Politics with Evelyn

"Did you hear about the movements of the Demon Lords?" Evelyn asked me as I sipped on a bit of tea.

"Yes, the slime in Jura Forest has declared himself as one and it's caused some... interesting effects." I smiled wryly.

"Howso? I doubt he's a threat to you, but the other nations have begun to move in the shadows. We were all prepared for an Eastern Empire's Invasion, so Falmuth's attack and the awakening of a Demon Lord caught everyone off-guard." She asked, dismissing the maid.

I gave the maid a glance and shook my head. Evelyn noticed this and took a sip of her tea before closing her eyes and giving a small nod, knowing what I was referencing.

Both of our [Abnormal Condition Nullification]'s had procc'ed. Not because of poison, but due to a powerful aphrodisiac in the food.

The people of the palace here in Amrita were split into two camps. The first was the Alvelyn camp, which advocated and was trying to get Evelyn and me together romantically, and the other camp was the Alzard Camp, which respected my marriage to Velzard. The first camp would always try tricks like these, often locking us in rooms together, only making enough food for one person so we'd have to share, or spiking our food to get us hot and bothered. The second camp would usually spoil the first's plans and it became a bit of a game between them which didn't stop even when Evelyn ordered it to.

The people just cared for her too much.

To be honest, it was a little annoying. I definitely liked Evelyn, but I wasn't going to ever get romantic with her and she knew this. It was usually for this reason that I tended to meet with Evelyn in private when I had to discuss serious matters with her, choosing to skip any formal visits, but what happened recently was a massive shock to the entire world, so I didn't exactly have that luxury.

Ignoring the little games of the bored maid elves, I continued to explain the situation to Evelyn.

"Rimuru becoming a Demon Lord after Guy capped the limit at 8 was unheard of. Everyone assumed he would fight Carrion of Frey for their positions, being as they are the weakest, but..." I said, placing my head in my hand and massaging my temple.

Evelyn smirked. "Didn't expect a betrayal from your Daughter?" She asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, you could say that." I moaned.

I think telling Milim that Rimuru is the reincarnation of her father at that point in time was a bad idea. When she heard that Rimuru had declared himself a Demon Lord, she decided to fly over to Guy about becoming one too.

They fought for a bit when he told her that he wouldn't let her, but eventually, to get him to stop nagging him, told her to 'take a seat from someone else'. /1\

Milim, hearing this, immediately went to Carrion and challenged him for his seat. Carrion was no idiot. He'd fought alongside me and his peer Frey during some of the Insectar Invasions and the last Tenma War. He knew how outclassed he was against me, and since Milim was my adoptive child and the biological child of a Saint and God, he knew he couldn't win alone. /2\

Carrion and Frey teamed up to fight her together and both were defeated extremely easily. Guy, acknowledging this, called allowed Carrion and Frey to call a Walpurgis and invited Rimuru there too. He was originally going to strip Carrion's title for having to rely on Frey and still losing and have Rimuru defeat Frey for her seat, but Carrion and Frey announced they were stepping down to serve Milim before he could enact his plan.

With an Open Seat, and Rimuru being more than strong enough, he just had Dino spar with Rimuru to prove how strong he was and then accepted him. The official story was that Dino and Rimuru tied, but since I was watching with [Clairvoyance], I knew Rimuru stomped Dino but convinced everyone not to kick him out of his seat due to 7 allowing for any shmuck Majin declaring himself a Demon Lord and gun for the open seat.

Rimuru still named the group the Octagram, which I found a bit disappointing.

If Dino had lost, then they could have been known as the 7 Sins, but I didn't really care too much about that.

"Then there is the Veldora situation," Evelyn explained with a troubled expression, refocusing my wandering mind once again.

"Indeed. Veldora, as he is now, is a whole different animal to what he was before." I commented

"Howso?" Evelyn asked.

"Well before he was more of a nuisance as anyone 'strong' could easily defeat him. He didn't fight with any strategy and only threw around his absurd brute strength." I commented.

Evelyn's eyes narrowed. "Are you saying his current incarnation is more mature?" She asked.

"Unfortunately." I moaned. "The days of one-shotting my brother-in-law may have finally come to an end." I lamented playfully.

<<No they aren't>> Velzard commented with half-closed eyes.

'No they aren't' I repeated.

"I see... its a good thing you are here to inform me of this or I'd be panicking about now... Are you 100% sure that Rimuru isn't a dangerous threat to Amrita?" She asked, a little concerned.

"Oh, he is 100% dangerous, but unless you provoke him, he isn't a threat." I commented back to her.

Evelyn looked a bit taken aback and began to ponder something to herself for a bit while I finished the tea. Despite it being drugged, it still tasted amazing.

After a few more moments, Evelyn looked back up at me, slightly worried. "Between myself and Rimuru, who do you think would win?"

"Rimuru would, but he'd have a hell of a time doing it, especially if he isn't going to try to kill you." I commented.

It was true. Rimuru's hacks were simply too strong and the fact he double-awakened pushed him over the realm of 'middle-tier Awakened beings' like Lilith, Evelyn, and Yumina. He was now at the level of pre-Rimuru Veldora. I'd say he'd take the title of 'Gatekeeper of the Top-Tiers' right now, as he probably still couldn't defeat Dagruel, who I'd rank slightly above him currently.

Evelyn sat back in her chair and let out a sigh. "At least we signed that treaty with him beforehand. The nobles are already up in arms about the moves of the Eastern Empire. If we had to deal with this problem now too, things could get messy." She explained.

I smiled wryly at that. To the East was the Eastern Empire, an enemy state which tried to assassinate the Queen of this nation not long ago and attacked one of their outlying regions. To the South was a vast ocean filled with Awakened-Demon-Lord-Level Sea Monsters and a vector of attack by Insectars on rare occasions. To the North was the untamed Jura Forest full of monsters and too dense to travel across that was now ruled over by a newly awakened Demon Lord. Finally, to the West was another newly proclaimed Demon Lord, Milim. When taken at face value, Amrita was literally surrounded by potential enemies on all sides.

If it weren't for the treaty Evelyn signed with Rimuru, the people would probably despair. Tempest was now a solid trading partner with Amrita, as the Highway built by the High Orcs had just finished construction, already becoming a lifeline for traders from the Central Region and Dwargon. As a matter of fact, Geld was in Amrita when Falmuth attacked, which was why he wasn't there to help out.

The citizens also didn't have to worry about attacks from the West since I lived here. Milim, being very publically my Daughter, obviously wouldn't attack me or the nation I was staying in, so that border was secure. The East was being fortified with the brand new Evergreen Fortress after the Empire's earlier attack, so that was, for the moment at least, secure. That only left the Southern Sea. Thankfully, the Sea was really only dangerous if you sailed out into the deep ocean, so in reality, there wasn't any risk of attack from Sea Monsters, and the Insectar Attacks were pretty infrequent and had stopped recently for some unknown reason. /3\

"Did you hear about what's going on in Falmuth though?" Evelyn asked.

"Ah, the Civil War right?" I asked.

"Yeah, well, the one that's probably coming." She added.

"Reparations that are too harsh tend to lead to political instability," I muttered, knowing Rimuru's plan to crown a puppet king.

"I suppose. Falmuth has the potential to become an agricultural powerhouse now that its economy can't rely on tariffs from the trade routes leading to Dwargon. If there IS going to be a war with the Empire, we'll need access to that market." Evelyn muttered.

"Hmm... Well, I know a way to solve that problem. In a few days, representatives from Sarion and Dwargon will arrive in Tempest to discuss the matter. I also want to tro- I mean, have a chat with Rimuru for a bit, so we can go together if you'd like." I offered.

Evelyn looked shocked for a moment before smiling smugly. "Oh my, are you asking me on a date? I've been waiting 2,000 years for this you know?"

I rolled my eyes and felt a powerful smack on the back of my head. I didn't even need to turn to see what happened. Velzard had manifested a body of hers behind me and smacked me.

"Don't go cheating on me now." She said with a huff before laying herself on the couch I was sitting on, laying out over my lap in a relaxed position.

"He really is troublesome sometimes, isn't he?" Evelyn giggled a bit and asked.

"I know, right?" Velzard agreed

"Aww, you know you love me!" I said giving them both a wide grin.

They both rolled their eyes at the same time before looking at one another and chuckling.

I smiled and sat back, gently running my hand through Velzard's hair while looking at Evelyn. "So? That soothe your Queenly heart?" I asked

Evelyn scowled a bit at the tease before composing herself instantly. If not for my superior reflexes, I might have missed it. "I suppose, but it seems like your long vacation is coming to an end..." She said, reaching over the shoulder of her armchair and pulling out a scroll from inside her bag, and tossing it to me.

I caught it and gazed at the golden seal and azure string holding the entire thing closed. I raised my eyebrow as I looked at it before opening it up. It was an invitation/summons to the 403rd World Council Meeting addressed to Evelyn.

I looked up at her, looking for an explanation, only for her to answer without me having to ask.

"It seems enough people are taking your warning seriously, and the recent reshuffling of the Demon Lords has also come galvanized humanity into action." She mentioned. "Time for you to get back into politics"

"...fuck." I swore.

"Language dear," Velzard commented with a smug smile, enjoying my uncomfortable expression as if it were karmic retribution for my behavior.

.~.~.~.

/1\:

Guy and Milim aren't as close in this canon and Milim is stronger than her canonical self with full mastery over her Ultimate Skill, so when the two of them fought, he found it annoying, because she was a genuine threat to him and the world if their fight continued for too long.

The reason it was annoying was that he also knew he couldn't really hurt her. First, she was Veldanava's Child and he wouldn't do something like that to him as his friend, and secondly because her overprotective dad (Alaster) would come to beat him to death if he did.

Guy knows full well that he can't beat Alaster as he is now and especially wouldn't be able to with Velzard helping her hubby during the fight.

/2\:

Due to Carrion and Frey fighting alongside Alaster during those times, they are aware of the fact there are levels of power above their own, unlike in cannon where Carrion legit thought he could beat Milim with nothing but a {|Beast Roar|} which only stung Milim's arm a bit in base form.

/3\:

The Insectar attacks stopped because Hinata was killing them all during Alaster's 'training', so they are currently rebuilding their numbers.