Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken (WN) 2018

c105 -Preliminary Round

Following up after the audience of the monsters living in Jura Forest, the greetings with the emissaries of the neighboring countries were carried out smoothly. Even though the emissaries were gathered in unfamiliar garb, the banquet was held without issue. And that's good. The truth of the matter is, I received no more than a greeting from the emissaries. Matters of negotiation and demand were conducted mostly by Myormiles and Rigurdo, who then filled me on the details. Seems like they've got a tacit agreement not to let people bother me with these matters directly. They really live up to my expectations. Frankly, even if someone did ask for my backing, I could only respond with a "Ah... is that so?" type of statement. Personally, I think that for the sake of future relations we should support anyone who asks, but those guys probably figured that this is my position and prevented it from becoming public. "Don't go around making thoughtless promises!" Or something like that. Truly, whether it's something we can or cannot do aside, we simply don't have the manpower to apply such regulatory policy. Thoughtlessly increasing the workload would probably make it unmanageable even for me. I mean, it always seems – to me – that things are going so well, that I might have been getting naive lately. Since speaking to me was forbidden for most emissaries, the only ones I actually got to have a conversation with were the Hero King of the Dwarves and the King of Burmund. Yesterday, when the King of Burmund came for the meeting proposal, he also apologized about the Elven incident. It wasn't anything formal though–just a simple apology. Promising to strengthen future management, making sure that our agreements are held up is his form of indirectly apologizing. Despite being a small kingdom, the king himself came dependent on the invitation. This would have probably been enough as an apology.

The Dwarf King arrived yesterday around noon. It seems he arrived during the day to look around at the development of our town. He's been rather enthusiastically observing the sewage and drainage systems we have in place. In addition, while the facilities under construction were mentioned, he was eager about the prospect of the railway system. Since he was constantly running about observing our various technological advancements, we ended up losing out on a majority of the time we had to talk. However, last night when I acted as the ornament at the feast, he decided to speak to me.

"It's been awhile Slime Rimuru... no, Rimuru Dono. This beer is great by the way. By all means I must have you teach me how to brew this, ahahaha!"

I was more or less expecting him to talk to me at some point, but for alcohol to be the way he broke the ice.. I suppose it fits a Dwarf, however, liquor isn't his purpose. He drank a lot, but he certainly didn't have the eyes of the drunkard. Since there are other countries present, he couldn't say it in public. He'll probably bring it up later so I didn't press for it or anything. Whether the other emissaries were avoiding talking to me or what not, no one else approached, so I thoroughly enjoyed talking with the Dwarf King.

Most of the emissaries are of Ministers social class. To interrupt a King of a major power, is something they are unlikely do. Moreover, some are just terrified to talk to me. The exterminations of the Farmas Kingdom army has long since become an international fact. My power is no longer subject to any doubt and is well known to be something no nation could readily deal with. Since that's the case, I would suppose it would take some serious courage to attempt a conversation. As for the merchants–they are mere commoners. Even if there are nobles among them, they lack the social standing to speak. Certainly not in front of the whole delegations. In the end, the only person that can call out to me, without my initiative, is the dwarf king. Thus, we chatted on the most pointless topics until finally ending the conversation. The Dwarf King intended to show the other emissaries that our two nations are on friendly terms no doubt. As a result, shrewd opportunists would find value in conducting business in me rather than just another demon lord. This is the support of the dwarf king. Well, he probably also calculated the amount of wealth that will flow into the Dwarf Kingdom once Tempest is developed, but I am still thankful nevertheless. We weren't able to discuss any important matters yesterday, but I was able to have a good time.