Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken (LN)

Volume 8 - Epilogue

EPILOGUE

THE FINAL BRIEFING

It was evening by the time we wrapped up our talks with the tengu on the final day. After an earlyish dinner, we decided to hold our first administrative meeting in a while.

Since we had all my officials here for a change, I figured itd be a good chance to brief each other on recent events. We also had a few visitorsVeldora, Ramiris, and her servants Beretta and Treyni. Milim would be officially coming to town three days from now, and I guess she was really starting to feel the heat from Frey, so she decided to head back home in the meantime. Smart girl. I dont know how pissed off Frey was, but if Milim stayed here for much longer, I bet the answer would be very, and I didnt want to be caught in the cross fire.

Plus, we had another new face:

Now, before we begin this conference, theres someone Id like to introduce to you all. This is Mjllmile, or Mollie, and I am considering a government post for him. Hes been intimately involved with arrangements for the Founders Festival in three days, and if it turns out successful, Id like to name him chief of our financial affairs. I want all of you to treat him well.

I had wanted to do this when everybody was around. Plus, I wanted Mjllmile to handle the final pre-festival briefing for me.

Er, my name is Gard Mjllmile. Sir Rimuru has been kind enough to give me a crucial duty in the upcoming festivities, and frankly Im rather tense, but I hope I will earn good favor from all of you here today.

As an ever-so-slightly overweight fellow, Mjllmile didnt look tense at all. Still, it mustve taken guts, introducing himself to a room full of monsters. Even he gets nervous sometimes, I guess. Dealing with mafia types in the big city was probably a far cry from going face-to-face with high-level magic-born like us.

With our introductions now concluded, I jumped right into the topic at hand.

All right, Mollie, if you could go over how things are looking for us right now

Yes sir. If youll excuse me, then

Taking my cue, Mjllmile got up from his seat next to Rigurd and went over our preparations for the Founders Festival.

Two days from now, on the night before opening ceremonies, we would be holding a citywide launch party. This would be open to everyone, including not just event invitees but the merchants (and the adventurers bodyguarding them) visiting town, with free food and drink for all. The news had already gone out, of course, and I heard about farmers and the like from nearby cities traveling over for itthe exact sort of tourism I wanted to attract, so I wanted to be damn sure they had a great time.

In the reception hall, meanwhile, wed hold a palatial banquet for the visiting royalty and nobility. Everything served here would be a tandem effort between Shuna and Yoshida the baker; they were debuting a lot of new dishes, I knew, so I couldnt wait. This would be a standing buffet-type thing, since I wanted guests to enjoy smaller bits of as many different kinds of food as we could offer.

Then the Founders Festival officially began. On the morning of the first day, I would hold a speech. Yes, yet another speech, but I needed some kind of event to officially proclaim that I was a demon lord, so this was kind of unavoidable. I suggested skipping this, since everyone knew already, but my advisers all just smiled and said no.

Right after that, wed kick off the battle tournament at the coliseum. I, however, would not be in attendance. This festival was meant to help VIPs from other nations get to know Tempest, so I couldnt just sit around watching the preliminary rounds all day.

Instead, my itinerary included a seat at our newly refurbished and extremely fancy-looking theater. Nobodys told me what kind of performance to expect, which made me a bit anxious, but Mjllmile seemed really enthusiastic about it. I feel this will be a chance to show the world that you are a cultured demon lord, hed said with a grin.

Shion was smiling right along with him, which did nothing to calm my nerves. But no point stewing over it. If it had Mjllmiles stamp of approval, Id have to trust in him.

After lunch came a technological exhibition, including panels like Gabil and Vesters history of healing potions, Kurobe and Garms grand tour of their weaponry, and so on. This would take place at our museumwhich, like the theater, would be open to the general public from day two onward; for today, it was open to nobility only, so they could take their time with everything on display. I thought that staggering the schedules like that would be best for security purposes.

Speaking of day two, thats when Id begin to take in the battle tournament. Later that afternoon, Id also hold a series of chatsor to put it another way, it was some unscheduled free time for me. Basically, Id be in my VIP box at the arena, and if anyone wanted to talk to me, Id take their questions one by one. Mjllmile was arranging all that for me, so really, itd just be a pleasant distraction as I took in the tournament. Everyone who received paper invites would have a guide provided for them, and theyd be free to enjoy the fest any way they wantedperuse the stalls, enjoy our luxurious hot baths, or check out the tournament themselves.

Then, on day three, wed finally open up our long-awaited Dungeon. The final matches of the tournament would take place that morning, and in the afternoon, youd get to watch as adventurers tried their hand at conquering the labyrinth.

Youve completed quite an impressive coliseum while I was gone, marveled Geld, no doubt impressed that there was a whole generation of talented craftsmen below him now.

That we have. You and Mildo have a great apprentice in Gobkyuu. Its a perfectly sound structure; you wouldnt even know this was a rush project. If our top magic-born fought in here, Id be worried, but any fights between competitors ranked below A shouldnt be a problem.

In terms of safety, the arena could juuuust about withstand a high-level spirit like Ifrit raging inside it. Which, I mean, if someone focused the full brunt of their attacks on the arena itself, I couldnt do much about that, but Id be there for the main battles, and I planned on putting a light Absolute Defense barrier over the stadium. Barring a catastrophe, the audience would be perfectly safe, probably.

Kwah-ha-ha-ha! And Ive discovered the ultimate in gourmet bliss with my hibachi grill. It will be a cant-miss delight, trust me on that!

Oh, I almost forgot. He really wanted to run a stand, so there wasnt much to do for it except let him participate in disguise. Its funny, thoughsomewhere along the line, Mjllmile and Veldora had really started to get along with each other. All the impossible demands I had given them, and it looked like he was now fully used to things. Amazing. This guy may be more of a monster than I thought.

That was all for Mjllmiles rundown. Diablo, Hakuro, and Geldwho werent around for all the lead-up worklistened intently to it all, no doubt saddened that they couldnt be a part of it. I should probably give each of them a reward of some sort. Gelds could wait until he was done with his current job, but Diablo and Hakuro had wrapped up theirs with flying colors.

Making a mental note of that, I turned to my officials. So far, everythings been going smoothly, I said. Have any of you run into any issues?

If nobody had, I was going to turn it over to Soei, but

Yes sir!

That was Ramiriss cheerful voice sounding out as she raised her hand. Ramiris, huh? Im sure its nothing serious, then.

Whats up, Ramiris?

Well, um, I got a problem?

Yes? What is it?

Okay, well, you see, its about the bottom floors of the Dungeon

She fell silent, glancing at Veldora.

Kwaaaah-ha-ha-ha! Yes, erm, it is nothing serious. You recall the forest installed in Floor 95 of the labyrinth? Well, for some reason, it has started growing its way up into higher floors, and it now covers everything up to Floor 71! Veldora said.

He sounded so casual about it, too. Floors 91 to 94 were thankfully sealed off, so they apparently werent affected. But the rest of the levels were now lush forest, thanks to the plant life making its way up the magicule ventilation ducts.

Uh, thats gonna be a pretty big pain in the ass to clean up, isnt it?

It sure is! Thats why Im bringing it up with you! Ramiris cried.

I hated to say it, but she had a point. Eesh. If this was anyones fault, it was Veldoras.

And erm, we do have one more small issue, the dragon added.

What would that be?

I really didnt want to ask, but I had to. But what Veldora gave me went far beyond my expectations.

My boss-level monsters are missing. That was what I wished to discuss.

Ah. Well, at least he wasnt bringing up something stupid. Apparently, this creeping forest was sucking up the magicules in the labyrinth before those monsters could be spawned. As a result, we werent seeing monsters worthy of being deemed bosses of the lower dungeons. We did have a single tempest serpent born (rank: A-minus), but I already designated that the boss of Floor 40. It was Veldora and Ramiris, after all, who said they didnt need small fry like that in their domains. If they wanted it back now, forget it.

Also, Im thinking about making a new Elemental Colossus, so I want you to get the materials for me!

Yes, and I want you to employ monsters worthy of serving as my bosses. And clean up the forest for me.

......

Ramiris, I could at least lend an ear to. I was only planning to open everything up to Floor 50 for this unveiling anyway, so I figured we could manage. But I really didnt have time for Veldoras selfish demands. Wed have time to worry about that later; for now, hed just have to take care of things himself.

I was just about to turn him down when I heard three voices at the same time.

I think we have the perfect person for the job, actually.

Sir Rimuru, why dont you let them take care of this?

My master, I can think of someone suitable

It was Shuna, Treyni, and Ranga.

Shuna suggested that Adalmann the wight would work as a boss; Gabil rapidly agreed with her. Adalmanns forces are weak against sunlight, she reasoned, so they would thrive in cave-like environments. I think the labyrinth would be perfect for them.

Indeed, while Adalmann could leave the cave in the day, none of his forces could. I heard they liked to wander outside at night, much to the consternation of passing merchants. I had a stack of complaints from them in my office. Yeah, if I ran into a walking skeleton in the dead of night, Id probably pee my pants, too. Putting them down in that maze seemed like a good idea.

Besides, Shuna glumly continued, he is a little pushy. Praising you as a god and everything

In Adalmanns eyes, I was a god, and Shuna my shrine princess. That was pretty annoying, yes.

All right. Well stick Adalmann in Floor 60 as the boss. And Ramiris, Ill get some stuff to make an Elemental Colossus with. Have Adalmann help you out.

Are you sure?

Yeah. Hes got a lot of intelligence, if not much else. He ought to help out with your research.

All right. Thanks, Rimuru!

So we had bosses for Floors 60 and 70.

Now it was Treynis turn, and she suggested leaving Floors 71 through 80 (where the vegetation was still relatively sparse) to Zegion and Apito. Those two can summon their underlings, she said, so they should be able to reclaim those floors in quick order. Plus She flashed a look at Ramiris. I think that Zegion would make a fine boss for Floor 80, she said, smiling. Hes done a wonderful job protecting the treant homeland up to now.

I see

That sounds like a splendid idea, chimed in Veldora. I would be happy to train him up to a fighter worthy of making Floor 80 proud!

Yeah, Zegion was definitely a lot stronger than one might guess. Definitely stronger than a tempest serpent, or at least he was the last time I saw him. But this is still Zegion were talking abouthes just a bug the size of a squirrel or something, you know? Im not sure how much you could train up something like that, but oh well. I already knew Veldora was a weirdo, so I could just let him do what he liked.

Okay. Lets go with that.

Then for Ranga.

Master, the fox spirit I have been tending to has awoken and claims to be gifted at clearing out forests in any way requested. I would suggest accepting the offer, perhaps, he said, poking his head out from my shadow.

And sitting between his ears was what looked like a fox pup with four golden tails swaying behind it. So cute.

Wanna try it?

Indeed, I do, sir! The fox nodded, eyes gleaming at me. Again, sooo cute.

Essentially, this kits offer was to blaze animal trails through the vegetation, creating a sort of maze with them. If that was what it wanted to do, I saw no reason to say no. If it proved not up to the task, I could just raze the forest then.

Okay. So

Then I noticed a problem of my own. This fox, nicknamed Nine-Head back when it was under Claymans control, still didnt really have a name.

Well, wait. Before that, lemme give you a name. From this day forward, your name is Kumara.

It was totally casual, like giving a dog a name. But I wasnt stupid. I had learned my lesson by now, and I wasnt gonna have all my magical energy sapped away this time. No, this time I could control Wait, whooaaaaaaa

I was suddenly seized by a flooding sort of lethargy. This was soon followed by panic.

Report. This is the effect of the naming. Since the subject, Kumara, held a vast amount of magicule energy, more energy is being consumed thanoriginally surmised.

I was tricked by this tiny fox pup in front of me, but Yeah, its actually one of the rarest, most high-level monsters out there. I, um, may have dropped the ball there. Plus, the moment I uttered the name, Kumara started growing fastnot in size, really, but in number of tails, which went from four to nine in a hurry. It had only three during the fight with Ranga, and each of those tails had its own special ability.

In a way, what I had doneI supposewas summon not one, but nine different magical beasts at the same time.

My deepest thanks, Sir Rimuru!! I shall do all I can!!

Ah well. No point dwelling on the past. I managed to avoid slipping into unconsciousness, so I guess Raphaels calculations were close enough, even if it wasnt quite as expected. Not much surprise in its voice anyway. It mustve assumed itd hand over this level of magicules to the little fox from the get-go. Otherwise, Kumara wouldnt have grown exactly nine tails like that.

......

Cmon, dont play dumb with me! I can see through you well enough.

Thus, I decided to leave Floors 81 through 90 to the overjoyed, scampering Kumara. Its not like this zone would see a swell of adventurers from day one; I bet Kumara solo would make a fine boss.

That wrapped up Ramiriss and Veldoras issues.

I was glad to see the rest of my staff was pretty excited about the Dungeon, too. Its success was really important to me; I wanted to be sure its operation started on the right track. I gave Kumara a pat on the head.

With all the reporting on the Founders Festival done, I wanted to listen to Soeis recent findings.

All right, Soei, the stage is yours.

Yes sir

What he had for me was quite a surprise. It turned out that a Hero had taken down the entire Orthrus Slave Market organization. Its exposure and downfall had already led to severe consequences for certain nobility around the worldincluding that Viscount Cazac guy, who was now in the custody of the Blumund authorities.

Even Englesia is alive with rumors of the affair. Orthrus had connections with virtually every nation in the world; it was an armed group who held possession of a great number of battle slaves, including magic-born and magical beasts. Their military power was equivalent to that of a small country, but its said a Heros band was all it took to destroy it

Soei smiled a little. This HeroLightspeed Masayuki, a name familiar to mewas now being lauded as the strongest man in the Western Nations, a reputation no doubt buoyed by the news of my victory over Hinata. Did this mean anyone who lost to a demon lord wasnt worth pinning the hopes of humankind to? I felt like I did something bad to her now. Hope she doesnt take it personally.

But back to Masayuki. There wasnt a lot of hard intel on this guy, so we didnt know much about him. However, he was confirmed to have destroyed Orthrusand freed the elven slaves they were holding.

Several elves were among the slaves, and it seems Masayuki is now accompanying them back toward our nation.

Sounds like I owe him a word or two of gratitude.

But there was a problem.

What should we do, Sir Rimuru? If you like, I could dispatch him before he causes any trouble for us

No, better not. Lets try talking with him first.

All right. Anyone who professes to slay a demon lord needs to be taught a lesson, in my personal opinion, but

Yes, as could be surmised from this conversation, there were rumors in the Western Nations that Masayuki intended to topple me. Soei already had an inhumane-looking smilejust imagining what hed do with the guy, no doubtbut he still followed my orders.

Butman, I really didnt wanna have to face a Hero right in the middle of the Founders Festival, one of the most important events in the history of Tempest. I was worried the battle-obsessed members of my staffShion and Diablo, to say nothing of Soeiwould defy orders, run off, and do something terribly unwise.

Let me take care of Masayuki. Absolutely no touching him, you got it?

Yes sir!

Well, at least they knew how to say yes sir in unison.

But with three days to go until the Founders Festival, I now had a thorny problem at hand. It was like rain on my parade, and it made me feel a lot gloomier about the future.

But not long from nowa massive, intense party was about to kick off and throw all my trivial worries to the wind.