As a result of another anti-demon conference being held, the representatives of various countries again met in Rhodan.
Moreover, they were impatiently asked to come immediately.
Everyone understands the seriousness of the situation.
They hurried up and gathered.
"Even though you must be busy, thank you for gathering here."
First, the king of Briton, King Richard Ⅱ gave a greeting.
"So, exactly what is it?"
The king of Scottyard, King George Ⅲ asked affected.
The surrounding countries just curiously watched the 2 of them.
"I think you already know, but……"
Richard gave an explanation about the previously confirmed destruction of Hamilton Fortress.
"That's something we're interested in too. Exactly what was this?"
From the eastern countries, the king of the Oldcastle Kingdom questioned. (TLN:オールドキャッスル)
The Oldcastle Kingdom had become a va.s.sal nation of the Scottyard Kingdom.
"Well, calm down. Serena-dono will give you an explanation."
"In the first place, this meeting was called by Serena-sama. Where is the person herself."
"Serena-dono doesn't like going out in front of people. She said she'd come here once everyone is gathered. We've reported to her, so she should come soon."
"You're treating her as if she was an executive."
George Ⅲ spoke some abusive language.
Not long after, Serena appeared in the a.s.sembly hall.
Just from her appearance, everyone got noisy.
The hero of the sixth demonic calamity.
The savior of humanity.
One of the partic.i.p.ants of the conference, an old king over 70 from one of the eastern countries deeply lowered his head.
You can tell just how adored she is by people of that generation.
Serena saw that, and brought down the corner of her eye.
Immediately after that, she returned to a serious face and began to explain.
"I've kept you waiting. I believe that you already know of the matter of Hamilton Fortress. However, there's no need to worry. They are willing to negotiate."
"Even if you tell us not to worry, that's not something we can do."
The Oldcastle King voiced his negative opinion.
"They are a much more long lived race than us. However, they have never done any harm to people until now."
"So there's no mistaking that they were hostile to us this time. No, it's suspicious that they haven't harmed us yet. They might have at least done a.s.sa.s.sination in the past."
George Ⅲ showed his agreement with his va.s.sal nation's king.
It was obvious to everyone's eyes that they arranged this.
"That's something we have no way of investigating."
"But this time it's different. We should unite and deal with the people who have done this."
"Hou……"
Richard Ⅱ narrows his eyebrows.
"We should unite, you say?"
"This is a crisis for humanity. If we don't do something, then we may be attacked by these mysterious people and destroyed. This anti-demon conference is a conference to unite in face of crises for humanity, is it not?"
Richard Ⅱ applauded.
"No no, you're exactly right."
He spoke in a tone as if he wasn't putting his heart into it at all.
"If so——"
"However, it seems that you don't remember the last meeting. In the old pact, the Magna Carta, it is written that we should unite when the Maou appears.
"That's,"
"Is the opponent this time a Maou?"
"You've already said that we don't know their ident.i.ties!"
George Ⅲ, who was poked in a painful place, raised his voice.
"In that case, we don't meet the conditions of the Magna Carta."
"This is a disaster that can't even be compared with the Maou you know!?"
"That's true. After all, it's the user of a magic that can extinguish a Maou in a single attack."
Richard Ⅱ looked over everyone.
"But unlike with the Maou and the demons, it's dubious to say whether or not they have clear hostility towards humanity."
"They blew away humanity's strongest fortress. That fortress was supposed to play a central role in the demonic calamity."
"That was only made for Scottyard right? If you really meant to use it as a countermeasure for the demons, you should have built it in the south of the continent."
If the demon army comes all the way to Hamilton Fortress, then it means that they destroyed all the countries up until that point.
Even if you're told that the strongest fortress is in such a place, then the southern countries can only smile bitterly.
"Well, there's no point in speaking of fortresses that don't exist anymore."
n.o.body cares about the fortress.
Like that, he changed the subject.
"Let's move onto a more concrete discussion."
Richard Ⅱ looked to Serena.
"They have said that they're ready to comprise. However, I have thought of something that we need to do that."
"That is?"
"I propose one thing. It is to add one clause to the Magna Carta."
"A revision of the Magna Carta?"
George Ⅲ was surprised, and stood up.
The partic.i.p.ants all made an uproar.
"Certainly, the Magna Carta can be revised, but there are no instances of that ever happening."
"However, the Magna Carta only covers things about the Maou and demons."
That opinion came out.
Serena carefully answered them, and made them consent.
"Why do we need to revise the Magna Carta?"
"Just as the Maou will appear from now on, this might be a pending problem for humanity far into the future."
Serena turned to Richard Ⅱ, and answered.
"If we just agree now, then we will forget this in the future and something similar will happen again. This is to avoid that."
"I see……"
Richard Ⅱ nodded.
"Exactly what kind of clause?"
"It will recognize that there are unidentified races living in this world, hiding among humans, and prevent people from overly investigating them."
It is an extremely ambiguous clause.
However, there are many laws like that as well.
Therefore, sometimes there are disputes of their meanings.
"We'll leave what to do with the writing to an official who specializes in that sort of thing."
"Will these people stay quiet if we follow that condition?"
"It's been like that since the beginning. Since ancient times, they've occasionally lived in the human world."
When Serena finished talking, she 'fuu', released her breath.
It had been a while since she had spoke in a place like this.
She was pretty nervous.
In general, the reactions of each country was favorable.
From the start they were outsiders, so they were content as long as their safety was guaranteed.
In the end, it was up to this man to decide the trend of the meeting.
Feeling everyone's gazes, George Ⅲ spoke.
"Wait a moment."
Everyone was surprised to hear negative speech and conduct come from George Ⅲ.
"I think the compromise is good. However, humanity has sustained damage. We just slightly investigated them, so they blew away a fortress. Hundreds of people have died from this. Are you going to just ignore this?"
For Scottyard, they can't just say they understand and leave this like it is.
Their prestige as the world's leading power hangs on this.
"The one who sustained damage is humanity. Before we compromise, we need to settle this with money."
Oldcastle's king followed after him.
The representatives from other countries just wrinkle their eyebrows, or close their eyes and think.
They had nothing to object to.
They didn't even have a fragment of will to oppose the evil G.o.ds.
However, most of the countries didn't have the courage to oppose Scottyard.
George Ⅲ snickered in his heart.
He didn't think that they'd come at him with that card first.
They don't know of diplomacy.
Currently, Scottyard is in a predicament.
There's no doubt about that.
Since they proposed to negotiate, he thought he'd be faced with some difficult problems.
From George Ⅲ's senses, an unconditional compromise is impossible.
For them, being known is something fatal.
That side has a weak point, and is also in a troubling situation.
It's the same as saying that.
Of course, in the end they'll end up accepting the compromise.
However that will be after shaking them, and gaining useable information from them.
George Ⅲ thought so.
At that time, a voice filled with wrath came from one man.
"Can you hurry up with this?"