In the underground cavern, Me, Benimaru, Hakuro, Rimuru and shion were discussing the new roles assigned to the new evolved Oni people or as they are called 'Kijins'.
Rimuru jumped out of Shion's arms and to the ground, transforming into human form as he did. Before he touched solid earth, He produced a change of clothes from his stomach and put it on. Benimaru and Shion looked surprised, but they kneeled silently before him instead of saying anything.
"Well then, Benimaru, I hereby appoint you to be my Samurai General. From here on in, you will be responsible for running my nation's military affairs." announced Rimuru
"Yes, my lord! I will serve you well, on and off the battlefield!"
"And you, Shion, I hereby appoint as my Royal Guard. Your duties will remain chiefly secretarial, I suppose, but either way, do your best, all right?"
"Thank you so much, my lord! I will make a full effort every day to serve you as best as I possibly can!"
So now not only he named them all, but he's given them three "classes" to work with. They appear to be happy with their roles, I guess.
Just as the thought occurred, a figure suddenly appeared next to Benimaru. It was Soei, and it looked like he had pretty much jumped right out from Benimaru's shadow—the result, he explained, of the Shadow Motion skill he earned as part of his own evolution. I knew it involved harnessing people's shadows to move from point A to point B in the shortest time possible, but I wasn't too deep on the specifics.
I wanted to learn it myself—I've seen the direwolves use it—but I actually couldn't do it. I have do experiment more with it, I guess.
Upon noticing Rimuru, Soei fell to one knee. "Reporting, my lord!" he barked.
"Y-yeah?"
"I have completed my cocoon-gathering mission, and on the way back, I witnessed a group of lizardmen on the move. Spotting them so far away from the marshes they call home seemed highly unusual, so I thought it best to report to you as quickly as possible."
Soei seemed perfectly serene. He can control his breath pretty well, I can tell from sensing his spirit that he had hurriedly came here to deliver the news, but he doesn't look haggard at all.
"Lizardmen? That is odd," Benimaru said thoughtfully.
So lizardmen and orcs…? Something was definitely happening now.
"Soei," Rimuru said, "I'd like you to handle some intelligence work for me. Starting today, I want you to serve as my Covert Agent, gathering information for me and our cause."
"I could dream of nothing better, my lord," he replied, quietly but resolutely. "I was always told that my ancestors were gifted in the so-called dark arts—and I look forward to exercising those skills to their fullest extent for you."
So now the ogres and the village were one big happy family, more or less. Rimuru had a small group of loyal agents working under him. They had evolved into Kijins, and they had regained a fair number of their ancestors' abilities.
When they first evolved, I had guessed they were all through the wall and well into the top of the A-ranked range. But now that they were obtaining skills and getting used to their new bodies, their individual ranks were changing. Head and shoulders above the rest of the village in strength, but still, changing.
I had the feeling that rimuru assigning jobs, or "classes," to them had helped cement the exact amount of magical force each had to work with. The same had happened with the hobgoblins who were assigned classes.
In the end, success in battle had less to do with brute strength and more to do with how you matched up with your foe skill-wise. It was really rimuru skills that defeated Ifrit, not whatever his slime body did. Seeing these Oni obtain unique skills in the same way was interesting.
So now there was six kijins working under Rimuru, each with their own class. Benimaru the Samurai General; Shuna the Oracle; Hakuro the Instructor; Soei the Covert Agent; Shion the Royal Guard; and Kurobe the Swordsmith. quite neat.
Several days had passed since Rimuru had appointed his pseudo cabinet of kijins.
Just as they had said, things appeared to be going well between them and the hobgoblins, Rigurd included. Soei was providing raw materials to Shuna, and she was already successfully spinning silk thread from it. The fabric it produced had made her the target of astonishment from the village's goblinas. Which made sense. Compared to the simple hemp from the goblin era, this was in a whole other dimension.
Shuna was now instructing the goblinas under Lilina's leadership—including Haruna, right up front—on the Art of sewing. The ogre was now serving as the de facto head of the clothing workshop. She was working closely with the armorer Garm as well, exchanging opinions on making comfortable clothing and trying to improve their output.
It wouldn't be long before we had a line of formal and everyday wear available to us. I was looking forward to it.
In much the same way, Kurobe was heading up the weapon forge. It was a learning experience for him and Kaijin, and they were both better artisans for it.
Kaijin was more focused on overseeing the efforts at mass production—it's not like any single person had the stamina to bang away at metal every single day for weeks on end—but he still had a wealth of knowledge to glean. He probably thought it best to leave the nuts and bolts of weaponsmithing to Kurobe while he focused on his passions in the realm of research.
It was already producing results. I caught him when he was talking with Kurobe about some kind of weapon hobgoblins could use while mounted. Hopefully, they'd finish researching my wepon soon.
Soei, meanwhile, was leading a small group of hobgobs as they built a sort of security network around town, lined with small-scale devices along the way that would sound an alarm whenever someone approached. At the same time, he was constantly gathering intel and relaying it as needed.
That was thanks to Replication, which Soei could now use to create up to six copies of himself at once. He could also keep up with others through Thought Communication, and since there didn't seem to be any distance limit for these clones, he could send them out across the land to conduct espionage as needed.
It was worth noting that the clones generated through Replication had exactly as much ability in battle as their original bodies. The difference lay in stamina, or lack thereof. The clones had almost none, in fact, which meant they lacked the energy to launch any mystic arts. Skills were another matter, and using abilities like Shadow Motion and Sticky Steel Thread was no problem. Talk about useful.
Soei's abilities seemed more than a little inherited from rimuru in a way, and he had already fully mastered them. It was interesting, actually, seeing how different people could use the same skills with such differing degrees of virtuosity. Not like Rimuru was a dunce, I don't think—it was more like Soei was a genius at it.
Benimaru, meanwhile, was conferring with Rigurd and the other elders about how to keep this town secure.
Rimuru had established a new department of the army and left him in charge, although the only other member at this point was Hakuro. Rigur and the rest of the town's security force were busy securing food and natural resources; They couldn't be drafted into the army that easily. he'd probably have to reorganize them at some point and field volunteers.
That appeared to be what Benimaru was talking about with Rigurd.
"I'd like to create an organization suited for combat," he told us, "selected from worthy candidates willing to dedicate themselves to battle duty. Would that be all right with you?"
"Sure," Rimuru said. "Sounds great. Let me know once you've got a roster handy."
I had a feeling rimuru wanted to leave the whole thing to him, really, but in the end, he was charged with making the final decisions, and he had to fulfill that duty, at least.
Who would of thought that a bunch of monsters could build a rudimentary nation, if I didn't witness it myself, I'd never have believed.