I Am Honkai-Chapter 794: The Beautiful Monster Princess Decides to Tata-kae!
Inside the Western-style banquet hall of the Central City—Rimuru, seated properly along one side of the long banquet table, Shion—first secretary and personal bodyguard to King Rimuru of the monster nation—finally understood what the greatest crisis Rimuru-sama had spoken of was. The one that could potentially destroy the monster kingdom and wipe them all out.
The Sacred Selene Empire.
Though well-endowed, she was not a completely brainless fool.
After receiving Rimuru-sama’s naming and evolving from an Ogre into a Kijin, her combat-oriented nature, fighting strength, and aggressiveness had all increased proportionally. At the same time, it also made her understand the weight of the word "gap."
Her impulsive love of battle was built on her own strength, the backing of her Ogre compatriots, and absolute confidence and trust in Rimuru-sama.
But now, from the holographic footage being projected by what looked like some kind of alchemical device, Shion saw the gap.
A power so overwhelming that neither she, nor her Ogre kin, nor even Rimuru-sama could possibly resist.
Death legions that looked down upon all directions. Steel Titans that uprooted mountains and crushed cities. Orbit-to-ground bombardments that shook heaven and earth. Colossal warships blotting out the sky. Mobile fortress-cities that spanned the void and rivaled planets in scale. Cold, solemn, majestic—endless arrays of pitch-black battleships...
Clang.
"That’s enough, that’s enough. Come—Mr. Edwin Webb, thank you for your kind warning. Let me toast you."
"Gladly. Lord Rimuru Tempest, your Monster Federation was among the honored guests who supported our trading team in its early days. A helping hand in the snow is worth more than icing on the cake—I naturally wouldn’t be stingy in return."
The mood-killing war footage stopped playing, and elegant banquet music rose once more.
As Rimuru and Edwin clinked glasses in an atmosphere of cordial harmony, Shion subtly turned her head and exchanged looks with her fellow leaders of the Monster Federation—Secretary Shuna, the head of the Shadow Squad Souei, the veteran Hakurou, Goblin Village Chief Rigurd, and the dryad Treyni.
Shion: Facing the Empire, we’re probably no match.
Shuna: Heads in one hand, captives in the other... those people are terrifying.
Souei: The gap is too large.
Hakurou: There is no basis for comparison.
Rigurd: Let us follow Rimuru-sama’s guidance.
Treyni: Agreed. With Rimuru-sama’s wisdom, perhaps we won’t need to be hostile toward the Empire. Just like last time—mutually beneficial trade wasn’t that pleasant?
...
With tacit understanding, brief mental exchanges, and shared comprehension, Shion and the others nodded one after another, then shifted their gazes to the opposite side of the long table—the side belonging to the trading team.
Many of the traders were familiar faces from last time. Compared to before, their appearances were clearly more carefully groomed. They wore uniformly tailored dark, pseudo-military uniforms, swords at their waists, giving off a much more formal and reliable impression.
Noticing Shion’s group watching them, they returned friendly greetings. Some even raised their glasses in a toast.
As for the unfamiliar faces who hadn’t been present during the last trade—those ever-vigilant, sharp gazes, physiques honed through long training, backs held straight by ingrained military habits.
One glance was enough for a stern, hardened aura to wash over you.
Meeting their looks, they merely continued eating at an unhurried pace, nodding slightly in acknowledgment. Their lips and expressions were mostly solemn.
You fear me. I stay wary of you.
Of course, these underlings’ minor scrutinies—barely even probing—did nothing to dampen Edwin’s current sense of satisfaction.
The long table was laden with abundant and diverse Jura specialties.
Primarily Japanese in style, with Western elements as a complement.
Sashimi, sushi, tempura, miso soup, oden, chawanmushi, sukiyaki, monster meat steaks—every iconic dish-making method was present.
Before long, plates were cleared, wine brought a pleasant buzz, and fullness set in. As unfamiliar relationships regained a sense of ease, it became the perfect time to talk business.
"Good. Interacting with Lord Rimuru really does put me at ease... refreshing."
Edwin stopped drinking wine and switched to tea. Picking up a lidded cup, he inhaled the faint aroma with a smile and took a sip. His brown eyes shone with a clear light. "I think I roughly understand Lord Rimuru’s intentions."
"Establishing the Sacred Selene Empire as your suzerain state, recognizing the Divine Empress as the sole faith and object of sworn loyalty of the Jura Tempest Federation—this direction is correct. It truly is a way to preserve yourselves. But it’s not enough."
"Not enough?"
Appearing in his round, true slime form, Rimuru hopped over while holding his teacup with his small blue hands. Standing atop the table in front of Edwin, question marks practically overflowed from his jelly-like blue face.
"The Jura Tempest Federation is too weak."
Edwin raised a finger. "It’s harsh, but it’s the truth. Rimuru, if it’s you, you should understand just how vast the Empire’s dominion truly is."
"...Yeah."
Half-understanding, Rimuru nodded. Edwin didn’t keep him in suspense and said succinctly, "This is a matter of efficiency and workload. The Empire won’t bother caring how many factions exist within a submitted colonial servant planet. The Empire will designate a single administrator for temporary investiture—usually the strongest one."
"As an example: once the Federation enters the Empire’s administrative system, the first thing that happens is a tax official arrives to audit the planet’s population, resources, and development status, then sets your tax quotas and incremental rates for the next decade."
Fixing his gaze on Rimuru’s wide, watery blue mimic eyes, Edwin continued, "The assessment is calculated based on the planet’s total population and resources. Does the Federation have the capacity to pay taxes on behalf of the entire planet?"
As he spoke, his gaze shifted to the Monster Nation’s leaders, who had all gone quiet, ears perked, listening intently.
"If not," he said bluntly, "then to put it harshly—you don’t even qualify to be a dog."
"You—" The hot-tempered Shion flared up. It was like being told you weren’t even as good as a dog. Her face darkened, teeth grinding—but in the end, she restrained herself.
She couldn’t cause trouble for Rimuru-sama.
"That’s reality."
Tapping the table, Edwin drew everyone’s attention back to himself. "The Empire’s lowest level of autonomous administrative unit is a planet. It won’t be subdivided any further. Every additional lower-tier unit would mean the Empire wasting exponentially more manpower and resources."
"Rimuru, if you want better protection and development for the Jura Tempest Federation, you must become the planet’s de jure ruling representative—and you must pay full taxes for many years. Only then can you remove the word ’temporary.’"
"So..." He stood up and extended his hand. "Expand, Rimuru. Cooperate with me."
The dagger was finally revealed.
Rimuru didn’t speak. Still holding his teacup with his small hands, he looked once at the ambitious, intent-revealing Edwin. After a long pause, his voice suddenly jumped several octaves.
"Ex—expand?"
Inside the slime—unheard by outsiders—
[Great Sage]: Affirmative. Analysis suggests that Edwin brought such an extensive collection of Imperial military history footage to intimidate us—using minimal investment for maximum leverage—to strengthen the persuasiveness of his proposal.
"Exactly."
Edwin nodded. "At this point, there’s nothing left to hide. I’m a newcomer trader with no power or backing. I don’t have the strength to swallow this planet on my own, so I need a partner—and you are my choice."
"We have one Imperial Capital Standard Year. During that time, you expand freely, gather more monsters and subordinates. My team will supply weapons and materials, even mercenaries if needed. In exchange, we take a share of the goods obtained through wars of annexation. You grow, I grow—win-win."
At this point, Edwin’s face finally revealed the greed and profit-seeking nature of a trader. His speech sped up, his flushed face filled with intoxication and a gambler’s all-or-nothing resolve.
"Wait, wait! Hold on—this is too fast. Let me sort this out first. Also, what does ’one Imperial Capital Standard Year’ mean?"
Rimuru sharply caught the key phrase.
"Because I sold you."
"Eh?" First stunned, then Rimuru’s slime face turned humanly terrified. "So-so-sold? What do you mean, sold?!!"
"Literally." Grinning, Edwin grabbed the protesting slime’s little hand.
"I don’t have capital. To grow faster, when facing a planet with supernatural power that I currently can’t develop, I chose to hand over the planet’s coordinates and ownership to the Imperial authorities in exchange for the resources I urgently need at this stage."
"One can’t cling to a mountain of gold and starve."
He explained, "One Imperial Capital Standard Year is the final year of development rights I negotiated and signed for this planet. When the deadline arrives, Imperial inspectors and tax officials will come."
"This year is both the time I use Imperial resources and local specialties to develop rapidly—and the time you, Rimuru, obtain de jure authority, pass the inspectors’ audits, gain Imperial protection, and become an autonomous servant state."
[Great Sage]: Based on projections, if the proposal is accepted now and preparations for expansion begin, the probability that the Jura Tempest Federation will peacefully change banners and transition smoothly under the Sacred Selene Empire is as high as 70%.
Additionally, with autonomy granted by the Empire, aside from taxation, Imperial citizens may arrive for travel, trade, or settlement. Apart from gaining a de facto object of loyalty that resides high above and is unlikely to ever personally visit, daily life will not face excessive changes or restrictions.
Hearing Great Sage’s assessment, Rimuru spoke in a low voice, "Why me? Shouldn’t the Empire be human-supremacist?"
Because you’re easy to deal with—and easier to get along with.
A Monster King who advocates peaceful coexistence with humans, and who sets three rules for his subordinates—’Do not attack humans,’ ’No infighting among companions,’ and ’Do not look down on other races’—how bad could you be?
That’s right. Edwin was forcing Rimuru’s hand.
He had said it before—he wasn’t a good person, just a profit-seeking trader with at least a bit of bottom line.
"Because humans are too unbearable—at least the human kingdoms I encountered last time were. One was called the Kingdom of Falmuth. And you, Lord Rimuru, are powerful, keep your word, value loyalty and righteousness, are straightforward, and possess great personal strength. The monster nation you rule has enormous potential."
"I’m willing to be your friend."
This was Edwin’s honest thought.
Compared to that, the decaying human kingdoms around the Great Forest of Jura were frankly embarrassing to associate with.
Their strength was mediocre, their hard assets few, yet the pomp and empty formality of those native nobles outdid anyone else. The tedious rules of conduct and speech alone made them seem more important than Imperial planetary governors—no, even sector governors!
A bunch of narrow-minded frogs at the bottom of a well—arrogant, stupid, inside and out.
What angered Edwin most was—by Selene above!—their complete lack of contractual integrity. Deals were made, yet they still tried to cheat him, or pass off inferior goods!
How did Edwin know? Because he got burned.
Last time, although the landing point was in the Great Forest of Jura, even a rookie trader knew better than to put all eggs in one basket.
Besides trading with Rimuru’s monster nation, he also followed the trader handbook’s guidance, bringing goods favored by nobles and petty bourgeoisie of medieval, low-magic worlds—perfumes, spices, cosmetics, high-proof liquor, skincare products, and other non-industrial consumer goods.
And then—he got screwed.
Where was trust between people?!
Edwin himself hadn’t gone to negotiate with Rimuru that time, but through his team’s dealings and real-time footage, he was furious.
No identification, no travel permits—what he got was, ’Oh? Savages from the Great Forest of Jura? Come to beg in the city?’ Then accusations: where did your perfumes and spices come from, how were they made?
From the start, it was that nose-in-the-air, condescending attitude—acting like they were doing you a favor by paying you, that it was an honor to answer their questions, and you’d better know your place.
Eventually, after twists and a bit of ’physical communication,’ the goods were traded. But afterward, those noble merchants sent thugs to tail the traders, trying to find their base and spice plantations. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖
Enough was enough.
They didn’t act in the city because their team’s firepower was insufficient at the time. They couldn’t be as brazen as veteran traders.
But once you followed them into the forest—well, sorry about that.
Some among them had magic and martial skills, but truly powerful beings in this world weren’t city-bound. They lived in guilds or had their own forces. The ones who followed into the forest were limited in strength. The result was inevitable—they were riddled with bullets and blasted to minced meat by the trading team’s firearms and armed intelligent machines. No survivors.
And then came the final insult.
Because they were unfamiliar with local product characteristics, and had left in a hurry without thorough inspection—and because they hadn’t brought conspicuous intelligent servants into the city to avoid attention—only after returning and conducting professional analysis did they realize it.
Damn it—they’d been fleeced.
Among the goods traded with those human merchants, there was a significant amount of inferior stock, substitutions, and adulterated filler.
Compare that with the honesty of Rimuru’s goods—and then look at those human merchants’ deceit.
It was obvious by comparison.
And then there was the grudge—being looked down on, cheated, and backstabbed. If that wasn’t repaid, Edwin might as well stop calling himself a Rogue Trader of the Sacred Selene Empire.
If this black history got out, they’d be infamous in the trading circles.
This revenge had to be taken. Did those noble merchants really think people who worked as civilian Rogue Traders under the Sacred Selene Empire had gentle temperaments?
Those noble merchants would die without exception. Their entire families would die. Edwin said it.
"So then, Lord Rimuru, I look forward to working with you. Once we’re both Imperial citizens, you’ll be King of the servant state Jura Tempest Federation—don’t forget about little old me, a humble trader."
With things said to this extent, refusing would only mean offending him and making an enemy. Besides, were there any other choices?
"Mr. Edwin, you’ve really given me a tough problem."
With a helpless look, the blue slime hopped off the table and transformed into a handsome youth with blue hair and golden eyes, clasping Edwin’s hand.
No choice then. Let’s do it!
"Hahaha... splendid!"
Just then—
Knock, knock.
"Captain, there’s official news from the homeworld’s governor’s office. Someone from above has arrived—the inspection team. They just happened to audit the trading administration department. The planet we registered has likely entered the inspector’s sights."
"What?!"
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