Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken Chapter 129

Yuuki Subjugation Raid

A declaration of alliance between Holy Empire Ruberius, Western Saint’s Church, and Tempest was formalized on paper, and a declaration of the same was sent to every country.

Hinata is also a representative of some sort… I mean, everyone recognizes her power. So with all the signatures thus gathered, that matter was closed.

The matter of trade restrictions we basically left it to the marketplace: the merchants and countries will just have to fight it out. In short, I won big on this contract.

(Translator’s note: Do we have any economy majors who can comment on Rimuru/author’s claim that removing trade restrictions completely will be so beneficial?)

(Smoggy’s notes: Well, if there is no trade protectionism, Consumers will be better off due to a larger diversity of goods, and potential at higher and cheaper prices since firms will have to compete even harder in the larger market in terms of quality and productivity. While infant firms will face problems, large successful firms such as Rimuru’s will benefit from the wider range of consumer, as well as the lack of taxation needed when trading within the trading bloc. On a side note, government revenue will be lowered due to the decrease in revenue originally generated from tax, but should enjoy the beneficial GDP growth from the boosted economic activity. P.s. if they all use the same currency, no need to worry about currency appreciation)

Currently the top brass (me, myself, and I) live in luxury, but we can still improve the quality of life of the lower class citizens.

Oh, and Ruminas isn’t oppressing her citizens. On the contrary, she protects them most passionately. To the point that they grow all the food they need as to not starve.

And that’s how I’ll get to manipulate the market all I want.

Perhaps Ruberius will manage potato while we’ll focus on cultivating rice.

I’m sure Myormiles-kun would be able to handle that question without any oversight.

A battle between demon lords took place there, and the magical energy released eroded the nutrients in the soil.

And if we leave it as is, these sands are bound to swallow up Ruberius eventually. Ruminas seems to be of the mindset that she’ll just up and leave for another land, but I can’t say I support her plans.

When I pointed this out and offered to send some agricultural specialists there,
「We do not mind. Something so trifling we can leave fully to you」

She replied as if she didn’t care.

So, I requested her to make a formal written request.

But, she did insist on one condition.

From what she said, although the above-ground dwellers are rather ignorant, her underground citizens are quite advanced.

「After all, being targeted by angels is particularly annoying.

We are biased, but ‘tis true: among the demon lords we are the most educated」

She said.

Moreover, particularly high vampires don’t even need to suck blood but directly consume human life energy.

So, I’m pretty certain that even if they participate in our research, it will be mostly on a whim.

Thus, it seems I will be able to allow those Nobles to participate without any problems.

As both of us were satisfied with these terms, we exchanged promises on this matter.

As for the Western Saint’s Church,

For now, notices were sent out to all those currently outside of the capital notifying them that I was by no means a dangerous existence.

Currently there are rumors going around that Tempest had fought with their knights. However, thanks to us utilizing enough funds to appear appealing to them, we were able to prevent total collapse of diplomacy.

So instead we manipulated the rumors to be thus: we didn’t fight the knights; they came over, we talked, they realized we weren’t a danger, and left content.

Those few who know the truth must be scratching their heads right now.

「I got it, I got it!
You actually want me to go around spreading such rumors, don’t you?!」

Fuse exclaimed, quite distraught.

But seriously, Fuse just has the perfect timing. I don’t even need to call him—he’ll appear when and where I need him just in time.
Maybe I should treat him to a meal.

「Can I ask you to do this? I would be very grateful」

Hinata looked at Fuse and added.

「O-of course! Please leave it to me; I will carry out your request with haste.
I will show you that you were not mistaken in placing your trust in me; you were definitely correct in trusting me!」

With a bright red face, passionately grabbing his chest, Fuse replied.

I’m pretty sure anyone would have understood his response.
I bet he has already fallen for her. Well, his target is so high it’s unattainable.

「Thanks; I’ll leave it to you」

Fuse was raring to go after hearing her response.
What a simple guy. I guess I don’t need to treat him to a meal now.

Well, in short, that’s how we established this alliance; figuring out the minor details I left to Rigurdo and Myormiles.

The problem before us, however, is how we should deal with the Freedom Association.
No, let me be clear: how should we conduct this Yuuki subjugation raid.

「Now then, we can leave the matter of the alliance at that.

「Right; considering that almost every country has a Freedom Association branch, the question is how far does the Headquarters’ influence span?」
「With regards to that, allow me to explain」

Fuse said and began his explanation.

According to him, there are observers in every guild making communication between Central and the branch easy.
Of course, these observers also make carry out Yuuki’s will. As for others potentially controlled, based on personal experiences and lack of any other person working in the branches for Central, there ought to be a few.

「In the end, we believe that he can only use mind control if he directly meets a person」

Fuse concluded.

As such, we could protect against further dissemination should we have an opportunity to study the skill… but considering that people will always be swindled, we really can’t protect ourselves against it with absolute certainty.

The problematic skill: mind control, requires an implementation of a “Curse Crystal” into its target.
The “Curse Crystal,” in turn, binds the target on its very soul. I wonder though: could a person thus bound then infect others?

「Impossible. I who was similarly controlled can testify to that extent.

Were it so, all the templars would have long been his servants」

Hinata refuted that hypothesis.
Fuse was surprised at the sudden revelation, but said nothing and instead took out some files.

「Now then, this is the list of every official who has met with Yuuki.
Please do not forget that, as in my case, direct meetings with Yuuki do not guarantee brainwashing」

The file mentioned just that.

Was he ignored because his country is small? No, there’s probably some limit to mind control.

If so… isn’t his power rather pathetic?

≪Solution. That hypothesis is presumed correct.
Due to expanding his power to control the hero, he most likely lacks ability to dominate another person≫

Actually, now that I think about it, Masayuki had this bug on him. A bug so pitiful I unconsciously squashed it.

Besides, Raphael is never wrong.

「Alright, I get it. We can probably not worry about his mind control for now.

And while we can go around cleaning up branch by branch…
How about we just go and take out Central in a single swoop?」

Let’s put association branches aside for now.

Even if there’s a hero, we have Ruminas and I. While I occupy Chloe, she’ll murder Yuuki.

Three is plenty. Or so I thought,

「Wait, I can’t fight as I had before.

Truly high speed combat I could only maintain for a few seconds.
Unfortunately, I don’t have the strength of a hero any longer」

Hinata confessed ashamed.

But it’s best we strike sooner rather than later. A big part of that is a desire to save Chloe… but I also just hate the idea of letting Yuuki continue for much longer.

Even with Hinata out of the picture, we have enough strength to crush Central.

「We too support crushing Central.

With my servants, your men, and the templars should we not just crush it all?」

What an extreme thing Ruminas says!

But Ruminas’ subordinates present an excellent opportunity. Maybe we should just go with it.

And thus, we again reconsidered our batle plan.

………

…

Our consideration concluded when we had decided squad formation.

She would relate information from every squad.

That would be handled by Fuse’s men–the guides, and Souei’s group. We also included seven of Ruminas’ nobles in that corps.

And, most importantly, Central Raid Party.

Ruminas will be accompanied by the Seven Celestial Sages.

We’ll invade once our barrier comes up.

Ranga’s also raring to go within my shadow.

And our war strength is great. Defeat here would mean that we would have to wage total war.

「Ku fufufufu. A real war after so long! I am trembling in excitement!」
「Ufufufufu. Diablo, I ain’t letting you hog all the fun」

Diablo’s and Shion’s conversation is rather scary.

Ruminas has declared that Yuuki is her prey alone, but Shion and Diablo will join in to help after they defeat Kagali.

I don’t want to hurt her, but her actual strength is unknown. Underestimating her could lead to my defeat.
According to Ruminas,

「Though we don’t want to admit it, she is probably stronger than We.
If you let your guard down, even you could perish」

She said.

Besides, killing Yuuki solves all the problems.

In order to save Chloe we need to kill him real quick.

I won’t let my guard down.

Having thus decided on our battle plan, we swiftly moved to implement it.

And, after so heroically constructing a plan…

No, the entire plan did not fail; Yuuki simply had fled from Central.

Surprisingly, he abandoned Freedom Association headquarters and fled.

It just shows how capable of an enemy he is. Since the point was to prevent any of his further manipulation,this plan was a failure.

But it was not a total waste. Though even the observers had fled by then, we made sure no royalty or ruler was under his thought manipulation.

And thanks to Templar presence, we could quickly pin all evils and crimes on Yuuki.

Thus, although the plan failed, we completely eliminated Yuuki’s dominion.

That is: we cleared the infected regions and strengthened ties with them.

Though it wasn’t what we planned for, we didn’t lose anything either.
Other than letting Yuuki escape, we actually did pretty well.

For the time being, Ingracia Kingdom and other Council nations may be slightly chaotic.

That I must completely attribute to the power of faith in the Western Saint’s Church.

In other words, we now negotiate with many more countries than we did before.

In the future, when we fight the Eastern Empire and Yuuki the nations surrounding Jura forest will probably be involved as well. So, I want to seal some military alliances with them.

Eastern Empire advances by forcing other countries to assimilate; there’s a need to oppose that force.

Thanks to this incident, these countries are bound to use newly developed diplomatic ties to create a mighty military union.

Tempest is fated to rise to be the epitome of these; but that’s a story for later.

For now, I only grieve that our Yuuki Subjugation Raid failed.

Chapter end