Jayr POV - Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken Universe, Central World, Magic Continent, Kingdom of Englassia, Lura - 2013 AMB
In the end, Rudra was very grateful for my little aid in fully restoring his shattered soul and for freeing him from his Ultimate Skill's influence once and for all.
And the same can be said for Velgrynd, who quickly relaxed after she realized that I've actually helped her lover and freed her from Michael's control, Tatsuya Kondou and Damrada, who also let their guard down but mostly because they knew they were completely outmatched and that if I wanted to harm their Emperor, I could easily do it without them being unable to do anything to stop me.
After that, I quickly explained them the main reason for presence, telling them about the threat of the impend invasion of the Champion of Power and his enourmous army, the existance of the entity known as Unicron and its objective of destroying everything, about the unified front I'm trying to create by contacting all the major faction of the Central World in addition to a few, powerful, trusted allies, and in the end, about those who have already agreed, which at this point, basically includes almost everyone, barring a few exceptions.
In the end, the grateful Rudra didn't hesitate to agree to join forces with everyone else, stating that it is his duty to protect the world from those who wish to destroy, adding that this invasion may be the first step to actually realizing his dream of creating a better world where disputes could be settled with words rather than violence.
After that, I finally focused my attention on Feldway, and after thinking about the best way to deal with the first of the Seven Angels of Origin for some time, I finally opted for a more peaceful solution.
In the end, I decided to purify Feldway from the corruption caused by the ambient Magicules that filled the Otherworld, amplified by the presence of Ivaragé, and see if the first of the Seven Angels of Origin changes its attitude.
The end result was better than I expected as the purified Angel immediately and sincerely apologized for its previous behaviour and acknowledged my status as Veldanava's successor, swearing its fealty and giving its full support in my objective of protecting this universe.
Seeing the success of this approach, I don't hesitate to order Feldway to summon the other corrupted Angels so that I could purify them too, something that the Angel doesn't hesitate to do, allowing me to remove one of the greatest internal threats finally.
After doing that, I ordered Feldway and the other Angel to start preparing for the battle against the forces of the Champion of Power before I teleported to the location of the second most annoying individual to deal with, the Kingdom of Englassia, more specifically, its royal capital, the city of Lura.
The Kingdom of Englassia is the most advanced human nation west of the Great Jura Forest prior to Tempest's emergence.
Thanks to its convenient location and safety, it became the transport, economic, and political hub of Western nations.
Many important facilities are stationed here, including the Council of the West, the operational center of the Western Holy Church, and, more importantly, my objective, the headquarters of the Free Guild.
As soon as I arrive, I casually hide my presence and fly up in the sky to take a closer look at the city below.
The royal capital is wide, but there's also a large wall surrounding the city.
There are two gates leading into it, and there's no way in except for the two gates.
Adventurers are able to quickly pass through one of the gates; normally, one has to undergo three different identity checks to be permitted access.
At the first step, they check identification documents, and if one successfully passes this check, one has to go through a thorough body search, then line up in another line.
Each point is heavily protected, and the lines are far longer than the ones in the Dwargon.
Even if there are any problems during one's second check, one could go on to the third, but he or she would be treated as a criminal from then on.
Basically, to discourage one from trying to enter, this all proves just how beguiling this city is to foreigners.
The city was planned ahead of time by the council, with many tall structures filling the city, and most are at least five stories high.
The city is full of brick and wood buildings, but more than anything, it is the strict city planning and the white castle in the middle of the city that make one wonder.
A large lake occupies the center of the city, and a castle was built in the middle of it.
Four bridges extend from the castle and connect to the city's main roads.
This solemn piece of architecture properly conveys the country's military strength.
What's even more amazing than the city's appearance is its advanced culture.
There are many large gymnasium-style buildings used for concerts, busy squares are home to performers and theaters, and there are also lots of advertisements for performances; it is truly a lively metropolis.
The city is separated into four large districts. The merchant's district, the sightseeing district, the production district, and the residential district. Separated by the castle in the center, a circular city.
In the sightseeing district is a section dedicated to inns. The sightseeing district is near the walls, with various attractions lined up in the streets. There are also quite a few street vendors.
Closer to the center is a large building intended for diplomats and conferences. There's also a school inside. Of the four sections of this district, it is the most heavily guarded.
Close to this section stands the Freedom Association's headquarters.
Next to it is a building affiliated with the Western Holy Church. A Saint Cross symbol stands proudly on top.
From the perspective of defense, every important junction has knights monitoring public order to the point that one would have to be pretty desperate to even attempt a criminal act.
After admiring the view of the royal capital of the Kingdom of Englassia from above, I softly land on the ground of one of the many streets that lead directly to the Headquarters of the Free Guild and calmly start to walk toward my destination while enjoying the lively buzz of the residents going on with their lives.
As I enjoy the walk among the people of the lively royal capital, I also start to go over all the information I've gathered about the Free Guild.
The Free Guild, often simply called The Guild, is an international organization that can be considered a subordinate body to the Council of the West.
Its purpose is twofold, ensuring the rights of its members while also keeping the people safe from Monsters. Most importantly, it has over 60 million members worldwide, which is quite impressive.
The Free Guild was created by Yuuki Kagurazaka not long after he moved to the west.
With his position as Shizu's student, he was able to use her influence within the Mutual-Aid Guild to slowly reform the organization into his own and became the Grandmaster not long after.
The Mutual-Aid Guild was already an influential organization that existed outside of the control of any nation, but under Yuuki's careful guidance, he was able to make the guild live up to its full potential.
He negotiated with the council of the west, securing funding and the establishment of international laws that guaranteed the personal rights of each of its members in exchange for offering a portion of their adventurers as a defense force during times of crisis.
Within a matter of years, the entirety of the West had changed forever.
The protection of the organized adventurers, combined with the revolutionary rank system created by Grandmaster Yuuki and the guild's philosophy of protecting everyone equally, ushered in a new era of relative peace.
This new era of peace created by Yuuki had ripple effects across all levels of society, leading to the rapid expansion of cities and a population boom the likes of which the world had never seen.
Within a matter of years, human society became unrecognizable from its previous state, and even the development of new technologies advanced at a rapid pace, thanks to the revolutionary new magic stone factory located at the guild's headquarters, a facility that converted magic crystals collected from Magic beasts into energy sources for magic tools.
Guild membership is a simple process, with anybody from any guild-affiliated nation being allowed to sign up.
The registration requires a form to be filled out with basic information like their name, age, country, and specialty, as best as they are able to.
After a waiting period of a day to a few days, they are then officially registered in the guild's database and issued an ID card.
Being a member of the guild comes with a plethora of benefits. For example, Members have their rights guaranteed by international law, meaning any injustice against them or exploitation of their labor will be swiftly punished, even if the other party is a noble.
On top of that, the ID cards they're granted also ensure their identity, something that makes traveling from country to country a much easier process.
They're also granted access to guild resources such as trainers, vendors, and access to guild-owned libraries.
Above all these other benefits, there exists one that stands above all the rest, freedom.
Each and every member of the guild has their rights backed by international law, and they are free to declare whatever guild-affiliated country they wish as their home country upon signing up.
This allows them to abandon their original country and become a citizen of another country without going through any government red tape.
Those among the Free Guild that qualify as adventurers have the additional freedom to change their country of citizenship to any country that supports the guild at a moment's notice.
Even if the country they want to become a citizen of is at war with their current country, they can just become a citizen of a third-party country and then change it to their new country.
This allows them free control over who they pay their taxes to, even if they actually live somewhere else.
Obviously, one of the many marvels created by the Free Guild is their identification system.
After being registered with the guild, the information is registered in a magical database located in a top-secret location, and the member is granted an ID, which is also known as an adventurer card.
It keeps track of their name, age, country, profession, and guild rank, among others.
The ID serves as proof of their identity, able to be quickly verified at a database access point by the customs of any country or guild branch.
While crimes committed prior to admission aren't in the guild database, any crimes they commit after signing up are recorded.
This makes it impossible to abuse membership to flee to another country if they're wanted for a crime, and is a way to see the trustworthiness of a hired adventurer.
The card also keeps track of the vital signs of its holder, similar to the Life Search Aspectual magic, making it easy to confirm the deaths of members in the field without sending a search party.
Lastly, the Free Guild is organized into five different Divisions: The Adventurer Guild, the Collection Division, the Exploration Division, the Subjugation Division, and the Magic Guild.
The Adventurer Guild is a division of the Free Guild that entails taking high-risk jobs outside of the safety of cities, towns, and villages.
Members of the Adventurer Guild are known as adventurers, and they're divided into three subdivisions based on their capabilities, though it is possible for an adventurer to be a member of two or even all three divisions if they meet the requirements.
The bare minimum to join and be considered an adventurer is to be capable of combat. This means the individual has to have a rank of at least D to qualify for membership.
Members of the Adventurer Guild are given additional benefits that normal Free Guild members aren't, with the main one among them being the freedom to change their citizenship to any country they wish.
The Collection Division specializes in the collection of resources from the wilderness. This includes things such as herbs, fruits, and rare materials.
The Exploration Division specializes in reconnaissance and exploration. This includes things such as tracking the movement of monsters, exploring ruins, and assessing threats.
The Subjugation Division specializes in combat, particularly the subjugation of magic beasts and other assorted monsters. Due to the high risk involved, a rank of D-plus is required to join this division.
The Magic Guild is a division of the Free Guild that exists independently of the Adventurer Guild. The condition for joining is being capable of casting some form of magic, and it seems to exist as an access point to guild-owned magical resources, such as magic tomes.
While going over all the information I've gathered about the Free Guild, I quickly reach my destination, the central headquarters of the Free Guild.
The central headquarters of the Free Guild is a massive and pretty advanced building. It's equipped with automatic doors that scan for IDs and only open in the presence of an adventurer at B Rank or above.
Those below the rank of B are forced to use a secondary branch office located closer to the entrance to the city.
Obviously, such doors aren't able to stop me from entering the building as I calmly force them open using my Telekinesis.
Shortly after walking inside, I use my Cosmic Awareness to confirm my target's location and feel that he hasn't moved since the last time I located him.
His current location is likely the Grandmaster's office that resides within the building, located in a special space underground, usually only accessible via a teleportation circle, but when one can teleport whenever he wants, such issues are very easy to solve.
It's equipped with the only magic stone factory in the world, which uses elemental engineering to transform magic crystals gathered from monsters to produce magic stones in bulk.
Without any hesitation, I calmly teleport into the Grandmaster's office, and soon I find myself face-to-face with my last target, Yuuki Kagurazaka, the Japanese Otherworlder summoned into this world and the one who made the Free Guild into what it is today, who is calmly sitting in front of his desk doing some paperwork.
He's considered a fairly handsome young man who looks as young as a middle schooler despite his real age being in the forties.
He has short, dark brown hair and striking amber eyes; his expression is pleasant, almost inviting, with a slight smile playing on his lips.
He is dressed in a pristine white, long-sleeved uniform that resembles a chef's jacket or a similar type of formal wear.
The jacket has a simple, mandarin-style collar and features a dark blue and gold cord or sash across the chest.
The pants are also white, with subtle vertical creases suggesting a tailored fit, while his shoes are dark-colored loafers, simple and understated.
(Image Here - Yuuki Kagurazaka)
As a natural-born genius, Yuuki was satisfied with his life on earth. He had loving parents and plenty of friends. But after an overworked truck driver fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into his parents' car, killing them both, he fell into despair.
When the courts ruled the driver innocent, Yuuki discovered the unreasonableness and flaws of society.
He initially wanted to take revenge and tear it all down, but couldn't bring himself to inconvenience so many innocent people in the process.
Instead, he realized that he would have to change society one step at a time by becoming a politician and gaining like-minded friends and allies who would help him achieve a fairer society.
But before he could even finalize his plans, he was summoned to the Central World.
Kagali, a former Demon Lord on the verge of death due to their defeat at the hands of Leon Cromwell, had summoned Yuuki, whose material body and spiritual body were compatible with their astral body, and attempted to, with the last of their strength, lay a curse on Yuuki that would kill his spirit instantly and allow them to reincarnate into his body.
However, Yuuki, being the bullshit-level, overpowered genius he is, had already understood how the world worked during the trip between worlds, had awakened his Unique skill Creator and used it to make his special constitution, Anti-skill, letting him resist the curse.
Yuuki, taking pity on Kagali, allowed them to inhabit his body and promised to find a body for them to reincarnate into, saving her life and giving her hope.
After letting Kagali inhabit his body, he spent the next twenty years within the eastern lands, meeting up with the Demon Lord Clayman and building his influence.
After twenty years in the east, he moved westward to start carrying out his plans and wound up under the tutelage and guidance of Shizu alongside his fellow Japanese countryman Hinata Sakaguchi; taking advantage of the fact that he had not physically aged, he was able to mislead them into thinking that he had recently arrived.
Alongside his teacher, Yuuki used his knowledge of a more modern world to rework the society of adventurers into the internationally accepted Free Guild, which he was then appointed Grandmaster of.
Under his leadership, monster-related deaths decreased dramatically, and a new system of ranking monsters based on their amount of Magicules and other factors was established.
These changes allowed for trade to blossom and the population to boom in areas that were previously poor and decrepit, improving the lives of many.
At some point, Yuuki encountered Mariabell Rosso, who was secretly manipulating society and the economy from behind the scenes via the Council of the West, which she had complete control over, thanks to being completely trusted by her grandfather, the true ruler of the Council of the West, Granbell Rosso.
Mariabell stood as an absolute roadblock in Yuuki's goal of a fair and just society and blocked his plans off at every turn, much to Yuuki and Kagali's annoyance.
Luckily, my intervention stopped her before she tried something foolish like attacking Yuuki, as it wouldn't have ended well for her.
At some point, Yuuki met Damrada and, with him, crushed the dark organization in the east known as "Echidna," reforming it into the underground organization Cerberus, a place where he and his friends could be at last free from Mariabell's eyes and ears.
Then he appointed Vega, Misha, and Damrada as its leaders, and while controlling these two organizations, he continued to work toward his goal.
A single glance is it takes for me to realize that I'm standing in front of the light novel version of Yuuki Kagurazaka which is quite a bit of relief for me as it means that his main objective is really to create a peaceful world even though his plans and methods require causing chaos to complete this goal, making him a more neutral or morally ambiguous character.
Anyway, this is still much better than the alternative of his web novel version, where he is the main antagonist.
After all, he is truly a frightening individual to the point that I'm pretty confident that if it wasn't for the presence of Rimuru and his broken cheats, then Yuuki would surely be able to reach his goal in the original novel.
Yuuki is an extremely dangerous person, an incredible genius with both extreme combat prowess and superlative manipulation skills.
He was born with a psychic ability that allowed him to think with his astral body like a spiritual life-form, as well as to directly influence the world around him with the power of his mind.
Due to this ability, he was able to remain fully conscious while traversing to the Central World, which allowed him to master the unique skill he acquired, Creator, and use to create anti-skill, an extremely effective and versatile defensive ability that made him immune to most magic, arts, and skills.
Even while still a normal human, he possessed enough physical strength to subdue dragons with his bare hands.
During his confrontation with Guy Crimson, he used his skill to forcibly awaken himself into a saint, becoming a spiritual life-form of immense power, though even then, he proved absolutely no match to the strongest demon lord.
His most powerful weapon, however, is his tremendous manipulation skills, which allowed him to discreetly gain control over much of the Western Nations, manipulate the Western Holy Church, and even fool both Mariabell Rosso and her grandfather Granbell Rosso, highly skilled manipulators on their own right.
He was even able to convince Guy Crimson to spare him and his friends by offering to spy on his opponents.
With his front as the founder and Grandmaster of the Free Guild, he possesses immense resources at his disposal, being able to dispatch high-ranked adventurers to various assignments.
Meanwhile, he is also secretly a crime boss of immense power as the founder and Grandmaster of Cerberus, a crime syndicate based in the Eastern Empire.
For all his strengths, he does have a few weaknesses. One of them is his total inability to use traditional magic; despite his immense genius and great personal power, he is unable to use aspectual magic, and is seemingly unable to make contracts with elementals to use elemental magic, either.
Another weakness of his is that over time, he tends to get overconfident and underestimate his opponents, a tendency born from the fact that he is so gifted and powerful that he rarely encounters people who can rival his power and influence.
This tendency in particular is the one that eventually led to his downfall, when he chose to target Rimuru Tempest, whose unprecedented growth allowed him to become far too strong for Yuuki to handle.
My mind continues to wander as I still keep my presence hidden and wait for Yuuki to finish his paperwork, something that shouldn't take too long, looking at the small stack of paper in front of him.
Soon, I notice that Yuuki is just a few pages away from being done, so I calmly walk toward his desk and sit in the chair in front of it.
Then, as soon as Yuuki signs the very last page of his stack of paper and lets out a relieved sigh, I smirk, stop hiding my presence, and greet him, "Hello there."
In an instant, Yuuki raises his guard, but remains admirably composed as he focuses all his attention on me while politely greeting me back, "Hello. I've to admit that I wasn't expecting any visit at this time. Even less from someone capable enough to completely bypass all my defensive measures and get this close to me undetected. I'm very impressed and at the same time also very concerned."
Hearing that, I lightly lower my head as a sign of apology while saying, "I apologize for my rude behaviour, but I've been running all over the Central World the whole day to contact the most powerful and influential people of this universe to the point that I've gotten a little weary. And now that I've gotten to the last few names on my list, I decided to throw away the usual procedures and opt for a more direct approach."
In response to my apology and explanation, Yuuki grows even more tense and serious as he immediately notices all the little hints and information I've already purposely revealed before he directly asks, "What pressing issue could be so significant that needs someone of your level contacting all the most important, powerful, and influential individuals of THIS universe?"
At this point, I smile wryly and reply to his question in an almost humorous tone, "Naturally, the only issue that concerns literally everyone... The complete destruction of this whole multiverse."