Chapter 56 - Gaia

"You know, it is a bit awkward to not have an actual name to refer to for your dragon. Do you want to name him? I've got a bit of experience naming so I can make sure nothing goes wrong."

Milim released another happy giggle before saying

"Is that why all of your citizens have names? Because it would be awkward to not have a way to refer to them."

"... Well that's about half the reason."

"Hehe, yes, I would like to name him. I actually have had a name in mind for a long time."

Assisting her in managing her magicules to ensure nothing went wrong she placed her hand on the egg and spoke.

"Gaia, your name is Gaia"

The egg seemed to react as it moved a little but otherwise remained in a semi-dormant status until it was born.

"It's done, Gaia is now his name."

Milim did a few happy jumps before jumping again into a hug.

"I wish I could just stay here." Milim said. "But Frey is right, as boring as it is, I gotta take care of my territory."

"You know, if you need some help you can always ask. I got a pretty good system figured out."

Frey had just flown from Milims country to Tempest as fast as she could. Milim had left her with a panicked expression and Frey was worried something big had happened. She could not move as fast as Milim so she was a few hours behind.

As she flew over Tempest she saw the art district looked like it had been destroyed and some streets here and there were damaged. She landed near the main building where she thought Milim might be.

She was led through the building by a goblina in a maid dress, and on the way there she saw many people walking from place to place carrying many different stacks of paper. She was led onto what the goblina had told her was the meeting room and when she entered she saw an unexpected sight.

The room was filled with people she knew to be important members of the Tempest government. Benimaru, Shion, Rigurd, Hakuro, and many others were gathered around a table. And Milim and I were next to each other with a gigantic map on the table.

"And do you want to increase the technology level in your country?." I asked Milim

"I don't know, everything is going smoothly at the moment."

"I can see that… Even if all you do is protect them they managed to work out quite a good system. It is a bit unorthodox but from what you have told me the standards of living are really good. It is a lot of hard work but they also get a lot of benefits."

"That's what I told Frey! But she wants me to start working on improving the country more."

"While the quality of life in your nation might be exceptional it doesn't mean it can't be better. You have been able to enjoy the way our nation works, wouldn't you want to implement something like it so that your people can enjoy them as well?" Rigurd spoke up.

"You know, I'm actually about to head out to Jistav and Eurazania in a few weeks to start working on improving their infrastructure and improving the living conditions. I want to take a look at how everything works over there before we start to do anything. Wanna head out there with me? It could be a learning trip." I asked her

Frey entered the room to see Milim working on learning how to become a better leader. Some confusion showed on her face before a slight smile appeared on her lips.

"There you are Milim-sama, you had me quite worried when you left in such a manner. I apologize for the interruption demon lord Rimuru, but is Tempest alright? I saw a bit of damage when I got here."

"Oh, hey Frey. No need to worry about it, just a small thing, it's taken care of already. Why don't you join the meeting? We are working with Milim to get everything in her country working better. We're helping her out with the "Homework" you left her".

A small grin appeared on my face, and with a teasing tone, I added.

"But it seems to me that most of this homework has to do with the Harpy Kingdom Fullbrosia. It appears the city of the forgotten dragon has everything figured out at the moment."

Frey faked some coughs before speaking with a shameless tone.

"What a coincidence."

"Frey! You won't believe what Rimuru did! He saved my dragon! Gaia is back to normal!" Milim walked towards Frey and began to tell her the story of the former chaos dragon.

...

Before leaving for Jistav there were a few things I had to do first. One of them was taking care of Maribelle, the greedy one. I was going to go there personally to finish everything before she got any chance to hide or make any more problems. Plus she carried the Sin series skill Greed, one of the skills I needed for Yaldabaoth's completion.

The second thing I had to do was decide what to do with the souls I had gathered during this attack. 54,392 souls to be exact.

To evolve into a demon lord one needed to fulfill two requirements, one was to become a demon lord seed, and the other was to obtain 10,000 human souls. If it wasn't for the knowledge and control I have of souls the 50,000 souls would not have been enough to evolve even one of my subordinates. The energy contained in them would have greatly diminished if I were to evolve someone into a demon lord using the soul corridor, requiring 100,000 souls in total for one evolution.

But with the absolute control I now had I was able to transfer them fully. Meaning I had enough souls for five demon lords. I already had made three definite choices, Diablo, Shion, Benimaru. Yet I wasn't absolutely sure what I should do with the last two souls. It was hard to decide on who to pick for the final two.

I wanted Zegion to be one of the choices but he had not emerged from his cocoon yet. And even if he had he would need time to get used to his new strength and increase it before it would be appropriate to evolve him.

In fact, I had a bit of a problem at the moment. Most of the people who I would choose to become a demon lord are just simply not ready to evolve. If I were to forcefully evolve them at this time all I would do is damage their future potentials. Shion and Benimaru, while quite strong, were still not yet at a place where it would be ideal to evolve them. They had the demon lord seed but they still had some more room to grow before the evolution should take place.

The only one who I could confidently evolve was Diablo, and he had just left.

'I should spend some more time training them personally. With you, we could probably find the best way to increase their strength.'

[I will start preparing training for all of the possible candidates.]

'Thanks, Ciel.'

There were also a few more things I should start working on. I called for Benimaru and Hakuro and once they were together I informed them.

"I want you both to head to the Tengu territory. I want you two to make sure to become allies with them. If we are going to build a road to Sarion in the future the best way would be by building a road through the mountain the tengu live in, so might as well get that secured now."

"We will begin preparations immediately. But, my lord, we are aware that the Tengu are a proud nation. They will attempt to start a war with us if we try to forcefully bring them under your rule. What should we do if they start a fight." Benimaru asked

"Hmmm… Don't worry about that. I have good reason to believe that everything will work itself out in the end. If you encounter any real problems you can call for me using the rings."

I handed a note to Hakuro.

"Give this to the leader of the tengu."

With their orders ready they left for the Khuska Mountains, the home of the Tengu.