"Thank you so much for coming," he said before we could start. "I am the Baron of Veryard, one of the ministers of the Kingdom of Blumund."
Rimuru: 「Many thanks to you as well. My name is Rimuru Tempest, and as I imagine you're already aware, I am a slime monster.
I'm not really well versed in etiquette in this country, so I apologize in advance if I mess something up.」
Fubuki: 「As for me, I go by Fubuki Tempest. Nice to meet you.」
I decided to keep thins formal.
I initially intended to drop out of this thing, but with Fuze's warning about this man, I wasn't about to drop a guard.
We shook each other's hand.
"Well!" he said as a maid came in with some tea. He took a sip. "We have only so much time. Let's begin."
Fuze, my fellow witness, straightened up. I followed his act, bracing myself and preparing to listen.
◇◇◇
Our negotiations with the Veryard went on into the night. The gist of it was twofold:
• A joint security agreement between Tempest and Blumund.
• Mutual permission to travel freely within each of our nations.
First order of business: The Kingdom of Blumund was, frankly, not very big.
It was a relatively weak nation, one that even had issues dealing with the monsters that marauded it.
Their relationship with the guild shored up a lot of that, but the government just wasn't up to the task alone.
Thus, after feeling around to figure out their position, the kingdom had decided to largely subcontract out monster control to the Free Guild in exchange for a boost in funding, allowing the government to focus on
intelligence gathering.
This let them promptly detect dangers and think of ways to deal with them, allowing them to stave off potential disasters before they happened.
Fortunately, this strategy had kept them from dealing with any major damage so far.
But as the Baron put it, there was no such thing as having too many seawalls, so they hoped to build a cooperative relationship with my nation as well.
And that was all it was: a promise that, should one nation fall into danger, the other would provide as much support as possible.
This included supporting the adventurers working in the Forest of Jura but didn't imply anything that special-just an agreement that we'd provide supplies for them in our town.
It wasn't going to be a big deal.
That much-supporting Free Guild members-Fuze had already asked us for previously.
Providing accommodation and materials for people working in the forest would help them cover a broader range, which naturally meant they'd be able to address more threats around the area.
It also meant that these guys
trusted us, which I liked.
Fubuki: 「Not to be rude or anything of the sort, but isn't the military power of Blumund the size of a peanut?
How's the first proposal going to help us in the long run? Should a war break out, you wouldn't have much to offer in terms of both quantity and quality, right?」
I asked out of nowhere, a question that had been bugging my mind.
It didn't seem reasonable to enter a deal where one side had the blooming advantage.
It was a given that our military might would only expand after we claimed more parts of the forest to ourselves.
Did he know about this?
We hadn't claimed nearly half of the forest, yet our military power was good enough to pass.
If we did, we would only acquire more power in our hands.
Such leisure wasn't what a nation like Blumund would be able to bask in.
They relatively depended on the Free Guild, and their military might wasn't much, so this seemed like a one-sided deal to me.
In terms of what they could bring to the table, their value was of no big deal.
I pressed on for answers, and it seemed I had hit the spot.
The unasked question was presented, and the room suddenly bore a suspended tension.
"Well, the-"
Fubuki: 「Not interested. If you're gonna say what I think you're planning to say, then save it. I'd rather not hear it.」
"Right..."
Fubuki: 「There is that support from the Free Guild, but the most they'll be willing to offer in that instance shouldn't be more than fifty adventurers, right?」
Rimuru looked like he was just enlightened.
Rimuru: 「Wow, I didn't think of that... An invasion by some foreign country would be a huge danger to Blumund.
If a new trade route was opened to the Dwarven Kingdom, Falmouth might see Tempest and Blumund in a negative light for that. That was a good enough reason to spark a sort of war, wasn't it?」
Fubuki: 「And that's not all. The Eastern Empire, too, always aimed on being the sole superpower in the land, didn't they?」
He said it himself: "The most important issues relate to our security agreement."
Customs' revenue would be chump change compared to a nation's entire defense budget.
What Blumund was really afraid of was a foreign power invading it through the forest.
The Eastern Empire probably had them on constant high alert, and
they wanted a bulwark against them.
They didn't lie to me-if we ever got in danger, I bet they would come to help. It'd be our turn next, after all, if this deal was struck.
Great, I almost let my guard down again.
"Heh-heh-heh. You certainly play a hard game, don't you?"
He smiled, shaking his head bitterly.
"Well, I tried," He smiled wryly.
"I hope you aren't offended?"
I shook my head.
Fubuki: 「As a baron of such a small nation, you did what you had to do. Taking offense in that would be a fool's errand.」
If he had succeeded in his plans, we would have been the fodders from the beginning.
It wasn't a thing I was fresh to, so I left it at that.
"I suppose we could terminate that-"
Fubuki: 「-I never said I disagreed with the terms and conditions, did I?」
The tension rose up again. My words could easily arouse suspicion, but I cared less.
They had tried pulling one over us, and I was willing to scare them a little.
"But that makes little to no sense," he argued. "What are you playing at?"
Fubuki: 「Isn't it your job to find that out? I'm not going to reveal my plans like a fool-surely, you didn't expect that, yeah?」
This was the kind of frustrating tactic I always pulled off against opportunistic schemers.
In reality, I actually had no ulterior motive of the sort.
But play an unreasonable game, and they'll start feeding you ideas that could even help conjure up a sneaky plan.
Once you choose to do the unthinkable, it was only normal for a human to panick.
After all, humans feared what they didn't understand, and I was one to capitalize on that flaw.
Once an unexplainable event occurred, they would always find one way or another to produce an acceptable explanation and call it reality, an individual observer's own subjective perception of that which is real.
When that happened, it was way easier to formulate a scheme of your own using those ideas from the doubting party.
This was a little ploy I made up against sneaky nobles, always on the drive for more.
Of course, if the individual never actually let up on their deduced explanation, cooking up a plan using their ideas was impossible.
But it didn't stop them from actively being on the wary side.
An enemy way too cautious and paranoid had the propensity to make mistakes, and even if their intentions weren't leaked, their ideals always remained the same.
Fubuki: 「Heh-heh-heh. Nothing, nothing at all, my good friend. I just hoped to get you on your toes-is all.」
"That is in no way comforting."
Fubuki: 「Like I give a damn.」
As I confirmed during our discussions, Veryard was fully aware of the importance of Tempest.
Traveling to the Dwarven Kingdom via Tempest as opposed to the
Kingdom of Falmouth would be both cheaper and safer to them.
The highways weren't done yet, but once they were, and we had regular traffic going back
and forth, the difference would no doubt be dramatic.
And once it was all in place, those highways were going to see heavy use, even if Tempest charged a bit of a premium at the borders.
"Hopefully," the Baron said with a smile, "we will both be on beneficial terms with each other by that time."
◇◇◇
It was time to say goodbye to Fuze.
We had exchanged our last greetings, so we set off.
In the distance, I decided to leave them a message.
Fubuki: 「See ya, Fuzie! Tell the Veryard bastard that we'll be entering a very big war soon, so we'll need all the forces we can get!」
Fuze: 「Eh? Wah-?! Wait, you didn't say anything about a war! Hold on a minute- Hold on just a sec-!」
His screams could be heard in the distance as I ignored him and picked up the pace.
Elen: 「Wait, are you for real?!」
Rimuru: 「Nah, don't sweat the small details. It's just a scheme on his part to have them sweating and investigating for answers.」
Kabal: 「Oh, I see...」
Next up was the Kingdom of Englesia, home of the Free Guild headquarters.
It's time to get back on the road.
◇◇◇
The journey to Englesia went smoothly. It was time to bust out the wolf wagon again.
There was a road set up, although it wasn't paved. Of course it
wasn't.
It'd take a huge amount of time and money to pave every road around here...via normal means, that is.
I had Ranga pulling the wagon in slightly shrunken form.
He didn't look much different from a regular old black wolf, so I figured it wouldn't be a problem.
We encountered several mounted soldiers on patrol along the path.
They all claimed that I wouldn't expect to see much in the way of strong monsters around here.
The gate had an even stricter entry process than the Dwarven Kingdom's.
There were three levels of inspections, the first of which required identification.
Anyone who couldn't produce papers on the spot was forced to the back of a ponderously long line for level two; mess that up and you were on to level three, where you were all but treated as a criminal.
By that point, once they were done with you, you'd seriously begin to wonder why you tried to enter in the first place.
But a lot of people were willing to risk it.
That's how attractive this nation was.
Thanks to my guild papers, I didn't have to care about any of that. Rimuru, too.
If I didn't have them, I'd be waiting in a long line. I hated that.
They ran the papers through some kind of magical device.
It was confirmed, and we were free to go after Rimuru had his checked too.
The people of this generation had no clue on my looks, so it was easy to get around freely, but as we had it, that was a dangerous thing to try.
Fubuki: 「You guys, I'm gonna be needing a mask for this one.」
Rimuru: 「Oh, yeah. That'll come in handy.」
Sticking to my word, I created a plain looking mask; not too gaudy, not bad, too.
Nobody bothered us as we walked around, taking in all the sights.
◇◇◇
We set out the next morning for the Free Guild headquarters.
Kabal: 「Right this way, Boss.」
As we continued, a hooded foreigner reached out for my pocket.
Oh, a pickpocket, huh.
Well, too bad, my friend, you picked on a guy whose money is stored in another world. Literally.
As he found nothing, the bastard saw it right to insult me.
"Tch, broke donkey!"
Fubuki: 「Broke donkey, you say?!I'll have you know I have diamonds and golds big enough to make a continent rich!
I can buy your entire generation without knowing, and you wouldn't even cost a single thing in my treasury!」
He was now scared. Did he really think I hadn't caught sight of him? How tactless.
The guards were naturally involved, too.
"Hey you, what's the ruckus about, huh?!"
Fubuki: 「I caught him trying to steal from me. And he called me a donkey.」
"Eh? Is that true? Oh, you just made my day, scum. I bet you'll earn me a few pocket changes. Guards, seize him this instance!"
It looks like he was some sort of guard captain, and he led a few more guards.
They began to chase after the thief, and of course, he ran with furious speed.
Rimuru: 「Hah, you attract attention everywhere you go. Let's keep going.」
Well, it's not my fault, at least.
The HQ building was a large, grand, modern-looking structure, a far cry from the medieval norm.
The US had steel skyscrapers with a dozen or so floors in the nineteenth century, back when Japan was still mostly single-story wood structures.
That was how powerful a nation it was by comparison, and the Kingdom of Englesia started looking similar to me.
Adjacent to the guild was a tall building that had just as grandiose a presence, adorned with a statue of a goddess and a large holy cross on the roof.
Wait, is that supposed to be Luminous? That's not even close.
She's way uglier than that, you know? You guys really don't know how it's done, do you?
Her chest is flatter than that, I swear, so don't go around spreading fake information.
This is a violation of the code of conduct, and I could sue you for doing such outrageous things.
Veldanava must be crying up there somewhere.
I'd already ignored the fact that they served a fake god, and now they went around doing whatever.
People these days...
*Sigh*
Stepping inside, we felt several pairs of eyes upon us.
They all appeared fairly high-level at a glance.
"Welcome! How can I help you today?" said a woman stationed by the door.
Her greeting, perfectly timed between breaths, made it feel like the lobby of a five-star hotel.
Not to be rude, but it was a far cry from the Blumund capital
branch.
Fubuki: 「Yeah, we're here to see the grand master. Here's our letter of introduction.」
We handed it to her.
"Certainly. Please give me one moment while we confirm."
She stepped away.
Our IDs were all checked at the door to confirm our qualifications.
All this happened before my eyes, but my mind was elsewhere.
「This individual uses the product of the Elven Empire. The product, in particular, is called a homonculus.
It has been deduced that this individual is a Semi-Spiritual life form.」
Yeah, I figured, too. Hella suspicious coming from someone associated with the guild master.
And her soul. It's unnaturally powerful, too. She should be a Calamity-class monster, right?
Her energy level, too, is somewhat high.
Alright, something is seriously going on. Everything seems wrong with her.
As all this unfolded in my mind, the woman from before returned.
"Thanks for waiting," she said with a smile. "I was told that only you two were allowed in, so if you would follow me, please..."
Rimuru: 「We'll be back in a bit.」 He said as we walked off.
The woman directed me down a deeper hallway before knocking on a certain door.
There was no response, but she opened it and went in anyway, inviting me to follow.
Going inside, I immediately noticed a magic circle drawn on the floor, much like the one Vester had drawn.
Probably from the same family.
Invited to step inside, I stood alongside the woman, feeling her activate the magic behind it for
just a single moment.
We must not have been teleported very far.
This new room, a sort of informal reception chamber, felt airtight to me-that circle might have taken us somewhere underground.
These were probably all anti-spy measures, I figured, and the thoroughness of it all left me with a lot to learn from.
The woman, well used to this procedure, gave us a bow before teleporting herself back.
Rimuru: 「I guess we're gonna have to wait for a while.」
I simply nodded.
Fubuki: 「Rimuru, we should remain quiet for now.」
I spoke softly, almost a whisper, but he caught on to me.
Good, now, let's focus on the mission.
After a couple of minutes, a door opened, revealing a single young man.
He was fairly handsome, with black hair and black eyes, but there was still more than a trace of youth to his countenance-young enough that I'd believe him if he said he was in high school.
"Welcome," he began, smiling. "I am grand master Yuuki Kagurazaka. It's nice to meet you guys. I've heard quite a lot about you! Feel free to call me Yuuki."
I turned to face him while removing the mask over my face.
Fubuki: 「Oh, nice to meet you too, grand master Yuuki Kagurazaka. I go by Fubuki Tempest. One of the rulers of Tenpest at your service.」
Following suit, Rimuru turned around to meet him, removing his mask to greet him, too.
Rimuru: 「It's good to meet you, too. My name's Rimuru Tempest, and I am the other leader of the newly established nation of Tempest in the Forest of Jura. Just Rimuru is fine with me, too.」
Yuuki: 「Wait. Is that Miss Shizu's-?!」
We stared at each other for a bit.
A murderous look crossed Yuuki's face. A beat-and then he disappeared from the opposite side of the table.
He threw a kick towards Rimuru and sent a ball of aura to distract me from countering his attack.
He and Rimuru exchanged a pair of kicks.
The resulting shock wave split the table in two. It was a tremendous blow-heavy, furious,
like nothing a human could launch.
I, for my part, didn't want to show anything off, so I made a really weak barrier in front of me.
The magic ball crashed onto my barrier, and it sustained heavy damage, with that proven by the crack that formed on the barrier.
Rimuru: 「Calm down, brat.」
The rage was gone from Yuuki's eyes, but he was still on his feet, ready to continue.
Fubuki: 「What's with the sudden change in demeanor.」
Yuuki: 「...Could you explain this to me in detail?」 he asked, his gaze fixed upon us.
◇◇◇
We sat across from each other, leaving the broken table where it
was.
Rimuru: 「Well, all right. Look, to be honest with you, I'm an alien from a faraway planet-」
Yuuki: 「What are you talking about? I want you to be serious with me! Honestly, I'm impressed you think this is a great time to goof off!」
Rimuru: 「All right, all right. I'll be serious now, so just chill out a little...」
Fubuki: 「Are you for real? I didn't see that coming, from you no less.」
Yuuki: 「You come all the way here, and that's the joke you go for? That's the first time I've heard that one. Are you by any chance...?」
Yuuki guessed it before we could even say it.
I guess that was his silly game all along.
Rimuru: 「So...I was attacked by this guy on the street...」
Yuuki: 「Ah... So you are Japanese, huh, Rimuru...?」
Rimuru spent the next while going into minute detail about what happened.
Once they got through with that, they talked about all kinds of things.
What they'd been up to in this world. Our trials and tribulations. Shizu's final moments and all.
Yuuki: 「That's how she decided to go...? I have to admit, she often told me about how much she didn't like this world...」
Yuuki closed his eyes.
Fubuki: 「*Sigh,* There is no point dwelling on dreary topics. Let's move on.」
I kept my otherworldly origin a secret from him; my doubts hadn't been cleared just yet.
My excuse came from my faked origin as a magic-born.
Being born due to the coagulation of dense energy from unknown sources, evolving into a high-level magic-born and acquiring a more humane form due to the evolution.
Of course, there was the suspicious stare, but after I showed him my claws and edited wings, he quickly fell for it.
I had kept quiet through most of their conversation, and on the other hand, they discussed a lot more than I had expected.
Mangas, anime, and all that stuff.
I was tempted to join, but I had an identity to conceal.
◇◇◇
Over dinner, our conversation drifted back toward more serious topics, in particular, about what we'd both do next.
Yuuki: 「So you risked your life to travel here, Rimuru, because Miss Shizu said we're both from Japan? I mean, I'd love to keep helping you going forward, but was that your only motive?」
Rimuru: 「Well, if I can kick back and chill out a little in this life, that's all I really want.
I've got a town pretty well built up, and basically, I'm just in this to have fun with my friends. But there's something that's been bothering me lately...」
He drifted off, placing a hand on his chin with a nostalgic expression.
Fubuki: 「Oh, are you talking about the constant reappearing dream?」
Rimuru: 「Yeah, that.」
Yuuki: 「Oh? Do tell.」
Rimuru went on to explain all about the dreams he kept having and the promise he made to Shizu.
Yuuki: 「...I see. Miss Shizu must have been really worried for them. But those kids are... Well, if that's what she wants you to do, then I trust you are up to it.」
He then dived into a long story, telling us about the children Rimuru saw in detail.
◇◇◇
After the end of our long conversation, I walked out of the guild headquarters, offering to treat my friends to dinner for making them wait so long.
"Oh, don't worry about it," they all said, but it was already early evening-Yuuki, Rimuru, and I had been talking practically from dawn till dusk.
I wasn't expecting the meeting to go on for so long, and they waited long, so I decided to just let them have it easy this time around.
We went to a restaurant with a famed reputation across the city, a far cry from our lodging.
As we greedily tucked into the gourmet dishes ferried to us, I
went over everything we had agreed to.
Fubuki: 「So, in about a week, we'll be having ourselves a job.」
Their response:
"Huh?"
"Where did that come from?"
"Hah! You sure are a joker, Boss!"
Neither Kabal nor his cohorts were having any of it.
We had to go through another round of explanation.
I remember the terms and conditions of the deal I struck with Rimuru, one of them being that I'd help with whatever he was on to.
Even if I was against becoming a teacher and all, a deal was a deal.
Besides, he also had his own part of the deal to follow.
Kabal: 「I thought we were contracted to stick with you until we were back?」
Rimuru: 「Oh, I'll be fine! That's why I set up that teleportation circle, right?
Because I figured something like this might happen. This way, I can go back to Tempest or
Blumund in the blink of an eye.
Gonna be a bit harder for you guys, though, huh? Good luck out there!」
Kabal: 「Whoa, whoa, are you serious? I thought we'd be taking that wolf wagon back, man...」
Elen: 「Yeah, really! Ugh, just thinking about the journey now makes me so depressed!」
Gido: 「Aw, c'mon, Kabal, and you, too, Elen. You guys are getting too used to life on easy street, aren'tcha? Not that I'm lookin' forward to getting battered and bruised on a regular wagon again, but...」
These guys... one moment, they're going on about how they'll take
responsibility and keep us guarded till the bitter end; the next, they're whining about losing their luxury travel.
It was certainly in character for them all, but still.
So, the five of us proceeded to drink away the loneliness and regret until late that night.
Overnight, I had a surprise wagon contracted for them.
It was just to give them a good reason to return. Nothing special at all.
The next morning, just outside the gates, we said our final good-byes.
Rimuru whipped out our wagon out of his stomach. A merchant was already approaching us, two horses in tow.
I ordered the seller to hitch his horses to the wagon.
Fubuki: 「All right, thanks for delivering 'em.」 I said as I signed his payment form.
They were surprised to see it all occur.
Fubuki: 「Yeah, so consider this wagon a parting gift for you guys, okay? Give it back to
Rigurd if you don't need it.」
Kabal: 「Uh, I think we're gonna need it a lot, Boss!」
Elen: 「You're so nice to us, Sir Fubuki!」
If only you knew how contradictory that statement was.
Gido: 「Whew! What a man. I wish Fuze could learn to be this nice to his people.」
They were all touched by the gift. I'm glad the surprise was a success. One more thing from Rimuru's side.
Rimuru: 「Your payment's inside the wagon, too. Check it out later-」
Kabal: 「Whoooaaa! Lookit this shield!!"」
Elen:
「Aaaaahhhh! This staff is incredible!!」
Gido: 「Well, look at this! That's one damn sharp-looking dagger. Wait, is this magic weapon?!」
Man, they're like hyenas.
Fubuki: 「You guys figure it out on your way. See ya.」
I waved them goodbye.
Rimuru: 「That's your payment. I hope you take good care of them. Bye!」
He also waved them off as the wagon began to move.
Thanks to the three of them ripping open their presents way too early, this was no longer any kind of lonesome, depressing goodbye for us.
They were all in high spirits as I saw them off-which was kinda fine. Nobody really likes sad farewells, right?
Besides, all the excitement seemed to cure their hangovers.
And this was Kabal's gang we're
talking about-they'd no doubt come groveling to me for help with some other crisis soon.
Thus, it was with an odd sense of satisfaction that I sent them on their way.
---------------------------------
Word Count: 「4410」.