「Note: We're starting with Fubuki (or Sariel???) for this one.」
—————————————————————————————————
With a little timeskip, I find myself in a daze.
I don't even know how I got here.
Well, let's have a brief summarization of all that has occurred.
A little chat with Fuze wrapped up the whole ordeal.
Fuze was kind enough to work with a friend of his, the Baron of Veryard, to smooth things over with the king of Blumund.
As he did, I worked out the exact sort of rumors we needed to spread around the local nations, adjusting the little details to match with the plotline Rimuru came up with.
Soon, we were in contact
with every free guild in the area.
In exchange, I offered Fuze preferential treatment for some of the merchants coming from Blumund.
Any merchants having anything to do with the Free Guild there would be allowed to stay at Rimuru, capital of the Jura-Tempest Federation.
Yes, that's right.
I could use a guinea pig once in a while, you know?
Alright, forget that stuff.
For now, we weren't charging any tariffs—that could be discussed among us once they trusted us well enough, and we opened a bit more formal diplomacy.
I had no idea what we should charge anyway. I'm not a politician; I can't calculate
stuff like that.
It's work, so that's a pass for me.
Even if I may have acted all kingly and magnanimous about it,
seriously, I was sweating bullets inside.
You want me to start arguing with people I could simply unalive in my sleep? Sorry, not happening.
You're with the wrong dude for that one.
There was still a ton of work to do, but at least things were settled between ourselves and Fuze.
As for Yohm and his band, they would be staying here for a while.
If he was going to be our orc lord–slaying champion, he needed to look the part.
He needed a little bit of aura going for him.
Some pick-up lines would probably do the trick.
You know, the "Oh my God, he's so hot!"—effect and stuff like that.
Hakuro was probably training him hard right then.
When I say hard, I mean–
Yohm: 「GYAAAAAAH!!」
Gobta: 「O-Old man! You almost severed his head!! What were you thinking?!」
—Yup, that level of hardness.
You guessed it. The one where the boss music starts playing and you don't even know what the game's about anymore—that's the level of difficulty we're dealing with.
Hakuro: 「Hoh-hoh-hoh, old man, you say?」
Uh-oh…
Smooth one, Gobta. Make sure to pick up the body parts after the training.
Hakuro: 「Young man, rest well for now. Your training will resume in the next five minutes.」
Yohm: 「F-Five minutes?! That's…」
Hakuro: 「Hoh? I see… You have two minutes to take care of yourself then.」
Yohm: 「(Wasn't complaining 'bout the lengthiness, though…)」
Hakuro: 「Go and take the healing potion in that corner and return within two minutes.」 he insisted.
He looked over to Gobta with a smile.
Hakuro: 「Gobta, your training resumes. Your 'young bones' could use a little touch of work, no? A few injuries here and there wouldn't kill you, right?」
Gobta: 「W-Wait, master! I was just jo–」
He was cut off.
That was the last I heard of his voice.
Seeing how things were progressing, I figured it best to leave the rest to Hakuro.
He was doing an excellent job.
As for Yohm…
The man had a decent amount of natural talent, but not quite enough strength to become the stuff of legend.
Just giving him some big, long weapon to carry turned him into a different man, but we'd need more than that.
Instead of just relying on his physical strength and instincts for battle, Hakuro thought,
he'd need to have control over some arts as well.
Equipping him wasn't a problem.
We just happened to have raw materials from a recently pummeled knight spider on hand, and I figured we could use
those to give him the best weapon and armor he ever saw.
Until that was taken care of, his training would focus more on his body and mind.
In a nutshell, it offered more durability than full-plate mail at a third of the weight.
I couldn't say how it felt on a monster whose muscular strength outclassed any human's, but for Yohm, it was the best armor in the world.
◇◇◇
The days of training continued for Yohm.
Time passed by yet again, and I was starting to think things were getting weirder.
「Note: Not my problem. Blame the slime for that one, my dude.」
Yohm had concluded with the training, so it was time for him to leave and fulfill his mission.
During this time period, I was out hitting the streets.
With the constant greetings I kept receiving, I figured it would take a while to adjust to the attention.
I'm supposed to be meeting Shuna for our magic class, but I could at least use a little break.
I've worked really hard. A little reward would do.
「Would designing you a new ultimate skill count as a reward?」
Fubuki: 「.....」
Kalisha: 「...」
To hell with rewards, back to work it is!
「.....」
○
Mjurran was a subordinate of the demon lord Clayman.
As for how they met…
Mjurran was once a witch, living in this forest.
Persecuted by others, she had fled here three hundred years ago—quietly researching her magic, interacting with no human or magic-born.
But those days were nearing their end.
Extending one's life with magic only worked for so long.
Facing death, Mjurran had some slight sense of regret.
She had yet to even peer into the great, dark crevice that was the world of magic, and she had no
successor to take on the knowledge she gained.
She couldn't help but ask
herself what her life was even for.
There was a foreboding feeling that this day would arrive, but she chose to ignore it.
After all, premonitions never gave one the excuse to give up.
They were never good excuses to begin with.
In the midst of this impasse, she was greeted by the demon lord Clayman.
He had been at that post for about three hundred years, and he was negotiating with the more well-known monsters and majins in the area at the time—or smashing them to bits, one or the other.
He was building an army of subordinates at an astonishingly rapid pace, and that was what brought him to meet Mjurran today.
Seeking the witch's magic, he made her this offer: "Let me grant you eternal time and a young body that will never age. In exchange, I ask you to swear your allegiance to me."
Mjurran accepted it, and right now, she thought it was a mistake.
She did indeed grow younger, earning the gift of eternal life—but in the process, she lost her freedom.
It was a terribly unfair, uneven bargain. For the demon lord, swindling someone with as much magic knowledge and as little experience with the outside world as Mjurran was like taking candy from a baby.
The moment she made the oath, a cursed seal was carved into her heart.
The so-called Marionette Heart was one of Clayman's most secret of mystic abilities.
It allowed him to use a mix of fabulously expensive magical media with the magicules of the target to turn the receiver into a magic-born.
This skill was pulled off successfully, and Mjurran was reborn—and became a marionette, unable to defy the will of Clayman.
That was how it started.
She was given a simple task, or so he said.
And now…
"I'm not sure I am suited for battle…"
Clayman: 「No. You aren't, regardless of how high-level you are. So I want you to observe how those who serve another demon lord fight and then record it for me. You won't be in direct contact with them. I am sure you're capable of that, yes?」
Mjurran was hoping she'd be asked to scout for new members of their
fighting force.
She was disappointed. Instead, the demon lord flashed a serene
smile and give her his orders.
"I understand," she said, suppressing her own emotions.
She had to follow him. All she could do was nod.
"Such a regret", she whispered.
Some memories of her past, when she was free, were making her sentimental.
Snapping back to reality, she refocused on her mission, spreading the illusory skill 『Detect Magic』 around the local area.
The magic was used to sense the magicules around her, but when combined with the extra skill Magic Sense, she could read information from an even broader radius.
Any reaction…?
With the spell came a vast amount of data that streamed into her mind.
She had examined it all from moment to moment, and now she detected the presence of another magic-born—one with a vast store of magical energy.
She braced herself. She must have been near the territory she was asked to observe.
Focusing her mind as intensely as she could, she turned her eyes
toward her target…
○
Phobio, the Black Leopard Fang, and one of Carrion's Three Lycanthropeers understood his master's feelings better than anyone else.
That was why, even after being trounced to a terrifying degree by Fubuki, he was still hiding himself deep in the forest.
There was no way he could do something as utterly shameless as returning home right now.
If he explained everything to Carrion, he would no doubt laugh
it off and forgive him.
But Phobio's pride refused to allow that.
Failing to live up to the expectations of Carrion, the man who saved his life would be unbearable.
"I can't let that happen!" he half howled into the air.
"Please, calm yourself, Sir Phobio!"
"That defeat was unavoidable. Not even Lord Carrion could quell the rage of Milim, but with that new person, I'm still sure he would—"
"Shut up! Lord Carrion would never show his ugly face again if it happened to him.
I was just too inexperienced for the job…but my pride forbids me from returning without anything to show for it."
They had been hiding out for a week, taking shifts as they kept watch over the town.
The demon lord Milim had stayed there the entire time—and they had also seen monsters engaged in a variety of tasks, from building construction to road expansion.
There were also monsters tasked with procuring food and patrolling the area—the order preserved around town was amazing to see.
Not even Phobio could hide his shock.
"Just look at those bastards. Up and building a town for themselves… I dismissed them as lowly monsters, but they've got technology that not even I
am aware of…"
"You certainly said it. I wouldn't want to subjugate them so much as open formal relations with their leader."
This was Enrio, a monkey lycanthrope, taking an intellectual approach to the
question.
He was right, though.
These monsters were working in orderly crews under the command of their leaders.
This was clearly some state-of-the-art engineering.
It was incomparable with what Enrio knew in his homeland, the
Beast Kingdom of Eurazania, with its crude stone houses and roads of bare, flattened earth.
Up to now, Phobio was an absolute ruler. Nobody could defy his strength—but now his first setback was giving him pause.
He had never lost to anyone
before, except Carrion.
His logical mind told him that losing to Milim was unavoidable, but the flames of humiliation still simmered deep below.
"I know what you mean, sir, but…"
Enrio knew exactly how Phobio felt.
But exacting revenge upon Milim, along with that being at the same time, was not in the scope of reality.
He tried to make Phobio give up on the idea but found himself interrupted.
"Ohhh, I completely understand! All that anger and frustration… I'm an old veteran of those feelings, after all!"
"Who goes there?!"
"Since when were you here?"
They had failed to notice.
"Hohhhh-hoh-hoh-hoh! A good day to all of you! I am called Footman, a member of the Moderate Jesters. They call me the Angry Jester, and I am delighted to make all of your acquaintances!"
The polite greeting from the rotund figure was marred slightly by the enraged expression on its mask.
"Mm-hmm. You don't have to be so wary of us. My name's Teare, a fellow Moderate Jester. We're sort of jacks-of-all-trades, and I promise we're not fighting against you!"
And then, a female clown stepped out from behind Footman, this one with a tearful mask.
The angry man and the sobbing girl—the scene—it was a very strange thing to see beside a peaceful campfire.
"Hohh? I've never heard of this Moderate Jesters group before. A jack-of-alltrades, you say? Well, whatever. What are you after anyway?"
Phobio asked, trying to work out their objectives.
"Hohh-hoh-hoh-hoh! Well, I was called here by your feelings of anger and disgust. The waves of rage I felt rippling from here were quite noteworthy, indeed!
Were you the source of them? I would love to know what makes you so enraged. Would you be so kind
as to tell me? Because I'm sure I could offer some assistance!"
He transformed his mask as he spoke, making it erupt into an eerie smile.
"You expect us to talk to someone as creepy as you two?" Enrio countered.
"Sir Phobio, there's no reason to fall for their politeness. May we dispatch them for you?"
"He's right!" another of Phobio's men added. "It's not normal, someone coming here without being asked to. You two look to be high-level magic-born as well, but you picked the wrong group to wrestle with.
We belong to the Beast Master's Warrior Alliance, part of the armies of the demon lord Carrion. Do you think a pair of wandering magic-born like you could defeat us?"
Ignoring them, Footman continued. "You seek power, do you not? Well, power's just what we have. Quite a bit! It comes with a level of danger, of course, but if you can conquer this danger, the strength you could earn from it is tremendous!"
"…Oh?"
"Yeah! You want to beat the demon lord Milim and that mysterious guy you spoke of, don't you? So why don't you become a demon lord, too?"
Teare's question drove the camp to silence. The sound of one lycanthrope swallowing nervously seemed to echo against the trees.
"A…demon lord? Did you think you could trick us with such ridiculous—"
"Charybdis. Have you heard of it?"
The single word from Footman had earth-shattering effects. The moment he uttered it, Phobio froze in place.
And then—
"The evil powers that giant fish holds are incredibly massive! If you don't need it, well, we can always offer it to someone else. See ya!"
—Teare dealt the next blow.
Gesturing to Footman, she turned and prepared to walk off.
This was how the devil tempts you—by making you panic, stealing your decision-making skills,
and blocking your ability to think rationally.
"…Wait."
Hook, line, and sinker.
"Tell me about it. "
Phobio stopped her, defeated by his very own ambitions.
"No, Sir Phobio!"
"You can't listen to these people!"
"Tell me more," Phobio asked, ignoring his men.
The flames of crazed desire were dancing in his eyes as he turned them toward Footman. Maybe this was his chance to scare the wits out of Milim with all her power.
"Ooh! A fine decision, Sir Phobio. And the correct one! Who besides you could ever become a demon lord?"
"You're up for it, then?" Teare added. "Well, it makes sense to me. Someone strong's gotta be demon lord, or else it'd be a terrible mistake! That's what I
think, too—and you're just the man for the job, Sir Phobio!"
Yet, Phobio was no fool. He still had ultimate authority over these two flattering him, and he hadn't forgotten one very pertinent question to ask.
"Knock that crap off! I said. Tell me more. If I say yes to that offer, what do you get out of it? You gotta have some kind of endgame! So out with it!"
Teare and Footman had expected this.
"We do get something out of it, yes. If you become a demon lord, Sir Phobio, we're hoping you can show us a little… 'favor' afterward. Hopefully, you'll be able to accommodate us in a few areas?"
"Hoh-hoh-hoh! And we could hardly subdue Charybdis by ourselves. We've discovered where it's been confined and everything, but if we can't tame it, it'd be such a waste! And just as we were pondering over what to do about that, who should we run into, but you, Sir Phobio!"
That was easy enough for Phobio to accept.
"Huh. All right. But how do you know I can tame Charybdis any more than—?"
"Hohhhhh-hoh-hoh-hoh! No worries there! I am positive you will succeed at the task, Sir Phobio! And even if you should fail by some incredibly unlikely event, we will demand no reparations from you. We only charge our clients if they win, win, win! On that score—at the least—you can place your full trust upon the jacks-of-all-trades at the Moderate Jesters!"
Huh, Phobio thought.
So when I become demon lord, they want it to be clear who helped me out the most.
In that case, perhaps it was best to leave the demon lord Carrion's army.
That move could do him well, whether he succeeded at this or not.
Phobio had a lust for power. He also felt confident that he could tame Charybdis.
Instead of fearing failure, he was already sure of his success, ready to accept the deal.
All the extravagant praise from this pair made him feel like he
was sitting on a demon lord's throne even now—or perhaps, Phobio was already caught up in their spell by then.
"All right. I accept your offer!"
Following his instincts, Phobio nodded, signing the papers that Teare handed to him.
From there, the foundation for the upcoming carnage was lain.
◇◇◇
Phobio had chosen to send back his followers to inform the demon lord Carrion about the state of things.
They were hesitant at first, but after all, he was the leader.
They relented and did as instructed.
With Enrio on his way, the only people left were Teare, Footman, and Phobio.
"Well, shall we be off, then?"
"Yes! I can't wait to show this Charybdis my power and smash it to the ground. And with our combined forces, we'll turn those ignorant fools into sobbing babies!"
"Yep! You sure will! I'm totally cheering you on, too, so don't let your guard down! Ready to go?"
Teare and Footman motioned Phobio to follow behind them.
After a short journey, they reached a small cave, deep in the very heart of the Forest of Jura.
"Charybdis is here?"
"Sure is!"
"It has not resurrected itself quite yet, you see, but you can still feel its lust for destruction bubble into the air. We love such emotions, so that's how we found it."
There was an evil grin on Footman's face as he spoke.
Phobio failed to notice,
enthralled as he was by the strange aura he could feel from the cave.
"Now," the clown continued, "let me explain how this works. Resurrecting Charybdis requires a large number of corpses. Charybdis is a sort of spiritual
life-form, essentially like a demon. We have to give it a physical corpus, so it can
exercise its power in this world. So…"
He gave Phobio a sidelong glance. Phobio could read what it meant.
He gulped nervously.
"Wait. Are you…?"
"Why, yes! We are! To tame Charybdis, you must instill it within your own body. You will become one with it!" Footman's voice boomed, revealing his
obvious excitement.
"Mm-hmm," Teare added. "If you want to stop, now's your chance, okay? This seal won't last for much longer, and when it breaks, Charybdis will wind up being
resurrected on some battlefield or monster fight or whatever.
In fact, it's probably gonna try using the remaining dregs of its power to cook up the monster corpses it needs to resurrect itself—and if that happens, we'll have gone through all this trouble for nothing!"
Was that true? It might be.
There was a slight twinge of impatience to Teare's voice.
"If Charybdis automatically resurrects itself, I doubt we'd be able to control it. It's just a pure drive for destruction, so it won't take orders from anyone, I don't think.
Not even if we defeat it. So…we have to unseal it before it resurrects and take its powers away, or it won't work," she continued, choosing her words carefully.
Her eyes turned straight toward Phobio. They stabbed into him, much as Footman's had.
There would be no more eloquent way to ask the question they
were asking.
"All right," Phobio replied sternly. "I'm already committed to this; I ain't gonna chicken out now. I am ready to make the power of Charybdis my own!"
"Yeah! That's the spirit!"
"Hohhh-hoh-hoh-hoh! Well said, Lord Phobio. I really must thank you—and toast our good fortune as well for running into such a trustworthy partner!"
So it was decided.
Phobio ventured into the cave alone, eyes filled with the pride he held as a high-level magic-born.
A finely purified will that believed in victory without
fearing defeat.
But sadly, his heart was still filled, deep down, with his grudge against Milim and Fubuki and his buried anger at his own immaturity.
To the spiritual life-form known as Charybdis, nothing could be more delicious.
The moment he fell for Teare's and Footman's sweet words, his fate was sealed—a fact he had failed to notice as he plunged into the cave's darkness.
Time passed.
"He is gone, isn't he?"
"He certainly is."
"Hohh-hoh-hoh! Hohhh-hoh-hoh-hoh!"
"Ha-ha-ha… Ahh-ha-ha-ha!!"
The laughter came loud and fast once they were sure Phobio was fully inside.
"Exactly the sort of person one would expect to be serving that blockhead Carrion, eh? After all the excuses we practiced beforehand, he barely questioned us at all."
"Totally, totally! That monkey guy looked a lot smarter than him."
They had contrived a fairly extensive amount of arguments and strategies to convince Phobio to accept the offer from this pair of odd-looking strangers.
But.Phobio's eyes were so clouded by rage and greed that it went far easier than predicted.
They ridiculed him for it in his absence—so easy, it was almost a
disappointment.
"Is that the end of the job, then, Teare?"
"Mm-hmm! All I heard from Clayman was to revive Charybdis and have it head for Milim."
"And no new business after that?"
"Nope. This job's all wrapped up! Oh, and how about we just dispose of the lesser-dragon corpses we brought in? We're not gonna need 'em anymore."
"Indeed. We go through all the trouble to prepare a temporary body, and then that fool volunteers for the job instead! There is no need for these corpses, no."
So they tossed the bodies to the ground.
There were a dozen or so lesser dragons in all; they had killed an entire flock of them for the job.
Once they removed the corpses from their spatial-magic storage and dumped them on the ground, they left the scene, satisfied at a job well done.
○
(
Rimuru's POV)
It had been several weeks since Milim had arrived, and the time really passed by in a flash.
Every day was a battle with her.
Some days, she would check out our agricultural operations and even help plow the fields.
I was willing to bet that we were tilling the fields created after
clearing trees from the forest faster than any modern farming equipment could manage.
It was exhilarating, seeing how quickly the job was being done.
Especially when the supervision was being done by Fubuki.
The dude came back home depressed the other day after having to settle a fight between Milim and the most surprising participant of that incident, Gobta.
Well, how it occurred was a bit of an… *Oof.*
Gobta kinda told Milim something along the lines of, "I'm pretty sure that chest of yours is indented."
Stuff happened, and Gobta almost died. Well, thanks to Fubuki's interference, the day was set in smiles and tears of joy.
Yes, tears of joy. Strictly that and nothing else.
No bruises whatsoever. You can trust me.
Alright, the next thing to talk about… Oh yeah!
Not much had changed with life around town after Yohm and his crew left.
The only real difference was the guests we were now hosting. Kabal and friends were still staying here, as was Fuze.
Rimuru: 「Uhh, don't you kind of need to get back home sooner or later? How long were you planning to stay anyway? Your wife's gonna miss you, you see?」
I decided to bring up the question with Fuze while Kabal and his gang were taking Milim out hunting.
Fuze: 「…Well, is it all right if I stayed a little bit longer? There's, you know, a lot of
things to tackle.」
He wanted more time. He, too, had been walking around town, observing the assorted goings-on.
He wasn't liable to cause trouble if I took my eyes off him,
unlike Milim, but it still made me nervous.
Rimuru: 「Oh, come on, you're still not convinced that we're of no threat?」
The whole reason for his stay was because he was suspicious of us, really.
The longer he stayed here, the more concerned it made me.
Fuze: 「Mmm? Oh no, I've long since dropped any worries I had about you guys, Sir Rimuru. It's just…」
His voice trailed off.
Rimuru: 「Okay, so why are you still here?」 I pressed.
Fuze scowled a little, then resigned himself to reveal the truth.
Fuze: 「Well, it's just
comfortable living here, you know?
Thinking about it, it's been a long while since I've had a chance to rest and take it easy, so…you know, I was thinking this was a good chance to let my hair down for a bit.」
What? Wow, talk about brazen!
I've been on pins and needles worrying about Fuze, and he was treating this as a resort vacation?!
Rimuru: 「Uh, you realize I permitted you to stay here because you were going on about trying to 'gauge us out' and so on, right?
Also, what happened to your promise that you'd help make Yohm and his band into champions?」
Fuze: 「Oh, no need to worry! I've decided that I can trust you, Sir Rimuru, so I've already instructed my team to finish up the arrangements.」
Apparently, he had already reported to Blumund and gotten everything set for Yohm over in Falmouth.
Despite being on vacation, he was still handling his job for me.
Shrewd of him, I guess—or maybe, indicative of the fact that I couldn't let my guard down around him.
Rimuru: 「Really? Well, great, then. So you like it here?」
Fuze: 「I should say so! This town is amazing! Having such a fine place to rest and recuperate so near to Blumund is truly welcome.
Of course…I can't help but think about the dangers involved in traveling between here and there.」
I suppose Fuze really did see this town as a kind of health spa. Guess installing that hot-spring bath and working hard to improve our food quality paid off.
It was more the work of Fubuki, Shuna, and the three dwarven brothers than me, but still.
WE did a good job.
Our diets, in particular, had dramatically changed over the past few weeks.
It still wasn't all that varied a menu, but each meal had started to taste quite a bit better.
We didn't have much in the way of seasonings, such as Mirin or soy
sauce, so no really strong flavors yet.
But we did have salt, as well as something kind of like pepper and a variety of condiments from the fragrant grasses of the forest.
These ingredients, combined with Shuna's genius in the kitchen, were producing some pretty high-grade food.
Surprisingly, Fubuki actually had some cooking skills.
A touch of ancient cuisine and voilà—a perfect blend of experience judged by time to create a masterpiece!
He had good skills, with the only problem being how outdated those recipes were.
His knowledge of the current era was quite—to say for better word—lacking.
It was kinda like those old-school uncool grandmas always attempting to fit into the current era of youngsters.
An unneeded fact—I know—but they really annoy me, to be honest.
When listing the ingredients needed for those cuisines, you'd find out that some of the necessary ingredients had long gone extinct, and in the end, the whole cooking plan would collapse.
But then, I made a wonderful suggestion.
It all ended up like this: He'd bring out an idea, and she'd bring it to life.
It turned out to be the best way to utilize their excellent abilities to make the best food there is out there.
Honestly, Shuna and Fubuki really hit it off as best buddies.
Till this day, I still don't understand what he sees in that tsundere dragon, calling him his best friend.
But, really, that bastard threw me under the bus.
He took the hot cake and left the problem child in my care. Like, seriously? No bro code and shit?
How treacherous!
Dumping Shion on me, hitting it off with a pretty girl, and now, I was stuck with this ticking time bomb, remaining still reserved for the worst moment possible.
I will return the favor, I swear it.
It was a bitter loss, but as it goes, it will be a bigger return.
Back to square one.
Milim: 「Ahh, being able to consume such fine cuisine, day in, day out. I am a happy woman indeed!」
More like a happy, nosy, greedy brat.
She had made friends with Shuna while I wasn't paying attention, and the sight of her stealing—er, sampling—tastes of food in the kitchen became a regular occurrence.
It was painful to watch from the sidelines, but I had to man it up and continue being a sore loser.
Though, it was nice to witness her getting pranked by Fubuki.
I vividly remember that day…
◇◇◇
On an unsuspecting day, Fubuki had Shuna swap places with Shion, and well, you can guess the rest.
The arrangements were set, and the final pieces were unraveling themselves.
Milim, after being presented with the dish, looked like she would cry at any moment.
Milim: 「This… This is food, right? Because if I recall correctly, my garbage looked way better than this!」 she cried out to the heavens, assuming any angel even gave a damn.
Fubuki: 「Remember what I taught you, Milim. Never judge a book by its cover.」 Fubuki scolded.
The audacity he has to scold her…
Milim: 「N-No takebacksies?」
Fubuki: 「Huh? What's that. Never heard of it. That word is temporarily not in my dictionary. Hell, not even the uno reversal card would do justice to this situation.」
Milim: 「W-Wah?! Not even the almighty life insurance card?!」
Fubuki:「Nope. Because cards hold no influence in the face of death—er, I mean divine flavors!」
At this point, I knew not a single nonsense they were spouting—and I sure as hell didn't want to know what it's even about anymore.
It was the tongue of ancient hags.
Shuna was fond of Milim, and sometimes I wondered if anyone saw her as a demon lord any longer.
But hey, having friends isn't a bad thing.
Milim: 「Alright, here goes nothing, I guess…」
—And she died.
She died for a whole day and came back the next.
He had to take her to his house and left her to recuperate alone.
Then came the next day…
We had a grumpy Milim to deal with.
It wasn't easy, I tell ya.
Milim: 「You tricked me!!」
Fubuki: 「And you fell for it like a fool. Who's fault is that?」
Milim: 「It's yours…! Wait…ours…?」
Fubuki: 「*Sigh,* At times like these, your stupidity shines brightest.」
That was it.
He ended up giving her a long, boring speech—which she had to listen to—on how to deal with tricksters and literal hackers, and Milim's life became hell from then on.
The whole mess was centered on her, and I saw another side of the poor girl.
A strong and mighty demon lord reduced to a grounded child under strict isolation—it was a terrifyingly pleasant sight.
◇◇◇
We were also training apprentice cooks for Shuna's operations.
From both genders, too. Shuna didn't have the analysis and assessment abilities that my
unique skills provided; she had to rely on her five senses to make the food she did.
The new cooks stuck to Shuna's advice along those lines, working hard to keep bellies full and mouths salivating across town.
With all the different races coming in, our population was starting to swell.
This naturally meant we needed to employ a large number of people to cover our food needs, along with keeping the peace, cleaning the rest houses, and doing the laundry.
Everyone had their strong and weak points, so we had
decided to divide the work into six categories: cooking, cleaning, upkeep, sewing, assistance, and miscellaneous.
Rigurd was responsible for taking command and providing assignments.
He was good at it, and the job he was doing bringing all the town's monsters together was a wonder to see.
Danger on the roads, though…?
That was probably a good point.
It'd be exceedingly rare to run into something as big as a knight spider, but there certainly were a large number of monsters out there.
We had to do something about that.
Rimuru: 「Hmm… I see. It'd be quicker to build a new road, wouldn't it?」
Fuze:「Huh? What do you mean?」
Rimuru: 「Um, well, I'm having a crew pave a road between here and the Dwarven Kingdom, but I've also got another team handling building construction.
Their work's settled down lately, but I was thinking maybe they could put in a road to Blumund. It'd keep people from getting lost, at least.
Fuze: 「Wait, really? That's kind of a big national operation, isn't it? You'd need a ton of money to—」
Rimuru: 「There you go again, Fuzie-kun~.」
Fuze: 「Fuzie? Something about you calling me that really creeps me out.」
Rimuru: 「Ah, don't worry about it, Fuzie. If we can build a road and pave it with gravel, that'd open passage to carriages and wagons and such.
It'd save a ton of time, plus, it'd be useful for future relations, right? And we'd be happy to undertake this operation. Just one thing…」
Fuze: 「What's that?」
Rimuru: 「I want you to spread the word, like you promised. Just let everyone know that we aren't a pack of dangerous monsters.
And I'd also appreciate it if you could introduce me to an expert in customs and tariffs and stuff.
I want to sell some of the goods we produce, so if I could get in contact with people who can help with all that stuff, that'd be great. How about it?」
Right now, the path between here and Blumund was little more than a rough animal trail, capable of accommodating horses but not full carriages.
We had started to build a road to Dwargon, but we hadn't even gotten around to clearing the trees that dotted the path to Blumund.
We hesitated to because we were afraid of calling too much attention to ourselves, but that was before all the battles and such in the forest.
Things were starting to calm down again, and I wanted to have some
highways, we could leverage to improve our trading activity.
I was prepared to leave that issue alone if we were seen as "the enemy," but if we were building diplomatic relations with other countries, we needed some real roads fast.
And since we ran things in the forest, it was up to us, I felt, to do all the construction work.
I figured now was a good time to plead my case to Fuze about this, even if it sounded a tad patronizing, and have him do his job for me.
It had the intended effect. Fuze looked honestly touched.
"Sir Rimuru, you would really do all that for us? In that case, we'll do our best to provide any kind of support you need!"
Heh. That was easy. Fuze will probably be singing our praises to anyone who listens to him once he returns home.
At the very least, if he didn't have a narrow, prejudiced view of us, then I'd say we won this battle.
If using some of our idle man power to build a road was enough to earn that much appreciation, it's a pretty cheap deal for us, I think.
That wrapped up the whole discussion.
—————————————————————————————————
Word Count: 「6235」.