The angels targeted monsters and cities with advanced civilizations. Not even the Western Holy Church saw them as allies of humankind—which made sense, given that their god, Luminus, was actually a demon lord.
“To me,” Luminus told me, “they are little more than annoying flies. I would love to do away with them all, but then everyone would know my identity…and that lizard’s already betrayed me to the paladins, as you know.”
The paladins, by the way, had sworn to keep this revelation a secret. Hopefully, they’d be a bit more accommodating with one another—and me—in the future.
“Yeah, I’ve heard about these angels. If they are out to poke at me, I’m ready to fight back.”
I had no intention of holding back, no. That angel force was free to think and do whatever they wanted, but if they thought they could force their will upon us, fending them off would be my only choice.
Hinata chuckled at me. “I thought you would say that. We might even be fighting on the same side, when the time comes.”
“That you may, and that we may,” Luminus said. “I have no intention of watching my city be destroyed a second time—not by those flies and not by that lizard. Rimuru, unless you enjoy having me as an enemy, I would recommend giving your lizard a strict education.”
This has been a very useful meeting, I thought as they departed. I think we could build a pretty friendly relationship with Hinata and her forces, to say nothing of Luminus. The battle between us, Lubelius, and part of the Western Nations was over, and I’d say every side walked away happy from it.
Before long, and with next to no warning, Lubelius would give the Dwarven Kingdom more than tacit approval and officially recognize the nation as a land of humans it could potentially become allies with. They also formally announced diplomatic relations with the Jura-Tempest Federation, a nation of monsters—one that included a nonaggression pact, albeit one with a time limit.
Now, in one fell swoop, both demi-humans and monsters had been granted acceptance by human minds. It was time to explore how to build our relations from there.
Diablo and Hakuro, by the way, still weren’t back from Farmus. According to Gobta, Ranga, and Gabil (who came home before them), they said they’d wrap everything up before the Founder’s Festival. Apparently, they were pretty disappointed that they couldn’t see me make my royal debut like this—but they had Yohm’s own coronation to handle over there. With it, Farmus would be reborn as a new country, and I’m sure they had a million things to do, so I couldn’t blame them for missing out. Even Diablo was showing up here only on rare occasions, and Hakuro didn’t have access to Spatial Motion, so I hadn’t seen him at all lately. I’d definitely need to thank them once they’re back.
I wasn’t the only one suffering right now. It was all so tremendously embarrassing, but I resolved to put up with it and get this stupid, exaggerated, bombastic presentation ceremony over with.
What was funny was how each of the monster races reacted to me. I had nothing to do, so I sat there like the conversation piece I was and looked down at the assorted monsters giving speeches.
Generally, the monster reactions were divided into three camps—worship, observation, or fear. On the observation side were a few people who openly looked down on me. The new guys from the other side of the Great Ameld River were particularly notable on this front. But it was no big problem. Show off some of my strength, and I’m sure they’ll acquiesce to me.
The monsters who feared me, however, were the real issue…
Here, for example, was a contingent of rabbitfolk in front of me right now, a race of demi-humans who were honestly pretty cute—human, basically, but with long, pointy rabbitlike ears. Unlike lycanthropes, they were degraded beastmen, unable to transform and possessing the same amount of strength as an average human. The equipment they had on didn’t look too sturdy, either, but they were all gifted in the Detect Danger skill, which I’m sure was a must to survive in the Forest of Jura. My own cutesy exterior must not have fooled them at all.
“Um, tha-thank you for i-inviting us here today…”
Dealing with someone who was petrified of you was kind of tough. Some of the rabbitfolk were visibly quaking, so we had to calm them down before they could begin.
“Very well,” echoed Rigurd’s voice. “You are hereby granted an audience with our ruler, the great demon lord Rimuru. Lift your head up!”
The rabbitfolk leader didn’t move. Or maybe he couldn’t. This darling little slime was simply too much of a threatening presence to look in the eye—not that I had eyes. But that wasn’t the issue. I didn’t want to oversee a reign of terror with these guys; I wanted a frank and open relationship…but to races like this, a demon lord who looked wimpy on the outside was nothing short of horrifying. Too much of a gap, I suppose. We had worked hard with guys like these, earning their support for our transportation and logistical efforts all over the forest. Maybe it wasn’t possible from the outset, but I really wished I could interact normally with them sometime.
The halflings and kobolds were like this when I first launched the federation, although the kobolds started trusting us once we agreed to let them continue their merchant trade. Koby, their representative, and I were old war buddies by now, constantly sharing potential business leads with each other.
These rabbitfolk were equals to me, and so was every other weaker race in the forest. I’d just have to stick to my guns and try to explain that I didn’t value my citizenry strictly on their ability to fight. Maybe they wouldn’t believe me
