The Clashing of Two Worlds

Interrupted Schemes

[A few hours ago]

The quiet sounds of tiptoes were heard in a conspicuous alleyway in the Kingdom of Ingracia.

A clown-like figure wearing a purple mask with one eye closed sped his way through the narrow gaps between the buildings. He was headed towards the Freedom Association headquarters.

It was an important message he had to deliver, after all. Something so important that he had to go undercover in an extreme fashion.

The clown readily slowed down in a silent fashion as he approached an uninteresting door on the back of a large, white building, overshadowing the area in which he stood.

He opened the door, and the inside revealed a small, blue magic circle. He approached the circle and was teleported upwards like being in an elevator.

As the teleportation stopped, he happily strolled through what seems to be a gloomy, dark hallway, and stood before a much grander, wooden, hand-crafted door.

He gave it a little push. The door revealed what seemed to be a room with a pair of sofas, an armchair, an antique office table with an office chair, and a shelf on the wall possessing intriguing and odd objects and books.

A figure was sitting on the office chair, elbows on the table, hands on his chin, contemplating. He had dark, messy hair, with large, slightly droopy eyes and black pupils. He wore a business-military suit don in white with golden accents and white business pants with black, leather shoes. His face resembled that of an asian and looked like he was in the mid-20's

The clown bowed before the sharply-dressed figure. "Boss, I have come to report something."

The young man gazed towards the bowing clown. "Laplace. Anything interesting you found?"

Laplace stood upright immediately. "Indeed so, boss. It seems that demon lord Rimuru's domain suddenly possessed what seemed to be a portal."

The young man's eyes lit up a bit. "A portal? In that slime's domain?

He pondered a bit and gave a response.

"I mean, a portal is definitely interesting, but I would rather not mess around with that Rimuru, especially since you stated that the portal is in the land he controls." He twirled around with a pen. "I'm more concerned about the Rosso family."

Laplace stared at the pen and back at the young man. "I mean, boss, there seems to be some powerful figures that appeared from there—"

The young man cut him off almost immediately.

"Powerful figures? Were you able to see who they are?"

Laplace shook his head in disappointment. "No, unfortunately."

The young man lumped back into his office chair.

Suddenly, the main door opened. A feminine, short clown with a tear-eyed mask, an obese clown with a menacing mask, and a sharply-dressed female elf entered the room.

The feminine clown ran towards Laplace. "Laplace! Where have you been? We weren't able to find you!"

The fat clown chuckled gallantly. "Yeah, Laplace; what have you been doing?"

Laplace looked at the two clowns. "Oh, Tear, Footman. I was just doing some scouting work in the Jura Forest."

The feminine clown by the name of Tear tugged Laplace's shirt. "You should've brought us with you!"

The young man stood up. "Enough! I told Laplace that he would scout alone."

Footman and Tear became silent.

The female elf questioned the young man, head tilted in confusion. "So, Yuuki-san, what were you and Laplace talking about?"

The young man, named Yuuki Kagurazaka, sighed. "I and Laplace were talking about a portal he found in the demon lord Rimuru's domain. You know anything about it, Kagali?"

Kagali shook her head. "Sorry. I know nothing of the matter."

Yuuki nodded in frustration and turned his attention towards Laplace. "So Laplace, about those powerful figures ..."

Laplace quickly jumped to conclusions, twirling as he spoke. "Oh yes, about that, boss. Despite being unable to analyze who they were, I assumed that they must be related to the undead."

Yuuki caressed his chin. "When did you see this?"

Laplace replied without hesitation. "During noontime, boss."

Yuuki gazed at the ceiling. "Undead during the daytime, eh? These must not be your ordinary undead ..."

Kagali raised a question. "So what are you going to do with our current plan, Yuuki-san?"

"Mmm .. the Rosso family are definitely the main issue here, but right now thanks to this, our plans with Clayman's dungeon may be interrupted ..."

Yuuki snapped his fingers in realization.

"Laplace, did Rimuru take any action?"

Laplace tilted his head a bit and then answered. "Yeah, it seems so. I heard a rumor that he left the city in search for the beings that passed through the portal."

Yuuki smiled as if he understood something important.

"I see. Then let's stay with the same plan."

"Isn't the portal going to draw out demon lord Rimuru's attention?"

"Yeah, yeah; he may just forget about going to Clayman's castle!"

Footman and Tear raised their questions about the flaws in the plan.

Yuuki gave a slight chuckle. "I'm sure it's fine. It shouldn't affect our schedule, if I'm correct."

"But, Yuuki-san, what would you do if it were to turn out like this?"

"We'll just shift our attention towards the portal. Since I'm intending to clear suspicions held by that slime towards me and getting rid of Mariabelle somehow, we could always use the portal somehow to our advantage."

Kagali pondered for a bit. "I guess you can say so. However, I'm still more interested in exploring the ruins."

"The ruins we will definitely explore. It's a matter of if Rimuru will come or not."

The room fell silent. Yuuki once again began to speak.

"Since we had a slight change of plans, I would like to assign new jobs to some of you."

He looked towards Kagali.

"Kagali. Continue preparing for the ruin exploration. The plans executed there will proceed normally."

Kagali bowed. "Yes, Yuuki-san."

"Laplace. I would like you to monitor demon lord Rimuru's situation. Tear and Footman, I would like you to assist him and keep an eye on the portal."

The Moderate Clown Troupe kneeled to the ground. "Yes, boss!"

Yuuki gave a nod in approval. "That's it. You may all leave now."

The four left in their respective directions