We all paused for a few moments. The air had grown heavy around us, whether we had solid evidence of an orc lord in our midst or not.
While keeping the existence of the orc lord in mind, we continue the conference. Arranging wooden pieces on the map in place of pawns, we mark the Lizardmen army of 10.000. Behind them, Gabil's army of 7,000 goblins. Having done so, we clearly see what is abnormal about the orc army…
But more importantly.
"This way, that stupid lizard's headquarters would fall from a single attack, wouldn't it?"
Right. The lizardmen's envoy called Gabil.
That guy is planning on attacking the lizardmen's fortress while they are preoccupied fighting with the orcs. The exhausted and few lizardmen there would surely fall quickly.
We were discussing Gabil unusual moments when suddenly, Soei stiffened, wincing.
"What is it?" asked Rimuru
"Well," he began, "one of my Replication clones has made contact with someone who insists upon communicating with you, Sir Rimuru. What do you think…?"
"Contact? And they name-dropped me, even? Who the heck…?"
"This contact has not given me a name, my lord. She simply seeks to send you a message, and she is quite adamant. She is a dryad."
Everyone's eyebrows whipped up in surprise. A pretty well-known monster, I guess.
"No!" Rigurd exclaimed. "It has been several decades since a dryad has last made itself known, has it not?"
"They have practically vanished! Why would one appear now?!"
To the hobgoblins, they were all but mythical figures. And judging by the ex-ogre Soei's response, they must've been pretty high level. One who had spotted and made contact with Soei, despite how gifted he was at concealing his Replications. That proved that she isn't simple.
"All right. I'll meet with her. Guide her over here."
Not long after Rimuru gave consent, the conference room door opened to reveal a new figure. She had not lost a second to the Soei Replicant, even when he used Shadow Motion to guide him back.
She was a woman, and a beautiful one. Her hair was green, her skin light, her figure well toned—chiseled, even, like a Nordic goddess. Her luxuriant lips were a shade of light-blue, matched perfectly with her deep-blue eyes. She looked about twenty years old by human standards, but human she definitely was not. She was semitransparent, similar to my previous spiritual form and any observer could tell that her body had no weight or actual physical presence.
The conference table was enveloped in silence. The dryads, long-lived though they were, rarely left their holy sanctuaries. They were heralded by some as the wardens of the whole Forest of Jura, and only a few lucky ones would see one for themselves. They were fabled to exact divine punishment upon the wicked—those who damaged the forests.
Benimaru and the other Kijins reacted much the same way as Rigurd. But the dryad didn't let it faze her. She sized up the room for a moment before locking her eyes on Rimuru.
"My greetings to you, Leader of the Monsters, and your followers. I am Treyni, a dryad. It is nice to meet you all."
She smiled, like a bud sprouting into a flower. I have to admit she deserves the title fairy in my opinion.
"Um, you too. My name's Rimuru. We can keep it casual here, okay? None of that 'Leader of the Monsters' crap." replied Rimuru.
"So," he said, still trying to overcome his apparent embarrassment, "what did you want to see me for?"
"Thank you. I have come here to discuss the events taking place in this forest—events which, I imagine, you all are aware. As one of the Forest of Jura's appointed wardens, I cannot allow this series of calamities to go unaddressed, and so I have appeared before you. I do so because I hope to join in your conference."
She nodded in turn to each of the participants, pausing on me for a second before turning back to Rimuru.
Treyni, huh? A named monster, then. High level, no doubt, she even detected some of my spiritual power.
"But why here?" Benimaru dared to ask. "Surely there are races more powerful than the goblins you could have turned to for assistance."
"This is the most powerful outpost in the nearby region," the dryad replied. "The others no longer exist, their people now affiliated with the lizardman known as Gabil. The treants are incapable of moving from location to location and thus interact little with other races. If they were blighted by an outside enemy or natural disaster, there would be little they could do to defend themselves. We dryads are granted permission to travel to the outside world only in these spiritual forms, and I regret there are but few of us… If the root cause of all this were to attack the treant community we share our lives with, we lack the numbers to provide them an effective defense. That is why I wish to tap your strength, if I may."
She closed with another cheerful smile.
"You speak of a 'root cause,'" I said. "Does that mean you know what is happening in the forest now?"
"I do," Treyni responded without hesitation. "An orc lord is invading it with a vast force in tow."
The freely given revelation plunged the conference room into silence once more.
"Should we take that to mean," Benimaru finally said, "you have confirmed the orc lord's presence?"
"You may. And if they were to turn their sights upon our community of treants, we have no effective way to resist them. They cannot move from where they are rooted, and their mystical magic can do little against an orc race unafraid of death. We could perhaps sear them with flame magic, rendering them into ashes, but that could backfire upon the tree people, and none have mastered it anyway. And anything more powerful than that—anything that could strike an entire army at once—would wipe the treants out with it. That…"
Treyni paused, sizing us all up before once again focusing her gaze squarely upon me and Rimuru.
"In addition, we have found that a high-level majin is working behind the scenes to support this orc lord. As dryads, we must prepare for this. We are unsure which demon lord might be behind them all, but we are not interested in letting these intruders do whatever they like with our forest."
Her eyes seemed to sparkle even more as she spoke. As one of the most powerful creatures of the forest, Treyni exuded a presence in the room that was electric. It was like energy coursed across her entire body.
"Well, we'd like to help, but what did you want us to do, exactly?"
"I would like you to defeat the orc lord," Treyni immediately replied.
This rendered everyone speechless. "Whoa," Rimuru protested, "this monster is, like, crazy-ass strong, isn't it? Why would someone like me have to take him on?"
Treyni responded with a quizzical look. "But the Kijins here are intending to fight against the orcs, though, aren't they? And you plan to contribute to the effort yourself, right? You were the one who extended a hand to save all those defenseless goblins, not long ago. I had thought you would show similar kindness to us and the treants."
She smiled again.
I wonder what sources was she tapping into in order to know a remarkable amount about what happened in this forest? She must have looked at our assorted exploits in this world and concluded that we were a sort of omnipotent good samaritan.
Although I dont feel any malice coming from her, so I decided to trust my instincts.
If her story was true, we really did have an orc lord on our hands, as well as a high-level majin lurking around behind him.
Before anyone could give an answer Shion exclaimed.
"Of course! To our leader, Sir Rimuru, the orc lord is no more of a threat than a passing cockroach!"
Shion stole his thunder, a bold look of determination on her face. And for some reason it's already a given that Rimuru is the one doing the orc slaying around here?
Before he could protest, Treyni gave him another smile. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "Then it's just as I have heard. I wish you great luck against the orc lord, then!"
And that was that.