30th Move | Crawling Chaos

Minutes later, both I and Arcueid were gently escorted by terrified security guards into an empty office room. After the crowd had dispersed, I disabled my Digital Mask, revealing my perfection once more to the world and causing one of the younger security guards to pass out as if he had just seen the most terrifying thing in the world.

With my new physiology, I clearly hear how the manager panickily talked into his radio despite being close to 10 meters away. He asked for the owner himself to come since, I quote, 'the fucking Director is here!'.

Arcueid sulked like a kid who had just been called to the office for doing something regrettable and was now anxiously waiting for the said office to call their parents.

While Arcueid deliberated on what was coming next, I merely observed the empty room. The room had colorful Turkish-like tiled flooring, with all of the pieces of furniture being made from wood that's lighter in color compared to my own preferred mahogany.

It was only past the five-minute mark when the door to the office burst open again as a human wearing a T-shirt and shorts came in. The man had brown hair and blue eyes and looked a lot like your typical 'dad' in their 40s.

"Haaaa..." The human was obviously exhausted from running. He leaned on the doorframe for support before bringing up his other hand that held a water bottle and drank it as if he hadn't had water for over a day.

"Whew," the man then cleared his throat after finishing the water, "woo. Good afternoon, Director Scientia!"

His voice was cheerful, and his form was one of welcoming. "Ridley, ex-merchant now full-time casino owner, at your service," the man reached out with his free left hand.

I returned the gesture and we shook hands, "Scientia Tempest. Director of Research and Development." Then I gestured to Arcueid, "Arcueid Brunestud, a companion of mine."

Calling her my 'ward' invokes images of 'underaged' when in fact she's older than me and would raise far more questions.

Strolling towards the rotating office chair, Ridley started talking, "Sorry you had to wait so long. I was working out before I got the call from Ran about the mythical Director of Research and Development herself coming to my casino! After hearing that, well I don't think there's not a single business owner in all of Metropolis that wouldn't drop whatever they were doing to come and greet it."

Then the man dropped into the office chair and clasped the armrest, "So! How can I help Research and Development? If you're wondering about what just happened... well I guess nothing happened other than your companion's being able to win against an inexperienced dealer, and I guess I can even reimburse Miss Brunestud's winning by a factor of ten for how utterly rude my security guard acted!"

He hides it well. [Acting] complements this 'Ridley's' to suppress any visible indication of his fear. The man wants me gone as soon as possible.

"Nothing much," I said, licking my dry lips, "we don't need Arcueid's winning."

The True Ancestor seemed to want to interject, but a harsh stare from me silenced any opposition. Arcueid soon returned to her sulking.

Ridley looked surprised for a brief moment before nodding along.

"Okay, okay," He clasped his hands together, every finger interlocking save for both index fingers, "I see, I see you. So... can I know what just happened or is that a secret? I'm fine with not knowing."

"I would much prefer if we can all just ignore what just happened. My companion here came from a faraway place and was curious about casinos since she's never seen them before."

Ridley nodded again, "I see." Then there was a familiar smile on his lips, "of course, nothing happened. The events of today were all but a dream."

So he's like me then? A businessman to the core. That realization caused me to smile in return, making Ridley flinch a bit before he recovered.

_____________________________________________

After everything was said and done, the casino owner sent us on our merry way, both I and Arcueid appeared in the middle of a dark alleyway through a Doorway.

As though she was a kid who had just been suspended from school and realized their mistake, Arcueid fidgeted around with her hands and her clothes.

I took a deep breath and thought about how I'm going to go about doing this.

"Umm... listen Scientia—"

"What made you think that casino owner was corrupt?" I asked, my head facing away from Arcueid.

"But... but aren't all casino owners corrupt?" Arcueid stated as if it was a fact, her face colored with confusion, "In the Detective series, Casino Travela was the primary destination for criminals to launder money! So I thought I could bankrupt them using [Marble Phantasm]."

I thumbed the bridge of my nose while squeezing my eyes shut. Even without [Psychology] I could tell Arcueid was about to start crying, something I desperately wanted to avoid since I can't stand crying, especially in someone that's close to me.

[Silenced Emotion: 50%]

I silently cursed the other True Ancestors.

"Arcueid, what you read is called 'fiction'. Fictions are 'not real', they are a distorted reflection of reality. The Metropolitan Gaming Commission has a stranglehold on anything related to the regulation of casinos. Just getting the proper license to open a casino is already difficult enough, and with how strict the standards and how heavily the penalties are enforced regarding gambling, all casinos within the city of Metropolis operate by a set of even stricter internal standards just so that there's breathing room."

I turned to face the True Ancestor while pointing in the general direction of that casino.

"That man, Ridley, was terrified of us! He probably thought that we were part of some elaborate plot to inspect his casino for any violation and thus wanted to get rid of us as soon as possible!"

Arcueid's mouth was hung open, "but— it happened so often in those books—"

"Arcueid, not everything you read about in books is an accurate reflection of reality!"

Damn, my relying on fiction to help her grow and experience stuff sure as all hell backfired on me. Those books must've filled the True Ancestor's mind with incorrect ideas and preconceptions about real life, especially the idea that 'tropes must be real'.

Arcueid recoiled when I yelled at her, causing a tinge of guilt to echo through my mind, "But what about tax evasion and bribery? Or corruption?"

[Silenced Emotion: 70%]

I replied in a much calmer, gentler tone, "The Ministry of Interior's Tempest Revenue Agency monitors all transactions of every citizen in the entirety of this city. Tax evasion is nigh-impossible since the main tax that all Tempest residents must pay is the property tax, allowing for unprecedented streamlining in tax calculation and collection. Bribery and corruption are pretty much impossible since to be a politician or any civil servant, you would have to give up much of your privacy like allowing your bank account to be inspected by anyone. Door me."

Reaching into a small Doorway that opened right beside me, I pulled out a synthetic leather wallet. Opening the wallet I then took a single bill to emphasize my next point.

"To avoid counterfeit bills, the Mint laces legitimate bills with a strip of Trackite while dousing them in specialized chemicals," I pointed at the odd colored strip at one end of the bill, "beyond these detective methods, civil servants and politicians are also paid extraordinarily well, further preventing them from accepting bribes and corruption."

"Oh... so the problems I read of within those books were never an issue for you?" Arcueid meekly said before bringing her index finger together.

I wanted to scream 'YES' before I crushed that feeling. A part of my mind wondered while I was so accommodating before the other parts replied how I'm Arcueid's guardian and that I technically kidnapped her.

Rubbing my forehead, I now have an immense sense of respect for all the parents out there, especially my own.

"..."

Such a thought made me realize again how I won't ever see them again. The homesickness I usually repressed successfully came oozing back and threatened to overflow and consume all of my other thoughts.

Looking down at my finger, I couldn't recognize it as my own— as if it was less real— as [Neuroscience] paired up with [Psychology] said how I'm feeling a case of 'depersonalization', otherwise known as 'out of body'.

Clearing my throat to anchor myself back to reality, "Yes, Arcueid. I'm going to introduce more nonfiction books for you to..."

I trailed off when I realized Arcueid was staring at something somewhere further into the alleyway.

Turning to face where Arcueid's looking, I'm greeted by the sight of several humans in rather... rough clothing, looking more like bandits.

What the hell are they doing?

"Well, would you look at that! Seems like that mage contact of yours was correct, Biron!" One of the thugs said, "We have here two pretties in a dark alleyway where there's no possible way for any of those pesky guards around!"

Is... is this actually happening right now? I rubbed my eyes and those humans remained.

"Are— are you guys robbing us?"

There was a look of disbelief on my face, which must've been seen as a 'scared disbelief' because the same human continued, "it might've taken a while, but seeing how successful this monster city is, I think it's only fair you distribute some wealth to us humans, no?"

The human brought up a sword. [Magic] recognizes it instantly as an enchanted sword that should be way out of reach for a person who robs stuff for a living.

I raised an eyebrow, curious.

"You're... robbing me. You're robbing ME of all people? Don't you know who I am?"

The human then pointed the sword at me, "No idea, but with a face as beautiful as yours, I think I'll gladly get to know you more."

I thumbed the bridge of my nose once more, "you morons. You foreign morons."

It'll be almost adorable how these are trying to rob ME of all people.

I raised my right hand, deciding to enact the Right to Self-defense, and promptly used [Unlimited Alchemy] to transmute the oxygen inside every human's lungs into a 'super chloroform' created by [Chemistry].

"—!"

Only nothing happened.

What?

I stared at the palm of my right hand again before shooting out, this time exerting more magicules and only to receive some red lines that slithered down my arm.

My range has been reduced...?

"Ho? You're trying to cast some magic?" The human leader smiled, "that's not gonna work. And neither is calling for help since our pal Biron here has set up an artifact that blocks all forms of magical communication, so why don't you all just give us the goods, huh?"

Okay, even without [Inspired Inventor] I can tell these people are way too well-armed for some robbers.

"Before you rob me, can I ask you guys where you got these things and how did you get in here?"

"Huh? That's a first," the leader commented, before smiling, "well, Biron here has a lot of contacts with mages, and he managed to get us these powerful artifacts that—"

I ignored the rest of his speel and pulled up a holographic panel. Using the panel, I marked 'Biron' as a high-value target for information and sent the message to the Metropolis' Overwatch Security System.

"— using his contacts with someone from Falmuth, we managed to sneak in—"

"I'm going to stop you right there," I raised a hand before pointing at them, "now, you clearly have backers, and those backers must've thought that we use magic like every other nation."

There was a soft humming sound that temporarily caught their focus before it was then turned back to me.

"But here's the thing: we don't use magical communication here at Tempest." I explained, "We use science, and even if you somehow managed to fully block scientific communication, I alone can probably take all of you guys down."

Very quickly, three Autonomous Security Drones descended with their iconic 'humming' sound and sprayed out a white soapy toothpaste-like substance that hardened quickly after coming into contact with the thugs, filling a large portion of the alleyway in a way similar to water turning into ice inside its container.

"Class-C Criminal apprehended: successfully. Prepare for transport." One of the ASDs announced and readied to open its pocket dimension.

"That was anti-climactic. Usually, that was where the protagonist would display their power to the readers." Arcueid noted with a hint of sadness in her voice.

[Silenced Emotion: 10%]

I facepalmed again as a large chunk of the hardened containment foam encompassing those thugs suddenly disappeared.

Exasperately, "God damn it Arcueid." Lowering my hand, I stared tiredly at the True Ancestor, pleading, "the world doesn't run on tropes! We're not living inside a book! And whenever you do go out, could you please keep it on the down low? I don't want to wake up one morning to see you blowing up on social media because you did something drastic."

Arcueid then stuck out a tongue at me playfully, turning on a dime and seemingly forgetting my previous scolding. Then, the super vampire (emphasis on the super) took my left hand and started dragging me with her. Since her strength vastly outpaces mine, I was hauled along like an unwilling dog on a leash.

"Arcueid where are you taking me?"

Turning her head to face me, I saw that there was a look of smug superiority on her face, "You wanted me to stay low don't you? So let's go and watch a theater play or a movie, that way I can be entertained and you can be there next to me to correct any wrongs I may commit."

Again, I gave her an unimpressed look before sighing for god knows how many times today.

"Okay, I'll come, you don't need to drag me."

[Psychology] did say how being next to Arcueid lowers my stress levels.

As Arcueid refuses to let go and continues to drag me along, my mind started to wander again. I couldn't help but imagine my old self when I just reincarnated refusing Arcueid wanting to watch a theater play and instead focusing on tinkering to make sure I'll be more unassailable.

I definitely have mellowed out significantly. Guess, Arcueid's also having an effect on me just as I am having some on her.

Putting on the Digital Mask once more, I and Arcueid watched a theater play made by a traveling band of actors who settled down in Metropolis. The play itself was nothing spectacular, after all, I spotted multiple places where the writers took inspiration from literature from the National Library, but with how it had Arcueid howling in laughter, I decided to keep my true opinion to myself.

I contended to mostly enjoy Arcueid's presence, her keeping me company.

With how the light from the stage illuminated her face, I couldn't help but again notice how beau—pretty she looked.

According to her, she was considered a 'princess' of her race, designed to be the strongest True Ancestor.

... I can't see that, I thought after recalling my interactions with the 'Princess'. I've always imagined royalties must be 'above' mere commoners like myself similar to how a human is above an ant, they must be refined and full of dignity, and yet, Arcueid is the complete opposite of my bias about royalty.

"Hahahahaha! His face! After it got— hahahahaha!"

Despite being a child soldier, Arcueid could still smile so freely. Not only that, the blonde was still able to retain that child-like innocence even more than Rimuru.

That should be impossible. A normal soldier has a difficult time adjusting back into civilian life after their deployment is finished. A child soldier has an even more difficult time and may never be able to adjust and yet...

Despite some hiccups, Arcueid is just like your average teenager.

Carefree, adventurous, and a bit rebellious.

The play ended, and Arcueid went toward the National Library while I just stood there, my hands freezing in the middle of waving goodbye.

How... how was Arcueid able to smile so freely yet I can't when I've only gone through a fraction of what she's been through? She's like a piece of blank paper being thrown into the sea yet remaining dry.

[Psychology] says I'm jealous of those who still retain their innocence even after being touched by the world's dirt, but I reject that explanation outright. I've grown up. I'm an adult, not a kid who misses what could've been.

Leaving that question hanging, I went returned back to my vault, went through the whole sterilization process, and was ready to tinker once more, this time more to keep my mind off of my previous thoughts.

*Clunk*

That was the plan until I heard a 'clunking' sound somewhere very far away and froze. Is it one of my cleaning robots? Shaped like a ball, the cleaning robots are meant to ensure this place stays as sterile as possible, including trying to cause as little of a disturbance as possible.

Narrowing my eyes in suspicion, I pulled out a log of the past few hours. The holographic display showed no intrusions upon the Siberium shell nor any unexpected curvatures in the local spacetime.

So what could've caused it?

An idea crossed my mind. Scrolling up on the log, I found that Rimuru and Veldora never left the Citadel...

"..."

I smacked my forehead once I realize that sound was probably the duo trying to mess with me.

I shook my head at their antics. It would've worked had this been anywhere other than my own Workshop-Vault, where I tinker and keep all of my most important machines.

"Door me." A small Doorway opened up right next to me, its size is no more than your typical A4 paper.

I no longer need to say where I'm going.

Since my new physiology actively purges any foreign bodies, instead of sending nanites into my brain, the nanosuit I'm wearing uses multiple external instruments to read the electric signals and patterns in my brain to predict what I'm thinking to a high degree of accuracy. This ability to read my thoughts paired up with a complex predictive AI algorithm allows me to pretty much never need to actually say where I want to go.

Reaching into that small Doorway, I took out a pair of seemingly ordinary fancy sunglasses.

Putting them on, a single line of nanomachines crawled up my neck and connected to the sunglasses.

The inner panel of the sunglasses powered on and displayed hundreds of point-of-view shots of many cameras that are situated all over my Workshop before dismissing most of them until it stopped at Camera-2391, displaying a tanned man crouching behind a machine that I used to record virtual particles in an attempt to harness Vacuum Energy, in other words, energy from empty space.

I was about to use the Strings Implant within my hands before halting. There was this feeling of familiarity within my mind, like seeing a long-lost sibling or parent— an instinctual part of you that ensures you can recognize each other even after years apart.

Is that Veldora? I mean, given how Velgrynd has a human body, it makes sense that Veldora too has a human body.

Carefully, using [Stealth] to guide my movements, I crept up behind Veldora to give him a bit of a fright—

"Rimuru, I think your plan has failed," Veldora said, and I immediately froze, even to the point of stilling my breath.

A blue slime popped out from within Veldora's cape.

"Shhhh! It can't have failed. We'll teach Scientia why you shouldn't be ignored—"

"She's right behind us. I sensed her with my [Universal Sense]."

Two eye-like circular protrusions came out of Rimuru in his slime form, "what."

Veldora then got up and gestured towards me, "see, she's right there."

"Fufufufu," I contained my laughter as much as I could. Clutching my stomach, "Hahahahahahahaha!"

I failed.

The sound of laughter filled the room as I found the situation unbelievably funny. It was strange, I thought as I continue to laugh, that I'm finding such a thing funny.

Once I settled down, I realized there was a carefree smile on my face.

"Hahahaha!" Veldora laughed boisterously akin to if he were an actor in a screenplay and let out a toothy grin as well, completely unbothered as a normal person would during the first few times of encountering my unnatural perfection, "Great to finally see you again, Scientia!"

I looked up and down the muscular body of Veldora.

"Are you going to go on your infamous rampage again?"

The bravado that Veldora once held was dashed when I asked him that. Rubbing the back of his head awkwardly, the True Dragon chuckled nervously.

[Psychology] suggests he had thought about it and was dissuaded from perusing such a path.

"No, Rimuru introduced me to the Sacred Texts showed me the error of my ways, and why I was in the wrong," He said with a hint of nostalgia, like an old man speaking about the good ol' days.

That mental image of an old man was instantly dissolved when Veldora jumped up, floated there, and started firing off lasers like some kind of anime protagonist showing off, "but of course! Should there be anyone who dares threaten you two I wouldn't hesitate to slaughter them all!"

My jaw dropped, alarmed at the fact that goddamn LASERS are being fired off in such a delicate and precious workplace— the cheapest machine here will cost billions in my old world— and you got yourself a receipt for untold disaster.

"HEY HEY HEY!"

Jumping up and down to catch his attention, I was also simultaneously waving at him to come down and stop whatever he was doing.

Confusion colored the Storm Dragon's features as he dropped to the ground, probably wondering why I had stopped his performance.

The confusion turned into pain when I reached up and gripped hard on his shoulder even in spite of the height difference between the two of us.

There was a large tic mark on my forehead, "Veldora, who said you could just fire lasers indiscriminately inside my Workshop?"

Veldora took a few steps back, trying to get out of my grip, and succeeded before his mouth formed into an awkward smile, like one you'd find on a friend who knew they messed up and are now trying to calm you down.

"Um, I fired off a bunch of lasers when I returned and Rimuru didn't object!"

"You traitor!" "YOU WH—"

Both I and Rimuru both screamed out before I took a deep breath and cut myself off mid-sentence, "— that's fair. That chamber was meant to survive the ground zero of a nuclear explosion, so it can definitely take it— but that's beside the point! Veldora, you are a True Dragon, one of the strongest beings in this world! Therefore, you have a lot of responsibility to properly use these powers of yours."

I scolded him and he just pouted. My brain was forced to do the mental equivalent of a 'system reboots' when I saw how the humanoid True Dragon fucking POUT like a damn child who's just been denied what they want.

"Hmph, and here I thought you would be glad that I would protect you from anyone who dares to harm you," Veldora said with a bit of faux hurt in his voice, turning his back on me.

I rubbed my forehead and took another deep breath before speaking up again, "right, apologies. You just returned and I shouldn't have scolded you for something you didn't know."

Looking up and right into his golden eyes that look very similar to Rimuru's, I offered him a hand, "let's restart this then. Welcome back Veldora, to the land of the free. I guess we should plan how to introduce you to the nation, huh?"

He then turned around with a massive smile on his face, completely ignoring my attempts at a handshake.

"Indeed!" Veldora then grabbed the slime beside him, who was struggling to get out of that grab, "Rimuru already told me of what you've done, introducing this 'democracy' and technologies and science previously unseen! It seems the saying that Perfect Homunculus is the Heralds of Change is indeed true!"

I tilted my head at the mention of 'Herald of Change', a title that was previously mentioned by Milim.

"What do you mean by that?"

"By what?" Veldora dropped a struggling Rimuru, "The Herald of Change?"

Seeing my nod, the Storm Dragon elaborated on my title, "Well, before the Birth of Relentless 400 years ago, the world was... relatively stable. Even in my domain within the Jura Forest, I noticed the lack of large deaths for half a century. According to this one Otherworlder, I met, the world was consolidated into several massive kingdoms and empires with the most prominent ones being Nightrose, the Eastern Empire, and the Thelium Kingdom."

I cupped my chin. The way Veldora is describing the pre-Relentless world... sounds a lot like Europe right before the first World War.

"Apparently, there was a three-way cold war between the nation of Nightrose, Rudra and his Empire, and the Thelium Kingdom. Relentless destroyed the Thelium Kingdom so thoroughly that it shattered into the hundreds of Western States that rest between Ruberios and Sarion. It took the combined might of all the Demon Lords, Heroes like Chronoa, my sisters, and all the human and monster nations combined to stop Relentless."

Crikey, I knew from reading some history books that my predecessor was powerful enough to destroy whole nations, but to hear it from someone who lived through such a volatile period?

It's like listening to a WWII veteran talks about the battle he fought in.

"Once the first Perfect Homunculus was stopped, I remember Chronoa called it the 'Death of the Old World'."

Both I and Rimuru had no words to respond with. The silence continued for a few moments before the sound of Veldora's laughter pierced the curtain of silence.

"Don't worry Scientia, I'm sure you would never do anything like that. Despite never really joining the final battle against Relentless, the monster still intruded upon my domain, and from what I remember, that Perfect Homunculus was dead set on the destruction of everything." He then gestured at all the machines around him, "you are someone that creates, Scientia, and as far as I'm aware, that makes you as far from Relentless as the day is to the night." Veldora declared, surprisingly insightfully.

"Oh..." I could feel my cheeks heating up at his words. [Magic] said that due to Veldora being my 'namer', his compliments are seen to me as if it was said by a dear friend.

[Silenced Emotion: 50%]

That heat was instantly gone as I clear my throat, "right... what happened to you? You're... not what I hand in mind of a proud dragon."

"Hahahaha! It's all because of the Sacred Texts that Rimuru gave me to read during my stay inside his stomach!"

I slowly turned to look at Rimuru, "and what would those 'Sacred Texts' be?"

"Those picture books that you read from right to left of course!"

"Manga essentially."

"I... see," My hands twitched at the mention of those Japanese comics and using them to teach someone, "and how did Veldora exactly gain a human body? I know that it's definitely a Skill of the True Dragons to be able to appear human but the history books never said that Veldora was capable of such a thing."

"Oh that. After Veldora returned, he wanted to go out to explore and experience his freedom. I realized very quickly that a giant dragon is no way to stay discreet, so I gave him a new body which he possessed."

"From your Skills?"

"Yeah," Rimuru nodded.

Okay, so one of the most pressing issues has been solved, next up...

"Where's he going to sleep?"

The slime looked a bit sheepish, "I was hoping you have an extra room in your Citadel... since his return is an extremely delicate situation."

I gave Rimuru an unimpressed look before heeding his logic. The Citadel is the most secure place in the world.

"You're right." I said with a sense of acceptance in my voice, "Veldora's return is an extremely delicate situation that if not handled properly can result in a civil war.

Although the Jura Tempest Republic is a secular state, the Veldora Faith in general still held enormous sway within the Jura Forest itself. Unlike the Western Holy Church, the Veldora Faith is splintered among many different interpretations, just like the many religions in my old world. And due to this splintering, many of the more conservative and fanatical interpretations would undoubtedly call for the overriding of democracy in favor of turning Veldora into their god-king.

"Yeah. With the goal of making Veldora into their sole ruler."

Rimuru looked uncomfortable, prompting Veldora to ask, "Are you alright, Rimuru? You don't need to worry, I'm not interested in ruling, your Sacred Text taught me just how tedious ruling is!"

The Storm Dragon raised a thumbs-up paired with a massive smile.

"I'm fine, it's just... I'm reminded of something from my old world, that party..." the slime looked like he wanted to say more before stopping.

I clapped my hands to kill the incoming silence, "alright, so it's decided. Veldora, you'll live with me inside the Citadel. Shizue!"

A Doorway opened up right behind me, and from it, a Shizue chassis walked out.

"Oooh, a maid?" Veldora remarked in a weird tone, "and a portal with no magic?"

All three of us paused at that before I soldiered on, "anyway, Shizue, please show Veldora to one of the many spare rooms within the living sections of the Citadel."

After Veldora and Shizue walked through a newly created Doorway, Rimuru said his goodbyes before returning to prepare for his visit to Ingrassia.

I stood alone once more within my Workshop.

Back to tinkering.

Looking around me, the many specialties of [Inspired Inventor] got to work and started coming up with ways to repurpose these obsolete machines.

Pulling up a holographic panel, I tapped away and started transporting some of these machines to be scrapped.

To ensure the Matrioshka Brain is completed even quicker, I'll need to start building those colossal fabricators that teleport whatever they built into the correct place.

Since the specialties involved in making this didn't give me a name, I think I'll call it... Subspace Entropic Nanoreplication Fabricator, or simply the 'Fabricators'. These Fabricators take in an incredible amount of energy from the Hawking Radiation of micro-black holes and convert them into pure hydrogen thanks to a more advanced version of that Entropy Rifle. Afterward, it sends that hydrogen to several fusion furnaces and fuses them into the desired heavier elements, creating raw resources.

With the raw resources in place, pools of advanced nanites will get to work converting those raw resources into more complex components for the computronium, which after assembling together, will get slotted into the appropriate place thanks to a Subspace Diver transitioning the computronium's particles into their Supersymmetric counterpart and back again only this time in the orbit of that star.

To properly calculate the spacetime coordinate and velocity of several hundred trillion components of sizes varying from the microscopic to the planetary requires an ungodly level of coordination and managerial ability, which is why the first thing I'm doing is transporting a partially completed Planetary Computer into the orbit of the Matrioshka Brain.

Walking through a newly manifested Doorway, I appeared inside a spinning wheel-like space station around thirty light minutes away from the star. Immediately, I'm forced to avert my eyes as a bright burst of electromagnetic and gravitational radiation erupted out of a planet that suddenly came out of Hyperspace a little under a light second away.

Under the glow of the distant Class A star, the planet looked like it had large oceans of silvery metal and landmasses of brownish red— the parts that haven't been covered by the computational shell. Around the planet, there was a thin halo, signaling that there was a thin atmosphere.

Using several holographic command consols, I instructed the Planetary Computer to start orbiting the star while awaiting connection with the Fabricators.

Next, I halted around 1% of all production facilities on the Matrioshka Brain's surface, diverting the mass that would've gone towards them into instead building a single Pluto-sized Subspace Entropic Nanoreplication Fabricators.

It should take me... maybe a day or two.

_____________________________________________

Kingdom of Blumund, Capital City of Rondo, Jura Tempest Republic Embassy.

The Tempest Embassy in Blumund is the second one that the Jura Tempest Republic had opened after the one in Dwargon. Aesthetically, it is just as technologically advanced as its predecessor, with plenty of bells and whistles like a floating monument and holograms showing the shining capital of the Republic.

Officially, it is a 'Consulate General'.

Taking up a space of several football fields, the main building of the Embassy reflects that of the Congressional Pyramid but mixes in a sense of optimistic futurism, as if that's what the buildings in a bright and hopeful future would look like with color palettes of white, blue, and green.

Ever since it first opened up, the gate to the Embassy is filled with those less fortunate individuals waiting in line to get a Work Visa or for those who are fortunate like merchants, to apply for passports.

And just like every day, today is no different.

"Man, I gotta say this again: this job is amazing~!" Youm said with a drink in his hand as he, inside his cushy office that overlooked the courtyard of the Embassy, swept his gaze over the city of Rondo. "I just need to make some public appearance, meet with members of royalty, attend charities, and that's all. I can just laze about during my off-hour, is this the life of those singers?" Youm wondered out loud as he gulped his drink.

His office is shaped like a cube, with one side of the wall filled with slanted windows that reach from the ceiling to the floor. Its size is easily comparable to an average living room inside an arcology. Similar to the outside, Youm's office was also decorated with sleek, white furniture punctuated by potted plants, holograms, and advanced, never-seen-before technologies.

It was the epitome of cleanliness and futurism, of what's possible with science.

The alcohol in his hand caused Youm to ponder about what had happened to him over the past few weeks. From being a criminal to attending a place with the highest education possible, all the way to being given a job that pays a six-figure salary which needs him to do pretty much nothing!

He's been through a lot, hasn't he?

"With how much I've been through, I should probably write a biography about me. Future generations will definitely have to study Youm the Legendary Diplomat, who managed to turn from rags to riches better than any merchants could."

*Ring*

Just then, the phone on his desk rang, and Youm instantly grew alarmed. Quickly, he placed the half-finished glass of whiskey back into a drawer built into the table. Policy dictates that he wasn't supposed to drink on the job, and if the one who called is his real boss, then the penalties would definitely be even worse!

Clapping his cheeks, Youm tried to get the drowsiness from alcohol out of his system before answering the call and the voice of his secretary came out, making the man breathe out a sigh of relief.

"What is it, Acey?"

"You have someone here waiting in the lobby wanting to work for Security, specifically, your security, Ambassador."

Youm's face contorted into confusion.

"We have plenty of people wanting to work for the Embassy every day, what makes them so different?"

"Ambassador Youm, they have shown the capacity to display an impressive amount of magic."

Youm stopped whatever he was thinking when he heard that information, "how much magic?"

"At least A-rank, Mr. Ambassador."

"Their name?"

"Mjurran, no last name."

Youm shifted his jaw from side to side in deep thought. His boss always had an interest in those who could display an impressive amount of magical abilities...

"Send her in."

Minutes later, the door to his office opened to reveal a woman with green hair that reaches the base of her head, wearing the stereotypical clothing that one expects a mage to wear.

Still, that wasn't what first caught Youm's attention. Mjurran's rather beautiful face caused blood to instantly start rushing toward the Ambassador's lower parts. Both of Youm's eyebrows raised high as he drink in the form of this 'Mjurran'.

With his fingers crossed together on the table, he spoke with intrigue clear in his tone, "so you're the one who's wanting to be employed? You have a better chance than most due to your high magical ranking but... personally, I doubt one such as yourself is capable of defending against threats."

If she had asked for any other job, Youm would've hired the eye candy on the spot. But the thing is, his security detail is overseen by Director Scientia herself and well if there's one person he doesn't want more attention than necessary, it's the individual who created those weapons of mass destruction. Youm really doesn't want to attract the Director's attention by hiring someone incompetent.

"Hmph," Mjurran scoffed, "give me a target and I'll defeat them handily."

Youm's left eyebrow rose even higher, "you have heard of the fact that the local mafia tried to strongarm us only for the security drones to annihilate them completely yes?"

It was the talk of the month. The Embassy was given a threatening message from the local mafia, and since the Republic takes all threats to its citizens seriously, Youm managed to get the approval of the King of Blumund to 'liquidate' the local criminal population.

General Rubedo was the one who led the operation and displayed the reason why it is best to have Tempest as an ally while affirming Blumund's reason to stay loyal.

A playful look overcame Mjurran's features. She gave Youm a grin, "why yes, I've heard of the local stories of how brave—" Mjurran begin to walk towards the sitting Youm, swinging her hips as she does, "strong, and powerful—" Mjurran voice turned husky before stopping and sitting on one of Youm's legs, "the Pacification Force was."

Mjurran's back was facing Youm as the woman sat on the Ambassador's leg. Leaning back, Mjurran was about to give Youm a full look down into her blouse before an alarm was triggered and multiple laser emitters came out of the ceilings, all aimed at Mjurran.

Surprised at what had just happened, Mjurran jumped up and froze like a deer in the headlights of a car at night. Youm quickly pressed a button underneath his desk before calling his phone, "sorry, false alarm!"

"Message received, Mr. Ambassador, we are returning to our post."

He read the message loud and clear. It was a secret code only the Ambassador and his Security Detail Captain know about it, "Have a nice day."

If Youm had responded with anything other than 'have a nice day,' the Captain would know that he has been taken hostage and will proceed to act accordingly. Namely, alert Metropolis as to what has happened and possibly bring the full force of the Director down onto his position.

The laser turrets returned to the ceiling.

"Sorry about that. How about this: you get one chance," Youm raised an index finger to emphasize that point, "fight against an Autonomous Security Drone, impress me and you get the job."

Mjurran gave him a playful smile, "just impress and not defeat?"

"Lady, if you can defeat it then it means something's wrong with the ASD, nothing short of someone from the A+ rank even having a chance to scratch the drone, much less defeat it."

_____________________________________________

Falmuth, Capital Maris, Royal Castle

The Kingdom of Falmuth is a nation that resided upon the border between Ingrassia and Dwargon. With a population of 30,000,000 citizens, it is considered a Great Power on the international scene and a major contributor to the Council of the West.

However, trouble was brewing.

Within the city of Maris, the capital of Falmuth, its King and his most trusted advisors have come and met to discuss the new power that's risen in the region.

"We newly confirmed reports of the Jura Tempest Republic attempting to establish diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Ingrassia. In fact, our spies within the city have reported their leader visiting Lura." An Archduke wearing a white wig said, "through a teleportation method of transport."

"Teleportation... of course they have teleportation. Do we have any hope of just competing with that nation?" The old King of Falmuth asked his small council, "those moving pictures that were sold by merchants from that monster republic... the way they slew the Orc Lord and Charybdis... Razen, do we stand a chance militarily?"

The aged old Wizard closed his eyes in deep thought before opening them, "unfortunately, we do not have the power to subjugate the monster republic. I doubt even the entirety of the Council could possibly conquer that republic. Cause massive amount of deaths maybe, but it would still inevitably be their pyrrhic victory and our extinction."

Many balked at the harshness of Razen's words.

"Surely," another Duke spoke up, "Razen, surely you jest? This is a nation that hasn't even reached one year old—"

"Do you think me stupid?" Razen interrupted sharply, "This republic of monsters has shown themselves perfectly capable and willing to use 'technology' that results in S-rank magic against perceived threats. The best we could hope for is perhaps sabotage or 'acts of terror' as the Otherworlders call it, but... from what I gather based on testing of their cities using thugs, any attempt at disrupting the public order will be met with very fierce and extremely quick resistance from their flying metal magic-less golems."

The nobles and King all flinched at the mention of S-rank, the superweapons of this world.

Razen then sighed in defeat, "what's even more worrying is the fact that their miracles do not use magic and use instead... 'Science' as they call it."

"What about any weak points we can abuse?"

The one in knight's armor spoke up with a sad acceptance, "we cannot hope to compete. They clearly let those videos out as an attempt to warn any potential invaders, which means they probably have more in secret. Besides, with the creation of the defensive pact from Dwargon and Blumund, we would be fools to attempt to attack this tri-national alliance."

The king slammed his fist onto the table, yelling, "I gathered you all here to tell me what CAN we do against this unprecedented, unbeatable threat! Not repeat to me how fucked we are if we go against Tempest militarily."

The silence in the room was almost unbearable for the king. It really hammered in how out of context this threat was that even the wisest men he knew had no answers.

"I may have a solution to our problem," that was when the leader of the Merchant's Guild of Falmuth spoke up, "however, the solution may be seen as blasphemy—"

"If it will save the kingdom, then just say it! I'll pardon you for any crimes that come afterward!"

The Merchant Guild's leader took a deep breath in before speaking, "instead of being in the way of an unstoppable force, I say we use the force to our advantage. In other words, we open our nation up to the Jura Tempest Republic."

The other people in the room gasped in shock at what the merchant was proposing. The Archbishop of Falmuth, Reyhiem, looked like he was about to excommunicate the merchant right then and there before the King once again slammed his fist on the table, preventing such acts.

"ENOUGH! I already said I'll pardon his crimes," the King said before, looking around at the table before turning to face the merchant, "why do you propose such a solution?"

The merchant cleared his throat before continuing, "that republic is a true oddity. Unlike the Ulgrasians who are very closed off, Tempest has an open-door policy, that is, they welcome everyone, no matter what species they are. Humans in particular are offered pills that allow them to live in high magicule areas. In particular, all the merchants who've returned call that place the 'Land of Opportunities' because of just how easy it is to make money there, buying their wares, raw ores, etc, and selling them back to the kingdoms at a higher price."

The merchant stopped, gauging their interested reactions before continuing.

"In fact, it's so easy, all of my colleague's wealth has increased drastically after their visit to the Republic weeks ago. What's more, to become a citizen of that country, all one has to do is to live there for a number of years."

"Blasmphous! How dare you all even think of dealing with monsters?!" Reyhiem suddenly got up and yelled.

"Sit down Archbishop Reyhiem," The King proclaimed once more, "you are here to discuss how to save this Kingdom, not to preach about the evils of monsters."

Archbishop stormed out of the room in response.

It spoke volumes of how much influence the Western Holy Church has when it allowed the Archbishop to freely show disrespect to the king of a Great Power without any consequences.

"Now," the merchant continued after Reyhiem had left, "Tempest has signed free trade agreements with Blumund, Dwargon, and Eurazania, meaning that any merchants who are under the flag of Tempest can trade completely tax-free in any of those kingdoms (though it may matter less in Dwargon). What's also interesting are these 'corporations'. I and my colleagues think of them as something similar to Guilds except they are their own entities. When these corporations open up shops in a foreign city, they tend to upgrade the local roads and make the area around them noticeably richer, cleaner, and overall, better in what's apparently known as 'Foreign Direct Investments'. Hell, if allowed by the government, those corporations from Tempest will even deal with the criminal underbelly with their own security forces."

The leader of the Merchant's Guild paused and looked around, seeing recognition in the eyes of Folgen, the Knight Leader of Falmuth, and more importantly, a summoned Otherworlder.

"If we open trade to this nation, we can invite these corporations over and have them invest in the local areas and set up favorable tax laws that would incentivize more to come. This is how we'll ride upon the unstoppable force, and how we'll still stay on top after the rearrangement of the old order into the new."

"Are you saying that Tempest will be like Relentless?"

This time, it was the leader of Falmuth's secret intelligence who said that.

"Yes, that is what I'm saying. We are nearing the final days of the current world order." The merchant said solemnly, "The Jura Tempest Republic is unlike any other monster nation where the strong can do whatever they want. Their primary weapons aren't the leader of the nation, instead, it's magic-less machines that anyone can use. Many nations that currently exist will probably not in the coming years; they wouldn't survive the storm. If we are to survive, it is best if we try and be as accommodating as possible."

The grave warning chased away all sounds from the room. What more could there to say, after the huge revelation that they are most likely living in the final days of a time of relative stability?

"How would we justify it to the Western Holy Church?" The King finally spoke up, breaking the silence.

This time, it was another Duke who spoke up, "Well, I have received reports saying that these magic-less 'technologies' are made by a single person, named 'Scientia Tempest', a human, most likely either a summoned or a reincarnator was responsible for everything. If we say that we aren't opening up to monsters, but human-controlled monsters, most people will probably accept that."

There was a tiny glimmer of hope in the King's eyes, and finally, a smile on his face, "yes, yes, we shall do exactly that. Open our doors to these 'Foreign Direct Investments'." he then quietly added as the tenseness was released from his shoulders, "we can still save this Kingdom..."

That hope was gone when the Archbishop returned with a confident smirk on his face.

"Archbishop Reyhiem, why have you returned?" the King asked, partially disturbed at the smile on the face of the Archbishop.

In a tone that one would use to gloat over their fallen enemy, Reyhiem replied, "I have just received words that the Western Holy Church will be sending a total of 100,000 Knights including the captain herself, Hinata Sakaguchi, and all members of the Clerics of the Seven Luminaries against this nation of monsters. They are telling us that if we do not call our bannerman and rally at least 50,000 troops then they shall see this nation as one of the infidels and will thus, be excommunicated from the grace of God Luminous. I suggest you do not do whatever that greedy man is telling you, King Edmaris."

"What?"

"How dare—

"You bas—"

"ENOUGH!" The King bellowed before gritting his teeth in frustration.

Reyhiem gave him an ultimatum. Either follow the will of the Church and send 50,000 sons of Falmuth to die pointlessly against this new nation, or suffer the wrath of the Western Holy Church, including God's Right Hand herself. If he goes against the Western Holy Church, and in the very likely event that Falmuth is defeated, his head will roll and they'll dismantle the whole Kingdom and turn it into a theocracy with Reyhiem as the regional leader that answers to the Pope.

Either sacrifice 50,000 souls now or the potential destruction of far more in the future...

With a heavy heart, the King turned to Folgen and opened his mouth. There was a brief hesitant pause before speaking, "I... call the banners, we shall assemble the required troops in a month."

"Excellent choice, King Edmaris, I shall relay the information to Cardinal Nikolaus of the result immediately." The Archbishop then left the room.

Folgen opened his eyes in shock, "a month? are you sure, My King? It takes—"

"Yes, and I hope their parents forgive us all for damning their sons to the embrace of death."

"I'll think of something," Razen said after the Archbishop had left the room.

_____________________________________________

AN: an extra-long chapter for the 31st one, almost 9000 words, multiple Chekhov's Guns have been primed and are ready to fire, I wonder if you caught them all? I think I'll take a small break after this, a few days no worries.

We really got to see the AU eh?

You know, having read the 1984 Jumpchain CYOA, I was left extremely terrified at the prospect of the final option: If you want a picture of the future...

That left me terrified on an existential level since I consider 1984 as the worst possible dystopia out there and the everpresent despair and hopelessness, compounded by the fact that the Party now has superpowered police that they will use to enforce their will...

George Orwell gave us a light at the end of the tunnel when he said that Totalitarian governments will fall in the end, but I don't think that'll happen especially considering the superpowered people of fiction as their enforcers.

There will be a side story, a What IF of Scientia being dragged into the world of 1984 through a dimensional accident with Inspired Inventor and Guide to Victory disabled, however, what's not disabled is the specialties that Scientia has already invested in as well as their Intrinsic Skills and Magic.

It's not pretty.