Chapter 127 - Spy

Gadra walked impatiently in the halls near the conference room. He was stroking his long beard, his mind racing with thoughts about the consequences of the impending war: the number of casualties, who would win, who would lose, the benefits and losses, and, most importantly, whether staying in the empire would even be beneficial for him anymore.

Gadra was a simple man who had reached heights of magic that many mages and wizards could only dream of. Even his student, Razen, held him in high regard as the true master of magic, despite Razen being hailed as the strongest majin in Falmuth's history and having lived for centuries, guarding the country.

Gadra himself had lived for more than a thousand years. Neither he nor Razen were immortal. At best, they had reached enlightenment, which had increased their lifespans by centuries, but nothing more. They were not saints who had reached the highest known evolution of humans.

Over his long years in the empire, Gadra had observed and confirmed the presence of many saints among the imperial guards. There, he realized what the true strength of the empire was. It was not the empire's vast territory, nor its population and army of two million. No, it was the large number of powerful beings hidden away from the world, waiting for the right moment to strike. He even had a hypothesis about why the Emperor sent out the army for invasion instead of sending small elite units to eliminate key areas and leaders before advancing.

As his thoughts pulled him deeper, he heard the door creak open. Officers and officials flooded the halls, heading to their respective tasks.

"Yuuki!" Gadra shouted, pulling the black-haired boy aside. Yuuki, for his part, smiled awkwardly, noticing many people glancing at the two of them.

Gadra ushered the Grandmaster into his personal office. After activating a noise-canceling barrier to ensure no one else was listening, he sighed and took a seat.

"How did the meeting go?"

Yuuki looked at the old man before him and shrugged as he sat down. "Well, your worst fear for the empire is starting to turn into reality."

Gadra clicked his tongue, placing a hand on his face. "So, the army will march to their deaths... What are their chances against the Demon?" It was a rhetorical question, one both men already knew the answer to.

"Ah... Rimuru-san, huh," Yuuki said, looking out the window, as if recalling his memories of interacting with the Demon, as well as the information he had gathered. "To be honest, when the west marched toward his territory, he didn't even make a move against the army. He was just messing around with Hinata."

Of course, Rimuru hadn't only fought Hinata Sakaguchi at that time. There had also been the assassination attempts with Granbell and Damrada, but Gadra didn't need to know that.

After Yuuki infiltrated the Empire under Damrada's recommendation, he quickly realized just how mysterious and powerful the merchant actually was. While Yuuki knew that Damrada was powerful and had the status to command saint-level soldiers of the empire, he didn't realize how high up the ladder Damrada truly was. In fact, even now, Yuuki couldn't tell or gather information on Damrada's actual position. No matter whom he spoke to, the man was just an enigma. He eventually gave up probing, as more eyes had begun to grow suspicious of his actions.

Luckily for him, he had found Gadra. Gadra was fascinated by the technology of the other world and had managed to persuade the empire and even the emperor himself to welcome and accommodate the otherworlders, whether they arrived by force or not.

Naturally, might and merit were still the empire's greatest values. Gadra had used this in his persuasive arguments, as otherworlders almost always had unique skills or powerful bodies. Even if these weren't combat-oriented, which the empire favored, their knowledge was still valuable in gaining approval.

In just a few decades, the empire's technology had skyrocketed to a more modern level. Their weaponry was no longer swords or spears but guns and rifles. Their vehicles were no longer carriages or ships but tanks and airships.

While the empire kept this technology hidden, the more mundane advances were introduced to the empire's territories to improve the living standards of the people. Of course, one had to have the proper status and power to access such advancements, but this was already a well-known fact in a meritocratic empire.

"So, they will die," Gadra groaned, leaning back in his chair. "What are you going to do, Yuuki? Are you going to fight?"

Yuuki stared at the wizard, tilting his head. "Obviously. I'm a corps commander now. Besides, so many of my new friends are in my division. I can't just let them die."

Gadra nodded in understanding. After all, the mixed corps was made up of misfits and rejects who couldn't fit into the armored corps or the beast corps.

"What will you be doing, Gadra-sama?" Yuuki asked, watching the old man as he continued to weigh his options.

"I plan on speaking with His Majesty the Emperor personally," Gadra said, frowning as he finished, "If that doesn't work... I plan on leaving the empire and going to Amarita."

"Amarita?" Yuuki raised an eyebrow. He'd heard of the place before, but it wasn't somewhere he expected the old wizard to mention. "Isn't that the Demon Lord Kagali's domain?"

Gadra smiled, nostalgia welling up in him as he recalled their joyous reunion.

....

More than a year ago...

"Hey, did you hear? Colonel Kanis seemed to have been pushed back by Demon Lord Kagali's forces," one of Gadra's engineers said as they rested from modifying the airship's mobility and flight time.

"Oh yeah," another engineer nodded, slightly laughing at the soldier's failure. "That man had it coming, always acting so arrogant."

"Really? Kanis lost?" Shinji, an otherworlder recently recruited, asked with amazement and shock. Even with his abilities, he knew he could not take on the colonel. "Who did it?"

The two engineers looked at each other, then one spoke. "I heard it happened in Amarita. Colonel Kanis demanded the mystic beast that had taken refuge in Demon Lord Kagali's domain. He threatened to bring the empire's forces and sever trading agreements if they didn't hand it over."

"And then?" Shinji asked, growing curious.

"Get back to work, you fools!" Gadra's voice echoed down the hall. The engineers jumped in surprise and quickly resumed their work.

"From what was said, a wight wearing clergy robes, an undead knight, and a death dragon were the ones who wiped out Colonel Kanis' troops. Even the rumored experimental Beast Knights were taken out."

"Wow," Shinji said. As someone with medical knowledge, he had been brought along with other otherworlders to witness failed Beast Knight experiments. He had seen the damage they could cause and the strength needed to subdue even one of them.

"Are you lot still talking?" Gadra, now standing behind them, towered over the trio, his shadow casting over them.

"Ah, sorry!"

"No matter," Gadra waved his hand, turning to the engineer who had been telling the story. "Can you repeat what you said about the wight?"

The engineer blinked, confused, before straightening himself. "The wight was wearing religious clothing, they said it was a white vestment. The wight always had beside it an undead knight and a death dragon."

"A wight with religious clothing, an undead knight, and a death dragon..." Gadra muttered, leaving the area and mulling over the information. "Could it be?"

In less than an hour, he found himself at the borders of the Empire and Amarita. In front of him stood the rumored trio of undead who had left Colonel Kanis and the experimental beasts cowering.

"Gadra," the wight spoke, stepping forward. While the wight had no face, its tone and voice conveyed the joy and excitement of seeing the old wizard. "It has been a while."

"Adalman, my friend." Gadra stepped forward, mirroring his friend's actions. The two took no time in embracing each other, reunited in a long-overdue reunion of two best friends.

"It is good to see you well, Gadra-sama," the undead knight bowed, watching the two. "We heard rumors of your presence in the East but did not have the means to confirm it."

"Albert," Gadra turned to the undead knight. While his skin was pale, he had flesh and hair, unlike Adalman, who was a pure skeleton. "It is good to see you two again."

"Hahaha, it is thanks to both Rimuru-sama and Kagali-sama's benevolence," Adalman said cheerfully as they walked through the forest toward a nearby fort located between the borders. "If it weren't for those two, we would still be stuck on the miasma-filled land, never to leave."

"I see," Gadra frowned. "Is it because of the miasma that you turned into an undead? I made sure that you would be reincarnated if ever you died. Did the negative energy filling the air cause it to malfunction?"

"Probably," Adalman accepted the theory. "I knew it was your doing. By the way, what have you been doing while we were apart?"

"Well, you see..."

...

Gadra stood before the doors where the emperor was waiting for him. As one of the pillars who had been with the empire for a thousand years, he had the privilege of personally talking and discussing matters with him. While it was an honor, it was still necessary to show proper respect and formality.

Opening the door, Gadra took a sharp breath as the emperor sat before him, with a curtain hiding his face. Beside him was the Marshal, who was staring at Gadra with suspicious eyes.

"Your Majesty," Gadra kneeled down in respect before standing back up. "As I stated in the conference earlier, before I was... removed, I do not see any real possibility for common soldiers to defeat that Demon. Yuuki himself, who was from the West, knows and saw the Demon's army take out a hundred thousand soldiers."

"Gadra," the Marshal, fed up with the wizard's excuses, spoke up. "I think you are forgetting how powerful our army is. We are not a hundred-thousand-strong army, but a million-strong army with technological and biological advantages."

Gadra gritted his teeth as he turned to the place where the emperor should be. "At the very least, send out the actual strong soldiers before wasting the lives of common soldiers."

"What are you implying?" the Marshal's voice was sharp.

Gadra felt immense pressure from the Marshal, a dread he had only experienced once before in his life. It was when he watched as the Storm Dragon rampaged and slaughtered their advances.

Then, he felt a burning sensation in his back as he was thrown to the ground. Groaning, he looked behind him to see a man in a white coat, like Shinji, holding a red spear pointed at him.

"Are we going to continue listening to his pointless words?" The scientist's words echoed as he walked near Gadra. "We already had confirmation from Yuuki that this one is a traitor."

"Yuu...ki?" Gadra's voice faltered in shock. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Yuuki? Yuuki Kagurazaka betrayed him and told the emperor?

"But you were not given permission to act, Jahil," the Marshal frowned, staring at the mad scientist.

The two glared at each other. Jahil turned his spear, the sharp point now directed downward, and thrust it into Gadra's back.

"You don't get to order me, Apophis," Jahil sneered.

"Actually, I do. I have seniority, or don't you remember Zahhak?" Apophis spat out, his aura flaring.

"Don't call me that. I am in control of my body, not that snake," Jahil growled, twisting the spear, causing Gadra to scream in pain. "Shut up."

Flames erupted from the tip of the spear.

"Ahhh!" Gadra screamed, his body burning fast. His scream ended quickly as his life was snuffed out in mere seconds. As Jahil removed the spear from his back, the body's flames extinguished, revealing vaguely formed charred remains.

"What?" Jahil sneered, inspecting the charred remains, while Apophis observed quietly. "We were done with him anyway. I doubt he'd be very useful running to Amarita."

"Jahil," the Emperor, Rudra, moved the curtains away from his face and looked at the mad man. "Have Kanzis and Minitz go through Amarita. From the reports, they have a lot of automata and someone who can use 'birthday' like you."

"Oh, you mean my son Kazaream?" Jahil recalled the deformed face of the elven princess. "Do you want me to come as well? I can have a sweet reunion."

"No, you will march with the foot soldiers in the back. The first wave will consist of tanks, and a bit further behind will be the foot soldiers who will die in battle. You will then use those bodies to create deathmen for the plan."

"We'll also get Kazaream then to do the same with the entire Amarita population?" Jahil grinned.

"Why not," Apophis laughed. "I doubt a Demon Lord known for golem creation is that powerful anyway."

A/N: Jahil is back.