The Next Morning

After a night of drinking and discussing Rimuru's peculiar thoughts about your new body and his strange feelings and thoughts towards you, both of you went back to your homes awkwardly to try and sleep off the awkward night and let a new morning reset things. Rimuru was on his way to pick you up for the first meeting of the morning as he stopped in front of your house and firmly grabbed the sliding door before sliding it open with the wood frame being slightly smacked by the door.

"Hey, Y/N! Rise and shine! Time to get the day started..." Rimuru's voice trailed off as he looked inside to see Mai was still dressing you as your head was inside a shirt with your arms stuck lazily above your head. "Need some more time?" He asked awkwardly.

"Yes, please..." Mai awkwardly requested as an audible snore came from inside your shirt and Rimuru slumped his shoulders in exasperation.

After getting you nice and cleaned up for the day, Mai and Rimuru dragged you along to the meeting hall where all the Kijin, Kaijin, Geld, Rigurd, Vesta, Gabiru, Rigur, Gobta, Ranga, Diablo, Iris and Veldora were all waiting in the meeting room for you two to begin. You sat in a nice chair with soft red cushions that was prepared for you as Rimuru sat next to you in his slime form on a smaller, slime-sized chair of similar fashion. You covered your mouth with your hand while letting out a yawn as Rimuru spoke up to begin the meeting.

"Okay, everyone, as I'm sure a lot of you already know, I have assumed a new job as Demon Lord, and that both Y/N and Iris have been acknowledged by the others as well." Rimuru reminded everyone of the official title he held.

"Congratulations!" Everyone in the room gave you three a round of applause as it made Rimuru a little giddy, Iris was a bit unsure how to react, and you were still sleepy.

"At last!" Rigurd said with praise and excitement.

"Truly amazing! I'm overcome with awe!" Rigur expressed his amazement.

"It's the dawn of the age of Great Rimuru and Great Y/N! It's also a momentous occasion for you as well, Iris!" Shion made sure to include praise for Iris as the Ghidorah warrior smiled at Shion.

"Thank you, Shion-san." Iris said humbly as she stood by your side.

"Oh, right. I didn't mention this, but it's been decided that our domain will be the entire Great Forest of Jura." Rimuru informed everyone as this shocked everyone at the table as they all seemed taken aback. "We're already known as its leader, so that's no problem, right?" Rimuru asked as he expected them to answer with confidence, but you both were surprised when they remained silent. "Wait, what? Did I say something bad?" Rimuru asked while glancing at you while you gave him a shrug of confusion with your arms and tail.

"Um...The entire forest? Truly?" Rigurd asked nervously.

"Y-Yeah..." Rimuru stuttered but managed to confirm this.

"Wait, seriously? 'The entire forest' means the part across the river, too, right?" Benimaru asked for specifics.

"I guess... Is that a problem?" Rimuru asked him while Benimaru held his hand to his chin in deep thought.

"I wouldn't call it a problem, exactly, but as I recall, the area across the river is not under the Dryad's influence. The part of the forest that recognized you and Great Y/N as its leaders was only the part that had been built by the Dryads. To those who live across the river, the emergence of a new Demon Lord must be very troubling, let alone them finding out there's really two new Demon Lords." Benimaru explained the complication that this would have.

"Oh, boy. This is gonna be a big to-do. That means the Demon Lords have accepted that the rights to all resources gathered in the forest belong to Rimuru and Y/N, right?" Kaijin explained another thing that would affect the status of Tempest and your domain.

"Gathering resources there has always been carried out implicitly..." Rigurd trailed off about the usual business that would go down on the other side of the river.

"But now, they'll need Rimuru or Y/N's permission just to live in the forest." Kaijin explained the new implications of other inhabitants that live in the forest.

"And there are many already living there." Gabiru included a small bit of info to Kaijin's findings.

"Then you mean all of 'em are gonna start coming to us now for permissions to do stuff?" You asked Shuna who sat on your right.

"That is likely. Now that you've both officially become Demon Lords, any who don't come to greet you will be seen as rebellious." Shuna answered with a slightly amused smile at the situation.

"You mean they'll come to greet RIMURU and ask permission from HIM since he's the officially announced Demon Lord, meanwhile me and Iris are just recognized, so we don't have to deal with all that trouble~" You said with relief as Rimuru glared at you.

"Hey! That's not fair!" Rimuru yelled at you while you just gave him a shrug and Iris awkwardly smiled apologetically towards Rimuru as he melted a little in his small chair. "After all this time, though?" He sighed in slight discouragement.

"No, no! This is just how much power a Demon Lord holds! " Rigurd said in reassurance of things to try and ease Rimuru.

"Even Lizardmen would give anything to have a Demon  Lord's protection! It never even occurred to us to consider them enemies. To ignore a Demon Lord is simply the pinnacle of foolishness!" Gabiru exclaimed the great benefits that come with Demon Lord in regards to establishing relations with other people than your own.

"None of that really matters to us, though..." Rimuru muttered as you shrugged your shoulders in agreement.

"The Lizardmen will be coming to greet you, at least. I have informed my father that you two are Demon Lords now!" Gabiru announced the arrival of the Lizardmen.

"Abiru-san's coming here?" Rimuru said in surprise of their visit.

"Yes! I did inform Shion, as well..." Gabiru said as you two turned towards Shion with questioning gazes.

"Oh?" You and Rimuru muttered in lower tones as you both had no clue about this.

"But Father has said he wants to greet you two in person!" Gabiru finished as Shion looked extremely proud with a smile on her face.

"Hehe. Of course. Anyone would want to do that for Great Rimuru and Great Y/N." Shion said as she seemingly skipped over the part about her not telling you two.

"Uh, no, you didn't tell us about this, Shion!" Rimuru exclaimed as she remained aloof to the fact. "But if the Lizardmen are coming all the way out here to see us, I bet a lot of people from even smaller races will be coming, too." Rimuru thought as he imagined more and more different tribes and monsters appearing to meet with you two. "Which means...Hey, yeah. We might as well..." Rimuru seemed to have hit an epiphany as he spoke up to everyone. "You know, I was thinking... Maybe we might as well just put out a big announcement and use this as a way to introduce our city to the world? Having everyone come at once would be easier than having them all come separately, right?" Rimuru suggested to everyone.

"By which you mean..." Rigurd asked as he found it difficult to understand Rimuru's thoughts in the moment.

"We still have room for a bit of a boost to our population. In fact, we could use more laborers. We'll introduce our city now in hopes of gaining new citizens. If they're coming to see us anyway, we should have them get to know our city. And then some monsters might think about relocating here. We have to entertain Milim, too... Besides, every day has been so tense around here lately. We could use a break now and then, right? So let's all throw a party! That's what I'm saying!" Rimuru explained as this was an exciting plan everyone was interested in.

"A party?" Benimaru repeated with an intrigued smile on his face.

"Let's do it! By all means!" Rigurd showed his full support for this idea.

"If I have to make my debut anyway, we might as well go big or go home!" Rimuru suggested as you all agreed to the notion.

"Yes!" You all sounded off in agreement as the plan was settled for later.

"Okay, we'll put the festival idea on hold for future consideration. Souei, what changes did you see in the monster ecosystem?" Rimuru asked in wonder of the environment outside of town.

"Well, I sent out body doubles all over to investigate, and I saw nothing of serious concern." Souei reported nothing out of the ordinary.

"At most...There was a sword grizzly in the northwestern region of the forest, so I eliminated it." Souei added the only thing that would seemingly count as something of small concern that he quickly handled.

"Hm, so no major issues." Rimuru acknowledged before Raphael had something he should know about this monster.

"Notice. The sword grizzly, like the knight spider, is recommended for adventurers of rank A-." Raphael informed him as this was shocking to Rimuru.

"What?!" Rimuru thought in shock before turning back to Souei. "Wait, that's a level that ordinary adventurers can't handle!" Rimuru asked for confirmation from Souei.

"Yes." Souei responded without any hint of unease or fear of the beast.

"Really? If something that strong is out there, we probably shouldn't send the new recruits that way." Gobta suggested out of the safety of new warriors in training.

"It won't be a problem. Perhaps you are being too soft on them." Souei slightly questioned the methods that Gobta was teaching his new disciples.

"That's a monster that we can't let our guard down around!" Gobta countered, emphasizing the seriousness needed when taking on a Sword Grizzly.

"Then you simply need to intensify their training." Souei suggested as Hakurou seemed to agree to that notion.

"Precisely." Hakurou said to his disciple.

"You monsters!" Gobta exclaimed in shock of their harsh training methods and seemingly lack of care towards their student's lives.

"Well, we are Oni." Hakurou countered with a bright smile on his face as Gobta counted five Oni's in the room, while Shion was a special case, being a 'Wicked' awakened being.

"Yep." Kurobe confirmed as you chose to spoke up about the topic.

"Well, building up Gobta and team would be beneficial in the long run. The real cause for concern would have to be the occurrence of monsters. It'd be too late to act once anyone gets injured. There's got to be a way of handling them. Anyone have any thoughts?" You asked of them as Vesta took his chance to speak on the topic.

"In that case, why don't we set up an anti-magic barrier?" Vesta proposed as this confused you and Rimuru.

"Anti-Magic Barrier?" You two muttered in wonder.

"We just finished it, boss. A fully automatic magic generator prototype." Kaijin announced with a thumbs up.

"I knew you were working on something secret, but a fully automatic magic generator?" Rimuru was lost at what kind of tool they had created.

"It's a ground-breaking magic device that automatically maintains any spell entered into it." Vesta explained as Rimuru got an idea of what he was talking about.

"So it's something like rune magic?" Rimuru asked him.

"Yes, but with drastically higher efficiency and scalability." Vesta emphasized the improvements from the rune magic used at the bath house.

"Y'know, we were pretty useless during that whole barrier mess before. We just couldn't live with that." Kaijin said as this was some shocking news to you both.

"I can't believe you got as far as a prototype in such a short time...These old dudes are incredible!" Rimuru whispered the last part to you as you nodded in agreement.

"Kurobe and I helped out when we had time!" Gabiru added in their contribution.

"Yep!" Kurobe confirmed this information with a smile.

"Actually, I helped them a bit, as well." Shuna chimed in as Iris raised her hand with a gentle smile on her face.

"I was also asked for assistance on this project." Iris admitted as this amazed you and Rimuru.

"Heh~? So you could say this is the culmination of all of Tempest's magic technology, huh? Nice work, you guys. Then, why don't we head out to see this grand piece of work you all pitched in to help." You said as everyone got to their feet and you all left on a little expedition to check out the barrier prototype.

After taking a small stroll through town, you all wound up at the perimeter of the city and stood on one of the main roads that their prototype had already been installed along. Staring down at the brick road there was a device implanted into the paved out and layered ground as a spinning mechanism was visible for all to see and a gem shined in the center of the mechanism.

"Tempest, as a nation of monsters, has quite a high concentration of magicules. I had been thinking for a long time about a way to utilize that. This fully automatic magic generator is designed to use the magicules drifting about in the atmosphere." Vesta explained the utility of this device as you all stared down at the rotating plate.

"And we can use this to put up an anti-magic barrier?" Rimuru asked as you crouched down to it and tilted your head while examining the wonderous machine.

"Yes, but... That is not its only advantage." Vesta said as he and Kaijin shared a pleased look on their faces. 

"Isn't keeping monsters out with an anti-magic barrier our goal? What other advantage could it have?" Rimuru asked in wonder as Kaijin let out a chuckle as you all looked to him.

"Hehe. Your mind's about to be blown, bosses. See, this thing's got a magicule-accumulating device built in. If we use this, we can bring down the amount of magicules in the atmosphere." Kaijin explained as this was surprising news.

"Ooh! It's literally just the thing we need to solve our problem!" Rimuru said in excitement of the prototype.

"Exactly, Great Rimuru. However, this device does have its flaws. Without a certain level of density, it's too inefficient to be useful." Vesta admitted to some downsides to the prototype.

"That shouldn't be a problem in this city, though." Kaijin dismissed such worries as you two agreed.

"It couldn't be anymore right for out situation. So this generator gathers the magicules from the atmosphere to automatically keep an anti-magic barrier up at all times?" You asked as Kaijin crouched down next to the machine.

"That's one thing you can do with it, but if it runs out of magicules, the magic disappears. So I designed it with the ability to store some fuel." Kaijin explained a backup plan for the machine.

"What's the fuel?" Rimuru asked in wonder.

"A crystal made of magicules pulled from the atmosphere. In other words, a magicrystal." Kaijin said while pointing towards the crystal in the center of the mechanism as you two stared at it in wonder.

"Huh? I could see using magistones, but won't it be too inefficient to use magicrystals as fuel?" Rimuru asked in wonder.

"Answer. When a magicrystal is converted to magic, 90% of it goes to waste." Raphael informed him of the loss in conversion.

"That's right. But we've got the rune magic you came up with for us, remember?" Kaijin hinted towards the use of rune magic.

"Oh!" You and Rimuru said in amazement.

"With rune magic that minimizes the amount wasted, even just 10% will be efficient enough for our purposes." Vesta explained the solution and minimal losses of this problem.

"And it ain't as if the wasted magicules just up and vanish." Kaijin said as you two picked up on what they were laying down.

"The magicules that don't get used and are considered 'lost' are instead reused." You said as both of you thought the same thing as you glanced at one another.

"And that means a perpetual motion machine might be possible!" You two exchanged thoughts as the image of a spinning mechanism from your world appeared in your minds and could be conceived here.

"With reduced magicule density, few monsters and spirit beasts will spawn. And the chances of anything spawning that Gobta's crew can't handle will be near zero! That really is a fantastic invention!" Rimuru said as Vesta and Kaijin both nodded in agreement. "It's a great match for our country's unique characteristics!" He exclaimed in excitement.

"Indeed!" Gabiru nodded in agreement.

"And an anti-magic barrier isn't the only magic it can be used for." Vesta informed you two as both of you stared at him in confusion. "Although there is a limit to what magic it can handle..." Vesta trailed off as he knelt down and grabbed the rotating plate on the mechanism and tried pulling it out, but had groaned as its weight was too much for him.

"I'll help you." Geld immediately jumped in to help as he grabbed the edges of the stone plate and lifted it up with ease, revealing runes that had been carved with a formula they made.

"Changing out this magic disc that has the magic formulae engraved on it allows us to generate all sorts of different spells." Vesta presented as everyone was amazed at how much this one generator was capable of.

"It's literally just like a record player! I can't believe they made something like this based on the vague image we gave them!" Rimuru thought in amazement as he remembered you two badly explaining to them what a record player was. "And if they're able to make a smaller version, it may eventually be possible to equip them! Or they could make a bigger one that could generate magic on a large enough scale to use in war!" Rimuru thought in excitement as he imagined a small walkman-type mechanism and a massive speaker-system that could be invented into this world with this new discovery.

"Ahem! Now, allow me to propose how we might actually make use of it. First, we install fully automatic magic generators in the road we're building, spaced out evenly among the stones. Then we activate the anti-magic barrier. So long as the magicule density is high, we won't need to replace or swap out their fuel. The only work they'll need is daily patrols to ensure  they're working normally." Vesta proposed a very well, laid out plan as you two were amazed.

"Nice. You've really thought this through. It's easy to use and versatile! So what's the barrier magic formula you'll engrave on it?" Rimuru asked in wonder.

"Hehehe. Dord's finishing that up right now. And we've asked Kurobe to mass-produce the generators. We were just waiting for your approvals." Kaijin explained as Kurobe stood beside his partners on the project.

"Yep." Kurobe confirmed in a pleased tone.

"Oh, okay. Then, Vesta, can we count on you to supervise the work?" Rimuru asked.

"I have fewer classes to deal with now, so it would be my pleasure." Vesta humbly accepted the request with a bow.

"Great! Start tomorrow if you want!" Rimuru encouraged him.

"Understood." Vesta said as Geld spoke up next to him.

"They're a bit heavy. Allow me and my men to install them." Geld offer the services of himself and his workforce for the heavy lifting of the project.

"I would appreciate that, Geld." Vesta said as everything was moving along much better than expected.

"Kuahahahahahaaaa!" You all suddenly heard a hearty cackle behind your group as everyone turned around to see Veldora had suddenly appeared out of the wood works. "So once that's done, I can unleash my aura all I want, right?" Veldora asked with a hopeful and excited smile on his face, meanwhile everyone else seemed troubled and unnerved by the thought of such a incident that would create.

"No, you can't!!!" You and Rimuru scolded Veldora in his face as he was shocked from your reactions.

"If you do that, most of this country will die!" Rimuru explained as you wrapped your arm around Veldora's neck and began giving him a violent noogie on this head.

"We just got out of one bad situation, I'll be damned if I let you create another one!!!" You said in annoyance as your hand moved faster on Veldora's head, creating some smoke from the friction as he was yelling in pain.

"AHHHH!! I-I GOT IT!!! LET ME GOOOO!!!!" Veldora cried out as you growled and continued to punish him for his thoughts of doing such an action as Vesta could only awkwardly laugh at the thought of Veldora releasing his aura as you let him go and he rubbed his head with a tear leaking from his eye.

"Yeah, but...I've been restraining my aura for such a long time. It's getting tirin--BWAH!!" Veldora was suddenly interrupted when a tail smacked down on his head and behind him was your mother.

"We had a lesson on this just about 200 years ago, don't you remember? Jeez, you always never retained any of the stuff I taught you..." Malenia said in annoyance as Veldora was twitching on the ground with a welt on his head. "That being said, it is a bit of a hassle to be suppressing our mana. Rimuru, how do ya handle this?" She asked in wonder as the small slime turned to her.

"Me? I just shove it all into my stomach." Rimuru explained as you nodded along with him.

"I also tried sucking in as much as I can. Before I couldn't get everything, but now it's pretty easy to do. I don't know where it goes in me though..." You said in wonder while bringing your tail forward and staring at it for a few moment.

"When we became Demon Lords, our magicule quantity exploded, but Gluttony evolved into Beelzebub at the same time, so my stomach's capacity also increased exponentially. So I have no desire whatsoever to unleash my aura." Rimuru explained his end of the story as Malenia was intrigued.

"Huuuuh? Interesting..." Malenia said before turning towards you. "For you, my son, we store our magicules in our dorsal plates." She said while pointing her thumb to her back as she made her dorsal plates flash blue.

"Really? Amazing..." You said in amazement as you tried staring back at your own dorsal plates while Rimuru also examined your back in wonder as you made it flash blue.

"But, my Lords..." Diablo suddenly spoke up as you all looked towards him. "To completely conceal one's aura, as Lord Veldora and Lady Malenia do, is most difficult. Even Sir Benimaru and his brethren leak a bit of aura. Even you are leaking some at this moment, Great Y/N." Diablo explained as you blushed in a panic.

"Huh?! Really?! Where?!" You asked in shock while trying to cover different parts of your body with your hands and tail in a bashful manner.

"The dorsal plates on your back, dolt..." Malenia said while gently tapping you on the head with her fist as you yelped in surprise and stared at her in annoyance with a pout. "Don't worry. I'll show you how to completely suppress it later." She said in reassurance.

"Right! Diablo, you really do get it!" Veldora said as he was pleased with Diablo's analysis.

"As Lord Veldora possesses exponentially more magicules than most, it must be quite a struggle to constantly suppress them." Diablo explained as you two turned to him.

"Is it, Veldora?" Rimuru asked in wonder.

"Yeah! Which is why I'd really like to just bang it out somewhere!" Veldora explained with an innocent smile before Malenia smacked him with her tail once again.

"Idiot. If you just 'bang it out' somewhere, you'll end up taking out the entire area around you. Not only that, but you'd end up making a bunch of monsters probably appear that'll probably be on the same level as that Charybdis thingy they fought last time." Malenia said what both you and Rimuru were thinking as you two nodded along in agreement. 

"Okay. We'll give that some thought. Hang tight just a little longer." Rimuru promised him as Veldora seemed satisfied with that.

"Very well! I can hold out for a while longer, but do try to hurry!" Veldora asked politely as he was quite the handful of a best friend you two had.

"Sheesh...Just when I thought our magicule density problem was take care of, an even more challenging problem turned up." Rimuru thought before Shuna and Mai suddenly approached you two.

"Here." Shuna said as Rimuru looked up in surprise to see her offering a refreshing orange drink with a straw. "For you." She said with a bright smile.

"Please, my Lord." Mai also offered you a drink as you and Rimuru shrugged at each other before you took a nice sip from the drink at the same time as one another.

"Life just never goes the way you want it to. Or should I say... 'slife' never does." Rimuru thought while happily drinking through the straw that attached to his extended slime appendage.

"You have some, too." You said as you offered the partially consumed drink back to her, but she blushed while staring at the straw.

"H-Huh? Then..." Mai stammered as she didn't take the glass from you, but instead leaned forward and placed her lips around the straw, drinking from your hands as you were confused by what she was doing before she pulled away after a few sips. "T-Thank you, my Lord!" She exclaimed as her face was turning redder and redder while you looked at her in confusion and your mother grinned cheekily as she knew what Mai was thinking.

After hearing everyone else's reports and checking out the project Vesta and Kaijin had worked up, you all returned to the meeting hall where Gobta had fallen asleep earlier and remained. After he received a welt on the head due to physical scolding, all of you returned to the meeting room to wrap things up.

"Okay, we've heard all your reports, so..." Rimuru trailed off as he hopped out of his small seat and popped out a rolled up piece of paper before landing on the table in front of Geld and extending the parchment out to him. "Here." He said as Geld took the parchment in wonder and once he unrolled it to read the insides, he was stunned by what he saw.

"Wh-What is this?" Geld said in surprise and intrigue as he looked down to see a schematic and blueprint for a new construction project.

"We wanted you to be in charge of this construction. The two of us racked our brains around for some time while having drinks and came up with a castle that we could build for Milim and the others. We have our absolute faith that you'll make it the best it can be. How about it? Is this something you'd be willing to take on?" You asked Geld from where you were seated as Rimuru nodded his slime body in agreement.

"My Lords..." Geld could only mutter in disbelief as you and Rimuru grew a bit concerned over his unnerved reaction.

"Oh...Maybe we put too much pressure on him." Rimuru thought as he turned to Kaijin with gesturing stare as the dwarf understood what he wanted.

"Leave it to us, bosses. I'll go with Geld and back him up. And I'll take Myrd along, too. You can count on us to build this city just the way you want it." Kaijin offered his support on the project to provide reassurance as you two were pleased with his answer.

"Yeah, I know it's in good hands with Kaijin. This'll do. Little worries can be blown away by doing more tasks worth doing." Rimuru thought as he turned to look at the Orc Lord who seemed nervous about the whole thing. "Geld, we know you're up to this. Of course, if you have any trouble, you can come to either of us. So go into it with a light heart, okay?" Rimuru reassured Geld of his approach as the Orc Lord stood up in disbelief while placing the paper down on the table.

"B-But this is an immense task." Geld spoke with a sense of some doubt towards his abilities to complete such a project.

"It'll be fine. Even if you do, it'll turn into more experience for you. And the loss would only amount to the cost of one city, right? We can always make that back." Rimuru assured him of the minimal loss that would incur even if there were complications during the project.

"That's right! Not long ago, even I--Huh?" Gobta was about to reveal something he botched as you and Rimuru turned towards him with questioning looks as he avoided eye contact and covered his mouth. 

"What exactly did you do not long ago? You can tell me and Rimuru about it all in our office later." You said in an intimidating and interrogative voice as Gobta was shocked.

"Gah! Was that a really clever trap?!" Gobta asked in shock as everyone got a laugh out of the interaction, even getting Geld to calm down and have a change of heart towards the project as he smiled.

"Thank you, my Lords. It appears I was too worried over a trivial matter. Please..." Geld trailed off as he stood out of his seat before kneeling down to you both with his hands intertwined in front of him and his head down. "Entrust me to take on this task." He asked as you two nodded with a sense of relief.

"Yep. We're counting on you." Rimuru said as he had a look of determination and confidence in his eyes.

"No fair giving everything to Geld!" Shion suddenly complained with a pout as you all turned towards her.

"He's the right man for the job. You have a very important job of your own." Rimuru said to try and relieve Shion of her complaints.

"You must mean cooking!" Shion exclaimed excitedly with a bright smile.

"I do not!" Rimuru countered firmly before regaining his composure. "A-Anyway, I'm sure you do a lot, but cooking really isn't for you." He said awkwardly as Benimaru looked over with a nervous smile.

"He's right, Shion. You have to protect Great Rimuru and Great Y/N while I'm away." Benimaru said as he tried to push her towards any activity that was away from the kitchen.

"Of course!" Shion said with glee as she fell for their words and Rimuru hopped back into his small chair.

"Well...I guess that's about all for today." Rimuru said before something had just come to mind in that moment. "Oh, I almost forgot! Diablo, let's hear how your plan has been working out." He asked the demon on your right as he bowed in response.

"Of course. Allow me to explain." Diablo said before raising his head with a calm smile. "First, as for Sir Youm...Bargaining with both royals and nobbles will surely be a challenge for him. So I am having Edmaris educate him." Diablo unveiled the fine-societal training that Youm was being put through.

"Youm's got it pretty rough, too, huh?" Gobta felt sympathy for the adventurer who was out of his wheel house.

"Depending on how things go, it might be interesting to take Edmaris as an ally." Diablo pitched the offer.

"That could be a good idea." Rimuru sounded off.

"And as for his brother, the new king, Edward...He does indeed seem to be up to something behind the scenes." Diablo revealed the true intentions of Falmuth's new king behind the scenes.

"But wouldn't it take months to rebuild and mobilize their army?" Rimuru said in wonder of how they could put together a force in such a short time.

"Not if the countries and kingdoms backing them offer assistance and reinforcements. Even then, it's a lot of shoes to fill in with their army in complete shambles and cut down to a fraction of what they once had..." You included on this topic as Diablo chuckled.

"Kuhuhu. I want to finish all this quickly, so I have employed measures to hurry things along." Diablo said as this was a surprise to you both.

"What? But then won't our preparations--?" Rimuru couldn't finish as Diablo was already prepared for such a topic.

"Not a problem. I have entrusted Sir Benimaru with building our army." Diablo said with turning towards the General with a confident smile as Benimaru had a reassured look on his face.

"Yes. We're all ready. We have a force to work out in the open and another force to work behind the scenes. In fact, everyone wanted to join, so selecting troops was difficult." Benimaru confirmed the mobilization of your forces and their completed preparations as you and Rimuru were surprised by how well off they were.

"O-Oh..." Rimuru muttered as he was unsure how to comment on this.

"You guys really breezed through this one, huh?" You muttered awkwardly while leaning your head against your hand as it was propped on the arm of your chair.

"Also...I wouldn't exactly call it a problem, exactly, but..." Diablo trailed off as he sounded a little of from his usual confident self and you two glanced over in wonder.

"What?" Rimuru asked him.

"Reyhiem has not yet returned." Diablo informed of the extended absence that the Archbishop was supposed to have.

"Reyhiem? You gave him my message, right? Did it not actually make it to him?" Rimuru asked with some concern about the message he prepared previously.

"No, I gave Reyhiem the crystal ball and had my subordinate escort him to the capital of Engrassia. My subordinate cannot enter the capital due to the barrier surrounding it, but I have confirmed that Reyhiem, at least, entered the city." Diablo explained as Rimuru was left with more wonder about this news.

"Engrassia?" Rimuru asked in wonder of why that location was his destination.

"Engrassia and Lubelius are connected by a special magical corridor known as a Gate. I have ordered Reyhiem to use that." Diablo explained the reasoning for Reyhiem travelling to Engrassia as Raphael had a report.

"Notice. The Gate is a magic circle that enables instantaneous travel between two points via a special dimension." Raphael explained to Rimuru in his head.

"I should receive a report once Reyhiem has returned." Diablo explained as you and Rimuru began to surmise what happened to him.

"And because the report he was supposed to relay has yet to come in...do you think it means that they had him killed to keep silence on the topic?" You asked Diablo in wonder of his thoughts on what happened to the Archbishop.

"No, there is no sign of that happening as of yet. My unique skill, Tempter, steals the soul of the one I'm controlling if they die." Diablo explained to put some ease on that possibility.

"Then if you haven't received his soul, it means that he's still alive. If he's alive and not being silenced, we won't be put in the center of a target as bad guys for anyone else at this time." You said with some relief.

"This kind of sucks, though. There's too little information for us to get an accurate read on the situation." Rimuru said with some dejection.

"I apologize. I feel it would be too dangerous to infiltrate Lubelius." Souei apologized as he thought Rimuru was talking in reference to Souei's capabilities to monitor and obtain information.

"No, no, it's okay! Hinata is in Lubelius, after all. Being reckless there won't do us any good." Rimuru said as Benimaru feel deep into thought over the mention of the woman who ambushed Rimuru.

"Hinata Sakaguchi..." Benimaru muttered her name ominously.

"The message I sent said that I'm willing to let bygones be bygones. I threw in a little needling, too, but that's part of the charm. The most ideal end would be if they chose to coexist with us and not get hostile. I don't think Diablo's plan can fail, so long as the Western Holy Church doesn't do anything." Rimuru explained his hopes for a desirable outcome.

"Personally, I'd prefer to settle things here and now." Benimaru admitted his wanting to quickly settle things between the two parties.

"While Great Rimuru was battling Hinata the Saint, Great Y/N and us were being attacked. The two events were surely connected, and there must have been someone orchestrating them." Shuna reminded everyone of the possibilities of recent events. "And to prove that, Clayman hinted at a mastermind behind the scenes." She said.

"The one he referred to as just 'he'?" Rimuru said in response.

"Correct. We must not rule out the possibility that 'he' may act, as well." Hakurou spoke in caution of everyone keeping up their guard.

"The one Clayman referred to as 'He' cannot be overlooked by anyone." Iris said with a serious look on her face as you nodded in agreement.

"That's right. If this person that was pulling the strings of even Clayman is a part of everything, too, Hinata might have laid out a plan as well and might make her move soon." You said to Rimuru as he turned his slime body down in confusion.

"But something just doesn't make sense. I feel like I'm missing something..." Rimuru said in confusion before something came to mind in that moment for him. "Hey, do you think Hinata attacked me not of her own will, but because someone asked or ordered her to?" He asked everyone as this was something none of them had come up with and they were surprised.

"What do you mean?" Benimaru said in confusion.

"You're saying that someone set you up to be ambushed by her?" You assumed the point Rimuru was trying to get at.

"Hmm... Well, to be honest, I can't imagine Hinata taking anyone's orders." Rimuru spoke his hunch on the type of person Hinata seemed to be.

"The boss is right. The only one Holy Knight Captain Hinata might listen to is the god Luminus." Kajin said as Veldora and Malenia who were reading manga on a couch on the side of the room had their interest piqued at the mention of this person.

"The god Luminus...Did you say Luminus?" Veldora asked while slightly lowering his manga from his face.

"That woman won't even listen to the cloistered emperor." Kaijin commented on how independent Hinata was.

"Uh-huh...See? I was right. She didn't listen to me at all." Rimuru sighed as he remembered how close-minded she was during their fight.

"So there is no one who can give Hinata orders?" Benimaru muttered in assumption and confusion.

"Then was the timing a mere coincidence?" Shuna asked in wonder.

"There's still the possibility that instead of an order, someone instigated and ushered her along down that path. Though if her way of thinking is this blunt..." You trailed off as Diablo understood what you were getting at.

"It's highly unlikely that 'he' could have ordered her to do it. Correct?" Diablo finished your thought as you nodded.

"Exactly." Rimuru and you said in confirmation.

"Whoever 'he' is, he mobilized the Kingdom of Falmuth, controlled the Demon Lord Clayman, and tried to destroy our nation, yet he's not capable of getting Hinata to do what he wants." Benimaru laid out some of the strengths and weaknesses that this individual who was targeting your nation possessed.

"Which means the Western Holy Church will not act this time. Is that your conjecture, my Lords?" Diablo asked.

"Yeah, that's the thing...I've made it clear that I don't want us to have a hostile relationship." Rimuru said before more thoughts entered his mind. "Surely Hinata isn't dumb enough to antagonize Tempest, where Veldora and Malenia and Y/N and I are, after I said that. Hinata said we were in her way, because the Western Holy Church--the Luminist doctrine--doesn't acknowledge coexistence with monsters. But maybe that's not all there is to it." Rimuru thought in wonder before Raphael had something to say to him.

"Notice. The chance that multiple motives are in play has increased. All of these events are connected. However, I surmise that they were not the product of a single will." Raphael informed him while showing him a timeline of events from different factions that all ultimately led to the goal of Tempest's downfall.

"Um, so you're saying..." Rimuru trailed off as he wanted to know what she was getting at.

"Answer. All involved nations, individuals, circumstances, and other factors. At a glance, it may seem as if all their interest align, but there are contradictions. It would be unnatural to unify them all as the will of a single mastermind." Raphael explained how certain aspects of each faction conflicted with the others.

"In other words, there's still more than one person behind it all. Right...When I look at it that way, it makes sense." Rimuru said as he took into account all your enemies objectives and their problems with your nation. "We were in Clayman's way, but at the same time, he tried to use us. So if Hinata and I had destroyed each other, he would've been thrilled. We, as a nation's leaders, were in the Kingdom of Falmuth's way. They were probably hoping Hinata would kill me and that they would've killed Y/N with their initial attack. As for Hinata, given her stance on upholding the doctrine, there was no way she could ignore monsters like me or Y/N. That's where all three of their motives aligned and things were set in motion. As a result, I escaped from Hinata, Y/N's true power was awakened, Falmuth was defeated, and Clayman died. Whoever 'he' is, he must be pretty busy rebuilding his forces after they were reduced so suddenly. Would he still try to fight us head-on?" Rimuru wondered while going through his memories of everything that transpired before.

"Answer. It is unlikely he will take that action. If that mastermind's power overwhelmed even Clayman, he surely would have intervened at an earlier stage." Raphael answered. 

"In other words, there's no reason for him to come after us. Someone who's been hiding all this time won't suddenly make a move now." Rimuru understood the stance that yours and his opponent was currently in and the disadvantage he was under currently.

"Notice. You must not forget the high possibility that there are multiple people at work in the shadows." Raphael made sure to remind him of these dangers.

"Good point." Rimuru thought to her before speaking aloud. "And if there are other masterminds, it's easy to imagine things playing out with no regard for what Hinata wants." He said as Diablo was able to follow along with his words.

"So, because multiple interests are at play, we should assume that Hinata's will alone is not the deciding factor. Is that what this all means?" Diablo asked his slime master.

"On the nose as always, Diablo. Maybe we were mistaken." Rimuru assumed.

"By which you mean..." Benimaru asked on what part they were misunderstood.

"Like Diablo just mentioned, there's probably more than just one person behind all these incidents. And now because all their interests aren't staying aligned, they aren't on the same page as one another." You explained the fallout of their interests and common goals.

"I see." Geld said as he finally understood what you two were talking about.

"Brilliant as always, Great Rimuru! Great Y/N!" Rigurd praised the two of you.

"And you think the person Clayman hinted at is conspiring with them?" Benimaru asked in wonder.

"I don't know about that, but it'd be dangerous to act on assumptions when we have so little information." Rimuru warned about the consequences of acting rashly with little evidence to back up these claims.

"If you consider that Hinata might have acted out of some obligation rather than on orders, things make more sense." Kaijin explained as Kurobe next to him hummed in agreement.

"Kuhuhuhu...Then I shall conduct one more investigation. I'm told it was the merchants who gave Edmaris and the others their information, but thinking about it now, that seems extremely dubious." Diablo said as something about what he just said confused Rimuru.

"Hang on... Merchants?" Rimuru muttered in confusion as you all looked towards him.

"Is something the matter?" Diablo asked with some concern.

"A lot of money gets spent on war, and there are warmongers everywhere. So I was just thinking it's entirely possible that those merchants would work behind the scenes in hopes of making a profit." Rimuru explained his thoughts to everyone about the possibility that the merchants had some sort of role in this incident.

"I see." Diablo said in understanding and amazement as Rimuru hopped out of his small chair and changed into his humanoid form before turning to Shuna across from you.

"Shuna, Mai, check the ledgers we recovered from Clayman's castle for records of all merchants who visited there." Rimuru asked of the two ladies.

"Understood." Shuna and Mai responded in unison.

"Diablo, look into all the merchants who've done business with Falmuth." Rimuru instructed the demon as he bowed his head.

"With pleasure, my liege." Diablo responded with a respectful bow.

"Benimaru and Iris, re-screen our reinforcements. Make sure they're ready for anything." Rimuru said as Benimaru nodded.

"Sure. Leave it to us." Benimaru said with confidence.

"It will be done, Lord Rimuru." Iris said with a respectful bow of the head.

"Rigurd, we're gonna throw a grand festival, so get everything ready for that." Rimuru instructed Rigurd as the leader of the hobgoblins was fired up.

"No need to tell me twice!" Rigurd said with a bright smile and fist pump.

"Geld, give all you've got to your work." Rimuru boosted Geld's morale.

"Of course." Geld responded in kind.

"Hakurou, act as Benimaru and Iris's aide." Rimuru gave his orders to the eldest Kijin.

"Very well." Hakurou accepted humbly.

"Gabiru, help Rigurd." Rimuru said to the Dragonewt.

"Yes, sir!" Gabiru accepted his task with a firm nod.

"And Rigur, review the city's security measures so we'll be ready for all species that will be visiting." Rimuru gave the last task to Rigur as he was also ready to go.

"You can count on me." Rigur said in reassurance as Rimuru turned to the purple Kijin beauty next to him.

"And Shion..." Rimuru trailed off as he stared at the expectant and energetic Kijin who wore a bright smile on her face. "Um, Shion, uh..." He found it hard to assign a task to Shion due to her track record, but felt nervous as he stared at her bright expression. "I know! You can escort me along with Ranga! Yeah!" He came up with a simple task for her.

"Right!" Shion accepted with joy as you covered a laugh with your hand.

"You can count on me, Master!" Ranga popped out of Rimuru's shadow as Rimuru began petting his wolf.

"What about me?" Veldora asked in wonder and hope.

"Uh...Oh! Veldora, you stay out of everyone's way." Rimuru said as Veldora shockingly accepted this with a smile.

"I'm all over it!" Veldora exclaimed with a confident smile.

"Is he, though?" Rimuru thought in concern.

"Malenia, can you pitch in and help Rigurd and Gabiru?" Rimuru asked as your mother closed her manga in her hand and crossed her legs over one another with a smirk.

"Yeah, sounds easy enough." Malenia said with a strong and confident tone.

"Oh, and Gobta-kun..." Rimuru called to him as the sleeping Gobta's nose bubble popped and he looked over in confusion and surprise. "I know you're tired, but remember to come to our office." Rimuru reminded him as Gobta was shocked he still remembered the trouble he wanted to hear about.

"You're not getting out of this that easy..." You said with a scary smile while firmly planting your hands on Gobta's shoulders as he had a despaired look on his face when you suddenly appeared behind him.

Gaining a nice laugh at the end of everything for the day, the executive meeting ended as they usually did as things in the city were totally unaffected by the evolutions of you and Rimuru to Demon Lords.