That Time a Bookworm Got Ascended in Tensura

Ch.29 Duke's Wife

Rimuru's pov: 

I closed my eyes. 'Raphael.. Take control of my aura, please.' I asked sorta in desperation.

<Done.> 

Opening my eyes again, I could see the room was tense. My aura was no longer nearing out of control. "Sorry. It's over. I  should not have let that happen." I kept silent after saying it, not wanting to try to make any excuses. 'Really it was inexcusable.' I thought to myself. 

Karstedt finally managed to catch his breath with a lot of effort, his eyes regaining focus and his face turning back to a normal tone. "That is.. incredibly intense.." He trailed off while saying it, and holding his stomach. 

I nodded slightly. "It really isn't something I can be careless with anymore." It wasn't long before I had resigned myself to sitting back and breathing intentionally. It was the first time I had breathed actively in at least a year, so it was a bit difficult at first. 

Sylvester after catching his own breath seemed to immediately make a small motion with his hand. "So that's what you are always hiding? It is terrible. I'd do anything to get these screams out of my head.." He trailed off on the last part. 

Ferdinand seemed to perk at this, and got a bit of a thoughtful expression. "Are those hallucinations part of your aura? I don't remember seeing them before." He was still solemn after the experience, but he was quick to try to change the subject. 

I nodded lightly. I wouldn't explain it to Ferdinand, but it was indeed part of the demon lord's haki. They were intended to induce fear and panic on a target upon exposure, the effect only triggering when I have violent intentions. "So are you willing to meet her now?" I kept the subject focused, and posed the question to Karstedt immediately after the time we had to breath. 

Karstedt closed his eyes for a moment. "That aura makes it even harder to trust you. Your willingness to defend the honor of this person do lead me to believe you are honorable, however." He thoughtfully inputted his thoughts, and took a moment to stabilize himself further by placing his hand on the table and leaning against it. 

"Will that aura have effected the rest of the temple?" The question was posed by Fran, who seemed to have just recovered. He was not composed enough to keep up his normal formal mask at the moment. 

"No, it only spread within this barrier. An anti-magic effect was applied to it the moment I lost my temper." I was quick to explain, it was a failsafe Raphael had suggested for just this kind of situation. I used [Beelzebub]  on the remaining excess magicules in the air by holding out my hand for a moment, afterward resting it back on the table. "That should be the last of it." 

Fran looked visibly relieved then recomposed himself, and took his stance back at the edge of the table. Being quick to silence himself, after realizing he had spoken. 

Finally I got a response from Karstedt that was useful, "I suppose I can accept, I believe if you wished me or Ehrenfest harm, it would have already come." Finally voicing his conclusion he held out his hand for a shake. 

Taking his hand I immediately cast the spell, the magic circle forming under the table. It quickly shrunk into our clasped palms and then shot into Karstedt's  chest. The terms for this one were slightly stricter, not allowing him to converse about Raphael with anyone but Ferdinand and Sylvester. 

"Fran." Ferdinand was quick to call Fran over, and made a small motion for him to raise his hand. Orders which Fran was quick to obey. 

"Is he really Myne's retainer? He seems more like yours." I mused while making light of it a bit. Soon my hand was clasped into Fran's hand as well. It was quickly the case the contract applied to him as well. 

<Finally.> Raphael's voice rang out through the air next to me, before a cloud of black and purple mist formed there. Out came Raphael in a new outfit, reminiscent of my noble outfit. Though the suit was white and blue instead of read and black. Along with this her cape was a golden color, with midnight blue fur lining. 

"You really didn't  hesitate, are you starting to get impatient all the time now?" I joked to Raphael while making a quick smile toward her. I stared into her eyes for a moment afterward, almost losing myself for a moment before glancing away. 

Raphael tilted her head slightly at this before looking away toward Karstedt. <The point of me coming out is simple. I want to prove my trustworthiness. Ask me one question, if Master allows me to answer it, you'll get your answer.> I had not been informed of the plan, though I found it a a good one. Though it was slightly uncomfortable sitting directly next to her as she refused to mirror my relaxed position, instead sitting straight up and in an unmoving perfect poster. 

"Wait, wait. First may I ask who you are? You look very similar to him." Karstedt gestured toward me discretely. He seemed to have already dropped the formalities after the encounter with my aura. 

"I'll answer that. Knowing her she would count that as your question. She is [Raphael: Lord of Wisdom], though I won't explain further." I said promptly in response, trying my hardest to beat Raphael to the punch. 

I got a small glance from Raphael, with what looked like a momentary glare. Though I believe I just imagined it. Afterward she looked back to Karstedt, <Give me your question.> The tone she took was a bit forced, but assertive in her own way. As well she was staring him down with a completely blank face with those piercing eyes she gave everyone. 

Karstedt seemed unsettled for a moment, though he was willing to speak after a moment. "She acts totally unhuman, it is very different than you. I suppose as my question, I want to know the military strength of Tempest in terms of disaster rank for the executives I've heard of." He posed this more to me than Raphael, seeming to be too unnerved to speak to her directly. 

I nodded. "That is fine, you would need to be briefed on it regardless in not too long." I stated honestly then glanced over to Raphael. I was actually curious of this myself. 

<Very well.> Raphael then lifted her hand and produced a sheet of paper from my [Stomach], setting it on the table and sliding it over to Karstedt with the minimal movement possible. 

After examining the paper for a moment, Karstedt lifted it off the table briskly and began scanning over it. As he got further and further along the contents it seemed a chill creeped along his cheeks and he paled. "That may disasters.." He trailed off while setting the paper down and holding his hands to his cheeks, seemingly trying to warm them. 

Ferdinand gestured to take the list himself, soon afterward Karstedt handed it over willingly. While scanning it Ferdinand was nodding softly. "I wasn't even sure about the exact ranks myself, but this seems accurate." Trailing off after saying it, the paper was slid over to Sylvester. 

Sylvester was quick to scan the paper. "Were they all hiding their auras? I didn't know monsters could do it that well." He seemed to trust the list right away, however he did not know it was true before this. 

"All the executives know how to hide their auras, as well as any monsters at A rank or above." I explained, it was necessary to prevent humans inside Tempest from getting poisoned. It was actually quite a bad situation when Myne was walking around with her aura unrestrained, Tuuli was the worst case, but no the only case of Magicule poisoning. 

<You do not meet the requirements to live with Myne long term, as well she has her original family already. Your companionship would be short-lived, so becoming her father figure would be difficult for you.> Raphael explained while keeping her expressionless face, directed at Karstedt. She had completely ignored everyone else in the room. 

After waiting for a moment in his thoughts, Karstedt nodded. Though his face did look incredibly remorseful somehow. "I suppose that's true, I can't be there for long." He was frowning with a creased forehead. 

Once this acknowledgement was given, Raphael grabbed onto my hand and faded into the black  and purple mist. <That is all.> 

'Why did you decide to come out for this? Could I not have explained it?' I immediately had questions for her once she was back in my head, it was much more private. 

<Master is too emotionally motivated, and would have conceded to Karstedt. It was preferable that it was not engaged with by Master directly.> Raphael explained, before quickly going silent again. 

'That seems a bit overbearing. Just try not to go too far, ok?' I thought back as I heard her explanation. I really did hope she'd be more transparent with her thoughts, it was a bit scary how much she had planned out sometimes. 

<Understood.> She affirmed back before going silent once more. 

I looked back up after realizing I had entered [Thought Acceleration], my expression had shifted to one of focus on the internal conversation. "Sorry, sorry. Back to you. One last topic, I would like you to arrange invitations to the most important nobles in Ehrenfest to the founding festival in Tempest." I smiled politely while making the request. Most of the invites were already being sent out to the rest of the world, but Ehrenfest had not been sent a formal invite yet due to it being close enough by the journey would be short. 

Karstedt had his eyes widen for a moment before nodding. "I think I can do that, I'll need your invitation first though." He was now smiling a bit himself, seemingly already thinking of an excuse to invite himself. 

"Of course. I can't expect you to send out the invitations to others without inviting you." I rolled my eyes a bit with the exchange. I was glad the mood had lightened so quickly though. I quickly gave him an envelope and a sheet of papers from my [Stomach], glad I didn't have to carry these with me. 

To this Karstedt seemed to get a bit surprised. "You really do use your skills so casually." He commented while taking the paper. After this the conversation continued onto more mundane subjects. Mostly focused on how I should behave inside the nobles' quarter and their customs. 

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Finally alone again, it is weird how much I had come to enjoy my time alone with all the people and responsibilities. 'Still wouldn't trade them for anything.' I thought to myself while thinking on it further. 

The reason for me sitting alone was being in a meeting room, waiting for Sylvester and Ferdinand to come back with Florencia. If it weren't for [Universal Perception] I would have no idea where I was at the moment. I was brought to the room through a gate Sylvester had opened in the Temple, and closed promptly afterward. It didn't work like any teleportation spells I'd seen before so I was quite interested in it, Raphael's [Analysis] was already chugging away on it. 

I split off a part of my body, my hand specifically, and watched as it liquified into a ball of slime. I tossed it into the air, while making it shift into various shapes. The first one I tried was a vase, which was relatively simple as I just had to make a neck and hollow out the inside. After that I set it on the small table in front of me and shaped it into a pyramid, then made it taller and make a complex pattern of supporting structures and large legs to support it. After this I had it mimic the properties of steel, leaving me with a little Eiffel tower made from my own hand in front of me. I smiled and tilted my head to examine the result a bit with my eyes. 

The door to the room suddenly opened from a servant who glanced inside as they did so. Their face was shocked seeing me both without a hand and inspecting a large metal figurine on the table that was not there previously. They quickly stood up straight after a moment, and announced. "The lady has arrived, she has accepted the audience with demon lord Rimuru." 

I looked up and sat up straight, touching the Eiffel tower figurine with my left over hand stub. It immediately flowed back into the shape of my hand and solidified into it's correct shape and texture. I then crossed my hand on my lap, while trying to hide my embarrassment a bit behind a poker-face mask. 

There was a moment of whispering that I tried to ignore the contents of for their privacy. Then shortly after a fine woman with very light blonde hair and indigo eyes entered the room. She was standing in an incredibly refined manner, on par or maybe even higher in quality than Shuna and Vesta. "Welcome to Ehrenfest, Rimuru-dono. I hope our accommodations have been satisfactory. I've been informed you wished to speak with me specifically?" Her tone maintained the refined and noble manner of her walking, while her words were flowing in a natural way despite being an unnatural way of speaking. 

It was shortly after this that Sylvester walked into the room, giving me a small sympathetic glance before taking a place standing next to the woman. Ferdinand was not far behind, resigning into a noble pose of his own while stand next to and behind the other two. 

"Greetings. You would be Florencia, yes? I did want to discuss several things with you." I kept it simple while smiling a bit brightly. I really was out of my league so I just tried to stay composed as possible. Keeping my back straight while sitting up with my hands clasped on my lap. I really hoped she'd be willing to take things more casually. 

With a small curtsy Florencia then proceeded to seat in one of the seat at the table in front of me, while the two men sat on opposing sides of her. Ferdinand kept his distance a little bit. 

I felt a small bit of discomfort sitting completely alone, normally I'd have at least one attendant to draw attention away from me. Though I had decided to forgo them entirely for this trip, with the exception of Soei. He was always hiding somewhere in my vicinity, I doubted he had gotten access to this room however. 

"What is it you'd like to discuss then?" She asked the question quickly after my own response. Her eyes said she had already been briefed on the topic by the other two before this. Keeping her gaze fixed on my face and watching every movement I made was her most effective tactic for causing me a bit more discomfort. 

With a small jitter in my spine I used to release some tension, I was able to regain my composure. I looked back to her, and met her gaze, "I would like to discuss the vassalization proposal I was presented by these two. Key points in this would be the offer to evolve your family into demi-spirits, and the adoption of the current demi-spirit resident of Tempest by your family." I tried to make it sound as noble as possible while giving all the ques to the information I'd be talking about. I was very tempted to simply ask Raphael for help, but i also felt a bit of pride trying to do this myself. 

Only for a moment did Florencia close her eyes, while stewing over everything I said. After that she smiled a bit more softly and re-ignited her gaze. "That is everything I have heard. I would actually like to discuss the adoption first, as Ferdinand told me you had something special in store for that." Her tone softened, if only barely. She was no longer intentionally trying to make me uncomfortable, but there was a small hint of smugness in her eyes. 

'Did she just win?' I questioned myself while watching her eyes. I then focused back on the topic, it seemed she immediately went to Myne. I supposed that could be considered the most important topic from a human perspective. "That is true, I was planning to share with you our memories of Myne. This should allow you to understand her, to see if you'd be willing to take her in." After explaining I was nodding promptly to show I had finished what I was describing. 

Ferdinand nodded softly while not making any other movements. 

Florencia seemed to perk at this, just barely. "I would like that, it'd be much more reliable than verbal descriptions. I assume you'd be using [Thought Communication]? I heard it is used constantly for communication in Tempest." She poses the question in a bit of a prying tone, she still seemed invested in the method though. 

I nodded just a bit to answer the question. "I can use it with no strings attached, simply sending information between the four of us." I concluded with another nod, then I thought something to Raphael. 'I'd need you to direct the specifics of the information, just only stuff relating to Myne. Their privacy is important.' 

<Understood.> 

"We can start now." Were the next words I said. 

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--2852 words--

(AN: Comment criticisms or suggestions, next chapter gonna be trippy.)