"Hi, everyone. My name's Rimuru Tempest, and I'm the leader of this nation, the Jura-Tempest Federation. I may be a slime, but here in Tempest, it's a bad idea to judge people based on their race, so just keep that in mind, please." I was sitting at a table, with Kabal's gang, their buddy Fuze, who was apparently the dude who asked Soei if he could have an audience with me, and two dudes from the kingdom of Farmus, a tall, muscular one and a mage-looking guy. Apparently, the strong-looking dude was Yohm, and the mage was his 'brain,' Rommel.
"Truly, a slime…?" Yeah, I couldn't really blame Fuze. If it hadn't happened to me, I likely wouldn't have believed that a slime was such a big shot either.
"So… uh, Rimuru…? Who are all these new guys?" Kabal asked.
Oh, right. Kabal hadn't met the kijin yet, huh?
I had everyone give their introductions, for Fuze, Yohm, and Rommel.
Currently, Rigurd and Benimaru were seated across the table from me, with Milim to my right, Risa sitting in her lap in slime form. Standing by the door, giving his report, was Gobta, with Shuna sitting on my left, Shion standing behind me with a tea cart, and Soei standing beside me, his presence in the room somehow nearly nonexistent. Yohm jumped out of his chair when Soei introduced himself.
Fuze responded to the name 'Milim,' but I doubted that anyone would look at the cute girl sitting beside me, all smiley, and immediately think 'Demon Lord!'
Basically, they were both here for the same reason, to investigate us. Well, technically Yohm hadn't known anything about us at all, and was just told to investigate what happened with the orc lord, but potato potahto.
Somewhere in the middle of his partner's explaining the logistics behind Farmus's decision to send them, Yohm did flip out and start yelling about why a slime was acting like king of the world, but just as he opened his mouth to insult Shion after she reprimanded him, Risa paralyzed the dude for me, for a second, to shut him up.
It felt like the Phobio situation all over again, but whatever,
As for Fuze, he was basically here to ascertain whether we were a threat or not. In response, I gave him permission to stay here in Tempest and observe us for a little while as an international delegate. He seemed shocked when I explained that we'd already opened formal relations with the Dwarven Kingdom, but a quick call to Vester (and Risa disappeared. Kinda funny, a Calamity-class monster scared of a tall dwarf) was enough to confirm.
Once Vester disappeared (and Risa returned), it was time to talk about what Yohm needed.
Yohm was a former criminal, basically sent to his death in this forest in exchange for the information that lied within. Rommel was sent to keep an eye on him, but he'd taken such a liking to Yohm that he had no reservations about betraying those greedy old bastards back in Farmus. His plan was to inform the Earl that had sent them, in order to save as many of their countryfolk as possible, before faking their deaths and disappearing, maybe to work in a Free Guild in one of the countries bordering Jura.
"Okay, but there's no danger in the forest… So you're free, then?" I responded. Yohm thought for a moment, then nodded
"I guess…"
"Fuze, how many people around your kingdom know that the orc lord got defeated?" I asked.
"Only the king, and a select few others…" Fuze replied, confused.
"Okay. Yohm, how about you become the champion who beat him, then?"
"Wha-?"
…
The rundown of my plan was simple. I wanted Yohm and his thirty men to become the 'champions' who'd defeated the orc lord.
Since there weren't many people who knew that we'd been the ones to defeat the orc lord, I wanted to spin the story anew.
Basically, my plan was this: With the help of the four dwarves and Kurobe, Risa created something that I wanted to call a 'Champion's Gear Set.' Basically, a set of super-strong weapons and armor, which we then outfitted Yohm with, giving fairly high quality, Dwarven-crafted gear to the rest of his 30-man party as well, which they'd used to defeat the orc lord after a long, hard battle.
Essentially, I was giving all of the credit to Yohm, painting us as the ones who'd, with the help of the dwarf brothers and Kurobe, outfitted him. Therefore, the general public would see us as helpful, friendly monsters who happen to have good connections to Dwagon and the ogres. There'd be a few time-related contradictions to the story, but the general public didn't need to know about them.
"So, what do you guys think?" I asked, finishing the details of my plan.
"...What?!"
"Come on, me beating that dude!? How exactly could you possibly expect me to pretend to have done that?! I mean, come on, my entire party flubbed it against an overgrown spider! I'm not exactly a fairy-tale hero or somethin'!" Shion laughed at that, but Yohm was right. He wasn't strong enough…
Yet.
Fuze seemed shocked by the entire idea… too shocked to even close his mouth, while Yohm protested staunchly, as expected. As for the rest of my cabinet, the only one who seemed to have a problem was Milim, and that was just with the fact that Yohm had used the word 'Hero' to describe it. Apparently, that was just as big a deal as calling yourself a Demon Lord, with a ton of related baggage.
But as long as we just called him a Champion, it'd be fine by her.
"Don't worry about the whole strength thing, Yohm. We'll give you a bit of training to go with the gear. Risa, I'm gonna need you to work with Kurobe to create the strongest gear on the planet. Legend class, alright? Can you do it?" Risa could create incredibly powerful weapons, but only because she packed so much force into them. Solslicer's metal, for example, had already evolved into something that Risa liked to call 'Spirit Steel,' but that didn't make the base blade any better crafted. I wanted her to take a Kurobe-forged blade and modify it with a processed magic crystal-system, before packing as much of her 'magitech' inside it as possible. Basically, an evolved version of Gobta's sword.
"...If Milim helps, I think so."
"Sure, but just a warning, weapons at the level of Risa's don't work very well unless they accept their owners." Milim warned, "It'll still be stupid powerful, even if it doesn't accept him, though."
"... So long as you are on the side of humanity, I will help you with this." Fuze decided.
"I'll work with ya, too." Yohm agreed.