Preperations 2

-'And with that, the summit is now concluded.' Shuna said to the assembled dignitaries 'We will distribute transcripts of the meting later, and provide any new information as available.'

After several hours of constant back and forth, the summit was finally over; Rimuru had to breath a sigh of relief as he again addressed his allies 'And so...thank you very much for your support.' he said with a bow. Everyone began to move out and see to their duties. Rimuru made sure to lead Gazel and Elalude as they left, thanking them once more for their support. And so concluded the summit; after leaving the matters of the army to Benimaru, he called Ramiris away to have a chat with her while they waited for Guy's assistant that was meant to take her to Walpurgis. Mostly, he wanted her to tell him all she could about the meeting and the other Demon Lords.

-'Actually, it was originally just a kind of tea party between me, Guy and Milim...' she said while nibbling on some snacks.

-'Ah, Lady Ramiris, do you want some more?' Treyni said cheerfully. To recap, the dryad had fainted when she saw her former (and present) queen appear out of nowhere. Ever since waking up, however, she had constantly been following her around like a lost little puppy, which Ramiris really didn't seem to mind. The dryad even said she wanted to go work for the fairy again; he felt kinda bad for Beretta, having to deal with both of them, but oh well.

-'I'm good, thanks!' Ramiris said 'Anyways, later the other kids became Demon Lords and Guy started to invite them too; since then, it's became a venue where we would solve disputes between us. When the Tenma Wars started, the Walpurgis, as Guy called it, became synonymous with bad things happening as we kept having them to discuss strategy against the angels...so people really starred associating them with bad things...'

-'But you have them for...good things?' Rimuru asked 'And are you planing another Walpurgis for the next Tenam War?'

-'Ah, I guess...' Ramiris said 'Guy usually calls those. Otherwise, they tend to be about really boring or meaningless stuff...' when Rimuru wanted to asked, she quickly interjected 'You don't wanna know...'

-'Okay...' he said 'Anyways, I would like to know more about the other Demon Lords. Anything you can tell me..'

-'Well...I guess I should start with the basics...'

In short, the Demon Lords were ranked by seniority; the older members, while not all powerhouses (Ramiris being the best example), still had quite a bit more prestige and name recognition than the younger ones. In theory, all were equals, but in terms of power and prestige some were just heads above the rest; Rimuru gathered that surviving all three Tenma Wars would be quite the feat, so he understood that. In any case, as Ramiris put it, they could be classed in three groups: the First Generation, the Second and Third. Guy, Milim and Ramiris were the first; Guy and Milim, especially, were basically individually stronger than the rest of them combined, the two who no one of the council wanted to piss off. The others were a mixed bag.

The second generation consisted of Dagruel, the Earthquaker, leader of the giants in the Western Barren Lands; Dino, The Fallen, who according to Ramiris was something of a hermit (and he wasn't quite sure what Fallen meant; he would ask later), and Valentine, a vampire, though the current Valentine was not the original, merely taking over when the other one retired, whatever that meant. The Third Generation were basically everyone younger than a thousand years; according to Ramiris, prior to the last Tenma War some 500 years earlier, the ranks of the Demon Lords numbered nearly 20. Not including the two other generations, they had all risen over time between the last two Wars and were swiftly cut down to a size during the last one five hundred years prior. Apparently, just two of them survived the war, only to end up killed by the newbies. The newbies included, in order of their becoming Demon Lords, Carrion, Frey, Clayman and lastly...

-'Leon Cromwell...' Ramiris spit the name out with venom 'that no good, piss-ant, failed hero CRYBABY THIEF!' she said, getting progressively louder.

-'Okay, okay, calm down.' Rimuru said 'You hate him, I get it...' 'Though I have beef with him too...' he though to himself. 'So basically, the older you are the more your words matter?' he asked

-'Kinda...kinda not.' she said 'Like I said, were all equal at the Council. Issues are usually solved with a majority vote; even just making a proposal requires you to have the support of at least two other Demon Lords.' she said as she got back to eating, but stopped 'Oh, and you can only bring two followers with you, okay?'

-'Ah, I seee...oh no...' Rimuru trailed off as he saw the pleading looks of everyone in the room 'Oh no...better nip this in the bud...' 'I already made up my mind, okay.' he said, shutting them down before Shion and Diablo went to far...again. 'Diablo, you already have your hands full with Falmuth. I'm trusting you, okay?' he said to the demon

-'Of course, My Lord!' the demon said with a bow 'I will do you proud.'

-'Great. The others will be busy with the army, so...Shion and Ranga will be accompany me.' he could see the two's eyes sparkle. 'Benimaru, I will leave the army to you; you have full command over all forces we deploy against Clayman. I trust your judgement.' he told the ogre, who also bowed. 'Announce me when they are prepared, and I will transport them there...but before that, I think we will need some insurance...' he said, stroking his chin

-'Insurance?' Benimaru asked, unsure of his master's intentions.

-'Yes. Even if we get the army in place, we have no guarantees we make it before Clayman's army slaughters thousands. And so...I thing I will try and evacuate as many Eurazania citizens as I can. Phobio...' the beatman in question quickly stepped forward 'I'll be taking you with me to convince people to leave. Do you think you can do that?'

-'Of course, Sir!' he proudly proclaimed 'As a Beastketeer, we have great influence over the common people of Eurazania. If one of us is there, they will obey. But...' he looked unsure 'could you really do that? Evacuate thousands...'

Rimuru smiled 'Piece of cake. Won't even tire me out. Now...' he stood up and turned to face the window 'Let's get this show on the road...'

Over the next day, as Benimaru and the others organized and supplied their forces, Rimuru was in a teleportation frenzy, moving all over the smaller settlements of Eurazania with Phobio in tow. As the beastman said, the common people greatly respected the Beatketeers and so when he said to pack up and prepare to leave, they would do so with frightful speed. As a general rule, it seemed beastmen were light travelers; they did not pack much other than the bare essentials, and so it was usually a quick affair, even for the largest cities, to gather up everyone and get them away.

In this way, almost all of Eurazania was evacuated in advance for the war. When Clayman's army would march in, they would find the cities and villages deserted; Benimaru had already prepared a nasty surprise for them, and hearing it Rimuru had to suppress an evil grin. He almost felt sorry for the bastards.

On the morning Walpurgis was to take place, all their preparations were completed. Arrayed outside the city were ten thousand beastmen warriors, plus his own ten thousand strong forces including the Goblin Riders, Geld's orcs and many more. He didn't feel the need for a big speech or grand sent off; he simply told them that he trusted in them to do their part. With a cheer, he sent them on their way to crush Clayman's ambitions.

Which only left one thing: dealing with Veldora.

-'W..w..what?!' the dragon shouted when he was told to stay in Tempest 'House sitting?! ME?!'

-'Yes.' Rimuru said bluntly.

-'B..but my time to shineeeeee...' Veldora whined, looking not one bit the ancient Dragon he supposedly was

-'Listen...' Rimuru said with a sigh 'Most of our fighting forces are leaving for war, and I'm headed for the Walpurgis. I need you to defend Tempest.' he told the Dragon, deciding to play to his pride 'You're the Guardian of the Jura Forest, aren't you?' hearing that praise, Veldora immediately perked up

-'Kwa ha ha ha ha! Of course, leave it to me!' he boasted 'No one will dare attack while I'm here...' then immediately deflated. 'Pfff...house sitting...' and left, pouting all the way. Rimuru had to let out another sigh. One problem solved. Thankfully, there were no others...well, he did have to agree to helping Ramiris with a little something; namely, making a medium doll for Treyni to inhabit so she can leave the Forests and serve Ramiris again, but that was a much easier task than placating a giant, human form dragon of destruction.

They waited for a few hours. Finally, Ramiris informed him the Banquet would begin in a few minutes. On que, a demon appeared in a swirl of black mist. She had blue hair and was obviously no mere demon, but an archdemon. She bowed to Ramiris, who greeted her casually, and then looked over at him.

-'Master Guy informed me to allow you to join the Banquet. Please, follow me.' she said with a bow, then turned around. Waving her hand, the mist from before appeared again, but this time began taking a specific shape. A large door materialized out of nowhere, opening up to reveal a large, purple portal. 'Please pass through.' she said politely 'to the Walpurgis.'

Looking to make sure Shion was right behind him and Ranga comfortably in his shadow, he took a few steps forward.

'Just a bit longer...' he said to himself 'Just wait a bit longer, okay Milim?' and passed through the door, prepared for anything.

City of the Forgotten Dragon

Despite being the city of the infamous Destroyer, the City of the Forgotten Dragon was usually a peaceful. However, on this day it's boundaries had been overtaken by noise and chaos as a large army, Clayman's army, had camped to regroup before it headed into Eurazania.

-'My deepest apologies.' Middray said to the head of the army, a sadistic man named Yamza, after the majin stormed into the temple demanding more food for his troops and for the followers to join his forces while they marched. Of course, given that Middray had received a letter written by Lady Milim herself telling him to cooperate, he would do as asked, though he really wanted to tear the pathetic man's head off. He very nearly did when the bastard, enraged that Hermes had the audacity to talk back to him, cut off the second ranked priest's arm off. Some quick thinking on his part managed to spare Hermes' life though, and now he was trying to make the idiot Yamza go away. Eventually, the majin turned away

-'Pfff, whatever.' he said as he sauntered back down the stairs 'Just make sure you have our supplies ready.' Once he was out of sight, Middray picked up Hermes' severed arm and walked to where the priest layed down (or rather, where Middray punched him). With some quick healing magic, Hermes' arm was reattached like nothing happened.

-'Thanks...' Hermes said with a hint of sarcasm as he got up 'Though I'm surprised you...' he wanted to say he was impressed how Middray kept himself from flowing into a rage, but cut himself when he saw the head priest's veins bulge

-'That scumbag!' he billowed 'How dare he treat a Follower of Lady Milim like that! Defile her sacred temple with his filth! I SHOULD KILL HIM!' Hermes looked on with a practiced deadpan expression, waiting for him to calm down, which he eventually did. 'Ah, he's lucky Lady Milim gave orders, or else...'

-'Yes, though I still wonder why she would want to work with that Clayman...' Hermes said as he stretched his healed arm a bit 'You know how she hates this kind of underhanded stuff...'

-'Hm, it is not our place to question, Hermes.' the head priest told him 'We simply need to keep faith in our Lady and follow her instructions...' he turned to look in the distance at the thousands of lights speckled outside the city, the camp of Clayman's army. He smiled wickedly 'Just wait...our Lady will surely make him regret this insolence.