The World's Ego

The Council Conference

Rimuru POV

Chairs were lined in a paper fan shape and as for us, we were situated on the guard of the paper fan where everyone could see us, the seat originally meant for the speaker of the Council. Not too far was another table and chair. Beni and the others were standing behind me and were waiting for any orders. The speaker of the Council was transferred to the second floor for his safety as he hosted the event. A 'safety measure' against us since I was a Demon Lord. With this arrangement, the conference began and the beginning flow of the event was already testing my patience. Since the Tempest Federation wished to join the Western Council, they listed a number of conditions:

First - Abide by international law.

Second - Create an economic zone.

Third - Provide military force.

The first condition was pretty obvious. There is a duty to abide by international law, but the Council has no actual authority to interfere with the internal affairs of its member states. Merchants will have to abide by the trade law of the nations they were trading in. Any problems will be settled according to the laws of the aforementioned nation. If they were dissatisfied with the verdict, they can file a complaint at the embassy of their home nations, then it would be decided if the issue would be elevated to the national level or the merchants would take the losses themselves. The incident in our Founding Festival had been handled well in that sense. Had this become a cross-nation level problem, we would be trialed according to international law. We would proceed to the international court for a verdict and there would be a third-party nation on the scene, meaning it would be judged by the Council. The only councilors that didn't have a say in the issue were the ones that came from the nation in question. With Raphael-san's help, we managed to create an easy-to-understand outline of our nation's laws after she had gathered information about the laws in different nations. So we presented that as well.

As for the economic zone opening, there was a bit of a problem. Since we displayed the research by the trio of Vesta, Gabiru, and Mobius, Kurobe's gear display, and the magitrain, it was now obvious that someone was trying to steal our technology. It was fine if they were just trying to steal it but they were using the excuse of trading between nations to lay tracks down in their nations first. If another councilor did not stop the others from arguing with each other, the meeting would not have been able to proceed. It was okay to let the market expand, but I would not suddenly start providing new technologies to everyone. And with the way they were treating us like lower beings, I could probably guess that they would keep coming to us for help at this rate.

As for the last condition to provide military aid, with Hinata's advice, I reexamined the intelligence Souei provided. Someone is trying to exploit our military force in the name of military assistance, so we could take the opportunity to do the same. Tempest has full authority over the Great Forest of Jura and they want us to act as a deterrent against monsters, that was fine. It was aligned with our interests anyway. Due to the meeting between Hinata and me, Tempest would be in charge of defending the Great Forest of Jura, and the Holy Knights Order would defend the deserted land. We would handle the expenses, so the Council would be happy with that. For economic activities to proceed smoothly, we would need the world to be at peace first. Several nations were on guard against the Eastern Empire, so our nation's defense was a lifeline for them. So if anything were to happen, our nation would be the one to take the first blow. With these considerations, the third condition is the one that the Council is trying to exploit us.

I jolted all of these points on a paper, which they did not provide, even though these conditions and points should already have been drafted for us to go through.

That's what we call unprofessional! Luckily I have Raphael-san here to help me too!

The speaker finally concludes his explanation as the other councilors were still making demands and talking over each other.