Anat clapped once to regain everyone’s attention and smiled. “Let’s confirm where we are with our work, shall we? No need to report if there’s no change in your target, of course.”
The following silence seemed to imply agreement from everyone in attendance. From there, Anat collected their reports one by one.
“First off, Lala, our Hero Observer.”
She was short with long, fluffy green hair, out of which bloomed a single large flower.
Laladie put a finger to her lips in thought. “Hm… Lala doesn’t know yet if they’ve made any progress. Maybe Lala hasn’t been spying on them long enough?”
Anat nodded understandingly. “The Hero did appear rather suddenly, after all. I must admit I was taken aback.”
Laladie nodded. “Lala’s going to focus on watching their movements for now. Oh, but they beat a general of the Demon King’s Army a while ago!”
A murmur rippled through the room, and Vampille leaned forward interestedly.
“I must confess I haven’t the interest to look into them further, but is this Demon King’s Army so weak that losses to utter novices are common?”
“They’re all weak,” Laladie replied bluntly.
The Four Lords of the Demon King’s Army were really nothing to write home about.
“But just in case, Lala’s gonna keep watching them. May as well,” she added with a little sigh.
Anat nodded understandingly, then turned to Soulgros.
“’Tis mine turn next?”
She wore a ninja’s light garb, and only the small bit of skin around her eyes was visible. A long blue ponytail plumed from the back of her head.
“Mine target be the guilds. As of yet, there is no end to the surreptitious quests calling for our elimination.”
“That’s troubling,” Schwarte replied coolly.
Even after the last massacre, there was no sign of them being left alone. Still, they couldn’t just leave the attackers be when they posed such an imminent threat to Master, so they always made a point to be as thorough as possible.
Anat pursed her lips in thought. “Maybe it’s finally time we gave the guilds a taste of their own medicine? We can’t possibly condone such an insult to Master, after all.”
Soulgros nodded. “For once, fanatic, our opinions align.”
Soulgros almost never agreed with her. Anat’s obsessed worship of Master was at times a little much.
“For now, you can continue your infiltration of the guilds.”
Soulgros nodded. “Verily so.”
“Who’s next to report, then?” Anat looked about the room, but nobody came forward. She clapped once, as if to announce the change in topic. “Excellent work, everyone. Next, I’d like to discuss a more deliberate plan for how we’ll complete our ‘present’ for Master.”
Anat smiled, and everyone else smiled—no, smirked in suit. Their hearts burned with zeal as they imagined their glorious objective.
“Our ultimate goal is Master’s utter domination of the world,” Anat announced eagerly. “And now, it’s finally, finally time to put our designs in motion.”
Their eyes lit up with an eager, predatory light.
“Let’s get to it, then—our all for Master.”
“Our all for Master,” they echoed.
They all stood as one. Their desperate love for Master had finally led them out of the darkness and into the light.