King of succubus

"..."

"I'm asking you a question, so answer unambiguously. Are you ready to assume the consequences of these blasphemous remarks!?" Malkel persists once again while snorting funnily.

"Sigh. Poor Malkel, are you a ready-made idiot or do you pretend to be?"

"What just did you say!?"

"Don't make yourself more naive than you already are." The priestess retorts darkly with fierce and impertinent eyes.

"Well, calm down, both of you; this is not the time to indulge in your childish crises." Jabbal then intervenes between both.

His intervention alone softens the wild atmosphere between the two.

Seeing the two calm down, Jabbal looks at Nelpheim and signs him to continue.

The latter is content with a sigh before continuing.

"Monarch Malkel, I don't ask to completely erase our sovereign's memories but to seal them until she regains her former memories. Thus, she will be able to decide whether or not to unseal them; does that suit you?" She emphasized her question while staring at Malkel.

"...Tsk, do as you see fit. But don't come to me with your shits when our queen woke up and decide to puck off you all!"

Despite Malkel's arrogant response, Nelpheim did not change her expression, she still had her sneaky smile on her lips as she nodded.

But the next moment, her smile vanished without a trace as her face became severe. "Well, it's time for the council to resume."

She then got up from her chair and stood in the middle of the circle that no longer had a table.

"Forgetting the unexpected betrayal of this Crystaluse queen and her minions, everything went according to our initial plan. Our queen’s back, and our enemy’s within our reach, believing that he has a glimpse of our power. In addition, we--

"Why did you hire the mercenaries?" The drowsy man interrupts her while slightly opening his right eye.

Nelpheim nods her head. "It's to make them error."

"Sensively answer my question, Nelpheim." He says in a static tone.

"Hehe, you're right, Sir Leonidas. The goal is to make them believe that the war has already begun. But what I'm really looking for is to save enough time for our queen to regain all her powers."

"...I see. But wouldn't it be wise to leave them peace until for the queen's recovery?"

"No, we must not give them a second of respite. The mercenaries will disturb them until we reach our goal.

-In reality, I expected them to show us some of their arsenals and assets, but the two servants of the Crystalus ruined this goal."

"...Does this mean that you go out empty-handed on this trip?" The priestess asks in a suspicious tone.

Nelpheim shakes her head. "No, far from it! In addition to forcing one of the enemies to show her true face, we also have control over the organization of the order that this Crystaluse leads."

"...What do you mean?" This time, it was Jabbal who asked.

Nelpheim responds naturally. "Three of this woman's five subordinates are now in our camp."

"Three? Do you mean that...-

"Yeah, while chaos reigned on their planet, I was able to break into their cells and free Adinas, also known under the pseudonym Index. The subordinates of Thumb, Annular, and Index will be of great help to us.

-Finally, to prevent a similar situation from up, I asked one of my two generals to monitor these three closely.

-At the slightest suspicion on their part, I had ordered him to activate the spells of spiritual obstruction that I had placed on them; so you do not need to worry about them, I do it my business." She said to close this paragraph.

But Malkel does not give her this opportunity. "I remember that you said the same thing about the three Crystaluses. But given the result, I don't know if I should take your words too seriously or if I should-

"Malkel, stop pissing me off!" Nelpheim interrupts him while giving him a severe look.

"Heh! I'm just listing the facts. You may not know it, but I think these three are the most problematic. We don't know what really happened during this invasion of mercenary ships.

-We saw these two maids, but then, all the means of communication were suddenly interrupted by strange phenomena. This means that they were hiding things from us about their powers." Malkel did not hesitate to share his point of view despite Nelpheim's frustration with him.

"The monarch Malkel is right, these three are mysterious. And I hate mystery, especially when it is to my disadvantage." Jabbal also agreed with Malkel.

"...Perhaps in addition to negatively influencing the magical energy of their targets, they can also influence warships?" Erza mutters her thoughts out loud while supporting her chin with her left palm.

"..."

Feeling the silence and everyone's eyes riveted at her, she frowns. "What? Is it too unrealistic?"

"...Not quite, but still, it would be a disaster if it happened. Warships are one of our assets for this war, if we have to do without them, then it would be…

"This is not the time to affirm these suppositions, Nelpheim." Jabbal intervened in the conversation.

"We need more information before we conclude anything." Malkel supported Jabbal's words.

"In this case, I would increase the premium. Instead of twenty Tier One planets, I would also add ten supreme ships."

-!!

"Hey, little Nelpheim, do you think it's so easy to make such a decision in your own right mind?" Leonidas finally opens his two eyes in astonishment after hearing Nelpheim's decision, which he considers the most senseless.

"Mr. Lazy’s right." Erza also nods her head. "Five high-ranking ships are too many; we only own hundreds in total and these are our ultimate assets." The priestess also seemed to be unable to keep her cool after hearing Nelpheim's statement.

"...Who cares?" Despite the complaints of her colleagues, Nelpheim was still more imperturbable than usual.

"Yes, anyway, this market will never succeed." Jabbal nods with a little sneaky smile which looks like Nelpheim's.

"They will never be able to defeat someone like him, let alone capture him alive." He then continues to allow others to understand Nelpheim's shifty intentions.

"So, if I understood correctly, you just want to bait them enough to disturb our enemies?" Erza frowns, still uncertain of Nelpheim's proposal.

"Um, and even if they manage to create a miracle that will defy the universal laws governing over us, I don't think it's expensive to sacrifice five ships for this man's life. This war could cost us more than a hundred ships in the coming years. Seen from this angle, what do we have to lose?"

After hearing her explanations, Erza sighs. "Well, it looks like you had already taken the time to resolve this situation in advance." No one needed to ask for more, her words were more than enough as proof of her dereliction.

In addition, Leonidas just closes his eyes, a fairly sufficient proof that he no longer intended to dwell on the issue.

"In short, we will no longer need to worry about this level. However, there is still a problem that must be taken seriously." Ironically, Malkel, who did not want Nelpheim to change the subject, was the person who changed the subject.

"Do you want to talk about the other allies?" Nelpheim asks with a curious peek.

"Yes, more precisely the case of the old man, Alfred."

"Huh? How is Alfred a problem? I think that among our allies, he is one of the few to have personal grudges with this bastard of Kayre; how can he pose a problem?" Nelpheim asks for a confused air.

"I don't know, but he doesn't inspire me confidence; it's my intuition that tells me." Malkel shakes his head as if he wants to abandon his unfounded accusations against Alfred.

But at that moment, Leonidas reopened his eyes. "Kid Malkel's right, this old man is more devious than you can imagine. No matter how much I think, I find nothing concrete in his actions."

"He is obedient and follows our orders without discussing them. He even refrained from wanting to face our enemy at the meeting; how is he suspicious?" Nelpheim was still not ready to let go of this case.

"Precisely, that's what's my problem. You know that his brute force even exceeds that of Jabbal, and his magical power is phenomenal. Even if he's weaker than me, he's stronger than you all in one vs. one.

-Not to mention the number of concepts he masters. If I were in his place, I would try to annex you to my camp by will or force.

-But he cooperates and listens to those whose military strength and individual strength was not superior to his own; why?" Since the beginning of the meeting, this is the first time that Leonidas has spoken for so long.

Of course, others will not be able to ignore his words, in addition to being lazy, he is also the oldest among monarchs, like Fy in Alvine's army.

But despite everything, Nelpheim and the others did not seem to be convinced by his warnings.

"You are right, if we have succeeded in annexing more than double his army at the moment, it is partly thanks to him. But someone who has been cooperating with us for thousands of years cannot be a traitor." Nelpheim says.

"I agree with Nelpheim. Moreover, this old man may be sneaky, but he is our first ally. Without his help, we would not be where we are now." Erza was like a stream going in the same direction as Nelpheim.

The silence of Jabbal and Malkel, who had addressed this subject, showed that they also agreed with the priestess and Nelpheim's arguments.

"Sigh, you are naive." These were his last words before he closed his eyes and continued his little snoring.

---

After dealing with all other current affairs and agreeing on their future maneuvers, they reached a collective agreement.

"The current priority is the awakening of our queen, as for the remains we will discuss them after the return of our sovereign among us." With these last words stoically spoken by Jabbal, the others got up from their respective chairs and left the assembly.

Leonidas had stayed behind just because he was still sleeping.

But no one dared to disturb him: it is better to leave the tiger asleep and pass his way safely. This adage perfectly defined the state of Leonidas among the others.

--