The ogres continued.
It seemed there had been three other orcs equivalent in strength to the black-armored one. The four made short work of the ogre stronghold's elite fighters, and as they did, the rest of the orc soldiers poured into the fort and kicked off the massacre in earnest.
There were several thousand—just an estimate on the ogres' part, but still a massive figure. And the funny thing was, they were all clad in the sort of full-plate armor you'd expect a human soldier or the like to wear as a uniform. Like a massive wave of metal, steamrolling across the forest.
If that was true, this had to be the work of more than simply the orcs. Orcs were human types as well, but they were treated as low-level, unintelligent monsters, like goblins. There was no way they could cobble together the funds for such extensive, and expensive, armor. Plus, there were lots of powerful monsters in the Forest of Jura. It'd be impossible for the orcs to avoid attracting attention on the way to the ogre stronghold.
It seemed fair to assume they were colluding with some other nation—a nation of humans. But We couldn't guess what they wanted, and that concerned me. If the force was several thousand strong, they couldn't have merely wanted to crush that one ogre site. They were gunning for the entire Forest of Jura, at that rate.
"You know," Kaijin offered, "they might be in cahoots with one of the demon lords."
Demon lord? Rimuru's recount of shizu's last will flashed across my mind.
I wasn't sure We had enough power to topple a demon lord quite yet, but…
Generally speaking, I didn't think any demon lord cared much about this forest. Outside of it, their lands spread far and wide, and their fertile fields were mostly tended to by vast numbers of golems and slaves that had been captured in battle. Demon lord–controlled lands never had to worry about famines, and as a result, these lords were rarely concerned about areas under human control. The way it was explained to me, the so-called war slaves had it good enough that their lives weren't much different from anyone else's. I couldn't say how human nations considered them, but as far as the Forest of Jura's denizens went, the demon lord lands were pretty chill.
Well, we could be wrong and there is a demon lord or two who wanted to kick off a war just for fun or to pass the time. Veldora the Storm Dragon had been another check on their behavior, and now he was gone.
"Well, how about another cup of tea for now?"
I suggested seeing how tense the atmosphere has become.
Everyone put their respective cups to their lips, and the tension abated somewhat.
"So what are you people gonna do?" Rimuru asked the ogres
"What…do you mean?"
"I mean, what's your future direction? Are you gonna run so you can fight another day, or just hide out somewhere instead? 'Cause if you were planning to run, I was just wondering if you had someplace in mind."
"Is it not obvious? We will build our strength, wait for an opening, and challenge them again!"
"Precisely. We must avenge our lord!"
"As must I! We are all but powerless right now, but I refuse to let those two-legged pigs live!"
"""We promise to follow our young master and princess!"""
Well, they deserve some respect, despite how cornered they were, there wasn't a single hint of hesitancy clouding their eyes, and looks like rimuru shares my view as he invited them to the village.
"Hey, you guys interested in joining my side?"
"Huh? What are you…?"
"I put it clearly enough, didn't I? If you guys were working as mercenaries anyway, why don't you work for me instead? If you wanna fight for your old lord, I'd be happy to hire you to do that."
"We…"
"Besides, if it's strength you're seeking, don't you think you should side with me? I can't really pay you much outside of giving you three hots and a cot, but…"
"We couldn't! Doing so would involve this village in our quest for vengeance!"
"I do not see a problem with this," Rigurd said. "We are here to serve Sir Rimuru, and no other. If he wills it, no one will work against his desires."
"Well," I added. "We'll get involved in this sooner or later anyway, If that many orcs are on the move, I doubt anyplace around here is safe."
"Very true," another goblin lord chimed in. "A lizardman spy once made contact with the village we used to live in. As goblins, we were unable to understand what he wanted at the time, but I imagine he was investigating some new movement or trend. Which means this place could become a battlefield. It is best for us all to work together."
They all seemed well enough in agreement. Not like a bunch of goblins could do much themselves. If we had an orc horde coming, we needed as many people on our side as possible.
"Right," Rimuru offered. "If you agree to serve me, I think I might be able to make your dreams come true, too."
"…How, exactly?"
"Simple. If you join me, I promise I'll fight with you if something comes up. I never abandon my companions, and if you let me hire you on, I will be glad to cooperate with you."
"I see. So we protect this village, and in turn, the village protects us? Not a bad proposal. In fact, it is a welcome one. We could use this place as a base to assemble the resistance forces we need against the pigs…"
"Yeah, exactly," rimuru replied. "We're gonna be fighting anyway. You might as well come along for the ride."
"And could this agreement stay in place until the ringleader of the orcs is defeated?"
"Sounds perfect to me. You'd be free to do whatever you like once the matter with the orcs is settled. You could work with me to build a nation, go out on a journey, whatever. What do you think?"
The red-haired ogre thought this over for a few moments while the others remained politely silent. They must have respected his decision-making skills. He closed his eyes, then opened them once more.
"Very well," he said. "We will serve under your leadership!"
The six ogres were all B-Rank so it was a good addition to man power, but I don't know why is rimuru so excited? Don't tell me?!
"Right! Let me give you people names, then." said rimuru
"As I expected, You never learn!" I exclaimed at his naming compulsion.
"Hah? What are you…?"
"What do you think? I said names. It's annoying not to have them, right?"
"N-no, er, we are able to communicate with one another well enough already, so…"
"Hoh-hoh, indeed! Humans may have names, certainly, but we monsters have little need for them…"
"Wha? Don't be stupid. I don't care if you don't think you need them or whatever. I'm saying I need them, 'cause otherwise it's a pain to get your attention, okay?"
"Y-yes, but…"
"Please, wait a moment!" the pink-haired ogress explained. "Giving a name can be a very risky maneuver. We had best begin with those of a higher ranking first…"
"No, no, quit worrying,"Rimuru said, ignoring the pink-hair. "It'll work out just great!"
And he basically came up with all their names according to their hair colors, one could guess his thinking process if they know their Japanese, The red-haired guy became Benimaru, a name that means "red circle" and tends to get associated with the samurai of olden times. Something virile seemed like a nice match.
The princess became Shuna, or "scarlet plant." She had pink hair and knew a lot about herbs and stuff. she helped in spicing up yesterday feast. The white-hair became Hakuro, "white elder," which was pretty obvious given how he looked. Blue-hair became Soei, "blue shadow," thanks to that sneak attacks that he is known for apparently.
Purple-hair became Shion, "violet garden," because of her hair. Finally, black-hair became Kurobe, basically "black" but with a country flair. That seemed to match him—boorish, unrefined, but still likable.
Soon after, As expected he felt drained and was back to sleep mode the way he likes to call it.
"Wha—? A slime?!"