It's about time. Thinking that, I sent a message to my Cards, and a few minutes later, everything was prepared for the night's main event.
A stage was set up with magic, so I went up it. My Cards were already up there waiting for me.
Because of the suddenness of it, the guests got quite confused and agitated for a while, but they began to calm down as the minutes passed. In the meantime, Stella helped me set up some kind of loudspeaker magic.
It works basically the same way as a microphone and loudspeakers, but the sound quality is apparently much better, which is why Stella uses this in her shows and only pretends to use actual equipment. I never knew so much trouble went into being an idol.
I'm getting distracted. Everyone seems to have calmed down, so it's time for me to begin.
"First, I'd like to thank everyone for coming to my Party tonight. I know it wasn't all that entertaining, but I hope it also wasn't too boring."
Actually, I don't really care, but I can't really go saying that now can I? There's no reason for me to be rude.
"I'm sure you're all also wondering why I chose to invite everyone that's here, and maybe you know of someone else that received an invitation and decided to not come. Well, a Party is usually where a Candidate tries to make political alliances, so it makes sense to invite some people and not others. Yet, I invited, quite literally, everyone."
This is probably the biggest question in all the guests' minds. Well, not all, because I already told some of them, like Seigi and Fleminar, but certainly the majority.
As I said, a Party is where political alliances are made. Sure, a Devil King is powerful enough to rule just by force, but having allies makes things a lot easier. It makes sense for the Candidate to focus on a certain group, butter them up, and leave other groups on the side.
But not only did I invite everyone, I also didn't butter up anyone. Sure, I talked and greeted a lot of people, but I didn't do more than that. Again, I just wasn't being rude.
"Well, the reason for that will become clear soon. Before that, I have some things I want to say. First, to my fellow Candidates here."
Only Emperor's Candidate didn't come. Other than him, all other remaining Candidates were here.
Those were Fool, Empress, Magician, Priestess, Hierophant, Judgement and World. I paused for a second and was able to find all of them in the crowd.
"I know that the Devil King War is still ongoing, but, as far as I'm concerned, I have no more enemies. As of right now, I see no reason to fight anyone else, so I have no plans to attack anyone. That said, it doesn't mean I'm giving up. If I'm attacked, then I will reply in kind. Well basically, I won't mess with anyone that doesn't mess with me first."
I said that looking directly at Hirono's, Hierophant's Candidate's, eyes. The intention was for it to seem more direct, after all, I'll be troubled if people start underestimating me.
Like I said, I'll hit back if I'm hit first. That is a message both to the remaining Candidates as well for anyone that might be thinking I'm getting on their way. But otherwise, I think it would be better if the fighting ended.
I'd say we can settle who becomes Devil King in a friendly game or something, but I know that's not happening.
Before I continued talking, I looked around. People were whispering to each other, as expected. The Candidates themselves were still looking fixedly at me. Other than that, the Devil King caught my attention. He seemed quite amused.
"Next, I'd like to talk to the representatives of the Shimokadzuma and Kozukate families that are here. As some of you might already know, a while back, I was given these girls by the Devil King."
Rinne and Hisoka stepped forward to stand beside me at that moment. I didn't really like this, treating them like things I owned, but it was the best way to get my point across.
"But, it came to my attention that, before they came under me, they were being pursued by their own families. There's no need for us to discuss the circumstances, I've already heard from them. What I want to know is what the Shimokadzumas and Kozukates plan to do now that they are with me."
At that moment, I made another magic speaker near where I knew those families were. They seemed to discuss something amongst themselves for a second before a single man stepped forward.
I guess he'll be talking for both families. Well, makes it easier than if I had to talk to two representatives at the same time.
"We understand that they were given to you by the Devil King, and we don't plan to go against his orders. They are your properties."
The man looked to the side, where he saw the Devil King. The Devil King smiled at him, and I'm pretty sure the man started visibly sweating.
"So, hum, since you will be keeping them as your sex slaves, we can agree to no longer go after them."
"That seems good, but there's just one thing I want to make clear. I have no plans to leave them locked in a room or anything like that. As far as I'm concerned, they are free to live their lives as they please."
"T-that's…"
Yeah I figured it was like that.
Basically, they were fine with letting Rinne and Hisoka off the hook so long as I kept them locked up. They could basically pretend things never happened. They could get rid of their "shame" by simply forgetting them rather than killing them.
But since I don't plan to leave them locked up, they can't keep up that offer. The man seemed troubled about how to respond.
After a while, a different man came up to the magic speaker. This man had pink hair, similar to Rinne's, so I'm guessing he's a Shimokadzuma. I guess this is the actual boss and not just a representative.
"In that case, things will remain as normal."
"... I see."
So he plans to continue going after them, huh.
Sure, he didn't say that, and I suppose you could interpret it as them giving up and going back to their normal lives with some wishful thinking. But let's be real, that's not what he meant.
If that's the case, I have no reason to hesitate with what I'll say next. I dispelled the magic speaker for them and continued my speech.
"That's the end of the special messages I wanted to say. Now, onto the main point, I would like to talk about what I plan to do after I become Devil King."
That's the main intent behind a Party, to gain allies for you to be able to act as Devil King in peace. Of course, for you to properly make allies, they have to know what you plan to do with that power.
But for me, it's time to make my declaration of war.
"I won't beat around the bush, I'll just be honest. I plan to completely break and rebuild the current devil society."
For a second, there was silence. It was as if everyone was doubting their ears, and I can't really blame them.
The only ones that weren't stunned into silence were the people whom I had already told about this before.
Then, whispers began. They were confirming they heard what they thought they heard. The whispers got noisier and noisier, until they just became normal speaking voices.
"Hahaha, interesting!"
But, louder than all that, was the Devil King's laughter. At least someone is entertained.
I suppose it's time I continued speaking.
"Please, I'm not done yet. You all heard what I said, but it's probably not as bad as you imagined. I understand that things would end badly if I simply destroyed an entire society overnight, so I don't plan to do it like that. I plan to do it gradually, over the course of my life as Devil King."
The noise started to die down. The nobles were getting calmer.
No one doubted that it could be done. Such a thing would be easy for a Devil King, it's just that none of them have done it because they usually came from noble families. Why destroy something that has always favored you?
Me saying that I'll do it over the course of my lifetime made them think that most everyone here will get to live their lives in nobility. It's a "we'll cross that bridge when we come to it" approach.
Now, I don't want to give them false hope, so let's kick them off the edge.
"If I had to describe my plans, I'll basically be slowly destroying the current devil society and rebuilding a new one, the way I think it's right. The reason why I'll do it slowly is to make it easier on everyone, and also because I also want to enjoy the benefits, so obviously I'll keep my power until I die. But there's some stuff I'm going to break down on day 1."
After hearing that, some of the noble devils started sweating. Right after they calmed down after hearing something horrible for them, they were basically told that the worst case scenario they imagined might not be far from the truth.
"U-um, if you don't mind a question, how would you decide what to do first and what to leave for later?"
"The stuff I dislike will go first, and the stuff I like will stay until I die. Of course, that goes for the people, in other words the noble families, as well."
Now I spoke in a language these people understand. The language of selfishness and self-interest.
Basically, I'm saying that the people I dislike will lose everything as soon as I can take it from them. Meanwhile, the people I like might not even have anything to worry about at all.
This left these nobles with a single choice: would they suck up to me, or would they try and get rid of me? Which is exactly what we all expected would happen.
Things got noisy once again. This time, the nobles were visibly more anxious than before. I'll let this go on for a few minutes, since it's enjoyable.
"But that's only if you win, right?"
Huh? Oh, we have a question? Then, I'll answer it properly.
"Technically, yeah, it's only if I win and become Devil King. You all might be thinking right now that there's no way a human with Lovers' Arcana can win, but let's think about it. I came this far, even though I'm a human and my Arcana is Lovers. I found out how to make other Candidates into my Cards, and now I have 4 other Candidates under me. And there's more stuff I'm obviously not going to say because I'm not dumb enough to show my hand when I know someone will try to go against me. So when I say that I will win, I mean that I will win. Well, even if you don't believe me, you'll have to accept it when it comes."
That was enough to silence them all.
By now, they've probably all seen the Labyrinth Battle Royale video. They saw what I, a human with the weakest Arcana, can do. And if nothing else, they recognize the power of my Cards, especially the ones that are also Candidates.
That made it so that they couldn't simply dismiss me as a daydreamer. They had to consider the very real possibility of me becoming Devil King and doing what I said I would do.
Once again, things got noisy. It's getting late, so I'll put an end to this farce.
"Well, that's basically it for the things I wanted to say. This Party is over, everyone go home. Ah, wait, before I forget, everyone will receive an email address, it's mine. You can use it to get in contact with me. Feel free to ask any questions, or try and have a meeting scheduled or whatever you prefer. Once you get the email, feel free to leave."
At that moment, the maids that were serving the guests then switched to delivering an envelope with the aforementioned email address. After that, they asked the guests to leave.
It was almost like I was throwing them out, but what are they going to do? Spam me? Compared to just basically declaring war on them, this was pretty light.
And I'm pretty sure I heard the Devil King laughing still. If he wasn't mad, I didn't have anything to worry about.
By the way, the email address was devilkingyuuto, just to rub some salt in some people's wounds.
In about 10 minutes, everyone had been, very kindly, kicked out.
And so ended my Party.
