5 Interesting Problem

A man with dark chestnut hair curling at the shoulders with similar colored beard and mustache to suit was standing in front of an ornate chair in a very lavish room that could easily hold over 100 people. His slightly weathered face and matured dark brown eyes alluded to his age being around the mid-40s range. He was wearing a crown with spotted gold marking a halo around it and rose up to cap his head. Following the rest of his outfit was a blue formal style clothing largely covered by a red cape with a white collar and hem, along with a chain of gold at the ends of the collar. It was safe to assume that this man was a king.

To his left, standing in front of an equally garnered chair was a beautiful woman with platinum-blonde hair and what appeared to be not a wrinkle in sight on her gorgeous face. Her golden-brown eyes matched with the gold necklace she was wearing. She was wearing a gaudy dress with laces covering the front from her ample breasts down to her navel before spilling out until it barely grazed the floor, leaving her bare from the shoulders up. If the man to her right was the king, she was a beautiful queen to match.

Finally, there was a much older man both to the right and behind the king who had pointed ears, light lavender eyes, and light brown hair. He was wearing dark blue robes that gave off the air of being a minister to the couple. Finalizing the rest of the room were a couple of guards around the king and queen followed by guards equally spaced on the walls of the throne room.

Everyone was looking at the three people that had been summoned, two of which seemed to have been summoned during a very inopportune time. The third one summoned was wearing much more casual and modern clothing consisting of a long-sleeved white button-up, a dark blue overcoat, black slacks, and white socks. Accompanying his youthful look were black hair and slightly thin eyes that gave him the look of a diligent student.

The king looked to his wife, who had a slightly shocked expression on her face, but years of formal training and experience prevented her full emotions from showing. Perhaps that spoke of the absurdity of the current situation. She looked back at him and gave a slight smile, and the king then looked back at the summoned trio, preparing his next words.

While this was happening, the young-looking student took his time to gather his surroundings. While everything caught his attention, the things that stood out the most were the king and queen, along with what looked like a light blue-haired Japanese beauty wearing a casual outfit and a European beauty with slightly formal dress wear who had red eyes and white hair. Instead of looking like a case of albinism, however, she looked far more like a certain Fate character, as her traits were incredibly vibrant rather than unhealthy.

Testarossa was completely stunned by the development. Not necessarily because they were summoned, but because of who summoned them. Immediately after hearing the king's voice, she pulled away from Rimuru's lips and made her hands free in case she needed to defend him. With his arm around her waist, she quickly expanded her senses to a radius of ten kilometers.

*This is the shithole that managed to summon us?!*

It was perfectly reasonable. Rather than looking even remotely like a magically advanced civilization, it far more resembled a European country in the 1600s. While there was quality of life improvements made by magic that she could discern, the main things she saw outside of the castle town and barracks were simple buildings with the tallest being three stories. Adding to that were piles of horse dung that were around the city waiting to be picked up, although not always fresh. While the citizens were multi-racial, it was quite clear that none of them had even remotely enough magical power to be considered a threat, let alone to summon people from a different world. If a comparison had to be made, the strongest one she could detect would probably be on the level of Ifrit from before he trained under Veldora.

Clearing his throat, the king brought the room under control and began his words.

"Thank you for accepting our summons."

"..."

"... Are you angry?"

Angry? Who the hell wouldn't be angry?! You summoned us from our world to a place where we know no one...

Realization suddenly dawned on Testa that she could potentially have Rimuru all to herself for the time being. She decided to elevate their status a bit in her mind.

She'd give them a painless death instead.

Even though there were no immediate threats to speak of in the vicinity, Testa didn't voice any of her thoughts, as they were in potentially hostile territory. She wouldn't jump the gun and potentially cause undue strife as it may be against Rimuru's wishes. While this was the largest part of the reason, another major part was now that she was in a world where they only knew each other, she wanted to stay in this world a little longer and that might involve convincing him to not teleport back. Looking at his face, she saw him swiveling his head and looking at everything around him with a look of curiosity and excitement.

Perhaps I might have a chance.

The black-haired youth, oblivious to her thoughts, responded to the query.

"I'm not really angry, but can you explain what this is?"

The king looked at the trio before him and saw the white-haired woman showing a cautious look, the blue-haired woman? showing a look of intrigue, and the black-haired youth showing a look of confusion but was clearly evaluating the situation if his question was anything to go by.

It genuinely looked like none of them were out of place, save for their clothes. The king saw this and let his true thoughts leak out.

"Oh, I envy your calmness."

The elvish-looking minister cleared his throat at this, the queen let out a giggle, and any tense atmosphere that was built crumbled immediately as even the guards cracked a smile.

The black-haired youth, capitalizing on this, added a little wisecrack.

"Did you summon us because the Demon King invaded you or something?"

"... Impressive deduction. You are quite correct."

... WHAT?!

While the black-haired youth was shocked, everyone's attention was slowly being grabbed by the blue-haired woman who was holding her head down and covering it with one of her hands in what looked to be an attempt to stop herself from crying and failing to do so. Though she could possibly be laughing, there was no one present aside from the woman beside her who gave a second thought that this was the case.

"Madam, please! We promise to offer you the highest safety our country can afford, so please don't cry!"

Calming herself down with deep breaths, with a bright smile she replied, "I'm perfectly fine, believe me."

"... But you were-"

"Look at me." She said, gesturing to herself, "I. Am. Fine. I was just taken aback by the situation a little bit. Can you explain things a bit more?"

"If you insist, very well."

What followed was the king explaining the various events of the world called Io, as well as the current state of it. They are currently in the country known as Elfrieden, a medium-sized country, which is on the supercontinent they call Landia. While there were several smaller islands, the king's main focus was talking about the various countries that occupied Landia. Various species quite similar to Tempest formed these countries, with some countries harmonizing, some countries discriminating against all but one and some countries which were inclusive only to one species. They fought for supremacy from time to time, but all of it got stunted ten years ago when a portal opened in the north.

From the portal, a bunch of different species with limited intelligence came to the world and viciously attacked anyone and anything. This caused a huge number of refugees to swarm in from the north and all countries entered a temporary cease-fire, at least on the surface. To combat this, many countries pooled together and formed an offensive to reclaim their lost land. However, they encountered an intelligent race that the natives now call demons who completely crushed them.

With a large amount of the fighting force now dead, the monsters continued to claim land left and right until they eventually took a third of the continent, now called the Demon Lord's domain. The only reason they didn't expand further is because the attacks were now spread out on so many fronts that countries could now fight back, although it was only from a defensive standpoint. No country wanted to risk retaking the land and having their fighting force annihilated again. One mistake was plenty.

However, this still created a large problem for everyone, which is where the king expands on the situation in this country. Elfrieden is a nation that enjoys multi-racial harmony, but that doesn't exempt it from the crisis at hand. While Elfrieden does not border the Demon Lord's domain as the other frontline countries do, it still had a plethora of problems from food and economic problems that were only exacerbated by a continuing influx of refugees.

To add to their already dire problems, the largest nation on the continent, barring the domain, is a country called the Gran Chaos Empire which also has the longest border on the domain and spearheaded the force meant to retake the land. They called upon every nation that isn't bordering the domain to help reclaim the lost land in the form of soldiers or financial support. With Elfrieden's neighboring country being an expansionist nation called Amidonia, they couldn't give away their soldiers, and money was already tight as it is.

Unfortunately, when the largest nation asks for something, the word "demand" seems to be far more fitting.

With the Empire and Elfrieden already having a tense relationship due to them not signing the Humanity Declaration, Elfrieden couldn't exactly not do as they asked. Fortunately, Elfrieden had another way of making payment, which was by summoning a hero. The Empire requested that they commence the summoning and send the summoned hero over to the Empire.

Of course, the Empire knew that hero summoning had an abysmal success rate, but at the very least, an attempt was better than no attempt. This brings the king to a somewhat awkward situation, as he now had not one, but three summoned heroes when he expected none.

In response to the story, there were multiple reactions.

The blue-haired woman had a look of someone who had received a tiresome task and had a look of both resignation and acceptance on her face. The woman beside her ran her hair through her wavy hair, having an indifferent look but still slightly on her guard.

The youth had the most expressive reaction of anger and irritation, though it wasn't saying much since the bar was set so low. Still, the next few words that came out of his mouth clearly carried some anger behind them.

"Oi... what the hell?"

The king lightly jumped back in fear. "Please forgive me!"

"Ah! I didn't mean for it to come out like that."

The youth took a couple deep breaths to calm himself. Taking this opportunity, the blue-haired woman asked a couple questions.

"So? What now? Are you gonna 'offer me the highest safety your country can afford' or send us over to the Empire?"

The king gave off a troubling look, most likely regretting his emotional reaction at seeing a beautiful young woman in tears.

"Well... it's a bit more complicated than that."

"Oh." The woman exclaimed with an odd subtle look of respect. "Well please do explain."

"Um... Marx, if you would please."

The prime minister, named Marx, took this as his cue.

"Of course, your highness. There is currently a poor power dynamic between us and the Empire. We currently are not in any position to refuse a request from them. With the hero summoning, we now have three very valuable cards to play in negotiation..."

Marx stopped his explanation as he felt the white-haired woman gave him a glare filled with hostility. Fortunately, this was quickly put away when the blue-haired woman wrapped an arm around her waist. He made a note to always make sure the blue-haired woman was around if he needed to talk to her.

Marx continued, "If we only give one of you up to the Empire, they might misconstrue it as us plotting to trick them. If we give all of you up, then we have no more to give if and when they request more."

Making a somewhat controversial decision, he bowed his head and said, "I understand your anger and deeply apologize for the situation, but please consider our position."

The youth spoke up again. "So, what exactly is a hero?"

"According to texts, it is 'one who leads the change of an era.'"

"That's a little vague don't you think?

"There is very little information documenting such people."

"..."

Exasperation crept on the blue-haired woman's face until she decided to voice her complaints.

"Hold on. Back up real quick. Because you originally couldn't pay the Empire, they demanded a summoning ritual that has both an abysmal success rate and has no control over who or what is summoned, and to top it off, you automatically give them the vague label of a hero?"

"I understand your frustration, but-"

"No, you don't."

The woman garnered looks of slight incredulity mixed with minimal distaste about her apparent lack of proper etiquette from the guards.

Ignoring this, she continued, "You have absolutely no idea who could have been summoned, meaning it could have been anyone from some violent thug wanting to kill anyone they see to a literal god, hell even a kid could have been summoned. You could have even summoned a demon from beyond the portal. Did that ever cross your mind?"

Both the king, queen, and Marx looked like they swallowed a bitter pill.

"...No. That did not cross our minds."

Heavily sighing, the woman responded, "How many previous people have been summoned?"

"According to records, only one being has ever been summoned in Io's history, and he was the county's founder."

"Good. I would heavily urge you to no longer summon others. Period. Don't test your luck."

With both Marx and the king nodding his head, it seemed the matter was settled.

"Right. Your highness, have a proposal to make." The youth butted in.

The king was hopeful for a change of subjects. "Please go ahead. You may speak freely."

"I believe we should discuss this matter more in private. With us, Sir Marx, and your highness."

"Oh, so we're just being strung along now, huh?"

"Oh- I mean, you don't have to..."

"I'm just messin with ya kid. I like that idea."

"Right..." I don't want to be called kid from a woman who barely looks older than me. "Also, your highness, please gather all the reports and materials you can gather from this country, focusing on anything money-related. We might be able to pay the debt you owe to the Empire."

"Very well. I will see to it immediately. Gathering all the documentation will take a while, so please rest in the guest room. Also, if you don't mind, we would like to test your magical aptitude while you wait. Is that alright?"

"Sure."

"We don't mind."

"Wonderful. I'll have one of our scholars come by once we get you settled in the guest room."

Once they arrived in the room, the blue-haired woman decided to break the ice. "You look Japanese. What's your name, kid?"

"Souma Kazuya. And please don't call me kid. I'm 19 already."

While Souma wasn't very experienced with women, even he knew better than to make estimates about a woman's age.

"Ah, sorry. Bad habit of mine, you see. I've taught in the past, so I naturally call people younger than me kid. I'll try to avoid that. I'm Rimuru by the way. Rimuru Tempest."

"Nice to meet you Rimuru. And you are?" Souma gestured towards the unnamed one of the trio.

"Testarossa. I must ask, how did someone like you get summoned with Ah-!"

Following her girlish squeal, she gave Rimuru a light pout. Souma wasn't sure what exactly she did, but he was pretty sure she pinched her butt.

*This couple is a bit weird. Still, named after a Ferrari, huh.*

"Still, Rimuru, you're Japanese right? What's with the hair and eyes? Did you get summoned from an anime convention?"

"Straight off with the looks, huh? You're ruthless, kid."

"No! I... didn't mean it like that. It's just an interesting combination. You and your girlfriend look beautiful, don't get me wrong, but it's just not a common style. And please don't call me kid!" Souma said, flustering up a bit.

"Aww, aren't you sweet? Well. Me and my girlfriend are all-natural. You see, while I am indeed Japanese, me and my girlfriend didn't get summoned from Earth."

With each use of the word "girlfriend," Testa's face continued to flush more and more. What's more, Rimuru had been holding her waist ever since he calmed her down when she glared at Marx, so she couldn't run away. She wound up burying her head in the crevasse of his neck.

"... WHAT?"

"What do you mean 'what'? Just that. We got summoned from a different world. There are clearly multiple worlds as evidenced by this one and Earth. You think Earth is the only one?"

"Wait, wait, wait. But you said you were Japanese, right? Did you get summoned to a different world before coming to this one?"

"A bit darker than that. Try reincarnated from being stabbed and bleeding to death. Still, objectively speaking, it was the best thing that happened to me, so no need to feel sorry for me."

"Ah..." Souma wasn't sure how to respond.

"Don't worry about it. I never would have met my future wife if it never happened."

Noticing that Testa was recovering from her previous embarrassment, he added that last line. Any confidence that she gained was quickly squashed along with her head finding what seems to be its new home between his neck and shoulder.

Before Rimuru could enjoy "bullying" Testa anymore, there was a knock on the door, spoiling his fun and sparing both Testa from any more embarrassment and Souma from continuously shifting uncomfortably at the couple's antics.

"Come in!"

What awaited them were several people in fancy robes, one of them carrying a large stone slate.

"Hello, young heroes. We're here to assess your magical capabilities. By touching this stone tablet here, your magic type and abilities will be known to you and will appear inside of your head. Quite a simple process. Any questions before we get started?"

"Yes. What are the different classes of magic and how do they work? Also, how many types of magic can one person use, and can everyone use magic?

"For magic power, they are classified into fire, water, earth, air, light, and dark. Though there are other subdivisions, those are quite rare, so these are the main ones. While people can use multiple different types of magic, using magic that is outside of your aptitude is horribly inefficient, and so is rarely used. Everyone can use magic, but, again, it depends on your aptitude. As for how they work, aptitude in any of the four elements allows you to manipulate those elements with proper training. Light magic equates to healing magic, and dark magic prevents you from using any other kind of magic but has its own special qualities. Any more questions?"

"I'm good. Souma?"

"That answered all of my questions. Testarossa?"

"No questions needed."

"Then without further ado, let's begin."

What they found out was that both Souma and Rimuru were dark magic users, while Testa seemed to hit the jackpot, having no major aptitude, but was able to use every single magic power, save for dark. As this had only ever been recorded once before, the scholars immediately went to tell the king, who quickly put a gag order on the subject until more information could be known, specifically regarding how Testa wanted to broach the subject. It seemed that they really were willing to accommodate them as much as they could.

Of course, Rimuru and Testa had a conversation when the scholar was describing the contents of what magic was before quickly concluding as to what aptitude they wanted to show. Rimuru urged Testa to be an all-around mage while Rimuru wanted something really for shits and giggles and therefore chose dark magic.

Souma wound up having an incredibly useful one if it could be cultivated, which allowed for multiple consciences to be distributed to other things. Right now, it was only limited to light things like pens and papers, maybe small toy wooden horses, but could be cultivated into something truly scary. Rimuru thought that, if he had the lifespan of a demon, he could eventually create an entire army with just him and suits of armor.

Shortly after the scholars left, a servant came to the door to escort them to the government office where they began planning for the country's future.