Rimuru's POV:
"I will be back soon." Notifying Diablo,I stood up from my seat as I prepared to make my leave.
"I would love to stay for a little longer but it seems that there are businesses back in Tempest for me to attend to." I said to Myourmiles as he nodded in understanding.
"No worries,you are always welcome to come here anytime,Rimuru-sama. Do you need an escort or not?"
"I don't,I can go back myself. See you next time,I hope our deal gains us profit."
I then soon left the store and found myself a little hidden alleyway which I teleported back to my office at Tempest while sending a message to every single executive,no matter available or not.
Why? Heh,obvious. This is an urgent matter regarding the movements of the Church.
"All available executives that received this message,report to the meeting room in 5 minutes for an urgent meeting of recent events. This meeting is your current highest priority." I sent out the message through our mental connections while making my way towards the meeting hall.
'This would also be a good chance to summarize what happened recently,such as the aftermath of Clayman's army and Walpurgis. Time actually passed rather slowly as only weeks passed while the load of things made it feel like months.' I thought.
Indeed,what's happening in the world now simply wasn't the same as what would be happening in the ancient times,especially during my active years of my first reincarnation as the enforcer of the god's will. Such old times.
Millions of years ago,my first reincarnation started as a mere human with a new face.I achieved more and more power throughout my years. This process was accelerated after I met Veldanava.
I became a divine human,I achieved great strength that put me only under Veldanava in the whole world in terms of power,enough to defeat other true dragons easily. I am his right hand as I stretched out his influence throughout every corner of the world.
There is peace,the amount of conflicts so less that I can actually step down and retire from active duty. My growth did not stop,however. It continued,it went so far that during my prime state,I went toe to toe evenly against the prime Ivarage,the embodiment of destruction and evil.
I was such a being,a human that held such otherworldly powers,not even a monster to begin with.
People welcomed me with open arms,truth in their hearts.
Rulers of kingdoms,empires alike bowed to me willingly out of simple respect.
Now,I might not feel like this if I had never regained my memories of my previous reincarnation during the Walpurgis. But the state of the world now disappointed me,truly.
Humans waged wars,open or secret. They fake emotions and act solely for their gains,selfish,how selfish and foolish they are now for the most of their majority.
But I remember now,I remember what once the world was in millions of years before,and I swear that I would return it to what it should be.
And the present along with the past aids me in my mission,and I know clearly that the holy knights are one of the obstacles that will be neutralized.
'Talking about the past,if they were here,things would be much easier. I wonder how they are doing now?' I shook my head as I smirked slightly,before crossing the corridors of the hall to the room.
—--------------------------------------------------
3rd POV:
The strongest Saint in Ruberios,Captain of the Crusaders and the head knight of the Holy emperor's Imperial guard.
That is who the individual Hinata Sakaguchi is.
She holds a rather important place in the ranks,a strict boss to many under her lead but with respect.
But does that mean she has no troubles in her mind? Wrong,that is.
And this time,such troubles are about the new demon lord,Rimuru Tempest.
The birth of a new demon lord is always a big matter,not to mention the reorganization of the "Octagram'' ,the return of the god Veldanava with his support placed on Tempest,and other matters such as the Falmuth aftermath.
Luminous Valentine did mention Rimuru could be having full knowledge of her identity as the God of Luminism,including his friendly behavior to co-exist with the humans doesn't display him as a warmonger or an evil one.
However,she is still quite worried.
Would the new demon lord seek revenge at her previous actions that passively caused all the temporal damage and loss of his people? Although Luminous tried to convince her that this is not very likely to happen,she understood that what she had done was an insult to the ruler.
The most disturbing part is that two true dragons,the god and the storm,openly supported him,well at least many know that fact now,not a secret. And the potential true power of Rimuru truly worried her.
But she couldn't do much about it,what she can do is to manage and calm the thoughts of those under her and prevent any kinds of stupidly ruthless actions.
That's her last thought as she entered a room to participate in a meeting,that's her chance to observe what the others felt.
—----------------------------------------------
Rimuru's POV:
"Alright!" I said as I looked at everyone that now sat in the room. "Shall we begin?"
"Yes,Rimuru-sama." Benimaru said. "I will do my part first" while starting to report all the current news and matters.
"First off,after the battle against the forces of Clayman's army,we have gained a new ally. Adalman,the former wight king of the undead is very willingly to join us.I believe Rimuru-sama has already heard of it before and agreed,but I will still state it here."
Ah,that skeleton. He and his undead are quite interesting,however obviously due to their weakness to sunlight now,I had already rearranged them to stay in the Labyrinth first.
"Wait,Benimaru. Is Hakurou still staying at Clayman's former palace to clean things up?"
"Yes,I believe so."
Man,poor guy. I will make sure to reward him after he comes back. Investigating and cleaning up the mess after the battle.
"Second." Benimaru coughed a bit as he continued. "The 3 Beastmen and some of the Eurazania citizens would be having a temporary stay here at Tempest as they wait for their homes to be repaired."
"We have enough spaces and leftover housings for them." Geld spoke out. "So it wouldn't be a big problem."
"And the prisoners from Clayman's army. Geld,how are matters going on your side?"
"Good. They will be working to rebuild the Beast kingdom." Geld replied to Benimaru. "Right,I forgot to mention. I don't think we need to worry about them revolting against us as I think that they are quite satisfied by their current treatment."
"Haha,that is for sure. I did introduce myself briefly to them,didn't I?" Benimaru chuckled while Geld simply sweated silently.
I get that. He did burn Charybdis into crisps,so even someone that's stupid wouldn't dare challenge him or do anything out of their minds easily.
"That's all that I want to report officially,anything you got to report,Diablo? Falmuth matters?"
"I do." Diablo said and in his hand held a small case which he put on the table and opened it,revealing it to be the stellar gold coins within the part of the Falmuth peace treaty.
"Oh my,I've heard of how high quality they are,but to see it in person amazes me of the levels of craftsmanship possible by humans.." Rain mumbled as she inspected a coin carefully.
"And there's fifteen hundred of them in this case." Diablo added,causing many within this room to be utterly shocked.
"Fifteen hundred?!" Gabiru and Shion shouted.
"Impressive..." Benimaru said,slightly taken aback.
"Heh,hahahahahaha!"
Meanwhile,Velda walked up and looked carefully at the coins bursted into laughter after a few seconds of hesitation,causing others to look at him.
"Pretty good for mortal levels,but they are still leagues behind the treasures within my possession." He smirked as he patted my shoulders. "I thought you would be a little bit surprised at the least,my friend."
"Not really if you say,I've seen much more than just these." I replied as I remembered that I had once burned an ancient empire's treasury into atoms long ago. "And I can say they did not end up well."
"Ah,the empire of Rominus? The time where you destroyed their treasuries as the punishment for their tyranny?"
"Yes. This amount of stellar gold coins in their standards would be just a portion of their treasures,I still didn't hesitate though."
"Hmph. You've changed a bit,don't you? If it was your past self,having a kingdom surprise attacking and killing a load of your citizens,you wouldn't-"
"Yeah,I would've done more than destroying their entire army in one attack,before going to threaten the king personally." A small glimpse of anger appeared in my eyes before fading. Not because I'm angry at how they killed my people in such a way.
But rather on how much the majority of the humans had fallen compared to the ancient peace they had achieved,to use such underhand cowardly tactics truly disgusted me.
"Cut the thinking. You're not too happy and your spiritual aura started leaking." Velda snapped me back to reality as I realized that the leak of my spiritual aura was affecting everyone in the room apart from Velda,even Diablo and Rain are slightly sweating in anxiety.
"Pardon me,I was thinking of a somewhat unpleasant memory" I apologized as I adjusted my coat while suppressing my leaked aura.
The aura I just leaked out isn't just any demon lord aura,it's my very own spiritual aura,the manifestation of one's inner spirit. Mine was so powerful that only Veldanava and Ivarage could resist them completely.
I recovered the ability to use it after the return of my past million year memories,and it's quite a handy skill like it always has been.
"Thanks for the save,Velda." I thanked my friend as he misled.
"Not a problem."
"Anyway,back to the topic." I said while gesturing Diablo to continue.
"Yes,my lord. Falmuth now is in a very tight state,the former king Edmaris was forced to give up his throne and now,there are two sides within the nobles. One side supports Youm to be the new king,and the other side supports Edward,the son of the former king, to be on the throne instead."
"Then,conflict or a civil war will surely break out,am I correct?" Benimaru questioned.
"Indeed. I'm afraid that in due time if this happens,we might need to send some of our forces to end it quickly."
"Aha! Worry not,both of you." Diablo and Benimaru turned around as Velda spoke. "Don't forget the reformations undergone by our military,especially of the newly established Rimuru's personal elite legion."
"The 501st. If that need arises,I'm sure that Gravis and Garvoc can handle it under your guidance,Rimuru-sama." Benimaru said as he remembered. "They are both fighters and tacticians with great potential,I assure you."
"I trust their capabilities and your judgment,of course." I assured Benimaru. "They are the best out of all,it is only logical if they are capable."
"But still." I continued. "Keep a watch over them,won't you? A great plan doesn't guarantee a swift end. Things that are surprising can happen,no?"
"I will keep that in mind. However,speaking of a surprise..." Diablo thought for a moment before speaking. "As you already know,Rimuru-sama,The church tried to make contact with Reyheim."
"I do,but you haven't told me the details yet."
"At once. He has received a summon to their headquarters and explained the situation between our country and Falmuth."
'The church again...' I thought in annoyance. 'I can maybe arrange a meeting with Luminous somehow,but her many underlings are not really under her control..'
"Go along with it for now,Diablo. Shion,bring me those magic recording devices we looted from Clayman. I will give them a personal message."
"Yes!" Shion complied and went off to get the device from the storage.
"It's already been around a month since the Walpurgis. They are taking their moves after a long time." Benimaru said as he pondered through the recent events carefully.
"However,we have another little problem if you all might not know. I'm now granted full authority upon the entirety of the Great Jura forest. That I think many of the other residents of the forest region that were not under my control before will come and declare their allegiance." I explained.
"Ah,that is understandable." Shuna said. "Those who do not could be deemed as a rebel that does not obey the land's new ruler. So no matter if they liked it or not,it's practically between peace and passively declaring war upon us."
Well,I don't intend to be that strict,but if there's actually any of them who refuses it would cause us problems.
But I don't want to constantly trouble myself by greeting all of them one by one,that just sounded so annoying in all aspects...
Oh! Maybe there's an alternative.
"Rain?" I called out to the blue haired demon standing next to me.
"What is it,my lord?" She answers faithfully.
"Remember that we originally had a festival planned a little while after? That scheduled one,you know."
"Oh,yes we do."
Hmph,then perhaps my idea would work out fine.
"Instead of greeting them separately considering their visits soon,perhaps we can greet them all at once in the festival. It also can help in showing our friendly intentions as we are not conquerors."
"That sounded.." Rain mumbled.
"Eh,is it a bit too straight forward..?" I sighed in slight disappointment as I thought my secretary wouldn't like it.
"No,that sounded perfect!" She shouted in excitement,scaring me a bit. "The important thing is festivals! A big festival! I can't wait to have lots of fun-"
At the last moment the demonstration of her excitement,her remaining composure kicked in as she finally realized how everyone in the room now was trying to resist their smiles as they watched her screaming and waving.
"I-I uh,forgive what I just d-did.." She quickly returned to her usual composed stance and look,although still being embarrassed by her sudden uncontrolled happiness.
Well,I'm well prepared so I hid my smile really well,but the same couldn't be applied to the others as the entire room is now filled with laughter.
"Haha,hahahaha! Sorry Rain,I r-really did try to not laugh,hahaha!" Veldanava said as he held his stomach to try and stop laughing at himself.
"That's too h-hilarious.." Shuna said as she covered her mouth to do no good in letting her giggles out.
"Hahahahahaha!" That's just Gobta and Gabiru going completely insane,don't worry about that.
"Tsk.." Rain still tried to maintain her calm look,albeit unsuccessful due to how embarrassed she currently felt.
"Fufu,you are lucky that Guy isn't present here now,considering how much he would be laughing at your previous actions.." Diablo joked on his colleague with a half-mocking tone that embarrassed her even further.
"Agh,shut up Diablo!"
"Alright alright everyone,laughs aside..." I said,regaining the attention of others. "Should we all start to work on finishing the final preparations of the festival?"
What happened next doesn't even need me to tell.
Why? Of course they all agreed!
—--------------------------------------------------------------------
After a few days of the meeting,everything is going quite well.
Diablo had 2 of his demon agents to escort Reyheim,along with my recorded message to the headquarters of the Holy church as requested while remaining a close watch on the situations in Falmuth.
Regarding the festival's final preparations,all of us are working hard on it. Heh,I almost forgot that we would be inviting a lot of dignitaries all over the world,considering the size of the festival and sort of as my first grand public debut.
And today,I'm staying in my office reviewing documents and other suggestions provided by others about the festival while Rain is busy brewing some tea and preparing some snacks for me.
I almost forgot to mention,but her learning skills are so good that now her cooking is as great as Shuna's,considering she joined us way later than Shuna did. Heck,they would even have personal contests with each other on who cooks the best!
Just as I thought it would just be another day of temporary harmony while preparing for the grand fun,Diablo came in as he returned from his assigned task.
"Rimuru-sama,I have something to report."
"Go ahead,I'm listening." I said,not raising my head from the mountains of proposals,suggestions and files as I'm very busy now.
"Yes. The son of the former king,Edward and the nobles that supported him in Falmuth,is already gathering his forces. I believe that it's safe to announce that very soon a Civil war will break out." Diablo said.
Well,that's not special. I've been expecting it to either happen sooner or later.
"Anything else that's new?" I said as I continued reviewing the file I have on the table in front of my face.
"Yes,I believe it to be quite important as well. Reyheim, as we had sent him after the meeting concluded a few days ago,still hasn't returned as we had expected him to."
"!"
That sentence did successfully catch my attention,as from my long years of being alive,before and now,such things happening could be meaning that..
"Diablo,is Reyheim killed?" I asked cautiously,while Rain on the other hand,finished preparing and started listening as well.
"No,he is not. My skill can allow me to seize his Soul if he had perished for whatever reason,and he is not."
Not dead,huh? That's interesting.
"To be honest." Rain said as she put the snacks and tea on my table and sat on a nearby chair. "If they are going to do anything stupid against us,I'd rather settle it swiftly instead than leaving the grudge on."
"Indeed. Now that Rimuru-sama is an official demon lord,and the return of Veldanava-sama and Veldora-sama on our side officially,they shouldn't act for the time being. That is,for now." Diablo agreed.
"Both of you.." I said,catching their attention. "I did mention before that previously to your summoning by me,I did have a little fight against Hinata Sakaguchi,right? Although I didn't win due to my lack of power and weakness as I haven't regained a portion of my past power and my whole memories back that time.."
They both nodded in acknowledgment as I continued.
"During my fight as I was distracted,our home was attacked during my absence. And now,I don't think they are pure coincidences."
"You mean.." Rain asked as I nodded.
"I believe that there are people behind the scenes controlling their actions. And for some untold reasons,I believe that it has something to do with an old enemy of mine. An enemy so ancient that I encountered on my first reincarnation I had in this world previously."
They pondered in their respective thoughts as I spoke.
"However,I believe that he isn't directly involved with this matter currently. However,he must have some connections with those who orchestrated all of this."
This idea makes me wonder,is Hinata Sakaguchi a true enemy of us?
Whether she did all that on her own will,or she was placed in a strange situation that caused her to be used as a tool by someone else,such as seeking the so-called 'revenge' on me regarding Shizue?
That would be what decides how I would judge that Saint's fate.
Don't get me wrong there. Even after regaining all of my lost past memories at Walpurgis,I still understand and think that I owe her a lot,especially for granting me a body that now coincidentally had a complete resemblance of the human body I used in my first reincarnation.
I will not harm her student if the absolute need doesn't arise,however,if she truly acted on her own free will and wasn't being used as a tool unknowingly..
I couldn't guarantee going easy on her,even a bit.