Chapter 54

I think the ceremony went well. I had to give a little impromptu speech but I also think that went well. I didn't expect everyone there to take it as seriously as they did. It was supposed to be a celebration and something light-hearted but I guess they might have misunderstood it or something. Or maybe it was my fault. Eh, doesn't matter right now, it's currently celebrating and feast time in the whole town and I will take advantage of this.

"Shuna, we need 45 pounds of rice to add to this pot.". I told Shuna who was helping to prepare a small amount of food. 

"Artoria, what exactly are we making?". Shuna came over carrying the bag of rice.

"We're making something called 'Jambalaya'. I learned this when I went to visit Louisiana one time. I'll tell ya this right now, Shuna, those folks down there in Louisiana know how to make some very good food. Don't get me started on their seafood, if anyone from there saw these megalodons, they'd probably have some very sweet dreams…Oh, sorry, I almost lost myself there.".

'It's alright. I like learning more about where you're from. So I just pour all this rice in this pot?". 

"Yeah. After that, it'll be done. Then we can enjoy this meal.".

While we were preparing the food, Shion made her way over to where we were. It's okay though, I have the perfect thing to say to her if she asks what for what I think she does.

"Lady Pendragon, Princess! I just want to say thank you for giving me the privilege to be one of your knights. Just know I'll do my best to live up to your expectations!". She was very excited and had that air of someone who'd just been hired for a job. A bit of an innocent and naive air about it, but it'll pass. Right now, it's the 'honeymoon phase' of this.

 "I know you won't fail, Shion. Or should I say 'Dame Shion' now? You have a title now, so make sure you remember that.".

"Of course, Lady Pendragon.".

'What other reason did you come here for? You should be out there celebrating with everyone and having fun.".

I saw Shion look around with a bit of helplessness before she sighed. "I want to participate in this and make my own food, but everyone seems to ignore it for some reason. Lady Pendragon, please help me.".

I looked at Shuna a little and she was a bit hesitant about Shion's request. I completely understand, but as I said before, I have to thank the place I'm from from for bestowing upon me knowledge of what to do.

"If you want to help us, Shion, you can go ahead and bring the plates and drinks.". I told her with a friendly tone that exuded that southern hospitality. I saw Shion's eyes light up as she excitedly went away to fulfill her task. I almost felt bad, but it was Shion and her food.

I looked over at Shuna and she looked a bit surprised before realization overtook her as she realized what I had said to her.

"How did you do that?".

"Make her feel that she's contributing to a feast?".

"Yeah.".

"Well, where I come from, if someone says something along the lines of what I said, It's a very nice way of saying that your food and cooking skills are…not up to par. But she doesn't need to know that.".

With that, we eventually finished making the jambalaya, with assistance from Shion. It was good, very good. But of course, there is something to deal with. It's Milim.

She came by, threw me an orb filled with human souls, and then left to enjoy the festivities in the span of a few moments...At least she has her priorities straight. So I'm currently in possession of 10,000 human souls. Which should've gone to Rimuru. I don't see how she confused blue hair with blonde hair, but I guess she had a better impression of me. I'll just have to give this to him later.

/\\//\\//\

It was nighttime and the festival was over. Anyone who was still feeling fine was cleaning up the whole place. I went to where Rimuru was, which was the office. I'm sure he lives there now, but it's kinda his fault. I'm on my way to deliver his souls.

I opened the door and saw Rimuru swamped with paperwork. I'll be honest, he could do a little well with increasing his self-awareness of his skills and the world around him.

"Rimuru, think fast.". I threw him the orb of souls and he almost dropped it from the surprise. "Those are the souls you need to evolve into a demon lord. Do it before you leave.".

"Oh, that's great. I have a question though.".

"What is it?".

"Can you make me a knight as well? It looked cool.".

"Really? You want me to knight you cause it looks 'cool'? Even if you could be knighted, you'd have to pledge your loyalty to me and start following my orders. It'd be kind of weird when you think about it. If you really want to, you'd have to step down and then I'd run this whole nation.".

Rimuru was silent after what I told him. He is not knight material, at least not now. I'm sure in the future he could, but why would I do that? 

"Um…Let's just move past that. So what do I do now? I just need to absorb these souls?".

"Yeah, pretty much. Just have your Great Sage do it. Also, when you do evolve it will take a few days for it to complete and there will also be a harvest festival that will put those that you have given a name to asleep, so they can get their gifts, which are skills. I recommend doing it as soon as possible and letting everyone in town know. Just be prepared to join that demon lord group if necessary. You should act as if the other demon lords already know about this, even if some might not care that much.".

 "Alright, I'll get ready.".

"Cool. See ya. I have something to do as well.". 

/\\//\\//\

I made my home. I went to the bedroom and summoned Rhongymyniad. It's time to evolve this thing. I was about to go into Avalon when Shuna entered the room. She saw the lance I was holding and she immediately knew I was up to something.

"Where are you going?".

"I'm going…somewhere very special.".

"How special?".

"How about I show you? I should warn you, the magic there is very intense, I'm only considering it because I think you should be able to handle it. Maybe you can get a better insight and grasp of the magic. Hold my hand.".

Shuna got close to me and held my hand. I activated Avalon and took us both in. Once again, the scenery was breathtaking. I looked over at Shuna and she was looking fine, but I asked just to make sure.

"How are you holding up, Shuna?".

"Wow. You were right. The magic here is very strong. I need some time to get used to this.". She wasn't collapsing or seemed to be in any pain, so that's good. She did look uncomfortable, but I have trust in her that she can reign in the magic that is here. Maybe she might get another Unique Skill.

"Tell me if start feeling unwell. I'll come over and get you out of here. We might be here for a while, so use this time to practice with magic of this quality.".

"Alright.". Shuna started getting to work. She wasn't waving her hand or anything, but she was probably trying to use her skills to analyze this place. I wish her luck with that. I'll try to make it as easy for her as possible, but at the end of the day, it's a Unique Skill trying to analyze an Ultimate Skill. Well, it's a bit more that that, but It's going to be hard no matter what happens.

I took Rhongimyniad and stabbed it into the ground. I can think of two options right now. Just leave it be and let it absorb magic until it evolves by itself or let it do that while also supplying it with my own magic. I'll go with the second option. 

I held onto Rhongomyniad with both hands and started pouring my own magic into it and I might as well be feeding a black hole with how much it was absorbing. This is probably the second time I felt my magic drain like this. The first being using Excalibur against Charybdis. 

'I'm going to be here for some time.'. That was all I could think of at the moment.