That Time a Bookworm Got Ascended in Tensura

Ch.45 Where is The Food?

Rozemyne's pov: 

Walking into the Banquet hall, I was mildly surprised at how it was arranged. It seemed at first half of the room was going unused, but when I looked closer I realized the truth of the matter. In fact the other half of the room was simply a more authentic tatami banquet room, which Rimuru was in. So I'd guess that'd be where we'd go, Rimuru was personally on a throne and was flanked by his two secretaries. Along with this Sylvester, Ferdinand, Wilfried, Charlotte, and even cute little Melchior were there. 

A Hobgoblin began speaking loudly to the entire room in an announcement, "Introducing Florencia, The Archduchess of Ehrenfest and wife of Sylvester Aub Ehrenfest." After this he paused for a moment, then introduced me, "Introducing daughter of Sylvester Aub Ehrenfest, Rozemyne." Finishing this the hobgoblin in the fancy butler suit allowed us to pass. I got far more gazes than I was comfortable with. 

After getting an introduction of my own, I stepped to the meridian and waited while a set of socks were given to me. I was a bit saddened to remove my boots, as it made me visibly shorter. Leading to a moment of embarrassment when a few people near me noticed this, and Florencia trying her best to stand between me and a few others to prevent this realization from spreading. 

Florencia herself struggled with the idea at first, but once she had seen me do this and be comfortable walking onto the tatami, she was able to do the same. She seemed to shiver a bit stepping onto the floor, despite the socks being thick enough to keep her warm. I supposed it was simply the change in texture, and general feel. 

Tuuli was just as comfortable as I was, simply walked next to and behind me quickly. She additionally kept her hand on her sword at all time, the hilt. It was honestly somewhat impressive to see her shift into this so easily, though she had been spending a lot of time with Hakurou and standing behind Rimuru, so I supposed she was used to it by now. 

Karstedt struggled in a similar way Florencia did, though once Lamprecht seemed to get accustomed to it by watching Tuuli, he was able as well. Lamprecht himself did not struggle nearly as much, having been able to get used to it. Though he was staring at Rimuru with a very slightly ajar face and his eyes seemed a little bit in awe, which made sense. Rimuru had a bit of an inhuman beauty to him, more so than my inhuman cuteness. 

Tuuli split off with Karstedt and Lamprecht, going to another table reserved for knights it seemed. I was sort of proud watching her, though I tried to keep my expression toned down. Afterward me and Florencia were led to Sylvester and Ferdinand, where I got to take a spot standing next to Ferdinand.

Wilfried and Charlotte seemed to be staring at me, with a tinge of jealousy in their eyes for a moment. Though what came next melted that. 

Turning to me Rimuru spoke in a hushed tone, "Take off the bracelet and control your aura, try to keep it toned down to A+ rank. Some people seem to think you are unimpressive, which is not helpful." While instructing me to do this he seemed to have a bit of a worried look on his face at his own suggestion, leading me to believe it was in fact Raphael who had suggested it to him. "Just put it back on if you can't control it." 

I nodded a bit, letting my mouth go a bit agape  while doing so. A few people in the room noticed and seemed to be watching me intently now, so I took off the bracelet. I felt relief as I allowed a small part of my aura to spill out into the room around us, it seemed anyone brave enough to be on this side of the room was perfectly safe. The aura also completely subdued the looks I was getting from Wilfried and Charlotte. 

With a slight nod and a glance to Shuna, who was a quite away, Rimuru then motioned for us to sit at the same table as King Gazel. It had seen the Dwarf king before, but I had not yet seen him in anything but armor. Now though he was wearing a fancy tuxedo, which made his small golden circlet look a bit out of place. His tanned skin did make him look quite good in a tux though, along with his short scruffy beard and sharp jaw. The black eyes and hair made him look a bit imposing, along with his naturally massive height. Even while sitting on the ground he came above Sylvester's waistline. 

Sylvester was first to sit, crossing his legs and sitting behind them, while Florencia tried to do something more refined, only to fail as there was only one way to sit on the ground in a refined way. 

I got onto my knees first before carefully resting back and sitting on my heels, sitting in a seiza position. This seemed to draw the attention of Gazel, as well as a bit of a glance from Florencia, who seeing it, attempted to copy me. 

Gazel commented on this with a small chuckle, "So the little spirit copies Rimuru, ey?" He then looked away for a moment toward Rimuru before turning to Sylvester. "So the forest hermit finally comes out of hiding, I was quite disappointed you never visited as a thanks for the presents I sent for your coronation and sons unveiling. Why is it the Aub hasn't left since your father died?" Gazel seemed to immediately strike up a conversation with Sylvester, not seeming irritated. Moreso, he just seemed curious. 

Sylvester was only able to sigh at this before looking to Ferdinand, seemingly looking for a way to explain. Ferdinand replied with a nod, before finally sitting himself. Sylvester started, "I haven't been able to leave because of a mana shortage. We have not been willing to discuss our issue with the outside world, as it would make us look too weak. Though now, under Rimuru-sama we believe the issue can be solved." He smiled a bit with a glance to Rimuru, it seems there was a bit more to Ehrenfest becoming part of Tempest than I thought. 

"Oh? Your father did mention something about the odd way your land works. I'd be interested in seeing the foundation myself, I hear no outsider has ever seen it." He seemed to get a small light of determination in his eyes, so I assumed he'd be annoying Sylvester about it for a long long time. 

It didn't take long for the topic to switch back to me, Gazel setting his full gaze on me while deciding to explain. "Well, I got the boy a gift, it is your turn. What would you like, within reason of course?" Gazel seemed to have already accepted my position, though from what Rimuru described he had also immediately accepted Rimuru once he saw what type of person he was. I wondered if this question was some kind of test, just like that. 

Really though I could only envision one answer to someone asking this kind of question, "Please give me copies of your best literature, King Gazel." I said in a bit of a suppressed tone, trying not to yell while there were small sparks flying between my fingers from my aura. 

Gazel closed an eye and looked me over again, he seemed to examine my expression and posture a moment before smiling. "I see, a student of scholarly ambitions. Not a bad fit for a ruler, one day. Perhaps." He wryly said the second part while glaring at Sylvester just a bit passive aggressively. 

I nodded just a bit discretely, getting very excited at how quickly he seemed to agree with my passion. I could feel the intensity of the sparks between my fingers increase as I baited my blood flow a bit, speeding it up significantly. Though once I realized this was happening I calmed myself down and toned back my aura a bit. 

After watching my reaction closely Gazel chuckled a bit, and joked to me "From your reaction I assume you have already cleaned Rimuru's entire library. It isn't as large as you'd like?" With that comment he smiled a bit more devilishly, at the joke at my expense. 

"It is entirely inadequate and I will beg him to expand it." I replied promptly after, completely ignoring the joke and taking the statement seriously. 

Shaking his head, Gazel moved on to Charlotte and Melchior. "I suppose today acts as your unveiling too, what would you two like? Maybe not as extravagant as your older sister. I can manage many things though." Asking this, he waited for several moments while listening. 

Charlotte herself took several moments to respond, seemingly thinking on the question deeply before saying something. "I want any manuscripts you could give me on high level magics, seeing my sister perform advanced spells so easily leaves me feeling a bit inadequate." She said honestly and a bit modestly. 

Gazel nodded with a look to me, he seemed to be mildly surprised for a moment at the information he had learned. Though he quickly turned away while accepting it, and began speaking to Charlotte again. "That I can manage, I will have my court witch handle that." He said with a small nod. 

After this Melchior finally got to speak, and made an incredibly simple request. "Candy." Is what he said, and it seemed to alert Florencia immediately. She having looked distraught for a moment. 

"I think I'll need to make sure your mother is alright with that first, little one. Though I think I'll ask you this again when you are a little bit older." Gazel said with a hearty laugh, before turning away to listen to one of the new introducees.

I had realized that while I had been listening to, and speaking with Gazel, Florencia had been poking me occasionally to tell me to listen to the names of those being introduced. This had flown totally under my radar, though Gazel's attention being drawn, drew mine as well. 

"Now introducing Hinata Sakaguchi, Protector of Humanity. Accompanying her are the remaining of the Ten Great Saints, following the recently bloodshed of the Western Holy Church." I suppose they went with the highest title, instead of listing all of them. I much preferred this over a lengthy introduction, and it seemed Hinata was pleasantly surprised as well with a small smile. Though that quickly vanished back to her normal composure. 

It was not long before Hinata, as well as the knights entered the tatami section of the hall. splitting off from her entourage, Hinata made her way to this table and sat some ways away from Gazel, this did place her right in front of me. Though her face was more focused on Sylvester at the moment, shooting him a small glare. The glare was not shy either, it quickly made it's way to Rimuru as well. 

Questioning this, I sent Hinata a [Thought Communication]. 'Hey, Hinata-san. What is wrong?' I questioned while trying to make it seem like I was focused on the buffet food. 

Hinata glanced at me momentarily before looking away entirely and back to Rimuru. 'They got you more involved in all this, it is infuriating.' She replied with a thought back before changing her focus to make it seem like she wasn't just staring at Rimuru for no reason. 

'Oh, that. Yeah. Though, there is something that redeems all this. I can ask just about anyone I want for books, as I just learned from King Gazel.' I smiled brightly while thinking of asking more royals and nobles for books, and expanding my collection as quickly as possible. 

Hinata turned to me with an utterly baffled look on her face for a moment before looking away once more, and sent a thought in response. 'You may be more like Rimuru-san than I thought.' 

I got a little apprehensive at that and got a little flame rise up from my clasped fingers, before dowsing it and responding while changing the subject. 'So, Luminas-san is going to be here as a demon lord then?' I thought back. 

'Yes, Luminas-sama will be here, as a demon lord. She did not want to attend as one, though she had been convinced to by someone she did not name. She will be here shortly, I will be unable to interact with her during this.' Hinata replied while seeming to get a bit annoyed at the situation staying out of her control.

I mulled this over for a minute, before cutting off the [Thought Communication] when Sylvester started speaking with Hinata out loud. "Lady Hinata, are you still sure of your duel with Rimuru-sama? I've yet to see any depth to his abilities.." Sylvester seemed legitimately worried for Hinata's safety while saying it. 

Hinata nodded to this and replied, "It will be friendly. Neither of us will die, along with that I was informed Rimuru-san would also be dueling Masayuki, though I am unsure of his power. It seems he'd like to do them back to back after the tournament." With this said Hinata seemed sure of herself. 

Gazel commented on this, and seemed to get a bit excited. "I certainly would not mind finally seeing just how strong that slime is for myself, last time we fought was before Charysbdis had even been slain." He seemed to chuckle again while giving an envious look to Hinata, as if he had been hoping to be able to do this himself. 

I got a bit pursed at this exchange for a moment, it had been something I was unaware of. "Are you sure? I don't see any way you could have a chance against .. Rimuru-sama." Saying his name like that took me a minute, it really didn't feel right for the kind of person he was. 

Letting out a resigned sigh, Hinata looked away for a moment. After this the conversation sort of fizzled out, and we couldn't really start up a new one. 

It wasn't long after this another introduction caught my eye, it was the introduction of Milim. "Introducing demon lord Milim Nava, accompanied by former demon lord Carrion, and former demon lord Frey." Hm, I supposed former demon lord may be more impressive than ruling a country. Though I'd certainly say the new demon lords are stronger. Additionally, seeing Milim in a pink frilly dress, just seemed entirely out of place.

There was a tanned man standing almost directly behind her in a blue vest, and grey pants and shirt. Honestly he looked like some kind of monk, additionally he did not seem entirely human. 

Carrion was wearing a suit that made him look like a proper king, on par with Gazel. The black suit was also embroidered with a fancy design of a lion, and an eagle. Frey was in a much simpler white dress, with an open back and a small circlet adorned her brow. Honestly they looked sort of like a couple standing next to eachother like that, I wondered if they ever would be. 

Thinking about it for a moment, my immortality likely meant I'd never have any kind of relationship. That left me sort of bummed out for a moment, while simply zoning out and not focusing on anything. 

What ended up drawing my attention a moment later was Florencia standing to go over to Rimuru, I saw why a moment later. She took over a very possibly terrible conversation from Rimuru, as he was stuttering at the mention of the foods on the menu in reference to Frey. 

Florencia expertly picked this up and greeted Frey, "Greetings, Milim-sama, Carrion-dono, Frey-dono. Please excuse Rimuru-sama, he is simply having some issues speaking recently. He may speak with you momentarily." After that she glared to Rimuru with a gaze that could possibly shatter a mountain, though I wasn't quite sure she had that in her. 

I assumed they had a conversation through [Thought Communication] before Rimuru started speaking again, "Excuse me, please sit down on that table. It is reserved for any demon lords, and their attendants." He gestured to the table on the opposing side of the thrown from the one our group was sitting at.

Before doing this, Milim quickly walked over to me with a determined look on her face. "Come sit with us." She said simply while staring at me, and seeming to use her aura just a little bit more carelessly than she did normally, as I felt a pressure pressing down on me. 

I took a moment while staring at her, before responding. I didn't need to breath, so it was more difficult simply feeling the pressure. It made me want to retreat back into that gem form that I had heard about from Tuuli. "I am not a demon lord.., Milim-sama. I don't believe I should be sitting with you all." I tried to say it in a way that sounded respectful enough. It seemed both Wilfried and Charlotte were staring at me with a worried expression, though there was nothing they could really do. 

"You aren't, yet. I want you to be-noda!" Milim declared while still staying in a bit of a restrained state, only having partially raised her voice. I could see her eyes shift a bit, as the pupils became thin slits and more reptile like. 

Luckily before this argument could go any further, Frey put a had on Milim's shoulder. "Milim-sama, may I request you not harass Lady Rozemyne?" She seemed to speak it in needles, causing Milim to shiver a bit and lose the scary eyes. 

"YES! I won't." She turned away and followed Frey back to the table they would be sitting at. 

I sighed a bit in relief, while getting odd looked from Gazel and Hinata. I supposed they wondered what my relationship with Milim was, really I just wanted to scream aloud it was just a one sided thing. 

________________________________________________________________________________

--3039 words-- 

(AN: NEXT CHAPTER: PRIMORDIAL DEMON)