That Time a Bookworm Got Ascended in Tensura

Ch.26 Lower City

Rimuru's pov: 

"A bit of fun, that thing was the largest trombe I've ever seen!" Kardstedt seemed to barely lose his composure starting now. However it wasn't exactly much loss, just raising his voice. He was quick to lower it again when who I was sunk in to him. "Sorry, Rimuru-sama. It simply seems, unwise.." 

"I liked the shouting more than that." I said with a little bit of an annoyed tone. Then looked back to the crater, wondering what exactly to do about it for a moment. "Really it was just a bit of fun, it was still weaker than Charybdis. Hell, it was still weaker than Clayman." I stated a bit abruptly  once I realized they probably had a plan for this. I turned back to them suddenly and waited patiently, while urging them over to the crater with a hand. 

It seemed Karstedt understood this, he immediately started giving orders for all of the knights. Though he seemed to walk to talk to Ferdinand and Sylvester very badly. Once he had given all the orders, he walked up to the blue robed priest and started talking to them about the situation. Afterward they all mounted those statue beast and flew off toward the crater, with the blue robed priest riding with one of the knights. 

I had a stupid smile plastered on my face at the moment, as I was very satisfied with the results of the fight. 'Maybe being a monster makes you a battle maniac?' I wondered to myself while watching the knight. I turned to Sylvester and Ferdinand suddenly. "So, what do you think? I was just having a bit of fun, right?" I asked them with a small bit of pleading in my tone. 

Sylvester seemed to smile a bit, "I suppose with the ease of the victory, it was just a bit of fun." He seemed to understand it very quickly, leading to us trading grins. Then he stretched a bit while looking relieved. "I can barely believe that was so easy for you though, it is incredible." He seemed only barely exasperated. 

Ferdinand  seemed unamused from the exchange, as he let out a small sigh while stand up a bit straighter. "Next time, kill it right away. Please?" He wasn't exactly pleading, but it definitely was a bit of a desperate tone. 

I nodded softly before stretching out my wings again. "I am gonna go watch, or would you prefer I just teleport us all there?" I ask briskly, I certainly wouldn't mind. Taking to the air was great, so I tried to do it regularly. 

Ferdinand nodded back, at my statement. He took a stance next to Sylvester while waiting. The knights that had been guarding the carriage stood next to the two of them, slightly behind. 

I nodded back and casually walked toward them before yet another magic circle appeared below us and we disappeared. Immediately reappearing near the center of the crater, where there appeared to be quite a lot of damage from my small rampage. The ground had been completely torn asunder and scorched to a black dust. "Hm, yeah. Just a bit overboard." I said in a bit of a regretful tone. 

The knights had already arrived, each of them was lined up row by column in a rectangular formation. At the front, it seemed Karstedt was talking to the blue robed priest. The priest now had a golden staff with a few gem embedded in it, and was starting to chant. As the chanting started it appeared as if magicules were flowing from the priest and our into the surrounding area. Soon enough, there was grass and flowers growing across a small circle in the middle of the crater. It seemed they didn't have enough magicules for this as they already appeared exhausted. 

I tilted my head to the side a bit, and tapped my chin lightly. 'Raphael-sensei, can you copy that spell?' I asked her as I looked at the ground of knights, it seemed each of them was willing to contribute their magicules if necessary. 

<It has already been replicated. It was expected Master would want to acquire it.> Raphael said in a seemingly smug tone. 

'Of course it was. Thank you sensei.' I thought to her while stepping forward. "Would you like some help? I don't think you have enough for this." I said in a bit of an apologetic tone, calling someone weak was a pretty big insult among monsters. I had suspected they would have the faintest idea of that, and may get offended. 

A few heads turned to me, with fearful glares. Though it seemed Karstedt was nodding. "If you believe you can." He said in a bit of a defeated tone after having already switched places with the blue robed priest himself. He was panting lightly, though not outright exhausted. 

I nodded and stepped forward, taking the staff myself. I then simply executed the spell without the chant, as well as not making prayers to their gods. It was unnecessary for me to do so, after all. I watched in a bit of excitement as the magicules flowed from my hand and into the environment. It was quick to grow grasses, and even some fairly small trees. At this point I had stopped though, realizing I had made the magicule concentration here higher than the surrounding areas by a few times. "Got a bit carried away again." I smiled a bit and handed the staff back to Karstedt. 

It seemed the group of knights were staring at me with wide eyes, though some were wider than others. I assumed those with [Magic Sense] likely had a greater understanding of what I had done. The blue robed priest seemed to visibly get a bit of a jitter while staring at me, and realizing the difference between us. 

With a bit of a springy step, I made my way back to Sylvester and Ferdinand. It seemed Ferdinand was a bit irritated, and so he spoke up. "That was far more than was needed to restore this area. It may attract an even larger trombe in the future now." He was less blaming me and more the likelihood of another infestation. 

"I can have the dryads start patrolling this section of the forest more regularly."  I said while trying to give him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Though my height made it sort of difficult to do so. I was quick to actually follow through on that by sending a [Though Communication] to Treyni and her sisters, instructing them to do just that.  

This seemed to satisfy Ferdinand as he relaxed just a bit. "You have far more power than you can be responsible for." He said in a small jab at me, though it was true. 

Karstedt was quickly walking up to the small group of us, to talk seemingly. "I do not believe I introduced myself properly. My name is Karstedt, Commander of the Knight Order here in Ehrenfest." He bowed his head slightly, while making sure to keep a distance. 

I nodded as I turned to him while taking in all the information for a moment. "It is nice to meet you, no need for the formalities though. Just call me -san, please." I was quick to offer a simple honorific when talking about each other, I had already become uncomfortable with Ferdinand and Sylvester's use of -sama. 

To this Karstedt nodded, seemingly having experienced this with someone already by the look on his face. "Did you accept their offer? I had heard about the intention of their visit." He seemed to be talking about the vassalization of Ehrenfest. 

I nodded discretely, then sent him a [Though Communication]. 'I gave them a counter offer, but we can talk about that more in private.'

Once the thought had made it's way to him, he was quick to nod back to me. He then looked back out on the group of knights and gave them orders to mount once more. Afterward he turned to us, "Do you need an escort?" He asked to the group of use with a bit of a raised eyebrow. 

I shook my head while looking to the others. "Personally, I'd like to just teleport the rest of the way. This diversion did get us a little set back." While saying it I changed back into my noble outfit and made myself just a bit shorter. 

Sylvester and Ferdinand nodded in unison, then Ferdinand began to speak. "If you would, it would be far easier. I understand Shuna-dono's complaints about such things, however it seems we would have been at the city in less than an hour if not for this." He seemed to try to rationalize why we would do it, afterward making a soft solemn nod. 

With that I smiled happily, glad to just travel quickly for once. I stepped toward the group of four and immediately set up another teleportation circle. It was only a moment before we were standing a few hundred meters from the gate of the city. 

It seemed they felt somewhat uncomfortable, staring at what would be the city's southern gate from where we were. Ferdinand was  the first to comment, "Wouldn't it make more sense to set us inside the Nobles' quarter?" He seemed to be insistent on that, which made me a tiny bit annoyed. 

"I'd like to see the entire city, that includes walking through the lower city." I insisted back while making a step toward the gate. Really I didn't care that much if the city was disappointing, I was expecting it.  

Ferdinand seemed to take a resigned stance, while Sylvester  seemed quite interested in this himself. That certainly did not bode well to me. The knights on the other hand didn't seem to react, having come to expect my eccentricities now.  Maybe they were just able to hide their reactions behind their helmets though. 

With this settled I made my way toward the gate, walking quickly enough to make myself seem distinctly inhuman. Though I slowed down as I approached to make myself seem more natural, assuming my appearance wasn't already unnatural in its own right. The group tailing me certainly did need to enter a small jog to catch back up to me, so I may have executed that poorly. 

Though the guards at the gate seemed more than oblivious to our antics, which was both good and bad. Noticing our approach they looked incredibly surprised, the group of us certainly wasn't a sight you'd see just walking down the road. They immediately got together in a group to greet us, seemingly in a state of incredible confusion. 

I giggled at this slightly under my breath. I simply stood at attention in the group and waited for one of the guards to approach. Ferdinand and Sylvester flanked me, while the knights flanked them. Really it was far too imposing for someone of my height. 

It wasn't long before a young man, maybe twenty years of age had walked up to us. He seemed to be concerned for my safety in particular from the look on his face. He had a soft one, with dark brown hair and brown eyes. "I suppose you want to enter the city? Do you have documents, I do believe you are nobles. Though I wasn't told to expect a visit, I trust you have everything you need?" He was polite, and firm on the important stuff. 

I nodded softly and pulled a piece of paper from my [Stomach], causing the guards to look visibly surprised. The paper contained all the travel documents for me as the reagent of Tempest, as it was a thing I may need for talks with Gazel or the King of Blumund, I always had it on me.

Once it was handed over to the young man he seemed to visibly feel uneasy with the contact to it, it was bathed in my aura after all. He unrolled the sheet and read over it's contents, his eyes seeming to get wider with every single line. He began to get a bit more uncomfortable after handing it back to me and took a step back. "And your companions?" He seemed to have a pretty big fear of me in his eyes, I almost let out a sigh seeing it. 

I gestured toward Sylvester first, the simply stated it. "Sylvester Aub Ehrenfest, your current archduke." Then I gestured over to Ferdinand, "And Ferdinand, his younger sibling and archduke candidate." I explained both of their titles in a bit of a nobler tone than I normally conducted myself. 

The group of guards seemed to almost fall back as their eyes went wide. The young man in front seemed most surprised, though. He seemed to come to terms with what I said being true after remembering the residue of my aura on the document. "Open the gate!" He turned and yelled the order out to the other guards. 

I had entered [Thought Acceleration] now to identify the face in front of me. I had remembered it from someone, then it came to me. Gunther had told me to tell a certain Otto, that he had made it to Tempest safely. I had more in mind though. As I left [Though Acceleration] I started talking to him. "Oh, Otto-san. Gunther made it safely to Tempest. I'd like you to talk to Benno about a position in the Gilberta company the next time he is here, he may have something to offer you with current happenings." I gave a cheeky smile before walking off into the gate. 

"How did you recognize his face?" It was Sylvester who had asked the moment we were out of earshot. He seemed a bit surprised at my ability to do so, as Otto's appearance wasn't exactly striking. 

"I used [Thought Acceleration] and examined it closely. I knew who he was pretty fast, Gunther was quite insistent to tell him." I replied. Afterward I took a small look at the two knights still tailing us. 'They'll be a problem if I want people to interact with us.' I thought, then leaned over to Ferdinand. I whispered to him, "Tell the knights to break off from us and meet us back at the Temple." 

Ferdinand smiled just a bit in that same unpleasant way, though he nodded in compliance. It was not long before his intention was communicated and the knights had left the three of us alone once we were outside the gate and into the streets of the lower city. 

I was quick to inspect the state of the lower city. Expanding my [Universal Perception] to it's full range and using [Thought Acceleration] to take everything in. I inspected the state of the buildings here first. They were primarily constructed of wood, and only lightly insulated. Windows were primarily small, and many in the southern-most part of the city did not even have glass. There was very little decorative ornaments built into the structures and they primarily served purely practical uses. It seemed the wealth got more concentrated the further north you went, however. Once I was inspecting building closer to the plaza, the windows got larger and began being single pane glass windows split into four or six sections to make allow for the pieces of glass to be made smaller. The insulation in the walls began getting thicker and more sufficient for the climate, as well the decorative pieces of the buildings began to become a thing. Some of the largest buildings were even including entire rooms which served more than simply practical purposes. I additionally documented a map of the lower city and asked Raphael to mark a few locations of interest. 

<Complete.> Raphael stated promptly. 

After this I began making my way down the street, getting plenty of stares. 

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--2634 words--

(AN: Cut here to prevent chapter from dragging on too long.)