Rimuru POVMan, that last Shion incident was too close, let's hope we can all just relax... now...Nevermind, I think I can see some people approaching.Today we were supposed to have a big festival in celebration of..of...I don't really know, we celebrate everything these days.But the thing was we invited everyone, every nation, except the eastern empire for obvious reasons, and Siltrosso, for even more obvious reasons."My my.. isn't this a beautiful city, Elalude?" A child, no, a woman with blue-silver hair similar to mine with long pointy ears asked the man leading in front of her, Elalude, father of Elen."Yes, Empress, it very much is." He responded in a very sheepishly."You must be Rimuru, right? The lord of this domain?"Hoh? Someone recognized me as the ruler from the get go, maybe it's because we both look like children."Yes, and you must be..Elmesia?""Insolence! You dare speak to the Empress with su-" A man spoke out against me immediately."Let him be, he is my equal and we are in his domain.""...." The man stopped talking immediately after she finished what she said."Yes, I am Elmesia, Empress of the Sarion Dynasty.I see you have a wondrous city here, I wonder what it would be like if I had it under my rule."She stared at me for a reaction, and I could only respond with one line."I would also like to imagine the Sarion Dynasty under Tempest's rule, maybe that is the best future outcome, no?"After a few seconds we both laughed it off."I see, when I was told you were sharp and quick-witted I didn't know it was to this extent, I think we would make great friends, Rimuru.""Indeed, we would."I could see Elalude and the rest of the escorts feel like they were about to die from the pressure, no one talks this casually to Elmesia it seems."Well, I will check this city out, I trust we'll meet again at night?""Yes, enjoy your stay."After Elmesia left I met up with Gazel who arrived soon after."Junior, it is good to see you, Tempest looks even better than when I last came, to be honest it still confuses me how fast this city developed." Gazel spoke to me, I am not inferior to Gazel in anything, except leading a country properly, and court ethics, which is why I am his Junior as a ruler, and Gazel has my ultimate respect for basically teaching me all the basics of ruling."It is good to see you too, Gazel, I am thankful for your compliments, I just met with Elmesia a while ago, I think you two would make good friends."I shook hands with him as it slowly dawned on him what I just said."You are growing into a proper... ruler..Pardon.. what did you say at the end?"He gave me a horrified look."You would make good friends?""No no..Who would I make good friends with..?""Elmesia? She seems like a fun person to hang out with.""Rimuru! This is no time for jokes! Where is that cursed devil of a woman!"He began shaking me with both of his hands."W-Woahhh, Hey wait! Why are you so mad?""Are you joking? She rarely even leaves her castle let alone go anywhere, and her attitude..Don't get me started, all she does is teasing! When did you even go to Sarion to invite her!?""Uh.. Elalude passed the invitation to her, he also seemed ghostly pale for some reason.""Those sky dwelling elves... No matter...Rimuru, be careful with your words in front of her, any wrong word and she'll keep teasing you for it for the rest of your lives.Anything sticks in her memory, it's terrifying honestly, even I who has a very serious attitude can't help but be silent in front of her.She is certainly an extremely dangerous person." He told me words of advice, which I took to heart."I can rely on you always, Gazel, for such important information, I now know exactly who to pit up against her.""Oh? Who do you think would even come close?""Don't worry about it, just enjoy your stay, meet Shuna in the court and she'll lead you to where you're staying until then.""I'll see you later."After saying my goodbyes to him, it was time to affirm the position of my now new secret weapon.(Guy, where's Velzard?)(Right here, why?)(Tell her to prepare for a battle of wits.)(Oh no... whatever..Don't blame me if she loses, you humiliated her too hard, she hasn'teven said a word of poking towards me ever since then.)(I'll be damned, well then, it will take a combined force,When are you coming?)(Soon, just discussing something Mizery and Rain.)After ending the thought communication with Guy I decided to prepare what I'm going to wear.I tried to sneak in without Shuna and Shion noticing me, but it seems they had been anticipating this..."There you are Rimuru-Sama!""AAAAH! Where did you come from?""I was waiting for you here! Now, let's get you dressing before Shion finds out you're here.""F-Fine... You scared the living soul out of me..""It's for the better, I know you were trying to avoid us!It's hurtful to do that, Rimuru-Sama!""Sorry..."After what seemed like an eternity, I just settled on a Kimono robe similar to Shuna's in design, only this one was white with blue flowers on it, I really wanted to wear a Montsuki style robe, but she said this one represents me better, much to my dismay."I'll take my leave then, Rimuru-Sama, I must help in the kitchen.""Alright, make us the best food possible.""Will do!"Shuna took her leave running while smiling her ever so innocent smile, I could see that smile even when she's covering her mouth with her sleeves."Sigh....Let's check the others."I decided to see what the others were doing, as I entered the third dressing room I saw Benimaru and Konomaru along with Rigurd and Shion cornering Iudex."No! No! I'm not wearing that! You'll never make me!" I saw Iudex shouting for dear life."It's for the best, you must!""No! Get it away, it's ugly and I don't like it!""Hold him down!"I decided to just leave and let things go, there was no helping him in that situation.After a few hours I saw the whole city change to a completely new style, seriously, what were we even celebrating?I then saw Benimaru, Shion Konomaru and Rigurd all with marks of getting beat up."What the hell happened guys?""Lord Veldora and Iudex, sir, that's what happened.They refused to wear their clothes we have so carefully selected for them and chose violence.." Rigurd told me.I snickered before clearing my throat."Ahem, let them be, if they think it's not fitting then it's best to just let them be.Get yourself cleared up.""Yes, Sir!" They all said that at the same time, to be honest, I should try that on Shuna and Shion next time they try to make me wear something, although without the violence, I should escape.As we all took our seats and waited for the guests to come, I saw Guy and Velzard come."Yo, Rimuru, you look good, finally accepting your feminine side?""No! Hell no! You think I want to wear this?"Guy laughed and Velzard was awfully quiet, man, what did I do to her?"Well, take your seats.""Alright, let's sit, Velzard."She looked horrible, like she had seen an unending nightmare, like she was getting PTSD from coming to this place."Velzard, just relax, Rimuru said they're making the best food possible to please everyone, and the mood will be fun, there's no paperwork to be found."She sort of flinched at paperwork but then understood."Alright.. I'll try.."Guy gave me a look of 'Look what the fuck you did to her'.And I responded with a shrug."This way, Lady Luminas." I saw Luminas who was also wearing a Kimono, albeit a much simpler one than what I was wearing."Ah, Luminas, you came, I don't remember inviting you."She stared at me in disbelief."I thought I didn't need an invitation, you said Hinata could come any time which she has, so I thought I'd tag along."I could see why she was here, food, that's pretty much it.Then Hinata entered wearing the same Holy Knight armor, this woman is seriously devoted to her work, she gave me a glance before sitting beside Luminas.Then came Gazel with Dolph, the captain of the Pegasus Knights, with Fuze tagging alongside them.When they saw everyone attending they felt like they were flies in a house full of spiders, actually, Fuze almost fainted on the spot, it seems the King of Blummund couldn't come.All 3 sat beside each other, just making sure they weren't in a dream."Well, that just leaves Elmesia and..
Iudex, where's Iudex?"
He disappeared it seems, interesting."He's in the Labyrinth training with Zegion, they both said this is a complete waste of time."Ouch.. that might be the biggest insult to everyone here.I whispered to Shuna who was beside me."Don't let Veldora out, it's preferable if he goes with Iudex and Zegion, Diablo as well, let him do anything but come here.
"Yes, Rimuru-Sama, I was going to do that myself just now."And thus the preparations were complete for the Banquet.