Night. The direwolves' alpha had his eyes open. It was a full moon—the perfect night for a battle.
Slowly, he rose, surveying the area, the rest of his pack looking on with bated breath.
Just the right amount of intensity, the alpha thought.
Tonight, they would level the goblin village, establishing a foothold for themselves within the Forest of Jura.
Then, slowly but surely, they
would hunt the monsters around the area, expanding their territory until they ruled the woods.
There was also the second mysterious individual ruling the forest alongside the mighty dragon, but to the alpha, he must have already reached the end of their lifespan, considering that he had been inactive for over half a millennium—so he was told by his father.
Soon, when the time was right, they would turn their eyes toward the south, invading the forest for the power it held.
They had the strength to make it happen. Their claws could rend
the flesh of any monster; their fangs could pierce any armor.
「Awooooooooooo!」
The alpha gave the signal.
It was time to let the carnage begin.
There was, however, one concern.
The alpha had sent a scout a few days ago who had come back with
some perplexing news—news of a small monster that let off a strange, mystical force.
Enough to surpass that of even their alpha.
He had shrugged off this report at first. It was too preposterous to entertain. He himself had detected nothing of the sort in the forest.
Every monster they'd encountered was a comparative weakling. Up to
this point, nothing even resembling resistance to their advance had appeared—and they were almost in the dead center of the wood.
A dozen or so goblins had picked off one or two members of their pack, but nothing else.
The scout must have been too excited about the upcoming hunt to think straight.
That was the alpha's conclusion as he kept his eyes
forward.
Ahead lay a village. It was situated exactly where the scout said it was.
He had followed the trail of a wounded goblin straight to it.
Nothing about his report suggested it to be a threat.
This was not the alpha's first battle. He was cunning, and he never let his guard down.
However, even he had to admit that the strange…thing around the village was a tad unusual.
It was… a fence, like one would see in a human village.
The homes that once composed, the settlement had been disassembled, formed into a defense that neatly covered all of the village grounds.
And there, in front of the single opening in the barrier, was a lone slime.
Rimuru: 「All right, stop where you are, okay?」 the slime said to them.
Rimuru: 「If you turn back now, I promise I won't do anything to you. Move away from here at once!」
Impertinent little bastard. Leaving just one entryway open to
block a mass attack? It's just the kind of shallow thinking one should expect from a garbage monster like this.
Our claws and fangs would make mincemeat out of that rickety old thing—the alpha thought.
It was time to show this slime their true power. The alpha gave the order.
As if they were his own right hand, about a dozen direwolves
immediately set off to attack the fence—the picture of coordination—the exact reason the pack essentially functioned as a single monster.
The Thought Communication skill enabled their collective
behavior.
It was far faster than giving verbal orders, letting the pack
work in perfect tandem.
The first wave should have been all it took to destroy the fence.
Instead, the alpha, already picturing a screaming rabble of goblins struggling to flee after the miserable failure of their stratagem, let out a surprised yelp.
The force he had sent toward the fence had been blown straight backward, some of them bleeding profusely as they writhed on the ground.
What could this be? The alpha kept his mind sharp as he surveyed the area.
The slime by the entryway had not moved an inch. Did it do something?
One of his men sidled up to him to report. It was him, boss! The
thing with the mystical force that outclassed yours!
Nonsense, the alpha thought as he looked at the slime. It was a
small monster.
They would occasionally be born here and there along the plains.
Even calling them "monsters" at all seemed absurd—their
whole existence was petty.
That thing, holding more force than me…?
The alpha fumed.
Impossible!
Few, indeed, were the monsters more sly and crafty than the alpha.
He had years of experience to draw upon, and he could summon it on the fly to calmly, nimbly formulate a new plan.
Plus, his years of experience told him that this monster could not possibly be stronger
than he was.
Right there, for the first time, the alpha committed a fatal mistake—one that would ultimately decide his fate.
You wretched little worm of a monster—I shall crush you to pieces!
◇◇◇
Yeesh. That was a shock.
I didn't think they'd go lunging at the joint straight out.
I even gave them that heroic little speech about how I wouldn't do anything if they
turned back, but they totally ignored it.
Instead, the direwolves all started moving at once, attacking the fence from pretty much every angle they had.
I was hoping we could talk things over a little first, but they forced me to throw out my entire
script.
And after all that rehearsing I did while the fence was being
built…
The first order I'd given the goblins was to show me where the
wounded were.
Adding a dozen or so survivors to the sixty fighters we had wouldn't make the work go much more efficiently, but given their
devotion for us, I wanted to do what I could for them.
They were all lying down on the floor of a large, fairly unhygienic-seeming building.
Looking over them, I started to think. Apparently, they're using some herbs to treat them…but left to themselves, they'll die before long.
They were all in rougher shape than I'd thought—skin slashed by teeth and claws, and some were sporting nasty-looking gashes with God-knows-what growing out of them.
I figured it was about time to take action, but before I could move, Sariel stole the spotlight.
Fubuki: 「Well, it's miracle time, I guess.」 he said, then it started.
Out of his body came a light-blue gas of the sort. The fragrance was alluring. Even I-san with no sense of smell whatsoever got the details straight.
It seemed to have a healing effect as all the injuries suffered by these folks were reversed (healed).
I figured that I couldn't be outdone, so I asked him to sit back whilst I handled the boss level.
He was surprisingly cooperative. These are rare times—I tell yah.
In the meantime, I ordered the goblins who were decent with a
bow to go on scout duty. I warned them not to wander too far afield—wolves were bound to have good noses.
I could tell by their eyes that they were willing to sacrifice themselves for the cause. They were ready to shout out "By my very life!," at any moment.
There was a lot more bravado than I really needed right now, but I doubted there was any quick fix for it.
As night fell, around a day after I arrived at the village, the final planks were on the fence.
The finishing touches were mine—spider silk to strengthen and solidify the paling and a few Steel Thread traps here and there.
Anyone touching the fence without knowing the secret would be carved up before they knew could say, "Mama!"
I'll have to remember to go fetch a body or two later.
I made sure the fence had a single entryway on one side. Once it was lined with Sticky Thread, my job here was done.
All that remained was to wait for the scouts to come back.
By this time, the wounded goblins were starting to wake up, healed
from their wounds.
They furtively poked their bodies, staring curiously down at themselves. Looks like that stuff packs a wallop.
I'd assumed I'd need to apply several doses to the graver-looking of the patients, but it worked a hell of a lot better than I'd thought.
I had no complaints about that mistake.
After that, I had the goblins collect the extra material, pile it up in the center of the village grounds, and set it on fire.
It reminded me of more than one camping trip, but now was no time for marshmallows and tents.
We would need to keep watch the whole night through. Sariel offered to handle it alone but was sharply refused.
「As if we'd allow or masters to shoulder such burdens!」such was the response he got.
「She is right! We will handle watch duty for you. Please,
Fubuki-sama, take the time to rest a little!」
The rabble around us echoed their approval. We appreciated the
thought, though.
They had to be far more exhausted than we were by now, but Sariel agreed to handle the watch in shifts and rest when I wasn't on duty.
Just before midnight, the scouts returned—some wounded, but all
safe.
The direwolves had begun to move, they said. Funny how I thought they were these ugly, filth-ridden monsters two days ago.
Now, I was starting to feel actual affection for them.
I wonder how Sariel sees them…
I cleared my mind as I began to look at things from a different perspective.
If I had my way, I thought as I applied the final Sticky Thread to the entryway, I'd like to
get them through this without losing a single one.
So that was our prep process, more or less. Hostilities were under way, so there wasn't much else I could do.
At this point, we had to stick to the plan.
I wasn't convinced the fence was strong enough to hold, but
fortunately, the direwolves couldn't grab hold of it long enough to do much.
The traps mostly sprang just as I'd planned. That was a relief.
Anticipating this, I had ordered small slits built into the fence at regular intervals.
Those openings were for arrows, so the goblins could attack from the inside and interfere with the enemy's movements.
They opened fire, and even with their crappy aim, they made more
than a few direwolves scream their last.
A few of the enemy forces tried
to pry the spaces open and break in that way…only to have their heads caved in by the stone-ax-wielding goblins on either side of each hole.
Two hours wasn't nearly enough practice time, but this village was playing for keeps.
They listened to everything I said, understood it, and took action.
And we were reaping the rewards.
The wolves were strong, yes, capable of taking on a gaggle of goblins at once, and maybe they were even stronger as a pack.
But if they were powerful solo, we could just strike 'em all together.
If they were powerful as a
team, we'd make sure they couldn't team up.
Use your head, and you can make it work.
The strongest creature in the world, after all, is a human being with a little intelligence!
Your luck just ran out, I thought to myself as I stared into the cold eyes of the direwolf boss.
Some stupid animal beating me? How conceited do you think you could you get?
◇◇◇
The confused direwolf alpha was shocked at how far awry his plans
had gone.
His pack was beginning to fall into disarray. That couldn't be
allowed to continue.
The direwolf tribe shone its brightest only when grouped together.
Mistrust in the alpha would lead to fatal results.
He understood that, too—and that was why he then made his greatest
mistake of all.
He was enraged at the weakness of his pack, unable to overcome a simple fence, but he was even more afraid that his team's frustration would soon be directed at him.
I need to display my strength to them, he thought. I am the
strongest of my pack.
I am more than strong enough, even by myself!
That was the moment when everything was decided.
◇◇◇
My eyes were still firmly upon the direwolf boss.
To the goblins, he had disappeared, I assumed, but to me, he was ambling along at a yawn-worthy pace.
Everything was going to plan. I had considered a few possible
outcomes, and now one of them was playing out in front of me.
These were animals, after all.
Not ex-humans like me.
The Sticky Thread over the entryway immediately captured the
boss.
For all I knew, the silk wouldn't be enough to keep a direwolf
leader stuck tight.
There'd been no way to test it beforehand, but that didn't matter anymore.
The Sticky Thread was there just so we could keep the boss in place for a single moment.
If I didn't hold him in place and he dodged the ensuing 『Water
Blade』 attack, that would look super stupid.
At worst… "Hah! That was the stupidest thing I've ever seen! Like—I get that you're slime material and all, but damn—at least be 'sticky' in your approach! Ha-ha-hahaha-ha!!"
No-no-no-no!! Never. I'd die from shame and embarrassment with that one.
He'd definitely have a diary for that moment or shit.
But that was not the only concern.
I could end up destroying the whole place—or worse, I could catch my team in friendly fire.
In the midst of a battle, that was entirely possible.
That was why I devised the trap. But maybe I over-engineered it a
little.
These guys hadn't even gotten the fence down yet.
I'd considered lining the entrance with Steel Thread instead but opted against it, worried that it wouldn't be enough of a final blow.
In situations like these, it was my job to play the ultimate
strongman, the ruler of the roost.
That was what all this was for, and that's why, without another moment of self-doubt, I launched a 『Water Blade』 at the boss's head. It hit home like *PHEW*—!!
The head launched upward, and then gravity took it. I had killed the boss—and more importantly, I made it look like a laugh.
Rimuru: 「Listen, direwolves! Your leader is dead! I will grant you one final choice. Submit to me or die!」
So how will they deal with that? Will their boss's death drive them into such a frenzy that they'll bum-rush me? I'd like to avoid that if I could.
The remaining direwolves showed no sign of moving. Uh-oh. This
isn't gonna be one of those "I'd rather die than submit to the likes of you!"—things, is it?
'Cause if it is, it's gonna be all-out war. We were still losing numbers-wise, and we'd definitely take some casualties.
We made it this far without any goblin blood—I doubted we'd lose at this point, but I'd prefer it ended without a struggle.
It was oddly quiet, compared to the pitched battle of a moment
ago. I could feel the gazes of the direwolves upon me.
Amid their stares, I gradually started glooping forward.
I couldn't tell how they'd interpret this, but I wanted to hammer it home that their boss was dead.
In a moment, I was at the alpha's limp body. Nobody offered any
objection. One of their pack, which had taken up position nearby, retreated a step.
I swallowed the corpse. As was my right as victor—yeah?
The Sage's voice rang in my mind.
«Analysis complete. Mimic: Direwolf ability obtained. Direwolf intrinsic skills 『Keen
Smell』, 『Thought Communication』, and 『Coercion』 acquired.»
Sounds like a win to me. But despite seeing their own boss eaten in front of them, the rest of the direwolves still showed no sign of movement.
Hmmm… At this point, they were either gonna freak out and run or freak out and come for me.
…Oh, right! I told them "submit or die," didn't I? Ah, shit. That
might've been throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Better give 'em an escape route, I thought as I transformed myself into one of them.
Activating Coercion, I spoke to them in a loud, guttural scream.
Rimuru: 「Arh-arh-arh! Listen to me—!」 I loudly declared to them. 「—once, and only once, I will let this go unpunished. If you refuse to obey me, I bid you to leave here at once!!」
I figured that'd be enough to make these dogs scamper off. I was wrong.
「We pledge our allegiance to you!」
Now they were kowtowing to me, although it looked more as if
they were having a lie-down for a nap.
But regardless, they had apparently chosen "submit" anyway.
Maybe they'd been having a little
Thought Communication conference about it while they were
standing there like statues.
It beats having to fight them, anyway.
That, more or less, marked the official end of the battle at this goblin village.
◇◇◇
That's always the thing, though, isn't it? It's not the fight that's the hard part; it's all the goddamn cleanup afterward.
Rimuru: 「Come on, dude. I literally did everything! Cut me some slack!!」
Fubuki: 「The only thing I'll be cutting are some slime tentacles if you don't wind your ass up and complete the job. Onto it, sergeant!!」
Rimuru: 「Uhh, fine!」
But now, the questions came by naturally:
Who's the idiot that ordered them to destroy their own homes?
What're we gonna do about those? And where're all these goblins
gonna sleep tonight?
And what am I supposed to do with all these dogs?
I mean, sure, we killed a fair amount of 'em, but that's still, like, eighty more mouths to feed.
Rimuru: 「I, um… Ah, screw it. That's all for today, people! I'll think about it tomorrow, once everyone wakes up.」
For the time being, I ordered the goblins to camp out next to the
fire, told the dogs to go on standby around the village, and called it a night.
Fubuki: 「... I see potential in this one.」
Kalisha: 「Umu! Leader material…」
Morning came.
I had spent the previous night thinking, mostly. The conclusion I came up with: Let the goblins take care of the direwolves!
Perfect, right?!
We had a total of seventy-two goblins left in fighting shape.
There are no casualties whatsoever from yesterday.
We were fit.
At most, there are a few scratches.
Meanwhile, we had eighty-one surviving direwolves parked outside the town fence—some wounded, but none so badly that a little recovery potion didn't prop them right back up.
They could've recovered themselves, I reckoned, with their intrinsic healing skills.
The morning began with me lining up the goblins who were awake.
The children and elderly watched from the side.
They couldn't help but stick out, given the lack of any homes to hang out in.
Next to me was the village elder.
He wanted to help me out somehow, I guess, but there's so much an old goblin geezer could do for me.
My personal aesthetic tastes remained unchanged from my
human years.
That would never change, even though I was transmogrified into a slime.
There would be no charming village princess I could ride off
into the sunset with.
I'd probably have to wait a while for that.
In front of this line of goblins, I summoned the direwolves.
Rimuru: 「Um, okay,」 I began, 「from now on, I'm gonna have you all form pairs and live with each other, all right?」
Then I gauged the response. I didn't get much of one. They were
waiting for me to continue, I guessed, not making a single sound as they stared at me.
Nobody seemed to openly grimace at the idea of pairing up, at least, so I assumed I was on decent enough ground.
Fubuki: 「This is how monsters are. The words of the leader itself are law and justice. We're the supreme ones. They'll follow us to the grave need it be.」
I see. I could get used to that. But the pressure though…
Fubuki: 「And in case you're feeling pressured, I'm here for ya, dude.」
—Says the one who dumped the shit on me!!
Fubuki: 「Plus, I'm already a leader, so I at least know the basics. You need training—and as per my buddy's words, I'm willing to give you that training.」
Rimuru: 「STOP READING MY MIND, WILL YOU!?!」
Fubuki: 「I'm not reading your mind. You are as open as a book. (Damn, I guess this is how the old man felt with my openness.)」
Our banter went on for a while before we calmed down, mostly me being the cooled one.
Rimuru: 「So, uhh, do you understand what I meant? Like, groups of two, okay? Get to it!」
The moment I finished speaking, the goblins and the direwolves
began exchanging glances with whoever was in front of them.
Slowly and meekly, they followed my order.
Yesterday's enemy is today's friend, and all that. They had to learn that the hard way, but at least everyone was on board.
Then I noticed something. Hang on, do any of these guys have
names at all?
How are they supposed to call for each other and stuff?
What an itch in the ass.
Rimuru: 「Elder—」, I called out as I watched the pairing process unfold before me.
Rimuru: 「—it's too inconvenient for me to refer to you and your people.
I'd like to give names to you all. Would that be all right?」
Everyone must have heard me somehow.
Right at the word names, every single one of them was locked on to me—even the nonfighting goblins—clearly thrown by this turn of events.
Fubuki: 「....」
Wait, why's he silent all of a sudden—?
I know! It's a sign that I'm missing something, but what—!?
「Are…are you sure…?」 the elder timidly asked.
What's the big deal, huh?
Rimuru: 「Y-yeah, um… If it's not a problem, I'd like to give out some names?」
It was as if I'd simultaneously blown the minds of every goblin on the premises.
Each one erupted into enthusiastic cheering.
What the hell? It's as if they all just hit the lottery or shit.
If getting a name makes you that happy, why don't you just do it yourselves?
It all seemed so simple to me back then.
I started with the elder, asking him what his son's name was. He
had been the sole named goblin in the village—now sadly passed.
It was "Rigur," apparently.
So I added a "d" on the end and named the elder "Rigurd."
There is no particular reason for it—it just sounded nice.
Rimuru: 「If your son was here—」 I joked,「—you could have him state his name and just kinda add "d" to the end of it, y'see?」
No one laughed. They thought I was serious. Wasn't it funny
Fubuki: 「(I know I said he had potential, but this… magnificent! He will be my disciple!! Solid!
Though, Veldora's the energy plant, right?)」
「Yes.」
Fubuki: 「(Good, good. He's safe, then.) How thoughtful of you, Rimuru.」
Rimuru: 「Yeah, yeah—enough with the mockery.」
Rigurd: 「I… I can not express
my gratitude enough—」 he blubbered, 「—for being granted permission to take on my son's name!」
Yeah, great. I'm just shooting from the hip here, you know?
It's just me spamming random nonsense like machine guns.
It was starting to make me feel a bit guilty…but ah, what the hell!
The goblin scout leader, meanwhile, I named Rigur.
I could've added a "II" to the end of it, I suppose, but why make this more complicated than it had to be? "Rigur" was fine.
Fine enough that it made him kneel before me in prayer, as if this was the most emotional moment in his life. Cripes.
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
So on I went, down the whole line.
I also did the rest of the
onlookers while I was at it, having families figure out their names together and coming up with whatever for the orphans and singles in the village.
They aren't expecting to, like, keep recycling these names for
generations to come, are they?
If Rigurd has a grandson, maybe he could start calling himself "Rigurdd."
Or if he has a great-grandson, he could be "Rigurddd" and "Rigurd" then gets passed on to the youngest generation.
Something like that? Pretty random, maybe, but how else do family traditions ever get started?
Rigurd: 「Sir Rimuru—」, the newly christened Rigurd plaintively asked, 「we are so, so appreciative of this, but…are…are you sure?」
Rimuru: 「About what?」
Rigurd: 「I mean, I am fully aware of the extent of your magical powers, Sir Rimuru, but…providing all of these names in one go…Will you be all right?」
What's he talking about? I'm just handing out names to folks.
Fubuki: 「After naming a few, you're gonna feel tired. You'd be giving them power by naming them, but no biggies, yeah?」
Rimuru: 「Mm!」 I replied.
Rimuru: 「No, no problem, I don't think.」
Then I went back to it.
Rigurd raised his eyebrows for a moment, but I paid him no further mind.
Once I was done with the goblins, it was time to move on to the
direwolves.
Their new leader would be the son of the old one—just as strong (and strong willed) as his father, and already looking every bit as stately.
Peering into his gold-colored eyes, I thought for a moment.
Hmm…
How about Ranga? That combines the Japanese characters for storm
and fang into one peppy little word.
Perfect!
Cheap, maybe, but I rolled with it. I'm the Tempest; he's got fangs… Tempest-Fang!! Trashy, right?
Whatever came to mind first was best, I figured. This wasn't my
forte.
The moment I named him Ranga, I began to feel as if practically all the magicules flowing through my body were draining out of it.
The sense of hollowness—of the violent emptying of my innards—was mind-blowing.
What… What's going on? It was a fatigue like none I'd felt before.
«Reporting. Your body's remaining store of magic has gone below its acceptable threshold. Entering sleep mode. Expected to fully recover in three days.»
I was still conscious. I didn't need to sleep…exactly, and I could hear the Sage's voice.
Slowly but surely, it began to dawn on me.
I'd used too much of my…magic? Like hitting zero MP, sort of?
Sariel did warn me ahead of time—absurdly, though.
What'd I do to manage that?
Had I been wearing myself out this whole time without realizing
it?
It sure didn't feel that way.
I tried moving. No response. "Sleep mode" must be something like hibernation.
I wasn't asleep, but I couldn't move at all.
All I could do was sit around—which was fine because the goblins had prepared a seat of honor for me by the fire, so I might as well bask in it.
There's nothing else to do or that I could do.
I took the opportunity to reflect on what just happened. Why did I
run out of magic after I started naming people?
Come to think of it, it really started to flow out once I named the direwolves' leader, didn't it?
It was still just a theory, but it seemed clear to me that naming
monsters actually required magic.
That conclusion took around two
days to reach.
It sure explained why Rigurd was so aghast at what I was doing,
among other things.
Sariel could've made the warning clear, though…
This… Oh, crap, this isn't common knowledge among monsters, is
it?
"Fubuki!!," I wanted to shout, "you gotta tell me these things properly!!"
But there was no point lashing out at others. Not that it'd stop me once I could move again, I imagined.
Initially, the goblins seemed kind of worried about how I fell stone silent, but Sariel ensured them that it was just me entering some sleep-like state.
Somewhere along the line, the question of who had the right to wipe my surface and take care of me almost erupted into violent conflict.
What are they doing? This is one harem I seriously wish I weren't involved in.
I was starting to feel like a magic lamp people could rub for three wishes.
Hell. I felt as if I'd burn with how I was rubbed.
Fubuki: 「Come on, there's no use fighting now, is there? Give 'em to me.」
They obediently did as he ordered. It seems he can be a leader when the time comes for it.
Fubuki: 「So, here's the deal. I'm gonna head out for a while. You guys should make sure… for... now...…」
My consciousness slipped completely before I knew it, and I ended up not hearing all of what he said.
Well, time to sleep it is!!
—————————————————————————————————
Word Count: 「4875」.