by Fuse
Which made sense. The buildings around here were child’s play compared to the kinds of things we’d designed for the concrete jungles back home. The Dwarven Kingdom had plenty of impressive architecture, to be sure, but in terms of technical execution, it still had a ways to go. Maybe we’d have high-rises built on this square someday. It was amusing to think about.
But I digress.
I guided the ogres to the house’s reception room, looking around to make sure everything was built as I ordered. They meekly followed behind, eagerly looking around the house like it was a novelty. There was zero decoration yet, so I don’t know what enthralled them so much, but whatever.
The reception room had a large table, along with a few simple stools encircling it. We were all gathered there—Rigurd, the four goblin lords, and Kaijin the dwarf as a mediator. Thirteen in all, counting me.
Why did I have Rigurd and the rest here? Because I figured the ogres had some important things to tell us. If something was happening to the Forest of Jura, it’d come to our doorstep soon enough. I didn’t want to be the sole go-to point for every crisis. “Rule but don’t govern,” as they say.
Haruna came in with tea for everyone. She gave a quick bow once she was done and left the reception room. It was still a tad awkward for her, but she was beginning to learn some manners. Wonderful progress.
I brought the cup to my lips. Bitter, but not distastefully so. I didn’t used to be so picky when it came to this sort of thing, but the long-awaited return of my sense of taste was maybe making me more finicky.
The green tea–like bitterness played around my tongue. I could feel its heat, too. My body had Cancel Heat, I suppose, but I could still feel this. Funny.
The ogres seemed to enjoy it as well. I waited for them to settle in before we began to talk.
I started by asking why they were there in the first place. They replied that they were fleeing in order to regroup and rally themselves. That, in itself, was disquieting. I had a feeling this would go on a while.
If there was a force out there that could defeat ogres, we had a threat on our hands. These were B-ranked creatures, even solo, and I could tell that much from yesterday’s battle. And these guys here were the cream of the crop. Masters of the forest. The highest class of monster you’d find here, I was told.
Better hear them out.
To sum up the ogres’ story…
There was a war, and the ogres lost. That was about it.
While I was busy fending off Ifrit at this village, the ogres were getting involved in a war of their own. Who on earth could challenge the most powerful race in the Forest of Jura to war—and win? It sent a thrill of tension across everyone in the room. Their faces tightened with concern.
“They attacked our homeland out of nowhere,” the red-hair muttered angrily. “Their power was overwhelming… Those hideous pigs, those orcs!!”
It was an army of them, apparently. And unlike humans, monsters never thought about formally declaring war before having at it. So while the ogres didn’t decry the surprise attack in and of itself, orcs attacking them was far from the norm.
Why? Simple: the difference in strength. Orcs were D-ranked creatures. Stronger than goblins, but nothing a veteran adventurer would lose sleep over. Ogres, remember, were two grades higher than that, rendering a one-on-one battle eminently predictable. And yet, the weak challenged the strong, and they won…
I decided to go a bit more in-depth.
The ogres’ home was a fair bit larger than our own village—an informal collection of clans, which together formed a kind of battle-fort home to three hundred. About as powerful as a small nation’s knight corps, in other words—a force equivalent to a three-thousand-strong army of fighters trained to B-minus monster status.
These ogres lived a life you could describe as militaristic. The clans held battle training with one another on a regular basis, occasionally joining this or that side to assist other races when they fell into conflict with their neighbors. Some of the clans had even made their mark on history, forming vanguard forces of an army for one demon lord or another, and these ogres were descended from them.
They lived, in other words, as de facto mercenaries. And the ogres of this world were quickly destroying the image I once had from my own fantasy novels. But that wasn’t the issue. They had been defeated by far weaker monsters, and it looked like they were all still in shock—for in this reception room, we were looking at the sole survivors of the entire settlement.
The red-haired one had taken his sister, the princess, away from the place while their leader was spearheading a team to defend them from the orcs. She was nobility, after all, a sort of ogre shamaness, and her people put her ahead of everything else in their lives.
“If only I were stronger…,” the red-hair groaned. The last thing he saw was the orcs, clad in black armor, delivering the final blow on his leader. A giant orc, one that let off an eerie aura. And one other, a figure who didn’t bother to hide their own brutally dark aura; one who wore a mask that looked a bit like an angry clown.
“It was one of the magic-born people, I am sure of it,” the shamaness declared. “A high-level one. I’m afraid my brother never stood a chance.”
“Indeed,” the elder added. “We jumped to conclusions about all of you because we saw that fiend in action. We thought you were one with them.”
Yeesh. Really? Cute li’l old me? Getting lumped in with this murderous freak? The way they put it bruised my ego a bit, but then again, I was wearing a mask of my own back there. Perhaps it was natural to associate me with that magic-born guy.
I was under the impression that a magic-born person could be almost any intelligent monster. Ogres would count as magic-born, even. But if this guy outclassed them that much, he had to be something extra fierce.
I knew from our earlier confrontation that nothing was more dangerous than monsters with a little intelligence. They could wield magic with the ease of a human caster and handle weapons equally as well. That, combined with physical strength that outclassed humanity’s, made them difficult to counter at all.
And the higher level the monster, the more disastrous the results could be. It’d be safe to assume we were dealing with an A rank, at least. Not welcome news.
Oh, and just for clarity’s sake, goblins are a subrace of mankind, so their evolved hobgoblin forms don’t count as magic-born.
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 watchman 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 I 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? Shizu’s face flashed across my mind, her final words echoing alongside it.
Leon, the demon lord—the foe I’d promised to defeat.
Could that be possible? I wasn’t
sure I had it in me 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.
So if anyone was looking to conquer someone else’s territory, chances were good that humans were involved.
At the same time, there could always be 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.
It made sense. I had to think more about defending this forest, I supposed. But either way, one thing was sure: This place was getting overrun by orcs.
So what now…?
I decided to hear everyone out.
“We believe the orcs are seeking to seize leadership over the forest,” Rigurd said after I prompted him with a glance.
Everyone was looking at me now. Fight them? Run? Or join their alliance? The way the ogres were acting, they knew that we could be enemies once again, depending on my decision. Suddenly things were far more intense. But I didn’t care.
“Well, how about another cup of tea for now?”
One came to me.
Everyone put their respective cups to their lips, and the tension abated somewhat.
Right.
“So what are you people gonna do?” I 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!”””
The ogres certainly had an answer. Hmm. They must’ve resigned themselves to this from the start. Even back in our own fight, there wasn’t a single hint of hesitancy clouding their eyes. They must’ve known it would mean their lives…but I had to respect it. Despite how cornered they were, they still had the dignity to not kill any of the hobgoblins. I had a feeling I’d regret it if I let them march off to their deaths.
“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.”
“Yeah,” added Kaijin. “That, and I kinda expect we’ll get involved in this sooner or later anyway, y’know? 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. Hmph. 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,” I 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,” I 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!”
So that’s the path he chose. Good. That’s a big help for me, too.
Winning over the ogres was a major coup, as far as I was concerned. I figured they wouldn’t be rankled by the idea of serving me in a mercenary capacity, and I was right. And if we had several thousand orcs to deal with, we needed to beef up our numbers, fast. We had no idea what kind of strength this orc army had, so I wanted as much to work with as possible.
It may have been strictly business, but they had sworn to follow me, and that meant we were friends now. And if we were friends, I’d need them to have some actual names, or else it’d just be a pain in the ass.
“Right! Let me give you people names, then.”
“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…”
Dangerous? Right, like I use too much magic and I fall asleep? Well, I’ll be fine as long as I don’t try to name an entire village at once, right?
“No, no, quit worrying,” I said, ignoring the pink-hair. “It’ll work out just great!”
Time to think up some names. The ogres still looked dubious, but to hell with them. Let’s get this show on the road.
I was really on fire this time. The ogres were kind enough to each have different hair colors, which made it easy to come up with ideas. 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 overall.
The princess became Shuna, or “scarlet plant.” She had pink hair and knew a lot about herbs and stuff. Sounded about right. 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 attack that almost tripped me up. If he’d targeted anyone else, those could’ve been seriously dangerous.
&nbs
p; Purple-hair became Shion, “violet garden,” because the way her ponytail stuck out somewhat reminded me of a flower. Finally, black-hair became Kurobe, basically “black” but with a country flair. That seemed to match him—boorish, unrefined, but still likable.
I was pretty satisfied with my choices. I came up with them almost immediately, like a divine revelation of sorts. But as I patted myself on the back, I suddenly began to feel drained.
Wait a minute…
By the time the thought occurred, it was too late. It was back to sleep mode for me. Why would naming six people exhaust my magic like that? I thought as I reverted into slime form, no longer able to control my body.
“Wha—? A slime?!”
“How on…?! You were a slime all along?!”
I was too weak to respond.
This, apparently, alarmed the ogres a lot. They fell to the ground, seemingly just as drained as I was by the ceremony. What’s going on here? I wouldn’t have my answer until my magic was recharged.
A night passed.
This round of sleep mode, if anything, was even rougher than last time. I was conscious, but it was like everything I saw was in a dream. My memories were vague, like something soft being pressed against me, or like I was floating amid fragrant flowers or something. I had no way of knowing exactly what was happening, but I was probably overthinking matters.
“Shion! How long are you going to hold Sir Rimuru close to your chest like that? It’s time to switch out!”
“Princess Shuna, you cannot be serious! There is no ‘switching out’ to be done! I will take care of Sir Rimuru, so please, you should rest yourself…”
“Enough of your nonsense, Shion! I tell you that I will watch Sir Rimuru, and watch him I shall!”
Apparently, this was some kind of argument, but I’m sure I was just imagining it. Just like I was imagining them playing tug-of-war with me. Let’s just go with that.
So what did happen? I got to find out once I finally woke up to the sight of all six standing before me.