An elven woman with blonde hair kept up in a ponytail leaned back in her chair, gazing down at the small pile of papers she had been handed. The woman wore a professional black suit and despite looking to be of young age she radiated a sense of authority and power. While the girl appeared to be undeniably elvish on the surface, to delve any deeper would reveal their true demonic nature. She was quite literally a demon in the skin of a little girl.

Across from the desk she sat at was a human woman that appeared to be roughly the same age, with long blonde hair and blue eyes hidden behind a pair of square glasses. The girl also wore a professional outfit, but with a bit more feminine charm that the other girl seemed to be intentionally avoiding.

The girl behind the desk had taken the alias of ‘Tanya Degurechaff’, a name taken from her prior life in a world at war, but one that was since outdated in her current life. The girl across from her was named Mia who also took on the last name Degurechaff to pose as the former’s relative.

Mia had handed Tanya the set of papers detailing various details about one target in particular; the Kingdom of Falmuth. The Kingdom had been on Tanya’s radar for quite some time, and while it was too dangerous a move to set up their base of operations within such a powerful nation, it was certainly a consideration.

If Tanya had to describe Falmuth in one word, it would’ve been 'greedy', a fact she could use to her advantage, although at times it seemed she wasn’t the only one. There was a silent game of chess beginning between her and some unknown faction. The game hadn’t heated up yet, nor did the other player know the game had started, but given enough time Tanya believed there could be some serious competition in the western nations.

Given Falmuth’s proximity to Tanya’s main ambitions in the Jura Forest, keeping an eye on the Kingdom was a top priority. Had it not been for the meddling hands of this secondary power Tanya would’ve already begun a plot to seize control over Falmuth. 

Tanya’s focus today wasn’t on that power, however. She knew too little and it was far too soon to take any action. In the end, she would much prefer a direct confrontation rather than a drawn-out game of chess anyways. Once she found out what the threat was, it would cease to be a threat within days.

Instead, Tanya’s focus lingered on the actions of Falmuth itself. She had made pacts with a significant number of Falmuth’s nobles, ranging from the small and insignificant to the large and powerful. All in all, Tanya believed that soon she could reliably control roughly a third of Falmuth. It wasn’t enough for her yet, but it was a good start.

As Tanya looked over the papers she was given, Mia began to explain, “As you can see, the Kingdom of Falmuth has called upon all of its nobility to mobilize their mages to the capital. Not only that, they’re going to great lengths to do so, even giving significant political compensation. It's possible that they are preparing for war.”

Tanya didn't seem fully satisfied with that answer, “With only mages? I doubt it. Soldiers and knights take far longer to mobilize than mages. If they were preparing for war, they would mobilize them first. The only thing I can think of that would require so many mages is an otherworlder summoning.”

“Based on the knowledge we have, summonings can only happen so often, at least the kind that Falmuth does. Surely it would be far too soon for another one, especially considering the last one was only a few months ago.” Mia walked to a nearby bookshelf, pulled out a binder, and flipped through the pages.

“Wasn’t the last summoning too soon as well? Speaking of which, have you figured anything out on that Otherworlder in particular?” Tanya looked up from the papers and placed them on the table.

Mia looked up from the binder and shook her head, “Falmuth is keeping knowledge on most of their Otherworlders under strict lock and key, I’m afraid.”

Tanya sighed, visibly annoyed, “I suppose there’s not much we can do about that without risking too many valuable assets. It’s best if we wait for them to reveal something on their own. For now, I doubt it's a worry. Either way, I’d much prefer it if the neighbor of Tempest doesn’t build up so much power. Any way we can interfere without risking our network in Falmuth?”

Mia placed a hand on her chin as she closed the binder, “I suppose we could have the mages of our nobles sabotage one of the summonings. When an Otherworlder is summoned they place a binding curse on them. If the results of the last summoning are anything to go by, if they summon a super powerful otherworlder then sabotaging the binding ritual may allow for them to escape and cause some damage or deter further summonings.”

Tanya nodded along as she listened to the idea, “It could work, but chances are only once. If they do more rituals after this, they’re bound to have some sort of detection magic to see if and who sabotages any future rituals. We’ll be able to sabotage one without repercussions to our network, any further ones would lead to our nobles facing punishment.”

“I’ll order the nobles to have their mages do that then. Most are more loyal to their nobles than the Kingdom anyways. If need be you can always make direct pacts with them to prevent an information leak. We’ll have to hope this is the only otherworlder summoning they can do for a while or else this may be only a dent in their otherworlder forces.”

[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]

A small ball of slime rests on top of a desk, the light from the window behind it reflecting off of its bright blue body. The slime looked down at a detailed map placed on the desk. The map was colorful and easy to understand, but that didn’t make it any less complicated in other aspects.

The map showed the full detail of the Imperial Tempest Federation, divided into five colored sections of varying sizes.

The dark blue section represented the state of Tempestia, the de-facto capital state of the Federation which housed the capital of the entire Federation within it. It was the most diversely populated of the designated regions, with a majority population consisting of Goblins and Orcs with races like Kijin, Lizardmen, Kobolds, and many others also populating it.

In light blue was Eidechia, a larger domain but not as densely populated with much of its population centered around three growing major cities around the lake and others deeper into the forest. Its population consisted almost entirely of Lizardmen and Merfolk around Lake Siss and other races further outwards, many similarly found in Tempestia.

Tempestia and Eidechia were the only two states actually considered ‘de-facto Tempest’. Other regions had been explored and even patrolled and managed to some degree, but any settlements within them were never treated as under Tempest’s jurisdiction.

Following Tanya’s proclamation of being a Demon Lord, the Federation’s claim over the entire forest was generally recognized by the Demon Lord nations to the south of it. With that, the three other colored states, which while only now being integrated were considered De-Jure parts of the federation.

The first of these states was to the south of Tempestia and Eidechia, colored in orange and labeled ‘Geldia’. The name had two meanings. The first was it being named after the former Demon Lord Geld, the former leader of the Orcs. With the region of ‘Geldia’ consisting of the Orcs former homeland, now recovering from a drought thanks to Tempest’s efforts, the name was seen as fitting. The second meaning, according to Tanya, was that ‘Geld’ also meant ‘Money’ in German and ‘Imperial’, with the two languages being basically identical to each other. Tanya thought it fitting for the region’s soon-to-be trade-based economy.

The population was steadily growing, and while it was small in population now, it would likely grow to consist of a population of Orcs and other races better accepting of agriculture and trade like Kobolds and Halflings.

The next state, colored in purple, was titled ‘Kushia’ after the Kusha Mountains that made up the majority of the territory. This was also the area in which the Ogre Village once stood. And while a new village has been planned to be built in the state for the remaining but scattered Ogre population, the state remains otherwise in a state of limbo.

The Kusha mountains had managed to avoid subjugation from the Demon Lord Frey for many years, implying that they may not take so kindly to being part of a Federation. Whatever the case, the plan was to try anyway and see how it ended up. If need be, Tanya had already mapped out borders that would see the mountains excluded from Tempest and the other parts of the Kushia state being given to Geldia and Tempestia.

The last state in green to the far east was labeled ‘Ameldia’. Separated from Eidechia by the Great Ameld River from which the state gets its name, it consists primarily of untamed forest and populations of Mezu, Gozu, and Elves. Settlement and integration of Ameldia was only just beginning, but progress was being made.

Also on the map were various roads, cities, and fortifications. Normal roads were colored in red with Tanya’s ‘Autobahns’, or ‘highways’ colored in yellow. Capital cities of each state were colored in Green with Tempestia’s capital being colored in Yellow to represent the capital of Tempest as a whole. The only state without a capital labeled was Kushia due to its up-in-the-air status.

Also on the map were various other cities represented by white circles. Bigger circles for bigger cities and smaller ones for smaller towns.

Lastly were mapped out locations for forts, namely ‘Fortress Veldora’ in Tempestia and the planned trio of fortifications along the border with the Eastern Empire.

Overall Rimuru considered the plan to be solid, if a bit ambitious. A lot of the roads, primarily in Tempestia and Eidechia had already been paved or were in the process of being made.

Some of the cities and towns listed had a long way to go before they could really be considered even worth mentioning and some outright didn’t even exist yet. However, with Tempest’s population exploding at a rapid pace, the need for more living space was certainly there.

The population had already gotten well past a million, and despite consisting of so many evolved monsters, a sort of ‘baby boom’ was happening. That wasn’t to mention the large numbers of various races flocking to join the Federation from smaller communities within the forest and now even beyond it.

Emigrants from Dwargon, Eurazania, Fulbrosia, and Jistav have all been gradually entering the nation for various reasons. Some came for opportunity, others came to escape persecution or discrimination. Whatever the reason it was bringing in a large influx of people which Tempest would soon begin struggling to handle if they didn’t expand fast.

Thinking back on it, Rimuru remembered exactly what Tanya had said, something along the lines of “We’ll just do what the Americans did when they faced the same influx. We Manifest Destiny.”

The analogy wasn’t completely off, not only were the immigrants coming into Tempest similar to the influx the United States got early into its history, but the size of Tempest now rivaled that of the continental United States. With most of it untapped and unsettled, it made sense to make the comparison. The only difference was that Tempest was much more accepting of native populations.

Rimuru noted, however, that Tanya seemed to anticipate this boom from the very start. Having once again compared it to the United States, Tempest is effectively the first democracy of its kind in this world, free from corruption and tyranny of even the moderate kind. Sure it was ruled by a King, but one that willingly took a sideshow to the democratic institutions that truly focused on primary governing. Taking that into account, it was much easier to see why Tempest was becoming such a prime target for immigration.

One thought lingered in Rimuru’s head, however, ‘Just where are they getting this information about Tempest and the funds to come to Tempest? Is it really that easy for the people of this world to immigrate here?’

«It is likely due to some influence on Tanya’s part»

‘I assumed something along those lines, but what could she have done?’

«An act as simple as spreading information of a land of promise, liberty, and freedom is all one would need to inspire the more desperate to flock to the Federation. With a bit of funds from a demon capable of creating gold at will, anyone could have the funds to immigrate to Tempest.»

‘I see… I suppose it makes sense. So long as she’s not tricking them into coming here I don’t care if that’s what she’s doing. I may have the influence to make myself an Absolute Monarch if I want to, but I’ll make certain the Federation remains a true republic in all senses of the word. Who did Tanya compare me to in that aspect? Wasn’t it George Washington or something?’

What was once a Federation in name only was now growing into a genuine one. With construction projects underway to make buildings for functioning Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches, soon the last bits of the Constitution could be fully put in place.

As Rimuru looked over the map, thinking of suggestions and proposals he would want to make, he received a Thought Communication from Tanya { Representatives from the Kingdom of Blumund and the Kingdom of Falmuth have arrived in Tempestia. I believe the representatives from Blumund, including the party of adventurers who came before to be here on a more official basis than the group from Falmuth. }

Rimuru immediately began to bounce over to the meeting room as he asked { How so? }

{ The representative from Blumund is close to its King whereas the representative from Falmuth was simply paid to come here. Furthermore, I believe the Falmuth group to have arrived seeking the Orc Lord while Blumund has come out seeking you in particular. } Tanya responded.

{ Me? Why? }

{ The representative from the Kingdom of Blumund is the Guild Master of the Blumund Guild and has come with Kaval’s party. It's likely they told him of you and he found out about the Orc Lord’s defeat. }

{ Oh, it's them! Makes sense then, didn’t know word of the Orc Lord’s defeat would spread to the human nations. } Rimuru said as he prepared himself in the meeting room, having gotten Shuna to help set things up with him.

{ I wouldn’t underestimate Blumund’s intelligence network. It’s like the only thing they got going for them. }

{ Right. Anyways, bring them into the meeting room, I got everything set up. }

{ Will do. } Tanya stated as Rimuru let out a sigh.

{ You know, I’m starting to get tired of this back-to-back diplomacy we’re doing. }

{ You rule a nation the size of Europe that just appeared out of thin air, get over it. }

Rimuru didn’t have much of a response to Tanya, simply accepting it as he waited to begin yet another diplomatic meeting for the future of Tempest.

[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]

“I am King Rimuru Tempest of the Imperial Tempest Federation. I am the ruler and representative of this nation. This here is my Chancellor, Demon Lord Tanya Tempest.”

The blue ball of slime pointed a portion of his slime towards Tanya who sat to his right, sitting across from the representatives that now visited the nation.

First was a man who seemed like he’d rather be somewhere else named Youm. He had messy gray hair and somewhat baggy clothing consisting of a yellow and red jacket and more basic black clothing underneath. Despite his rugged appearance he seemed to still have the aura of a skilled fighter at the very least.

Youm was the de-facto representative of the Kingdom of Falmuth, though had he been assigned that role in any official capacity, his posture would certainly have been seen as an insult. He leaned back in the chair, kicking his feet up onto the table oblivious to the fact he was sitting across from a Demon Lord capable of incinerating him in seconds.

To Youm’s right was Fuze, the Guildmaster for the Kingdom of Blumund’s guild. He wore a red coat with a white shirt and blue pants underneath, a skull detailed on the large belt around his waist. His appearance seemed to show much more professionality and experience than the cockier Youm, though it also showed a hint of exhaustion as shown by his slightly graying hair.

Next to him was Kaval’s party, with Kaval himself sitting right next to him in blue scalemail armor. Gido was to the right of him wearing a much lighter set of red and green armor lined with direwolf fur. And lastly was Eren sitting on the far right end of the table wearing white and pink robes.

Across from them was Tanya on the far right, sitting next to Rimuru with her arms folded as she sat back in her chair. To Tanya’s left was Benimaru followed by Rigurd, and behind her stood Eiga with her hands behind her back.

Behind Rimuru was also Shion to his right and Shuna to his left with Souei standing near the corner of the room in silent observation.

“You really are a slime!” Fuze said in shock, leaning forwards as if his eyes were deceiving him that a slime was actually in charge. “Wait- Demon Lord?!” He turned quickly towards Kaval’s party, doing his best to suppress his voice from a shout, “You said they had a Demon! Not a Demon Lord!”

Kaval raised his hands up in defense, “She wasn’t a Demon Lord last time we were here! R-Right Tanya?!”

Tanya nodded, “He’s right. I was recently recognized by the Ten Great Demon Lords as the Eleventh ‘Great Demon Lord’. I can’t blame anyone for not hearing about it considering the lack of knowledge regarding Demon Lords among human nations.”

Kaval continued, “By the way, there’re some folks we didn’t see here last time.”

“Right. These are Benimaru, Shion, Souei, and Shuna. Also, the lycanthrope behind Tanya is actually Eiga, I’m sure you remember her.” Rimuru said as he made a slight bounce to nod toward Kaval.

As if having noticed a meeting was occurring, the door quickly opened as a pink-haired girl in a sundress with a terrifying aura hopped in, sitting down next to Rigurd as she chewed on whatever snack she had gotten her hands on. 

Rimuru continued, “And that’s Milim.”

‘You mean there’s not one, but TWO Demon Lords here?! I was skeptical to believe this Demon was a full Demon Lord, but if that’s actually Milim then… There’s no doubt in my mind. Nobody is foolish enough to try and take the identity of Milim lest they find themselves on the end of her wrath. Not to mention the aura she emits… Just what sort of terrifying superpower has just appeared in the forest?!’ Fuze mused in a silent panic. Had he known the danger he was getting into, he would’ve brought more competent adventurers than Blumund’s band of fools to his right.

“So, the Kingdom of Blumund and Falmuth have both come to investigate us?” Rimuru asked before Fuze could even verbally express his shock.

‘I need to play it cool. Can’t show weakness here. I don’t know how quick either this Rimuru or Tanya are to agitate. It’s best I don’t try and piss them off.’ Fuze thought as he began, “We are–”

“Wait a minute. Why is a slime acting like such a bigshot? No way in hell that little girl over there is a Demon Lord AND subordinate to a slime! What’s the deal here? Why are you all okay with this?” Youm spat out, being both annoyed and confused.

‘You idiot! You’re going to get us all killed!’ Fuze internally screamed at the aggressiveness of Youm.

Tanya rolled her eyes and began to mutter, “I don’t think you understand the context of your situa-”

“Shut up, kid!” Youm spat out.

His left arm was suddenly raised up by Tanya’s hand as she stood next to him with a smile, “You’re right-handed, right?”

“Eh?” His confusion was immediately drowned out by his scream of agony as the two bones in his lower left arm were instantly shattered.

“Please remember whose country you’re in and who you’re talking to. Rimuru can heal it but take it as a reminder not to fuck around.” Tanya stared dead into the eyes of Youm who was quickly splashed with a health potion by Rimuru.

{ What the hell?! You can’t just break someone’s arm because they pissed you off! } Rimuru spouted through Thought Communication at Tanya.

Tanya sat down and once more folded her arms, { If I didn’t, Milim or Shion would’ve. I think we both know how that would end. }

{ Even still, no harming people when they insult you! Not everything is solved with violence! }

{ Then you just don’t know how to use violence correctly. Regardless, I nevertheless agree to an extent. But I need to be aggressive to balance out your softness. Think of it like a ‘good cop, bad cop’ of diplomacy. }

Rimuru ignored his mental exhaustion and continued, { I’m not that soft! }

Tanya turned her eyes toward Rimuru, unimpressed, { Prove it. }

{ Fine! No more hurting people unless there is no absolutely no better option! }

{ Tch }

Thanks to [Thought Acceleration] their conversation took place in only the span of a second, allowing Rimuru to immediately continue the meeting. “Sorry about her… She has trouble restraining herself sometimes.”

“You should be careful with your words as well, Rimuru.” Tanya stated, staring at Rimuru who simply ignored her at this point.

“I want to be on good terms with humans. I hope to trade and network with all of you someday as well. I’ve already entered treaties with Dwargon and Eurazania after all, though the latter isn’t a human nation.”

Even Youm, with his overly laidback nature, was shocked to hear Dwargon had recognized such a nation of monsters. Fuze, equally surprised, asked, “With Dwargon?!”

“Merchants going through this country would be far more convenient for your merchants, right? Tanya’s told me about how high Falmuth payments are for those trading with Dwargon.”

“You’re telling me Dwargon recognizes this nation of monsters as legitimate?!” Fuze was still shocked to imagine such a thing. ‘It’s surprising enough that ANY nation would do such a thing. A nation of monsters, let alone recognizing such a thing, was bound to create a plethora of political repercussions. However, I do suppose that Dwargon is able to shrug those off quite easily. I’m not sure if Blumund could do the same.’

Before Rimuru could answer, the door opened as a man dressed in a lab coat with clothing expected of a modest researcher entered the room. In his hand were numerous papers, though nobody could easily see the details of such. As he closed the door behind him, he said “I can vouch for that.”

“Minister Vesta! What is a man of your standing doing here?!” Fuze asked in shock once again.

“Former minister. It is good to see you again regardless, Fuze. I was removed from my position and now work as the head of the Tempest Research Institute. But what Rimuru says is true, King Gazel has entered an alliance and trade deal with King Rimuru.” He walked over and handed the papers off to Tanya who took them with a nod, “I was going to wait until your meeting concluded, but I might as well hand these to you now.”

Tanya took the papers and after a brief moment nodded and placed them face down on the table.

“Convinced now?” Rimuru asked.

“W-Well if that's the case, we aren’t opposed to cooperating with this nation. But I’ll need to see undeniable proof that you are in fact allies of humanity. I’m sure you can understand we can’t just openly become friends with a nation containing a Demon Lord that we know nothing about.” Fuze responded nervously. It was frankly a bit bold in his mind to suggest something like that after what Tanya had done to Youm, but it was the least he would do. There was no way he would willingly bind Blumund to a nation without care for humanity.

“That’s understandable. I want you to understand that we aren’t enemies. I’ll permit you to stay here as long as you need. I’m sure Rigurd can help you with finding a place to stay for now.” Rimuru turned to Rigurd who gave a thumbs up with a nod. “By the way, Fuze, has news spread of the Orc Lord’s defeat?”

“No, only our King and a select handful of people know about it. I doubt many other nations know about it either. Dwargon is the only one I can reliably assume who may already know.”

“I see… Then in that case…” Rimuru turned his body towards Youm as he asked, “Youm, would you like to make a contract with me?”

“Huh? The hell are you eve-” Fuze cut himself off as he looked across the table to see the Demon’s aura begin to rapidly expand along with the pink-haired girl’s who seemed to just be following along with what Tanya was doing, probably just to fuck with him. “What… might you be suggesting?”

“You were paid by Falmuth to come here right? Well you’d simply be swapping employers. Simply put, I want you to become the champions who defeated the Orc Lord.”

“Huh?!”

“Just say that Tempest helped you out and say that you defeated the Orc Lord. I’ll have Kaijin whip you up some nice equipment and Hakurou could help you refine your skills. Soon enough nobody will have any reason to doubt you! I hope that way I’ll be seen as a trustworthy monster who helped the Champion, not some threat to be scared of. Tanya has that department already covered. Well, what do you say?”

Fuze looked down and thought for a moment, “I’ll need some time to think about it.”

“I understand, Rigurd can help you find a place to stay for the time being as well. Take all the time you need!”

With that, the meeting quickly dispersed. Rigurd led the arrivals to guest rooms that had been prepared ahead of time as Tanya went off to talk over things with Vesta, once more leaving Rimuru to handle his own affairs as he himself returned to work.

[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]

Youm stood at the edge of a tall hill overlooking the city below. The city wasn’t quite as grand as the capital of Falmuth, but if he had to pick between the two he had decided he much preferred Tempestia.

There was a certain charm in Tempest that Falmuth lacked. Behind every shiny fountain in Falmuth was a trail of greed that overshadowed any glamor the Kingdom had. Tempest, however, had none of that. It was a nation built from nothing by the people who lived there. It was, in effect, a Kingdom made by the people and for the people as the phrasing of their constitution went. It was far different than the Kingdom built for and by the upper class like in Falmuth.

When he had intended to flee Falmuth, he never expected to end up in a nice country like this. He had fully anticipated fleeing to Dwargon or if need be to yet another corrupt Kingdom among the human nations. Tempest held policies and government that seemed far fairer than even most humans could hope for. It was no surprise that even for a nation of monsters it seemed to have a small, but growing human population that fled from tyranny.

It was ironic really, that a nation inhabited by monsters humanity was told to hate and co-ruled by a Demon Lord which they were told to fear was strangely the freest and fairest country he knew of. 

Youm knew if anything, it was a sign. A sign that humanity didn’t need to live bound to kings and corrupt nobility. If the king is corrupt, then he serves no purpose at all. Sure Tempest had a King, but one who knew the limits of his power over those he ruled over, one who didn’t want to be a tyrant but rather a protector. That was what a King should be, and if a King was anything else then they were nothing but a deadweight to progress.

Being in Tempest had given him a sort of philosophical whiplash after seeing what could be. In the end it seemed like the races they considered monsters were actually more human than any nobility from his homeland.

As he stood and reflected on what he had seen in the few days since he first arrived in the city, he turned as he noticed the small blue ball that was their leader approaching him.

“Have you collected your thoughts?” Rimuru asked as he looked up at Youm from the ground.

Youm looked back over at the city as the sun set, “This city—no—this country is really something. After looking at it all, I know you’re not some evil being. Heck, even if your Chancellor comes off as a terrifying Demon Lord I can tell now that’s mostly an act for appearance’s sake. Though she’s not the kindest, even she couldn’t truly be considered ‘evil’. We are people of guilty conscience. We always longed to be free men. We had planned to make everyone think we died on this mission and flee to some safe nation. But, I’ve decided to trust you.” Youm once more turned and lowered himself before Rimuru, “Allow me to call you ‘Master Rimuru’ from now on. I am at your command.”

“Sure, I’ll be counting on you. Gather your men and come with me, I’ll have Kaijin and Kurobe start working on weapons and armor for you and your men.” Rimuru responded as Youm stood back up with a smile.

“I have contacts in Falmuth that may be able to assist with your story.” A voice suddenly appeared from behind as Youm jumped up to see Tanya appear behind him.

“Gah! Where did you come from?!” He shouted.

“I flew here.” Tanya muttered, walking past him, “Whenever you’re ready to leave just tell me and I’ll send you towards my friends in Falmuth. They’ll give you all the assistance you need.” 

“Since when do you have ‘contacts’ in Falmuth?” Rimuru asked, tilting his head in confusion.

“Rimuru I have contacts all over the place, it's easier if you don’t question it.”

‘I’m gonna question it, just not right now.’ Rimuru mumbled mentally to himself.

Rimuru pushed the situation with Tanya’s ‘contacts’ down the road as he focused on the matter at hand. After telling Youm to have him and his men meet up at the forge tomorrow, Rimuru set out to relax in the hot spring.

[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]

It had been nearly two weeks since Fuze and Youm had first arrived. Youm had left a few days prior to become the Champion that beat the Orc Lord, but the matter of Fuze and Blumund was still at hand.

As such, they once more sat in the meeting room with Rimuru again sitting at the end of the table with Fuze on his right, Kaval’s party behind him, and Tanya on his left.

“Now I should mention that while you would probably need to meet the King directly for any official treaty to be signed, I believe I can properly represent the interests of Blumund in helping create a treaty. That way we can begin preparing for trade to open up before the treaty is even signed.” Fuze, as Guildmaster, lacked any legal authority to make treaties. However, due to his connections to the King, he was more than capable of properly representing him.

“Right, I understand. In that case, it may be best to save discussions of an alliance for when I meet the King directly.” Rimuru said.

“An Alliance?!” Fuze muttered in shock, “W-Well the finer details may need to be discussed with the King at a later point, are you sure you want to enter an alliance with us? No offense but Blumund isn’t exactly a military power, especially not compared to the likes of you, Dwargon, or Eurazania.”

Tanya shook her head as she took over, “It’s not necessarily like that. Think of it as the start of something bigger. Say something like the Council of the West but a bit fairer. Personally, I don’t think it's fair that most members of the council come from one family. My plan for an alliance is for a pact of many nations in which an attack on one is an attack on all no matter how big or small. Eventually, it would work in unison with an economic trade union of sorts, but that’s thinking a bit ahead.”

{ What are you making? NATO? } Rimuru asked Tanya privately.

{ And the EU, yes. }

{ Honestly… Not a bad idea. I probably would’ve suggested something like that eventually. What’s this ‘Council of the West’ though? }

{ I’ll explain it better to you later, but think of it like the United Nations of the Western states. Similarly to the United Nations, it sucks at what it's supposed to do. Though it's very good at giving one family control over most of the West. }

“That sounds like a fairly large ambition, but so long as Blumund has a proper place in it I can see our King taking it fairly openly,” Fuze responded as he listened intently.

Rimuru once more continued, “Focusing back on trade, we believe Blumund would serve well as our gateway to the western nations. While most nations may be reluctant to trade with a monster nation, they’ll gladly trade with you.”

Fuze nodded, “I see, so we trade you goods from the west and you give us goods from Tempest which we can then trade to the west for more profits.”

“In effect, you’ll be the middleman. Even when other nations begin to recognize Tempest, if that ever happens, I still expect Blumund will be the main gateway for trade with us, not to mention with Dwargon.” Rimuru said as he pulled out a map from inside his stomach.

As Rimuru slid the map over to Fuze, he picked it up and looked at it.

Rimuru continued, “That there is a map of our planned roadways. You can see in red the smaller roads more meant for basic travel between cities and towns. The roads in yellow are planned to be larger and much nicer, meant for much more people and trade. As you can see on the map I would like to build one of these roads into Blumund.”

“W-Well sure but… That would be a momentous project. Even if you built one to Dwargon, surely the budget would be too immense to build one to Blumund as well.” Fuze said as he looked up at Rimuru after looking at the map.

“Precisely, hence why we’ll be the ones collecting and managing fees on the road. In exchange, we’ll handle all the maintenance and security on it, not to mention its construction.”

Fuze placed the map back down and nodded, “Then so long as the prices aren’t too outrageous for our merchants then I suppose there’s no issue with that.”

Rimuru bounced in a nod, “Well then, I suppose that settles most of it. We can organize a time with your King and work out the finer details later. In the meantime, we can start construction on the road, at least the parts in Tempest itself.”

“You know,” Fuze began, “From the way you run your country to the way you seem to handle diplomacy you think a lot like us humans do. It's hard to see you as a monster.”

“Hmmm maybe… Well, it might be hard to believe but I actually used to be human.” Rimuru muttered.

Tanya suddenly looked over at Rimuru, startled. { You’re just gonna throw that out randomly?! Wasn’t that a secret or something? }

{ I mean… There’s no way I could tell any of our residents, but just telling them is fine }

{ If you think it's the right play, go ahead I suppose. }

Rimuru continued, “You know about Shizu right? I’m an otherworlder like she was. I was stabbed, died, and reincarnated as a slime! It could be worse, I suppose. I could’ve died, been reincarnated as a girl, then died again and been reincarnated as a demon.”

Tanya stared intently at Rimuru without muttering a word as Fuze looked confused as he said, “That's… oddly specific.”

“Rimuru when I said you can go ahead with telling them that wasn’t an invitation to reveal that I’m an otherworlder as well,” Tanya grumbled.

“I didn’t. You did.” Rimuru responded.

Tanya stopped for a moment before sighing, looking back up to see Fuze looking surprised at this revelation. “Why are you so surprised about me being reincarnated but not so much him? At least I’m still humanoid.”

“Unlike me, I think he just sees you as a normal demon,” Rimuru muttered.

Fuze nodded, “If it makes it any better, I see you as being far more reasonable and humane compared to most demons I’ve heard about. But to be fair, the bar was low.”

Tanya shook her head and stood up, “Well if you’ll excuse me, there’s something I need to deal with. I’ll let you finish up here Rimuru.”

Rimuru waved her off as he returned to final discussions with Fuze.

[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]

The emergence of a new Demon Lord in the Jura Forest was not something entirely anticipated, at least not in the way it occurred. Even the Orc Disaster was merely an attempt to secure a puppet in the forest all the while experimenting with how awakening as a True Demon Lord actually occurs.

This new Demon Lord however wasn’t awakened, at least not yet, but that didn’t stop her or her nation from being any less of a threat. This new Demon Lord had a military and personal might capable of rivaling Carrion yet a cunning mind capable of rivaling almost any other in the Demon Lord Council.

To say Tempest was a threat would be an understatement, and now seemingly with ties to Carrion, Milim, and perhaps even Ramiris with the potential to even befriend Daggrull, this new Demon Lord held all the cards she could need to pose a reliable threat to Clayman if she so desired.

Clayman, however, was hardly worried. While the emergence of this Demon Lord and her nation posed a roadblock in schemes to manipulate the Great Jura Forest, he well believed that Demon Lord Tanya posed no real threat to himself.

Her majin, or better yet herself could likely be brought under the control of his skill if push came to shove, so he had no reason to worry. But that didn’t change the fact he knew little of this new Demon Lord. This new nation came out of nowhere and all the information he had on it came from the defeat of the Orc Lord and even then Tanya took little part in that battle.

Despite this lack of information, Clayman had a solution. While his own network of gathering information was weak in Tempest for the time being, sending out a scout to find out more would be a fairly easy task.

As such he sent out what appeared to be a young girl with pink hair wearing a baggy and slightly oversized pink clown outfit with a clown mask to match to scout out Tempest and see how they could probe its strength. He had no reason to strike them directly, at least not yet, but knowing more was always a good plan.

As such this masked girl, named Tear moved swiftly and quietly through the trees of the forest, moving undetected even past the patrols of Tempest’s own anti-intelligence network of Dragonewts and Kijin. 

As she inched closer to the capital city, she heard something speak from behind her.

“You know, I assumed a schemer like Clayman would be more subtle”

Tear quickly turned to see where the voice was coming from but in the next instant looked to see her arm entirely blasted off as the demon that stood before her held a strange object pointed at it.

The object let out a light smoke at the tip as the demon then pointed it at her head. It didn’t take Tear long to realize she was standing face-to-face with Tanya herself. 

Tanya looked at the clown inspecting everything she could. Nothing stood out too much, but there was no doubt this was one of Clayman’s subordinates or allies. Despite this one thing did ultimately stand out as she inspected closer, ‘Magical encryption? Been a long time since I’ve seen that. It’s so primitive though. I suppose in a world without any sort of magical deciphering, even basic encryption is enough to throw people off. Unfortunately for them, I’m not so easily fooled.’

It took Tanya only a few seconds to break their encryption with numerous formulas she had mastered in her prior life. As if rewarding her, she felt herself unlocking the extra skill ‘[Decipher]’ which seemed to further assist with the formulas.

‘Seems that they’re using geological and geomagnetic phenomena as an information gathering network. I doubt they can see much of Tempest with it if they’re sending out scouts, but it's best if I cut off their access within the Forest and our allies if nothing else.’

Combining [Decipher] with her magical radar she applied the skill across the entirety of Tempest. While she currently lacked the skills or formulas to cut it off on such a large scale, she would eventually figure it out. For now, simply knowing what information they were gathering would be enough.

Meanwhile, Tear grabbed at where her arm was and took a step back. Pointing her pistol right at her face Tanya mentally sighed, ‘Killing a Demon Lord’s subordinate would be too much of a headache. But at the same time letting them come in unopposed would be too. I’ll let this be a warning for now.’

“If Clayman wants diplomacy then he can come to us directly and in an official manner. I don’t take too kindly to his subordinates sneaking around my country. Don’t forget which country he sends all his merchants through. I’ve been kind enough to allow them to travel through for now, but I won’t hesitate to cut Jistav off completely. That’s not to mention the next time I find one of Clayman’s subordinates in my forest it’ll be more than the arm I blow off.”

Tear quickly rushed off without another word, seemingly understanding the full threat she was in considering the firepower Clayman had told her she had. Still, that didn’t stop Tanya’s confusion, ‘Just what the hell is he thinking? For a pushover as weak as him he should be trying to get all the allies and friendly relations he can, not sneaking around and potentially pissing people off. If his subordinates are clowns, then Clayman’s the whole damned circus.’

[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]

Thanks to various editors and helpers on the Discord who helped with things like plot decisions, grammatical errors, and other aspects of the chapter:

Terraman60

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