Calm Before the War

(Hahhhhh, this chapter will have been a recap of events that have passed. They have no major changes in truth but not major enough for me to have written a chapter dedicated to it. But the entire chapter will not simply be recapped just as events that have happened will either happen later than or earlier than it has in canon. Also, regarding the stats page I created..... those will not be completely introduced until after the empire war arc. That is all, Ciao✌️)

In the nation of Tempest all was well.

The citizens roamed the streets with nothing short of smiles on their faces. A kingdom that has now reached a population of

Thankful for all that their leaders have done for them. Because of the leaders of this nation, The True Dragons, all they have known thus far has been peace and tranquility.

It has been a total of six months since the Kingdom of Tempest has been officially acknowledged as its own independent kingdom. Due to the nation of dwarves acknowledging and forming an alliance with this kingdom it has become pretty well known. Due to such, the nation has seen humans coming and going from Tempest.

Other kingdoms such as Blumund sent over their own representatives to discuss a meeting with the either a representative or the royalty of Tempest.

To tell the truth, these representatives were fairly arrogant and believed they could manipulate the royalty to accept an offer that could only benefit the nation of Blumund.

But what they did not expect was for the kingdoms royalty to see through their plan and accept it nonetheless. Through this deal there was nothing that Tempest truly needed or wanted from Blumund. Other than allowing merchants to set up shop within Tempest, which in thus Tempest would profit from such.

A few days after that, an official treaty was signed between Tempest and Blumund. Due to this even more humans and even adventurers fluctuated towards Tempest. But even through that many people still did not believe in or want to acknowledge a nation of monsters. Whether it was people, monsters or entire nations, they still had some hint of hostility towards this nation.

Since then Tempest has been making quite the impact on the world thus far. But not all days have been completely peaceful.

A demon lord's subordinate named Phobio caused quite the ruckus a few months back. He dared to claim the kingdom of monsters in the name of his master Demon Lord Carrion. Although Carrion did not quite authorize this, Phobio went ahead and did it anyway.

Lets take a look back shall we.

Flashback:

Within the center of the Kingdom of Tempest, a large crowd of monsters were gathered and witnesses to a demon lords subordinates arrival. They had gathered here because he was here spouting loads upon loads of nothing but pure nonsense.

"This is a fine kingdom you've got here. Surely you believe it worthy to serve under Demon Lord Carrion." Phobio dared to speak. The person he was speaking to was the goblin king known as Rigurd, one of Velzuras executives.

"Surely you jest." Rigurd said with a response towards the arrogant beastman. These mere three words caused the arrogant beastman to become slightly enraged at the thought of being made fun of.

So before Rigurd knew it, a flaming punch was headed straight towards his face.

But the attack never arrived to its mark.

In fact, it was stopped by a fellow beastman, one who does not work under the same master as Phobio.

It was Sakame.

During his time in Tempest he has been training and making friends with all of Rimurus close executives. This includes Geld. Training with them has only increased his strength and confidence in almost any fight. He even dared to train with Veldora and Velzura. Not Velzard, because in truth she scared him a little. But he had resolved to fight her one day.

"I believe that to be enough." Sakame said as his hand had caught Phobios flaming fist. Dispelling the flame and causing a minor shockwave of wind to travel throughout the area.

Seeing someone had stopped his attack, Phobio snatched his hand back and jumped back towards his companions who came here with him. With a slight look of annoyance and anger on his face, he had begun to speak.

"Just who the hell are you?"

"I am a military adviser here. The name my master has bestowed upon me is Sakame. Now, why are you here?" Sakame said with annoyance in his voice. Angry due to the fact someone such as the fool before him would cause a disturbance in this peaceful kingdom.

"Hm, I am here simply because Carrion-sama wants the majin here to work under him." Phobio said with an arrogant tone.

"We will have to decline that, we already have our masters, we won't serve someone inferior to them." Sakame said with a neutral expression, although on the inside his anger was raging like flames within a furnace. The same can be said for Phobio as Sakame insulted his master.

"You dare to insult Carrion-sama infront of me." Phobio uttered. Violently gritting his teeth as he was about to explode in anger. However, Sakame simply ignored this and turned to walk away. While uttering a few words.

"Leave. You are not wanted here."

This action finally caused Phobio and his anger to explode like a hand grenade.

As Sakame had his back turned to Phobio, he used this as his chance to kill this supposed fool. He coated his hand with even more intense flames than previously and rushed off towards the unexpected Sakame. His hand glowing bright with red flames and aimed towards Sakames head.

However, as the attack was approaching, Sakame had already seen this attack coming. He dodged the punch for his head by stepping slightly to the left. Causing Phobios attack to completely miss its mark.

As a harshly trained warrior, he did not lose his footing and ended up preparing another punch for Sakame. However, before that could happen Sakame reeled his punch downward and aimed an uppercut towards Phobios stomach.

Sakames attack connected with Phobio causing him major pain. From that one punch it caused Phobio to cough up blood from the pain. But Sakame was not done just yet.

While Phobio was still reeling from Sakames gut punch, Sakame used his free hand and grabbed Phobios head and slammed it into the ground. He made sure to not use enough force to kill him, but the damage was strong enough to break a little bit from the grounds pavement. Rendering him unconscious in just two strikes.

Phobios group was left in complete and utter shock by seeing their leader defeated so casually. With his victory secured, Sakame removed his hand from Phobios unconscious body and simply looked down on him.

"Ha, I told you to leave. You should have taken my warning to heart." Sakame said while looking upon Phobios body.

By this point a few of the other executives had arrived upon hearing the commotion. The people who made it were Shion, Souei, Benimaru and Shuna.

All while Shuna was a bit surprised to see someone bloodied and unconscious. Shion, Souei and Benimaru were quite disappointed that they did not make it over here first.

"What happened here?" Benimaru was the first to break from his disappointment and ask Sakame exactly what happened here.

"He looked down on us and tried to order us to serve his master. So like the good and strong subordinate I am, I taught him a lesson." Sakame had said with a slight smile. Taking pride in his work.

Flashback End:

After the event took place, Velzura, Velzard and Veldora took action upon such. Phobio was not thrown in the Tempest prison after that. He was thrown out of the kingdom after being questioned. This not only angered him but he felt humiliated. Humiliation so great he could not return to his lord.

After such actions, Phobio grew a distain for the Kingdom of Tempest.

After his removal from the premises, during his trip back him and his group would encounter two passing majin. Clowns to be exact.

They simply sweet talked him into hearing what he wanted to hear.

Power.

Enough power to be able to take over Tempest and their royalty. Enough to make them submit and bow their heads in reverence to Demon Lord Carrion.

Like that they ended up persuading him to their side. During which they led him to be possessed by the calamity class charybdis.

The monster was taken down fairly easily. Velzura, Velzard and Veldora all simply watched as the monster was taken down. Together, Benimaru and Sakame had been the specific ones to take it down. Due to their intense and vigorous training they have become quite formidable. Strong enough to the point where even the likes of Velzard believes simply taking only their magicule count into consideration, they can at least take on multiple demon lord seed level opponents and claim victory fairly easily.

With Charybdis destroyed, Phobio was freed but not completely from its control. Velzura had to completely separate the core of Charybdis from Phobio.

Many more events happened through. Such as Demon Lord Carrions nation forming a non aggression pact with Tempest. Phobio was punished for his actions swiftly, so it is confirmed he will not commit anything of such a magnitude again. After the attack of Charybdis, it has been 6 months since the attack.

Our events now take place within Tempest, during a peaceful time. Within Tempest the executives are now taking their time off.

Velzura POV:

Man, these last few months have been quite great. Raphael has been quite studious while analyzing the seed I acquired. She is at 96% but for some reason she has been stuck there for a while now.

Nothing truly increased all that much except for my unique skill [Destruction] had gained a few new sub-skills as did [Beelzebuth]. Raphael had said that it appeared to be on the verge of upgrading, but then she backtracked as she said it did not have a ultimate form. It was weird but she then explained that she left that alone because unlocking it could have adverse effects on me. Anyways the sub-skills that got added upon it were [Descendant Creation], [Physique] and [Magic Knowledge]. The three of these Sub-skills were going to be integrated into [Destruction] But I decided to have Raphael inherit the knowledge. [Descendant Creation] Allows me to create individuals that can be considered my child. The drawback upon it is that it takes quite a lot of magicules, but with my generator it should be easy to get back what I lose. And with [Physique] I am capable of raising my stats such as Strength and Speed to higher levels. At most it can do is enhance them by 50 percent. Anyways the three of those are what I had gained from this seed, they don't seem like much but they may prove to be useful in due time. But [Beelzebuth] sub-skill called [Stomach] had evolved into the [Imaginary Space]. This space is apparently infinite in size and can store essentially anything and isolate whatever I want and maybe even whoever I want. She told me it was the only sub-skill apart of this [Beelzebuth] upgrade that she could instill into what I have currently.

Currently, Raphael had said she had something she wished to share with me. Apparently it is some sensitive information regarding our country. So right now, I am laying down on a couch within our finished constructed castle.

I will do a deep dive in this castle later, trying to figure out everything and where it is quite hurts my head.

'Raphael, are you ready as of right now?'

{Indeed master.}

'Ok then, pray tell what is it that I should be worried about currently.'

(A/N: Here is where I add my, various new counties to the Tensura World, which would lead to new characters being introduced. Whether it is to stay or die will be decided in the near future.)

{Through wide range detection, I have detected a sense of hostility towards Tempest from a various countries. Countries such as The Kingdom of Farmus and The Kingdom of Graywater and various others.}

'Is this truly a surprise? We have an alliance with both Blumund and Dwargon. To tell the truth by our movements and developments it is only natural for other countries to consider us as an enemy. It just depends on how they try to deal with us that matters on how we move forward.'

{I have detected multiple movements from the various countries and have found out that they are attempting to start a war and take over Tempest.}

'Hoh? They dare to attempt that with a nation of monsters? Don't they know that monsters are already typically stronger than humans, plus a country filled to the brim with named monsters at that. Why would they try to start a war with us?'

{For the Kingdom of Farmus, without the need to traverse through dangerous terrain simply to trade with from nations such as Dwargon have relied on that as essentially their main source of profit. With your uprise within the forest and taking control, that hazardous terrain problem has been dwindling down as merchants have come to trade here rather than with Farmus. As for the Nation of Graywater, their specialty of which was marketing their own potions as they generated the most income, however..... Tempests generates the same thing at a much faster rate and lower costs. Due to that Graywater has been losing quite the amount of income over their potions.}

'Hm? Is that so? Well, I guess I have caused quite the disturbance haven't I. But this is all for us to live comfortably, this as well as reunification of the True Dragons and I only have one more of them to go. Anyways, my point is... if they decide to spark a war with us, we will simply destroy them. Hm... I wonder, I have been fairly aggressive and confident lately, quite the change isn't it?'

{That estimation of winning is roughly correct, however the nations that are showing hostility towards Tempest does appear to have a few strong individuals within each nation. By movements, it would appear that some of these individuals are meeting.}

'Is that so?' I thought while laying back, still on the couch within our home. 'We will deal with that when the time arises. For now, I am not worried.'

Rimuru POV End:

Third Person:

Rimuru had thought before he drifted off into his sleep like state.

At the Kingdom of Farmus, within a meeting room inside the castle of the king of this nation. King Edmaris. There is a meeting taking place. The participants are fellow kings of have suffered losses due to Tempests rise to power.

They are King Julius, king of the kingdom of Blackwater. He was quite the scruffy man. He looked to be in his late 40's and had short black and scruffy hair as the same goes for his beard.

King Ristow, the king of The Kingdom of Gatom. He was quite the young man. Although he has learned a lot with the assistance of the past king who was his father. He had silky blonde hair and platinum blue eyes. He had taken up the throne to his kingdom the previous king had vacated as he was getting to old to lead properly. So he followed in his fathers footsteps in order to lead the kingdom to prosper even better than it did previously.

King Travis, king of the Kingdom of Souria. Like hing Ristow he is fairly young. He is a man with dark red hair and red eyes to match. The difference between the two young kings was that Ristow was kind and compassionate even towards his enemies early on, while Travis antagonizes almost anyone he comes into contact with. His relationships with others are fairly poor. As his relations with his fellow kings here were quite weird at that. Aligning the rooms walls were various trusted and close aids/advisers to these kings.

These kings including the King of Farmus Edmaris are here because they all share a rising concern with that of the uprising of The Kingdom of Tempest. The last king had just arrived being King Travis. It is only a matter of time until the meeting begins. However the first among them to speak was the one who requested this meeting of his peers. King Edmaris.

"Thank you for accepting my summons for a meeting. Now, I would like to address the problem that we are all facing." He said in a calm tone, immediately grabbing the attention of the other kings as they already knew what he was going to say.

"The Kingdom of Tempest. As you may know this kingdom has been on the rise in the last few months. Since that rise all of our kingdoms have been losing profit due to them taking merchants from traveling to our kingdoms for trade and the like. I have called you here to discuss on how to deal with this nation."

Upon hearing the reasoning everyone present seemed to be thinking on how to deal with this unchecked kingdom. The first to think of something King Ristow.

"This is a kingdom of monsters we are discussing here, correct? If merchants are going out of their way to traverse to a kingdom full of monsters in order to better their own businesses, then why don't we acknowledge them as a proper kingdom and invite them to join the council of the west? We some sort of stipulations of course." King Ristow spoke up and suggested.

Everyone in the room seemed to have thought about it, but.....

"""Hahahahahaha!"""

His fellow kings bursted out in laughter at their peers idea. It was incredibly preposterous to suggest in their presence. Even those who lined the walls were trying their best to not burst out laughing at the suggestion. The only people who looked confused was Ristow and his close aids.

"You truly are a fool Ristow, these are monsters we are discussing." King Travis spoke up, only to be followed by Edmaris.

"Travis is correct, these are monsters... not a kingdom." Edmaris said with quite a sadistic and evil smile.

"Id have to agree with them Ristow." King Julius said with a slightly irritated tone upon suggestion. "Acknowledging monsters is a foolish idea. I thought you knew better." His tone changed from that of irritated to disappointment towards his peer.

"May I at least ask why?" Ristow asked as he was submerged in confusion by what they were saying. "This is a kingdom that has formed ties with Dwargon and even a small kingdom like Blumund. Why is that so wrong?"

He said, the three kings laughter had completely died down as did their retainers. The mood within the room has taken more of a serious turn as they looked at Ristow like hungry lions and they were ready to tear him apart.

"Ristow..... why should we great humans, kings at that.... Befriend the likes of those who deserve death?" Travis said, all with an evil smirk. One of which made Ristow fear this man more than he already did.

"Travis is correct. They are lowly monsters, it should be an honor to be killed by us so we can prosper." Julius added on to his allies words. Only planting more surprise, confusion and even fear into his words.

"Ristow, you must face the truth here. Monsters are below us humans. They are also the enemy of humanity. They have no right to live in co-existence with us." Edmaris said, seemingly about to have finished this conversation. Although Ristow had felt a slight sense of fear by how heartless his peers were, he strengthened his resolve and stood up from his seat, determined to sway their opinion.

"No right? They may be monsters, but.... This is still a kingdom that has relations with fellow nations. What right do we have to end them simply because they are monsters. Should we not prioritize creating and maintaining good and long relations with them so we prosper in the long run?" Ristow suggested. His head faced the table downwards so he could not see their expressions or what was happening.

Ristow slowly raised his head to look towards his peers. However, as he looked up, he could now see what they thought of this idea. They looked at him as if he was trash and nothing but trash. He stumbled backwards a bit upon seeing their expressions. Causing his chair to move back as well. The tension from their stares were causing even those surrounding the room to start sweating in nervousness.

"Ristow..... why would we ever form relations with trash that does not even belong beneath our feet?" Travis said with a menacing tone.

"He is right, they simply deserve death and nothing but that." Julius added before finally being backed up by Edmaris.

"Your plan is a good one Ristow, however it is not pleasurable. We could do just what we want should we take them over and enslave. We could have the advantages of befriending them and more. But who truly wants to become friends with monsters?" Edmaris said. His words caused Ristow to widen his eyes in complete disbelief. Although Ristow also did not like the idea of befriending monsters, he did think of the positives of doing such. But he also did not want to put his kingdom in such an unfavorable position. "So Ristow, what would your decision be? You take our side in ruling over these lowly monsters. Or, you can leave and suffer the losses for your kingdom? The choice is yours." Edmaris had added, finishing his words and giving Ristow the suggestion. Ristow seemed conflicted about this offer, he was shivering in anxiety as he did not know what to choose here. There were many unfavorable and unknown variables about this idea that could lead to potential defeat. Defeat that could put them and his country at such a unfavorable position. But if he did not take agreement in this plan, his kingdom will remain in an unfavorable position and its losses will only pile up. So either way, his kingdom may have been in trouble. But he made his choice before voicing it, the only choice that would even lead to his kingdom prospering.

"Fine, I will accept your deal." Ristow said as he took his seat, although it was reluctant, if their plan went off without a hitch, then his kingdom would regain its losses and more. The other kings looks towards him have now changed from somewhat hostile into a somewhat proud smile towards his acceptance at what needs to be done.

"Now then, how should we proceed with this?" Edmaris dropped the idea on the table, opening the conversation to anyone who wished to give an idea. Suddenly a hand at the table went up to offer a suggestion.

"I have an idea." It was Travis.

"Go ahead." Edmaris completely gave him the floor to speak.

"Well, as I am aware I am about to give out some sensitive information. But, I like to utterly crush my enemies, so I might as well."

"Oh, a secret. Do tell us what it is." Edmaris interests in this had raised considerably.

"As I am aware both my kingdom as well as the kingdom of blackwater has their own protectors that rise above our soldiers to the point of being able to kill them all without difficulty." Travis had said. Gaining the interest of Edmaris even further.

"And those would be?" Edmaris had asked, probing even further as to what these people could be.

"They are our own heroes. Each of them are perfectly strong enough to destroy at least half of the demon lords by themself. My kingdom has three and Blackwater has three. They will be more than enough to destroy and break those pitiful monsters." Travis had finished explaining in an arrogant tone. To tell the truth, he simply boasted that their strength was enough to subdue and kill multiple demon lords at once, but that was just his own arrogance speaking. Not once has he seen the might of a True Demon Lord in action.

"There is one factor we have not taken into consideration however." Julius had spoken up. Causing everyone to divert their attention towards him in anticipation for what factor they have not taken account of.

"The monsters have leaders, but from what I have heard is their is not much information on them. Not even their race is known to public." Julius had finished.

"Whats that matter? We have heroes, no matter what race they are they cannot stand against 6 heroes who can defeat demon lords easily." Travis said still consumed by his own arrogance that he could not see the folly in his own words.

"This may be a tad concerning, so we will have even more strong people join the fray to absolutely ensure their destruction. Now.... Let us begin with how we approach this." Edmaris explained, shifting the topic of conversation to how to approach the beginning of their plan. Everyone had paid attention fairly attentively aside from Ristow who was still feeling uncomfortable and having a bad feeling of whats to come.

These poor fools could not even see through their own greed and arrogance of the mistakes they were about to make. Mistakes that would stay with them for what could be the rest of their life. Or their Afterlife.