Sword Demon Battle Ballad: Act 1

Sword Demon Battle Ballad: Act 1 (剣鬼戦歌――一幕) is a side story featured in Monthly Comic Alive. It is the first of nine total acts in Sword Demon Battle Ballad and a sequel to Re:Zero Ex Light Novel Volume 3.

Summary
In a prologue, Grimm Fauzen finds himself in a battlefield that was devastated by Valgren's dragon fire. He saw the Sword Demon in the distance fighting against Valgren. Grimm steeled himself, and proceeded to move towards where his companion was, so that he would not have to fight Valgren alone.

After the battle with Kurgan and Wilhelm, and Stride cursing Veltol Astrea in Picouttate, Wilhelm was summoned to an urgent meeting by the leading political figures in the Kingdom of Lugunica to discuss the matters that had happened. Wilhelm delivered his report to the council which was chaired by Bordeaux Zellgef.

The council went into uproar hearing what had happened, outraged by this act of aggression. Immediately, they launched into a discussion of who Stride may have been, and what his purpose had been attacking the people at Wilhelm and Theresia's honeymoon. The members of the council presumed he was a noble of the Vollachian Empire. The meeting concluded with the members deciding to send a letter of correspondence to the Empire, inquiring about whether they knew about these events.

Following this meeting, some time passed, until eventually Wilhelm was summoned to Bordeaux's office. The reasons for this summons was because Bordeaux had finally received a reply from the Empire. The letter from the Empire denied the events that had taken place in Picoutatte. Bordeaux was furious at this, and thought the Empire was trying to gauge their strengths by trying to attack the current Sword Saint. Both of them were quite worried about this, as they were both dubious about whether the covenant with the Divine Dragon was still in effect. They decided to proceed with caution with the matters at hand.

Wilhelm then left the Royal Castle, meeting up with Roswaal J Mathers in a tavern to discuss Stride. Wilhelm had entrusted to her to find information about who Stride was, and what he was doing. Roswaal unfortunately had no information to deliver, but purposely set up a trap to try and lure Stride into. The tavern was attacked by multiple Shinobi which were quickly dispatched by Wilhelm and Clind. They purposely let one of the Shinobis escape so that they could try and use it as a lead to finding Stride. Wilhelm left this matter to Roswaal, as he feared that there could be another attack back at the Astrea mansion.

Wilhelm arrived at the Astrea mansion, finding Stride awaiting him there. He was aware that the Kingdom had been trying to look for him, and decided to show himself on purpose to the people at the Astrea mansion.

Characters

 * Grimm Fauzen
 * Wilhelm van Astrea
 * Valgren
 * Miklotov McMahon
 * Bordeaux Zellgef
 * Stride Vollachia
 * Kurgan
 * Theresia van Astrea
 * Carol Remendis
 * Conwood Melahau
 * Roswaal J Mathers
 * Clind
 * Orphe
 * Cragrell Dawson
 * Garitch Fabless
 * Veltol Astrea
 * Tishua Astrea
 * Pivot Arnancy
 * Gionis Lugunica
 * Shasuke
 * Raizo
 * Melinda
 * Carlan Astrea
 * Thames Astrea
 * Cassiles Astrea
 * Fribal van Astrea
 * Volcanica
 * Roswaal K Mathers
 * Valga Cromwell
 * Razak Gildark