Just the prologue itself is already full of intrigues and schemes playing out behind the scenes. All these when contrasted with past volumes showing Rimuru's opposite character to these people, with his desire of simply wanting to live peacefully and comfortably with his friends and family at Tempest, the whole series appear to be so much more interesting. There are several forces at play in this story, one of them being Rimuru's Jura Tempest Federation itself, while some of the forces fiddling with the big plot are still shrouded in mystery.
One of the most satisfying aspects of this novel is how it sets up the motivations of each character. The consistency of it is such that when we learn a new facet of a character, we would know if it's out of character or just another facet to their character. And even that can be used to move the plot forward and figure or sniff out parts of the schemes occurring behind the scenes.
And all those schemes end up butting heads against the schemes Rimuru and his allies are cooking up at the same time. It's all very thrilling to read. Not to mention, the story feels alive and dynamic, like reality where you never really know what's going to happen and that things could develop in very unexpected ways. Usually, I would feel an obvious drop in enthusiasm when there's a perspective change or a different scene, but here, that doesn't happen because every word in the book contributes in some way, whether to move the plot forward or tinker with the characters' relationship with each other, individually and collectively. It's an engaging series, but this volume especially so.
But how good can a story be if the protagonist is a pile of crap, right? No complaints on that end. One by one, trustworthy people all end up treating Rimuru with a deep and personal level of respect. For good reasons too. I myself would definitely love to be Rimuru's friend and ally. He's idealistic, a charismatic and understanding leader, a pretty capable schemer, learns from his naive mistakes, but never gets shaken off by bad plot to force him into doing anything in a contrived way. Rimuru Tempest being the protagonist is one of the major reasons I've been enjoying this series, but even more so in this volume because he shows significant and organic character development. Good stuff.