Hell Mode: Volume 6, page 17
Garara glared at Allen, but Allen did not back down. The two continued to stare at each other in silence as those in the room watched on. Finally, the admiral nodded his assent.
“Fine.”
The dwarves of Stinger let out a celebratory cheer.
“All right! Now we can finally move on!”
“Time for drinks! C’mon, big bro!”
One of the dwarves had a twinkle in his eye as he handed Allen a wooden stein.
“Big bro”? Yeah, I’m not so sure about that. I’m pretty sure I’d remember taking on an honorary younger brother.
“Hmm, so now the strongest team in all of Baukis will be joining you as well. I guess that makes this a pre-celebration to your upcoming dungeon crawl. I, too, will toast to your good health.”
Prince Zeu clapped his hands together. However, what Allen said next immediately put a stop to that.
“I’ve collected enough medals for you and your men too, Prince.”
“What?”
“Well, that’s fantastic news. With the Beast Prince joining us as well, our odds of taking down the final floor boss must be nearly assured. What’s more, if we do succeed in the first clearing of the boss, that means His Highness will have fulfilled his promise to the Beast King.”
Just as the words left Helmios’s mouth, Zeu interrupted him with a shrill cry.
“What? No way! We can’t be assisted by another country in matters pertaining to royal succession!”
Helmios was referring to the promise made between Prince Zeu and his father, the Beast King of Albahal, regarding who would be the next heir to the throne. Prince Zeu, despite falling behind his older brother, Crown Prince Beku, in line to ascend the throne, would become the heir apparent should he be the first one to beat the yet-uncleared Rank S dungeon.
In Helmios’s mind, it did not matter if other parties were involved so long as the condition of Prince Zeu and his party taking part in the first clear of the final floor boss was fulfilled. Zeu, however, was unwilling to accept this suggestion.
I expected a bit of a challenge, but after struggling to get Garara to join us, it’s turning out to be just as difficult to convince Zeu. Then again, I guess I do remember times in my past life when it was a real pain to get a full alliance of members together for a raid.
Allen thought back on his past life as a gamer. Considering the rewards for success were great and that it would only get easier the more members you had in a multiparty raid, it was usually fairly easy to get a group together.
However, when it came to particularly powerful raid bosses or ones that had only recently been rolled out, there were more than a few players who felt that the risk was just too high and did not want to join. At times like that, you had to reach out to both parties who were in the same affiliation as your own as well as those in the opposite affiliation. He recalled getting into quite a number of arguments with a certain black knight, the leader of one of the joining parties, over which other parties to invite along.
Allen tried his best to win Zeu over.
“You’re not receiving support from another nation; we’re battling as a group that’s expanded beyond national boundaries. Besides, we might not be able to beat this boss without your assistance.”
“But Allen, you must know...”
The prince spoke as if all the strength had been drained from him.
Albahal had ordered all of its citizens with Talents to attempt to beat the Rank S dungeon, though most of these people had only one- or two-star classes. This was due to the fact that Beast Crown Prince Beku feared the risk of his brother stealing the throne from him.
“...Until my brother officially takes the throne, there’s no way he’ll send any beastkin who actually has a chance at fighting the final floor boss, meaning that I would do nothing but hold you back even if I alone were to join you. Beyond that, I’m also responsible for protecting those who have been sent here from Albahal to perform their labor in the dungeon.”
“Hmm, I understand. In that case, would your mind change if we were to bring in the strongest fighters from Albahal?”
With that, Allen looked over at the door to the dining room. Zeu and everyone else in the room followed his gaze as confusion set in.
Nothing happened. One minute passed, then two, and still no one entered the room. Zeu turned to Allen, a look of suspicion on his face.
“There’s no one...”
Just as the words left Zeu’s mouth, Helmios’s servant appeared with a nervous expression on his face.
“Master Allen, we have guests for the Beast Prince.”
“Send them in.”
At those words, the servant hurriedly left the room.
A low din began to fill the dining room as the dwarves, the members of Sacred, and Allen and his friends chatted among themselves while stealing glances at the doors leading into the dining room. Only Allen and the Gamers remained cool and collected, as they already knew who was coming.
A short time later, the servant returned and opened the door to the dining room. A group of tall figures entered the room.
“Grand Marshal Siguul!” Zeu cried out in surprise.
Grand Marshal Siguul, the highest-ranking official in the Rohzenheim army, entered the room, accompanied by several members of his entourage. Zeu was familiar with him from the times he had attended meetings with the Five Continent Alliance.
Siguul addressed Allen. “I brought all the members you requested.”
“Thank you for your assistance.”
With that, Siguul gestured for those waiting in the hallway to enter the room.
A gasp escaped Zeu’s lips as he watched on in surprise. The group entering the room was one that he had wished to bring together for quite some time but had given up on ever being able to.
“The Ten Heroic Beasts! All of you?!” The Beast Prince could hardly hide his astonishment, even as a part of him refused to believe that the Ten Heroic Beasts had come all this way. This was his first time seeing them in the two years since he had come to the Rank S dungeon.
“That’s right, Your Highness,” a bearkin dressed in exquisite armor responded. The ursine man stood over two meters tall and had a massive hammer strapped to his back. “We were granted the title of Ten Heroic Beasts at last year’s Beast King Martial Arts Tournament.”
The honorary title of Ten Heroic Beasts was granted to the winners of the ten divisions of the Beast King Martial Arts Tournament held in the Albahalan capital. Some members were unchanged from the previous year, having defended their titles, while others were newcomers who had bested the previous champions.
“General Hoba! It’s been a while!” Zeu howled in excitement. Apparently he and the bearkin were already acquainted.
“Well, if it isn’t the bumbling prince!”
A fox beastkin took a seat on the table as he insulted the prince before taking a wooden stein in both hands.
“Is that Lepe I hear?”
Lepe, the foxkin man, did not bother even looking in Zeu’s direction before he took a drink and began voicing his woes.
“Y’know, things were goin’ real nice with a lady friend of mine when that bastard Beku sent his guards to come get me. What a bunch of crap! Anyway, I heard we were summoned by the elves, but somethin’ tells me this ain’t Rohzenheim. Just what’s goin’ on here?”
“Not only are ya rude to His Highness, but now you’re callin’ the crown prince by his first name too?!” Hoba roared, reaching for the hammer on his back. “Besides, ya look downright pathetic, sittin’ on the table like that!”
The floor shook with each of the armored beastkin’s thunderous steps, threatening to give way at any moment.
C’mon, guys, I don’t need you fighting here!
Lepe rolled his eyes and hopped off the table. “Gods, you’re annoying.” The accessories around his neck, biceps, wrists, waist, and ankles, which were made of pieces of metal and red, white, blue, yellow, and green beads, jangled as he moved.
Looks like someone’s the problem child of the group. Also,he doesn’t seem to have a weapon. Now that I think about it, though, I believe there was someone with the Beast Bard Talent in the group.
Uru had previously given Allen a brief overview of each of the Ten Heroic Beasts. As he was thinking back on that information, a squirrelkin just a hair taller than Meruru waddled up to the table.
Zeu’s eyes went wide in surprise. “I can’t believe it. The royal adviser, Temi, is here too?”
She may look like a preteen, but apparently she advises the king with her abilities in astrology.
Beast Astrologist was an incredibly rare Talent possessed by only a handful of people in Albahal. Because of her Talent, Temi was in a position to advise on national affairs as an aide to the Beast King, ranking her above even generals and ministers.
Considering that the Swordsman Talent became known as Beast Swordsman when possessed by a beastkin, Allen figured that they generally appended “Beast” to everything. In that case, humans likely had Bards and Astrologists too.
Just as he had done with the others, Lepe did not bother with formalities as he pulled out a chair and spoke to Temi. “Hey, Temi. Want a drink?”
The squirrelkin ignored him as she took her seat, instead calling out to Helmios’s servant.
“Juice, please.”
“C-Certainly. I’ll prepare it at once.”
After receiving her juice, Temi picked up a fukaman from a plate and began nibbling at it.
“Wow, this is great!”
Zeu, still reeling from the shock of learning that the young yet politically influential Beast Astrologist was also one of the Ten Heroic Beasts, looked around the room before fixing his gaze on Siguul.
“Grand Marshal Siguul, just what is going on? Why did you bring the Ten Heroic Beasts here?”
“I’m afraid that’s a bit difficult to explain,” Siguul said with a frown, then shot a pleading glance toward Sophie. Picking up on this, Zeu turned to look at Sophie as well.
“Do you know anything about this, Miss Sophialohne?”
“Beast Prince Zeu, Rohzenheim wishes for our countries to coexist and prosper together. As such, I ask that you please not misunderstand our actions here today.”
Sophie began to respond to Zeu’s question in place of Siguul. However, she paused for a moment, choosing her words carefully. It was then that Allen decided it was time for him to speak up.
“Hmm, it looks like you two are having a hard time explaining, so why don’t you let me take over.”
“So this was all your scheme, huh?” Zeu asked, focusing his attention on Allen.
“Scheme” makes this sound like a bad thing. You don’t need to be so rude, y’know.
“It’s not a scheme, per se. You see, there are still remnants of the Demon Lord Army in Rohzenheim that are getting in the way of their reconstruction efforts. All I did was request that the world-renowned Ten Heroic Beasts help clear out those remnants, and I asked them to come to Baukis while they were at it.”
Though it was true that there were monsters hindering the reconstruction efforts, he neglected to mention that a variety of countermeasures had already been taken, including putting up barriers.
Zeu nodded along with this. “Hmm, I see.”
Allen had, through Sophie, asked Siguul to go to Albahal and petition Beast King for his help by giving him the same story.
“As a sign of appreciation for granting us the assistance of the Ten Heroic Beasts, we have gifted three thousand elven elixirs to Albahal.”
With this last piece of the puzzle, it all made sense to Zeu.
The Beast King had likely remained unconvinced by Siguul’s entreaty alone. Presumably, however, Rohzenheim’s offer of three thousand of their valuable elven elixirs—a panacea that could even recover lost limbs—had convinced him that they were serious.
“But would they really send all of the Ten Heroic Beasts to another country simply to slay monsters?”
Five of the Ten Heroic Beasts should have been enough to provide aid to a foreign ally, but all ten seemed hard to believe.
The Ten Heroic Beasts were the ace up Albahal’s sleeve. While it may have seemed reasonable for Beku to have prevented them from being dispatched to aid Zeu or Shia and thus keep them from taking his place as next in line to the throne, it was also true that not all of the group’s members were present even at meetings of the Five Continent Alliance. And yet not only had they gone well out of their way to have soldiers round up Lepe—apparently a habitual offender for ignoring orders—but they had brought the king’s adviser, Temi, as well. Were something to happen to Albahal while they were absent, it could have dire consequences for the kingdom. The Beast King would have almost certainly objected to this, even in discussions about slaying monsters too powerful for the Rohzenheim forces.
“Don’t tell anyone else, but I made a secret promise to the Crown Prince.”
Zeu felt a pit form in his stomach at Allen’s words. Sure, he had said to not tell anyone else, but there were nearly fifty people in the room.
“Just what did you do, exactly?”
“A promise, that’s all. And by doing that, I was able to get the Crown Prince himself to convince the Beast King. His help was instrumental.”
“Tell me what you promised my brother!”
“I promised that, were Albahal to attack the Central Continent, Rohzenheim would not act for one month.”
Zeu’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor. “What?!”
“Basically, if Albahal breaks the pact with the Five Continent Alliance and invades the Central Continent, Rohzenheim will not raise any objections and Giamut will not send reinforcements or war materials. I have to say, the fact that he agreed so quickly was immensely helpful, wasn’t it, Siguul?”
Siguul remained silent, possibly figuring it improper to mention such top secret international political pacts in front of Giamut nobility. Or perhaps he just wanted to get out of this situation as soon as possible. Conversely, Crown Prince Beku had not hesitated to announce his intent to invade the Central Continent the moment he ascended the throne. It was not hard to imagine his impassioned pleas to the Beast King with his secret pact with Siguul in the back of his mind.
“H-How could...” The surprise on Zeu’s face turned to fear and despair. His whole body shook as he dropped to his knees.
Hoba hurried to Zeu’s side and threw an arm around him. “Your Highness!” Allen could not help but smirk at the sight of the two-meter-tall beastkin holding on to each other as Hoba tried desperately to help the prince to his feet. “It’s unbecoming of royalty to kneel before others, Your Highness.”
Hoba wrapped an arm around Zeu’s shoulder and helped him to the sofa. Once there, Zeu slumped heavily into it and let out a sigh before finally looking up at Allen.
“And what do you plan on doing if this gets back to the king?”
“Huh? So what if it does? That’s no problem. Then you can play for the role of being the next king.”
Allen did not really care what happened, as it was the crown prince who would be losing out here.
“That decision is up to the king. However, we are also complicit in deceiving him in this matter and would no longer have the right to set foot in Albahal.”
The sense of despair Zeu felt was clear in how he held himself.
“Huh? Why’s that?”
Zeu looked off into the distance as he spoke. “You don’t know? The king will likely be enraged at this and send out a force to hunt me down no matter where I go.”
“I’m sorry, but I’m not sure I follow,” Allen responded casually. “Is the Beast King, the ruler of Albahal, really that petty?”
That question made Zeu’s fur stand on end. He launched his hulking form to his feet.
“I will not stand idly by and let you insult the king!”
“Calm down, please. Just let me explain,” Allen said, hoping to soothe the enraged Beast Prince.
Helmios, Admiral Garara, and General Hoba listened intently for what Allen was about to say, with the latter still keeping his hand on the hammer strapped to his back. There was a very real risk that what Allen said next could lead to the dissolution of the Five Continent Alliance and the opening of hostilities between Rohzenheim and Albahal.
“Fine, I’m listening.”
“All right, here’s what’s going on: Zeu, you’ve come here due to being granted a trial from the Beast King to clear the Rank S dungeon.”
Zeu fixed Allen with a steely glare and nodded silently.
“I had my friend, Sophie, get the ball rolling in Rohzenheim. After that, I used Crown Prince Beku to get the Ten Heroic Beasts to come clear the dungeon. That’s all.”
“And what I want to know is why things ended up this way. This was all a part of your grand plan, then?”
While it may have seemed like Zeu was plotting against the Beast King, in reality, it was Allen and Rohzenheim who were working behind the scenes.
“The truth is irrelevant; what matters is what the Beast King thinks. Rohzenheim provided a vast supply of their invaluable herbs and, by way of deception, the Ten Heroic Beasts were summoned. The one who thought up this plan will be self-apparent. Do you think that someone would normally try to figure out who asked whom to put this plan in motion? Even if the Beast King doesn’t inquire any further, there can be only one answer.”
No one would suspect that Allen was behind this, nor would they think that Rohzenheim had simply decided to start working in the shadows. After all, Rohzenheim had given Albahal three thousand of their invaluable herbs and even sent Grand Marshal Siguul all that way to negotiate. Would the Beast King really believe they had done all that just to assemble the Ten Heroic Beasts?
No, it was more natural that the Beast King would think this was Zeu’s plan, put into motion by going through the Rohzenheim royalty who just so happened to be at the Rank S dungeon with him. The future queen of Rohzenheim and the Beast Prince, who was still unable to complete the trial passed down to him from his father, were both here. It would be easy to assume that there had been negotiations with Rohzenheim wherein they could expect to receive some kind of favors once Zeu took the throne. Perhaps there was a secret pact of sorts concerning the relationship between the future queen and the Beast King.
