"Haa..."
At Great Sage's insistence that it was only rational for him to serve as chairman, Adelio had no choice but to be persuaded, however unwillingly. He let out a short sigh and turned his head forward.
Before his slightly darkened gaze stood the three factions, divided neatly apart.
There were the chiefs of the [Lizardmen] and their allies, the [Goblin] tribe leaders, on the left. On the right sat the leadership of the invading [Orc]s of Dondu. In the center, Rimuru, Ria, Shizue, and the [Kijin] waited for him to speak.
While Adelio had been speaking with Treyni, the three factions had apparently finished exchanging opinions among themselves and were now ready to resume the meeting.
"...At this rate, Rimuru's share of the credit is going to shrink even more than I planned... but it can't be helped."
The plan to heap the achievements onto Rimuru and Shizue was already spilled water.
The meeting was about to begin, and Great Sage's objection had not been without merit.
That left only one option now. Adelio would have to balance things somehow through his own discretion.
"...Fine. Before we begin the meeting, let me say one thing first."
Forcing the gloom from his mind as quickly as possible, Adelio's face soon settled into the grave expression he wore when attending the [Council of the West]. He swept his gaze across everyone present and continued calmly.
"I have no intention of placing the entire blame for this war on the [Orc]s of Dondu. The original reason they attacked the great forest was, in the end, their right to survival being threatened by famine. That doesn't make it justifiable, but I do believe their circumstances are worth considering. At least, that was what I thought when I decided to devour their sins."
"...Mm..."
"T-then you mean..."
The monsters who heard Adelio's view—especially the [Lizardmen], who had suffered the greatest losses in this war, and the [Orc]s of Dondu, who had the most reason to fear punishment—let out low murmurs.
But none of them went so far as to openly challenge Adelio, who had seized control of the room in an instant. In that silence, he spoke again.
"Yes. To the [Lizardmen], who suffered so much, this must feel unfair. No matter how much I take their circumstances into account, these are still the ones who killed your own people before your eyes."
Then Adelio paused for a moment at the word "But."
Turning his gaze from the center toward the [Lizardmen], he drew out roughly twenty thousand souls from the subspace where he had stored them.
"As I said before, I won't place all the sins of this war on the [Orc]s of Dondu. But those who willingly sank into madness and slaughter, and corrupted themselves, I intend to punish thoroughly."
The twenty thousand souls Adelio produced were not Moss's gathered souls, nor the ones he had collected otherwise. They were the [Orc]s of Dondu he and Ria had personally killed—in other words, those whose souls had already been murky even before they fell under [Starved].
"I possess the ability to make the souls of living beings visible, as well as a unique power that lets me discern them. Through that power, I made it so the [Orc]s of Dondu who died unjustly in this war could find rest alongside their [King]."
"...I see. So that was what we witnessed before the war ended."
The chief of the [Lizardmen], who had listened in silence until now, murmured quietly that he finally understood everything.
"Then the [Orc]s of Dondu you intend to punish are—"
"—these twenty thousand souls."
The [Orc]s of Dondu still alive still had a chance at rehabilitation. But the [Orc]s who had been so crazed for slaughter that they had willingly joined the assault force—the ones meant to fight other races head-on—were not even worth that much.
On top of that, the ones who had actually attacked the [Ogre] village and killed the [Lizardmen] had, for the most part, belonged to that assault force. Punishing them alone would be enough to satisfy the other races' desire for vengeance.
"......"
"If it were Rimuru, he'd probably punish them far more lightly and win the [Orc]s of Dondu's trust in return... but there's no need for me to go soft too..."
If you were too lenient, sooner or later you'd create fools who looked down on you and dared to come at you.
Like a certain kingdom that had not yet made its move, but would soon be consumed by greed and set its sights on this place.
So if Rimuru was going to embrace his subordinates with mercy and generosity, then Adelio had to choose the position of strict and cold punishment.
Only then could balance be maintained between them.
"...I mustn't earn more trust from the monsters than Rimuru does, and the monsters mustn't become too deeply soaked in Rimuru's soft approach either."
Balance, above all.
If a single faction was to have more than one equal head, then horizontal balance mattered more than anything.
"...I'm thinking of handing these twenty thousand souls from the assault force over to demons and letting them punish them in their own way. Unless you're exploiting loopholes in a [Contract], there is no race more impartial than demons when it comes to matters involving souls like this."
"......"
"If anyone objects to this punishment, speak now."
As he said that, Adelio looked toward the leadership of the [Orc]s of Dondu, who had kept their mouths tightly shut this whole time.
Their complexions were somewhat better than when they had first entered the meeting hall, but faint shadows still lingered over their faces, and most of them lowered their heads to avoid Adelio's gaze.
But the yellow-haired [Orc] seated at the very front of the leadership did not avoid his eyes. Keeping a calm expression, he spoke to Adelio.
"...We have no objection. They were the ones who kept making extreme proposals to the [King] even before the war began... the others will not oppose it either."
He was the only [Orc] of Dondu to state his opinion outright.
He was the monster who would one day inherit the name Geld, and in the past had served as the [King]'s right-hand man.
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