'Hurry… please… save the children…'
Not this dream again. Every time I closed my eyes, huh?
'Please. The children are in the Royal Capital, the Kingdom of Englesia! Please, save them… before it's too-'
Shizu? Shizu!
When I woke up, I realized that I was crying.
"No more putting it off, huh? It's time to head to the kingdom of Englesia." I affirmed to myself aloud.
Since the Charybdis fight, Tempest had exchanged delegates with Eurazania, established a formal trade agreement with the Beast Master that overturned their former law of not allowing the weaker kobold traders into their borders, with help from the leader of the new Tempest Trading Federation, Koby Merx, and gone on a formal trip to Dwargon, where I'd managed to convince Gazel that Milim had actually been in Tempest.
Apparently, I was a demon lord seducer. I made sure to push the credit for Milim onto Risa, who hadn't been in the room at the time, but I couldn't blame Risa for Carillon taking a liking to me.
Besides, Tempest didn't need me. Maybe long-term, but in the short term, Risa, Rigurd, Rigur, and Benimaru were more than enough to keep Tempest going just fine without me.
…
"And that's why-"
"No."
"I think I need to-"
"Nope."
"Travel around human towns and nat-"
"Nuh-uh."
"RISA!" I finally shouted. The constant interruptions had finally gotten on my last nerve. She'd been sulky ever since Milim had left, and as much as I loved her, enough was enough. I couldn't put off helping those children any longer.
"I'm not letting you disappear, too. If you leave, I'm coming with you." Risa issued her ultimatum. But unfortunately…
"Risa, you're the strongest person in Tempest, besides me. I need you to stay here and protect everyone." I reminded her.
"I can't do that, Big Bro. I'm coming with you." She repeated, "In terms of pure force, Benimaru's almost as strong as me by this point, and half of this room is close behind him. Besides, I need this just as much as you do."
"She's right, Sir Rimuru. I promise, Tempest's safety should not be a concern. We will protect it." Hakuro agreed with her, but I bit my lip.
"I'm leaving too, whether you go with me or not." Risa said, "I need more experience. Milim told me so."
…
(Risa POV)
"I'm leaving too, whether you go with me or not. I need more experience. Milim told me so." I told Big Bro. I wanted to get stronger. Strong enough to stand by my friend's side, and strong enough to protect Tempest. Big Bro would be able to do that over time whether he tried or not, but it was harder for me. I needed to evolve my spirit side into an Elemental Lord, so that I could obtain my own Demon Lord Seed.
According to Milim, the only way I could do that was by getting more varied combat experience, life-or-death style, with strong monsters. Those didn't grow on trees around here, and the A-adjacent ones that did show up here weren't capable of putting up an interesting fight at all. I'd captured all of the unique types one-by-one. So, I needed to travel.
"Risa, I can't leave Tempest without one of us protecting it. Please." Big Bro pleaded.
I sighed. He was right, I was being selfish. I hated it… Wait, there was one possibility that I hadn't considered.
…
"You keep everyone safe, alright, Izzy?"
"Mhm!" Still not very good with emotions or communication, huh?
We'd decided that, so long as Ranga and Raya went with us, it wasn't us who needed to worry about protection. But Big Bro still wanted me to stay behind in Tempest.
So, I'd split with Izzy. Transferring him into a Replication, he'd be able to stay at Tempest. Giving him half of my magical force, he could use all of my skills as if they were his own, making him fully capable of beating Benimaru in a fight, and easily at that. He could also instantly communicate with me, since he was technically a part of my own soul.
And just in case, Soei made sure to leave a Replication in Big Bro's shadow, so that both Big Bro and I could communicate instantaneously with Tempest. We could also both teleport back in an emergency, Big Bro with his magic, and me with my Art.
…
We were currently in the process of building three major roads from Tempest out of the forest. The road to the dwarven kingdom was almost finished, we were just finishing with the paving.
As for the other two, there was one going to Eurazania, which we'd just begun construction on, and the road to Blummund.
Since there were special flowers that grew in certain areas along the path to Blummund, which obstructed a person's sense of direction, I'd personally cleared the trees from it in my spare time.
So, in effect, all three highways were traversable. Geld was currently working on paving them, but that was just rote work. Our Tempest Wolves could easily traverse the unfinished roads as is.