Newcomers?
With Milim's permission, she'd filled her higher ups in on things since she didn't want them to be concerned and perhaps even panicking about the presence of a Demon Lord. Which has been more helpful than she thought, since when she's busy with things related to running and progressing the Jura-Tempest Federation and can't spend time with her in general or work with her on her treatment, they're more than happy to entertain Milim.
Be it Shuna showing her designs of clothing and letting her pick out things she wants or even trying on some of the pre-made things, or Benimaru, Shion, Hakuro, and Soei sparing with her in various combinations depending on who's available, or various people just showing her around and letting her discover various things to do for fun. In fairness, the sparring one is actually beneficial for them, since even with Milim obviously holding back a lot so she doesn't kill anyone, it still gives them an unbelievable amount of experience.
Vesta had reported the situation to Gazel to keep him appraised, and she honestly felt a bit bad for the guy, given how torn he seemed to be between nearly having an aneurysm at the information that Demon Lord Milim Nava was staying in town at least for a while and the information that she genuinely had medical reasons that at least partly explain why she's so quick to anger. And she only says ‘partly’ because until Milim has received treatment and had a chance to start mentally growing up, it's difficult to say how much of her temperament is a natural temper and how much is just that she's mentally younger than she looks and with the way her mind is torn, she's more prone to uncontrollable rages that even she is at the mercy of.
Speaking of Vesta, he'd settled in even better than she'd hoped, but in fairness, he was a much different man when he wasn't in the grips of ego and grudges. He was absolutely a scientist at heart, with a childish side of him, if how enthusiastically gleeful he took to the idea of a ‘secret lab’ after he'd installed permanent teleport circles between the cavern with his testing and the Hipokute and the central government building and she'd subsequently had the entrance to Veldora's Cave sealed up is any indication.
Actually, the day after Milim showed up, he'd sent Gabil with another test batch of his attempts to close the gap between the best High Potion Dwargon is capable of and her Full Potions. You wouldn't think there was a whole lot of difference if you just heard the figures of the fact Dwargon's techniques made Hipokute Potions with ninety-eight percent efficiency and her Full Potions were only ninety-nine percent efficient, but given the differences in the severity of the wounds it can deal with, the fact her Potions can regenerate lost limbs and all that, that cusp between ninety-eight and ninety-nine is the turning point to a world of difference.
As she'd suspected, which Vesta had confirmed when he'd figured out how to do it with the available technologies and resources, the difference was because it was made inside her storage Skill. It likely has air near living things, but from her understanding from studying her Skills, while the overall amount of space she has available is set, it's not one big space.
Whenever she nabs something, generally it's like having a dresser where she has exactly as many drawers as she needs that come into existence and disappear as they're filled and emptied, and the rules within each are roughly set as she desires. That is to say, there's undoubtedly air for wherever Veldora is, as she wants him to have air, wanted him to be as comfortable as possible on a subconscious level even if she didn't actively knowingly choose that.
Given what Great Sage originally said about time not affecting anything within the storage of Stomach though, and the fact it could slowly degrade things depending on what the thing is, she's pretty sure the ‘standard’ is for her ‘drawer’ to not have air. All of which is to say, the area the Hipokute was stored and crafted into Full Potions in was a vacuum.
Given there are particulates in air, she had been fairly confident that it was contamination from those that made that one percent difference between what Dwargon could make and what she could craft. Something which, again, Vesta had confirmed once he'd managed to figure out how to make an area of vacuum to craft the Full Potions in.
Though there are some details to smooth out, Vesta projects that as things currently stand, they could make up to three Full Potions a day if they pushed and focused everything on that, though it's an exact enough process that it would likely mentally exhaust him and anyone else making them rather quickly, so that's more for emergency periods. He can comfortably make one a day and leave time for research on top of that though, so since they don't even need a whole lot of Full Potions since something so powerful isn't needed the vast majority of the time and if anything is too potent for more casual use, being something of a waste and they can easily make twenty High Potions diluting that one Full Potion and possibly even diluting those into one hundred Low Potions if they wanted.
Honestly, she'd thought the Low Potions were either sold as mundane simple help like aspirin or something, not a heavy hitter but good for minor things, or were garbage that lowlifes would try to pass off as something more valuable. She'd also thought High Potions were for ‘not super minor, but still injured’, and were likely the standard for adventurers. In fairness, adventures probably did have them, but apparently most shops do not tend to bother with calling Low Potions ‘low’ simply calling them Potions, as apparently those were more standard and High Potions, while called that, were not exactly a luxury but rather high end as it were.
That may end up changing, since she doesn't intend to not release Full Potions onto the market. They would undoubtedly be rarer though, since the fact it really isn't needed most of the time means it would help more people to dilute them into High and Low Potions, but she fully intends to release at least some undiluted Full Potions as they make them. Since Vesta is projecting that as things stand, they can only make thirty a month and it's via those they get the High and Low Potions from, she'd have to decide how many remain undiluted and even how many of the diluted High Potions get diluted further, but it's more something to think over.
Vesta had pointed out that if they essentially took over the production of Potion and sold to Dwargon for both their own storage and use and further sale in shops, it was highly likely Gazel would want to send a decent chunk of the Potion makers Dwargon had over to them. She supposes she can see why he may be interested in possibly ramping up production, but she hopes he's wise enough to keep a decent number of his own producers just in case something goes monumentally wrong. He likely was, but perhaps she should outright mention that at best they should rotate out some of them to get hands on learning on how to make the Potions. Given part of their treaty with Dwargon was sharing of technologies, it wasn't like it was a secret from them.
It would give more people the experience and know-how on making them on hand in general for potential emergencies in Dwargon as well as safety away from her production in case a freak accident occurred and killed people or something.
Those are details to work out with Gazel, and honestly, she's more focused on helping Milim right at the moment, which he's perfectly aware of and seems fine with. That may partly be hopeful thinking on his part that she won't be such an erratic threat though, from what her soulmates have filled her in on.
She just wishes it was simpler to help her. Milim may have millennium of experience and be a genius, but she was a child. At least mentally. She didn't deserve what caused her to become a Demon Lord, and maybe she went absolutely berserk and there were probably people there who didn't deserve to be subjected to her rage, but that's the thing about going berserk. You aren't exactly in a state of mind to be reasonable in the slightest. She supposes some people would argue her current state was some sort of penance for dragging people who had nothing to do with it into things, but she was a child. She doesn't deserve it in the slightest.
She'll do everything she can to help her.
She's on her way back from meeting with Vesta and Kaijin to both check that Vesta truly had achieved a Full Potion and also to touch base with Kaijin after their meeting a few days prior had to be canceled when a commotion near the central plaza and its fountain in front of the main government building draws her attention away from thinking things over.
She frowns, and as she makes her way over she calls out to seemingly nothing to an outsider, “Report.”
Immediately Soei shadow motions in to be in step with her, “A visitor showed up. He called himself Phobio and claimed to be from Eurazania and tried to claim Jura-Tempest and Xiǎo-lóng in its name. Rigurd hardly got further than asking if he was joking before Phobio punched him hard enough in the stomach to drop him. Milim was nearby and lost her temper at that. She ended up knocking Phobio out less than a minute ago.”
She nods as she makes her way to the center of the onlookers, who part before her. Milim is frowning angrily down at who she can only assume is Phobio given he's the only one unconscious. Whether it's a perception Skill or just general awareness she doesn't know, but Milim realizes she's there and turns with a grin like she's expecting praise in moments.
Well, she had sort of defended Rigurd from someone who could be considered hostile, so she wasn't entirely in the wrong. She drops a Low Potion on Rigurd as she passes since he doesn't seem to need anything more and smiles at Milim gently, running a hand over her hair briefly, “Thank you for having the restraint not to kill him immediately for assaulting Rigurd sweet girl. I know how hard it can be with your problems and temper. I'm proud of you, alright?”
Milims smile widens happily, and she turns to the others who seem to be with Phobio, though given his armor is significantly more elaborate, she's pretty sure he's the leader, “I assume this Phobio is your leader?” They flick somewhat panicked looks at Milim and she releases her tight hold on her magic and presses down on them with it, making them choke, “I am the one talking to you. Answer the question.”
It's not surprising given what Diablo passed along their soul corridor about Beast Kingdom Eurazania and how it's the home of beastmen, a sort or umbrella term similar to dinosaur for Demi-Humans who all have traits from a specific animal and can even do partial transformations into them.
One who seems to have monkey features and seems to be the second in charge after the passed out Phobio swallows thickly then chokes out, “Y-Yes ma'am. Ph-Phobio is our leader.”
She narrows her eyes lightly, “Your leader was way out of line, to not only think he can just show up somewhere and demand fealty and even assault someone when he's refused. Take him and get out. Perhaps it will change in the future, but for the time being at least, you are not welcome here.”
The man nods frantically as she increases the pressure of her magic a moment, only letting up and tucking her magic away after they've collected Phobio in a panic and scampered off.
She smiles gently down at Milim. Now, how to go about explaining that she isn't upset, she wasn't lying about that, but Ema was in the process of setting up law enforcement for Jura-Tempest since while the Demi-Humans and Magic Born would never go against her wishes, her laws, they are starting to get a small trickle of dwarves and the like from Dwargon already and it's likely only to increase at least somewhat in the future. While she can see stepping in if they're way outmatched, in the future, Milim needs to leave responding to such assaults and the like to them rather than take matters into her own hands.
Probably hearing her musing over how to explain it to Milim without making her think she's upset with her, Ema sends an amused sounding message over their soul corridor, <Worst case, I'm fine with playing voice of reason/bad cop second mom while gently explaining it.>
She has to employ a good bit of the training for self control to keep herself from smiling in amusement and laughing at that, but she supposes if nothing else, her wife isn't wrong that it is an option.
That, and she's going to need to ask Milim if she has any idea why this Carrion was suddenly sending people to the Forest of Jura out of the blue. She's pretty sure she knows something, given two different Demon Lords, herself and Carrion, suddenly took an interest at the same time.
Ultimately, she had needed to tap Ema a smidgen, but they'd managed to get Milim's more childish side to understand that she very much wasn't mad in the slightest but in the future after its finished being set up she needs to leave such things to law enforcement and only step in if they're in over their heads due to power differences or something.
The question of why there was so much attention from Demon Lords so suddenly was fairly simple as well. Milim hadn't known details and felt rather guilty once she'd learned of them and spoken to the Orcs and the like, but the man Gelmud had been connected to via a Observation Link Orb was Demon Lord Clayman. Apparently he'd approached her and Carrion about one of his subordinates proposing the idea of making a new Demon Lord to skew votes and the like in their favor.
Milim hadn't much cared about that, merely finding the idea interesting since she thought he was just aiming to make the new Demon Lord a socially recognized Demon Lord and not a True Demon Lord, so she thought he was just helping them get stronger and only pulled her and Carrion in for the extra votes needed to have majority with him and the new one.
Given she got the impression that Carrion was more honest, she'd been pretty sure he hadn't known more details she wasn't aware of. That he hadn't been filled in behind her back or anything. Milim was honestly convinced his taking part in it was more keeping an eye on Clayman, who was a slippery tricky man. Apparently he had the nickname Marriott Master and everything.
Not long before she showed up though, Clayman had suddenly called for her and Carrion and informed them that the Orc Lord Gelmud had been cultivating had run into trouble, and since Gelmud was watching him through his own Observation Orb, he'd gone to investigate but ended up dying himself. Given he wasn't alive to see the conclusion, Clayman hadn't been certain of whether the ‘mysterious magic born’ who had been fighting Geld Senior and who killed Gelmud had won or not. Milim and Carrion had both wanted to investigate whether the Orc Lord had met his end as they felt likely given what had been observed via the Link Orb, or if he did somehow survive if he had evolved into a Demon Lord.
There had been the problem of the fact that apparently previously there was an agreement between the Demon Lords to stay out or the Forest of Jura to avoid potentially breaking Veldora's seal, but while it didn't make much sense to her since it was not a majority of the council of the Ten Great Demon Lords, apparently they only needed four signatures to abolish the agreement. Since Demon Lord Frey had seemed down and Milim had dragged her along and was there when they got the news…
Well, Milim had said that the reason they only needed four signatures was because while a counter could be tossed out, it would require at least four of the other Demon Lords at which point the last two would weight in, but if no such thing was brought up, the abolished held, but it still doesn't make much sense to her. It feels unnecessarily complicated and maybe a little backwards since it feels like it should require a majority of signatures from the get go.
It doesn't much matter to her since other than Milim, she doesn’t have anything to do with the Demon Lords though. If they wanna be wildly inefficient with their rules and all that, all the power to them she supposes.
When she'd been asking Milim about the Demon Lords, it had made her aware that she could just ask Milim where the Labyrinth was so as to help the kids Shizu had asked her to take care of, given what Diablo had told her previously about Milim's connections to her and Guy. That, and with the fact Ramiris, the Spirit Queen, was a member of the council that makes up the Ten Great Demon Lords, it wasn't like it was some sort of one off connection and they lost touch or haven't spoken in a while.
Milim had been all too happy to tell her where Ramiris had set up shop, at least after she'd sated her childish side’s curiosity when it had taken control. She'd made note of it, but for the time being she had to at least take some time to contemplate the stability of Jura-Tempest given the attention she'd drawn from at least some of the Demon Lords.
Especially since yes, it was the lives of children on the line, but there were children here too, more of them in fact. If she leaves and Xiǎo-lóng suffers a major attack… there could be far more than just five children who die. She doesn't want to abandon any of them to their deaths, but- …It's not something to rush into hastily. From what Shizu said, she still had some time.
There is the question of leaving to collect them. Obviously it's not like there were walls and the borders between the Forest of Jura and the connected nations or even between each other, so theoretically she could easily just head over there, but it may complicate things given they were currently under the protection of the Free Guild. It was probably better, then, to technically have permission to travel to those nations and have better access to make appointments with that other student of Shizu who was the Free Guild Master, Yuuki. The name drags up bad memories and leaves a terrible taste in her mouth, but it was rude to judge people by things like that, so she really ought to get a handle on that reaction.
Anyway, as far as smoothing things over in getting access to Shizu's old students to try to save their lives, it was probably best to join the Free Guild, since they essentially had a free pass of movement between nations. It wouldn't do to have it tie back to the identity of the leader of the ‘monster’ nation as Gazel has told her the vague beginnings of rumbles are starting to refer to her and Jura-Tempest as.
Milim's pink hair and Treyni's green hair make it somewhat clear its not totally unheard of for hair colors that aren't more human standard as she's used to them, but they also aren't human so she'd bet money that it's a strong indicator of the blood of Demi-Humans and the like. Which makes a smidge of a problem with the fact her mimicry seems to naturally want to display a sort of hint to what she really is in her hair. No matter how much she tries, she can't get it to not do it.
Honestly, she almost gave up on it entirely, only having an errant thought at the last moment which had worked better then she was expecting. It hadn't been easy, since her body sort of resisted it, but since her Slime bodies Human mimicry was intent on those two colors in general at least, it had actually been doable if difficult to get her mimicry to swap the placement of the colors for her Toshiko mimicry.
Golden blonde hair and blue eyes was way more standardly natural for a human, so she shouldn't get a second glance with those. Given how much her mimicry isn't a fan of changing the hair and eye color though, she'll have to practice it a lot to make sure she doesn't slip up. While she really does need to help Shizu's old students sooner rather than later, she supposes if nothing else the fact she can't go just yet leaves her more time to practice holding the changes. She can ‘pin’ them with her Occlumency like her age to try and make it a more subconscious thing, but given her body is a bit resistant to it, she's not entirely confident she can just ‘set it and forget it’ as it were just yet.
She supposes if nothing else, her soulmates would be more than happy to help her… push her mind's ability to concentrate on it to its limits as it were, to help her get better at maintaining it as well as test her.
There is the question of the name she'd go by. Theoretically she should be able to just use one of her former names, but she's never hidden information on her previous lives, in fact she's been fairly open about them. Which makes it a little too likely for someone to overhear someone else repeating a story she's told about her past and it linking back to the wrong people for her liking. While not as prevalent, the same problem extends to ‘Tōkōkuro Mihana’ as well.
With the fact Japanese otherworlders seem to be the most common for unknown reasons, she could probably get away with ‘Mihana’ if she wanted to so as to hold onto part of her identity since that in and of itself wasn't a unique name, but she absolutely should not pair it with any last name she's spoken of before. Alternatively, she never had any reason in any of her stories of the past to explain her official codename was Obara Ryumi, so she could hypothetically go with that, but given it's translation, there's also a bit too much possibility of someone linking it to her ‘Xiǎolóng’ nickname.
It was something to think over, but it would likely have to be later given the way one of Gobta's men was speaking to Ema and the way she was getting up.
She's not surprised in the slightest when her wife comes over to the door to her office, entering and getting close enough for polite speaking distance, since while they can communicate with their soul corridor and her Multidimensional Perception means she's capable of picking up on things far softer than normal speaking volumes from significantly further away, unless it's a particularly private conversation, they tend to hold them out loud for for politeness’ sake.
Her wife tilts her head, “Gobta and his men have returned. They have Kabal's party and that Fuze guy Soei said wanted an audience when he went to go give the all clear message, but there's another group of humans as well. Gobta took them to meeting hall A.”
She nods as she climbs to her feet, “Thank you Love. Will you be coming with, or staying here?”
Ema smiles, “I'll come with.”
She nods again, giving Rowena's H3 a flash of a smile as it teleports in and takes over manning Ema's desk since she's leaving. Rowena smiles back as she settles down while they head out, and it isn't very long before they're entering the meeting hall. Gobta and the others immediately rise to greet her, and Elen and the others look a bit uncertain about whether they should or not.
She smiles at them kindly to put them at ease, “It's good to see you again, Elen, Kaval, Gido.” Then her gaze moves to the other man with them as she settles in her seat, “You are Fuze, correct?” He nods and she switches her gaze to the last group, “And you would be..?”
The one who seems to be in charge shifts, “Youm. I'm the leader of the Expedition Force. This is our magician, Rommel. There's more of us, but there wasn't much point to bring them into the meeting, so they're gettin’ some grub.”
She blinks a bit quickly, “Expedition Force?”
Youm shrugs, “That's what they called it anyway. They really just tossed us together to look into this whole Orc Lord nonsense and what direction the Orc hoard was goin’ in.” He glances at Fuze and the window, “Though, sounds like that info may be a bit wrong or at least behind.”
She gets an understanding expression, “Ah, there was an Orc Lord, but he's been dealt with and we've absorbed the Orcs he had under the control of the Starved Skill, yes.”
Fuze leans forward, “How did you even- I mean, with so many of them!”
She tilts her head in bemusement, “I am the leader of the Forest of Jura as recognized by the Dryads themselves.” She gestures to a decorative plant in the corner of the room as a sort of wordless way of pointing out that if it wasn't true, the Dryads were fully capable of overhearing her claim and showing up to dispute her and the statement it made that they didn't, “Surely you've heard of Dried Treants? My position means it isn't difficult in the slightest to request the Dryads to distribute a good portion of them to the Orcs to tide them over until we can get our farming and the like up to supporting so many of them.”
Particularly given she wasn't totally wrong that the effects of the Dried Treants weren't entirely understood correctly. They weren't far off in how long they were actually capable of keeping someone fed for raw, portioning it could only extend it about two days. If it was steeped into a tea was an entirely different matter though, since she was correct that the heat would bring out and strengthen their effect. Not wildly, but it took it from nine days in total if they weren't eaten raw all at once to being able to keep one fed for twelve in total.
She's left it aside and focused on Milim for now, but while it hasn't fully produced results just yet, she is making progress in cultivating a plant that can grow them to ramp up production. Actually, given that the long term goal was to make other trees that can produce them so as to ramp up produce and not potentially strain the Treants, she had, in fact, renamed them. It wasn't accurate since they weren't bread but her bookworm side had reared up and insisted on renaming them Lembas fruits, after the Elven bread from Lord of the Rings.
Again, it wasn't accurate since it wasn't bread, but it's not like anyone but other transmigrants would be in a position to know that, and likely only puritans would be upset by the inaccuracy which she doesn't care about anyway. It was fun and amusing and she wasn't hurting anyone. Except maybe emotionally when it kills puritans a little bit on the inside, but that's their fault for getting so worked up on a harmless name being used as a joking reference.
She just hadn't called it that to Fuze when she explained about the Orcs since he wouldn't recognize it.
She waves her hand, “Given Geld Senior, the Orc Lord, was only pushed into that position because a famine had hit their homeland and he'd gathered up all the Orcs there under Starved, even the elderly and children to help them power through the effects of the lack of food on the way to the Forest of Jura, I wasn't particularly interested in prosecuting the previously mind controlled Orcs or drive them away. Even if you just look at it from a practical perspective, given they were arguably innocent of any crime, driving them away would've just caused the situation to repeat, arguably even worse given they'd then have reason to hold a grudge.” She shrugs, “So while I did kill the Orc Lord, once he was gone and the grip the Starved Skill had on the rest was broken, I took them in.”
Youm blinks rapidly, looking incredibly thrown before murmuring out, “I see…”
Fuze also seems to be absorbed in his thoughts for a few moments before he shakes it off, “It's not entirely related, but there's something else I would like to get confirmation on. Are you really- That is, are you truly-...”
He can't quite seem to say it, but given the expression on his face, it's likely more that it feels so ludicrous that he can hardly process it. She smiles in amusement, “A Slime? Yes, I am.”
She briefly turns back into her base form, and on the side of the table opposite Fuze and the three adventurers Youm makes a surprised choking noise even as Rommel gapes, before retaking her Calanthe mimicry. Fuze shakes his head, “It feels absurd that a Slime could do the things I've heard of,” He glances at Elen and the others at that point, “But from my understanding, you're a transmigrant reincarnator,” She nods lightly, and he leans back, “and I suppose it's more understandable in light of that.”
Youm blurts out at that, “How the hell do you even get reborn as a Slime of all things.”
She gives him a deadpan look and says in a matching tone, “Because that little bitch that is Words of the World takes everything literally.”
The others at the table choke even as her husband chuckles as he sets a steaming teacup in front of her, “Oh dear, I thought you'd let go of your grudge with Words of the World regarding my naming?”
She glances at him in annoyance, “And then it pulled that name rewriting nonsense with Gabil. And I said we were gonna be fightin’ if it pulled nonsense like that again.”
She waves it off and turns back to the table at large where Fuze, Youm, and Romeel look flabbergasted while Elen and the others snicker into their own tea and food that was brought in, “Anyhow. Running theory is that since I was actively dying near a rift a Stray otherworlder may stumble through, it made everything running through my mind meet that ‘intensity’ criteria Words of the World has for granting Skills to otherworlders. So, it interpreted a rather normal thought about dying of blood loss as a desire for a bloodless body, and there isn't a whole lot to pick from there, now is there?”
Fuze blinks quickly, then huffs a laugh, “No, I suppose there isn't.”
Seeing that he, Youm, and Rommel seem to need some time to process, she turns to Gobta, “And what part do you play in the events that lead to this Gobta?”
He straightens sharply, giving his report. It was fairly simple. While he was out on patrol with his group, they'd encountered Fuze and Youm's groups struggling with a Knight Spider and had stepped in to assist them. Fuze had previously informed Soei of a desire for an audience with her and Youm's group was there regarding the Orc situation, so he thought it best to escort them all back to town to make sure they didn't run into any more trouble.
It doesn't take particularly long, but it gives the others a bit to gather their thoughts. There was the question of how Fuze and Youm's groups ended up fighting together, but Fuze seems to realize Gobta's report could leave other questions, “Allow me to explain, perhaps...”
What he fills her in on also doesn't take incredibly long, and it essentially boils down to the fact he felt he had to come check things himself after the Orc Lord news and then the all clear as well as rumors that the Orcs had dispersed across the Forest, leaving him needing to get a better picture of things given the potential threat as well as wanting to get an idea of her character and whether she was a threat herself.
Rommel speaks up for their group after that. They were pretty much here for the same reasons on behalf of a Earl Nidol Migam of Falmuth, Dwargon's western neighbor, though their information was a bit behind. They were under the impression the Orc Lord was still around and were sent to try and scout the horde’s heading to see if they were in immediate danger.
On the way, Fuze's group had ended up tangling with the previously mentioned Knight Spider, something which much like the Giant Ants during the time they were traveling with Shizu was one hundred percent the other three's fault. It left them way in over their heads, and unluckily for Youm's group, they had not only been close by, but Elen had spotted them. She was utterly shameless in ducking into the center of their formation for cover to hide behind while casting, dragging them into things. Elen had protested loudly, or she'd taken a tone like she was protesting anyway. She hadn't actually disputed it, just complained that she was a mage, and that she was way softer and squishier.
Anyhow, Youm wasn't entirely sure what they were supposed to do now, but Fuze's main goal was always to see if she was friend or foe. When he explains that, she hums, “Well, that depends entirely on you. By and large, I'm neutral to other nations. Whether it shifts from neutrality to my being friendly or hostile depends entirely on the actions of the nation my opinion shifts on. I'm not actively after anything with other nations, whether they want to just ignore us and we go about our own business or pursue an alliance like Dwargon did, I'm open to either. I'm only hostile if they start it.”
Fuze waves his hands back and forth, “Wait, wait, wait! Dwargon? As in the Armed Nation of Dwargon?! You have an alliance with them?!” He opens and closes his mouth a couple times, “That-! I mean, I know they're a neutral kingdom, one that has close relations with many Demi-Human races, but… you're saying they recognized this land of monsters as a nation? I find that hard to believe…”
She shrugs elegantly, “Whether you believe it or not is entirely up to you. It hasn't gone public yet since Gazel wants to do a whole public ceremony in Dwargon and is setting up for it.”
Fuze shakes his head in disbelief, “You call King Gazel by his name so casually?”
She shrugs, “He got lost in the Forest of Jura and was found and taught the sword by an Ogre who's now one of my subordinates and has been giving me lessons to hone my sword ability further. Given we're fellow students of the same teacher, Gazel himself desired to do away with formalities unless absolutely necessary.”
Fuze blinks rapidly, “I've… vaguely heard tales of that… That he got lost and learned swordsmanship from…”
She nods, “The Sword Ogre, as he was known as back then, yes. His name is Hakuro now.”
Fuze tilts his head at her in contemplation, “I suppose it's somewhat believable… especially since I may have heard that tale, but it's not a well known one, so to know what this Hakuro was known as back then…” He reaches up to scrub a hand through his hair, “Ugg. I have no clue whether to believe you or not! There are details you know that lean things towards ‘yes’ but the very idea of it all!”
She shrugs gracefully again, “As I said, whether you believe it or not is up to you.” Then she turns to Youm, who'd seem rather spaced out as they spoke, but refocuses as she turn to him, “You, however, have been incredibly quiet for a man who's supposed to be in charge.”
He bristles, “You tryin’ to say something Slime?” He shakes his head, giving her a derisive look, “It's ridiculous enough to think a Slime of all things somehow convinced all the beings here that they were worth following and that you claim you were the one who took out an Orc Lord, now you think you got the right to question me?”
She feels her soulmates bristle themselves from where they've been standing attentively behind her, and can see Gobta and the part of his small patrol group that wasn't left behind to guard the Knight Spider course against scavengers like bears until a collection team can grab it do the same, but she merely raises her hand calmly.
She smiles lightly at Youm, releasing a fraction of her aura, making him choke even though she doesn't release even a tenth of her magic, though he's far from the only one, given even Elen and the other two give her surprised looks and seem to have some trouble breathing, “Now, now Mr Youm. What my species is has zero weight, and it's rather foolish to jump to conclusions based on such things. Yes, they can serve as general guidelines, but they're rarely so unchangeable as to be treated as irrefutable laws of the world. It's also foolish to speak to a ruler in such a way, and my people are highly loyal. I'd generally prefer if they weren't so violent in such matters, but they tend to be so when people insult me, so please. For your sake, do take this warning to heart and apologize, lest one of my people act rashly in anger.”
Her gaze drifts to the tense Gobta and his men, pulling Youm's -and the others’- attention to the way they were clenching their fists in rage and looking ready to beat him to a pulp before meeting his wide eyed gaze in his pale face as he quickly whips back to her. Only when he nods frantically does she pull her magic back in and clamp down on it, sealing her aura away tightly like it never existed in the first place amongst Youm's frantic apologies as he shoots nervous glances at Gobta and the others.
When they start to look less like they're seconds away from beating the daylights out of him, he finally turns back to her more fully, “I- I just don't understand how a Slime could achieve all this.” As they narrow their eyes, he frantically waves his hands, “I'm just confused given how Slimes usually are is all.”
She hums, “That confusion could've easily been put to rest if you'd simply asked instead of jumping straight to insults, you know. It's not a secret or anything. I'm quite open about it actually, but as Fuze and I were discussing, I'm a transmigrant reincarnator.” As Youm's expression screws up in confusion, she tilts her head, “The term just means I'm a Stray otherworlder who rather than arriving physically, I died near one of the rifts naturally occurring that otherworlders travel through and was reborn into a new body.”
She gives another elegant shrug, “From my limited understanding, transmigrant reincarnators are usually Humans since that's what they were in their previous life, but Words of the World is rather… literal. Combine it with the fact I was actively dying seeming to give every thought that crossed my mind the level of intensity needed for it to register as a desire for a Skill and the like along with fairly normal thoughts on dying to blood loss…” She shrugs regally once more, “Well, as I said, it's very literal and here we are. To be perfectly honest, things just sort of snowballed to this point from there.”
Youm blinks rapidly as he seems to deflate a bit, “Oh…” Then his face scrunches up, “So you used to be Human then?” She nods, and he glances at Gobta and the others, “Then… Why do they follow you, since…”
She raises her eyebrow, “Since Humans and Demi-Humans and Magic Born tend not to get along? That's not due to an inherent hostility from the Demi-Humans and Magic Born based on species. They all know of my history. Demi-Humans and Magic Born don't particularly care about species, past or present. At least in those regards. They are in the sense that they tend to use them as vague general ideas of the power they should be expecting based on a species’ norm, but that's about it from what I've seen.”
Youm drops his gaze to the table thoughtfully, “Is that so…”
She hums, “I'm not saying it's all inherently Humanities fault. There's also an inherent difference in ideals from what I've seen.” Then she tilts her head, “You never did answer me though.” He gives her a confused look, “You were rather quiet while Rommel was explaining. Given you're the leader, while it's not surprising or even strange to let a subordinate explain if it's a technical discussion on things you aren't familiar with or something, a magic discussion for Rommel for instance, he wasn't going over anything like that.” She eyes him, “Which sort of implies it's not quite what you're after.”
His gaze shifts away, “That- I mean, it's not important anymore obviously, but I was interested in reporting the heading since a lot of innocent people could've died.” He shrugs, “We were supposed to investigate and report back. We were doing that. Not much to add, now is there?”
She tilts her head, her intuition, something honed by decades of being a noble, is urging her that there's more to the story, “That's a strange way to word it. That your main motivation was the innocent people who could've suffered and not the Lord you're supposed to hold loyalty towards. Not that I disagree with the notion that the danger to others was ultimately more important, but most people would've focused more on the orders of their Lord.”
Youm seems to get angry at that, “That greedy old fox can go fucking hang. It's his fucking fault with his stupid greedy ass continuing to suck more and more money from people that got a few too many people unable to pay his unbelievable taxes and forced to either turn to crime like the rest of us(1) except Rommel did or fucking essentially become slaves never able to pay it off with work and barely fucking scraping by!” He starts to devolve into angry mutters, “Indentured servants’ my fucking ass… We never hurt anyone unless they never gave us any choice, and it's not our damned fault given you fuckers made the situation with your fuckin greed…”
She lets him get it out of his system a bit, “So what's your plan now then? You realize a man like that isn't likely to uphold his end of the bargain and let you off for wherever your debt is, do you not? A man like that, even if he doesn't just outright refuse to uphold his end, he's likely to play word games. That is to say- He ordered you to investigate the Orc Hoard's heading. They have no heading, therefore you did not investigate it and failed to uphold your end. Something like that. And even if he did, by some miracle, hold up his end of the bargain, that just puts you back to being a citizen who needs to pay those high taxes. And I doubt he's both waiving your debt and paying you. Which puts you right back to square one, if not worse. No money and a criminal record now.”
Youm snaps angrily, “You think I don't fucking know that?!”
She braces her left elbow against the arm rest and leans her face against the second segment of her loosely curled fingers, “Calm yourself Youm. I wasn't saying that because I thought you were a fool who couldn't see it yourself. I was merely saying it as if your little band has made you the leader, it's your responsibility to think of these things and come up with a game plan. Sooner than later at that, as while you have time as I doubt Earl Migam is expecting news all that soon, there is a limit to it before he grows suspicious.”
Youm seems to grow less moody at that, “No I know that! I've already got a plan! The way Falmuth is going and only getting worse towards, we'll never be able to really try to dig ourselves out of the fuckin hole the Earl and the kingdom in general dug us into, so I figured, Rommel will report back, then we'd fake our deaths, go to a different country and try to start over. Turn over a new leaf and all that, since none of us chose this ‘cause we wanted this life. Maybe join the Free Guild branch there since we do have combat abilities and it's somewhere we can make an honest living when that's honestly what we're strongest in.”
Fuze frowns lightly, “I wouldn't recommend it.” Youm gives him a confused glance, “Look, I can understand you didn't chose that life and you were basically pushed into it. I also respect that you want to turn over a new leaf, but the Free Guild works really closely with the governments of nations. If you're made, not only would the Free Guild be pressured to haul you back to them, but depending on the personality of the local Free Guild Master and the strength of their branch and the nation they're tied to, you'd be gambling on whether or not they'd turn you over, or could even afford to say no.”
Youm frowns, “You think?”
Fuze's voice turns firm, “I know. Because like I said, I understand your circumstances and I do respect that you're trying to get away from your pasts and start fresh and be good honest men, and I have zero intention of ratting you out given that I'd genuinely prefer you all have a chance to actually try to get a clear slate and get back on your feet, but I am intimately familiar with such things given I'm a Free Guild Brach Master. I wouldn't personally turn you in since I'm all too aware life isn't fair and sometimes people are stuck between a rock and a hard place and have to make poor choices and they often deserve a second chance, but I'm also the Free Guild Master of Blumund.”
“We couldn't really afford to say no to Falmuth if they pushed. And some of the other Branch Guild Masters are in a similar boat and others would happily hand you over. There are some who both have the sort of personality to do so and a strong enough nation they may risk it. But even then you'd still be gambling since you aren't from their nations, and they also need to calculate the risks, so depending on how strong an adventurer you are, they may not even be able to convince themselves you're worth the risk.”
Youm slumps slightly, then scrubs at his face, “Fuckin great, what the hell are we supposed to do then…”
She tilts her head at Youm thoughtfully, “...You could start over here if you want.” Youm blinks at her rapidly, “We've still been sorting out how to handle pay, since while I have a good bit of money, it's far too likely the Demi-Humans and Magic Born would hoard it just because I gave it to them, so you technically wouldn't be paid for whatever work you found just yet, but given we haven't worked out money, you also wouldn't be charged for housing and food and all that.”
She glances off to the side, “You'd have to decide what you're going to do, since about the only people that don't have some sort of job are kids, elders, or those who watch kids and take care of their homes, but you could get lessons to hone yourself more and start doing patrols if you felt combat was your best bet. Ones closer to town until you can handle yourself against the dangers of the Forest better at least if you did go that route.”
Youm searches her gaze, his voice turning quiet, “...Why would you just… go out on a limb for people you don't even know. I straight up admitted we were criminals, why would you risk…”
She turns her gaze back to him, “Because amongst the Skills I gained while I was transferring to this world, the ones any otherworlder gains, I gained one that lets me know whenever someone tells a lie, even one born of delusion and the like. I'm also a good judge of character and of the truth given my past in other lives, which is what the Skill was born from. You did not lie. Not even when you were muttering about not hurting anyone unless they forced your hand.”
“People deserve a second chance. I'd need to interview all your men to make sure you don't have a false impression of them, and I wasn't kidding that there's no pay just yet while we sort out details, but there's also no living costs either at the moment, so that doesn't exactly matter if you aren't going to other nations anyway.”
Youm's gaze drifts down, and he looks incredibly tempted, but also like he's waiting for the catch twenty-two. She shakes her head, “It's not something you need to decide right this moment. Take a week, rest up in town, and talk to your men.”
Youm nods slowly, and she stands, turning her gaze to Fuze, “Given your brush with the Knight Spider, you should also take some time to decompress from the stress and the close call. We can speak more later, though if your main motivation is just that you want a measure of my character, I doubt talking will get you the answers you seek. People can say whatever they want if they're a good liar, provided there isn't a Skill like mine in play, and even then, such things aren't inherently foolproof and to be believed without question. Actions speak far louder than words.”
Fuze searches her face thoughtfully, “That they do…” He shakes himself, “I'll take you up on that though, thank you.”
She nods, then turns and heads out.
It's been about a day since Fuze and Youm's group showed up, and she'd actually spent a good chunk of the afternoon answering questions for the latter of those about Jura-Tempest and her offer, but now she's relaxing at home with her wife, waiting for their husband to finish dinner.
She was sitting at the table with Ema, teasing her about how much she'd intimidated Gabil when they met with him before while checking on the Hipokute growing and Potions production, since he'd gotten cocky and annoyed her, when their husband startles them when he comes in rather huffy and moody, carrying the main dish while the rest float behind him with magic. She frowns at him in concern, “Is everything okay Love?”
He gives her a displeased look, “No. The food didn't come out right.”
She blinks rapidly, “I mean, I know you love food enough that it’s probably upsetting if it didn't come out exactly the way you wanted, but you're such a phenomenal cook it probably tastes great Love. Please don't let it upset you so much.”
He gives her an unhappy look, “Don't say things like that before you even try it.”
She picks up a fork, and so does her wife and they both help themselves to a small portion their husband plates quickly. She chews on it, making sure to actually taste it for her husband's sake, since it would just upset him more if she just assumed it was the same quality as usual even though she's sure it is. The same is true if she wasn't completely and utterly honest, so after trying her bite, she shakes her head in bemusement as she gives her honest opinion, “I'm pretty sure you've made this before in another life, and it does taste different in a way I can't quite place my finger on, but it's not bad in the slightest Love.”
Ema nods, “Mm. It's as delicious as all your cooking is.”
She gives a nod of her own, “Yeah, definitely. It's noticeably different, but.. hmm...”
He's not mad at them, she can tell that much, but he sort of slams the cup he'd been filling down, “Of course it is! The recipe calls for bourbon! And for all they've been experimenting with it, they haven't made anything remotely like that yet! I had to substitute Rimuru! Substitute! I had to fucking substitute cooking my recipe!”
She reaches over to stroke a calming hand over the arm holding the plate still as he's aggressively loading it with food with the other, “Calm down Love. We're getting far enough away from critical things that I can afford to have them start experimenting with smaller stuff. Do you want me to have them start focusing a smidge more than they've been doing idly on the side to make things like the beer we gave Gazel and his men?”
She makes sure her arm isn't in the way as he sets her plate down in front of her even as his other places Ema’s before her and only then does he settle his own, “They certainly would if I asked. And if you gave me a priority list of ones you need more often for cooking, I can have Rowena outright give them instructions on the brewing processes for certain alcohol recipes to focus on those specific ones.”
Her gaze drifts thoughtfully, “Actually, it may help with their experiments on brewing if they have ideas on how other alcohols are made. They may come up with some good ones using some inspiration from that and some of the more unique ingredients from this universe…” She briefly raises her eyebrows, “Honestly, I wouldn't wanna stymie their creativity, which would practically be inevitable if I wanted something myself, instead of just asking for some things for my husband for my food, but honestly I could go for a good wine myself now that I think about it... How to go about bringing it up without potentially screwing with their creativity though…”
Ema pipes up at that, “You know I used to enjoy wine in the evenings with Kanami sometimes. You could just say it's for me.”
Her husband draws her attention to him when he pipes up, and she's bemused to see that he's already writing, though where he got the implements for it, she had no clue, “There's also the fact wines are frequently used in cooking, so you'll inevitably get some from this.”
She blinks rapidly, “Cooking wines are different though?”
Her husband waves it off idly, “Only in things like salts and preservatives added for longer shelf life, which we don't really need, so it could be left out. And since that's the only difference, without them it's just regular wine.”(2)
She hums idly, “You'd know more than me about it. I'll talk to them and get them started on that. Just don't be upset if it takes a hot minute for them to get something you deem acceptable since while they have more time, it's not exactly a priority.”
Ema nods quickly, equally as invested as soothing their upset husband and keeping him calm, “Mm! I think there's a couple favorites we'll have to avoid, but honestly, I'd just look at this as a chance to focus on other dishes that don't require cooking alcohols so you don't have to potentially be upset by not having them on hand. I mean, you'll get them soon enough, so…”
Diablo nods happily, “That's true.”
She shares a happy and relieved look with their wife. Cooking was such an incredible passion that it always made their husband incredibly upset when something went wrong, enough so that people tended to think he was being a drama queen or over the top, but it was a passion. Of course he got heated and upset when things went poorly with it.
She's just glad they managed to soothe their husband and hopefully avoid any additional upset until the underlying problem can be dealt with.
As she turns over thoughts of various alcohols her husband could use in cooking and that the three of them may enjoy every now and then, an idea sparks. It's practically guaranteed they'd have to use limited quantities of it in the alcohol making process, it's practically guaranteed not to be the main base like the initial spark of thought suggested, but…
Well, something to look into on the side. It's nothing critically important, more a curiosity and an indulgence.