Right outside the border of the capital city of Ingraccia, a carriage was approaching
Within this carriage, some of the elites Tempest are residing
Surrounding the carriage are the hobgoblin riders of the wolfpack
One of the elites is none other than one of rulers of Tempest, Kaijuno, who is currently depressed about his situation
"So this is Ingraccia? How nice"
Noticing Kaijuno's tone, Benjamin was the first to speak
"You don't sound too excited"
"Well it's not like my foreign land visitation track record is exactly the best, you could say"
Doesn't help with the fact I'm dragged into some boring political meeting
It's just gonna be a bunch of old politicians talking about boring crap, the prince of Ingraccia looking like a fool, failed assassination attempt, end of story
Maybe I should've asked to take care of the paper while rimuru goes here
Or actually, I'm not sure. Their expression look like they were hell. I guess it's one of those pick your poisen scenerios. Plus I have no clue what his paperwork process is.
Must not just be stamping if they're this busy
While I was internally groaning in despair, we arrived at the check point. Much to my relief, just like with Dwargon, we were able to skip the line and pass right through the border with little process
Border line skipping, a demon lord privilege
Finally arriving in the city, it was noticeable at how much it nearly resembles a modern structure city but with a medieval style to it
At the corner of my eye, I noticed a familiar hue of blonde yellow
I frozed at what that might've meant. I asked Yagami just to be sure, to which they confirmed who I thought it was
Since we were in a more clear street, I immediately jumped out of the carriage and dashed straight towards who caught my sight
As for said blonde, it was Masayuki who was casual strolling through like it was a lovely Sunday afternoon. Or he was until I appear and yelled out
"HOW!?
Masayuki jumped in at my sudden appearance until he saw it was me
"Did you just get here?"
" . . . I guess so"
"So I guess that means you owe me lunch then"
As if my day didn't feel gloomy already, but now I lost my bet
" yeah yeah, I guess so. A deals a deal"
"I'm looking forward to my free lunch"
I didn't immediately noticed due my suprise but it was apparent that Masayuki was currently solo
"Hey Wait, aren't you with the rest of your party?"
"I had to use the bathroom at the inn we're staying at, they went ahead to the guild"
By now, a few of the wolf pack riders came over to escort me back to the carriage
"Oh right I still have somewhere be myself, I'll get you your free meal later alright Masayuki"
"I'll see ya then"
While the young demon lord heads off to browse around the city, the light speed hero carries on to his destination at the freedom association headquarters
Escorted by the headmaster's assistant, he met with the rest of his party along with the headmaster himself, Yuuki
"Ah! Looks like the man of the hour has finally arrived"
"Yeah, as it seems. Knowing from experience, you needed me to come in person for someone significant huh?"
"Right on the money! To tell the truth, your skills have been requested by a high ranking noble"
"So in other words, something political"
"That much was obvious Bernie"
Hearing this, Masayuki felt an uncomfortable shiver. Requests from nobility was already something he didn't look forward to, but there's the addition of Kaijuno's precense in the city
He recalled the masses matching up himself against Kaijuno but a nobility possibly enforcing it was another can of worms in itself
"Is it something westward again?"
"No, infact it's local"
"How so?"
"You heard of the western council? Well they're gonna have their meeting tomorrow. But what's special about this one is that demon lord Kaijuno is attending
Given how uneasy the council is about this and your show back at the festival, your presence was requested to act as a bodyguard incase Kaijuno ends up aggressive"
"Am I really that necessary!? Wouldn't they already have security already?"
"They do, infact Hinata the Saint is attending but with how much more fame you're gaining than her, they wanted to be safe by having you around"
"Can't we just say I'll be too busy to attend? I'm sure they can understand that being a hero is a taxing job"
"Not gonna fly this time. For one, this is a noble of higher ranking and that is on top of being an associate of mine, so the choice of passing on this isn't avaliable"
While Masayuki was fidgeting on a better excuse to make, his party sang a different tone
"I say we go for it. The demon lord is outside of his turf, the formalities is now in our favor"
"I agree, Demon Lord Kaijuno will have far less shields covering him in a foreign nation. If he were to act up, it will only be disastrous for him"
" Yup! And when that happens, our Masayuki will pummel the demon lord no problem!"
With his comrades insisting on the idea, Masayuki crumbled and accepted the request reluctantly
"Alright! Alright! I'll do it"
Begrudgingly, Masayuki was set to attend the western council meeting, much to his nervousness
Back the little slime bastard named Kaijuno, he and his gang were on their way to a café after a lengthy shopping spree
"Well that certainly took a hot minute, hopefully we're not making Hinata wait for too long"
"I'm sure she would be alright with it, we could just say we needed to pick out our suits for tomorrow"
Deep within, I was sweating a few bullets at the idea of angering hinata. Her face alone is horrific, even if she isn't mad and has a neutral expression, it still looks like she shooting daggers.
I think rimuru had some sort of thing for her. If so, I wondered if they were a masochist
"Also, are you really gonna walk around in that? Don't you think that outfit is a bit abnormal? Hopefully you're not set on trying avoiding wearing a suit tomorrow"
Benjamin asked this, pointing out my attire
Currently, I'm wearing a onesie designed as a bunny. It was a one of the many clothing that I was dolled up in.
It was part of the handful that I kept in my wardrobe and have recently used it for my pj's. I also have to change into a completely humanoid form just so my ears won't get in the way of my hoodie
I refrained from wearing my mask but it was immediately apparent that I developed some bags under my eyes. So I just put on a pair of sunglasses to cover it up
"I needed a good comforter after having to wear and settle for that stiff suit. Something soft and flexible is all I need, I couldn't care less if I look like a marketable plushie
Plus I needed a disguise to cover up that I'm a demon lord"
"But it looked like you didn't gave any thought on what to wear"
"It's not like you were picky in your suit choices, it looked more like you were desperate to wear something other than a maid dress"
This remark from Leonardo put a shiver on Benjamin, making him turn the other way in embarrassment
I felt a bit mischievous so I made my own remark
"Although that definitely wasn't the case for you Leonardo. A whole bunch of suits in different blues and anything that matched. Somebody must have a preference alright"
This was made way better with what Cameilla had to say
"Actually I think that somebody was Souka. I recalled in your shopping date before the festival and how Souka mentioned she liked it when you dress in blue like your hair"
This made the usually cold spy to shrunk his pupils and flinch at what he just heard. Immediately he tried to down play it
"I-it was not a shopping date and I always worn blue to begin with. Y-you're all just letting your ship pairing ideas get in your head too much"
The rest of us giggled at his embarrassment. Still feeling mischievous, I decided to make a poke at Benjamin
"So what about you? How's the bachelor life going for you, Mister Harem?"
"I don't know what you're talking about"
"Come on! You have your own tea to spill. Gotten any success on your end?"
"Of course not! Nobody would find any appeal in a man wearing a maid outfit"
"Quite the contrary, the ladies found you even more appealing in a pretty pink dress"
"What the heck Leonardo!?"
"Yeah but everyone can tell who are the two ladies that matter"
"Sis, you don't mean-"
Yeah, Albis and Momiji. When are you gonna come around and make your decision already?"
"Hey hey, it's not a decision to immediately make, this takes time"
"Have you even made progress to getting to know any of them?"
"Sure I have, I actually became drinking buddies with Albis infact"
"Drinking buddies? So has anything gone down yet?"
"No, not at all. At most I just pass out only to end up with bug bites"
"Bug bites?"
"Yeah, Albis said that bugs must've bitten me while I was asleep. For some reason I only get these bites on my neck area"
There was a silence from the rest of us. Us three must've caught on to what he said but decided to keep our mouths shut and try to change the subject
"How about Momiji? Anything with her?"
"Well I guess so, just recently she made me a sweater since the weather is starting to get chilly"
"Oh yeah! I recalled how she asked me to teach her knitting. Honestly I was taken aback with her dedication to win you over"
"Stop please"
Having embarrassed both Benjamin and Leonardo, I held a big grin for my deeds
That was until Leonardo shot back with his question
"Well what about you? Mind telling us about your "successes", Kaijuno-Sama?"
I held a delay response until I slowly faced him
"Eh? You mean me?"
Benjamin gave off an expression as if a lightbulb lit up above his head
"Oh yeah, you MUST'VE had a number of folks confessing to you"
Both of them were now eyeing me down, I could sense the revenge tag teaming
"Uuuuuh mmmmm . . . I plead the fifth"
"Plead the what?"
"That stuff is government classified info, so I can't disclose anything"
The pair held unconvincing expressions as they slowly looked back at eachother until laying their gazes on me again
"So no luck at all basically"
My mouth was kept shut while the two nodded in their confirmation
Benjamin even had to remark
"Maybe the ladies aren't into short stacks"
"I can change my height anytime ya know!"
As I was yapping like a chihuahua, suddenly a pair of arms wrapped over my shoulders, it was Cameilla's
"Personally I prefer this cuter appearance, I'm also glad to see you wearing the onesie I made for you"
Suddenly, the tiny chihuahua demon lord stood frozen again while being embraced by the cheery blossom hair oni
In a desperate move to recover, I held up my wrist to view a watch that wasn't there only to say
"Oh, we might be late if we don't start moving! Let's go!"
Just as my midget self was walking further down the street but Cameilla didn't let go
With my current appearance, I was basically a jumbo sized plush toy
"Cameilla? I'm trying to move here, can you now let go?"
"Hm I don't think I will"
Technically I can walk but it does feel flustering with Cameilla pressed against me. I can't just harshly shake her off, I don't find this situation and justification to be harsh
But I still rather not be in a toyed position
Frantically thinking of an appropriate escape. I ended up spitting out
"Just hold my hand instead, alright!"
It was those type if instances where you're only realizing that wasn't as you intended just as you were saying it
There's no prevention nor back tracking, all those words were out there in the open
Just after I said this, Cameilla grabbed a firm hold of my right hand
""Don't mind if I do then"
My mind became a hurricane, conflicted on whether or not this is worst
Her hand felt smooth and soft to the touch
And when I'm up close, I smell the scent of sweet strawberries
In temptation, I returned the grip of the hand holding andand even rubbed my fingers around the back of her hand
I felt a mix of fluster and enchantment, either way I was kicking myself for suggesting something too degenerate out in public
I thought I heard a tongue click in the back of my mind but that could just be my ears ringing
As the pair walking down the street in a indecent manner, the red and blue duo held a deadpan stare. Well mainly Leonardo, Benjamin was clueless
Slowly turning towards Benjamin, Leonardo asked
"Is it just me, or is there some sort of . . ."
"Some sort of what?"
". . . So it is just me then"
Leonardo settled with this confirmation and continued walking, followed by the clueless Benjamin
Back at Tempest, Rimuru is searching through their wardrobe in Stomach, stressing intensely
"Where is it!? It has to be here somewhere! Raphael, didn't I store the bunny onesie in here?"
"Negative, the most likely case was individual Kaijuno taking the entire onesie collection for themselves"
"Dang it! I thought for sure I had it handy incase of the photo shoot. It was thanks to Kaijuno's bet that I have to do these for The Stellar Intelligence News "advertisement" but thanks to his greed, the only bunny related clothing I have is the suggestive bunny suits"
In the middle of their inner complaints, there was knock at the office door
"Rimuru-Sama, we we're about to begin photo shoot in 5 minutes. Are you dressed yet?"
With their pupils shrunken, Rimuru was sweating bullets at the despair of being backed into a corner
"I seriously should never make a deal with Kaijuno, ever again"
Back at Ingraccia
Kaijuno and gang is currently touring around the hotel that they will be staying, led by their tour guide Hinata
"So they have separate rooms for each of us?"
"Yeah, but make sure to not lose your key, or else they'll charge a fee for that"
"These rooms look nice! They really know how to treat their demon lords here!"
"Given how their guest is infact a demon lord, they probably would rather not be stingy with their expenses"
"I guess that is a fair point Hinata, but to think there's even a buffet downstairs too! If it weren't for the whole council meeting thing, I could've enjoyed this trip as a vacation"
"Speaking of which, I'd thought I should let in on what I picked up from the last council meeting"
"Guessing the council is up to no good huh?"
"Safe to say so. For starters, to say the previous meeting was tense would be putting it lightly
There were close instances of mass panic with how much they were at eachother's throats"
"Wow, with how you put it, I MUST be popular with the council huh?"
"I'm sure that's highly far from the case"
"And I'm sure I sounded sarcastic for a moment. But that aside, in the end they agreed to have me attend given my current precense"
"Yeah, but it's safe to say there are some with anterior motives. Amongst the nobles, I had nothing solid to pin point but I was getting the sense of something abnormal from a significant amount
Like something wasn't right with them, almost inhumane actually"
That part wasn't really all that surprising despite Hinata's worries. Most probably is Mariabelle's greed influencing their minds
"You said a significant amount of nobles right? Maybe there's some strings being pulled from the background then"
"Probably so but we won't know for sure until then. Also to note, it's not just the nobles but the first prince of Ingraccia himself is in on it and even requested my assistance for it"
"I'm guessing overall, you weren't all jolly and cheery about your prior experience"
Mildly lowering her brow, she almost had an expression of annoyance, much to my discomfort
"You really don't know the half of it. Also just to make things clear"
As if her face wasn't already uncomfortable firm, her tone somehow became more serious
"Regardless of the behavior of the nobles, DON'T do anything stupid alright"
She technically wasn't threatening me, but I still felt a shiver go up my non-existent spine
I just yelped in response
"Okay! Okay! Jeesh! I'm not that immature to be unable to comprehend the formalities of politics"
"I just want to make it clear, especially given how rimuru mentioned in our previous talk about you being potentially problematic"
I clicked my tongue in the back of my mind, wondering what the heck rimuru meant by problematic
"Also my warning didn't warrant such a loud reaction, did it?"
It seemed Hinata took notice of my extreme reaction from her expression. Not really sure if a blunt response would do it for me but I guess I'll have to wing it
"I'm not saying this to be insulting but if I have to be frank, it's because you're glaring constantly, Hinata"
"Huh!?"
"I know you're have a resting expression on but it hard to tell if you're intentionally shooting daggers or not. It is genuinely uncomfortable"
Instead of immediately getting mad as I was worried, Hinata paused on processing what I had just said
She then turned to everyone else and asked them
"Am I constantly glaring?"
They more or less just shrugged their shoulders, either unsure or indifferent about the matter
Hinata only held an expression of confusion, possibly questioning if she gave this impression to anyone else
I needed to activate Humility King Mikael for this next part. I was already acting on a risky rope but I decided to be daring by asking this EXTREMELY bold question
"Are you mad?"
"No?"
Quick and casual, in spite of her confusion by my claim, her expression shifted to one of unfazed
I genuinely thought she would hold her blade at my neck or shoot a death glare at me
Maybe it was how I praised it or that I refrained from a joking tone that could've been perceived as mocking, but this was as far as I was comfortable enough to risk
My impression of Hinata changed a bit. Previously a ticking time bomb now is leaning towards someone more mature and possibly chill
Finally settling our luggage in our each respective rooms, we questioned on what to do now
It was only for moment until Hinata brought up
"How about we eat at the hotel's buffet?"
"Hell yeah! I saw a charcuterie section, I always wanted to try one of those"
I already took a few steps in cheer and excitement until Hinata interrupted me
"Can you at least change before you step out of the room"
She took note at the fact that I was still in my bunny onesie
"But I need my disguise!"
"Aren't you supposed to be a demon lord?"
"I am a demon lord!"
The gang spend the remainder of their day luxuriously, in preparations for the big day they have tommorow
Kaijuno especially took advantage of the nearly endless void that was his stomach and put that "all you can eat" style of the buffet to shame. There was no food tray clean up for that night
Concluding the night, Kaijuno spent it jumping on the bed of his lone hotel room like the child at heart he is
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Deeply late at night, in an undisclosed mansion of an Ingraccian noble, two figures stood across from eachother in an empty room
One appear stoic, the other appeared to be more irritated and uneasy
Keeping their uneasy tone, they asked the stoic figure
"So is it finally tomorrow?"
"Yes, our trap is set and ready for motion"
"Oh thank mother FINALLY! I'm just about done with this disguise and be freed from it! Maybe doing this the spiritual way would've been for the best after all"
"You knew just as much as I did that some of these low life beings were under a mental influence. It was best to do it organically to avoid getting caught in the mind domination too"
"Maybe so, but there's a reason why we eventually stopped doing it this way. Ugh! I swear I'm gonna freak out if I find any maggots in this."
"Quit your bickering. I'm sure the decomposition isn't that quick to attract anything"
"Sure, but since this the last night til we head out, you're absolutely confident we got this?"
"Of course, we been preparing since we gotten intel from our spies back at the festival. We can't afford to extend our caution anymore than we already done so"
"I'm aware demon lords stepping foot outside of their domain is a one in a million chance but something feels off, maybe closer instinctively to danger"
"There shouldn't be any to be concerned for. Afterall, we were fortune enough that a named one of our own will be attending in disguise too"
This mention of a named one of theirs caught the interest of the anxious individual
"A named one? But will that be enough? It's not just the newest demon lord but we know Masayuki the hero will be there too. It's quite the line up don't you think?"
"It will be manageable, our named individual is said to possess strength on par with that of Beastmaster Carrion, a newbie demon lord and hero is likely to stand very little chance
Infact it was this named one that was assigned to slay Carrion if the opportunity ever arises
But given how he's now under the favored spawn's domain, that opportunity is now very unlikely
Still, taking down one of Guy Crimson's pawns should not be ignored to sought out, especially when they're still young"
"Yeah but speaking about the hero, am I really the only one who noticed he resembles a whole lot like Michael?
Maybe Masayuki is Michael in disguise to secretly extend the influence of the empire.
Wouldn't our involvement cause a hurdle in our overall goal?"
This mention of concern actually shook the stoic at the possibility
"Could be risky especially since very few would recognize the face of the eastern emperor, it wouldn't be too far fetched of an idea but I personally couldn't see Michael going through with it
We'll just have to hope any consequence will be slim
Fortunately, the phantoms aren't aware of our connection to begin with"
The night continued on, suprises in store for many in the up and coming day for what will be more than a political meeting