George Carmine's death was received by much of the public with a myriad of different responses. The actual reported cause of death was a suicide, and the guards who were assigned to him discovered him after he committed suicide while conveniently not keeping a log of his visitors. Of course, the two people who actually knew what happened to him weren't about to say anything to the contrary. After all, it was Souma and Rimuru who were the ones to orchestrate it. Naturally, after the duel between Rimuru and George, there was quite a lot of cleanup work to be done. A death by suicide would be questioned by anyone with a brain if there were multiple lacerations and puncture wounds all over the body.
Fortunately, cleaning up the body didn't take that much time for Rimuru. In fact, it was done so quickly and efficiently that Souma had some questions as to whether or not he's done it before. Regardless, there was very little time to grieve for him, as Souma had to host a formal celebration a few days later, rewarding those who performed exceptionally well during the war.
Around the same time that George died, Jeanne Euphoria got back to the Empire, where she was finally able to recount what happened in Van directly to her superior, and her sister, Maria. While she did send periodic updates, they were mainly about if she was okay or not, and other things to that effect. Additionally, confidential messages sent over messenger kui could be intercepted or hunted down by other airborne predators. Someone like Jeanne, who was the commander of the entire army, wouldn't leave such a thing to chance.
As soon as she reached Maria's chambers, Maria immediately embraced her in a hug. "I've missed you! It's been so long since you departed!"
Trying to pry her off, Jeanne was reminded about how her strength did not match her slender body. Still struggling, she said, "I've only been gone for… three months!"
Finally getting her off, the sisters were now face to face, with Maria still sporting a smile and Jeanne showing a look of annoyance. The two sisters looked very similar, both quite slender and blonde, but the main differences were that Jeanne was quite a bit more muscular, and perhaps the most notable difference was their eyes. Whereas Jeanne's blue eyes heavily complimented her blonde hair, Maria's violet eyes looked to try and take the spotlight from her similarly coloured hair.
Showing her uncanny ability to control the pace of the conversation, Maria said, "Well, are you going to just stand there all day? Come on and sit down! Tell me all about what you saw."
Practically pushing her into a seat across a table, Maria sat across from her and waited for Jeanne's unofficial report. Jeanne, taking a quick breather from her sister's slightly overbearing nature, reached for the tea on the table and took a sip. Afterward, she began her explanation.
"Originally, as you know, going to Amidonia was one of the last things I wanted to do, especially after they came running to us for help after declaring war and losing."
Maria started to giggle a bit. "I remember that. From the look on your face, I was afraid that you were going to pummel the poor messenger into the ground right then and there!"
Irritated, Jeanne said, "I can control myself better than that! Anyways, I can't deny that a part of me wanted to go just for the sake of seeing the summoned ones with my own two eyes. However, when I got there, it was nothing like how our spies said it was. Maybe you remember, but Amidonia was an absolutely woeful country ever since the Domain came into our world, and has consistently gotten worse ever since. However, in that one little snippet of territory that Elfrieden occupied, the air there was incredibly lively and wonderful. If you'd have told me that the rest of the country was starving half to death, I simply wouldn't have believed it."
"That's impressive," Maria said. "And to think that king was able to make a city like Van change that drastically in just a few short weeks. Not to mention that the territory was also occupied. But enough about some boring city. I want to know about the summoned ones. What are they like? What do they look like? How do they act? Do they hold a grudge against us?"
I wouldn't call the capital of any country 'some boring city' but I guess that's just my sister being herself.
"Calm down a second. Let me answer one question at a time. For one, the summoned ones look quite human. Though they all have different physical characteristics. Sir Souma had black hair and eyes, whereas Sir Rimuru-"
"You don't need to address him with formalities." Chided Maria. "After all, you two are of the same rank."
"...Right. Well, Rimuru has light blue hair and golden eyes, and Testarossa has ashen white hair and red eyes. As for how they are, unfortunately, the only one I could get a good read on was Souma."
"Oh? That's quite rare for you. Normally, you're pretty good at getting a read on people."
This was one of the reasons why Jeanne was also acting as an ambassador rather than, well, the nation's actual ambassador. She was bound to go to Amidonia either way because of her position as the general of the Imperial Army, but the reason why Maria wanted her specifically to have talks with Elfrieden was to try and get information out of them. Sure, she was young, but she was also very talented in her own right.
"Well, that's the thing. Normally I am, but the read that I got on the other two just felt… weird. Souma was the one I was confident in. A person thrust into a position where he felt out of place but had plenty of people helping him. He's smart, resourceful, and pragmatic. The other two… it felt that they were just traveling along. Like there was no sense of urgency at all with them. In fact, it felt like they didn't believe they were in danger in the slightest. For example, when I went to greet everyone in Amidonia's throne room, even Princess Liscia and her bodyguards were slightly on guard, even though it was just me. With them, however, they weren't concerned in the slightest."
"Well, why would they?" Maria questioned. "From how you've described it, there were plenty of people present to make sure nothing happened. Not to mention that one of them is apparently immortal."
Jeanne thought about it for a second. "Well, I suppose that makes sense… But it still just felt off. Plus, there was something that disturbed me. Well, two things."
Maria's silence urged her to continue.
"Souma revealed to me that there is a strong possibility that demons have intelligence similar to ours. While this was certainly a revelation to me, the next thing was truly disturbing. Testarossa was the one to point out that there was a possibility that the demons were living amongst us. That they learned our language and were living as us."
Maria looked completely confused by this. "That just seems completely ridiculous. How would they manage to pull that off…?"
Jeanne surmised that her sister may have guessed what she was getting at, which only showed her level of thinking. Certainly, Souma was able to come to the conclusion that, to an outsider, there was no discernable difference between similar races, but that was because of simply who he was, and how he came from a completely different world. That way of critical thinking was normal for him. But for the denizens of this world, no one would ever have an idea like that. Or if anyone did, there was no way anyone would share it due to fear of retaliation. But the fact that Maria was able to pick up on it so quickly was impressive nonetheless.
"It's as you suspect, sister. Souma was the one to point out that we mainly act on instinct to discern the different races. If that's the case, then as much as I'm loathed to admit, there is a possibility of these demons living with us."
"It's worse than that. Far worse than that, actually." Maria said.
"What do you mean?" Jeanne asked. "And I'm sure this goes without saying, but both Souma and I agreed not to share this information."
"Well, that's exactly the problem. It's an idea. And anyone can have an idea. We can easily prevent the spreading of this information, but with an idea, anyone can have it if they put enough thought into it."
Jeanne didn't need to put much thought into her words to understand just how detrimental this could be to the current state of the world. Initially, she thought all that needed to be done was to essentially stay silent on the matter. However, if someone from Amidonia or the Elven Spirit Kingdom were to have a similar thought, and they were in a position of power, they could easily use that information to commit any number of atrocities. Hell, even thinking about it deeper, even people in nations with equality such as the Empire or Elfrieden could use this to justify discrimination.
Defeated, she asked, "Is there anything that we can even do about this then?"
Directly contrary to her sister's mood, Maria looked quite chipper. "It's simple. We do nothing."
"...What do you mean we do nothing?! Surely you of all people will know what's at risk should the wrong people get this idea!"
Still, Maria didn't let her little sister's outburst get to her. "Think about it this way, Jeannie. No one has come up with such an idea, or at the very least, put it in practice until Souma just did. Granted, it's only been ten years, but there is a very good chance that it won't happen. Besides, do you have a contingency plan should a country put such a thing into action?"
That last part put into perspective for her just how helpless the situation could turn out. Outside of declaring war, especially without a decent casus belli, there really wasn't a way to influence the people of a foreign nation against a concept like racism. First and foremost, she didn't even know how such beliefs formed, and she was sure as hell it wasn't out of any rational thought.
Even still, the thought of doing nothing just bothered her, even if it was the most logical decision. She could not understand how her sister was able to be so nonchalant after making such a decision, especially after her revelation.
I guess I just have to wait to see the answer.
—
Souma was sitting in the government office of the castle reviewing his speech for rewarding those in the war efforts with Hakuya and Marx. Well, reviewing might not be the best word to use in this situation, so much as drafting the speech and thinking about what to add in or not. Rimuru was also supposed to be there, but apparently, he was running late. Or at least that's what the maid said almost half an hour ago. Considering it was almost the afternoon, this was slightly problematic, as the days in the winter are the shortest they will be, and no one wanted to unnecessarily waste candle wax by having meetings go late into the night.
Barely a few minutes later and Rimuru found his way into the office where the three men were working. Marx was the first to extend his greetings. "I'm glad you could make it, Sir Rimuru. We were just discussing His Highness's speech."
Without missing a beat, seamlessly making sure that he seized the moment so Rimuru couldn't just continue and move on, Souma asked, "What were you doing that was taking you so long?"
Hakuya, having been privy to these antics between the two, simply sighed. While he was annoyed that Rimuru often went at his own pace, at the very least, when duty called, he adequately responded. If it were up to him, he would just stifle his annoyance and move on with the speech.
Unfortunately, it was up to Souma, and much more often than not, he always called him out on this sort of thing. It certainly didn't help at all the response he got. "Sorry, sorry. I was busy."
"Busy doing what?" He asked.
I was busy having sex with two beautiful women, something that you should honestly learn from seeing as you have… No, no. I can't let some kid rile me up.
He deserves it though.
Brushing aside his intrusive thoughts and his manas's suggestions, he said, "Does it really matter? I'm here now. What do you need me for again, Marx?"
Souma wasn't about to just let this matter slide. "Yes, it does. I want to know what's so important that you can't make an important meeting on time."
Rimuru just sighed. "What's it been, eight or nine months now? In all that time you've known me, you still don't know what I do when I'm late for a meeting?"
Souma looked incredibly confused at the question. "Why on god's earth would I ever know what you are doing when you're running late?"
"Jesus Christ, Souma. Do I have to say for you? I was having sex. The thing that feels really good and the thing that you should get on soon if this country is to ever exist past your rule."
Normally, Hakuya stays out of these bouts, but this time he felt the need to put in his two cents. "I second that notion. Having an heir is important to solidify both your rule and your children's rule."
Even Marx gave his two cents on the matter. "It is important, Sire. I understand that this is a new environment for you, but please do take into consideration what is best for the country."
Souma was starting to feel a major headache coming on. "Duly noted. Now, let's get back to the damn speech."
It was moments like these where he was thankful of his position and the fact that people had to listen to him. Unfortunately for him, Rimuru was not one of those people. Fortunately for him, Rimuru decided to ease up.
"Speaking of the speech, again, what do you need me for?" he asked.
"Well," Marx began, "you'll be one of the main recipients of the award ceremony thanks to your contributions in the war. Normally, we would just grant them a royal favor or increase their nobility rank. But since none of those apply to you, we would like to know how to reward you."
Rimuru just waved his hand at the matter. "Oh, that stuff? Don't worry about it. Just say something like 'he had other business to attend to' or something like that."
Hakuya quickly responded to that. "Unfortunately, this isn't something that you can shirk off. While it may not matter much to you, it matters greatly to the public that the person who took King Gaius's head be amply rewarded."
It was clear to everyone present that Rimuru was clearly looking for any excuse to not go to that award ceremony. However, it became clear that there was no wiggle room for him here, so he just sighed, took a seat, and said, "Even if you say that, it isn't like there is anything that I can be offered which I don't already have… wait, no. I think there is something."
"If it's within our power, we will try to do so." Marx said.
"Something that I would like is to examine your summoning circle, or whatever you guys use to summon otherworlders into this one."
Hakuya was the first to note the problem. "...Well, granting you permission isn't the issue here. The issue is showing that to the public. Something more material would be beneficial for our end."
"Wait, wait, wait," Rimuru began, "I thought that this was an award ceremony meant to reward my efforts among others! Oh forget it. Just give me something nice. And hold on a second. Why wasn't Testa part of this?"
"Lady Testarossa had the foresight to seek us out and talk to us about her reward, both personal and to the public. Additionally, her role in the war, while great, didn't leave as big an impact on the public as yours did." Hakuya replied.
Rimuru clicked his tongue in annoyance. Apparently, she had the foresight, but failed to inform him? Something just didn't seem right there…
The reason she reached out to sort out her reward is because she assumed that would be the response of the Kingdom, much like how it was in Tempest. Additionally, she thought that you would've known, seeing as you were the one to bestow those rewards back in Tempest.
Oh… Still. I feel left out here.
"Oh, fine." Rimuru finally said. "Something nice like a sword will work. I don't really need anything else."
"Well, I suppose that works." Marx responded. "As for Hal, Kaede, and Ludwin, Hal should receive a boost towards his nobility rank. We can choose to either give Kaede an estate or a hefty sum of gold we took from Van, and we have the same choice for Ludwin."
"It'd be best to give Kaede some gold." Souma said. "Giving her a nobility rank may be a little too hasty. Ludwin may be more deserving, but something tells me that he would rather just have the money. Anyone else we need to worry about?"
Hakuya and Marx exchanged glances. "The main ones we need to worry about are the various noble houses who have backed us, especially those who either fought as the head of the household or sent their sons and daughters to fight with us. However, as this won't be addressed in the award ceremony, we don't need to talk about it right this second. However, it will be better to address this sooner rather than later."
Souma began to feel his headache returning. "Lemme guess. I would be receiving countless marriage proposals."
"Something to that effect." Marx said. "However, should you wish to dissuade those, the best thing to do would be to take another wife. Someone like Madam Aisha or Madam Juna. Perhaps even both. With the award ceremony-"
Souma held up a hand to stop him. "I'm not going to take multiple wives without even talking about it with Liscia first. So you can forget about that."
"Actually," Rimuru interjected, "Liscia's perfectly ok with that. I mean, all three of them have recently been talking with Testa about how to best approach this, so there's no worry there. And I think what Marx is trying to say is that if you make it public that you also want to marry those two along with Liscia, you will have less and less marriage proposals to deal with."
Again, Souma felt out of his depth with this whole marriage thing. Perhaps if it was phrased a different way, he may not clammer up when talks like these were so abruptly brought up, but for someone who was a couple months from turning twenty, this was still very much an awkward topic for him.
Fortunately, Hakuya tossed him a lifeline. "Fortunately there is still time to decide on all this, so there is no need to make the decision right this moment. However, sire, you will need to make a decision regarding this in the next couple of years at most."
"I suppose we can pivot away from this." Marx said. "Now. Aside from the rewards, we need to work on rehearsal of the main speech."
Souma silently groaned at hearing that he'd have to rehearse the speech yet again. He knew that it was necessary, but that certainly didn't make it any less annoying. However, just as he was about to agree, Rimuru piped up and said, "Wait, so do you need me here anymore or…"
"You are free to leave whenever you like." Marx said. "Thank you for your time."
In response, Rimuru just snapped him a thumbs up and walked out the door, leaving the three men to continue with practicing Souma's speech, as well as working out some of the finer details. Soon enough, the day came for the award ceremony.
Even with all the planning that they did, things were still hectic the day of. First of all, there was the choice of wardrobe. Souma wanted to wear his normal wear, which was basically what he was summoned in, that being a buttoned up shirt and slacks. There was quite a lot of pushback, especially from Hakuya and Liscia, but he eventually was able to stick to his initial wardrobe.
The next challenge was simply gathering everyone, and where everyone would be placed in the audience chamber. Normally, people like Aisha would be right behind Souma as his bodyguard, but because of the nature of the ceremony, she would be one of the people in a position to receive an award. Normally, both Rimuru and Testa would be in the same position as Aisha, but due to their special circumstances, it was decided that they will stay near Souma, much like Liscia. Fortunately, after all this was solved, no more major issues cropped up, and the award ceremony was able to begin without much of a hitch.
Thankfully for Souma, it was relatively painless. Well, as painless as an event could be, which essentially meant that there were no hiccups.
Yet.
It wasn't until he brought forth Wodan Udgard, now the leader of the Dark Elves and newly appointed representative to Elfrieden where the first issue arose.
"Sir Wodan of the Dark Elves," Souma began, "You may rise. I am ever thankful for the role that your people played in the war, both with defending our position and taking out some of our more troublesome enemies. As such, I would like to grant you an award for providing help."
"Please think nothing of it, my lord." Wodan began. "It was only natural, especially after your help in providing much-needed resources to our people after our numerous landslides."
Souma certainly expected something like this, but he still needed a solid answer from the man. With a smile, he said, "Of course. But is that to mean you do not wish for a reward?"
"Well," Wodan began, "If I can request one thing, I would implore you to marry my daughter and take her as your second queen, or queen-consort. I believe she would be a great match for you, and will strengthen the bond between both of our races. Of course, please let me know if I've overstepped my bounds."
This, suffice to say, caught just about everyone off guard, most of all Aisha and Souma. Now, it's true that fathers marrying off their daughters certainly wasn't uncommon during this time, but considering Wodan, who was quite progressive, even by Elfrieden standards, was the one promoting this was certainly out of character. However, for Wodan, he had an entirely different thought process on this.
Please forgive me, Souma, but I've seen the way my daughter looks at you, and I know how you respond to her. I hope that this gentle push can advance your relationship.
It certainly also helped that Wodan was over nine times his age. His experience with such matters allowed him to pretty much guarantee the outcome he wanted, especially against someone as inexperienced as Souma.
Souma, for his part, practically turned statuesque, desperately trying to maintain his dignity in front of the people present and hundreds of thousands of people thanks to the jewel. Rather than immediately respond, he mechanically turned his head to look at Aisha, who had the luxury of somewhat expressing her emotions and looking down while having a deep crimson blush all over her face.
Souma was about to open his mouth, most definitely to buy some time rather than properly answer, but Liscia was extremely quick to shut that down.
"Souma," she began, "as a king, it is very common to have marriages that solidify bonds towards different countries and species. There is nothing uncommon about it in this world, and I, for one, encourage it. Plus," she added on, speaking softly in his ear, "if you make it known that you will marry Aisha, it may reduce the number of marriage proposals you get. Or at least those who just want power."
There was nothing more he wanted to do than walk away and curl up in a ball. Unfortunately, he wanted to save face, and it didn't help that Liscia was practically coiled around his arm. So, with no way out, he mustered up the courage and said, "If you'll accept me, Aisha, I'd be more than happy to marry you."
Aisha was jubilant and responded with a resounding, "Of course, I will!"
Thankfully for Souma, after her response, he was able to transition toward the other participants of the rewards, specifically Juna and Excel. Dealing with their rewards, or more specifically Excel's, was bound to be more serious, she would no doubt want to ask for the lives of her son-in-law and granddaughter to be spared.
However, after he addressed Juna and asked what she would like a reward, someone else had other things in mind. "Your Highness, if I may?"
Souma looked behind Juna to see Excel walking up to her. Giving her the go-ahead to speak, she said, "Your Highness, as you know, Juna is my granddaughter, but she is not of noble birth as her father left the Walter family. Since her mother is from a merchant family, this makes her a commoner. Even so, I implore you to answer her wish."
He, yet again, looked like he would rather be anywhere else. The problem with marrying someone like Juna, as Excel pointed out, was that she was a commoner. This, at least from a social hierarchy standpoint, put her lower than even Aisha, since Aisha is the daughter of the chieftain of the Dark Elves.
The reason why this was a problem at all was because, at least what Rimuru called it, and he would have to agree, it was utter bullshit. Many people believed, commoner and noble alike, felt that a king or someone of incredibly high status marrying a commoner was not 'to the benefit of the kingdom.' In truth, the commoners mainly just adopted the thought process of the nobles on this, and the nobles, at least when it came to marriage, largely only cared about their own family. Him marrying the daughter of some marquis family wouldn't really benefit the country, but because she was the daughter of a marquis, that alone made it acceptable, which was something that the otherworlders just couldn't wrap their heads around.
Juna, however, understood this and said, "It is my wish, Your Highness, to stay by you alongside Madam Aisha and Princess Liscia. However, I also wish to bring happiness to the people through my songs."
"I understand." Souma replied. "But, once project lorelei has enough people to continue without you, I will come for you."
Souma tried to ignore the stifle that he heard coming from Rimuru. Unfortunately, he knew Rimuru long enough by now to know that he wouldn't let something like that go. It wasn't even a minute after the broadcast ended when the teasing started.
It also didn't help that he had a smirk plastered on the entire time. "'I'll come for you.' How bold. I didn't know you had it in you. Not only that, but to say that in front of the whole country. Not even I'm that daring."
"You know, it was a spur of the moment decision and… you know what? I don't have to take this from you."
Souma started to walk away, but Rimuru was right next to him and continued, "Well no, you don't have to, but damn is it fun. I still can't get that image out of my mind. In fact, I might commission a portrait of a blushing Juna and you in a gallant position with the words 'I will come for you.' I mean, I don't think you could get any more fairytale than that!"
Feeling exasperated, Souma said, "Don't you have a summoning circle or whatever to examine?"
That seemed to break Rimuru out of his little spell. Sighing, he said, "I didn't even get to have that much fun. But, I might as well. May even learn something through that thing."
Happy to get him off his back so quickly, Souma made his way to his office to get some alone time. He felt that no matter how many years pass, making speeches would simply never become his thing.
—
Rimuru was currently underground, completely flabbergasted by what he was looking at.
"I'm not crazy, right? This thing shouldn't be here. I think. Right Ciel?"
{This does seem quite out of place.}
What he was looking at was large teleportation machine. Not a summoning circle, but a machine, something that looked like it belonged in Star Trek. Not only that, but this was also very cleverly hidden through veils of technology specifically designed so that no one would discover this, which is why Ciel initially couldn't detect this. This was important for a number of reasons, and was the primary reason why it baffled Rimuru so much. The fact that someone, or something, was able to scientifically use magic was completely unheard of in this world. The reason being is that magic, from its very nature, was an anomaly. Sure, someone would be able to use magic to recreate a physical phenomenon, such as throwing a fireball at a bale of hay and having it catch fire. But as far as what the essence of magic is, no one from this world has really been able to figure it out.
However, this also meant that it would provide leaps and bounds for Ciel. She was still struggling to understand the finer points of how Elisha's dark magic worked, as dark magic seemed to go against any understanding of magic as a whole. Manipulating the elements was one thing, but things like foresight and Souma's dark magic just didn't fit into that neat little package.
But, once she saw the machine, things started to make much more sense for her.
The main hiccup that she was dealing with was that she thought magic worked in the same way in this world and in the previous one. One of the main reasons why she had this theory was that magic, or "magecium" as they called it, was quite prevalent in this world. The only thing she had trouble with was why magic apparently worked quite poorly in the ocean. She initially shelved the topic for another time, but seeing what was in front of her now, it suddenly became quite clear. Rather than magic itself being weaker over the ocean, it was the medium of how it was being used that was weaker.
The thing that tipped her off to this was the sample that Ciel 'borrowed' from Elisha. Initially, she was looking for something more primitive, especially given the technology level of this world. However, if humans using magic was a technological advancement rather than a genetic one, that would explain why using magic was weaker over the ocean. With most technology, saltwater was the bane of it. Unless there was some other reason, this seemed to hold the most credence. After all, it was clear to her that these magic circuits were foreign to people. In other words, they didn't hold the user's DNA.
Of course, this was all conjecture, and there was still one major gap in that logic, that being how these circuits wound up in humans in the first place. Fortunately, there was no time crunch for her to figure this out. And with something much more interesting in front of her, all her attention was focused on this machine.
"I suddenly feel like a kid again. Can you figure anything out from this, Ciel?"
{I can only sense how it is drawing power… weird. There seems to be some flow directed away from here. It also seems to be interfering with Universal Perception.}
"What do you mean 'away from here?' We're directly below the throne room and in this huge… whatever this is. And how is it interfering with our perception?"
{Universal Perception is tied to me, but it lacks the same authority as an Ultimate Skill. Normally, I can just bypass this by also analyzing whatever I need to analyze, but there seems to be some interference to this.}
This alarmed Rimuru a little bit. A lot a bit, actually. As Ciel stated, Universal Perception did have its weaknesses. It was certainly strong, but if you knew what you were doing, it could be avoided with relative ease, much like how Hakurou can by blending in and being near-undetectable by any magical means. However, the fact that Analyze and Assess was not working as it should rang a lot of alarm bells for him. The main reason for this was that this was tied into Azathoth, which was an ultimate skill.
Normally, ultimate skills can only be countered by other skills of the same category, but that wasn't always the case. At their very core, what an ultimate skill allows is authority over a certain domain surrounding the user. This is the main reason why ultimate skill users can't be beaten by lesser skills, as its like trying to break open a heavy-duty door without the key. However, it technically is possible to do so through clever usage, like how Carrera, Ultima, and Testa were able to damage Velgrynd despite only having unique skills. The fact that an unknown entity was able to interfere with an ultimate skill, especially with what appeared to be just technology, was incredibly impressive. No doubt Ciel would find a countermeasure, but still.
For now, though, Rimuru genuinely had his guard up for the first time in a couple years. "Okay… so what's the plan?"
{For now, follow the magic. There should be something like a terminal where all of that can be channeled.}
Sighing, he made his way through the alien-like technology, following where the magic led him. Though he was on guard, it didn't stop him from admiring the craftsmanship of this piece of technology. The room itself was perfectly cylindrical, with a dark hue of purple and white in alternating horizontal lines. What he assumed to be the power, which was the purple coloration, would occasionally pulse with power. Not only that, but the size of the room was large enough to easily accommodate thirty people. The room itself had a light fixture on the ceiling so people could see properly, not that it mattered much to Rimuru.
What he didn't immediately see was an exit. However, by expanding his senses, he was able to discern where the exit was, and promptly teleported there. It wasn't that he couldn't figure out how this machine worked, he just didn't feel like it.
Fortunately, the hallway was quite short, and led to another circular room, this one quite a bit smaller. When he went inside is when things got more interesting.
"Movement detected. Scanning. Life-form detected. Error. Not human. Not of this world."A monotone voice that was distinctly feminine greeted him.
Oh, looks like you have some competition, Ciel. Rimuru joked.
{Hmph. Don't compare me to some piece of scrap metal.}
He wanted to joke more about how she still had trouble figuring out how this machine worked, but he didn't want to prod her anymore.
"Well… voice… or whatever you are. What is this place?"
The voice seemed to resonate all over the room. "This room is a place where calculations are conducted to gather coordinates for the purpose of summoning."
That piqued his interest. "Summoning… as in from a different world?"
"That is one of the possible applications. However, that action cannot be completed right now as the power supply is too low." The voice replied.
Both Rimuru and Ciel got a lot of information from that one sentence. Perhaps most importantly, it showed that their summoning was no accident, and as long as the power supply was enough, the chance that it could fail was incredibly small. At least, that was their thought process with this level of technology in front of them.
"I see. Can access those coordinates?" Rimuru asked.
"You do not have the proper authorization to perform that action." The voice said. "Proper authorization can only be granted by either the Northern Guardian or the Southern Guardian."
"Okay… do these guardians have a name outside of just north and south? And can I know where they are?"
"You do not have the proper authorization to perform that action. Proper-"
"Yeah yeah." Rimuru finished. "Proper authorization can only be granted by these two things. Geez, won't even tell me where they are."
"Is it at least possible to know where the previous summon was supposed to take place? I was one of the people who got summoned, so I would like to know if it's possible to go back to my old world."
That was kind of a lie, but technically wasn't wrong. This time, however, Rimuru could tell that the voice seemed to be processing his words a little more, at least if the increased pulsing in the room was anything to go by. "You are not the individual that was summoned. If you wish to access these coordinates, please have the summoned individual."
Rimuru deadpanned. "But you said that I am not of this world. How, exactly, does that make sense?"
Again, the voice took some time to process his words before it again responded with, "Understood. There is a slight chance that the summoning process can misfire. However, the coordinates from where you were summoned cannot be gathered."
Rimuru decided to try and use another half-truth. "But I'm from Earth."
Unfortunately, all the machine repeated was, "The coordinates from where you were summoned cannot be gathered."
Okay, you know what, you cheeky little…
Rimuru decided to try one last thing before bringing Souma down here, which was to leave the room, turn into Souma, and go back in the room. Upon entering, he got the same spiel. "Movement detected. Error. Not human. Not of this world."
This time, however, Rimuru asked, "What makes you think I'm not human?"
"Probes are having trouble detecting any DNA from your body. Please submit a sample of your DNA to confirm your identity."
From the wall came a piece of machinery came in with a tool to prick his finger with. Since he wasn't about to give any part of his DNA to anyone or anything, especially to a machine that could potentially weaponize it to a frightening degree of efficiency, he decided to just go and get Souma.
If this would allow him to go back to Earth, I wonder how he'd react…