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1
2
3PROLOGUE
4
5BEAUTY IN ACTION
6
7
8Hinata Sakaguchi was bored as she sat in her personal room, assigned to her within the Holy Empire of Lubelius’s main palace. This world was just so boring.
9
10*
11
12She was still fifteen when she fell into this world. It was her first day of high school, the date of the official entrance ceremony, and the only reason she attended was because she didn’t want to be at home. On the way back, passing by the temple she passed by every other day of the week, a sudden gale slashed across her body, so powerful she couldn’t keep her eyes open. When she did finally pry her eyelids apart, she saw a new and unfamiliar landscape before her.
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14Hinata liked it.
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16Now, she thought, she was finally free of her mother, who had gotten into religion and never gave a second thought to her family since. Her father had long ago disappeared, so sure it was only a matter of time before he’d hit it big at the horse races, only to find nothing but massive debt at the end. Unable to bear the violent episodes that inevitably followed, her mother escaped into her faith.
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18All this after Hinata tried so hard to kill her father so her mother could enjoy the life insurance payoff. Just a little while longer, and it would’ve all been in the family bank account. She made sure nobody would suspect a thing. All she needed was for her father to disappear.
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20Thinking about it, though, she came to the realization that pulling this off right would require her to commit other murders. She’d have to kill the religious officials who associated with her mother, and sooner or later, she’d likely have to take her own mother’s life. That was the result of Hinata’s cool-headed analysis—and that, more than anything, was why she didn’t want to be home.
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22Here, at least, she wouldn’t have to kill anyone else. Or so she thought, before some men surrounded her.
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24“Hey, there’s another one here!”
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26“Whoa! Another young girl, eh? Sweet!”
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28“Hey, nobody’s gonna know if we have a li’l taste before sellin’ her, will they?”
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30Oh… So it’s the same thing here. To her, the world was filled with nothing but despair. A world filled with the ugly, the repulsive. A world that should just be destroyed already.
31
32—I will take from them. I will let them take nothing from me.
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34
35Confirmed. Unique skill Usurper…successfully obtained.
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37
38—I am in the right. My calculations are flawless, for the world is eternally unchanging.
39
40
41Confirmed. Unique skill Measurer…successfully obtained.
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43
44Suddenly, her vantage point was clear. The fog lifted from her heart, sharpening her mind.
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46If the men in front of me want to take from me, let me take from them first.
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48—Take their lives.
49
50Then the massacre began. Hinata didn’t even need five whole minutes to kill three men with her own two hands. She was freshly awakened to her skills and not exceptionally gifted with muscular strength, but that was all it took.
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52
53Those were the first murders she committed in this world.
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55Hinata did have people close to her, but she could never believe in them. They were too weak to trust. She felt she might kill them with her own hands sometime. So she left their side.
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57The killings continued, and with them came knowledge and technical skill. She used those newfound talents as a foundation to become a strongman, one of the rulers of the world.
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59
60Days passed…
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62And then Hinata found him.
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64The one god she was truly qualified to serve.
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67Gods actually exist in this world.
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69She could no longer remember how many she’d killed. Good people, bad people—it didn’t matter to Hinata, for everyone was equal before her god. She continued to fight, never questioning the orders of the one she served. Monsters, too. The orders were absolute, and her god refused to tolerate the monsters’ existence. Thus, with her unchallenged force, she eliminated her god’s enemies.
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71The little girl was no longer there. Now, she was the right hand of her god. She held the title of paladin—chief knight of the Imperial Guard, answering directly to the Holy Emperor—and she bore beauty worthy of the title.
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73A title that made her the nemesis of all monsters.
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75*
76
77Then she was visited by terrible news. Shizue Izawa, her teacher and mentor, was dead. The only person in this world who showed Hinata any kindness.
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79There were no sentimental memories, no hatred. No name for the emotions that flew in and out of her soul.
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81
82—I can’t forgive this. How could some monster do that…?
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84
85Her boring days at the palace were over. An icy smile cracked across her beautiful, almost saintly face, and she sprang into action.
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87
88
89
90CHAPTER 1
91
92TRADING WITH THE BEAST KINGDOM
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94
95I could see a bunch of children playing around outside. Three boys and two girls. They ran up to me at first sight, overjoyed to see me.
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98“Teacher! What’re we gonna do today?” they all asked, their eyes shining—a determined-looking boy; a timid-looking boy; a reticent-looking boy; a lively looking girl; and a wise-looking girl.
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101They were all my students, and I doted upon them. Today, however, my emotions were a churning mix of happiness, sadness, and loneliness.
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103“Well,” I said to them, “that’s a good question. What should we do?”
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105This was my regular life until a bit ago. A life I myself threw away, one that would never return.
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107—But these are her memories, aren’t they? Not mine.
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109The lingering attachments of Shizu, back during her instructor days. I could tell, from my viewpoint, that she didn’t want these kids to be involved in her strife. But perhaps they felt abandoned. Perhaps they cried. But even if they didn’t, it was all so…
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111Hmm? All so what? What was I trying to…?
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113
114And then my eyes opened.
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116
117—Please. Those children…
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119Those children? The ones in the dream?
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121—Please, rescue those children.
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123Rescue…? What on earth from?
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125There was nobody to answer. She wanted to have me do something. That much was clear. But that was it. No more words, as her voice plunged into the darkness and disappeared.
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128The remains of the dream faded away in my mind—the plaintive request left deserted and unnoticed.
129
130*
131
132This felt like the first dream I had in a while.
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134Ever since I became a slime, which by definition never slept, the only chance for dreams was during emergencies like exhausting my magical force. It didn’t feel right to me at all, so I forced myself to engage in periods of inactivity on a daily basis—working hard to laze around, in a way.
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136If it sounds like a contradiction, it isn’t. Giving oneself time to relax is never a bad thing, and there’s no pain in working hard for some goal you have. And all that effort paid off. For short periods of time, at least, I could let go of my consciousness and achieve a state of sheer serenity. The experiment worked, in other words. I forgot what the dream was about, but that wasn’t important. That’s kind of what dreams are anyway.
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138“Ahh, now I can live my days in sheer laziness…”
139
140“What sort of nonsense are you going on about, Sir Rimuru?”
141
142She was angry. Shuna’s smile never faltered when she was angry. That’s what made it so terrifying.
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144
145Blithely following Shuna’s lead, I crawled out of bed, grumbling to myself. I’d be busy during the day—battle training with Hakuro was on the schedule, as was an inspection trip to see how construction was proceeding. You’d think there was no harm in kicking back a little at night. I had just wrapped up analyzing and assessing the skills I took from Charybdis, so there were no major unaddressed issues left to tackle.
146
147By the way, Charybdis gave me Magic Interference and Control Gravity, both extra skills. Magic Interference, paired with Control Particles, resulted in the new extra skill Control Magic—which, when associated with Multilayer Barrier, gave a pretty hefty boost to my defenses. Magical attacks were nothing to worry about now—that, along with the Resist Magic skill I picked up from Gabil and the rest of the freshly evolved dragonewts, meant I could withstand well near any direct magical strike. Of course, I had Glutton on me, so I could already consume and neutralize any magic attack I could identify—but still, this new stuff could protect me from ambushes and surprise attacks, and that was huge.
148
149As for Control Gravity—well, my research into it certainly paid off. I had always felt it a pity I couldn’t capture Gelmud’s flight magic, but Control Gravity very elegantly solved that problem. I didn’t even need to chant a spell in advance—high-speed flight was now mine, in any shape or form I wanted it.
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151This time, I didn’t rush things. I hadn’t forgotten the failures I ran into on the way to stumbling upon Water Pressure Propulsion. Trying out whatever jumped into your imagination was a surefire ticket to some seriously unfunny situations. So I took it easy, spending every evening examining my skills. I started by lifting myself into the air and practicing some low-speed flight. I could control my trajectory with my wings to some extent, which helped me pick up the knack more easily than I thought.
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153Now, I didn’t even need the wings. Multilayer Barrier even protected me against wind resistance; I bet I could break the sound barrier before long with this. But no rush. I’d just keep up the slow, steady practice.
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156As I thought all this over, Shuna gave me an exasperated sigh.
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158“Sir Rimuru, you’re being inattentive again. You will be seeing off my brother Benimaru and Sir Rigur today. I want you to focus on being the most majestic figure you can for the big farewell.”
159
160“Oh yeah, that was today. Sure thing.”
161
162Ah, yes. Benimaru and crew were heading off today.
163
164*
165
166Several months had passed after Milim’s departure. Several calm, chill, and very peaceful months. I was busy as always, but still, extremely chill.
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168One day, though, a messenger appeared from Carillon, the Beast Master and one of the land’s demon lords. I hadn’t forged an official agreement with him on paper, but it appeared Carillon was a man true to his word. As the messenger put it: “Let us send envoys to our respective nations, so they may see for themselves whether forging trade relations would be beneficial to both sides.”
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170I gave my immediate approval, and Carillon had already given his. Which brings us to today, the historical day of departure for our envoy mission to the Beast Kingdom of Eurazania.
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172
173Benimaru, a gifted warrior and my right-hand man, would lead the envoys. For his assistant, I appointed Rigur, son of Rigurd. Their mission: to travel to other nations and report what they observed, so I could figure out how to run my own country. They were accompanied by a small group of other hobgoblins, all candidates for future leadership roles in my government.
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175They would be representatives for the Jura-Tempest Federation, Tempest for short. Our nation. A brand-new one, and thus, inexperienced in almost every way. We needed to compensate for that, and toward that end, we were all working together, putting in the maximum effort on a daily basis. It’s thanks to that work ethic that I think this envoy mission to Eurazania should bear some serious fruit for us.
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177We were also fully prepared to receive the Beast Master’s own team. They’d come here, look around our nation, and (hopefully) come back with some complimentary things to say. If all goes well, we’ll stay on good terms and (again, hopefully) begin formal trade—and from there, formal diplomatic relations. It shouldn’t take long.
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179But that was still ahead. One step at a time. For now, I needed to focus on seeing everybody off.
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181
182Awakening my conscious, I assumed human form. There was a ceremony scheduled, so I changed to some suitable formal wear. Looking back, I sort of miss the days when we had almost nothing to wear. Now, we’ve got almost every type of clothing you could think of. A much better selection than I ever had in my closet back in Japan.
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184And really, in terms of the conveniences we now enjoyed in life, it was just incomparable to the early days. We solved the sugar problem, for one, so we currently had a steady supply. It helped us add stews to our cooking repertoire, and there was even a selection of candy available, albeit not a big one. At this point, now that I had mastered the art of taking short naps, I figured the next question to tackle was entertainment.
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186But I still had a long road to travel. All these ideas kept storming into my mind, one after the other, and it made things tough. No matter how hard I worked, I never seemed to run out of new wishes and desires. There was no telling when I’d be able to sit back with a big bag of potato chips and veg out in front of my game console all day.
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188I wasn’t willing to give up on any of these goals, though. And that’s why I needed this envoy team to do their best and make international trade a reality.
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191So there I was, in our city’s main square, standing in front of the crowd in my finest attire. It triggered a small, excited uproar among the monsters, in all their many species. I didn’t make a habit of addressing them in human form. The cheers and shouting seemed like they’d go on forever, but a single “Silence!” from Shion shushed them all in an instant. Nice one, Shion. She was so good at handling these kinds of rowdy scenes.
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193With the monsters calmed down, I decided to give my team a few encouraging words.
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195“Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you will do your best for me!”
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197“…Is that it?” the perplexed Shuna asked.
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199Hmm… Was that too short, maybe? My high-school principal droned on so long that nobody listened to him, so I figured shorter is better for speeches like this…but maybe this crowd was more excited about what I had to say.
200
201“Yeah, maybe that wasn’t enough? I’ll give them a little more…”
202
203With that, I decided to run down the list of things I wanted my envoys to watch out for. The Beast Master Carillon was a demon lord and certainly one of the more warlike ones. I couldn’t be certain the rule of law even existed in his domain.
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205“Right, listen up. You’re about to travel to a nation of magic-born who never believed in anything besides ‘Might makes right.’ Underestimate them at your own peril. If you let up, they’ll make you do whatever they say. You might lose to them in a fight, but I want you to make damn sure you don’t lose to them in heart! Remember: Your companions and I are behind you all the way. Keep that in mind as you tell them about what we’re seeking. If you think a fight is brewing, run away and come back. One mission here is to see if we can remain on good terms with these guys going forward. I don’t need a relationship where we have to hold our noses and merely tolerate them. I want you to see matters with your own eyes and make sure we can maintain a kind, friendly rapport. I’m counting on you!”
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207The moment I wrapped it up, the square was filled with wild cheering. It was like being in some pop idol’s concert. What I said probably didn’t matter. They were just really keen on listening to me. I’m sure the envoys themselves were paying attention, but the rest were just treating this like a big festival. Ah well. The fact they listened at all indicated a pretty well-disciplined set of monsters. That’s a pretty big step for them.
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209Might as well take this opportunity, I suppose, to give them another important warning.
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211“Let’s see, what else…? Well, I don’t mind a mistake or two, but please don’t start a fight yourselves, all right? I’m looking at you, Benimaru. Think you’re up to that?”
212
213My speech made the assumption that any hostilities would come from the Eurazanian side. If my team started anything, this whole expedition would be worthless. I had to hammer into them that I’d accept no mistakes along those lines.
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215“Heh! You are in good hands with us,” Benimaru barked back, supremely (almost scarily) confident. “I have learned quite a few lessons myself. After the days we spent with Lady Milim, any fool could understand that impudence leads to disaster!”
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217The comparisons to Milim set off alarm bells, too. Using her as a standard for building your own confidence didn’t give me any sense of security at all. At least it beat Shion, though. Watching her eagerly nod at Benimaru’s words made me sigh. Really, I was hoping Shion could watch the town as I joined this envoy, but that was just far too risky. Although… Thinking about it, Benimaru was a pretty thoughtful man, despite appearances. I guess it was rude of me to compare him to Milim and Shion.
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219“Good to hear. I wish I could have joined you there myself…”
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221“Not at all, my lord. I think it best you do not travel to a demon lord’s domain until we can confirm it is safe.”
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223It was clear from that denial that Benimaru wished to gauge Carillon’s trustworthiness with his own eyes. Not just Carillon, but every other magic-born who called his lands home. Would working with them benefit Tempest? Or would they cause untold harm for me? Really, I was glad to see his initiative, even though it only added to my worries.
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225Imagining Rigur and the rest alone in a magic-born nation was a bit frightening. I needed to have some strong fighters in the group, at least to serve as bodyguards. Soei was already protecting our nation from the shadows, and Hakuro was busy with military training. Geld couldn’t be wrested away from his construction work, and Gabil was working hard to extract High Potions and produce Low Potions from them. Shion, of course, was out of the question, and thinking along those lines, Benimaru was the sole remaining candidate.
226
227“All right. Do your best.”
228
229“Yes, my lord!”
230
231“And you, too, Rigur, and all the rest! I’d like to see good things come to our nation.”
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233“Absolutely,” a starry-eyed Rigur replied. “We will spread the word far and wide!” Those eyes told me he couldn’t wait to head off; he was really leaping at the chance to try something new. He’ll be fine, I figured.
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235“Ranga, I want you to stay in Benimaru’s shadow and accompany him. Keep them safe, but do not let your presence be known.”
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237“I will not let you down, my master!”
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239Immediately following my orders, Ranga slipped right into Benimaru’s shadow. Benimaru’s own aura was hiding him, and hopefully that’d be enough to keep him invisible on the road.
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241“Great! Now, let’s give them all a big hand as they set off on their journey!”
242
243On my cue, Shuna gave a signal with her eyes. It was picked up by our band of specially selected musicians, ready to strike up a great, lively tune. The envoy made their way through the watchful crowd, traveling toward a future full of hope—the hope that this stream of cultural exchange would help plant the seeds for future diplomatic ties. Our first government envoy set off with a flourish.
244
245*
246
247Benimaru’s team was gone, but I still had a pile of things to do. I had plans to visit human lands sooner or later, but with one job coming right after the other, there was no time for that. With anything you do, that first step you take is so incredibly essential. Cut corners at the start, and you’ll often pay dearly for it later. That applies not just to work but to life itself and certainly to kick-starting a new nation. Just because I wanted to hang with humans didn’t mean I could throw everything else off for now.
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249My top security and military leaders were gone for the time being, and I had to fill in those gaps. Soei could handle security, and I appointed Hakuro as the head of our military for now. That’ll leave things in good hands.
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251
252Next was making arrangements to receive the contingent from Eurazania.
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254One thing I did not want them seeing was our hipokute grow-setup and potion-manufacturing plant. Everything else was safe enough for public viewing, so I decided to prioritize keeping the Sealed Cave just that—sealed off. There was only the one entrance, and a heavy boulder or the like would close it just fine. Gabil and the rest still had the magical transport circles to travel to and fro with, so physically hiding the entrance seemed the best option.
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256I worried that sealing it off might affect the cave’s oxygen content, but there were so many ventilation holes lining the cave walls that it didn’t seem like an issue. Plus, Vester had a pretty handy piece of magic to contribute.
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258“There is magic to detect changes in the air…or in the environment in general, one could say. There is also magic that alerts the caster to any threats to their lives, so I see little to worry about.”
259
260There’s one concern knocked down. Vester was so incredibly talented. If he didn’t have such a demented personality, he’d still be using those talents as King Gazel’s most trusted adviser, no doubt…but, hey, if it means he’s working for me now, then I’ll take it—definitely.
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262So it was settled—no more Sealed Cave entrance for now. And that reminded me of something else about Vester. Besides our potion factory, I was willing to let the envoys see whatever they wanted, so I went over our assorted preparations with a fine-tooth comb. We had just constructed a guesthouse to receive special visitors with—a fancy, luxurious hotel of sorts, not the simpler lodgings Kabal’s and Yohm’s crews were assigned.
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264And we weren’t just building fancy new boxes—we were building people, too. Shuna’s apprentices were growing into talented chefs. At this point, they had gained a natural instinct for just the right amount of seasoning to add. They were fully versed in managing cooking fires and chopping up ingredients. I wouldn’t be embarrassed to have ’em handle any event at all.
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266The goblinas, for their part, had learned the fine art of hospitality through their practice with Kabal’s and Yohm’s teams. Handling nobility would still be a tall order for them, but they were more than educated enough to take care of regular people or adventurers.
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268For the finishing touch, I selected the best-performing ones out of the lot and had them personally treat me as a guest. Given the boorish crowds we usually got around town, I wasn’t too sure whether we could really provide “luxe” service if we tried. Vester, once more, helped a lot—as nobility himself, I figured he could school me on things I never would’ve thought about. His knowledge rubbed off on my selected team, who put in some of the most beautiful work you ever saw.
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270“You are doing quite well, indeed! Stay diligent, and you all will certainly grow talented enough to receive royalty from any nation without causing offense. I look forward to seeing how you advance!”
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272“““Thank you for your instruction, my lord!””” the goblina hospitality crew said as they bowed to him. If they kept someone as high-strung as Vester happy, I thought, they must’ve been good.
273
274“Sure am glad I asked you for help, Vester!”
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276“No, no,” he replied with a cheerful laugh. “This has been quite the added benefit for me! I would be happy to help anytime.”
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278I presented him with a free lodging pass in exchange. He could stay whenever he liked—both enjoying the guesthouse and observing the staff to make sure they weren’t slacking off. Two birds with one stone.
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280With that, I figured we were all set to keep our visitors happy.
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282
283There was one more big event left. In fact, if anything, this was my favorite one of all—my official visit to the Armed Nation of Dwargon, the Dwarven Kingdom.
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285My schedule was already set in stone, thanks to a couple messenger exchanges. It would be one of the most auspicious events our nation’s enjoyed so far, a chance to prove to both Dwargon and the world at large that we, Tempest, were an officially recognized, independent country. Having agreements signed on paper was one thing, but being physically welcomed by foreign lands like this was something I wanted to leverage for our future plans.
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287Were people willing to accept a new nation founded by monsters? That was our biggest ongoing issue. But building up Yohm to be a hero—and having Fuze spread all the right kinds of rumors about it—was starting to establish us in the public eye as friendly monsters, willing to lend a claw to the good guys.
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289And now, we had an invite from a full-fledged superpower. This was the perfect opportunity to earn ourselves a ton more trust, and I couldn’t let it pass. No way I could let up until this visit was successful. Visiting human realms could wait until I was sure our government was on the right track.
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291“We’ve got to make this succeed!”
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293Shuna and Shion nodded.
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295“Of course.”
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297“You are in good hands, my lord. As your secretary, I will make every effort I possibly can!”
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299Time to get to work. Summoning up all my energy, I strove to cut down every issue I could think of, waiting for the fateful day to arrive.
300
301*
302
303We received a sign that our envoys were back. A sign, that is, in the form of Treyni. Kneeling before me, she reported our team was near the Forest of Jura the moment she spotted them.
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305“Thanks for letting me know.”
306
307“Not at all.” She smiled. “It is no hardship for me.”
308
309She was beautiful as always, what with that translucent, mystical air she had. It let her capture the heart of anyone she saw. If I weren’t a slime, I’d easily fall for her, too.
310
311…Oops. Staring at her too long would only make Shuna and Shion all snippy. I’m a slime, totally eyeless, and they still seemed to know where I was looking. Was it some supernatural power or just their womanly intuition? Anyway, better not set off any needless conflict.
312
313“Let me know if anything else comes up.”
314
315“Certainly. I had best be off, then.”
316
317With another smile, Treyni disappeared. Here one moment, gone the next—truly one of the most mysterious women I know. Regardless, I relayed the news to everyone else that we should expect the envoy team back in a few days.
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319
320Just then, Yohm and his companions paid a visit to town. As I hoped, our little intrigue had established Yohm as a top-of-the-heap champion around the kingdom of Farmus. That put him in demand over there, so he was back for a chance to let his hair down for a change. He had the lofty-sounding excuse of getting a little training from Hakuro, but what he really wanted was some decent grub and a soak in the hot spring. I knew because I could tell—and since he was staying for several days this time, I didn’t forget to keep an eye out for any trouble he might cause.
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322“Listen, we’re gonna have a party of envoys representing the demon lord Carillon soon. Can you guys promise me you won’t pick any fights with them?”
323
324“Aw, c’mon, pal, who d’you think you’re talking to? You think I’m the sort of fool who’ll get in a brawl with a demon lord’s underlings?”
325
326Yohm slumped. He was right. But there was never accounting for some of the idiots running around out there. It could boggle the imagination.
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328“But why are demon lord folk coming here in the first place?” he asked before I could answer his first question.
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330One of Carillon’s top officers had been instilled into the core of Charybdis, a monster who was demon lord–class in itself. After an extended battle, I separated the guy from the core and saved his life, which led to this new thaw in Eurazanian relations…but Yohm and his crew weren’t around to see that, so they still had no idea. I hadn’t gone out of my way to tell them. I wasn’t sure it’d be the best thing.
331
332“Ah, yes, I’d better explain. Come to my reception room once you’re out of the bath.”
333
334“Sure thing!”
335
336I suggested a time, and Shion marked it down with a skillful hand. She hadn’t exactly been my first choice for the position, but she was shaping up to be a half-decent secretary, after all.
337
338So how should I put it to Yohm? It seemed like a good idea to give him, and him alone, the whole story. In my mind, I reasoned that I ought to give him a few choice details—the basic tale of my origins and how I’m interacting with the demon lords. Exactly how much I should divulge, I wasn’t sure, but it didn’t seem wise to trumpet it around to the general population. Most people would never believe I was an ex-human in the first place.
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340In fact, maybe now would be a good chance to tell him everything. It was going to be an intense conversation, I thought, not the sort of thing you wanted to do in the middle of the street. I wanted a relaxing atmosphere for it. So that’s why I told Yohm to come—alone—to my room afterward.
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342
343Now he was here—out of his traveling clothes and fresh from the bath. It was just after dinner, and he was right on time.
344
345“So what’s the story, pal?”
346
347“Hey, hold your horses,” I said as I offered Yohm a chair—a plush leather sofa with a back and armrests. I sloshed over near a chair that faced it.
348
349“First off, I want to tell you something, but promise me you won’t be surprised?”
350
351“Surprised? Why would I be…?”
352
353Ignoring him, I transformed into my human shape. It takes a lot less time than any explanation would.
354
355“Wha—?!”
356
357Yeesh. I warned him and everything. It didn’t help much.
358
359“I told you not to be surprised,” I said as I sat on the chair. As if waiting for her cue, Shuna entered the room—just as planned. She politely bowed and provided Yohm and me with some drinks—a colorless liquid in a pair of glasses, both exquisitely blown from real glass by Dold, the middle of the dwarven brothers.
360
361With another bow, she took position behind me. That was my signal to raise my glass. With a sniff to ensure it was up to my standards, I addressed Yohm.
362
363“So how about a drink?”
364
365Shocked at my metamorphosis and swooning at Shuna’s touching manners, Yohm was frozen in his seat. The offer of something alcoholic helped him snap out of it.
366
367“Uh…yeah. Sure,” he said before downing the entire glass in one go. It immediately triggered a coughing fit.
368
369“…Haghh! Kaff-kaff-kaff… Uggghh, what is that?!”
370
371Shuna hurried over with some water. Yohm drained that glass just as quickly. After a bit more sputtering, he finally regained his composure enough to ask what the hell I just gave him.
372
373“Not used to drinking spirits too often? We held a feast here a bit ago with some folks from the Dwarven Kingdom, but they were kind of disappointed at the lack of booze around this city. We had some beer and wine brought over, and they could pretty much drink that stuff like water—they never get drunk off it, they said. So I figured I’d surprise ’em with a little concoction I’m familiar with. That’s our first test batch.”
374
375And he was my first impartial test subject. Yohm had bragged to me about how strong a drinker he was, so I made him my guinea pig. He had just consumed brandy, a spirit produced by distilling wine, and while I knew it was cheating, I used Analyze and Assess to reproduce the best-tasting brandy I could recall in my mind.
376
377The Glutton unique skill was coming in handy in all kinds of ways. There exists a fine line between fermentation, which is usually a good thing, and spoilage, which isn’t. With Glutton’s food-corrosion properties under the expert control of the Great Sage, I could “corrode” food and drink without producing any harmful materials—in other words, ferment it. This would make producing things like yeast and koji starter a breeze. I had already left yeast production to Shuna, so we had all the bread we wanted, not to mention a few alcoholic beverages. Making koji from scratch was a bigger challenge, and one we were experimenting with, but it would hopefully not be long before I could enjoy some “real” Japanese sake again. I could make soy sauce, too, if I could get my hands on some soybeans.
378
379Such a great skill. I can’t stop dreaming up new uses for it. I wasn’t sure if using these jaw-dropping powers to satisfy my personal cravings was such a great idea, but who cares? A tool’s at its best only when you use it to the hilt.
380
381Once I’d advanced to the point of manufacturing fermented beverages, the rest came easy. We had brandy on hand as well as whiskey from applying distillation to the beer process. They were both high in alcohol, enough to burn the throat of someone not used to it, but an aficionado would definitely love how they tasted.
382
383I explained all this to Yohm, showing him how to best enjoy it. My body no longer allowed me to get drunk, sadly, but the sensation was still nostalgic enough that I imagined I felt a tad tipsy regardless.
384
385“Huh. I see. Yeah, you know, this is pretty good, pal!”
386
387“Yeah, isn’t it?”
388
389“Though, personally, I think I prefer putting ice right into the glass instead of just watering down this stuff.”
390
391“You’re a man of good taste, Yohm.”
392
393Now that the tension had dissipated, I moved on to the main topic.
394
395“So…”
396
397I gave a broad, sketchy account of my adventures so far. This included my reincarnation and a lot of other details, but it was a toss-up whether he understood much of it. Which was fine. That’s why I offered the drink first. It just wasn’t the kind of tale you could convincingly tell stone-cold sober. If I was gonna go on about how I was chummy with demon lords and such, I had to do it with a smile and a wink.
398
399But Yohm surprised me. “Oh, I believe you,” he said without prompting. “I mean, monsters building an entire city? That’s unthinkable enough right there.”
400
401I’m glad he adapted so easily. He was taking to the brandy like a champ, too, delicately sipping it without hacking his lungs out.
402
403“You believe all that?”
404
405“’Ey, I just said I did, didn’t I? Man, demon lords, though… I bet Carillon has some mean fighters working under ’im.”
406
407“Hmm. Hard to say, actually. They aren’t here to fight us. They’re just coming to see if we’re worth building diplomatic ties with.”
408
409“Yeah, but didn’t you send Benimaru over there? You wanted ’em to be prepared for anything in that domain, didn’t ya? I’ll betcha they’re thinkin’ the same thing. I’d expect some fairly strong magic-born if I were you.”
410
411“Maybe so, but I don’t think it really matters. If we provoke ’em with a fight, it’s over anyway. Getting all hostile with Carillon won’t earn anything for us. So what I’m trying to tell you is this: Like I said this afternoon, don’t start any arguments with the envoys. And make sure your posse fully understands that, too. I want things to go a little more peacefully this time!”
412
413“You got it, pal. And like I told you, we ain’t stupid enough to pick a fight with folks that dangerous!”
414
415Yeah, I’ll bet.
416
417He had convinced me enough that I dropped the topic. The brandy was a big success; I was sure it’d make an excellent gift on my trip to the Dwarven Kingdom. Yohm and I wound up chitchatting about far less important affairs well into the night.
418
419*
420
421Several days later, right on time, the envoys from the Beast Kingdom of Eurazania arrived. I greeted them in my slime form with Shuna and Shion behind me, along with Rigurd and the other hob-gob bureaucrats. Then there was Soei, keeping tabs on things undercover. If something happened, I was sure he’d hop right out. Yohm’s group was there was well, and by their standards, they were acting downright somber.
422
423The envoys made their way through our ranks in a luxuriant line of gilded wagons. They were pulled by a streak of Thunder Tigers, large magical beasts crackling with lightning that ran across their frame—a potent symbol of military force, one easily visible from long distances. In terms of armor, these tiger wagons of sorts—if you took all the fancy gold and such off them—would probably work as tanks.
424
425“Yep, this is sure a demon lord envoy,” I marveled.
426
427“Ah, it is nothing impressive,” Shion replied, shooting me down. “Compared to the glorious light you bring us every day, Sir Rimuru, taming these beasts is nothing but a bluff.”
428
429Um, Shion? It’s gotta be more impressive than that, isn’t it?
430
431“They’re clearly trying to demonstrate their power to us. You think all this dazzle is ‘nothing impressive’? You sure you aren’t being too pretentious for your own good? ’Cause that ain’t cool.”
432
433“You think? All those needless cosmetics would be meaningless in battle.”
434
435“But we’re not in battle here…”
436
437There’s Shion for you. Her mind never leaves the war zone. Dismissing what was likely Carillon’s handpicked battle lineup just because they weren’t prepared for melee combat right this minute struck me as ridiculous.
438
439“Of course, the artistry of all this decor could use some work. Nothing that Dold couldn’t run laps around—plus, he’s got Kaijin and Garm helping him out. We’re really blessed with good talent that way.”
440
441“Thanks for sayin’ so, Boss!”
442
443“Makes us proud to hear.”
444
445Kaijin and the three dwarf brothers appreciated the compliment, rewarding me with smiles. But I meant it. They had fulfilled all my crazy orders this entire time, and it had really been a huge help. I figured they could use some more recognition.
446
447
448The procession of tiger wagons continued solemnly forward as we spoke. The lead one was the most ostentatiously decorated of all, and when it came to a halt, two women emerged from the door.
449
450The first one had long, shiny white hair that was slick and straight. She was a beauty with a supple body and catlike eyes, but the aura around her was ferocious, suggesting she was a battle-hardened leader. The second woman was just as head turning—this one bewitching with her black-and-gold hair and jewellike snake eyes. She seemed graceful at first, but she practically froze the air with her coldhearted gaze, repelling most who dared to approach her.
451
452They were both magic-born, and not the garden-variety sort. The sheer quantity of magicules they held rivaled that of Phobio at his last visit. If I had to guess…
453
454*
455
456“A pleasure to meet you, lord of the Great Forest of Jura. I am Alvis, the Golden Snakehorn and one of the Three Lycanthropeers serving the demon lord Carillon.”
457
458I knew it. A real big shot. I wasn’t expecting a top-level officer, but there you go. Which meant the other was—
459
460“Hmph! I see no need to offer any formal greeting to this crowd, Alvis. After all these days of journeying, wondering what sort of monster might rule over Jura, I come here to find a puny slime to greet us? This is an outrage!”
461
462“Enough, Sufia. Such behavior brings nothing but disgrace to the face of Lord Carillon—”
463
464“Enough from you, Alvis! How dare you order me around! And look! They associate not only with dwarves but with humans—those stunted, conniving, cowardly humans. They are a disgrace to all the monster races!”
465
466Whoever this magic-born Sufia was, she had a bone to pick with human beings. I intended to be patient as long as she kept the name-calling focused on me, but if that extended to humans—Yohm and his cohorts, in this case—I couldn’t let it slide. Besides, I’m an ex-human myself.
467
468Yohm, for his part, stayed silent for me, afraid of triggering a breakdown in relations before they even began. Good to see him living up to his word. Plus, looking back, his skills had grown immensely over the past few months. He had no obligation to put up with such a barrage of one-sided insults.
469
470He was being patient with them. I no longer could.
471
472“Whoa there, don’t you think you’re pickin’ on those humans a little too much? Knock it off, man. Right, Yohm? I know you hate being treated like a fool. Why don’t you show off some of your skills? You’ve got my permission.”
473
474I mean, what do you want? Yohm was, more or less, our friend—a devoted trainee of Hakuro’s. Sure, he was on a different training regimen, and no way could he dream of taking on me or Benimaru. But he was so brazen, such a tenacious fighter, that he put up with Hakuro’s gauntlet without a single complaint. He kind of reminded me of Tamura, this guy who worked under me at the office back in Japan. He was cocky, but I liked him—just like I liked Yohm, with his calling me “pal” and so on. And I guess he wasn’t “under me,” exactly…more like an equal, a fellow student working under the tutelage of Hakuro. Seeing his good name so thoroughly trashed like this angered me more than it would if it had happened to me. I kind of understood how King Gazel felt.
475
476“Huh? Me?!” the shocked Yohm fired back at my tirade. What’s he so surprised about? It’s got everything to do with him, doesn’t it? I want him to put on a little show for me.
477
478“Yeah. I’ll heal you as long as you don’t die, so show ’em how strong you are!”
479
480“Whoa, whoa, pal… I thought we were keeping things nice ’n’ peaceful? Like, no starting fights?”
481
482“Shut up, fool! Quit playing dumb! I wasn’t planning to start anything, but if they are, we gotta answer up to that!”
483
484Exactly. If someone gives you a shove, you gotta shove ’em right back.
485
486Something else began to grab my attention.
487
488“Yeah, go for it, Boss!”
489
490“You’d look like an old fool if you don’t get ’er back, sir!”
491
492The assorted hoodlums and petty criminals in Yohm’s crew were raring for a brawl.
493
494“Heh. Guess I’ve got no choice. Promise you’ll look after my team, pal?”
495
496With a grin, he unsheathed his beloved Dragonslayer sword. My words had triggered something in him, igniting his lust for battle.
497
498“No problem. I’ve got tons of healing potion, so don’t let up!”
499
500“Sure thing!”
501
502Yohm took a step forward. Sufia answered this with a jubilant laugh.
503
504“Haaaaaa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Well played, human. Think you can satisfy me?”
505
506As I watched her gloriously overacted performance, Shion handed me over to Shuna. Uh-oh. Does she have ideas of her own? Just as the thought occurred to me, Shion did exactly what I expected.
507
508“Not so fast. I have stood here patiently and let you have your say, but the sheer brazenness of your insults toward Sir Rimuru… I have held my tongue for this long only because Sir Rimuru instructed me to, but it would appear I no longer have a need to. I shall be your opponent!”
509
510Shion’s eyes grew bloodshot as she sprang into action.
511
512I was willing to let Yohm join in on this, but Shion’s self-insertion was no longer a joke. Ah well. Not like I could stop her if I tried. I would just have to leave things to her now—and with such an eager opponent, now was no time to try to stop the bout.
513
514“How niiiiice!” Sufia howled, her ferocious feline nature coming to the fore. “I—Sufia, the Snowy Tigerclaw—am ready and willing to test out these would-be minions of the high-and-mighty slime lord!”
515
516Then she and Shion clashed, driven purely by their war instincts. In an instant, the place turned into a battlefield.
517
518
519Yohm, meanwhile…
520
521“…Oh dear. There is just no dealing with you, Sufia. In that case—Gruecith! Provide an opponent for the human.”
522
523To the side of Shion and Sufia’s duel, the Golden Snakehorn, Alvis, gently slipped an order to one of her magic-born.
524
525“Me? Take on a human?” sneered the gallant-looking young creature who stepped forward. “I know I am a low-ranked member of the Beast Master’s Warrior Alliance, but… Well, so be it. Let me be your playmate, human!”
526
527His hair was gray, matching his eyes, and his skin was a dark shade of brown. He was as muscular as he was flexible, and the large knives he held danced in his hands while he glared sharply at Yohm. This human was less than nothing to him, but his eyes were still focused, like a hunter steeling himself against their prey. Despite the insulting words, he was clearly not going easy.
528
529I should’ve expected nothing less of Carillon’s servants. Say what you will about them, but they were first-class warriors. It was the lycanthrope races, I believe, that Carillon ruled over. Milim had taught me a thing or two about them—hesitantly, at first, but the moment I dangled a few more of my sugary sweets over her head, she said “I shouldn’t tell you, but I will” and then talked my ear off for the rest of the day about them.
530
531Lycanthropes were, as the name suggested, the family of demi-humans who could transform themselves into beasts. These chiefly encompassed dogs, cats, monkeys, bears, snakes, and birds; larger species like elephants also existed but were rare. Lower-level monsters, like orcs and kobolds, were said to be devolved versions of these lycanthropes, no longer able to transform—which, in turn, suggested that these lycans were pretty upper-tier as far as monsters went. If anything, having both human-and monster-type powers from birth made it fair to call them low-level magic-born. Once a lycanthrope transformed, they would gain new abilities based on their unique characteristics. They were born soldiers, ready with battle skills from a young age, and even in this dog-eat-dog world, they were widely acknowledged as superior to the rabble in many ways.
532
533If I was to believe all this, then lycanthropes exhibited their true strengths only when “transformed” into the beast they were derived from. This suggested that, even if I didn’t think these guys were just playing around, they weren’t truly fighting just yet. Sufia was still in human form, just like Gruecith. Could Shion defeat her? Regardless, the two battles between Shion and Sufia, and Yohm and Gruecith, were already under way. I watched from my safe spot nestled against Shuna’s chest.
534
535*
536
537In a word, the Shion-Sufia bout was intense.
538
539They were both the type who derived joy from battle—true berserkers. Their surroundings no longer mattered as they immersed themselves in the fight. For now, they were equals in speed and strength, a very well-matched pair. From what I could tell, however, Sufia had a far vaster cache of magicules to draw from. As it was now, Shion had a disadvantage—or should have.
540
541But she was grappling with Sufia with her massive sword still in its sheath. Was it because she didn’t want to kill? Or just an expression that this wasn’t everything she had? Not a very smart way to approach a higher-ranked magic-born, I thought. I hadn’t expected Shion to join the fray, but if she was going to, I really wanted her to give her all.
542
543“Will Shion be all right? She’s fighting on her opponent’s terms, not drawing her sword…”
544
545“She will be quite fine, Sir Rimuru. It may not seem so at the moment, but the only person stronger than her is my older brother.”
546
547In Shuna’s eyes, at least, Shion was number two among the ogre mages. I was impressed she was able to grasp how they were fighting. Her own Analysis unique skill was nothing to sniff at, either. She must’ve seen how powerful Sufia was, but she seemed wholly unperturbed by that. A sign of trust, maybe?
548
549“True,” added Soei, lurking within my shadow. “In full-frontal combat like this, Shion probably outclasses me, as much as I hate to admit it.”
550
551I guess she was more than a barely qualified secretary, after all.
552
553We continued to watch as we spoke. Shion and Sufia were entirely occupied by their combat, testing their skills and might against each other, attempting to gradually break out their full potential. It continued apace, remaining evenly matched to a surprising level.
554
555
556Yohm’s battle, meanwhile, was a showcase of advanced techniques being thrown against one another. He really had grown stronger. Several months have made him almost a different person, as he went on monster-slaying journeys between here and the towns and villages of Farmus, his home kingdom. It had built his name as a champion, and it had also earned him a bounty of experience. No doubt, he had been leveling up a ton. I’d have no problem giving him a solid A rank.
557
558The casual spectator could be forgiven for thinking he was just slashing his heavy Dragonslayer downward from the air, letting his brute strength win the day. But he wasn’t. That attack was merely the first of a series of well-calculated moves. He waited for his foe to dodge it, putting him off guard just enough to raise his blade upward and connect it to a multilevel attack. He wielded that Dragonslayer like it was made of cardboard, his superhuman skills and strength keeping him in constant pursuit of his magic-born opponent.
559
560But Gruecith wasn’t here to lose. He continually dodged the barrage of killer strikes from Yohm’s sword by a mere hairbreadth. The cleavers in his hands allowed him to unleash a flurry of quick combos, like a beautiful dance that effortlessly but inevitably cornered his enemy. You could tell he was supremely confident in his speed.
561
562Being faced with such a talented magic-born didn’t faze Yohm. He smiled, obviously enjoying himself. Being able to fight a magic-born who let him exercise all his powers allowed him to feel exactly how far he progressed.
563
564Attack followed parry, and parry followed attack, all mere instants from one another. Gruecith threw a knife at Yohm; Yohm easily avoided it, slamming his Dragonslayer down in a classic finisher move. But Gruecith lunged forward, tumbling to the ground to deflect the blow and slipping right between his legs.
565
566As Yohm twirled around to pursue him, Gruecith’s cleaver returned to him, spinning back to his hand like a boomerang. He crossed both blades in front of his chest, taking the full brunt of his adversary’s gigantic blade. It was an even match, the kind of epic battle that makes one sigh in admiration.
567
568“Yohm’s not too shabby,” I remarked. “He’s fighting on an even keel with that magic-born…”
569
570“Indeed,” Shuna agreed, “it is a remarkable effort.”
571
572It was starting to look like Yohm had advanced even further than I thought. It was like that with Gobta, too—Hakuro’s instruction put speed above everything else. If your reaction time lagged even a little, you could expect some seriously painful retribution from him. Don’t like it? Then pick yourself back up and work on your intuition skills. That, if anything, was the key to Yohm’s astonishing reaction speed.
573
574*
575
576That and something else. There was a secret to the Exo-Armor I gave him. It was noted for its light weight and remarkable protective ability, but that wasn’t all—it also assisted the wearer’s movements, boosting their reflexes. Weapons and armor infused with magicules modified themselves based on how compatible they were with their owner—the more you use them, the better they’ll become in your hands. His Exo-Armor was no exception, and it was now fully used to Yohm’s battle style. It proved that, in several months of battle experience, he had made the Exo-Armor something truly his own.
577
578These two factors were what gave Yohm the strength to not only take on the magic-born Gruecith but fight as his equal.
579
580
581The two bouts grew more and more intense. The attacks Shion and Sufia exchanged were white-hot with intensity, as if they were each measuring how far the other would go.
582
583“Ha-ha-ha! I was not expecting to have this much fun.”
584
585“Hmph! Ridicule me at your peril, lycanthrope! Let me show you the sky-rending, earth-crushing power of an ogre mage!”
586
587“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Go right ahead! Make this even more exciting!”
588
589The decisive moment was drawing near. Still laughing, Sufia slashed at Shion with her long, extended claws. They glowed a pale white, unleashing electricity—the kind of ability you’d expect from someone who can tame Thunder Tigers, I suppose.
590
591Shion was ready for this. Her sword still sheathed, she stopped the lightning-infused claws with her bare hands. The moment she did, bolts of electricity coursed across her body like a lightning rod. Her thick skin fully absorbed them, preventing any cuts or burns, and the current surged into the earth without seriously damaging her.
592
593Seeing this, Sufia hardened her gaze in reluctant admiration. Her foe had just used Diamond Path, one of the ogre mages’ Battlewill skills. It let her control her mind and solidify her body, almost to the consistency of metal. Her fighting force protected her skin, dissipating any enemy attack. Not exactly entry-level stuff, it goes without saying, and Shion executed it perfectly in battle, like an instructor schooling her opponent.
594
595“Prepare yourself! It’s my turn now—”
596
597“Bring it on! My blood is on fire!”
598
599After Sufia came Shion—whether Sufia agreed to that or not. Shion readied herself, still weaponless. Hakuro had been teaching us barehanded martial arts—but nothing like this. It looked like she was about to launch a massive bolt of magic from her hands, focusing all her authoritative might on the effort. She devoted her entire half-crazed will to drumming up her aura, spreading it around her. If this was a Hakuro skill, it’d be a natural part of his in-combat repertoire, not this showy full-on blast that ran on every fiber of his being.
600
601Leave yourself that open in combat, and it’d just be giving your opponent a chance to strike. But Sufia merely stood there, arms open, as if it were a perfectly normal thing to do. I could never figure out what these battle-crazed maniacs would do next.
602
603Now Shion was ready. To us in the audience, only a short time had passed; to the competitors, it would have been a fatal delay. One that Sufia had just spent standing there, smiling like she couldn’t get enough. Shion smiled back.
604
605“Sorry for the wait. Now, take some of this!”
606
607The aura that had wended its way around her hands formed a ball of fearsome, destructive energy, one that she was just about to launch—
608
609“Enough!”
610
611—when a voice informed us all that the battle was over. A golden staff was suddenly thrust before Shion. Alvis had stepped in.
612
613*
614
615Her tail was pointed straight toward Sufia as well; she apparently had an energy bolt of her own to unleash. Alvis was, indeed, half human and half snake, her upper body an attractive woman, the lower half transformed into a large, ebony-colored reptile.
616
617This “transformation” into her beastly form had taken place without anyone noticing. Neither, it seemed, did her slipping between them attract anyone’s attention until the moment she spoke. Not even I could fully block the aura I’d sensed before, and yet none of it exuded from her body. It was impressive. The Three Lycanthropeers absolutely deserved the reputation they enjoyed.
618
619Hearing Alvis’s shout, Gruecith immediately ceased all hostilities. Yohm joined him, giving me a confused glance. I raised a hand and nodded at him.
620
621“Is that enough for you? Should I take it to mean we’ve passed?”
622
623“Yes. You have certainly demonstrated your skills to us. Haven’t they, Sufia? Are you willing to recognize them for who they are now?”
624
625“I am,” she replied with a clear, cloudless smile on her face. “No complaints here. They seem more than worthy of being treated as equals, that much I firmly believe now.” She turned to the other lycanthropes in their entourage. “I trust they have convinced you as well? I will not allow any of you to complain about them and their humanness any longer!”
626
627Gruecith nodded. “Right you are, Lady Sufia. Rare are the humans who can fight with me on such an advanced level. Pay these people the respect they deserve!”
628
629He let out a loud, hearty laugh, then extended a hand to Yohm. His opponent accepted it with a wry grin—and at that moment, everything was resolved.
630
631Alvis’s actions just now confirmed it to me—I had been right about their motivations. They were testing us, deliberately greeting us with hostility to gauge our reaction. I began to suspect as much when Sufia started giving me guff for being a slime. Carillon, her direct boss, already knew who, or what, I was. He had talked with most of my monster officials, and he had already sworn to me (by his own name, even) that he’d work on friendly terms with us. It seemed unlikely that he’d instruct his representatives to start picking on my sliminess all of a sudden.
632
633Sufia, I could tell, was just using me as a way to provoke us all into action. She must’ve thought at least one of us would go berserk when she started berating their master.
634
635I also had another reason to suspect their behavior. They were, in a way, revealing a lot about themselves, amid all that huffing and puffing.
636
637Take their nicknames. Alvis referred to herself as the Golden Snakehorn, and now I could tell that was a pretty literal way of putting it. Snake on the bottom, two sparkling gold horns coming out of her head, branching out like those of a dragon and suggesting all manner of untold secrets. Sufia, for her part, was the Snowy Tigerclaw, which suggested something feline about her transformation. She used claws charged with electricity during the fight, so it made sense. Phobio, the Black Leopard Fang, presumably excelled at using his long, sharp fangs in combat. Or maybe he had some dark weapon modeled after a black fang. Who knows.
638
639Regardless, it all meant that lycanthropes were remarkably honest with their opponents, using their nicknames to reveal the sorts of abilities they’d really be better off hiding from foes. I guess you could say they were proud of keeping things fair and square in the ring—and there was no way they’d defy the orders of their master, the demon lord. Lucky for me that both my hunches turned out to be correct.
640
641
642That left one more group to handle.
643
644“Are you all right with that, Shion?”
645
646There was still a gigantic ball of pure magic hovering above Shion’s outstretched hands. She looked at me, troubled.
647
648“It is not a problem for me, Sir Rimuru…but what should I do with this?”
649
650This meaning the ball, I assumed.
651
652“You can’t banish it?”
653
654“…I can’t. Or I should say, my magical force is at its limits.”
655
656Looking closely, I could see Shion’s entire body starting to quiver. She looked ready to unleash that time bomb of a magic bolt at any moment. There were tears in her eyes. She wasn’t lying—something everyone else could tell, too, judging by how they were suddenly keeping their distance.
657
658The most panicked of all about it, of course, was the ball’s target.
659
660“Wh-whoa, calm down. Slowly… Slowly point it upward.”
661
662Alvis had already put her staff away and wasted no time sprinting—or more accurately, slithering—outta there. Sufia had tried to edge back herself, but the high-voltage electricity zapping to and fro between her and Shion made it impossible. The lightning infused in Sufia’s body was reacting with Shion’s own aura, creating a sort of energy field that both had trouble escaping.
663
664“Come on! Put your heart into it!”
665
666This ball was putting the fear of God into Sufia. I could tell by the way she shouted at Shion at the top of her lungs. I swear, there’s just nothing I can do about her. Condensing all that power into a ball so tightly wound, not even she could control it…
667
668Jumping out from Shuna’s arms, I nimbly maneuvered in front of Shion, going into human mode and pointing my left hand at her.
669
670“Shion! Fire it!”
671
672“But…”
673
674“It’s all right! Trust me!”
675
676“Y-yes sir,” she warbled, confused. But she was already at the end of her rope. The vast ball of magic unfurled itself—then, leaving just a short afterglow, was absorbed into me. The unique skill Glutton in action, once more.
677
678This utterly shocked the lycanthropes as much as it relieved Shion, who fell to the ground exhausted. Cheers erupted around us as peace finally returned to the battlefield.
679
680
681As I guided Carillon’s officers around, I decided to ask a question that had been weighing on my mind for a bit.
682
683“Say, what were you intending to do if we didn’t take you up on your little challenge?”
684
685“Mm? That would have been trouble for us, yes…but if you were the sorts of cowards who couldn’t even fight us, we’d have no reason to recognize you as friends. We would have called everything off, I imagine, and I am sure Lord Carillon would have completely understood.”
686
687Talk about an open book. No ulterior motives with these guys at all. I was starting to think we’d get along pretty darn well in our exchanges. It certainly cheered me up to think that.
688
689*
690
691We held a welcoming feast for them that evening. Shuna was putting all her efforts into cooking for it, and I could hardly wait for night to fall. We were cracking open all the alcohol we had, too.
692
693Once all the dishes were laid out, the party began. Gobta, fresh from patrol duty, did a funny little dance, provoking raucous laughter. Hakuro provided a more serious demonstration of his sword skills, earning him the respect of the lycanthropes in the audience. The dwarves all tried their hand wooing Shuna, only to be shot down one by one. It goes without saying they proceeded right to drowning their sorrows after that.
694
695Yohm and his men, meanwhile, were already at the gambling table. I had taken to propagating the game of mahjong around town as a way to kill time, and the magic-born Gruecith, fresh from fighting my champion, was joining the match out of curiosity.
696
697I wanted to hop in myself, but Shuna stopped me. “Sir Rimuru,” she angrily intoned, “you know you don’t have a good mind for gambling.” She had me there, I have to admit. Whenever I get really passionate about something, I get too reckless for my own good. I could have the Sage advise “There is a ninety-nine percent chance the south player is waiting to snatch that tile if you play it” in my mind, but it’d toss it in anyway. “I’m a man!” I’d reason. “Screw the percentages! I gotta push through!” And I’d pay for it every time.
698
699An all-too-common story—loving a hobby, even when you suck at it. You’d think I would be smart enough to rely on the Great Sage to sail me to victory every time. If you don’t keep a cool head when gambling, you’re bound to lose big. I know that, but I can’t stop. Happens every time.
700
701
702Tonight, at least, my main responsibility was to be an amiable host. Best heed Shuna’s advice and provide someone for the lycans to talk to. So I turned to Alvis and Sufia…only to be greeted with two utterly sloshed beasts. Their attendants were urging them to stop, but they had no interest in listening. Alvis had her tail wrapped around a barrel, dunking her head in to drink mouthfuls at a time. This was apple brandy—sweet and mellow but definitely strong stuff. I had been planning to save it for a more refined tasting session later, given its premium quality.
703
704“Who the hell gave her the whole barrel?” I whined to myself as I turned my eyes to her drinking companion. There I found, to be as succinct as possible, a large white tiger. Not a metaphor. It wasn’t some half creature, but Sufia in full animal form, lapping eagerly away at some mead from one of our large drinking cups. This is going nowhere, I thought.
705
706There were ten or so empty barrels casually discarded next to her, which made it simple to calculate just how much they had drunk. But that didn’t matter. The honey wasn’t the primo stuff I had Apito harvest for us; we just used honey picked up from a giant-honeybee nest. Being all-natural ingredients, we didn’t have a lot of it, but there was always more available.
707
708The issue here—for them more than me, maybe—was these two lycanthropes revealing their full, true selves, something I imagined was better off hidden.
709
710“Hey, hey,” I asked in a panic, “do you think you should be showing your transformation around other people so much?”
711
712Milim had shared her own observations of these lycans to me, so I was pretty sure of the answer. I was quickly proven wrong.
713
714“Ah, Sir Rimuru, I am sorry you have to see this embarrassing state of affairs…”
715
716The meek young lycanthrope who answered was named Enrio, a close confidant of Phobio, who had come on this journey to offer me his thanks. Enrio had bowed his head deeply to me multiple times, singing my praises to the high heavens for retrieving Phobio alive from the massive thing that took him.
717
718“Indeed,” he continued, “we lycanthropes vary in the forms and styles our transformations take. There is no law that says we must not show them, but…certainly, we do not often reveal them to others, except those whom we fully trust.”
719
720This was even more detail than what Milim had offered.
721
722“Whoa, you sure that’s not classified lycanthrope information or something?”
723
724“No, nothing like that. It’s no great secret to speak of. Any upper-level magic-born would be aware of it. Besides,” he laughed, “we never were very good at keeping secrets.”
725
726He seemed truthful enough to me. Which meant—crap, Milim tricked me, didn’t she? It was no big deal, but she acted like she was imparting the great secrets of the world when she started blabbing. She cheated those sweets from me, plain and simple. I thought I was pulling the wool over her eyes, but she was one step ahead of me. Better keep my guard up more, I thought.
727
728
729I had the lycanthropes brought into their rooms, each furnished with full barrels of their own. Whether it was a secret or not, I still felt a bit squeamish about the females “exposing themselves” in public at my party, and I wanted to show a little hospitality to the rest of the gang, too.
730
731The event ended without a hitch, and the next morning, the two beauties arrived at the breakfast table looking incredibly refreshed. Not even a little bit hungover. There ain’t a creature in the world they can’t drink under the table, I mused.
732
733“Ah,” Alvis began, “last night was like a dream! Such a wonderful welcome. I cannot wait to tell my master all about this excitement.”
734
735“Ooh, I’ve never had such pleasant drink before. Simply learning such a thing exists makes me confident we are right to build relations with your land.”
736
737“Oh, Sufia, stop being so uncouth! …I will admit, though, it was quite pleasant on the tongue. I don’t recall tasting anything so strong in my life. The dinner itself was wonderful as well, of course, but ah, that liquor…”
738
739My booze wowed them both, far more than Shuna’s food.
740
741As we spoke, the topic turned toward our issues with fruit, and our inability to find enough people to cultivate them and make larger harvests.
742
743By this point, our food situation had undergone some major improvement, but our focus was still on growing things like wheat and barley—not to mention potatoes, which formed a very effective side dish. We were experimenting with rice-plant cultivation as well, with an eye toward crafting a rice grain palatable to us all. Fuze and his men had told me they weren’t aware of anywhere in the land that raised rice in an agricultural environment, so we’d have to build all that from scratch. Once we reached our goal, I was planning to turn some of our wheat fields into rice paddies and ramp ourselves up into full production.
744
745It should be noted that I wasn’t focused on rice for purely selfish reasons. It’s an incredibly nutritious staple, and mixing it with wheat would improve the balance of our food supply. I knew now that flesh-and-blood monsters weren’t constructed much differently from humans, so I wanted to keep our food production as balanced as I could. (Having rice also meant we could make rice wine or sake in large quantities, so I’ll admit to having that little dream in mind.)
746
747Between this, that, and the other thing, growing fruit had fallen on the back burner. There just was no time to develop new farmland for it. Our construction schedule was packed to the gills; I was already asking Geld for too much. I wanted the sweetness fruit would bring to our diet, but we couldn’t ask for such luxuries until we were more fully prepared for future famines. Thus, I had given up on it for now.
748
749
750And with that, I finished giving them the rundown.
751
752“I see,” Alvis remarked. “That does sound like an issue. Perhaps I could arrange matters so the fruits offered to Eurazania are passed over to your nation? With that, you could—”
753
754You could use that to make more fancy liquor for us, I could practically hear her say between the lines.
755
756“…What percentages are we talking?” I asked.
757
758“Oh, you can handle the details,” Sufia fired back with a smile. “As long as I have something good to drink, I am satisfied. Our lord’s domain enjoys a great deal of high-quality fruit, so I do look forward to what you could make with it!”
759
760So the ball was back in our court. Which I was glad for, since I was in no position to give out numbers right now anyway. Even if they just wanted a supply for themselves, not to sell across the land, transporting such a huge amount of liquor was a logistics issue I didn’t want to think about.
761
762It’d be nice if we could get a monetary system in place already, so I wouldn’t have to sweat the details on every single barter we worked out. But even if the Beast Kingdom understood the concept, I doubted they would see any need for it. What a pain, though.
763
764Then I remembered—I had experts in that sort of issue, didn’t I? The kobold merchants—I had come to name their leader Koby, for simplicity’s sake—mentioned they plied their trade all over Carillon’s domain. They’d be good folks to bring up the topic with. No time to waste. Let’s get ’em over here right now.
765
766Koby was usually stationed at the merchant’s office in the city of Tempest, so he came right over upon my summons.
767
768“S-Sir Rimuru, what is the—?”
769
770“Right, so Koby here’s gonna send a team of kobold merchants to pick up the fruit, so make sure they’ve got permission to travel through your lands.”
771
772“Excellent,” Sufia said. “I shall guarantee their safety in Eurazania.”
773
774“Ah, um, what?! And—ahhh, Lady Lycanthropeer?!”
775
776“Great, thanks. Oh, and if there’s anything besides our beverages that strikes your fancy, we’ll be glad to sell it to you. What do you think?”
777
778“In that case,” Alvis interjected, waiting for this moment, “I do have something in mind. The clothing you all wear is made of very fine cloth. The bedding I enjoyed last night was of a similar quality; it felt so smooth against my skin. I absolutely loved it. If we might be able to discuss that…”
779
780We had just recently perfected the mass production of magical silk from hellmoth cocoons, and it looked like it had gained a few ardent fans. We gave them a couple yards of fabric, their eyes gleaming as they examined it.
781
782“Please, by all means, then!”
783
784It was not only pretty and soft to the touch, but it was also made of rather protective material. I wasn’t about to give permission that readily…but then, this was a negotiation.
785
786“So I guess they need some of this, Koby. As beautiful as they are, it’s no wonder these fine women have such good taste in fabric!”
787
788“N-no, please, wait just a moment, sir! What is the meaning of—?”
789
790“Yep! Just like Koby said, this is one of my nation’s specialties. Both rare and quite valuable. Would you have some product of your own that would provide a worthy exchange?”
791
792I was willing to part with a suitable amount of booze and just a bit of hellmoth fabric for the fruit supply. But I didn’t want to fold that easily. Someone as on the ball as Koby would immediately see the benefits of this, no doubt.
793
794“Well,” Alvis said, “about all we can offer you right now are these decorative stones.” She pointed to a small collection of stones that shone a dazzling array of colors. They resembled the magic crystals dwarves could refine from magical ore, but it couldn’t have been that—it wasn’t dark in color, for one.
795
796I picked one up and ran Analyze and Assess on it. It came back as a gemstone—which shouldn’t have surprised me. I guess this world had gems in it, too.
797
798“Ah, a jewel, eh? I was hoping for some gold, personally…”
799
800“S-Sir… Sir Rimuru, these are Lycanthropeers you are—”
801
802“Gold? We got that, right, Alvis?”
803
804“We do, yes, locked in our storage rooms. We have little use for what is offered to us, apart from decorating our palace.”
805
806“Ah! Could I ask you for that?”
807
808There were tons of uses for gold. Decor, yes, but—hell, we could just ferry that stuff right to the Dwarven Kingdom to feed their mint, for example. Koby seemed just as excited about that; hopefully he was happier with this exchange now. He was wagging his tail to and fro, so I knew he was eager to lunge at the opportunity.
809
810“Hang in there, Koby! This is gonna be a big job for you guys!”
811
812“But please, Sir Rimuru! This is too big a job!!”
813
814His shout echoed across the chamber. I brushed it off with a laugh.
815
816*
817
818Koby soon grew quiet, perhaps resigned to his fate. He realized this was all decided upon, and now he was ready to be a little forward-thinking about it. The classic merchant—everything’s flexible with him!
819
820We quickly moved on to the smaller details. These were matters that the lycan officers here preferred to leave to their attendants; the magic-born Enrio would be handling them. Koby, once he finally grew serious about this and acted like the merchant he was, soon threw himself headlong into negotiations. We took a whiff of the roasted tea Shuna made for us as she did.
821
822
823Unbeknownst to me, it turned out that kobold merchants technically weren’t allowed to enter the Beast Kingdom of Eurazania. Not just kobolds, either, but the domain was known as a place of great trial upon its people, especially the weak.
824
825Every inch of land the demon lord Carillon ruled over was obliged to provide its assorted bounties to the main government. This meant the central lands of the domain took it as a given that it received anything it could possibly want. The kobold merchants, in turn, would travel around the towns and villages ruled by the central forces, picking up any necessities they required. If this new agreement meant the kobolds went from bottom-feeders to a full-fledged merchant class in Carillon’s eyes, no wonder Koby’s head was about to explode.
826
827It was the same case, more or less, in the other demon lord domains. With the Winged Nation of Fulbrosia—land of Frey, the Sky Queen—peon-level monsters wouldn’t be allowed in the cities to start with, not unless they bore wings themselves. Rumor had it the city space was formed in layers carved into a mountain range, climbing its way to the very heavens. As someone who used to work in construction, I’d love to check that out sometime, but it didn’t sound like permission would come too easily.
828
829Doing business with Milim’s domain was a bit impractical, given how far away it was from us. That left the demon lord Clayman, the Marionette Master himself. He was the exception among his kin, allowing free and legal commerce across all his lands. The economy was a pressing concern for him, and his domain had a working monetary system in operation. There were stories about them trading with the Eastern Empire, even.
830
831He struck me as a very refined thinker by this world’s standards. Then again, if the nearby demon lords could be trusted, Clayman was about the only one among them who could engineer something like that orc lord. The only one with the financial clout to outfit a horde that size with weapons and armor, as they put it.
832
833But there was no concrete evidence, and I couldn’t deny that human hands seemed to be involved as well. The question would have to be addressed later.
834
835
836I discussed all this with Alvis and Sufia over tea. As we did, our respective underlings wrapped up their own negotiations.
837
838“Sir Rimuru, I must admit that I, your humble servant Koby, cannot thank you enough. To a band of itinerant merchants such as ourselves, the chance to receive a job of such enormity is so…so…”
839
840He looked about ready to cry as he took a knee before me, tail whipping back and forth so rapidly I was afraid it’d rip off his body.
841
842“Hey, anytime, Koby. Good luck with it. It’s sadly gonna be a while before we can complete a road, I imagine, so transport’s gonna be rough going to start with.”
843
844In addition to preparing a highway to the Dwarven Kingdom, I was having Geld work on a similar path to the kingdom of Blumund. Asking any more of him would be too much on his plate.
845
846“Not a problem, sir! This is where we come in!”
847
848Koby dispelled my worries with a smile. Despite his doglike face, I could tell from the aura of joy he emitted that he was really smiling. They were used to peddling their wares along marginal roads; travel conditions didn’t seem to concern them much.
849
850“Will you have enough people?” I thought to ask, though it was a bit late to turn back now.
851
852“That will not be a problem, either, Sir Rimuru. Thanks to you permitting us to build a base of operations in this town, our business has been proceeding along quite smoothly in the Forest of Jura. We have ample personnel for the job, I believe.”
853
854“Ah. Well, great. We’ll just provide your guard escort, then.”
855
856“Thank you very much. That will help us greatly!”
857
858He gave me a resolute look, eyes narrowed, then scampered back to his office. This new client of his had filled him with an all-encompassing desire to get the job done. Which was great—really great. We could’ve just used teleports, at least with the quantity of goods we were talking, but that had its limits and only worked with predecided amounts. If this was just a small gift exchange now and again, that’d be one thing, but physical transport would be the name of the game with this job.
859
860If we didn’t get down to brass tacks on goods and equivalent values right now, it could lead to trouble later. I wanted to be sure I had someone trustworthy in the mix first thing, and for that purpose, the kobolds and their long, long relationships with our goblins were a more than capable partner. I couldn’t ask for a better one, in fact.
861
862This all put my mind tremendously at ease, free of the pains of bartering by myself. It also marked the beginning of official trade relations between Tempest and Eurazania.
863
864*
865
866After staying on for several more days, the Lycanthropeers Sufia and Alvis headed back home. Enrio, the magic-born serving them, remained in town with the other attendants.
867
868They had apparently been instructed to learn about the assorted technology we enjoyed here, and they were already beavering away at their studies. Kaijin and the dwarf brothers’ workshop wowed them; when they visited one of our new construction sites, they assiduously took measurements of the framework’s strength and stability. On a day trip to see our highways, they were shocked to see how effective our building crews were.
869
870Soon, they wanted to get to grips with this stuff themselves. “If you are willing,” they asked, “we would be delighted to work with your teams.”
871
872They weren’t beholden to any particular schedule but wanted to stay on hand until replacements arrived for them. After discussing matters with Rigurd, I decided to give them my permission. Before a month had passed, they were fully part of our work operation, far more serious-minded and good-natured than I gave them credit for.
873
874One of the lycanthropes was involved with other business. That was Gruecith. Enrio and the others were ordered to polish their technical knowledge here, but not Gruecith.
875
876“While my master, Phobio the Black Leopard Fang, is serving his penance, I was ordered to provide whatever aid I could to you, Sir Rimuru. I am hoping I could return the favor, in some way.”
877
878Thus, he agreed to help patrol the city—although between him doing ride alongs with Gobta and training with Hakuro alongside Yohm, it seemed to me he was just doing whatever he felt like around town. Ah well. If he was having fun, it was no skin off my nose.
879
880
881—And so, the envoys sent from the Beast Kingdom of Eurazania shortly found themselves naturally becoming friends of the citizens of Tempest.
882
883
884
885
886CHAPTER 2
887
888KING GAZEL’S INVITATION
889
890
891I could see a child suffering from an intense fever—a cold, damp cloth upon his forehead. Before it reached room temperature, a new cloth was immersed in water and wrung out. It was a valiant effort. It wasn’t even her own child, either.
892
893“It’s all right,” she said, smiling at the child as he groggily forced his eyes open before closing them again, relieved.
894
895
896The dream kept coming and coming. The fade to black, and then with each scene, the child would change out, each one looking in terrible pain.
897
898—It was supposed to just be a dream, but somehow, it weighed all too heavily upon my soul.
899
900
901Hmm…
902
903After all that work practicing how to sleep and rewarding myself with the occasional nap, the dreams I had were starting to get pretty intense. Am I being punished for something?
904
905I doubted it. No point in being pessimistic. Let’s keep our eyes forward. I make people worry whenever I act all gloomy. Gotta keep things bright.
906
907*
908
909The day of the promised meeting with King Gazel drew near. Benimaru was finally back after his extended absence, so now I could head over to the Dwarven Kingdom with some peace of mind. If he had been delayed, I was planning to delay my own trip as well, fretting that our simultaneous absences would leave my own nation wide open for attack.
910
911
912Benimaru and Rigur briefed me on what they saw over in Eurazania—Benimaru first.
913
914“Their warrior alliance is just as formidable as I expected. They are a thoroughly trained fighting team, down to the last soldier. Without factoring Carillon or yourself into the equation, Sir Rimuru, I am unsure if we would emerge victorious with our own troops alone.”
915
916He had mostly focused on observing the domain’s military situation, and judging by his assessment, they were a force to be reckoned with.
917
918“Yeah, their envoys had a lot of good things to say about our battle training, too.”
919
920“I am sure, my lord, and we have Hakuro to thank for that. In terms of battle readiness, we are fully in step with them, but they have the advantage in numbers and core ability. To be frank, an army of two hundred thousand orcs would pose less of a threat than a lycanthrope force a quarter that size. Avoiding war with them is undoubtedly the right choice.”
921
922Considering the supreme confidence he normally exuded from every pore, it was odd to see Benimaru provide no guarantee of victory this time. In any case, an all-out war was our very last resort. That’s why negotiating to avoid that was the smart thing with diplomacy like this.
923
924“Well, speaking in smaller scales for the moment, d’you think we should develop some tactics for dealing with them that don’t involve a full-frontal assault?”
925
926“Tactics, sir?”
927
928“Yeah. I mean, with a military battle, if you defeat the main guy in charge, you win, right? Don’t try to wipe out the entire force attacking you. Just take down their commander, and it’s all good. That’ll mess up the chain of command and make it impossible for the force to communicate with one another, won’t it?”
929
930“Strike the commander… I see…”
931
932“It’s nothing that complicated, dude. Remember the orc lord? We didn’t kill all two hundred thousand of those guys, did we? We just decapitated ’em at the top. I’m just saying, we can do that at the force level with other opponents, too. I think training ourselves to take down enemy commanders will let us enjoy a pretty big advantage in battle.”
933
934“Indeed. Without commanders to lead them, they will descend into a simple, unruly mob.”
935
936“Right, right. And it’d suck if the enemy did that to us, too, yeah? So before we have to deal with that, I’m saying let’s grab an advantageous position for ourselves. It’s not easy to build up individual soldier skills, but what we can do is train ’em on that kind of teamwork. Then, we can use Thought Communication or whatever to confuse our enemy and make ’em lose track of who’s commanding our own forces. That’d help us be a better army, wouldn’t it?”
937
938“Very interesting, sir. And I think I have just the method to train for that. Our fighters have been much better at keeping up with Hakuro’s training as of late. Now would be the perfect time to proceed to the next level.”
939
940“Great. Let’s see what we can do with that.”
941
942Benimaru grinned with excitement. The sight of Carillon’s proud forces unnerved him, but my suggestion seemed to ignite something within him that dispelled any uneasiness. So he promised to work with Hakuro to train our monster soldiers while keeping watch over the city. Good on him.
943
944Next was Rigur.
945
946“The buildings in Eurazania were a measure cruder than ours, my lord. However, the royal palace in the middle of the domain boasted the very heights of extravagance, striking a noticeable difference from the rest of the lands. The domain’s riches seem centered upon this palace, but not, perhaps, in an ill way—it seems to be what Carillon’s people want for their leader. The demon lord wields tremendous influence over his Warrior Alliance squadrons, and he seems committed to making life safe and peaceful for all his citizens.”
947
948I had to hand it to the guy. His domain seemed an incredibly safe place to live. Simply recalling the sheer ambition he showed during his visit made me shudder, so I expected Rigur’s glowing report.
949
950“Not just with the buildings, either,” Rigur continued. “Their overall industrial craftsmanship demonstrates technical skill notably below our own.”
951
952“Oh? Yeah, I’ll bet, given that we got Kaijin and his men, plus Kurobe and Shuna and all. Guess we really do have it pretty good over here. I’m happy to hear that.”
953
954“Rigur is right,” chimed in Benimaru. “From what I saw, the lycanthropes, along with the assorted races under their protection, lived in rather modest circumstances.”
955
956Hmmmm. So they both felt that way. I suppose that meant our creature-comfort level had improved a fair bit, if it compared well with a demon lord’s personal domain.
957
958“However,” Rigur interrupted, “there was one rather impressive thing that caught my attention.”
959
960“What’s that?”
961
962“Their agriculture. In Carillon’s domain, the fields are spread farther and wider than any of ours could hope to, packed with a wide variety of bountiful crops. The land is fertile indeed over there, sir, and they are highly skilled at managing their agricultural efforts.”
963
964I see. Fertile land, huh? I was fresh from agreeing to accept some of those crops in exchange for finished goods…but could we wrest some farming know-how from them as well?
965
966“Are any of these skills obtainable for us?”
967
968“…I believe it is possible, sir.”
969
970“Great! In that case, I’d like to have Lilina recommend a few members from our land managers for our next envoy trip. I want them to study the system they have over here in-depth and see if we can adapt any of it for our own lands.”
971
972“A fine idea,” Rigurd said. “Our food situation has improved greatly, but we are still taking a trial-and-error approach with many of our issues. Perhaps that would help us speed things along.”
973
974Now we knew what to have the next expedition focus their attention on.
975
976Leaving Rigurd and the other elders to work out the details, I left our meeting hall. The Dwarven Kingdom awaited, and it was time to address all the little things I needed to cover before then. Between selecting a gift or two for King Gazel, building a portfolio of everything we had under development, and working out what I’d wear for my visit, there was a lot of annoying…or should I say, thorny issues to tackle.
977
978Benimaru, of course, joined me.
979
980“Hmm? Shouldn’t you stay in that meeting? You’ll be leading the next team over there, won’t you?”
981
982“On that question, sir, I believe we are in good hands. We found the demon lord Carillon to be completely trustworthy. We may need bodyguards along the way, but with the relationship we have, I see no reason at all to worry about sudden ambushes. Sir Rigur and I were in agreement in that regard, so we have already decided to have him lead the next mission.”
983
984“Oh? Well, sounds good, then. Guess Carillon’s not just some fool relying on his power, then.”
985
986“Not at all, no. I did try picking a quarrel with him, but he merely laughed it off.”
987
988Whoaaaaaa there! What’s with that out of nowhere?!
989
990“Um, you sure that was a good idea? He wasn’t really angry, was he?”
991
992“No, sir. I couldn’t exactly unleash Hellflare, so he beat me pretty soundly. I still have much to learn. It reminded me of Hakuro’s familiar refrain: Never rely on sheer strength to direct your moves. I had thought Lady Milim’s training had improved my technique to some extent, but…”
993
994He gave me this story as nonchalantly as if he were reporting the weather. Ugh. Maybe I shouldn’t allow Benimaru outside our borders, after all. If Rigur was leading future envoys, at least I wouldn’t have to worry about that. Maybe that’s why Rigur volunteered for the position, actually.
995
996Regardless, I needed Benimaru to keep our own domain safe in my absence—a task he was already aware of.
997
998“I’ll be counting on you for that.”
999
1000“Understood, sir. I have already defeated Phobio, the Black Leopard Fang. Unless a demon lord–caliber foe rears its ugly head, I promise I will keep us all safe!”
1001
1002Yeah… I didn’t want to give him too much praise after he admitted to picking a fight with a “demon lord–caliber foe” just now, but whipping Phobio like that was pretty kick-ass, I had to admit. Having a higher-level opponent like Milim train us in battle must’ve helped.
1003
1004Benimaru was really growing with the rest of us. His unfettered aggression made me nervous about him representing us in foreign lands, but he should keep my own lands safe in my absence. I’d be making more and more foreign trips going forward, and Benimaru would need to become the keystone to our own defenses.
1005
1006*
1007
1008The big day was here. Changing into my travel clothes, I headed outside. Everyone was in a huge tizzy with departure prep; I was the only one without much to do. Well, myself, Kaijin, and the three dwarf brothers, that is. They were all milling around outside, dressed in fancy formal attire they’d normally never be caught dead in and looking all tense about it. They were so nervous, I almost had to laugh.
1009
1010“Good morning, gentlemen!”
1011
1012“Whoa! Hey, Boss!”
1013
1014““Good morning!””
1015
1016“…”
1017
1018Mildo was his usual taciturn self. It was always odd how I understood what he meant to say despite that. The four would be heading back home for the first time in a while; there was little wonder, then, that they all had a lot to think about.
1019
1020“We really gotta thank you, Boss,” Kaijin added. “If it hadn’t been for you, I don’t think we’d ever see our homeland again.”
1021
1022“You said it! Didn’t he, guys?”
1023
1024“Dang right, he did.”
1025
1026“…”
1027
1028Mildo’s reaction made me chuckle. They were being far too complimentary, but if they were excited for the trip, all was well, I thought. I did, after all, force them to leave the only home they knew. That was always a concern of mine.
1029
1030“Well, I’m glad for you guys, too. And that I came to know you all. Kaijin, you’ve done wonders for us, both as a weaponsmith and as the manager of all our production efforts. Garm’s workshop is responsible for all our nation’s armor; Dold is handling everything from handicrafts to magical tools. And Mildo, with your assistance in running our construction department, you’ve got a hand in designing every building around us. You’ve all been a big help to me.”
1031
1032“Heh-heh-heh! As craftsmen, we couldn’t ask for higher praise from ya!”
1033
1034The three brothers nodded their agreement with Kaijin. Yeah, you really are craftsmen, guys. It made me so happy, I couldn’t help but laugh along with them.
1035
1036
1037After a little bit more waiting, we were all ready to go. That conversation with the dwarves helped me completely forget about that gloomy dream I had earlier. It’s always nice to kick off a journey on a high note like that.
1038
1039
1040Things proceeded smoothly en route. Geld’s efforts had paid off—we now had a beautifully laid road to travel on. It had been widened to a comfortable size, making it easy for wagons to traverse. Taking advantage of this, we were now traveling in style with two horse wagons in our party.
1041
1042Well, not horse wagons. The Eurazanian envoys had tiger wagons; I suppose this means we were rolling with wolf wagons. They were being pulled by starwolves under Ranga’s leadership, and having such fine beasts leading the way made for an easy ride for all of us.
1043
1044
1045There were a little under ten people joining the dwarves and me on this trip. First, Shion, my main assistant, and Shuna, my deputy secretary. Shuna was more my personal cook than deputy, maybe, but I figured she could help introduce things like our fabric-making operation to the dwarves.
1046
1047I was actually intending to have Shion stay behind and help Hakuro hold down the fort, but she put up such intense resistance that I let her come along. All “It’s not fair!” this and “It can’t be!” that and “Just Shuna alone…on a solo journey with you, Sir Rimuru…” and so on, with bouts of sobbing and violence in between. Quite an ordeal. I tried explaining to her that this was serious business, not a fun summer road trip, but she wasn’t listening, and in the end, it just wasn’t worth the time to try to make her.
1048
1049She was, of course, all smiles as she held me close to her chest, enjoying the ride aboard one of the wolf wagons. We were on the lead one, alongside Shuna, which meant I’d be gently cradled by one or the other, in turns, the entire way. The second wagon was occupied by the four dwarves, and compared to that, I couldn’t complain about riding with a couple of beautiful women.
1050
1051Ranga himself was with us, although out of sight and guarding me from the shadows. Thanks to Shadow Motion, he was literally shadowing me nearly all the time these days. I could feel him shutting his eyes in sheer bliss as he basked in my aura. I asked him whether he felt cramped, holed up in my shadow, and he said “Not at all, master! It is quite comfortable!” So I let him. Having him on call for emergencies made me feel better, besides, and everyone else agreed with me on this, so he’d be lurking around in that shadow for a while to come.
1052
1053Finally, Gobta was shoring up our guard with several hobgoblins—patrolmen under his direct control.
1054
1055One of the hobgobs—a trainee named Gobzo—struck me as especially dim. I came up with the name on a whim, and he just…I dunno, looked stupid.
1056
1057“You think that guy’s okay?”
1058
1059“Who, Gobzo? You bet, sir!”
1060
1061Gobta swore the guy was all right, just a little lunkheaded. A hobgoblin described as “a little lunkheaded” by Gobta, who’s a little lunkheaded himself. Hoo boy. He had a tendency to stare blankly into space, mouth agape, which made me worry. He didn’t seem too “with it” to me, but he did seem handy enough atop a starwolf’s back, so I figured it’d be just as lunkheaded of me to lose any sleep over it.
1062
1063
1064So we proceeded down the highway, guarded by Gobta and the other six goblin riders. The wagon was sturdy enough to make the ride acceptably comfortable—especially considering we were doing around twenty-five miles an hour, which your typical horse wagon just wasn’t made to handle.
1065
1066The exclusive shock-absorber tech we developed was the secret behind the wagon’s sturdiness, allowing the axles to move independently without being hammered into the carriage. It did wonders to cancel out the bumps along the way, another hallmark of the precision quality being cranked out by our dwarf-driven forge. And it didn’t end there—our tires were cutting-edge, too. Normally, they were made for little more than reinforcing the wheel, which meant they quickly got scratched up and damaged beyond use. These tires were made of a special hardened resin that provided an additional shock-absorbing effect. The resin was more flexible and sturdy than I thought—a pretty good match for the tires from my world, even.
1067
1068Gobta was taking a keen interest in these axles and wheels, curiously examining them up close. He had made a cart for himself long ago, and he must’ve been comparing these to his previous effort. “Wow!” He sighed in amazement. “I knew I should’ve built mine like this!”
1069
1070I should help him build a second one later on, I thought.
1071
1072But I digress. The point is, these innovations were making this journey go rather swimmingly. Maybe it was less because of our wagon’s suspension and more thanks to the flat, obstacle-free road Geld’s crew made for us, but it was still true.
1073
1074
1075We spied the faraway Canaat Mountains on the second day of travel.
1076
1077Things had gone exceedingly smoothly along this well-maintained road so far. The trip was a bit over six hundred miles one-way, but traveling through uncleared forest ate up dizzying amounts of time. Spending the same amount of time on a road like this made for a much easier experience. I was a state guest this time, and showing up a dirty mess from the journey wouldn’t be too befitting, I thought.
1078
1079We had made an effort to give ourselves plenty of time. Unlike before, there were sleeping houses put in place at regular intervals along the way. They served as workers’ quarters during construction, the idea being they could become simple inns once this became a public trade route. Thus, we were all squared away for night lodging.
1080
1081Along the way, we also ran into a few high orcs in the middle of road-surfacing work. They worked as a unified team, under the command of a smug-looking foreman. Like a well-oiled machine, they skillfully carried out the job. Hell, they could teach a few of the construction crews I dealt with in my previous life a thing or two.
1082
1083It was really an ideal environment. I gave them a “Good work, guys!” as I passed by, and they all kneeled and waved at me.
1084
1085“S-Sir Rimuru! Our work is progressing on schedule. We’ve prepared the soil we’re using without a hitch, and right now we’re finishing up the surface. We’re making our way back from the Dwarven Kingdom right now, so the roadway ahead for you is fully complete!”
1086
1087I shot a glance forward. The foreman was right—I saw a well-crafted road waiting for us. It was a simple one, yes—covered in gravel, with crushed stone laid out evenly above it. That was all we really needed, but above that, the crew had placed freshly extracted stone material to make a sort of paved surface.
1088
1089Procuring all this stone and laying it out evenly across such a wide expanse of road would be all but impossible in my previous world. Here, meanwhile, our workmen had a wealth of helpful skills to assist the effort. The Stomach that Geld maintained with his Gourmet skill made small-scale transport (teleportation, really) between high orcs a snap, allowing them to ship processed stone from the quarries straight to the construction site as is. Talk about efficient. My job would’ve been so easy in my previous life with that stuff. No worries about material storage, no shipping hassles; just a few extraordinary skills used to maximum effect. A very monster-like approach.
1090
1091It was clear, however, that the high orcs weren’t just letting their skills do all the work. They were giving 110 percent the whole way. That’s why I wanted to thank them for their efforts.
1092
1093“Look at this! You’ve all done a great job for us. Feel free to knock off early and take it easy the rest of the day!”
1094
1095I took several barrels of drink out from my Stomach, plopping each one on the ground.
1096
1097“Don’t overdo it, now!”
1098
1099Cheers erupted up and down the road. And with all the thanks I was showered with, we decided to stay there for the night.
1100
1101
1102The next day:
1103
1104“““Good morning, Sir Rimuru!!”””
1105
1106The moment Shion carried me out from the hut, we were greeted by several hundred orcs standing in neat lines. “Whoa!” I shouted. All the workmen I couldn’t greet personally yesterday must’ve assembled here in the early morning.
1107
1108“Good job, everyone!” Shion nodded, trying to sound as self-important as possible. Shuna giggled at this as she greeted them all. The hobgoblins whispered among themselves, amazed at the spectacle.
1109
1110Ranga, meanwhile, stayed curled up in my shadow—this was no concern to him, since road conditions didn’t really matter to his species. Unlike Ranga, I had a keen interest in how the completed road ahead looked. I had to give these high orcs my thanks.
1111
1112“I’m glad to see the magnificent work you’re all doing. Keep it up!”
1113
1114A simple sentiment, but still a major morale boost. I followed it by going up and down the ranks, offering my personal appreciation as they greeted me. They all smiled at me from start to finish, which did a lot to lift my spirits as well. The beer I provided last night was apparently a big hit, so I gave the foreman a few more barrels before we left. It was key for a leader to show proper appreciation when the times called for it. I felt there’d be few better ways to provide that than with some fancy alcohol when visiting the front lines like this.
1115
1116We rounded out the stop by watching the crews as they got back to work. Before long, we were on the road once again.
1117
1118*
1119
1120Riding on the completed road made the wolf wagon ride smoother than ever. It felt like we were going a bit faster. This construction effort was starting to feel worth it. The stones lining the highway were rough to the touch, meshing well with the resin tires on our wagons and also preventing slippage. They were designed this way to provide traction in rainy weather; I wasn’t expecting it to smooth out the ride as well, but I was sure the merchants who’d ply their trade along the highway would appreciate it.
1121
1122I observed all this, satisfied with myself, as the wolf wagon sped along. It would be the afternoon of the fourth day by the time we reached our destination.
1123
1124
1125The Armed Nation of Dwargon.
1126
1127Last time I was here, they made us line up in front of the gate. Looking up at that large, oppressive entrance, I shut my eyes and reflected on the past—or I would have, if I had eyes. Instead, I assumed human form inside my wagon and changed into my ceremonial attire.
1128
1129As I stepped out of the wagon, I found a small furor erupting in front of the gate. Oh, crap, not Gobta again?! I reflexively thought, but I was wrong. It turned out the dwarves had already run out of their wagon, trying to get the gate open by themselves, much to the chagrin of the other merchants and adventurers nearby.
1130
1131“Hey, bro. Glad to see you’re well.”
1132
1133This was Kaido, head of the local guard and Kaijin’s younger brother.
1134
1135“Ah, Kaido! How long has it been? Life’s been a blast working for my ol’ boss Rimuru, lemme tell ya!”
1136
1137“I’m sure. It’s written all over your face. Where is Sir Rimuru, by the way? He may be your ‘boss,’ but he’s also our state guest. We’ll need to give him a warm greeting first…”
1138
1139They were having this conversation right next to me. Come on, guys. Why are you ignoring me? …Oh, right, I’m in human form, aren’t I?
1140
1141“Kaido, Kaido! It’s me! Rimuru! That cute li’l girl genius who’s got the magic to transform into anything she wants! Eeeek!”
1142
1143I couldn’t help but join in the fun, as much as it made me hate myself. Thanks to Kaido’s extremely leading questioning at my last visit, it had somehow come about that I was a fetching young woman with magical skills—and while it was Shizu who granted me this particular form, it was a shockingly perfect match for my cover story in Dwargon.
1144
1145“…What?! That couldn’t be! Er… Sir Rimuru? Do you mean to say…you actually were cursed by an evil wizard?!”
1146
1147“Of course not! Enough with the formalities! This is Rimuru, Captain Kaido!”
1148
1149He stared glassy-eyed at me, unable to form a response. I must have thrown him into utter confusion, and I could understand why. I’d probably be pretty freaked out if a slime turned into a pretty girl, too.
1150
1151“I—I am glad you are well, er… Sir Rimuru…”
1152
1153It wasn’t until long after the gate was fully opened that he managed to croak out a response.
1154
1155
1156We passed through the gate, guided by Kaido and his guardsmen. Normally, wagons and vehicles would be directed through another entrance, where they’d be parked in a holding area for unloading. As state guests, though, we were allowed to prance right in on our wolf wagons. We had starwolves pulling us—dazzling, muscly beasts—and that was attention-grabbing alone. But the simple fact the government opened the main gate for us was enough to attract a crowd on the other side.
1157
1158I could hear the comments thrown from either side as we rode along.
1159
1160“Taming such magnificent magical beasts… A powerful group, indeed!”
1161
1162“Are those magical? I’ve never seen the likes of them before…”
1163
1164“What strange wagons, too. The wheels move independently of one another! See how they bob up and down along the pathway, even as the wagon itself remains steady? A magnificent piece of smithery, there.”
1165
1166“But who are they? And why do they deserve the full front-gate treatment? We don’t even do this for royalty from the smaller kingdoms, do we?”
1167
1168“No. Maybe from one of the larger powers? Pretty small guard contingent, if so.”
1169
1170“Also, with all this kindness we’re giving ’em, I was expecting a king or the like…but they sent a princess instead?”
1171
1172“Ooh yeah! She’s pretty cute, isn’t she?”
1173
1174Oh, crap. I was still in human form, since I was too lazy to switch back, but I really should’ve tried looking more male, at least. Doing that would mean expending a continuous stream of magicules, which was a pain. But it was too late now, and I was an honored guest of Dwargon and all, so better just keep it natural, I guess. Let’s go with that.
1175
1176As I listened to the crowd’s commentary, I noticed Kaido nod gravely in my wagon, helping us lead the procession. “You know, I have to say, coming here with such a small group in response to a royal invite is a little careless of you, isn’t it? I know I’m being rude, but I’m afraid you’ll have to accept a few doubtful glances in response.”
1177
1178“Oh, no, I appreciate the advice. I gotta admit, I’m kind of new at this sort of thing. Does this look like that tiny a contingent, though?”
1179
1180“Fairly so, yes. Normally, you’d expect a large, ostentatious parade going through here, an awe-inspiring show of force. The yearly visit from the nobility over in Farmus, let me tell you… It’s nothin’ short of gorgeous.”
1181
1182“Is it…?”
1183
1184International relations were starting to sound like much more of a pain than I had guessed.
1185
1186“Perhaps,” Shion resentfully remarked, “we should have brought the entire goblin rider force with us. With them, and with a dragonewt team patrolling the skies, we would’ve been able to express the fullness of your majesty, Sir Rimuru.”
1187
1188“No, I rejected that idea because it’d leave our own lands vulnerable. Don’t you remember us deciding on all that in the meeting?”
1189
1190I had thought Shion was going too far with that idea she floated at the meeting, but she might’ve been right all along.
1191
1192“Still,” intervened Shuna with a smile, “I don’t think we are underselling ourselves with our procession. Gobta and his force are equipped with a full array of the latest in magic weapons. The trained eye would recognize their value and strength in a moment’s notice.”
1193
1194She was right. It was all Unique equipment of exceptional make. As they were prototypes, there were very few of them around. The weapons were from Kurobe, the armor from Garm, and both were fortified with Dold’s magical carvings. Part of our mission here was to show off our technology to the world, so it was important they all bore the latest and greatest for us.
1195
1196Such inscription magic still had very low success rates. It’d be a while before we could outfit all our fighters with Uniques. But we didn’t need to, either, and I was satisfied enough with what we accomplished already.
1197
1198“Certainly,” Kaido said with a smile and a nod, “I couldn’t help but notice myself. I can’t say what other nations would think about it, but our comrades, at least, are pretty awestruck right now.”
1199
1200Arriving with such a small group was a misstep, but in terms of quality, I think we were right up there with any other nation.
1201
1202“Well,” I said with a satisfied grin, “no worries, then.”
1203
1204*
1205
1206We proceeded along the wide street as Kaido guided us to the palace. He would not be joining us inside.
1207
1208“See you soon, brother.”
1209
1210“You got it. I’ll see you.”
1211
1212The two brothers said their good-byes, and Kaido saluted me before leaving. Picking up from Kaido’s lead was Dolph, captain of the Pegasus Knights, clad in his fanciest attire. He was wearing a civil officer’s uniform, but that was likely just a front. The Knights he led were a covert team reporting directly to the king, and if I didn’t recognize the outfit, I definitely recognized his sharp eyes.
1213
1214“It is good to see you again, Sir Rimuru. It pleases me to see you in good health,” he said in greeting, a smile softening his stony face.
1215
1216“And the same to you, Sir Dolph. Thank you for inviting me today.”
1217
1218“‘Sir’? Ah-ha-ha! No need for that with me! I’m just here to guide you to His Majesty. But before that…”
1219
1220Dolph flashed a sign to his men. Most appeared to be real, non-covert bureaucrats, but I spotted a few Pegasus Knights among them.
1221
1222“My apologies, but may I ask to hold your weapons for you during your visit?”
1223
1224“Oh, sure.” I nodded as I gave him the straight sword dangling from my hip. He accepted it with a polite pair of arms and placed it in a storage box. Shuna handed him a magisteel-crafted folding fan, which I wasn’t entirely sure was a weapon per se, although it sure as hell wasn’t a regular old fan.
1225
1226Shion also removed her own longsword, but instead of surrendering it, she just glared at the attendant handling her. “This is Goriki-maru. It is extremely valuable. Treat it roughly, and you will pay for it,” she said, giving it a tender look in lieu of caressing it against her face. Once she’d said her piece, she handed it over.
1227
1228Just how important is that thing to her? I thought. Geez, giving it a name and everything. Talk about beloved. The attendant struggled with it a bit before applying a steadier grip. Had he dropped it, Shion would’ve completely lost it. I figured the attendant was a covert Pegasus Knight, because the average person wouldn’t have any hope of lugging that thing around.
1229
1230The weapon handover went pretty smoothly for all of us. Not so for the hobgobs. Gobta and his crew all had armor on, and so they had to be escorted out of the chamber to change.
1231
1232“See you guys later.”
1233
1234“Roger that, sir!”
1235
1236Gobta wouldn’t be entering the king’s receiving room anyway. Our guard contingent would be waiting in the next room over, up front. It would just be us and the king’s attendants in there, and I was fine with that. I was just happy they let Shuna and Shion in as government officials. Shion was my secretary, but the way she looked and acted just screamed “military.” If they decided that only I could come in, I knew she’d raise holy hell over it. Good thing the dwarves were open-minded about this.
1237
1238Once that was all taken care of, Dolph escorted us inside the royal palace. We headed straight for the dungeon last time I visited, so I took my time to gawk as we moved along. Magic Sense was convenient at times like these. It let me do all that looking without having to swivel my head all over the place, allowing me to retain a (hopefully) regally authoritative air along the way.
1239
1240So on we went down the long corridor before arriving at a large, ostentatious-looking door. “His Majesty Rimuru,” shouted one of the guards as it opened from the inside, “sovereign of the Jura-Tempest Federation!”
1241
1242“Follow me,” a female dwarven attendant said as she approached. “King Gazel is waiting for you.” This was the end of Dolph’s duties, so he gave me a salute and stood bolt upright at the side of the door. It was all so stiffly formal to me. There were so many little rules I had no chance of knowing, I grew anxious that I was bound to screw something up.
1243
1244“How nice to see you again, Rimuru!”
1245
1246But I shouldn’t have worried, because once Gazel spoke to me, things started moving so fast I didn’t have any time to think.
1247
1248
1249I sat down on a seat offered to me, facing the king, as Shuna delivered a formal greeting. I could still feel the nerves as she provided a royal attendant a list of the gifts we had brought along. Man, Shuna rocks!
1250
1251I had absolutely no idea what I should have been doing there, so I just remained seated, smiling, like we said I should beforehand. “Just act relaxed, in control,” she had suggested to me, “and I will find a way to take care of the rest.”
1252
1253I trusted her to do that, so I remained seated, trying to look as elegant and unaffected as I could. Shuna was doing all the heavy lifting, for sure—she was an ogre princess, after all, and she demonstrated stateliness and dignity that I couldn’t help but admire.
1254
1255The initial exchanges seemed like they took forever, but really, it wasn’t long at all. I was too out of it to pay much attention to what was being said. The Great Sage was automatically memorizing everything for me, I figured, and I could refer to that later.
1256
1257
1258Soon, Shuna and the attendants had wrapped up their back-and-forth. It sounded like they were preparing a royal dinner in our honor this evening. They say it takes several days to prep for that kind of event; I was sure glad we weren’t late.
1259
1260We had some time before evening came, and they took this opportunity to show us to our rooms, figuring we would be tired from the journey. Only then did I dare breathe a sigh of relief.
1261
1262“Oh, man, I was such a bundle of nerves.”
1263
1264“Hee-hee-hee-hee! Were you? You seemed very dignified to me, Sir Rimuru.”
1265
1266“Oh, absolutely! You cut a gallant figure in the royal chamber. I was in awe.”
1267
1268“It seems to me that Shion could use more instruction as a secretary, however…”
1269
1270“Hee-hee! My, Shuna, cutting it rather harsh with the jokes today, are we?”
1271
1272“I wasn’t joking…”
1273
1274Listening to Shuna and Shion carry on as usual helped me calm down a little.
1275
1276“Yeah, well, I’m glad they’re treating me like royalty and all, but I really hope I don’t have to go through that again.”
1277
1278“I’m afraid you may have to get used to it, Sir Rimuru. More of these opportunities will arrive in the future, no doubt.”
1279
1280“Perhaps, yes. As you build your political and military might, little matters like these will be unavoidable.”
1281
1282Wait a sec, Shion. I wasn’t thinking of this as some kind of world conquest; I don’t know where she got that idea. I just wanted to get along with my neighbors, if I could.
1283
1284“Um, just so we’re clear, I’m not trying to rule the world here, y’know?”
1285
1286“What? You aren’t…?”
1287
1288Shion’s obvious surprise was a shock to me. “That’s what he has said from the very beginning,” commented Shuna with a sigh. At least nobody else was working under that assumption.
1289
1290
1291Our banter continued along these lines until it was time for the banquet.
1292
1293Gobta’s team would be in another room, eating separately, and after meeting with King Gazel, Kaijin, Garm, and the other dwarves asked for permission to explore their old stomping grounds again; undoubtedly they were seeing friends and family right now. Thus, it was only me, Shuna, and Shion present with the king. I was a tad nervous about Shion coming along, but the dinner ended uneventfully enough.
1294
1295“Now,” Gazel asked softly, “do you have a little time to spare after dinner?”
1296
1297I nodded. “Good,” he said.
1298
1299Events like these were no place for frank conversation. It was all just a bunch of pleasantries exchanged back and forth. It was hard to truly speak one’s mind with all the compliments and roundabout speeches the atmosphere demanded. Nobody wanted to shoot their mouth off and have promises extracted from them, so that naturally limited the topics of discussion a bit. In my case, too, I was so focused on King Gazel’s mannerisms and my own table manners that there wasn’t room in my brain to think about any of that. The king must’ve spotted it, which was why he offered some extra time to speak more confidentially.
1300
1301I was finally able to relax once we moved to another room.
1302
1303“That was a good meal,” I said to Shuna, “but I sure didn’t have much time to savor it.”
1304
1305“Oh, no? I was quite pleased! All those uncommon things on offer…”
1306
1307“I think Shion could stand to learn some manners—follow your example some more, if you will.”
1308
1309“Oh, maybe. I think she’s fine, though. With manners, as long as you aren’t actively offending someone, then it doesn’t really matter.”
1310
1311Etiquette changes with every situation, after all. Something that was completely wrong in one scenario could be perfectly acceptable in another. I didn’t see any need to try to memorize everything. It’s worth noting that in Tempest, where we’re still striving to improve our food situation, it was considered impolite to leave any part of a meal uneaten. That was a rule I enacted, no doubt affected by my past experience as a Japanese person, but that only applied to us, not the rest of the world. Those things change from nation to nation. Other countries saw virtue in providing the most extravagant experience possible for visitors; I heard that, in some, leaving some food behind was seen as a nice gesture, a symbol that you’ve been so well taken care of that you couldn’t possibly eat another bite. Some people did that in my previous life, too, so it sounded acceptable enough to me.
1312
1313Fortunately, the Dwarven Kingdom worked like Tempest in this regard. Vester had schooled me on that beforehand, and it turned out the advice he gave was spot-on. His instructional briefing covered everything from polite greetings to proper manners around the royal court—but even then, I was so anxious around the king that I mostly just copied whatever he did. Hopefully, the experience would help me get more comfortable for next time. Shion was the same, too, but we had both performed above the minimum expected of us, so there was no issue.
1314
1315We certainly did sprint through each of the courses, though. “It was all so delicious,” Shion said, “I just couldn’t help myself…”
1316
1317“Ahh, it’s nothing to worry about. I’m sure the cooks would prefer this to having any leftovers.”
1318
1319“You are spoiling her,” Shuna said with a cheerful look in her eyes.
1320
1321
1322After a few more minutes:
1323
1324“Sorry to make you wait.”
1325
1326King Gazel arrived, ready to have a frank discussion about the most important issues facing our two countries.
1327
1328*
1329
1330The king and I were seated in two padded chairs facing each other. Vaughn and Dolph stood guard behind him, Shion was behind me, and Shuna was off to fetch some drinks.
1331
1332He was much more informal than before, which was a relief. It’d make talking things over a lot easier. I thanked him for the banquet; he replied with a hearty laugh.
1333
1334“Ha-ha-ha-ha! You were probably so nervous, you could barely even taste what you were eating, right? Let me tell you something: Diplomacy is all just one big bluff. If you act like that, don’t complain if people feel they have the right to run you over.”
1335
1336“You say that, but Vester gave me his personal seal of approval.”
1337
1338“Hmph. As skittish as he is, I’m sure he was simply going easy on the master he serves.”
1339
1340The king was hurling a lot of criticism my way, but if anything, it made me all the more comfortable.
1341
1342“Well, I’ll do better next time.”
1343
1344“Heh-heh-heh… I’m much more comfortable wielding a sword than navigating these types of negotiations, too.”
1345
1346As he put it, Gazel wished for nothing more than the ability to freely and aimlessly wander the land. Perhaps he would have been able to if his father hadn’t died so unexpectedly. But before the topic got too gloomy, he changed the subject.
1347
1348“So! Down to business, then?”
1349
1350I nodded. “Certainly. First, thank you for pardoning Kaijin and the others. I know they appreciate it a great deal, too.”
1351
1352“Hah! That was the best way to earn the approval of my cabinet members. I was planning to forgive them from the very beginning. Plus, with someone as strange as you involved, I didn’t want you running around my kingdom too freely,” he bashfully admitted with a grin.
1353
1354“Wow, that’s a pretty mean way to describe me. Of course, I would’ve had the exact same thought, but…”
1355
1356“Would you?”
1357
1358We faced each other and smiled.
1359
1360“It really was a hard decision for me, you realize. Letting go of Kaijin and Garm was heart-wrenching. I’m glad it’s proven to be the correct answer, at least.”
1361
1362“Yeah, they’re really working hard for me. We have a steady supply of armor thanks to Garm, and Dold and Mildo are a huge help in our construction efforts. And with Kaijin handling all sorts of things I couldn’t, we’re still able to function as a coherent group right now.”
1363
1364“Is that so…? Well, perhaps it was all for the better, then. I thought they’d be better off exercising their skills in a freer environment, rather than toil in obscurity over here. And how has Vester been, by the way? He didn’t join you on this visit?”
1365
1366“Well, I invited him, but…”
1367
1368I did invite him, but he refused.
1369
1370“He was all ‘Oh, I do appreciate it, but I could never show my face to King Gazel until I can offer him some real accomplishments!’ and so on. If you ask me, I think he just wanted to stay focused on his research.”
1371
1372“Ha-ha-ha-ha! Now that’s the Vester I know. So he has an environment where he can put his genius to work now, eh? Wonderful to hear,” the king said with a smile.
1373
1374Deep down, he must have truly worried about his old staff. It wasn’t something he could publicly express, which no doubt led to all sorts of dilemmas. I was the same way.
1375
1376Shuna came back with drinks just as I finished offering my thanks. She had brought in some of the whiskey I tested on Yohm before.
1377
1378“Help yourself.”
1379
1380“Hmm, is this…one of Dold’s creations?”
1381
1382Gazel picked up his glass in wonder. It was almost crystalline in appearance, and it gave off a pale gleam in the light. The glass bore an intricate pattern, and it didn’t take an expert to see its value. This was also a magitool with a magical inscription lurking under the artistry to apply an antidote effect on anything poured inside. You’d need to be a magic user to trigger that, of course, but…
1383
1384“Ah, this has an antidote magic inscribed in it? Very thoughtful.”
1385
1386The king spotted it in an instant. Then he activated it.
1387
1388“You can use that to check for poison,” I said, “but I’m a monster, so I’m too resistant to have much use for it myself.”
1389
1390It was true. Alcohol isn’t exactly poison, but too much of it can lead to unpleasant experiences. Some people had trouble digesting it, leading to acute alcohol poisoning if they weren’t careful. I doubted the dwarves would have a problem with that, but just in case, I figured.
1391
1392Gazel brought the glass to his lips. The smell instantly registered in a look of surprise.
1393
1394“Hoh! A very elegant aroma.”
1395
1396He took a couple moments to savor it. I, on the other hand, took an immediate gulp. I could feel something hot burn through my throat as I imagined my head catching on fire. Sadly, it lasted for a mere instant.
1397
1398
1399Report. Poison resistance…successful.
1400
1401
1402Don’t succeed on that, man! Alcohol isn’t poison. Why doesn’t the Sage get that? I’ve made this lovely indulgence for myself, and I can’t even enjoy it. It was very depressing, but I’d just have to be content with seeing others cherish it instead. Nothing’s sadder than an exquisite liquor you can’t even get drunk off of.
1403
1404“My, my, my!”
1405
1406Watching me take a swig, King Gazel tried a sip of his own. I’m sure the ensuing sensations that ran down his mouth, throat, and stomach were like nothing he had experienced before. But he was a dwarf. He didn’t gag on it like Yohm did.
1407
1408“I like it,” he said before asking Shuna for another glass. Dolph watched on behind him, no doubt a bit jealous. He probably had a sip earlier to test it for poison, so now he’d know what it tastes like. Vaughn, left out of the party, simply gave his lord a perplexed look.
1409
1410“Would you like some as well?” Shuna offered, reading the atmosphere.
1411
1412“Ah, yes! Just one glass, then.”
1413
1414Dolph greedily accepted his cup, as if he’d been waiting for the invitation all his life.
1415
1416“It may not be right to drink during guard duty,” Vaughn dutifully stated as he took his own, “but to us, a good drink affects us no more than breathing the air.”
1417
1418They took their respective swigs.
1419
1420“Mm, mmmmmm?!”
1421
1422Vaughn did a poor job hiding his reaction to the alcohol burn.
1423
1424“There is no need to be modest.” The king laughed with a fiendish grin. “We are the only ones here. Let’s drink together, as we did in the past!”
1425
1426“Y-Your, Majesty, I’m not sure we should—”
1427
1428“All right! Let us, then!”
1429
1430Despite his grizzled, battle-worn features, Vaughn wasted no time shouting over Dolph as he took a seat to Gazel’s right and thrust his glass in Shuna’s direction.
1431
1432“If that’s what His Majesty wants, that’s what His Majesty gets. Let’s have it!”
1433
1434The king gave another laugh as he slapped Vaughn on the back, making him wince and cough a bit. “Wah-ha-ha-ha-ha! What has gotten into you today, Vaughn? You’re so open to suggestion, for a change!”
1435
1436“Ahh, enough silliness! We have a platoon of elite forces on standby beyond that door. There is nothing to worry about. Plus… I doubt these visitors of ours could possibly mean us any harm. They would achieve nothing from it. If they intended to, they would’ve taken action the last time we shared a drink together,” Vaughn said, taking another swig.
1437
1438This was enough to either make Dolph’s concerns go away or just make him give up entirely. Either way, he plopped down to the left of King Gazel. “Let me have some, too, then!” he said, presenting an empty glass to Shuna. I wasn’t sure exactly when he emptied it, but I suppose it was too tempting for him to resist.
1439
1440After we enjoyed this bender for a little bit:
1441
1442“So, Rimuru! Before I become too inebriated, I wanted to ask: That potent magical weapon you used to defeat Charybdis; what is it, exactly? I am told you unleashed a force unlike anything seen before, more powerful than even the most fearsome of tactical-level magic attacks.”
1443
1444“Ah…that…”
1445
1446Yes, that. The thing I already explained to them but failed to get anyone to believe. That crazy-powerful attack from the demon lord Milim, the one that indirectly led to this state visit. Ah well. Let’s try giving them the truth one more time.
1447
1448“Hmm… Well, nobody believed me when I told them, y’know. I don’t think you quite understood what I was talking about, Dolph…”
1449
1450“I didn’t?”
1451
1452“No. That wasn’t any secret weapon of ours or anything. It was really just the power of the demon lord Milim.”
1453
1454“Ah, Sir Rimuru, you and your jests again…”
1455
1456“Well, hear him out, Dolph.” Vaughn stroked the hairs on his chin. “I’m rather curious about that question myself. As commander in chief of our armies, I know that if a hundred Pegasus Knights working in tandem can’t take down a threat, the only thing left to turn to is tactical-level magic. The most effective approach would be to neutralize the enemy’s magic defenses and deliver constant damage without giving them a moment’s rest to heal themselves. But Jaine told me herself—in her eyes, not even a nuclear-level magic strike could defeat the likes of Charybdis. The power levels needed would bend the rules of magic themselves, leading to heat-transfer problems or something—the exact details are beyond my understanding, admittedly, but in short, magic wouldn’t work, would it? So neither would magic weapons, I imagine?”
1457
1458Jaine was the arch-wizard of the Dwarven Kingdom, an expert in all forms of magic and someone smart enough to notice that her skills didn’t work on Charybdis. Magic, in this world, gained its energy through magicules, unique particles that floated around in the atmosphere. Charybdis had the power of Magic Interference, letting it dispel those magicules and render all magic useless. I only discovered that because I possessed that skill myself.
1459
1460Let’s say, for example, that a fireball attack works by heating up magicules in the air and directing that ball of heat toward your target. If I can dispel the magicules around me, that drastically reduces the transfer rate of that heat through the air. It’s possible to shut down slashing-, freezing-, and lightning-based attacks in similar ways. Pretty useful stuff.
1461
1462If you wanted to break through that, it’d have to be via something besides magicules. Instead of aiming right at Charybdis, perhaps we could’ve triggered a shock-wave blast that heated up the air and sent that wave hurtling toward it. Maybe we could’ve damaged it more then.
1463
1464We were flying by the seat of our pants out there, too focused on the fight to really notice any of this. It was too late to quibble about it now. But what was Milim’s attack, really?
1465
1466
1467Understood. Two possibilities are available. Either the Magic Interference was obliterated by an even larger force, or some simpler attack was used that did not work via magicules. Due to data collection errors, the exact attack cannot be identified. However, there is a high chance that the former possibility is correct.
1468
1469
1470That was the Sage’s guess. As it saw things, the presence of that unknown material it couldn’t detect the nature of indicated the second scenario was unlikely. Plus, logically speaking, it was totally possible for someone with the magical strength and energy of Milim to simply overwhelm Charybdis in a magical arm-wrestling match.
1471
1472Dolph shrugged. “Indeed, magic was wholly useless. But pinning everything on the demon lord Milim just seems too convenient an excuse to me. If you had a previously unknown weapon you wished to keep a secret, though, that makes it more understandable.”
1473
1474He was more willing to believe we had a secret doomsday bomb of some kind than that Milim actually agreed to join in combat. King Gazel gave him a thoughtful look.
1475
1476“But, Dolph, do you think that’s possible? Even if we made our tactical magic ten times more powerful, do you think that would have defeated the opponent? We are talking about a monster that annulled the almighty force of a high-level dryad-driven spirit. Any magical force capable of defeating it would be beyond anything I could imagine. But with Milim, the dragon princess herself, we should expect the unexpected, to be sure.”
1477
1478Gazel, at least, seemed familiar with her. I didn’t even know if Milim’s attack was magical or not, but either way, it obliterated Charybdis. The king was right; it really was beyond anything I could imagine.
1479
1480“So you think that really was Milim?” asked an excited-looking Vaughn.
1481
1482“Yes, well… That would explain a number of things. But why would a demon lord like her be there…? That I cannot say. If you claim Milim was with you, could you explain exactly what led to that?”
1483
1484Now the king had pointed the argument back at me. Dolph and Vaughn followed his gaze.
1485
1486“Yes, well…it’ll be a bit of a long story. But let me begin with what happened after I last took leave of this kingdom.”
1487
1488So I did, telling them about everything following my unceremonious removal from Dwargon. The rest listened on, consuming our brandy and finger food in silence. By the time I was done, a third of the barrel was gone. Talk about maintaining a pace. The barrel would’ve been bone-dry by now if it was beer I’d provided, no doubt.
1489
1490“That does seem to make sense, but…”
1491
1492“The very idea of taming that demon lord… Imagine!”
1493
1494“Hard to believe, indeed…but we do have reports of a young girl taking a central role in the battle…”
1495
1496The three looked at one another, exchanging their own takes. “Hmph!” Shion snorted next to them. “Sir Rimuru would never lie to anyone!” I supposed she must have been sampling some of the wares in the barrel with the rest of them. Shuna was the sole attendant responsible for keeping our cups full and our stomachs filled with something to absorb all the liquor. It certainly kept her on her feet. Very thoughtful of her. I wish Shion could learn from that a little.
1497
1498As I thought about that, King Gazel and his men made their conclusions.
1499
1500“I believe your tale, Rimuru.”
1501
1502“My apologies for mistrusting you. It was just rather difficult to wrap one’s mind around…”
1503
1504“Wah-ha-ha-ha! You are a mysterious one indeed, Sir Rimuru! Making acquaintances with the oldest demon lord in the land—and in such a short time, too!”
1505
1506Finally, they were seeing things my way. Which was better for me, I suppose, but either way, I was glad we were on the same page. I figured that was the end of the night’s serious discussions, but I was wrong—if anything, our summit conference disguised as a domestic drinking party was only getting started.
1507
1508*
1509
1510Our conversation turned to recent events in our respective kingdoms as well as our latest research results. I also heard about an event planned for tomorrow, where we’d go before the public and formally declare friendly relations between our two countries.
1511
1512As the night wore on, the topic drifted over to the whiskey I’d brought.
1513
1514“This is such a wonderful drink. I have never tasted anything so intense before. What is it exactly?”
1515
1516The barrel was now less than half full, which I probably should’ve expected. This was some heavy drink, and we were having it straight on the rocks, so a little drunkenness at this point was unavoidable.
1517
1518“This is called whiskey. It’s made by distilling beer.”
1519
1520“Oh? What is this ‘distilling’?”
1521
1522Hoo boy. This was gonna get thorny.
1523
1524“Well, you’re a researcher, so I’m sure you know it’s the alcohol in beverages like these that makes you feel drunk. Alcohol has a lower boiling point than water, so if you boil a fermented compound like beer and collect the steam that results, you’ll wind up with a higher-alcohol beverage. That’s what a distilled spirit is, basically.”
1525
1526Gazel nodded at my executive summary. “I see. Perhaps that high-grade liquor made by the otherworlder was crafted in the same way.”
1527
1528“An otherworlder?!”
1529
1530Oooh, now this sounded like some useful information. I’d love to meet them, if we’re all from the same country.
1531
1532“Yes. In the capital of the Empire, there was a beverage created by an otherworlder who was presented to the emperor. Some of it was put up for sale, and given the limited supply, it’s being traded for exorbitant prices. It seems it cannot be made in large quantities; does the same apply to this whiskey?”
1533
1534Ah. Too bad. I wanted to check out the Eastern Empire, but they were a full-on military state, and they ran their borders pretty tightly. It’d be harder to pay a casual visit than it’d be with the Western Nations. Plus, they even had a specialized force devoted to monster slaying—not to mention monster-specific fighters in the west as well, something else I’d have to watch out for. No need to rush it—best to wait for the right opportunity to meet this Empire otherworlder.
1535
1536If I had to guess, the short supply was more an excuse than anything. Perhaps they didn’t have facilities large enough for mass manufacture, but money could do a lot to fix that. They probably just restricted production to retain its premium value.
1537
1538“Well, this is a luxury item of sorts, so we can’t make massive quantities. It’s not a technological problem, though; more of an issue with my nation’s food situation. Remember how we didn’t even have beer to offer you at your visit? We’ve finally finished growing some test samples for the wheat and barley we’d need for that. We’ll begin brewing in earnest starting next year, but depending on how much grain we harvest, there’s only so much we can devote to high-end distillation like this.”
1539
1540So as I told them, we can only make enough to enjoy for ourselves.
1541
1542“Ah, is that so? Yes, we rely on Farmus or the Empire for much of the food we import as well…”
1543
1544“Indeed. Our low food self-sufficiency is our kingdom’s single weakness.”
1545
1546“And you can’t use magic teleportation to send food long distances, unlike weapons and armor. You’re forced to work through merchant middlemen. Which is partly why we’ve made ourselves into a successful free-trade city, but…”
1547
1548Hmm. Interesting. Their nation was built from the ground up for self-defense, but large-scale crop production couldn’t be very easy in underground caverns. It wasn’t completely shut off from sunlight, but it wasn’t really suited for food production, either. That’s why they decided to tackle that obstacle by polishing their tech skills and encouraging trade. Being a free-trade city pushes more merchants to stop by, strengthens economic bonds with other countries, and makes them a more valuable asset to the world at large—hence why the Dwarven Kingdom was such a force in this land by now. I’d love to learn from that and build our own economic links.
1549
1550But something else about that grabbed my attention.
1551
1552“Hey, can I ask a question?”
1553
1554“Mm?”
1555
1556“When you said you can’t use magic to transport food—?”
1557
1558“Ah, yes, about that—”
1559
1560Dolph explained it all in King Gazel’s stead. As he put it, transportation magic wasn’t a cure-all—using it to teleport organic matter could transform it, due to all the magicules it’d get exposed to. Things like fur pelts might just have their quality affected a little bit, but food would be mutated into something wholly inedible. Gobta had mentioned to me that the Dwarven Kingdom had transport offices in place; I was hoping to research them a bit to see if they could help with our own logistics. Hearing about this issue sounded like a big setback.
1561
1562“But you can transport people all day with teleport magic,” I mused. Dolph and Vaughn immediately seized on that point.
1563
1564“Exactly. Jaine tells us that teleportation works on wholly different principles and levels of magical force consumed. She mentioned it during a military conference where we discussed more effective methods of troop transport.”
1565
1566“Ha-ha-ha! I thought it’d be nice if we could teleport an army division directly behind the enemy with magic. But apparently another nation tried that once and wound up killing several thousand soldiers in the blink of an eye. It was meant to be a last-ditch tactical maneuver, but it wound up wiping the nation off the map.”
1567
1568“Hold it there, you!” King Gazel bellowed. “Are you drunk? That is confidential military intelligence…!”
1569
1570“Ah! I—I apologize, Your Majesty!”
1571
1572“Aye, shouldn’t have let that one slip. Sorry, sorry. Forget about it.”
1573
1574“Normally, I’d court-martial you for that one. Honestly…”
1575
1576The king was forceful in his words, but his demeanor didn’t indicate much offense. Dolph and Vaughn just smiled and expressed their regret, no doubt recognizing this.
1577
1578“I see, though,” I ventured. “I suppose we’ll need to build our trade routes the old-fashioned way. We’re on our way to procuring an import source for fruit, too…”
1579
1580“Oh? Somebody besides us has tried to build ties with you?”
1581
1582“More or less. Not a humanoid kingdom anyway.”
1583
1584“What? Which country, then?”
1585
1586“We’ve only exchanged envoys at this point, but the Beast Kingdom of—”
1587
1588“No! Eurazania?!”
1589
1590“Ridiculous! That domineering Beast Master, reasoning peacefully with other nations?!”
1591
1592“I find that very, very hard to believe…”
1593
1594This came as more of a shock than I expected. I felt a little proud at so thoroughly flooring them like that. I gave them a grin, basking in it.
1595
1596“Oh, believe it! I had the chance to get acquainted with the demon lord Carillon. He kind of owed me a favor, so I suggested we open up some trade ties, and he gladly agreed to it. So we sent teams of envoys to each other.”
1597
1598“So not just Milim but the Beast Master as well, you…? If that’s a lie, then you’re the greatest impostor this century has ever known. But…”
1599
1600“It doesn’t seem like one to me.”
1601
1602“If so, then Tempest is suddenly more important than ever. You may be sitting right at the center of world trade before long!”
1603
1604“So, Rimuru, what do you intend to trade with each other?”
1605
1606Despite their surprise, King Gazel and his team had opted to believe me. I suppose they analyzed it in their heads and decided it must’ve been the truth. Gazel’s eyes were back in “king” mode now, searching for ways his nation might profit from this. I was ready for it.
1607
1608“Well, they have a good supply of fruit and other luxury goods—befitting the magic-driven country they are, I suppose. A far cry from a nation like ours, still scrambling to feed ourselves. There’s only enough fruit and such from the forests to keep our own plates full. If we can get enough trade going with that, we’ll be able to shift more supply over to our liquor manufacturing efforts.”
1609
1610“Ah! Fruit? Could you distill some of that as well?!”
1611
1612“Of course we could. Shuna?”
1613
1614“Yes, Sir Rimuru?”
1615
1616Right on cue, Shuna presented a different bottle, this one filled with our scarce secret stash of apple brandy.
1617
1618“Try some.”
1619
1620She passed out new glasses to everyone—her elegant hands filling each one halfway with a clear liquid. Shion had been silent for much of the past while, focused wholly on the drinking effort. I worried a little about her.
1621
1622“Hohh! What a sweet-smelling concoction this is!”
1623
1624The scent was thicker and mellower than the whiskey from before. King Gazel was immediately in love with it, letting just a few drops fall upon his tongue to sample it before proceeding.
1625
1626“I…cannot believe this. This is even better than that drink from the Empire I mentioned…”
1627
1628He’s had some of that?! I resisted the urge to ask. Unlike that otherworlder’s liquor, I had the Sage’s Analyze and Assess skills to help me craft the best distillation process possible. It was then aged in barrels made from magical trees harvested from the treants’ village, ensuring all the beneficial traits of the original ingredients were matured to their fullest. Keeping the latent flavors, in other words, while imparting aromas from the barrel itself created exquisite harmonies that only deepened the final flavor.
1629
1630The result was this transparent liquor here—aging didn’t give it a whiskey-like amber hue; it remained crystal clear. Amber would make it look more like fancy liquor, but that was really a matter of personal preference. This tasted a hell of a lot better. If I had started from scratch on this, I would’ve had to spend years sifting through and selecting the finest ingredients. Relying on my magic skills instead felt a bit like cheating, but nobody could say that the final product loses out at all.
1631
1632“I do hope your overtures with him succeed,” King Gazel whispered to me. I could tell there was a flood of emotions behind that statement. Dolph and Vaughn both eagerly nodded their agreement—everyone must’ve really liked that brandy.
1633
1634Suddenly, Shion stood up. “No need to worry about that!” she shouted. “Sir Rimuru is bound to solve all our problems. It is now a given that we enjoy a wealth of delicious food on our tables on a daily basis. Having it be joined by good drink is all but promised to us!”
1635
1636She accentuated her point by draining her glass, settling back down, and immediately falling into a pleasant, self-satisfied sleep.
1637
1638“……”
1639
1640I found myself at a loss. “You’re making me handle all this now?” I wanted to yell at her, but she was already far off into dreamland. It’s just every time with you, isn’t it, Shion? Geez. Still, it was weird. Whenever I had Shion avowing her trust in me, I felt like I could do pretty much anything. I’d bitch and moan about it, but I’d always try to make her wishes come true.
1641
1642“Well,” I offered, “if that’s what Shion here’s expecting, I’ll do my best, I suppose.”
1643
1644*
1645
1646“Hee-hee! How reassuring to hear,” Gazel said. “I’d expect nothing less from a fellow pupil of Hakuro like yourself, Rimuru. I hope you will be generous with this when the time comes.”
1647
1648Hakuro doesn’t have anything to do with this, man. And I know I readily agreed to it, but the Beast Kingdom of Eurazania wasn’t exactly right next door. Maybe we could blaze a rough track, but paved-over gravel was out of the question for a while.
1649
1650“We’ll need to build some kind of transport path first, of course.”
1651
1652“Ah, about that… The hard work your crew has been putting in is nothing short of astonishing. They work several times faster than the best of our engineer corps, and seeing them build a road practically before my eyes sends shivers down my spine.”
1653
1654“Yeah, I’m pretty impressed, too.”
1655
1656“But are you sure you are content with this? We are providing you with no support at all. I didn’t expect you to come up with such a splendid highway for us…”
1657
1658“Hey, don’t worry about it. That’s what we promised you. And actually, I have another offer for you, so if you’d be willing to give it some thought going forward…”
1659
1660I gave him a satisfied grin.
1661
1662Step one, put your partner in a good mood. Step two, move on to the main issue. All according to plan. It was now time for me to sell the king on our Low Potions and procure a doctor or two from them—my two biggest goals here. The result: a total success, as I extracted a promise that he would give both offers ample thought.
1663
1664*
1665
1666With the night now behind us, today was the big day of our friendly bilateral relations pact.
1667
1668I felt fine, of course, but King Gazel seemed totally unaffected by all the whiskey he drank. Dolph, on the other hand, was looking a bit green around the gills, and I heard Vaughn was still sleeping it off in his room. Wasn’t he supposed to be an admiral paladin in the Dwargon force? Could he get away with that? It wasn’t my place to criticize how they do things in foreign lands, but come on.
1669
1670Gazel whispered at me to keep smiling, so I did. The ceremony came and went, and while I was still nervous throughout, nothing terrible happened. Not until just before the end of it, when I was expected to say a few words.
1671
1672I pored over the speech in my brain before my turn came up. Rigurd and Kaijin had offered some feedback before I left, so after several rewrites, I had it memorized. I can do this. Let’s rock!
1673
1674In another few moments, King Gazel wrapped up. I was in slime form now, and Shion held me up to the skies in front of the lectern.
1675
1676“Umm, hello, everyone. I am Rimuru Tempest, lord and overseer of the Jura-Tempest Federation, or just Tempest for short. To tell the truth, I am, as you see, a slime, and one who was actually born rather recently. Through various twists and turns of circumstance, I came to know and foster a close relationship with Yohm, the champion. When the orc lord threatened to conquer the Forest of Jura, we both worked together to fight off and defeat this menace. Here, in this wonderful land called the Armed Kingdom of Dwargon, man and monster work together to create what is truly an ideal and prosperous coexistence. It is an ideal I wish to pursue for ourselves, as we attempt to build a nation in the Forest of Jura that serves as a bridge between the human and monster races. King Gazel has given his stamp of approval to my dream, which I cannot thank him enough for. Going forward, I want to maintain the mutually beneficial relationship we have. In order to do that, we will need help from each and every one of you. There are a great number of monsters in my nation, myself included. In fact, it would be fair to call ourselves a land of monsters. However, at our core, we are no different from any of you. Instead of fearing us as monsters, I hope you will accept us as new friends. I hereby swear to you that everything I have said is the unvarnished truth, and with that, I conclude my address to you.”
1677
1678It was short, but I still put as much firm emotion behind it as I could, hoping it would reach the hearts of Dwargon’s people. I was trying to be honest; it wasn’t like I was capable of pulling a bunch of crap out of nowhere for a speech like this. I also didn’t forget to casually note my relationship with Yohm, who was starting to become a legend in his own time.
1679
1680To me, the speech was pretty well perfect…but King Gazel still gave me an earful about it afterward. One, it was too short; two, it was too self-effacing; three, it was too much of an emotional appeal. To him, it was a near-perfect zero, but it’s not like I would get Gazel-style feedback from the likes of Rigurd or Kaijin. I’ll let it slide and tackle things in earnest next time.
1681
1682A leader was someone who governed his country; it therefore wasn’t advisable for one to depreciate himself in public, it seemed. That was all the more applicable when addressing a foreign audience, since that could lead to them writing you off as a pushover.
1683
1684Most important of all, however, was that ruling a nation under the concept of “Wouldn’t it be nice if…?” was strictly prohibited. As Gazel put it: “I won’t ask you not to expect great things from your people. But if you speak like that, could you blame them if they betray you later? A leader is treated as a leader because he leads. He’d be wholly unsuited for government if he can’t even believe what he’s thinking. Truly wonderful happenings won’t simply come running up to you. You need to grab them for yourself.”
1685
1686I suppose that advice came from the heart; he’d never need to say it otherwise. I accepted it with my utmost appreciation. I had lived wholly outside the realm of politics, but now I had (somehow or other) become the head of a nation. I had to stop crying about things and start doing things.
1687
1688In a way, building the kind of relationship with King Gazel where he kept looking out for me like this… Could I have asked for a better stroke of luck? I wanted to harness that luck as much as I could, no matter how much our personal interests got involved.
1689
1690*
1691
1692That wrapped up all the major events at Dwargon. Beyond a few casual meetings, I’d be devoting the next few days to tourism and the like.
1693
1694Dolph would be leading me around. He headed the Pegasus Knights, but that job was classified; officially, he led the civil servants who filled the government’s bureaucracy, which chiefly meant he was King Gazel’s assistant.
1695
1696“So was there someplace you wanted to see? I’ll be happy to fill your requests to the best of my ability.”
1697
1698I didn’t hold anything back. I wanted to check out every facility here in Dwargon that could teach me something to improve on back home. Dolph was accommodating to it all, thankfully, and we spent several days going through all the Dwarven Kingdom’s most famous spots. Production workshops, large-scale transport facilities, even cavern air-purification setups—the works. A lot of it would be helpful to us later, I was sure, especially the air-conditioning facilities and such. I definitely wanted to get something like that set up for Vester and the rest of the gang conducting research underground.
1699
1700“Regular people aren’t allowed inside here, though, are they?” I asked Dolph.
1701
1702“Ha-ha-ha! Not normally, no, but we have a technology-sharing agreement with you. You already know about things even more classified than this; there’s no point hiding anything more from you.”
1703
1704That was a relief. It also showed exactly how much Gazel trusted me.
1705
1706
1707We finished up most of the touring over the next few days. But of course, there was one place in the Dwarven Kingdom I’d never want to omit. That’s right—the Night Butterfly.
1708
1709Ah, nightlife! I was rudely interrupted by a highly agitated Vester last time I paid a visit, but that was no worry this time.
1710
1711“Gobta.”
1712
1713“Yes sir!”
1714
1715“You sure you’re fully prepared?”
1716
1717“Of course, sir!”
1718
1719“Well, then…in that case, shall we head over to the place I promised you?”
1720
1721“Ooh, finally, sir! Can’t wait!”
1722
1723We smiled and chuckled at each other.
1724
1725Gobta and I had been discussing things in great depth to prepare. I would retire early to bed, use Replication to keep a version of myself in there, then head back out to rendezvous with Gobta so we could hit the club together. Kaijin and the others were aware of our plans and would meet us there. There was no need to worry about unwelcome visitors since we had reserved the entire place for ourselves tonight. I was covering all the expenses; I’d been saving up for it, and I still had some of the gold from last time, so I doubted I’d get cleaned out.
1726
1727It was gonna rock.
1728
1729I mean, I wasn’t anticipating much, but Gobta and the rest of the gang were so excited, I didn’t want them to be a pain on the staff or anything. I was…chaperoning, that’s it! A grown-up conscience for the rest of the crew. Convincing myself this was true, I waited for the night.
1730
1731Once night finally came, I snuck out of my room, beside myself with anticipation. My body double was in bed, and I knew what Shuna and Shion were doing. They, of course, were my biggest obstacles to enjoying my night. Shion was engaging in some night training with Dolph and Vaughn, with whom she had hit it off, and luckily, the session was set to run exactly as long as our reserved time at the Butterfly. Shuna, meanwhile, was meeting with the palace cooks to organize the going-away banquet tomorrow night.
1732
1733God had truly blessed us with perfect timing. Without this opportunity, I’d never have had a moment to myself. It was little wonder that I couldn’t wait for night to fall.
1734
1735“Gobta, you there?” I whispered.
1736
1737“Yes sir! Right here, sir!” he whispered back.
1738
1739I gave him a nod of approval—a spring in our step as we walked.
1740
1741“Sure gonna be fun, huh?” Gobta asked for the millionth time. He was really attached to this place; he’d been bugging me about coming there for ages. He probably couldn’t be happier now, as his massive smile suggested.
1742
1743Our preparations fully complete, we followed the familiar path without fail to the club. The moment we opened the door, we were eagerly greeted.
1744
1745“Oh! Hello! It’s the big slime himself! Hey, everybody, he’s here!”
1746
1747“““Good evening!!”””
1748
1749“Eeeeee! I’ve been waiting forever for you!”
1750
1751“Wait! I get to hold him this time!”
1752
1753“What?! Since when do we have a rule like that?”
1754
1755“Welcome back!” the owner shouted. “Everything been good with you?”
1756
1757“You bet, sir! How ’bout all of you?”
1758
1759Oops. I let a little bit of Gobta slip in there.
1760
1761“Oh, of course! The rest of your friends are already here.”
1762
1763We had the whole place to ourselves, so my “friends” meant Kaijin and the dwarves. Led inside, we saw them in the main lounge, each with a female companion and in their own respective states of bliss.
1764
1765“Rimuru! Hey, Boss, this place is spectacular!”
1766
1767“Yeah, thanks for inviting me today, too, Sir Rimuru!”
1768
1769“Why wouldn’t I, Kaido? You’ve been a lot of help to me—at least let me spot this for ya. We’re outta here in two days, and you probably won’t see Kaijin too often after that, either. So let’s kick back and chat, okay?”
1770
1771“Sounds good to me!”
1772
1773“Hah! What’re you, crazy? A club like this, and you wanna chat with other guys?! C’mon, we got all these fine ladies here—let’s have some fun, too!”
1774
1775“Yeah, Kaido! Kaijin’s right!”
1776
1777“Right. Tonight I brought along some necklaces I made for you ladies as souvenirs. Take whichever ones you like!”
1778
1779“…!!”
1780
1781Good to see Kaijin was being Kaijin. The three brothers seemed to enjoy themselves well enough, too. But yeesh, Dold, when did you make those necklaces for these ladies? Trying to earn some brownie points? I can’t take my eye off this guy for a single moment.
1782
1783“Hey! No fair! You’re tryin’ to get a head start on us!”
1784
1785“What? This is a battlefield, man. Only the strong survive!”
1786
1787It was an incredibly cool way for Dold to fend off the accusation, I thought, although other people’s mileage may vary. The women seemed to enjoy the presents well enough, though, so Dold’s tactics certainly won out tonight.
1788
1789At the moment, I was on the knees of the owner, a familiar boinging sensation making itself known behind me. Yes. This is it. This is it! This is what men go wandering in the vast wastelands for—this oasis, this fleeting sanctuary.
1790
1791It filled me with such deep emotion that I offered her a drink. The club had all the usual items—beer, wine, milk, assorted fruity things—but I had a sneaking suspicion it’d be offering more mature selections—say, whiskey and brandy before long.
1792
1793“Ooh, what’s this?”
1794
1795“Ah, a new product we’re planning to make. We’ll be providing King Gazel with a supply, but we’ll let you guys have a bit as well, so offer it to your regulars and see what they think. I’d love to hear whatever feedback you get.”
1796
1797“My! Are you sure it’s all right?”
1798
1799“Oh, no problem. We can’t make very much, though, so it’s not the kinda thing we can ramp up production on for money. Maybe if you could comp your regulars one glass each, then see how much they’re willing to pay after that? I’d like to do some test marketing.”
1800
1801“Well, aren’t you a shrewd little rascal, Sir Slime! I can’t believe this is the same slime who gave that stiff speech in the main plaza earlier!”
1802
1803The owner smiled warmly and laughed. Realizing she was in the audience filled me with embarrassment. And here I thought she’d be asleep during the day since she works the night shift.
1804
1805“Yeah, well, that…was kind of an act, you know? I probably looked like a total amateur, didn’t I?”
1806
1807“Hee-hee-hee! Yes, let’s just go with that.” She smiled at my bashfulness. “But you know, I really liked it! You sounded really sincere. That’s the kind of thing that attracts people, I think. In that respect, you were a perfect ten. I was like ‘I can totally trust this slime!’ And I’d just love to see a nation like that—people and monsters living in peaceful harmony.”
1808
1809This made me happy. Now I knew there was someone out there who took my heartfelt speech seriously and didn’t just laugh it off as a delusion.
1810
1811“Well, thanks.”
1812
1813That was about all the reply I could muster, though.
1814
1815
1816The night was an enjoyable one for everyone involved. Gobta was all nerves at first, but now they were all egging him on to perform some acrobatics for their entertainment. The ladies had him wrapped around their fingers, but he seemed to be basking in it, so I didn’t intervene.
1817
1818Soon, our reserved time slot was almost up.
1819
1820“Well, time to head out pretty soon.”
1821
1822“Yeah. I wouldn’t wanna bother these girls all night.”
1823
1824“Oh, you’re not a bother!”
1825
1826“Aww, you’re leaving now?”
1827
1828“Ha-ha-ha! Sorry, ma’am! I promise we’ll be back!”
1829
1830I was reluctant to go; still, I had to get back. My Replication double was still active, but if they found out about this, I’d be in deep crap.
1831
1832Kaido had cleaned up the home Kaijin and the dwarves used to live in, so they’d be staying there for the night. It’d be ready for use whenever they came back, too. Gobta and I, meanwhile, were headed back to our staterooms in the palace.
1833
1834“Now listen, guys, make sure nobody sees you on the way back home, all right? This whole night’s my little secret!”
1835
1836No point hammering the point home yet again, but I did so anyway. Just to make sure we all had operational security in mind. But then, one of the hob-gobs sitting on the far end of the lounge spoke up.
1837
1838“Oh? Um, Lady Shuna asked me where I was goin’, so I told ’er everything, sir, but…”
1839
1840Wh-what?!
1841
1842The rest of the group stared at him. Gobta went pale and clammy, and the rest of his team was unable to hide their agitation.
1843
1844“Whoa, whoa, whoa, you told her everything?”
1845
1846“Seriously?! Gobzo, what have you done?!”
1847
1848*
1849
1850“That, um. Yikes.”
1851
1852“W-well, Boss,” Kaijin said, already stone-cold sober, “we, um, we’re going home. Best of luck with today and, y’know, Shuna and things…”
1853
1854He headed for the door with the other dwarves, leaving us to pick up the pieces.
1855
1856“Gobtaaaaaa!! What kind of training have you been giving these idiots?!”
1857
1858“I-I’m sorry, sir!”
1859
1860With tears in his eyes, Gobta apologized profusely. But this wasn’t the kind of problem a bit of sobbing could solve—and losing my temper would help even less.
1861
1862Then I heard it.
1863
1864“You look like you’ve been enjoying yourselves tonight.”
1865
1866“You were so late coming back, we came to pick you up, Sir Rimuru!”
1867
1868Shuna’s frigid voice and Shion’s resentful one.
1869
1870It’s all over. The dwarves sat themselves meekly on the floor, preparing for the end. They didn’t quite make it out in time.
1871
1872Time for me to give up all resistance, I suppose.
1873
1874“““W-we’re so sorry!!”””
1875
1876“Hmm? There’s nothing to apologize about.”
1877
1878“Exactly. We certainly aren’t angry that you didn’t invite us!”
1879
1880Their hatred ran deep this time. And thus, like perhaps a lot of evenings here at the Night Butterfly, ours ended with us wailing and apologizing to the most fearsome women in our lives.
1881
1882*
1883
1884Gobzo, one of Gobta’s Goblin Riders, had put all of us in the doghouse. I thought Gobta was enough of a lost cause, but Gobzo was even worse. Better keep an eye on him.
1885
1886The next day, after wrapping up our final dinner banquet, I was called into King Gazel’s personal chamber.
1887
1888“Rimuru,” he said, “I have decided to accept your offer.” He handed me a stack of documents outlining a potential transfer of medical staff to our city. “This is just a draft, so I’d like word on how much you’re willing to accept as soon as possible.”
1889
1890“All right. I’ll bring this home with me and discuss it with my team.”
1891
1892Fortunately for us, he seemed willing to take on what I had offered him. It was a nice way to end our stay in Dwargon, not to mention begin our journey back.
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897CHAPTER 3
1898
1899TO HUMAN LANDS
1900
1901
1902I had a dream.
1903
1904A dream that had grown more and more vivid over time.
1905
1906
1907—Hurry.
1908
1909Again.
1910
1911—Please…the children…
1912
1913Not this dream again.
1914
1915—Please, save the children…
1916
1917All right, all right, I promise.
1918
1919—Please. The children are in the royal capital.
1920
1921The what?
1922
1923—The capital of the Kingdom of Englesia. Please, save them before it’s too late—
1924
1925
1926—And that’s when I woke up.
1927
1928I woke up and then realized I was crying. This was no longer something I could just dismiss as a mere dream. I suppose I needed to head to Englesia—to human-governed lands—as soon as possible. There wasn’t a single moment to lose.
1929
1930*
1931
1932For the first time in several weeks, I was back in Tempest. Benimaru and Rigurd had worked together to keep things running smoothly in my absence.
1933
1934“No fights or thefts to speak of, my lord,” Benimaru reported. “Things couldn’t have proceeded more smoothly. Of course, if anyone was foolish enough to try any of that, I would’ve taken care of them immediately.”
1935
1936“We’ve already received a shipment of fruit from the demon lord Carillon,” added Rigurd. “They were delivered by air, on the backs of these large avian monsters, so I’m afraid there is just a limited quantity for now.”
1937
1938The monsters who called Tempest home got along pretty well by default, so I wasn’t expecting a sudden crime surge. If anything, I felt like my presence attracted the kind of attention this country really didn’t need.
1939
1940Our people had already performed quality checks on Carillon’s shipment and divided it into supplies for food and ingredients for future distillation. Very well done, I thought.
1941
1942Things seemed to operate without a hitch whether I was around or not. Yohm and his men were getting along well with the hobgoblins, high orcs, and other local monsters. It was more than my presence that kept Yohm from starting street fights. The monsters, abiding by my rules, were quite a bit friendlier toward them than I thought they’d be—and nobody in Yohm’s crew was bigoted enough to look down on them. It was really chill.
1943
1944They might’ve been a rabble of hoodlums and pickpockets when I met them, but maybe they weren’t so bad at heart. Plus, I really think Yohm’s got this inscrutable magnetism, the kind of charisma money just can’t buy. And perhaps because both he and the monsters wanted to work together, they were dividing up their roles with surprising ease.
1945
1946Using Tempest as their base of operations, the team was conducting regular patrols around the villages that dotted the forest. If everything was normal, they trained daily under Hakuro’s instruction. The frontier villages now had a firm support system backing them up.
1947
1948Before, if someone discovered a dangerous monster or herd, they’d have to contact the guild, select a team to dispatch them, and occasionally send out an investigation party first. Without a communication crystal (an expensive magic item), it’d take at least a week for a village to receive any support at all. Unicorns rode damn fast, though, so if they got an emergency message from a faraway village, they could head to the rescue within two days. They could just go on and on without eating or drinking. In terms of all-out speed, they could even beat the starwolves.
1949
1950That’s what being ranked B-plus gets you, I guess. Good thing they weren’t all snobby or only allowed virgins to ride them or whatever. That was a relief.
1951
1952The Goblin Riders were handling security duties around the main city, but if anything, our capital was almost too well defended. As a result, we agreed to have around five Goblin Riders join Yohm’s team to handle sudden alerts. They had the free hobgobs for it, so they were happy to work together. It also helped spread the word about our nation to the more remote villages, so I was all in favor. Yohm appreciated it most of all, and it never hurt for me to be on his good side.
1953
1954Perhaps he felt a bit guilty about me doing all this stuff for him, so they provided us some instruction of their own on topics like group combat, sword skills, man-to-man martial arts, and so forth. I learned a lot from them about survival techniques and the way they kept themselves fed out on the field.
1955
1956Our relationship of trust had grown to the point that it wouldn’t be ruined if I was out of town for a little bit. And if that’s where it was at, that made me feel all the safer about journeying to human lands.
1957
1958
1959That night, I gathered my officials and talked things over.
1960
1961“…So I would like to spend some time traveling around human towns and nations. I want to keep it under wraps, too. No need to make a big deal about it.”
1962
1963I told them all about the dreams I’d been having. Dreams I suspected were being shown to me by Shizue Izawa, the woman I consumed. I believed they revealed some of the reasons why she was so intent on confronting the demon lord Leon, despite all her internal conflict. And I unlocked access to them simply because I trained myself to nap a bit, out of sheer laziness. You never know what life will throw your way.
1964
1965But did that mean when I ate Shizu, I took in her very soul as well? I was starting to think so, but the Great Sage provided no answer. It’s always lecturing me on things I didn’t ask it about but keeps its mouth shut in times like these. I imagine it’d answer if I deliberately thought the question, but nebulous queries like these were its main weakness. The Sage, which always sought to be as accurate as possible with its replies, probably didn’t want to admit it could be wrong about something. What is a soul? Not even it knew.
1966
1967
1968Once I was done, I gauged the faces around me.
1969
1970“I understand,” a sullen Rigurd began, “but the idea of you setting off alone, Sir Rimuru, is not one we can accept very easily…”
1971
1972“Indeed,” added Hakuro, “if something were to happen to you, it could upset the very foundation of the Jura alliance, and just when it’s beginning to take form.”
1973
1974“Well, if we don’t want Sir Rimuru to go alone, perhaps we could provide him with protection?”
1975
1976It was Benimaru who extended that lifeline out to me. As long as I could be kept safe, in other words, he wasn’t going to chide me too much.
1977
1978Then Shion raised a hand.
1979
1980“It would be all right for me to accompany him, then?”
1981
1982I’m sure she hadn’t been listening. There wouldn’t be anything “covert” about my trip if she was with me.
1983
1984“No, I… I don’t want to cause any trouble this time, so I’m planning to do my travels in human form, not as a monster. Soei tells me there are assorted magical barriers covering many of the towns, so if a bunch of super-A ranks like you come with me, we’re gonna get spotted immediately. Plus… I mean, look at you, you’ve all got horns on your heads.”
1985
1986“Our horns are purely decoration! And I’ll work to hold my aura back; I promise you!”
1987
1988“Okay, try it right now.”
1989
1990I laid down the gauntlet, having had enough of Shion’s selfishness. If she really could dispel her aura, then sure, that’d work. We could conceal her horns some other way.
1991
1992“Haaaaaahhh!!”
1993
1994Instead, her aura just expanded. Wrong way, dumbass!
1995
1996“Stop, stop! You’re gonna take this building down!”
1997
1998Shion gave me a glum look of disappointment as I scolded her. I needed to. If I went easy here, I’d wind up bringing nothing but trouble along with me.
1999
2000“Look, you’re a strong woman; I want you to keep order around this town for me. I’m counting on you!”
2001
2002“Y-yes, sir! I will not let you down, Sir Rimuru!”
2003
2004Giving Shion a compliment and some work responsibility helped bring her motivation back from the brink—even as her abject failure brought a pained look to Benimaru’s face. “So I’m holding down the fort again,” he whispered, clearly disappointed. He was probably going to offer himself as a substitute, but if Shion couldn’t hide her aura, he didn’t have a chance yet, either. Not with the massive amount of magicule energy he carried around, easily the most among the ogre mages. There was no one else I’d want to keep watch over things while I was gone, regardless. He was the only one who could retain authority over all the different monster species here. Shion and Soei, meanwhile, weren’t as deft at inter-monster politics.
2005
2006“Well,” Shuna retorted with a prim smile, “I suppose it’ll come down to me to join you, then.” But that was a problem in itself. Yes, Shuna’s aura wasn’t as in your face as Benimaru’s or Shion’s, but she was still nearly an A-ranked monster. There was no talking her way out of that. Plus:
2007
2008“Actually, I’ve got a job for you, Shuna. While I’m gone, I want you to keep watch over the town gates to make sure we don’t have anyone suspicious coming or going.”
2009
2010If I were there, I’d immediately know if any shady characters showed up. The Analyze and Assess skill kept a constant vigil over what happened in town. Soei could do that on a physical level, but not even he could do much about a magic-born who hid their aura well enough to avoid detection. The demon lords were aware of us now; we had to stay on alert. I was friends with Milim and had at least a working relationship with Carillon, so I didn’t think anyone would pick a fight by now, but… I mean, these are demon lords. You gotta stay vigilant. So I thought it best to have Shuna stick around and keep tabs on our visitors. The Analysis unique skill she had was at least as good an investigatory tool as mine.
2011
2012Geld remained silent. He was heading up our road works leading to surrounding nations, which one could say was the biggest civic-works project attempted in Tempest so far, and he wasn’t about to abandon his duty that readily. He was too responsible for that, and he knew what his role was.
2013
2014Hakuro and Kurobe felt similarly. “I could join you, perhaps,” the former said, “but I imagine you’d rather have me continue training our troops, Sir Rimuru.”
2015
2016“Yeah, me too! I still got weapons to make with Kaijin!”
2017
2018They looked despondent about it but relented.
2019
2020That being said, I wasn’t about to go traipsing off totally unaccompanied. From what Kabal’s band told me, and from the dangers I’d overcome so far, I had the impression that I was pretty damn strong by this point. But when faced with a threat as overwhelming and hopeless as, say, Milim, I clearly couldn’t afford to let my guard down yet. I could always run if I felt there was no chance to win, but for all I knew, something like her could kill me on first sight. I needed some protection.
2021
2022“Do not worry. I will always be alongside my master. You may all have peace of mind as you carry out your tasks.”
2023
2024Ranga seemed a little too eager to say this, with his tail wagging so hard I thought it’d propel him into the air.
2025
2026“Plus,” Soei added, “I can use Replication to send a body double to maintain contact with Sir Rimuru, informing him immediately if anything should happen. I do not think we need to be that wary.”
2027
2028As a magic-born with some expertise in traversing human cities, I appreciated the experience he’d have in this endeavor. Having them both nearby did a lot to calm my own anxieties, too.
2029
2030I also had the perfect guides in mind.
2031
2032“Yeah, guys, quit worrying about me. I made nice with Kabal and his friends just for this kind of occasion. I was thinking they could help guide me.”
2033
2034“I see. In that case, I have no qualms left about this. Sir Ranga, Sir Soei, I leave Sir Rimuru in your hands.”
2035
2036With Rigurd’s concerns apparently addressed, he gave me his formal permission to head off. Plus:
2037
2038“In that case, I had best have Gobta alert Kabal at once. I will get their things ready.”
2039
2040He was already helping me prepare. That’s Rigurd for you. Always reliable. And with everyone else nodding their approval, I could embark on this journey without any unfinished business.
2041
2042*
2043
2044The three adventurers walked through the forest—Kabal, Elen, and Gido.
2045
2046Their job was to explore these woods, handling any monster-slaying and resource-gathering duties that fell on their shoulders. It was tough work that sometimes required them to sleep outdoors for days at a time, but it was getting to be a lot easier than it used to be. That was thanks to the birth of Tempest, the nation of monsters who called the Forest of Jura home.
2047
2048By this point, they had visited the town of Rimuru several times. They couldn’t ask for a better spot for their adventures. The place seemed to change every time they showed up, growing and expanding. It gave them access to artisans who could fix their weapons and armor, and to be honest, all three wouldn’t mind having a dedicated adventurer’s station of some sort to call home.
2049
2050Whenever they showed up, they would bring along the assorted fragrant herbs and fruits they found in the forest. Anything rare they presented was welcomed with open arms, and before they knew it, they had adopted a habit of keeping an eye out for anything harvestable Tempest might like. It helped them, too, especially since Tempest had succeeded in cultivating and producing some of the plants they brought back in quantity. That let them use it in food and such, and that directly contributed to the adventurers’ general level of satisfaction in their lives.
2051
2052“Man,” Kabal noted, “the food over there gets better and better every time, huh? Shuna’s got to be up there with the cooks in the royal capital by now!”
2053
2054“Nah, better than that! I mean, her stuff would beat any fancy-pants joint back home.”
2055
2056“You said it. I’m a good judge of food, you know, and Shuna’s is top-of-the-line. And some of the team under her are nobody to sniff at, either.”
2057
2058“True. But remember, guys, we aren’t here just to eat other people’s food, got it?”
2059
2060Kabal gave his companions a stern look before they got too carried away. The quality of Tempest cuisine went without saying, but they stood to earn far more than that.
2061
2062“You guys haven’t gotten so focused on eating that you’re forgetting our real mission, have you?”
2063
2064“Oh, don’t be so silly, Kabal.”
2065
2066“Yeah! We got Rimuru relyin’ on us out here. Better pay him back, eh?”
2067
2068Kabal nodded.
2069
2070Rimuru—the monster who had suddenly appeared in the Forest of Jura and started practically ruling the roost in the blink of an eye—had called them to his chamber earlier. The familiar sight of Gobta the hobgoblin flagging them down in the forest was a surprise, but it wasn’t the first time, so they managed to keep their cool.
2071
2072“Um, I guess Sir Rimuru had a request from you guys?”
2073
2074They weren’t bothered to hear this from Gobta—they were pleased, even, as they volunteered their time. Rimuru had treated them well, letting them roam freely around town and even having his underlings help them out of a bad scrape. He had done wonderful things not just for these adventurers but for the human race at large. The berserk Ifrit, the orc lord and his massive horde, the nation-consuming Charybdis: All were unprecedented threats to the small kingdom of Blumund, and Rimuru the slime briskly handled each one. They honestly couldn’t thank him enough.
2075
2076Not that this was their only motivation.
2077
2078“But—hey, hey,” insisted Kabal, “they got their patrols lockin’ down the forest so tight these days, it’d be a waste of time for us to take any guild monster-slayin’ work, wouldn’t it?”
2079
2080“You probably got a point,” replied Gido. “All the monster-based materials we need, and we don’t even needa break a sweat!”
2081
2082“Yeah, exactly. And we couldn’t have upped our rank to B-plus without him, either!”
2083
2084“That was kind of cheating, though, wasn’t it?”
2085
2086“Ahh, don’t be stupid, Elen! It’s just a li’l inside advantage, is all!”
2087
2088“Yeah! You know what they say ’bout looking gift horses in the mouth, right?”
2089
2090“I’m not saying you’re wrong, guys,” countered Elen, “but we have practically a whole stud farm’s worth of gift horses from him by now, no? We spent a while explaining how things worked in our town and with the Free Guild, but still, we haven’t given him much else!”
2091
2092“Maybe so.” Gido nodded. “I’ve been trying to get some inside info to pay ol’ Rimuru back, but…”
2093
2094“Ah, you know him; he ain’t the kind of guy to sweat the details too much. He said intelligence gathering was important, too, remember?”
2095
2096Tempest did indeed have regular patrols navigating the areas around the main town—Goblin Riders, composed of hobgoblins and their starwolf mounts. They moved nimbly and quickly to keep the region secure, and it was thanks to them that law and order mostly reigned around the forest. One consequence was all the monster-derived materials and ingredients that now made their way into Rimuru’s town—a cache that was being channeled partly to Kabal’s team in exchange for new intelligence. Tempest itself wasn’t squeamish about using these materials. Much to the adventurers’ shock, Tempest was home to several well-known dwarven artisans, but not even they could use all the stuff they had access to. So whatever couldn’t be harnessed for weapons, armor, or food, they treated as scrap and let the adventurers have for free.
2097
2098This was, to put it lightly, a windfall. Horned Hare horns, Poison Frog flippers, Giant Bear ears…even things like armorsaur horns, if they were lucky. Bringing this stuff to the guild was treated as them completing their mission—proof that they’d slain some of the dangerous creatures threatening the towns. This earned them points, and points meant rank upgrades. They couldn’t sell these parts for money, but to the adventurers, they were still eminently valuable.
2099
2100Was it cheating? Oh, absolutely, but cheating was fine in this business if nobody finds out. That, at least, was the attitude Kabal approached this arrangement with as they sifted through Tempest’s refuse on a regular basis.
2101
2102It was true that Fuze, guild master of the Kingdom of Blumund and head of the Free Guild they were affiliated with, was totally aware of all this. He had spoken with Rimuru himself, had seen the town he built, and knew exactly what Kabal’s gang was up to. The fact that he simply sighed at them and said “Don’t let this make your training go to pot, all right?” was because the trio were an important link between himself and Rimuru. He knew Hakuro, an ogre mage who offered military instruction to the town’s monsters, was training them as well. Thus, he reasoned, even with the way they gamed the system, their skills weren’t suffering for it.
2103
2104Fuze was one thing. Others around them were less appreciative. Anyone shooting up the point rankings as fast as them was bound to be suspected of treachery. Taking it too far could blow the whole arrangement open, so the guild master called them in one day to advise them to exercise a little restraint.
2105
2106Now, however, Gobta had brought them much more exciting news.
2107
2108“But I guess ol’ Rimuru’s got a direct request for us today, for a change?”
2109
2110“Yeah! Kinda feels nice to know he’s relying on us!”
2111
2112“Mm-hmm. Time to flex our muscles a little bit!”
2113
2114Thus, with exceptionally high spirits, they made their way back to Rimuru’s town.
2115
2116*
2117
2118According to Gobta’s report, the Kabal trio were on their way here right then, likely arriving in two or three days. They were reportedly more than a bit jealous of Gobta just hopping on his starwolf and using Shadow Motion to zip back to town. Elen apparently had the elemental magic Warp Portal in her repertory, but it was only practical for short-range emergency jumps; a very long distance required a massive amount of catalyst energy to work.
2119
2120Vester’s own warp points needed none of this because they were made out of incredibly valuable magisteel. Perhaps we could provide Elen with one to eliminate the hassle, but they were so large and heavy that delivery would take major effort. Using a catalyst was the easier-to-employ solution, and given the choice, an adventurer would choose the quick-and-dirty method almost every time.
2121
2122
2123But anyway. Rigurd was handling my travel preparations, so for now, I decided to let Vester and Gabil know about the terms of my contract with King Gazel.
2124
2125I had gone over the working papers Gazel provided me while on the wolf wagon that took me home. It included the names of dwarves currently working as doctors and the minimum conditions required for their acceptance. I looked all of this over and pondered whether I was willing to sign on, discussing matters with Kaijin along the way. As I did, I came to a mental conclusion, one I now wanted to run past Gabil and Vester, since they’d be working with the guys the most.
2126
2127Vester was so devoted to his research that he refused an opportunity to return home. Either it’s going really well, I mused as I teleported into the cave, or really poorly.
2128
2129Gabil greeted me on the other side. “Ah, Sir Rimuru!” he bellowed. “We’ve been waiting for you. What a wonderful environment this is!” He directed me over to Vester, who was deep in the middle of work but scrambled to his feet upon noticing me.
2130
2131“Good to see you again, Vester. I’m glad you’re doing well, but…is it my imagination or have you gotten thinner? Are you eating all right? Or sleeping?”
2132
2133“I am quite fine, sir. The food here is simply wonderful, and our menus are growing by the day, no less. I am eating very well. As for my sleep schedule…well, yes, my work might be affecting that, but I do have a cot here I can use. And besides, it’s rather nice to sleep only the barest amount that you need!”
2134
2135So not much sleep, then. Letting him work himself to death would be no laughing matter. As much as he liked it, it was still possible for him to take things too far. But he seemed to enjoy it so much that I simply left it at cautioning him to keep it in moderation. If he didn’t heed that, I could always force the issue later. Unlike Kaijin, who had to supervise and direct pretty much everything in his job, Vester was devoted to pure research—something which I’m sure felt like heaven to him.
2136
2137“So how are things developing? Have you succeeded in stabilizing the extraction process?”
2138
2139“Oh, it’s perfect now, Sir Rimuru.” He smiled. “The problem did indeed turn out to be interaction with particles in the atmosphere. Performing the extraction in a vacuum environment now allows us to create Full Potions on a consistent basis. We should be able to produce medicine in quantity regularly.”
2140
2141“And how’s our hipokute cultivation efforts?”
2142
2143“No problems there, sir!” chirped Gabil. “I’m putting diligent effort into raising them!”
2144
2145“He sure is. At this point, Sir Gabil is something of an authority in pharmaceuticals.”
2146
2147So now we had a manufacturing facility on our hands.
2148
2149At first, I was going to ask Kurobe to use his Researcher unique skill to produce a ton of copied potions for us. However, that presented problems for the future. Relying on some special, secret ability like that created a weak link that’d knock us out if we lost the person in question. We needed an environment that allowed continual work to be done. Nurturing the right technical staff would make us more powerful as a country later. That was the whole intention behind forging a pact with the Dwarven Kingdom.
2150
2151“Great. So following discussions with King Gazel, I think we’re going to see some more personnel in here soon.”
2152
2153“Oh…?”
2154
2155“Heavens…”
2156
2157Gabil and Vester both swallowed nervously as they waited for me to continue.
2158
2159“First, I want both of you to take a look at this.”
2160
2161I handed them the list of doctors, along with their conditions.
2162
2163“Hoh.” Vester marveled as he read over them. “I see Johann and Marchet on this list. With these conditions, I don’t see a problem with employing all of them…”
2164
2165His eyes, burning with a new passion, turned to me.
2166
2167“They’re each talented?”
2168
2169“They’re all personnel I’d like to have assisting me. If I can train them here right now, I can have at least one train the next generation of researchers, too.”
2170
2171“And you can trust in these people?”
2172
2173“Of course. I stake it on my dwarven pride!”
2174
2175He certainly acted proud. I wanted to know whether these people would live up to the trust required to live in a place like this, and judging by Vester’s reaction, it was worth betting on. They were already worthy of assisting him, he said—and he was already thinking, like I was, about how this lab would develop in the future.
2176
2177“What about you, Gabil? You think you can work with the new people we have in here?”
2178
2179“Wah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Not to worry, sir! I have trained my underlings to be as good a guard unit as you’ve ever seen. Goodness me, if Sir Vester can vouch for them, I could hardly think of a better team to rely on and work with!”
2180
2181Gabil certainly didn’t mind more people around, which meant my answer was clear.
2182
2183“Great! In that case, I’ll accept these conditions and take in all these dwarven doctors. Vester, you said you’re happy with these skills and conditions, but I’d still like you to examine these documents in detail, if you don’t mind. Gabil, you inform the other dragonewts and make sure this cave’s safe for them all!”
2184
2185“Absolutely, Sir Rimuru!”
2186
2187“Yes, my lord! I, Gabil, will sacrifice every bone in his body to serve you!”
2188
2189“Oh, also, Gabil…?”
2190
2191“Yes, my lord!”
2192
2193“Do a good job on this, and I’ll appoint you to my executive team. I’ll expect you to give it your best.”
2194
2195“Ah… Me, an executive…? In your cabinet?!”
2196
2197“Um, yeah. And that applies even if Abil decides to welcome you back and appoint you chief of the lizardmen. You’re one of my people now, and I’d like to treat you as one. Do you think that’ll bother you?”
2198
2199“Not—not a single bit, sir! Nothing would bother me about that at all! I—I am so overwhelmingly happy that I…sniff…”
2200
2201So overcome with emotion was Gabil that he burst into sobs, shedding a steady stream of manly tears. “Wonderful, Sir Gabil, wonderful,” Vester said as he patted him on the shoulder.
2202
2203“Whoa. Not so fast. That assumes this is all successful. Don’t pretend it’s proven fact yet, or else it’s gonna blow up in all our faces. I want to see serious effort, okay?”
2204
2205“Yes, sir! Never have I been so inspired!!”
2206
2207Gabil had managed to calm down enough to choke out the words. Which was good, because if we were going to bring our recovery potion business (one of Tempest’s new specialties) to the next level, I needed him with a cool head.
2208
2209*
2210
2211Vester filled me in on the details later.
2212
2213At the current rate of manufacture, we could produce a single dose of Full Potion, the highest-quality healing medicine out there, in a full day of work. This included harvesting the hipokute herbs, magically conjuring an air-free vacuum, and operating the extraction equipment. It was a job that ran from morning till evening, followed by another ten hours for the herbal essences to be fully extracted within the potion. It took this long for said essences to make the required magicule fusions in the solution; there was no way to speed up that process.
2214
2215It all happened instantaneously when I made it inside my own body, but pointing that out wouldn’t help matters. Kurobe could harness his own skills to make one in about three hours, apparently, but like I said earlier, this wasn’t for Kurobe to get involved with—I wanted him to focus on weapons production. But back to the first topic.
2216
2217A completed Full Potion could be diluted to create a hundred Low Potions. We were using water from an underground lake infused with magicules, so it was pretty powerful stuff. This dilution works via a magic known as Build Membrane, which was Vester’s job, but apparently Gabil had taken it upon himself to learn it and help out as well. They had now divided work duties evenly among themselves—the dragonewts picked the hipokute herbs, Vester mixed them, and Gabil diluted them into a hundred doses each.
2218
2219In other words, we could now potentially manufacture a hundred Low Potions a day. For sake of comparison, one Full Potion could be diluted to 5 percent strength to craft a High Potion, as produced in the Dwarven Kingdom.
2220
2221What does this mean, exactly? Here’s a quick rundown:
2222
2223
2224
2225
2226Full Potion: Equivalent to my own self-made healing potion. A de facto cure-all, capable of everything up to and including reconstructing missing body parts.
2227
2228High Potion: Fully heals even serious injuries. Cannot handle missing body parts.
2229
2230Low Potion: Heals injury to a certain extent.
2231
2232
2233By “body parts,” I’m talking full-size limbs and such, which ought to give an idea of how potent it was. The magicules inside the medicine crafted temporary limbs; then, over time, the actual flesh and blood would regrow itself, just as it was before.
2234
2235This was all great, but it led to a thorny issue. What kinds of potions should we be producing? We could only make one Full Potion a day, which meant twenty High Potions and a hundred Low Potions were our production limit. With those research doctors helping out, however, it felt like we could up our daily output to three times that. It took time to grow hipokute, though, so there was no pressing need to speed it up.
2236
2237“All right. Once we have a steady manufacturing process in place, let’s keep a single Full Potion for safekeeping. After that, we’ll make a hundred Low Potions to satisfy the terms of King Gazel’s contract. Then we’ll spend a day making twenty High Potions—that’ll be kind of a Tempest specialty, and it’ll help us target a broader audience. So what I’m suggesting is we’ll cycle through making a little bit of each. That sound doable to you?”
2238
2239“Hmm. I imagine so, Sir Rimuru, once Johann and his colleagues arrive. I should be able to devote myself entirely to supervising the effort by then.”
2240
2241If we could make this much happen, I’d say that was enough. It was important, going forward, to have Vester serve as a teacher for our future employees, as much as I was sure he’d want to shove the grunt work on the new guys and focus on research again. If we wanted to have it easy, we’d need to have a fully trained staff working under him first.
2242
2243“Sounds great, then. I’ll be expecting hard work from you two!”
2244
2245“Yes, sir!”
2246
2247“I promise I will!”
2248
2249With those firm promises, I took my leave.
2250
2251*
2252
2253Now we had our general direction in place.
2254
2255For the time being, I took ten samples of each potion type from our storage and placed them in my Stomach. I thought they’d be nice to show off to any merchants I passed, especially if I wanted to make these into trademark Tempest goods. Better talk with Kaijin to figure out what I should be charging for them, though.
2256
2257Currency in this world mainly took the form of coins, or metal pieces. There were no paper bills—paper had only just become a commodity, and it was still too costly. I was surprised to find out that the coinage circulated around the Western Nations was actually minted in the Dwarven Kingdom—which made no sense to me, but that’s what it was. The conventional wisdom back in my own world was that the value of a currency was directly proportional to the power of the nation that made it, and that rule largely applied here, too. Some of the individual nations to the west minted their own, yes, but Dwarven coinage and its guaranteed quality were treated as the official standard across most of the land.
2258
2259To put it another way, it was a key currency around here, the coinage of a superpower. If you wanted to use some other money from a smaller, less powerful land, it’d be subject to careful scrutiny from a money exchanger—with high fees, of course. The money I had was the gold coins Kaido gave me, so at least I didn’t have to worry about that.
2260
2261This world’s economy was still in its early stages, in that money was really nothing much beyond a substitute for bartering. I figured there was nobody issuing government bonds, no futures trading, no systems that helped back people’s trust in currencies. It was all based on solid, real-life exchanges, for better or worse. All this was instead made possible in the Western Nations by a regulatory system run by an outfit called the Council—but it was all starting to become too much to wrap my head around, and it wasn’t like it involved me at all, so I resolved to check that out later.
2262
2263There were generally three types of coins in circulation: bronze, silver, and gold. To me, one bronze coin was equivalent to around ten cents. Anything below one cent in value was considered small change. Their usage depended on each individual nation’s currency, but I doubted I’d be dealing much with anything like that. Silver coins were pegged at one hundred bronze coins, which made them kind of like a ten-dollar bill. Two of these coins were the going rate for a night at the inn of a rural farming village—which, hey, twenty dollars for a hotel room sounds great, but don’t expect the quality of a modern Earth hotel or even a hot meal. If anything, two silver seemed a little pricey.
2264
2265Finally, gold coins could be traded for a hundred silver pieces, making them the equivalent of around a thousand bucks. This world was based on the gold standard, meaning the metal had inherent value in itself, so this made sense. Some of the peasantry might go their whole lives without handling a single gold coin, which made it easy to gauge what kind of economic prosperity much of the people enjoyed.
2266
2267Speaking of things you may never see, there was also something called stellar gold coins, or just stellars for short. These were produced with a specialized dwarven process and instilled with a compressed supply of magicules, giving them an artistic value beyond their monetary one. One of these was worth a hundred gold coins, making them chiefly reserved for large business transactions and payments between nation-states. Which made sense—being worth around a hundred thousand dollars, it was really more like a security certificate.
2268
2269Our extravagant evening at the dwarven nightclub a while back still left me with fifteen gold coins to work with—in other words, about fifteen thousand dollars, which meant I was carrying some pretty serious bank around. Not sure I want to think what that night cost me, though…
2270
2271
2272To sum up: one hundred bronze equals one silver; one hundred silver equals one gold. Easy. So what to charge for those potions? The main reference I had were the Low Potions on sale now in the Dwarven Kingdom, which went for three silver coins a pop. More than I thought! That could be an entire day’s wages for someone. However, an adventurer’s main asset was their physical health. It was considered far wiser to shell out for some potion than risk losing a few days or weeks of salary due to injury.
2273
2274Trying to skimp on your healing tools on a monster-slaying job, where your life was constantly on the line, would be silly. Even if you had a sorcerer on hand for healing, you still needed to take care of yourself—the delay before healing magic takes effect could easily spell your doom. Some sorcerers were better than others, of course, but either way, having an emergency potion in hand was quicker and much more reliable.
2275
2276With that in mind, it was time to think about High Potions. The level of healing they provided was on a scale far beyond Low Potions—which made sense, given they had five times more hipokute extract in them. Thus, they needed to be at least five times the price, or they wouldn’t be worth crafting.
2277
2278“Listen, Boss,” Kaijin said when I asked him about it, “those things would be a steal even at quintuple the price. I’d say at least twenty silver. This isn’t some toy an idiot out on their first errand would purchase. You’d be targeting at least B-rated adventurers with ’em. Don’t be afraid to charge a premium, either—let’s try for twenty-five, maybe.”
2279
2280All right. Fair enough. It was pretty useful stuff, and I didn’t want to be overwhelmed with orders anyway. Twenty-five silver coins seemed like a fair target, too—I wasn’t running a charity.
2281
2282We’d already decided to supply Low Potions to King Gazel for two silver each. A stock of one hundred would go for two gold coins, then, which meant we’d be grossing the equivalent of about two thousand bucks per day…? They’d be a regular customer, too, and it seemed like decent remuneration for the efforts of Gabil and crew. Better to save the higher profit margins for those Tempest-exclusive High Potions, I thought—sell those wholesale for twenty silver, and that’d be four gold per day; twenty-five silver, and that was five gold. But that was all up to my negotiation skills going forward.
2283
2284“All right. I’ll put the prices up high to start and earn as much profit for us as possible. And in the future, when our operation’s ten, twenty, a hundred times bigger, I’ll do my best to make sure our treasury gets the maximum out of that!”
2285
2286“That’s the spirit, Boss!”
2287
2288Now I was all ready to go.
2289
2290*
2291
2292Woo-hoooooo!
2293
2294There was something about hitting the big cities that always got my adrenaline pumping. Getting to embark on a trip solo like this, unbothered by any other obligations, made me feel free for the first time in a while. I liked it. I couldn’t afford to let this opportunity go to waste.
2295
2296Of course, there was one goal I didn’t want to forget as I forged my way into human lands. There were those dreams with the children, yes, and trying to secure some new sales routes for our potions, but I hadn’t forgotten my original objective—to meet one or two people from my original world. People like Shizu and her two apprentices—both “otherworlders,” as she put it. When I showed her a little bit of what Japan looked like these days, she also gave me some insight into her own memories.
2297
2298Yuuki Kagurazaka and Hinata Sakaguchi. I wanted to see them both, but honestly, that Hinata Sakaguchi lady kind of freaked me out. She was the kind of person who’s relied on nothing but her own powers to survive. Even ten years ago, she was either equal to Shizu or above her power-wise, which unnerved me.
2299
2300Might be better to save her for later and hit up Yuuki first. He was said to be the Free Guild’s grand master, the highest position in the organization, so he had to be pretty capable, too. If I had his support as a monster, I couldn’t ask for someone better to rely on.
2301
2302I ticked off all the things I wanted to do as my mind raced with thoughts of the human towns I had yet to see. It had been nearly two years since I was reincarnated in this world, and now, I could finally interact with their nations a little.
2303
2304
2305Our own stronghold was deep in the forest, behind the mountain with the cave Veldora was sealed in. The Dwarven Kingdom was northeast of us, Carillon’s Beast Kingdom southeast, and Blumund to the west.
2306
2307Right now, three highways were in the works leading out from Tempest. One, linking it to the Dwarven Kingdom, was nearly complete. The second, leading to Eurazania, had only just begun construction. The third, headed for the Kingdom of Blumund, would begin to proceed in short time, I imagined. There were (generally speaking) two paths between us and Blumund—a trail that plunged straight through forest land, and another that circled over to Farmus before hitting Jura. That path took longer, but with all the dangers in the forest, the Farmus route was the safer one, if you had the time for it.
2308
2309Kabal’s party usually took that one; it involved beginning on one of the highways from Farmus or the Dwarven Kingdom and taking a turnoff for the forest midway. These were rough walking trails, of course, originally blazed by animals. Thus, taking a round trip from Blumund to Tempest was a daunting task—you could pick up a stagecoach on your way here, as Kabal put it, but you might not be so lucky on the way back, especially if you’re trying to cram in three people.
2310
2311As a result, even a one-way run took anywhere between two and four weeks, which just shows how impossible it was to schedule one with any accuracy. Bad weather or the wrong kind of monster encounter could further delay things. You really did stake your life on the journey; Kabal took his familiarity with it as a source of pride.
2312
2313So he and I discussed all this as we prepared to leave. To them, hearing about a new highway opening a formal route from Tempest to Blumund was a real eye-opener.
2314
2315“What kind of trail’re you talkin’ about…?”
2316
2317“Hmm? Didn’t I promise you I’d build a highway to Blumund?”
2318
2319“N-no, you did, but… It’s going rather fast, isn’t it?!”
2320
2321Hmm. Is it? It was an ambitious schedule by my old construction company’s standards, but with the monster crews I had at my fingertips, it seemed doable enough to me. I must be getting too used to this world.
2322
2323“It is not too fast, no,” Geld advised. (He would be leaving town with us, so he could rejoin his work crews out on the field.) “I’m working hard here, but there’s still room for more. I need to do everything I can to earn my keep with you, Sir Rimuru.”
2324
2325Gido, Elen, and Kabal looked stunned.
2326
2327“Yeah, um, Geld might say that, but to me, this kind of construction speed is crazy! I mean, even with a nationally funded highway like the one we’re taking, this level of quality in such a short time couldn’t possibly be real…”
2328
2329“No, not at this speed. Not even if you had a team of wizard-class magicians working for you.”
2330
2331I don’t know what’s with these guys, really. They’re so amazed by the tiniest of things. But I’m sure Kabal and his gang will get used to things shortly.
2332
2333“Well, no need to worry about it,” I said, trying to shift the topic toward more positive things. “Boy, this is gonna be one hell of a trip! I hope you’ll have fun guiding me, Kabal.”
2334
2335The mention of his name made Kabal snap out of the weird sort of daze he was in. He gave me a half-panicked nod and boarded our wolf wagon.
2336
2337
2338We traveled for a little while after that, but for some reason, our human companions didn’t seem very cheerful. They stared at me, looking a bit dubious of the whole thing. Maybe they were hoping to spend more than a single night in Tempest before getting back on the road. They had actually arrived right on schedule, the evening after I had completed all my preparations. I felt a little bad about it, but we left early the following morning, as planned.
2339
2340“Hey, that’ll be no problem.”
2341
2342“Yep! You’ve been real kind to us, Boss.”
2343
2344“Ooh, sure, that’s what we’re here for!”
2345
2346They all seemed accepting enough earlier, but… I decided to come out with it.
2347
2348“Hmm, maybe I should’ve had you guys stay in town a little bit and rest up first?”
2349
2350“Oh, no, Boss!” Kabal vigorously shook his head. “This wagon’s almost too well-built, so I was just kicking myself for all the pain we had to go through by comparison to get here!”
2351
2352“You sure said it!” Elen exclaimed, clearly waiting for this. “I mean, what kind of horse—I mean, wolf wagon is this? I haven’t felt a single bump this whole time!”
2353
2354“Yeah, exactly! This is so comfy, it barely even feels like a journey to me!”
2355
2356“Well, hang on, hang on!” I had to stop Elen and Gido before they got any redder in the face. “What do you mean, you haven’t felt a bump? It’s been springin’ around all over the place!”
2357
2358On roads like this one, laid out but still unpaved, the wheels bounced with every small pebble they ran over. Running paths like these at twenty, twenty-five miles an hour made for a lot of shaking. It really made me wish these roads would get done already. But Elen just laughed the idea off.
2359
2360“Hah! This barely even counts as bumpy in my book! Regular horse wagons can’t run this fast in the first place, and if they did, they’d put the passengers through all kinds of hell!”
2361
2362“Damn right,” echoed Gido. “With a real horse wagon, it’s a given that your ass is gonna have a bad time. Ride in one for long enough, and you’ll have aches and pains up and down your whole body! If you think a little tink! here ’n’ there counts as bumpy, a real horse wagon’s gonna reduce you to tears!”
2363
2364“He’s right, Boss. Being in a smooth ride like this and having someone be all like ‘Man, this sucks’ or ‘You guys tired out yet?’ …I mean, it makes me wonder why we went through all that crap up to now, is all. Especially if you’re all set to explore these unknown lands, watching out for monsters that might leap on ya at any time—something as easy as this doesn’t count as a journey at all!”
2365
2366Well, what do you want from me, guys? It’s still a journey either way, isn’t it?
2367
2368“Yeah, well anyway, just relax. Kaijin didn’t say anything along those lines when we went to the Dwarven Kingdom in it. Don’t you think you’re playing this up a little too much?”
2369
2370“No.”
2371
2372“No!”
2373
2374“I sure don’t, no…”
2375
2376Ugh. Like I said, what do you want from me?
2377
2378“Well, look, this is reality, you know? Just another way of traveling.”
2379
2380“No, Boss,” Gido lashed back, “what I’m telling you is that you’re crazy to think that.”
2381
2382“Yeah! I mean, the easier the better, but…”
2383
2384“That, and Kaijin didn’t say anything like that because his guys built this. He’s happy with it because he’s got your approval on it, Rimuru. That’s probably why it didn’t feel right to state the obvious. Plus, hell, why are Kaijin and Garm even living with you guys anyway, Boss? Isn’t that weird?!”
2385
2386It seemed they couldn’t hide their shock at having some of the best dwarven artisans in the land living alongside monsters like us.
2387
2388“What’s the big deal with that? They’re friends of ours. And if you don’t like having a nice, easy journey, we could always walk instead.”
2389
2390“Well, no, um…”
2391
2392“I just said, the easier the better!”
2393
2394“I wouldn’t want anything else, Boss!”
2395
2396If they were that dissatisfied with traveling in comfort, I figured they would’ve been a lot more eager about my suggestion. Guess not. What a pain.
2397
2398“Okay, then the topic’s over, guys! How ’bout we talk some more about the city you live in?”
2399
2400They muttered a few buts and awwws about this, but even they had to admit that a wolf wagon was a pretty awesome ride, so they dropped the subject. Nobody gave me this kind of feedback during my last journey. It was funny to see these kinds of differences in common sense among my friends. I was planning to purchase a horse and wagon once we hit Blumund, but if they were that keen on walking, maybe I shouldn’t bother.
2401
2402*
2403
2404So the journey continued on without incident. We had left at sunrise, and it was already past noon.
2405
2406“I can’t believe this,” Kabal muttered. “That mountain looks so small now…”
2407
2408Gido and Elen nodded their agreement. Well, yeah, guys. A starwolf’s a B-ranked monster by itself, and unlike a horse, it didn’t need to rest after this much distance. If anything, this was a mild jog to that species’ standard. It could keep on going practically forever at this rate.
2409
2410I gave Kabal a wry grin as Geld turned to me. “Sir Rimuru, what will we do for lunch? There’s a resting house a ways ahead.”
2411
2412Ever prepared, he had set up food for us in a nearby waypoint.
2413
2414“Nice one, Geld. Let’s take a break and have ourselves a meal in there!”
2415
2416That lit up the mood across the wagon. Despite their initial complaints, the adventurers were well used to traveling in wolf-wagon luxury by now, even enjoying the view out the windows. Talk about self-absorbed.
2417
2418Once we reached the hut, Geld hopped off the coachman’s seat. The starwolf pulling us was a body double of sorts provided by Ranga, so there was no particular need to attend to it. It was simply being run down the road at the equivalent of cruise control. Geld, however, volunteered to take the seat anyway, claiming he’d take up too much space. I loved how serious-minded he always was, and it reflected clearly in his work. The perfect picture of an artisan, I suppose.
2419
2420
2421As we ate, we discussed our future plans.
2422
2423At the moment, we had only blazed about half the trail to Blumund. Over a third of it was still untouched forest. We had kicked things off by having me examine the forest from above, picking the route with the fewest obstacles. We drew up a plan for building the most suitable highway possible after we took height measurements at regular intervals to figure out how the path sloped.
2424
2425Geld’s crew was now in the midst of following that plan and constructing the road itself. The crew was divided into three teams—one to cut down and transport trees; one to level and improve the road surface; and one to lay down the paving and finish it off. Such was the general division of labor. The route we picked didn’t require any wide detours and extended a little bit under two hundred miles, with Blumund being a measure nearer to us than the Dwarven Kingdom.
2426
2427On the way was a lush forest, rugged mountains and valleys, and a wealth of native creatures. With this highway, however, merchants could complete a full one-way walk in under a week. They’d need to deal with monsters, granted, but it’d still be an enticing route to take.
2428
2429A regular wagon sans wolf could finish the journey from Blumund to Tempest in three days, as opposed to ten between us and Dwargon. Depending on conditions, this meant a trip from human to dwarven kingdoms could be completed in around two weeks. The current Farmus route apparently took at least three, and while monsters weren’t a major threat there, bandits and the like were, so security costs often ate up any potential monetary savings. It could make our nation an even more important hub in the local infrastructure.
2430
2431But I’m getting ahead of myself. For now, after another hour or so’s journey by wolf wagon, we’d reach the edge of current construction. From there, I imagine we’d switch to walking.
2432
2433“Ah, so that’s where we’ll be coming in,” Kabal eagerly commented. He was right.
2434
2435“You certainly will. Make me proud!”
2436
2437“Sure thing.”
2438
2439“Absolutely!”
2440
2441“About time I had something to do, Boss!”
2442
2443They were all raring to go, so I imagined I was fine. Soon, our lunch was complete, and it was back on the road.
2444
2445
2446Two hours later, Geld and his crew of high orcs waved their good-byes as we set foot in the deep forest ahead.
2447
2448“Heh-heh-heh! Better be careful, Boss! This is already the Forest of Jura here! The den of monsters itself!”
2449
2450“But don’t worry! You’re with us, so…!”
2451
2452“Leave the heavy lifting to us, Boss!”
2453
2454They were certainly enthusiastic now. I was glad. Trying to convince a Jura resident like me that this was a den of monsters would be an uphill battle, however.
2455
2456Kabal quickly took out a dagger and began swiping at the coiled vines ahead, carving out a gap just large enough for a person to squeeze through. Gido, meanwhile, put an ear to the ground, checking for any violent monsters in the area, as Elen ran around and cast spells to grant everyone things like insect repellence, poison detection, and some light bodily defense. A forest like this was laden with potential danger, from stings by poisonous bugs to the thorns on hanging vines.
2457
2458I was impressed—this certainly wasn’t their first rodeo. I was in human form, wearing my mask. Nobody would ever mistake me for a monster now. I was just the weird little companion of a bunch of equally weird adventurers.
2459
2460“Hey,” Gido asked, “why’d you bother putting that mask on?”
2461
2462“I can’t fully hide my aura yet, actually. It’d be bad if I got caught in some magic barrier, and people found out I was a monster, so this is a just-in-case kind of thing.”
2463
2464“Ahh, you sure don’t look like one to me,” he muttered back, but he didn’t press me any further.
2465
2466We continued in this vein for three hours. It was already evening, about time to set up for dinner, but the three didn’t show any sign of resting. Instead, they were discussing something, cold sweat dripping down their foreheads. We were on a path that, for some reason, I remembered being on before. What were they doing? I figured I could leave things to them, being veterans and all. One of ’em looked ready to cry, even. Better butt in.
2467
2468“Hey, hey, you guys aren’t lost, are you?”
2469
2470“N-nnnnno, of course not, I don’t imagine!”
2471
2472Kabal was talking funny. I didn’t like that. Are we okay? I brought up a map in my mind; this was definitely a path we traversed earlier. Maybe I was just imagining it…wait, I couldn’t be!
2473
2474“Quit screwing with me, guys! You’re lost, aren’t you?!”
2475
2476The three shivered.
2477
2478“““I’m sorry!!”””
2479
2480They shouted their apology in unison, bowing their heads at me. They were lost. Are these guys really professionals or what? Ah well… We weren’t in that big of a hurry, and I didn’t feel like setting up camp. There’d be huts set up in the construction zone; we could rest up over there.
2481
2482We made it back in about an hour, following the trail we blazed. I used Thought Communication to warn Geld, so they had food ready for us upon arrival. My three companions couldn’t have looked more sheepish.
2483
2484“How could we have gotten lost in a place like that…?”
2485
2486“Kind of hurts my confidence…”
2487
2488“Yeah, and I’m supposed to be a pro at forest trails, so this is even worse for me!”
2489
2490Gido seemed to take it the hardest, but it hurt them all, given how much they wanted to show off around me. Geld responded by showing them all a single flower.
2491
2492“Maybe this was the cause?”
2493
2494Hmm? What’s that?
2495
2496“Ah!” Elen exclaimed. “That’s a baffledil, isn’t it? They’re a collection target for B-ranked guild quests. Not exactly easy to track down!”
2497
2498This flower, which has a hallucinatory effect on its environs, was both rare and sought after for use in magical items.
2499
2500“Yep. This guy’s been delaying our own work effort today, too.” He bowed to the trio. “Sorry I didn’t warn you about it earlier.”
2501
2502He hadn’t bothered, he explained, because he figured we couldn’t be lost with my Magic Sense ability. He had a point. Given that I flew right over this patch of forest to help plan out the route, the idea that I’d get lost walking much more slowly through it must never have occurred to him. It was hardly Geld’s fault. If anything, it was mine, for wanting to have an Authentic Adventurer Experience without any cheats.
2503
2504“Oh, no, I’m sorry for being negligent myself. I’ll help ’em out more tomorrow!”
2505
2506Geld had already had his crew track down and uproot the baffledils in the area, lest they interfere with work any further. There were over a hundred stuffed into a bag inside their storehouse. It seemed like a neat opportunity, so I swallowed them into my Stomach and had them analyzed. They were glad for it, too—burning them would just release the hallucinogens into the air, and burying them could make them take root and threaten passersby again later. If they were useful enough for the guild to assign quests about them, then win-win, I guess.
2507
2508
2509That was our first day on the road. The next morning, as promised, I planned to provide my adventuring team with my full assistance.
2510
2511Time to shine, Glutton! I thought as I pointed my right hand forward. In an instant, the trees and growth in front of us disappeared.
2512
2513“Hey, Geld, I’d like to eat up enough width for you to build the road on, but that’s gonna take too much time, sadly. I’ll just eat what’s in the way of us and put it in a big pile, so can you clean up for me?”
2514
2515“Yes, sir. No need to worry about that. That’s our job.”
2516
2517With his agreement, I breezily ate up the trees and vegetation in our way as I walked. It went much more quickly than yesterday.
2518
2519“…Are you kidding me?”
2520
2521“This is crazy. I’m telling you, this is crazy!”
2522
2523“I know Rimuru’s not, like, normal, but this is just…”
2524
2525I seemed to be scaring my companions a little, but I wasn’t worried.
2526
2527“Hey! Quit staring and start following me!”
2528
2529We were back on the trail.
2530
2531
2532After about a week of this and that, we finally reached the edge of the forest. It was mostly along the trail I originally surveyed from the air, and we didn’t waste much time along the way. I was in no hurry, though. I’d been enjoying the sights and wonders along the journey.
2533
2534I never tired in slime form, really, and by definition I never got “dirty” per se, so I admittedly had an easier time of it than others. Elen’s cleaning magic—or whatever she had—helped a lot, though. I tried it out, and my version was more powerful anyway, so I cast it on the rest. The results reportedly made the journey quite a bit more pleasant for them.
2535
2536Building a campfire was a snap, and we had a lot of food along with us. More than anything, though, the wolf wagon in my Stomach, complete with long, sofa-like seating and a solid roof, was excellent. There were sofas in the front and back, facing each other, letting two people use them as beds. I didn’t need to sleep and thus could keep watch every night, but they were too polite to let me. So two of us took turns keeping watch while two rested inside.
2537
2538It was much more relaxing than a lot of inns out there, so the other three loved it. “Rimuru,” Elen said, beaming at me, “let’s be adventuring partners forever!!” I couldn’t say yes to that, but I’m glad she enjoyed my digs, at least.
2539
2540Maybe life would’ve been a lot different if I wasn’t leader of the Forest of Jura, huh? I could probably leave most operations to Rigurd and the rest of my bureaucracy by now, but I couldn’t go AWOL forever.
2541
2542
2543…In the future, though, maybe. Once I wasn’t so needed any longer, perhaps it’d be fun to be a freelance adventurer for a while. Too bad you guys will probably be dead of old age by then…
2544
2545
2546Well, that thought came out of nowhere.
2547
2548Now part of me wondered if Milim had similar feelings. Maybe it’d be better to be a lone wolf, after all, instead of making lifelong friends who I’m doomed to outlive. I dunno. I didn’t have enough experience to answer that question right now.
2549
2550
2551
2552
2553CHAPTER 4
2554
2555THE KINGDOM OF BLUMUND
2556
2557
2558Blumund. A smaller kingdom, population under a million. It consisted mainly of little villages, collected into regions ruled by noble lords. The only big settlement to speak of was the capital. It was seriously a super-tiny country.
2559
2560
2561Guided by my trio of friends, we proceeded to a rural village. The tranquil sight of it, surrounded by fenced-in fields, greeted us past the forest.
2562
2563Our first mission was to reach the Blumund office of the Free Guild in the capital. There, I planned to meet up with Fuze and have him write an invitation to see grand master Yuuki Kagurazaka. No way would they let me just walk up and see the man; I figured I’d need some kind of reference. Fuze had already sent word that he’d be okay with this, so presumably, he’d get that thing written up once I arrived.
2564
2565There was a regular passenger route from this village to the city, serviced by two stagecoaches a day. It took less than three hours to reach our destination. It was a small kingdom and thankfully one with a pretty decent road infrastructure. Transport didn’t seem to be a problem.
2566
2567Reaching the village just before noon, we had lunch at the local inn and tavern. As we relaxed in there, I suddenly heard someone bragging in a loud voice.
2568
2569“So y’know what I did? I took my Great Axe and— Fwam! I smashed that sucker to the ground! And here’s what I got t’show for it!”
2570
2571“Wow! That’s incredible, Bydd!”
2572
2573“This’s a pretty strong monster, ain’t it, Bydd? You beat it all by yourself?”
2574
2575“Yeahhh, you could say that. After all, the likes of a Horned Bear ain’t no threat to me!”
2576
2577It sounded like he had whipped some powerful monster pretty well. Curious, I took a glance in their direction—only to find the massive corpse of…something sprawled out on a table, almost wholly covering it.
2578
2579I thought I was going to spit out a mouthful of food right there. I was expecting the Horned Bear of the story—this wasn’t it. A total fake; a regular bear with the horn from a Horned Hare lodged in its skull.
2580
2581It could admittedly be tricky to tell the difference between regular animals and monsters. Throw in creatures that’re mystic or magical in nature, and they get even trickier to categorize. Ranga, for example, would probably be classified as demonic, since he relied mainly on magicules for sustenance—if he were carnivorous or herbivorous, that’d be more in the realm of magical. But then, of course, he’d been known to chow down on some prey now and then, too. The whole exercise gets a little meaningless after a certain point.
2582
2583There was, however, one pointed difference between animals and monsters: strength. Technically speaking, magical beasts become magical in the first place once an animal is infused with magicules; it was a given that this led to certain physical boosts. As a result, it’s actually quite easy to classify a cadaver as magical or not—just examine its musculature and the composition thereof. My magic-driven analysis skills made it simple, although maybe not quite as much for the average village bumpkin. Not unless the corpse coughs up a magic crystal for them.
2584
2585“Hey, he’s trying to pass off a fake Horned Bear on those guys. Is that, like, okay?”
2586
2587“Hmm?” Kabal took a peek. “Ooh, you’re right. Well spotted, Boss.”
2588
2589Elen had to stifle a laugh. “Ahh, they stuck a Horned Hare one on it! Anyone who’s had more than half an hour’s magic practice could tell that right off.”
2590
2591“Wow, it’s that obvious to you guys? So what’s the point of doing that? If you saw right through it, I’m sure the guild would, too.”
2592
2593“Nah, Boss, I think he’s got different motives. He’d get branded a charlatan the moment he dragged that thing to the capital, but in a village like this? He’s the hero of the day! So in a few seconds, I’m sure he’ll be all like ‘I’ll guard this village for ya, so how ’bout some room and board?’”
2594
2595Aha. Gido’s theory made sense. So this was just a swindler, then. You never know what kind you’ll run into.
2596
2597I was prepared to leave the guy alone, chalking it up as a learning moment for me, when:
2598
2599“Whoa, whoa, hang on a minute. You think I can’t hear you bastards mumblin’ about how you think this’s a fake? You wanna mess with me, you better be prepared to pay for it!”
2600
2601Bydd, the swindling braggart, stood up and walked our way. Why is it always the guys like these who have excellent hearing? It’s like they’re just itching to cause trouble. Plus, there was another side effect to this—it drew the attention of the entire tavern to our table.
2602
2603“Hey, isn’t that Kabal…?”
2604
2605“Elen’s there, too!”
2606
2607“And that’s gotta be Gido, then!”
2608
2609In a few moments, we were surrounded by well-wishers. It was enough to make Bydd hesitate, his face growing visibly paler by the moment.
2610
2611“What…? Ahh, you three are so mean! If you’ve come back home, you should’ve at least said as much!”
2612
2613He sidled up to Kabal, so close that I thought he’d shortly be giving him a backrub, and launched a flurry of polite bows at him. It was quite the flip-flop.
2614
2615“Sorry, you were…?”
2616
2617“Aw, c’mon, it’s Bydd! The guy you beat up over in the capital a while back? I sure learned a lot from that session, Kabal!”
2618
2619Their last encounter reportedly involved Bydd trying to steal some of their possessions. Now he’d changed professions from thief to con man. He never quits, I suppose—or never learns.
2620
2621Still… Whoa, Kabal and his friends are pretty famous around here, huh? This swindler isn’t exactly on a first-name basis with Kabal, but he definitely knows and respects this trio. The rest of the tavern stared at them, positively dazzled.
2622
2623I was sure Kabal didn’t appreciate being respected by underworld elements like this guy, but this kind of notoriety was a surprise to me. It sounded like their recent rise through the adventuring ranks had earned them some fame. Which meant… Ooh, that’s not entirely thanks to me letting them bring back monster parts we didn’t need around town, is it?
2624
2625I gave the three of them judgmental stares, and they hurriedly turned their eyes elsewhere. Ah well—better not pursue it right now. Everyone has little nits they’d prefer people didn’t pick at.
2626
2627So I won’t get into it. Not right now.
2628
2629“You guys… You know why I’m looking at you?”
2630
2631“““Y-yes, sir!!”””
2632
2633All three responded in unison, of course. Well, good. Now, if I ever need some help, I’m guaranteed to have them at my beck and call. Next, let’s tackle Bydd.
2634
2635“And you, too—if you want people to think you’re cool or whatever, then why don’t you actually help them out when they need you? I think you’ll find people will treat you a lot differently once you do.”
2636
2637“…Yeah, I’ll try.”
2638
2639I let him go with just that warning. I was technically Kabal’s guest here, so I didn’t want to make things awkward for his band later. Bydd did seem genuinely sorry, so there was no need to go beyond that.
2640
2641Apart from that run-in, the journey was going pretty smoothly.
2642
2643*
2644
2645Soon, we were walking down the street in the capital of Blumund. To me, the buildings seemed old-fashioned but solidly made. A throwback to the good old days—I couldn’t say how good they actually were, but definitely that romantic sort of medieval-European feel. Kind of a neat contrast to our own city, which boasted a great deal of Japanese-style homes.
2646
2647Everyone we passed by seemed bright and cheerful. The atmosphere certainly wasn’t gloomy or downtrodden. According to Kabal, the government had sent out an alert previously to prepare for a large influx of monsters, but that was now lifted, which meant nobody had to worry about their homes being wrecked.
2648
2649Regardless, this was still a largish city in an otherwise rural nation, and even here on the streets, I couldn’t help but notice how many passersby were armed. Many were also rather, shall we say, suspect in appearance. Even with my mask on, I still felt like just part of the crowd, which I was glad for. It’s all very, well, fantasy.
2650
2651One thing did stick out, though. As I Analyzed and Assessed my surroundings, I noticed that much of the weapons and armor I spotted were in very poor condition. In that way, it seemed fitting for the people around us, none of whom seemed capable of putting up a decent fight. The adventurers I saw in the Dwarven Kingdom seemed a lot better equipped than this.
2652
2653“Well, that goes without sayin’, Boss,” Kabal explained. “We don’t have too many talented blacksmiths in this city, y’see.”
2654
2655“Yeah, it can be a pain for us to assemble a full set of battle gear in this joint. It’s not the sort of thing money can even buy sometimes.”
2656
2657“Ooh yeah, I’d like to get a new magical staff, but I just can’t find the right one…”
2658
2659No wonder the three were so shocked to find dwarven artisans working with us. It might’ve seemed natural to me, but it must’ve bowled over those guys.
2660
2661Still, experiencing my first taste of an established town in a while was supremely exciting. I brought a grilled skewer of meat from a roadside stand, taking bites from it as we walked. Even the presence of stalls like that filled me with nostalgia for my old daily grind. I couldn’t tell what kind of meat it was, but I liked it. I could Assess it, I suppose, but I won’t.
2662
2663Instead, I turned my magical eye to the sauce, Analyzing the recipe as I tasted it on my tongue. Now Shuna had something else to add to her cookbook.
2664
2665
2666In the midst of our walk, we arrived at the Blumund office of the Free Guild, a solemn-looking stone building. It was five whole stories tall, a rarity given that the highest structure I’d seen so far was two.
2667
2668Being constructed in a great hollow underneath a mountain, the Dwarven Kingdom had certain height limits you could build up to. That applied as much to the royal palace as it did to some low-rent hovel. The idea of building vertically didn’t really exist over there.
2669
2670They did have an astonishing amount of sunlight, powered by magic-driven daylight windows dotted throughout the kingdom. But I had thought the whole concept of multi-floor buildings didn’t really exist here yet.
2671
2672
2673The building seemed to be temperature-controlled somehow, as it was quite pleasant inside. I wasn’t affected by temperature myself, but with Sense Heat Source, I could tell the ambient temps were markedly lower than outside. There must have been some sort of magic climate-control feature in this building.
2674
2675Maybe this world’s more high tech than I’ve given it credit for. Maybe the presence of magic has just made it advance and progress in a different direction from my old one. If it weren’t for things like monsters or demon lords, maybe we’d have an even loftier magic-driven civilization around here. Though, to put it another way, all the developmental energy they could use for that is instead being consumed by handling the monster threat, I suppose. That’s how much it took to stay alive in this world. Harsh place.
2676
2677Right now, the demon lords were granted fairly bountiful tracts of land in order to avoid riling them, but who knows? Maybe the humans around here would decide to invade the more monster-laden realms before long. And maybe monsters had the strength advantage for now, but there was no telling what the future held. Human desires can be limitless, and we’d need to address that back home if I wanted my own nation to keep its privileges.
2678
2679Now, I was glad I came here. I wasn’t planning to antagonize my neighbors, but if relations ever did sour between us, it was important that I know how the other side lives. Seeing human towns and knowing how their inhabitants lived would have a major impact on our future direction. I wanted to see and learn from as much as I could.
2680
2681
2682But no point just standing here. I let the trio guide me farther inside into a chamber that looked a bit like the front lobby at city hall. I spotted a long counter, like the luggage drop-off at the airport, with SALES written above it. I couldn’t read it myself; it was the Great Sage who made me literate around here. Good thing for that.
2683
2684This counter was divided into three sections. There was the sales department, like I said; the general-affairs department, accessible to all guild members; and then an “expert” window accessible only to guild adventurers.
2685
2686Sales, as the name implied, was where they picked up and processed anything earned from quests or otherwise meant for guild delivery. The general counter was largely for beginners or guild members who lived in town; it was where you went to join or leave the guild as well. The final “expert” section was only for guild-accredited adventurers, which were in turn divided by specialty—retrieval, exploration, or monster slaying. This was mainly for members engaged in out-of-town activities, who were generally all referred to as “adventurers.” This meant that if you wanted to be an adventurer, you had to at least be able to defend yourself.
2687
2688How did all this work in practice? Well, for example, there was a department of the guild that specialized in magic. This was open to anyone who could handle magic spells, but that alone only granted you access to general-affairs services. It took more than just magic to reach the expert tier; you also needed to belong to a retrieval, exploration, or monster-slaying department and have actual field experience doing one of those three. That made you an adventurer.
2689
2690Kabal, Elen, and Gido were each a member of a different department—monster slaying, retrieval, and exploration, respectively. That made it easier to divide up duties among them. Maybe they were a lot more talented than I thought, actually. The way it’s been described to me, only a select few out there can earn that adventurer title and keep it.
2691
2692What were the merits of that title? Above anything else, freedom—part of the origin of the Free Guild’s title. All Free Guild members had to declare which country they belonged to, but adventurers were free to switch whenever they wanted. Changing your residence to a different town, or a different country for that matter, was allowed with relative ease if you liked. There were restrictions, of course, such as during times of war, but as long as you went through a third nation for the move, it was all good.
2693
2694Traveling between nations always leads to hassles with identification and the like. For an adventurer, though, that was all covered as long as the nation in question had agreements with the guild, making it a snap. Adventurers could act freely without ever being bound by borders, a sign of the respect given to them as protectors against the threat of monsters.
2695
2696Of course, I say all this, but it wasn’t like adventurers changed their declared home nation very often. If they did, it was more frequently so they could choose the country where they were obligated to pay taxes. Freedom comes with responsibility, so I suppose if everyone had the chance, they’d prefer to set up shop someplace where they had it easiest.
2697
2698
2699This was the rundown they gave me.
2700
2701I had to head for the kingdom of Englesia after this, so I was definitely hoping I could gain some guild accreditation instead of having to deal with a bunch of immigration nonsense. With that in mind, the trio took me to the general-affairs counter.
2702
2703“Registration’s right over there, Boss.”
2704
2705“Ooh, I’m sure they’ll put you in the adventurer ranks in no time flat, Rimuru!”
2706
2707“I don’t even think they’d make you take the test, for that matter.”
2708
2709It was just before evening by the time we got in line. Apparently, the front lobby would soon be swarming with people. It was pretty chill in the afternoons, but at night, it’d get packed with people returning from the field. If we wanted to get this done soon, we had to hurry.
2710
2711“I’d like to register as an adventurer, please.”
2712
2713“…How old are you?” the woman on the other side gently asked. “Being a general member’s one thing, but aren’t you a little young to be an adventurer?”
2714
2715“Hey, hey, no need for that,” Kabal said as he stepped in. “This guy here, Rimuru… Lemme tell ya, he’s way more of a performer than he looks. Is my word good enough for ya?”
2716
2717I was expecting this, given my looks. Kabal’s team and I had discussed this in advance, and they had agreed to help me with whatever it took to get added.
2718
2719“He performs enough to impress you, Kabal? Well, the test can be quite a dangerous thing, however…”
2720
2721“Not a problem. I don’t mind.”
2722
2723With the three begging her in stereo, the counter clerk finally (if reluctantly) agreed to run through the registration paperwork. I filled out the sheet handed to me—name, age, special skills, birthplace, and so on. Just whatever I could fill out was fine, she said, so I simply wrote my name and SWORDSMANSHIP under the skills section.
2724
2725That was all it took for a general-purpose membership. Now I needed to decide which department to join. In terms of my achievements, I was qualified for all three, which made the selection process tough. I decided to start out with monster slaying. Retrieval would require me to head into the forest and search for a given target item to fetch; exploration required me to take a test in a man-made ruin in Englesia to assess my investigational skills. Monster slaying was the only test I could do right there.
2726
2727As I filled all this out, I heard people shouting at us.
2728
2729“Hey! Lookin’ good, Kabal!”
2730
2731“Elen’s looking just as beautiful today as always!”
2732
2733“What are you, blind? Anyone who isn’t amazed at Gido’s pure manliness is just an idiot!”
2734
2735None of that made sense to me. Why are Kabal and his friends so revered? They’re just as much celebrities here as they were back at the village. I pondered that as I wrapped up the entry sheet.
2736
2737“Are you sure about this? Monster slaying might be the most accessible, but it’s also the most dangerous department.”
2738
2739“Oh, he’s fine!” Elen insisted. “Honestly, we couldn’t defeat him even if all three of us took him on at once!”
2740
2741“Very true,” added Gido. “We couldn’t hold a candle to ’im.”
2742
2743This made everybody in the lobby stare at me, sizing me up. And while I hadn’t paid them much attention as I filled out the sheet, they had been talking about me for long before now.
2744
2745“Whoa, that little kid wants to take the exam?”
2746
2747“He’s crazy! He’s gonna be way over his head.”
2748
2749“You’d have to be messed up in the head to take those odds!”
2750
2751“I haven’t seen a katana like the one on his belt before, though. Must be pretty rare…”
2752
2753“Hey, you never know, maybe he’s capable, after all!”
2754
2755“Maybe. Those three are sure treating him nice anyway.”
2756
2757They certainly weren’t shy in their assessments. But when Elen declared to the world that I could whip my friends soundly, that only added to the crowd’s running commentary.
2758
2759“Are you kidding me? That kid’s stronger than Kabal?”
2760
2761“I can’t believe it, but…if they’re treating him the way they are, then it’s gotta be true.”
2762
2763“Enough! Settle down, you guys! I’m sorry, Boss, this ain’t exactly a polite bunch…”
2764
2765“Oh, it’s fine, Kabal. So how do we get this test under way?”
2766
2767The counter lady, stunned into silence at all this, briskly nodded. “Umm… Yes, well, I hereby grant you permission to take the examination. You must attain a rank of at least D in order to become an adventurer, so I do not recommend this exam for anyone not specialized in combat. The monster-slaying department’s exam is particularly trying, so it’s not recommended unless you’re at least a D-plus, preferably a C. Are you sure you wish to take it?”
2768
2769I nodded my approval. It took real strength to cut it outside of town, I suppose. But even that swindler Bydd was an adventurer with a D-plus rank, I heard. It couldn’t have been that hard.
2770
2771This ranking system, by the way, was also devised by Yuuki Kagurazaka. You were assigned the rank of F the moment you joined the guild and upgraded to E once you gained some battle experience. After enough time on the field, you were assigned rank D and gained the ability to call yourself an adventurer. Different guild jobs were assigned different ranks that corresponded to this, and you were also allowed to take a quest one rank higher than yours, as long as you banded with a team of several people. This was all set up in detail to prevent accidents and provide for an ample safety margin.
2772
2773“I’m ready when you are.”
2774
2775So I was all set for the test. As long as it wasn’t written, I wasn’t worried at all.
2776
2777The woman stood up, went into her office, and brought back a man who I assumed was the examiner.
2778
2779“Hmmm! You, taking the test? And stronger than Kabal, even? Well, all right. Follow me.”
2780
2781He certainly acted full of himself. He gave my friends a mean-looking glare on the way, too. Was there some history between them?
2782
2783“Hey, why’s he sneering at you?”
2784
2785“Ahh…” Kabal paused. “Thegis has been acting all jealous ever since we got famous. He’s retired from the field and all, so…”
2786
2787His eyes were turned toward the legs of Thegis the examiner. One was a prosthetic. Retired was right.
2788
2789“Quit gabbing and follow along,” Thegis rumbled. I followed his instructions, exiting out the back door toward another building.
2790
2791*
2792
2793The test site was in a building best described as a gymnasium. There was me, Thegis, Kabal and team, and a few guild members looking to kill time by watching us. The lack of entertainment options in this world must have made something like this seem like an epic occasion.
2794
2795This was where the guild also held examinations to decide whether to boost a member’s rank or not. The jobs you were offered were strictly based on your rank, so the results of these tests directly connected to your wages. They were thus offered six days a week, whenever the test takers were ready for it.
2796
2797Examiners were assigned to each guild branch to allow for this. These examiners needed the ability to step in and provide assistance if needed, so their ranks were mostly filled with ex-adventurers who made it to A-minus rank or so. Thegis must have joined them once he lost his leg.
2798
2799“Let me say this first,” he briskly began. “Once you earn an E rank, you’ll have the chance to immediately try passing the D, then the C-ranked exam as well. If you fail, however, you will not be able to take another rank-upgrade challenge until you regain your current rank and earn enough points in your work to do so. Do you understand?”
2800
2801In other words, if I failed a ranking test, I’d have to start over from one rank below that. I appreciated how better ranks offered a better range of jobs, but this struck me as kind of a pain. They probably set this up to keep would-be adventurers from bothering the examiners all day with tests they couldn’t possibly pass.
2802
2803“Sounds good,” I replied. Thegis nodded, then turned to Kabal.
2804
2805“Hmph. I look forward to seeing exactly how you’re more powerful than Kabal and his team. Let’s just hope you don’t wind up being a sheep in wolf’s clothing, hmm?”
2806
2807I couldn’t blame him for doubting them, what with the monster-parts racket they were pursuing with me at the moment. Padding your point tally as quickly as they had would make anyone the target of haters. It was their fault, too.
2808
2809Then Thegis pointed toward the floor. “We will hold the examination inside this magic circle. We have a safety barrier over it, but don’t rely on that too much, all right? If you’re willing to risk your life for this, step inside and give me a signal when you’re ready.”
2810
2811I looked where he pointed. There was a broad circle drawn on the floor, maybe sixty or seventy feet across. The geometric shapes stacked atop one another inside it indicated this was a magic circle. A semicircle-shaped barrier materialized the moment I walked in. The audience watched carefully, waiting for my response.
2812
2813“All right!” I said, trying not to sound too worked up.
2814
2815“Right. Defeat the enemy before you!”
2816
2817Thegis released the magic he had previously chanted. The test had begun.
2818
2819
2820He was using summon magic to stage this exam. As Elen mentioned to me, he was a summoner by trade, calling forth monsters to fight the enemy in his place. If I recalled correctly, summoning monsters stronger than yourself could only be done under a number of conditions, so one could guess at what’d come out based on the level of the caller.
2821
2822The first monster Thegis brought out was a Hunter Hound, a low-ranked monster I had never seen before. It was well trained, but that was about it. Before it could even let out a yelp—or even feel any fear, I suppose—I lopped its head off with a slash of my katana. That awarded me rank E. Super-easy.
2823
2824“’Kay, all done. Next, please.”
2825
2826The room fell silent. “Whoa,” I could hear someone whisper. Thegis was less than impressed.
2827
2828“Oh-ho? Well, you handled that, at least. Let your guard down, though, and you’ll pay dearly for it later. You’re ready to take the next challenge?”
2829
2830“Mm-hmm. I kinda wish we could skip to rank A, really.”
2831
2832“A? You think you can get away with being that cocky? Just because you can beat a party like Kabal’s doesn’t mean you can act like you’re king of the world. Here we go!”
2833
2834I started to feel like he was angry at me now. I was just trying to be honest, but… Ah well. Let’s just get this over with.
2835
2836Even as Thegis seethed, he summoned my next opponent—a jet-black Dark Goblin, fully armed and ripped with muscles.
2837
2838“Ummm… Isn’t that Thegis’s main servant?”
2839
2840“He’s got full armor on! I think that’d be tough for even a C rank to beat…”
2841
2842Before I could process these audience whispers, the examiner’s bellowing silenced them all.
2843
2844“Begin!!”
2845
2846They said this would challenge a C rank, but this is the D-ranked exam, right? Ah well. No challenge for me, either way.
2847
2848“And there you go. Next, please.”
2849
2850I had slashed the goblin to a heap with a single strike. It made Thegis quiver in anger.
2851
2852“Oh-hohhh! Not bad. All right—next it is, then!”
2853
2854The air fell silent once more—the audience being much more gripped with tension than I was.
2855
2856“You’ll need experience in group combat as well. Are you ready for that?”
2857
2858He summoned three Giant Bats. Ooh, they sure bring me back. When was the last time one of those attacked me? It seemed like ages ago.
2859
2860“Sure, sure, just get it started.”
2861
2862Our small clutch of onlookers looked like they wanted to comment on this, but they were drowned out by Thegis’s signal. Not that it mattered to me. I swiped the bats down from the air, one after another. There wasn’t even any need to rev up my perception for this, like before—they appeared frozen in the air to me anyway.
2863
2864The audience watched this wordlessly, enraptured by the performance. I doubted they could even follow it with their eyes. The moment the Giant Bats approached, a single flash of my blade downed them.
2865
2866“Okay, so there’s rank C wrapped up. Next, please.”
2867
2868My request brought Thegis back to his senses.
2869
2870“Not even my own eyes could see it…?!” Now he was starting to lose his composure. “Heh-heh-heh-heh… Well done. There is no doubt in my mind that you could defeat Kabal’s band now. Very well. I challenge you to face the trial of the B-ranked challenge!”
2871
2872Oh, so now it’s a trial, not an exam? I could see the veins in Thegis’s eyes bulging as he began chanting once more, this time with clear rays of magic shooting up and down his arms. The observers looked on silently. “I, uh, I’m gonna get the guild master,” shouted one before running off—but before anyone took notice, Thegis’s summon was complete.
2873
2874An evil creature appeared before me. It was a Lesser Demon, a monster with four wriggling arms. I hadn’t seen a demon-type creature like this before. My impulse was to consume it and take its skills.
2875
2876And for that matter, that wasn’t a Summon Monster spell just now, was it? It was Summon Demon. That’d come in helpful, too…
2877
2878
2879Report. The summoning magic Summon Demon…successfully earned.
2880
2881
2882Oh, whoops. That wound up being easier than I thought. It was funny how arts took forever and a day to master, but magic was just a quick snap of the fingers. It came that easy because he unleashed it right in front of me, yes, but it hardly seemed real sometimes.
2883
2884So I had that in hand, but now was no time to think about it.
2885
2886“This monster is a Lesser Demon! It has the ability to nullify simple melee strikes. Now what will you do? If you want to give up, better say so soon!”
2887
2888Thegis was getting excited now, even as I was musing about how unfair this easy magic access was. His objectives were completely changed. He hated Kabal and his friends, and he wanted to take it out on me. This was definitely not the kind of monster you carted out for a B-ranked exam.
2889
2890Someone had just run out to fetch the guild master, which I assumed to be Fuze. Hopefully, I could get a retest without having to defeat this guy, but…well, I was pretty sure I’d win anyway.
2891
2892In the midst of this, I started to overhear the audience again.
2893
2894“…Hey, isn’t that kind of a team-based exam subject?”
2895
2896“You know, I was just thinking the exact same thing, actually.”
2897
2898“Whoa, he wants him to beat that dude single-handed? That’d be rough even for a B-plusser.”
2899
2900Even they could see this was a tad unusual. And if they could, Kabal and friends knew way before now.
2901
2902“Um, Thegis, isn’t this going a little too far? Not to brag, but with a Lesser Demon, it’d take all three of us to finally knock ’im out for good, wouldn’t it?”
2903
2904“Yeah!” Elen chimed in. “You can’t even damage demon-type monsters with regular weapons!”
2905
2906“Exactly. I hate to admit, but I’d be useless against one. All I could really do is distract it and try to earn the front lines some more healing time!”
2907
2908Thegis had no time for any of this griping. “Hmph! I believe it’s the little one in that mask taking the exam? If he’s going to play chicken just because things are a little dangerous, he was never suited for adventuring work in the first place! Well? Do you want me to cancel it?”
2909
2910He was acting all tough, but take another look, and you’d realize something was off. He was sweating bullets, doing everything he could to focus himself. Turning my eye toward the Lesser Demon, it looked ready to escape its restraints and take off at any moment. Thegis was starting to lose control—which made sense, if you think about it. He’d been using his magic nonstop for several summons in a row. It would be hard for anyone to concentrate that long, especially when it required so much physical force.
2911
2912Let’s make things a little easier for him.
2913
2914“I see a few problems, but I’ll work them out. Let’s go.”
2915
2916Thegis opened his eyes wide, looking like he wanted to say something but stopping himself just before. He had already dived into the deep end. He poured even more magical force into the demon before shouting bombastically at me.
2917
2918“Well said, you! Let me see you survive this one final trial!”
2919
2920Huh? Final trial?
2921
2922The moment the thought popped into my head, the Lesser Demon was unleashed. The “trial” for rank B had begun.
2923
2924
2925What should I do, though? I didn’t want to show off too much of my magic or skill arsenal.
2926
2927As I worried over this, the Lesser Demon’s eyes flickered a bright red as it began to intone a magic spell.
2928
2929Four fireballs flew toward me. That’s a demon for you. Magic’s their bread and butter. I could just eat them with Glutton, and that’d be it, but I didn’t want to bust that out in front of an audience.
2930
2931Instead, I dodged all four. They exploded against the barrier behind me in spectacular fashion. I had Cancel Flame Attack on me, so it wasn’t much of a threat, but emerging completely unscathed would’ve looked fishy, too. I tried to flail around a little, acting like I was panicking as I began casting a spell of my own.
2932
2933“Icicle Lance!”
2934
2935The freezing magic I launched neutralized part of the flames that now burned within the barrier, creating a safe zone. The screams around me turned into cheers, but I paid it no mind as I readied my sword. A flash of light. I guess demons really are pretty resistant to melee damage. The strike felt a little strange to me as I carried it out.
2936
2937
2938Report. Melee attacks are ineffective against spiritual life-forms.
2939
2940
2941I’d best remember this feeling. Whenever I get this odd bit of feedback from my blade, that means I’m not damaging anything.
2942
2943To sum it up, this Lesser Demon had what’s called a fully formed magical corpus, a form made completely of magicules. As opposed to the replicated versions of ourselves Soei and I could construct, this could immediately regenerate itself from most physical damage since its “creator” was right there. I hadn’t injured it in the first place, and I wasn’t going to this way.
2944
2945It was said that a spiritual life-form like this became a full-fledged demon with intelligence upon receiving a physical body to inhabit. That would make it more melee susceptible…but that didn’t really apply right now.
2946
2947The Lesser Demon, perhaps huffy about me dodging its fireballs, began attacking with all four arms at once. Solid as steel, each one swung downward over and over. Its speed was nothing to sniff at, but the limbs still looked frozen in time to me.
2948
2949This would end so much quicker if I could just eat this guy. What should I do? Icicle Lance seemed like it’d damage the demon but not decisively so, I didn’t think. Demons have a lot of magical resistance, too…
2950
2951Oh, hang on. Magic was simply the embodiment of whatever you pictured in your mind. If the Icicle Lance was the embodiment of taking heat from the body, fireballs had to be all about burning something. Meanwhile, Modelwill—one of the arts I’d learned—took your aura (your fighting force) and converted it directly into offensive power.
2952
2953That ought to work against a spiritual life-form—and since I knew how to lodge magical projectiles by now, it was just as easy for me to control my aura. But ooh, if I start busting out my aura, everyone would know I was a monster. Which means…
2954
2955…Well, let’s test something out. Carefully summoning a bit of my aura, I converted it back into magical force, combining it with the magicule energy one normally uses to launch magic. For a human being with few magicules flowing through their veins, they would need to gather the required energy from the atmosphere at this point. As a monster, though, I could skip that. I had a supply I could tap at any time.
2956
2957So I took this fresh quantity of pure magical force and applied it directly to my sword, as if wrapping it in paper. In my mind, I pictured strengthening, slicing, destroying. It began to emit a faint light, telling my instincts that it was set to go.
2958
2959
2960Report. Extra skill Magic Aura obtained.
2961
2962
2963That turned out to provide even more than I had pictured. Basically, Magic Aura was a skill that let me easily add magical effects to attacks with my own aura. A sort of combination of magic and arts. Now all I have to do is get slashin’.
2964
2965The moment my sword touched the Lesser Demon, it split completely in half, dissipating into dust and disappearing.
2966
2967“And there you have it. Did I pass the B-ranked exam?”
2968
2969The onlookers snapped out of their trance.
2970
2971*
2972
2973“Wowwwwwwww!! That was soooo cool!”
2974
2975“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! That dude’s just too damn strong!!”
2976
2977“Are you kidding me?! He ripped a Lesser Demon apart all by himself…?”
2978
2979“Hey, take that mask off a sec! I wanna see your face!”
2980
2981“Oh, what’s the matter?! Hey, ignore that idiot! Let’s party it up later tonight, okay?”
2982
2983It was quite an uproar.
2984
2985*
2986
2987One quickly silenced by the appearance of a single person.
2988
2989“Enough of this, all of you!!”
2990
2991One shout from Fuze was enough to halt the ruckus. He ignored the crowd as he walked up to me.
2992
2993“Sir Rimuru, you are…all right, I take it? If something happened to you, it would portend terrible things for us all.”
2994
2995He looked at me for just a moment, relieved, before bottling that up and turning to Kabal.
2996
2997“And what are you people doing…? I told you a million times, didn’t I, to just bring Sir Rimuru directly to me? Not to make any side trips? So why do I find him in this state of affairs, hmm?”
2998
2999Blue veins appeared to pop above his forehead as he scowled at the trio. It was quite impressive, and it made the three freeze in place, giving excuses like “Um” and “Well, you know” and “I tried to stop them…” He wasn’t buying it.
3000
3001“Silence, you fools! From this moment forward, you will hereby be referred to as the Three Fools of Blumund!!”
3002
3003“Well, wait a second…”
3004
3005“That’s just mean! Rimuru said he wanted to become an adventurer, so…”
3006
3007“…Could we maybe get a better name, please?”
3008
3009The plaintive request was turned down.
3010
3011“You idiots! I could have used my guild master privileges to simply award Sir Rimuru a B-ranked license without going through any of this!!”
3012
3013This was turning into a good scolding. It also told the crowd I was Fuze’s personal guest and a pretty powerful dude.
3014
3015
3016It wasn’t long before I was back in Fuze’s office. The Three Fools kneeled meekly on the floor as Fuze sat there, running a hand up and down his forehead in agony. Thegis was standing right next to him, looking incredibly awkward.
3017
3018“…I have to say, Sir Rimuru, you really could have done better than to stick out like a sore thumb immediately upon your arrival. There can’t be more than a handful of people in this world who can defeat a Lesser Demon with a single sword strike. Was that some kind of magical weapon? An enchantment or the Aura Sword art wouldn’t produce that much force in one blow. Ah, I imagine the rumor mill will be working overtime in the taverns tonight…”
3019
3020“…Was it that bad an idea? Like, if you were watching, you could’ve stopped me…”
3021
3022“I wasn’t exactly provided the time for that, Sir Rimuru!” Fuze sighed. “But what’s done is done. An art that applies magic itself to a weapon is a high-level ability indeed, but I understand that paladins are capable of such a feat. A few A-ranked adventurers in the Free Guild headquarters have unique skills of their own along those lines—such things are not unheard of. But being able to slay demons with it? Unless you want a crowd of people harassing you wherever you go, I would recommend being careful with that move. You may regret being known for it.”
3023
3024It was Fuze’s opinion that this was all the result of Kabal’s trio failing to follow his orders. But as he put it, there was one silver lining: “The crowd was all a bunch of C ranks and below, so I’m sure they didn’t even realize what they were seeing.”
3025
3026Magical swords—or in my case, Magic Aura–infused swords—were best used where there weren’t any eyewitnesses, it seemed. Good thing I found that out sooner than later.
3027
3028“Well, thanks. I’ll watch myself with that.”
3029
3030Kind of a pity, though. One more test, and I could’ve been in the A ranks. If Fuze was going to make me an honorary B-grade adventurer, I would’ve loved a shot at going all the way. There were also Special A and S ranks, but being an A alone made people treat you quite a bit differently.
3031
3032“Too bad I was so close to the A rank, though,” I muttered.
3033
3034“Ahh, that wouldn’t have been possible,” Thegis replied. “Not because you weren’t strong enough for it, Sir Rimuru, but because regulations state a guild branch can only award ranks up to B. You’ll need to take on work and achieve a rank of B-plus before you have the right to tackle that.”
3035
3036When going from E to D to C to B, you were free to skip ranks and take on a higher one if you’re up for it. Fail that exam, though, and you’ll need to build up enough points before tackling it again. However, qualifying for the A exam required having an established portfolio of work on the field, and it was only offered at the Free Guild HQ in Englesia. Examiners up to A-minus could handle any test up to rank B, but when it came to an A-ranked test, that needed to be held by someone ranked A or higher. Which made sense. I’ll just have to follow Thegis’s guidance and build up my score.
3037
3038“Still,” Thegis said, head bowed, “your strength is nothing short of exemplary, Sir Rimuru. I thought this was all a trick, given it was Kabal referring you to me…but I see I was very wrong about you.”
3039
3040“Aw, don’t be so mean, Thegis!”
3041
3042“You really don’t trust us that much?”
3043
3044“Cut me a break, sir!”
3045
3046So Thegis and I came to know each other better, regardless of how much the trio over there whined about it. Hopefully, they’ll be driven to restore their good name by looking out for me a bit more during the rest of our journey.
3047
3048
3049So that night, we set out to devise our future plans. It was me, my adventuring friends, Fuze, and Thegis. My main mission, of course, was to meet with Yuuki Kagurazaka, whom I believed I shared a homeland with. Fuze had already written the letter of introduction I asked for via Kabal; I gratefully accepted it and placed it in my Stomach, lest I lose it somewhere. If they could just produce some ID documentation for me, I’d be all set.
3050
3051“I think your papers will be ready for you tomorrow morning. Tell the person at the counter that I know you, and I’m sure they’ll expedite it.”
3052
3053“That lady at the counter was in the crowd, too, Boss, I think. I bet she’s a total fan by now!”
3054
3055“Ooh, could be. Who wouldn’t be after that kind of performance?”
3056
3057“Yep. It was a treat to watch.”
3058
3059“It chagrins me as an examiner, but that was some masterful fighting.”
3060
3061All this praise from Thegis and Kabal’s crew was starting to embarrass me.
3062
3063“And that,” Fuze mentioned, “is why I was hoping to preemptively award you your accreditation, so you could keep your strength a secret. You’re going to stand out no matter what you do, besides.”
3064
3065Kabal shrugged. “Yeah, uh, sorry about that.”
3066
3067““We’re sorry!”” Elen and Gido shouted in unison.
3068
3069But really, I should have been more considerate myself. Being in a big human town got me so excited, I must have lost my head a little.
3070
3071“I’ll try not to be so rash next time, either, so hopefully, you’ll forgive them for all this, Fuze.”
3072
3073For now, the guild master seemed willing to let it slide in the long run.
3074
3075Our plan, then, was to finish up the prep work by the end of tomorrow and get moving as soon as possible…but Fuze had other ideas. “Actually,” he told us, “the king of Blumund wanted to have a confidential talk with you.”
3076
3077My arrival must have already reached his ears. Apparently, he was interested in holding a conference in three days. I readily agreed to this. Before that, we planned to have a chat with a well-placed nobleman Fuze knew, in order to discuss the practical issues around our nations’ relationship. The royal summit would then focus on these issues—this would keep it from being “bogged down and rudderless,” as Fuze put it, since meeting the king with no itinerary at all would be a waste of our time. Royal decrees would occasionally come down directly from the king when time was of the essence, but this was rare, and we were in no hurry, so the king just wanted to discuss the more big-picture stuff.
3078
3079I had no problem with that. If I had three days to kill before the king, I needed to fill that up with something anyway. Plus, I probably would’ve been an unprepared ball of nerves anyway, so knowing what to expect in advance helped me out a lot.
3080
3081So that took care of tomorrow and three days from now. Our talks continued well into the night, so late we wound up staying in the guest room of Fuze’s guild branch.
3082
3083
3084One more thing I should add: Despite the novelty of being in a human town and all the experiences I’d already had inside, I sadly did not explore any new frontiers with my dreams that night.
3085
3086*
3087
3088This well-placed noble was a man named Veryard, a baron. He lived in a quiet, unassuming manor in the middle of a neighborhood lined with fancy buildings; apparently, he was too low-level of a noble to have an entire domain to rule over. He thus spent his days working within his house, or castle, or whatever.
3089
3090“Let me tell you—and promise me you won’t go telling him this—but the man practically lives and breathes his work.”
3091
3092That was Fuze’s assessment, and I intended to keep my promise. It would apparently be uncomfortable for the guild and nobility if people found out they had underground connections to one another.
3093
3094So I followed Fuze to the manor. We passed through the eye-catching and well-kept front gardens before entering the foyer, where an old man who looked every bit like your stereotypical butler type greeted us. Maids stood by on each side of the chamber, their heads politely bowed. This was a low-level noble’s house? I worried that this meeting would be a lot more formal than I had planned.
3095
3096I went to a maid café once in my old world, but these were real maids. It was deeply moving, somehow. Funny that it took me going to another world to discover this air of elegance, this graceful demeanor. The real thing sure is different. Watching them had the odd effect of calming my nerves.
3097
3098Refreshed, I followed the butler down the hall. He took us to a room on the other end and stopped in front of an ornate-looking door. There was a moment of tension as he knocked on it. “Come in,” said someone on the other side. Kind of an annoying procedure, I thought, but as someone who successfully navigated etiquette in the Dwarven Kingdom’s palace, I was prepared for anything. Whatever I didn’t know about politeness or procedure, I could overcome with pure attitude.
3099
3100Going in, I was greeted by a very intellectual-looking gentleman with thin, sort of Asian-style eyes. He certainly lived up to the description Fuze gave me.
3101
3102“Thank you so much for coming,” he said before I could start. “I am the Baron of Veryard, one of the ministers of the Kingdom of Blumund.”
3103
3104“Many thanks to you as well. My name is Rimuru Tempest, and as I imagine you’re already aware, I am a slime monster. I’m not really well versed on etiquette in this country, so I apologize in advance if I mess something up.”
3105
3106We shook each other’s hand. Something like this reminded me a lot of my old life.
3107
3108“Oh, there’s no need to be concerned about such stuffy affairs. Feel free to approach me as you would anyone else.”
3109
3110The Baron must have seen just how concerned I was about it. He showed me to a seat, being very careful never to let his guard down around me. A shrewd negotiator, no doubt.
3111
3112“Well!” he said as a maid came in with some tea. He took a sip. “We have only so much time. Let’s begin.”
3113
3114Fuze, my fellow witness, straightened up. I followed his act, bracing myself and preparing to listen.
3115
3116*
3117
3118Our negotiations with Veryard went on into the night. The gist of it was twofold:
3119
3120
3121• A joint security agreement between Tempest and Blumund.
3122
3123• Mutual permission to travel freely within each of our nations.
3124
3125
3126First order of business: The Kingdom of Blumund was, frankly, not very big. It was a relatively weak nation, one that even had issues dealing with the monsters that marauded it. Their relationship with the guild shored up a lot of that, but the government just wasn’t up to the task alone.
3127
3128Thus, after feeling around to figure out their position, the kingdom had decided to largely subcontract out monster control to the Free Guild in exchange for a boost in funding, allowing the government to focus on intelligence gathering. This let them promptly detect dangers and think of ways to deal with them, allowing them to stave off potential disasters before they happened.
3129
3130Fortunately, this strategy had kept them from dealing with any major damage so far, but as the Baron put it, there was no such thing as having too many seawalls, so they hoped to build a cooperative relationship with my nation as well. And that was all it was: a promise that, should one nation fall into danger, the other would provide as much support as possible. This included supporting the adventurers working in the Forest of Jura, but didn’t imply anything that special—just an agreement that we’d provide supplies for them in our town.
3131
3132That much—supporting Free Guild members—Fuze had already asked me for previously. Providing accommodation and materials for people working in the forest would help them cover a broader range, which naturally meant they’d be able to address more threats around the area. It also meant that these guys trusted us, which I liked.
3133
3134So I happily agreed to this, but—
3135
3136“Of course, I am sure they’ll be happy to pay a fair price for what you provide. You could perhaps use the inns in our city as a reference for how much to charge—”
3137
3138“Well, hold on, Baron,” interrupted Fuze. “The accommodations in Sir Rimuru’s town are easily on the same level as the highest-quality inns in this one. Compared to what passes for the norm here, I would call it fair to even charge more.”
3139
3140“Would you? Well…”
3141
3142“To be honest, I would call what they offered me more akin to a health spa than an inn.”
3143
3144“All right. We can think about that later. In terms of weapon and armor maintenance, however—”
3145
3146“Well, again, sir, their workshops are overseen by Sir Kaijin and his close confidant, Garm, two of the most talented metalworkers in the entire dwarven race. Would you really ask them to handle such rote maintenance work?”
3147
3148“They work there? Is there anything they could sell us, then, that may…?”
3149
3150“I’m afraid not, Baron. I saw a great deal of weaponry there I have not seen anywhere else. I am talking very high-quality goods—things I never even saw in Englesia’s best forges. I was too cowed to ask whether it was for sale, but by my estimation, one would have to be at least a B-ranked adventurer to consider them. It makes one laugh, doesn’t it?”
3151
3152Fuze was certainly doing a good job at shooting down Baron Veryard’s suggestions. He had a point. The inn we stayed at in that farming village was not very posh. The guild branch here in town wasn’t bad, but in little details like the toilets and baths, our town certainly offered far more comfort.
3153
3154And those weapons Fuze mentioned weren’t for sale—they were test samples. At this point, we now had a steady supply of assorted raw materials. Gabil was killing off monsters in the caves, Gobta and his crew were doing the same in the forest, and they were transporting anything useful back to town. This occasionally included items from high-ranked monsters, allowing us to craft rarer weaponry. Some great stuff, and I was sure finding a buyer wouldn’t be hard, but we weren’t selling. We need to beef up our own war power first.
3155
3156Which meant it was time for me to compromise a little.
3157
3158“All right. I’ll set up a long row house for basic lodging purposes. And as for weapons, I could have our craftsmen take on some apprentices to build up. They should be able to handle basic weapon maintenance within a month or two, I think.”
3159
3160We could provide the row house by expanding the building we lent Yohm’s men. Those new craftsmen, however, were a more complex issue. Kurobe was toiling away right now, single-handedly building weapons for everybody in the nation. Kaijin was helping craft new ones, using his Researcher unique skill to copy them, but Kurobe didn’t have any Great Sage–type skills like that, so it took time. Not as much as hand forging them all, but…
3161
3162I couldn’t have him be the only one working that hard, so I had already employed a few enthusiastic young men to be his apprentices. They were proving to be quick learners, and it might not be long before they were full-fledged craftsmen of their own.
3163
3164That’s why I made that offer to the Baron, and it was clearly welcomed. I agreed to discuss the details with Rigurd and the elders, so we could decide on it later.
3165
3166
3167Now, travel permissions. That was a bit of a thorny path.
3168
3169When I asked Fuze for his support, I promised to waive customs tariffs for any merchants belonging to the Free Guild. This meant that I would need to collect them from sellers affiliated with the Kingdom of Blumund itself. This was inherently unfair, but I couldn’t renege on my previous promise; at least not for a few years to come.
3170
3171You might say “What’s the big deal? Why not waive the fees for Blumund merchants, too?” That was something I absolutely couldn’t allow to pass. I couldn’t just fritter away our rights as a sovereign nation without any compensation to show for it. It’d also impugn on any profits guild-affiliated merchants would enjoy, which would be rude to Fuze.
3172
3173Thus, even as it grew darker outside, the talks between me, Fuze, and the Baron fell into further and further of an impasse. We were all working with certain stakes, which no doubt contributed to how heated things got. Ultimately, though, it was Veryard who blinked first.
3174
3175“All right. To our kingdom, the most important issues relate to our security agreement. For the tariffs, let us establish a given grace period, during which our government will cover any fees incurred by our merchants.”
3176
3177So we went with that. All merchants were allowed to enter and leave Tempest free of charge, regardless of who they worked under. Whenever we put formal customs charges in place, we would confer once more to decide on matters.
3178
3179As I confirmed during our discussions, Veryard was fully aware of the importance of Tempest. He understood it at a more thorough level than I did, even. Traveling to the Dwarven Kingdom via Tempest, as opposed to the Kingdom of Farmus, would be both cheaper and safer to them. The highways weren’t done yet, but once they were, and we had regular traffic going back and forth, the difference would no doubt be dramatic. And once it was all in place, those highways were going to see heavy use, even if Tempest charged a bit of a premium at the borders.
3180
3181“Hopefully,” the Baron said with a smile, “we will both be on beneficial terms with each other by that time.”
3182
3183*
3184
3185After confirming our stances on both issues, I spent the next day casually perusing the capital’s markets. I also stopped by the guild branch again to pick up my ID papers. The woman at the front counter was eyeing me up and down, but I had no time to ask her out on a date.
3186
3187Kabal and his friends guided me around the whole time, allowing me to enjoy myself thoroughly without getting too lost. We had all the supplies we needed for our journey, too.
3188
3189
3190Then came day three, the day of the royal summit. If we could get a treaty signed here, it would mark a second stamp of approval for our nation after Dwargon’s. A nation of monsters, receiving the formal nod from a nation of humans. The implications were huge. It meant we could interact in peace and even be friendly with regular people.
3191
3192The security agreement really didn’t offer much benefit to Tempest. In fact, it had many downsides. But the potential revenue we stood to gain from that travel agreement was enormous—and since it was a mutual agreement, it allowed monsters to travel to human towns, which was a pretty major step. I wanted to work on amicable terms with mankind, and I was hopeful we could get something signed during my time here.
3193
3194So I was pretty excited when we kicked off the summit. There, at the palace, I was greeted by the king, a kind-looking fellow with a round face and a slightly pudgy figure, and the queen, whose sheer beauty made for a shocking imbalance.
3195
3196Fuze was there to serve as a third-party witness—he was already very familiar with all manners of government affairs, but having a third party in on this implied a sense of fairness to neighboring nations, and Fuze wouldn’t go blabbing about top-secret stuff regardless. He looked uncomfortable in his formal garb—and being in human form all this time was getting a little oppressive for me, too. Better put up with it for now. It’s tough on both of us.
3197
3198The summit proceeded without a hitch, and once assorted ministers had wrapped up their reports to the king, it was over.
3199
3200
3201“I do look forward to working with you in the future, Sir Rimuru,” said the king in his receiving room as he shook both my hands. He was a lot more sociable than I gave him credit for; I felt a natural liking toward him. But this room was also where I learned that Baron Veryard had deceived us.
3202
3203“Well,” as the king put it, “if some kind of force should ever come out of the forest and threaten to invade us, let us set out to work with each other at once! And we, of course, would be happy to work together with you as well.”
3204
3205Smiling with his wife, the king left the room just as I realized what he meant by it. I was no longer in any mood to wish him farewell. Some kind of force…? What an odd turn of phrase. It didn’t sound like he was talking about monsters.
3206
3207I was so focused on those guys, but that certainly wasn’t the only danger out there. Look at Farmus, right next door. If a new trade route was opened to the Dwarven Kingdom, they might see Tempest and Blumund in a negative light for that. And that’s not all! The Eastern Empire, too! They had eyes on being the sole superpower in the land, didn’t they?
3208
3209Oh, crap, I’ve been tricked!!
3210
3211It didn’t take a genius to see that an invasion by some foreign country would be a huge danger to Blumund. I just wanted to scream, right on the spot. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is, huh? Now I recalled Baron Veryard’s smile. He said it himself: “The most important issues relate to our security agreement.” Customs revenue would be chump change compared to a nation’s entire defense budget.
3212
3213What Blumund was really afraid of was a foreign power invading it through the forest. The Eastern Empire probably had them on constant high alert, and they wanted a bulwark against them. They didn’t lie to me—if we ever got in danger, I bet they would come to help. It’d be our turn next, after all.
3214
3215They got me good.
3216
3217The Baron chose this moment to address me. “It would appear you have noticed? Your mind certainly works quicker than I gave you credit for, earlier. However, the treaty has already been signed. I do hope we will continue to have a fruitful relationship.”
3218
3219He gave me the biggest cheese-eating grin I ever saw. He performed his duties flawlessly, no doubt about it. A sly old noble who found tricking me as easy as taking candy from a baby. Pfft. Ah well. Not much I can do about it here…
3220
3221But despite all this, I felt oddly serene about it all. It was more frustration at my shallowness and admiration for my opponent than anything. All a learning experience. If the Empire makes a move, I’ll think matters over then.
3222
3223It did tell me one thing, though: I couldn’t let my guard down around human beings. Monsters were so unexpectedly straightforward with everything, which created an opening large enough for humans and their cunning to drive a truck through. I swore to myself that I’d think things over more deeply and carefully when negotiating with them from now on.
3224
3225*
3226
3227But it’s no fun to just sit here and be treated like a fool. I’ve got a decent opportunity here, still, to engage in some discussion that’ll be a lot more helpful for my side. I took a High Potion out from my pocket and placed it on the desk.
3228
3229“And what’s this?”
3230
3231“With that treaty in place,” I said, “could I ask you a favor?”
3232
3233“…Hohhh, a favor? Well, as your partner in diplomacy, I could hardly refuse to hear you out.”
3234
3235The Baron flashed me another perfect smile. He’s definitely a pro at this.
3236
3237“This is a healing potion that we made over in our town. I was thinking we could sell this in your marketplace…”
3238
3239“What?! The potion that Kabal brought back, some time ago? Was this the ‘specialty’ you were proposing earlier?”
3240
3241It was Fuze instead of Veryard who latched on to the offer.
3242
3243“Oh, um, yeah. I did give him some, didn’t I?” I gave Kabal some of the medicine I had crafted myself, the equivalent of a Full Potion. “But this is different from that. Not quite as potent, but I promise you it’s a much better product than anything you’ll find on sale now. What he had is more of a rarity—something we can craft perhaps every two days. These, meanwhile, we can manufacture more readily, so I thought about putting these up on the market. The only real difference from what you saw, Fuze, is that this can’t regenerate missing limbs.”
3244
3245I had meant that as a bombshell, making sure to lowball our production capabilities while I was at it. The effect was dramatic. “Regenerate missing limbs?” the Baron parroted back. “You mean, if you lose an arm in battle or an accident, his potion can grow a completely new one out of thin air?”
3246
3247“Not really ‘grow,’ so much as…like, it gathers magicules from the air to create a replacement, you could say? But over time, once blood starts circulating through it, and your body metabolism goes back to normal, it’ll look and act just like the old limb.”
3248
3249“What nonsense!”
3250
3251Now the cool, collected Baron looked like he was in a panic. Looks like I scored a hit with him. This was exactly why I kept telling Kaijin to keep quiet about it.
3252
3253“If what you say is true, that is equivalent to holy magic, the exclusive secret of the Western Holy Church! In fact, it is the holy spell Regeneration itself, the product of a pact with the spirits above us! A divine miracle! Only those ranked bishop or higher are capable of harnessing it!”
3254
3255He paused a moment, regaining his composure, then looked around. His outburst had attracted some attention, but no one had overheard the conversation. The moment he sensed this, he had said “Let us discuss this elsewhere” and began walking off. Fuze and I had no issue with this, so we wound up settling down in the Baron’s study once again.
3256
3257The moment Fuze and Veryard entered the manor, they looked at each other and sighed. “Well, well,” the Baron sighed, “what shall we do with this, then?”
3258
3259“Is it all right for you if we appraise its value?” Fuze asked.
3260
3261“Go right ahead.”
3262
3263He chanted a spell to gauge the potion’s contents.
3264
3265“Hmm… I really can’t tell the difference between this and what Kabal’s party was carrying.” Fuze scratched his head. “We tested out that previous potion as well, but I never dreamed it could replace entire limbs. They said it was equivalent to magical medicine or holy magic, but I was certainly not expecting Regeneration-class performance…”
3266
3267By that, I doubted he meant they tested it out on someone who’d just had an arm chopped off. It wasn’t the kind of thing one would volunteer for. If I didn’t bring up the High Potion’s limits, I doubt he would have ever noticed the difference.
3268
3269“Do you have any of those remaining?” Veryard asked.
3270
3271“Yes, one—for safekeeping.”
3272
3273They must have used up the rest for their experimentation.
3274
3275“Bring it here at once.”
3276
3277Fuze nodded. “The only way to prove this,” he muttered as he sent a magical message out into the ether, “is with Thegis.”
3278
3279
3280My former test examiner was with us in a moment—a small safe under his arm.
3281
3282“What is the meaning of this, Fuze?” he bellowed as he walked in, but he fell silent as he realized Veryard and I were there.
3283
3284“I want you to promise,” the Baron said, “that you will keep everything you see and hear in this room a secret.”
3285
3286He described himself as a minor bureaucrat in this kingdom, but the dignity and presence he exuded was enough to put even a prince in his place.
3287
3288“I promise you, sir,” Thegis hurriedly replied with a confused nod as the Baron took the safe from him.
3289
3290“So this is the item…?” He took out the contents—one of the potions I had made—and carefully observed it. “I have little knowledge of magic, but this one shines true, that much I can tell. Certainly, I feel this is no ordinary medicine. Let’s test the potion you have first, Fuze.”
3291
3292To my great surprise, he intended to have Thegis remove his leg prosthesis and test the potion’s effects on that. Would it work on a wound that old? It’d be interesting to see, actually. Following his instructions, we first tried the High Potion on the stump. As expected, there was no external change.
3293
3294Next up, my self-crafted potion. The moment we sprinkled it on, a pale, shining light covered the site, transforming itself into the shape of a leg before our eyes. It proved, once and for all, that the age of the wound didn’t matter. Maybe a Full Potion could read information from the body’s DNA or something to do its work. Whatever it did, it sure wasn’t simple—but either way, it meant I had a medicine that outclassed just about anything modern science in my world could come up with.
3295
3296“Wha…?! My—my leg…?!”
3297
3298“This… This is astounding…”
3299
3300“Good heavens. Another amazing secret you bear, is it not?”
3301
3302The three gave me looks of blank surprise.
3303
3304I’d let this doozy slip mostly just to get back at Veryard a bit, but it only served to further damage my stance—perhaps even severely. Loose lips really do sink ships. I had hoped to gain a new advantage in our negotiations, but things had now grown much larger than that.
3305
3306*
3307
3308In the end, we agreed to frame it so Thegis’s leg was healed by a mysterious robed bishop for a king’s ransom in money. Thegis sure wasn’t complaining—it let him get out from behind his desk at the branch office and get back to adventuring. He profusely thanked us all as he agreed to the backstory.
3309
3310As far as my sales pitch went, Blumund agreed to purchase a set quantity of High Potions from us on regular occasions. They would also select preferred merchants of their choice to spread the word about this medicine to the Western Nations. We still weren’t making mass quantities, so hopefully, they could keep a damper on customer growth for the time being. If adventurers started hearing the stories and coming to Blumund to find out more, that’d help spread the word about Tempest right nearby, too.
3311
3312For now, I just wanted to build a trustworthy name for ourselves. Pitching it as medicine made by monsters didn’t sound like effective ad copy to me, but once people saw for themselves what this stuff could do, I doubted it’d keep them from becoming regular customers. At the moment, getting it into their hands and letting them see how useful it was took first priority.
3313
3314So there’s another regular purchase base, then. A good first step, I thought. I really didn’t want to be hostile with human beings; I’d have to work harder to build friendly relationships with the other human nations of the world.
3315
3316
3317It was time to say good-bye to Fuze.
3318
3319“I do hope you’ll remain careful on the trail, Sir Rimuru.”
3320
3321“I’m telling you, I’ll be fine. Just make sure nobody goes into that room, all right?”
3322
3323“Nothing to worry about there. You can only access it through my office, the branch manager’s chamber.”
3324
3325That was a relief. I had a magisteel teleportation circle installed in “that room,” about three feet across. When I showed it to him, he was agog. “Teleportation, even…?” he marveled. “But then, I suppose nothing should surprise me by now, Sir Rimuru…”
3326
3327I set this up so people could come visit Tempest whenever they wanted. We had agreed to the outlines of the treaty, but we hadn’t designated any merchants yet, and I’d need an easier way to access the Kingdom of Englesia, besides. Thus, I asked to borrow a room from Fuze for use as a Warp Portal.
3328
3329I should note, by the way, that once the Great Sage analyzed the Warp Portal elemental magic, it arranged things so I could manage multiple entry and exit points at once. I still needed a physical magic circle at each site, but they could now open paths to multiple exits at once, which was extremely convenient. We’d need to make sure nobody could steal those magisteel portals, though… Hopefully we could find a way to eliminate that worry sometime. Not that I’d tell these guys if we did.
3330
3331As I was dreaming about future advancements in teleportation tech, Fuze was saying good-bye to Kabal as well.
3332
3333“And you guys keep Sir Rimuru safe, all right, Kabal?”
3334
3335“Of course!”
3336
3337“You got it!”
3338
3339“The road to Englesia’s safe enough. It’ll be a cinch for us!”
3340
3341“Do not treat this as easy,” Thegis bellowed again. “I am willing to forgive your behavior as long as you keep Sir Rimuru guarded. I will not allow you to shirk your duty!”
3342
3343His new leg had revitalized him in many ways. He was just as strong as he used to be, and his presence loomed larger than ever. But he wouldn’t be hitting the road just yet—it sounded like he’d agreed to become the palace magician for the kingdom, although he’d still run guild testing until they found a replacement. That came at the Baron’s suggestion, no doubt—he never kept anyone who knew his secrets too far out of reach.
3344
3345
3346So I had my guild paper, along with a new wholesale client. And not only that—I had built formal relations with one of the Western Nations, albeit a small one. It was nothing to sniff at achievement-wise as I left the Kingdom of Blumund behind me. A good start, I felt.
3347
3348Next up was the Kingdom of Englesia, home of the Free Guild headquarters. I still had those children from my dreams in mind, and I wanted to gather some intel on Hinata Sakaguchi as well. But before that, let’s try meeting with guild master Yuuki Kagurazaka first. I had my intro papers, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
3349
3350Time to get back on the road.