Traveler Starting from Type-Moon, Demon Lord Rimuru!

Besides, even if there were no other way, as a Dead Apostle, he possessed absolute command over his subordinates—if all else failed, he could simply swallow them back one by one.

Rimuru closed his eyes, sensing the growing sources of magical energy and the aura of madness throughout Cornwall, and smiled softly. He reached out a hand toward the Duke of Cornwall, whose face was growing paler by the second: "So, tell me your answer, Duke."

"Are you willing to return to the embrace of... mystery, and fight for me?"

"You realize this counts as violating the greatest taboo of the Mage's Association." In the distant night, atop a water tower, Altrouge dangled her snow-white legs, looking at Rimuru, who was quietly feigning sleep beside her: "You really are the strangest magus I have ever met."

"Traditional magi have grown old." Hearing this, Rimuru opened his eyes calmly and said: "I once thought I would have to at least sit in a Lord's seat to make any impact on this world, but you gave me that opportunity ahead of schedule."

Although he did not care about this world, his elite education had long since ingrained in him a nature that refused to be left behind, no matter what he did or where he was. Since he could participate in this transformation of the era, he didn't mind being a small catalyst for it.

"Doing this will draw the hostility of all magi; it's equivalent to flipping the table." Altrouge turned her head, her beautiful eyes flowing as she looked at him: "The rules established by countless magi over thousands of years are not so easily broken."

"That is because weak magi lack the qualifications, while strong magi have no desire to break them." Facing Altrouge's curiosity, Rimuru appeared very patient. Perhaps because it was a theory from his past life, and it was rare to find someone who didn't view his thoughts as heresy but rather as a serious discussion, Rimuru felt the desire to communicate these ideas for the first time.

"Most magi pursue Akasha itself. Once they become powerful, they have no interest in meddling in other matters. And existences like the White Winged Duke... they have the ambition, but lack the courage." Rimuru chuckled, his gaze flashing with disdain and rebellion toward the traditional magi of this world: "This world needs change, and it will welcome change sooner or later."

There was one more reason he didn't mention: if humanity wanted to avoid the fate of extinction, it had to save itself, rather than relying on other existences.

And self-preservation... Phantasmal Species and Dead Apostles were powerful because they were in contact with mystery from the moment of their birth. While it was true that their individual strength stemmed from their scarcity, they had indeed achieved comprehensive strength as a whole, rather than engaging in internal strife and mutual calculation.

Primates had occupied the world due to their vast numbers, but because of those numbers, human hearts were unfathomable, forming the most complex social relationships. Rimuru had no ability to change these social relations, much less the ability to make all of humanity form a community of shared interests.

But!

As long as a sufficiently powerful force stood up, one capable of crushing other factions... it could at least serve as a leading example, right?

Rimuru thought to himself. Although he truly didn't care about this world, he thought of Liddell, Eler, and the final sigh of the Director.

He felt that if possible, he could try his best... no, his all... to give it one try.

At the very least, he couldn't return home only to have another regret, could he?

At that moment, Rimuru shed his lethargy. As he stretched, the sharp and resolute look in his eyes made Altrouge pause slightly. She suddenly chuckled and stopped questioning him, wanting to watch quietly instead.

At the very least, her choice shouldn't be wrong. Whether he was crazy, overly rebellious, or highly ambitious, he was interesting.

Life wouldn't be boring anymore. She lowered her eyelids, her tone softening for the first time. Looking at this knight whose thoughts even she couldn't fathom, she suddenly asked: "Are you loyal to me now?"

"Of course." Hearing this, Rimuru replied without hesitation: "As long as you can help me and suppress me for a day, I will be loyal to you for a day."

Dealing with a tiger to get its skin, or perhaps a temporary submission—to Rimuru, this was not a shameful thing, but—

"What if I can't suppress you?" Hearing this, Altrouge was surprised by Rimuru's boldness and asked with interest: "Will you eat me? Like Vissera did?"

"What do you think?"

"Hmm... then I shall look forward to it." Altrouge opened her eyes and looked toward Cornwall, where a blood-red moon shone in the sky: "Whether it is you who eats me, or... I who eat you."

Under the complex night, the Duke finally issued his order, rejecting the commands of the Mage's Association and the Church.

He abandoned the light, threw himself into the darkness, and became the first city to openly announce its entry into the Dead Apostle camp, accepting the protection of Altrouge. Consequently, the world was shocked.

Altrouge, this elusive Princess of the Black, announced her territory for the first time. It was not a country, nor a major city.

It was an obscure, small rural county. But the significance it represented made everyone's heart sink and made the Dead Apostles instantly fanatical.

Magi and Executors watched this intelligence with grim expressions—the world of mystery was in turmoil once again. A great war was about to begin. The Church and the Mage's Association would not allow a second White Winged Duke to rise, nor would they allow a true city of Dead Apostles to exist!

Cornwall was no longer just about the dispute over the scabbard; it had to be destroyed. Justice would be served!

And all of this—was inseparable from that newborn White Knight!

In the night, a young girl wearing ten gorgeous rings on her ten fingers slowly stepped into this city that had quietly changed. She looked at the dark red night sky, frowned, and suddenly covered her nose in dissatisfaction: "How annoying, it's everywhere... the smell of Dead Apostles."

"However, since I've openly challenged the authority of magi worldwide, I can't expose my true identity. A code name alone isn't enough; I need a name."

"Then let's call you Leviathan." Hearing this, the Princess of the Black gave a clever smile. Her two small legs stopped swinging, and she stood up, looking toward a certain direction: "White Knight Leviathan, not bad, right?"

"...It's alright, what's wrong?"

"Have you heard of the Burial Agency?" Altrouge pointed to a spot in the night and suddenly laughed: "Your first test in challenging authority has arrived. If I haven't smelled it wrong, our old friend, that executor of justice among the Twenty-seven Ancestors, has already arrived."

Nebula M78 756365104

PS: There isn't much to write about the Clock Tower in the early stages. The power struggles and the Grand Council are focused on the competition for benefits after the Holy Grail War in the outline. Those who want to see it, please wait a while. Why not support the author to give me more motivation, wuwuwu.

Also, the repetition issue in Chapter 18 has been fixed. Just re-download the cache. It was a scheduled publishing issue; if readers hadn't complained, I wouldn't have noticed... I am truly sorry. I will double-check my posts for errors every day from now on.

Chapter 040, You are all my little... little wings?!

"Teacher... Teacher..." In Rimuru's lounge, Eler's ahoge jumped up and down as she frantically shook Rimuru's sleeve, attempting to make him look at her for even a second, rather than at the documents in his hand.

After a long while, Rimuru finally looked up helplessly. With a wave of water, he scooped Eler up and placed her on the table in front of him, laughing and crying: "Just say what you want, don't just pull on my clothes."

"Mm..." Hearing this, Eler put her hands behind her back and fidgeted: "That... I heard..."

"I heard... the Hunting Garden has been repaired!"

"..." Rimuru's mouth twitched, and he set her down casually: "Forget it."

"Wuu!! Then... Teacher, come play with me!"

"That's not a problem." Rimuru nodded slightly, causing Eler's eyes to light up. Sister Liddell was right after all; when you want to make a request to someone, you should first propose something they cannot accept, and then the next request will be easily granted!

"However, have you finished your homework for this week, Eler?" Rimuru pondered for a moment, signing the property certificates on the desk one by one. From this moment on, these assets would have nothing to do with him or the Entpeste family, and he would receive a substantial sum of capital. Combined with the patent fees from the magic he developed using his memory advantage... it should be enough to stir up a financial wave by the end of the eighties, right?

"Ho... homework?" Eler's ahoge stood up in alarm before quickly wilting. Her little face crumpled instantly, and she tilted her head, attempting to act cute to get out of it: "What... homework?"

"Hmm... playing dumb won't work. If your homework isn't finished, you'll be staying in the Clock Tower for the next month." Rimuru chuckled and tapped her head, then picked up the documents and stood up. "Alright, go find your sister Liddell. I still have some things to do—"

"Rimuru!!!"

Before Rimuru could finish his sentence, a roar like something from the wilderness shattered the soundproofing barrier of the Clock Tower. Liddell burst in, furious, scaring the little one so much that she shrank her head and took the opportunity to burrow into Rimuru's arms, refusing to come out.

"..." Rimuru looked at the little one, who was frantically nuzzling into his chest and pretending to be scared, with a mix of amusement and helplessness. He looked up, speechless, and said: "You seem very angry, Liddell."

Liddell's face was dark, her tightly furrowed brows adding a touch of murderous intent to her delicate features. Her chest heaved violently, making her already modest chest look even flatter—she paused noticeably when she saw Eler present, then took a deep breath and gritted her teeth, saying word by word: "Did you do this!"

"Yes." Hearing this, Rimuru blinked and suddenly chuckled, adding: "If you are referring to Cornwall."

"As I thought..."

Only this guy could pull off such an outrageous act—from childhood to adulthood, his thinking had always been full of what people called rebellion, or perhaps, foresight—

"So, the White Knight is really..."

"It's me." Rimuru blinked again, not hiding it, because it couldn't be hidden.

"You suddenly know so much. It seems you held another Lord meeting behind my back... Hmm, don't come looking for me in a rage right after the meeting ends next time; it's easy for interested parties to notice."

"I don't need you to tell me that." Liddell raised an eyebrow in anger: "There was no Lord meeting. The Director notified me about this matter."

"The Director?" Rimuru was slightly startled.

"Yes, be honored, Rimuru." Liddell took a step forward, annoyed, and mocked him with a sarcastic tone: "Because of you, the Grand Resolution is being convened."

If the Lord meeting was an internal Clock Tower affair for distributing benefits and a scene for the various Lords to bicker, then the Grand Resolution belonged to the Mage's Association—and indeed the entire magical world—as the "highest priority meeting initiation." It was themed around the Mage's Association and, once permitted by multiple factions, was a special meeting convened specifically for a particular event.

In the subtext of the Grand Resolution, all actions taken by participants were prioritized toward the agenda; other grudges or stances could be temporarily set aside. In other words, even a mage designated for sealing could attend the meeting after receiving an invitation without worrying about being attacked mid-way, and theoretically, those who received an invitation usually had a reason they had to attend.

Otherwise, they would likely face opposition from the entire magical world—however, even with the Grand Resolution, the Clock Tower, as the most prosperous of the three major organizations of the Mage's Association on the surface, saw the Twelve Lords holding significant sway and numerous seats in the resolution.

In other words, if the Twelve Lords reached a consensus and remained internally united, the final result of the Grand Resolution could basically be determined, because once the Twelve Lords reached an agreement, it was equivalent to one of the permanent members of the United Nations, possessing essentially absolute veto power.

Therefore, Rimuru was completely unconcerned about this.

"It should be about how to handle Cornwall. Perhaps they want to cooperate with the Church, so they initiated the Grand Resolution because of that." Rimuru lowered his eyes slightly. The little one in his arms had stopped squirming and was now wide-eyed, listening openly with her bright, sparkling eyes.

"You make it sound so easy!" Seeing Rimuru's indifferent expression, Liddell was about to explode with anger, but her increasingly harsh tone could not hide the deep concern within: "You are too flashy, Rimuru. You clearly have the ability to shapeshift, so why do you still use your original form to do those things—"

"Has someone already suspected me so soon?" Hearing this, Rimuru was slightly stunned, then laughed: "I thought it would take a while... In that case, will I be invited?"

"No." Liddell shook her head: "The reason the Director asked me to warn you is that, because there is no evidence, your agenda is primarily for investigation. Only if they actually discover something will they invite you for questioning... Rimuru... you..."

"It's fine, Liddell." Rimuru shook his head slightly, leaned toward Liddell, and handed the somewhat bewildered Eler over to her: "You should know that I have a certain level of control over what I do..."

"Actually, when you burst in, I thought you were going to question me about why I defected to the Princess of the Black—the people who saw me leave the Clock Tower that day disappeared; you were the one who took care of them, right?"

Rimuru leaned in slightly toward Liddell, making her feel inexplicably nervous: "Wh... why?"

She didn't answer Rimuru's question, but Rimuru clearly saw the affirmative answer in her eyes. Suddenly, he felt a sense of peace, as if the feeling of being a stranger to this world had vanished. In this world, there were things called family who were watching him with concern and worrying about him.

"You don't need to be so nervous and worried about me, because among us, you are the easiest to be seen through and the one who thinks the least... it's been like that since we were kids, hasn't it?" Rimuru gently pulled up one of Liddell's sleeves, rolling it up softly to reveal her fair arm, which was covered in tooth marks and wounds.

During the half-month Rimuru was on the run, he had to suppress his bloodlust with fresh blood every two days, and he didn't know how many times he had hurt Liddell—"Defecting to the Princess of the Black, besides the fact that she could help me gain the greatest benefit at the lowest cost, the more important point was..."

He stroked the wounds, ignoring Liddell's increasingly red and boiling cheeks, and looked up with a chuckle to meet her eyes: "I don't want to hurt you anymore, Liddell."

"Even if it only suppresses the bloodlust a day earlier, that is the reason I hope for, am willing to compromise for, and am willing to pay the price for."

Rimuru pressed a finger to Liddell's lips, hesitated for a moment, and then leaned in to give her a light, dragonfly-touch kiss across his finger.

He was unwilling to reveal his true feelings, but that didn't mean he didn't understand the hearts of Liddell and Aoko Aozaki's acquaintance.

It was just that he felt like duckweed, unable to give them a guarantee or a peaceful life. Perhaps others would call this pretentious, but Rimuru felt that if the other party didn't give their heart, he could be unburdened. In his past life, he had traveled through many fields of flowers and was jokingly called a scumbag, but... if a girl gave her heart and soul to him, and he knew the final outcome but still hurt her, Rimuru felt... that wouldn't be a scumbag; that would be human trash.

He also loved these little wings of his, although Rimuru wasn't sure if what he felt for Liddell and Aoko Aozaki's acquaintance was love, friendship, or family, but precisely because he cherished them, he didn't want to hurt them.

"Ri... Rimuru..."

Liddell felt her heartbeat accelerate suddenly, thumping uncontrollably. She watched Rimuru getting closer and closer, and she even started to break out in a nervous sweat.

However, at this moment, a small hand suddenly appeared and slapped onto Liddell's face—then, a small head appeared in front of the two of them, and smack, Rimuru's light kiss was instantly planted on Eler's little cheek!

Liddell: "???"

"Yay!" Eler first turned her head excitedly and smacked another kiss on the bewildered Rimuru and Liddell, then excitedly raised her hands and landed on the floor with a patter, running to the desk in the distance. She poked her little head out, blinked, and said: "It appeared! The scene Sister Aoko talked about! Hmm, what was I supposed to say at this moment..."

"Oh, right!"

"What a total scumbag!!"

"...Aozaki! Aoko!!" Rimuru was slightly stunned, his face instantly turning dark. Without a word, he picked up Eler, watching her kick her four legs, and said viciously: "Stay away from her in the future!!"

It wasn't enough that she corrupted my apprentice and blew up the hunting grounds... what other messy nonsense did she teach her?!!!

One day ago—Night, deep.

Merem Solomon.

The fifth member of the Burial Agency and the twentieth of the Dead Apostle Ancestors, he is a "Divine Child" who usually operates in the guise of a priest, but whenever he faces exorcists or matters related to the occult, he assumes his true form—that of a twelve-year-old boy.

Time and information often cross paths; when Merem Solomon stepped onto the land of Cornwall, it was the very first night after Rimuru had finished his actions and completed the conversion of the Duke of Cornwall. The incident had yet to ferment, and Merem Solomon had received no other orders, so even though he felt a certain disgust for the dense swarms of Dead Apostles on this land, he did not take the initiative to strike, choosing instead to prioritize tracking down the "scabbard" that piqued his interest.

It must be said here that although Merem Solomon is mockingly called the executor of justice among the Dead Apostle Ancestors by the Princess of the Black, that is merely because he joined the Burial Agency and has never gotten along with the Princess of the Black's lineage.

In essence, Merem Solomon has not the slightest connection to justice; one could even call him evil. His only obsession was his longing and infatuation for Crimson Moon, the one who had transformed him into a Dead Apostle and saved him. However, after the passing of Crimson Moon, while he firmly supported Arcueid, who inherited Crimson Moon's power, he lost his obsession once again due to the Millennium Princess's slumber, beginning to live in seclusion and pursuing a path of collecting antiques and various treasures.

To this end, he even went so far as to join the Burial Agency and hunt his own kind, all for the sake of the legendary secret treasures held by the Burial Agency.

Due to a hint from the Princess of the Black, Rimuru quickly discovered the other's trail. When the two petite figures met in the night, and Merem Solomon's azure eyes reflected those golden ones, the two remained in a tacit silence for a long time, neither making a move.

"He doesn't smell like a Dead Apostle; on the contrary, he has a feeling similar to you." Merem Solomon stared at the other, and as his lips moved slightly, his left hand actually spoke in response: "Indeed, it is the scent of a Phantasmal Species. It seems the other party is the same type as the White Beast."

"That is certainly not good news." Merem Solomon thought to himself: "He also carries the aura of the White Beast; it seems the Princess of the Black is nearby as well."

However, when he spoke these words, no voice responded. Instead, at some unknown moment, his left arm had detached, and a pure white, extremely beautiful red-eyed rat crawled onto his shoulder: "If we are to fight, there is no need to fear. If we all manifest, it is not as if we lack the strength for a battle."

"Four against four?" Merem Solomon was silent for a moment, then shook his head slightly and averted his gaze—the Four Great Beasts could indeed fight the regular Dead Apostle Ancestors one-on-one, but that did not include the Princess of the Black, nor that... White Knight.

For some reason, he had a premonition that the masked youth staring at him was dangerous, extremely dangerous. This danger was not about how strong he was, but rather... a feeling that he could make his companions... disappear from his side forever. He did not want to risk that intuition.

And at the same time—

"Merem Solomon..." Rimuru stared at this enemy, constantly flipping through his data in his mind: "He is talking to someone."

"Ah, this must be the other party's most basic ability, the Four Limbs: Four Great Beasts."

"Merem Solomon is a Divine Child whose limbs were severed. After being saved by Crimson Moon, he can use his imagination to create the non-existent Four Great Beasts to act as his limbs—"

"The Four Great Beasts?" Rimuru closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then suddenly looked at the rat on the other's shoulder, a faint smile appearing in his eyes: "That must be the Rat King, right? It's actually quite cute."

"The Rat King can transform into a human, its combat power is negligible, but it can obtain information and survey terrain through friends in every corner."

"But you have me."

"I know..." Rimuru chuckled: "The King of the Continent is a crushing-type combatant, like a monster; the King of the Sky is a single-use bomber, disappearing after one use, similar to a large-scale spell; and the Clever Girl is simply a giant weapon, a combat fortress. None of them seem useful against me—the main thing is, the other party is extremely adept at large-scale destruction, and this city cannot be destroyed before it has even made its debut."