bookworm

A DISTURBING PRESENCE
I had a rather unexpected boost to my military, and really, having more friends was something to celebrate. I decided to promptly meet with Diablo to discuss how to put these demons to work, and I’d have Testarossa and the other top demons join us as representatives to get their feedback.
“So there are three posts I’d like to assign as soon as possible. I need a diplomatic attaché to make decisions abroad on my behalf, a chief prosecutor to investigate the evils unfolding within Tempest, and a chief judiciary official to provide fair and balanced judgment over disputes. I just happen to have you three here, so what do you think about taking those jobs?”
I kept my tone casual, knowing full well just how insane this was. None of these jobs were particularly easy, and my cabinet may object to these appointments anyway, although it’d be Diablo’s job to shut them up. Besides, these posts emphasized fairness; I didn’t want people trying to curry favor with them, so I thought naming people as close to me as possible was the best bet. If any of them tried anything rebellious or illegal as part of their posts, I could just call upon Diablo to purge them. It made things easier for me, in a way.
“I would be honored to serve as a diplomatic officer.”
“Wow, evils even bigger than me? That sounds exciting!”
“My judgments are always fair. I will do everything I can to live up to your expectations!”
Whoa. They accepted them without even listening to the job descriptions.
“Are you sure? I think they’re pretty tough jobs…”
“I am eager to begin, my lord.”
“Yeah! I’m good at investigations and stuff!”
“I will provide equal measures of death to all.”
Um, I don’t think that’s how the jobs work, exactly! Now I was even more nervous. I glanced at Diablo. He had a smug smile, telling me all I needed to know about his thoughts. Here was a man thinking Thank god I palmed this trouble off on someone else. Yeah, he’d never agree to being a diplomat.
“Listen to me. Being a diplomatic attaché means speaking for me as a member of the Council of the West. Once we deploy our military across the West, you’ll also be responsible for commanding them all. It’s an important job, you understand.”
“Yes, I do understand.”
Testarossa softly smiled at me.
“Testa is a wise woman, you know. I guarantee you that she’ll never do anything to harm your position.”
No, Diablo, you just don’t wanna do the job, do you? Diablo’s guarantees weren’t worth much in my mind, but maybe Testarossa did have a lot of wisdom.
“Well, with the laws we’re writing for our nation as well, she’ll need to understand and explain them to other nations…”
“Do not fear, Sir Rimuru. I have memorized them all.”
Testarossa then began reciting the in-progress version of the laws of Tempest, stuff we were still trial-and-erroring our way through. She even pointed out some of the flaws in the current version.
“Okay, you’re hired! I got no complaints now, that’s for sure. It’s gonna be easy for you to lose your temper in the Council, but remember—you have our nation’s good name on your shoulders. Whatever you do, do not let anger get the best of you. Okay?”
“I am ready to serve, Sir Rimuru. And should push come to shove, I will leave no evidence of my involvement.”
No, um, that’s not the problem, exactly… But there was no denying Testarossa’s talent. Nobody else was as qualified, and given my antics at the earlier Council meeting, I wasn’t exactly a good role model. Let’s see how this shakes out anyway.
So I had now appointed Testarossa as my councillor, but the other two had their own talents.
“Okay, me next!”
Ultima immediately began rattling off the parts of the legal code we were in the midst of enacting. She was every bit Testarossa’s match in intelligence.
“My lord,” Carrera continued, “we are a race that respects our contracts. We are gifted in finding loopholes in regulations, and I guarantee we will never miss anything a common person could discover. We will also never be swayed by bribes. Anyone who wishes to subjugate us must do so by force, and only a small handful of demon lords stands a chance at that.”
She couldn’t possibly lose to anyone, huh? The fact that she didn’t say that outright indicated that some demon lords really were more powerful than her. I could name one off the top of my head easily—that redhead—but that’s her problem, not mine. What mattered was that Carrera seemed dedicated to judging all criminals fairly.
“Okay, you’re hired. I’ll be expecting big things from all three of you!”
“““Yes, my lord!”””
Thus, I had three Demon Peers assigned to three important posts. Luckily, it was a smart move on my part. Soon, Tempest would become a constitutional state like few others, its systems and procedures providing an example that spread across the land.
These laws apply to me as well, by the way. I’ll have to be careful not to get arrested for giving or taking bribes.
So now we had a constitution, part of the elite club of nations that made one. It was still in the testing stages, but our government was divided into three sections and functioning. Ultima and Carrera were dedicated to their work—and I have to add, they had some talented people working under them as well. They organized their respective departments in the blink of an eye, exercising the full extent of their powers.
Ultima had also taken a shine to Rogurd, calling him Rog and following all his instructions. Rogurd even reciprocated, calling her M’lady and treating her almost as nicely as his own daughter. Rogurd, in fact, had no idea who Ultima really was. He was a bold, courageous man, but if he found out she was such a powerful demon, even he might start acting all sensitive around her. In consideration of that, I only told him that she was “scouted” by Diablo. It’s her work that counts anyway, so I saw this as harmless.
Carrera, our new chief justice, was also doing well. Rugurd, our attorney general, was back in our administrative office; our department of justice was now its own organization, so it’d no longer be affiliated with that branch. That didn’t mean it could do whatever it wanted, though. The administrative, legislative, and judiciary branches of the government all kept an eye on one another now.
Rugurd, in his role, was observing and supporting Carrera, my appointee. From what I heard, despite any eccentricities in her personal behavior, she was a talented worker. She’d never fall to bribery or violence, so I suppose Rugurd accepted her. Good to see. There’s no such thing as a perfect political system, so we just need to solve problems as they come up.
Now we had to provide the Council with draft copies of our relevant legal codes.
“So, Testarossa, are you all ready?”
“Yes, Sir Rimuru. Moss has made all the necessary arrangements.”
Testarossa, that living beauty, was elegantly relaxing in front of me. She poured out some tea, offering it to me. It was good. Shuna’s tea was always first-class and Shion’s was up there as well, but Testarossa’s was surprisingly delightful. The aroma had depth to it, the taste thick and rich. There was no bitterness, and even though I took it without sugar, there was a hint of refreshing sweetness to it.
“I did not know you brewed your own tea, Testa. Color me surprised.”
I felt Diablo’s eyes open wide behind me.
“Hee-hee! Well, this is a special gift for you, Sir Rimuru. None for you, you understand.”
“…That is fine. As long as you understand that my post is above yours, you may live your private life as you like.”
Diablo prepared his own tea as he said this. I wasn’t sure whether they were bitter rivals or just bickering friends. It didn’t seem very strained between them, but I wouldn’t call them good buddies, either.
“It’s interesting, though, isn’t it? The way other nations are reacting to us. Some are trying to curry favor, and some are trying to use us to their advantage. I’d say less than half are openly welcoming us; the majority are still rather suspicious.”
Such was Testarossa’s sudden evaluation of the scene. It was almost like she was there to see it, which was odd.
“Where’d you get that info from?”
“Oh, my pardons, Sir Rimuru. I enlisted Moss to investigate for me, so I may better serve you.”
Moss again, huh? Pretty talented dude. One of the guys who evolved into a Demon Peer; stronger than Veyron and second in power only to the trio of ladies here. He was good at intelligence gathering, too?
“How accurate was the info he got you?”
Was it acquired via magic, or did he ask around more directly? If it was trustworthy, then fine, but if not, it’d just get in the way. I decided to check with Testarossa.
“Well, Moss has a special ability where he can deploy a large number of small, discrete Replicants across a wide range. To Moss, collecting and analyzing information across the world, all at once, is like child’s play.”
That’s…pretty amazing. I gave myself a mental pat on the back. He was a nice pickup.
“Ah. Sounds reassuring, then. I’ll introduce him to Soei sometime soon, and then maybe they can work together on intel. Together, I’m sure they can make up for each other’s deficits, you know? That’d be good to see.”
“My! All those complimentary words… I think I’m going to be jealous of Moss.”
Testarossa smiled.
“Ah, enough joking…”
Now a figure I hadn’t noticed before was standing behind Testarossa, breaking into a cold sweat. He didn’t really stand out much, but this must be Moss. Veyron cut a very gentlemanly figure with his handlebar mustache, but Moss looked like the kind of cute-as-a-button kid you’d see anywhere. By appearances, he’d seem to be in the fifth or sixth grade (?) maybe. Strong would never be how you’d describe him. Was he really that much of a talent?
“Hey, um, about the information you picked up— Can we trust it? I mean, we just got done kicking out a bunch of councillors plotting against us. I can accept it if people are wary, but are there still nations out there seeking to take advantage of us?”
Not to brag or anything, but I think our nation was kind of badass by this point. Trying to hoodwink a nation as badass as ours made me wonder about the mental skills of the leaders running them. Honestly, I’d be far more likely to believe Moss had it wrong here.
“Moss, can you explain the situation to Sir Rimuru?”
Surprisingly, it was Diablo ordering Moss, not Testarossa.
“Y-yes, sir. The region south of Tempest, focused on the Kingdom of Blumund, is generally friendly to us. However, our intelligence does not extend far into the north, and with many of the nobles there, it is unclear just how much we know about them is true. As for the councillors pushed out recently, it seems that even if they told the truth to their benefactors, their stories were not widely believed. This is speculation based on rumors, so I cannot attest to its accuracy very much, but I can state that certain members of royalty from several nations are plotting against us.”
Moss’s power involved being able to listen in on conversations, so it was up to him, and us, to judge how accurate those conversations are. It was still really helpful, though.
“If we can pick up on suspicions before they spread, that can help us take countermeasures fast.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Testarossa, can I leave this matter to you?”
“Of course, Sir Rimuru. Are we in agreement that the relevant nations need to be thrown into ruin?”
No, we are not.
“That’s going too far! Just force their rulers to take responsibility for it.”
“I understand.”
“And try to avoid bloodshed while you’re at it, please?”
“As you wish. I will not do anything that gives Tempest a bad reputation, at least.”
Despite her flowery smile, Testarossa was really giving me the creeps. I worried a little over whether assigning her this was the right idea, but you need to test out these things. Still, if we acted too nice to our rivals, it could send our whole nation crashing down. Being seen as a pushover will just lead to more needless damage in the future.
“All right, then! Proceed so our nation retains its current dignity, but don’t be afraid to show them the full brunt of Tempest’s gravitas!”
And so Testarossa was my new Council representative.
That took care of the biggest problems. Those had been giving me headaches for the past few months, but starting today, my mind would be much more at ease.
Huh? Was I retreating the lab to do a lot of whizbang research? Well, you know, I need to at least look like I’m trying down there, or I’ll come off like a charlatan dropping in for fun.
Being a grown-up is knowing how to balance social responsibilities like that. In a way, you want to avoid making a one hundred percent effort in the workplace, because then that’ll be expected of you every time. A real performer knows how to execute a “full effort” they can provide on a regular basis. Work’s supposed to be fun anyway.
…Of course, I can try to sound like I know it all here, but that’s still just an ideal. And I guess that if I’m satisfied with myself right now and have an environment like that to work in, I must be truly happy.
Anyway, today I decided to check out our new school building, which we recently completed construction on. The children I brought in from Englesia will study here, together with our own. Like I said to Yuuki, the best way to prepare children for adulthood is to get them interacting with one another—and in a school with nothing but monster children, I worried my kids would have trouble adjusting to human society later.
With this school, there’d be no worries. We now had a lot of adventurers and other people coming here for work, many of whom brought their entire families, children included. In many low-income families, children were obliged to work as well, but I prohibited that by law. A child’s job is to play—and to examine and study whatever they were interested in. I wanted to have humans and monsters learning together, in the same classrooms, and in the future I wanted to see this grow into races and species working together. That was the theory behind this setup.
Plus, we didn’t only have children learning in this school. Grown adults were mastering the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic here, too. They were highly motivated, given how these skills were rapidly becoming necessary in Tempestian life. Remaining illiterate would narrow their work options and potentially lead to errors that’d cause trouble for their coworkers—and adults understood that, which is why so many were studying now. One common refrain you hear in the classroom is “Am I ever gonna use this stuff in the future?” Not here, though. The sight of grown-ups studying so hard actually seemed to inspire the children watching them; they didn’t want to get left behind.
Addition and subtraction were one thing, mind you, but literacy is another. Those classes were difficult even for me, and it seemed like Masayuki was in the same boat. We were fluent in conversation and could read just fine, but writing was a challenge. In my case, I could set Raphael to autopilot and cover for that, but without its aid, I wasn’t sure I could pass even a basic literacy exam here. I had been shamelessly putting off addressing this—if I’m good now, why bother?—but for this, at least, I felt like I was cheating a little.
My kids, of course, were doing great. I gave them some manga translated into this world’s language to motivate them, and that wound up being a huge success. They were carrying it around with them all the time, and it was getting popular even with students outside the reading classes. Kenya and the others, being the first kids to possess this manga, were uber-popular in class. Between those comics and his natural talent for winning fights, Kenya was already kind of the boss of the schoolyard.
“Come on, boys! Quit playing around and help me clean the classroom!”
Oops. Now Alice was mad. She had comfortably settled into the class-president role, I see.
“Huh? Why do we have to do that stuff? ”
“Whoa, Ken, you don’t want to make Alice angry!”
“Aw, shut up, Ryota! Today I’m gonna whup Alice and become the real boss around here!”
Eesh. What are you, children? …Oh, I guess you are.
Apparently, Alice was the true boss of this clique—maybe that was why Kenya kept flaring up at her. I suppose it’s like a lovestruck boy wheedling a girl in order to get her attention. It usually has little effect…or typically, the opposite effect. You need to be nice to the people you’re trying to court, and if Kenya doesn’t get that yet, he has a lot to learn. All he’s doing right now, at least, is pissing her off.
“I told you, y’know! I told you I’ll show you just how scary I can be!”
Alice, for her part, was acting less than her supposedly mature self. But she’s only eleven, of course, and I wouldn’t expect anything else from a sixth grader. Plus, everyone was already used to her act.
“Hey, who do you think will win this time?”
“Oh, it’s gotta be the Empress.”
“Yeah. She’s the youngest and the strongest out of us all. Kenya’s pretty good, too, but he’s a bad matchup against the Empress.”
“Like, he’s in love with her! No way he could ever beat her.”
Pretty cruel.
“Hey, Gail! Quit sayin’ all that crap over there!”
“Yeah! No way Kenya has a thing for me. Are you crazy or what?”
Gail had no qualms about revealing Kenya’s secret. But despite Kenya’s objections, Alice just laughed the whole thing off. Hmm… Maybe they were still a little too young for love. Or maybe they were just fine, actually. The children, monster and human alike, all looked on with big smiles; they must’ve understood there was no bad blood involved. Gail, being the oldest, kind of took a leadership role with the others anyway, so I assumed he’d put a stop to matters before they developed into problems.
I could’ve just kept my mouth shut and watched them, but not today. Hinata was due in later. “Okay, kids, that’s enough!” I said as I entered the room. “No horseplay in the classroom, all right?”
“Mr. Tempest!”
Chloe all but tackled me from the side as I entered. I never saw it coming; she must’ve improved her skills as of late. In fact, she must’ve noticed my presence long before I came in.
“M-Mr. Tempest?! No fair, Chloe!”
Alice was almost as quick to respond, hugging me with just as much force as Chloe. Good. They’re still at that “cute” stage.
Then someone else dog-piled on me from the rear.
“It’s great to see you again, Mr. Tempest!”
A charming little girl with a bowl cut leaped in front of me. She wore an elegant kimono and seemed about as young as Alice—but what really made her unique were her fox ears.
Hmm, I don’t remember meeting a girl like this before…but I feel like I ought to know her. Could it be…?
“Are you…Kumara?”
“That’s right!” came her peppy reply.
Oh, right. Kumara was an upper-level monster who evolved after I named her, and I guess transforming into a human was among her new skills. I’m pretty sure I granted custody of her to Hinata, alongside Kenya and the rest. They were attending school regularly now that the building was completed, but I figured Kumara was manning the labyrinth or something in the meantime. In fact, she joined the others at school, and it looked like she had friends as well, so it appeared that things turned out fine.