DID YOU KNOW? YOU CAN NOW READ THREE TO SIX CHAPTERS AHEAD. CHECK MY PROFILE FOR THE LINK.
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The Capital city of the Blumund kingdom, Londo City, was not a city accustomed to moments like this.
Blumund was, by most reasonable measurements, a modest nation. Small enough that its name rarely appeared in continental politics without being attached to someone else's ambitions. Its king was pragmatic rather than powerful, its military sufficient rather than imposing, and its streets were built for merchants rather than armies.
But today, the streets were quiet.
Citizens had gathered along the main thoroughfare from early morning, filling the spaces between buildings three and four people deep, their voices dropping instinctively the closer the hour came. Even the children seemed to understand that whatever was approaching warranted stillness rather than noise.
Word had traveled faster than the delegations themselves.
Two Demon Lords were coming to Blumund.
Not to conquer it. Not to demand tribute or annex its territory or make any of the requests that nations typically dreaded from beings of that caliber. They were coming to meet each other on neutral ground, hosting what was quietly being described in certain political circles as the most consequential diplomatic meeting since the founding of the Western Council.
King Drum Blumund had spent the better part of three days preparing for this. The reception hall had been cleaned twice. The security arrangements had been reviewed four times. The seating configuration for the formal meeting had been changed six times at the insistence of his advisors and his prime minister, Veryard, before everyone agreed that no configuration was going to feel adequate and they should simply pick one and commit to it.
He stood now at the city's northern gate with his senior ministers arranged behind him, trying to project the particular calm that monarchs were expected to maintain in situations that were objectively anything but calm.
Beside him stood Yuuki Kagurazaka.
The president of the Freedom Association had arrived two days prior with a small personal retinue, citing security concerns and his organization's longstanding relationship with Blumund as the basis for his involvement. Drum had accepted gratefully. Having the head of the Adventurers Guild present lent the occasion a neutral legitimacy that his own small kingdom couldn't have generated independently.
Yuuki stood with his hands folded behind his back. He wore no weapon visibly. He required none.
He already knew which delegation would arrive first.
Demon Lord Sally had communicated through intermediaries that Dhistav's party would reach Blumund's northern gate at the third hour of the afternoon.
A low rhythmic vibration in the air, barely perceptible at first, gradually resolved into the cadence of measured footsteps approaching at an unhurried pace. Then the northern road came into view past the gate's arch and Dhistav's delegation appeared from the treeline.
Drum had not expected then to arrive on foot, much less in such small numbers.
They were six.
Sally walked at their center, her silver hair catching the afternoon light with a quiet luminosity that had nothing to do with any spell or artifice. She was shorter than most people imagined a Demon Lord would be. Her expression was composed and pleasant.
To her left walked Eva, dressed like a maid yet she seemed to be right at home walking directly behind the Demon Lord.
To Sally's right, Yamza kept pace with the Demon Lord. His eyes moved continuously across the gate, the rooftops, the gathered officials, cataloguing without appearing to catalogue.
Behind them, Alvaro walked with a quieter menace, his frame relaxed. He was the largest of the group and his presence seemed even larger.
And beside Alvaro, at a pace that made her four fox tails sway with each step, walked Kumara.
She had taken her human form for the occasion, a woman of bewitching appearance with fox ears resting high atop her head and four tails drifting behind her in lazy elegant arcs, each one moving with graceful independence.
The gathered ministers straightened almost collectively.
Drum descended two steps from the gate's platform and bowed his head with practiced depth. He couldn't even remember how many times he'd practice this one moment. "Demon Lord Sally. On behalf of the Kingdom of Blumund, we welcome you and your delegation."
Sally's pleasant expression warmed slightly. "The welcome is appreciated, King Phobio." Her voice was unhurried. "Blumund has been generous in offering this ground. We are grateful."
The exchange was brief and correct and gave nothing away on either side.
Yuuki stepped forward then, his smile carrying its usual warmth. "It's good to meet you properly, Demon Lord Sally. Yuuki Kagurazaka, president of the Freedom Association. I'll be overseeing the security arrangements for today's proceedings."
Sally turned toward him.
"President Kagurazaka." She inclined her head with precisely calibrated respect. "I've heard a great deal about you."
"Likewise," Yuuki replied, his smile never shifting by a single degree. "I look forward to a productive afternoon."
They held each other's gaze for exactly as long as courtesy required.
Then Sally's attention returned to Drum and the moment passed, smoothly and completely, leaving no visible trace that it had occurred.
Dhistav's delegation was escorted through the gate and toward the eastern reception hall while the northern road settled back into its expectant quiet.
They did not wait long.
Tempest's delegation arrived at the third hour and twenty minutes, which was either a coincidence or a statement depending on how one chose to read it.
Just like the Dhistav delegation, the Tempest delegates had arrived on foot as well.
Drum felt a bead of sweat form on his forehead. 'Are things really that serious? Please, may today end without incident.'
Rimuru Tempest walked at the front.
He was, as he always was, disarmingly ordinary in appearance. Slender feminine proportions and silver-haired. He wore Tempest's formal diplomatic attire without appearing to have dressed for the occasion, which somehow made it more rather than less impressive.
Behind him walked Shuna, the Ogre Princess, her pink hair and composed elegance the exact opposite of Drum at that moment.
On Rimuru's other side, Shion walked with an unmistakable bounce to her step, making the already tall woman seem even taller.
Behind the three of them, Soei remained impassive. He was watching everything. He gave no indication of watching anything.
And at the rear of the formation, Ranga padded along with the rest of them. His size alone required the gathered onlookers to take a collective step backward, although not for fear.
Drum descended his steps for the second time in twenty minutes and performed his bow with the same practiced depth. "Demon Lord Rimuru. Blumund is honored by your presence."
Rimuru smiled with genuine warmth. "Thanks for having us, King Blumund. Sorry for any trouble this is causing."
Several of the ministers behind Drum appeared briefly uncertain whether the apology was intended as a diplomatic courtesy or a sincere personal observation. It was, in fact, both.
Yuuki stepped forward again. "Demon Lord Rimuru. Good to see you."
Rimuru looked at him for a moment. "Yeah," he said pleasantly. "You too, Yuuki."
The two of them had a history considerably longer and more complicated than the afternoon's proceedings would allow room for. Neither gave any outward indication of this.
They instead shook hands and proceeded toward the reception hall with the rest of the delegates.
[xxx]
The meeting between the nations of Tempest and Dhistav, or perhaps more accurately, between Demon Lords Rimuru and Sally, had been proposed by the latter.
Its purpose was a simple one.
To mend a bridge that had been burned long before either side had ever been given the opportunity to cross it.
The previous ruler of Dhistav had left behind a legacy of bloodshed and betrayal that had reached far beyond his own borders. Tempest, perhaps more than any other nation, had suffered under the consequences of those ambitions.
Trust, where it might once have grown naturally, had instead withered before it had the chance to take root.
Sally had inherited more than a throne. And from the moment she had ascended as Demon Lord, she had made no effort to preserve that particular inheritance.
Instead... She had extended a hand. Whether that hand would be accepted remained another matter entirely.
Trust was not something either nation possessed for one another in abundance.
Tempest had no intention of allowing an illusion specialist of Sally's caliber unrestricted access to its capital, regardless of her intentions. The potential risks were simply too great.
Dhistav, meanwhile, remained a nation still healing from the scars of tyrannical rule. Sally had no desire to invite the possibility of conflict onto soil that had only recently begun to recover.
Thus... The Kingdom of Blumund had found itself serving as neutral ground.
King Drum privately suspected history would remember his kingdom as the unfortunate host caught between two monsters.
He sincerely hoped history would remember something else instead.
The reception hall had been prepared long before either delegation arrived.
A single circular table occupied its centre, chosen specifically because no seat could be interpreted as holding greater authority than another.
Drum entered alongside Prime Minister Veryard and several senior ministers before quietly making his way to the final unoccupied seat.
Both Demon Lords had already arrived.
Rimuru and Sally sat opposite one another across the polished table, their expressions equally composed.
Neither spoke. Neither seemed inclined to be the first.
Behind Sally stood her attendants.
Eva remained directly behind the Demon Lord's chair, hands folded neatly before her apron, every bit the picture of a perfect maid.
Yamza, Alvaro and Kumara waited several steps farther back, silent and attentive.
Across the table, Tempest mirrored the arrangement.
Shuna stood serenely behind Rimuru, while Shion, Soei and Ranga waited nearby with the same disciplined stillness.
It was only after Drum lowered himself into his own chair that the atmosphere shifted.
As though responding to an unspoken signal, the attendants on both sides finally moved.
Yamza, Alvaro, Kumara...
Shion, Soei and Ranga...
Each took their designated seats beside their respective leaders in near-perfect unison.
Only two remained standing.
Eva.
And Shuna.
The two women quietly assumed identical positions behind their masters, neither appearing to find the arrangement unusual.
Drum couldn't help noticing the symmetry. 'Intentional... Or coincidence?'
He wisely decided not to ask.
A brief silence settled over the chamber.
Outside, the sounds of the city had faded into distant murmurs, leaving only the faint crackle of enchanted lamps illuminating the hall.
Every person present understood the significance of the next few hours.
The future relationship between two of the world's emerging great powers would, in no small part, be decided within this room.
King Drum drew a slow breath. "...If there are no objections," he said, his voice carrying clearly through the chamber, "I hereby declare this diplomatic conference between the Monster Federation of Tempest and the Demon Lord Domain of Dhistav officially open."
Silence answered him for the span of a heartbeat.
Then Sally smiled.
And the conference began.
[xxx]
Deep beneath the capital of Londo, within labyrinths that were never recorded to have existed within Blumund before, a young girl sipped a glass of tea in the darkness.
Maribel's eyes glowed a green hue. "And so it begins."