I gather everyone that is coming with me to Tempest around. I ended up bringing only Raiden as I want Saeko, Megumin, and Kurumi to stay back in case something unexpected happens. Those three are strong enough to hold off most threats long enough for me to get back.
Saeko complained but it wasn't too difficult to make her see reason, she's been more agreeable ever since we slept together, another plus in my book.
Milim is bringing Middray and Arc with her, "Hurry up! I want to try that new food you were talking about!"
"Hold on, be patient, let me make sure that Suphia is prepared to head to the Valley of Death."
I use 'Universal Sense' to figure out how she is doing, looks like she is packing some stuff along with ordering everyone she is bringing along to get ready to leave.
She should be able to handle the rest on her own.
I ended up finding out about the Valley of Death a little while ago, basically it is a path that leads into the Eastern Empire, meaning the Eastern Empire has a way to access my territory, not something that can be considered good.
The path itself is through jagged mountains, there is no paved road, and the terrain is harsh. There are even monsters that reside in there, but even then it isn't impossible for a small force to travel through as long as they are well trained.
Kurumi's home village used to be located here, so it is possible to reside in.
I ended up sending Suphia along with a small force of Lycanthropes and craftsmen to build a base in front of the Valley so that we can always have some troops watching there.
I plan to leave that base under Suphia's command. It might not be able to stop an invading force but they are capable of warning me ahead of time so I can prepare.
Along with that Rimuru invited me earlier saying he wanted to discuss something, he also mentioned that he managed to recreate sushi. Apparently he caught some fancy fish and had Hakurou make it into sushi.
That'll be a nice treat for us, maybe Raiden can sneakily steal the recipe too.
I use 'Ouroboros' to teleport us, and in an instant we arrive at my home in Tempest.
I look around the room we teleport in, "I haven't been here in a while, nice to see nothing changed."
Raiden chimed in, "No one would dare invade your home Master."
"Eh, I was talking more along the lines of I'm glad that this place is still here, the house Rimuru had made for me is big, bigger than Rimuru's home, I'm sure they could use the space for other things so I'm thankful they left it as is."
"Eh, I don't think Rimuru would get rid of your home Felix! He's your friend! Friends don't do that to each other! But I'm the better friend!"
I roll my eyes, she can get really defensive about that, "Yes yes, you are the bestest of friends."
We are all greeted by the civilians as we exit my house and head towards where I know Rimuru is. That's one thing that isn't seen much in other countries, the people here are nice, as long as you don't disrespect Rimuru they will treat you great. Tempest is a generally pleasant place to be, I would live here full time if I didn't have a country of my own to run.
Soon enough we arrive at the building where Rimuru's office is located. I believe that this building is the biggest one in Tempest rather than the ruler's home like in most countries.
Rimuru said he didn't need a big home due to being a slime and not needing sleep or anything really.
His home is mostly used when I come over to hang out with him, I introduced Veldora to Uno, Blackjack, along with a few other games so we all played them together a few times.
I wish we could play Smash, I bet that would be a ton of fun.
Once I arrived I was promptly brought to where Rimuru was working, poor guy, he can't give all his work to his subordinates.
"Sup Rimuru."
He looked up from the paperwork, "Ah! Felix! I see you brought Milim too."
"Mhmm, she was together with me, she said she wanted to try out the sushi."
"Umu, it turned out really good, you are going to be so jealous once you eat it."
"We'll see about that, so you wanted to talk to me about something?"
"Yup, hold on one second. Shuna! Could you come and show everyone around while Felix and I talk?"
Shuna quickly entered the room, "Of course Rimuru-sama." She turned to look towards everyone, "Come on, I will show you the new restaurants and stores that opened!"
Raiden looked towards me, "Don't worry Raiden, I'll be fine, try out some of the new foods, maybe you will get some inspiration."
Raiden had a determined look on her face, "Umu!"
"Oh! New restaurants!" Milim looked at me and said, "Be quick Felix, I want to play with you later!"
Play with me? She probably means fighting or some game, maybe both. "Alright, it shouldn't be too long I think, right Rimuru?"
"Yup, not long."
I took the seat in front of Rimuru as we waited for the room to clear out.
"So, what's up?"
"Hrm, it seems like the Western Holy Church has taken potentially hostile actions against Tempest."
"What?! What did they do?"
That's odd, from what I know about Luminous it doesn't seem like her to want hostile relations with Tempest, she hates Veldora, but still, she can't think that attacking Veldora is worth having two True Demon Lords and a True Dragon upset at you.
Right?
"Hinata-san is armed and on her way here with 4 strong Paladins. She has 100 Crusaders following about half a day behind her, and Thirty Thousand Temple Knights have also been deployed and have surrounded Falmuth. News of a powerful Daemon residing in Falmuth has spread." Ah, that's probably Diablo huh?
"Hmm, I see. Hinata is a Saint, even if an incomplete one, she isn't someone to underestimate, but as long as you play it smart you can deal with her. You could always just kill them all in a surprise attack, but it would be a pain to deal with the aftermath of that, maybe as a last resort."
"Gah! You sound just like Diablo! We don't know for sure if they want to fight! Maybe she just has guards following her in case things go bad?"
I rolled my eyes, "We are from the same lineage after all, and Rimuru, don't be delusional, she is someone who nearly caused you to lose so many people you care about, she has repeatedly shown that she does not care for your reasoning, stop letting the fact that she is from Earth blind you from considering the other possibilities."
"Ugh, yeah I know, I know they might not be coming here with good intentions, but it doesn't hurt to hope. I'm already prepared for a fight, I just wanted to let you know that you should be careful, if they are taking action against Tempest then there is a high chance they will take action against you."
Hmm, that's a reasonable concern, I'll have to tell everyone to be a bit more careful.
"Why don't you just use your Demon Lord ring to contact Luminous and demand an explanation?"
"I want to try and talk to Hinata first, she is Shizu-san's student after all, I don't want to have a bad relationship with her if I don't have to. But maybe you're right, your country is also at risk after all, I shouldn't risk that over a potential friendship I could have."
"Your wishful thinking is making you ignore the tropes, for all we know she may be unaware of all this, she doesn't seem like the type of ruler that cares too much about what her subordinates get up to. It is highly possible one of her human subordinates in the Western Holy Church is plotting against us, they are a massive organization after all, she can't know everything that is going on. And it's the church, they are almost always the bad guys. They even blatantly advertise that they are against Monsters so it wouldn't be surprising if they had a bone to pick with you, the Ruler of a Monster Nation."
"So you're saying that there could still be a chance that Hinata just fell to another misunderstanding? Hopefully we can get this all sorted out soon, if that is the case even having a neutral relationship with them could be helpful, it could show the world that while they might not approve of us, they are not completely against us."
"Umu, I can contact Luminous now, hopefully we can get everything sorted out."