Gazel
She stills slightly, drawing Diablo’s attention in an instant, “Xiǎolóng?”
She looks up at what's nothing but empty air to her physical eyes, firmly declaring, “It may be your job to conduct spying from the looks of you and your equipment, but you have nobusiness using magic to peer into my office, nor for the record just in case you get any funny ideas, my home.”
On the other side of the spell being used to spy on her that she was looking directly at, she was meeting the gaze of the man who seems to be in charge on the other side of the connection she trailed back to them. They start to freak out even as she lets it linger long enough for them to see her move her head and eyes slightly but clearly tracking the captain as he moves, clearly freaking out even more and questioning if her looking at him was a coincidence to make it clear that no, it was not. Once she's made that point, without another word, she strikes out with a knife of her raw magic at the spell, shattering it in an instant.
Diablo hums as she turns away while shaking her head, “While I can understand wanting to preserve anything confidential, given there wasn't anything of that nature going on, it may have been hasty to reveal you knew it was there. We could have potentially used it against them. Using the connection to spy back perhaps, or maybe feed them false information.”
She shakes her head, “Possibly, yes, but there are other ways to do those things, and I'm not willing to compromise our privacy to use that method in particular. Especially since I'm the only one who can detect it, so no one else knows to be careful what they speak of, and particularly given if I'd let the spell in the office slide, they likely would've spied on us at home, and that is the last place I will allow our peace to be disrupted.”
He leans down to brush her hair back and press a kiss to her forehead, “Fair enough Xiǎolóng.”
She leans into his touch, both of his hands and lips, sighing in contentment as the flicker of irritation at the breach of privacy seeps away, “I do need to look into updating the camera's Perception capabilities to be able to detect such things though and issue some sort of warnings to people.”
He hums as he straightens up even as he starts running his hands through her hair, “If you don't care about using that particular method to our advantage when there are other possibilities available, perhaps including some sort of magic speaker and simply having them announce when there's one around out loud?”
She hums, “That would definitely work. Although, on the topic of Observation Link Orbs since the cameras also use those, I've been thinking that it may potentially be worthwhile to have myself and the higher ups all link ourselves to orbs connected to another server that's heavily locked down to prevent privacy invasions. Given people can't exactly just take a magic oath regarding it to make it clear they're telling the truth here unlike in our first life, if anyone is ever targeted due to their positions and accused of anything, it would be easy to see whether it's true or not."
She shakes her head in frustration, "With the general opinion Humans have of us, I imagine most of them aren't inclined to trust us at our word, so it would also give us easily presentable proof. The only real question is how to handle personal privacy, particularly during intimate -though not inherently sexual even though those would obviously be included- moments that no one has any business observing, and the problem is that even if we had Rowena filter it, she'd still have to go over it.”
Diablo tilts his head, “It's not a bad idea to be honest. As for how to handle private affairs… I sincerely doubt any of them would ever betray you, so you could just trust them and make a sort of on-off verbal command that has to be spoken by the person the Orb is connected to.”
She gives him a bemused look, “Since when are you, a generally paranoid former world-class assassin, so trusting?”
He chuckles as he leans down to brush another kiss to her forehead, “Since it comes to people who genuinely possess the sort of loyalty that I don't need to question it.” Her brows furrow and he shakes his head with an amused grin as he straightens again, “Don't argue Xiǎolóng. I can see it the same way I could see Maya naming you the Heir coming, and you're missing it for the same reasons you missed that.”
She blinks rapidly, then shakes her head in amusement, “I'll take your word for it.”
Then she reaches for her cup, but when she goes to take a sip of her tea, she realizes it's empty. Before she can even say anything about it, Diablo has whisked the cup away and is bustling about making her more. Smiling at her husband's back, she brushes both the spying incident and the loyalty question off. Back to business as is quickly becoming their usual.
She hums as she looks over the report Hakuro submitted to her. She had of course made sure they were perfectly okay with it given what happened to their village when it came to the Ogres, making sure that strange way they'd damn near leap at even a hint of a suggestion wouldn't force their hand or anything by making it clear that if they weren't comfortable and/or couldn't handle it, them forcing themselves would upset her. Whereas turning it down just meant she'd have to find another way, but she'd translated Occlumency into a functioning Art to teach them, as well as teaching them the tools and techniques of navigating trauma when one possesses Occlumency.
Well, she wanted to teach Hakuro primarily since his title as Instructor made it easier for people to learn abilities from him, but also the other Ogres, as well as carefully selected Orcs from each region who were well suited to teaching others and Geld to see if him learning it as the Orc King would help other Orcs pick it up quicker as an effect of his title. With that same experimental logic, she'd also tugged Rigurd in amongst the Goblins she'd selected. She'd also tugged in Treyni as a sort of node for the Dryads and Treants as a whole, as well as select Dragonewts, including Kouki since as their Chief his was probably one of the Dragonewt minds most important to protect. That was also part of why she'd pulled Ogres as a whole, Geld, Rigurd, and also the Goblin Lords into things. As higher ups, even if they don't necessarily have critical information now, it was best they learn to protect their mind quickly to protect any sensitive information they had later.
There had been plenty of time, given she'd had what felt like a pretty damn good idea to pull her selected people into the outer edges of her mind but before her pulled-back-to-make-room-for-them-to-enter Occlumency barriers with Thought Communication and combine it with Thought Acceleration. She hadn't used it at full throttle, given that since Raphael and Beelzebuth had combined, Thought Acceleration had upgraded again, and it would've made a full night while the relevant people were sleeping last a bit longer then one hundred and eighty-three thousand years. Which did seem a bit excessive to her, hence why she'd only kept Hakuro and the others long enough to make sure they had a solid understanding of Occlumency after she'd updated it to work with this universe's magic.
It meant Hakuro and them had the information needed to teach others though, or those who were okay with learning it given the drawback of always remembering bad memories vividly, as well as making sure her educators understood people had the right to turn learning the Art down because of that. But having carefully selected individuals to pass on the information and the higher ups equipped with the knowledge of how it was done had been what she was primarily after, which had been a resounding success.
It hadn't taken nearly that long in real time before they'd mastered it to her satisfaction -literally only two seconds which worked out to over a decade(1) which is also exactly why she'd tugged her soulmates and sister-in-law in as well even though they already knew it because she'd be damned if they were separated that long-, as well as learning the combo of Thought Communication and Thought Acceleration to help their own students learn it quicker in non-accelerated time, even if none of them had it to anywhere near her extremes.
She hadn't exactly been expecting them to work every Thought Accelerated second of that decade, if nothing else they'd need breaks to rest, but it had been a surprisingly pleasant and productive over-a-decade-two-seconds. For one thing, the mind scape she'd tugged them into took the form of the Potter Ancestral lands, but had not only the Potter house but also the Yotsuba main house from later in her life. The one that was built on Miyaki island rather than the original one in the valley that hadn't been her clan home for nearly as much of her lifetime. Her people seemed to find a sort of delight in getting to actually walk the grounds and halls of either one of her homes in her memories when they weren't working, nor being productive in other ways like discussing and planning the development of Jura-Tempest as a whole.
She'd had the unpleasant realization of what exactly her position was, or well, she really should have realized before from Treyni's wording. Thankfully the woman hadn't judged her for not picking up on it given she'd just been reunited with her soulmates and when they were in the middle of sorting out getting the one hundred and seventy-three thousand Orcs fed and settled and founding their nation. Back then, Treyni had recognized her as leader of the Forest of Jura. Not their alliance. The Forest of Jura. As in. All of it.
The Dryads have actually been going around and speaking to the various intelligent denizens. After the battle with Geld Senior and the Goblins from the other villages that Gabil had been recruiting for the suspected coup before she sort of scared him into behaving and Kouki had him release them had shown up like she'd been expecting. But the realization and subsequent explanation currently clarified why even after the initial rush of Goblins they continued to receive Demi-Humans and Magic Born who wanted to move to the town.
She wasn't really looking to push their borders out to the borders of the Forest of Jura. She hadn't even been looking to become a Queen in the first place, yet here she was… And she certainly was a Queen, having tiredly asked Treyni, also privately, in what capacity exactly she was the ‘leader’- what exactly they meant by leader in light of the rising suspicions as they all discussed their budding country’s development. She'd been rather exasperated by Treyni's joyfully teasing smile as the woman had laughed, lightly remarking on the fact she and the other Dryads and the Treant's had wondered how long it would take her to catch on to exactly what they meant.
She wanted to bang her head on something in exasperation after it had sunk in to be honest. She mostly just wants a quiet life with her soulmates. Was that too much to ask? Why was it that just because she couldn't turn her eyes away from the wrongs of whatever world she was in, she had to be in the limelight? The only time they remotely had a peaceful life was when her sister in law was Riko, and the three of them were Tomomi, Kuroha, and Satomi. Even then, it wasn't a very long life. Well, if you count them separately anyway. Her soulmates had let her know that because of the way it was technically part of a cluster of universes created by the same god, they had long since started viewing it as an extension of this life. In a way it makes sense to sort of count them together since both worlds were made by Veldanava.(2)
The only real drawback was what it did to her desire for a nice quiet life with her soulmates. If they're counted together, that means she hasn't had a single quiet life of any length with her darling husband and wife.
She's vaguely aware of Ema talking to people out in her office, but she doesn't really pay much attention until Diablo gives her a mental nudge and she looks up just as Gabil and his sister, who she'd named Soka, enter her office. Soka takes the lead, as she rises to greet them, “Lady Rimuru, it's good to see you in good health.”
She nods, and while she's gotten used to it in general, having the two siblings side by side makes it strange all over again how while all of them technically could if they evolved enough, the females gained an incredibly human looking form, and could even make themselves look entirely human if they hide their wings and horns, easier than the males did, “Thank you and likewise. I assume your father is as well?”
Soka smiles, “He is, yes, thank you for asking. I suppose that's a good segway into why we're here. As you know, my father evolved into a Dragonewt when you named him. Even us Lizardmen, now Dragonewts, don't have record of precisely how long a Dragonewt's lifespan is, since all the ones we do have record of died prematurely. Battle and disease and the like, but we do have a minimum number of two hundred years. Given Lizardmen live five to seven decades, it's more than doubled his expected lifespan, so he has significantly more time until the question of naming an heir becomes more pressing. He sent us this way wanting to see if you were fine taking myself and my men as well as my brother and his men in to work here to gain more experience than just what we could've gotten from amongst the Dragonewts.”
She blinks rapidly, “I'm fine with that, yes. Which I suppose means finding where to assign you two.” She gives Soka's nervous brother a bemused look, “Particularly Gabil-” There's a small drain to her magic and she tilts her head in confusion and glances back at Diablo in question who gives her a look of askance, “What was that? You already have a name Gabil, why…”
Diablo's expression smooths out, “Ah, a name rewriting. It happens sometimes. Between you being so much stronger, Gabil basically cutting ties with Gelmud after it was discovered what he was doing and naming people for, and Gelmud being dead, it's not that surprising you'd end up renaming him.” He eyes Gabil, “Given how he's drooping, he's likely going to evolve.”
She hums, “I see. Well, what your tasks will be is something that will have to be decided, but you should go get some sleep Gabil.”
He nods tiredly before stumbling off. She taps her pointer finger nail against her desk in thought as she watches him stumble through Ema's office before turning to Soka, “Did your father mention any specific sort of experience he was wanting you two to get?”
Soka tilts her head in question, “Not particularly my Lady. Why?”
She shakes her head, “Because the placement of troops before I informed him of your evolutions implies he was intending to attempt a coup. I'm more inclined to give him more humble work to make sure the lesson that was driven by the evolution of your entire people sticks. Perhaps a job that's simultaneously productive like growing Hipokute, since with everything else going on, we haven't had the chance to start that yet… If I do assign him and his men to that, we'll either have to give them some sort of light source to see while they're working, or help them acquire a Skill to assist in that in some capacity.”
Soka'a eyes go wide in surprise and her upper body twists to look behind her at the door, “He was planning-...” She sighs, “Somehow, I'm not surprised.” Then she shakes her head as she turns back to her, “It's not a bad idea to try and reaffirm the changes he's been going through since everyone evolved, but as for my own assignment, I was actually wondering if Sir Soei had openings in his department for me and my men. His particular way of fighting fascinated me when you were showing us what was going on in the marshes during the battle.”
She blinks rapidly, “It's ultimately up to Soei whether he thinks you have what it takes and accepts, but if that's what you want I won't stop you and your men from applying, no. I should warn you though, Soei is a very strict man and taskmaster. If he accepts it'll be far from easy.”
Soka smiles, “I'm not surprised given what I saw previously.” Then she bows her head, “Unless you wanted to say anything else, I'll be on my way to inform my men so we can go speak with Sir Soei.”
She nods, waving her off as she bids her good luck. After she leaves, she looks up at Diablo with a bemused expression, “Think she'll regret it? After she gets a genuine taste of Soei's idea of training and work that is.”
Diablo tilts his head, “Nah. Close to tears of gratitude if he even eases up? Yes. Regret making that decision? Between what little I've seen of her personality, I sincerely doubt it.”
She chuckles, “Well, I hope not. I mean, Soei wouldn't force her to stay if she didn't think she was cut out for it, but who knows how it would affect her in any number of ways, her confidence for one thing, if she can't."
She's all too pleased at the progress they've been making. The labor of the Orcs was an unimaginably lucky windfall, given just how quickly they've accelerated things. To the point that while they still have people trickling in, small groups joining them consistently, they've been keeping on top of it fairly well. It's been about three months(3) since the Orcs joined them, and they've gotten to the point they can bang out any new housing needed with just a handful of them in about two weeks.
Which is already impressive compared to over half a year without magic in her previous worlds, but particularly when the inspections Rowena has been running have all been coming back good. The rest of them were focused on other projects. Laying down road pathing, constructing some other buildings like bath houses -both for something like spa use later and for use for general cleanliness in the interim-, shops, and even completing the government building previously even with everything else going on.
While they need to leave a certain amount of them free for building any new housing needed, she'd already shifted to having them lay down roads between things like the Dragonewts in Lake Sisu and the Treant settlement. Yes, neither the Dragonewts nor Dryads need roads to get around easily, but if they have any reason to go to them, they kind of needed them.
That was coming along nicely as well, but she couldn't help but feel a bit of hopeless exasperation. Much like with the clothing styles from before, they'd made everything according to her personal tastes. Which meant the entire city was covered with usually hidden references to the Grim Reaper- scythes, skeletal hands, skulls, and all that. There was also some of the Gothic scrollwork and other such non-explicitly Grim Reaper related things of that nature. Flower depictions, much like in the easily disconcernable part of her veil coat thing from her previous life, were always of lethally poisonous flowers.
Unsurprisingly, given they ‘used to’ be technically under Veldora even if he never really made any demands, her own tendency towards Dragon motifs in reference to her Animagus form in particular had been taken to with gusto by the Demi-Humans and Magic Born, as she's started insisting intelligent ‘monsters’ like the Tempest Wolves are called.
She can't really detangle the two concepts from one another completely, as while they are capable of regular mating and birth like other lifeforms, the Direwolves are originally Magic Born like the Storm Serpents and the other monsters. Given their intelligence though, she refused to let them be called monsters, given while there are other factors, she blames the language lumping pretty much everything that wasn't humanoid -or human enough rather given the Ogres and Goblins- into the category of ‘monster’ at least partially on the bad blood between such ‘monster’ and ‘human’ races.
To that extent, she'd actually banned calling intelligent Magic Born monsters, and had also ensured Demi-Humans like the Ogres and the like would be called Demi-Humans, considering calling them ‘monsters’ a racist slur. They were both a little more of a mouthful than monsters, but it was important to her to make that distinction.
She hadn't set it into law since while she's never been American in any of her lives and that's what it's most heavily associated with, she is a firm believer in freedom of speech. The downside of that is that technically someone who's spitting out hateful speech isn't doing anything legally wrong. They should be prepared to get beat up though, given that just because it isn't legally wrong doesn't mean people tend to let such things fly. She'd been careful not to mention that to the Magic Born and Demi-Humans of their little budding nation though, since they would absolutely take that as a free pass to beat up people saying things they don't agree with.
She's reviewing a document that had just been brought to her regarding proposals Lilina had on improving the absolute bare bones basics of their agriculture they'd hastily thrown together with the Dryads help to supplement the influx of people from the Orcs when Diablo comes storming in angrily, carrying the tray of lunch he'd gone to make for her and Ema who was trailing after him in concern, and all thoughts of it are hurled out the mental window.
She gives him a concerned look as she gets up to circle her desk and move over to the table he's setting lunch out on, “Diablo? What's wrong, Love?”
He gives her a furious look, “Shuna's lessons still aren't producing results. That insult to everything edible and ingredients for dishes that Shion dares call ‘cooking’ has created another damned poisoning incident!”
She sighs tiredly, rubbing at her temples and already feeling a migraine coming as she settles at the table, “I swear, that woman… why is she so insistent on cooking when she's dangerously bad at it?”
Diablo looks up at her, anger burning in his eyes, “I have no clue, but I've half a mind to grab her unnecessarily endowed ass by the hair and drag her off for my own cooking lessons until she fucking learns.”
She snorts, covering her mouth to hide her grin as she tries to suppress it, since she really shouldn't be laughing about that, “I don't think you should drag her off by her hair, but if you wanted to take some time in the mornings to try and drill how one actually cooks into her, I wouldn't say no. It's true I missed you, and the reverse is just as if not more true, but this is starting to get to the point of becoming a public health and safety matter, and if she doesn't start genuinely learning soon, I'm going to have to ban her from cooking permanently."
"Arguably I should've a while ago, but the other Ogres pleaded with me to give her more time to learn from Shuna as they were worried how it would influence her confidence, and when I brought up the fact it was starting to become a danger to others, she has enough fans that there was a good bit of insistence on people in general being fine with it, particularly given it wasn't killing anyone. It's not fun, but worst case so far, people pass out and get Poison Resistance, or feel sick for a day or so.”
Diablo's mouth twists with displeasure, “Yeah, I know. I mean, we saw that part while we were watching you while looking into getting to you since Daemon Summonings aren't exactly common per say given the risks.” He looks away somewhat sulking, “Well, other ways than the Otherworld Gates that is, since all the Primordials keep an eye on those, and they'd think we were trying to launch some major power-play plot if me and the ‘Near Primordials’ were all trying to leave together. They'd have all teamed against us, and much as I loath to admit it, we wouldn't have been able to overcome that. And even though we've been researching it since practically the moment we were reborn here and got a decent grasp on this universe's magic, we never did figure another way to leave even temporarily.”
Then his sulk turns back to anger as he stabs at his food hard with his fork, “And now that we're finally back with you, I'm going to have to waste my mornings trying to straighten that disaster of a woman out!”(4)
She huffs a laugh as she starts to bring her own fork up, pausing just before she takes the food into her mouth, “I almost feel bad for Shion.”
Diablo gives her a betrayed look, “What? Why?”
She finishes her bite before shaking her head in bemusement, “Because between being personally insulted by what she calls cooking and the fact it's pulling you away from me, you're undoubtedly going to live up to your species and be an absolute demon of a taskmaster. It's going to be rather brutal I imagine.”
The betrayal fades and he snorts as he shoves his fork into his mouth, chewing quickly in annoyance before speaking, “You're damn right I will be!”
Ema smiles in her own bemusement, “Why don't we change the subject. Continuing to talk about this is just going to make Diablo more upset, particularly if it puts him in such a foul mood he can't properly enjoy the food.”
Diablo snorts, and she turns to Ema, “Did you have anything in particular in mind?”
Ema hums, “Somewhat. I've been thinking about what we've been talking about, the best way to go about getting us bodies that is. Dead Birthday is still off the table, but while you're probably right that if we made an H3 frame or a similar golem design entirely out of magisteel it would probably be able to withstand the pressure of our magic unlike regular steel or anything like that, I still don't think the false skin the H3's usually use can be used as the base to give us something to bond our magic to so as to make it our legitimate shapeshiftable flesh when we take it as our body."
"I was wondering, however, about if we wove something based on or steeped in magicules into it. Essentially 3D printing them in other words. Once the base is there, after we settle into the body, our magic would make it our own completely, so we wouldn't have to worry about it having to look perfect or anything, since our own magic would handle things once we were inside.”
She hums, finishing her bite before she responds, “The closer it is though, the less your magic has to work to properly claim it. Perhaps if I used sticky steel thread so it was soft on the outside like skin, but held its attachment to the frame internally with its sticky parts or something?”
It seems to have worked on getting Diablo out of his bad mood, or at least he's willing to take the subject change to try and shake it off, “That would probably work. There's still the actual work on the thread 'printed' muscles and skin of course, but once you have one done, you could just use Azathoth on it and raw materials to duplicate it, couldn't you?”
She nods, “Yeah, but I don't think I'll start on that until I'm done studying Spirit Cores with Treyni's help. I still firmly believe it would both strengthen whoever is inhabiting it and stabilize things more, and if I'm not ready yet anyway, it may be beneficial to make a bunch of sticky steel thread and dump them in the lake water I have stored. That stuff is still absolutely steeped in magicules from Veldora, and unless it has some unforeseen reaction, I assume it can only strengthen them to be soaked as long as possible before they're pulled out and used.”
She blinks, lowering the cup she'd picked up while talking before she can take a drink, “Actually, now that I think about it… when it comes to raw magicules in a single liter of liquid, Full Potions are actually denser,(5) it may be better if…”
Ema swallows the bite she'd been chewing while listening, “If you're not sure, could just make a bunch of thread and soak them in both, then just use whichever is better.”
She swallows the drink she'd taken after she was done talking while listening to Ema, “Probably the smart thing to do. I-” She cuts off, head snapping towards the northeast and Diablo starts to open his mouth right as she murmurs, “An attack..?”
Her husband's expression turns serious, “What's the situation?”
She shakes her head, “The Replications I spread out to act as nodes to extend my Multidimensional Perception or act as Thought Communication relays have picked up on five hundred flying cavalry coming from Dwargon. By my estimate and from what you've filled me in a bit more on ranks, I'd say each of the riders and their winged horses -Pegasi perhaps?- are about A minus. They seem to be using an Art that syncs rider and mount up mentally though, enough so that they're practically one entity, and I'd say that pushes them to slightly above A rank.”
Diablo hums, though it's Ema who speaks up, “That honesty doesn't sound like the Dwarves. To attack unprovoked I mean. I could see them coming to deal with the Orc Lord, but you already-” Her eyes go wide, before she breathes out, “Oh. We were so distracted with being reunited and getting things rolling on other projects and the development of Jura-Tempest… Did… Did we ever send out the all clear message? I mean, you warned the humans through Elen and the others before, but…”
She turns to stare at her wife blankly, “...I did not. Merlin, I'm a moron. Ema, make sure that's sent out please.” Ema nods, making a note on a scrap of paper she'd used magic to retrieve from Rimuru's desk and underlining it three times. She scrubs tiredly at her face, “But they're on their way here to deal with the deceased Geld Senior then?”
Diablo shakes his head even as he reaches over to card his fingers through her hair, “You are not. We were all too distracted to remember it. But that's probably what they’re on their way for, yes. That being said, we should probably make preparations as though it's an attack to be safe. Start having people evacuate into the section of the mountain on standing orders to keep clear of monsters and all that so there's time for it.”
She nods, “Mm, I'll start sending Thought Communications about that. Diablo, get in touch with Benimaru, Soei, and the others and start setting up ‘just in case’ battle plans, but make sure they know not to attack unless it either becomes clear we're under assault, or one of us gives the order. Ema, get in touch with the Dragonewts. I don't want them biting off more than they can chew, nor starting anything, but have some of the faster flyers approach to ask them what their business is but to be fully prepared to dodge and flee if necessary."
"Also, we should move just outside of town in case they do land and only attack after things go south in discussions or something. At least then we can make a barrier to keep them contained, both when it comes to loss of life and also to limit any potential destruction. That being said, judging by their speed, they're a few hours out still, so while evacuations should start sooner obviously, we may as well finish lunch.”
She gets returning nods, and as they all turn their attention towards sending messages, things fall silent around the table with her spouses.
Well, spouses in a general sense. They haven't gotten officially married in this life yet, since while none of the particularly care about what sort of wedding they have in general, they do still need to sort out what a wedding looks like here since the very fact they don't really care makes her more inclined to use and honor local wedding traditions wherever they live at that time. The problem is, while the Demi-Humans have their own version of marriage, what they call the Union of Souls, it differs from species to species.
While they're all obviously welcome to use their own traditions in their respective marriages, since Daemons don't have marriage traditions, hardly being familiar with it in more than a general intellectual capacity and Slimes obviously don't, she doesn't want to seem like she's favoring any particular species. So she's sorting out commonalities between them, finding a middle ground for things that are mostly similar but different in details, or carefully keeping things even when it comes to picking species specific elements because she likes them.
She can't wait until they're officially married and is utterly excited, but she's not necessarily impatient. Hell, she'd outright turned down the suggestion from the Demi-Humans and Magical Beasts to just consider themselves legally married already since they are reincarnators and were married before. Not because she thinks being reborn invalidates their marriage obviously, and as unlikely as it is, she had them put it to law that if another reincarnator couple showed up, they could absolutely skip all the ceremony and the vast majority of paperwork if they wanted and just register the existence of their already existing marriage.
The only requirement for it was both parties being separately interviewed on their agreement to the registration, just to make sure it wasn't the case of some abusive crazy forcing someone who very much wasn't their spouse. Or even if they were, who wanted to get away from them.
As they get up a bit later, she glances down at her clothes, “Suppose since we're not one hundred percent sure this will go well I should not only change into something more formal, but also combat ready.”
Diablo flashes a smile, “Do you have anything that's formal yet not suitable for combat?”
Without hesitation she quips back, “Mine and Ema's previous wedding dresses that are in the Trunk.”
He barks a sudden surprised laugh, then grins at her, “I am ninety-nine percent sure that's entirely because you'd tackled the biggest issues in previous lives before we got married. In this one, given we haven't exactly established diplomatic relationships and could very well be attacked, then depending on how the situation has changed or not by the time we've got all the wedding details sorted out, it wouldn't surprise me if this time around your wedding dress was designed to be battle ready at a moments notice.”
She shoves at his shoulder, changing her clothes with a combination of taking out her new outfit from Azathoth's Imaginary Space -the upgraded replacement of Predator and Gluttony's Stomach storage Sub-Skill she'd gotten back when it evolved into Beelzebuth-, using a swapping spell she's worked out from her magic translations, and absorbing what she was wearing previously into it all in a split second, faster then someone could register even if they had Thought Acceleration amplifying their mental speed by a million. As she does, she starts to reach for her hair to pull it up, but meets with empty air over her shoulders.
Not surprised and confused unlike the first couple of times, she reaches up to confirm things then glances at her smug husband in fond amusement, “Playing with my hair and pulling it up again while I'm distracted were you?”
He grins, utterly unrepentant that between the combination of so many years helping with Ema and Mari's hair occasionally making him absolutely killer at it, and the fact he missed her so much for so long, he's gained a new strange habit of playing with, running his hands though, and pulling up her hair pretty frequently, sometimes in simpler styles, sometimes surprisingly elaborate, “Yes and no. I did earlier, but while it wasn't bad or anything, I didn't think the simple bun I put it in this morning would pass for something like this, so I pulled it down and put it up into something more suitable while you were busy discussing what they were to do if they needed to evacuate further with the others.”
Ema snickers, “If it was anyone else, I would be concerned they got so close and managed something like that without you noticing given the implications that has about your safety.”
She rolls her eyes, “Diablo only managed that because he's Diablo. My subconscious absolutely knew he was there and messing with my hair, as should be clear that even if I don't register it, I'm absently careful about moving so as to not disrupt him while he's pulling it up. My subconscious just doesn't bother to inform me what our husband is up to when it comes to things like that. I swear, it mostly just tells me ‘he's that many meters away in that direction’ and only actually clues me in to pay attention when he's either upset or something is wrong.”
Ema laughs, “Oh I know. I didn't mean ‘anyone else’ in the form of ‘thank goodness the ability to be sneaky enough to evade your notice belongs to Diablo’, I meant it as ‘the only reason it's not concerning your brain didn't consciously take note of it is because it was Diablo’ sort of way.”
She hums, “That's fair I suppose.”
Ema grins briefly, then shakes her head as she turns back to business, “Anyway, Hikari, one of Kouki’s patrolling Dragonewts, has relayed that King Gazel is with them and wishes to meet with you. He specifically asked for you by name. A company of one hundred and fifty Dragonewts met up with Hikari enroute to town to escort them, and while it hasn't been said aloud though I'm sure they've picked up on it, also to make sure none of them wander off from the group to cause trouble.”
She nods, “Well, I suppose that answers the question regarding whether they're here looking for the Orc Lord.”
Ema nods, “I did tell Hikari to ask if word of its defeat hadn’t reached them -no reason to admit to a foreign power that it was forgotten about- just to be certain, but they're fully aware it's been dealt with. It's apparently part of why King Gazel wants to meet with you. They wouldn't say much more than that though.”
She nods, “It can't be helped. Still, if King Gazel desires to speak with me, then we shall meet with him.” She snorts, “Not like they've left much of a choice about the matter. They practically tried to bully us with a show of force. I'm tempted to make one of my own, but if I only did so now, it would likely appear as though I scrambled everything I could together.”
Diablo tilts his head at her, “Not exactly. Just the one hundred and fifty Dragonewts sent to meet them was arguably a show of force on its own to display that we aren't weak, nor are you someone to be pushed around.”
She sighs, “I suppose. Still wish they'd have just told Hikari what they were here for. It'd be nice to know whether they're hostile for some reason or not.”
The tense voice of Kaijin pipes up from next to the door they were exiting, “I sincerely doubt it, but I must agree that having confirmation would be better. Is it alright if I join you Lady Rimuru?”
She nods regally, something she doesn't tend to bother with most of the time, but it was business mode now, since while his motives were unknown, King Gazel clearly wasn't here casually, “Certainly. You do understand though, that if for some reason they turn hostile and things go south, your options will be to either withdraw to the Dwarven congregation and assumably be grilled for as much information as possible if they leave, or we’ll have to at minimum temporarily detain you until we can assure you aren't a spy of some sort?”
Kaijin nods, brows furrowed in concern, “Aye. As either of you should if things go south. I can't see why his Majesty would be hostile though. That doesn't mean it won't of course. All I can really do is lay my faith in both you and King Gazel on the line and pray for the best.”
She nods once more and they continue on, silently now as they all turn their attention to thinking about the situation. Leaving town and heading towards the cleaning, there are already some of her people there. Benimaru, Shion, Soei, and Hakuro specifically. She nods at them as she steps up to be at the front of their group. Turning her gaze towards where King Gazel and his group are coming from, she eyes how close they are before shifting the perspective of her Multidimensional Perception to look herself over to double check her appearance and make sure everything is in order before they arrive.
The clothes were sitting fine, and are the significantly better ones that've been made for her since they caught up on getting everyone clothed. It was almost hilarious how determined Dord and Shuna were to fill out her wardrobe with acceptable clothing for her station. The clothes she was wearing now, being the ones she requested for more formal situations, felt a bit extravagant, even if she has to admit she does like them. A lot.
The top was a sort of black leather tailcoat but with a bodice, perfectly tailored to fit her snuggly but not be too tight, giving the proper support where needed. Its long sleeves were loose enough it wouldn't restrict her movement if she had to fight, but tight enough not to be baggy, and there were gold forearm guards running from her elbows to the backs of her hands holding it in place as well.
The whole thing which was primarily black leather trimmed in gold, and firmly held closed with equally golden buckles. She's not much of a fashion expert, but she's been told the collar was known as a ‘standing collar’, which was lined with red silk on the interior. It also had an open lapel that extended down, the edges of the wings of it lined with golden gothic scrollwork. Said scrollwork, in usual Potter style, had Grim Reaper motifs hidden in the designs, though they were more overt than usual.
It had some sort of pauldron-like attachments on the shoulders, also in gold with the same more overt than usual Grim Reaper infused gothic scrollwork.
The golden trim continued down in what she's been told is called a princess seam, which seems to just refer to a seam style that's curved to make it more form fitting, which is undoubtedly why it runs down in a line over the bust starting beneath the lapels which continued down until it met the gold trim at the bottom of the front of the coat.
The hemline on the front very nearly made a straight line across her waist before it hit her sides, where it made a sudden downwards turn into a coattail lined on the inside with the same red silk as the collar before. She'd have thought it'd be fine at that, but Dord insisted on adding some subtle pleating, since the material would apparently be likely to bunch up unflatteringly otherwise. He was the one knowledgeable on things like that, so she wasn't going to question him on it.
The only real problem she had with it was how far down the the ‘V’ opening of the lapel starts, given the thing is smack dab it the middle of her breasts, but that was apparently because it was designed to go with something Dord called a Dickey, a sort of false shirt front. The one that had been designed to go with it was semi-sheer black lace, designed in usual Potter fashion of course, with her own personal poisonous flower and dragon flair. It went up like it was the sort of cut a turtleneck would have, atop of which a Mandarin collar style choker with a larger gold clasp lay. It too, as well as the clasp, were in her usual take on the Potter style.
The pants, in comparison, were significantly plainer black leather, the only real embellishment being the singular same golden trim gothic scrollwork embroidery and lacings going through small loops attached to what looks like smaller versions of the buckles on her top, with about half an inch gap showing red silk underneath rather than skin running down the seams on the outside of her legs until it meets the tops of her knee high boots.
Not that one could tell it ended without careful study, given there was a gold trim seam on the outsides that seemed to continue the design, making it difficult to tell where one ended and the other began. The boots were also black leather primarily, and were slightly heeled, but she'd made sure they would be nice and wide short heels so they wouldn't interfere with her ability to run and fight in them. Even if she didn't have ankles to potentially break, there was no reason making them detrimental if she ends up in such a situation.
Diablo's work on her hair earlier nicely wrapped it all up, her hair parting above her left brow and swept back into what looks like a dropped updo from the front, but is more of a bun in the back, which he'd tucked the thicker hairsticks he got some master craftsman who owed him a favor a couple centuries ago to make for her in an ‘X’ shape through her hair.
She absolutely adored those things, both for the sentimental value of the fact he hadn't just gotten them as a present, though obviously they were, but also to make up for her inevitably having to leave other such presents from previous birthdays and anniversaries in the Trunk. Getting them into one's hair may seem complicated, given the way that rather than tapering to a point, they actually ended in an artistic scythe blade, and the tops of the sticks, the other end that is, had delicate chains attached from which flower and scythe charms dangled. If one paid attention to them, they may see the subtle skulls engraved on the flowers, or the skeletal hands on the scythes. The same was true of the handful of pins and clips that were in her hair to ensure it stayed put.
Particularly if she saw need to make use of the hidden stiletto knives in the hairsticks, which were their sheaths.
To make sure they never slipped out unwanted regarding of circumstances, they only did so with a small, concentrated -so her general aura wouldn't do it- pulse of magic. When it receives it, the chains detach from the ends and wrap around her wrists and attach to themselves on the section of chain near the charms. They turn themselves into chain bracelets essentially. Which is also why it's not as complicated to get them into hair as it may seem. Since you just have to put them in from bottom to top and then attach the dangling chains and their charms.
With the exception of the hairsticks, she feels a little guilty about just how much she likes this and the similar outfits they made for her. Not because she's a fan of formality, but the aesthetic of it all is just… it feels like she should be considering it over the top though, and not enjoying them so much. Hence why it feels like a guilty pleasure.
She'd been looking herself over meticulously to double check her clothes though. Satisfied that everything is in order, no wardrobe malfunctioning, whether inappropriate or just damaging the strong but functional and formal vibe of what she wanted, she turns her attention back to King Gazel and his men as they get closer.
Ema shifts, “Hikari just relayed that they're going to circle the town to lower altitude.”
She nods, then tilts her head vaguely to the side Diablo and Benimaru were standing behind, “Relay a readiness to react and back up Hikari and the company of Dragonewts as much as possible if they are here with hostile intent.”
Diablo hums, “Already doing so.”
Things are a bit tense as they wait, watching King Gazel and his men circle the town. When they land on the winged horses, indeed Pegasi from an Analysis and Rowena's answer on the data from it, King Gazel dismounts, his own tension in his frame, “Quite the greeting and escort for people you don't have hostile relations with.”
She dips her head, “Perhaps, but we must be cautious for the safety of our people, and when a battalion such as the one accompanying you is coming with unknown intentions…”
He dips his head in return, conceding her point. Seeming to want to lighten the conversation somewhat, his lips twitch as he studies her, “That's a different look compared to when I last saw you.”
She smiles lightly, “Last we met, I'd sold a considerable amount of metal bars to your mint and only splurged a little in getting myself a few decent outfits so I could use my human mimicry before I focused on buying things for my people. I was mostly just buying a couple things to be able to use with my human form before I shifted to focusing on my people's needs.”
King Gazel hums, “That's valid. And rather admirable in a way.” He glances at the Dragonewts who landed nearby, “Still, while I can understand protecting your people, they met us quite far out from your town.”
She raises an eyebrow, “I am recognized as the ruler of the entire Forest of Jura, so technically you were in my territory the moment you entered the Forest.”
King Gazel gives her an amused look, “That's a bold claim.”
She gives him an amused look of her own, lightly calling out, “Treyni.”
In a split second, Treyni appears, much to gasps of her species name. Treyni smiles gently at her, “My Lady, I assume you called to utilize we Dryads’ reputation to confirm?” She nods and Treyni turns her gaze to the gobsmacked Gazel, “My Lady speaks the truth. We, the Dryads, with our authority as the Wardens of the Forest of Jura have recognized her as the Ruler of the Forest of Jura, and the newly founded Jura-Tempest Federation.”
Diablo sounds amused, “Though arguably the fact she made that claim and none of the Dryads showed up until she called for one should've been telling all on its own.”
An old woman near King Gazel glances over at him, starting to look away before doing a double take as her eyes widen in shock and a little horror. She sees as she casts some sort of mental message spell over her entire group, picking up on its contents. It's mostly just her sort of freaking out as she informs them that he's Noir, the Black Primordial Daemon, a peer of Guy Crimson, and they're in some serioustrouble if things come down to a fight.
Practically in sync, the entirety of King Gazel and his men all stiffen in alarm and fear. Or, almost the entirety. She notices two in the crowd who's fear seems more fake to her in all honesty. King Gazel's gaze flicks between Diablo and Treyni, and he's not even doing a very good job hiding his confusion. Undoubtedly struggling to figure out what having them both on her side says about her character, given the reputations of both Dryads and Daemons.
King Gazel's gaze finally settles on her, “Is there a reason that you have a Primordial Daemon at your side? Noir, I believe his nickname is.”
She tilts her head, even as Diablo sends a murmur over their soul corridor that while there may be times to be more professional, in this instance, it may be beneficial to drop the information that they're married, since it'll drive the point home even further that it's a terrible idea to be hostile. Something she wholeheartedly agrees with, “He's been known by that in the past. His name is Diablo now though, and while I can understand not knowing that since it's a newer thing, it's rude not to use someone's actual name.”
She doesn't get any further before King Gazel grows even more alarmed, “You named him?! Why-?! How-?!”
She gives him a bemused look, “Of course I named him. For the same reason I summoned him specifically. I was looking for my also transmigrant reincarnated husband. Dumb luck means there was a time fluctuation with the rift we went through. He ended up back when the Primordials were coming into existence and ended up as one himself. But he's still my husband, who waited a very long time for me. Which is also why I named him. Took around two thirds of my magic, but.” She tilts her head in a ‘what else do you expect’ gesture and expression as she gives a delicate shrug with the shoulder her head is tilted toward, “It's not surprising that it took a lot to name him.”
King Gazel looks like he's absolutely short circuiting, and the old woman murmurs in astonishment, “A Primordial… a transmigrant reincarnator..?” Then she shakes herself and speaks up, “That makes no sense given your reputation!”
Diablo snorts, “That's only because people look at my actions through the lens of the actions of a Daemon. That, and a considerable amount of misinformation. Fairly often on purpose on my part.”
Kind Gazel gives him a baffled look, “What?”
She looks over in time to see Diablo shrug, “Daemons can be slow to change or take action as I'm sure you well know. But we've lived multiple lives together, and this is the first time either of us has been anything but human, which is only relevant in the form of the fact my being was already well developed as a Human before I became a Daemon. So I'm much quicker to change or take action, even in times where Daemons would be slower since it's not snap second critical or something."
"It's where the notion that I'm whimsical comes from. And while I have a different set of morals since I was indoctrinated as a child into being a world class assassin in our first life, I do still have morals. Mostly regarding not harming innocent people, so when things like someone is summoning a Daemon purely for selfish reasons that requires the harm or death of innocent people... Well, that's where stories of my whimsy striking and me being non-negotiable and killing my summoner and close acquaintances to them comes from.”(6)
They look like they're having their entire world turned upside down and he glances away in thought, “On the other hand, even when there isn't some sort of formal structure to connect certain groups of people, they tend to find one another anyway. Such as the abused. They tend to spot one another, and while some of them are too skittish for it, it isn't uncommon for them to find solidarity in each other. Or for information to spread amongst them. Like the information that the Daemons of Black, particularly the Primordial, loath abusers and as long as you aren't a horrendous and harmful person yourself, will absolutely get you out of your situation if things become dire enough for you to risk potentially summoning a Daemons that are a different Primordial’s dependants. And that the Daemons of Black will even encourage those who can't just leave to explain any necessary murders as Daemons gone out of control…”(6)
“Like, oh I don't know, the younger daughter of a noble who's father is horrendously abusive to her, but seems like a good man to everyone else, even their mother and older brother, so she can't exactly admit she asked for his death if she can't leave for some reason or another. Nor have Daemons of Black ever hesitated to ‘kidnap’ such people. And if around the same time the princess was snatched away, a traveler who bears a remarkable resemblance shows up a couple countries over with someone with a green soul -a soul color marking those who practically venerate contracts- combatant for a bodyguard, well… that's just a coincidence.”(6)
The group from Dwargon is practically collectively numb with shock, and Diablo grins at them, “I'm no Saint, and I don't claim to be. I will absolutely brutally kill people… under the correct circumstances.”
The old woman opens and closes her mouth, looking desperately like she's trying to find something to say before she buries her face in her hands. King Gazel gives the woman a hesitant look, “You're the one with the most knowledge on these sort of matters Jaine. Is this believable..?”
She lifts her head with an exhausted look in her eyes, “It's far too believable. Especially with the fact it lines up way too well with the rarer stories I know of regarding Daemons of the Black lineage.”
In a habit that's been ingrained ever since she started talking more about what happened with Diablo and the others, she immediately corrects her, “Dependants.”
Jaine gives her a confused look, “Pardon?”
She shakes her head, “They're usually called lineages, but an alternative term for Daemons who fall under a specific Primordial or even monsters with a connection to a specific person is that they are their dependents. The dependents of the Black Primordial.” She gestures to the Demi-Humans she's named around, “The dependents of Rimuru Tempest. We prefer the term dependent around here, since it sounds frankly incestuous to call my husband part of mylineage since there's a certain implication that he's descended from me there. Obviously a person's spouse is connected to their descendants and subsequently the lineage, but in and of itself just saying they're connected to the lineage doesn't inherently make that clear, so.”
Jaine blinks rapidly, “That's… fair.”
She glances back at Diablo, “Backpedaling a bit, that makes me awfully tempted to try my hand at altering Daemon summoning magic to target a specific Primordial and their dependents.”
Diablo smiles at her, “There's been attempts in the past that didn't go anywhere. It may very well be impossible, but if it isn't, I'm sure you'll figure it out Xiǎolóng.”
King Gazel shakes himself out, “We have gotten rather off track however.”
She turns back to him and tilts her head, “Have we? You never said what you were here for.”
Probably due to just how much has been dropped, King Gazel gives her a somewhat exasperated look and bluntly says, “Why else do you think we're here? We had to investigate and get a handle on whether you were hostile or not. Do you have any idea how much of a threat your gathering of monsters right next door to Dwargon is? And that's before you take into account that you're apparently married to the Black Primordial!”
She gives him a mildly bemused look, “So you were just wanting to see if we were a threat to you? I suppose I can see why. We aren't. I honestly don't care a whole lot about other nations as long as they don't start anything with us. If they're amenable to being allies or something, great. Otherwise...”
She shrugs and he gives her a torn look, like he's not exactly willing to take that at face value, but from the way his gaze flicks to Treyni, he's obviously also not willing to not believe her. As his gaze turns back to her, she feels a press against her Occlumency shields, undoubtedly his Skill she noticed the first time they met, and her lips twitch in amusement as she reaches back across the gap towards his mind, ‘It's rude to try to read people's minds without good reason King Gazel. There are other ways to verify I'm telling the truth.’
His eyes widen as his head jerks back ever so slightly, then his lips purse, “You say that, but for all I know, you want to expand your kingdom.”
She barks a laugh, “You say that like I was looking to be a Queen to begin with!”
Her subordinates, the same sort of traitors her soulmates are, giggle and snicker at that, and King Gazel flicks a look at them before pinning his gaze on her, “One does not accidentally become a ruler.”
She tosses her hand up and to the side, “You'd be surprised at how things can snowball! I formed in Veldora's Cave, talked to him briefly before he disappeared to hide in a Skill try to break free, left Veldora's Cave, ended up in a Goblin Village being threatened by a pack of Direwolves that had started to make a move after Veldora's disappearance, and of course I had to take responsibility for that-”
Gazel's face scrunches up, “Why would you have to take responsibility?”
She waves it off impatiently, “Don't worry about it. Point is, I killed the Direwolf alpha, the Direwolves chose to submit to me even though they absolutely could've just ran away, didn't exactly have plans and with everything going on, I ended up deciding to just settle at the Goblin Village, and when I mentioned how it may cause problems of conflicting authority to the Goblin Elder they all chose to just swear themselves to me, so then I was the ruler of one hundred each of Goblins and Direwolves."
"Named them all, they evolved, I went to Dwargon to purchase some basics and find some people to hire to at least help the Goblins learn how to make better clothes and houses, and youknow how things played out with Kaijin and the others. By the time I got back- Oops! Four hundred other Goblins showed up looking to trade protection for loyalty! And between the trouble in the Forest since Veldora's disappearance and the fact we could use some extra labor I couldn't really turn them away, so I named them too, and then I was the Lady to five hundred Hobgoblins and one hundred Tempest Wolves.”
“That's fine though. The only thing I arguably have any claim to is the region around the town we're making- Oops! Attack from six Ogres. It's all good though, it's just a misunderstanding, since there was an attack from Orcs who somehow managed to wipe out the rest of the Ogres and these are just the survivors, but there was some masked person with them and from a distance they mistook the mask of Conqueror of Flame Shizu that she left me at her death as their mask, it's all sorted now though."
"Misunderstanding cleared up and all. But they don't exactly have anywhere to go and it's also concerning that Orcs managed to destroy an Ogre settlement, so they can bunk with us for a bit and tell me what all they know. It's quite a threat, and they say Ogres are usually mercenaries, so hire them to assist with the threat and give them names, which subsequently gets them to evolve. Aaand now they wanna forget the hiring and just swear themselves to me. Okay? Still have an Orc threat to deal with- Oooh. That's bad.”
“Projected trajectory from intelligence is saying they're heading right for Laku Suzu which the Lizardmen call home. Should probably warn them and team up to deal with it- Oh hey, the Dryads approached on their own since they're concerned about it becoming a threat for them and the Treants and want to help the force getting ready to clash with them."
"Huh, weird reaction between the devouring aspect of the Orc Lord's Staved and my own Predator letting us see each others memories- what do you mean this whole thing was a desperate move on the Orc Lord's part because a famine hit the Orc homeland so he gathered all of the Orcs under the effect of Starved to eek out as much strength as possible to get as many as possible to the Forest of Jura. Well, it'd be cruel to persecute the one hundred and seventy-three thousand surviving Orcs or drive them back out, and even just on practical terms the latter would likely just result in another Orc Lord. So can't really do either of those, gonna have to take them in- it's not really necessary but if you really wanna swear your loyalty for that I suppose that's fine?”
“Well, still have to figure out how to take care of them until they can get on their feet. And where to put them. Suppose it's a lucky thing in this case that we made an alliance with the Dryads and Dragonewts due to the threat, so we have plenty of people on hand to try and figure out what to do about the situation. We can make a more permanent alliance to benefit all three of our groups, with the first order of business being sorting out the Orcs. Healing them, how to feed them, where to settle them, all that. It's a shame there's not a central government in the Forest of Jura that could assist, but even just here in this alliance, I'm not the sort to bow down, and something like that would require coming to an agreement on the leader. Forget the whole Forest, even in this alliance it's not like I'm gonna ask you Mister Lizardmen Chief, Miss Dryad, to bow to me either. But saying something like that is some classic foot in mouth if I ever did hear some, given the moment I mentioned it, Treyni said-”
Treyni claps and in that same cheerful voice she'd used back then, “Sold!”
She jerks her thumb towards her, “That. Which is apparently the signal for everyone to kneel and swear their allegiance while the Dryads proclaim on their authority as the Wardens of the Forest of Jura that they recognize me as the Ruler of said Forest.”
King Gazel looks torn between being absolutely dumbstruck and like he sort of wants to laugh.
She brings her hands up, palms towards the sky, arms initially crossed but uncrossing as she moves each hand towards their respective side like she's gesturing at a line, “At what point in that snowballing sequence of events did I ask to be a Ruler, King Gazel? I mean, I'm familiar with nobility, given I was noble in my first two lives, but I've never particularly been attached to being noble and don't really care about having a title.”
The absolute traitors were still snickering, the understanding that she wasn't looking to be a ruler coming to her people eventually, but they just found the whole thing hilarious when they started to actually catch onto that. Gazel looks bemused at this point, “I understand in general, but why were people just… swearing their loyalty to you practically unprompted?”
Hakuro huffs, “I'd think I'd have at least taught you enough of Demi-Human society along with the sword that it should be obvious.”
Gazel whips his gaze to Hakuro, suddenly becoming less of a force of nature and more deferential, “Are you… by chance the Sword Ogre?”
Hakuro hmphs, “That should be a given. But yes, that used to be my nickname. I am Hakuro now however, my name bestowed upon me by my generous Lady Rimuru.” He grins, a tinge dangerous, “Do not make our kind Lady have to fight you Gazel, she may still be polishing her pure sword skills with me, but I assure you, otherwise she outclasses everyone of us here on both sides put together.”
Gazel nods slowly, and that seems to be the final piece that tips the mental scales for him, “Very well then. All the evidence suggests that you are indeed non-hostile, so I shall accept that. Given that was my only motivation for coming with such a force, I sincerely hope you will accept things ending peacefully Lady Rimuru.”
She nods regally, “I have no desire to fight with you and yours King Gazel, I am more than happy not to start anything. You have undoubtedly had a long flight, though. Would you like to rest and dine here tonight?”
Gazel lowers his head in his own stately nod, “A kind and generous offer Lady Rimuru, I shall be glad to take you up on it.”
She smiles, “Then, please come in.”