Kazuma stared down the noble from across the table. He bit his lip as the man read over the paper in his hands. The last hour had been spent haggling and negotiating that it was starting to take a toll. He shifted his glasses upwards as they began to slip.
All attention stoped when the noble breathed a sigh before he let the paper drop to the table. "Sir Autigan. While this deal is more than promising. I but one question before I am willing to accept this." The man said. "What is your question sir?" 'Ross' replied. "Why are you all of a sudden suggesting this, The Little Shop of Wonders has been supplying our family with goods easily with but horse and carriage?" The Noble inquired. "We've gained a powerful magic user for our services, with the advent of these Red Storms we feel it would be best to reduce risk of products being lost in transit. If we are allowed to set up a point near the shops we can easliy ship products upon completetion. Reducing the wait time for products and all but eliminating the risk of products being lost in transportation." 'Ross' explained in a rehearsed manner.
The noble smiled for a second before taking the paper back in his hands. "Good to see that some companies actually care about their customers. You have yourself a deal Sir Autigan." The man said as he signed his name on the bottom of the paper.
Hajime was practically giddy as he worked with several of the devices in the Forge of Nazarick. The echoes of his cackling carried by the empty halls serving as the only source of noise around him. Weapons and tools were being pushed out at a pace far exceeding anything he had done before.
Materials he had never held before, magic and items far outside his imagination, all for him to use. Magic Mirrors and crystal balls were easy to create, hardly taking a moment of his time. Yet the weapons, oh the weapons, Ainz had given him the means to create weapons that could rival what the Mavericks could give him.
He leaned back and let out a breath of fresh air as the latest endeavor was finished. His ring shown for a brief second before the weapon disappeared in his pocket dimension.
He left his seat and turned to a pile of metals and lesser magic items. Giving another silent thanks due to Ainz' entire guild having a hording problem as he grabbed several of them. He laid them out on the table before him and began shifting tbrough his blueprints. "Now, what to makd this time." he spoke to himself before stopping.
An almost feral grin stretched on his face before he grabbed a piece of Adamatine and got started.
Naofumi ran a hand through his hair as Subaru concluded the rundown of who they'll meet. It was a lot to take in; A swordsman with ridiculous ability stacks, a group of souls with powerful knowledge which would need to be revived and a council of old men alongside the royal candidates for the throne. Subaru being a part of one of said camps and having to flee after having his memories 'eaten' and the torture that followed just being the icing on top.
He now knows why Subaru is covered in scars, and he wished he didn't.
Raphtalia, Rifana, and Keel were shooting him looks of sympathy as he finished his story. Filo couldn't wrap her head around it all, but chose to hug Subaru as tears ran down his face. "Thanks, I know it won't be easy. But I'm thankful that you guys are joining me." he said while patting Filo. "Its fine, but Subaru, won't they try to imprison you once again?" Raphtalia asked. "Nope, they killed gluttony about a month and a half ago. Since then people have been looking for me. I... almost had a run in with two of my old friends from the camp before I came to Tempest." Subaru replied.
"Do you?" Naofumi started. "I have no intention of rejoining or joining any of the camps. But seeing them again will be inevitable." Subaru cut him off. "I can understand that, but why go back at all if they put you through that?" Rifana asked. "Because... still care about some of them, and I don't want anyone to be hurt by these waves regardless of my own feelings." he said calmly. "Can't you just... take revenge and take everything from them." Teel shot out.
"No, it wouldn't be worth it. I have other things to worry about and I don't want things to escalate with them." Subaru said. "But will they accept that?" Naofumi asked. "They won't, not at first anyway, but it's my choice in the end." Subaru replied.
Naofumi stewed for a moment, considering Subaru's words. They were both betrayed, both torment and left for dead by others. Subaru is willing to return, and confront them, but not hurt them. He wants nothing more than revenge against those who betrayed him. "You're far too forgiving." Naofumi said. Subaru actually chuckled in response. "What I'm about to do will hurt them more than any form of physical punishment." Subaru replied with clarity.
They weren't so different after all.
Kumoko dragged herself out of the small crater left by Ariel when she landed. 'Granny, no more please' She wheezed out. Ariel had dragged her every which way across the continent with little care for herself.
"Oh don't be such a baby, we only have five more spot to go." Ariel replied with a sadistic smile. 'I know you don't like me, but please stop trying to kill me?' She begged. "Oh honey, if I were trying to kill you, you would already be dead." Ariel shot back.
'Snark does not look good on you Granny' Kumoko replied as she set up the teleportation point. "Oh please, anything can look good on me." Ariel shot back. 'I've created a monster, The Demon Lord's power and Body Brain's personality. Is this how Subaru and Kazuma feel around me?' Kumoko lamented to herself. Unaware that the two felt a deep shiver down their spines the moment her string of thoughts began.
The ground glowed for a brief second before fizzling out. 'Alright down this one, now can you please-' Kumoko couldn't finished as Ariel grabbed her by her human torso and rushed off to the next destination. Kumoko screaming the whole way through.
"I'm telling you Otto, I can smell him on the ship." Rem said as she massaged her temples. "You said the same thing about the town and the shop, maybe he got a ticket and sailed north?" Otto shot out idea after idea. "No, the scent is weird. Its fresher than either of those places, but not as potent." Rem replied. "Potent?" Otto shot her a confused look. "Subaru always smelt of Witch's Miasma. At the shop his scent was only lingering but it was still potent as the lingering Miasma at the manor, same with that cursed town. But here, it's less potent than when I first smelt it on him but the scent is barely a week old." Rem explained.
This caused Otto to pause. "How old, did you say it was?" he asked. "Its barely been here a week, at least I think it has." Rem answered. "This ship depart three days ago, It spent the last week in port slowly changing out cargo and passengers. If the scent is barely a week old. Then Subaru is here on this ship or was on this ship for a time." Otto surmised. "Yes," Rem replied.
"If he is on this ship now, then we can catch him when we dock since we aren't allowed to leave our rooms for the voyage." Otto quickly planned things out. "And if we can't find him?" Rem asked with a subtle glare. "Then we're going to have to check on the continent to the north." Otto said in a sad tone. "If we can't find him there either?" Rem asked as she looked him in the eye.
"If we can't find him there. Then we either check on the continent to the Far East, or we may just gi..." "Don't finish that sentence." Rem interrupted him. Otto just looked at her. "I know it's been tough, for all of us, but there's only so much we can do." he said tiredly. "Just don't say it... I don't want to think about it." Rem said as she sniffled.
"We'll find him, one day we'll find him." Otto said in an attempt to comfort to Oni.
Rimuru groaned as he finished his seventh meeting. Sending a message to the other demon lords was easy enough, most of them were more than willing to defend their homes from the waves. It was the human nations that kept causing problems.
Some of the meetings went smoothly, a breif talk about the dangers of these waves, trade routes being arranged and points set up with the aid of Information Brain. The kingdoms he already held alliances with didn't even require such meetings. But others... He was so close to slamming his head through the table with how self righteous and stuck up their leaders were.
The world is ending and they'd rather die than shake hands with someone offering aid. He already had to talk down both Ragna and Information Brain from harming the dignitaries several times, and that was still far less exhausting than talking with said dignitaries.
The last meeting of the day had just ended. He was running his hand througb Ragna's mane to calm his growing frustration when the crystal ball in his bag went off.
He withdrew it quickly, Ragna and Information Brain gathering around to see what it was. "Yes, hello, who is it?" Rimuru asked. "Rimuru, there is a problem that I requires our attention. I will show you before I open a Gate to your location." Ainz said as the image in the crystal ball shifted. Rimuru could make out the figure of a young woman dressed in modern japanese clothing resting in bed. Both Kaori and Shizuku looking over her with worried expressions.
He turned just as the Gate opened and rushed in. "Ragna, Information Brain, keep watch here, I'll be back." he said before the Gate closed.