In a room filled with elegance and opulence, where wealth had brought the aesthetic beauty of the owner, sat a man, dressed in a pristine white three-piece suit, his pale brown eyes shining as he slowly savored the aged wine in his glass, a wine of a kingdom long gone.

Such an appearance that he was showing to anyone watching is overcompensation for the power, or lack thereof that he has to his peers. He however, had the strategic mind to enact schemes, and in his eyes, to overcome the difference in strength by using cunning methods.

Demon Lord Clayman, one of the eleven Demon Lords, and of course, amongst the four younger ones of the new generation. Like those of his generation, he had yet to awaken his Demon Lord Seed, which forced him to avoid confrontation and use his wits as much as, if not more than his strength. 

While many would say that the workings of Clayman's mind as an enigma, the truth is that he had a simple goal. A goal, in which he is to become an Awakened Demon Lord, and assist in reviving his Master Kazalim back to his full strength one day. The process of awakening a Demon Lord Seed was something of a mystery, but what was known was that souls were required.

The Orc Lord was an experiment in the Jura Tempest forest to try and create an Awakened Demon Lord, in addition to being a puppet to gain control over the Jura Forest. However, this had unintended consequences.

With the defeat of the Orc Lord, he had lost the Demon Lord Seed in Orc Disaster for a mysterious reason. Not only that, but it also resulted in another Demon Lord joining the ranks.

Tanya Tempest, one of the two beings that claimed to be amongst Veldora's main and trusted subordinates. The other being the slime known as Rimuru Tempest.

While most knew of Veldora only as a brute who used strength over knowledge and strategy, it appears that he was far smarter than anyone gave him credit for. He had managed to gain a slime and a demon to gather and create a new geopolitical power in the Jura forest after all.

And of course, as was the case with many of the newer Demon Lords, Milim Nava had to jump in and provide her support. Now there was a 'Federation' there, one that was co-led in the name of the Storm Dragon.

The individual that he had sent to observe and ensure that everything went according to plan, a fellow member of the Moderate Harlequin Alliance, Tear, stood in front of him, dressed in a clown outfit of sorts, shades of pink and blue clashing and a mask to match.

Her regenerative abilities as a Deathman meant that she could shrug off hits that would disable a normal person. That didn't stop her from complaining about the situation though, "—and then she just sliced my arm clean off! She mentioned that it was a warning, but not much surveillance was due to her. And I even had to expend a bit of energy to regrow my arm!!!"

Clayman took another sip of wine and sighed, “Looks like our plan of forcibly awakening Charybdis won’t be possible.” He swirled the red liquid some more in the glass before sniffing it once more. “Even if we know about Charybdis’ whereabouts and how to go about awakening it early, we wouldn’t be able to if that Demon’s on the lookout for us. It’s a shame, but we’ll have to drop any hopes of a conventional means of spying on Tempest.”

Tear tilted her head in confusion, “Why can’t we just forcefully awaken him anyways? I was able to at least check out the cave where he was sealed before I was spotted. Surely we’d have enough time.”

“Even if we found someone willing to volunteer themselves or otherwise be tricked into doing it, I doubt we could with that Demon now constantly watching. Regardless, Charybdis will eventually awaken on their own, right?”

Tear nodded, “Mhm! I’d give it a month. But if it awakened on its own, it would just go in some random direction and perhaps not even attack Tempest!”

Clayman swayed his arm around as he responded, “That's a possibility, yes, but I’d say Tempest’s probably a pretty appealing target to something like Charybdis. I doubt that Demon will let it fly around uncontested in its domain regardless. Either way, even if it awakens on its own I’m sure we’ll either get a better gauge on Tempest’s power, or it’ll be completely destroyed. Both work to our benefit.”

“If you say so.”

“Besides, Tanya isn’t much of a problem either way. I’m sure my [Manipulator] Skill could control both her and the majin she carries around. If push comes to shove the worst that could happen is that she ends up dying before I can take control of them.” Clayman laughed with stable confidence that this strange demon that appeared out of nowhere was, in the end, nothing he needed to be that cautious about.

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

A small slime looked down below at the vast hills and open fields of grass, flowers, and farmland with a slight satisfaction to him. His blue ball of a body glistened in the warm sun as he enjoyed the nice breeze that flowed through the area.

Just a few months prior the land he now stood on was a barren wasteland suffering from drought and starvation with not a plant in sight for miles. Now it has been turned into fertile farmland.

The region was formerly home to primarily a population of Orcs, ones which fell to hunger, starvation, and eventually desperation through the Orc Lord once food ran out.

As Rimuru had later discovered, the famine that led to the rise of the Orc Lord was a fairly new occurrence, but one that had been set in motion by nature for years prior.

The Meld River, named similarly to the Ameld River, was the lifeblood of the region as well as the Beast Kingdom which it flowed into before splitting off into numerous smaller rivers. These rivers proved pivotal in making the Beast Kingdom filled with the fertile farmland that makes up much of its economy.

Over decades the portion of the river within the Jura Forest itself moved further and further eastward until eventually, the Meld River began flowing into the much larger Ameld River.

While the rivers continued to flow as they formerly did into the Beast Kingdom, simply now flowing from the Ameld rather than the Meld, it did cut off the portion of the river which flowed directly west into the homeland of the Orcs and eventually into the Harpy Kingdom of Fulbrosia.

This in effect cut off the entirety of the valleys just south of Jura from the Meld River or any branch-offs. This mixed with some unfortunate weather patterns led to the region being struck with drought within a few years.

As he looked on at the fields below, Rimuru thought to himself as he assessed their progress ‘Just a few months ago the Meld River flowed from Lake Siss into the Ameld River before the Ameld River would eventually split with one part flowing into the ocean like usual and another flowing into the Beast Kingdom. All we had to do to fix the flow was redirect it to its original pathing from a few decades ago. With a bit of Earth Magic, that much at least was fairly possible.’

Rimuru looked down at the river in the distance as it flowed fairly calmly eastward. ‘Had we not moved it back to where it was, it's likely the part that flows into the Beast Kingdom would have eventually been cut off as soon as the Ameld stopped flowing there and once more flowed into the ocean alone. The shift caused some flooding for a time, but through coordination with the Beast Kingdom, and lack of anyone to care in the Harpy Kingdom due to all of them living in the mountains, the change was easy and fast with magic.’

«It is possible that the change in the river's currents was a deliberate change caused by the Demon Lords to bring about an Orc Lord. With the Orc Lord’s signature skill being ‘Starved’, it is likely it was originally born to save the Orcs from starvation, a situation they managed to replicate by redirecting the river.»

‘I suppose it was convenient for the Orcs to be in a drought when Gelmud came around. Luckily only this region was greatly affected.’

Despite the restoration of the Meld River’s original current, the fact remained that the region had recovered exceptionally quickly. The reason it had was ultimately thanks to the Dryads.

After having forgotten to invite Treyni when he began making farms on the outskirts of Tempest, Rimuru had invited them to help restore the grasslands and help establish new and much larger farms in the area. With Treyni and the dryads being more than eager to help restore nature and plant life, the recovery went by quickly.

‘I should probably thank them again. Maybe I’ll set up some potato fields for them to have a larger supply of chips. Tanya mentioned working on hunting down or otherwise recreating some exotic plants from our world, I’m sure some of those might make good gifts.’

The fields that Rimuru now overlooked resided deep within the state of Geldia, the newest state to be officially integrated into the Imperial Tempest Federation. The region had originally been an unofficial extension of Tempestia with it being seen as mostly useless, but its recent rapid growth into agricultural and merchant sectors led to an agreement to make it separate on its own.

Unlike Tempestia and Ediechia, which function on what Tanya and Rimuru had referred to as ‘pseudo-democracies’, the new state of Geldia was beginning to develop a comparatively more diverse political situation.

Tempestia and Eidechia were, as both Tanya and Rimuru agreed, ‘one-party Democratic states’, hence the name ‘pseudo-democracy’. They were for all intents and purposes, free democratic states, but the population genuinely wanted Rigurd in charge so much that there wasn’t much serious opposition to him. So long as Rigurd ran for the presidency in Tempestia, he would keep it.

A similar situation occurs within Eidechia. Officially the role of the Chieftain was now a ceremonial one, limited to only ceremonial power. However there wasn’t anything stopping a Chieftain from becoming President, and due to his popularity, there were few who put up any opposition to the Chieftain’s election over and over again.

Geldia, meanwhile, was different. Unlike those two regions with powerful, popular, and influential figures earning the support of most people, there were no such figures among Geldia. There was an offer for Geld to take over Geldia by making the Orc King an official government role in Geldia, but he refused.

Should Geld try to run for president in Geldia, the region would likely end up similar to Tempestia and Eidechia, with election after election being won near-unanimously by Geld.

Instead, Geld doesn’t take any steps into politics, at least not any more than he believes he needs to. As such, Geldia gradually began to develop politicians and opposing, albeit similar, political ideologies.

While Rimuru was certainly happy to see more variety in the ideas and beliefs shared by Tempest’s people, he, for one, had no real issue with the pseudo-democracies within the other states so long as the elections were truly fair. If people want Rigurd to rule for decades, then who was he to say otherwise?

Rimuru ultimately cared more about being a guardian than a king. He was King because they wanted him to be, not out of his own egotistical desire. He kept Tanya as Chancellor as despite her more chaotic tendencies when it came to modernization, he trusted that she had Tempest’s best interests in mind.

It was perhaps a bit selfish, but all Rimuru truly cared about was the safety of his people and Tempest itself. The friends of Tempest came second, everyone else was third. Those who would seek harm to Tempest weren’t even on the list at all.

For now, Rimuru’s focus lay on expanding Tempest and making the closest thing possible to a utopia for monsters. The first step of that was of course to make sure said ‘utopia’ had a functioning government to manage that, and to make sure that goes along smoothly, the groundwork for the Federation needed to be complete.

The integration of Geldia was merely half of the ‘Federal Expansion Act’ drafted by Tanya and himself, and officially passed by the rest of the government. The Act officially recognized Geldia and Ameldia as ‘territories’ of Tempest, and to be integrated into the Federation once they were deemed ‘ready’ by the King and Chancellor.

Geldia had been placed under his responsibility, while Ameldia fell under Tanya’s. With Geldia being mostly open fields planned to be full of farmlands, they considered it the more ‘peaceful’ option as ultimately it was mostly Rimuru building up the land from nothing.

Ameldia on the other hand, according to what he had heard from Tanya, was a bit more chaotic in its history.

Rimuru was relieved that he didn’t have to worry about handling those affairs for the time being, but for now, had other matters to deal with. He wasn’t just standing there for nothing, he had been told to rendezvous here with Tanya soon, and while he had no clear way to tell the time, [Great Sage] told him it was supposed to be now.

As punctual as ever, Tanya flew down after having flown in from the east. Landing on the ground, she looked intently at a few screens glowing in front of her as she moved her hands to adjust them as if using a touch-screen interface as a manifestation of her [Illusion Master] skill.

Rimuru looked up with slight annoyance as he tried to read all the text and information detailed on Tanya’s screens, ‘No way I’m even going to try to read all that. Too much random nonsense for my liking.’

«The data seen on the screens has been analyzed and documented»

‘Thank you, Great Sage! I’m still not going to read it because I feel like even the simple version of it is still more complicated than it probably needs to be. I understand wanting details, but sometimes Tanya takes it too far!’

«It is likely her [Sage] and [Thought Acceleration] skills have allowed her to comprehend more complex documents at a rapid pace»

‘Isn’t [Sage] just a weaker version of [Great Sage]?’

«Yes. [Great Sage] is more than capable of doing that at a much more rapid pace as it has been doing.»

‘Right, right. I suppose there’s a difference between BEING the one with rapid thought processing and having something do the rapid thought processing for you.’

«The effects of [Sage] can be applied to you as well if you request it»

‘I’ll consider it next time she hands me some massive document. But for now, I’ll pass.’

Tanya pulls up a chart as she begins to speak, “Hopefully the output of Geldia provides enough to cut down on our need for food imports. I trust the Beast Kingdom will be able to provide a cheap supply of it, but I’d still rather not be too reliant on it. Our nation should be able to survive indefinite isolation if it needs to, even if it never intends to.”

Rimuru nodded, “I agree. Even if Carrion is a friend, being too reliant on their food exports could prove detrimental. You mentioned getting some more crops right? How’s progress?”

Tanya swiped the screens to her side as she tossed something over to Rimuru. Quickly grabbing it with extensions of his slimy body, he looked up at it and quickly realized it was a chocolate bar.

“You made CHOCOLATE?!” Rimuru asked in shock as he held the bar in front of him.

“Yep,” Tanya confirmed, “It’s milk chocolate we made with bulldeer milk. We don’t quite have the space for a large Bulldeer industry though, so I was planning on moving it here. As for the chocolate itself, that’s a tricky process and we may be forced to use the cave to create artificial growing areas for it since the Jura Forest lacks the tropical environment needed.”

“Wouldn’t you have needed to get this from somewhere else if you can't grow it here?” Rimuru mused, now asking, “Where did you get the cocoa from?”

“We spent nearly a year trying to recreate the plant from the closest relative I could hunt down in this world.” Tanya groaned with her hand on her head, “The closest relative was found in the Elven Kingdom so it was hard to get my hands on the seeds. From there it was a tedious process to get it close to what I wanted. Luckily the Dryads could accelerate its growth process.”

“These will make great gifts for diplomacy though, I’d imagine.” Rimuru surmised as he stored the chocolate away for future use and potential replication by Great Sage.

Tanya folded her arms as a grin appeared on her face, “The real profit of the TRI’s plant and food division has been the recreation of coffee! Of course, we’re still working on replicating coffee beans, but we’ve found what we’ve titled the Jura Coffeetree which has seeds that can be used as a substitute. Not the best coffee, but it's better than nothing and that’s a start!” Tanya exclaimed with pride that Rimuru had rarely seen from Tanya.

‘It’s a bit jarring to see Tanya with such a genuine smile on her face. She looks like a normal little girl when she’s like that. It's a bit strange that she’s so genuinely happy about some coffee, but if she’s happy, I’m happy I suppose. Then again I feel like the point of coffee is defeated when you don’t need sleep anyways.’

«It is ill-advised to question it further.»

‘Agreed.’

“Well, how’s progress in Ameldia coming along?” Rimuru asked, moving on from the subject.

Tanya manifested another screen in front of her, detailing a map of Ameldia and eastern Eidechia, showing a map of towns, cities, roads, and fortifications. Some of these were transparent and blue-colored, detailing them as incomplete. 

Almost everything in Ameldia was labeled incomplete, with only the Autobahn between a major city in Eidechia and the soon-to-be capital of Ameldia being partially finished.

Looking at the map for reference, Tanya began, “Progress is both faster than initially expected and slower than anticipated. On one hand, new innovations from the TRI have made construction faster, however, conflict between the races east of the river has at the same time made it slower.”

Tanya rotated the image to show it to Rimuru, adjusting it to show only Ameldia, now detailed in four different colors of roughly equal size covering the state.

Tanya continued, “There are three main races east of the Ameld River; Gozu, Mezu, and Elves. The red represents territory held by the Mezu, the blue represents the Gozu, and the green represents the Elves. The purple area represents the contested area between the Mezu and the Gozu.”

“Considering the fact they have contested territory, I take it that the two races don’t really get along…” Rimuru reasoned as he looked at the map.

Tanya shook her head, “No, they don't. At first, I thought perhaps the racial conflict was over resources or land, and while it may have started that way, the only thing keeping the conflict going is a mixture of racism and stubbornness.”

“Stubbornness?”

“They don’t remember why they’re fighting, but I’d imagine they’re too stubborn to stop now. That being said, I don’t think it would be that particularly hard to stop their fighting, but a peaceful resolution with both of them serving Tempest would be the best outcome.”

“Can we even get them to join Tempest peacefully?” Rimuru questioned.

“Probably. Both of them are fairly eager to get the protection of a nation partially led by a Demon Lord. But I can imagine the request both of them will make of you.”

“Yeah, I can guess already. I suppose it would be best if the King was the one to meet with them, for official reasons if nothing else,” reasoned Rimuru as he turned into his human form, sprouting wings as he began to lift into the air, following Tanya to the capital of Ameldia.

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

The two hovered over an open field of land in the middle of a sea of trees and greenery. Leading from it was a long clearing of trees which eventually reached an open road still only partially complete.

The land had been cleared in mere weeks, and the wood was already being repurposed for housing and other amenities. Though what immediately shocked Rimuru was the various machines now being used to handle construction.

Looking down below, he looked on in shock as he saw a bulldozer clearing out a path, flattening the land as it went. Nearby was a forklift, carrying crates from one area to another. There was a handful of other equipment being used all over the place, and he realized quickly what Tanya meant when she mentioned the TRI’s innovations.

“When did you start making construction equipment?” Rimuru inquired as he looked at the smugly proud Tanya.

Tanya responded, “Around the same time we started working on Tanks. What is a bulldozer but a tank with a plow on it? We’ve also made a snow plow attachment to deal with the large amounts of snow Jura gets in the winter.”

“Do we even have the magicule energy to power all of this?” Rimuru retorted.

“We’ve increased the efficiency of magicule consumption and usage. Most machines use the user’s own magicules, but with the efficiency they run at, so long as you don't use it all day and rotate jobs with someone you’re probably fine. Of course, there’re a few Orcs under my command who could use it all day without trouble anyways.”

“Well if you can make enough of them it’ll certainly make the job of the Orcs a bit easier and allow us to spread them out a bit more,” Rimuru noted as he lowered to the ground.

Tanya followed him shortly after as she began walking him to a nearby government building, made in a similar Roman-style architecture that the government buildings in the capital were built with. It was one of very few buildings already built along with a few houses built nearby along with temporary residences for the Orcs.

Tanya began to walk inside the building, opening the door for Rimuru as she explained, “This will be used for the Ameldian government whenever it is fully established. For now, though, it will be used for handling the conflict here in the region. Representatives from the Gozu, Mezu, and the Elves are here to seek an audience with you.”

Rimuru turned back into a slime and quickly bounced into Tanya’s hands, mumbling, “It's probably best if they see me in slime form. Better for monsters to be ruled by monsters after all.”

Starting with the elves, Tanya led Rimuru into the first meeting room as the representatives of the Elves inside quickly knelt down in respect for the nation’s leader. They had already heard of the leader being a slime, and while some were skeptical, the fact remained that the slime’s chancellor was a recognized Demon Lord.

Placing Rimuru on a stool she had prepared, Tanya took a step back with her arms behind her back as Rimuru nodded and began, “My name is Rimuru Tempest, leader of the Imperial Tempest Federation. This is my chancellor, Demon Lord Tanya Tempest. As I’m sure you’ve already been informed, we hope to expand the Federation to incorporate the entirety of the Jura Forest, including the lands your people currently reside in.”

The elf at the front of the group, seemingly chosen as its eldest representative, looked up at Rimuru as he made his response, “We have heard rumors of your great deeds in the western forest. Of taking down the Orc Lord and founding a nation from nothing. It would be an honor to live under your protection. We only have one request.”

Rimuru listened with interest, “And what would that be?”

“We would like protection from the constant conflict between the Mezu and Gozu peoples. Their warring has gone on for over a generation of our kind and the longer they fight the more harm it brings to us elves.”

“We had been hoping to quell their infighting and have the two factions come to a peaceful resolution. I understand if after all of that, you still do not wish to live with them. In such a case, we will accommodate anyone who desires to do so to move to Tempestia. The forest there is much like here, so I’m sure whoever wishes to go will settle in nicely.” Rimuru responded with a nod toward the elf.

The elder nodded, “There are certainly some among our people who will not feel safe in their presence and will take you up on that offer. But for the rest of us, we will like to stay here and inhabit this new capital your Chancellor has begun to build. We do not mind the presence of the Gozu or Mezu so long as their conflict can be brought to an end.”

Rimuru nodded again, “I’ll see what I can do. If nothing else, I should be able to make sure your territory is no longer impacted by their infighting.”

“We are ever thankful, Lord Rimuru,” the elf once more lowered its head.

“I’ll handle organizing everything in regard to the elves. They have quite a few intellectuals I want to recruit to the TRI. I also plan to move the agricultural division of the TRI over here so that more elves can take part in it,” Tanya explained as Rimuru hopped onto her shoulder.

“Alright, I’ll leave you to it. Who’s next? The Gozu or the Mezu?” He asked as Tanya carried him out of the room on his shoulder, leading him toward another meeting room in the building.

“Both.”

“Both?!” Rimuru questioned in shock.

“Best if we have them both there so we can try at least some mediation between them. Don’t worry about them fighting, I have Eiga already there for intimidation. They won’t try anything with her there.”

Rimuru sighed, “If you say so. Just in case I’ll call Ranga.”

Instantly the direwolf hopped out of Tanya’s shadow, appearing next to them as he kept up to pace, “You called, master?”

“Yep, we’re dealing with two races that have quite a history fighting each other. Make sure they don’t try anything.”

Ranga bowed his head, “Understood.”

With Ranga now in tow, Tanya led Rimuru into the next meeting room where he saw two muscular figures, one with a horse-head rather than a human one, and another resembling a minotaur with an ox-head instead.

The ox-headed one, as Rimuru quickly noted, was a member of the Gozu race, with the horse-headed one being part of the Mezu race.

Sitting once more on top of a stool, Tanya stood directly behind with Eiga and Ranga taking positions behind their respective masters with Eiga taking on her blade tiger form for further intimidation.

The two quickly knelt before Rimuru and Tanya, though the hostile glances towards each other were obvious proof that the hostilities between the two still remained even now.

Gathering his will to get this over with quickly and find an easy means to conclude their conflict, Rimuru began, “My name is Rimuru Tempest, the King of the Imperial Tempest Federation. This is my Chancellor, the Demon Lord Tanya Tempest. As our federation expands to cover the entire Jura Forest, we seek to peacefully incorporate the lands of your people into a new federal state.”

The ox-headed Gozu lifted his head, “It would be an honor to serve under you, great Rimuru Tempest and Demon Lord Tanya Tempest. We of the Gozu have requested you side with us and help us exterminate the Mezu!”

Rimuru was lucky that his slime body made it easy to hide his frustration, though he quickly calmed himself, understanding that this part was likely inevitable.

The horse-headed Mezu quickly spoke up next, “Nonsense! It would only make sense for an honorable being such as yourself to side with the Mezu against the Gozu!”

“Enough!” Rimuru shouted before the two could begin bickering amongst each other, “I want a Federation in which ALL races can live in harmony. We will not be tolerating the conflict between your two races any longer. It must end.”

The Gozu leader seemed confused and slightly angered, “Huh?! We can’t just-!” He froze as he looked behind the two leaders standing in front of him, seeing two powerful auras casting their shadow over the entire room as the two animals that stood by their masters gazed with murderous intent.

It was immediately obvious to both the Gozu and Mezu that the two animals that committed themselves in servitude to the leaders of this Federation each individually had the power to wipe out their entire race if they so desired. It seemed as if they weren’t being given a choice. Their fighting must end, or they would both be destroyed.

Had it not been for the supposed prosperity the Federation had been rumored to bring west of the river, the two may have considered fighting to the last man to resist enslavement, but it was obvious that this wasn’t that. This wasn’t enslavement, but rather a demand to stop fighting. If they did, it was likely they would see the same prosperity the other regions now had. If it meant they had to bear with living in the same country as their sworn enemies, then so be it. It was ultimately better than making an enemy of the two beasts that stood behind the nation’s leaders.

The Gozu leader, visibly intimidated, lowered his head and muttered, “I-If you insist, the Gozu will attempt to set aside our differences with the Mezu for the time being.”

The Mezu leader lowered his head as well, “The Mezu tribe will cease the fighting as well as you request, great Rimuru Tempest.”

Rimuru looked down with a slight, albeit non-visible surprise. Turning to Tanya, he sent a thought communication as he muttered { That went easier than I expected. }

Tanya turned her gaze towards Eiga and then back towards Rimuru as she shrugged her shoulders { I can see why. }

{ Hm? }

Tanya shook her head, { It’s not important, but I do believe I know how to handle the two races going forward. At least for the first few months. I’ll take things from here, I appreciate the help. }

{ No problem! I’ll be heading back to Tempestia for now. Tell me if you need anything, good luck with them. }

Rimuru hopped down from the stool and bounced his way out of the building, flying away back to Tempestia as he left Tanya to her own devices in the east once more.

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

The war situation has developed not necessarily to the Empire’s advantage.

That was the most optimistic way he could describe the war situation now. While the Empire was hardly winning the war, one could argue that it wasn’t quite losing it yet either.

Up until not too long ago, the Empire seemed to be in a never-ending spiral of bad luck after bad luck as the Empire tried its best to secure victories despite that. It was only through the sheer military might of the Empire that it survived what would’ve easily been a death sentence for any other nation.

While this bad luck had seemingly begun to fade, the vast military advantage the Empire had over its rivals had long since faded after years of conflict. The Empire, for all intents and purposes, was now on equal grounds with its rivals and the outcome of the war was far from decided.

That didn’t change the fact the war had gone on for too long. Morale across all countries at war seemed to be dropping fast as even the church had seemingly entered a state of panic, claiming the ‘end times’ were upon them.

Religious fanatics across the globe began ranting that ‘God had abandoned them’ or that the war had ‘killed God’. Whatever the case may be, the fairly religious population of the western world began to go down one of two paths. The first being panic and dismay at the supposed ‘death’ of God, the other to turn to atheism and then to patriotism or nationalism.

It was this new wave of nationalism that kept the war going even now, but most doubted that it could carry on forever.

He knew first-hand the situation on the front lines and just how fragile things were becoming.

He had been handed the reins of the 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion after the death of its commander, Tanya von Degurechaff, and despite having a battalion of the best mages in the Empire, the fighting only seemed to get harder and harder.

For Weiss, running the 203rd was as much a political game as it was a strategic one. He had to keep the 203rd from being cannibalized by other divisions while also making sure it wasn’t destroyed in combat.

It was getting to the point where even he could see that the 203rd may very quickly outlive its usefulness. If the situation didn’t change soon, the elite mages of the battalion may end up better suited to split up across the front rather than congregate together in a single unit.

He could keep the 203rd intact for another year at least, of that he was certain. But after that, if the 203rd didn’t prove his usefulness to him, let alone high command, there was no doubt that the hard work of its former commander would go to waste. It would be a shame, sure, and perhaps be a bit disrespectful to her memory, but the war was changing and so too did the Empire need to.

These were, of course, all just the thoughts of a soldier. Nothing more, nothing less. That was, at least, how Weiss saw it as he looked down at the map of the war situation that was on the table in front of him.

It was a stalemate on all fronts, and at least for now, that was the best the Empire could hope for. If this next offensive went well, then perhaps that could change, but that hardly mattered at that moment. He would do his part, and he would make sure his battalion does theirs. It was the least he could do for her battalion.

As he stood lost in thought he almost didn’t hear one of the other members of the battalion, Rhiner Neumann calling out to him.

“Yo! Lieutenant Colonel! We’re being called to head out soon!”

Weiss turned to look at Neumann and nodded, “Thank you for informing me, I’ll be out in a minute. Mobilize the battalion.”

Neumann left swiftly as Weiss himself quickly put on his own mage gear. The battle ahead would be a hard one, easily among the hardest the battalion had ever faced.

It was times like these he wished Tanya was still around. She was a much better leader than he could hope to become. He strived to be her equal every day, though he hardly believed he was ever close.

Thinking back on her, she was as chaotic as she was charismatic. For such a little girl to be such a skilled leader… It was certainly one of the strangest parts of this war. With how much she seemed to ramble on about certain topics and with the rumors of ‘God’s death’ going around, he wouldn’t have been all that surprised if she had flown up to heaven and killed him herself.

But that was just nonsense. None of that mattered at that moment. What mattered was winning the war, anything else could come later.

Weiss finally finished putting on his mage equipment and took a step toward the exit to his tent. As he did so he found himself frozen in place, a glowing magical circle appearing at his feet as he struggled to move in a panic.

He readied his rifle, unsure of what was to come.

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

Cat, Phymiath, and Ra2griz

To join the discord for chatting, discussion, updates, or to apply to be one of the credited helpers, join the link below:

https://discord.gg/xcCvpSxmA7

I have recently also created a second Discord to function as a hub for all Isekai Fanfics. If you wish to join to look for more fanfics about isekai anime/manga, feel free to join. Fellow writers of isekai fanfics are also encouraged to join.

https://discord.gg/s4EmmvcYzE