Chapter 205 – A Special Envoy!

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And so we rushed back to Fendel Village in order to meet with this envoy from the Demon King Army.

As soon as we entered the village, Asuha rushed to us.

“Sir Joshua! The envoy refused to enter the house, and went to the central plaza instead! The situation is very volatile!”
“I see. I will head there at once.”

I said, and then rushed towards the plaza in the center of the village.

And then, I saw something that looked like an altar with a carpet covering it. It had wheels underneath, so that it could move. And around it stood about ten armored goblins.

And on top of this altar that the goblins protected, was an ominous throne that was decorated in skulls.

A round, corpulent goblin was leaning back while sitting on it. Nearby, there were others standing in full, black armor. They must be guards.

As for the demihumans, they looked like they were ready to attack the goblins, who acted so superior.

However, Ecleshia, Monica and Berdos were holding them back.

“Why do you look at me like that! I am Grinia, the Demon King’s special envoy! And the ruler of all goblins! I have come to relay the words of the Demon King, who is your master. Remember your place, demihumans!”
“So you’re the envoy.”

I said, and the goblin…Grinia, turned towards me.

“And what are you? …You appear to be human… Well, humans and demihumans are much alike.”

He said, and the other monsters started to laugh.

“I am the leader of the Fendel Alliance. But what is this stage you have brought? We never gave you permission to dance in our plaza.”

I said, and Grinia’s eyes narrowed.

“Permission!? This continent belongs to the monsters! We do not need your permission!!”

So this was the envoy…
I doubted that we could negotiate with such a person.

Mette raised her voice.

“Enough of this idle talk! Why have you come?!”
“Just to say one thing! Obey us!!”

Grinia spat.

Bish, the orc we fought, had also made a similar demand.
So there seemed to be no room to negotiate.

“…We told the orcs this before. But Fendel will not submit to the Demon King.”
“Hmph. Do not be defiant! There is already an army of over a hundred thousand marching from the south!”
“If you come, then we will merely drive you back, just like we did with the orcs.”

I answered immediately.

Mette and the others also glared at the envoy.

“Tsk… Bish lost because he was weak. But we are different!”
“You can threaten us all you want, but the answer is the same. We will fight.”

Grinia clenched his teeth at this.

“But more importantly, I have a question to ask. Did Olto tell you about us?”
“Olto? Ah, that lizard… I do not know anything about him. The Demon King ordered me to visit these lands.”

So that meant that Olto had gone to the Demon King directly.

And then the Demon King sent Grinia… So the Demon King’s answer was that there would be no negotiating then.

“I see. Well, even if you do not want to negotiate, we do. After all, have your spies.”
“Spies…?”
“Yes? Your demihuman spies?”
“I never heard of that. After all, we would never have demihuman spies in the first place.”

Grinia seemed like he really did not know.

But since they were spies, it was possible that it wasn’t something that the others knew about. Perhaps Yomotsu only reported to the Demon King directly.

In any case, it suggested that this Grinia was not very close to the Demon King.

Still, what should we do…

If we hand Yomotsu over to Grinia, who knows what will happen to him. Well, I’m sure Yomotsu would accept his fate. But Milina and the others still needed their father.

And so I would not speak further on the spies.

As I thought of such things, Grinia then asked me,

“In the first place, do you really think that catching some spies would be enough to make us withdraw!? …This is your last warning! Obey us! Let’s see… Yes, we’ll start by killing that pretty…Ah!?”

Mette had used her club to destroy the altar that Grinia was sitting on.

“AH!? AH!”

As Grinia was flung to the ground, Iria’s blade pointed at his neck.

“I will accept your compliment towards me. However, we will still clean up this eyesore you brought into our village.”

I could only see Iria’s back.

However, I could see the fear in Grinia’s eyes as he looked up at her. His shoulders were shaking, and he had wet himself.

But Iria continued without mercy.

“Now…will you please make your leave with haste? It is almost time for our lunch.”
“…Ah…ahh…ahhhhhhh!!! He-help me!!”

Grinia screamed, and then he started to run towards the south side of the village.

The other goblins chased after him. They were shouting about an Oni.

Iria sounded annoyed.

“Oh! How rude they were!”
“We-well, Princess Iria, your eyes are very… Ah, um, no, they really were rude!”

Mette quickly corrected herself.

“Oh, we must clean this up… Huh?”

In front of me, there was a black suit of armor that was gathering up the pieces of the broken altar and throne.

Everyone was stunned.

It was no surprise, since it was absorbing the pieces, just like how I used Production Magic.

Was this person also a production magician…?

When I looked again more carefully at the magic energy that the armor had, I could clearly see its shape. Usually, it was quite blurry.

It was almost as if it was holding it back…

This was no ordinary person. I went into a defensive stance without thinking.

But when the black armor was finished absorbing everything, it turned towards us and bowed deeply.

“…My apologies for disturbing you. I will leave this place at once.”

Unlike the goblins, the voice that came from the armor was very polite.
And its bow had also been very graceful.

It made me wish that this person had been the envoy instead.

And so I said,

“I forgot to mention it earlier, but we only mean to fight if we are attacked. We are not actively hostile against the Demon King. Here, monsters also live with us in peace.”
“I know about that. Slimes, golems… And those Mopes have been staring at me.”

At those words, Celes and the Mopes immediately hid in the shadows. But their alarmed screams gave them away.

“…And so, will you tell the Demon King what I said? Ask if we cannot have a truce?”
“I will do that. And I also have something that Grinia forgot to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“You do not need to return the prisoners. But please, do not kill them. Those were the Demon King’s words.”
“The Demon King knew we had prisoners?”
“Yes. I believe foxfolk spies are here.”

So they did know that Yomotsu was captured?

“But Grinia said he didn’t know about them earlier.”
“Grinia was merely told that they were prisoners.”

However, this armor knew that they were foxfolk.

Either that, or the armor knew Milina, who was here.

In any case, since this armor knew of things that the goblin king did not, it must be close to the Demon King.

“The spy and his family are living peacefully with us in this village. We treat them more as guests than prisoners. His family…are essentially citizens of Fendel. And so we wouldn’t send them back to the Demon King, unless they wanted to go.”
“I see. I thank you then. I will tell the Demon King about all of this.”
“I am grateful… Lastly, can I ask for your name?”

Upon hearing this, the armor went silent for some time.

“Hmm? What is the matter? You do not have to, if you do not want to…”
“No, pardon me. It is just that I am a made object, and have no name. Indeed… but if necessary, you may call me Sophis.”
“Sophis. Very well.”
“Now, please excuse me.”

So saying, Sophis faded away and disappeared.

It was so sudden that the demihumans were astonished.

“Ah, where did it go!”
“Wait. You cannot erase the movement of magic energy! Sophis really is returning to the south.”

As I could trace the movement of magic energy, I knew that Sophis was flying to the south at a great speed.

Melk muttered.

“It seemed more like an envoy than the goblin.”
“Why did the Demon King send an envoy like that?”

Asuha wondered.

Just then, Mette turned to Milina.

“Did you recognize it?”
“No… I’ve never seen anyone like that. In the first place, we were completely confined within the castle.”

So only the Demon King and a select few knew about their existence.

“In any case, it’s possible that Grinia was not lying… So we should prepare for when the Demon King army comes from the south side.”

I said, and everyone agreed.

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Seisan Mahoushi no Rakuraku Henkyou Kaitaku - Saikyou no Ajintachi to Howaito Kokka wo Kizukimasu!