(Rimuru POV)
'Report. Individual Risa's Harvest Festival has begun. Attaining Gift. Due to effect of Dominate Soul, a sub-skill of individual Risa's Unique Skill: Champion's Dominion, master will not be forced into sleep mode, though sleep mode is recommended. Attempting to utilize Gift to evolve Unique Skill: Gluttony. Partially failed. Gift energy is limited due to not going into sleep mode. Limited Soul Consume properties added to Unique Skill: Gluttony.'
I sighed as Wise One sent the report into my head, opting to forego the sleep mode, despite the fact that doing so consumed part of the energy from my Gift. "I suppose it's not that easy, huh?" I muttered to myself, looking out at the crowd of 75 monsters, kneeling in the plaza as they released magicules with a dead look in their eyes. I'd been watching for two days now, but it still hurt me, deep inside my fake, slimy heart, that Shion and that goofball Gobta were dead. "I should get to work now, huh? This should help, at least."
According to the Wise One's predictions, with Risa's evolution, Izzy and Sol could be saved with a near 100% certainty, since their souls were still attached to Althea.
But unfortunately, Shion, Gobta and the others weren't so lucky. Even if she did gain the ability to resurrect single targets during her Harvest Festival, the 75 monsters in the plaza weren't so lucky. There was over a 95% chance that their souls had dissipated through the Holy Field or something before Risa had put her barrier up. No way for me to know for certain, and even if they hadn't, Risa's Curiosity wasn't created to pull things, like souls, from the atmosphere. She could untangle them from other people, but not consume an entire town's worth of magicules. Not even Gluttony could do that.
If we had our friends' soul data, then we could theoretically recreate them from absolutely nothing, similar to how True Dragons resurrected themselves, but that sort of thing was way too much for Risa's current Databank sub-skill to handle.
I shook my head free of these depressing thoughts. Things weren't hopeless. There was an entire 4.57% chance that we could revive our friends!
That was what I needed to focus on.
Kabal, Elen and Gido agreed with me. They'd told me themselves that they'd heard a story of loved ones coming back to life after a Harvest Festival, so I needed to focus on that. Nothing would stop me from moving heaven and earth to get every single one of our fallen friends back!
Firstly, though, I had a few things I needed to deal with.
I'd already dealt with Mjurran, the woman who'd created the Anti-Magic Area around Tempest, to compliment the Holy Field. As it turns out, the Demon Lord… No, he didn't deserve that title. The Demon Lord Seed, Clayman, literally held Mjurran's heart in his hands.
As in he'd literally ripped it out and replaced it with a fake one in exchange for granting her power and a longer lifespan. I couldn't exactly blame her for betraying us when that was what was on the line, so I simply replaced Clayman's fake heart with one of my own, destroying the original along with whatever electric signals it was trying (and failing) to send back to Clayman through Risa's barrier.
Now, all we needed to do was decide on a plan of attack. I'd already given the order to convene my cabinet. A hobgoblin escorted me to the meeting room.
Currently attending the council was pretty much everyone who I wanted to have some stake in what was happening. In order to protect some of our guests, humans prone to magicule sickness, a barrier similar to the one that protected the Lodging House where we'd gathered all of the humans who'd been in Tempest during the attack had been erected over our capitol building, where the meeting was taking place.
Specifically, the invited included our five Hobgoblin Elders including Rigurd, Benimaru and Hakuro, the dwarf brothers, Geld, Rigur and Gobchi (Gobta's right-hand man), Koby representing the Kobolds, Kabal and his gang, representing the normal adventurers alongside Yohm, Mjollmile and a few of his friends representing the average people and merchants, Mjurran for her point of view on it all, and a flower sprite by the name of Rose, who Althea had sent early on to warn us about the whole mess. Raya had already Shadow Traveled back to Risa by this point, and Ranga was waiting in my shadow. I also had confirmation from the outside that Soei, Vester, and Gabil were watching from a magic tool in Vester's lab.
When I got to the meeting room, it'd already erupted into chaos. Everyone was clamoring for a piece of the battle, and the bloodlust in the room was so palpable that a couple of Mjollmile's merchant friends were on the verge of fainting.
"I should be commanding this battle!" Benimaru was shouting.
"I cannot let this slide. Those bastards murdered our comrades in cold blood! I will not be-" Geld began to argue, but I chose that moment to step in.
"Guys, calm down. I've already decided on a few things. Let's discuss this in a calm and rational manner, alright?" I plopped into my chair at the head of the table in my slime form, and everyone began to reluctantly follow my lead.
My chair felt empty without Shion standing behind it, smiling blankly as she pretended to know what was going on. "The first thing we're gonna talk about is getting all of our guests outta here and home safely. Mjollmile and crew, this isn't your fight, and, frankly, I don't want any of you to be here when the battle breaks out. It's gonna be a hard day, especially for humans."
"Lord Rimuru. Every merchant in the city is on your side. We'll follow your lead. If you wish for us to get home, then we'll go, and proclaim Tempest's innocence to anyone who will listen!" Mjollmile made me smile.
"Thanks, Mollie. I'm glad to hear that." Those words by themselves proved in my eyes that monsters and humans could live side-by-side, if we all managed to forget our prejudices.
"Guys, I owe everyone here an apology. This is all my fault." I bowed my head as best I could in my slime form.
"Lord Rimuru!" Rigurd cried.
"It's not your fault, my lord."
"The fault lies with us!" Benimaru and Hakuro both gave their opinions, but they were wrong.
"No, Benimaru. You're wrong. The fault entirely lies with me." I rebutted, "Nobody else." I went on to explain why, "First, I left. If I hadn't stayed away for so long, then I'd have been here. Heck, Risa even told me that there was a chance that Farmus would do something to retaliate against us for opening this new trade route, but I brushed her off. I ignored every single sign, all because I wanted to extend my vacation. Izzy wasn't strong enough, but I would have been. I could have come back a month ago, and everything would have been perfectly fine. Nobody would have died!"
"Rimuru…" Kaijin softly exclaimed.
"You're right, Lord Rimuru." Rigur agreed with me, "You could have stopped this. But so could half of the people in this room. This… Tempest, it isn't just on your shoulders alone, Milord!" He exclaimed, standing up for emphasis.
"It shames me that I wasn't the one to say it. We literally watched the army waltz down the highway, and we did nothing about it because we didn't see them as a threat. Shion's death is just as much on me as it is on you, My lord." Benimaru agreed with Rigur.
"The youngsters are right. In battle, if you fall, then the why isn't important anymore. All you can do is pluck yourself back up and fight better, Lord Rimuru." Hakuro added his sage advice. "So now, we just need to figure out how to fight better. That's the goal, here. Let's ensure that this never happens again."
Even as a slime, I still felt like I was on the verge of tears. "You guys…!"