Published at 11th of June 2019 9:15 am

Chapter 267: Side chapter - Rimuru’s Elegant Escape Play - 18

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It seemed that they had understood my explanation up until this point.

To be honest, it wouldn’t be surprising for the remnants of the empire to have those kinds of skills.

Though, it was really something so poor that it couldn’t be called a secret art in the truest sense…

However, I could at least admit that it was a true and stable art.

Besides…

It wasn’t as if you were always assimilated to the demon. And it was an interesting idea to be able to use that power only when you needed it.

For instance, looking at the power that Guy gave to Leon’s subordinates-’Secret art of Hybrid Soul Fusion,’ is was the fusing of two demons with equal strength.

This secret art allowed the party with the stronger will to take over. It was like poisoning someone.

It was a forbidden art. And of course, you could not undo it.

It was all or nothing.

It was dangerous, as you had to have the resolve to wager your own soul.

On the other hand, Demon Fusion, which was the art that the empire had developed, was founded on creating manageable contracts with demons who were willing to serve.

Once safety had been guaranteed, it was possible to fuse when needed.

Unlike fusing with spirits, you could gain power easily without strengthening your own astral.

That seemed very convenient.

But-

It was a mistake to use demons.

The price that was to be paid was a fixed sum of magic power. But with that, you could at least feel that pleasure of using the power of the demon that you fused with.

If you could not honor the contract, then the demon would just leave.

In other words, when you are unable to go up against stronger opponents.

It was convenient for opponents that were weaker than you…but it was not very reliable when it mattered.

Also, the demons left when you were out of magic.

There were even demons who hurt their summoners because they were bored.

In the case of Magnus and the others, such actions were prevented by the contracts…but it was likely impossible to control the actions of the demons once you had no magic to use as payment.

You could not make them work if you had nothing to offer.

In that case, I could think of a number of ways to beat them.

◇◇◇

They all listened to my explanation and their expressions brightened.

Up until now, they had despaired because they thought they had no chance of winning.

Damn it. It really was too bad that they were so quick to give up.

“How can…”

“That Magnus. To have such dangerous power… When it is so dangerous for us to fight even a Greater Demon…”

Julius and Karma muttered with pained expressions.

With this much of a discrepancy between them, they were still serious about fighting. So I could understand why they were so self-pitying…

-Still, it’s not like it was necessary to fight head-on through conventional means.

But they still wanted to fight properly after hearing my explanation. I didn’t know if I should call it honest or just stupid.

“Hey, hey. Have you been listening to what I’ve been saying? Didn’t you understand that you cannot win by fighting head on, like some honest idiot? Then start thinking differently! Are those heads on your shoulders or just decorations? Why don’t you use those brains!”

I blasted them a little.

At these words, the faces of the students became animated again after having been full of despair.

And then all at once, they began to discuss possible ways of beating them.

“Usually, when you summon a spirit or demon, it requires a lot of magic. According to a story that I heard, even an advanced summoner can only summon a Greater Demon for about ten minutes at the most!”

“I heard that too. Though, they do say that an Elementalist that is recognised as the contractor can have spirits materialize for much longer…”

“I never heard of a demon recognizing a human. And if it’s done against their will, it should only be for a short-”

“Hold on? Does that mean there is a time limit to Magnus’s power?”

Hmm. Hmm.

The discussion was getting rather heated in a good way.

There were advanced demons like Venom, who had recognized Masayuki, but let’s forget about that for now.

It seems that the students had realized that there is a time restriction to Magnus’s strength.

And now that they had realized it, the discussion was becoming more lively.

“In any case, we need to buy more time. Once we confirm that the devil’s power has been activated, we need to draw out the fight to be as long as possible.”

“I see. So that’s what all this physical training was for. Right, Master Satoru!”

No?

It’s just revenge.

As if you guys would get stronger after running for one day.

The only thing you’ll get is aching muscles.

“So you noticed. You guys sure grew a lot in one day!”

I suppressed my true feelings and nodded heavily.

And with that alone-

“Master Satoru!!”

Several of the idiots shouted with emotion.

They were too simple… Well, that part of them was also a little cute.

After that, the discussion continued. And they eventually had an outline of their new strategy.

“…So, like that. The combat types will rotate as teams and push Magnus back. The magic types will support them while also disturbing Magnus and the others. What do you think about that?”

Julius represented the others and explained their plan to me.

This plan was created with consideration to advice from the other teachers as well.

It seemed that they believed that this was the best thing to do at the moment. And I could see that Julius’s expression had regained much of its confidence.

I see. Yes.

Well, it’s definitely well thought out.

For the most part, it matches my own thoughts on the matter.

[[It’s no good at all. The important thing is their direct combat ability against Magnus. It’s completely inadequate. This rotation idea has a zero percent success rate. They won’t even have time to activate any disruption magic. If Magnus gets serious, he will kill their entire vanguard in ten seconds. ]]

True.

My own thoughts had been way too sloppy.

“That’s no good. This plan will end with Magnus and the others killing everyone.”

I didn’t actually think that Magnus was that ruthless. That’s why I had thought this plan would be fine…

But Ciel disliked taking the emotions of enemies into account while making calculations.

She wouldn’t rest easy unless she considered the worst possible scenario, so she could be ready for anything.

[[Damn it all. Why don’t they use their brains and at least think of something, such as taming the Poison Tiger.]]

What? You can do that?!

And, ‘at least?’ Is there something even higher they can aim for?

Well, it would be easy for me, I guess…

[[Master, you sent Laplace all the way here to settle things with the owner of the island, but… It is just deplorable that these students are incapable of thinking. Don’t you agree, Master?]]

Uh, yeah.

So that’s what it was…

Had I been giving Laplace such orders without knowing it?

I had sent Laplace to greet the Rock Elephant that ruled the center, and told him to be careful not to be rude…

But in Ciel’s mind, I had been reading much further ahead.

I understood everything, she seemed to want to say.

Well, I didn’t understand it myself. But it was probably better to be quiet about that.

Just then-

(Lord Rimuru. Sorry that I’m late. The matter has finally been settled! The ruler of this island, the Rock Elephant, that is, has more than just instinct. There is intelligence as well. However, not much common sense. It took so much time for it to understand my ideas. Still, eventually, it accepted my talk of the building of the secret base. So everything is fine!)

I received a thought transmission from Laplace.

But wait, Laplace? How far are you taking this negotiation?

How about a little restraint?

It seemed like Laplace had just interpreted my orders in the way that suited him best.

(What! You even negotiated about building a secret base?!)

(Of course! And it was readily accepted. Ahh, it was a lot of work, you know? I had to make it understand my power and then took four days to teach it. Thought transmission is very useful. Thanks to it, this Rock Elephant gained quite a lot of knowledge!)

Laplace proudly made the report.

This seemed completely different to what I had intended when I said ‘greeting’…but it was too late.

In any case, this was fine in its own way.

(Well then, can you order all the monsters on this island to stop attacking the humans?)

(Very easy! They are like my underlings now. The will listen to anything I say.)

Seriously?

I hadn’t sensed any great movement of mana, so Laplace must have showed his power very carefully.

It was rather clever, I guess?

Or maybe he was just that passionate about this secret base?

Well, it didn’t matter what it was.

If a base could be built, then my plan to build a giant leisure land should also be fine.

Oh, I was about to forget our main objective.

Magnus was the problem we had to deal with first.

(Alright, Laplace. You continue to wait there. I still have some things to deal with. I will clean that up first.)

(Understood!)

I had decided to prioritize the Magnus matter, and ordered Laplace to wait.

◇◇◇

I looked at the reactions of the students.

As I thought, it would not be easy to think of an alternative.

Everyone’s expression was dark, as if they were once again locked in the shadows.

My complete rejection of their plan had made their outlook turn very tragic.

“Then Master Satoru, what will you have us do!”

“Even if we can’t win, is it so wrong to want to fight back?!”

“Do we have to obey Magnus and the others…?”

“No…”

The mourning voices rang throughout the group.

They weren’t wrong. I would cry too if I were rejected so bluntly.

I had thought that buying time was the best strategy…

Ciel had also suggested taming the Poison Tiger-

“Poison Tiger, huh…”

It was easy to say, but asking these students to capture a semi-demon lord ranking monster was insane.

It was impossible, reckless and unreasonable. Yes, all three of those things.

But, just then.

“-Did you say, Poison Tiger…?!”

Marsha had heard my muttering.

And she shouted as if coming to a realization.

“Could it be…! Satoru…Master Satoru, are you suggesting that we should capture that monster?”

“Are you stupid, Marsha? There is no way that we could do that.”

Aina said as if to calm Marsha down.

Indeed, you would think it was impossible.

“But, wasn’t this Poison Tiger weaker than Magnus? In that case, maybe it will be the perfect practice partner for us to judge our teamwork?”

That was what I had thought, but Marsha continued with bright eyes.

The students reacted in their own unique ways, but they were all against it.

“I told you, it’s impossible, Marsha! You say that it’s weaker than Magnus, but don’t you know, that monster is so strong that you’d have to call the Knight’s Order in order to do anything!?”

“That’s right, Marsha. And since we cannot communicate, the burden will be heavier for the vanguard. That’s not going to buy us any time.”

“In the first place, Magnus has a time limit, but the Poison Tiger does not. Do I really have to say which of them is more dangerous?”

That’s how it went.

It was nice that they said everything that I had wanted to say.

But Marsha did not back down.

“We have lots of meat to feed the monster. We can get it used to feeding like that maybe? And besides, if I combine these magic cards, I might be able to control the monster.”

She began to say.

Indeed, if she could use anagram magic, then the forced control of monsters would be possible.

However, that required a lot of understanding and immense magic-

That being said, Marsha did have a lot of magic. And I think she still held the original cards?

It seemed unlikely, but what if she did understand it? If so, she wasn’t so much a genius, as a child prodigy who would one day represent the age we lived in.

A Hero…

[[Finally, a student appears who understands what you were thinking, Master.]]

Ciel said with satisfaction.

This confession from Ciel meant that Marsha was-

She was moving just as Ciel had thought she would. And so I decided to believe in Marsha and keep my mouth shut.

Marsha’s words reignited the heated debate.

They argued about whether it was possible and what the success rate would be.

And then they assigned roles in the event that they would carry this plan out.

Etcetera.

The result was, that their eyes burned with enthusiasm and their faces were filled with hope and expectation as they looked at me.

“Master-”

Julius began, representing the others.

I nodded for him to continue.

“-that is our new plan. May we hear your opinion on it?”

It all came together very nicely.

[[It is rather good, but if I could make a suggestion-]]

I repeated Ciel’s words to them.

It hurt that their expressions were filled with such awe and respect.

I was hiding most of it with my swirly glasses, but my cheeks were quite red with embarrassment.

It really was not good to pass on other people’s ideas off as your own.

I would be more cautious about it in the future.

◇◇◇

The direction they would go in was decided during the night, and it was the sixth day that it was put into action.

They went outside of the barrier that Magnus had placed around the camping grounds and cooked some meat with herbs that would attract monsters.

After a short time, the monster they were after appeared.

The Poison Tiger.

It looked just the same as on the night of the attack, but the fiendishness in the eyes were now gone.

From what I saw, it actually looked like it was wagging its tail.

It seemed that Laplace had convinced the Rock Elephant to send out the message. That was a relief.

-And.

The students carried out their plan to capture the monster, and they succeeded.

At this point, all of the surviving students had exceeded 100 points.

After all, they had not only fought an A-Rank monster, but had captured one.

So they had all exceeded the passing mark.

And their preparations were complete before the day of the battle.

Now, it was time to end things with Magnus-

Q & A

Q: Did Milim get a makeover?

A: She did! There will only be one goth loli.

Q: What color is Milim’s hair?

A: It looks like an ordinary pink, but it is supposed to be platinum pink.

After all, silver hair sounds night, but I was told that it’s actually kind of dull…

And there are already many characters with silver hair.

Q: What about Milim’s clothes-

A: Clothes change. There will be many types!

That’s it.

The end. Sorry for hurting your eyes.

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