7 A Call to Action

*How did I get wrapped into this?*

Those were Rimuru's thoughts as he was sitting in front of a desk with a load of paperwork and a pen. Along with Testa and Souma, there were multiple people who were sifting through loads of paperwork and running around. Whenever one load was done, a maid would promptly come in with another. With this happening for three days straight, it felt like his own personal hell.

Though Albert handed the throne to Souma, he was still a provisional king and not a true king. Nevertheless, he wasted no time in immediately sifting through all the documents and implementing the plans that they discussed in the meeting. Rimuru and Testa certainly didn't have to do any of the work and were planning to spend the next few days exploring the surrounding capital of Elfrieden, Parnam. All he had to do was to let the ministers and a 19-year-old kid do the work...

His good-hearted nature clashed with the hatred of doing any work on what he saw as his vacation.

His good nature won out in the end, and so not even a couple of hours after Souma basically locked himself in the government office, he offered his assistance. He told Testa that she didn't have to help them, but she insisted, stating that she was simply happy to be with him, even if it was something as droll as paperwork.

All of the government officials also worked, and it was a funny look seeing pudgy ministers running all over the castle. Even the maids, who normally only take care of the castle were not spared from this insane work ethic that permeated the castle and took it upon themselves to be as useful as possible, even if it was just delivering papers.

Rimuru was astounded at just how efficiently he was able to execute his plans. Sure, it was far from perfect, but for some college kid who not even last week was wondering what he was going to eat for lunch to be able to understand and execute the affairs of a country, not only from a different age, but a different world, was just impressive to him.

One of the first things that they did was pay off the debt, and this was done by selling off about a third of the kingdom's treasures.

Was there some pushback? Yes.

However, that was quickly put away when Souma pointed out that the treasures were practically useless, and that him, Rimuru, and Testa would eventually be going to the Empire if the debt wasn't paid off. It was argued that they would rather take the gamble of both Albert's decision and keeping the three over what was basically guaranteeing the people starving and the country crumbling from both internal and external forces.

The real costs came with his plans to reform the country, and this was what took the majority of their time.

*But for THREE DAYS?!*

He couldn't even use Ciel to help him, as if he just blew through all his paperwork, there was a pretty good chance that any and all future paperwork would just come to him. Therefore, both him and Testa struck a balance of being good enough to keep up, but not excelling at doing said chore.

Unfortunately, his pride wasn't something he was accounting for. The reason being is that he wanted to keep up with Souma. But Souma wasn't even sleeping for the duration, and only took bathroom breaks. He wasn't about to leave halfway through and just dump the rest of the work on Souma. While this pace wasn't really affecting Rimuru or Testa, Souma was having some nasty bags under his eyes from pulling three consecutive all-nighters.

Fortunately, a new face came into the door, or rather barged in. She was objectively beautiful, with platinum-blonde hair tied in a ponytail and light golden eyes, fair features and complexion to suit, and was wearing a skintight white military academy uniform with a white and red overcoat. Rimuru and Testa quickly connected this and realized that she was the daughter of the queen, whose name they learned was Elisha. All Souma saw, however, was a fresh new body to be put to work.

Before Rimuru could tell him who she was, Souma beckoned her over. "You, can you read and write?"

"Of course I can! That's a basic prerequisite for entering the academy!"

"Good. Then lend a hand and look through these documents for any discrepancies."

She looked as if someone had just insulted every fiber of her being. "Who the hell do you think you are ordering me around like some dog?!"

"Your king. This is a royal order. Do it."

With the woman, Liscia, now only realizing that this was the man her father named king, she awkwardly took the documents and began her work. Another realization was that there were two other women who clearly didn't belong here, one with blue hair, one with white hair, and both extraordinarily beautiful. She maybe wondered if that was the reason many of the ministers also were working themselves to the bone. Although, she while she noticed their body language clearly acting tired, they didn't have the same bags under their eyes as everyone else did.

Certainly, when she heard the news that her father abdicated the throne to someone else, she immediately stopped her patrol and rushed as fast as she could to the castle, only to see her mother and father eating scones as if they were in some sort of rom-com. Furious at this sight, she grilled him not only as to why he gave up the throne, but as to why he betrothed her to the new king. Once she found out where Souma was, she swiftly departed the room before they could tell her about the entire situation. They didn't even get the chance to tell her that he was a summoned hero, or about the other two.

In truth, the reason Albert betrothed Liscia to Souma was to further cement his rule. Because Albert was a good person, the public opinion of him was quite high, but as he was a poor king, there wasn't a large amount of public disorder when news of him abdicating flowed into the rest of the kingdom. Liscia was naturally at her finest on the battlefield, so even if Souma annulled the marriage, both her competency as a warrior and status as a princess guaranteed her a high spot in the army.

A few hours after she joined in, Rimuru and Testa were finally finished with the last remnants of their paperwork. He offered to take a little off Souma's load, but as he was close to being finished, he refused and urged the two to get some sleep.

With that, Rimuru got up and stretched. "Well, if you insist, we're gonna hit the hay. You and your fiancée can have fun finishing the rest up."

"Yeah, good night... wait what?"

Souma took a good look at the woman next to him, who was now giving him a slight smirk. Noticing the platinum-blonde hair and light golden eyes, as well as the rest of the outfit giving off a regal feel, he quickly felt like an idiot for not realizing it sooner.

"Allow me to properly introduce myself, King Souma. I am Liscia Elfrieden, daughter of former king Alfred Elfrieden, as well as your betrothed."

"Oh..." Souma just looked at her, unsure of what to say as Rimuru chuckled his way out the door with Testa.

"We'll discuss things later. For now, let's finish this up and rest. Not to be rude, but you look like a ghost with how gaunt your face is."

Souma welcomed the fact that she didn't harp over it and continued with his work and told her that she can forget about the formalities, which she appreciated due to how rapidly everything was happening. Besides, they would soon be of equal status now that they were engaged. About an hour later, they were finally both finished with all the main things they wanted to get done. While Liscia was quite alarmed about how they raised the money to pay off the debt to the Empire so quickly, she put off those matters and promised to grill him about it later. For now, all she wanted to do was rest, and joined Souma in crashing on the couch.

Souma woke up the next morning a little groggy, but quickly got up when he noticed the woman sleeping beside him. Him jolting up into a seated position alerted her as well, who opened her sleepy eyes.

"Ah, good morning, Souma." She said while rubbing her eyes.

"Good morning Liscia... what are you doing sleeping on the couch?"

Liscia finally realized where she slept, and quickly got up. Sure, they were betrothed, but it was customary to sleep together only after the marriage had been consummated. While she wasn't super traditional in that regard, she still wouldn't rest beside a man she had just met the previous day, fiancée or not.

Letting out a yawn, Liscia remembered that she wanted clarification on what Souma's plans were for the country, and why the damn costs were so high. "Souma, sometime today, I want to know your full plans for this country. Half the paperwork I went through yesterday and the plans you were going to enact seemed absolutely ludicrous."

Souma awkwardly laughed at this, then responded. "I think it might be better if I show you. Although we should go with Rimuru and Testarossa since most of the ideas for solving the direct farming problem came from them."

"About them, who are those two? I've never seen them before, and suddenly they're working beside the new king?"

"...Did your father not tell you about what happened?"

She scoffed at this. "No. All he told me was that he abdicated the throne. I ran like mad back to the castle only to see both mother and father acting without a care in the world. Once he told me where you were, I went to confront you about it and... here we are."

Souma gave her a wry smile. She must be a bit hot-headed.

Stretching, he said, "Well, let's go see the other two. We'll explain everything on the way. Do you know where the guest room is?"

She gave a light sigh at this. "Which one? There are plenty in the castle."

Oh right, this isn't your average house.

"Besides," she added, "just send a maid to get them and guide them to where you want to meet up. Surely they'll know which room they're in."

"I want to go there myself, though."

"Why...? Oh, forget it." Liscia opened the door and beckoned the nearest maid to them. "Can you show us where Miss Rimuru and Miss Testarossa are staying?"

"Certainly. Right this way, please. And princess, if you don't mind me saying so, I recommend you fix your hair."

Liscia looked at her hair, which, although still in a ponytail, looked quite unkempt. Her brush was in her room, so she did what she could with her hands.

"I'll fix it later. For now, let's go."

With the maid leading the new couple through the castle, they quickly got to Rimuru's room. Liscia gave the maid permission to leave, and Souma knocked on the door.

"One sec." a voice groggily said from the room.

When the door opened, what greeted them was a beautiful woman with half-lidded eyes and silver-blue hair that was sprawled across her back and partly across her front. Along with the look was a black tank top and gray shorts coming down a little more than halfway to her knees, showing a good portion of her legs. To top it off, she was barefoot.

The woman standing a little behind her actually looked presentable, with her white hair slightly waving down to her upper back before curling the rest of the down. She was wearing slightly form-fitting black pants that had pockets on both the sides, back, and further down in the thighs. Wearing a simple white top with sleeves stopping near the elbows, she looked to be deciding between a black or dark blue overcoat.

Seeing Souma slightly reddening, she lightly pouted.

I know they're beautiful, but at least act like you aren't interested in other women with your fiancée right beside you. Seriously, I at least have Rimuru beat in one aspect, and Testarossa is thankfully already taken.

If she had to say, she thought that, while Rimuru was certainly beautiful in her own right, Testarossa would be the one men looked at more. She was secretly envious of that level of natural beauty.

Taking a more objective look at things, she realized she was being petty. After, all they had only met yesterday...

With her eyes widening, she called herself stupid for not putting two and two together sooner. She, of course, knew about the situation of the kingdom, and by retrospect, the summoned hero. When she heard of the throne being passed on, she quickly jumped to conclusions and thought it was someone else, as the new king seemed, for all intents and purposes, normal. Though she correctly assumed that Souma was a summoned hero, she thought that the summoned hero would be more... hero-y.

Breaking her out of her thoughts, Rimuru told the two a joke.

"Souma, I'm flattered, really. But I don't really swing that way."

It was way too early for jokes.

He just sighed, and Rimuru took a couple steps back. "Your breath stinks by the way. If you're gonna sigh, do it elsewhere."

"Rimuru, I know you like joking around, but at least make them believable."

"Hah? It's true though. I can show you if you want."

Souma brought a hand up to his face, and Liscia was deadpanning. If that really was the case, she felt she, or he, owed an apology to all women for monopolizing such beauty.

Though Souma only knew Rimuru for a short few days, he knew better than to drag out a conversation with... whatever she called herself.

"Well, in any case, we were going to go to for a stroll outside the castle and would like you to join us."

"Hmm, alright. Nothing better to do anyways. Give me a minute and I'll get ready."

When the door closed, the two just looked on without saying a word for a few seconds before Liscia gave a smirk to Souma.

"You do know that if she is telling the truth, it means you had the hots for a man."

"... I just wasn't prepared for what I saw. And besides, there's no way that's a man. With how her voice isn't that deep, I refuse to believe it."

"I don't know. There are some men with high voices like that."

"Please don't joke around. Even if we disregard the voice, the face and body is a dead give-away. That is the body of a woman."

*Too easy.*

"Jeez. I can't believe you looked at him that much. If you like him so much than we should just annul our marriage and you can marry him."

Souma gave her a shocked look. "Wait, hold on! How was I not supposed to look-"

Souma was interrupted by the door opening and Rimuru saving him with some incredibly wise advice.

"Souma, in moments like these, the best thing you can do is shut up. You'll never win. And for the record, while I am a guy, I don't really mind how you address me."

Liscia "hmphed" at Rimuru ruining her fun but would also properly lecture him later. If Souma could be manipulated with something simple like that, there would be no shortage of concubines she would have to fend off who would be pining after him thanks to his position.

With the matter of Rimuru's gender largely settled, there was just one more thing to address.

"Are you going out like that? It's early morning."

It was a fair point that she brought up. Rimuru still had his tank top on and only exchanged his shorts for a pair of white pants similar to Liscia's, which really didn't help his cause as they were still the form-fitting ones. To top the outfit off, he was wearing his hair in a braid and had a couple of bangs framing his face.

Honestly, with that fashion sense and not caring how you look, I'm seriously starting to believe it. I'll ask the maids to send some men's clothes to the room later.

"I'm fine. If you want a brush for your hair, I have one."

Liscia thanked him and they set off. She led the four outside to the stables. When they got there, the brisk cool air removed any of the tiredness they still had as the sun crested over the horizon with its red-orange fluorescence.

Souma looked at Liscia's horse, which was a beautiful white-colored stallion with an amazing mane. When he asked for some help getting on, he was given looks of incredulity from all three of them.

"Souma..."

"Souma, if you want to have a working set of balls tomorrow, you'll want a saddle for the horse."

He gave a sheepish look towards the two of them and waited for Liscia to put the saddle on the horse.

After Rimuru and Testa got one of the other horses, they took their stroll around the city, set for one of the farms.

As they were walking, the city had started coming to life again. Shopkeepers were getting ready for business, others looked ready to start their day, and there were even some kids that were already taking advantage of the early morning to start play-sparring.

Previously, Testa wouldn't think this was anything special, and would have just disregarded them. After all, she had seen this plenty of times before, and from her perspective, they just repeated the same actions again and again until they eventually died. Now that she with Rimuru, however, she noticed the little things that never registered with her before.

The wives kissing their husbands and wishing them a good day, the kids playing around, with some looking at her and giving a big smile and wave. She lightly waved back and couldn't prevent a smile from finding its way to her face. Things that would have appeared dull, as none of them would have ever helped with her goal of getting stronger, now had a distinct look of color and brimming with life. It certainly wasn't all pretty, as many of the people looked unhealthy, and there was the occasional beggar she detected along with horse dung that seemed to litter the road, but she was still happy nonetheless that she could truly experience this.

She hugged Rimuru a little tighter and silently thanked the man who had introduced her to all the new things that she was still figuring out.

While Rimuru and Souma were enjoying the views, both in their own ways, Liscia caused the silent atmosphere to disperse.

"So... Souma. Was there anything you left behind when you got summoned?"

"Not much. Both my parents passed away from an early age, and so I was raised by my grandpa. But passed away as well."

She heard this and felt her shoulders release a lot of tension. She felt that he had led a quite solemn life before this, so she was a little sad at that. The tension quickly came back when he retorted, "I don't know about the other two, though."

"!!!"

"I'm honestly a little surprised you didn't make that connection before. You don't need to worry about us though. While we did leave a few things behind, we can make do."

Liscia looked baffled at this. "I'm truly sorry for this! The summon ritual is only supposed to bring one hero! I don't know who the chosen one was, but it seemed it succeeded too well..."

Even though Rimuru said he didn't need really care, which was a little weird on its own, her pride as a princess wouldn't allow her to not at least try to make amends.

"Like I said, don't worry about it."

As they exited the town gate and continued on to the farmlands, Liscia probed the three of them a little more.

"So, what exactly are your plans for reformation. I got the general gist of it from some of the papers, but I would like to know a bit more."

"As you know, the kingdom is in a famine right now, which is the main problem that needs to be addressed. The first thing that needs to be done is change the things that are being farmed."

"That are being farmed?"

As they got off the horses and looked around, Liscia saw a bunch of farms that were planting some crop or other and looked quite neat with the way the early morning dew was gently bathing them.

"Yes, the things that are being farmed. I don't know much about farming, but I do know about economics. Look at the farms and you'll see the problem."

Liscia took another look at them, but she was drawing a blank. The plants looked similar, but that's all they were, right? Just plants. Rimuru noticed this and gave a helpless chuckle. Answering the problem, he explained, "These are all cotton plants. With the increase in refugees, prices for everything went soaring, including the prices for cotton. Wanting to cash in on this, the farmers switched from planting low-cost staples such as corn and wheat and switched to high-priced cotton which they could sell at a premium."

Liscia's eyes grew wide at this, but Rimuru wasn't done explaining. "Though this helped the economy in the short term, people obviously can't eat cotton, which transitioned into having to import food, which then rose the cost of said food because it was imported, and so on and so forth."

Liscia felt her knees hit the ground and was hoping the news stopped there. Unfortunately, Souma felt that she should hear the full story. "Eventually, supply couldn't meet demand, and without a proper system keeping prices in check, the cost of food got to the point where it is now, which is obviously more than the common folk can afford. Instead of subsidizing the transport, however, many of the nobles and royalty kept up their lavish lifestyles, leading to an economy like this."

Liscia was berating herself. Am I really a princess?! How could I have been so blind to this?! I thought it was just bad weather! Or soil! Or something other than THIS!

In truth, Liscia couldn't be blamed for this. The nobles and royalty still kept up appearances, and since her only real interaction with the commonfolk is secondhand through the military, there was no way she would have known without seeing it.

Souma put a hand on her shoulder. "Relax, things are bad, but we can turn them around. With the money raised from selling off the more lavish and useless things the royal family owns, we can put Rimuru's plan into action of implementing a proper crop rotation and improve our food sufficiency."

Rimuru explained his brief plans. "Even in my old world, farming had to be subsidized as it simply isn't a profitable venture to be growing staple foods. Or at least not at the prices that people would buy them at. Yet they're necessary for survival. Offering these subsidies provides farmers more incentives to plant these kinds of wide-range food like potatoes, beans, and wheat. Of course, to get the ball rolling, it will probably take a royal order."

If prices of food hit a market equilibrium without government subsidies, the price of food would still be sky high as food simply can't be stored in the same way cotton can. Thus, the reason for subsidies is to allow for the farmers to continue farming food and for the prices to be as such that the average person can reasonably afford them. Even in Tempest, this was the case. The government-owned all the farmland and leased it to the farmers, and in exchange, the farmers were able to both make a living and save their money thanks to the subsidies.

"Yeah, probably. Although once we get the food shortage done and the economy back on track, I'll just quit this whole king gig in a few years."

This time, it was Rimuru's turn to be shocked. Along with Testa and Liscia.

"Kid... good luck with that."

"What do you mean? King Albert did it without much of an issue."

Rimuru looked at him sardonically. "Yes but, and I mean no ill will here Liscia, King Albert was not a good king. It was evidenced by how little unrest there was when he ceded the throne to you. You actually have both the competence and the know-how to become a good king. You think the people will just accept you stepping down? And even if it does happen, where will you go?"

Souma reflected on this but kept his stance. "Even if that is the case, I just need to find someone who is just as competent as me and who wants to lead. I can't imagine it will be too hard. And I can always just stay here or go to King Albert's dukedom."

A new voice spoke up. "Souma, I believe you will find very few people who meet those capabilities. For one, not many smart people are interested in leading a nation."

Testa gave her honest opinion on the matter. She had grown to slightly respect Souma, even through the occasional glances he was sending her. He was someone who had earned her Lord's respect, so she believed he had earned hers as well, which is why she even bothered giving him advice in the first place.

Though she had been working on it ever since she became Rimuru's subordinate, she couldn't help but somewhat look down on others whenever she saw them eye her in a lustful way.

"Besides," Rimuru added, "who knows how things will play out in a few years."

Realizing that his plans might have been a bit too ill-thought, he dropped the conversation and they headed back to the castle with Liscia both hearing about stories from their old worlds along with plans for this one.

Once they got back to the castle, they went to eat. Though Rimuru and Testa technically didn't have to, it would look far more suspicious if they just didn't eat at all and went to do whatever, as they were now both persons of interest and royal vassals. They'd practically always have an eye on them.

With Rimuru and Testa both steeling themselves for eating food not made from Tempest, they went into the cafeteria hall. Not the royal dining hall, but the regular chow hall that was used by both the maids and the soldiers.

Liscia was embarrassed to say the least, but Souma insisted, stating that all unnecessary expenses had to be cut. This included the use of the royal dining hall, which, for now, was only for looks. It certainly didn't help that with both Rimuru and Testa there, as they garnered far more attention than was necessary.

Rimuru and Testa were surprised by the quality of food here. Sure, it wasn't anywhere near what they were used to, but the fat from the sausage and the lightly salted eggs gave enough flavor to where they could at least tolerate it. Testa was having a thought communication and asking Rimuru to cook some proper food, but he refused, until he eventually compromised and promised to cook something for them once they went to their room.

While they were eating, Liscia and Souma were having a conversation revolving around the immediate food situation, specifically about why they were increasing food imports. Part of Souma's plan was to currently subsidize the imports by having the country buy them up and sell them to the people at a more affordable cost. This would hurt them in the short run, but until the new crops started to grow and could be farmed, people still needed to eat.

Unsurprisingly, despite the food shortage, the noble families still had plenty of nice confectionaries to spare and would gift them to Souma, Rimuru, and Testarossa both to maintain good will and the hopes that they would be granted special favors. While Souma didn't have much of a sweet tooth, Rimuru and Testa were more than happy to eat their share.

As they were having their conversation, someone walked up to them and greeted them. Normally, no one would be so brazen as to do so, as even if the new king seemed affable enough, they knew all it took was one word from him for them to be out of a job. However, this person was different.

He was a sufficiently tall man completely covered in the armor of the royal guard, save for the helmet. He had long blonde hair that flowed down to his middle back, with piercing blue eyes right below his bangs. He had quite a sturdy frame that contrasted with facial features that one would view a little more on the feminine side, but still handsome, nonetheless.

He was a ladies' man and gave Liscia credence to the possibility that Rimuru was male.

"Hello, princess, or is it queen now?"

His voice matched the look, and the only reason Liscia wasn't flustered is because not only does she know the man quite well, but she also knows of his personality that is calm and collected when needed, but also a bit airheaded.

"Um... technically neither."

Liscia realized she should probably introduce the man to the others. "This is Ludwin Arcs, captain of the royal guard."

"It's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance. I have heard quite a lot about the three of you. May I join you?"

Though the question was directed to the four of them, it was ultimately up to Souma.

"Go ahead."

"Thank you, sire."

As he took a seat, he joined the conversation about the current situation.

"How are the reforms going, my lord?"

"Underwhelming. Without the talented personnel, there's only so much we can do. With many of the ministers leaving after King Albert handed the throne to me, I'm at a loss as to what to do. It doesn't help that the Three Dukes don't recognize me."

The Three Dukes were related to the three major powers that, although were technically a part of the kingdom, had their own territory. In exchange, they would protect the kingdom. How it was even founded in the first place was due to their contributions in the previous war.

The general of the army, Duke George Carmine, is a beast-man and a terrific warrior and statesman. The general of the navy, Duchess Excel Walter, is a beautiful woman with a serpent's tail, as well as a former pirate, excelling in both politics and war. The general of the air force, Duke Castor Vargas, is a dragonewt, leader of the wyvern force, arguably the most powerful in the army, and holds the title "King of the Skies."

While the three were initially founded because of their war efforts, another reason is to ensure racial harmony in the kingdom. As they collectively control a third of the kingdom's land, they are a force to be reckoned with, and a problem if Souma can't get them to his side.

Ludwin pondered at this. "That is a problem. Although if it is a lack of qualified people, perhaps I can help."

"Oh?"

"The royal guard is not just limited to fighting. We also have people who are proficient in blacksmithing and science."

Souma thought about this, and concluded that some help was better than none, even if it was in a different field. "Whatever you can gather, please bring them to me."

"As you will."

With breakfast finished, Rimuru wondered about something.

"Liscia, what was that big orb-looking thing in the castle?"

"You mean the Jewel Voice Broadcast?"

"Yeah that. Souma, couldn't you make an announcement from there and hold a competition like the Olympics? From the top people, we could bring them on board with us. It's a long shot, but better than nothing."

Souma looked at him like he was a genius. He knew the broadcasting jewel would greatly come in handy, but he wasn't sure how best to use it. Hearing Rimuru's idea, he realized that he could make a competition of sorts and have a prize for the top people while also offering them work in the castle. Since it was broadcasted through voice and not written, anyone who heard could join in. All that was needed was the venue, and Souma had the perfect idea of what to do.

Coming to a room with a large jewel surrounded by spirits of air and water, he looked at it in awe. Both Testa and Rimuru went up to their room, so it was just him and Liscia. Thinking of the words to use, he uttered what would be a speech that would be remembered for years to come.

"If you have a gift, I will put it to use!"