Meeting with the Princess
"Umm, well, I'm not sure-"
Jeanne quickly cut off any attempt for him to play dumb. "I'd rather you don't act like I don't know who you two are. Barring how foolish it would make me look, people of different races are quite rare in this country, and the foxgirl you brought with you doesn't really help with blending in with the crowd."
That point couldn't be argued with too much. Amidonia was known for being a human supremacy nation, and naturally, having demi humans around wasn't the norm. Even though there were occupying soldiers who did have those traits, none of them looked to be anywhere near Tomoe's age. Essentially, if you knew what to look for, it was quite obvious who she was, even through her disguise.
"I see…" Souma said. He followed up with. "So, what do you want from me?"
"What do I want?" She asked. "I simply wanted to see the man that I would be negotiating with. I mean, after all, rumors about you in the Empire are all over the place."
"Pardon?" He squeaked out.
"Well, there are rumors that the new king of Elfrieden is nothing short of a genius. Someone who was able to lead their country out of an economic crisis. By using a slew of innovative and new ideas, the problems in Elfrieden ceased to exist. Not only that, but they also say that you are a fearless warrior. One who, without hesitation, charged into the battlefield and struck fear into the hearts of the Amidonian soldiers."
I really want to know who the hell was spreading rumors like that. Souma thought. The only time that I even saw any battle was when I was Rimuru fighting Gaius.
Oblivious to Souma's thoughts, Jeanne continued, and said with a hint of embarrassment evident in her voice, "They also say that you are a lustful man who made a competition to choose his concubines."
Souma practically stopped thinking for a second when he heard that before he suddenly went into overdrive. In fact, from an outsider perspective, it made perfect sense. Obviously, there was Liscia, who he was engaged to, and they could often be spotted together. Then there was Aisha, who was his bodyguard, so he could understand that, as she spent more time during the day with him than even Liscia did. Then there was Juna, who Souma was amicable enough with…
Oh my god, I'm a womanizer…
Hurrying to defend himself, mainly from the thoughts forming in his head, he shook both his hands and head and said, "No, no, no! That's all just a huge misunderstanding! Besides, that competition was something the people wanted! All I did was sign off on it! I swear!"
The competition that he was referring to was the Elfrieden Beauty Prix, which had a monthly winner to be in contention to be a lorelei, along with a cash prize. Liscia chewed him up initially when he heard about it, but upon hearing his reasoning that it could promote new talent through entertainment, and not because he wanted his own personal concubines, she was okay with it.
When Jeanne heard what he had to say on the matter, Souma swore that he heard her click her tongue, followed by her dejectedly saying, "That's a shame… I was hoping that I could offer you my sister in exchange for your service, but I guess not."
That was slightly alarming to him. "Wait, wait. Should you be offering the leader of a nation so easily like that? Your own sister, no less?"
"Well, why not?" Jeanne questioned. "My sister is placed in this precarious position where everyone either looks up to her or wants her dead. Outside of me and our other sister, she has no one she can truly call an equal. That's something that I would like to change. And besides," she continued, shifting her gaze to Juna, "I highly doubt that I'd be leaving her in bad hands. Don't you agree?"
Seeing the awkward stares that were being directed her way, she opted to change topics. Clearing her throat, she said, "W-well, enough of that. Still, though Souma, I would like to know how you came up with using the Jewel Broadcast like this. Most leaders would either be too afraid or think the public doesn't need things like this."
Scratching the back of his head, Souma said, "Well, I mean, that's just something that's quite common in my old world. In fact, all of the things that I've incorporated in this world are things that other people have invented back in my old world."
Hearing his explanation, Jeanne suddenly took on a much more somber look. "About that…" Immediately bowing to him, she exclaimed, "I must apologize for forcing you into such a situation. I can't even begin to imagine what it's like to be torn away from the life that you've known and have been thrust into ours."
Souma tried to assuage her, but to no avail. Instead; she doubled down. "Even if you say it's no big deal, my pride as a princess won't allow me to just walk away from a situation that I created."
"Well, it's not as if I don't understand why it was done in the first place." Souma said. "I'm guessing that the only reason as to why you asked Elfrieden to perform the hero summon was because they couldn't make payments to the Empire for the countries on the frontlines."
Jeanne just gave a weak smile in response, but Juna had a different reaction to this. "Wait, I'm not following here. Why should the kingdom pay any fees if we never joined the Humanity Declaration in the first place?"
It was a good counter-argument. After all, since they never signed the declaration, there was nothing to legally bind them to make payments. However, Souma put it in a different light for her.
"While that's true, we do still benefit from the protection of the countries on the frontlines. If we don't pay, other countries may see that as unfair and problematic, and in the worst case scenario, they could have joined forces to invade and take our land. But, since the kingdom performed the hero summoning, that was proof that we were at least trying to contribute something to the fight against the demons. Or at least, it was in the eyes of the people."
Jeanne continued for him. "The thing is that we just didn't expect it to work. The whole idea behind the hero summoning was that they could just try it, have it fail, and then say to the people 'well, at least we tried,' and that would have been able to get them off your backs for at least a good few years. But for it to be successful, not only summoning one person, but three, is just completely unexpected."
"But it all worked out in the end." Juna commented. "Not only did the summoning work, but we were also able to pay off our debts to the Empire."
"Well, that's the other nasty part about this whole thing. You see, if it was just you, the Empire would have undoubtedly left you alone since you are far more valuable to the kingdom than the Empire, and more importantly, the Empire simply doesn't see the immense potential that you have in changing a nation. That's not the case for the other two."
"The other two… wait! You don't mean that the Empire is looking to get both Rimuru and Testa, right?" Juna asked. "This goes far beyond asking for payment to help against the Domain."
"I'm well aware. And unfortunately, it seems that the war hawks in the Empire either don't care about the affairs in the kingdom or are willing to worsen relations if it means they can get their hands on them."
"But how would they justify it?" asked Souma. "The whole reason why we paid was to not get ourselves sent over to the Empire. And we're more than capable of making any future payments. Besides, do they really think that two people could change the tide of the demon invasion?"
That last part was obviously false. Either one of them could easily handle the invasion, however it was hard to imagine them even lifting a finger to help. When he was asked about this, Rimuru said, 'If it's to the point where you genuinely need my help, you never had a chance to begin with. But, since you've been okay for the past ten years, I'm sure you'll find a way out of this.'
"It's a bit more complicated than that. From a rational standpoint, there's obviously no way that those two alone could change the course of the war against the demons. However, the main thing they are after is momentum. It's no secret, at least in the Empire, that my sister currently has no ambitions to conquer the domain right now. The problems at home are just too many. The war hawks want to take advantage of this to build on their momentum, and if their popularity eclipses that of the saint, if only briefly, then they can override her authority with the public behind them and charge into the domain. They know that my sister will do nothing since she's far more concerned about keeping the peace."
The more Jeanne elaborated on this topic, the clearer she showed her emotions about the whole thing. By the time she finished her words, her voice was strained, and her fists were balled up so tight that her nails dug into her palms.
Souma, however, didn't feel like he could fault Maria. From what he gathered, it felt like many of the people in the Empire essentially bet everything on one person, and Maria was, for better or worse, talented enough to meet those expectations. It also got him wondering about a few other things.
For example, just because she is capable, should she even be in that position? If anything, it was far more of a stopgap measure than a solution to the problem. If anything were to happen to her, pandemonium in the Empire wouldn't be far behind. In that same vein, he also couldn't help but draw parallels to Rimuru. Someone who was immensely capable of contributing to the betterment of the people of the world, and yet, almost surely as a direct consequence, he would be the people's sole benefactor. Should such a person, because of their skillset, work for the people's interest, or work for their own interests, as long as it isn't harmful to others?
Initially, he believed that it was the latter, but these thoughts slowly left his mind as he became more and more busy. Now, knowing that someone was living that predicament, and having no way out, those beliefs were challenged quite heavily.
In any case, both of them could easily feel Jeanne's frustration, and Juna was the first to speak. "Why are they so willing to charge back into the domain? Don't they know what happened last time? I mean, it was only six years ago!"
"That is true. Normally, people have a tendency to forget things like this over time, but that's usually over centuries. A six-year timespan is simply too short." Souma said.
Jeanne took a moment to gather her thoughts before saying, "Like I said, its quite complicated, but it ultimately boils down to pride. The majority of the people pushing to go into the domain have this deluded belief that the Empire is untouchable, despite the defeat. Or rather, since the Empire spearheaded the last assault, some of them feel like they need to act since the Empire's pride is on the line. My sister sees the evident danger in this, but unfortunately, the war hawks are a growing faction."
Unwilling to let things rest on such a gloom note, she clapped her hands together and said, "Well, no use worrying about those sorts of things today. I really should get going, but before that…"
Letting her words hang in the air, both Souma and Juna were a bit confused as to what the lady was planning. Eventually, it seemed like she made up her mind, and she leaned close to them and said, "I'm taking a risk exposing this sort of information, but in the interest of both good faith and bettering our countries' relationship, I think it needs to be said. That woman that you have protecting Lady Testarossa, I would be extremely cautious of her?"
Souma just gave an odd look while Juna, more experienced in the manner, feigned a light amount of surprise and asked, "Hinata?"
Of course, the two of them already knew the situation regarding Hinata, and also knew that her cover story was a lie. What Juna wanted to get out of Jeanne, however, was her motive. Knowing the Empire's information gathering capabilities, there was no way they didn't know Hinata's prowess on the battlefield, and since her cover story connected her to the Empire, there was always a chance that she would use this to try and get her over to the Empire. Unlike with Rimuru and Testa, they had somewhat of a claim for Hinata, even if it was incredibly far-fetched.
Again, the problem that she saw with this was that Hinata was connected to Rimuru. More specifically, she was his wife, and while no one really knew her true capabilities, she would bet her life that Hinata was considerably holding back. After all, she was not only from the same world as Rimuru, but was also brought here by him, and she believed that anyone connected to that man certainly didn't meet the quality of 'normal.'
Fortunately, as she would find out, that wasn't the case.
"Yes," Jeanne explained, "Hinata. According to rumors and reports brought back to me, Hinata claims to be a descendent of a knight from the Empire. However, I have a firm suspicion that isn't true in the slightest. I don't know her reason for lying, nor her reason for wanting to serve the other two summoned ones, but she is someone that I would recommend being extremely cautious around."
With an equally serious tone, Juna responded, "I see. Thank you for the warning."
She took a moment longer, perhaps processing those words and trying to see if they would do something about it, before leaning away from them and saying, "Well, I really should be going now." And just like that, she was gone.
Once she was out of sight, the two of them unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. That was short-sighted, however, when Juna heard Souma say, "She smelled nice."
He was quickly met with a deadpan stare. "Sire," she emphasized, "it is improper to think that way at a woman who may very well be an enemy, especially since you already have a fiance.
Realizing his mistake, Souma tried to do some damage control, but Juna already was turning a blind eye to any attempt he made at reconciliation.
He felt that it would be a long journey home.
—
Shortly after Souma's meeting with Jeanne, Rimuru got back to the castle along with Tomoe. Thankfully, they didn't stray too far from the castle in their little excursion, so it didn't take that long to get back. Changing his hair back to his natural color before anyone else saw him, he said his hellos to people before heading off back to… work.
Just hearing the word brought dread to him. It wasn't necessarily working that he didn't like, but Souma could be a slave driver to the bureaucrats. What was interesting to him was that many of these people, despite long losing the high of working under someone who actually knew what they were doing, were still determined to keep up. Naturally, Rimuru didn't actually need to work, but he understood that there would be some detriments if he decided to just… not do it.
Most glaring of those would be his own thoughts. Despite being a leader of a country for almost fifteen years, he still wasn't comfortable sitting around as everyone else was working their tail off. Unless it was Veldora or Dino. Then it was okay.
Nonetheless, as he continued to go back, he caught a glimpse of a sight that he was quite surprised to see. Said sight was of Testa spending time with Aisha. This in of itself was not too much of a rarity, but the part that surprised him was what they were doing.
To the average person, it looked like they were playing a casual game of chess, and discussing amongst themselves with some tea. In actuality, this was a clever use of illusionary magic to cover up what they were actually doing. Since Aisha wanted to overcome her aversion to Testa, the best way that the demon thought to do that was to quite literally show her life in movie-style fashion. So, to Rimuru, who could see past the illusionary magic, he was greeted with the sight of the two of them on an expensive leather couch, with Aisha gluttonously shoving popcorn down her throat while drinking what looked to be some sort of cola.
Since Testa wasn't that invested in watching her life, especially since they were at the parts before she even met Rimuru, she immediately noticed him outside of the door.
With a bright tone, she said, "Hello, Rimuru-sama."
"Hi… what exactly is going on here?" He said, gesturing to the holographic screen and to Aisha, who was looking more and more like a neet.
Running her hand through her hair, she said, "Well, she said, in her words, that she wanted to know me better. So, I've taken the liberty to show her my life."
Hearing her answer, he raised an eyebrow and asked, "And this is being done by pacifying her with food and entertainment?"
Surprisingly, unlike the tame response that he would normally expect from her, he got a much more jubilant one as she happily, and shamelessly, said "Yes!"
He looked at her with a hint of exhasperation evident on his face before deciding that it wasn't that big of a deal. No one was getting hurt, and he assumed that she wouldn't show the dark elf anything unsavory…
Maybe it was better to make sure.
"You're not showing her anything too bad, right? Like, I get that you're showing your life to her, but it's nothing that's going to scar her for the rest of her life, right?"
"Of course not," she said. "Honestly speaking, my life was quite boring before I came under your service. Most of it was spent fighting with the other idiots or watching the surface world. Ever so often I'd have Guy come down to visit, but it was quite rare."
"Was there really nothing else to do in the underworld?" He asked.
"Hmm…" She pondered for a moment on how best to phrase things. "Not really. At least not for us of higher status in the demon world. I've heard that it was different for some of the lesser demons who got summoned quite often, but it would be quite difficult to find someone both strong and dumb enough to summon a primordial. Not only that, but most of us didn't want to bother with trivial things such as revenge. Diablo would occasionally accept, but well… it's Diablo. He's an idiot… is what I'd like to say, but if he didn't accept that fateful call, we would have never come under your service. There's still plenty of ways he is an idiot though."
Rimuru stifled a laugh in response. Not just to hide his embarrassment about being that one person who he felt filled the criteria to summon a primordial, but also because of how she viewed Diablo, who was technically still her direct superior. But, what she said was largely true. Had Diablo not accepted a call on a whim to deliver revenge and hunt down a demon in a nameless country, thereby meeting Shizue, he never would have found his interest in her. And if he never found an interest in her, he never would have followed her journey to when she met Rimuru, and well, the rest is history after that.
"I see… well that makes sense, I guess." Taking another look at Aisha, he figured that he didn't need to be around anymore and continued, "Well, you two have fun. I'm gonna go back and help around with the management of the city."
After sharing a kiss, he left them to their own devices. He was quite certain that Aisha was far too engrossed in her, or rather, Testa's life, to overhear their conversation, but he hoped that it would bring the two of them close together. Or at the very least, not have her super cautious around her.
—
The next couple days came and went without any major thing happening, primarily waiting for when Jeanne would arrive and be able to formally introduce herself. But until that day happened, everyone was still diligently working, trying to make sure that things continued to run smoothly in Van.
During one of their breaks, Rimuru, Testa, and Hinata were on the sidelines watching Souma train with Aisha, who reached a new level of understanding with the demon. They certainly weren't buddy-buddy, but she fortunately stopped constantly giving Testa the cold shoulder.
In any case, while Souma was training with Aisha, it was with his dolls rather than with himself. Naturally, against her brutish strength, Aisha wouldn't need anything more than one arm to overpower him, which, despite his pragmatism, still managed to hurt his ego. However, the reason for training was because simply to utilize his dolls more effectively, as well as acting as the last bastion of defense in emergencies.
He never really got a chance to use them during the war, outside of two incidents. One where he was using them as suicide bombers for Hal to blow up with his flaming spears, and another case where he used them to pose as monsters to scare off the civilians that otherwise would have been right in the way of Amidonia's warpath. However, the dolls that he was training with were meant to be more portable than the one that he used for pseudo-adventuring, which was his 180cm doll named Little Musashibo.
For training, he used dolls that didn't look like they were more than 120cm tall, about that of a preteen. However, they would also double as emergency supplies, such as when Rimuru fought against Gazel. Something Souma realized during that fight was that he wished he could have contributed more to it. He didn't think that Rimuru, of all people, actually needed help in a fight, but if it was anyone other than those three, there was a very real possibility for things to go sideways.
However, the result that he had was disappointing to say the least. While Aisha may not be the best person to set a baseline, Souma insisted that it should be her since she was the strongest individual fighter he could imagine, barring the otherworlders. However, against the three dolls that worked in tandem with each other, one with a bow, one with dual swords, and one with a spear, she almost effortlessly dispatched every single one of them, even adding some flair with the last two by defeating them with a handstand, and then rotating her body into a spinning kick. With the dolls out of the way, nothing was stopping her from rushing up to Souma and giving a light flick to the forehead, signaling the end of the match and his loss.
Souma, now on the ground and holding his forehead with his hand, let out a groan of disappointment. With a sullen undertone, he said, "Was it really that easy to beat me?"
Though Aisha tried to placate him by saying that she liked the idea, Liscia pointed out that not being frank with his shortcomings would only hurt him in the long run. And so, after a little hesitation, she said what she believed to be the problem.
"Well, they weren't too well coordinated. For example, when I dealt with the spear doll, a pincer attack with the sword doll and bow doll might have put me in a tough spot. But it was a bit delayed, so when the arrow didn come, I had plenty of time to deal with it. On top of that, there wasn't enough variety in the attacks. It felt like half the time, I only needed to deal with one of them at a time, and so anyone skilled would have been able to break through."
Suffice to say, it wasn't exactly the response he wanted, though it was one he expected. The part that stung a bit more was how she said that anyone skilled would have been able to deal with the dolls. Naturally, if any attempts were made on his life and no one was able to guard him at that time, the people he would have to deal with certainly wouldn't be new recruits. While the chances of this were extremely slim, perhaps well into the decimals, he didn't want to put it by chance. After all, one of the greatest leaders in American history was assassinated because his guards were out at the pub drinking during a theatre play.
Rimuru brought him away from his thoughts as he elaborated on what Aisha said. "Something else you're missing is that pretty much all groups of fighters, whether adventurers or soldiers, always have a dedicated mage. Without one, things are just too problematic."
Aisha built off his words. "I agree, Sire. If there were a mage in the background firing spells at me, it would have been a lot more difficult to take them down."
Groaning again, he lamented, "But I can't use conventional magic. I've tried everything, but it seems like I'm stuck with this."
"Don't say it like that," Liscia butted in, "your dark magic is still one of the most versatile things I've ever seen. Barring those monsters over there, I don't think anyone else would have such an impact on the battlefield."
"I would appreciate if you didn't lump me in with mindless brutes." Testa said.
"Oh?" Liscia chided. "Am I wrong though? I mean, sure you're not a mindless brute, but is there anyone in the world who could even hope to deal with you three?"
Rather than argue with the woman, she decided to just drop the conversation alltogether. Technically speaking, she also wasn't wrong in her assessment. And lashing out at her, as Rimuru has pointed out in the past, would only prove people like that right. Also because she just wasn't worth the trouble. If it was some random person, she might ice their shoes to the ground and let them thaw out, which actually…
No, still wasn't worth it.
However, Liscia's assessment of Souma's capabilities certainly wasn't wrong. The only thing that she felt was limiting him right now was simply technology. If, for example, he had access to one of Rimuru's more advanced dolls that came with vocal chords and stronger limbs, he could have someone both able to communicate and able to deal with stronger foes. But for now, he had to make do with what's available.
"Actually," Souma said with a strike of inspiration, "maybe you guys could train me to be-"
Rimuru immediately shut down that possibility. "No, not happening. Barring how long it would take, you already have way too much on your plate as it is. Just look at yourself in a mirror. Liscia's even saying how you rarely go to bed with her anymore."
Feeling her face grow progressively redder, she shouted "Oi! That's not something that you just say out loud in front of everyone!"
"It's only us here though."
Still feeling wronged, she pouted and turned her head away from him. Just as he was about to tease her more, in walked Hakuya, delivering news that was hanging over their heads for quite some time. This being none other than the second princesses arrival, along with Prince Julius of Amidonia. As they walked to the throne room, Souma was mildly surprised to notice that rather the unease that had nestled itself into his head, he was quite calm. He hoped that this bode well for the upcoming negotiations.