Harbingers of Change

"Will you calm down? There is nothing to worry about," Kagali called towards Clayman from the sofa as the former demon lord paced back and forth, maids and manservants moving about his castle in an absolute frenzy, polishing the entire place from basement to flag spire.

She let out a slightly annoyed sigh at her son's nervous expression, while Mjurran just stood there like a decoration, unsure how she could contribute. The woman had become Clayman's second-in-command and obtained the thumb-finger position after the five-finger reorganization.

After the previous thumb, the three-tailed fox, was taken away by Lady Buku, there was an empty seat left. It was given back to a majin named Alvaro, who was among the five fingers until the fox was gifted to Clayman and had been expelled from his position for suspected gossiping of the undead leader. Lady Aura had sent a replacement, but the creature wasn't sentient and couldn't do much besides guard Clayman, and thus Alvaro had been summoned back for reinstatement of his former position after Kagali declared him innocent of charges after some investigations.

The horse-sized needle rabbit, at first glance, looked like a joke with its white and fluffy appearance and overall meek demeanor, but the creature turned out to be extremely dangerous. The rabbit could turn its soft fur into metallic needles stronger than magisteel, with frightening speeds of movement and launch to boot. Yamza being its first victim after the not-so-bright majin decided to poke the beast.

Yamza did survive, but he did take a while to recover and heal seventy broken bones and most of his internal organs being crushed. And Clayman wasn't generous enough to hand a potion to the man who had attacked his superior's gift out of fear of retribution.

Currently, the beast was sitting in the corner of the castle's main reception room and feasting on premium carrots as Clayman spoiled the creature to no end and pretty much was the only one who could safely pet the fluffy but extremely lethal rabbit in the entire castle. It even had its own miniature, silk throne and a servant to wait on it at all times if Clayman wasn't there to play with or feed it.

It did come as a relief to see that her son had returned to his old, pleasant, and caring personality after so many centuries of observation. Especially after all the atrocities he had committed while under the Eastern Empire's mind control. He had reversed most of the decisions he had made and regained some trust of his people, but a lot of damage was done to Jistav and had set it back quite a lot from what it could have been.

Kagali sipped her wine, putting down the glass on the table after each sip, and glanced at Mjurran, whose worried eyes were following Clayman. Lately, she and her son had spent a lot of time together, even if it was just work. She suspected that a spark was there, but neither had acted upon it in any manner thus far. Although Kagali hadn't exactly made any of her children with a clear desire to have romantic partners, that didn't mean they wouldn't want a relationship. While she had no desire for a partner, she wasn't against her children finding other halves. Their private lives weren't her business.

"Lord Momonga is coming to inspect my domain and you want me to be calm!?" Clayman shot back as he stomped over to the table and downed a glass of wine in one go, which was immediately filled by the maid with a prepared bottle in her hands. This ritual was happening every few minutes; Clayman was already going through a second bottle and another maid had run off to open a third from the castle cellars.

"He isn't coming to discipline you. In fact, Jistav is the most advanced of the new Tempest provinces in agriculture and economy, and there is little change needed to fully integrate it into the greater Hegemony due to your early adaptation of many of its laws." Kagali pointed out.

"I know… but what if I've overlooked something?" Clayman stubbornly refused to accept her reassurances, downing another glass.

"Then you'll be ordered to fix it like the rest of the territories. That's it!" Kagali grabbed the glass of wine from the table in front of her, downing it in one go. To even feel the buzz of alcohol, all her defenses and resistances needed to be turned off, which was something she rarely did. Even now the aged spirit mostly worked on mild placebo effects, not actual intoxication, thanks to her spiritual existence.

"So is Clayman being a nervous wreck again?" Tear asked casually as she appeared beside Kagali, her face expressionless.

Tear was the one to pay the highest price for her and her family's second chance. Each time Kagali gazed upon her daughter's unmasked face, deep-seated hatred and rage brewed within her heart. Yuuki still hadn't paid for abandoning Tear in Nazarick when they still were enemies of their now master, and he would pay.

She didn't blame Lord Momonga for the torture Tear went through. He simply acted like any ruler would and sought out information that could threaten his people. She would've done the same given his position and powers, she had done similar many times before.

"I am NOT a nervous wreck!" Clayman shouted back.

"Right. Anyhow, I came to report that Lord Momonga will arrive in about twenty minutes. From what I heard the visit won't be a long one, as there isn't anything Lady Albedo is unsatisfied with when it comes to governance," Tear announced.

"See, now call in the rest of the fingers and calm down," Kagali's tone grew harsher, like a mother scolding a child, fingers tapping the table.

"They're all ready. I just…" Clayman waved his hand, a full-sized mirror appearing before him and floating a few centimeters above the floor. Clayman painstakingly went over every detail of his appearance and finally let out a sigh of relief, choosing to instead make himself useful and help out his servants where he could to burn off his tension.

Jistav was the last province Momonga would visit for now, as his and Albedo's primary duties had piled up a bit and needed to be addressed before they could continue the tour of his territories. On top of it, his energy reserves were full again and he wanted to resume the temporal experimentation, or at least pinpoint a suitable moment from which to attempt extracting Rimuru. Even just more information about the slime would be useful.

Today he was joined by all three of his consorts and Pandora. His son wanted to inquire about the ancient ruins littering Jistav and what sort of forgotten knowledge could potentially be found there, just waiting to be studied. The old elven empire had been quite advanced before it was destroyed by the enraged Milim.

One of these old ruins also, supposedly, housed the dormant chaos dragon that once was Milim's pet and closest friend, but its exact location was forgotten to time, even to Milim herself and Kagali, who had ruled over the land for two thousand years. Pandora had noted that Jistav had high concentrations of dark energies filling the air, particularly around its capital, Amirita, so he speculated that the tomb of the Chaos Dragon was near it.

Once everyone was ready to move, Momonga opened a portal to Clayman's castle and stepped through the swirling darkness with Albedo to his right and Shalltear to his left, Shion following closely behind alongside Rubedo.

Pandora and his five assistants followed next. These five were handpicked by the doppelganger for their intellectual capabilities and fanatical desire to advance science in all possible ways, almost surpassing their loyalty to Pandora and the three Lords. Three of them were elder vampires, one was a dwarf, and one was a rogue black color demon that had arrived in Tempest once Jistav allowed travel and joined the research, quickly rising in the ranks until Pandora noticed him. After thorough vetting, the demon was permitted to join the top-secret research team within Nazarick and was eventually picked up as one of Pandora's assistants. Ramiris and Veldora similarly had begun to gather their own assistant teams, streamlining their work across the field.

They were greeted by Clayman and his inner circle with Kagali and Tear also present. There obviously were Mjurran, Yamza, and Pirrone, all of whom Momonga had seen before. The first newcomer was Alvaro, a majin who was among the five fingers before, but only recently regained position after Kumara was given to Aura by Buku. The last was Aldaman, a skeletal undead clad in a priest's garb, reportedly capable of summoning armies of undead he used to guard Amirita from any potential intruders, something of much interest to Momonga considering how few necromancers spotted the Cardinal World.

The last present was a dark elven woman dressed in a maid's outfit. By Albedo's report, Eva was nominated as the representative of dark elves in the race council by Clayman, as she had been loyal to Kagali since the creation of Jistav on top of being headstrong and not afraid to stand up for her people. She was quite strong, supposedly even stronger than Clayman, making her another figure of note in case things spiraled out of control in their more distant territories.

"You have done excellent work in adapting your territory to Tempest's policies and setting an example of how other regional leaders should approach the integration." Momonga addressed Clayman who, although calm on the outside, was clearly a nervous wreck. As one of the very few with a rank of a thrall, the former demon lord obviously did everything he could to prove his worth and loyalty to earn a better standing within Nazarick and at least preserve his life, perpetually in terror of his life being snuffed out without warning for a mistake he could've inadvertently made.

"Thank you for the praise, my Lord." Clayman bowed in response, his people mimicking him.

"The praise is earned and so is the reward." Momonga changed Clayman's status to a servant before continuing, releasing some of the shackles around his soul, much to the latter's visible relief. "There are only two topics I wish to address. First is the ancient ruins and the need to excavate them to hopefully find ancient artifacts and lost technologies."

"I'm afraid not much of the technology was left after the collapse of the Ultra-Sorcery Kingdom, and what remained during the early consolidation was taken by the scattered elite when they left for territories now under the control of Elmesia, Lord Momonga. I volunteer to oversee the excavation myself but there likely won't be anything beyond what Lord Pandora can create already," Kagali offered.

"I look forward to working with you, fraulein. Vater, using a local and one who was present during the collapse is the best approach in my opinion." His son somehow slid between his consorts and was now standing next to him, ignoring the notion of personal space.

"Then I'll leave you two to work out the details." Momonga stepped forward to gain at least some distance. "Onto the next topic. One thing Jistav is lacking is a military. According to the report I received, the protection of the capital is entrusted to a single entity who, as I understand, was put under a curse to do so, and the rest of your standing forces are mostly mercenaries. While I don't object to the method itself, I find it strategically unwise to defend the most populated area of the region in such a manner. Cocytus has pointed out that spending a large part of your budget on such a relatively small force is wasteful."

"Kagali and I already discussed what to do with Aldaman and we plan to remove the curse. He, however, has requested to speak with you directly to address the situation. I admit military matters are not my strong suit, Yamza mostly handles them." Clayman pulse shot through the roof as he spoke.

"I will send Zegion to reform the military forces of Jistav and include them into Tempest's military force and his armies will guard the Eastern border. I assume there will be no difficulties with this arrangement," Momonga declared. The insectoid had risen among the ranks quickly and was a close confidant of Cocytus, becoming one of his most competent subordinates besides Hakurou. As Apito settled on dealing with domestic matters, only taking charge of the air force and even then focusing on using it to protect internal aerial industries and conduct aerial surveillance, Zegion became the general commanding all insectoid forces, just below Cocytus himself. Since the chance that human nations would launch an attack was minimal and any offensive expected from Yuuki and Granbell would require the elite units not a standing army, he could be relegated to dealing with the eastern border for now, given the entirely unknown capabilities of the Eastern Empire.

"No, my Lord. I will make sure General Zegion receives everything he requires." Clayman bowed again.

"Good," Momonga replied, setting his eyes on the undead who had requested an audience with him. "You wished to talk with me, here I am."

Aldaman promptly prostrated and spoke in a voice only a religious zealot could produce, the others taking a step back as if having anticipated what was coming. "I have heard of the impossible deeds you have performed, great Lord. I feel unworthy to be in your presence. To think that you defeated Luminous, the Goddess I worshiped all my existence. I only wish to be permitted to worship you as my new God."

Momonga sighed internally: another fanatic. There was no helping it. He could feel that Adalman's plea was genuine and he indeed wished to take Momonga as his patron God, like how many of his own citizens already did.

"Very well. Kagali, remove the curse that controls him," He ordered. There was something fascinating about the undead whose ability to summon and control other undead was on par with overlords, and yet his power level was far from it. Perhaps there was something to be learned from Aldaman and Momonga wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to possibly expand his repertoire or at least talk with a fellow dedicated necromancer.

Editing by aidan_lo.

Proofreading by Stac, KieraKieraARTS, Alassandro, fvvck, Malguis, IAMTHEPLOKOKIOPO, Clagan, Sluethen, and aidan_lo.

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