Though we all heard this sudden announcement, I frankly had no idea what it meant.
As far as I could tell, it seemed that all of demonkind heard this announcement, too.
I hadn’t received reports from the entire race, of course, so perhaps it was limited to the vicinity of the Demon Lord’s castle.
Or it could be that all demons heard it, but not humans.
But I had no way of finding out for sure right away.
Not that we would necessarily make any more progress even if I did find out.
Who in the world is this evil god, anyway?
How are we supposed to either hinder or assist them?
There wasn’t nearly enough detail to understand the situation at hand.
And without more information, there was no way of knowing what choice to make.
Perhaps the Demon Lord would know more…
It was terrible timing that this should occur while she was away.
“Even so, surely we ought to do something. The populace is in an uproar.”
I myself didn’t know what was going on.
The average citizens were confused and at a loss.
Many of them must be frightened, too.
After all, the contents of that so-called world quest sounded deeply unsettling.
We’d only just concluded a massive war with humanity.
In the worst-case scenario, the public’s pent-up frustration might reach a breaking point and lead to mass riots.
There was already plenty of opposition to the government, thanks to the compulsory enlistment of troops and the subsequent war.
The only thing keeping it at bay was the public’s deep-rooted fear of the Demon Lord.
Now that she was away for the moment, any small spark could set everything aflame.
As such, we in the government needed to make some sort of announcement regarding this world quest business to prevent a full-on uprising.
“Sure, but we don’t know any more than they do, right? And we can’t go running our mouths without information to back it up. It doesn’t seem wise to come out and admit that we’re totally in the dark, either, does it?”
“…Good point.”
That in itself could be the spark that sets off the powder keg.
The citizens would think us utterly incompetent.
And considering that we really didn’t know anything about the current situation, they might even be right.
“…Do you have any thoughts, Kogou?”
“Huh?! Oh, uh…sorry. I don’t get all this complicated stuff…”
Sure enough, Kogou didn’t appear to have any bright ideas. I can’t say I was surprised.
“Darad?”
“Hrmmm. Were these ordinary times, we ought to look to the Demon Lord for instructions, but I suppose in this case we cannot.”
Darad crossed his arms and sank into thought.
Though he is a staunch supporter of the Demon Lord, he is otherwise a sharp-minded tactician.
But it seems even he could not make a decision about this on the spot.
Nor could I, evidently…
“But as you say, Sir Balto, we cannot sit idly by. Our best course of action for now is to issue an announcement that we are investigating further and instruct the populace to remain calm.”
“…Yes, that may be the most pragmatic choice.”
We could at least give the impression that we are investigating the matter, even if it would be little more than stalling for time.
It should be somewhat effective, if not enough to quell all the malcontents.
“Perhaps we should go on high alert and increase patrols in the city?”
“But won’t it set people off just as much if we put too many soldiers out on patrol?”
“True enough… Let us send soldiers from door-to-door under the pretense of surveying the populace, then. We do need to find out whether everyone heard that announcement, at any rate.”
“That’s not a bad idea. Then we can increase the number of soldiers on the streets without raising too many hackles.”
“And we can also use that opportunity to demonstrate that we are investigating.”
Thanks to Darad’s proposed solution, we began to figure out an initial plan of action.
It wouldn’t solve the root of the problem, of course; still, we should at least be able to keep the ensuing chaos in the city to a minimum.
“Can I entrust this to the Second Army?”
“Of course.”
“That’s all well and good for here in the city, but what about everywhere else?”
“As much as I would like to do the same elsewhere, we simply do not have the manpower. At best, we could perhaps send a single messenger on horseback to each major town.”
“Hrm. The Fifth Army can handle that, then.”
“Thank you.”
Our discussion was proceeding smoothly.
I had no idea what we were going to do before I started the meeting, so I was relieved that we’d at least managed to come up with emergency measures.
Even if one of our number was doing little more than sitting silently in a chair.
“The main problem is that we still don’t know what’s going on with this alleged world quest.”
“Right.”
That message was most likely a divine communication from on high.
It must be of the utmost importance, then.
Which means it would be unwise to stay in the dark about its meaning.
“Honestly. Now what should we do…?”
I couldn’t stop myself from letting out a sigh and a grumbled complaint.
Just then…
✦ ✦ ✦
<World quest sequence 1. Installing Taboo in all humanoids.>
✦ ✦ ✦
“…What?! Ah! Guh?!”
Another announcement echoed from out of nowhere.
Before I could process what the words meant, my head was assailed with terrible pain, and I slumped over the table.
Unable to bear the discomfort of what felt like boiling hot water being poured directly into my brain, I soon lost consciousness entirely.