The Forest of Jura. Known throughout the world for its treacherous and untamed nature was famously known for its lack of human presence. With even the power of the Eastern Empire proving incapable of cutting through over the years, its name had become one of legends, especially with the Storm Dragon Veldora having been sealed within by a hero.
However, that was not to say there were no human territories nearby. One of which being the kingdom of Blumund. A weak, small human nation that was found unluckily sandwiched between Farmas, the Western States and the Forest of Jura. It was within that nation that a week prior to Mikaeru's first meeting with the goblins, the first response to the disappearance of Veldora's power occurred as Guild Master Fuze found himself called into the office of an old friend.
Standing outside of the door, he could only find himself sighing, as he turned the knob and walked in. On the other side was the sight of a man in formal clothing sitting behind a table. This was none other than Baron Veryard, the minister of Blumund and the childhood friend of the visiting guild leader. The two chose not to delve into mindless chat as it had not been a very calm week for either of them.
Veryard started, asking Fuze, "You are aware of the reason why I summoned you here?"
"Of course, my baron." Fuze said with a tired voice.
"Hmph," the baron spat out with equal tiredness. "I suppose I should expect nothing less, guild master." He spun a pen in his hand as he looked on, "Are you at the freedom to inform me about how the guild responded to this unfortunate turn of events?" He asked.
"I have chosen to not do anything, my baron."
The baron in question looked perplexed at the response, "I'm sorry, did I not hear that correctly? You tell me you have no intention to take action!?"
"Yes, sir." The tone of voice in the guild master changed, almost as if asking the minister if there was anything wrong with his response. Standing his ground, he continued, "I do not believe action is necessary."
The baron's head turned, "Rather a strange idea, is it not? With the disappearance of the Storm Dragon, monster activity has only gotten worse. Who's to say it will not continue to get worse? Yet with all of this on the horizon, you still choose to take no countermeasure?"
A look of annoyance appeared on Fuze's face. "It would be rather strange for the guild to take action, sir. Is such a responsibility not trusted to the hands of the state? I am responsible for the Free Guild." His tone darkened, "I am not at the call of your superiors."
"Tch." Veryard couldn't help but get ticked off. By all means, the one in the right of it was in fact Fuze, who belonged to the Free Guild and not the state. He had no obligation to help out in the larger crisis.
"As master of the guild's Blumund branch, my responsibility is that of protecting the people, not their assets. That much is your job." He sighed, "We both have a lot on our plates. We must deal with it."
Veryard countered with, "Enough with the pretense! The Free Guild has manpower! That is what matters! At the very least give me numbers, so that I may…"
"Enough!" Fuze sighed. "I am not at liberty to give you very much information on the details of our current outreach. However, I will at most allow you to mobilize the equivalent of one tenth of our members. As for whether or not they would accept, that would rely on your given compensation for their efforts." He glared into Veryard's eyes, "However, I believe that will most likely still not end this meeting. After all, you did not call for me merely to discuss monster subjugation."
Veryard gritted his teeth before letting out a breath of resignation. "So it appears you have seen through me."
"We have known each other for a long time. The area around Veldora's prison," the guild master started, "it was designed to be nearly impenetrable. Now that the route has become open for direct navigation, a new threat has been unchained." His face hardened, "We must be ready to answer in the event that the empire chooses to move. That is your worry as well."
"Certainly so." Veryard muttered. "With the advent of the disappearance of the Storm Dragon, we have begun to see a worrying amount of movement from the empire. Seeing as it was silent, no less than a few months ago, it is safe to say that they are likely to move sometime in the next few years." He let out a breath, "If the empire finds a safe route through the forest, this kingdom will be swallowed up within days. And we can forget about the Western Holy Church providing us any meaningful aid. Let alone the Dragon Dynasty."
Fuze sighed, "The dynasty remains silent to this day, correct? I imagine any attempt at contact will just be ignored." As for the church, it was evident that contact with them would result in a similar response. After all, the church rarely involved itself in human conflicts. Their efforts were primarily aimed at monsters.
"Indeed." Veryard said with a heavy tone.
Fuze sat to think. "We sadly cannot change our uncertainty regarding the movements of the empire." He got serious, "But I assume the situation would get better if we knew more about the goings on in the forest." Veryard watched on as his old friend put together a basic plan of action. "I believe I know who to send in to investigate the seal. As for the forest itself, I have a connection that knows something about it."
Veryard looked intrigued, "A connection? I was unaware of such a person among your acquaintances."
Fuze ran a hand over his hair, "Well, there is only so much one can know about who other people have run into, even among friends." Fuze got up from his chair, "I will see what I can do. If a breakthrough occurs, I'll send a letter." Velyard was only a baron but Fuze was a commoner. Another direct meetup would not be possible for them, at least for some time. "Sorry for the sudden leave but that acquaintance of mine is not someone I can meet without advanced notice."
Veryard nodded, "Thank you…Fuze."
Fuze's eyes widened ever so slightly. It wasn't often that Veryard would call Fuze by his name. "I appreciate it, Veryard. I shall be going. There is little time."
Back with Mikaeru a week later, the day after finally waking up was by no means over for the slime or his brother. Before the day ended, there was one more thing that he wished to address quickly. That being, the fact that the fight with the wolves had not ended with Rimuru eating Ranga's father in this timeline. The result of that happening was an exchange. While on the plus side, Ransei had joined the ranks of Tempest, on the minus side, both Rimuru and Mikaeru missed out on the skills possessed by dire wolves and the evolution. [Menace], [Keen Smell], [Thought Communication], [Shadow Movement] and [Black Lightning]. It was a problem Mikaeru had created himself of course, he could have just let him die as originally, but it was one he had set out to fix before the end of the day after. Among them, [Thought Communication] wasn't too bad. Learning it would be as simple as having a wolf connect to them, but [Menace] was a precursor to [Demon Lord Haki] and [Black Lightning] was the best early long range ability so it wasn't something to be skipped.
[Great Sage], is there a way to copy someone based on something smaller, like hair?
{Answer- Negative. Unique Skill [Predator] requires a sample of the target large enough to recreate it perfectly. A single hair or tooth would not contain a large enough sample to recreate the target accurately. Additionally, because this method would not kill the target, it is completely impossible to copy a Unique Skill this way}
"Figures." Mikaeru sat on the stump Rimuru had used to speak to the villagers, thinking carefully about what to do. In a talk with Ranryo, he had told him that dire wolves possessed massive territories. It was unlikely he would find another wolf without searching deep in the forest so that was out of the question. At least for now, that came with certain risks.
He ran through his skills. Regarding skill combinations that would allow for better copying he was limited to [Genius], [Great Sage] and [Predator]. There had to be some combination to make it work. Then he found an answer. [Great Sage], would a feedback loop of genetic analysis through you and Rimuru's [Great Sage] allow for successful analysis?
{Answer- Yes. A feedback loop would allow for a successful analysis at the cost of inefficiency. The process of the analysis would temporarily use 85 percent of available bandwidth}
You're not even hiding that you're a glorified computer when you use words like bandwidth, Mikaeru commented. "Right, thanks [Great Sage]." He jumped off the stump in search of Rimuru.
The idea for the analysis was simple. He would eat a hair from Ranryo, or really any wolf, and analyze it with [Great Sage]. From there the data and sample would be transferred through [Soul Link] to Rimuru's [Great Sage] who would then re-analyze the sample along with gathered data and send that back. Mikaeru's [Great Sage] would in response re-analyze the sample, the original analysis and the second analysis to create a third data sample. From there, it was a matter of repeating as necessary until the analysis was done. A feedback loop of analysis. That's what it was.
On his way to Rimuru, he ran into Ranryo. "Perfect." He jumped over, "Ranryo, can you come with me? I need you for something. Just follow me."
Ranryo didn't disagree, immediately moving behind him as the slime made his way through the village. Rimuru was near the western border of the village seeing to the deconstruction of the spiky fence surrounding the goblin, now hobgoblin village. Watching as the slime used [Predator] to eat one of the wooden spikes, Mikaeru called out to him. Catching his attention, Rimuru jumped over to Mikaeru. "Is there something wrong?" Rimuru asked.
"No, not at the moment. But…" Mikaeru explained what he was planning to Rimuru so that he could prepare himself for the analysis. After all, it would fail if he was using more than 15 percent of [Great Sage]'s bandwidth on something else. After a few minutes of explaining, Rimuru seemed to understand.
"So you want us to analyze one of the wolves?"
"Yeah," he explained, "I heard that the wolves have the ability to speak telepathically with one of their skills. I figured it would be good to have so that we're able to talk mentally with people other than us." He leaned over, "It would also give us a cover in case unsavory people catch us talking like that. [Soul Link] is more than just a personal call so it shouldn't be common knowledge. It might bite us in the ass later."
"Okay." Rimuru said, "Go ahead then."
"Got it." Mikaeru jumped on top of Ranryo and ate the ends of some of his hairs for analysis.
{Notice- Beginning analysis of Subject Ranryo…}
Mikaeru felt as [Great Sage] finished the analysis and sent it to Rimuru. Then seconds later, it analyzed again. Not long after that, another analysis, followed by another and another, all of which getting faster and faster. This continued for 25 seconds, before eventually slowing down. The analysis had been completed.
{Notice- Analysis of Tempest Wolf has been completed. The ability to mimic Tempest Wolf has been obtained. Skills [Menace], [Thought Communication], [Keen Smell], [Shadow Movement] and [Black Lightning] have been obtained}
Mikaeru turned to Rimuru, "Looks like it worked."
Rimuru used [Menace], showering the area in a feeling of fear. The inhabitants around the area dropped to their knees. Upon seeing the effect, Rimuru immediately turned it off, "I'm sorry!"
"Hahaha." Mikaeru chuckled to himself.
"Don't laugh!" Rimuru yelled out.
"You have a habit of trying out a new skill immediately after getting it. I understand that it might be cool to test it out, but you shouldn't use a skill called something like [Menace] in a public location."
Rimuru drooped, "I guess you have a point." He looked around. "Eh, I'll go ahead and leave now." Rimuru bounced away. Mikaeru had long since noticed that he got embarrassed very easily.
Mikaeru flinched as he felt something. Mikaeru looked out into the forest. "I didn't imagine it." He had felt a presence again. Whatever it was, it was very, very good at hiding. "There's no way Rimuru felt it." He sighed. "I'll head out monster hunting tomorrow." There were quite a few things he wanted to do in the forest. Not just skill gathering. Now was a good time to start.
He sighed internally, then turned to go watch Rimuru's second speech. As he did, a branch fell from a tree behind him. "Impressive. Very impressive." Like a ghost, the presence re-appeared and then vanished just as quickly. Mikaeru felt it but chose to ignore it. Now was not the time to go get involved with that.