After that quick lesson, Kaijin buckled down and went to work. I watched him as his would-be young apprentice. Gobta was probably sleeping somewhere, besides...
Swords, of course, came in a wide array of shapes and sizes. I, of course, pictured a Japanese-style katana as the strongest one out there—but even katanas came in all kinds of shapes. That was what made me so curious about the kind of sword he'd make.
Ten hours later, he was finished.
It looked, to me, like a plain old longsword. And—whoa, that was a lot of magisteel left. And here I was worried whether a fist-sized lump would be enough for even one. Turned out Kaijin couldn't even guess how much it'd cost to use 100 percent magisteel on everything. I suppose not. No wonder nobody's come up with a flame sword or a blizzard sword or even a thunder sword. It'd cost too much. Makes sense.
Instead, magisteel formed only the core of the weapon, and the rest of the blade was crafted from regular steel instead. That core was all it needed for its magic to work its way into the steel, eventually merging itself with the whole sword. That, he said, was why a weapon grew stronger as it was used over time. The blade would never rust or lose its shape—it could just use ambient magicules to regenerate itself.
Oddly enough, though, even these magic swords had their life spans. If they were bent too far or otherwise warped beyond recognition, the magic would leak out, leading to rapid weathering.
Kaijin showed me his freshly forged sword as he spoke. It was all so interesting to me. I took the weapon in hand as I marveled over it—all right, not in hand, but close enough. It was simple in make, straight as an arrow. No bells or whistles. It wasn't meant strictly for slicing like a katana, but the blade seemed suited to slashing.
But this was just a base. Over time, I supposed, the sword would adapt itself to whatever its user wanted from it. No wonder the forger kept things simple.
Okay.
So Kaijin and his team had crafted this lovely sword for me, as promised. Now it was my turn.
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"Right!" I said. "Time for me to pull a little secret work for you. I'm sorry, but would you all mind leaving me alone here for now?"
There was no way I could let them see this. It would be too hard to explain, for one thing.
"Well, you have everything you need here, I suppose. But are you sure? I would be glad to help."
"I'll be fine, thank you! Just promise me you won't peek into this room for the next three days. Swear it!"
"All right. I'll trust you and wait..."
With that, Kaijin and his men left. Gobta, too, for some stupid reason.
What goes through his mind, day in and day out, that keeps him alive? I've got to wring it out of him someday.
So our recipe today's for a longsword. Couldn't be simpler! First, take this completed sample...and swallow it up! Next, take the rest of the ingredients lined up here...and swallow them up, too! Munch, munch...gulp! Mix well in your stomach, and...
Notice. Analysis target: "longsword." Successful. Creating copy... Successful.
Repeat nineteen times. Bon appétit! Easy, wasn't it?
Kids, don't try this at home!
And with that ridiculous mental commentary, I set to work.
Yikes... Each copy was taking, like, ten seconds.
190 seconds—three minutes and change—and I had nineteen swords
scattered around the room. It had been maybe five minutes since I shooed Kaijin and the rest out of the room.
I mean, I figured I could do it, but it was just so easy! And people spent entire lifetimes crafting stuff like this. I started to feel as if I had done something shamelessly rude to them. This Predator is such a cheat code.
So now what? I told them not to open the door for three days. Am I supposed to just hole up in here until then? No... I can't just sit here like the
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blob that I am. Maybe I should come clean...
So I did. I threw the door open and stepped outside. The four dwarves immediately stood up, giving me worried looks. Gobta was...sleeping.
God, five minutes? Yep. That was when I decided I had to do something about him.
"Wh-what is it? Did something happen?"
"Are you short on something?"
"Or...or it didn't work, then?"
"Yeah, um...well, actually..." I sized up the dwarves, whose eyes were
laden with self-torment. They hurt to look at.
But I just couldn't resist. I had to put on an act.
Why did I have to be so mean to people all the time? Not even my death
and rebirth had cured me of that habit.
"...Ha-ha! Just kidding! They're all done, actually!" """...Whaaaa?!"""
Guess I can't blame them.
"""...Cheers!!"""
We were at a kind of dwarven nightclub, holding a rather anticlimactic
wrap-up party. The weapons were safely in the king's hands, and it was time to celebrate. I mean, I told them they didn't have to...
"Aw, come on! There's lots of beautiful ladies in there!"
"Yeah, yeah! Young ones, and older, too, if you like a little weathering on 'em! It's the perfect place for any gentleman!"
"...!!"
"C'mon, Rimuru! We can't go out without the big guy himself!"
It was four against one, so I had no choice.
Never a dull moment, huh?
The place was called the Night Butterfly.
Were the hosts really butterflies, then? They'd better not turn out to be
moths!
...Not that I really cared. I was a gentleman. I'd try anything once, I
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thought as we strolled in.
"Ooh, welcome!"
"""Welcome, sirs!"""
Phwoaarrrr!! The place was lined up and down with babes!! Whoaaa!
Their ears were so long, too! Is it hot in here, or is it just those elves? Dang! Ohhhh my Godddddd, and their clothes are so thin!! It's like I can almost see through...but I can't... Dammit, and I got Magic Sense going at max force, too! They've got the boundaries of their clothing down pat, don't they?
Is this meant to be some kind of...challenge? Nnnngh!!
"Oooh, look at you, cutie!" "Aww, I saw him first!!" Eeep! Boing! Boiiing!
Th-there it is!!
My entire body is jiggling! And I can feel something soft jiggling against my back, too! Is this paradise, or what?!
"...Umm... I guess all that squirming means you're enjoying this, huh?"
Agh! Oh, no. I didn't mean to...
"Huh...? N...no, not that much."
Guess I shouldn't have expected the world, then. Nobody believes in me
after all. But so be it. What do I care? I'm perched in the lap of a real-life elf! I can't believe this is actually happening!!
Ahh, I feel so bad for my dear, departed friend down there! If only he were still around! I'd be bouncing off the walls!
However, while we were enjoying ourselves...
"Well! If it isn't Kaijin! Goodness me, what are you doing, bringing this vulgar monster into a high-class establishment like this?"
Who's that guy? Looking to start a fight, it sounded like. Things quickly fell silent around us. Even the girls sneered at this visitor—they must not have liked him too much, although they were polite enough to keep the scoffs very discreet.
By dwarf standards, this one was quite tall and thin in stature, making him...well, an average human in size.
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"Hey! Boss! You guys allowin' monsters in here these days?"
"N-no," an older female manager called out, "but it's just a little slime, so..."
"Uhh? It's still a monster! Ain't it? You sayin' a slime's not a monster anymore?!"
"I... No, sir, but..." The manager stuttered noncommittally, trying to calm the man down, but the boor wasn't even paying attention. Clearly, he was after us.
"Oh, great," one of the girls sighed. "That's Vester, the minister."
Speak of the devil! Well, I'll be... He did seem like the kinda guy who refuses to let go of a grudge. I could see it on his face.
"Y'know what best suits a monster?" Vester bellowed. "This!" Then he emptied the contents of his water glass over me.
I wasn't exactly a fan of that kind of provocation, but I kept myself in check. This was a government minister—I couldn't let my short temper get Kaijin or the manager of this place in trouble. Wouldn't want them banned from the premises. Just sit tight, let it pass, and—
"Hey... You think you can just pick on us all you want?!"
With an audible kick at the table, Kaijin stood up.
"You think you can run around and make fun of my guest, Vester? You
think I'm not gonna mind that? You think?!"
...Um? Hey, Kaijin, this is a top government official and stuff, isn't it?
You sure you're on good footing here?
Vester, to his credit, was just as startled and stepped back.
I boinged back a bit in surprise, too, cushioned amply by the chest of the elf behind me.
...Not on purpose! I swear!
"How...how dare you speak to me like that, you...!" Vester sputtered,
still in shock.
"Will you shut up already?!" Kaijin shouted, accentuating his point by
launching a punch at the minister's face. A few moments later, he asked me, "Hey, Rimuru, you were lookin' for someone to help you, right? Would I be good enough, maybe?"
Good enough? More than. But...really? I supposed he'd quite literally just punched a one-way ticket out of the Dwarven Kingdom. Now he was making a verbal request.
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"That's what I've been wanting to hear. It'll be great working with you, Kaijin!"
It would be. We could hammer out the details later. If Kaijin was willing to come over, I was more than willing to invite him. We didn't need no fancy contract! We do what we want, when we want!
Kaijin and I sealed the deal with an emphatic nod.
Just one thing... How were we gonna book it out of here? Maybe a little prudence wasn't such a bad idea after all. You create a lot of problems for yourself otherwise. All the bravado in the world wasn't going to solve them, was it?
So.
As anyone could imagine, punching a government minister in the face
presented a number of issues.
"My brother, my brother," muttered Kaido, a few security officers behind
him. "What did you do this time?"
He was on duty today—not even he could get away with skipping shifts
all the time. Kaijin had given him an invite, but he'd refused...only to come to the nightclub anyway thanks to his brother's boorishness. Simply running would have been an easy enough plan for us, but chances were it'd be doomed from the start.
"Hmph! That fool!" As four knights dragged Kaijin away, he shouted and pointed a wild finger at the minister. "He practically spat in the face of Rimuru, my client and the best patron I've ever had! What's so bad about putting him in his place a little, huh?!"
Vester, for his part, hadn't overcome the shock yet. He was simply staring at us, blood still dribbling from his nose. It looked both pathetic and a little comical. Never saw it coming, I guess. The surprise probably kept it from even hurting.
"Brother," Kaido whispered with a sigh, "you don't put a government minister 'in his place' like that... Either way, you're all coming with me!" He nodded to his men, then took me aside for a moment. "Just stay calm, all
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right? I promise we'll treat you well."
I wasn't planning to do anything else, of course. Before I left, though, I
sidled up to the manager of the place and tossed five gold pieces into her hand. "There's some for your trouble in there, too!" I said to the surprised matron. "We'll be back!"
It seemed like a decent place, after all. Wouldn't be nice if I never got to see the inside of it again.
So went my second arrest here in the Dwarven Kingdom...but I'm forgetting someone.
Gobta! He wasn't with us at the club. Instead, he was atoning for his sundry idiotic behavior by undergoing what I liked to call "bagworm hell." I'd thought about hanging him by his feet at first, but that just seemed like cruelty for cruelty's sake, so instead I'd tied him up with Sticky Thread and let him hang from the ceiling.
"Wait!" he'd whined. "This is so mean, sir! I want to come with you!"
I'd showed him no mercy this time. "Enough, you fool! I can't take any more of your blockheaded behavior! If you don't like it, summon your tempest wolf buddy and have him help you out!"
Not that he could do it, I figured as I shut the door behind me.
A goblin was one thing, but a hobgoblin could probably go without food or drink for about a week straight.
Still, if we were going to be held for a while, I'd have to break out and get him down sooner or later. For now, though, I filed it in the back of my mind.
Was I being mean to him, maybe? I thought I was, for a moment. But it was all right. He could deal.
The five us of were taken to the royal palace. Not that we were under very heavy guard. If anything, it seemed entirely voluntary.
We wound up having to spend around two days in the castle jail room. It wasn't so bad—the food looked decent, and we had all the comforts we needed in the place. It was less like a jail cell and more like an urban apartment shared by the five of us. We weren't treated too terribly, either.
"I just had to lose my temper, and now I've got all of you in here with me... I'm so sorry, guys!" Kaijin apologized.
But none of his dwarven friends minded too much, either.
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"It's fine, Kaijin! No problem at all!"
"Yeah, don't worry about it, boss!"
"..."
"Besides, once we're released, we want to come with you, Kaijin!" "Yeah, can we come with you, Rimuru?"
"...?"
I wasn't observant enough to tell what the third one wanted from me, but I got the gist well enough.
"Hah! Sure, we'll take care of all of you! You better be ready, though... Once we reach the village, you guys're gonna work!"
"Got it!"
We were already talking about life outside the big house. As prison terms went, it was pretty chill.
It was the night of our second day.
"By the way," it occurred to me to ask, "why did that minister have it in so badly for you, Kaijin? Was there some reason for it?"
Kaijin's expression immediately soured. With a sigh, he began to explain. It turned out he used to be a captain in the palace's royal knight corps—a leader of one of the seven armies making up the whole system. Three corps were devoted to behind-the-scenes work like engineering, supply, and emergency aid. Three more—heavy strikers, magic strikers, and magic support—played more of a starring role. The last one, and the most important, was the king's personal guard. Kaijin had been head of the engineering corps, and Vester had been his second-in-command.
"He was the son of a marquis," the dwarf moaned. "A noble title he bought with money. I think he must've been jealous of a commoner like me taking the head role. It was complicated, you know? It must've been humiliating to him, taking orders from someone below him. And I'll admit that I didn't care much about what other people thought about me. I was too busy trying to stay on the king's good side. That's when it happened."
The "magic-armor affair."
At the time, the engineering corps was seen as the lowest of the army's seven departments—barely producing any new technology for itself. Vester
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believed a kingdom rich in technology should have an appropriately famous corps of engineers, while Kaijin was more of a status-quo man when it came to research and development. Despite how intense their arguments got, they never managed to reach an agreement during their countless garrison meetings.
Along the way, the corps launched a so-called magic-armor soldier project with a team of elf engineers. Vester was hell-bent on making this project a success and boosting the corps's position in the military pecking order. Kaijin warned him that he was proceeding too quickly with it, but even then, Vester had little time for the advice of a common-born man.
In the end, thanks to Vester's arbitrary whims, an experiment went awry and led to a spirit-magic core running out of control—a very public failure and a bad setback for the project at an early stage.
Thus, despite some of the greatest minds of the world working on it, the magic-armor project ground to a halt. As head of the engineering corps, Kaijin wound up taking the heat for it, resigning from his position in the army. Not only did Vester make Kaijin the scapegoat; he even convinced his friends among the higher-ranked leaders to give false testimony against him. That, according to Kaijin at least, was the truth.
Once he finished, Kaijin let out a tired sigh.
I could understand his perspective. There must've been a lot of resentment built up over the years from that.
Still...man, Vester's just a total storybook villain, isn't he? They don't come easier to spot than that. As far as the minister was concerned, Kaijin could make a comeback in the military and threaten his position at any time. That kind of thing.
Didn't he deserve the death penalty, really? Maybe not, but...
"So," Kaijin concluded, "maybe he'll settle down a bit if I leave the country for a while."
He sounded a bit forlorn about it, but at least he had backup. The three brothers with us were just as aware of the truth, and there was no love lost for Vester among them, either. Hell, even I hated him now.
Still, Kaijin did sock a noble, so I kind of wondered whether they were just gonna release us and wave good-bye.
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"I wouldn't worry about it," Kaijin reassured me. "I'm out of the army now, but I did make it up to the corps leader. As far as my social position goes, I'm just below baron. If it were strictly commoner versus nobleman in the courts, well, hanging might've entered the picture."
He accentuated that morbid fact with a hearty laugh.
Meanwhile, I just sat there. If things got rough, I'd hightail it outta here— but otherwise, I was happy being a good little slime until cooler heads prevailed.
Our day in court arrived soon after, and the entire lot of us were brought in front of the monarch.
The Heroic King of the dwarves.
Now that I was seeing him in person, his stately aura was almost awe inspiring.
His Majesty Gazel Dwargo closed his eyes and sat deeply upon his throne. He was stocky, dwarflike in appearance, and his exposed armor-like muscles positively radiated energy. His skin was a deep, dark brown, and his black hair was pulled back on his head.
He exuded pure strength. My fight-or-flight instincts kicked in all the way for the first time in ages.
Two knights were stationed near him, one on each side. They were equally muscle-bound, no doubt, but they still looked wispy compared to their ruler. Seriously, this guy was a monster. I'd been planning to beat a hasty retreat if I needed to, but now... Not so much. The moment I was placed in front of him, my every nerve was wound taut.
It might have been the first time in this world that I actually sensed a clear danger to myself.
A man knelt in front of the king, checking over something with him. After receiving permission, he stood up and read the affidavit.
"We will now begin the trial! Silence, everyone!"
For the next hour, both sides presented their cases. As criminal suspects, we weren't allowed to speak—in the royal court, that right was reserved for
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those with a rank of earl or greater. Otherwise, you needed the king's express permission. If you did speak out of turn, that apparently proved your guilt on the spot and earned you a bonus contempt-of-court charge.
Whether you were innocent or not, that was the way this place worked. We were stuck having our representative speak for us. He had paid us a few visits during our two days in custody, discussing the nature of our case. Our kind-of lawyer, basically.
Could we trust him, though? Anxieties like that had a tendency to crop up for a reason...
"So there Sir Vester was," he continued, "sitting back at this club and enjoying an alcoholic beverage, when this gang pushed their way into the place and exposed him to dreadful violence! This is not the kind of behavior that should ever be forgiven!"
"Is that the truth?"
"It is, my liege! I heard it from Kaijin himself, and I also have written testimony from the owners of the club. There can be no mistaking the course of events that night!"
...Um, what? What did he just say? I thought he was on our side, and it took all of five minutes for him to go turncoat. That can't be good, can it?
I shot a look at Kaijin—his face turned bright red, then slowly began draining of color.
I'll bet. Our lawyer wasn't even bothering to make excuses for us.
It went without saying that representatives for the accused weren't allowed to lie in court. If they were found out, that would be another hanging. It was impossible to think any would-be lawyer would attempt it, barring extreme circumstances, and yet ours was doing it right in front of us.
"My liege!" Vester exclaimed, egging him on. "You have heard it for yourself! I beg of you to deal with these miscreants harshly!"
He flashed us a smile of supreme confidence.
Bastard. Maybe I should've hit him after all.
The king remained motionless, eyes closed. In his place, one of the guards beside him spoke.
"Order! I will now give the verdict! Kaijin, the mastermind behind this crime, is sentenced to twenty years of labor in the mines. His accomplices are
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sentenced to ten years of labor in the mines. With that, this court is hereby—" "Wait," a deep, quiet voice interrupted.
The king opened his eyes and looked at Kaijin.
"It has been a while, Kaijin. Do you remain in good health?"
"...Yes, my liege!" came the instant reply. Presumably he had the right to speak now. "It gladdens me that you remain so as well!"
"Yes. Now, do you and your friends"—looking at us—"have any desire to return to us?"
The audience in the royal court murmured among themselves. It must have been an unusual development. Vester immediately blanched. Our traitorous representative, meanwhile, had developed a deathly pallor.
"I beg your forgiveness, my liege, but I have already found a master to serve! I have made my vow, and it has become my treasure. A treasure so fine that, indeed, not even the direct order of my liege could make me part with it!"
This clearly angered the audience. I could see the guards staring daggers into Kaijin's forehead. But he stood strong—chest puffed out, the picture of dignity.
The king, seeing this, closed his eyes again. "I...see."
Silence ruled for another moment.
"I have made my decision. Listen well to my sentence! Kaijin and his
friends are hereby exiled from the kingdom. After midnight tonight, when the new day comes, they are officially no longer welcome in my lands. That is all. Begone at once!" Opening his eyes, the king made his proclamation in a loud voice.
Ah, the dignity of a born leader! His overwhelming presence sent shivers through my body. Although, being king around here seemed like a terribly lonely job to have.
So there we were, after the trial, back at Kaijin's shop. That little celebratory drink we wanted to get sure broke bad, didn't it? Now we had to pack up and leave for good.
Oh, wait, is Gobta all right? We're still only at day three with him, right?
I was a tad nervous about that as I opened the door to his punishment room. "Ooh! Welcome back, sir! Did you have fun? Gee, sure hope you take me
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with you next time!"
There he was, leaping up off the sofa to greet me! How did that
happen...? He couldn't have gotten out of my spider silk that easy!
Taking another look, I realized that the cushion Gobta had been using on the sofa was actually a tempest wolf. Wait, seriously? He actually summoned
the guy?
"Uh, Gobta, how'd you get that wolf in here?"
"Oh! Right! That! I just thought to myself, 'Hey, can you come on over,
please?' And he did, sir!"
He made it sound so easy, the bastard. None of the other hobgoblins had
managed the feat from such a long range before. Maybe his brain cells were all devoted to his natural talents instead of, you know, actual intelligence. It seemed crazy to me. I concluded that it must've been a coincidence.
I then realized that the sight of the tempest wolf had frozen the dwarves in their tracks. "What's wrong?" I asked. "We need to start packing, don't we?"
"W-wait a second!" the panicked Kaijin replied. "What on earth is a black direwolf doing in here?!"
"Yeah! You need to run! That's a B-ranked monster!"
And now they were panicking.
They looked so ridiculous, I was actually amused.
"Oh, he's fine! Really! No problem! He's like a big dog, really! We keep
him indoors and everything!"
My attempts at calming everyone's nerves met stony silence.
Black direwolves, by the way, were a somewhat advanced version of
regular direwolves. If they evolved in a more magic-oriented fashion, their fur would turn black. The coats of the tempest direwolves were black as well but with a uniquely colored sheen.
Direwolves weren't really supposed to evolve toward the "storm" element in the first place—that was just a side effect of the name I gave out.
In volcanic regions, direwolves would evolve with a fire element and become red direwolves. Near bodies of water, you would find blue direwolves. In the forests would be green direwolves. In other words, adopting elements was a fairly common evolutionary pattern for these guys. The magic-infused black ones, meanwhile, were apparently a notorious threat to any nearby humans and humanoids. The tempest element gave our wolf pack an ever-so-slight purplish shine to their black color, something you
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wouldn't notice if you weren't paying attention.
Sorry I spooked the dwarves, I guess. We didn't have the time for me to
explain the whole story. I'll just call him Gobta's pet for now and move on. After hurriedly pressing the dwarves to put on their best traveler's outfits, I pushed them out of the shop, went back in by myself, and proceeded to
swallow up the entire contents of the building. Capacity-wise, I was still A- okay, but swallowing the building whole would probably have drawn a little too much attention, so I kept it at that.
Once our preparations for the journey were complete, we made our way to where Rigur and the other goblins were waiting.
The space was silent, a far cry from the loud arguing of a moment ago.
After the five accused had all but fled from the court, nobody in attendance dared move an inch. Vester nervously swallowed. The persistent
silence of the king put both him and everyone else on edge.
Then Gazel shattered the stillness.
"Now, Vester. Do you have anything you wish to say?"
"A—a thousand pardons, my liege, but this is all a misunderstanding! It
simply must be a mistake!"
Vester's voice was a nervous warble as he pleaded his case. The king
regarded him coldly, betraying none of his emotions.
"A misunderstanding? If it is, then it has cost me one of my most faithful
servants."
"How can you say such a thing, my liege?! You call what he offered to
you 'faithfulness'? Why, he is simply a man off the street—"
"Vester. I see you are mistaken. Kaijin left my corps on his own volition.
When I speak of a faithful servant I have lost...I refer to you."
The minister's heart raced. I need to find an excuse... But his mind was blank. The words refused to come to his lips. His thoughts were slow to form.
What did he just say? He referred to me? Then...
"Let me ask you once again, Vester. Do you have anything you wish to say?"
Fear, pure fear, dominated Vester's head. The king had asked him a
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question. He needed to reply. But all his speech had abandoned him.
"I... My liege, I am afraid...I..."
"I had great expectations for you, Vester. I have been waiting for so long.
Even during the magic-armor affair, I waited for you to finally speak the truth. And now I find that, yet again..."
The expression Gazel showed Vester could almost be described as one of kindness. The king's words pierced through the minister like the sharpest of swords.
"Look at these."
The king pointed out two items one of his attendants had produced. Vester, eyes hollow, looked at them. One was a sphere filled with a liquid that he had never seen before; the other was a single longsword.
"Do you know what these are?"
The liquid remained a mystery to Vester, but the longsword he remembered. Kaijin had brought it in.
"You may explain to him," the king ordered his attendant. The following speech took a fairly long time for Vester to fully understand.
The liquid was a life-regenerating elixir, a near-perfect extract of the juices of the hipokute herbs. A so-called "full" potion, named for its miraculous recovery properties.
Even with the best technology the dwarves had at their fingertips, the purest extract they could produce topped off at 98 percent. That made it only as potent as a "high" potion. This liquid, meanwhile, was at 99 percent!
Vester's face twisted in shock. He had to know! What did they do to produce such a level of—? But before he could ask, the attendant had even more shocking news for him. The longsword had a core of magisteel that was already working its way through the rest of the blade.
Impossible. That process began only after a ten-year adaptation procedure! The shock set Vester's mind reeling. If this was true...!
"Both of these wonders were brought about by that slime," the king said. "And thanks to your behavior, we have lost our connection to such a creature. Do you have anything you wish to say?"
Now Vester realized the full extent of his king's rage. There was truly nothing he could say.
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"I... I do not, my liege."
Tears began welling in his eyes. He knew it all too well now—his lord had abandoned him. All he wanted was to serve his king. To win his approval. That was it. When did I go wrong? When I grew jealous of Kaijin, or before...? He didn't know. All he knew was that he had betrayed the king's trust.
"I...see. In that case... Vester! I hereby forbid you from entering the palace. Do not let me see you before me again. I shall leave you with this: I have tired of you!"
Hearing his words, Vester stood up and bowed deeply to his lord. Then he left, setting off to pay his penance for his foolishness.
As he did, a guard ran forward and arrested the representative serving as Vester's accomplice.
The king watched them out of the corner of his eye. "My dark agent!" he shouted with some urgency. "Track the movements of that slime! Do not let it escape your notice. Ever!"
The emphatic order of the normally taciturn king gave pause to everyone in the chamber.
"By my life, my liege!" the dark agent said before disappearing.
The king thought to himself.
Who was that slime?
A type of monster, no doubt. Was that the level of monster being released,
then?
His hero's instincts were giving him a feeling he couldn't ignore. Trusting
it, he began to take action.
Rigur and gang were all safe at the edge of the forest.
Between this and that, we had spent a total of five days in the city—pretty
much what we expected. Things didn't quite go according to plan, but we largely accomplished what we'd set out to do.
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Too bad we didn't get to hit the Free Guild in town. It sounded kind of like an adventurer's club to me, the exact kind of place where an otherworlder or two might hang out. It would've been nice to check out all the gilt and armor the dwarves were known for, too. But oh well. We had a bunch of master craftsmen with us here. That was enough of a find. That, and I still had twenty gold pieces. Score.
I took the time to introduce Kaijin and his hapless friends to the goblins. We'd all be working together for a while to come, so I wanted to get off on the right foot. Come to think of it, I didn't see much in the way of casual racism from the dwarves—most of them, anyway. Given the demi-magical origins we all shared, I suppose it made sense. I could imagine us crossing their paths again someday.
We were now more or less ready to roll. The only problem was transport. Ranga, of course, was wagging his tail, as if me hopping on him was the pinnacle of his life. I explained to him that I needed his full fifteen-foot size for a bit so we could fit two out of the three brothers on his back.
Ranga was not a fan of this idea. His face instantly turned sullen as he wobbled backward and plopped his ass on the ground. He glowered at the newcomers as if to suggest he could just eat them instead and save everyone a lot of trouble.
The dwarves almost jumped out of their skin. Even when they first saw him, they'd wailed in perfect unison. """Gaahh! How could you ever...?!""" and so forth.
Either this was a well-practiced routine of theirs, or Ranga really did scare them that much. There had to be something I could do.
"Hang on, Ranga," I said. "I tried transforming into one of you guys earlier, and I'd like to test out how it works a bit. That's why I want you to let these dwarves on, all right?"
His head immediately shot up. "I understand, my master!"
Kaijin and Garm, eldest of the three brothers, would go on my back; Ranga would take Dold and Mildo. Once they were on, I'd spin some Sticky Thread to make sure they stayed on. These guys did nearly fifty at their peak. In this motorcycle-free world, the experience would probably make them pass out. Not that I knew whether I could handle that speed or whether I wanted to.
Now for me.
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Mimic: Tempest Starwolf.
"Astounding! Your dazzling strength knows no bounds, my master!" "Hah-hah-hah! Yeah, I'll bet! And you'll look like this someday soon, if
you keep it up!"
"We will do our best to live up to your lofty expectations, my master!" Ranga's eyes sparkled at this new mission in life. The rest of the tempest
wolves grew equally excited. Always a good idea to motivate the troops a bit. So I turned to Kaijin and Gharm to get them to hop on, and...
Well, that's weird. They're all unconscious and foaming at the mouth.
What're these guys doing, anyway? Oh well. I knew that practice would come in handy! A little Sticky Thread off my back, and everyone was pulled up and put firmly in place. Success!
Fainted dwarves wouldn't make great traveling companions, but either way, we were off.
By the way, I intended to start off at a leisurely trot, only to find myself going over sixty miles per hour or so. Maybe it was for the better that my passengers weren't awake to see this. If they were, our acceleration would've made them lose their lunches.
I looked back at Dold and Mildo on Ranga's back. They had a little more backbone...or I thought they did. Then I realized they were just unconscious with their eyes open. My condolences.
Putting the dwarves in the back of my mind, I proceeded down the path back home. At least they wouldn't bite their tongues or whatnot if they were unconscious. If I were them, I wouldn't want to wake up in the middle of this scream machine anyway. It'd be better for everyone if they stayed asleep until it was all over. I'll feed 'em, of course, but...
I really am mean to people, aren't I? And speaking of which...
"Rigur! Have you ever successfully summoned one of the black wolves before?"
"...I have not, Sir Rimuru, it embarrasses me to admit."
Hmm. He hadn't, and it was a point of frustration for the other goblins, too, not to mention their wolf partners. So why just Gobta?
"Really? Because I guess Gobta managed to."
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"What? Gobta, is that true?"
"Y-yes! I gave the call, and he came over for me!"
There was a fighting spirit in everyone's (and every dog's) eyes now. "...It's not impossible," Rigur reflected. "Gobta is strong enough to have
done the Dwarven Kingdom journey round-trip on foot once!"
Oh, right... I thought he was a slobbering idiot, but apparently he was good in a pinch. He was an idiot, of course, but not useless. Surviving a four- month journey through the wilderness and foraging off the land wasn't something any old guy could do. He'd had to deal with monsters along the
way, too, weak though they might have been.
I placed Gobta a few rungs higher in my internal totem pole. He'd
probably tumble right back down soon enough.
We decided to make camp once night fell. I wasn't tired at all, but everyone else needed rest—I could test out my abilities in the meantime.
A tempest starwolf, to say the least, was physically gifted. I could practically feel the power pulsing inside me. Just a light jump, and I was way up in the sky; on land, I tore up any path I found with my rapid sprint. Add on some quick reflexes, and it looked like I had what it took to make good use of this form.
Most of my battles so far had involved me busting out a few Water Blades and ending it just like that. I hadn't thought about it much, but strength—and reflexes—were going to be a lot more important to me if things got hairy. On that front, the tempest starwolf seemed to have nearly everything I could want.
With the Sage's support, this wolf could probably insta-kill the black snake from back in that cave—no skills required. I'd learned in town that the lizard rated a B-minus in rank, and from there, I used the Sage's simulation skills to figure out how the rest stacked up against it.
It told me that the black snake wasn't even an A, and I could win against ten of those centipedes at once, so I'd be an A-minus or so? Sounds about right.
A tempest starwolf not under my control would be stronger than a black snake, though it probably couldn't take ten at once. Although there was that weird Dark Lightning skill to think about...
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My instincts told me that one would pack a punch, so I'd test it out in slime form first. That ought to temper it a little bit so I can observe it.
The Dark Lightning I unleashed was... Let's call it "beyond belief." There was a flash, followed by a deafening roar of thunder. The large riverside boulder I chose as a target was gone, crumbled to pebbles. I could see the bolt crashing down faster than light...but witnessing its dreadful force for myself simply amazed me. Way beyond expectations.
Heh-heh-heh... Let's pretend that didn't happen! I made my decision instantly.
Right! I wasn't doing anything! Just a little lightning storm.
Let's leave it at that. Seal it away for later, like the snake's Poisonous Breath. It'd be better if I saved it until I knew how to temper the strength of my attacks a little. Besides, with all the internal magic that cost me, I'd better learn how to adjust things soon. No tossing that around willy-nilly. I could wind up running out of magic in the middle of battle.
Given the range of that lightning strike, though, it could make a good ace in the hole someday. The entire twenty-yard radius around the disintegrated boulder was now blazing hot and glassy. Something to think about.
Rigur, of course, had a few hobgobs there in short order to find out what was going on. I told them it was just a rogue thunderbolt. Sorry for interrupting your sleep, guys. I'd need to save the more dangerous experimentation for someplace where I could work in peace. Some soundproofing would be nice, too. Otherwise, it'd be hard to really flex my muscle.
Still, there was some more data to work with. I replayed the simulation in my mind. According to the results, a tempest starwolf out of my control could use Dark Lightning and probably kill ten black snakes at once. Which meant the attack was probably past A rank.
The guidepost for an A rating was being able to destroy a small town —"disaster" level, in other words. Better avoid that transformation around urban areas.
My experiments continued, albeit a lot more quietly, until morning.
The next day...
I let Rigur and his people handle breakfast. Goblin food was, well, pretty
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simple. Just heat and eat. Haute cuisine it wasn't, not that I could taste it. If I ever pick up that sense again, I'll have to teach them the finer points, I guess. Food one can look forward to is one of the first steps toward an advanced culture.
Could these goblins really acclimatize to "culture," though? I thought so. I had no idea how, but I wanted to test out everything I could. If we got tripped up over cooking, that would be a bad start.
The dwarves were up, still white as sheets.
"You all right?"
"Y...yes... Where are we?"
As they slowly shook out the cobwebs, they realized they were in
unfamiliar territory. It unnerved them. I explained we were on our way to the village these goblins called home.
"Wh-what?! That would be a journey of some two months, normally! We won't have enough food unless we procure a cart at some nearby town!"
It's a little late to be surprised about that, isn't it? I wanted to say, but— thinking about it—I hadn't really explained much to them, had I? Things like how we got here and how fast we were going. We weren't in a hurry today, so I decided to take the time to explain in detail about what we were doing.
Breakfast happened to be served right then. It was just a few wild hares roasted whole, but it was more than enough stimulus for the dwarves' stomachs to start rumbling. Guess they can keep food down, at least.
As they ate, I reviewed our future plans. We would be at the village in another two days or so, I explained.
"""No..."""
They whispered in unison, realizing exactly how fast those wolves were taking them.
"Hey, don't worry!" I replied. "Once you get used to it, it's a breeze!"
It'd be nice if they could get used to it, but I figured we'd probably reach the end of the journey before then.
We set off back down the road.
Time to build a Thought Communication space for us. Now that I'd done it a few times, it came naturally to me. The dwarves picked up on it, too, which was a relief.
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Thought Communication was a sort of high-level version of Telepathy, letting you build links and talk with multiple people at once. It also made things like strategy meetings easier for us. It remained effective across a range of half a mile or so, which was more than enough for my purposes.
On the second day, the dwarves seemed largely capable of remaining on their rides without passing out. The force of the wind kept them from opening their eyes, so I built a sort of visor for them all from silk. Kind of like a helmet replacement, I suppose, and it seemed to do the trick.
I also started noticing that I could control my Sticky Thread to some extent via Telepathy. Once you got used to controlling magicules, it was amazing what you could do with them. Sticky Thread probably wasn't the only thing I could apply that to, either. These little particles were the essence of magic.
Either way, the dwarves were getting into the swing of things, and their makeshift helmets were having the effect I wanted. I could talk with them now, and they were kind enough to teach me a thing or two about life in their kingdom as we rode on. The goblins were listening in as well, chiming in about their own experiences, and we had a nice, friendly confab for much of the day. This should keep up in the village, too, I hoped.
Dwarves, being partially sprites, were extraordinarily long-lived. Goblins, being partially magic-born, were notoriously short-lived. Evolution—or perhaps living conditions—had created a fairly large difference between the two.
I sometimes wondered if goblins were actually a step down the evolutionary ladder.
Hobgoblins, the next step up, seemed a bit like the monster equivalent of dwarves to me. Like they had gone back to their ancestral roots, in a way, with a lot more magic force at their disposal. I wouldn't know for sure, but I imagined the evolution did wonders for their life spans as well.
They still weren't the handiest, though, and there was a stark difference between monsters and fairies, but still...
Dwarves, for their part, were probably more closely related to monsters than, say, elves, another sprite race. Maybe that would help these two species get along, too.
As I suddenly remembered something else, I decided to bring it up. "Kaijin. I know I'm a little late asking, but are you okay with this? You
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really respected that king, didn't you?"
"Oh, that? I did, yes. There isn't a dwarf alive who doesn't respect him.
Imagine having the hero of your nightly fairy tales serving as your actual king!"
It was an interesting thing to consider—the mythical heroes of the past, still alive and kicking and protecting their people as king. That would help me build a pretty healthy respect, yeah. I'd want to support him—this ideal king, one who always did the right thing and never allowed room for mistakes.
I wondered how much he had to sacrifice to maintain that ideal in reality.
In a way, it was frightening. It took a lot of spirit, I'm sure, to be a leader like that. That was what made people believe in him.
...Was I ready for that? I had become, more or less, the master of this goblin village. But what comes after that?
"Well, let me ask you this, then, Kaijin. Why did you come with me? Wouldn't it have been the best thing for your life if you rejoined the king?"
"Gah-hah-hah-hah! Well! A lot more sensitive than I thought, eh, Rimuru? I did it because it looked like fun. It was just instinct, you know? Like, 'Hey, this guy's gonna go out and do something!' That's all the reason I needed, y'know?"
...Yeah. Maybe. Fair enough. He's right!
"Heh," I retorted. "Well, don't come crying to me later if it turns sour. I'm pretty well-known for being mean to people!"
It was true. I did practically nothing by myself. I entrusted everything to others. But I did want to help. To be relied on. I wanted to be the sort of person who could manage that.
"Oh, I know!" Kaijin replied. I nodded, satisfied.
Two days later, we arrived at the village on time. Mission accomplished.