Revelations
Five days later, she's sitting in another meeting with Youm and Fuze. Fuze's presence wasn't technically necessary, but for one thing, he seemed to gain a favorable impression of Youm and his men in the time they've known each other and wanted to be on hand to hear of their decision to potentially try to pull some strings to smooth over Youm and them attempting to get a fresh start. Secondly, he was there to try to get an impression of her to decide if she was a threat playing some sort of long game or something.
Between the two, he'd asked Youm to let him sit in on it and gotten the somewhat rough man's permission. His men were actually going to take her up on the offer to settle in Xiǎo-lóng, but between their previous interactions and the fact he was willing to put himself out there at least a bit to help them try to get back on their feet, Youm was perfectly happy to let Fuze sit in on the meeting between her, himself, and Rommel.
They'd asked plenty of questions of her people and herself in the days they were contemplating their decision as well as getting details on what it may look like if they took her up on the offer, but they were now just sorting out some final details with Youm and his men's ultimate decision. Fuze has mostly been quiet, just observing, likely weighing her fairness and the like.
The quiet discussion hammering those things out is shattered by Milim bursting in, a somewhat harried Ema on her heels, but she doesn't get a chance to say anything before Milim bursts out, sounding utterly upset, “Rimuru! You were supposed to meet with me for lunch fifteen minutes ago!”
She glances at the clock, “So I was, my meeting ran a bit long Milim, but it'll be wrapped up soon and I'll join you then.”
Fuze stares at Milim in horror, before croaking out weakly, “Miss, I would suggest not claiming that's your name as you undoubtedly told Rimuru here.”(1)
Milim blinks rapidly, looking confused, “It is my name though.”
Fuze and her just sort of awkwardly stare at each other for a minute before he slowly responds, “Miss, that's the name of one of the Ten Great Demon Lords.”
She nods firmly and happily chirps, “Mhm! Milim the Destroyer! That's me!”
Fuze stares at her blankly for a minute before swinging his gaze back to her, “Rimuru…”
She tilts her head, “It's incredibly more complicated than you realize.” Her gaze drifts to Milim, who's plonked herself on the edge of her desk to start happily swinging her feet back and forth in askance, and while Milim falters a moment, she nods her okay, “More specifically, the incident that resulted in Milim becoming a True Demon Lord absolutely destroyed a part of the Astral body known as the magic calculation area in a way that would've killed anyone else. Benefit of being the daughter of a True Dragon, she survived. Drawback, her body's resilience is so busy keeping her alive despite it that it not only permanently halted her brain's ability to mature, but she even suffered damage that backslid her to what we're currently estimating is the mental maturity of an eight year old.”
Fuze's expression flickers through emotion after emotion before settling on absolute horror, and she gives a light shrug as she hands Milim a candy Diablo made, “So essentially you have someone who's actually a genius with the power of not only a True Dragon but also True Demon Lord stuck with the brain of a child. Which also means possessing the emotional maturity and regulation of a child despite her age and genius it's constantly at odds with.”
Milim, looks up at her from the candy she was excitedly munching on at that, “Oh! That reminds me! I was wanting to ask you about it over lunch, but then I got distracted by you being late!” She looks a bit sheepish at that for a moment before continuing, “Miss Triss, you know, the Dryad Ema says is practically a therapist in everything but official certification that's been helping me?”
She waves her hands vaguely, “She says I don't actually have it, but the way I'm always being torn between my age and smarts and the state of my brain is kinda like having what some of the otherworlder books Rowena re-made that she's been reading calls multiple personality disorder. She suggested maybe approaching it like that while you're trying to figure out translating the magic to treat it, but I dunno. It feels weird, but at the same time it makes sense? She actually suggested maybe going over some of the times I lost my temper and try to pinpoint which ones were my childish side basically throwing a fit and which ones weren't.”
She drops her gaze with furrowed brows, “‘cept… other than when the Dragon my dad made for me was murdered and I got upset which started all this I… can't honestly think of any time it wasn't more of a tantrum from that part of me…” She looks up, eyes teary, “But that feels like just trying to avoid owning up to mistakes I may have made by chalking all but one of those up to that! And- And I don't know what to do.”
She brushes her fingers through Milim's bangs, “Did you mention that to Triss?” Milim nods and she smiles gently, “I'm always here to talk to and help Milim, and I know the part of you that's age locked due to the damage doesn't want to hear it since it wants results immediately, but that's one of those things you'll have to work on over time. I sincerely doubt it, but if you really feel that way, examine them closely again, scrutinize them to work out if that's your childish side trying to find a way to dodge responsibility in general by blaming it on the results of the damage from the overclocking.”
“Again, I highly doubt it's anything like that, but part of the difficulty in accepting that is likely just how little control you've actually had over yourself. It's a scary thing, to face that and come to terms with what it's made you do, but that's a good part of why you're having sessions with Triss, because again, I'm always here, but as much as I hate to admit it given our relationship, she probably is better suited to helping you navigate it.”
Milim nods slowly, sniffling a little, and she nudges the hand with the candy as she drops her hand, “I'll say again, I'm always here, this isn't me trying to shirk you off onto Triss, it's just that she is probably better to assist you with it in general. I know it's scary, I know it's hard, but I believe in you and I'm always here when it gets to be a bit too much.”
Milim looks up and smiles hesitantly before she straightens the slouch her back had gone into while they were talking and starts to glance at Ema before seeing the troubled faces of Fuze and Youm and jumps off the edge of her desk in alarm even as her cheeks redden a bit in embarrassment, “Ah! Right! Meeting! I'll just- Wait with Ema!”
Then she rushes out past Ema, who tosses another apologetic glance at her as she hurries after her and to get the door closed. Once they're gone, she turns to Youm, “I apologize for not mentioning it before, but I honestly forgot that Milim is part of that Demon Lord council she mentioned. I can understand if you and your men need to reevaluate settling here and want to reconvene later.”
Youm turns back from where he'd been gazing over his shoulder at where Milim had disappeared, his expression somewhat troubled. He waves what she said off almost absently despite the expression, but her flicker of confusion about it is cleared up by his quiet murmur, “She really- She's essentially forever a kid constantly fighting with the smarter, more experienced parts of herself?” She nods a little sadly, and he scrubs his face, “Fuckin’. That's bull. It's absolute unfair bullshit.”
She sighs as her gaze drifts to the door, her voice quieting a little of its own accord, “It is…”
Fuze joins the conversation for the first time in a while at that, “What an absolute mess. If it's true, not that I'm inherently saying it's not it's just difficult to wrap my head around, but if it's true we've been blaming a child with unfathomable amounts of power for receiving brain damage and subsequently struggling to control herself.”
She nods her head to the side in acknowledgement, “I can understand having difficulties accepting it, but I can have Rowena translate and copy out some books on the subject of the mental calculation area overclocking and its usual effects if you'd like.”
He sighs, “I'd appreciate the additional information, though given how difficult the whole situation is to wrap my head around, I honestly have no clue how much it'll help.”
She hums, “Like I said, I can understand, given how ingrained opinions like the ones on Milim are can complicate coming to terms with it. It's difficult to come to terms with in general even without the history.” She huffs a small laugh, “Not even the first time I've found myself dealing with a kid from this world who never got a chance to really grow up and got a terrible reputation from later unsurprisingly childish actions that had a much larger impact due to their power. Doesn't happen all the time or anything, but strange it's happened twice.”
Fuze gives her an exhausted look like he's dreading the answer, “Who was the other..?”
She waves a hand off, still not having quite grown comfortable with the idea of telling anyone about Veldora yet, “Don't worry about it right now. They aren't around at the moment anyway, since there's a separate issue that needs to be worked out.”
After her slow meltdown over her soulmates had been sorted out, she'd tried to get in contact with Veldora, since it occurred to her that if she could contact Rowena back before she merged with one of her Skills and was in isolation, she should be able to contact Veldora as well, but if he tried to send a response, she didn't receive it. She can only assume it's due to complications born from the combo of being inside what was previously Predator's Stomach and now Azathoth's Imaginary Space as well as inside Unlimited Prison at the same time.(2)
Even if she can't hear him directly, she could send an H3 of Rowena over to him. That had been able to get in contact with him thankfully, but while the things she devoured with Azathoth or its former forms were kept separate unless she wanted usually, apparently he'd been able to tug the Ifrit she'd eaten to be in the same area as he was. So he hasn't been alone since the Ifrit has been keeping him company.
Furthermore, he's apparently been able to see what was happening around her, and he'd just vaguely passed a message with Rowena congratulating her on reuniting with her soulmates and sister-in-law, that he was fine, and that they'd talk when he was released and encouraged her to focus on Jura-Tempest. He was not only fine with but actually happy with the Dryad's acknowledgement of her authority in his territory as well as what she was doing. It struck her as odd, since it was a bit more mature then he'd come across when they'd first met. The only thing she could think of was the fact he was technically sort of like Milim. Never allowed to grow up, but technically having thousands of years of experience, so it may have been the later that drove that.
If he was fine though and even had company and would prefer her to focus on developing Jura-Tempest, she wasn't going to disappoint him. Even if he's aware of what happening around her, if nothing else, it would be nice if when he's released he can experience all sorts of things around Jura-Tempest in general and Xiǎo-lóng specifically with his own eyes, wouldn't it?
Probably, but she let the brief talk of Veldora distract her mind for an instant. Mentally shaking it away for now, she refocuses on the two, “Milim basically always has someone with her to help her calm down without any potential violence, and given she's as curious as her mental maturity is locked to, she probably wouldn't mind in the slightest if you wanted to accompany her and whoever is with her around town to see things yourself.” Her lips twitch, “Though, I should warn you that if you do, it's a toss up on whether you'll end up just flitting around town while she's looking for entertainment, following her to the fields because she likes helping with the crops sometimes, or end up in Shuna's workshop because she wants to see if she has new clothing designs that interest her.”
She snorts, “Hell, given we designed something that helps limit her power for sparring, you could even spar with her if you wanted. Her childish half sees it as playing, the other half is aware it's to help hone the people who spar with her, but she has a blast either way. May have to add a couple more limiters if you do just to be safe since her current limiters were designed with the idea her opponents were higher level Demi-Humans and the like, so do please let me know beforehand if you intend to. It's just so we can take all precautions since I wouldn't want you to get seriously hurt.”
Fuze looks absolutely floored, “What? Me? Spar with Milim?”
She shrugs, “If you'd like to both have additional verification about her identity and also see for yourself what it's done to her, given her attitude when sparing is also fairly telling.”
Fuze blinks rapidly, “I'll… think about it.”
She nods, and the topic moves back to Youm and his men resettling in Jura-Tempest.
It's been about a week since they finished sorting out the details regarding Youm and his people moving to Xiǎo-lóng, and they seem to be settling in nicely. Fuze is still around, undoubtedly thrown off by whatever his impression had been by the revelation of Milim, but as nervous as he'd been, he'd apparently taken her up on following her around a bit to get a personal look at her behavior.
He'd only done so for a couple days before coming back to her, rather heartbroken at the brutal reality he'd had to come to terms with regarding Milim. She was starting to get the impression that he's close to making up his mind, but he also doesn't seem remotely inclined to head back home. If anything he seems to like it here. She doesn't think it's enough for him to want to look into moving here, but she has a feeling he'll linger. Technically, given they were still working out the economy angle, they were currently looking into a magical version of something like digital banking and making it clear that it's not her paying people specifically but the government.
Given they had excess funds from trading with Dwargon, mostly from the Potions, it's not even a lie, since it's not specifically her money. Well the Potions and the liquors her people have been making since she requested some for Diablo's cooking and ostensibly for Ema. They'd made what she requested from Rowena's recipes, but they also have in fact been experimenting. Regardless of that, it would still inevitably be a delicate balancing act to make sure no one hoards what they get as ‘something from Lady Rimuru’ though. Especially since while it's going to be mostly magically reproduced digital banking, it's not really necessary for the people who live in Jura-Tempest and for the sake of trading with any outsiders, there needs to be an ability to withdraw money.
Ema has pointed out that given she's made her desire clear, with the way they practically treat her word as law and her desires as something you can't go against, it would probably be enough just with what they're currently thinking, but that she could always release a statement. That's a problem of its own though, given how delicately it needs to be worded to make sure they don't think she wants people to always be spending their money and cause them to end up blowing everything they get as fast as possible.
Ultimately though, it wasn't like this was actually some sort of nation where everyone just lives for free, despite what it may seem at a glance. She has zero intention of price gouging her people, and she doesn't intend to just abandon people who struggle or anything, but it still wasn't a cost free nation. Even now, there's currently an understanding of people working for the things they need and want.
Fuze was here as a guest because he wanted to verify if she was a threat or not. If he was done or nearly done with that, then technically he should be heading on his way, but if he wasn't going to, he could work to stay here a bit longer. Though, he may not even necessarily realize it, given she'd had Mari look into him, and he was surprisingly well connected with an information network which he could use to either gather orspread information.
It's the latter of the two she's thinking of making use of. Namely, in nudging him -at least in the beginning- to reconsider the public opinion of Veldora and perhaps start to work at dismantling it. At least getting people to question it if nothing else. She's not entirely sure just yet if she'll tell him what she's after or if she'll just leave it as nudges that will nag at him and inevitably have him questioning things himself.
A man like Fuze, he'll start reaching out through his network and start asking if anyone has information, which will inevitably make others start to question things themselves.
If he's going to be staying here longer then he's supposed to, he can work for it like everyone else.
She looks away from the personal research she was doing in her downtime since all her current work is done as one of her Replications pick up something strange.
Focusing on the region, she's a bit confused by the normal looking woman, given she feels like a Magic Born. After a moment of hesitation over it she brushes it off for now to focus on what had caught her Replications attention.
The woman has an artificial heart. And it was listening in to what was happening around her and sending the information off.
Following the thread of data back, her eyes narrow. It was that same white haired man that had been watching Gelmud. He wasn't actively listening to what was going on around the woman, but the fact he was involved with things again …
She turns her attention back to the woman, and scrutinizes her. Another pawn of that man then? With her being decently close to one of her Replications, it's not hard to use telepathy on her to find out what the hell is going on.
Mjurran. A woman who dedicated her life to the secrets of magic, only to realize as she was running out of tricks to extend her life that not only did she have the regret of feeling like she'd hardly even begun to truly learn of the full depths of magic, but given she didn't have a successor to pass her knowledge to, she'd despaired at what her life had even been for.
Demon Lord Clayman, who had only had that title for three hundred years at that point. He had been negotiating with some local Demi-Humans and Magic Born near her at the time to increase his subordinates and his power. Then he found out about and appeared to the woman, offering her eternal life and a perpetually young body in return for her loyalty.
Mjurran had been in such a place of despair and so desperate she hadn't even thought about the ramifications before accepting. And now she was one of Clayman's puppets, unable to disobey him lest he use the control he had over the artificial heart that was keeping her alive and young and killed her.
She sighs even as she sets her writing things down and starts to get up. Mjurran made some terrible mistakes, and Clayman had forced her to do some horrible things with her only reprieve being in that she wasn't really suited for combat so he didn't tend to give her that sort of work. She was a good woman at her core though. She didn't deserve to be enslaved by Clayman.
Diablo and Ema both turn their attention to her as she climbs to her feet, “Xiǎolóng? Everything alright?”
She hums, “Yes and no. Unexpected business to take care of real quick. Well, should be quick anyway.” It's not even a question with Diablo, but she asks their wife, “You coming or staying?”
Ema sets her own work down, “I'll come with. If it's something that should be quick, there's no reason not to.”
When the three of them are together, she glances at her soulmates idly, “Don't say anything at first when we get there, there's a listening spell attached to something that the holder isn't aware of. Also, there isn't any point in freaking her out trying to explain, so I'm going to just use Thought Acceleration and just do what I gotta, so don't be surprised when you inevitably get caught up in it from its effect bleeding over our soul corridors.”
They both nod, so she casts the teleport spell she'd worked out that she's satisfied with. Nifty side effect of getting it to work with this world's magic- she can target anything she wants in the spell circle, which means she can arguably teleport basically whatever she wants in any quantity. Not that she needs a large scale one now, it's just interesting.
As the teleport deposits them in front of Mjurran, she kicks on her Thought Acceleration the moment it drops them off. Then she makes her way towards the frantic looking Mjurran, who was in the middle of turning to flee. Once she's close enough, without hesitation she plunges her hand into Mjurran's chest to grab the artificial heart, careful not to break it.
She feels her husband reach over the soul corridor, <If this was just you needing her dead, you'd have dispatched someone to deal with it unless you thought she was too much of a threat for them to handle. Even then, you'd have sent me, so I assume you aren't actually killing her?>
She shakes her head as she pulls the artificial heart out, <Nah. I need to duplicate this though and its delicate enough that I wanna concentrate, so I'll just send a memory packet.>
She gets a flicker of understanding moments before she sends over everything from when her Replication first pinged Mjurran, including everything she learned from her memories in one chunk. She absorbs the artificial heart without hesitation, even though she's fairly certain she already has all the information she needs just from her Multidimensional Perception, but it's just to be safe and make absolutely sure she's not missing anything.
She's just finishing the double check analysis and started creation on a new artificial heart when she feels her soulmates mentally refocus as the memories finish. Neither of them says anything though, neither out loud nor through their connection, not wanting to break her concentration.
With her taking her time with it to be absolutely certain she has it right, it takes a few more beats before she's extending a new crystal designed to magically replace a heart towards the wound in Mjurran's chest. She's equally as thoroughly careful in placing the new one and making sure it's properly ‘hooked up’, as it were.
Once she's sure it's in place, she removes some High Potion, since as grievous a wound as it is, it should be within one's capacity. Relying on Multidimensional Perception since it’s outside of her physical gaze, she watches carefully, satisfied when the wound closes up just fine before flicking a repairing spell at the tear in Mjurran's clothes. Perhaps it wasn't strictly necessary given the speed they were moving at with her Thought Acceleration at full and the only people around being herself and her soulmates, none of whom are interested, but she hadn't been comfortable with the idea of exposing the poor woman even briefly. So she'd tried to make sure she didn't expose her by stabbing her hand upwards into her chest cavity.
Once everything is said and done, she takes a step back even as she withdraws the former fake heart from within her Imaginary Space as a form of proof, though she makes sure to encase it in a bubble that both isolates it from outside sound, but is also providing the sort of sounds that would be expected it to be receiving.
Only then does she switch her Thought Acceleration back to applying to her subconscious as it tracks threats, rather than her conscious. Mjurran stumbles, since as brief as it had been in real time, the fake heart replacement undoubtedly shocked her system anyway. Then she lifts a confused hand to her chest looking utterly baffled.
Not that she can blame the woman, given she tweaked the heart's design a smidge so it drew on Mjurran's own magic rather than an outside source that could subsequently kill her at any time. She sighs, drawing Mjurran's alarmed and confused attention, “You really were rather hasty making that deal, Mjurran.”
Mjurran blinks rapidly, before murmuring out in a slightly shaky voice, “How… How do you know my name?”
She shrugs, “My personal magical surveillance of the area noticed that spying heart of yours. Followed the trail back to Clayman. Given the last time he interfered around here there was an Orc Lord who almost became an Orc Disaster, I assumed you were one of his minions like Gelmud, so I raided your memories for information. Sorry about that by the way, I don't usually do that without cause, but you're reasonable enough that I hope you can understand why.”
Mjurran nods slowly, “I understand, but… Spying heart? Trail to Clayman? Are you telling me..?”
She tilts her head, “That he was spying on you with it? Yeah. He only had audio if it makes you feel any better.” She jerks her thumb at where it's isolated, “It can't hear anything except what you'd expect it to hear if I didn't show up, but I replaced it as you probably noticed. Did my best not to expose you inappropriately also, so you don't have to worry about that.”
Mjurran eyes it wearily, “I did.” Then she swings her gaze back to her, searching her face, “I thank you with everything I have, but… Why? Why would you…”
She sighs, “Because you made a stupid choice out of despair and desperation but you're a good woman at your core Mjurran. Do I need any other reason?”
Mjurran searches her face, “I-... If you're a good person, I suppose not.” She seems a bit lost after that, “...What happens now then? Were you going to demand my loyalty, or..?”
She snorts, “If I was going to do that I wouldn't have tweaked the heart design to draw on your own magic instead of someone else's. It's up to you at this point. If you want to come back to town to take a bit to figure out what you'll do now, you're welcome to. From there it's your choice.” She shrugs, “Set out to pursue something or settle somewhere else, settle in Xiǎo-lóng teaching magic and the like, it's your choice.”
Mjurran nods slowly, looking a little overwhelmed, but it has been a while since she's had control of her own life, so it's not surprising. She offers a hand, “Did you want to head back with us to at least stay a while as you sort things out?”
Mjurran hesitates, then steps forward to accept her hand as she says in a quiet voice, “Yes please.”
She gives the woman a comforting smile before activating another teleport. Just from what she knows of Mjurran, she's pretty sure Xiǎo-lóng just gained a new resident. A demonoid as humans who transition to Magic Born are called from Mjurran's memories.
Given the woman's laments about not having taught anyone the things she knew, she'll probably become a magic teacher. It would be quite handy if she did actually, since it would free up Rowena and Vesta from having to juggle lessons on it along with everything else they did.
It was ultimately up to Mjurran though, so she wasn't going to start planning around it or anything.
She also needs to figure out what to do about the false heart linked to Clayman. Destroy it and let him think she died, or use it for subterfuge somehow, maybe also having Mari transform her appearance into Mjurran and make false reports?
Something to think about.
It's been a few weeks since she found Mjurran, who as she had suspected had indeed chosen to settle in Xiǎo-lóng and become a magic teacher. The woman seemed quite content and happy with her new job, and was settling rather well.
While they'd talked about potentially using the false heart, it hadn't taken long after she sat down with her soulmates and sister-in-law to come to the conclusion that it was far too much work, especially given how much of a small fry Clayman seemed to be. Annoying perhaps, but nothing major to concern themselves over. The heart had been destroyed, which would inevitably make him think Mjurran had been killed, but it's not like he was a good man who would mourn her ‘death’ or something. It would probably just make him more careful about screwing with them, which wasn't inherently a bad thing.
She's just looking over a report on the progress regarding the road to Dwargon they were building as part of their covenant when Treya, one of Treyni's sisters, arrives. Her semi-see through body was hazier in places, and she looks tired as she kneels, “It's been a quite a long time, my leader.”
She nods and sets her report down as she looks at the woman in concern, “Certainly, but are you okay? You look…”
Treya sighs, “Not exactly. There's an emergency. Charybdis, a calamity class monster, has revived itself. The power wielded by this great spirit is akin to a Demon Lord's. My sisters are keeping it immobile for now, but we are hopelessly outclassed. Plus… it appears this great spirit is seeking out this land. Charybdis is a tyrant of the skies, ground based forces can do little against it. I came here to advise you that you must solidify your defenses and prepare some aerial war power.”
She blinks quickly before humming, “Before that, I wonder…” She pushes to her feet, “Please allow me to get the location Charybdis is currently from your mind, Treya.”
The woman agrees without hesitation, so she brushes against her mind for the information she needs. Once she has it, she hums thoughtfully, “I need to test something. I'll be right back.”
Without hesitation, she teleports to where Charybdis is. She's unsurprised to see more than a few Dryads who are desperately trying to contain it with air spirit magic. She notices someone else hovering around just as the Dryads undoubtedly do, but much like them, she can't afford to deal with that just this moment.
Eyeing the situation, she teleports again, this time to on top of Charybdis, who was a massive being that was some cross between a shark and a dragon with one central eye. Without hesitation, she casts Toshiko type Magic shields around it and starts compressing in on it, since it's doesn't really matter if there's a poor interaction between the magics here. If anything, it actually suits her since it's constantly damaging it in a way her analysis pings as Magic Interference can't negate. As she does, she sends out the wave of black energy that Predator's devouring had changed to after it evolved, wrapping it around Charybdis. As a living being and something unwilling at that, it tries to resist being absorbed, but she presses on it telepathically, suppressing it's will to her utmost even as she wills Azathoth to force the devouring.
As she does though, she hears an echo of that little shit Phobio's voice angrily growling out Milim's name almost obsessively. She's not sure how he got wrapped up in this, but if he's present it isn't difficult to locate his mind and pull the answers from it even as she does her best to impose her will on Charybdis.
And she almost wants to let Milim punch the moron again.
This whole damn thing was because some people called Tear and Footman had tricked the idiot into thinking he could take Charybdis’ power for his own and become a Demon Lord, getting revenge on Milim in the process.
Even as she files away the information on Tear and Footman to have Mari look into them, she lets her anger fuel the battle of wills she's having with Charybdis. As a spirit of negatives -rage, and malice, and violence-, you may think it would strengthen it, but she can feel it trying to feed on her and it isn't hard to rebuff its attempts.
The whole thing takes maybe a few seconds before she finds herself activating Gravity Manipulation to catch herself as Charybdis disappears from underneath her.
Lowering herself to the ground, she shakes her head even as internally she digs into Charybdis until she can reach its core and separate Phobio out of it since the idiot is still alive. She supposes if there's one thing going for him, it's that he has the willpower and drive that Charybdis was having to absorb him slowly.
As much of a moron as he was though, he actually wasn't a bad man in general. Arrogant, absolutely. Proud, undoubtedly. But a bad person, surprisingly given how rash he was and the way he'd struck Rigurd, no. And for that reason, she can't really bring herself to let the moron be absorbed by Charybdis, since it's still alive in its containment in Imaginary Space and would continue to attempt to absorb him.
After she separates him from it and spits him out, she gives him the look his absolutely idiocy deserves, “You're a complete moron Phobio, I hope you realize that.”
The man groggily sits up, “What- What happened?”
She shakes her head, “What happened is that Charybdis took you over. As those two undoubtedly planned when they tricked you.” Seeing Treyni give her a look, undoubtedly wanting to know how he knew where Charybdis was sealed, she sends a brief burst of Thought Communication showing what she found in his memory. Even as she does that she pulls some paper from within her Imaginary Space just to roll the small stack up and whack him on the head, “And you fell for their trick like an idiot, hook, line, and sinker. You’re fucking lucky you weren't fully merged with Charybdis and I could separate you.”
Then she pins him with a harsh look, “And that there's enough good in you that I bothered. I wouldn't have, for the record, if you were every bit as atrocious as arrogantly strolling into my town, demanding we become part of your kingdom, and striking one of my higher ups when he protested it initially implied. Especially given you were after Milim just for refusing to let your bullshit slide.”
It seems to be the only information he needs to get an idea of what happened, “I- I am sorry! I mean, I deeply apologize to you! I've done something horrible to Lady Milim… and I've put so much trouble upon your nation a second time Lady Rimuru!”
She sighs as she pinches the bridge of her nose, “You certainly have. Going after Milim just for hitting you back after you struck Rigurd, and putting such a strain on my Dryads trying to contain this mess before it reached Xiǎo-lóng. What am I supposed to do with you?”
Phobio suddenly drops his head, pleading with her, “I know I don't deserve to be forgiven. I foolishly accepted Footman and Tear's offer at my own discretion. It had nothing to do with Lord Carrion, so please, allow me to pay for this with my life rather than reflect on him.”
She whacks him with her roll of paper again, “Stupid, if I wanted you dead I wouldn't have bothered to separate you from Charybdis.” She turns to the man she'd seen hovering nearby earlier, “Besides, I think there's someone else who does need to take some responsibility despite what you said Phobio. Isn't that right, Carrion?”
She'd only recognized him from Mjurran's memories on the current Demon Lords, but the man steps out with a small grin without hesitation even as Phobio whips around. The man nods, “Mm, Phobio is one of my men and he did almost make an unbelievable mess even before touching on the way he conducted himself previously in your town.” He dips his head, “I owe you one for sparing his life.”
She hums, “Arguably two, one as compensation for the mess he almost made and a second for saving him, but before that…” Carrion tilts his head in confusion as her expression turns harsher, “I demand answers, Carrion, as to why you would think it acceptable to tell people in the middle of a famine that they still owe you a food tax.”
Carrion blinks rapidly in surprise, “Pardon? I've never demanded a food tax from an area in famine.”
She narrows her eyes, “Orbic. They paid you and Demon Lord Frey food taxes for your protection. There was a drought, but both of you two's people who were in charge of it that they went to not only denied them leniency, but even suggested that if they didn't pay that your territories may well be the threat they'd need to worry about.”
Carrion looks floored, “Orbic paid us a food tax..?”
She nods, “They did. Where do you think that Orc Lord came from? The famine had a lot of consequences.”
Carrion's jaw suddenly clenches, “...Let me get this straight. The Orc Lord was born because of a famine and because mine and Frey's territories, who they were paying food taxes to in return for protection, didn't give them leniency, that's what you're saying?”
She nods, “Quite. Geld Senior, the Orc Lord, managed to scrape enough together to pay the taxes to keep you two off his back, but the whole reason he had such numbers was because he wasn't leading an army, he was leading every single Orc in Orbic, including children and elderly, across the stretch to the Forest of Jura where they could possibly actually survive. I'm already aware of your part in things with Clayman and Milim, the latter of which believes you were only going along with it to keep an eye on Clayman. What I want to know, Carrion, is what your part is in what happened with Orbic, since I'm aware that just because an official told them one thing, it doesn't necessarily mean you knew. I demand answers on whether you did or not.”
He'd been clenching and unclenching his hands as she spoke, but he bursts out at the end, “Of fucking course I didn't know! I wasn't even fucking aware Orbic was paying us taxes for protection, but if they'd been dutifully doing so for fuck only knows how long, I wouldn't have demanded they payed during a drought! I'd have fucking sent them relief to help them given how loyally dutiful they'd been, not-! Fuck!”
He punches a tree hard enough to topple it at the last exclamation, muttering to himself, “I did just join in on Clayman's dumb plan to keep an eye on him, but if I'd known who exactly he was trying to make a new Demon Lord, to exploit, I would've…”
She eases back on her intensity a bit, even as she smiles a bit sharply, “That's good to hear. I've been wondering if I should declare war on Eurazania and Fulbrosia for your crimes against what are now my people. I suppose that answers the question for one of you at least.”
Carrion gives her a weary look, which probably isn't undeserved given he did just witness her absorb Charybdis, “I doubt Frey knew anymore than I did. She's practical through and through. If nothing else, it's a longer term investment to have helped them while they were in that situation. I… Perhaps it's foolish since it benefits me, but I'm surprised you believed me so easily.”
She snorts, “I have a Unique Skill that lets me detect lies and delusions and the like.” She shrugs, “It didn't go off, so I can only assume you're telling the truth. It certainly makes it easier to get a measure of people's character even though I don't exactly have something like the Mirror of Erised around.”
Carrion nods, “Ah. Yeah, that'd do it. Though…” He gives her a look of curiosity, “Mirror of Erised?”
She shrugs, “I'm a transmigrant reincarnator. It was an enchanted mirror from my first life. As it said on its frame, ‘Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi’, and it's right there in its name as well, the Mirror of Erised.” Carrion tilts his head at her with a funny look and she gives a faint smile, “I suppose one could call it the language of srorrim. The language of mirrors.”
She uses some Molecule Manipulation to spark some fire and write out the words of the inscription from the mirror -translated into this world's language of course-, Erised, and srorrim before moving the letters so they're written the other way around, mirrored.
As she does, she says, “The inscription, as you can see, actually read as- ‘I show not your face but your hearts desire’ and Erised is just desire backwards too. The language of srorrim, of mirrors.”
He blinks rapidly, then his lips twitch, “That must've been handy.”
She shrugs, “There were arguably uses for it, but it was a more dangerous artifact then you realize.” At his surprised look, she gives him a wry smile, “An image of oneself, surrounded by everything they ever wanted, whether knowingly or in the depths of their heart. Many a person went mad and wasted away before it, wondering if the things it showed were even possible, and unable to tear themselves away from the image of themselves already possessing it to pursue whatever it showed them. It may seem a harmless thing on the surface, but a glimpse of everything you ever wanted can be an insidious temptation.”
He nods slowly, “I suppose I can see how it could be.”
She shrugs, “Anyway, we got a little sidetracked. I presume you'll handle punishing Phobio given the mess he caused?”
Carrion nods firmly, “Of course. I'm sure he's learned his lesson, but I'll make sure it sticks.”
She nods, “Good. On that note, while you aren't wrong that he's probably learned his lesson, I'm not sure how much weight it has since he has little reason to be there, but the ban of him being in Xiǎo-lóng will remain in effect until at least he's done with whatever punishment you've dealt to him.”
Carrion nods, “That's perfectly reasonable. Especially as there could very well be reason for his being in Xiǎo-lóng.” She raises an eyebrow, and he answers her unworded question, “I cannot go back in time and fix what some of my people did to the Orcs, I can only investigate who did it and make sure they're properly punished. However, they were promised safety in return for their food tax, which they dutifully and loyally paid until whoever it was behind it betrayed them. They do not need my protection any longer if they are living in your territory, you have made that clear with Charybdis today, but I wish to make amends by offering my sincerest apologies and honoring the agreement in the form of a treaty with you and your nation.”
She hums, “I will accept the treaty, but if you're wanting to apologize, it's not me you need to apologize to.”
He nods his head in agreement, “If you will permit it, I will address them en masse myself.”
She gives a nod of her own, “I'll permit it.”
He bows his head slightly, “Thank you. Then, Phobio, start back towards Eurazania. I'll catch up with you later.”
The man stumbles to his feet obediently, standing to attention and bringing his fist to his chest in what may be a salute, or may just be some other formality from Eurazania, but either way he holds it for a moment before he starts to stumble off tiredly before she sighs, “I will bend the ban just for now. Come with us while I teleport Carrion to town to offer a formal apology and then around if you wanted to speak to all the tribes before I drop you at the border of the Forest of Jura.”
Phobio hesitates, his gaze swinging to his Lord in question as Carrion nods his head, “A generous offer Lady Rimuru, I thank you. Come Phobio.”(3)
The man turns back to stumble over to them as Carrion drew closer at her wave to teleport them before doing exactly that and taking them back to Xiǎo-lóng momentarily. It shouldn't be hard at all to give the Orcs all a break really quick to hear Carrion’s apology, so the whole thing shouldn't take too long.
Before they leave, she turns to the Dryads, who were still lingering around, “Thank you all for your hard work. Go get some rest please.”
They don't need to be told again as they practically all disappear without a word. She takes a moment to pull the thirteen bodies of the smaller flying shark looking things that her analysis calls Megalodons that had been around Charybdis and had seemed to die as soon she she absorbed it -presumably having a bond that was broken when they ‘lost contact’- closer and swallow them with Azathoth, since they were probably edible and it would be a waste to leave them.
After teleporting in, she almost wonders why her soulmates are giving her the looks they are, but it's fairly easily answered when she sees the ‘screen’ of magic showing the clearing she was just in fading from in front of Treya.
She bites back a sigh even as she sends Treya to rest as well after thanking her too. She's absolutely going to get lectured by her soulmates later, even if she was fully justified in doing what she did.
At least she'll have experiments with that Magic Interference Skill she copied from Charybdis or the derivative from it and Control Particle meeting -presumably because the magic here outright was a kind of particle-, Control Magic to look forward to. She has ideas about potential uses to force this world's magic to at least play nice with her other magics.
And if even that doesn't lift her mood after their lecture, well…. Not violently or anything, but they tend to vent frustrations in bed, so she'll have the mind melting pleasure of that to look forward to tonight.
Once she's taken Carrion around to offer sincere in person apologies to the Orcs for whatever manager was in charge pulling what they did, she teleports him and Phobio to the edge of the Forest of Jura. Not without slipping a small Replication perhaps the size of a thumbnail onto Carrion though.
Her Lie Detection hadn't pinged when he said he'd find out who was behind what happened with the Orcs and punish them, but it's important enough that she needs to be certain he'll do as he said he would.
She'd contemplated linking him to an Observation Orb subtly, but had chosen against it though, which is why she's sending him off with a small Replication hidden on his person. She wasn't sure how quickly he'd move to deal with it, but after she drops them off, Carrion immediately sends Phobio ahead and tears off at surprising speed towards Frey's territory.
It takes a little bit, but when he gets there, he bursts into what she assumes is Frey's office, surprising the woman who frowns at him, “How rude can you be Carrion? Neither telling me you're coming or-”
Carrion swipes a hand to the side quickly, “Oh shut up. I'm trying to help you avoid a war you can't win.”
Frey grows rather hostile at that, frowning heavily and looking ready to attack at a moment's notice, “Are you threatening me?”
Carrion rolls his eyes though, “Not with me stupid. But what are you gonna do against the Magic Born who beat Charybdis one on one without breaking a sweat?”
Frey's hostility disappears as surprise takes over her face, “...What?”
Carrion nods firmly, “Yeah, that's what I thought. So about the Orcs-!”
She shakes her head in amusement as she tunes out their discussion for the most part, only idly paying enough attention to make sure Carrion didn't somehow fool her Lie Detection and to use the opportunity to see if he was right about Frey of it she needed to deal with her. From the discussion he seems to have been right on the money on Frey's knowledge of what happened and what she would've done.
It does mean that now the woman is low-key panicking about the possibility of her declaring war on her though. It's fine, Carrion will deal with making sure she's aware that she won't as long as Frey makes sure to deal with whoever was behind what happened with the Orcs on her end.
She's actually in the middle of the city's central plaza, chatting with Elen about Veldora after having gone out to lunch with her party and Fuze when the man suddenly bursts out, “Ugh! I don't know what it is about when you talk about Veldora and try to change our opinion of him -don't think I haven't noticed which makes me wonder what the hell he said when you spoke to him- but there's something niggling at me, like I'm staring it right in the face and just haven't put it together!”
She smiles lightly as she turns to him, “I wasn't expecting a man of your intelligence to not pick up on it. Honestly, I was only being subtle to make you rethink it properly instead of having a knee-jerk reaction based on what you were told previously.”
She gives him an amused look even as she uses the creation part of Azathoth, some materials, a blueprint from Rowena to make him a whiteboard, markers, and eraser right there in the middle of the plaza, curious about how much he's worked out. At his confused look, she wordlessly demonstrates the markers and eraser, which he sets upon like a starving man would a feast.
From what he's muttering, he seems to be writing down everything that feels important, starting with a timeline of events as he knows them, ie Veldora disappearing, her meeting Elen, adding a note of comments she's made to various sources as they call them out, starting with her Elen as she says, “Right after we met, she said ‘There was mention of a Skill to separate him from the world and analyze Unlimited Prison. He was gone when I left.’ which always felt strange, since I mean. If he had a Skill to do something like that, why didn't he do it from the get go or the time in between.”
Apparently, having taken her making the materials for Fuze as passive approval, some of her people throw out their own points as he writes, Rigurd adding as Fuze's timeline includes her going to the Goblin Village, “After Lady Rimuru showed up and I explained the situation with the Direwolves since Veldora disappeared, for some reason, my Lady muttered, ‘Shit, this is kind of my fault.’ and I could never figure out how it possibly could be.”
And on and on it continues, adding and underlining the relevant sections from what she said right before she absorbed Ifrit, “A being with no ego isn't really a problem for me. It'd be different if you had one, since I'd either need to overcome it or have explicit permission, but if you don't have one…”
Treyni's comment from when Jura-Tempest was founded, which Benimaru adds, apparently having never let it go mentally, resulting in Fuze writing out, “(Rimuru) arguably possessed the authority ‘back then’. (to be the ruler of the Forest of Jura).”
Then added by Hakuro regarding what she said to Gazel, resulting in the note, “-started to make a move after Veldora's disappearance, and of course I had to take responsibility for that-”
Fuze adds entirely on his own from their own conversation about Milim, “Not even the first time I've found myself dealing with a kid from this world who never got a chance to really grow up and got a terrible reputation from later unsurprisingly childish actions that had a much larger impact due to their power.”
It's when he adds a note about her absorbing Charybdis perfectly fine without assistance that he suddenly stills as a look of realization crosses his face before he whips his gaze to her, “Who's Skill is Veldora hiding in?”
She feels a flicker of amusement at the clever man, giving him a secretive smile as she walks by him, continuing on to the government building. It only seems to make Fuze more desperate though, “Who's Skill Lady Rimuru?!”
Deciding to take some pity on the stressed man, especially since he had been clever enough to put it together, and Treyni had previously reassured her that it was likely fine to let people know, she idly calls back, “You know, Veldora actually had me pick the last name, mentioning how humans in families like parents and their children, siblings, and all that share them.”
With Multidimensional Perception she can see him shake his head, “What nonsense are you talking about?! I just wanna know who's Skill it was?!”
She continues on without altering her verbal course, “I picked Tempest in reference to his being the Storm Dragon, he picked Rimuru.”
Fuze apparently decides to ignore what she's saying, “Who's-”
She bulldozes over him verbally, “And then he named me Rimuru Tempest and promptly renamed himself Veldora Tempest, the latter of which is why I picked it to reflect his nature to begin with.”
With Multidimensional Perception, she sees his mouth drop open in realization and she glances back over her shoulder, that secretive smile still playing on her lips. It's Elen who breaks the sudden silence though, taking a deep breath and holding it a moment before releasing it suddenly, “...Oh my God, she never said it was Veldora's Skill, so she didn't lie to us. She's basically been telling us the whole time!”(4)
The various Demi-Humans and Magic Born in the plaza share wide eyes looks as the revelation sinks in.
She enters the government building door laughing in amusement.
She's not even particularly surprised later when Fuze comes formally asking for the full story of what happened between her and Veldora, nor his cursing at her more straightforward and frank information on the infamous Storm Dragon and the confirmation that he was the other ‘child who never got to grow up’ she mentioned before.
She also isn't particularly surprised when Fuze informs her that he was granted the authority to do so temporarily and requests an alliance between Blumund and Jura-Tempest. Returning her frankness about Veldora with his own about how a good portion of his desire for the alliance is that between Milim and Veldora, he feels like the best way to secure his country against any potential ‘tantrums’ from them is through said alliance. Since after watching her with Milim, he suspects that even if they were unfortunate enough to somehow get negative attention from them, perhaps by just happening to have someone who angered them in their borders, they'd be more reasonable out of a desire not to upset her.
She can't quite refute it fully, even if she's not sure about Veldora specifically just yet. Not that it really matters to Fuze when she points it out, given it's enough that she has Milim's temper and impulses somewhat controlled, and he has full faith she'll achieve the same with Veldora.
They spend the rest of the day hammering out details, including building a road like the one some of her Orcish construction crew was laying down towards Dwargon as per their covenant. It wouldn't even necessarily have to wait until the road to Dwargon is finished, given she still has some crew that had been on the roads to the Dryad/Treant and the Dragonewts territories that had re-joined the city building to make it just a bit faster that she can reassign.
They're both pretty satisfied with the terms they come to an agreement on, and between that, her husband's usual delicious cooking, and the fact she found an opening to tease her husband in the ongoing joke/flirt her and her wide have with him regarding his Skill, Tempter, it was a pretty good day all in all.
Diablo always seems amusedly exasperated at them, and it holds true tonight when he slips up and leaves her an opening to flutter her eyelashes jokingly as she tells him, "You can temptme as much as you want.”
And it's as satisfying as it always is. As she said, all in all, a good day.