The Round Table Meeting

There was a conference room in Lemdria's royal court. Unlike the usual audiences held in the throne room, this was a sealed chamber protected by magic, built for the purpose of lively debate. At its center was an enormous round table.

Now, seated at the innermost position was the King of Lemdria, Ryuke Hollyn. Despite being over seventy years old, he still exuded dignity. Behind him stood the Crown Prince and Prince Ryuke Sion.

"It's almost time…"

Almost simultaneously with Hollyn's murmur, there was a knock at the door, and an escort knight entered.

"Please excuse me. I have brought His Majesty, King Ryuke Neyas of Casalia!"

As Hollyn nodded, the large door swung open and Neyas entered the room. Behind him followed a civil official and a half-elf knight known as the King's Sword.

Hollyn rose to greet him, and they exchanged a light embrace.

"I never thought we would have the opportunity to meet face to face like this."

"Indeed."

Neyas sat down in the seat immediately next to Hollyn.

Next to enter was Istria's young king, Ryuke Kanon. Following him was Parro, who served as both military envoy and prime minister.

Kanon paid his respects to his elders, and Hollyn and Neyas stood to welcome him.

After that came an elven man.

His body was exceptionally muscular for an elf, who typically had slender builds, and deep wrinkles were carved into his face despite the eternal youth his race was supposed to possess.

He was Quorfos, the High Elf of the Great Forest.

From then on, the human realm's dignitaries continued to arrive, escorted by knights.

Azelford, the Sage of the Sacred Mountain.

Izah, the chief of the largest tribe that protected Luabra in the continent's southwest.

Oslo, the Grand General of the City Alliance in the continent's southeast.

And then a young man casually poked his head in.

"Ars…"

At Azel's murmur, the humans' expressions froze.

"Hello. I'm Demon King Ars."

Ars raised his hand in greeting, then sat down in the seat furthest from Hollyn, accompanied by a dark elf woman and a human girl.

Receiving gazes filled with both fear and curiosity, Ars looked somewhat uncomfortable, but that only lasted until someone he knew arrived.

"Archduke of Ogress, Ryuke Riana-sama has arrived."

Her jet-black cloak billowing, Ria entered the room and bowed to those present.

"Hey."

Ars waved his hand and gestured to the seat beside him.

"I doubt any humans would want to sit next to me."

With a wry smile, Ria sat down next to Ars. Behind her stood the silver-haired Dragonslayer and a girl clad in orichalcum armor.

"There are still empty seats remaining, but…"

Hollyn inquired. He had been the one to prepare this venue, but he hadn't been informed of all the attendees.

The only one who knew was Ars, and there were still eight empty seats.

But his question was soon answered.

Four men and women appeared in the space that should have been isolated by magic.

"I see, a round table…"

A man with unseeing eyes murmured, seeming impressed nonetheless.

He took a seat.

"He is Yamato, the leader of the secret society Black Cat's merchant guild."

It was not the man himself but the Demon King who introduced this person whose name alone was famous.

"His true identity is Saint Emperor Ryuke Shifaka-san, though."

A great commotion spread among the humans. Despite being stared at in astonishment, Shifaka maintained his posture of resting his elbows on the table with his chin on his interlaced fingers.

"I'm Thor. I was summoned as a hero two thousand years ago and was known as the Black Knight."

When the giant of a man introduced himself, the commotion grew louder.

"I'm Shana Milgrid. You should know my name as the Witch."

The scarlet-haired girl gave the name of the legendary hero's companion from one thousand years ago.

"I'm Alvis. I was once known as the Great Sage on another continent."

The young man with unremarkable features also gave a small bow.

"These five, including Azel, are Black Cat's leadership."

Ars provided the explanation. The human leaders were either struck with astonishment or had lost their voices entirely, mouths opening and closing wordlessly.

"So what did you invite to fill the remaining four seats?"

Though somewhat surprised herself, the one who asked with an amused expression was, of course, Ria.

"I told them the time, but they're rather careless… those ladies…"

Ars shrugged. But before he could finish the motion, a tremendous vibration shook the castle.

Someone had forcibly broken through the magical barrier and teleported into the room.

Flame-red hair. Golden eyes. A girl dressed in red cloth wrapped casually around her.

"Oh, did I make it in time?"

She looked around the room. Her golden eyes alone would intimidate any ordinary human.

"You're the first of the Divine Dragons to arrive, Ohma-san."

"Is that so? Well, I am rather impatient."

Divine Dragon Ohma. Her dragon eyes caught sight of Ria and Carla.

"There are two people with the dragon bloodline here? How rare."

With that, she sat down in the seat next to Ars.

"A Divine Dragon…"

Hollyn muttered, practically speechless, and Ars politely explained.

"The power of the Divine Dragons is necessary to overcome the Great Collapse. I've invited the others as well."

Before he finished speaking, three women appeared.

Jet-black hair. Golden eyes. A woman who bore a strong resemblance to Ria. That was Valis.

Silver hair. Blue eyes. A woman who faintly resembled Carla. Terrew.

Light blue hair. Green eyes. A woman with a graceful appearance. Lana.

Four pillars of Divine Dragons, the world's guardians, had appeared in that place.

The overwhelming presence had left most of the attendees speechless.

The Divine Dragons sat in a row, and their gazes were directed at Ars.

"You said you would stop the Great Collapse."

It was Valis who spoke. In response, Ars stood and gave a small bow.

"To be precise, I said I would prevent this world from being destroyed by the Great Collapse."

Then Ars projected a magical image into the air.

"Now then, allow me to begin."

"For those of you humans who don't yet understand the situation, let me explain from the beginning. The world is like this tree."

An image appeared. It was indeed a tree. One might even call it a great tree.

"The world continues to grow, but eventually pruning becomes necessary. What occurs at this time is a Great Collapse, where one world is destroyed in exchange for allowing the other to extend its branches further."

With a snap, a branch was cut, and the remaining branch grew longer.

"However, to prevent this impact, the direction of the branch can be forcibly changed. This is what is known as the Millennium, and it requires many souls as sacrifices. The previous two Millenniums succeeded in this, and great conflicts also occurred on other continents, allowing this world to extend its branch."

The branch grew in a twisted manner.

"But we cannot keep repeating the Millennium forever. By breaking the neighboring thick branch, we can create a world that won't need a Millennium for tens of thousands to hundreds of millions of years. That is the purpose of this Great Collapse."

How many of them could understand the meaning of Ars's words? Only silence filled the room.

"… You're saying you'll destroy an entire world for that?"

The one who spoke amid this silent pressure was Hollyn.

"This is not a war. It is a struggle for survival. Fortunately, if I may say so, there are hardly any humans living on the other continents of this world at present. It should be possible to abduct somewhere between six hundred million to one billion people from the world that will be destroyed."

It was an absurd proposition, but three thousand years ago, humans had come to this world in exactly that way.

"There's no guarantee that our side will win in a clash between worlds. I believe I said that before…"

The one who spoke with a heavy voice was Shifaka. The words of a man who had survived two Millenniums carried weight. Above all, he was from the world that had lost.

But Ars smiled as though he had been waiting for that question.

"That's correct. A thousand years ago, I would have thought the same. But things are different now. We know who we'll be fighting, and we have the means to counter them."

Still wearing his theatrical expression, Ars turned his gaze toward Valis.

Looking as though she found it bothersome, Valis raised her eyes.

"Ars's words are accurate. We know which world we will be fighting, and we've completed our analysis of their strength compared to ours. We will not lose."

"What kind of world is this opponent? Are you certain of your analysis?"

Completely unintimidated, Ria pressed further. If they were going to stake everything on this battle, it was a natural question.

Valis's answer was clear.

"The name of that world is Earth."

Her voice was cold as ice.

"It is your homeland."