Volume 18 - CH 1.1

Interlude 

The Celestial Emperor and the Former Hero 

“What's wrong with you today, Leon-kun?”

The one who had asked was a beautiful woman, Elmesia Elaure Sarion, the Celestial Emperor of Sorcerer's Dynasty Sarion. 

Of course, it was Demon Lord Leon Cromwell himself who was asked. 

After Walpurgis ended, Leon had not returned to his own country, but had taken a detour to Sarion. 

“Guy is supposed to come to my country, so I don’t have much time to spare. Let me cut to the chase without any social niceties.” 

“You're so impatient. But if that's the case, I suppose it can't be helped.” 

In the first place, the fact that Leon could meet Elmesia without an appointment meant that he was being treated very well. On top of that, he doesn't care about what’s convenient to Elmesia, which was unbelievable for those who didn’t know about their relationship. 

......... 

...... 

... 

The relationship between the two goes back to the time when Leon was not yet a demon lord, or even a Chosen Hero. 

Leon had been wandering the world in search of Chloe, but he had once stopped in Sarion. There, he met Elmesia's mother, Silvia El Llú 51 , who had time to spare. 

She was a true elf, a high elf, and was famous as a genius researcher who proposed the basic theory of ‘magic science.’ 

However, her other face was that of one of the high elves created by the “Divine Ancestor” Twilight Valentine, the king of the vampires 52 . 

Silvia was strong. 

If she had cooperated, Silvia's husband, Elmesia's father, might not have died. 

But that was a story that did not come true. 

The reason was that Elmesia had been in Silvia's belly at that very moment. 

Silvia became Leon's master and taught him all of the swordplay and magic she possessed. It was only natural that Leon grew stronger. 

As a result, Leon and Elmesia had become acquainted with each other. 

They were granted the privilege of visiting each other, a privilege reserved only for family and close friends. 

......... 

...... 

... 

With Elmesia's approval, Leon opened his mouth. 

“You've been gathering intelligence, haven't you?” 

When pointed out, Elmesia admitted it honestly. 

“Of course.” 

“Then you know that Demon Lord Rimuru defeated the Eastern Empire, right?” 

“I was aware of the primordials’ activities. I visited them briefly after the victory party.” 

“And what about the battle after that?” 

“Yuuki-kun, right? I heard that you were fighting with an inside from the Empire, but the information was cut off at a crucial moment…” 

‘I see,’ Leon nodded, disclosing the information while watching Elmesia's reaction. 

“There was a lot going on at that time. Between Velgrynd's appearance, and Veldora being taken over, it seemed to be a critical situation. However, Rimuru defeated them all.” 

“What? Seriously?” 

“It looks like you really didn’t know. In that case, I'll make this short and sweet.” 

True to his word, Leon gave a brief explanation. 

He told her about what had been discussed at Walpurgis with little to no concealment. 

It was Leon's decision to ask for cooperation, knowing that Elmesia would not be able to communicate with the other party. 

“I see…If that's how it was, then it makes sense that Rimu-chi 53 would have trouble explaining it.” 

And so Elmesia was convinced. 

‘I won,’ he had said. But even so…It was unbelievable that that single statement also meant that he had beaten Velgrynd. She had thought that Rimuru was quite strong, but had never imagined that he would grow up to be such a monster. 

It seems that he’s already become stronger than mother. No wonder he was able to tame the primordials. 

He had freed Velgrynd and Veldora who were under control and defied the odds. Even though Michael and the others had escaped, it was not an exaggeration to say that the situation was in fact a great victory. 

“Just so I know, Leon-kun isn't trying to trick me with a lie, is he?” 

“I have no reason to lie to you. I heard the story from him in person, so I can't guarantee that it's true.” 

“Hmm, Leon-kun believes in Demon Lord Rimuru more than I expected.” 

“How would you feel if you were told that Emperor Rudra had been taken over by his own Skill and was now calling himself Michael?” 

“Well…If I was going to lie, I'd tell a way better lie than that…” 

“Yeah. It was so absurd, I ended up thinking it was all believable.” 

That’s what Leon assured. 

Elmesia couldn't help but laugh. 

“Oh my, isn't this an uncharacteristic reaction from the normally skeptical Leon-kun?” 

“Don't be silly. Rimuru may be cunning, but he's not the kind of man who would lie to make himself look good. Rather, he’d prefer the opposite—” 

“Is he trying to underestimate himself? If that's what you're trying to say, then I’ll agree with you.” 

It was just like that slime 54 , Elmesia thought. 

Even the matter of having several subservient primordials was no big deal. 

It must be the same for this case. 

Elmesia knew that Rimuru and the others had won, but other than that brief “We won,” nothing had been explained to her in detail. 

Nonetheless, she knew that something completely outrageous must have happened because of that bullshit slime, so she was planning to go and ask him about it when things calmed down. 

As I thought, it's going to be troublesome after all. I know it's not something you can talk about on a cell phone, but I really should have asked for more details. 

Elmesia's face remained unchanged as she regretted her mistake of being nothing but relieved to hear that he had won. 

“Still, it was helpful 55 that Veldora remained friendly and Velgrynd became an ally, wasn't it?” 

Leon nodded in agreement. 

“As far as I can tell, it's a wonder he's still alive. At least for me, it would have been impossible to defeat Velgrynd.” 

If he had been dealing with Guy, there was still a chance. 

However, Leon had no chance of victory against the 'Parallel Existence' skill that Rimuru had mentioned. 

Because of that, Leon was convinced that there was no reason for him to lie about his chances against such an ability. 

“Oh, well. Even I can't do that, so why should Leon-kun be so self-deprecating?” 

“I’m not being self-deprecating.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah.” 

More importantly, Leon wanted to get back to the topic at hand. 

Whenever Elmesia is around, she will tease you at every possible moment. 

In order to avoid that this time, he decided to quickly tell her what he wanted. 

“The situation is as I explained. With that in mind, I'd like you to get in touch with Master.” 

“Mother, hey…” 

She understood what Leon was saying. 

As long as he possessed the Ultimate Skill 'Purity King (Metatron)', he wouldn’t be able to escape Michael's control. They had to do something about it before the enemy found out that he possessed the power. 

For that purpose, Elmesia's knowledge alone was not enough. 

Considering the gravity of the situation, he had decided that the highest wisdom of Sarion needed to be mobilized. 

However! 

Silvia was a free spirit. 

She was also Sarion's greatest force 56 . 

She was also very good at covert action, making if difficult to locate Silvia if she was hiding. Even if the thirteen seated Magus leaders were dispatched, it was only a gamble that they would be able to find her. 

“Since Magic Communication has been cancelled, there’s no way for me to contact her. She does regularly show her face though, so that we can talk about various things…However, it is difficult to keep in touch with her.” 

Incidentally, “regularly” actually meant about once a year. For certain reasons, Elmesia had never really thought it to be inconvenient. 

In the first place, it was not often that they had to rely on Silvia to solve a problem. 

There was also that secret method to use when they were in a real pinch, but…” 

“So, it’s no good?” 

Elmesia let out a sigh as Leon asked her straight out. 

As Silvia's apprentice, Leon was like a little brother to Elmesia. She was hesitant to turn down his request. 

“I'll do my best, but in the worst case, you'll have to wait about six months.” 

“…All right. That's fine.” 

As soon as he said so, Leon stood up. 

“You’re going back?” 

“I'm finished here.” 

Elmesia smiled, wishing that he could just take it easy 57 sometimes. 

Such a clumsy way of life, she thought it was just like Leon. 

*** 

After Leon left, Elmesia set out to keep her promise to Leon. 

She called the royal guards and ordered an emergency call for Silvia. 

In fact, Elmesia and Silvia are identical in appearance. Therefore, they had a secret where they could secure free time by taking turns playing the role of the emperor. 

“Ahh, she’s going to hate me for sure…” 

If it were herself, she would have been furious that someone had taken away her free time. That's why she felt that her mother's anger was understandable. 

She was willing to put up with the complaining this time around, but she still didn’t think that the choice was wrong. 

After all, this was an unprecedented situation. 

From what she had heard, even Demon Lord Guy had agreed to escort Leon. Guy moving from the permafrost was a big deal in itself. 

“Seriously, it’s the first time in my life that I’ve been in such a serious situation. 

Elmesia thought about the future and was obscured 58 in melancholy. 

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Notes

[51] 

Her last name is spelt “ エル リュ (eru ryu)” which I just translated as “El Llú.” Other possibilities could be “El Ryu,” “Ellew,” “Elle Lugh,” etc. We’ll wait and see how he translators decide. Since Ryu is dragon in Japanese, it could also be El Dra(gon) 

[52] 

This guy showed up in V17 as “the ancestor” who loved to experiment (you can read about him in Rain’s chapter). He basically got disintegrated by Ruminas, his daughter. 

[53] 

Elmesia is giving Rimuru a nickname. Adding -chi to the end of a name kind of makes the nickname more cutesy/childish. 

[54] 

(i.e) It was just like that slime to do something like that. 

[55] 

Word used was “Chōjo” which means “superimposed” or “piled on top.” None of those worked in the English translation. 

[56] 

Military force/war potential. 

[57] 

Relax, slow down, or take his time. 

[58] 

The word used was “Tasogare.” It translated as “twilighted in melancholy.” Obscured was another synonym.