"So this is the town? Quite lively." Evelyn said as we walked through Tempest in disguise.
"I know right? You'd never be able to tell that they were just attacked if weren't for the odd crack here or there in the pavement." Velzard commented to the side. "This is my first time experiencing it in person but it feels much more developed since the last time we were here."
"That's true, but we WERE gone for almost a year." I pointed out, coming back to Evelyn and Velzard with the cotton candy from the hobgoblin vendor.
"That's true, but the development of this nation is insane. Most human cities, even those using magic to help in construction, don't develop this much in a century, let alone a year." Velzard said, stuffing her mouth with the Cotton Candy.
"It's so sweet!" She declared in a high-pitched voice, extremely excitedly with a goofy and cute face.
'[Solomon]!' I instinctually called out.
Velzard blushed. <
'Damn... I miss [Solomon]!' I lamented before Velzard bonked me on the head.
Evelyn looked at us with an innocent questioning face, not knowing about the full-on conversation the two of us engaged in just now. From her perspective, all she saw was Velzard's cheer at the food, blush, probably out of embarrassment, and then hit Alaster. To her, the couple seemed a bit weird, but that didn't stop her from taking a bite of the treat herself.
"So Sweet!" She declared with a slightly sensual face.
'[Solomon]!' I mentally commanded, only to be bonked again by Velzard.
I laughed a bit at this skit while taking a bite for myself. It was good. The taste was extremely nostalgic as it harkened back to my first childhood in my pervious life over 2,000 years ago. I almost teared up as I faintly recalled visiting the Holloween Fair with my first parents when I was young. I felt a slight pang in my heart but when I looked up to see Velzard laughing at a joke told by Evelyn, the pang soothed and was replaced with pleasant warmth from deep inside my soul. I smiled, truly happy and satisfied with my life at that instance.
"Please Rimuru!!!" I was knocked out of my pleasant moment by the harsh begging of a certain humanoid dragon. "We want to erect the takoyaki stand right here! It's the perfect spot!" Veldora begged.
"I already told you, this spot is already taken! I can't just order someone to close up shop for the biggest festival in Tempest just so you can roleplay." Rimuru responded.
I turned my head to look back at the group. Rimuru was walking through town, flanked by Shion, Shuna, Veldora, Shizue, and Ramiris. I also noticed Noir walking alongside them. Only Noir and Shiuzue noticed our presence, it seems. I gave them both a curt nod of acknowledgment, which they returned.
"Come on, Rimuru. What's the harm? Master and I will run a great stall!" Ramiris begged as she floated in front of him to look him in the eyes.
"You're being rude to Rimuru-sama!" Shuna scolded, causing both Veldora and Ramiris to back off as they didn't want to be scolded more by Shuna.
Rimuru sighed and shook his head and relented. "I'll see what I can do but no promises."
Veldora and Ramiris immediately smiled at one another and gave each other a high-five while celebrating their 'victory'. Now was the time to strike.
"Having fun?" I interjected.
Rimuru and Veldora both flinched, having not noticed my presence before while Ramiris, who had no shame and nothing to hide, turned toward me and smiled widely. She floated over to me and gave me a friendly hug for a moment before breaking off and excitedly explaining what was going on.
"Alaster! I'm going to open up a stall here in the future selling takoyaki!" She said with a big smile. "Veldora and I are gonna call it Super Dragon Takoyaki and Veldora will be making it with Dragonfire making it Tempest's first Dragonfire cuisine!"
"Isn't that great," Velzard interjected with a smile on her face, but her eyes weren't smiling.
Veldora became clammy and began to sweat profusely. He stuttered as he tried backing away from the slowly advancing sister of his. "U-um well, since this subject is done closed, I guess I should head back to my job guarding the dungeon. I'm very busy you see and don't want to cause any trouble for you guys." He said, refusing to look Velzard in the eyes and backing away even faster
"My oh my," I said with an almost evil tone of voice which caused both Rimuru and Veldora to flinch. "My wife came all this way to speak to you, Veldora. You wouldn't be trying to run away from her now, would you?" I asked coldly before turning my eyes to Rimuru.
Shion and Noir stayed where they were and tensed a little while Shuna took a few steps back, getting into position to be rear-guard support if this were to devolve into a fight. I thought their guard was hilarious, as though it would help anything, so I decided to troll them a bit. It seemed Shizue was used to my antics though since she didn't move and only let out a small sigh.
I paused time for just a moment before crossing the distance between us and wrapping my arm around Rimuru's shoulder while Velzard also moved to pinch Veldora's ear. I unpaused time, briefly glancing at the horrified face of Rimuru's guards as they realized I'd gotten so close to their lord 'faster than they could see'. While I technically COULD do that too, Rimuru, at the very least, would notice it, even if he couldn't react to it, and I wanted to maximize the terror they were going to feel here.
Eventually, I'd spoil the secrets of time-stop to him, but for now, its troll potential was too good.
Velzard pinched Veldora's ear hard and kept him from moving to come to his sworn friend's aide.
"Rimuru, my friend," I said in a friendly, though due to circumstances probably sound terrifying. "I've heard some concerning rumors about you declaring yourself a Demon Lord..." I smiled softly. "Surely that isn't true, is it? It'd be a shame if I had to subjugate you~"
Rimuru looked at me with a terrified look on his face. I could tell his [Raphael] was screaming at him to 'leave this place at once' since I felt [Uriel] activate its [Spatial Domination] as soon as time unfroze, but I simply used [Cthulu]'s [Dimension Lock] to block it while Velzard aided me by freezing the others in place via [Thermal Fixation]. (Not literally freezing them, she just robbed them of the ability to move (i.e. paralyzed them), she didn't freeze them solid)
"T-thats right. I'm a Demon Lord now" Rimuru stammered out, gathering his courage.
I gave a small smile while also humming softly in amusement. I wondered briefly if he awakened any skills from this interaction, as his courage was definitely admirable and worthy of gaining some kind of Unique Skill. My pondering only lasted a moment before I was interrupted.
"Come on Alaster, your scaring everyone," Evelyn said while rolling her eyes.
"I see his habit of messing with people hasn't changed," Shizue said with a smile on her face and a light chuckle.
"I know, Alaster looks more like the Demon Lord here than the Hero." Ramiris chimed in. /1\
Everyone looked confused for a moment before I burst out laughing and retreated a few steps. "Hahahaha! You should have seen the looks on your faces!" I said as I let go of Rimuru while Velzard and I disabled our Ultimates, allowing everyone to move freely.
Shion, Shuna, and Rimuru all gave a tired sigh of relief before looking rather annoyed at me while Noir was giving me a menacing glare, which probably meant he was going to try to cause trouble for me in the future. That would be annoying to deal with, so I decided to throw him a bone in the future to make up for it.
Rimuru broke the silence and asked. "So, what are you doing here today? Usually, you only show up when something is about to happen." He asked.
"Do you really think I'm the kind of guy who only brings trouble when he shows up?" I asked.
"""Yes""" Literally everyone, including my wife, responded simultaneously.
"Oof" I verbally recoiled from their harsh response that hit me like an invisible arrow and took 3D20 mental damage.
...
After a bit more fanfare, we discovered that Rimuru was out and about because he was going to pick up King Gazel, who'd arrived a few minutes earlier. Rimuru planned to personally escort him to the pre-set meeting area and invited us to come along. It was a nice outdoor terrace area behind the main hall and in the garden. /2\
Everyone introduced themselves and immediately went into the meat and potatoes of the meeting, how to carve up Falmuth. Rimuru explained his plan to have Youm become king while Evelyn asked for guarantees of food shipments from them, since Amrita would become reliant on them for a prolonged seizure of their country when they went to war with the Eastern Empire.
For most of the conversation, I was clocked out and wasn't paying too much attention, caring more about watching my wife beat the breaks off of Veldora in the Labyrinth. At one point, Leon showed up along with Velgaia, Elmesia, and Elmesia's Uncle as representatives from Sarion.
I got into a minor scuffle with the last one, as he tried to attack me after Eren bashfully looked away from me when I greeted her and the rest of Kaval's party by name. Though his control over magic was nothing to sneeze at, a simple {Nuclear Canon} was never going to bypass my defenses, especially if it wasn't infused with an Ultimate Skill, so I didn't even have to move to dodge the attack.
He was rather embarrassed after I withstood it without a scratch and then continued my greetings with Velgaia by giving her a hug as though I didn't even notice his attack. Rimuru and Gazel were actually stunned by this, though I heard Noir click his tongue and pretended not to notice that he amplified the attack as revenge for earlier.
Serves them right.
Anyway, after setting the plan to make Youm king into play, I mentioned how Rimuru was much better at politics than myself, which shocked him. Apparently, the fact he'd just created the biggest alliance in the history of the world went right over his head.
Tempest, Dwargon, Sarion, Amrita, Blumund. All of these countries were now his allies, with Milim's Domain also allied with him, though unofficially. After getting Falmuth to fall in line as a puppet state, he'd have the biggest sphere of influence on the planet, surpassing even the Eastern Empire, at least economically.
He seemed to only just now understand what I was talking about there but played it off like he was trying to be stealthy about it, though I'm pretty sure Gazel and Evelyn knew it was BS.
Anyway, Evelyn and Gazel agreed to nominate Tempest to the upcoming World Council. Noir mentioned that he'd have to move up his timetables a bit to compensate, and agreed to subjugate Falmuth before the council meeting to allow Youm to also attend in place of King Edmaris.
Noir grumbled that he'd be away from Rimuru for so long, but I called out to him to just get some other demons to help him with it. He looked like he had an epiphany and stopped glaring at me after that, saying he'd return to the underworld to get some more help from some 'unemployed people', though I knew he meant the primordials.
I didn't mention the Primordials by name out loud, because I wanted to see everyone's faces when they found out who they were, but did give him a warning that not even 'They' could stop me if they took it too far with the killing of innocents and uninvolved people, which Noir, now Diablo, seemed to legitimately take to heart. /3\
If there was one thing to be thankful for about politics in this world, it was that it moved very slowly. The council meeting was still a few months away, as the human nobles needed time to prepare, clear their schedules, and travel on a carriage for several weeks in some cases. There would be plenty of time to get the coup done, especially without Yuuki interfering.
.~.~.~.
/1\:
Ramiris wasn't actually frozen in time here. She is the Queen of the Spirits, including the Spirit of Time, so she can move when it is stopped, she just knew Alaster wouldn't do anything so she didn't interfere.
/2\:
I know some people are going to be confused as to how Rimuru was already a Demon Lord of the Octagram BEFORE this meeting occurred since in canon this occurred before the Walpurgis, but the reason for this is simple.
Clayman doesn't exist here.
The Walpurgis was called pretty much the day after Rimuru became a Demon Lord, as Milim didn't waste much time. She fought Guy the same day then fought Carrion and Frey the day after. After getting defeated, they immediately called the Walpurgis and Rimuru was acknowledged as one of them.
In canon, it took a while for Rimuru to gather intelligence on Clayman, release Veldora and teach him how to control his aura to not kill the people of Tempest with it, help the beastmen refugees, and form a basic battle plan against Clayman's forces invading Milim's Domain before the Gazel and Sarion's forces got there.
In this canon, all of that didn't happen.
/3\:
The only reason Diablo heeded Alaster's warning here was because he didn't want the girls to be killed by Alaster and leave the work he was going to give them to him and take away from his time serving Rimuru.
Side-Note: Everyone heard Alaster's warning to Diablo and took it as a tacit agreement to expand the Demons working under Rimuru, but also a warning that he'd purge them and then him if they started killing innocent people and civilians. Since Gazel, Evelyn, and Leon's party are aware that Diablo is a Primordial, this is seen as a BIG DEAL.