Vol. 13 - Chapter 771 - Preparation for Conquer Day #1 - Online Meeting (2)

The coming war was one that would either make, or break the world. It was a given that Allen had proper meetings with friends, allies and nations alike. Acting on that idea, they're now at the Heavy User Island, having an online meeting with the leaders of various nations.

The idea of online meeting was made possible by Commander Larappa. After suffering from the demon forces invasion for so many decades, the people had gradually invented communication magic tools. With slight reformation done by Commander Larappa, they could now hold a meeting regardless if the other party was lands apart.

(At this point, it's almost like a tradition for Giamut Empire to snarked at Ratash Kingdom. Well, in hindsight, there was no attention toward Count Granveil's participation.)

It was a tale of millennia ago, when the Captain Grahm of Imperial Guards from Giamut Empire had executed the Tyrant Emperor Zerdias. Back then, Ratash was mere frontier land under the Empire, and when the chaos trailed the execution of the Tyrant Emperor, they took advantage of the confusion and declared the founding of Ratash Kingdom.

It must have been like chewing on bitter bugs for the Emperor to see the Ratash Kingdom participating in a meeting joined by heavyweight nations. Though with the situation ongoing, the less personal grudge was dug around, the better.

The King of Ratash Kingdom knew how they would be on the Emperor's target, but when Merus told him "This would be an end to the 1000 year old history of your kingdom if you don't participate in," there were very few, if none at all, options left to him.

The King Inbuel somehow mediated the situation, and waited for Allen to continue with a nervous visage.

"Once again, I appreciate everyone's participation. Now, given we're quite in a race against time, I would like to proceed with the details immediately."

Following Allen, everyone present inside the council room performed a courtesy bow toward participating rulers.

"I was told this is one meeting I would regret not joining in. I have postponed the meeting for our cherished festival to be here, so let's skip the preamble and all."

Taking a u-turn from his earlier snarking, the Emperor straightened his attitude, and signaled for the meeting to resume.

The festival was quite a big event for the Giamut Empire, one which was attended by Emperor himself, though following Merus’s remark, he should have postponed the former. For an emperor of huge nation, it wouldn’t be strange for his schedule to be packed month long in advance.

"You're right, time is a precious commodity right now, so I will skip to how it all began."

Merus must have informed them with barebone details. Allen figured it out, and narrated the entire situation—about demons invading Space-Time God's territory. How they had brought out nearly the whole army with themselves, including top executives. Then how they split into three teams, and wreak havoc indiscriminately in many fronts.The skirmish left corpses of several thousands of angels stewn over the ground.

It was an intense battle between Demon King's army and the Allen's party, Hero's party, as well as gods of the Divine Realm.

An expression of pale white horror could be seen on every participant’s face, regardless if they’re rulers, their officials, or the generals of Allen's army. They’d firsthand witnessed the brutalism of the Demon King’s army after all.

"Haha, it's truly a wonder we managed to make it out alive......"

"W-well done. I mean it. …It must be the blessing of the Great Spirit God."

Helmios unwittingly gave off dry chuckles as he recalled the situation. General Rukidoral expressed her admiration in a shaky voice.

"We learned that the objective of demons was to abduct First Angel Lupto and feed her to the Demon King. With that, the Demon King would be prepared to make the entire world—and the three realms his own. However, the demon leader caught us spying..."

Allen gradually revealed what led to their current situation, and this meeting. After successfully taking another step closer to world domination, they had now ten days until the Demon King fed on Lupto, and then kicked a new world order.

"The demons, confided by some circumstances, couldn't have the Demon King eat Lupto right away. So, Lupto's survival is guaranteed until then."

(And that's just on the date of my birthday... Don't tell me they intentionally did it?)

"I see, and this meeting is to ask for our cooperation against the Demon King's army."

When Allen finished explaining the entire ordeal, Queen Renatir, the mother of Sophia, guessed the goalpost of the meeting.

"You're correct. That said, the concrete plan is yet to be finalised, so until then, I would like to get the details on the army's composition and keep ourselves updated with the situation. Ze—Prince Zeu, do you mind?"

(I could have asked him yesterday, but he didn't have his coronation yet, so it's better to inquire in an official setting.)

Allen's objective was to get a tab on the number of army personnel the following nations were willing to dispatch, and as well as their talents.

Noticing Allen's gaze, and his deliberate choice of words, Beast Prince Zeu knew what he had wanted to ask.

"Me? It's all clear. The former Beast King has officially announced me as the next Beast King. He has already retired from governance, and now the command of kingship rest within my hand."

(Officially, eh? I wonder how much of it was due to Temi-san's persuasion. Well, this means the coronation ceremony will be sometime soon. I just hope there's no bickering from General Lud end.)

—Who would be crowned as the next ruler of the beast nation?

This was quite a popular topic during Allen's adventurer days among his comrades. They first heard about any concrete details after they'd taken a step into Divine Realm.

The former Beast King had three offspring—Beck, Zeu, and Shea. At first, Beck was the Crown Prince, but under the scheme of Demon King's army, he was made a sacrifice to the revival of Evil God, and killed.

Ultimately, the competition shifted between Zeu versus Shea. The two pit themselves against the trial of Beast God Gram, which was triumphed by Shea, but ultimately Zeu was decided to be the Beast King.

Zeu had expressed his intention to join in the campaign for upcoming war, but he was summoned back to Human Realm by the former Beast King when Merus informed him of the situation and passed him the invitation to join today's meeting.

Perhaps it was due to the report Temi made to Albahar Kingdom, Zeu was declared the next Beast King as soon as he had returned to the kingdom.

Beast King Muse had his fair share of battles against the Demon King's army over the span of years. Perhaps, he decided he would be better off fighting on the battlefield, than to command from his throne. Besides, this was a favourable outcome for Albahar Kingdom too.

The problem, though, was now General Lud, and Vice-General Lath. They'd been gathering their private army to support Shea, whom they believed was the undisputed next king. But now, not only had the two couldn't join Shea in the trial, the next Beast King was announced in their absence.

In fact, as the leaders, Rudo and Lath were both attending this meeting, sitting at the round table. They’d an expression of reluctance on their faces. They knew it was a wise choice, but whether their heart understood was another.

And if they said anything, they would only be determining the authority of the Beast King here. At the end, they decided to remain silent.

(It was Shea's decision to hand over the throne to Zeu-san. And Zeu-san conferred his power to Shea after all.)

It was Zeu who had requested Beast God to hand over his share of power to Shea. It might not be the best circumstance, but it was certainly a better choice for Zeu to take the throne.

"This is indeed best for everyone......"

"Y-Yeah......"

Vice-General Lath appeared to be understanding of the matter, but General Lud obviously couldn't bring himself to accept the situation, and only offered a silent nod.

(The upcoming war guaranteed no survival, so Beast King must have wanted Zeu to stay out of it. And the only way was to make him the King itself.)

Could it be diviner Temi had divined the fate of two Beast King’s offspring? If either of them was destined to die… Allen promptly made a mental note to dig deeper about this point.

"S-So, by the current explanation, I am assuming the decisive battle will be at..."

Elf Queen inserted.

"Yes, you've assumed correctly, Your Highness. The decisive battle will begin in 9 days."

"Nine days huh..."

"Is something wrong, Prince Zeu?"

"Well, I was planning to hold the coronation ceremony precisely on that day."

"Before the new year, huh..."

"As a matter of fact, our Empire has a festival due that day—to pray to War God for the blessing of victory."

Seemingly not liking the attention drawn to Beast Prince, the Emperor of Giamut's Empire suddenly chimed in.

(I guess so. Kurena Village also had Harvest Festival as a way to honor God of Harvest for his blessing.)

The aspect of the divine runs deep in this world. So the Empire's festival had the same connotation as the harvest festival had.

Allen recalled back to the history of his previous life. There was a time in history where nations of the past often would avoid wars during rites of festival season. And similarly, some would perform a divination to settle on the day for war.

With gods existing in the flesh in this world, the festival might be a very important day for the Empire. But, in their current scenario, they'd much more issue to resolve than faith—the survival of mankind.

"I really do understand the importance, however, I would appreciate it if we can have everyone start to prepare for the war. It doesn't matter if you only give it some time, just do it with the hope to increase the odds of survival against the Demon King's army. So, perhaps you can shift the date to any other day? Like New Year?"

"Heh. Well, I am not against it. And Digragni-sama is a magnanimous god, so it should be alright."

Pupun III of Bawkis Empire nodded in response to Allen's request, and announced the scheduling of their dungeon festival to the 1st day of the 10th month. Allen had attended the festival once when he was clearing the S-rank dungeon.

"Of course, if it may appear impossible to shift the date of the festival, It would be great if you can inform me now."

"And how exactly informing you would help us?"

"It's a simple solution. I will try to have an audience with the said gods, and see if we can have their permission. I would at least require one day to affirm this though."

"...Hmm, oh well. This pertains to the survival of the Empire. I am sure the reverend War God would understand our plight."

Giamut Empire turned down Allen's offer to have him talk with their patron god, while also nodding to his suggestion—to move behind the date of the festival.

Perhaps, they didn't fancy the idea of Allen having words with their gods. After all, who knew what kind of words would he use? The same thoughts must be shared by other participants, too, as they'd wry smile clinging on their lips.

(Well, not like I had any stake to allow me to discuss it with War God either.)

Seeing as everyone was buying his bluff, Allen didn't linger on the topic much, and continued.

"Anyway, I was hoping we can have a list on how many soldiers and supplies each nation can dispatch. It's important as I would have to arrange restorative medicines like Heaven's Blessing, and you wouldn't want to be underprepared for this fight. Oh, and I would like to borrow «Warfare Ship»."

"Warfare Ship? Hmm... I can offer my answer now, but it will cost money. I will check out the list of supplies and soldiers before presenting."

"My words. We only have a single warfare ship ourselves, and you're demanding that... Are you sure you can bring it back in one piece?"

"Please be assured that if we don't return it safely, then that just means no one will ever need it either way. Since humanity will be no more."

The Warfare Ship was a special magic ship that Allen was requesting to borrow.

"And Emperor Pupun III. It would be great if you can secure the merchant's supply chain."

“You can be rest assured about it. The billing can wait till the Demon King is defeated. It's just, the demand for the military goods will surely rise up due to obvious reasons, so tolerate a bit of above market price if you can."

Emperor Pupun III replied. Allen had no objection regarding that, and nodded. Then, he looked at every participant once again.

"This is all from my end, everyone. I am very thankful for all your attention to participation. Let this meeting be the precursor to kick off war preparation against the Demon King's army!"

Allen bowed in curtsey, delivering his word of gratitude. With that as the cue, Commander Larappa dropped the connection, and the reflection of leaders of participating nations vanished from the black boards.

After sorting the details with the rules of each nation, Allen turned to the members at the council room, and exchanged some with them for a while before wrapping up the meeting.