In a certain room, a man and a woman lay naked together on a bed.
"How's your body feeling?"
"Ugh... my lower back still hurts."
"Well, after moving your hips that much, it'd be stranger if it didn't.... There, how about now?"
Vertis pressed a few points along Shizu's waist, and she felt some of the pain fade.
"Huh? It really does hurt less now."
He wasn't as precise as a true acupuncture specialist, but he had been a doctor once, so he could still tell where blood flow needed help. More accurately, he had smoothed out the flow of both her blood vessels and her magic.
Then Shizu nestled into his arms. The softness of her breasts against his arm felt like marshmallows.
"I'm really glad I met you. I love you."
"...Yeah."
Vertis whispered as he stroked Shizu's silky black hair.
While the two of them were quietly building their love, the Vertis in Tempest was saying something else entirely.
"One of me is drowning in paperwork while another is busy having fun."
Clicking his tongue, he kept sorting documents. Of course, the one in Ingrasia deepening his relationship with Shizu was also him, in a sense. Affairs of state, clinic work, and everything else all had to be handled at once, so he was almost constantly running [parallel existence].
"That said, even if a member of the draconic lineage has sex, it doesn't really change their power at all."
Those of the draconic lineage could not have children. But that was less because they lacked the means for sex and more because they had no need for it. Beings who revived even after death and lived eternally had no reason to leave descendants behind. Still, [Sacred Dragon] Veldanava had loved a woman named Lucia so deeply that he gave up all his power just to have a child with her. That child was Milim.
Of course, in the process Veldanava ceased to be one of the draconic lineage and returned to being an ordinary human, and before long he died together with Lucia.
The exact reason he never revived has never been fully clarified, but the most likely theories were these: either the system Veldanava himself created judged him to be some kind of system error and prevented his resurrection, or Veldanava himself was refusing to return.
Meanwhile, Rimuru was extremely busy preparing to visit the Dwarf Kingdom in accordance with a promise made to King Gazel.
While I was handling paperwork, Suphia and Albis had returned to their own country, but the beastmen who had come with them were still staying in Tempest under orders to study Tempest's technology and broaden their knowledge.
And before long, Benimaru and the delegation sent to Eurazania had returned as well, so preparations seemed to be accelerating.
"Eurazania... I hear the fruit grown there is pretty good..."
"Shall I prepare some for you?"
At Nox's question, as she assisted me at my side, I shook my head. She was almost completely taciturn and rarely spoke first to anyone but me. She loved reading, so she spent most of the day in the archives and library, which meant very few people ever saw her. Some even said that if you happened to see Nox, you'd be lucky for the rest of the day.
About an hour later, I finally finished all of today's paperwork.
"Good. That's everything for today, so I'll head over to Tempest for a bit. Let me know if anything comes up. Though I doubt it will."
Using magic, I traveled to Tempest, where I ran into Rimuru just as she was about to leave for the Dwarf Kingdom.
"Hey, heading out now?"
"Oh, Vertis. Long time no see. Yeah, I'm just about to leave for the Dwarf Kingdom."
"Let's just hope you don't stammer in front of everyone and end up crying on the floor."
At my words, Rimuru puffed out her cheeks like a hamster.
"Come on! How long are you going to treat me like a kid? I'm a proper leader now!"
"Sure, sure. So your companions are... Shuna, the three dwarf brothers... and Shion?"
If that walking time bomb was going too, all kinds of annoying things might happen... Though if she stayed quiet, she was beautiful enough. Not that it actually helped.
"What is it? Is there something on my face?"
"...No. I was just thinking about something else."
In the cargo compartment behind them were gifts piled high for King Gazel, and Ramga was there to pull the carriage, accompanied by Goblin Riders as guards.
"Have a safe trip."
"Okay. See you."
Just as Rimuru's waving figure began to fade into the distance, Vertis let out a quiet "Ah," and pulled a book from storage.
On the cover was an illustration of Rimuru dressed like a princess alongside the hero Yoem, and the title was printed in large letters: [The Beautiful Monster Princess, Princess Rimuru]. The author was Rommel.
"I forgot to tell her about this book. Well, whatever."
Judging that it probably wouldn't cause any real problems, Vertis put the book back into storage.
As he wandered through the streets of Tempest, he heard many sharp shouts and the sound of things colliding, so he headed toward the noise. There, a large group of monsters was engaged in training together.
"Oh, everyone's working hard."
Something polished through effort was hard-won, but the result it produced would surely be sweet. If he had to put it in a proverb, it was hardship first, reward later.
There was both private instruction and group training in his own country as well, but there was one clear difference from Tempest. In Laputa, training used real blades and actual magic.
The way of his nation was survival of the fittest. That was true of other monsters too, but in his country that principle was taken even further.
A unit that would not waver or hesitate even without a leader present... that was what the warriors of Laputa were. That was why their training was always a life-and-death affair. Living things grew stronger when they faced death and overcame it. That applied to monsters and demon people alike. There were no exceptions.
"No matter the situation, we crush the enemies that come at us as firmly as a mountain. That is the survival strategy of the sky fortress Laputa."
Murmuring that almost like a monologue, I headed toward the training grounds where the monsters were sparring.
"Haaaah!"
There, the military advisor Hakurou was sparring with a young girl.
She had twin tails the color of the sea and wore priestly robes like Midoray's.
'Huh? That girl is...'
The match ended in an instant. Hakurou effortlessly avoided the girl's rapid barrage, then finished the training session by chopping her lightly on the head.
"I can still keep going!"
"Stella, isn't it? What are you doing here?"
"Oh, Lord Vertis? Why are you in a place like this?!"
"What do you mean, why? Is it a problem for me to be in an allied nation? So what are you doing? Training?"
"Yes! I came to bring food, but they happened to be training, so I joined in."
"Hmm..."
Vertis looked Stella over before speaking.
"I saw it earlier, but your attacks are far too simple. No matter how fast you are, attacks that straightforward won't land no matter how many times you throw them. You'll get much better results if you mix in a few feints."
"A counter...?"
"Simply put, you pretend to attack from the right while actually striking from the left.... Though it might be easier to show you than explain it. Spar with me for a bit, Hakurou."
"Gladly."
The two of them faced each other with wooden swords in hand. A brief silence passed between them, and then, before Stella's eyes, they vanished.
"They disappeared?!"
To Stella, it looked as if they had vanished in an instant, but in truth their movements were simply too fast for her eyes to follow. All she could perceive were the sounds of their clashing swords and the afterimages they left behind. The fight was so fast that Stella's eyes began to spin, and she toppled backward.
"Oops. I guess it's too hard for a beginner to follow with their eyes."
"If only there were someone closer to her level, they'd make a fine sparring partner..."
It seemed like this was still too difficult for her, so I explained things slowly in words and even used drawings to make it easier to understand.
After lightly filling my stomach with a quick snack in Tempest, I returned straight to Laputa. There, after finishing inspections and discussing new weapons with the staff of the development bureau, Vertis sat down in his office and resumed his usual work. But as he looked over two particular documents, he wore an unusually troubled expression.
One concerned a mysterious organization called the Moderate Harlequin Alliance, and the other was about the Empire.
As the name suggested, the Moderate Harlequin Alliance was characterized by its members wearing clown masks, and if the compensation was right, they would accept requests from anyone in the underworld so long as the job was within their capabilities.
That alone would not have been much of a problem, but lately intelligence reports had suggested suspicious movements from the organization. And from the Empire came word that frequent military drills had been observed, suggesting they might be preparing for war.
I had already known the Empire would start moving once Veldora disappeared. But I hadn't expected them to act this quickly. That part was a little beyond my predictions.
"Well, for now it's probably better to leave things as they are. Better than poking at them for no reason."
Light and darkness. Darkness and light. A picture always needed both. But the same was true of the world. If the balance tilted too far toward light, or too far toward darkness, the balance of the world itself would break. That was the conclusion I had reached after living through a very long span of time.
For the moment, he shelved both documents by putting them away in his desk drawer.
'Yeah, it's not time yet. Not yet...'
Thanks for the chapter