While carrying Alice on my back, I walked to the front gate of Kuro’s castle…… and the fact that we’re heading here means that the person moving up to Duke-rank is……
[Therefore, I now officially certify Funf-san as a Duke-level, High-ranking Demon.]
[……Errr, I have many things I’d like to say, but one thing first…… but why is Shalltear-sama riding Kaito’s back?]
[She was apparently charging up her hopes and dreams.]
[……I see, so Kaito’s back is filled with hopes and dreams, yes?]Seeing Funf-san, who looked more puzzled by Alice telling her this while being piggybacked than by the surprise of becoming a Duke-rank, makes me wryly smile too.
I thought she was going to get off when we arrived, but even when she was like that, she just certified her as if that’s normal. At any rate, it doesn’t seem like she has any intention of getting off for a while.
[……However, Shalltear-sama. Is it really alright to give such a title to me?]
[Yes, I’m troubled whether I should give it to you or Vier-san, but Vier-san is now essentially considered as someone who had gained independence from Kuro-san’s camp. Since Funf-san is better than Sechs-san in terms of overall strength, I decided that the ones I’ll be raising to Duke-rank from Kuro-san’s place would be Zwei-san and Funf-san.]
Indeed, Dr. Vier is in a bit of a special position. Actually being a member of Kuro’s family, you could say that she belongs to Kuro’s camp…… but she’s basically almost always at Symphonia Kingdom as a doctor, and would sometimes visit Kuro’s castle…… in other words, it feels more like she was someone who was just visiting her parent’s home. If one were to be asked, you could say that she was indeed living independently from Kuro’s family.
[……What about “Roze”? In some cases, they’re much stronger than I am.]
[Their case is just too peculiar. Their abilities, being dependent on the situation, are just too inconsistent.][……Roze?]
The name Funf-san mentioned was a name I had never heard before. I’ve also had a fair amount of time hanging out with Kuro’s family, and I’ve had the opportunity to get to know many people, but I’ve never heard of this Roze.
Since they’re mentioned in the discussion regarding who will be raised to Duke-rank, I’m sure they’re very strong but……
[Ahh, Kaito had never met them, right? Roze basically manages the area near the Forbidden Lands, so they’re usually not in the castle.]
[Look, you remember about that dungeon we made for fun that I mentioned to you, Kaito-san…… The one who manages that and the Forbidden Lands is Roze-san.]
[Fumu…… Are they so strong that they were brought up among the people that could be raised to Duke-rank?]
The dungeon that Alice mentioned must be that dungeon where the Six Kings Sword, which she had brought up back in the White God Festival, is located. I wasn’t told where that dungeon was located, but from the way they spoke, it sounds like it was near the Forbidden Lands.
And the person who manages that dungeon is Roze-san…… I guess they’re that so-called Dungeon Master huh?
[As for why I said Roze-san’s case is peculiar…… They have the power to “copy the abilities and magic power of the person they’re fighting”, but there’s a limit to how much they can copy, and the magic power they can copy is limited to that of mid Count-ranks. Once they have copied people, they can keep a record of up to three copies, so they can change appearances and battle strategy depending on the situation.]
[……I see, that’s why their battle strength is inconsistent…… Unnn? But with that description, wouldn’t they just be at mid Count-rank at the maximum?]
I understand that having the properties of copying their opponent’s ability means that their combat power isn’t consistent, but from what I heard, I don’t think they’re at a level that would make them a candidate for Duke-Rank.
Of course, if they can fight while switching between up to three mid Count-rank forms, they must be very strong…… but even so, at best, I think their strength would be around high Count-rank.
[About that, you see, Roze-san has a trump card…… It’s that dungeon that was mentioned just now. By setting up special and complicated conditions, Roze-san can call up the special Golems, the degraded copies of the Six Kings back in the past, which were placed in the dungeon back then.]
[The golems based on the Six Kings are strong to a level where even the Six Kings executives can’t stand against them, so if you include them in the equation, I guess you could say that Roze is the strongest Count-rank……]
[As I said before, even though they were degraded copies of ourselves, it’s impossible to operate a golem that replicates our abilities without stiffening it up with absurdly complex and a large number of barriers. So, they can’t really use that trump card unless the situation is very much in their favor……Even including that, the inconsistencies in their fighting capabilities are just too great.]
In short, although they have trump cards that can overwhelm even an opponent with the strength equal to Six Kings’ executives, it can only be used when difficult conditions are met at a level that isn’t very realistic, so it’s almost unusable in practice?
[Since it’s basically almost unusable, they overall have the strength of a mid Count-rank, so I excluded them from the subject this time. Therefore, Funf-san is the one being raised to Duke-rank.]
[Ahaha, thank you very much. I wasn’t too concerned about this Peerage stuff, but this is something pretty awesome, right…… Guess I’ll brag about this to Vee~~]
Smiling somewhat happily at Alice’s words, Funf-san accepted the certification of the Duke-level, High-ranking Demon. The birth of a new Duke-rank, in a sense, marks a moment in the history of Demon Realm.
But well, neither the person herself who was certified nor Alice who was certifying her doesn’t feel like they’re doing anything of great importance……
<Afterword>
【Roze】 (Number 0 ⇒ Zero ⇒ Flipping it around, Roze)
They’re a being who manages the Six Kings Dungeon and the Forbidden Lands, and when the Six Kings fight or train in the Forbidden Lands, they are also the one who repairs the broken earth.
They have the ability to copy the abilities and magic power of their opponents, and they can literally transform. Since they’re basically always around the Six Kings Dungeon, they aren’t well-known to the public.
They have the trump card of being able to summon the Six Kings Golems…… but since they can’t use them without fulfilling absurdly complicated conditions, they were almost unusable in actual battle.
They’re a “slime” that was picked up and raised by Kuromueina, mutating after being clad with Kuromueina’s magic power and undergoing a special evolution. They’re the smallest member of Kuro’s family, with a normal length of about 20cm.
They’re basically unable to speak, and expresses their emotions through facial expressions. They’re friendly and bounces on the head of the person they like.
