdom Lucretio of the past, Lepushidora, with walls, and offered their prayers to the Gods. 

Even just going by that summary, it was a considerably odd nation……or rather, it was a special country that appeared to be a religious nation, but in terms of military power, they surpass the rest of the mid-to-small nations.

Was it because he had that sort of self-confidence that he was able to steal a march on the other mid-to-small nations and sit down next to Vermudol?

「Since it seemed like everyone was fighting over something, I thought I’d offer up a way to remove the cause of it. I am terribly sorry if it was a bother for you though.」

It wasn’t like he was trying to get acquainted with Vermudol, however, seeing Azelia implicitly ridicule the other mid-to-small nations as being dim-witted, Vermudol held a somewhat favorable impression of him.

This sort of toughness was to Vermudol’s preference, and being able to do that was also proof of maturity to a certain extent as a nation. 

Therefore, Vermudol didn’t bluntly refuse him either.

「No, it was not a bother at all. Azelia-dono, you seem to be a pretty interesting person.」

「That’s a favorable evaluation considering it’s Vermudol we’re talking about. 」

Ykslaas secretly muttered that, but maybe because they were motivated by that sort of 「friendly chat」, the other mid-to-small nations also started to take their seats as if to compete with each other.

Incidentally, since the nations that were said to be the Four Large Nations were used to this, they sat down in seats so that they wouldn’t sit down next to a fellow large nation. 

In other words, by doing that, it could be understood to a certain extent which major nation that the mid-to-small nations wanted to get along with. However, since it wouldn’t turn out to be a cold reception if they sat at a distance, it was nothing more than a rough estimate of sorts.

In any case, after confirming that the representatives had taken their seats, Ykslaas stood up and brought her mouth close to the amplification orb. 

「Hello, everyone that has gathered. I am Ykslaas, who somehow acts as the lead for these meetings every time through the flow of it all. Although I would like to ask someone of another nation to do this soon, it would be troubling if the conference didn’t advance due to that, wouldn’t it. And if I am going to support you all until you are used to it, it would be faster to just do it myself.」

Seeing that there was some laughter leaking out, Vermudol went “I see” and was impressed.

This sense to insert a light-hearted joke like this wasn’t found in either Vermudol or Ichika. It seemed like Rokuna would be able to do it, but she had a personality that hated pointless talk.

It was right to leave this to Ykslaas──Even while he was thinking such a thing, it advanced onto things like looking back on the last meeting’s agenda.

「……Now then. I think everyone has already noticed, but today, my King has come. Since he has come with bringing a proposal, I would like to ask that you all listen quietly to it.」

Having the talk turned towards him by Ykslaas, Vermudol stood up from his chair.

It wasn’t like there was a need for him to stand up, but he also knew the usefulness of gathering attention through action. 

In reality, the sound of Vermudol standing up had also made a loud *gatan* sound due to the amplification orb, so he gathered everyone’s attention.

While drawing in a large number of gazes……Vermudol gave his first speech here straight out.

「My proposal is simple. It is the modification of the 『objective』 of this world conference……That is all.」

Making conjectures on the meaning of those words, the round table started to become astir.

To begin with, the objective of the world conference was 「the global cooperation and reconciliation for the sake of opposing the threat of the Wentas (Warped God)」. Even though they were actually in the middle of heading towards cooperation for that, just what in the world was the meaning of this?

In contrast to the mid-to-small nations that were whispering to each other, the Four Large Nations, and the representatives of the countries of the 「other continent」 kept quiet in order to measure the true meaning of Vermudol’s words.

Before long, an Izektia man, who looked like he was wearing a gigantic beetle-type armor, stood up.

「I am Paraperium of the Zerogalt Empire. I ask this to King Vermudol but, that objective is the anticipation of what will happen after the fight with the 『Wentas (Warped God)』……May I take it that way?」

「Yeah. That’s right.」

Hearing Vermudol’s reply, Paraperium stiffly moved the part that would probably be where a mask would be if he were a Human, and made a sound.

It seemed that his mouth also resembled that of insects, but Vermudol couldn’t quite tell what kind of emotion that action just now was expressing.

However, Paraperium nodded saying 「I see」 and sat down.

While an understanding was spreading to the other nations as well from their exchange, one young Human girl stood up.

「Well then, a question from me as well……Ahh, excuse me. I am Elia of the St. Altlis Kingdom. King Vermudol, your proposal is, in other words, to make the final destination of this world conference not about victory against the Wentas (Warped God), but what is beyond that……In other words, to make the objective include the stability after the fight, is that how it is?」

It seems that the St. Altlis Kingdom sent out their rumored Third Princess, but it was hard to say that she was the optimal choice in terms of her original position.

After seeing Kain, who was making eyes that had discerned something, being next to her, their king had probably made use of his personal friendship with Princess Elia and bundled the two of them up together in order to use the 「Hero」 as diplomacy material.

On the occasion when she made her descent to the St. Altlis Kingdom, although Philia didn’t make the declaration that Kain was the Hero, everyone in that nation nominated the young man that appeared together with the God of Life as the 「Hero」.

Even though Philia and Vermudol had gone through pains to give consideration to Kain, it all came to nothing thanks to that.

In a similar manner to the St. Altlis Kingdom, the Cylas Empire’s representative was Azorto, and the Jiol Forest Kingdom made Luuty accompany them.

「That is a bit wrong. It is nothing more than a proposal to make the thing called the Wentas (Warped God) one of the topics of discussion.」

「One, of the topics of discussion……is it?」

「That’s right. The Wentas (Warped God) is merely an impetus. It might be a global problem, but putting it in reverse, it is nothing but that.」

Vermudol’s speech sounded like an irrational argument.

However, hearing the words he continued with, even Elia……no one became able to interject.

「Try thinking about it. Global problems are being turned out at any time and from anywhere.」

For example, the 「Demi-Human Argument」 problem that started from the St. Altlis Kingdom.

This was something that split the world into two between 「Humans」 and 「everything else」, and would have been a long term strife that would last decades, or even centuries if handled poorly.

With the root of it being simply an ideology, it wasn’t something that could be regulated.

Even the fact that it had become the primary factor that intensified the Canal Kingdom’s civil war was enough for one to infer how big of a problem it was.

With controversies like this, no matter how many verifications made with various methods there were that proved how wrong they were, those that believed they were right wouldn’t look at those verifications nor listen to them.

They would raise their voices as if to say that they would lose if they were to be calm about it, and it would turn into a big fire as a result.

That, which abandoned even the common sense of 「we can understand each other if we talk」 that belonged to those who possessed words, was a story often heard even between people of the same nation. They would not give up from insisting on their justice to one another, and that would turn into war.

In the other continent, it seemed that skirmishes would continue due to this, and eventually turn into situations where genuine 「war」 would start at any moment.

And this fact wasn’t a story that started just recently. Human history is made up of similar events being repeated. Triggers like that were always being sown and continued in the world.

「Will you open a world conference every time a problem happens? No. If you were going to do something like that, it would be better to just decide on holding routine world conferences to begin with. Fortunately, there is this place that can be reached with the minimum amount of movement labor. There isn’t anything more convenient than this, right?」

Indeed, it was possible to move to this castle at any time with the gates created by the Gods. There was no need to expressly use carriages, and there wasn’t even a need to take travel schedules into consideration. There shouldn’t be such an ideal place for assembly anywhere else. Now that he mentioned it, it was at a level where it would be foolish to not use it. 

Then, why didn’t anyone suggest holding regular world conferences from now on up until now?

The reason was simple. It’s because despite having the common world crisis called the 「Wentas (Warped God)」 in front of them, none of them were able to make the mood ruining action of speaking about things that would happen afterwards. 

Even if they thought that in the recesses of their hearts, they feared that they would be said to be 「not serious in this fight」 and decided to not think about it.

Then why did Vermudol say it?

This was also simple. The thing known as the Wentas (Warped God) wasn’t in his sights to begin with. It could be summed up with this one sentence.

Vermudol’s proposal this time couldn’t be flatly disregarded due to his position.

As expected, it was arrogant to declare the Wentas (Warped God) as 「just that」, but he was the Demon King who was originally close to being considered the world’s strongest. There were people who understood that he probably had the confidence and prospects of victory that matched that description……and naturally, affirmative murmurs saying 「Isn’t that fine」 started to be heard.

Indeed, if they were to go with the assumption of 「defeating it」, it wouldn’t be a problem whatsoever to focus on what happens afterwards.

Rather, they couldn’t help but want to talk about what would happen after the fight. Desiring that the 「”can’t say anything about it” atmosphere」 would become a 「”fine to talk about it” atmosphere」, the voices from the mid-to-small nations that approved of Vermudol became louder.

The ones who kept silent were the Four Large Nations and the nations from the other continent, but among them, Princess Celis of the Canal Kingdom was the first to speak.

「That is true. I have no objections to maintaining the meeting location even after all of this. I believe it would be a waste to lose such a precious connection.」

Immediately after that remark was made, the Jiol Forest Kingdom’s King Sarigan and the Zerogalt Empire’s Paraperium were also in agreement.

「……Indeed. There were problems with the diplomatic system up until now, but with a place like this, we should make practical use of it from now on. After all, the ones who are managing it are the Gods.」

「Yeah. Not having geographic limitations is nice. Even in the meaning of preventing a nation somewhere misusing it, there would be meaning in periodically holding conferences and establishing permanent members.」

「And which mouth is saying tha……!」

A blue haired woman that was participating from the other continent stood up, but she forcibly stopped her words in the middle, and sat back down together with a lip smack.

According to Ykslaas, it seemed to have this sort of feeling up until now, but it meant there would be many difficulties in store.

「Well, it looks like there aren’t any dissenting opinions but……for the nations that support the proposal that these world conferences are held permanently, I ask that you stand up.」

With Ykslaas’s words, everyone there made *gata gata* sounds and stood up.

It was a big story, but it wasn’t something great enough that they could bring back to their nations either.

Rather, if there was anyone that opposed having a place for international discussions, they would definitely be rebuked and lose their standing. 

Therefore, at this time, just as Vermudol anticipated, it was decided that the world conferences would permanently be held.