I who was summoned, was kneeling before His Majesty the King in the throne room.
“Hermes Canoe, I came here in response to your summons.”
“I’ve been waiting for you, sensei. I want to talk about practical things with you today, raise your face. “
“Hah”
As I was told, I raised my face and stood up.
I could see His Majesty the King seated on his throne, flanked on either side by his line of ministers.
Not so much as His Majesty, but the ministers all look as if they had bitten a bitter bug.
“It was none other than the one who summoned sensei. It was the Demon Lord of Comotoria.”
“……Yes”
“First of all, let’s confirm it. The Demon King Kaori is on the move, and she’s going after sensei.”
“……Yes”
His Majesty has already sent a messenger to confirm it.
I answered honestly, because it wasn’t a situation where I could deceive them in the first place.
Instantly, the space between the throne room buzzes.
Negative emotions swirl.
To sum up the words of the ministers as best as I could hear them ―― it was “We’re screwed”.
All of them are frightened of the Demon king.
“Your Majesty.”
One of the ministers left the line, turned to face His Majesty, and took a posture of reporting to him
“What is it?”
“The Demon King is not an existence that humans can compete with. It would be better for us to surrender than to resist her unnecessarily.”
There was almost no voice that argue with the man who said so.
Isn’t the anti-war group and the surrender group usually argue at times like this?
He just said surrender and no one tried to argue, why?
“I’m afraid we can’t do that.”
Well, there it was.
The king dismissed the claim that we should surrender almost immediately.
“Your Majesty, the horror of the Demon King――”
“Of course, I know it well. But I have been notified by the Demon King.”
“Noti……fied?”
“Umu ―― sensei”
“Eh? Ah, yes”
I was a little confused when he suddenly dumped it over me.
“It’s the Demon king’s notice. That is to guarantee the life of sensei.”
“My…… is it?”
“Umu, if sensei is executed as a criminal, they will kill every single citizen of the Kingdom of Aegina.”
Then, a commotion spread.
“She added politely, literally.”
The commotion got even louder.
“The Demon King can do it. There are 30 million people in Aegina, but the Demon Lord would be able to kill them all.”
Seriously…….
“I did some research after that notice, and it seems that in the last will of the previous Demon King, she must not move unless she finds someone with a power comparable to herself.”
“……Yes”
I admitted honestly, since there was no use in feigning ignorance if he has already done his research.
Immediately, the ministers scowled at me.
I wonder if what they meant was “it’s your fault”.
“This is just my guess, but now that the Demon King got Sensei, she can 『finally move. 』”
“Yes, she indeed said that”
“If that’s the case”
His Majesty gave an ironic smile to the ministers.
“Surrender is the same. It’s the same as executing Sensei, the same in the sense of eliminating the purpose of the Demon King; it’s the same as touching her imperial wrath.”
“The,then, we have no choice but to fight. ……”
The minister turns pale, and His Majesty nods quietly.
“Sensei, take the responsibility for this”
“……Yes”
“Then, Hermes Canoe”
“Hah”
I knelt on the spot.
Now then, how would he have me take responsibility?
“I order you to become a Conquer Demon Commander.”
“……Ha?”
I raise my face, perhaps I look really dumb right now.
“Your Majesty, that is……?”
“You’re literally going to be dealing with the Demon King. That’s what you need in order to fight the Demon King, mainly the military. I grant Sensei all the authority to order them.”
“Fah!?”
Wait, wait, wait, wait a minute, isn’t that strange?
“Yo,your Majesty, I think that’s not a punishment.”
“Who said anything about punishment”
“Heh?”
“All that I’m asking is that you take responsibility. Then Sensei will give the method of taking responsibility. That isn’t strange, right?”
A general, as His Majesty also explained, is the chief military officer in this country.
Conquer Demon General.
As expected, His Majesty himself is not allowed, but everything else, even princes and princesses, for example, are someone I can push around to fight the Demon King.
It’s a huge promotion.
The proof of that――look.
The color of the eyes of more than half of the ministers who had been frightened of the Demon King earlier turned into jealousy.
I heard that power is kind of delicious in many ways.
On the other hand, that is tedious, too tedious.
Even having the role of a viscount or a swordsmanship instructor is troublesome, but being a general is the most extreme in troublesomeness.
So I try to refuse him somehow, but.
“I don’t see any other way.”
“Heh?”
“In fact, there is a message from the Demon King”
“Wha?”
“The Demon King has declared that if we removed sensei from his position, she would kill all 30 million of our people. Then I’ll make you the Chief Military Officer―― Moreover, placing you as the chief executive against the Demon King is a measure to protect the people from the Demon King.”
“Guh……”
That’s …… true.
Maybe Kaori will be happy to hear that I’m now a “Conquer Demon General”.
With this, she can move on without disobeying her mother’s(former Demon King) instructions.
“Haa……”
I let out a sigh.
It was no longer possible to decline, so I contemplated.
At that moment, my head spun like never before.
To avoid trouble, my brain turned more seriously than it had in my lifetime.
“Your Majesty, I have a proposal.”
“Hou, you’ve already come up with a countermeasure, as expected of Sensei.”
“If this were to be accepted, it would probably result in the least amount of loss on the people, as well as on the soldiers and generals.”
“What kind of plan do you have, let me know.”
“It’s a fighting contest”
“Fighting contest?”
“We will hold a fighting contest in a team battle system with me and the Demon King as generals. Then I will face the Demon King.”
“What?”
“Because it’s too bothersome, and if there’s a war, we will not be able to do anything about it.”
His Majesty was stunned for a moment, but he understood the intent of my proposal.
Kaori probably just wants to fight me in the end.
Then, if I show them that I won’t go along with her in the event of war, and show them an alternative, they will come on board.
In truth, such a proposal would be dismissed as foolish, but ironically, there was a threat from Kaori.
Without me, she would kill all the people here.
On the flip side, if I go along with them, they’ll come on board with a form of change to some extent.
“That’s great sensei! Alright, I’ll make a suggestion base on that!”
And his Majesty is in high spirits.
His Majesty’s character has already been woven into it.
If it’s a fighting tournament with the fate of the country at stake, I’m sure His Majesty will want to be there.
Then I can throw some of the hassle and the brunt of it to His Majesty to a certain extent.
Learn more
Pause
Unmute
I was secretly gloating as my scheme worked out quite well.
☆
A few days later.
I was summoned again, and was called to the throne room where the ministers and, for some reason, His Majesty, who was sulking, were waiting.
“The Demon King responded. In general, she said she would accept sensei’s idea.”
I was a little relieved.
The joy of having avoided the ultimate hassle of war spreads through my heart.
“But there is one condition.”
“Condition?”
“Yes. This side ―― that is, the Aegina side, will only have sensei by himself. If it’s a one-on-one winner-takes-all format with sensei, she’ll go along with it, they say”
“Why would she say such a thing……”
“I think she just wants to fight sensei.”
“Kuh……”
So that’s how it is.
Haa…… well, if I could avoid the war with this, I guess this is as good as it gets.
When I was thinking that,
“Your Majesty”
One of the ministers comes out of the line and addresses the king.
“Viscount Canoe has successfully averted a war.”
“Oh, that’s right. It was an oversight.”
His Majesty smacked his forehead.
Eh? What does he mean? What was the oversight?
“Hermes Canoe.”
“Eh, ah yes!”
“The work of saving the 30 million people of Aegina is unparalleled. From this day forward, you are hereby conferred as a Count, one step above a Viscount.”
“……Eh”
For a moment, I didn’t understand what he said to me.
Apparently, the avoidance of war went too easily, and because of that, I got another promotion.