Traveler from Type-Moon, Demon Lord Rimuru!

"Pleasure doing business with you."

The conversation between the two was unusually relaxed and brief. Just as Fim turned toward the door to leave after a few moments of casual chatter, Rimuru suddenly thought of something and spoke up: "Come to think of it, Fim, I have a big opportunity here. Are you interested in playing along?"

"A... big one?"

If Rimuru's few hundred million pounds could at most only allow him to scrape a profit during the collapse of the Soviet Union by looting the assets that had become worthless, then...

If he had the backing of a world-class tycoon like Fim, Rimuru believed they could directly manipulate the Soviet economy and swallow the meat in one bite.

After all, as a demon king of the financial world, Fim's most terrifying asset wasn't just the tens of billions of wealth in his hands; it was his connections and his status as a literal weather vane for the market.

He could not only persuade other international hot money to engage in financial operations, but he could also lead the trend, causing countless capital sharks to follow in his wake—in other words, as long as Fim wanted to short the Ruble, even those who didn't believe the Soviet Union would collapse would, out of doubt, participate to some degree.

This was the terrifying influence he wielded in the secular world!

Since the other party had now taken the initiative to show goodwill, Rimuru didn't mind tossing out something substantial to deepen the "friendship" between them.

After all, he couldn't eat this cake alone anyway; it was better to join forces with others and eat even more!

Moreover, with Fim's participation, even if the Soviet Union didn't collapse in this world—once the market was opened to freedom, the influx of hundreds of billions in funds frantically shorting the Ruble would cause this country to...

Completely crumble.

Rimuru essentially still held a great deal of affection for this iron empire, but... that was all it was: affection.

Just as Rimuru and Fim were "hitting it off" and engaging in a cordial and friendly "exchange," in London, UK, at the Clock Tower.

"Teacher! Teacher! Teacher!" Eler's silver ahoge swayed excitedly as she ran toward Rimuru's lounge with her arms wide open, her footsteps pattering against the floor.

At this moment, Rimuru was suffering from a headache, dealing with the Dead Apostle resolution on one side while trying to spare some focus to research the magical theories of the Department of Spiritual Evocation—

Just as he was mentally exhausted, the office door was quietly pushed open. A small, fluffy silver head poked in, and the moment she saw Rimuru, she kicked off her little feet and launched a headbutt straight at him!

"Teacher!"

Seeing Eler, Rimuru's mood suddenly relaxed. As he habitually smiled, a silver ball of fluff landed with a thud in his arms.

"Why did you come by yourself..." It was only then that he suddenly remembered he was supposed to go to the Department of General Fundamentals to pick Eler up after class today. Since Liddell was attending the Grand Resolution, there shouldn't have been anyone to look after Eler.

"Ah, sorry, Eler." Rimuru felt a bit of a headache and gently stroked Eler's head. Although Eler treated the Clock Tower like her own backyard and, as a great demon king, she wouldn't run into any trouble, he had indeed forgotten.

"Mm-hmm~" However, Eler shook her head, her large eyes scanning the lounge filled with books, and she suddenly asked: "Eler didn't disturb Teacher, did she?"

"Not at all." Hearing this, Rimuru couldn't help but smile and shake his head, looking out the window.

The Grand Resolution hadn't caused any impact on the Clock Tower; even though it was held in London, it was quiet and unobtrusive, with only a dozen or so professors missing.

But in the end, the term "Grand" still added a little pressure to Rimuru.

Fortunately, things were going quite smoothly on the Dead Apostle side. Next, he just had to wait patiently for the results here.

Hmm... and the research related to the Possession Ritual needed to speed up as well...

Avalon was a necessary safeguard.

"If it really doesn't work, we can consider the Possession Ritual."

"But the Possession Ritual requires a medium. In this era, where am I supposed to find a medium for you..." Rimuru put Eler back on the ground. Wuyin was in the hands of the White Knight Rimuru, which made Eler experience for the first time the pain of having her toy taken away.

"Speaking of Gray..."

"Gray should be about the same age as Matou Sakura."

"Great, she hasn't even been born yet... then forget it." Rimuru sighed. A so-called medium was a vessel whose body could perfectly withstand and contain a possession, such as Reines and Sima Yi, or Waver and Zhuge Liang.

But to find a vessel for King Arthur—although there were many Arthur-faces in the Type-Moon world, it was truly difficult for Rimuru to find one in this era on such short notice.

"The magic model I built has no problems, and the mana control is fine too."

"I know, so the problem must lie in the mana source and the stability of the magic circuit construction and operation." Rimuru pondered for a moment and guessed: "My mana is still not enough, and trying to knock on the door of Alaya with the power of a Phantasmal Species... is indeed thinking a bit too simply."

"We need a Leyline."

"The magic itself also needs optimization; researching it on my own is still too slow."

Rimuru looked at the books, one of which was written by Kayneth, and fell into deep thought.

Perhaps... he should go find that lemon-headed director?

"Then prioritize solving the magic problem. As for the Leyline... or we could directly look for the False Holy Grail War to participate in."

"Both of my identities are currently tied up. The priority is definitely to raise my own status, rather than running around the world looking for those garbage rituals."

Most of the rituals for the False Holy Grail War were started by half-baked mages without the support of a Leyline. Not to mention the extremely low success rate, even if he found a Leyline and succeeded, the chance of summoning King Arthur, the Saber, was extremely low.

Of course, the most important thing was... even a False Holy Grail War couldn't be found just anywhere, and Rimuru couldn't wait that long.

"I might as well just seize a Leyline and perform the Possession Ritual myself."

"You can't just seize the Aozaki Family's Leyline, can you?"

"Why would I want to take Aoko's? Doesn't Fuyuki City have four of them?"

Thinking of this, Rimuru suddenly felt righteous: "What's wrong with borrowing one?"

The night was deep. After finally finishing some paperwork and returning to the hotel-like dormitory in Liddell Academic City, Rimuru realized that Liddell had not yet returned.

The Grand Resolution, huh.

Rimuru gently carried the sleeping Eler back to her room, then returned to his own to wash up and brush his teeth. At the same time, he looked up into the mirror. His primary consciousness began to drift, crossing ten thousand miles in an instant. When he opened his eyes again, he was met with the sight of Berlin, bathed in the dim glow of scattered lights.

At this moment, the White Knight Rimuru had already finished his conversation with the others. The arrival of late night should have been a time for the Dead Apostles to revel, but for him, it simply meant it was time to rest.

Turning his head, Rimuru pulled his gaze away from his reflection in the glass. He had sensed Altrouge's arrival.

Altrouge did not have the habit of knocking, because she knew of Rimuru's terrifying sensory perception. Therefore, by the time she entered, Rimuru would inevitably be prepared to welcome her.

"Your Highness." Rimuru pulled the door open to see Altrouge standing faintly outside, and she walked in slowly.

"The White Winged Duke has sought me out." Altrouge turned her blood-red eyes slightly, staring at Rimuru as she said softly, "Regarding the terms of the contract."

"Oh?" Rimuru was slightly taken aback, then laughed, "Then I shall leave it to the great King of Contracts."

"..."

"Sometimes I truly wonder, aren't you planning to use me to keep the Dead Apostles in check? Why would you agree to such terms? Are you a fool?"

"We had an agreement, Your Highness." Rimuru chuckled, "After I depart, you will take my place in protecting humanity."

"Are you so certain I will fulfill it? The contract hasn't even been established yet, has it?" Altrouge raised an eyebrow, dissatisfied, "And besides, who gave you the right to make decisions on your own!"

Rimuru watched her throw a tantrum with amusement, letting her expressions of dissatisfaction echo through the room without saying a word.

Well... he couldn't exactly tell Altrouge that the main reason he trusted her was because he was confident he could pin her to the ground and beat her before he left, could he?

However, since she had misunderstood... let her misunderstand... well, sometimes beautiful misunderstandings aren't so bad.

Finally, Altrouge noticed that Rimuru was standing there like a wooden post, lost in his own thoughts. Her small face fell, and she let out a sigh of resignation: "Forget it, you never discuss anything with me anyway..."

"Hey, hold out your hand."

"Hm?"

"Hold out your hand, you jerk!"

Rimuru blinked in confusion and helplessly extended his hand, only to see Altrouge flash her little fangs—as if she could already feel the sharp pain in his hand.

However, the next moment, he heard Altrouge's solemn whisper.

"I, the Ruler of Blood and Contracts, Altrouge, hereby establish a contract in the name of the blood pact."

"...Your Highness?"

"I am willing to swear here that when you leave... I will inherit your will and protect the primates until eternity."

Accompanied by a sharp pain on the back of his palm, Rimuru felt something ethereal appear within his chaotic soul; it was the witness of the contract.

"A unilateral... contract?"

Rimuru looked at Altrouge in astonishment, as this contract did not require him to do anything at all.

"You are willing to believe in me, so I can believe in you too." Altrouge turned her head away awkwardly and said coldly, "Rimuru, you were wrong about one thing at the meeting today."

"...Hm? Was I?"

"I have indeed been looking for a magus like the White Winged Duke, but that is not the reason I support you so much." As Altrouge spoke, she gave Rimuru a complicated look, then turned around and said coldly, "And even if the White Winged Duke had not betrayed us, he still could not replace you."

"..."

Hearing this, Rimuru watched her leave the room in silence and slam the door shut... then suddenly, he revealed a wry smile.

This... isn't my fault, right?

"...Scumbag."

Chapter 059: Let's Start the War! Humanity!!

Liddell didn't return until the next morning. Even while dragging her exhausted body, she sought out Rimuru immediately.

"You look exhausted."

"You'd be exhausted too if you had to participate in that bullshit resolution full of backstabbing." Liddell lay directly on the sofa, not caring at all that her short skirt was revealing her legs, and said, "The Church's participation made this resolution less of a collaborative effort among magi and more of a large-scale, passive-aggressive spectacle."

"You didn't see it—good grief, they were almost at each other's throats."

"So, what was the result?"

Hearing Rimuru's question, Liddell finally sat up, her expression becoming more serious: "Although the news of Zelretch appearing at the Dead Apostle resolution caused a subtle shift in the Clock Tower's attitude, overall, Cornwall belongs to the UK, and the fact that it has been occupied by Dead Apostles is something the Clock Tower cannot tolerate, Rimuru."

"You need to be prepared."

"In other words, they've decided to launch a joint attack, right?"

"Yes, the main point of contention between the two sides is the Church. Although the Church keeps claiming it's to purge heresy, it's clear they still want to force the Clock Tower to cough up quite a few things." Speaking of this, Liddell paused slightly and suddenly said, "And regarding the matter of the White Knight, Rimuru."

"The Church is advocating for total extermination, but the Clock Tower's side—specifically Lord Inorai's attitude—is very ambiguous. Because the intelligence states that the White Knight only became a Dead Apostle while fighting against Altrouge, Lord Inorai believes that you should not be directly pushed into the camp of the Dead Apostles."

"Speaking of which, the people from Alastor Academy actually had a surprisingly consistent attitude, which is a bit strange."

No kidding... the hidden Director of Alastor Academy is one of the Dead Apostle Ancestors... Rimuru shook his head with a wry smile: "I'm not concerned about how they want to treat the White Knight. What about me? Does anyone suspect me?"

"The Mistics family mentioned it, but it was suppressed by Inorai and Barthomeloi working together. After all, it concerns the dignity of the Clock Tower. But just in case, you had better resolve your Blood-Sucking Impulse as soon as possible. The Church has technology to detect it, and they might use it on you one day." At this point, Liddell said worriedly, "I heard you obtained the scabbard?"

"Yes... I obtained it, but how to summon King Arthur into the modern era is a difficult problem."

Mistics... they are a branch of the Astrea faction, right? Good grief, was it not enough to confront me at the Grand Resolution last time? Now they dare to provoke me directly?

However, did the people from The Church really not mention it? Is it because they fear my influence, or... do they truly have no suspicions? They couldn't possibly be that stupid, could they?

"The time for the attack?"

"It hasn't been settled yet, but given The Church's infiltration in the UK, I imagine it won't take long to assemble the troops. Three days at the latest," Liddell said softly. "You're going to the battlefield, Rimuru."

"Are you going to fight yourself, staging a play of your own making?"

"That would be so boring." Rimuru shook his head and chuckled. "If I want to become stronger, I must go and challenge those interesting people."

Compared to the tediousness of the Grand Resolution, things were much simpler on the side of the Dead Apostles. When dawn shone upon Germany once again and the various Ancestors gathered in Berlin, it took less than half an hour for the black flags across the entire nation to slowly vanish, and the aura of the Dead Apostles disappeared without a trace.

As the mages of Germany walked the streets again, looking up at the clear sky, the gloom in their hearts did not diminish in the slightest.

Because they knew—

"War is coming."

Rimuru gazed at distant Berlin with clear eyes, then turned to catch up with the pace of Altrouge and the others—

They were returning to Cornwall.

Time turned, 48 hours later, moonlit night, Cornwall.

Faint moonlight, accompanied by a blood moon, stained the entire starry sky a deep, eerie crimson. The scent of blood slowly permeated the air, and beneath the swaying shadows of the city, roars and wails could be heard from time to time.

These were Ghouls killing each other.

Nearly a week had passed since Cornwall was transformed into a city of Dead Apostles by Rimuru. During this week, the newly born Dead Apostles, including countless living corpses and Ghouls created from failed transformations, had almost completely hunted down all the humans in the Cornwall region, falling into a total frenzy for blood.

Not providing them with blood-food was, of course, intended to turn ordinary beasts into hungry wolves, giving this group of cannon fodder a built-in frenzy buff.

Of course, not all Dead Apostles would obediently listen, enduring their own cravings while also spending energy to suppress their blood-servants—but as it stands, Cornwall is currently surrounded, packed tight by mages and Executors in the surrounding areas.