A/N: Sorry for the absence. These last two weeks have been pretty busy. I've been working on the weekends and this week I got Covid and a cough that just won't go away.
Anyway, this week is going to be the first major divergence with 'M' becoming a prominent character in the story moving forward, though not a waifu.
.~.~.~.
"Say, Veldora..." Rimuru started asking.
"Hmm?" I stirred from my half-asleep nap, raising a small cloth I had draped over my face while resting and looking at the small blob in front of me.
"Don't you think saying 'hey you' to get the goblin's attention is kinda a pain in the ass?." Rimuru spouted eventually.
"Obviously. It's a village of goblins. None of them have names" I retorted.
"I know that but... uh... well I was wondering..." Rimuru was hestiant again.
I sighed in exasperation and sat up, fully removing the cloth. "If you want me to do something, you just have to ask," I stated, bending over to pick up Rimuru and gently stroking the slime's body as though he were a small dog.
"I want to name the Goblins and Direwolves!" Rimuru finally blurted out.
I blinked. "You... want to name ALL of them?" I asked.
"Yeah!" RImuru replied.
I sighed, thinking it over. "You'll probably be fine for the Goblins, but the Direwolves..." I trailed off.
"It's fine, isn't it? Besides, I've got the world's biggest and most fearsome battery right here, after all!" Rimuru said creating an appendage out of slime and poking me with it in the side.
My eye twitched as I watched his antics. "I'm not a battery..." I muttered to myself, angrily.
"Don't sweat the small things, Battery-kun!" Rimuru continued.
My eye twitched again. "So you want to use my magicules to name them huh? Well hate to break it to you bud, but my magicules are far too dense. They'd poison and kill them if you named them with my magicule supply." I commented.
"Well, how about I name them myself and then use up all your excess Aura in my [Stomach] to recharge myself? I've gotten pretty full these last few days and if I don't use them up soon then it'll be bad." Rimuru commented.
I thought for a moment before relenting. "Fine, but when you do, make sure to digest the rest of my aura into your body. It'll make you stronger." I said, putting down Rimuru.
"Thanks, Veldora!" Rimuru said cheerfully as he hopped out of the room I was staying in.
I didn't follow, instead hanging back and listening to Rimuru gather and name all of the Goblins. I felt all of the Goblins becoming far stronger whilst Rimuru's own Aura became weaker as the naming ceremony continued. I shook my head as I knew what was going on. Rimuru was waiting to digest my magic power until the end rather than while during the naming to prevent my magicules from leaking out and poisoning them. I could already tell what was about to happen when he named the first Direwolf.
"And you'll be... Ranga!" Rimuru declared.
It was then that I made my move. I appeared next to the rapidly melting slime as I bent over to pick him up. "Geeze, you need to figure out a way to use my magicules to name them, not as a way to refill your own reserves," I muttered as I looked at the rapidly weakening slime. I was now supplying him with magicules enough to keep him from entering sleep mode.
"S-sorry." Rimuru stated as he quickly began to devour the aura I'd left in his stomach.
I looked around at the Goblins who were in a state of shocked confusion. I locked eyes with the direwolf recently named Ranga and decided to finish this. "That's enough for today, take the name given to you for your whole pack," I ordered.
"Yes!" Ranga declared and bowed his head.
I then looked over at the Goblin Elder. "I'll make some temporary shelter to allow you all to evolve in peace, so go lay down and get ready for your evolutionary slumber," I commanded.
"Y-yes sir, however... what you just said to Lord Rimuru... did you supply Lord Rimuru with the power to name all of us?" He asked.
I raised my eyebrow at his comment. "Obviously. This guy may be strong, but he didn't have the magicules for it originally." I said squishing Rimuru as if to emphasize my point.
"""Ooooohhhhhhh!!!!""" Everyone who was listening instantly were taken aback with awe and began to bow to me.
"Enough with that, I told you all to go rest. I'll scrounge up some food for everyone." I answered.
"""Oooooohhhhhh!!!!""" They were once again in awe of my generosity but I simply rolled my eyes as I saw them off. Rimuru remained silent the whole time.
Once we were alone again, Rimuru spoke. "Sorry about that. I thought I could use your excess Aura as a way to refill my own reserves rather than using them for the naming process."
"It's fine. Naming isn't exactly an exact science. Some people can name a monster and nothing but a temporary hit to their reserves is the result, others name a monster and are permanently crippled for life. Hell, the fact you aren't my subordinate is proof of just how weird it works." I explained.
"I see. I wonder if I'll ever get the hang of it?" Rimuru pondered.
"Maybe. I have a feeling you'll be naming a lot more from now on." I explained.
"Eh? Why?" Rimuru asked.
I raised my eyebrow and looked down at the blob in my hand. "Do you think this was the only tribe of goblins in Jura? There are dozens of them and when they hear about Goblins getting named by the Prophet of their Guardian Diety... well..." I implied.
"So you're expecting quite a bit of immigration then?" Rimuru asked though it was more like he was working it out himself.
"Kinda. We'd actually be lucky if it was JUST Goblins as a matter of fact." I stated.
"I see..." Rimuru trailed off seemingly lost in thought. "HEY! I'm not your Prophet, damnit! Who'd want to worship you!"
Or so I thought.
"I'll have you know, in my previous life, I had all the ladies worshiping this dick!" I joked back.
"Like you're virgin ass has any experience! You're just like me, celibate for life!" Rimuru shoit back.
"You're taking some mad shit for someone who looks like you'd make a good onahole." I teased.
"I'll absorb your dick off!" Rimuru fired back.
"Ya know, vore's never been my thing, but I bet a lot of people would pay good money for that," I commented.
"I'm not eating weirdos like that!" Rimuru commented.
"Yeah, we'd have to give you some kind of female body. That would turn them on." I said, nodding my head.
"I'm a guy!" Rimuru said, almost pleadingly.
"A lot of people like traps." I fired back.
"Why are we talking about this?" Rimuru said, jumping out of my hands.
"Hmm," I paused. "Probably 'cause I'm horny." I speculated.
"Well go be horny somewhere else! Also don't forget to bring back food for everyone." Rimuru said embarrassed as he hopped away.
I clicked my tongue when I saw that. "Damn... I should have made the joke about me going to get milk and just bailing." I muttered to no one but myself.
I took a look around once more and sighed. "Can you gather me some fruits that are safe for Goblins and Hobgoblins to eat?" I asked as the wind carried away my words.
*At once,* Was the response from the forest.
I'd been under constant observation by the Dryads pretty much since I first re-awakened in this Dragon Body, and my memories told me why. I'd saved Treyni, the Dryad, and her sisters a few thousand years ago and they decided to act as the caretakers of the forest for me as thanks. They weren't truly my subordinates, but I was still their benefactor, as they fed off my residual magicules and aura which saturated the forest in order to survive, so simple tasks like what I just asked for were something they were always happy to do for me.
I put my hands in my pockets and began floating above the forest, completely suppressing my aura as I did so. I wanted to find some kind of monster the villagers could eat without alerting the entire world to my presence. After all, vegetables and fruit are nice and all, but MEAT is where it's at. I was able to detect a herd of bull deer nearby but figured I'd leave them for now.
"Wait, Rimuru likes fish right? He's Japanese after all and I could go for a nice refreshing Salmon stake." I thought aloud before taking a step out of the air and rocketing toward a nearby lake.
I didn't bother slowing down at all, diving directly into the after head-first. With my barriers up and unnaturally durable body, I didn't feel anything when I went under and began to fly around in the water looking for prey.
As I dove deeper and deeper, I scanned the little wildlife that was in the area before my eyes fell on the shell of a large creature. Recognition instantly ran through my brain. The monster with no name. A child of mine from a previous lifetime. The monster 'M'.
I paused my descent, completely forgetting about my previous mission as I stared at this child of mine. Yellow tentcles began to emerge from its shell as it scanned the surrounding water for food. Somehow, this creature living alone at the bottom of the lake, surviving off of nothing but scraps filled me with a deep sense of sorrow. I swam over to it, placing my hands upon its hard shell and closing my eyes, trying to conjure up memories I'd long since forgotten.
In one of my previous lifetimes, shortly after I'd been revived after being killed by my sister Velzard, I began to rage hard in the Great Forest of Jura. I spawned dozens of Calamity-Level Monsters that could even challenge an unawakened Demon Lord in terms of battle power. Unfortuinately, most of my children at that time were killed in my rampage or died due to being killed by humans. It seemed that only two of these monsters survived that era. The first was my eldest daughter who went on to become Charybdis. She took after me and became a rampaging torrent of destruction until a Hero sealed her away somewhere within the forest. The other was this thing. Considering her older sister's name and the tentacles she wielded, this one would be called something like...
"Scylla" I muttered, closing my eyes to think.
This world was very different from Earth. On Earth, despite the dangers of sea travel, humanity had long since conquered sailing and navigation over the sea, but in this world, anything bigger than a fishing boat being farther out than just a few hundred feet from sore was guaranteed to be attacked by sea monsters who'd put the Kraken to shame.
If things were different, however, and this girl had been born outside of this small lake in the middle of the continent, then she would probably be added to the list of those terrors, especially due to the temperament she would have had at the time of her birth. Unfortunately, her position here has trapped her and left her to scavenge the sea floor for scraps. It also didn't take a genuis to figure out that she was afflicted with blindness if her flailing tentcles hoping to catch any prey that came close had anything to show for its sensory abilities.
Even 'I' didn't suffer as much as this creature probably did. At least I wasn't blind and didn't go hungry when 'I' was sealed away for 300 years.
"Alright girlly. You're coming home with me, you here?" I said as I touched Scylla again.
*Who are you?* It asked.
*I am your father...* I replied, a hint of bitterness in my voice.
*I see...* Was all it could muster.
*Listen, Scylla. We are going to get you out of here, alright?* I mentioned.
*Scylla... is that, my name?* It asked.
I smiled bitterly. *That's right.*
*I'd like that* Scylla said, her consciousness fading as she accepted the name I granted her and thus entered an evolutionary slumber of her own.
'Damn, old me. Why were you such an ass! Take care of your kids, dude!?! You only have 2 of them!' I scolded myself as I grabbed onto the shell of Scylla and began to lift her up, out of the water, and dragged her large frame with magic, back to the village.
*Come on! I bet your brother will be thrilled to see you, although now I'm regretting naming him 'Rimuru'. Maybe I should have chosen something more Greco-Roman considering.* I began to muse to Scylla, ignoring the fact she was now very much so asleep.
*I'll have to unseal your sister soon too, though we might need to talk to her more to ensure she doesn't rampage. Can't have her blowing my cover too soon now* I continued, talking to my daughter as I closed the distance to the village.
I began to lower myself into the clearing nearby as I watched Rimuru, in a panic, hopping over to my side.
"Veldora! What the hell is this!?!" He yelled.
I placed Scylla down gently before turning to the bouncing slime. A thoughtful look was plastered on my face.
"Your sister?" I answered half-honestly.
"Oh! I see! It's my sister! That explains it!- Yeah NO!!!" Rimuru did a little slapstick ruitine.
I smirked as I approached Rimuru and picked him up. "Sorry sorry, but I'm not exactly lying to you here. This is Scylla, she's my daughter made from my Magicules. Since you were also spawned from them, this is kinda like your sister." I explained.
Rimuru looked at me incredulously for a moment before turning back to Scylla. "She's huge! How are we going to feed her?"
"Don't worry, I'll figure something out," I reassured Rimuru.
Rimuru looked at me with an incredulous look, even in his slime form. I could tell he still had doubts and I couldn't fault him for having them. I literally left to get some fish and came back with a 20 meter tall child. Hopefully, by the laws of whatever anime I was in, Scyla would shrink and gain a humanoid form after her evolutionary slumber was completed.
Rimuru seemed to have a similar hope, as he simply sighed and looked at me with a look that said it all. "Fine, but next time you go out, don't come bca with any Giant Daughters."
I smirked, thankful Rimuru was trusting me on this. "No promises. I've actually got one more I want to pick up."
Rimuru melted in my arms, almost forcing me to drop him. "Seriously man? And here I thought you being a horny bastard was a joke, but every time I look away, you come back with another kid from another baby momma."
An invisible arrow shot through me when I heard what Rimuru said and I fell to my hands and knees in defeat.