After Rimuru encountered the weakened Alice in his city he promptly requested the aid of Benimaru to move Alice into the meeting hall. He planned to another discussion with the kitsune but as she had just passed out he thought it would be better than leaving her lying in the middle of the street.
"Back to what I was planning."
Rimuru gathered his magicules and prepared to envelop the city in another wide range barrier to further increase the success rate of bringing back his people by trapping the souls more securely.
Placing a hand on the floor his magicules surged around him and above began to form a third barrier which slowly enveloped the city.
"That should prevent any further dispersal" He thought looking at his work. But there is no rest for him as another message from great sage was received. "Report: Unclear wave length reacting to the third barrier. I suspect a coded electronical signal. Shall I decipher?"
"Please do." With that Great sage cut contact with Rimuru and went about deciphering the signal. At the same time, both Rigurd and Benimaru came running over. "Lord Rimuru!" The hobgoblin shouted on approach.
"This new barrier, my lord." Benimaru asked confused about where it came from slightly concerned it was from another enemy. But Rimuru calmed his worries. "Don't worry. I put it up." he assured putting Benimaru at ease. Rimuru then turned to address Rigurd. "Gather up everyone, Rigurd."
"Y-Yes, my lord!"
"We're holding a meeting, discussing our future reaction toward the humans. And the resurrection of Shion, Y/N, and the others. Not only that but I wish for Alice to be present although she may be unknown to us she seemed willing to help us with anything she can handle. Benimaru can I trust you to be her guard for the moment. I don't want her left alone until she can be trusted completely." to which he nodded.
Rigurd sprinted off to complete his tasks shouting "Yes, my lord. I will gather them at once!!" but Benimaru seemed to hover around for a few seconds.
Rimuru watched in amazement as Rigurd ran off without question. "He didn't seem as shocked as I thought he'd be. I wondered if he was going to be worried, thinking I'd gone insane."#
"He had a feeling, I bet." Benimaru smirked. "A feeling?" Rimuru looked quizzically at the Kijin beside him.
"All of us had a sense that if anyone could have solved this problem, it would be you." Benimaru smiled confident in his lord's abilities. "I see... Well then. The first thing is to ask her how this came about and decide her fate." Rimuru explained referring to Mjurran (GHHHHHAAAAAAAD I HAVE BEEN SPELLING HER NAME WRONG I AM SO DUMB ORIGINALLY MYULAN SO YOU AINT CONFUSED) who was being accompanied by Grucius and Youm as of that current moment.
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In a room sat Mjurran on a bed sitting on its side. In front of her are both Youm and Grucius that seemed to be protecting her in the case of any fight. This felt bad for Youm as he was essentially built up because of the slime in front of him but he loved Mjurran so much he was willing to defy him. But for now, the room was silent waiting for Mjurran to begin her explanation of what she was doing and her goals whilst Rimuru sat in front of her leaning into the palm of his hand whilst resting on the arm of his chair. Benimaru was also standing behind Rimuru whilst Alice sat in a chair off to the side under the surveillance of Benimaru.
"I am a follower of the Demon Lord Clayman." Her voice was calm and soothing even in the situation she was in where she was being judged for her actions. "I am Mjurran, the ring finger of the "Five Fingers." Rimuru Didn't feel happy at all by the mention of Clayman's name in fact it bothered him severely enough to dampen his mood. He was not the only one to react to the name. Alice seemed to stiffen in her seat and fixed her gaze to the floor. which did not go unnoticed by Rimuru, he would sure to ask her about why she reacted in such a way but for now, decided to leave it. "Go on." He requested.
"My mission was to be a spy within Tempest. So I used Youm to infiltrate this city." The thought of only being used by Mjurran to spy on Tempest hurt Youm but he wouldn't show it on his face and stood firm in a defensive manner suppressing his current feelings and thoughts.
"All right, I'm getting the picture now. So you're still giving Clayman reports, then?" Mjurran shook her head. "No, I have no means of contacting him. I am a wizard. In this anti-magic area, I am capable of nothing more than any other human being."
Seemingly confused with Mjyrran's action couldn't help but wonder what her train of thought was when cutting off her only strength when she created the barrier. "You're the one who turned this into an anti-magic area, aren't you? How were you planning to get yourself out of here?"
Mjurran did not give a vocal answer and only closed her eyes looking down. Rimuru could have guessed what happened with how she reacted to the question. "So Clayman abandoned you, then." Rimuru spoke feeling disgraced that someone who was a leader no matter how bad his intentions was would still abandon a member of his group without so much as a second thought.
Mjurran began to speak up again after sitting silently for a few seconds elaborating on what kind of person Clayman was. "Clayman is also known as the "Marionette master." He manipulates his own followers to suit his needs. As if we are his puppets. To him, his followers are nothing but tools. If we are broken or unneeded, he disposes of us."
"So why did you decide to follow him? Doesn't seem like it would be worth it." Rimuru obviously stated but he could guess that Mjurran was somewhat tempted into joining maybe with an offer of some sort or another event took place. "If only I had realized that at the time." Mjurran chuckled sadly her small smile faded away leaving a more sad expression on her face.
"I was originally a human witch. I was persecuted, and to survive I fled to the forest, where I stayed for several hundred years. I had no family or friends. All of my time was spent researching magic. And when this seeming eternity was, at last, reaching its end... He appeared." The woman thought over her past old memories flooding her mind mostly unpleasant ones.
Mjurran then quoted that of Clayman on their encounter. "I shall give you endless time and a young body that will never age. In return I want you to swear your loyalty and service to me."
"And you agreed?" asked Rimuru already knowing the answer.
Mjurran laughed at herself. "I suppose a naive woman who lives in the woods was a laughably easy target to manipulate. The secret art Clayman gifted me was called the marionette heart. It transforms the subject from a human into a maijin, using a replacement heart as a reagent. Since then, Clayman has had my heart in his grasp. I received what he promised me in exchange for my freedom."
Rimuru stretched in his seat thinking over her words. "So he literally controls your right to live or die. I see now."He then opened his eyes and glared at Mjurran with cold eyes. "Because you couldn't accept your own death. You've now plunged my people into terrible danger."
Feeling the intent of Rimuru's words Youm and Grucius began to panic there was most definitely going to be a fight but this time it was not only Benimaru to go against but also Rimuru and the potential of the unknown Kitsune who had been sitting silently.
"H-Hey, now!!" Youm shouted. But he got silenced by Benimaru. "Silence both of you. Lord Rimuru is speaking with her and her alone." Benimaru's words sounded more like a threat than anything coupled with his glare Youm and Grucius backed down but both were still visibly worried for what's to come.
Rimuru raised a hand to silence Benimaru. "Well? What's Clayman's reason for messing with us, then? Don't tell me he sent you here just to have us dispose of his tool."
Despite the tension in the room Mjurran still talked calmly. "Clayman only reveals his thoughts to a select few. So what I can tell you now is nothing more than a hypothesis based on his own words. I do not know if Clayman himself was responsible for pushing Falmuth into action... But... I sensed that erecting the anti-magic area over Tempest was planned with Falmuth's military action already in mind."
"Meaning he was hoping to maximize the damage here?"
Mjurran agreed with his words with a nod. "I believe that is part of it. But more than that... I think he wanted to prevent contact with the outside. Specifically calls to other countries to help. If the Dwarven nation or Blumund had come to Tempest's aid they would stop Falmuth in its tracks. And then war might have been avoided. He wants to start a war between Tempest and Falmuth. that would be the sort of narrative Clayman would write. However, I do not know what he intends to gain by fomenting war like this."
The room once again went silent no one dared to make a sound it was only a moment of silence but it felt like hours to both Youm and Grucius s they waited for Rimuru to speak again wondering what his next choice of words would be.
Rimuru got up out of his chair. "All right. I've heard enough."
"Sir..?" Youm said in a confused tone of voice.
"Mjurran. I need you to die." Mjurran didn't seem to react to his words and instead sat in silence ready to accept her punishment for the actions she had committed. On the other hand, Youm was shocked. "WAIT, YOU CAN'T DO THIS!! MJURRAN'S NOT A TRAITOR!!" he pleaded towards Rimuru.
"Don't waste your time, Youm." Grucius stepped forward his appearance becoming more beast-like as seconds passed as he was shifting to his Lycan form. "His eyes say he's serious."
"What the.!?" Youm stumbled a bit at the sight of his friend's new beast-like appearance.
Grucius charged forward preparing to strike Rimuru but was halted by Benimaru as he blocked his path and his attack.
"What are you doing Youm!" Grucius yelled back over his shoulder. "Take Mjurran and get her out of here! I've already lost once... I can't buy you that much time." He backed away from Benimaru all the whilst Benimaru slowly advanced preparing to take down Grucius and then Youm.
"Tch" Youm went to grab hold of Mjurran in preparation to run but what happened instead surprised him.
Mjurran lay a hand on his cheek and brought her face to his kissing him. It was a short kiss which Mjurran broke quickly. "I loved you, Youm. In all the time I've lived, you are the first person I ever fell in love with." She smiled at Youm moving away out of his grasp. "Goodbye. Don't let any other wicked woman lead you astray." With that Mjurran moved to face Rimuru.
"I see you're ready." Rimuru was impressed with how Mjurran acted but he still had to deal with Youm who was still trying to protect her. In an instant Rimuru bound Youm's limbs with thread and stuck him onto the wall preventing him from interfering.
Youm watched as Rimuru closed what little distance remained between him and Mjurran. "HEY, BOSS!! RIMURU!! PLEASE DON'T DO THIS!! RIMURU DON'T!!" His words fell on deaf ears. "I'LL GIVE YOU MY LIFE, TOO!! I'LL DO WHATEVER YOU WANT!! SO JUST-!" Youm roared out trying to free himself and stop the scene unfolding before him.
Rimuru raised a hand a few waves of black energy surrounded his hand and Youm and Grucius watched as they both couldn't move as Rimuru Impaled his hand Into Mjurran's chest. Her body fell limp and Youm, as well as Grucius, closed their eyes not wanting to watch the scene in front of them any longer.
Then Rimuru spoke in a happy tone sounding impressed. "There. Looks like it was a success."
Opening their eyes again Youm, Grucius, and even Mjurran was confused at what happened.
In the middle of the room stood Mjurran alive and well with no injury to be seen on her flawless skin. "Notice any problems?" Rimuru asked the confused Mjurran.
"Huh..? I..I'm... I'm alive? But why." Mjurran checked her body and found not even a scratch from what Rimuru did to her adding to her confusion even more.
"Oh, yeah I'd say you were dead for, Oh... three seconds?"
"Three seconds..?" She repeated Rimuru's words still not helping her understand anything.
"R...Rimuru?! What in the world is going on?! What's up with Mjurran?!" Youm shouted as the thread binding him to the wall loosened allowing him to move freely again.
"Okay, okay, settle down. I'll explain." after talking Rimuru still saw that Youm had his eyes locked on Mjurran. "She's going to laugh at you if you keep gawking like that." Rimuru's comment quickly made Youm stop staring Mjurran. "Anyway the truth is. This replacement heart Clayman gave Mjurran was actually a listening device." Rimuru presented the cracked red gem that somewhat resembled a heart. "It was sending a coded electronic signal back. All Those regular reports you were giving him through magical means were probably just a ruse to keep you from suspecting that he was spying on you. You weren't a trusted comrade but a mere tool, just like you said." Rimuru then disposed of the gem swiftly.
"I had to do some acting to fool Clayman before I destroyed it. I'm sorry if that frightened you."
"No... I'm fine." For the first time, Mjurran's voice was something other than calm and collected it was still shaky from the experience of death she just experienced. Mjurran placed a hand on her chest feeling a beat. "Then what is this beating in my chest?"
"It's an imitation heart based on this replacement's design. The new one doesn't have a listening feature of course." Rimuru calmly explained to assure Mjurran she was free of Clayman's grasp and won't be controlled any longer. "The "Marionette heart" is gone. Clayman has no power over you anymore."
That news was enough for Mjurran to finally let down her calm facade and what replaced it was tears. "Good for you, Mjurran! There's nothing holding you back anymore!" Youm exclaimed placing his hands on her shoulders. Youm then turned his attention to Rimuru with a smile. "You're a scoundrel, boss. You could've warned me it was all a ruse!"
"Actually, Youm I'm Guessing you were a hostage."
Youm pointed to himself "A what?"
"Clayman had given up on her. She had no need to continue faithfully following his final order after that. It's not like he'd be giving back her heart." Rimuru finished the last sentence in a more hushed tone of voice so the others did not hear him. "So the fact that she was still obeying him meant that he'd engineered the situation to force her to continue doing so. By having a hostage perhaps." Rimuru let Youm decide if he was right or wrong.
"Is that true, Mjurran?" Youm asked the woman in front of him. Mjurran turned to look away from him hiding her face. "I just wanted to protect someone I cared about. I never replied to your confession earlier." Mjurran then turned to face Youm with a slight blush present on her cheeks. "Although I've only just now gained freedom... I don't mind being shackled again, if only for the short length of a human life." Now it was Youm's turn to blush he seemed to not be able to form words and only stare, he eventually took a deep breath calming himself.
"Lady Mjurran, if I may could I ask you to explain exactly what you mean by that?" Youm's words caused Mjurran's blush to intensify as she looked away. "You idiot! You idiot..."
leaving Mjurran and Youm in their own little world for the moment Rimuru scanned the room to see Benimaru resting a hand on Grucius's shoulder which seemed to annoy him. "Rimuru... I mean lord Rimuru." Mjurran brought back his attention to her. "No words can possibly express my gratitude. If you want me to swear loyalty to you I will do so."
Rimuru happily declined her offer. "No, I don't need that."
"Then may I ask you one thing?" Rimuru nodded allowing her to ask her question. "It is a fact that regardless of my circumstances I caused great damage to this city. There is no reason for you to save my life like this... So why?"
Rimuru reached up to a stand of his hair fiddling with it. "It wasn't out of sheer charity. I figured that saving you would make it easier to gain Youm's help. I've got a role in mind for him to play later." He says looking over to the aforementioned man to see him in a fight with Grucius over something stupid making Rimuru sigh." Also, I'll be depending on your magical skill and knowledge."
"But of course. I'll do anything to help." Mjurran instantly answered to try and repay him for what Rimuru has done for her.
"And there's one more reason the biggest of them all, in my opinion." Rimuru walked over to the nearby window placing a hand on it. "What is it?" Mjurran wondered.
"Dying and coming back to life is a common story, you know?" He turned back towards Mjurran who looked surprised. "I had a sudden interest in increasing the number of successful attempts. That's all. Anyway, with that sorted out, it's time to address the next issue. Alice."
The kitsune who had been silent up until now shot up looking to who called her name. "I saw your reaction to when Clayman's name was mentioned. Mind explaining why." The room went back to silence and all eyes were on Alice being the center of attention.
"Clayman... Has been in contact with my family fairly frequently when I was under my mother's control. I never got to see him in person all too often but I did overhear bits and pieces of conversations. one of which involved Clayman helping Petra learn a new skill and I'm sure you can take a guess who she used this new skill on."
"Y/N." Rimuru answered immediately.
"Correct. Thankfully it doesn't seem like it's something she could use frequently she took multiple weeks to set up and use the skill she received from Clayman. But that's about all I know regarding Clayman. For all, I know we could have been in contact with him for much longer than I have known."
Rimuru let out a "Hmm" As he went over the new information. "Enough about Clayman then for now, how much could you tell me about your family? any potential allies they might have that we should wary of?
Alice shook her head."Our family doesn't make allies all too often our home is not an easy place to reach for outsiders and we rarely leave it unless it's necessary. We lived in a separate space not accessible through normal means we Kitsune can only get there by creating gates that take us to our home. That said I would like to know why we allied ourselves with Clayman but I don't know I'm sure that will be only between mother and father."
"Right, okay then. Mind telling me about what you were doing under the control of Petra all this time, I'm assuming she didn't have you idle for all that long."
"Sure. My memories are still a little hazy but I can remember most things whilst I was under the control of Mother. She had me scout Tempest from distance specifically to keep an eye on you and Y/N until she had prepared the gift from Clayman. And so once I saw the opportunity when you were occupied with other things like your city being attacked I took Y/N. other than that she also had me keep tabs on any allies you made. Telling Petra that you had made an ally with Milim Nava sure made things complicated for her but when it just so happened that Milim declared war on Eurazania I was commanded on the first chance to take Y/N. And that's about all of it. Scouting was quite literally the only thing I was forced to do."
Seemingly Rimuru appreciated all the information provided by Alice and was happy with what he got. "Alice I'll trust you. so far you have cooperated with everything I have asked and even gave me new information that Clayman is working with your family. So I welcome you Tempest I hope I can count on you for the upcoming events."
"Of course!" Alice replied with a small smile which faded when she thought about the possibility of Y/N might not come back. After all, she did overhear the chance of success being just over 3% but still, she had hope. Rimuru noticed this and called back to her on his way out to try and raise her mood if even a little bit.
What this! A new chapter with not a month break between the previous one no way who could have seen this coming. not me. anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter as much as I did writing it and also adding the image above. I wish you all a good rest of your day or night and ill see you in the next one. Bye!