"If you were to find Manus now, would you fight him without hesitation?"
Those words left Faraam's mouth in an utterly blank and cold tone.
Artorias' eyes widened, widened so much in fact he thought his pupils were going to explode.
Even his own brigade of six warriors on his side immediately tensed up at the mention of Manus, holding their weapons' hilts.
But Faraam suddenly shifted from deathly silent and still to slightly assuring, raising his left hand to calm them down.
"Be at ease, I have no affiliations to him, it is only a question that had filled everyone's minds for a long time.
You, Artorias of the Abyss, are a legend where I hailed, where I ruled.
So, it is only natural to ask such a question, though, if it is out of your capabilities to answer such a question, then please say so."
Faraam was feeling something for an exchange, and it wasn't a pleasant feeling.
He was feeling what people call - Cringe.
He was internally cringing quite a lot from actually expressing 'Comforting' and 'Assuring' words and motion.
That cringing was mainly due to the fact that Faraam never spoke back in his old home of Drangleic, never laughed, never cried, only grunted in pain when an arrow shot through his shoulder or a sword pierced his heart for the millionth time.
Circling back to Artorias who was still about to explode from being frozen stiff from such a question, the 'Abysswalker' quickly calmed himself down.
-"I see... I shall answer such a question at a later date.."
Faraam's lie, a perfectly crafted lie to be exact, still lied under suspicion by Artorias.
Artorias himself wasn't convinced Faraam is here just to be friends, he SAW how Faraam was so cold to Rimuru and how his attitude was more dead than a man six feet under.
To cut it short - Artorias wasn't buying a single thing Faraam said in any other tone than that ice cold tone of his.
So, responding to his refusal, Faraam couldn't do anything other than give a slight nod.
-"I see.
I only have one more question-"
Artorias stopped him before he continued.
-"We shall speak more under the supervision of Rimuru and his subordinates."
Artorias had totally composed himself by now, not backing down at all from any attempt at intimidation like Faraam did to Rimuru.
His brigade of knights had went on ahead and joined the 'Monster Leader' in the large council room, so Artorias walked off in front of Faraam off to there, a sign of no fears to show towards Faraam.
Though Faraam didn't really care less, he ordered Rimuru to leave the two alone indirectly simply to see how much of a pushover Rimuru was, to get more details for the Demoness Blanc at a later date.
Joining the others in the large but accommodating council room, Artorias quickly sat down in a chair to the right of Rimuru, his knights taken posts around the corners.
Honestly speaking, those comparatively small fellas are the very unnerving type.
They get more terrifying the more you look at them, and they haven't even made a single audible noise from the minute Artorias met them.
Faraam entered soon after, and the moment he did, he could feel everyone in the room glaring at him with such intensity it pierced through his armor harder than any sword or bow ever had.
However, he didn't mind, and seeing that the only available seat was the one DIRECTLY opposite to Rimuru on the very long table, he sat down.
The minute he sat down he felt his instincts sounding like sirens, warning him that if he so much as offends Rimuru or his allies any more they'll probably all jump at him.
The Monster Ruler, however, immediately calmed the tension down.
He clapped his hands, signaling for a pink-haired maid to serve the 'Tempest Special' tea, and also signaling the start of this.. 'peculiar' conversation.
The maid set down the cup in front of Rimuru first and made her way until she reached Faraam, and once she did, the talks began.
Talking first, the Monster Ruler spoke in a curious tone.
-"So, tell us, Mister Faraam, how exactly did you hear of my nation, or to be precise, how exactly did you get the thought process to deduct we're the good side and that you want to join us?"
Gods be damned, if Faraam was any other person, they would be sweating bullets.
The question Rimuru asked was the toughest question, a stroke of rotten luck, Faraam stayed silent for a bit, before replying.
-"Faraam alone is enough.
As you might have already heard, my hands had met a child's face in a kingdom I passed through, and from there I earned scorn.
The people seemed to have immediately go up in arms to defend that child, even when the perpetrator of the entire incident was in fact, the child himself.
So, to not get caught in a further precarious position, I decided to venture east, where I've heard about you from many whispers."
Faraam was this close to puking, this was quite literally one of the most talkative moments of all time for him.
Rimuru seemed to buy this at first, then for an unknown reason shifted his mood to suspicious.
What had happened was [Great Sage] had alerted Rimuru to inquire further, much to Faraam's throat's dismay.
-"So you say.... But where did you hear these whispers?"
Ah shucks, an even worse question.
Why? Because Faraam had absolutely minimal knowledge of the countries, borders and whatnot.
To nail his coffin more, Rimuru asked another question...
"And who exactly was this 'Child' you speak of?"
Faraam responded immediately, his mental defenses ironed, or, completely non-existent.
-"I heard these whispers right as I was about to enter the forest.
And this child was called 'Grandmaster'."
And to that, Rimuru's expression drops, remembering what Benimaru and Souei had told him before they met Faraam.
-"We have had a few workers for them in the past come to this forest, and through limited interaction, we came to know that they are aggressive humans with no mercy for us."
Ah.... Rimuru almost cried out in emotional damage...
Their only way of interacting with humans was now.. well.. done for.
The minute the Ingrassians knew that Tempest harbors someone who assaulted their prized Grandmaster, all hell will rain loose, that's for sure.
Not just Rimuru, everyone's mood soured instantaneously.
-"A..ah.. the Grandmaster.. h..how are you alive exactly..?"
Rimuru stuttered uncontrollably, breaking the image of being a stout ruler on the spot.
Well not like it was any useful of an image between his close subjects, they all knew his goofiness.
Faraam responded, returning to his frozen tone.
-"Is that an achievement? He was quite weak."
Benimaru slammed his hand on the table and exclaimed in a very unfashionable matter.
-"Absurd! Weak?! The Grandmaster? Lord Rimuru, it's obvious he's either lying or trying to dr-"
Artorias interrupted.
-"Calm yourself, this man speaks truth, it's not hard to tell.
If he was a spy, they wouldn't send such a.. peculiar.. man
And if he was weak, he wouldn't have lived.
And if he was lying about it entirely, this nation would have nothing to lose, because simply put, Tempest as a nation has little to no interaction with Ingrassia.
So, deducing this, this man has infact, smashed the Grandmaster's face into the ground."
Everyone quieted down... Then shouting ensued from everyone.
-"BUT HE'S DANGEROUS! HE MUST BE SENT AWAY!"
-"AGREED!"
-"YOU SIDE WITH HIM ARTORIAS?! DO YOU WISH TO PU-"
Rimuru slammed his fist on the table.
-"Oi!!! Quiet down!
The decision has been made already!"
Wow, Rimuru taking the lead, how rare.
His subjects couldn't disobey him, so they simply shut their mouths.
"Faraam, we welcome you into Tempest on one condition:
If Ingrassia attacks, you're the first one to meet them in combat."