Volume 10 Chapter 17 (1/2)

Through Duke's report, I learned of the anti-Procell alliance's attack on Avalon while I was away.

Less than 30 minutes after they entered the dungeon room that specialized in defense and stalling, the attacking monsters were confiscated by the Creator as punishment for breaking the rule protecting us new Demon Lords.

What a harsh penalty. Really drives home how careful I must be to not break any rules, no matter how trivial it might seem.

Belial, who was beside me while I listened to Duke's report, suddenly stood up.

Shock was apparent on his face. However, just earlier and just for a moment, his face was this inexplicable combination of irritation and joy.

”What, how!? I'm certain, that to protect me, you had to attack the other Demon Lords and thus forfeit the protection rule. So, how is it that they are being penalized for breaking that rule!?”

If this was the only reaction I saw, I would not hesitate in saying that he was caught in my trap and was nothing but a traitor.

”Well, couldn't it be that the ones that attacked you and the ones that attacked Avalon are different Demon Lords? Or maybe, they attacked me before I attacked them.”

”But that's impossible!”

”Why? Do you have any proof that those scenarios are impossible?”

”…it's obvious if you think about it. Given the timing of it all, the Demon Lords that attacked me must be the ones that attacked Avalon. Moreover, based on how things unfolded, it's now obvious that they only attacked me so that they can lure you out. I regret only realizing this when I heard Avalon was being attacked. What a fool I am. I formed an alliance with you so that I can help you realize your potential, but here I am, holding you back instead.”

Should I tell him? Oh, what the hell, let's.

”When you asked for my help, I already suspected that their goal was to gain the justification to attack me. So, I prepared a trap that'll let them think they've gained that justification. And that trap was the three knights.”

”What do you mean? They're your golems, so they're treated as your equipment; their actions are considered to be yours. Golems obey only the orders given by the owner, so if you gave them to someone else, they won't listen to you. You might think that the new owner can just order the golems to listen to your commands, but that won't work either because that's too complicated of a command for golems.”

Belial's points were correct.

To be a bit more precise, golems were treated as a monster's equipment. As such, the experience points from the enemies they kill goes to the party of that monster. More importantly though, whatever their actions were, the monster was held accountable. Of course, this meant that the Demon Lord who had control over the said monster was also held accountable.

When and only when a Demon Lord had ownership over a golem could they command it, and even then, the commands couldn't be anything complicated.

However, the three knights were no ordinary golems.

”No one is commanding the three knights. They're no mere dolls. These children possess the ability to think and feel. They're alive. What's more, they're incredibly loyal. I released them from our contract, and yet they're still willing to cooperate with me.”

This trap wouldn't have been possible using ordinary golems. It was only thanks to the knights' miraculous ability to think and feel—to be alive—that we were able to surprise the enemies.

I could have transferred the ownership of the ordinary golems to Marcho, sure, but then a magic link between them would be formed. The presence of another's magic power on them was such a great risk. So much so that I chose instead to believe that the three knights would remain loyal even when I relinquish my ownership of them.

”I-impressive. I never knew such a tactic existed.”

”I doubt learning of it is much use though. For one, this could only be done with the thinking and feeling three knights.”

Believing in the knights' loyalty was the safer bet, but it was still a gamble.

It was only thanks to Rorono's words that I felt confident about it: For the three knights, master's their beloved father. And I their mother. They will never betray us.

”You know, using this method, you can attack older Demon Lords without worrying of being attacked back.”

”I don't think I'll be able to. The Creator is likely to ban this method soon. Maybe immediately after this affair, even. From I what I can tell, that fellow dislikes one-sided situations because they're less fun to watch.”

A perfect example was when older Demon Lords gave [Steel], [Viscosity], and [Evil] some monsters. Not long after my [War] with them, an additional rule banning even non-guardian older Demon Lords from giving, without anything in return, monsters to new Demon Lords.

Things should progress similarly this time as well.

At least I was able to use it once, I guess.

”Oh, okay. But still, it's so amazing. Your clever scheme managed to take down a whole lot of them. I have nothing but praise!”

”That was just a bonus. I had no idea the penalty would be this harsh. …my plan's real goal was something else.”

Thankfully, this harsh and unforeseen punishment didn't interfere with my real goal, thus allowing us to safely carry it out.

”Could you share with me this real goal?”

”To identify the enemy Demon Lords. As stated in the report, the enemy side that attacked Avalon had a lot of A rank monsters. It might be easy to hide one's identity by using only small fries, but A rank monsters are different. They represent their Demon Lord. Moreover, devices which could capture events as moving visual images are installed and are active in Avalon, so even if some of Demon Lords might seem tricky to identify at first, we'll should be able to eventually after repeated watching of the recordings.”

It was for this reason that we allowed Avalon to be attacked.

I have had enough of not knowing who my enemies were.

If I attacked them now that their elites were gone, crushing them would be easy. They would have their hands full trying to protect themselves that they should have a hard time backing each other up.

But if nothing else, this whole event was a great experiment to show how useful my newly made defense-focused floor was. In the span of 30 minutes and against a thousand enemy monsters, none of my monsters was killed or injured. Considering such a great result, it might be viable to transfer some of the monsters assigned to our defense force over to the attacking force. I'm so excited to get back and see the detailed report on the effectiveness of the defensive floor.