The blonde woman who called Shalltear…… had a physique not much different from that of the petite Illness, and although she had a gentle smile on her face, Illness wasn’t at peace upon being confronted by her.
(Unbelievableeeee…… What overwhelming preseeeeence…… I knew she was far superior to meeeee, but I guess I was still underestimating heeeeer. Even though she was just standing theeeeere, I already felt overwheeeeeelmed. Such immense magic poweeeeeer, her magic power flow is so beautiful that it sends shivers down my spiiiiiine…… Could she be the rumored Demon Realm’s Strongeeeeeest…… Nooooo, her name is differeeeeeent. There’s a possibility that either this “Shalltear” or “that” could be an alias thouuuuugh.)
The woman who introduced herself as Shalltear possesses an extraordinary power visible to her even without relying on her eyes. Illness is one of the top powerhouses in the Demon Realm, and that’s why just facing her allows a certain understanding of her opponent’s strength…… or so it should have been.
However, she was unable to tell how strong Shalltear is. She could understand that she was far superior to her, but she couldn’t gauge how powerful she was.
This also shows the overwhelming power difference between Illness and Shalltear. Thus, Illness concluded that escape was impossible. In this situation, Shalltear holds the power over whether she lives or dies, and there’s no way she could resist her judgment……[Now then, if you don’t mind, I would like to know your name.]
[……My naaaaaame is Illness.]
[Illness-san then, nice to meet ya…… Now then, I’m sorry for spurring you on with that doll. I’ve heard rumors about you, and I just wanted to actually see how good you were. Good gracious, that was a brilliant and splendid fight.]
[And for whaaaaaat purpose could it be?]
Illness did understand that Shalltear had been testing her strength. With how she had sensed her presence from the start, as if she was being deliberately probed, Illness already had a hunch that was the case and she wasn’t surprised.
However, as she didn’t know why she was being tested, she was somewhat alarmed. After smiling at Illness’ reaction, Shalltear heads straight to the main issue at hand.
[Well then, let’s get down to business. Illness-san, are you interested in becoming my “subordinate”?][……Subordinaaaaaate?]
[Yes, you see, I’m currently in the midst of trying to establish order in this Demon Realm and handling various other matters, but I still don’t have enough manpower. Thinking of the future, I’ll need even more subordinates, but there’s so much I need to do beforehand that recruiting subordinates has been put on the back burner~~ In fact, I currently only have one subordinate, so I’m in the process of scouting for talented individuals. And so, how about it? If you join now, I can promise you a position as one of my executives, you know?]
[……Who…… are youuuuu?]
Such a question involuntarily leaked out of my mouth. This Shalltear before her was undoubtedly the strongest being Illness had ever encountered, and on top of that, she had brought up a grand-scale mission of establishing order in the Demon Realm.
However, the name Shalltear doesn’t ring any bells in Illness’ mind. Illness had traveled in the Demon Realm, so even she heard rumors about the individuals with extraordinary power in the Demon Realm, at least to some extent.
Under the lead of the being named Kuromueina, she who is called “Demon Realm’s Strongest”, “Crimson Tyranny” Megiddo, “Absolute Death Domain” Isis Megiddo, “Guardian of the Sacred Grounds” Lillywood Yggdrasil, “Roaring Mountains” Magnawell, “Raging Storm” Ozma…… Kuromueina and her faction were renowned as formidable even within the Demon Realm, possessing extraordinary strength.
Illness has also heard that there are other exceptional beings who claimed to be Kuromueina’s followers, showcasing prowess incomparable to others. If she were to be honest, if it had been someone among them, Illness wouldn’t have been this perplexed.
However, this Shalltear in front of her was an unknown existence that didn’t match the characteristics of those beings she had heard about, making her wonder how a being who had such overwhelming power could remain unheard of.
[I introduced myself as Shalltear earlier, but you can also call me by my public name Phantasmal King, No Face.]
[Phantasmal King……!? One of the Six Kings that I’ve recently heard abouuuuuut…… I see, you dooooo have the overwhelming power to claim yourself Kiiiiiiing. Judging from the names of the other Kiiiiiings, could it be that you’re also connected with Kuromueina-samaaaaa?]
[Yes, you can think so. Even so, you’re good…… That news shouldn’t have spread widely in the Demon Realm yet…… but with how fast you heard about this, my evaluation of you increases. It’s a good thing I heard rumors about you and went here to recruit you.]
Alongside the story about the establishment of an evaluation ranking called Peerage System, which has recently begun to spread in the Demon Realm…… that the Demons living in the Forbidden Lands have come forward as Kings that would rule the Demon Realm had reached Illness’ ears.
At first, that was something she had thought was false. Especially since Kuromueina, even though she had been recognized throughout the Demon Realm as the Strongest, had never claimed supremacy over others, and the others, despite rumors about them, had almost never appeared outside of the Forbidden Lands.
However, with the powerful Demons that had gained notoriety in the Demon Realm being almost completely destroyed over the last hundred years or so, the recent talk of the six Demons rising to the top of the Demon Realm has gradually become more credible.
[……I seeeeee, it’s an honor for one such as you to have expressly come to recruit meeeee…… but what exactly do you want me to doooooo?]
[Well, that’s certainly something you would be curious about, yes? Well then, let’s talk about the particulars of your work and the terms……]
Despite lingering questions about this being named Shalltear, Illness, having understood the reason why Shalltear approached her, decided to listen to the details of her proposal.
Since she had already deemed escaping impossible right from the start, she didn’t have any choice but to listen…… In any case, having heard Illness’ response, Shalltear began discussing the details of the job in high spirits.
<Afterword>
Serious-senpai : [Arehh? At this point, you still don’t have many subordinates yet?]
? ? ? : [I had built up quite a bit of information network back then, but I was mainly using clones. Well, you see, I wanted to gather Executives and other upper-rank units first…… Well, looking at the results, it was a great decision for me to recruit Pandemonium.]
Serious-senpai : [No, no, most of your Executives are more like blunders though.]
? ? ? : [……Seriously…… for some reason, there’s an extremely high pervert rate among my subordinates. I should have taken into account not only their abilities, but also a bit more of their personalities……]
