(Rimuru POV)
After our baths and meals, I had Soei set the meeting room up once more. It was time to lay out our Anti-Clayman strategy.
But first…
"So…? Whaddya think?!" Ramiris buzzed happily around my face. I could feel Risa's gaze burning into me from the side, her puppy dog face on full blast.
I rubbed my forehead. I could practically feel how bad of an idea this was, but I couldn't exactly say 'no' with the way Risa was looking at me, so I summed up what Ramiris had just told me aloud. "So, basically, you want to move to Tempest and build a Labyrinth here. Risa and the dryads all want that, too. That about the gist of it?"
"Yep! Treyni's all for it! Did you know that they basically treat me like their queen? How could you keep me from the subjects who so obviously completely adore me, Rimuru? You meanie!" And Ramiris was fake crying now. Great.
"One final question. Why are you here in the first place?" I knew that it wasn't for this outrageous request.
Ramiris stared at me blankly.
Had she really forgotten?!
"Didn't you race in here, shouting about how Tempest would fall to ruin or something!? How could you forget that!?" I couldn't help but chide.
"Lady Ramiris. The-" Beretta whispered to her, but the lightbulb lit up above Ramiris's head and she shushed him.
"Shush, Beretta, I remember! Wait, no, I never forgot at all! I never forget anything, because I am the Great Demon Lord, Ramiris of the Labyrinth! Hahahahaha!"
I motioned for her to keep going. She obliged. "I'll say it once more! Tempest shall fall to ruin!"
"Yeah, yeah. Why?"
"Well…" She looked around. The only ones in the room right now were Tempestian, save for the Three Lycanthropeers. Gazel, Fuze, and Erald had agreed that our war with Clayman was an internal matter, and the three from New Farminus had been escorted home even before the baths, they were so tired. "I suppose this is fine. Listen up, everyone. Clayman's just proposed that we launch a Walpurgis Council!"
"A what?"
"A Walpurgis Council! It's a special meeting between all of the demon lords." She explained.
"Wait, what? So he's gathering all of the demon lords?!" Since she'd said 'launch,' I wondered if she was talking about some sort of huge magic spell or something. I'd have freaked out.
But a gathering of demon lords? From what little I knew about them, wouldn't that be something pretty damn hard to pull off? Why would Clayman even bother? I doubted that many of them cared half as much about me as he did.
Pressing Ramiris for more details, I found myself worrying a bit. First off, calling a Walpurgis required the consent of at least three demon lords. In this case, Milim and Frey, interestingly enough. According to Mnemosyne archives, Milim liked Frey quite a bit, and in terms of power, she was technically just a Demon Lord Seed on par with Clayman and Carillon.
The pieces began to come together in my head, but I wasn't quite sure what the finished puzzle would look like yet.
If Frey agreed to become the third vote as some sort of favor to Milim and Clayman, then the real question was 'why?'
Why would Clayman decide to summon all of the demon lords to one place? Why would Milim play along?
And then the whole 'Carillon's death' thing. I was certain that Milim had faked it, but why was she playing along at all?
Demon lords believed in power. If you couldn't protect yourself, even from other demon lords, then you didn't deserve their attention at all. That was the rule. As such, with Carillon 'dead,' nobody should've cared what happened to him.
Except for Clayman. From what we'd learned from Mjurran, Isis had a pretty good psychological profile on the guy. He was sociopathic, conceited, and obsessive. He believed that everyone wanted the same thing he did, so he did everything he could to cover as many bases as possible. Milim, despite her tendency to punch first and think later, was more than smart enough to understand that.
And how did Frey fit into this scenario? And the forest of Jura?
'Understood. Compiling data to predict possibilities. Wait one moment.' Isis sounded up in my head. With Thought Acceleration, that moment passed like lightning.
'Complete. Based on gathered data, it is almost certain that Clayman has been tricked into convening Walpurgis. Possibly by Milim and Frey, but he would not have done it without a reason of his own.'
Yeah, that kinda made sense. But still…
'It is likely that Clayman is going to attack the refugees scattered across Eurazania during the Walpurgis Council, in order to awaken into a True Demon Lord using the beast people's souls. Then, he will likely attempt to kill or dominate you and Demon Lord Frey, uniting the domains of you, Frey, and Carillon under his rule in one fell swoop. Meanwhile, Milim and Frey's goals likely include having Clayman killed during the Council, though they have likely overlooked the Eurazania refugees.'
Great. "So what's Clayman's reasoning for convening Walpurgis then, Ramiris?" I asked.
"Basically, Clayman's reasoning is that he wants to punish you and Carillon. Something about Carillon betraying, and some lady named Mjurran being killed?" Ramiris explained.
"Really? Hey, Mjurran, Since when are you dead?" Risa asked.
"Umm…" Mjurran's face went bright red, while the Lycanthropeers flipped out about Carillon being called a betrayer. They seemed ready to just bolt right out the doorway and hunt the bastard down themselves, but we stopped them.
"Alright, then. About what we figured." I told Ramiris with a smile.
"Heey, Ramiris? Is there some way that we could… say… join you at Walpurgis?" Risa asked.