Has he come up with another scheme? he thought, growing excited as he instructed his staff to handle all other pressing matters for him. But in just a few moments, Mjöllmile’s frustrating days of listening to endless strings of confident men and swindlers would come to an end, marking the start of a new chapter in his life.
Mjöllmile guided me over to his manor. When his butler caught sight of us, he almost fell over himself bowing to greet me. I’d been here several times before, so he must have recognized me. I keep telling him he doesn’t have to do that, but ah well. Mjöllmile, meanwhile, paid it no mind, smiling ear to ear as he gave instructions to his servants. I imagine he’d provide the same tea and snacks he always did.
“Um, sorry,” I said. “I guess I kind of interrupted your work?”
Mjöllmile chuckled. “No, no, Rimuru. I had wanted to cut ties with that dunderhead for a while now. He kept barging into my office with all these outrageous schemes, using his noble title to bully me around…”
He winced, then explained the whole story to me. So that freaky-looking dude back there was nobility? I could fully extinguish my aura at this point, so I didn’t need a mask or anything when traveling to human towns. I broke the thing when I ascended anyway, but I still kept it in my pocket, unrepaired, for the memories.
That’s why the guy must’ve thought I was female, but I wasn’t about to be upset about that. I knew how to read a situation and go with it, unlike Veldora and Shion, and I went easy on him because he acted pretty high-born. That was the right decision, I guess—but if Mjöllmile wanted him out of his life anyway, maybe I shouldn’t have bothered.
“But what if the nobles start getting hostile with you? Wouldn’t that make life difficult?”
“It would, but that man, Cazac, is nothing but a parasite. Today he came in saying he wanted to deal in slaves. An elven one, even…”
“Elven?!” I fired back, surprised. I saw a bunch of elves in that Dwarven Kingdom nightclub. Elen had some elven blood in her, too. They were treated as demi-human, not monsters, and slavery was likely outlawed around here.
“Uh, Mollie”—I had taken to calling him that; Mjöllmile was a mouthful—“Mollie, wouldn’t that be a…?”
“A crime? Yes, very much so. He was asking me to be an accomplice to a crime. And I’ll admit, I’m not exactly clean as a whistle, but not even I am brazen enough to enslave an elf.”
“Ah. What’d happen if people found out?”
“Good question. Cazac has his viscount title to fall back on. Blumund’s a small kingdom, but that means the noble class isn’t that extensive. Even someone like him has a fair amount of clout.”
He was a viscount? No wonder he kept insulting me like that. That would put him above the Baron of Veryard, Fuze’s friend, and I can see why it’d be so much trouble for Mjöllmile.
“You sure you’re okay, then?”
“Bahhh! They call me the King of the Dark City, you know. Don’t worry about me. I’ve got enough strength to look out for myself!”
The King of the Dark City? Did Blumund even have a city like that? Maybe he was referring to the poorer districts of this nation, but even that was heaven compared with the kind of place Yohm grew up in. When it came to law and order, Blumund was on the relatively decent side. I’d take his word for it, though.
“Uh, you really ought to be more careful than that. I’ve got a big job I want your help with.”
That’s right. I had been in talks with him about all kinds of matters. If he picked a fight with some noble punk and it got out of hand, that’d be trouble for me.
“Wah-ha-ha! It’s fine, it’s fine. When it comes to good fortune, you’ll find none better than ol’ Mjöllmile here! Look at the relationship I’ve built with you, for starters!”
There’s just no fazing him, is there? That’s what I like about him. But I couldn’t afford to wait until after something happened. Maybe I should bring on a bodyguard or two for him, I thought as I watched him laugh it off.
“So, Rimuru, what brings you here today?”
I recalled what we had to talk about.
.........
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…
We were planning to hold a grand festival, attended by the monsters of the Forest of Jura and all the world leaders from the human realms. We called it the Tempest Founder’s Festival, and we had already picked the dates for it.
With things patched up between Hinata and me, all my anxieties were gone. The date of Yohm’s coronation as king had also been decided, and we had sent word to all the neighboring countries to help that plan along. Rigurd and his team were busy writing up invitations to the leaders we wanted there, but they weren’t the only ones in full work mode. News of the nationwide festival had riled up enthusiasm across all my domain’s monsters, and each of my administration’s departments was formulating plans to wow them during the event.
Look at Shuna, for example. She intended to launch an entire lineup of new dishes to impress our guests, as well as open Tempest’s first café, offering a variety of colorful cakes. Yoshida, whose café in Englesia was now a favorite of mine, was assisting in the effort—he had once turned down every offer I sent him, but the moment he set eyes on Shuna, I could see him start to get fidgety.
“Be… Before I opened this café, I enjoyed the support of a great number
