Chapter Text
She tilts her head down a bit at seeing Julius’ confused expression, “Julius dear?”
He glances up at her briefly then back down at the hologram as he chews his lip for a moment with furrowed brows, “Lord of Harvest? What? What sort of Skill is that? Harvest what?”
She hums, “Mm. Honestly, I wasn't expecting Sariel to have this sort of information on my reincarnations, I thought she'd just have the bare basics, but she must've filled such things in so you can probably double Appraise it if you want answers without having to take my word for it. Like how you opened the Rimuru Appraisal to begin with? For an Appraisal Skill, using it on what part of the result you're wanting to Appraise, with this just tapping on it.”
He looks up at her in surprise, “I can Appraise it again?”
She laughs, assuming that he's just struggling to wrap his head around the fact he can continue to do so given how against the common thought process it was since she had mentioned it before, “Yeah, you can. It's possible to do as many Appraisals within Appraisals as you want. Mind, at some point it tends to start breaking it down into somewhat useless information, like if you kept using it on Appraisal digging into the Spider Thread Skill it would likely eventually just tell you something like ‘Thread from a spider.”
Julius snorts in startled laughter then tries to press his lips together and hide his amused smile even as his shoulders shake slightly. She grins at him, “Or it'll eventually loop back on itself which also isn't very helpful. The point is though, you can stack as many Appraisals on top of one another as you want to. There's nothing stopping it, the only real question is whether it'll actually give you the answers you're looking for.”
He nods in interest then clicks on Shub-Niggurath on the hologram.
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Shub-Niggurath: |
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Sub-Skills: |
Skill Creation |
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Skill Gifting |
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Skill Duplication |
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Skill Storage |
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Multidimensional Perception |
His eyes widen, and he starts to click on those listings, needing a tiny reminder on how to close a window on the hologram but otherwise clicking in and out of them with increasing speed.
She's almost a bit alarmed when he digs into Skill Storage since early in the Appraisal rabbit hole, it gives him just the number of Skills stored in it. She hadn't thought she'd have anywhere near that many, but… In retrospect- In retrospect, by the time she'd been pulled out of that life by that male voice, she'd pretty much expanded her Parallel Existence Multidimensional Perception network to cover world wide.
And as should be obvious from the fact Shub-Niggurath would do things like store both the solo Time Domination and Yog-Sotohort after it absorbed it and upgraded as well as the fact it still has the previous tier, Yog-Sothoth, while it doesn't grab exact replicas of Skills it already has, like if someone with the Extra Malice Perception enters Multidimensional Perceptions range, since she already has Malice Perception, it won't copy it unless there's something unique about it compared to the usual Malic Perception people with the Skill have, there's still a lot of Skills stored in it anyway given her near global coverage for it to copy from.
It's a little mind numbing just how many Skills it has stored actually. Even she hadn't actually realized it had that many to be honest. It only adds to it when taking into account that it also absorbed the backups of her Skills Rowena had been making prior to it to make sure they didn't accidentally break a valuable Skill, so it has everything including things like the original Predator all the way back when she first was reincarnated into Rimuru.
Thankfully, given Julius actually clicks on it despite his incredible hesitation, for things like that or near duplicates because there was an outlier that was a bit different from other copies of an Intrinsic, Common, or Extra Skill, when she made the list, Sariel had put them together.
As an example, the copy of Azathoth had the note (5 previous evolutions stored), and when Julius clicked on it in curiosity, it was pretty easy to understand.
Even as he starts to click through out of curiosity, he tilts his head towards her, “What could a Skill related to Wisdom have to do with a Skill that absorbs everything?”
She hums, not surprised he's worked out from the previous names that Azathoth was the Skill responsible for the black smoke even if he doesn't directly mention it, “Skills aren't exactly sentient thinking things, but they have their own natures based on their power. Beelzebuth was instinctively driven to swallow up everything it could that I allowed it to, it's as Gluttonous as its name implies. Raphael wants to absorb all knowledge and wisdom, its All of Creation Sub-Skill very much relevant to its nature. They both seek to consume everything they can, even if they were focused on two different categories of things they wanted to devour.”
He nods slowly, as he clicks out and starts just scrolling through the list of Skills stored in Shub-Niggurath that Sariel put in order of Skill tier, “I see…"
He continues scrolling through the massive list sorted by tier highest to lowest, mostly just scanning but occasionally clicking on one for more information if it's not very clear what it does from its name, then mostly just scans their Sub-Skills before backing out and only seems to click on Sub-Skills if it's name isn't exactly clear either.
She smiles as he finally reaches the bottom, “So, given that was your original question, do you understand why Shub-Niggurath is called Lord of Harvest now?”
He nods as he backs out and just stares at where Shub-Niggurath is listed amongst her other Rimuru Skills for a moment, “Yeah… Yeah, I get it now. I-”
Then his face turns red at the very loud growl his stomach lets out. Without hesitation, she summons out some of the pre-made food her husband has stocked in there in case he has to leave for something and/or he's busy and they get hungry, fully taking advantage of the fact she's capable of setting the section of Azathoth they're stored in to exist under the effects of Time Stop perpetually to leave them as fresh and properly the correct temperature as when whatever it is was first stored.
Given it'd be awkward if she gave him something that needs a plate and silverware and all that, she pulls out some cowdeer skewers still stored from their previous life and holds them out with a smile. He accepts them with a sheepish grateful smile in return and she pulls a bottle of juice out to tuck between his body and hers gently since his other hand was still holding the Appraisal tablet to another grateful smile, but as he starts to lift the first towards his mouth, someone all but shrieks from within the coalition prison barrier, “Sir Hero! You can't eat or drink something an enemy gives you!”
He turns to look at the trapped coalition forces with disbelief and maybe a tiny hint of annoyance and bluntly deadpans, “In general, absolutely. Miss Shiraori can easily kill everyone here without even trying though. She has zero reason to be underhanded and try to poison me or something. Also, this whole affair for such petty, stupid reasons had me so nauseous I couldn't even stomach the thought of food this morning and I'm hungry.”
Then he turns away sharply and takes a bite with a sort of defiant attitude, giving it a surprised look for a moment after before turning his gaze to her with wide eyed surprise. Lifting the hand holding the skewers to kinda cover his mouth with his last two fingers while the first two and thumb keeps a firm grip on them, “These are really, really good. And I'm Royalty. I'm used to good food.”
As he slowly chews, she laughs, “Considering the cat’s out of the bag regarding Kieron's species since he got close enough he kinda got caught up in my Appraisal,” Julius nods, “it's not exactly revealing anything to say this isn't the first time he's been a Demon. Except when it happened in our last world, both Demons and Angels were made by the God who made that cluster of universes. And they were basically immortal. On top of that, Kieron has always been particularly intent about good food and also enjoys cooking. All of which is to say, of course it's good. It may just be a skewer, but that's meat that was prepared and cooked by a man who refined his cooking ability over the course of over two hundred and eighty thousand years.”
He stares at her with huge eyes for a moment as he swallows the bite he was chewing before swinging his gaze to Kieron who cheerfully gives a little finger wiggle wave with a smile. He turns back to his skewers, eyes still wide but after a moment his hunger and the delicious smell and taste get to him and he takes another bite.
She chuckles, wondering if he'll have a similar reaction to the magic stripped Lambas fruit juice she gave him.
Seemingly trying to shake off his surprise, he shakes his head as he uses his empty pinky to manipulate the Appraisal hologram, backing out of the Shub-Niggurath screen and starting to go on a rabbit hole Appraisal dive getting a basic idea of her other skills that aren't immediately understandable just from the name as he eats.
He freezes up again after clicking into Yog-Sotohort though, both at the first look and as he clicks through it to get more information, including Sub-Skills to Sub-Skills, like Time Domination having things like Time Stop, Time Leap, Time Acceleration, Time Deceleration, and Infon Lifeform Transformation, or Space Domination having things like Limitless Teleport, Plane Shift -which she apparently got as one of those ‘accomplishment’ Skill grantings from Words of the World for coming back from the Other World after absorbing Ivaragé and the rest which Rowena hadn't had time to tell her about and then honestly spaced with everything happening after her newest reincarnation until right this second at the physical reminder of the Appraisal result-, and the absorbed Dimension Leap from the Cthugha Ultimate Shub-Niggurath made a copy of when she made it for Velgrynd to restore Masayuki.
It's not the only one he stutters over, mind, such as the description of Uriel's Sub-Skill Law Manipulation, but he doesn't let anything stop him overall, gathering himself quickly to continue. She herself isn't exactly invested into the exploration of her Rimuru Skills, but she doesn't stop him, just idly lets him as she cards the hand on the arm not holding him through his hair.
When he's done, he looks up at her thoughtfully, “...You're even scarier than I thought after I saw your Stats and stuff Miss Shiraori.”
She hums, “I suppose I am. It's only really a problem for people who make a genuine enemy of me though. Usually through crossing lines I personally find unforgivable. Such as this guy from my last life, Feldway. Bastard was involved with putting one of my adopted kids under mind control and outright did it himself when the other was put under mind control and made to attack and almost kill her adoptive father's -my husband's; Kieron's- Parallel Existence. That wouldn't have killed him overall, but the fact it would've been a much different story if circumstances had been a smidge different… well, let's just leave it at the fact he very much made an enemy of me.”
He's been frowning since the first mention of mind control and nods when she's done, “What a despicable thing to do. To make a child try to kill their own parent, adoptive or not.”
She snorts, “Particularly when you take into account that was mostly just because he was in the way of trying to force her to help him destroy the world in some desperate unhinged attempt to draw her father, Veldanava, out because for some reason he hadn't reformed after being killed.” Julius looks even more horrified and she ruffles his hair, “Somewhat long story. I can tell you some other time if you want.”
He nods slowly, but before he can say anything Ariel, who may have backed off trying to attack her, but still seems pretty angry at her now that her original shock over what she did to her and the newer shock of her Rimuru Appraisal results has faded, snarks at her, “So, is phrasing it like that your way of trying to dance around the fact you tortured him without admitting it?”
She doesn't even twitch, as she glances at her idly, “I didn't torture him. I mean, one could argue it was psychological torture given I was purposely letting him use the much quicker teleport magic of that world he had that he was familiar enough with that it was nearly instantaneous… purely to snag his teleport co-ordinates from within his spell with Multidimensional Perception and combined with my Thought Acceleration that's waaaay faster then his was to get there the split second before he even finished casting. And let him use an ability to hurl me to the empty void at the end of time and space on me just to head back to make it clear that was useless as well. Even let him teleport to another plane of existence. All just to drive in how helpless he was. But I didn't torture him. Not physically anyway.”
She nods her head to the side, “Suppose I could be accused of it when it came to Clayman and his buddies, but they were doing things like working with a slave ring and even murdering some of said slaves to try and strengthen themselves via a process in that world. And selling children to someone they had no idea about the motivations of and therefore could've been a pedophile. And preying on people in need, like Geld Senior the Orc King when a famine hit his territory they pressured into evolving into an Orc Disaster and put all his people under the effects of his Starved Skill.”
“Which essentially put them in a mindless perpetually ravenously starving state that made them willing to eat anything, including any of their own that dropped dead from starvation to get them to power through the desolate wasteland his territory had turned into and essentially lay siege to another territory and try and take it over with the additional temptation that it was a rather fertile land so if he could, he could get salvation for his people on top of the pressure they were putting on him. And none of it was acts of desperation or anything by the way. They were the sort of people that would've built a bonfire out of an entire nation's bodies just to be more comfortable on a chilly night. And honestly that's just the summary of the very tip of the iceberg of the crap they were pulling.”
Julius looks absolutely horrified in her arms as the skewers slip from his suddenly slack fingers, though she obviously catches them. Kieron steps closer to take them and hold onto them for her so she can focus totally on Julius who looks like he may be sick and is on the verge of tears at what Clayman and Yuuki and them did.
He presses closer to her as the hand not holding the magic tablet clutches at her, clearly upset and seeking comfort. She strokes his hair gently as she shrugs the shoulder opposite him at the sick looking Ariel, “And like I said, one could accuse me of torturing them, but I technically didn't? In the sense that I didn't use torture devices and techniques on them. I just gave them one hit for every victim whose life was threatened or ruined I knew of, two for any that went through considerable pain and distress such as a group of six I knew of whose homeland with a couple hundred people had been eradicated with them as the only survivors, and three for the victims I knew of who lost their lives. The final tally of just the victims I knew of brought the number of blows I or my husband delivered up to over three hundred thousand.”
Ariel actually brings a hand to her mouth, looking like she's fighting back throwing up(1), but she just shrugs, “So yeah, I could be accused of torturing them since I beat them to death with three hundred thousand blows. Especially given I technically had already beat them to death before I was done and kept healing them to make sure they didn't actually die before their full punishment was over. But they absolutely deserved it and I both stand by that and don't regret it in the slightest.”
Julius takes a shaky breath, then whispers quietly against her neck, “Does- …Does it make me a bad Hero, if I feel like they deserved it? From what you've described of their personalities and the number of people they had to have hurt or killed to get that many blows under those rules- Even if you go with the least amount of victims by saying the vast majority were dead that's still one hundred thousand… I just- I just can't help but feel like- like they really did deserve it.”
She hums comfortingly, “I don't believe so no. In fairness, I am biased.” She glances up, “Why don't you ask Güliedistodiez? He's an administrator and all. So he's technically Sariel's assistant.”
Julius pulls his face away from her neck to look at Güliedistodiez in question, “Mister Güliedistodiez?”
The man shakes his head giving Julius a slightly pained smile, like it hurts that Julius is even questioning it, “No. No it doesn't make you a bad Hero. There hits a point where someone's crimes are so great that death, even an admittedly somewhat brutal death like that, is the only reasonable punishment. It does not in any way or form make you a bad Hero.”
Julius nods slowly as he absorbs that. Then, seemingly trying to distract himself, he turns back to her Appraisal results, clicking on Rimuru's ‘True Dragon’ species listing. As he does, Kieron hands back his skewers to finish eating.
Her species listing as Rimuru actually shows her evolution path interestingly enough. To her surprise, when he clicks on ‘Slime’ being completely unfamiliar with it, it shows an image of him with a Slime circling his ankle for size scale and to show how it moves including changing to it bouncing around for its second loop around his ankles before the gif-like video loops back to it sliding across the ground the last time it lands from a bounce.
She starts to seriously think her giving Sariel Occlumency may have actually helped when she not only shows that gif but when he clicks on ‘Demon Lord Seed’ it clearly explains it's not a measure of character that's the deciding factor between whether an individual will get a Demon Lord Seed or a Hero's Egg but of nature. Like the difference between someone being naturally adept at water to someone adept at fire, and how they're gained automatically when crossing a minimum power requirement. It even brings up that some people have rarely been suited for both and had both such as the notable case of Leon Cromwell who was a Hero Egg before he evolved into a True Demon Lord, though either evolution loses the other so he lost the Hero's Egg he possessed in the process.
It feels weirdly like she's defending her or something.
When he gets to the bottom of the list, he absently hands back the metal skewer sticks he's done with before he clicks on True Dragon again, still seeking answers for it.
| 《True Dragon: A species that are manifestations of fundamental forces. There were previously only four in existence, but Rimuru Tempest becoming one made it five. |
| Veldanava- “Star King Dragon” of Creation; God who created the universe that Rimuru Tempest lived in. |
| Velzard- “Frost Dragon” of Deceleration; Second oldest True Dragon. |
| Velgrynd- “Scorch Dragon” of Acceleration; Third oldest True Dragon. |
| Veldora- “Storm Dragon” of Destruction; Previously the youngest True Dragon. Physically he is older, but due to complications that kept resetting his mental development, he's still mentally a child. |
| Rimuru Tempest- Young enough as a True Dragon not to have gained a widespread nickname, though “Chaos Creator” was beginning to take root when she left, but her nature is of change; New physically youngest True Dragon, though Veldora is still the youngest when it comes to mental age. |
| Though lesser Dragons exist in that universe, they are merely one of the potential creatures that can be born from excess magic bleeding off of the True Dragons.》 |
Someone on the Sariella side squawks in surprise, “Wait, wait-! Miss Velgrynd and Mister Veldora are Dragons?! And- And not just any Dragons, but these True Dragons?! What?!”
Julius looks surprised and she just ruffles his hair, “Semi long story. They actually accidentally came with when I reincarnated here. Actually that blond guy over there is Veldora using Universal shape-shift to take a Human form.” She glances over and points at Veldora at the last part as he waves happily. Then she turns back to the once more wide eyed Julius, “Velgrynd isn't here though. She's back at the capital with Ethelyn and Rowena serving as potential assistance to the Parallel Existence I have over there. Shouldn't need them just to halt that army this little coalition tried to sneak around after luring Sariella out, but always better to be safe than sorry.”
More than one higher up in the coalition army blanches as it hits that not only was she aware, but the forces sent to circle around were in just as much trouble as they were. Julius jolts in surprise though, “What? What forces circling around?”
She hums and waves her hand to pull up a sort of circular screen showing the image of another version of her speaking to Velgrynd, Rowena, and Ethelyn even as another coalition army is trapped in their own magic barrier, then nudges him and nods down at the Appraisal tablet. Getting the hint, he uses it on the screen.
| 《Magic projection of elsewhere as seen in real time by Multidimensional Perception.》 |
Julius stares, then shakes his head, “Right…”
She hums, then glances at it, “Speaking of actually.”
The barrier holding the coalition troops here suddenly expands at the same time as she flicks her fingers at the image and her mass teleport magic circles ignite above the now freaked out coalition troops as her Parallel Existence, Rowena, Velgrynd, and sister-in-law toss a quick casual glance over before returning to their discussion.
Then it fires off and the coalition troops trapped in front of Karen County's capital are teleported to the additional space she made within the barrier here.
She flicks her fingers again to wave away the magical screen projection and turn back to Julius, “We've actually gotten very off track though. I gave you that Appraisal tablet originally so you could check Dustin's soul, remember?”
He jolts, “Oh! Right!”
He closes the current Appraisal and points the ‘camera’ at the orb of Dustin's soul that was still glowing off to the side to target it for Appraisal.
And exactly as she told him with a smidge of prompting to double Appraise the ‘61st’ part of the result.
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《Soul of individual- Dustin the 61st.》 |
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《61st life of individual Dustin via Skill Temperance.》 |
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Previous lives: |
Dustin the 1st |
Dustin the 2nd |
Dustin the 3rd |
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Dustin the 4th |
Dustin the 5th |
Dustin the 6th |
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And on and on it goes, all the way down to the sixty first. At her prompting, Julius checks a few at random to get a brief life summary and see that they are, in fact, the previous Pontiffs. Or well, she encourages him to check some random ones, but given he clicks on the seventeenth, twenty third, and forty second that he mentioned before amongst others, he's probably actually confirming that he really is some of the Pontiffs that must not be looked very kindly on by history.
When he's done, he tosses an utterly disgusted look at Dustin's soul floating nearby, “He really is a terrible man.”
She hums, “Well, like I said, I'm not incredibly familiar with this world's general history, but he very much is the same Dustins you seem to have a poor opinion of.”
He shakes his head, still in disgust. Since he's rather publicly confirmed that Dustin is not a good man, she has no reason to hold off anymore.
That is to say, she pulls the floating orb closer and does as her husband suggested in making a new Heart Core and transferring Dustin's ego. She doesn't bother to transfer his memories though, given she's releasing him to the Reaper anyway, and while even reincarnators like her group do exist, Veldora mentioned it happened occasionally and there was that Mariabell girl, she wasn't taking chances with such a horrendous man retaining his memories to start all over.
No, she doesn't know what her husband found, but she doesn't need to in order to make a judgement. He'd gone to deal with him in light of what he did to Julius. The fact he wasn't shown leniency is telling enough for her. When she's done transferring the ego, she plucks out Temperance and releases it before she absorbs the original soul as she tosses the new one and it disappears into thin air.
Julius, tightens his grip on her shirt before looking hesitantly at her, “Where- Where did it go?”
She hums, but she while she doesn't want to overwhelm Julius with the truth of this world, she also didn't want to give him a non-answer, so… “Back to the cycle like any soul of the deceased. Kieron and I were holding it here prior, but without that anchor or a body to contain it, the same that happens to anyone who dies caught up with it.”
Julius nods slowly, “Oh… Okay.”
She smiles as she runs her fingers through his hair, “Well then. How about we officially end this dumb war, hmm?”
He looks up at her, “I mean, I'd love to but how?”
She hums as she sweeps her gaze over the coalition soldiers, most of which are staring at her in utter terror and/or contempt, or are unsuitable given how numb they look. Finally she finds what she's looking for, though maybe she shouldn't have bothered searching so much, given it was the old guy who was standing near Julius originally. She supposes that alone should've given an indication of his character that he was trying to look out for the child dragged into things he very much wasn't ready for, but he's pretty much the only one who looks calmer.
With a snap of her fingers, she teleports Lord Karen to her side, holding a hand up briefly palm towards him to ask him to wait a moment before pointing with said hand at the old man, “You. Who are you?”
The old man answers calmly, “Ronandt, Miss Shiraori. Ronandt Orozoi, Chief Imperial Court Wizard to the Renxandt Empire.”
She nods as she makes a small hole in the barrier and gestures for him to come out before closing it behind him even as she pulls what she needs from Azathoth, dropping the chairs around the table with writing supplies on it, “Good, then you have both the training and authority to act as Julius’ second and advisor when he acts on his authority as the Hero as well as the fact he's the only non-biased party in either sides forces to negotiate the peace treaty with Lord Karen here.”
Lord Karen's expression simultaneously clears of the confusion at her suddenly teleporting him and gains understanding even as alarm washes over him, “What? They sent the Hero? He's a child.”
She looks over, “That's what I said. Apparently Pontiff Dustin thought it'd be a good idea for him to ‘experience what it felt like to stand on a real battlefield’ or whatever.”
Lord Karen shakes his head in disgust, then forces it away and smiles at Julius as he extends a hand for a shake, “Well, as unusual as the circumstances for a first meeting are, it's a pleasure to meet you Sir Hero.”
Julius seems embarrassed at his part in aforementioned circumstances but while it certainly has aforementioned embarrassment in it, he smiles back fairly pleasantly all things considered as he accepts the handshake, “Likewise Lord Karen.”
Julius goes to return the Appraisal tablet to her, but rather than taking it, she has Azathoth constrict a Dragon leather pouch -with Dragon leather from her previous life not this one that is- that it can easily slide in and out of and button closed and hooks it onto Julius’ belt before sliding the Appraisal tablet into place. Then she ruffles his hair again, “It's yours.”
He looks startled, then smiles at her, “Thank you Miss Shiraori. I'll take good care of it, I promise!”
She smiles at him as she leans forward to set him on the taller chair for him at the table as Lord Karen moves around it to his side of the table and Ronandt settles on his own chair, “Just don't be so intent on taking care of it that you hesitate to use it.” He nods happily as he starts to get settled himself. Then she sweeps her gaze over the three, “Don't be concerned about making multiple copies of the peace treaty for everyone. Just write out one and I can absorb it with Azathoth and make five additional copies with extra paper and ink stored inside. Then you guys just need to read the copies to ensure no one can claim I altered them, and sign them all.”
Ronandt nods even as he glances over in curiosity, “Five additional copies? For six in total?”
She nods, “Mm. One for Sariella, one for Ohts, one for Alleius, one for Renxandt, one for Julius himself as the Hero that negotiated it to hold onto in case he needs it, and one for my own records just in case.”
Ronandt nods up with an ‘Ah’ of understanding before they get started on the peace negotiations.
Things like that could take an awful lot of time of course, but Ronandt doesn't seem any more interested in this war or continuing it then Lord Karen or Julius. So while it's certainly a negotiation, it's quite possibly one of the most efficient and straightforward ones in history. Especially since Julius himself has no personal stakes and just wants it to be as fair as possible for everyone. While they're working on that, Rowena, Velgrynd, and Ethelyn teleport over from where they waited at the capital a bit just to be safe.
As she'd said she would, once they have it written out, she absorbs it to reproduce enough copies and hands them back. They divvy them up, each reading a copy so no one can claim she altered them before adding their signature to the bottom of that copy when they find it unaltered and pass it along to the next person until all six copies have been thoroughly checked and signed.
When they're done, Lord Karen extends his hand over the table to Julius again, “Happy to have sorted all this out Sir Hero.”
Julius beams happily and perhaps a little proudly which is more than deserved given with how long he's had the Title this had to be one of if not the first official acts he's had as Hero and it was to negotiate a peace, “Likewise Lord Karen!”
She sweeps her gaze over the coalition soldiers calling out, “Sort yourselves out in clearly separate groups by home country. Or don't, but I'm going to mass teleport you all in groups to the capitals of either Ohts, Alleius, or Renxandt so if you don't, then you have no right to complain if you end up in the wrong place. I do need some of your Commanders to take their nation's copy of the treaty to deliver back.”
Probably unsurprisingly given the -rather minor- threat of going to the wrong place, the coalition soldiers start to scramble to sort themselves out as Commanders quickly separate from one another and start calling for their troops to come to their section of the barrier, even as they send people over to accept their treaty copies and bring them to them.
As they're doing that, Ronandt looks at her politely, “If it's quite alright Miss Shiraori, I'd prefer to stay, as there are questions I wanted to ask you if you're amenable to it.”
She glances at him, “I personality don't mind, but whether it's alright if you linger a little longer is technically up to Lord Karen since this is his county. Speaking of, I can teleport you back to your manor and your troops back to the front of the capital so you don't all have to trek back.”
Lord Karen smiles, “I would be grateful, Lady Shiraori. And as far as Sir Ronandt staying, I don't mind. I doubt he'll be so foolish to try anything even if he had the notions to, particularly with you here.”
Ronandt dips his head, “Many thanks Lord Karen.”
She looks over at the man, “It won't be for very long, Lord Karen.” He turns to her without hesitation but with some confusion, “I do appreciate your hospitality up until now, but I and my group will be taking our leave shortly. Considering Dustin and the other higher ups’ ridiculous notions about how to handle Julius, I cannot bring myself to trust he won't be thrust into things over his head again.”
“That, and while he says they're good people and I trust that he truly believes it, I want to make sure his parents weren't more okay with sending him off to war then they pretended. I'll be heading back with him to Analeit, both to keep an eye on things and take over training him properly for his role as Hero rather than just throwing him at things like this. And I did absorb the Demon Lord Title from Ariel to lock away the Demons’ ability to declare war, so I also need to pop over there and make sure no one gets any dumb ideas.”
Julius looks surprised, which is fair, since it's the first he's heard of her taking over his training, but he doesn't seem the slightest bit against it. If anything, he looks a little excited, which is adorable. Ariel looks pissed though. Not that she cares.
She glances at Julius to flash a smile at him before turning to Lord Karen, “Speaking of, all of this -Ariel bring the Origin Taratect, that she's also the Demon Lord, me absorbing her, becoming the new Demon Lord, and now my leaving-, none of it will cause catastrophic damage to your people, will it? Since they worshiped the Origin Taratect and then were fairly close to worshiping me that is.”
Lord Karen smiles, “No, not really. Chances are, the common belief will be that the Origin Taratect fell from grace and became the Demon Lord, and that you're her spiritual replacement in a way.” He shrugs, “And if you were just sort of confiscating the Title to prevent war and you're leaving to train and take care of the Hero… Well, it'll just make things going that way both more likely and a stronger belief if anything.” He holds his hand out, and when she places her own on it, bows over it and kisses her knuckles before straightening and smiling at her, “Sad to see you go Lady Shiraori, but I understand. Good luck.”
She smiles back and nods, “Thank you Lord Karen.”
Then she glances at Güliedistodiez, “You've got Ariel?”
He nods slowly, “I do, but… I also needed to speak with you on a very important matter in light of some revelations from today, Shiraori.”
That's about when the coalition troops are all sorted out, so without hesitation, she initiates four mass teleports, one for each of the separate groups taking part in the coalition and one for Sariella's troops to send everyone away. She stretches when it's all done then waves her hand to reabsorb the table everything back into Azathoth.
She glances at Ronandt, “We'll be leaving so I guess you're coming with for now.” He nods in acceptance and she turns to Julius to smile at him, “So then, to the capital of Analeit.”
He smiles happily and she initiates another group teleport, depositing them all directly in the throne room of the Kingdom of Analeit where the Parallel Existence that had originally been at the Karen County capital had gone was reporting seeing where the King is.
She doesn't know or care what they were in the middle of that had so many people around to look just as startled as the King when they suddenly appear even if he's the one who speaks, “Julius?! Aren't you supposed to be with the coalition that's marching on Sariella?”
Julius presses his lips together as he looks up and to his left while his eyes squint a little even as his eyebrows raise, “Umm….”
She pats him on the head, “You don't need to be concerned about that right this second.” He turns to her with surprise and she levels him with a stern look, “Right this second, you, Julius’ mother, and I are going to have a talk.” He opens his mouth but she just continues with a faux cheerful smile, “That isn't up for discussion.”
She doesn't even give him time to respond before she locates Julius’ heavily pregnant mother and teleports her as well as the King and herself to his office, and her smile turns more dangerous, “So then. Julius says you were against it, and I know that he believes that. But we're gonna have a talk about sending an eight year old to what's supposed to become a battlefield. And don't even try to lie. I will know. Explain yourselves.”
She teleports back to the throne room with the somewhat shaken King Meiges, who is undoubtedly very grateful that he both sincerely loves his son and was against sending him out, given even after she'd convinced them to talk, she'd made it abundantly clear exactly what sort of consequences he'd be facing if that ever changed and he started treating Julius poorly.
Probably doesn't help that Julius’ mother, a lovely woman named Rohesia(2), after she'd understood why she was interviewing them had not only been perfectly cooperative but had even just straight up asked if she was okay with her hugging her. She was fine with it of course, but when she'd asked why, the woman had just expressed that she was full of gratitude and even fondness for her protecting Julius. And after the hug had brutally informed King Meiges that just for the record, she wasn't the only woman he'd need to worry about exacting retribution if he ever started treating Julius poorly. Or if he treats the child she was about to give birth to poorly for that matter.
So. While he was safe for now, King Meiges had both a beyond legendary -by this world's standards- monster and one of his wives making it abundantly clear that he would be in hot water if he ever did wrong by Julius.
It potentially also doesn't help that she'd made it abundantly clear that she was taking over Julius’ training to prepare him for his role and if he had any objections he could keep them to himself since she neither cared nor would she allow him to interfere.
On the other hand, she seems to have rather spontaneously gotten a new friend given how cheerfully Rohesia had invited her to tea sometime after she gets settled and all that when she'd offered to teleport her back so she didn't have to push her heavily pregnant body. She was game for it, so she'd let her know she'd reach out, maybe send a message through a servant or something to settle on a date and time that works for them both once she's situated before returning her to where she'd been relaxing in her rooms.
Which neatly circles back to now, when she'd teleported herself back to the spot she'd teleported away from and the King back to his throne in the utterly confused throne room. No one inside seemed to know what to make of what Julius was telling his siblings and friends about her and what she'd done, nor whether they should be panicking over her snatching away the King or not.
As the man forces his expression steady and calls Julius over in a warm tone with a smile to check on his son, neither of which Detect Absolute Truth pings, she turns her attention to something else.
Chat room
Hey, you said one of the friends you were looking for was Yamada Shunsuke, right?
Sasajima Kyouya: Uh, yeah? What about it?
I just met the woman pregnant with him. He's gonna be born as the fourth prince of a kingdom as well as the younger brother to the Hero.
And I mean full brother. King has multiple wives, not just the Queen. The woman who's gonna be his mom is also the mother of the Hero.
She seems like a lovely woman.
Sasajima Kyouya: You're kidding me…
Not in the slightest.
Sasajima Kyouya: …I can't decide if I'm more amused at the thought of SHUN of all people being a prince, or if I'm jealous of his luck.
Well, whichever it is, you'll be able to tease or complain to him soon. His mom is far enough along she'll be giving birth in the near future.
Sasajima Kyouya: I can't wait!
She shakes her head in amusement, but doesn't reply, instead turning her attention to the other thing now that she's done filling in Sasajima given how anxious he's been for news of his friends. Specifically, she stares pointedly at Julius’ blond friend then once she's sure he's seen it pins Güliedistodiez with a look.
He winces ever so slightly, <Shiraori, I can explain. I didn't take over that body or push the original owner out or anything. The fetus that was going to be born as Hyrince didn't have a soul. It was going to be stillborn. Every now and then, I'll plant a temporarily separated part of my soul into such a body for various reasons. Checking on things, guiding the Humans away from poor choices, those sorts of things. I figure there's no real harm in it. It both assists me and whatever family the body I'm planting my soul fragment into belongs to doesn't have to go through the pain of a stillborn, so... I wasn't aiming for it, it was sheer dumb luck the other me in that Human body was already best friends with the boy who would end up being selected by Sariel as the new Hero.>
She stops eyeing him and turns away with a hum, <Well, if that's how it is, I guess it's alright.>
His shoulders relax the tiniest fraction, probably relieved it wasn't going to cause a fight between them.
With that out of the way though, she turns more of her attention away from him and back towards Julius and by extension the throne room in general. More than a few people were giving her nervous looks, which undoubtedly has somewhat to do with Julius, with not only his Hero Title but also an esteemed adult in Ronandt's backing of its validity as well as some proof in the form of the Appraisal tablet she'd made for him, telling everyone the full story of what happened at what was meant to be the battlefield. But it also probably doesn't help that she's a giant spider in general.
Something which has some relevance given Julius glances at her in question and she smiles reassuringly when someone does actually express doubts and he decides to use the Appraisal tablet on her right there. As everyone is murmuring over her results, Kieron looks over at her, “You know, given the whole Appraisal results revelation, there's no reason to hold off on using Universal Shape-shift just because people are around and you don't want to alarm them.”
She looks over with a smile, “That's true, isn't it?”
And she supposes their voices have been carrying a bit given while there were quiet murmurs, the only people really talking were Julius and Ronandt with occasional interjections from Julius’ siblings and friends, given it definitely seems to catch attention. Not that it really matters if people are staring or anything given the Appraisal results on display so it's not a secret to hide to avoid alarming anyone or any other reason like the complications it could potentially make given there's no Skill like it in this universe.
Given how long she had Mimicry before that and how it's just a stronger form of it ultimately, it's easy and familiar to change her body, swapping the spider body below her Human waist for her Human lower body even as she Dress Changes the other half of this outfit from out of Azathoth at the same time.
Not that it's exactly her reason for doing it, but she supposes it's helpful to the presumably arachnophobic given some of the people in the throne room relax, look less freaked out or ill, and less likely to faint.
And by the Reaper, does it feel good to be back in her fully Humanoid form. She's gotten decently used to her spider body by now, but she'll likely always be more familiar and more comfortable like this.
Julius looks happy about it as well. Not in the sense he'd seemed particularly disturbed or scared by her spider body before mind. But he'd undoubtedly heard her and given his personality, it wouldn't surprise her if along with appreciating the fact it puts people at ease, he's happy she can take a form more comfortable for her.
Obviously she doesn't know him particularly well, mind, it's more based on what little she does know.
Julius telling them all about things and showing her unbelievable Appraisal results is rather coldly interrupted though. Given the haughty looking woman is in the throne next to King Meiges, she presumes its the Queen, “Even if these wild tales are true, which I highly doubt-”
She cuts her off even as she starts crafting something in Azathoth, “Are you calling the Hero chosen by Sariel a liar? That's awfully egotistical. You know, given you're basically proclaiming that your judgement of someone's character, like how honest they are, is better than that of the Goddess you worship.”
The Queen turns bright red and starts sputtering, trying to backtrack very quickly, she pushes on brutally as she pushed the explanation of what she was working on through the soul connection to Sariel just to be on the safe side even if she's been provided unexpected Appraisal results already before internally checking it worked, “I can very easily put this to bed. You lot have a level ten Appraisal stone and one of those setups to show it. Let's go there.” She teleports them all with a snap as her other hand pulls out the crystal she'd been making, imbued with abilities similar to a pensieve but with some alterations, “You guys can Appraise this with your own Appraisal stone and setup and see that what it does is allow the holder to concentrate on a memory and then projects it as a sort of illusion around the holder.”
Then she tosses the crystal at Julius and when he catches it, gives him an encouraging smile. He smiles back then scampers up the small dias to the column the Appraisal stone is resting on, placing one hand on it even as the other touches the crystal to it.
| 《Pensieve Crystal: A crystal capable of projecting a memory around them of everything that was going on around the holder when concentrating on the memory as a holographic projection for anyone to witness.》 |
After reading it quickly himself and giving people a beat, his face screws up in concentration as he clutches the crystal and a moment later, the memory starts up around them all starting with Julius looking up when the coalition army stops.
While everyone is busy with that, Güliedistodiez with the broody Ariel trailing behind him approaches to murmur quietly enough not to disrupt everyone else, “If you don't mind Lady Shiraori, given this is nothing new to either of us, are you willing to discuss what I came with for?”
She turns to him, “Certainly. What did you need to talk about Güliedistodiez?”
He sighs in utter exhaustion as he looks down, “...You know the basics of the system, right? How it works?” She nods, “...It's wearing their souls down.”
Her gaze turns sharp and her voice flat with fury at the blasphemy, “What?”
He flinches slightly glancing around to make sure no one is paying attention to them before stepping closer to murmur, “Constantly having the stats and Skills and all that attached to their souls then ripped away at death just to shove them back into the rebirth cycle is wearing their souls down. I have- I have a place with no monsters that some of my Dragons protect for those who are on the verge of soul destruction set aside, but- but I haven't been able to do anything else about it. What you showed earlier though, that ability to pull Ariel's Ego out of her Heart Core and transfer it to a new one you'd created, maybe- I mean, just from the knowledge of Heart Cores I imaging that's what's wearing down, but I'd never even heard of them before so I haven't been able-”
She forces herself to take a deep breath, to choke back the blinding rage, “...I'm gonna kill Wakaba. I'm gonna tear her to pieces. Slowly. Painfully. While forcing Thought Acceleration onto her. She crossed lines she has no right to cross.”
Güliedistodiez furrows his brows, “She might very well deserve it, but Lady Shiraori… D- Wakaba as you call her, is powerful. Tread carefully. Even voicing such threats could put your life at risk.”
She tilts her head the slightest bit back to rove her gaze over the ceiling at the implication she may be listening before flicking her gaze back to Güliedistodiez somewhat out of the bottom corner of her eye, “I'd like to see her try.”
He continues to gaze at her in concern for a moment before looking away, “...I- W-Well, like I said, I have a place set aside for the ones that are worse off protected by some of my Dragons where no monsters exist to prevent them from gaining levels and damaging their souls further, but additional help has been beyond me. I mean- It's possible I could try to mimic what you did, but it seemed somewhat delicate despite how easily you did it, and with my unfamiliarity with it… It's undoubtedly a poor idea.”
She nods, “Mm. We'll get to it in a little bit.”
Then she turns back to Julius, where he's still letting the memories play out to the alarmed crowd that keeps throwing increasingly nervous looks her way while he murmurs with his father. She waits until the memories are done and he's showing his copy of the peace treaty he negotiated to his proud father before she calls out, “Julius.” He turns quickly and she lifted a hand to beckon him over with a finger, “Come here. There's something I need to do and you should come along.”
Ronandt is looking at her a little uncertainly, which is fair, given he tagged along to speak to her as well and if she left him here he'd be in another nation he had no ties to just sort of awkwardly waiting around.
She glances at him mildly, “You can come too and help with sorting people out and all that I guess.”
As Julius quickly hands his treaty copy to his father and hastily blurts out how he'll be back soon as he scrambles over to her, Ronandt nods, “I would be happy to assist you as needed Lady Shiraori.”
She hums in acknowledgment and glances at Güliedistodiez, “I need the coordinates for your safe zone. I'm gonna use a different ability, but just go ahead and give them to me in the format of this universe's teleportation coordinates over telepathy for privacy.”
Güliedistodiez hurries to do just that, and once she has them, she activates Limitless Teleport over the group again, sweeping them off to the edge of a field just outside of a village. They're noticed practically immediately and one of them starts to approach, faltering as he gets close enough to make out details.
She doesn't exactly have time to wonder about it before Ronandt is stiffening in recognition as his eyes blow wide, “...Leigar? Is that really you, old friend?”
While he's too far to see it with regular eye sight, with more of her focus on him, her Multidimensional Perception picks up on the way he swallows thickly, “...Yeah. Yeah, it's me Ronandt.”
The man blinks rapidly, trying to fight back the tears that are just beginning to threaten as he takes a hesitant step forward, “I- Why are you here? You just- You just vanished out of the blue, I- I and everyone else thought you'd died.”
He looks away, shifting uncomfortably, “...With the way I grew up, I was gifted at fighting and commanding armies. But the Demons had stopped attacking for reasons unknown, and I'm aware of myself and my limits to know I have no talent for governing. The Renxandt Empire had gotten some breathing room to live in peace. I was in no way suited to being their King under those circumstances and I wasn't about to rob them of the precious peace they'd received without warning.”
Ronandt huffs a weak laugh, “...I suppose I can understand the reasoning. Probably would've been for the best if you hadn't though.”
Leigar suddenly looks concerned, “What? Why?”
Ronandt shakes his head a little bitterly, “Your son, Largis… To be quite blunt old friend, he's not doing a great job of things. It's not entirely his fault of course, he has practically everything against him but-” He blows out a harsh breath before he starts listing out tiredly, “The Military Generals don't respect him and practically refuse to listen to him thinking him too political and therefore deeming him weak, and they're also so stupid in general that corrupt nobles and the like have tricked them into settling in far off areas of the Empire leaving Largis both struggling even more to reign them in, which additionally distracts him from things going on closer to home as he fights to get it under control, and with them scattered, he’s also unable to call on their forces as easily when necessary even if he could get them to listen. And as if that isn't bad enough, while I do try to help him, the nobles definitely don't like my giving him advice and supporting him given they're perpetually either trying to drive a wedge between us or making excuses to send me away. It's all a complete mess in other words.”
Leigar's expression had steadily darkened and his head dipped down without breaking eye contact with Ronandt even as his jaw clenched tighter and tighter, his lips pressing into a thin line for the most part though there's the tiniest snarl to it as Ronandt's undoubtedly brief explanation about the outline of the situation went on. When Ronandt is finished he's quiet for a couple beats as he slowly lifts his head until he's technically looking ever so slightly down to maintain eye contact with Ronandt, “I see. Thank you for your continued support of my bloodline and son old friend. I do believe, however, it is time I take leave of my self imposed exile and remind them all exactly who they answer to. Namely the King. Not to their own whims, not to the nobles. Every last one of them will relearn that they bend their knee to the Royal Family.”
Ronandt looks like Christmas has come early. Or well, whatever equivalent holiday they have if they do have one anyway. Regardless, he's utterly gleeful as without hesitation he drops to a knee with his hand placed neatly over his chest, his voice firm as he barks out, “By your command!”
She'd been staying next to the somewhat overwhelmed looking Julius, even as Güliedistodiez and the rest of their group broke away to start gathering everyone up and briefly explaining she could fix the soul damage and teach Güliedistodiez. Which he had briefly asked about telepathically while she was keeping an eye on Julius, but she was obviously going to do so since he's one of the few people in this world who may be able to do it for anyone else he gathers up.
They're basically ready though, so she drops her hand onto Julius’ shoulder and smiles gently at him when he quickly whips his gaze up, “So, we're here so I can help some people whose souls are so damaged they're at risk of being destroyed.” Julius flinches and her smile turns reassuring, “Relax. That's why I'm here to help. I brought you along because while you probably won't be able to fix the problem yourself, I wanted you to learn how to spot physical signs of people suffering such damage you may meet later when you're traveling around as the Hero and inform me and/or Güliedistodiez.”
He nods seriously, his face full of determination as his eyes sharpen like a hawk’s while watching everyone carefully. She chuckles at him as she glances at Ronandt and Leigar, “I should probably start with Leigar, since while his soul may be a bit stronger in general compared to most of the people here, the amount of Skills and stats he has is causing it to be more strained in general. Ronandt, please assist the others with organizing everyone for treatment.”
He hesitates, glancing at Leigar, but after getting an agreeing nod, bows to her slightly, “I would be honored to Lady Shiraori.”
Even as he quickly steps away to join the others in organizing everyone, Güliedistodiez steps up to her other side to observe what she's doing more closely as she gets to work on Leigar.
Combined with the events at Sariella, it was definitely going to have been a long day by the time she's done, but neither endeavor was something she'd turn away from, so that was just the miniscule price to pay to see to them both.
Well, depending on how long it takes, she may have to have one of her soulmates take Julius home so he can get to sleep at a decent time, but that was more a potential to keep in mind for later while keeping track of time.