That time I got reincarnated as a slime,no, a DRAGON?

CH-29 Tempest Festival Day 4(Part 2)

It is finally time for the next matches. The audience is quite hyped up after the matches and seeing Equix and Bovix's figure, they got even more hyped up.

"Ready,  Start" Diablo says. Instead of the matches till now, they stand and watch each other's movements. Bovix then finally charges and uses his axe to attack Equix which he deftly blocks and counter attacks with a spear. Bovix let the spear hit and tried to force his way through the shield. His Ultraspeed Regeneration continued to heal him. Bovix then used his shield to push Equix back. They continued to exchange attacks for quite some time. As soon as some space was created, Equix used his spear with a longer range to attack Bovix. Bovix was forced to defend using his shield. He waited for the right time and deflected Equix's spear and slashed at home with his axe. Equix used his《Limiter》causing Bovux to miss slightly. Equix used this and managed to cut his right arm holding the axe. With no way to attack, it seems like Equix will win this battle. I think Equix thought so as well and let his guard down. Bovix suddenly charged and attacked him with his skill 《Battle Horn》and managed to fatally wound Equix.

"Enough. The winner is Bovix." As soon as Diablo said that, a few people went to Equix and used a healing potion on him to heal him. I guess this serves as an advertisement about our potions as well.

They were both guided back. The next match will be Jinrai vs Masayuki. I don't think Masayuki will show any of his skills. He got pretty lucky getting Jinrai as his first opponent.

"Without any information on him, it is going to be difficult to fight him." I said.
"I believe he is not that strong Rimuru-sama." Testarossa said.
"I think so too. That all of this is a fluke and because of his skill. But I believe someone or something is behind this. His skill shouldn't be enough for him to make such a name of himself."
"I see."

We then continued to wait for the next match. As soon as Masayuki entered, the crowd went wild. Specifically the humans. It appears that his skill doesn't affect monsters under me.
<Thise who are named by master have Resistance against mind control to a small extent. It appears that Masayuki has an unique skill but cannot handle it.>
>Aren't unique skills made by a person's soul and willpower. How can he not control it?<
<He might have received this skill from someone else or received a soul fragment from someone who had this skill.>
I see.

Jinrai entered the field and as soon as Diablo started the match, Jinrai gave up. As expected. The 4 winners, Gobta, Lion Mask, Bovix and Masayuki were brought in the arena. As everyone was praising them, I loudly spoke," That was a magnificent display of skills from the three of you. As for you Masayuki, I expect to see your abilities tomorrow. To make things more interesting and allow the spectators to enjoy more, nobody will be allowed to resign from the matches tomorrow onward. Anyway. You all, rest for today. You have an important match tomorrow." As soon as I say that, I leave. It is evening and I head to the elf bar at 95th floor of the labyrinth. It was a bar exclusively for royalty or my top executives, so there were very few people here. But the reason I came here was because of Elmesia. She was sitting in one corner of the room. Erald was there making sure that no one disturbs her. I go there and sit down.

"Erald, leave us alone for sometime." Elmesia said.
"Hai."
"So what do you want to talk about?"
"Oh nothing much. Acting as a monarch is tiring, so I thought I would talk to you."

After that we talked about Yoshida coming to Tempest and his sweets and we continued to talk through the topics. While I was talking I got a thought communication from Myourmiles.
'Rimuru-sama, there is trouble.'
'Come to the elven bar. Let's talk there.'

Some time later Gazel came in as well. I had invited him as well but he had to stay due to Dwargons connection to other countries. Due to which he had to make appearance.
"So the old v-" He coughed and continued while Elmesia gave him a death glare,"I mean Elnesia is here as well."
"Yes. We were talking about some small things, but it looks like something troublesome has happened." I say facing towards the door where Myourmiles has just entered.

Myourmiles just entered and came straight to meet me.
"It is nice to meet you Rimuru-sama, King Gazel and.."
"Ah! You don't know her, do you? She is Elmesia, Empress of Sarion." I said.
Myourmiles eyes went wide but he regained composure quite quickly.
"Ah Yes. Rimuru-sama, there is a problem with the merchants."
"Let me guess? They are not accepting payment in any other form other than gold coin."
"Ah yes."
"Its alright. I have the money ready. Though don't tell them that. Tell them to wait or trade in other goods. This could help us to catch one of those pests."
"Understood." He said and left.
Me and Raphael had already thought they would do something like this but are they idiots ? Don't they know that Farmuth, now Farmenas is our vassal.

"You meant the Rossos didn't you?" Elmesia asked.
"Yep. We owe the merchants about 2000 gold coins. The fact is that we have more than enough gold, precious metals and even ancient coinage. But we don't have enough of the Dwarven currency."
"Need some help? I can definitely help my kouhai a little and trade with him." Gazel said.
"No. I had already thought of it. So I decided to take it from Farmenas instead. I will give them basic materials to make their infrastructure and take gold from them. Of course this would hurt their economy. I will be taking nearly 1200 gold coins from them. But I guess we can manage that."

Gazel and Elmesia look at me wide-eyed.

"I see. That is a demon lord for you." Elmesia commented.
"Huh?"
"A vassal state is still a part of your territory even though it is ruled by another king. In this world, they are still treated as a part of your territory."
"I see. In my old world, a vassal state came second after the main country. Many vassal states were completely destroyed from the inside to make sure that the main country develops. A vassal state was a worse status than a conquered state."
"I see. Your previous world did have a lot of difference than ours. Cruel ones at that."
"So, what do you think I should do with the merchants. I am good with economy and military but when it comes to politics, I have quite a lot to learn. It was usually my sister who managed all the political work. How I deal with the merchants will affect my standing in amongst the Western Countries."
"So, your sister was a queen?" Elmesia asked.
"Sort of. She had the same powers as a queen."
"I see. Well I would just have them pay higher taxes than normal merchants would have to do." Gazel said. Elmesia meanwhile said that they didn't trade with anyone apart from long time partners so they have not experienced anything as such. I will decide what to do later on. We continued to have small chats. After some time we decided to leave. Elmesia left just before us. Just as Gazel was leaving, he said," Rimuru, keep you eyes wide against that sly vixen." And left. I wonder what happened between them to make him say that. I will just go to sleep, I guess.

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This is it. Next would be the semi-finals. Hope you guys enjoy. Like and follow.