Chapter 65

The battle was long over. It was an overwhelming success. The results speak for themselves. Their entire force was killed and their king was captured. Benimaru also captured Reyheim, that cardinal guy, and Razen, their court mage. It was fine he did, but he didn't really need to. The news of this hasn't got out yet, at least in Falmuth it hasn't. I'm sure all the top leaders of other countries and the ones in the shadows already know what they need to know. I don't really care about them at this moment.

Not much is happening to the king and his group. They're being held captive and undergoing enhanced interrogation techniques courtesy of Soeui. I made sure to tell him not to go too hard on the king, but the others were fair game. I have no doubts he'll do a wonderful job.

Anyway, now that was done, we can enjoy a nice relative moment of piece. No worries about someone plotting against us and wanting to erase us off the map. Again, at least for now. That doesn't mean we won't be ready though. After all, when facing opponents who are hellbent on destroying your country, you kinda need a strong army.

Right now, I'm in an office waiting for Rimuru to return. There's no way he would lose to Hinata. If I had to guess, he probably escaped as soon as he could when he found out about the town being attacked. I'm prepared to answer any question he has though. It shouldn't be too hard. Just hand him some of the information Soeui gave me along with basic reasoning and it'll be fine. Maybe a bit of humor or something unexpected would make him lower his guard and be less suspicious.

Once I get that over with, I'll leave the aftermath of this thing to him. It's all a bunch of paperwork and scheduling stuff and he's the perfect one for this. It'd be good to put that angel in his head to use. I don't know why it's wisdom though. From what I know, the archangel Raphael isn't associated with wisdom, that would be Uriel. Either I'm understanding things wrong, or there's a bit of a mix-up. Ah, not important, just some of my random thoughts.

While waiting, I picked up very fast movement coming towards town. No doubt that was Rimuru. He's moving like a bat out of hell.

/\\//\\//\

As Rimuru approached the town, he noticed that it seemed a bit too peaceful for what he was expecting. Hinata had told him that his town of monsters was going to be "taken care of", but it was obvious what she meant. He expected some kind of fight to be happening, but it seemed way too peaceful.

'What? Did I arrive extra early or something? Has the attack not happened yet? I don't see any of those walls Artoria made.', Rimuru thought to himself, feeling suspicious about the whole situation. On the plus side, he calmed down a little from his earlier frantic state.

'I'll look for Artoria, she has to know something.'

Rimuru got off Ranga and ranga got back into his shadow. He quickly sensed where Arotira was. She was in an office. He quickly made his way there while noting that everyone seemed to be in a good mood. 

Once he arrived, he was going to knock, but a voice cut his thoughts. "I know you're there Rimuru, you can come in."

'Alright, yeah, maybe I should've known she can do something like that.', Rimuru thought to himself before he went it. He saw Artoria just sitting there with various paperwork on the desk in front of her. It seemed she was busy.

"It's nice to see you didn't lose, Rimuru, but I assume you have some questions?", Artoria asked him, already aware of what he was going to ask first.

"Yeah. How did you know? How did you know about that attack from Hinata?"

Artoria, in response to Rimuru's question, picked up a piece of paper and slid it forward to him on the desk. Rimuru went over and looked at it. When he read it, his eyes opened in surprise. It showed details about Hinata's involvement and plan to take him out herself for supposedly killing Shizu. Everything was laid out in detail, almost as if Artoria herself planned the thing and was giving him an insider look. 

"That's how, Rimuru. It's all laid out there."

"Wait, but what about the training? You used a rapier in training and the next thing I know, I'm fighting for my life against and opponent who uses a rapier. This is after that.", the evidence was one thing, but Rimuru made sure to point out an issue in the order of events. 

"Simple. Hinata was one of Shizu's students. Hinata is a paladin for the Holy Empire of Lubelius. She's the leader of the Ten Great Saints. Their entire religion in that empire is centered around human supremacy and being anti-monster. In her eyes, you 'killed' Shizu and now she wants to avenge her. And since you were an easy target, being all alone and separated, that would be a good time to strike. It's some simple and easy connections using knowledge that almost anyone in this world knows along with some stuff we know.", Artoria was careful in how she used her words. To try to convince Rimuru. She made sure to tell him things both of them knew, but not things only she knew. 

"Yout got all that from…that? Wait, what about the attack from Falmuth!? Hinata said we were being attacked or going to be attacked!"

"I guess you didn't see the aftermath of the battlefield. You must've come into form another part. Anyway, they're taken care of. Their army is eliminated and their king and top figures are captured.", Artoria told Rimuru in a casual manner as if was something obvious.

Rimuru stood there in silence and shock before shouting. "WHAT! Hold on, back up a second! What do you mean?"

"I mean what I said. Their army is no more, gone, zero, nothing, nada, nanimonai"

"How? I want to hear this. Explain it from the beginning."

"The beginning? Alright, sit down for this one, Rimuru. It's going to take some time to explain."

Rimuru sat down in front of Artoria. He was a bit confused about why it would take so long, but there must be a reason for it.

Artoria cleared her throat and started speaking. "I will tell you of the beginning."

'That sounds a bit dramatic for a start.', Rimuru thought to himself after hearing her first words.

Artoria continued on. "There was water swirling in chaos. The water was divided into sweet, fresh water, called the god Apsu. There was also a salty, bitter water, called the goddess Tiamat. These two gave birth to many younger gods. These young gods disturb Apsu's sleep and work so he decides to kill the younger gods, but Tiamat warns her eldest son, Enki. Enki kills Apsu, but Tiamat gets enraged and goes to war with the younger gods. Enki and the younger god struggle, but a god named Marduk rises up and kills Tiamat, splitting her body in two. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow from the eyes of Tiamat…" Artoria went on to explain things from the beginning. Perhaps a bit too far.

'What the? What is she talking about?', Rimuru was confused at this. He was not expecting anything like this.

[She is describing the beginning as told by the Enuma Elish. A Babylonian creation story.]

'What does that have to do with anything?!'

[You did ask her to explain things from the beginning.]

'She has to be messing with me.', Rimuru was sure that she was playing a trick on him, so he decided to voice his thoughts. "Artoria! That's not what I meant when I said to explain things from the beginning! I'm talking about this world, not Earth!"

"Ohhh…you should've said so, Rimuru. Alright, from the beginning of this world. So, there's a dragon named Velda-", Artoria couldn't finish as Rimuru interrupted her again. 

"No! Stop! The beginning of the war with Falmuth! What are you talking about some dragon! There's no dragon involved in this!"

Artoria just stared at Rimuru with a blank expression. "Wow, Rimuru. How insensitive. You know I'm part dragon, right? I literally have a dragon heart, and it's not just any dragon heart."

"Oh…uh…sorry? But come on, just tell me what I want to know."

"Alright"

Artoria summarized the entire fight with Falmuth. From when he left to save Shizu's students up until recently when he returned. Needless to say, Rimuru was in shock at how fast Falmuth's army was defeated. Even knowing about how they got all the information, it still surprised him at how much of a trivial challenge it all turned out to be.

"Wow, you explain it like it was just another day at the office or something. Wait, you mentioned something about dragons right?! I have to tell you something. I can't believe I forgot about this!"

/\\//\\//\

I have to calm down. I have to be mature about this. Rimuru just explained to me about his encounter with Veldora and how he can free him now, but his word choice could've been so much better.

"So, Rimuru, you met Veldora in a cave, and on the first meeting you 'swallowed him up' and he 'went inside you'?" I had to calm myself down, but I was struggling with maintaining a straight face. Deep and long breaths, deep and long breaths. 

"Um…yeah? Is there something wrong?"

"No, no, there isn't. So would you say you're…friends with him? Maybe…best friends?", I don't think I can hold back.

"I guess so. Well, I'd have to release him and see how he acts, but yeah. He was super excited when I first met him and told him about how I could set him free."

"Interesting. So, how would you describe your friendship? Are you best friends like how Gilgamesh and Enkidu were 'best friends'? Or perhaps Achilles and Patroclus? Those two were also 'very good friends'.", I probably had the biggest smile on my face right now. There's no way he doesn't know about the Epic of Gilgamesh and The Illiad. 

I could see it on his face. He was looking confused, probably talking to Raphael in his head. Right there, I can see the moment he caught on. His eyes open in realization and his mouth open as Raphael probably told him about the 'friendships' from those stories. 

"You know that's not what I mean, Artoria!", Rimuru shouted at me.

"I don't know what you mean, Rimuru. All I did was tell you of some of the very famous friendships in literature. Whatever you're thinking of is all on you, not me."

Rimuru held his head in frustration. I got him again. He just let out a sigh and moved things along. "Forget it. Can you show me the battlefield? I at least want to see the aftermath."

"Yeah. Come on, follow me. Be prepared though, it's a lot o bodies."

/\\//\\//\

"This is it, Rimuru."

I showed Rimuru the aftermath of the battle. It was a large field filled with corpses. Most of the corpses were on the field, but there were some in the forested area, from those that tried to run away. Parts of the grass weren't so green anymore, but nature will heal on its own.

"What do we do with all these bodies? Can you burn them up or something? Cremate them and whatnot?", Rimuru asked me, but I had a better idea.

"How 'bout instead of that, you use these bodies to summon a demon? I think you'll be surprised at what you get. I'll put it in terms you'll understand. Think of pulling a UR from a gacha game on the first attempt on a one draw."

"That's sound super unlikely.", Rimuru told me with some skepticism and doubt.

"But not impossible. Just give it a try, trust me."