Reality of Power

(A/n: There's a domestic violence scene near the end of the chapter. Trigger warning for those of you sensitive to that.)

Much of the battlefield was still silent as Rimuru turned around to face Souma after defeating Gaius. Most of them were naturally in quite a bit of shock after witnessing someone get stabbed with a sword as large as Gaius's and live to tell the tale. Of course, there were a few choice words to be had after essentially revealing his dark magic.

[Wow. He must have really been a formidable opponent.]

He heard Hinata's voice ring out in his head. [Yeah. I honestly wasn't really expecting that last attack. I mean, I knew that he planned on dying, but I didn't think that he would still be able to move after I sliced him.]

[Like hell I believe that!] She yelled. [You really mean to tell me that you saw no way out of getting hit?!]

It was safe to say that Hinata was certainly not a fan of him bringing that much attention to himself. If Rimuru had any resemblance to an ordinary person, that was one thing, but this was Rimuru that she was talking about. Not seeing an attack when he had what amounted to foresight in battle was simply impossible.

She didn't realize this at the time, but Rimuru, in an attempt to improve his swordsmanship skills, had stopped relying on such an ability, mainly because it only worked on those who were still restricted by the laws of the world, essentially meaning they were weaker than him. If he were to try and use that ability on Hinata, for example, it simply wouldn't work.

[Well, not really, no. Of course, I saw him move his arm to stab me, but the only way I could have avoided it was to either teleport, stop time, or just move extremely fast. Since none of those were valid options, I had to improvise.]

He sensed her dragging her nails across her scalp. [So, you really had no way out of getting hit?]

[Like I said, I was just caught off guard. I seriously didn't expect him to muster that final bit of strength.]

Hinata could see his line of thinking but struggled to wrap her mind around it. The main reason being is that she couldn't help but draw parallels to her first fight with Rimuru, and how she narrowly avoided death by his own last-ditch effort to deter her. However, where she came up short was that when she fought the version of Rimuru that basically abandoned all sentience to attack anything in front of him, it never really attacked per say, rather just moved and consumed anything that was in front of it. In any case, she was forced to accept Rimuru's reasoning.

Of course, that didn't mean that everyone would simply accept that Rimuru was effectively immortal.

[I still find that reasoning a little shaky, but I guess I'll accept it for now. Even so, I feel like you're picking up too many bad habits from Veldora putting that ability on full display.]

Rimuru stifled a chuckle. [Veldora-! You know what, never mind. Anyways, it seems that Souma's going to also chew me out, so let's talk about this later tonight. 'Kay, love you, bye.]

He heard her grumble a 'Love you too' back as Souma approached him, who had a very cautious look on his face. It was jarring, to say the least, seeing someone whom he considered a friend be skewered and just essentially be able to shrug it off. He was still fixated on the exposed skin where Gaius stabbed him, and still trying to process what just happened.

"Rimuru, what... you're okay..."

He gave a weak smile in return and laughed off his concerns. "Yeah, I guess I am. Though that Gaius was quite the fighter. Well, as I'm sure you can see." He said, gesturing to his ripped leather armor and shirt.

Souma took a good hard look at him. One thing he's always noticed that struck him as odd was how oddly secretive he was, yet he hesitated in telling any lies. Almost like he didn't want to. His casual attitude was quite off putting in regards to this, but any real attempt to pry into his private life was often responded with 'It's a secret~.' Since he did his job well enough, no one wanted to test the waters by prodding any further.

However, Souma didn't feel like this was acceptable any longer. He was the king of a nation and had every reason to act accordingly. Though Rimuru put on a convincing enough act, he could tell the man was lying.

"...What exactly are you?"

Rimuru looked at him questionably for only a split second before seeing the serious expression on Souma's face. After seeing that, he realized that the usual half-truths wouldn't suffice for him. His face gradually morphed into a warm look, eyes full of compassion, as he said, "Believe me, Souma. It's for the best that you don't know."

Souma could tell that Rimuru fully meant that this time, but still, he pressed on. "I'm a king, Rimuru. I can't have people who I don't know in the closest positions under me."

Rimuru nodded his head and ever so slightly chuckled. "It's almost a shame seeing you take on so much responsibility at such a young age." He paused a bit and continued, "Alright. I'll tell you everything you want to know. But not here. For now, we should hurry this up."

Souma looked at him a bit longer before being pulled out of his stupor by the others rushing in to see if they were okay. Not wanting to make a bigger scene than there already was, Souma clapped his hands and effectively declared an end to the fighting. Though there were more than a few questions, specifically from Aisha, Liscia, and Ludwin, all of that was put to rest as they had more important things to do.

Since Van was only a few kilometers away from the battlefield, it didn't take much time to get there. Before they entered the city, however, Souma and Ludwin displayed the heads of some of the corrupt nobles who were killed back in Landel, claiming that they deserted the army and pillaged the people of Van. This was a deterrent to prevent the soldiers from acting out from the inevitability of the residents of Van blaming them for the losses of their men.

Something that proved true to happen when the residents starting yelling obscenities, with some going as far as hurling rocks at them when they entered the city. However, thanks to Souma's previous warning, none of the soldiers retaliated, which almost surprisingly served as a deterrent from future attacks. However, Souma's main objective with this was to primarily maintain order as much as possible, and if the soldiers who were meant to maintain that order during Van's occupation were to act out of line, it would eradicate any possibility of forming trust with the citizens.

As Souma was walking through the city, he noticed just how deep militarism has spread its roots throughout the country. Van was built in a natural hill formation and was designed to act far more as a fortress than a capital city. As such, the roads that were interwoven in the city acted more like labyrinth paths than roads to get somewhere, and even the noble houses were built in such a way to prevent a takeover. Souma quickly realized while observing all of this that his plans would have to be altered quite a bit.

While Souma was busy formulating ideas for city reconstruction and ease for the people of Van, Rimuru was having a discussion via thought communication between Testa, Ciel, and Hinata. Well, perhaps calling it a discussion isn't entirely accurate. More so that Rimuru was explaining to them that he planned to essentially reveal himself to Souma after the latter's questioning.

Testa, unsurprisingly, had no real objection to this. While she has built some connections in this world, it didn't really matter to her if they were severed because they learned of her identity. Rather, to her, it would be far easier if they knew her actual identity as then, at the very least, most people would think twice before writing a letter to her asking for her hand in marriage. While her relationship with Rimuru was quite well known, the mere concept of a relationship without marriage wasn't really a thing in nobility. As such, some thought that she was just keeping Rimuru around for fun and thought that they had a chance to marry her.

Hinata, on the other hand, was a little more cautious with this proposal. While Souma might readily accept them, the same couldn't be said for anyone he shared it with, and knowing the kid, there's no doubt in Hinata's mind that he would want to at the very least include Liscia and Aisha, perhaps even Juna. The fact of the matter was that to them, they held an absolutely absurd amount of power, and, to put it lightly, may be perplexed as to why they don't use it to solve the problems that plagued the world. Specifically, the Demon Lord's Domain.

However, Ciel quickly put this discussion to rest. After a 'joking' proposal to simply brainwash Souma into seeing Rimuru as nothing to worry about, Ciel simply stated that at the end of the day, it didn't really matter a whole lot. After all, even if they were villainized, there was nothing that prevented them from simply leaving the world.

Eventually, all of them got into the throne room within the castle, which again resembled more of a fortress then anything, and Souma took the former King Gaius' seat. Rimuru, Hinata, and Testa were standing on his right, while Aisha and Liscia were standing on his left, and the rest of the important figures were kneeling in front of him. As soon as everyone was settled, Souma began giving orders to people.

First and foremost was Poncho, the man who was instrumental in getting Elfrieden through the food crisis. He was brought here along with the army, albeit put in a reserve camp separate from Souma. This normally would never happen, but due to the sheer size of the Royal Army, they had the reserve forces to protect someone like Poncho who would normally be a liability in battle.

Souma's first order to him was to assess the food situation within the capital. While he had his misgivings about how the people were treated during Gaius' rule, the people would certainly be quick to blame him if the food shortage stayed the way it was. However, if it got better during the occupation, the only person who could take accountability for that would be Souma, and so it was effectively a nice step to gain the people's trust.

Second to receive an order was Glaive, Hal's father. In response, a middle-aged man with greying hair and a goatee answered him and gave him a quick estimation of how many people were lost during battle, which was a surprisingly few number of people for a battle of that scale, being under two thousand. The second thing he asked Glaive was to see if the soldiers could treat themselves to things like brothels and bars.

Glaive questioned if that was for the best, as he believed that they should simply continue their conquest throughout Amidonia, especially considering that Julius Amidonia has fled the battlefield and the youngest of them, Roroa Amidonia, was nowhere to be found. However, Souma countered his argument by simply stating that they not only didn't have the resources to occupy a region as large as Van, but also that due to Amidonia signing the Humanity Declaration, they would undoubtedly come to effectively force Elfrieden to give any territory they took back to Amidonia. It was an unfortunate reality that, even though they were the ones to initiate warfare, the Declaration basically protected Amidonia from any loss of territory through that very same war.

A few more things were discussed, though most things were ultimately put on hold until Hakuya could come to Van, along with the people that he requested for the Jewel Voice Broadcast for Van. Fortunately, they would only need to wait until the next day, as they would be flying in via wyvern riders. Time was of the essence, and Souma wanted to do the most he could with the limited amount of time allotted to him. Once the Gran Chaos Empire came to demand that Van be ceded back to Amidonia, they would have no choice but to leave.

As the sun met the horizon on the late summer evening, Souma, Juna, Liscia, and Aisha moved to the governmental office where Souma felt far more at home. Though no bed was there just yet, Souma had every intention to put one there as soon as possible. Liscia, on the other hand, wanted to save at least one night for just the two of them, so as soon as this business was over, she would drag him, kicking and screaming if she must, to her assigned room.

Regarding the reason as to why they were all there, it primarily had to do with the person in front of them, that of course being Rimuru. Testa was there as well, though the outlier of the bunch, at least for Souma, seemed to be Hinata. He couldn't really figure out why she was there, and any attempt to figure it out only led to a minor headache.

Eventually, with all of them sitting down, Rimuru began, "Are these all the people that you want to know?"

While the girls sitting on Souma's side of the room were initially confused as to why they were here, Souma explained to them that it was an extremely confidential matter. Chalking it up to another one of his crazy ideas, they were surprised to see Rimuru and the others sitting across from them. Still, Souma asked them to stave off their input until he gave the signal, so they simply said nothing.

Souma nodded at Rimuru and said, "Yes. And I assume that you want anything talked about here to remain in this room?"

Rimuru shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well, I prefer that. Though to be honest, it doesn't really matter to me. The thing that would really irk me is if people started revering me or attacking me out of fear."

*I think it's a bit late for that considering your dark magic. Maybe people won't revere you, but some of them definitely will have it out for you.*

Souma didn't let his thoughts bubble to the surface, but immortality was something of a fable that seemed to exist no matter what world people inhabited. Back on Earth, there were fantasies and sacred relics said to grant immortality, perhaps the most iconic being the Holy Grail. Of course, these were all fictional, but it didn't stop people from trying, some employing less than savory methods in an effort to attain them, from poaching animals to sacrificing humans.

Now that there was someone whose wounds could heal at a rate that could only be explained by magic, there might be some out there who would be delusional enough to think that by drinking Rimuru's blood, they might also be granted those same properties. Souma swore to do everything in his power to prevent that idea from spreading in Elfrieden, but there was little he could do about territories outside of his control.

After a bit of silence to which Rimuru took that as affirmation, he began with a chipper attitude that didn't really fit the room and said, "Alright. Souma, you asked what I am, and I think the best way to answer that is that I am a Dragonoid Slime."

Silence loomed over the room as the quartet opposite Rimuru tried to process what he just said. The two by themselves weren't that ridiculous. After all, both existed in the world, but the combination of such things was the problem. They were trying to imagine how such a thing could occur by conventional standards, and just couldn't do it. Courtesy of Souma, they knew that slimes multiplied by a process known as mitosis, where they basically split themselves into two identical copies of themselves. Dragons, on the other hand, reproduce by mating, which is what just about every other race does. The image in their head of how a child would be produced simply didn't add up in their heads.

In the end, Liscia wound up breaking the silence, more than a bit flummoxed at this whole ordeal. "I'm sorry... you're not human?"

"Well, no. Not anymore at least."

"Umm, Rimuru," Souma butted in, "we're going to need a clearer answer than that. Maybe starting with why you can bleed? Slimes don't really bleed a whole lot from what I know. Or have any sort of cardiovascular system to speak of. It would also help to explain why you can take the form of a human if you weren't... born as one."

Rimuru gave a hum in response and looked as if he was thinking of a way to explain it. Eventually, rather than explain it, he simply decided that it would be easier to show them his 'true' form, that being a slime that looked more like it belonged in a game. The onlookers were... shocked to say the least at the light blue blob that took the place where Rimuru was sitting.

Taking control of the room again, Rimuru answered, "To get rid of any misconceptions, as you can see, I am a slime. This isn't any sort of illusory magic or anything like that, it's just what I am."

Morphing back into his human form, he continued as the fingers in his right hand fused together to form a sharp carapace reminiscent of a knife and promptly cut off his left hand, saying, "As for the reason about blood, normally, no. This isn't something that I, or any other slime that I know of, naturally possesses."

Showing them the 'wound' that came from his left hand getting lopped off, it looked like much of the same substance that made up his slime body. After a couple seconds, he said, "However, I can mimic the bones, muscles, blood vessels, and tissues that make up a person."

Realizing that Rimuru was about to do just that to his left arm, Souma outstretched his hand and quickly said, "You don't need to go and show me. I believe you."

Souma could have sworn that he saw a slightly depressed look on Rimuru's face before shifting back into his default smile. Instantly growing back his left hand... while still holding onto his severed left hand, he continued, "As for my human form, that is due to an intrinsic ability I have called Mimicry, where, simply put, I can mimic anyone or anything with DNA. At least, as long as I have consumed and analyzed it."

To exemplify, midway through his sentence, he transformed into an almost perfect copy of Souma. The only way you could tell the two apart were the clothes, and the fact that Rimuru kept his golden eyes.

Souma was more stunned than anyone else after seeing this, mainly because he doesn't recall ever giving Rimuru any of his DNA. Just as he was about to remark on this, Juna commented, "That's... a scarily useful ability. I mean, you could infiltrate just about anywhere with proper use and planning."

Souma couldn't help but agree with her. The biggest thing that came to mind were assassinations, and the fact that you could simply pin the blame on whoever you were mimicking while the real you got away scot-free. However, he was more concerned about the DNA part.

"Umm, Rimuru. How exactly were you able to get some of my DNA? Because outside of blood or... the other one, I don't see how that's possible."

Rimuru chuckled a bit, which unnerved Souma quite a lot. Mainly because he was gradually becoming more and more self-conscious about himself when viewed from the perspective of an observer.

I don't really laugh like that, do I?

"Well, Souma, you should know that DNA exists in cells. While blood and semen are the two most popular ones for identifying people, especially in criminal cases, all I need to do is to make contact with someone else and take a few of their skin cells, which is what I did with you. In fact, you don't feel anything. As for the consumption part, remember that I'm a slime, and so I can direct any cell to consume. It doesn't just have to be my mouth."

Trying not to picture Rimuru's description of what eating skin cells is like, Souma requested him to stop his mimicry. "Do you mind shifting back into your original form? It's a bit jarring to see myself from the third perspective."

"Ah." Rimuru responded. Changing back into his normal form, complete with the signature blue hair and golden eyes, he continued, "Sorry about that. Oh! And if you were curious, the form I'm currently taking is that of someone close to me. Don't worry though. They're still very much alive."

Souma was going to ask that question next, but it seemed that Rimuru beat him to the punch. Instead, he focused on something else that was bothering him. "Can you also do something about the hand? It's a bit weird with it just... not attached to anything."

Rimuru looked at the hand that he absentmindedly was holding. Looking back at Souma, he asked, "Do you want it?"

Souma looked like someone asked him if he wanted to jump in a vat of toxic waste. "Why would I want your hand?!"

"Well, I mean, look! It still moves!" He displayed this by flexing the fingers of the severed limb before curling it into a fist.

He looked almost disgusted by the movement. "N-No. That's just creepy. I don't want your hand."

This time, Souma was sure that Rimuru looked a bit down from the rejection, but nonetheless, absorbed his hand back into his...hand. After the hand was gone, Souma was going to ask him about how he was able to form that knife-looking thing from his fingers, but he just assumed that he probably ate something like a crab or shark and was able to mimic a sharp feature of theirs.

Hesitantly, Souma then asked, "Is that it? Like, is that the bulk of your abilities?"

Rimuru simply responded with another question. "Would you like that to be it?"

Souma wasn't completely sure how to respond. On the one hand, he wanted to know as much about Rimuru as possible, but on the other hand, the things that he revealed were already incredibly strong in their own right. Hell, the regeneration aspect alone was incredibly strong. Paired with the shapeshifting, and if Rimuru chose to abuse his abilities, he was downright unstoppable.

Rather than Souma answering, however, Juna stepped up and asked, "If I may, I believe that all of us would like to know the full extent of your abilities, and perhaps what kind of life you used to live before being summoned here."

"The full extent, huh?" Rimuru again looked lost in thought. "To be honest, that would take far too long, but to give you a reference, what I just showed you now would amount to nothing more than parlor tricks back in my old world. Instead... actually, how about we all go for a walk."

As if it had already been decided, Rimuru stood up and promptly clapped his hands. Right after, he opened the door and waited for everyone else to leave the room. This was made far more awkward in the sense that no one else, save for Testa and Hinata, stood up to move.

"I thought we were having this discussion in here, no? Wouldn't it be a lot safer if no one overheard us?" Souma asked.

"Well," came the lighthearted response, "seeing is believing, and I want you to see for yourselves the extent of what I can do."

After a bit more back and forth, and a promise from Rimuru that he wouldn't do anything dangerous, they left the room. As they made their way outside, Aisha and Juna were the first to notice that something was wrong. Despite it being near nighttime, there was no sound. Generally, at least the ambience would be noticeable, yet nothing could be heard. Not even the outside sounds of things like crickets.

Before they could bring up this concern, Rimuru turned around and said to them, "Alright. You're going to see something that is not... normal. Just don't freak out and we'll all be fine."

While the words were said with the similar casual tone Rimuru always carries, the words themselves carried an ominous undertone. However, nothing prepared them for what happened next. Rounding a corner, they happened to come across Hal and Kaede, who were among the few in the army who were granted living quarters inside the castle, at least for the time being.

However, when Souma and the others went to say their greetings, they were met with complete silence. Taking a further look at them, they realized that Hal, specifically, stopped moving in an impossible pose, with his back foot slightly raised as if he was about to take another step. Kaede was in a similar boat, though she at least had both feet touching the ground. If that weren't crazy enough, they were looking like they were talking to each other, completely unaffected by the other people's presence, but looked just... frozen.

Rimuru's words resounded in Souma and the other's minds but were quickly pushed out by a sense of panic. Certainly, this wasn't normal, but what Rimuru failed to mention was that by 'not normal,' he actually meant 'completely batshit insane.' Souma was completely lost as to what exactly happened. Or rather, he had a suspicion, but simply didn't want to believe it. The three others with him, however, went into full defensive mode, and while they had no weapons with them, they immediately put themselves in between Souma and Rimuru.

Rimuru looked at them with a strained smile. "Well, I guess I can't really fault you. If our circumstances were switched, I would probably react in that same way."

Souma was the first to answer him. Or rather, yell at him. "Oi! Rimuru, what the hell is this?! Why aren't they moving?!"

He answered him as if it were a simple matter. "Well, of course they wouldn't be moving. Time has effectively stopped for them."

Souma looked at him as if he'd lost his mind. "Time has stopped?! I thought you said you wouldn't do anything dangerous!"

"Well, it's not dangerous, at least not the way I've done it, and I didn't do anything to them. In a more technical sense, we're moving through time one million times faster than everyone else. So, from our perception, it appears as if time has stopped. Or at least slowed down so significantly that it appears that time has stopped. Essentially, each second that passes in 'the real world,' will take eleven and a half days from our perspective. Though I have no intention of keeping us here for that long."

Seeing the calmness of Rimuru, Hinata, and Testa was at the very least somewhat assuring to Souma. Though his entire world view had been turned upside down, there was at least someone who was in full control of this situation, and thankfully, didn't seem hostile in the slightest. While he had more than enough questions to fill the entire castle and then some, especially as to why Hinata, someone supposedly native to the world, saw this as perfectly okay, he, once again, trusted that Rimuru would deliver and answer those questions.

Walking past the makeshift human shield the women formed, Souma was about to implore Rimuru to continue his tour before Aisha quickly blocked him from going any closer.

"Aisha, stand down. He's only giving us what we asked for."

Aisha didn't take her eyes off Rimuru. Though she couldn't argue his point, still, she said, "Sire, as your bodyguard, I need to-"

"Aisha." Souma said, more forcefully this time. Realizing that maybe using logic was a better case in this scenario, he asked her, more gently this time, "Okay. Your opponent is someone who can regenerate severed limbs and can stop time. Mind you, also, that the only reason we can still move is because I'm assuming he allows it. How do you fight against someone like that?"

While Aisha was fumbling around hopelessly trying to find a way out of this predicament, Hinata quipped to Rimuru, "He's pretty quick on the uptake."

"Yeah," Rimuru responded. "You can always count on the Japanese. At least the younger generation."

"Except for Yuuki." Hinata quickly added.

Rimuru stifled a chuckle. "Yeah... Can't say you're wrong about that one."

Once Aisha looked completely lost, Souma tossed her a lifeline. "You see? There's not a way to brute force our way out of this. Besides," he said as he turned to address Rimuru, "I'm sure if I asked him to, he'll resume time for everyone else."

Seeing as he was about to do just that, Souma hastily added, "No, no, no. You don't need to do that right now." He pinched the bridge of his nose and added under his breath. "Jeez. Despite the god-like powers, it's still the same old Rimuru."

While it would be nice to get the jump on Hal, it would be another thing entirely explaining how they got there in the first place.

In any case, after seeing the three drop their guards after Souma put it into perspective, Rimuru took the initiative and decided to do a proper introduction. "Alright. So, I think we should do a proper introduction this time. Back in my old world, I am known as the Great Demon Lord Rimuru Tempest. King and founder of my country known as Tempest. To my right is my diplomat, Testarossa, technically also a Demon Lord, but unlike me, an actual bona fide demon. And to my left is my lovely wife, Hinata Tempest. Human."

Testa bowed when she was introduced, and Hinata was about to do a similar greeting before she heard his little addendum of being human. It technically wasn't wrong, but she felt that it could have been introduced a lot better. So instead, she gave him an elbow to the ribs.

The quartet opposite them were completely taken aback by the proud declaration. Just in that introduction alone, and if Rimuru's words were to be believed, which they assumed they were as there didn't seem to be a reason to lie, Rimuru proclaimed himself to be one of the most powerful beings in his original world. One of the pillars, no less. Testa was revealed to also be someone of absolutely ridiculous power, but not only was she under him, she was also of the demon race. Perhaps their race operated differently than here, but if her origins were ever found out, there would be a massive witch hunt for her head. One that would only result in the deaths of whoever chased her.

However, Hinata's introduction was the biggest bombshell to them. It certainly made her seem like the odd one out as Rimuru simply said that she was human, but the fact that she was his wife through them in for a massive loop. What they interpreted it as, quite correctly at that, was that Hinata wasn't native to this world. And since she wasn't summoned in the same way Souma, Testa, and Rimuru were, that could only mean that at the very least, either Rimuru, Testa, or both, had a way to summon others by themselves.

Naturally, Souma was the first to recover from the initial shock. Rather than focusing on Rimuru's title, Testa's race, or the most prevalent thing of Hinata not being of this world, he instead focused on something that was very Souma-like.

"So... you're a king? Like an actual king of a nation?"

"Yeah."

"And you've been letting me take all the brunt of being a king?"

Rimuru rubbed the back of his head. "I mean... I wasn't the one announced as king when King Albert stepped down so..."

Souma felt cheated. So cheated, in fact, that he went up right up to Rimuru and complained right in his face. "Oi! Do you have any idea how hard this has been?! And that someone who actually is a king hasn't given me any advice on how to handle it?! I mean, for Christ's sake, I'm nineteen! You're probably like over a hundred and have loads of experience!"

Rimuru looked at him and his outburst incredulously before his face eventually crumbled into laughter. Seeing that Souma really was close to completely blowing his top, Rimuru managed to barely compose himself to form cohesive sentences. "Wait... wait. It's just..."

More laughter ensued before he finally said in between laughs, "It's just funny. I mean... I fucking... Stop. Time. And you still somehow can't go more than five minutes without bringing up work."

Seeing that Souma was not amused, despite him trying to reign in his laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation, Rimuru made him an offer. "Alright, alright. How about this. I'll take your position, shapeshifting and all, when we get back to Elfrieden for one week. That's eight days. Okay? And on top of that, I'll direct you to a hot spring that I found where you can take Liscia, Aisha, Juna, and whoever else you want. Deal?"

Souma grumbled a bit, but eventually relented. The quiet pleas of Liscia and Aisha were definitely hard to ignore, and in the end, he decided that it would be a nice reprieve. It would certainly be needed if Rimuru was going to chide him even more now, especially since he got up all in his face declaring that he just turned fifty-four.

After that discussion ended, Rimuru took them all outside to where it looked like they stepped into a painting. The sun looked like it was barely peeking over the horizon, giving out whatever light it had left before the night took over, and the people were all just... there. Stopped, frozen in time, no sound emanating from them at all.

As they were walking, true to Souma's expectations, Rimuru told them all about what his life was like back on his previous world. How it currently is going as well, as he also told them that he can travel back and forth between the two. He told them about his mistakes as a king, the consequences that came with them, and the people that work under him, whom he considers more to be family rather than anything else. He also explained the reason as to why they could move through time, albeit in a difficult to understand way. That being Rimuru making use of separate dimensions using the imaginary number axis. The only thing he kept secret was the existence of Ciel, who, by her own request, wanted to remain a secret.

Once he finished talking, he then began answering questions. The first was from Liscia, who asked her question immediately after he was done talking. "So, I mean, with this power, why haven't you like... gotten rid of the Domain yet?"

"The Domain, huh?" Rimuru was pondering her question as they were seated near a fountain that proudly had the statue of Gaius' father gallantly riding his horse in the center.

"At the risk of sounding callous, the main reason is that it is not my problem to solve. To be more accurate, while the Domain is causing more than its fair share of problems, that same stress is what's allowing other countries to rise. A good example of this is the Grand Chaos Empire, who would've been fractured by its expansion if not for the existence of the Domain."

He continued, "Another reason is that I'm sure many people want to see it vanquished by their own hand. If I swoop in and take care of it, sure, I could have it done by tonight, but then the people's fears would simply transfer over from the Domain to the being that vanquished it. Even if I were to do it without anyone knowing, that lingering fear that something or someone that powerful exists would still remain. People aren't stupid after all."

"Well, I can see the part about how the fear won't just go away," Juna responded, "but is that really the right thing to do? I mean, more and more people will die like this."

In response, Rimuru simply shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know if it's the right thing to do. It might be, it might not be. But what is certainly the wrong thing to do is to get rid of the domain and then simply do nothing afterwards. Getting rid of the domain is the easy part. Rebuilding the countries and governing them... that may not go as well as you think. As far as people dying, well, there's not a whole lot I can do about that. The unfortunate reality is that there aren't an infinite number of resources to go around, and I can guarantee that even if I were to liberate the Domain, rather than reasonably distribute those resources, those who lost their lands will want to instead hoard it for themselves."

"Okay." Souma chimed in. "So, then why exactly are you here? If not to rule or to be an adventurer or something, what are you hoping to get out of this world? I mean, from what you've said about yours, it seems like this world simply pales in comparison."

Rimuru nodded his head a few times at Souma. "That's a good question. There are two reasons. Firstly, it seemed interesting. A differentiation from the norm, if you will. Secondly, it's because I wanted to observe this place. You see, back in my country, I try to have it structured akin to democratic socialism, but in reality, my word is still treated as law. Even if it isn't written. Such a system of governance simply isn't sustainable with my lifespan, or perhaps lack of one, as there will slowly be movements to overthrow me. Before that happens, I want to move to a system of votes where the people decide the next ruler and then take a back seat."

"Now," he continued, "the problem is what happens if and when they fuck it up. Currently, I have plenty of incredibly capable people at the helm, however, they are far more loyal to me than to the country I rule. Meaning, if I leave, unless I order them, they will see no reason to continue serving the country since I'm no longer ruling it. And unfortunately, those shoes are quite big to fill. So big, in fact, that I don't think there will be people who can fill them. And so, they will fumble and make mistakes. So, then the question becomes 'can I simply watch that happen?' Essentially, that's what I'm here to find out."

Souma listened to him, then looked at him and almost scoffed. "That's... that's such a cop out. I mean, that's an extremely lazy excuse. You're basically going from one extreme to the other. 'I don't want to lead a country anymore, therefore I want no part in it.' I mean, there are so many things you could do in between those two extremes."

Rimuru almost cut him off with his words. "Okay, maybe that was a lousy explanation. But basically, I don't want people to depend on me. I want them to each live having the freedom to make their own choices and the resources to pursue those choices, even if it leads to catastrophe. Sure, I'll step in if an issue is unsolvable by themselves, but that would really be limited to anything that requires extreme power. Same thing here. If the Domain proves to be too much to handle, I'll step in and get rid of it. But I don't see that happening anytime soon, especially considering that it's been here for ten years."

Aisha quickly butted into the conversation and stood up. "But, I mean, you have power. Power beyond most people's wildest dreams! You mean to tell me if you see oppression, the weak being exploited while the strong do what they want, you'll do nothing?!"

Rimuru went silent for a bit. After a little while, he stood up and said, "It's never that simple. But I think you should see that for yourself."

Beckoning everyone to stand up, rather than continue walking, he simply snapped his fingers, making their new view that of one of Amidonia's streets, lined with businesses and houses. However, the complete lack of activity made it look like a ghost town, and also made it hard to see that they had stopped time. Liscia looked like she had something to say by the way her finger was raised, but just forgot about it, chalking it up to another weird thing Rimuru can do.

"I'm going to let you know this right now, but this will not be a pretty sight to see. If you want to stay outside, stay outside."

As soon as he finished saying those words, he went to the door of someone's house and opened it. Brushing off the complaints of the others, particularly that of Souma and Hinata, he checked to see if everyone was coming in. To his mild surprise, they were, even the somewhat naïve Aisha.

However, the sight was certainly not for the faint of heart.

Further inside, as they would come to see, was a half-naked woman on the ground whose dress was torn off, exposing one of her breasts. Her hair was completely amess with a few bruises peppered around her body. However, perhaps the most harrowing sight was that of her face. What would normally house a pretty smile with bright amber eyes was instead the home of eyes that were mostly lifeless, having lost all the fight in them, with the remaining portion being that of fear. She had a busted lip, which still seemed to be fresh from the small amount of blood coming from the cut, and her slightly gaunt features alluded to the fact that she was malnourished. Albeit, not as bad as some of the other residents, but nonetheless, was still there.

Above her on his knees, the source of her misfortune, was a man who had what could only be described as a look of rage, hate, and sadistic pleasure. A small cut on his finger was visible from when he slapped her and grazed a tooth, while another hand was holding a piece of cloth, undoubtedly what came from the woman's garments he ripped. His hands were currently holding her legs apart, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what he was attempting.

Almost immediately upon seeing the scene, mostly everyone's faces twisted in disgust. Aisha was about to shove him off before she was held back by Liscia and Juna. Right afterwards, she, along with a few others, directed a very stern glare to Rimuru.

"As you can probably see," Rimuru began, "this man isn't... good. And no, this is far from the first time he's raped her and will most certainly not be the last. How do you want to approach this?"

Aisha was the first to respond. With a look wondering why he even bothered to ask, she immediately answered, "Kill him! It's quite obvious! Just kill the man!"

"Okay. And then what?"

"What the hell do you mean, 'and then what?'"

Rimuru explained a bit more of the situation. "He's one of the city guards. And his brother was in the military. I believe, if I'm not mistaken, he was one of the victims from the attack conducted by Juna over there. But to be honest, that doesn't matter. What does matter is that not only does he puts food on the table for both of them, she also still loves him. At least in her own twisted way. Killing him will deprive her of both of these things, all so that your sense of justice can be satisfied."

Aisha was slightly taken aback, but immediately shot back, "We can help her! We have the resources! I mean, if we just explain..."

She quickly lost steam in her argument, but Rimuru picked up on what she wanted to say. "We can offer her resources, right? Well, assuming we have the resources to spare, maybe. But she holds the same animosity towards us as almost everyone else in this city. Most likely, she simply won't take it out of spite. Or she may take it and still blame us for all the wrongs that we are supposedly doing in this city. Like many others, she's been indoctrinated by the same sayings that Amidonia has spewed over generations."

Rather than debate with him any further, Liscia asked a related question. "How did you find these people?"

"If I want to, I can sense anything and everything for quite a vast distance. They just happened to be the first ones that I noticed, but I'm willing to bet that there are far more like her just in this city alone."

Liscia looked clammed up, and Souma took the reigns to ask, "How many people are suffering this in Elfrieden?"

Again, Rimuru looked at him with a soft smile. "I'm not entirely sure, Souma. I don't make it a habit to actively look for shit like this. Mainly because I know that I struggle to just walk away from this kind of stuff.

This time, Souma felt that he was being far more rational in his judgment. If he were constantly being barraged with these kinds of things day in and day out, he would also snap. Still, he wanted to help this poor girl.

"Is there really nothing we can do for her?"

Rimuru smiled at the question. "In this situation, yes, there is something we can do. Normally, I would advise simply not getting involved, but because we plan to provide food relief to the region at large, she will naturally be a part of that. She simply needs to survive until it arrives, and I doubt that's hardly a problem."

"But I imagine that's not the case every single time." Souma mentioned.

"Well, I'm not some god that can simply snap my fingers and magically make everything work. Although this example is largely an oversimplification on things, as there are of course many different ways to approach this, the bottom line is that they all require far more than just me stepping in to get rid of the problem. After all is said and done, I can't live for someone else."

Rimuru then turned to address Aisha. "Back to your question of if I'm okay with just watching a tyrant act out, the answer is simply, as long as it doesn't affect me. If I were to take offense to the fact that they were to treat their country like their own personal playground and dispose of them, while I would be getting rid of the tyrant, all I'll be doing is opening up a power vacuum for someone else to exploit. Running a country, as I'm sure you're now aware, takes far more than just sitting on a throne and hosting parties for the nobles. Perhaps in the future I may have that fervent desire to right every wrong I see, but the way I see it right now, that just seems like a fool's errand."

After explaining his point, he then said, "Well, I think we've intruded long enough here. Let's head out."

"Wait, wait." Exclaimed Aisha. "We're just going to leave her like this?"

"Well, I did knock him out. You just can't see it right now. What I would do is just hope that she finds the strength to reach out to others. Either her neighbors, her friends, or hell, even us. Though," he said, snapping his fingers and teleporting them back into the room where they began, "if you wish to finish the job, I'm not going to stop you."

Seeing as the mood seemed quite depressive, Rimuru conjured up some food for the rest of them, a simple cold dish with sausage, spices, and cabbage to take the edge off the heat from the day. "It's probably best for everyone to get some rest after seeing that. I'll see you all tomorrow."

Before he could make any attempt to leave, Souma called out to him. "Wait. Can you answer one more question before you go?"

"Is it about travelling back to Earth?"

Souma didn't say anything in response, but Rimuru got what he meant. Souma confided in him earlier on that he didn't have much of an attachment back in Japan, especially with no family back home. Consequently, he had far more of an attachment here, where many people were relying on him. However, there were still memories back there, and the idea of going back, at least for a little bit, was appealing.

Unfortunately, Rimuru didn't bring favorable news. "The answer to that is... complicated. I'm sure you've heard of the parallel universe theory, correct?"

Souma nodded. "Yes, though I have no idea how true it is."

"Well, evidently, very true. You see, one of the first things that I did after learning that you were from Japan was to offer to send you back. However, when I searched for my Earth about any disappearances of Souma Kazuya, I'm sure you could imagine my surprise when I found out that not only was that not the case, but the Souma Kazuya that I found had his entire family still alive and was currently studying in Tokyo University. Whatever Earth you came from was most certainly not from where I came from."

Souma looked slightly dejected at the news. "So, no hope then?"

"Well, it's like finding a needle in a cosmic-sized haystack. I can't say that there is no chance at all, but with those odds... things aren't looking too hot."

Souma simply resigned himself into believing it won't happen. "I see..."

"Well, like I said, it's not like it can't happen, so who knows? Maybe I'll find a way in the future. For now, though, eat up and rest."

Leaving no room for debate this time, Rimuru, Testa, and Hinata left the room to go to theirs. What was left in front of them were the dinner that he manifested. Three of them were mostly stuck in silence from the events of the evening while Aisha was hesitantly picking up and eating the food in front of her.

Souma noticed how that last ordeal put a toll on the others, particularly Liscia, and asked, "Are you alright?"

"No." Came the blunt reply. "I just witnessed people who have the power to help on a tremendous scale and essentially say 'not my problem.' I understand not wanting to be depended on when you're the only person that can provide, but still..."

Souma offered a weak smile in return. "Perhaps it's how that help is offered. If all that they can realistically offer is power, it's very difficult to do so without imposing your will onto others. That may be why they refuse to help."

"Even if it's for the good of the people?" Aisha asked back.

"While that may be the case for one instance, repeated instances almost always lead to corruption. For example, if Rimuru wants to save as many lives as possible, what may start out as a noble cause such as getting rid of diseases may very well turn into something along the lines of banning anyone from drinking alcohol as it's poisonous. Or banning the use of magic, since it's dangerous."

"Umm, Souma," Juna began, shifting topics, "did you want to... return to your original world?"

Souma almost caught himself chuckling. "Oh, that. They're just some memories there that I would like to have. They're like... what's the best word to describe it? Very accurate paintings? Of my family, before they died. It's something that I would like to see again."

She looked a bit downtrodden. "Oh, I see. That would be nice... Maybe Rimuru or Testa can find a way through how the summoning works?"

While he didn't think Rimuru would go so far for him, it felt he should at least try and ask him. "I'm not entirely sure. I'll definitely ask them, but from what Rimuru said when he was initially summoned, he wasn't enthusiastic about using that ritual again."

The conversation died out again for a little while, and the four started eating their dinner. Initially, they were a bit hesitant, as people of their status normally never ate things unless they knew where it came from, but it was quickly decided that Rimuru wouldn't pull anything underhanded like poisoning their food. Despite his questionable philosophy, he, and the rest of them for that matter, had proven themselves to be fairly trustworthy over the six months that they have known them.

Soon after they had finished their dinner, Liscia suggested to take Rimuru's suggestion and rest. While they still had plenty of questions to ask the trio, they had plenty more time to ask, and for now, had more important things on the table. First and foremost was bringing order into the city, and with Hakuya, some bureaucrats, and a few other people Souma had chosen coming to Van tomorrow, the real work would start.