14 A Meal for a King

(A/n: Sorry for the large delay between chapters. Work has increased my hours quite a bit and college has ramped up as well. That being said, I was originally planning on having this chapter out by Sunday, but my sewage pipe clogged up, and I was pretty much forced out of my house until it could be dealt with on Tuesday. I don't know about anyone else, but the smell of shit is not something I particularly enjoy. I'll try to keep up my normal pace of chapters, but expect them to be a bit more delayed than usual thanks to the holidays, school, and work. Once college is done in early December, I'll have plenty more time to write.)

"Have any of the prisoners talked yet?"

"Not a single one, King Souma."

Souma sighed at this. It had currently been two days since the men were taken prisoner inside the castle dungeons, and yet, not even one had talked. This was a major problem as, at least to the interrogators, these people were not your average bandits. Or rather, Hinata shared her suspicions with him about them being from Amidonia.

Though he already suspected as much from their nature, as they were far more prideful than your average bandit and displayed none of the cowardice normally associated with them, the problem was proving it. Currently, they only had the name 'Joran' to go off, which wasn't exactly ideal.

"I see. Keep at it. We either want a written confession or leads as to who they keep in contact with."

"As you wish, sir!"

As the guard ran off, Souma was expressing his distaste on how one or more of the more corrupt nobles were likely acting as waypoints for the orders from Amidonia. While he wanted nothing more than to capture the nobles responsible, they couldn't storm one of the nobles' houses without a proper reason or else he would be seen as a tyrant. Though he had approved a search of the combat area to find something, it had yet to bear any fruit.

In the days that followed, Tomoe's mom, Tomoko, as well as her brother, Rou, were brought into the royal castle following Tomoe's adoption into the royal family. An unused wing near the castle town was also remodeled to become a daycare where Tomoko and some of the maids would spend their time and was also the reason as to why the maids were looking to start a family. Technically, after the first couple months of giving birth, they would be continuing to work in the daycare facility before gradually returning to their normal duties.

As for Rimuru, Souma requested that he become a part time teacher in the daycare, which he jumped at. While it was a nice change of pace to get away from paperwork, he felt a little out of place in the catacombs since he wasn't really needed there anymore. When he wasn't teaching, he was either talking with the other people in the castle or getting to know some of the blacksmiths who took up the task of making his personal katana.

Testa has frequented the daycare from time to time, but normally throughout her day reads in the royal library or helps Souma with one of his projects alongside Hinata. Hinata, for her part, could normally be found sparring with Liscia and some of the other soldiers when she wasn't busy with her guarding duties or doing a project with Testa. When the nights came, they would always indulge in each other along with Rimuru and Ciel.

Hakuya had quickly been welcomed as an official prime minister after only a short few days as his knowledge even eclipsed Marx when it came to law, and he was more than level-headed enough to advise Souma on how best to move the kingdom forward with its best interests in mind. Aisha has resumed following her guard to Souma and only really left his side to converse with Hinata and Testa when he was with Liscia, or when he ordered it. Though her actions with the bandits bothered her a bit, she was quickly able to overcome it when talking her problems out with others, especially Hinata, Testa, and somewhat surprisingly, Liscia.

Souma had been experimenting more with his living poltergeist ability and asked Hinata to make him a prototype to allow him to be able to continue his work when his attention is needed elsewhere. As they really only needed an anatomically correct hand with working digits, the tool was finished in less than three days. Though the sight of just a forearm and hand attached to a little pedestal working on documents spooked a number of maids and ministers, Souma was able to get far more work done than normal. The other thing Souma was working on was controlling a body, similar to a suit of armor. This was currently achievable by using a doll from the castle and outfitting it in armor, while also allowing it to wield weapons. It wasn't the most dangerous thing, but it would be able to deal with small to medium sized monsters in a pinch.

With everyone doing their part, all that was left was to wait for Poncho to come back from his travels. It took a little longer than the otherworlders expected thanks to how the planet revolved around the sun. Instead of Earth, which took a full 365.25 days to revolve around the sun, Io did so around their sun in 384. Since they had a calendar system of 12 months and 52 weeks similar to Earth, this meant that each month contained four weeks and each week contained eight days. As such, Poncho returned after 16 days.

"Ah! About time you two showed up! Wait, Serina, don't tell me they were..."

Rimuru called out to Serina, the head maid of the castle and five years Liscia's senior, who was leading the two into the meeting room. She was an intellectual beauty who was incredibly devoted to her job. And also splendidly complemented Rimuru's mischievous personality with her own slightly sadistic, yet very composed personality.

She let out a sigh. "Unfortunately, His Majesty and Her Highness have yet to consu-."

"Serinaaaaa!!!"

"Rimuru! Have some sense!"

Their voices overlapped.

"Sorry, sorry. In any case, are we all ready?"

Both Souma and Liscia are slowly realizing that the best way not to get pulled into Rimuru's pace was to simply ignore him when he starts his teasing antics. With each of them letting out a much more genuine sigh than Serina, they walked to the table and took their seats. They were about to start the meeting until Liscia spoke up about Rimuru's situation.

"Rimuru... why are you doing that?"

"Doing what?"

Liscia took a deep breath at his question that genuinely suggested nothing he was doing was out of the ordinary.

"You know exactly what I mean! Why are you holding Tomoe on your lap?!"

He looked at her, somehow with an even more confused look than before. "Because she is okay with it?"

Tomoe has been constantly frequenting the daycare, and specifically, Rimuru's lectures. His teachings were producing absolutely stellar results, and Souma wanted to both capitalize and recreate the effects throughout the country. In just under two weeks, many of the children were starting to be able to recognize the letters of the alphabet and do basic addition and subtraction with their fingers. In that time, Tomoe has grown an increasingly close bond with Rimuru as his best student.

"But you're monopolizing h-!" *Thwack*

Liscia let out a little yelp and covered her head at Hakuya slapping her with a paper fan. One of the more sinister aspects was that it was slightly enchanted to send pain signals wherever it hit, so it hurt more than a paper fan ever should.

"Can we please get back on topic?" He said coolly.

Souma cleared his throat, ignoring the glare of Liscia for not defending her. "Yes, of course. Poncho, were you able to get everything I asked?"

"Yes, sir! I was able to procure everything on my list."

"What, exactly, did you want him to get?" Liscia asked.

Souma explained in place of Poncho. "We need to be creative in a food crisis, so I asked him to get various foods and ingredients that are not culturally common."

"I see. When can we expect the crops to bear fruit?"

This time, Rimuru answered her. "We didn't fully crop the plants until last week, so we can't expect them to bear fruit until four months later, either in late July or early August."

Souma continued. "And since we can't rely on imports since most countries are suffering the same food problems, we need to focus our efforts on what we can eat, weird or not."

Though his words were directed towards Liscia, they were meant for everyone. While Aisha and Liscia have not experienced how dire the food shortage truly is, Hakuya, Poncho, and Tomoe were heavily aware of it. It was getting to the point where people were no longer having children thanks to the food shortage, and those that were could either choose to keep their kids and feed one extra mouth or give them away. Thankfully, no one has started dying yet, but if things keep up, it really was only a matter of time.

"Right then. Well, if everyone is ready, let's hope that we can use these ingredients. Let's go to the cafeteria."

Rimuru looked at him quizzically. "Wait, so you called us here only to have us go to the cafeteria? Why not just meet up there?"

"Something, something, 'proper etiquette' blah, blah, blah. Talk to Hakuya if you want to know the details.

As they were getting up, Hakuya let out a sigh before saying, "Sire, I know you don't like proper etiquette, but a king needs to act as a king regardless of the situation in the public eye. This includes acting as such with the maids and ministers."

As they walked to the cafeteria, Souma and Hakuya were lightly bickering about how a king should act, and Rimuru felt a certain kinship with the young king. Though he also felt that Shuna would get along splendidly with Hakuya.

*He really gets me.*

<<At least he acts somewhat like a king should. Completely unlike you, who goes out of his way to not appear regal in any sense.>>

*Ciel?! Harsh! What did I do to you to deserve such scorn?!*

<<All I'm saying is that master as a person is the most dignified being in existence, but completely lacks any dignity in your actions.>>

*It's tiresome to act all high and mighty! I just want to relax with a beer sometimes! And besides, I do my job!*

<<Correction. You do your job wonderfully whenever no paperwork is involved. The second it is involved; you devote more effort into convincing me to help you than actually doing it.>>

*My fragile psyche is completely shattered.*

<<Fufu. I never said I complain about it. I just enjoy teasing you. After all, I am an extension of you.>>

*...*

With Rimuru not giving her any more leeway to tease him, he experienced a comforting warmth spread throughout his body, most likely as a sort of apology for her actions. Or at least that's what he wanted to believe.

As they got to the cafeteria, they met up with Juna and plenty of the maids who were making preparations for the obvious attention grabber in the room that was the Jewel Voice Broadcast.

"We're using this again, huh?"

Liscia was, of course, referring to the Jewel in the room.

"It's criminal that it was only used for official announcements, and rarely the good kinds. We can use this for so much more. For one, as an incredible source to distribute information to the public, such as now. In the future, I want to create regular broadcasts, but that will have to wait a bit."

"Broad...casts...?"

Rimuru explained. "Think of it like regularly timed usages of the Jewel. Like weekly or even daily."

Not just Liscia, but everyone outside of the three summoned and Hinata had at least some look of realization on their faces. Hakuya, in particular, was already thinking of many different ways to use this to their advantage as he was someone who knew the incredible value of information.

Though Liscia was still confused about one little thing. "This is about showing the different kinds of foods you can eat, right? Why are we here? Wouldn't it be best with you, Rimuru, and Poncho since you three know most about the food?"

"Ara, Liscia, why do you think we are here?"

She turned her attention towards Testa. She had opened up far more these past two weeks and, instead of the rather snarky moniker she had gathered from the maids and ministers from the castle of 'Ice Queen,' she was now someone who was far more approachable. She could still be somewhat dismissive of others, but it was leagues better than when she carried around an atmosphere of what could only be described as condescendence towards anyone other than Rimuru, and oddly enough, Hinata.

Liscia let her words ring through her head before it dawned on her, and she gave a deadpanned look to Souma.

"You're just using us for our beauty, aren't you?"

"Well of course. What did you expect from a closet pervert who has two beauties on each arm?"

Souma almost comically fell over. "Rimuru! Don't overcomplicate things!"

Before he could explain more, Hakuya decided to both completely ignore him and voice his opinion. "How enviable. Sire, you can choose both, but we do need you to produce an heir with at least one of them."

Souma put his hands in his face and took a deep breath. Ignoring every other comment that came his way, he answered Liscia's initial comment. "Because, Liscia, some of the things that draw in the most viewership are children and beauties. That is why we are all here."

Though her deadpan look only slightly lightened, she was happy to be called beautiful by Souma. She only wished that he would do so in a more intimate manner.

Before anyone else could say anything that could derail his train of thought, Souma continued. "Right! Let's make sure everything is prepared and start the broadcast!"

As the light shined through each fountain throughout the country, people were eagerly waiting for what the new king would show. Instead of the rather dismal attitude that was normally associated with these broadcasts, people were excited for what the new king had in store. Currently, there were already merchants peddling their wares to the people who were gathering around the fountains.

As the Jewel Voice Broadcast started, people were elated to see the new king and everyone of importance surrounding him. There was still a widespread debate as to who was the most beautiful person in the kingdom, and that was a split between Juna, Testa, and Rimuru. The reason as to why it was person and not woman directly tied into the next major debate on the topic of Rimuru's gender. Regardless of the result, it could very well be seen as somewhat sacrilegious to know that the majority of the population were more interested in seeing the three beauties than seeing their king.

As the broadcast started off, a few people were taken aback at Souma's lackluster clothing choice. As of present, he was still cycling through button-up shirts that he requested as he found that they were the most comfortable and familiar clothing for him. It was certainly more than your average peasant can afford, but nothing that your average nobleman doesn't own.

The next thing he did was completely out of tune for any leader they had ever known throughout the history of the planet.

After explaining the situation for the food shortage, which, although dumbed down, was still something that only people who had gone to school and were able to apply a level of critical thinking understood, he bowed his head for his predecessor's past actions and inactions. After which, he then gave his order for the public to survive until next fall through any means necessary.

While he would receive a thorough talking to from Hakuya about it later, in the public eye, it was considered incredibly genuine. While many of the nobles thought otherwise, Souma didn't care about that, and was only interested in showcasing his true feelings and letting the cards fall where they may as long as it gave the public a favorable view of him. He knew that without the public's support, he wouldn't have a foundation for his power.

The next things that were showcased were the foods and preparations for it that were being exhibited and something that many of the public were both interested in and, in some cases, freaked out with. Though the public was ecstatic upon seeing the happy reactions of them eating the various foods, such as the octopus and the burdock root, most of them were completely shocked when they started eating the crickets.

Though there were plenty of other foods that could be eaten, these were foods that were both high-risk, high reward, such as salamander, sword tigers, and bears that could realistically only be prepared if you already had enough money to not worry about the food situation, or if you were an adventurer and were capable of hunting your own food.

The thing that Souma practically cried at, however, was the gelin noodles, which were made from a type of slime from the same name, and a type of soy sauce that the Mystic Wolf tribe knew how to make. After giving them a government facilitated monopoly over the luxury, they each gave their closing statements and signed off, promising to make this a more regular occurrence, which the public was elated about.

As the broadcast ended, the public had a much better perception of Souma and sincerely believed that he could be a better king than Albert. However, this meant doing things that Albert never really had the heart to do, and that realization was starting to become blindingly apparent to Souma.

Sitting in his office that same day shortly after the broadcast finished, he was joined by Hakuya Rimuru, and Testa.

"I understand the significance of the meeting, but why are we here?"

Souma answered his query. "Because I need your input. What we're about to discuss won't exactly be the most pleasant thing, so I want to hear what you have to say about it."

Souma had heard the report from Aisha about what happened when they were on their trip to the God-Protected Forest. While he wasn't as naïve as her in regards to dirtying his hands, he did want the input of someone like Testa who didn't seem to hesitate in being able to kill others, as well as her input in the more disturbing side of diplomacy.

"If you don't have any more questions, then I'd like Hakuya to begin."

Hakuya began a much more in-depth explanation regarding the surrounding countries and what Elfrieden's relationship to them was. Currently, the neighboring countries were Amidonia, Zem, the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago, and the Eastern Union, which was a collection of countries weaved together with an intricate web of diplomatic ties that essentially formed one large country, but nowhere close to anything unified.

With no allies to speak of, all of them were neutral with Amidonia being hostile. Though Souma pointed out a specific interaction with Zem that may have gotten them to have a less than favorable view of them, Hakuya dismissed the thought.

Zem is a mercenary state that also uses mercenary contracts to other countries both as its main source of income and its main export. Elfrieden was one of these contract holders, but Souma saw it as an unnecessary expense and canceled all contracts. While it could definitely cause Zem to have an unfavorable viewpoint of them, as Hakuya said, there is no reason for them to enter into hostilities as that would cause them to lose the chance to ever enter another contract with them.

"We have gotten an offer from Amidonia to help deal with the Three Dukes."

"What in the hell are they thinking? They can't be that stupid, right?"

"I'm sure they just think His Majesty is some fool that has no idea on how to navigate dealing with a country. They have also most likely given the Three Dukes the same proposal."

"Playing both sides, huh."

Rimuru was responding to the odd proposal from Amidonia that Hakuya relayed.

"It's almost comical how blatantly obvious they are being with their desires." Souma chimed in.

If either side took up Amidonia's offer, Amidonia would be the one to profit off it. If they helped in dealing with the Three Dukes, they could demand their territory as payment for assisting. If they helped the Three Dukes against Souma, they would have an incredibly powerful ally and would be able to install a puppet king to pass whatever legislature would benefit those in power, or they could betray the Three Dukes as soon as the conditions were favorable.

Testa redirected the conversation. "Still, this is taking away from the main problem of the Three Dukes and the nobles that are siding with them."

This was what Souma was silently mulling over ever since their brainstorming session a couple weeks back. Hakuya had laid out a plan that would spell both amazing victories for their allies and crippling defeats for their enemies. The main problem that Souma was referring to was how much blood would be shed. The war was one thing, and all the nobles that are siding with the Three Dukes would be tried and executed for treason against the king, dealing with them swiftly.

The issue was the craftier nobles who haven't technically sided with either the kingdom or the Three Dukes. Essentially, they were fair-weather allies who could quickly turn into enemies at the first sign of trouble and only looked out for their own benefits. Such a mentality could work for merchants, but not for someone who overlooked a domain of their own land, and certainly not someone who was supposed to be loyal to the king.

"Sire, I understand your hesitation, but we need your approval to move forward. If we do nothing, we make our situation worse by the day."

"I know, I know, it's just... haaah."

After scraping his head with his nails and thinking over the situation, he gave his consent and asked Hakuya to begin preparations immediately. After he left the room, an awkward atmosphere was left with the three. Not wanting to let Souma drown in his thoughts too much, Rimuru started to break the building tensions.

"I'm guessing you're not too comfortable about this?"

Souma chuckled. "Have you ever heard of the political thinker 'Machiavelli'?

"I've certainly heard of him, but outside of a summary of 'The Prince,' I can't say I've actually read any of his works."

"So, then you know his view on cruelty?"

He saw Rimuru nodding his head and continued. "I agree with his view, yet can't help but see it as evil, even if it is the most rational choice."

"Evil, huh?"

Rimuru took on a pensive look and reflected on his life. If one took on an objective view with the mentality of evil that Souma was projecting, then he was both the victim and perpetrator of many evils throughout his life. However, he also understood that without the evils done to him, he wouldn't have ever needed to commit those acts, but he also understood that he would most likely never get to the level of contentedness he currently has if he was never victim to those evils, such as being stabbed, the greed of Falmuth, and Michael's unilateral focus.

"Perhaps you would resonate more with the works of someone like Nietzsche more than Machiavelli. He had a viewpoint that flipped the common viewpoint of morality on its head."

"Well, Nietzsche was also deemed insane in the later parts of his life."

Rimuru gave him a sidelong glance. "That doesn't make his work any less great."

Souma knew what he was referring to, which was a book called 'Beyond Good and Evil' by the renowned philosopher. It effectively stated that morality was something the masses deemed useful to protect themselves against outside threats, commonly referred to as a herd mentality, and that great people outside of that herd should not concern themselves with those viewpoints and should do whatever is necessary to ensure their vision as long as it benefit humanity as a whole.

His viewpoints did align quite a bit with Machiavelli, and Rimuru could see the ultimate problem Souma was facing. He was a smart kid who had lived the first 19 years of his life without ever having to concern himself with things like this. At least Rimuru had 'practice' in the form of the Orc Lord.

Put simply, Souma was forced into the position of a 'great person,' and was struggling to adopt the necessary mentality.

"Kid, you can be both good and dead, good and alive, evil and alive, or evil and dead. Or a mix of both and alive. Or a mix of both and dead. My point is that whatever decision you make as king isn't indicative of who you are as a person. Right now, you're simply doing what's best as a leader. If you ever feel that you aren't, make sure to let us know immediately. I know for a fact no one wants to see you turn out as a tyrant."

Souma gave him a wry smile. "Thanks, Rimuru. But I still don't like being called kid."

Rimuru practically scoffed. "What else am I supposed to say to a kid like you who is stupid enough to try and carry the burden of something like this alone? In case you haven't realized, that's what we're here for. We already know that doing something like running a country isn't going to be all sunshine and rainbows. And I'm also certain that the people in the cafeteria know that as well."

This made Souma feel like somewhat of an idiot. He knew that there were people all around him to rely on, and yet maybe it was because of his sense of duty, or maybe the lackadaisical nature of the two in front of him, or some other cause, made him think that he should be the one to shoulder the burden.

Christ, Rimuru's right. I'm not Atlas.

"And besides, if it ever gets too much for you," he said, standing up with Testa and snaking an arm around her, "just grab a woman."

Souma deadpanned. "You were so close to being serious for a stretch of time."

Rimuru gave her a kiss on the cheek and rested his head on her shoulder. "Oh? But I am serious. Women are so nice to hold. Just wait till you are held by a woman you love after sex and it's like all your problems melt away."

Testa let out a cute giggle. "I believe what he means is that you already have two, no. Three beautiful women who are interested in you. What's the harm in taking one of them? Or maybe all three? Fufufu. But you'll have to start with your fiancée first."

Souma sighed at the couple's antics. He would be blind to not notice Liscia sometimes staring at him with a dreamy smile, or Aisha's borderline zealous behavior when guarding him. While he wasn't sure if Juna was interested in him, according to Testa, she was, but he didn't want to force himself on her on the basis of being quite literally the most powerful person in the country and refusing an advance from him would most likely spell disaster for her, or anyone for that matter.

With their conversation finishing up, they left the room and went to continue business until it became nighttime. Souma wound up taking Rimuru and Testa's advice and asked Liscia to sleep with him for the night, technically making it the second night they have spent together. She initially was suspecting something completely different, but when he was seriously about to ask her to sleep with him in the government office, she dragged him off to her room and they spent the night there. She figured that this was a step in the right direction for their relationship, and whatever rumors spread be damned.

As Souma was drifting off into sleep in Liscia's bosom, thankful for taking the advice of Rimuru and Testa, another man was having another nerve-wracking night.

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