4 A Pact and Request

I had a slight feeling she'd want to talk about this, but I didn't think she'd actually show me.

The place where Testarossa teleported them to was the Empire. Specifically, it was in a place that she was very intimately familiar with, that being the former kingdom of Silberia. While it was quite a small nation, it possessed both a rich magicule ore deposit and a beautiful lake.

However, a few short years before Rimuru came to this world, a horrible magical accident rendered the entire place in ruins. Additionally, the lake beside it was dyed a disturbing shade of brown.

For the longest time, no one dared to go near the place. It wasn't until Masayuki came to lead the Empire after the war that there were finally efforts to dig through the ruins and find anything of importance. The peculiar case was written off as a disaster, but for those sent to investigate and those at the top, the tale behind it was clear: It was no accident, but a coordinated attack commenced by none other than the demon beside Rimuru to wipe out the kingdom and all those inside it. The magic accident story was just a tale strung up by the past Emperor to both ease the public and save face.

Despite knowing that Testa was no longer in the Empire and was now serving Rimuru, the place still gave off an incredibly eerie feeling. Even A-ranked adventurers were on edge in that place, the reason being there were no signs of life there. Normally, you'd at least expect to find some moss, some bugs, maybe the occasional mouse or rat, especially after a few years have passed, but there was just nothing in the ruins.

Of course, Rimuru knew about this after the soldiers from the Empire attacked them. Specifically, he learned this from Shinji shortly after he met Testa, and even went to her directly to ask about the circumstances. She simply said that it was a kingdom that had earned her ire, and he simply left it at that as she was very terse about the subject.

Sure, he was more than a little concerned that she wiped out a kingdom for that reason, but he decided not to judge her too harshly considering he was prepared to completely wipe out the kingdom of Falmuth if it meant he could evolve to be a Demon Lord and revive his subordinates. More importantly, he now had her under his command and would make sure that problems could be resolved long before they required such drastic actions.

While they were both standing near the edge of the castle, Testa began to speak.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I chose to bring you to this place."

"Kinda… I sorta guessed there was something else to the story, but I didn't think you'd bring it up on the first date."

Of course he saw right through me. I really can't hide anything from my lord.

Testa's over-evaluation of Rimuru caused her to feel a like a weight had been taken off her shoulders. Even so, she still wanted to properly explain herself.

"Rimuru-sama, if you would be so kind as to indulge me and allow me to share my side of the story."

Rimuru gave a hum as an affirmative.

"Thank you. Please follow me."

As they started their walk towards the caste, Testarossa recounted her story.

The kingdom of Silberia had actually been around since even before the Empire. When the first settlers arrived there, they began as a village that eventually turned into a small town, before winding up getting caught in a war between a nomadic tribe looking to pillage. Not wanting to fight a losing battle and have their men killed and women raped, they prayed to whoever they could think of, god or demon.

Fortunately, or maybe not, the one who answered their prayers was none other than the Primordial Blanc, presently known as Testa, who back then simply went by the name of Blanc. The place where they wound up settling was technically under Blanc's supervision, and though she didn't really care who settled on the above land as she was tied to the netherworld, the people who settled on her land possessed something very desirable for her.

While demons can be summoned from the netherworld quite often, they can only stay as long as the caster provides them magicules or they obtain a body that they can possess. This posed a problem for many demons as most people didn't trust them based off of their innate nature, which is usually deviant. While spirits worked in the same manner, spirits were far more amicable with humans and many humans would willingly allow the spirits inside of their bodies to help them grow stronger both physically and magically.

To add another problem, the more power a demon possessed, the more powerful a body they would need in order to be able to stay in the world.

While spirits worked in the same manner, spirits were far more amicable with humans and many humans would willingly allow the spirits inside of their bodies to help them grow stronger both physically and magically.

What was so intriguing to Blanc was that one of the townspeople actually did possess what was required, albeit in an infantile amount. However, it could be passed down and cultivated into being something that suited Blanc.

Normally, a human's magic power was determined by birth, and was by and large completely random. However, there were a few select humans who had a special trait which they could pass down their lineage and grow it into something far stronger. This was marked by the trait of ruby red eyes that that was then seen as the king's true lineage. Even if the owner of the mark had multiple children, only the eldest would bear the mark.

Rather than waiting for a human whose strength and magic power was on par with an archdemon, and somehow stupid enough to actually someone one, she elected to strike a deal with this current person, along with a few of the more important townspeople: She would protect them from this threat and all future threats, and in exchange, when a suitable vessel was birthed, she would possess them when they either came of age and when she judged they could make rational decisions. As an addendum, those born with the mark of red eyes had to stay inside her territory.

Of course, the person in question could always refuse, but the pact also declared a decedent must be born from each generation.

Once they accepted, the demon wiped out the invading force single-handedly and the townspeople officially formed the kingdom of Silberia. The man with special traits was then labeled king, and the descendants possessing the mark were to be protected at all costs, as this was seen as the mark of their God. Knowing how others would view their pact, they decided to keep this as secret as possible.

Fortunately for Blanc, the actions of the townspeople only furthered her interests. She also found is hilarious that she was being revered as a God, but really couldn't care as long as they fulfilled their end of the pact. Thus, all she had to do was wait. Even if an ideal vessel did present itself and refused, it was only a matter of time before human desire caused one of them to cave in. It was the same thing that caused them to summon her in the first place, so they really had only themselves to blame.

Of course, a more morale person would see the obvious play at their desperation, but it was also difficult to say the pact was objectively unfair.

Nonetheless, Blanc defended them from external threats for over three thousand years. This seems like a long time to wait for anything, but for a demon who is only outlived by the true dragons and would most likely continue to live for an eternity, it passed like a blip.

While most threats came and went during the first thousand years, an annoyance eventually popped up in the form of the Eastern Empire headed by the Hero Rudra. Emperor Rudra was, at the time, one of the very few people who could rival the most powerful Demon Lord, Guy Crimson.

Emperor Rudra surprisingly knew about the pact between Blanc and the kingdom of Silberia, but instead of trying to get rid of her, he decided to watch over the small kingdom and put them under his rule. The kingdom at the time, oblivious to Rudra's intuition, took the deal believing that this would further protect them from external threats.

While Rudra did want to get rid of Blanc and had Velgrynd at his disposal, who he was fully confident that she could get rid of Blanc, the collateral would simply be too high. Though True Dragons drastically dwarfed archdemons in the count of magicules, ancient archdemons like Blanc were fully versed in just about all things magical.

Simply put, unless Rudra or Velgrynd were willing to use power on the level of a small country to completely overwhelm Blanc, their hands were tied.

Unfortunately, such things didn't last. Despite Emperor Rudra being able to rival Guy Crimson in power, he was still only human, and could never overcome the barrier needed to become a spiritual being, or what would be seen as a demi-god, the next step up from a True Hero.

As such, he was forced to use magic to reincarnate, with each reincarnation slowly eating away at his mind. His methods became far crueler and more calculating, now only caring about results rather than the means.

Eventually, a little more than three thousand years after the founding of Silberia, a proper vessel was born. Her parents named her Blanche, after the primordial being, for reasons that one could only guess at.

By now, Silberia was still a very small nation with a population of under ten thousand, but like all countries with the passage of time, corruption eventually came into the highest echelons of the country. Despite the mark of red eyes, most people, outside of the immediate family of the King, both stopped fearing and revering Blanc. The contract only protected them from external threats and not internal threats, which was a slight oversight on her part.

She simply didn't want to deal with politics surrounding humans, which is ironic considering her current job.

Blanche's life early on was quite normal and loving, with both her father and mother giving her all the love and kindness a young girl needed. Unfortunately, one of the noble houses vied for power, and sent their daughter to be a concubine of the king.

The king, while kind, did not possess the necessary foresight nor loyal personnel to protect themselves against the wickedness of the other nobles. On top of that, he was a rather licentious man and surrounded himself with women.

Initially, those possessing the mark of red eyes were chosen to be either the new ruler or adopted into one of the more powerful families that knew of the mark. Unfortunately, due to the passage of time, along with pressure from nobles, the people who knew about the mark were pushed further and further away from the royal and duke families. This resulted in Blanche's mother, Letitia, who carried the mark, to be from a lowly viscount family.

While this wouldn't normally be a problem, the king went and got another concubine pregnant. And it just so happened that she was of a marquis family, which is far higher than a viscount family.

The nobles congregated together and planned to use this to their advantage to get Letitia, who was originally the first princess, out of the running and the concubine, Emilia, to replace her position. The only complication was that both Emilia and Letitia had given birth to girls. This meant that the right to succession would be given to the firstborn, which would be Blanche. If Emilia birthed a male, then he would be given the right to succession, but no such luck came.

Finally, tired of waiting, the nobles put their plan into action. On Blanche's tenth birthday, Emilia was named the first princess, and Letitia the second. This didn't change the right to succession, but it allowed for far easier access to further their agenda.

Emilia was very quick to seize power in the royal castle, and all of Letitia's and Blanche's nannies were let go under fabricated reasoning. This led to both Letitia and Blanche being given the cold shoulder from everyone else in the royal castle, and Emilia's daughter, Ashla, to quickly become the new favorite and receive training to inherit the throne.

Leaving no loose ends, two years later, Emilia conspired to poison Letitia, and shortly after she died. This left Blanche completely alone, and with her father being too weak-willed to go against the new princess, she was completely alone.

The nobles unwittingly marked the beginning of the end of the Kingdom of Silberia.

Blanc, choosing this time to manifest herself in front of Blanche and inform her of the pact, appealed to her desperate need to feel loved and wanted. Promising to fulfill any wish in exchange for the right to her body, she received quite the shock when all Blanche wanted was a friend. She would require possession of her body, but Blanche would still be the one in charge until her wish was fulfilled.

While Blanc knew of how fickle emotions and bonds could be, especially with her using them against her opponents, she accepted the odd request, ecstatic that she would finally be able to walk the earth.

Lamentably, this wasn't to be fate.

Trouble had been brewing in the tiny kingdom for quite some time. The industrialization of the Empire had spread into the kingdom, along with vices such as gambling. This, together with the discovery of a large magicule ore deposit had also caused a much higher class deficit, as instead of a nation whose primary export was food and simple goods turned into businesses quickly coming in and profiteering largely from the underpaid workers by selling products and ore to the Empire at a premium.

This all fused together to create the perfect situation for a noble from the Empire to come in and appeal to both the working class and the upper echelons in the form of money and power respectively.

Guineas, the noble in question, manipulated Blanche into loving her, and, despite Blanc's warnings about the man, her fifteen-year-old heart simply couldn't find fault in him.

This is where the true tragedy came in.

Demons, by their nature, only cared about strength. Barring a certain class of demons whom everyone referred to as just plain weird, everything was to gain strength, and there was only so much strength you could get by being in the netherworld.

Blanc had capped out on her magicule count very quickly and honed her all her skills on improving her techniques. Things like love, anger, hate, friendship: all were simply forms of emotion that could be exploited. She, like many others, saw them as petty human values that were to be used when conducting deals. Hobbies and things of that nature were distractions that took away from the only thing that really mattered for demons.

After all, it has worked so far.

The only thing that mattered was strength. The only way to get stronger was to battle the stronger creatures on the earth, and the only way to do that was to obtain a body, be it flesh or otherwise.

Her long life has taught her that emotions were only a hindrance, and she understood exactly what they were and how to manipulate them to her advantage. But she had never truly felt them.

Which is why when Blanc found out about Guineas's betrayal, instead of using that information to manipulate Blanche and finalize her plan, thereby giving her what she had always wanted, the only thing she could find herself caring about was the safety and well-being of a friend.

Guineas only pretended to love Blanche because he was sent on a mission from the Emperor, now completely mechanical in his decision making, to kill Blanche and completely end the bloodline under the guise of taking her away from the kingdom.

When Blanche learned of his desire to take her away from the kingdom, the king vehemently resisted. One of the contents of the contract was to not allow those with the mark to leave the country and doing so would be breaking the contract. Had Blanche's father properly told her of the contract, perhaps things would be different. The Empire, however, had different plans.

The Empire announced that Guineas and Blanche were engaged, and had their military, along with those skilled in killing demons, prepared to invade the country under this false pretense. The king, whose fear of breaking the contract with their God far outweighed the fear of the Empire, holed himself up along with close cabinet members and Blanche. Blanche, stuck in the middle of all this and realizing that Guineas used and betrayed her, did the only thing she could think of.

The young and naïve girl took all the blame for what happened on herself, and despite Blanc begging for her to stop, acknowledged that Blanc had served as a good friend and finalized the contract.

Blanc was absolutely devastated. Emotions that she previously regarded as beneath her suddenly swelled within her, and she had no idea how to process them. Her time with Blanche had introduced her to plenty of new things, primarily how intoxicating feeling close and intimate with someone could be. Having that ripped away from her, by both her own doing and the people she protected, eventually formed into one emotion: rage.

Her target? Everyone.

With the contract fulfilled and with her gaining full control of what was formerly Blanche's body, she quickly set out to punish everyone who dared harm her friend.

She started with bringing all the king, his close aides, the corrupt nobles who vied for power, and the ambitious mother-daughter duo, she brought them all to the throne room and locked them inside. The people manipulated by both the nobles and Guineas were all viciously slaughtered by Blanc's subordinates, while those still pure of heart were personally given a peaceful death by Blanc herself.

She believed this to be a form of mercy, as though they never stood against the new princess, they also never held any ill will towards Blanche. Additionally, it was a way to spite the Empire to deny them of the nation's workforce that they would undoubtedly exploit far worse than Silberia ever did.

As for Guineas himself, when he was brought into the throne room, Blanc took great pleasure by slowly and meticulously killing the man, along with the rest of the people in the room.

Once she had her revenge, she felt empty. Her new body? What use was it if her friend wasn't there? Despite Blanche having acknowledged the contract as fulfilled, Blanc felt that it was a mockery to continue using it.

While Blanc did have her soul, a resurrection was practically impossible due to how powerful the soul was. If she were a normal human, perhaps it could have been done. But she was meant to be a powerful vessel for Blanc, and so the only way she could ensure Blanche's life was to turn her into a demon.

Blanc refused to do this out of respect for her old friend. Additionally, any souls that were gathered from the innocents were to be let go along with Blanche's soul to the afterlife and go through the cycle of reincarnation. Afterwards, letting the Empire's special forces believe that they had bested her, she departed Blanche's body and returned to the underworld.

Unbeknownst to everyone outside of a specific few, Emperor Rudra had no intention of forcing Blanc back to the underworld. The reason he chose to send people there was because once he gained trusted sources that stated she was currently in Blanche's body, he wanted a fight to break out.

He had no intention of them actually beating her, but for the few that escaped, even if it was in the tens, if they could properly face their inner trauma and overcome it, some of them would begin the process of evolution, and that was what Rudra was ultimately after.

Once Testa was finished telling her story, they reached what used to be the center of the castle. The base of it was still there, but the top had completely blown off and there were many haphazard openings in the side allowing plenty of sunlight through.

"That's quite heavy…"

Rimuru was simply at a lack of words. While he could certainly empathize with her, the main difference was that he actually got to revive the people he lost.

"I'm grateful that you are willing to empathize with me, but please feel no pity towards me. I simply want you to know what kind of person I am."

"…"

"Despite my actions, the only thing I truly regret was not sealing Blanche's soul to her body and putting her in stasis. As for the townsfolk, I honestly do struggle to find remorse for my actions. I chose the action I thought best with the knowledge that I had."

Rimuru looked at her with a slight smile on his face. "Testa, if I truly held it against you, you would no longer be under me. I'm certainly not innocent of how demons act. However, I am happy you confided in me enough to tell the true story about this incident."

"Of course, Rimuru-sama. I'm glad that I could get this off my chest… But Rimuru-sama, I am ashamed to request more from you."

"Go ahead."

"I'm not very well versed in emotions, but I intend to get better at learning and feeling them. Should there come a time when I am able to learn empathy and should that empathy manifest in the form of regret from my actions here, I humbly beg for your guidance and assistance in helping me with that burden."

Rimuru gave her a big hug in response, holding her head to his shoulder. While he was willing to accept her the way she was, the fact that she was willing to improve as a person, even at the detriment of placing such a burden on herself made him want her all the more.

"Please don't ever hesitate to rely on me, Testa." Bringing her head away from his shoulder to look in her eyes, he added, "I love you."

*THAT'S NOT FAIR!!!*

In such a dreary place, Testa's blush returned in full force to paint her face, not even sparing her ears, and continuing down her neck. When she replied, she could barely hold eye contact with him for even a fraction of a second at a time.

"I l-love you too."

Realizing that she was still being held by Rimuru, she quickly remembered the main reason as to why she brought him here. Mustering up all her willpower to ever so reluctantly push him away, while still facing away from him, she continued to say, "O-one more thing please."

Collecting herself as best she could, she led them into a place deep beneath the castle. What awaited them was a modest crypt that could fit about nine or ten people, but outside of being well-maintained through magic, the only thing in the room was a single casket.

Once she departed Blanche's body before it could be seriously injured, she sealed it deep beneath the land to ensure not a single other being, demon or otherwise, could use it.

Opening the casket, what awaited them was a natural beauty that would easily be mistaken for being Testa's twin. Snow white skin, long silky hair, and a perfect face that simply looked like it was sleeping with her hands clasped over her chest. It was quite reminiscent of a certain sleeping princess. Unfortunately, it would take quite a bit more than a kiss to bring Blanche back to life.

Steadying her shaky breath, Testa began to explain.

"Rimuru-sama, this is where I put Blanche to rest."

Her nerves rose as quickly as she was able to calm them, and if things persisted the way they did, she would be fighting a losing battle with her emotions. Thus, she needed to explain things quickly. While Rimuru might not mind her being a blubbering mess, she wanted to appear at least somewhat presentable when asking him for a favor.

"I sealed her away to prevent anyone using her body, but another reason I did so was, no matter how small the chance, if I ever came across her reincarnation, I had hoped to find a way to bring her soul back into her body."

Mollifying herself for the final time, she asked, "Please put her to rest inside you."

In Tempest, being put to rest inside Rimuru was largely seen as the highest honor one could be buried with. While the person himself was largely unaware, many monsters, and strangely enough some humans, firmly believed that by resting inside Rimuru, they would never truly be away from him. It was a strange thought for sure but considering that the only ones to really be put to rest inside of him were Shizue, Shion, and the citizens that were killed, one could only see it as natural.

Of course, that was only if you didn't know that Rimuru has put to rest enemies inside of him as it was a surefire way that they would never be able to walk the earth again. This fact was conveniently ignored.

Nonetheless, Testa knew of the immense weight her plea carried, which made her all the more grateful when the uninformed Rimuru accepted. Spreading out his arms and turning them into slime form, he gently and carefully enclosed Blanche within himself, leaving the casket completely empty.

This time, it was Testa's turn to show affection, and she did so by clinging on to Rimuru, saying the words "thank you" so much that it seemed like a mantra.

Once she was done, she pulled away, bringing her hands up to Rimuru's shoulders and looking at him with a smile. Seeing his loving expression, she decided to try her luck. Her face reminded to ruddy itself as she closed her eyes and slightly parted her lips.

Ah, she's being more honest now, huh.

<<Of course, master. It's only a matter of time before she'll be making a similar face on her knees.>>

Mentally deadpanning at the manas, he brought his face in and sealed her lips.

While both were enjoying the close intimacy, it happened.

A powerful and complex magic circle appeared beneath them. Testarossa immediately pulled away from the kiss but could not move outside the magic circle.

*What the hell is this?!?! Even among sealing formations, there are only a few that can seal the movement of me for even a few seconds. Plus, I've never seen a sealing formation have a magic circle! Is this a summon circle?!*

Being well versed with magic gave Testa a large advantage when it came to anything magical and being able to identify what it was served to only testify her prowess.

*Still! I can't cancel the effects! Right. First thing's first. Rimuru-sama's safety… eh?*

Testa looked to Rimuru, only to find him… not resisting.

In fact, he seemed to find the situation quite amusing.

*Right, of course. Rimuru-sama can just teleport back to our world with myself in tow. He could just put me inside… Wait, no, no, no!*

Shaking herself from those thoughts, she reminded herself, *these people DARED to interrupt our precious moment!!!*

With an aura of anger overflowing from her and her face sporting a cruel smile, she promised to make whoever they were pay dearly. Rimuru, however, had other plans. As she seemed to neglect her immediate surroundings whenever she experienced a surge of emotions that revolved around Rimuru, she, yet again, failed to notice Rimuru's arms wrapped around her waist.

The mischievous slime put a stop to her anger by raising her face and sealing her lips once again.

"Mmph!"

The kiss seemed to be working as Testa was completely stunned out of her anger.

*I know Rimuru-sama is strong, but to be so carefree at a time like this?! Wait… of course! I can't be showing off my full aura in front of a group of enemies that possess magic that even I can't break out of…*

*I think I'll enjoy the kiss a bit more.*

With Testarossa's convenient misunderstanding continuing, the summon circle did its job and pulled them away in only a couple of seconds.

She could have disabled the circle if she had been given more time, but with the short amount of time they had combined with her focusing more on Rimuru's safety caused them to be summoned without a problem. It was indeed still possible to escape in the space between worlds, but that came with far more risks than benefits.

First and foremost, you had no control as to where you were going, and even if you were lucky enough to be thrown into a world rather than the vast cosmos of space or worse, the chances that it was an inhabited world were also quite slim. Thus, it was better to just let the summon happen naturally.

They landed without much of a problem, lips still sealed, only to hear a regal voice say, "Welcome young… heroes?"