The World Is Mine For The Taking

While I waited for Beelzebub to finish digesting everything she had swallowed, I figured this was probably the best opportunity to ask about something that had been bothering me ever since she ate those soldiers.

"The communication equipment?" I asked while looking in her direction, hoping she hadn’t digested those too.

Almost immediately, another one of her copies appeared right beside us.

She smiled at me with an oddly innocent expression before opening her mouth.

A moment later, she started pulling something out.

The object was so ridiculously large that there was absolutely no logical way it should have fit inside her mouth in the first place. It just kept coming out little by little as though the inside of her body completely ignored common sense.

Honestly, trying to question slime biology at this point felt like asking why water was wet. It was probably better for my sanity if I simply accepted it and moved on.

Eventually, she managed to pull everything out without damaging any of it.

All of the communication devices were covered in a thick layer of sticky slime.

Thankfully, they still appeared to be working perfectly fine despite everything they had just been through.

"Alpha Three? Are you still there, Alpha Three?"

A voice suddenly crackled through what looked very similar to a walkie-talkie.

I honestly hadn’t expected to find communication equipment like this in a fantasy world.

Then again, firearms had already existed here long before I reincarnated into this body.

On top of that, I had personally introduced plenty of technology from Earth and adapted it to fit this world’s level of development. Looking at it that way, seeing portable communication devices wasn’t really all that shocking anymore.

"Hello there," I answered calmly. "At the moment, Alpha Three is unfortunately out of commission. Right now, you’re speaking with... let’s call it a temporary substitute."

Silence answered me from the other side.

Several quiet seconds passed before the person finally responded.

"...Who are you exactly?" the mysterious voice finally asked with obvious caution.

A smile naturally spread across my face.

It was the sort of smile an obvious villain would wear just before making someone’s day significantly worse.

"Mephisto," I replied without the slightest hesitation.

"Mephisto?" the voice repeated. "I don’t know what kind of joke you’re trying to pull here, but do you honestly think this is the time for one? Using a name from Faustian mythology isn’t going to make you sound impressive."

That immediately caught my attention far more than anything else he had just said.

They knew about the Faustian legend?

That wasn’t something I had expected to hear from someone living in another world.

Did that mean Zoey’s world had once shared some kind of connection with my previous world?

Or maybe that world had naturally developed an almost identical legend on its own.

Either possibility was fascinating.

It also raised another question.

Which world had actually come first?

Was my world the original source of that story?

Or had the legend originated there before somehow making its way to Earth?

Thinking too deeply about it only made the line separating both worlds feel even blurrier than before.

"Well, you can refer to me by that name from now on," I said. "As for the current situation, your invasion of the Kingdom of Bethlan has failed, and the commander you sent here is as good as dead."

Silence returned once again.

The person on the other end didn’t respond immediately this time.

"...What exactly do you want from us?"

That question honestly struck me as a little strange.

Judging by everything that had happened so far, I was fairly certain they already knew exactly what I wanted.

"If you honestly believe you can invade and conquer a world that doesn’t belong to you without consequences," I said calmly, "then you’re making a very serious mistake."

Another brief silence followed.

Then a loud laugh echoed through the communicator.

"Fuhahahaha!"

His laughter sounded surprisingly genuine.

Instead of sounding irritated or threatened, he almost seemed excited that someone had finally challenged the Republic directly.

"You truly believe our world conquering yours is somehow wrong?" he asked.

That was honestly one of the strangest opinions I had ever heard.

Anyone who genuinely believed there was absolutely nothing wrong with invading another world probably had a few loose screws somewhere.

Granted, I wasn’t completely innocent either.

The difference was fairly obvious, though.

They intended to conquer through overwhelming force.

I was taking a much slower approach, and I wasn’t marching into foreign lands while pointing weapons at everyone I met. Well, I was pointing a different weapon though...

"Do you truly believe a world beneath ours isn’t worth conquering?" he continued confidently.

That single sentence immediately changed my impression of him.

The person I was speaking with clearly held far more authority than I had originally expected.

"Sounds like you’re sitting pretty high up the chain of command," I said. "Are you the General?"

"Lieutenant General, to be more precise."

So he wasn’t the General himself.

The General I had been referring to was the current president of the usurped principality.

This man was the second-in-command.

Even then, I honestly hadn’t expected someone of his rank to answer the communicator personally.

That alone made this conversation far more valuable than I had anticipated.

"Well," I said while smiling faintly, "since you’re someone that important..."

I paused deliberately for a moment before continuing.

"Here’s something I’d like you to remember."

"I’m listening."

"I officially declare my intention to wage war against every single one of you," I said without raising my voice. "You should look forward to that day, Lieutenant General. While you’re at it, make sure you pass my message directly to your General as well."

My smile slowly widened.

"Both of you are going to lose. You’ll both be defeated by my own hands before this war finally comes to an end."

Before he could answer, interrupt me, or even attempt to continue the conversation, I ended the transmission without giving him another chance to speak.

The communicator immediately fell silent in my hand.

Without wasting another second, I casually tossed the device toward Beelzebub.

She caught it effortlessly with one hand before swallowing it whole as though she were eating a small snack instead of advanced communication equipment.

After finishing that one, she calmly proceeded to eat the remaining communication devices as well, making sure none of them would ever be used again.