All right...
So in the three days I was checked out, all the monsters around me grew. That was freaky.
The only thing that could produce something like that was evolution, I suppose.
So does naming a monster evolve
them?
And didn't Veldora go on about something like that for a while...?
The difference between "nameless" and "named" monsters?
Oh, right! Something about how earning a name provides a sort of
divine blessing that helps boost your ability as a monster.
This is a divine miracle! A divine blessing in the truest sense of the word! I mean, look at those boobs!!
«...»
*Cough* *Cough*
Well, hell, no wonder everyone was so happy. And no wonder it tapped all my magic reserves at once.
Monster evolution happens fast. I'd say they didn't "grow" so much as they become completely different creatures.
The tepid, void-like eyes of
the goblins now shone brightly with the pale light of intelligence.
And the females... Yow! They actually kind of look like women now!
I was so shocked that I could barely even speak.
Huh? ...Huh?!
It made me literally do a double take.
These guys were like-maybe closer to baboons than humans, and now
-well, to use their official terminology-the males were "hobgoblins" and the females "goblinas," although the latter sounded pretty stupid to me.
They had both evolved, and according to Rigurd, they had
heard the so-called World Language when they did-something that all evolved creatures experienced.
It is a very rare occurrence, and one that excited Rigurd to no end, judging by how he couldn't shut up about it.
This wasn't entirely a happy thing for me, though. The female
goblins had covered their entire bodies in rags before.
Now, thanks to their evolution, the skimpy clothing allowed one to see certain... things (We all know what that's about 😏☠️).
There would be no brushing them off now. The males certainly
seemed happy about it; especially one goofy-looking short goblin.
Even though they were wearing nothing but loincloths themselves...
The village was in desperate need of food, clothing, and shelter.
Better start with clothing first, I figured.
◇◇◇
I saw a mountain of food piled up before me. That solved one of our
problems, at least.
Once I used up all my magic, the rest of them began the
evolutionary process.
It took about a day to complete, and they wanted to celebrate with both that and the end of battle with a feast.
The elder refused to allow it until I recovered, however, so instead, they spent their time gathering the food first.
I had noticed them sparring with one another over who got to
shine me up during my departure but not the evolution or foodgathering efforts.
This "sleep mode" made me... well...nigh-defenseless it looked like.
I'd need to be careful with it.
The way they began taking action without waiting for orders, at
least, it was much appreciated.
The evolution process must've done wonders for their intelligence.
It might've impacted their mental
strength even more than the physical.
And the food! Back in their regular goblin days, they'd eked out a living off fruits, nuts, edible plants, and whatever monsters and animals they could hunt down.
Now, with the aid of their tempest wolves, they could cover a lot more terrain.
The pairs had, much to my surprise, gained the ability to use Thought Communication with each other-goblins who could guide their wolves more surely than the best of jockeys.
I couldn't guess how much this improved their combat ability, but previously unbeatable foes were now simply a warm-up for them.
This entire mountain of food was the results from the past two days alone.
But relying on hunting and gathering would leave them in danger if something happened to their environment.
They'd have to start thinking about agriculture pretty soon.
A steady food supply is the key
to a life of plenty.
I'd need to figure out what kind of produce grew well here, as well as what sort of grain crops (assuming there were different types at all on this planet).
Always something new to explore,
at least.
Today, though, I just wanted to shut off my brain and enjoy the
feast. And I did.
Well into the night, we celebrated our evolution, the end of war, and-most important to me-my recovery.
The next day, I gathered the entire population around me. We had a heap of issues to tackle, but I had something even more important to tell them.
We needed to hammer out the rules of this village.
Rules, as everyone knew in Japan, were a must to maintain a communal society.
"Because I said so!" was only gonna go so far around here, no matter how many times I used that phrase in my old life.
At the core, I had three rules in mind-three guiding principles I
wanted to be sure to have them follow.
Everything else, I imagined they could figure out.
Rimuru: 「Everyone here? All right! I have some rules to give to you! Three,
to be exact.
The bare minimum I want all of you to follow.」
And so I laid out my standards:
1. Do not attack human beings.
2. Do not fight among your each other.
3. Do not look down upon other species.
I could've gone with more if I kept thinking about it, but I couldn't expect them to follow too many from the start.
Instead, I just stuck to the basics. But how would they take it?
Rigur: 「Could I ask a question?」 Rigur shouted. 「Why are we not allowed to attack humans?」
Rigurd gave his son the dirtiest look I've ever seen from a
hobgoblin.
Was he afraid I was offended? I wish we could keep things a little more informal, but...
Rimuru: 「Simple: Because I like humans! That is all.」
Rigur: 「Ah! Very good! I understand!」
You...do? Well, geez, that was easy. But I couldn't read a single hint of dissent on any of their faces.
I was expecting a little more
debate on the issue. Talk about a letdown.
Rimuru: 「Human beings live in groups.」 I continued, giving my full explanation whether they needed it or not.
Rimuru: 「If you lay hands on them, they may retaliate in force-and if they throw everything they have at you, I doubt you would be able to defend yourselves.
That's why I prohibit interfering with them. It'd help you all if you were friendly with them, besides...」
Really, though, it just came down to me liking humans, seeing as I
used to be one.
Ranga nodded deeply at this. It seemed to make sense to him. He
must have had his own reasons to think challenging mankind was a
bad idea.
The hobgobs, meanwhile, appeared even more convinced than before, so I didn't bother thinking about them much.
Rimuru: 「Is there anything else?」
Gobta: 「What do you mean by 'Do not look down upon other species'?」
Rimuru: 「Well, all you guys are freshly evolved, right? I'm just saying, don't let that get to your head and start lording it over all the weaker species!
Just because you're all a little sturdier doesn't mean you're
some high-and-mighty race now.
Sooner or later, your rivals will get just as strong-or even stronger-and they'll want to get back at you. That'd suck, wouldn't it?」
I had the ears of everyone in the audience. Looks like that worked
well enough.
I was sure some of them wouldn't listen to reason, but it's best to try to nip these things in the bud, anyway.
Rimuru:「That's pretty much it. Stick to those rules as much as you can, all right?」
The first rules the village ever had were set in stone.
Everyone nodded their approval, and with that, the curtain rose on a new life for them all.
With local laws out of the way, it was time to start divvying up
roles. The village watch, the food-prep team, the group collecting materials for the village to make things with, the ones building homes and tools and such...
I decided to assign police duty to the extra Thought
Communication-wielding tempest wolves.
There were seven left after
all the hobgobs were paired off, and with Ranga practically glued to my ass, that made six I could send on patrol.
Beyond that, I figured I'd leave the assignment details to Rigurd.
Rimuru: 「Rigurd, I hereby appoint you 'goblin lord'!
It will be your job to keep this village well run and well governed.」
In other words, I tossed everything onto his lap. As hard as possible.
But think about it. I worked for a general contractor back on Earth.
I'm no ruler. And if I got too wedded to this village, I'd never get a chance to visit a human town.
Even if it meant being a tad pushy, I'd have to hand it off to him someday.
I was expecting some blowback, but-
Rigurd: 「Y-yes, Sir Rimuru!! I promise you that I, Rigurd, will devote myself body and soul to this vital post!!」
He was sobbing tears of joy again.
Fair enough. Let the king reign, not govern. Or at least let him
bark out orders now and then, and leave him alone otherwise.
You know, I seem to remember Rigurd being this doddering,
wrinkled mess of a goblin when we first met.
Now he's a hobgoblin in the prime of his life-fit, muscular, and bursting with energy.
He might even be stronger than Rigur.
How did that happen? The more I mess with this magic stuff, the crazier it all seems to me.
Just then, a thought struck me.
Rimuru: 「Where'd Sariel go to?」
Rigurd: 「Hm? You also know of Sariel-sama? He's the one ruling the entire forest. Though he has been inactive for many years, he's considered dead.」
Oh, right! He told me to use his new alias instead! Damn it!
I made a major mistake there. But, ruling the entire forest?
What's that about?
I tried to sway their minds away from the topic
Rimuru: 「I see... What of Fubuki?」
Rigur: 「Right! Fubuki-sama said he had a little thing he had to do. He left the protection of you to us and disappeared.」
That does seem like something the beauty-in-a-traffic would do.
If he was out there doing something else, then I'll be the one handling everything.
Figured... The asshole left the whole cleanup duty to me. How rude.
Well, I'll handle it my way. He better not complain about shit.
Rimuru: 「Very well」 I crowed.
Rimuru: 「It is in your hands now, Rigurd! Now, I was watching the construction work. It's terrible, isn't it?」
One could barely call the structures houses.
These were stronger, smarter goblins now, but I suppose asking them to suddenly develop technical skills was asking a bit much.
Rigurd: 「It pains me to admit so, Sir Rimuru. We never had a need for very large buildings in the past...」
Rimuru: 「Yeah. You guys are bigger now, after all. As for clothing...
You guys are all exposing way too much flesh. Could you maybe pass some clothes around?」
Rigurd: 「Ah! Yes! There are some people I know that we've had dealings with several times.
Perhaps they could supply clothing that could fit our needs.
In fact, with their skills, they might know how to build homes as well!」
Hmm.
Having worked for a contractor, I had an eye for decent building
quality. In terms of what I could actually construct, however, my skill was limited to your basic Sunday afternoon DIY projects.
You know-just the basics.
Not enough to serve as a building foreman. If these businessmen could help with that, perhaps it'd be worth paying them a visit.
Rimuru: 「I see. It wouldn't hurt to talk to them. What did you pay them with, though? Money?」
Rigurd: 「No, Sir Rimuru. We do have some currency that we confiscated from adventurers, but that remains in storage.
Instead, we have obtained the materials we need via either barter or short-term work.」
Rimuru: 「Oh. So, who are these guys?」
Rigurd: 「They are known as dwarves.」
Dwarves! The infamous smithing race! I gotta check 'em out! And
while the loincloth crisis had captured most of my attention,
something had to be done about their defensive capabilities.
Their armor provided no more protection than tatters-and they couldn't even use it because it didn't fit anymore.
It was certainly an issue,
and tackling it right now would be killing two birds with one stone.
Just one problem. Almost nothing they had seized from passing
adventurers were of much use any longer, and whatever money they
had stored up couldn't be very much.
What could we trade? Another
problem to shelve for later, perhaps...
Rimuru: 「I'll try visiting them. Can you make the arrangements for me, Rigurd?」
Rigurd: 「Ah! Ah, of course, Sir Rimuru! I'll have everything for your journey by tomorrow afternoon!」
He sounded enthusiastic enough about it that I felt safe in his
hands.
He'd probably give me whatever money was left, too, not that I
should expect much.
Currency, though, huh? It'd be funny if it was paper.
I recall most animes featuring the medieval periods depended on coins for currency.
Thinking about it, though, I didn't have much money to my name, either.
The fact that currency existed at all in this world was a nice
surprise, at least.
I'd figured it did, but I'd had no idea how it was circulated at all.
Once I reach a human town, I'll have to go around and check out
prices. But that can wait until after the dwarves.
After all the hard work getting this town in shape, a leisurely visit would do wonders
for me.
I'll be with my own humankind soon enough-checking out one of the other races could help me learn a little more about this
wacky world.
Although technically a subrace of people, the dwarves apparently
lived in large towns of their own.
They had a king as well, although no goblin was ever permitted even a glance.
Just being allowed into their towns was considered an all-time achievement for goblinkind.
I started to wonder about the state of goblin discrimination around here.
I was a slime, after all. Would I be treated fairly? There were lots of anxieties to entertain, but I still couldn't wait to meet some of those little guys.
The excitement remained fresh in my mind all throughout the rest of the night.
◇◇◇
The arrangements were made, and we took off.
We had a lot of discussion on the way.
One would be about how Ranga felt even after I unalived his dad.
His response was: "I do have thoughts about it, my master. But to a monster, victory
or defeat in battle is the only absolute in life. No matter how it turns out, we are aware of the fact that might makes right. Win, and the day is yours! Lose, and nothing shall remain! But...not only did my master forgive; he even gave me my once and future name for all time! I am
filled with thankfulness, not resentment!"
I simply responded: "Hmm... Well, if you want a rematch, I'm open any time."-and we were cool for the rest of the day.
There was also the Thought Communication discussion we had with Rigur, who spoke about how his brother was named.
It turns out that some random Majin wandering around the forest gave him his name. He was called Gelmud, I think.
Well, things like these could happen anytime, so no use thinking of it too much.
There was this discussion about the heroic king of the dwarves, but nothing big to talk about.
Still, dealing with any species, regardless of what they look like?
The dwarves must be pretty chill dudes. Maybe I could make a few
connections myself. In fact, I'd better do so.
This was a realm where people intermingled freely with monsters.
A land that began with the surface city and extended down, down, down.
A kingdom armed to the hilt that walked the path of peace.
No place in the world boasted as many weaponsmiths and merchants,
and yet it sounded like the farthest point in the universe from any kind of conflict.
A bit ironic, maybe.
The way the Dwarven Kingdom was starting to sound from these
conversations, I couldn't wait to arrive.
Exactly three days after we began our journey, we reached the
grasslands at the foot of the Canaats.
The city truly was beautiful-
chiseled into the vast mountain cavern, a natural fortress created by nature.
It was the Armed Nation of Dwargon in all its mighty glory.
◇◇◇
And, of course, there was a line to get in.
The front gate was enormous, built to block free entry into the vast cave opening.
This gate opened only whenever the army went inside or out, and
that, I heard, happened just once a month.
Today, it was firmly closed,
but at the bottom of the great doors were two small entryways meant for regular traffic.
The right-hand one had nobody in front of it-probably meant for the nobility or any other lofty figures who showed up.
The door we were waiting for was on the left, and while some
people bore passes that allowed them free entry, and others had to undergo luggage checks in a separate chamber.
All of this, of course, was guarded by a security detail whose equipment certainly reminded you that this was the Armed Nation. They weren't clowning around.
But that is not even where my mind was supposed to be.
Rimuru: 「I'm really sorry about this!!」
I bowed deeply-or intended to, anyway-inside the guardroom.
After the ruckus we had caused, there was no way security was
going to let the lot of us off with a slap on the wrist.
Well, given how unconscious the other five were, I don't think they would.
Besides, I don't even have a wrist.
Gobta: 「We didn't do anything! We're the victims here!」
Gobta, on the other hand, wasn't taking it lightly.
"All right, all right," came the smiling reply. "We hear you."
There's not much else I can do, I guess.
So here's what happened!
1. I got accosted!
2. I turned into a wolf!
3. I kind of howled a little.
What do you think? It's not my fault, right? I thought as I glanced at the soldier standing above me.
He didn't seem to take my excuses lightly.
He "thoroughly" investigated "us" (the asshole responsible for backing me up was apparently taking a stupid unneeded nap "Gobta"), and we wind up having our asses handed to the prison.
It was truly a wonderful day...
By the end of our intensive debate, I had just about an entire novel's worth of backstory.
A story about a forlorn young (and beautiful) girl, brutally transformed into a slime by an evil mage.
In the midst of our tit for tat, if you want to call it that, the soldier's questions helped me weave a grand story of heroic tragedy in my mind.
I was a young prodigy, a girl inherently gifted in the arts of
transformation and illusory magic.
A cruel witch had cast a terrible
spell on me, and I was traveling to rid myself of the curse.
Why did this have to happen? And why did I turn myself into a
magical girl along the way?!
WHY ME!?! WHY NOT SARIEL!?! THE JACKASS IS NOT EVEN HERE BACKING ME UP!! HE'S THE BEAUTIFUL ONE!! THEY WOULDN'T QUESTION HIM IF HE WERE AROUND!!
Besides, if that didn't work, he could've seduced them to the bed whilst we made a run for it!!
Ugrh!
And the worst part of it was, whenever I said something that wandered off-script, the soldier's next question
would help me fix the mistake.
Oh, right! I'd say to myself as the tale meandered its merry way down the path.
By the end of it, both myself and the soldier were enthralled,
hoping against hope that the girl would somehow succeed on her
quest.
Our eyes burned with passion-at least, his did. Truly, we had a
connection that went beyond mere words.
"All right! That's it for the report. Thank you for your cooperation! But we're going to need to-"
*Slam*-!
Before the soldier could finish, the large door behind him opened.
Another soldier rushed in.
"S-sir! An armorsaurus just showed up in the mines! It's already injured several miners at their posts!"
"What?! Well, did you defeat it?"
"We're good there! A suppression force is on its way. But some of
the miners are fairly roughed up.
I don't know if there's a war under way or something, but the city shops are out of medicine, and the castle won't let us access their stockpile..."
"What about our healers?"
"That's the thing, sir... The injured were deep inside, mining magic ore. The healers at the guardhouse are all out handling other calls, so all we have left is a single novice!"
"Ah, damn it all!"
Sounds rough. Not that I care. Just take some from the castle, if it's that important! I thought, but...
I do have a few potions on me, though. What should I do?
It wasn't as if I expected the gesture to testify to my character and get me off the hook.
We just need to make the world a better place, is all.
I know it sounds fishy coming from me, but... Compassion is its
own best reward, and all that. I'll get karma back for it someday.
Rimuru: 「Um, sir! Sir!」
"What? I'm busy. I'm done with you for now, but I can't let you go yet. Stay in this room until things calm down a little!"
Rimuru: 「No, not that, um... I've got this.」
I took a recovery potion out. Or spat it out, is the way he probably saw it.
"...Um, what's that?"
Rimuru A recovery potion. Drink it, rub it in-it's high quality!」
"Eh? What's a slime like you doing with that?"
Oh, come on. What happened to my story?
Why's he treating me like a slime again? He was egging me on during that entire interrogation, wasn't he? Not that I wasn't an eager participant, but...
In the end, he was forced to take the six recovery potions. He did have this warning look as if to say: "If this turns out to be fake, you'll wind up in real trouble, my friend."
I got the message clearly. Not that it was even needed.
What with the grand fantasy tale we'd just woven, I supposed I had gained his trust somewhat. Maybe he was a nice guy, after all.
Didn't expect him to be a full-fledged captain, though.
We stared into space. The soldiers who peeked in on occasion would give us confused looks, but otherwise, not much happened for an hour.
I was practicing my Sticky Thread moves a bit when I heard the captain's heavy footsteps.
The silken whip zipped back into my body as I waited for him to come in.
Gobta was asleep, proving that
maybe he was smarter than I was all along.
"Thank you, sir!" the bearded captain thundered as he stormed
into the room, head bowed. The miners filed in behind him.
"You're the one with the potions? Thanks a ton!"
"My arm was pretty torn up. I didn't think I'd ever work again,
even if I survived... Thank you!"
"..."
The last guy didn't say anything before they all left, but I was fairly sure he was thankful, too.
Glad to see the potions worked.
By this time, it was past sunset. It was almost fully dark outside
when the captain started talking with me again-seriously, this time.
It turned out the quintet who'd tried taking me on were members
of this nation's Free Guild. They had talent, but they also had a prior reputation as rabble-rousers.
"That oughta teach 'em a lesson!" the captain said with a roaring laugh.
The guard was already certain that we were guilty of nothing, but I was still being detained out of respect for the other "victims" I had inadvertently inconvenienced with my actions.
Nobody was pressing charges, though-I suppose they figured asking restitution for crapping their pants wasn't the greatest trick in the book or the shrewdest of social moves.
Even I would crap my pants for crapping my pants in public.
So I told him the truth. I was helping rebuild a goblin village, and we needed arms and clothing, as well as someone who could provide a little on-site guidance.
The captain listened intently, some of his men chiming in on occasion.
They even asked Gobta a few questions, despite his darting eyes and bewildered expression.
The next day...
We were still in the guardroom. Gobta had borrowed another cell
to sleep in, which I assumed he was still using.
Having nothing better to do, I was watching some dwarven personnel run through morning
training in the field behind the guardhouse.
Swinging heavy wooden swords around to work on their speed, sparring a bit in simulated
combat, running a few laps, the usual.
I sat there, taking it all in and imagining how they'd fare against
the assorted creatures I had predated by this point.
It was a bit like a game to me...but would the Sage mind if I used it like this?
Seems like kind of a waste of talent-but what the hell? It'll be fun.
Turned out, the guards barely stood a chance. Even if I gave myself a handicap, there were only just a few of them who could beat the bat and the lizard.
In a one-on-one matchup, the scales tipped pretty heavily toward the monsters, but since the dwarves always seemed to operate in teams of four to six, a few of the combined parties could take on the spider fairly well.
Even all twenty of them out in the field couldn't take on the centipede, though.
I wasn't expecting these guys to be Special Forces types, of course, so the results made sense to me.
They were just about wrapped up by the time Gobta awoke. The
captain checked in at around the same time.
"All right," he said, "you're free to go. Sorry I kept you in here for so long-I was beholden to keep you overnight, at least. Apologies!"
Rimuru: 「Oh, no, no. It saved me one night's hotel cost, at least.」
"Glad you see it that way. Here, let me make it up to you. I can
introduce you to a talented blacksmith I know!"
Rimuru: 「That would be perfect. Thank you!」
Things were looking up, finally. We just got priority entry, one-
inspection, inspection-and we had some extra money to spend.
I thought finding a weaponsmith who wouldn't rip me off at first sight would be a chore, too, but a military referral was about the best I could ask for!
Maybe I can af ord to be a bit optimistic after all!
"In exchange for that..."
Mmm? A catch? The only "catches" I ever liked were the ones on
porn sites. I know you get the details.
"If you have any of those recovery potions left, would you be interested in letting go of them?"
Aha. They must really be short on them, huh? That soldier mentioned that yesterday.
Well, I've got a ton that I could sell you guys... but I don't really know the going rate.
Now what?
...Ah, why not? I had manufacturing cost of exactly zero on those
things anyway.
If he wanted some, he could have some.
Rimuru: 「All right, it'll depend on how many, though. I need to keep a few for myself, too.」
"Any extras you're willing to part with are fine by me. Even if it's just one."
Mm? Rather odd way of putting it, isn't it?
I thought he was trying to rebuild the guard's stockpile.
One's not going to be enough in a
pinch, is it? ...Well, whatever.
Maybe times were just that tough.
Rimuru: 「Okay, um, well, how about five, then?」
"Five! Ah, that'd be wonderful!"
Rimuru: Sure. Oh, also, I'm pretty sure they'll still work even if you dilute them a little bit, all right? If it's just a regular slash wound, ten parts water to one part potion oughta do the trick.」
Besides, it was well known that water was a universal solvent. Dunno if that rule still applies to this world.
The captain nodded eagerly, fully convinced. I spat out my five
potions, and he responded by giving me a small pouch. Inside, I could see a selection of gold coins.
"I know it's not much," he explained, "but I hope you'll accept this. I'll give you five gold pieces for each one of
these!"
Twenty-five gold, then? Fine by me. I don't know if I'm undercutting myself or not, but I'm not in a position to haggle.
Better figure out how much that is, though, exactly.
Rimuru: 「Uhmm, if I could...」
"Not enough? I'm doing my best here, sir..."
Rimuru: 「No, no, the price is perfectly fine, but I needed to ask you...」
"Eh? It is? So... So what did you need?"
Ooh. Mmmm, that's not a good reaction. So I'm being ripped off
after all? I knew I should've started higher!
Oh, well. The captain seems like a nice enough guy. I doubt he's fleecing me that badly.
Rinuru: 「I'm sorry to admit it, but I'm not exactly sure what this money is worth, or what prices are even like around here... If you could give me some guidance, that would really help! I'm just a slime, besides!」
Way to contradict yesterday's magical-girl saga, man. Good
thing he apparently never bought it in the first place.
We wound up having a long conversation before Gobta and I set off.
Soon, I was out in the fresh air of freedom again...but not before
lunch.
The captain insisted. I couldn't taste anything, but the
appreciation was sweet, I guess.
For the first time in a while, I enjoyed a meal.
◇◇◇
I only left the village to do my usual world patrol. It was truly a spectacular change.
The rise of new nations, the birth of new prominent and influential figures.
It was truly fun. During the while that I traveled, I gathered a lot of information.
News flash, Kenneth and Alya were officially a thing.
If I wasn't clear enough, then I meant to say Kenneth and Alya had married.
This means that he is now the crowned King of Silverion.
I never expected it, but I was happy. I don't know how he did it, but he did it.
I hadn't really been taking him seriously with the whole "I'mma marry her" thing, but I guess my dude was serious.
He now had the whole nation under his hand. Lucky him. I bet many single dudes in the nation are cursing him.
Well, Alya was a beauty in her own right, so it's only understandable.
Although the shame came by naturally.
I am over a millennia old, and I still have a "single status."
Well, I'm not really into relationships or stuff, but at least let me get past being a virgin...
Kalisha: 「Ha! Get a life.」
Yeah, she's right! I really do need a life! Sooooooo...
「No-I am not going to alter your constitution. I will not allow the master to be taken from me.」
ASS!! ASS-I SAY!!! YOU ARE AN ASS!!! THE ULTIMATE ASS!!! A MANASS!!! FUCK YOU!!
Kalisha: 「Geez, calm down.」
Calm down!?! How about I take away your ability to use the time element!!
Kalisha: 「I DARE YOU!!」
See!?! That's how I feel. It's like I have a life-ending disease, and someone with the cure apparently doesn't want to help me for NO reason!!
How would you take that!? This is tyranny!
「No remains no.」
Damn you... I'll talk about this later.
I can't afford to deal with depression for now.
I think I'll simply lay low for now. Perhaps I'll find somebody who would like to help me.
「I'll like to meet the person who would be capable of pulling that off.」
I know, perhaps I'll evolve Alya's unique skill to an ultimate skill.
Besides, the witch's ability to alter came from the essence of her (Alya's) unique skill, right!?
Yosh! The answer was with me all along. All I needed was a little braining time to think of a solution.
Let's go, boy! OLE!!
Kalisha: 「I have a feeling that you'll regret thinking of a solution to begin with.」
You said something?
Kalisha: 「Nope. Not a thing.」
Right... so, back to what I was thinking about.
The new nations are Falmouth, Englesia, Lubelius, Blumund, and a few other Western nations.
A few of these new nations were also part of the Western Council.
Then, there was also the thing with Lubelius.
Due to them, I now find myself having fewer believers in my global belief and faith system.
You see, they have this religion called Luminism, whose members believe that Luminous is the only one true God. Blasphemy!!
What nonsense!! Veldanava is THE only God damn it!! How stupid can the humans be!?!
Kalisha: 「It's not their fault. I mean, find it out, and you're dead, no?」
Yeah, I guess that's the issue. Well, not that I have anything against her, but she caused me to lose them, so I'll have some fun cooking up some chaos for her.
Hehehehe~.
Kalisha: 「It's leaking.」
Ah, sorry.
Chloe did tell me about her. I'll have to be glad about that.
She didn't even give a single detail about me to her, mu h to her dismay. I guess she expects something in return.
Well, when the time comes, I'll use that to blackmail the damn vampire.
I'll also have to repay my debt to Chloe.
Well, enough of that.
There were some influential figures like the saint, Hinata Sakaguchi, the grandmaster, Yuuki Kagurazaka, and the conqueror of flames, Shizu Aizawa.
The last I mentioned had retired, but the rest of the two were still active.
In fact, these two were the disciples of the Shizu Aizawa person.
She must be one old hag. Meh, whatever.
Another small piece of info to note is the change in the guilds danger ranking
Monsters, as well as adventurers, were ranked on a system of six
grades, from A to F. Pluses and minuses could be attached to these grades for extra precision.
This system was first put into place by the man named Yuuki Kagurazaka, a rumored otherworlder and one of the few to assume the topmost rank of "grand master" in the Free
Guild.
It was quickly adopted, thanks to being much easier to understand than the previous, somewhat arbitrary four-tier system of "novice" → "beginner" → "intermediate" → "advanced."
The Special S rank combined the S rank, which comprised of demon
lord-class foes that deserved more than simply an A, with the
"Special" tag reserved for those above even that class-monsters
capable of single-handedly engineering calamities or natural
disasters.
A scale-breaking rank, existing wholly outside the six traditional ones.
Normally, an A-ranked monster alone would be dreadful enough to threaten the existence of a nation-someone like Veldora was dangerous enough to plunge it into despair.
As for the Mutual-Aid Association System's rankings, it is the precursor to the ranking system utilized by the Mutual-Aid Association of Adventurers.
It is extremely crude and imprecise compared to the more modern and scientific ranking systems, resulting in many preventable deaths over the years.
It was abandoned completely after Yuuki reformed the Mutual-Aid Association into the Free Guild and became the new Grandmaster.
I'm really glad that Yuuki made the new system. I would've made an interference if the death rate was too high for my liking.
Well, with the dirty work done by another, there's no use being bothered.
Now, I was headed to the nation of dwarves.
I heard that Guran Dwargo left his son with the crown.
I dunno if he died or something, but that's not the point of importance.
I was actually planning on getting some good workers we could hire to help us with the goblin village problem.
A little expert would be good. I'm not good with construction work and projects.
At most, I could sketch out some well-detailed blueprints with most of the necessary info that was needed, but that is it.
Nothing more. It would also help to acquire more knowledge on some handy work.
I got past the annoying line in front of the entrance and moved towards my destination.
Hopefully, I will be able to find some good workers for the job.