As soon as Morax forcefully teleported Rimuru, silence descended. Because of Testarossa's own efforts, the Capital of Engrassia just a few hundred meters away was blissfully unaware of anything that happened.
She descended beside Morax after killing all the holy knights who set up the barriers outside its confines. Not saying a thing as to not interrupt her lord's deep thought, she focused on cleaning up the battle scars on the ground, making them disappear and looking good as new.
"You think that guy will be alright?"
"Are you worried for the slime, milord?"
Ignoring her question, Morax plunged into thought. "Just what's happening on the continent," Morax muttered, more to himself than to anyone, slightly perplexed by the brewing chaos.
Testarossa began to speak, her usual professional smile still on her beautiful face. "It's very likely that there is some upset in the ranks of the demon lords… maybe one or more among them are moving behind the scenes."
"That's likely," Morax replied. He turned around, looking at Testarossa, causing the woman to blush for a little. But his gaze was not focused on Testarossa, but his own thoughts.
"Do you not plan to kill her, milord?" Testarossa asked, causing Morax to snap back to reality. He eyed the slumped woman's body for a minute, a blank and empty look on his face.
"Nah, not for now."
Then, without saying anything else, both of them left the unconscious and injured body of Hinata Sakaguchi. In the meantime, Testarossa was ordered to check in on the newly appointed Sovereigns in Cair Paravel—much to her restrained disappointment—while Morax's destination was a place where a god resided. To the Holy Empire of Lubelius.
That's right. He was going to have a talk with the god of Luminism.
Contrary to international beliefs, the gods Luminous and Velmorax are not against each other. On the contrary, they were acquaintances that got along rather well. It's just that their subjects are persistent and delusional.
Velmorax's worshippers denied Luminism beliefs.
Luminism denied the existence of other gods aside from their own.
Although Luminism was created a few centuries after the formation of Cair Paravel's continent—considering the Myriad Dragon was born almost two-thousand years ago—Cair Paravel did not back down and returned the hostilities of the western church.
The only reason a full-blown war had not occurred yet was because Cair Paravel resided in another continent which Velmorax forcefully pulled out of the ocean. The Western Church can't recklessly send an army across an ocean full of demonic magic beasts as large as krakens who pledged their loyalties to the Myriad Dragon.
...…
...
…
Meanwhile, over at Tempest, Rimuru has just seen for himself the level of damage received by the town. He saw for himself his beautiful town blazing with flames left and right with blood splattered in the walls and streets alike.
Even dismembered limbs and organs were littered about in the paved highways of Tempest. He took it all in, further increasing the level of burden and anger that stirred the heart he's forcefully suppressed.
His throat felt dry as he was guided deeper and deeper into the plaza by Benimaru, Geld, and Myurran—a supposed instigator of all these chaos—accompanied by the anxious human adventurer Youm and the beastman Grucius.
"There was an attack," his general said. "Ordinarily, it wouldn't have led to this much damage. If it weren't for the weakening effect of that barrier… this wouldn't have happened."
And what he saw there, as they arrived, were corpses filling the entire plaza.
Huh? Are they all… dead? Rimuru found himself unable to accept the sight in front of him. Lifeless corpses of the same creatures he painstakingly named and cared for, all with white blankets lying atop their bodies to cover.
"The attackers were disguised among merchants," spoke one of the original higher-ranking goblins in the crowd—Regurd. "We treated them with respect and fairness, as you instructed us to do for all humans… but to think that some malicious humans would slip in among them…"
"Silence," it was Rigurd. "Be silent."
Regurd only realized thereafter the error of his mistake. It was almost true, the unintentional meaning conveyed in his words, that is. Rimuru's rules upon first building the foundations of Tempest—the little goblin village it used to be.
First Rule—no attacking humans
Second Rule—no fighting amongst yourselves.
Third Rule—no belittling other races.
How damned naïve I was, Rimuru thought begrudgingly. While his followers may deny any of Rimuru's self-blaming, he can't help but loathe himself. This happened… because they obeyed the rules he so naively established.
It was then that the suspect green-haired woman spoke. "If I had not used my great magic… I doubt it would've come to this," she said.
If it wasn't for the Great Sage's heads-up that the woman's barrier was of inferior significance to the damage than the other one set up outside, he would surely have obliterated her for admitting her involvement in the city's predicament. The sage was right—there was a potential use to the helpless woman called Myurran.
"Myurran, right?" Rimuru sighed. "I'll deal with you later, but I'm going to need you on house arrest at the moment," he turned around and ordered his subordinates.
But an unwanted speaker came up.
"B-but boss…! She didn't set the barrier up out of her own will! Please—!" It was Youm. And Rimuru didn't really have any more fucks to give right now.
"Please, Youm. Just shut up, sit still, and let me do my thing," he replied, struggling to contain his calm.
"Still! You can't just accus—!"
"I told you to shut the fuck up!" He shouted with a dangerously high murderous intent. Sighing for the thousandth time in the day, Rimuru ignored the trembling Youm as he faced Rigurd. "I wanted a detailed summary of the situation. Tell me more in the waiting room."
He selected who will attend the meeting, and fortunately, a familiar face was in the crowd—Myourmille. He was a human merchant who saw Rimuru as his savior and benefactor, as well as his key to unparalleled wealth. That's why the human can't just accept the damage brought to the town and sit still.
Rimuru was provided a calm and objective analysis of the crisis so far. The attack of three otherworlders to stir disturbance, and the subsequent casting of the barriers—which proved too convenient a time at that point, resulting in the battles in the city being lost due to the weakening effects.
Then the arrival of the human cavalries, who claimed they were inspecting the town and justified the mass massacre of the monsters in the name of Luminism. The time was supposedly one week from now, and their leader will be none other than the King of Falmuth—Edmaris. As they left, they boldly declared: "Swear your allegiance and you may be spared! Otherwise, we will purge every last one of you from this land in the name of the True God Luminous!"
I feel anger bubbling over… calm down, thought Rimuru. I need to get my priorities straight. His encounter with Hinata Sakaguchi has completely left his mind, and so did his nearly traumatic experience with the Myriad Dragon. Right now, the thing he needed to do was to assess the damage of the town and allocate his resources appropriately to deal with the injured and plan for another potential—no, guaranteed—clash with the human armies.
Myormille was thankfully there, so he pointed out some of the potential reasons for the Western Holy Church's and the Kingdom of Falmuth's supposed alliance in this monster-purging conquest.
The Western Holy Church didn't need anything other than the extermination of monsters as stated in their holy scriptures, but Falmuth had a more substantially greedy purpose. The rise of Tempest means the loss of Falmuth. The trade patterns to and from the dwarves were reformed as a new trade route is created with Tempest at its center—considerably safe and cheaper—so the former title of Falmuth, the "Gateway to the West," is endangered.
But from their perspective, it was better to put Tempest in the palm of their hand rather than crush you completely. Now it all made sense.
Rimuru's encounter with Hinata.
The disturbance in the military of Falmuth.
The rumors of a war in Engrassia.
The otherworlders that created a scene in order to make the perfect rationale to report to the Western Council for justification.
And the Myriad Dragon himself being in the move.
Fortunately, including Myormille, many merchants and adventurers stood by Tempest's side and will continue to support them. That, at least, calmed Rimuru's heart a little. But he can't have them endangered now of all times. So any attempt to join Tempest's stand in this war was refused by Rimuru himself.
They needed to get this done on their own. And so, he himself guided the humans in the town to a gate he made leading to Blumund.
As the meeting concluded and Rimuru was visiting some of the injured, a certain passing thought crossed his mind like a falling star. He's been wondering about it for a while now, but he put it off since so many things happened and are happening.
"Hey, Benimaru," he said, a listless look on his face. "Where's she?"
The general didn't say anything more than a "Follow me." Not at all looking back at Rimuru behind him, Benimaru continued to stride outside and forward the plaza. Not saying anything, and not making a single noise. The creeping foreboding anxiety of Rimuru's mind caused his imaginary pulse to quicken in overthinking the worst.
In the back of his mind, he already knew what was to come. And sadly, the worse a premonition was, the more likely it was true. In front of Rimuru, is a sheet of white cloth covering a body—not so different from all the other countless corpses littered around the plaza. Then, Benimaru lifted the cloth.
There she was. There was Shion. His secretary.
His annoyingly brash and useless secretary that had done less of her part than looked the part, lifeless. Her noticeable black horn protruding from her forehead was shattered and her white polo shirt is tainted with blood and so was her supple lips.
Her usually vibrant purple hair looked so lifeless and her once clean tan skin looked so pale. Parts of her were already dissolving into the constituent magicules they were. Whether the barriers had any influence on the hastened decomposing of the monster corpses, Rimuru didn't want to know.
In that certain moment, Rimuru recalled the vibrant amber eyes of Velmorax, and the boundless depth of a void contained within them.
"L-Lord Rimuru…!" Rigurd, his prime-minister, shouted out in gaps of breath. An ominous miasma of an aura kept leaking out in raging waves from Rimuru's own body—and he failed to notice. The already weakened monsters in the vicinity were pressured and collapsed to their knees, gasping for breath as if air itself was sealed in the barriers.
Trying to get in control of his own emotions, Rimuru forcefully suppressed his aura and intent. The oppressive atmosphere faded into the wind immediately thereafter.
Rimuru felt someone's arms wrap themselves around his tiny body. It was Shuna, the ogre princess and the younger sister of Benimaru.
"Please reach out at any time. I will come to you at once," she was so angelic that it ached Rimuru's heart.
But even then, no matter how hard he tried, he can't shake the feeling that Velmorax was telling him to do something when he gazed upon that terrifying gaze. As helpless and hopeless as he was, he can see it so clearly in the eyes of everyone he looked at, at every reflective surface he gazed at, and even in the boundaries of the barriers that surrounded the city.
Those amber eyes kept creeping themselves into his mind like a parasite in the making.
Get out of my head!