After meeting with the saint, Mikaeru found the little that was left of the day to have been relatively mundane. So, he decided it was time to just wait out the next part of the plot. The trip to Dwargon. The day passed and the next morning, as promised, Rigurd made the effort to gather a group of hobgoblins to travel with the slimes to Dwargon. Mikaeru looked them over. Rigurt and Gobta were the hobgoblins of notice among the group. The rest seemed average.
"Rigurt as the expedition leader, eh?" It seemed that detail remained the same. His older brother stayed in the village thanks to being the strongest hobgoblin. Credit where it was due, he lived up to his hero of the village story that he had back in the original.
Summoning Ranryo, Mikaeru jumped on top, watching as Rimuru threw a bag of luggage on Ranga. It carried the basic necessities. Five days of rations for the hobgoblins and the money they had in storage. "You know Rimuru, you could just store it in your [Stomach]."
"What if it does something to the food?" He asked.
"It won't." [Stomach] stored everything that was eaten in the form of information. Raw data. Food stored in it wouldn't change, although it would become infused with magic over time thanks to soaking directly in Rimuru's presence. He didn't mention those technical details though. He watched as Rimuru ate it. That would take the load off of Ranga for sure.
Mikaeru sighed. Regarding the trip to Dwargon, he had found another deviation. Originally, Rimuru and his co-conspirators had for the most part followed the Great Ameld River. However, Gobta during a talk with him had described the trip as requiring a large detour westward due to the existence of an entire river system called the Great Ameld Rapids. It lengthened the journey from the original estimated 3 to 5 days. What caused the creation of largely entirely different geography in this world, that much he didn't know but it would have had to be something big. This much he would check out in Dwargon. There had to be some kind of library covering that there.
He shook that off, and settled in as Rimuru yelled out that it was time to go. The trip proved to be relatively uneventful, seeing as both slimes were there to act as a monster repellent. However, on the second day, Mikaeru noticed something odd about the path. Mikaeru looked around while flying with phoenix wings. "Yo, Gobta, any reason why we're not cutting through there?" He pointed at a thinner section of the forest that cut straight north. They were still detouring westward.
"It's advised that we do not go through that path." Rigurt said from nearby. "The chief before my father warned the village of the dangers of traveling there."
"Do you know why they said that?" Rimuru asked.
The hobgoblins shook their heads, explaining that they never got the chance to know why in a saddened tone. Ranga stepped in, "I believe it is because it is ogre tribe territory. My father warned us as well."
"Ransei warned you? Then it must be serious." Someone like that alpha wolf wouldn't turn tail and run as easily as most others without good reason.
Ogre tribe territory. He thought back to Byakuya. He believed it. He alone could kill every person in this forest that wasn't named Veldora Tempest. It seemed they had shown their strength enough to become a well known danger among the forest. Survival of the fittest ruled this world. There would be no mercy if the ogre tribe decided you were a danger worth eliminating.
Rimuru couldn't help but feel a bit worried about that. "Are they really that strong?" None had the courage to see, but there was some curiosity as to their strength.
Rigurt crossed his arms as he entered a thoughtful pose, "I do not suppose your pack had an encounter? As far as I know, no one in our village has had one."
Ranga entered an equally thoughtful stance as he said, "Not long after becoming alpha, my father ran into a warrior of that tribe after the pack wandered too close. Many of our pack lost their lives that day." The mood in the area darkened at that. "We were too weak in comparison to get an idea of their power. All I know is many of us would die in one swing."
"I-I see!" Rimuru gave a nervous laugh, "Well, in that case there's nothing wrong with playing it safe!"
"Let's change the subject." Mikaeru suggested. "Any knowledge on Dwargon? You've been there, right Gobta? Did you see anything eye-catching?"
Gobta was caught off guard by Mikaeru's direct questioning. "Oh! Umm, it's officially known as the Armed Nation of Dwargon! Their leader is known as the Heroic King and…um…" Gobta began going off about the nature of Dwargon. From what he heard, everything had remained the same, from the current king being Gazel to the way the nation's military was structured. At least that much was confirmed to be the same. That meant the mission would likely still go well.
A few days after that talk, Mikaeru watched from afar as they reached the gate to Dwargon. Being a massive gateway meant to cover the entire entrance to the caverns the city was built into with two main doorways. "That's a long line." Mikaeru muttered as he looked at the left side doorway. He looked at the right. If Tempest was already built, they would have been escorted through the right side door, which had no line.
As Mikaeru sat silently on Ranryo, Rimuru said aloud, "So, we're finally here." He turned to look at the traveling party, "Should we all go in or…"
"I don't think that would be a good idea." Mikaeru advised. "The dwarves don't have a problem with dealing with monsters, but that doesn't mean everyone will be fine with it. I doubt that line is made up of only citizens. Bringing a group of hobgoblins to the entrance doesn't seem like a particularly good idea."
Rimuru nodded along, "I was thinking that too." He turned around, "Alright, so what we're going to do is reduce our traveling party. Gobta, you'll come with me and Mikaeru! As for the rest of you, I'll need you to stay outside the gates and wait for us to return!" All the hobgoblins got serious as Gobta scrambled around.
Mikaeru added, "This mission shouldn't take longer than about 1 to 2 weeks. If we don't come out by that time, Rigurt, you have permission to form a group of no more than 5 to go investigate. Do not panic or get aggressive if that happens. That will only make it worse." He looked around, "That'll leave the rest of you as the group that would go report to Rigurd."
{Notice- Unique Skill [Soul Link] has been activated}
The hobgoblins looked anxious at the idea. Rimuru turned to him. "Do you need to come up with an emergency plan? They don't look excited about that."
"It's important that we prepare for the worst. These people are now relying on us for guidance. If something bad happens we need to have a good plan of action, otherwise we risk them falling apart under pressure." Had it not been for the anomalies in the timeline he had encountered, such a plan would not have come to mind for him, but he couldn't be too cautious. Even if Dwargon remained largely unchanged, there was no way to tell what the exact status was.
"I see. So this is for their sake." Rimuru said.
{Notice- Unique Skill [Soul Link] has been deactivated}
The two slimes watched as the hobgoblins yelled out, "Understood!" The slimes sighed.
"Ranryo, prepare yourself. I have a mission for you so make sure that you are ready." He muttered.
Ranryo didn't give a verbal response, seeing as his master was going out of his way to be quiet. Rather he silently nodded his head before jumping inside. Rimuru instructed Ranga to do the same. Slimes and goblins were one thing, giant horned wolves were another. Starting from the edge of the forest where they were standing, the three would have to go alone.
When they made it to the line, Mikaeru immediately began to scan around with a combination of [Enhanced Hearing] and [Magic Sense], locking onto one particular group of people three spots down the line from them.
"Are those a bunch of monsters?" One of them asked, "Seriously, is Dwargon stupid or something?"
Bingo. To ensure a fight with Rimuru still happened, he couldn't rely on dumb luck like in the original. After all, it was highly unlikely that the same group of stupid adventurers were still there. Rather, he had another plan and it involved a new skill he had gotten from the giant ants. [Hive Mind] was an interesting skill. It linked minds together, making the thoughts and feelings across different individuals spread like a virus.
For the giant ants, this skill was a powerful ability that increased the effectiveness of the nest. It made the movements of the ants more structured.
For a sentient being though, this skill was not positive but negative. It was a status effect that among other effects, increased the human tendency to enter a mob mentality. He looked at the man. Good, he was an adventurer with a party of 5. Only an adventurer would have feelings towards monsters strong enough to vent.
Silently, Mikaeru used [Hive Mind] to link the man to the rest of his party, spreading his ire among them.
From there, it was only a matter of time. Speaking amongst themselves, the shared ire started feeding into itself in a closed loop as the 5 talked amongst themselves, getting more and more intense by the minute. Mikaeru sensed around. By the 2 minute mark, the ire had grown to the point that they were openly complaining about the slime party, making the people around them look openly uncomfortable.
Rimuru noticed not long after this, asking, "What's going on? The people look kind of…"
Mikaeru sighed, "It's those guys." Mikaeru pointed at them, "They don't seem very fond of us." He smirked internally as he openly said, "Pretty pathetic, being scared of two slimes and a hobgoblin of all things."
The original irked adventurer turned to look at them, "What the fuck did you just say, slime?"
"Woah there man, you don't want any trouble."
One of his companions put a hand on his shoulder, "Hey, these guys are just a bunch of monsters, right? You think people will care if we kill them here?"
Mikaeru used [Hive Mind] on that thought process. Not long after that, the entire group set their sights on that goal. The tallest one of the group, the one that looked like the warrior, walked up to them, "You think we're gonna let you get away with what ya said?"
Rimuru by this point began to look annoyed. As a former salaryman, a threat like this was nothing. With a sigh, Rimuru asked Gobta, "Do you remember the rules I gave you before?" Gobta jerked up.
"Yes sir! Absolutely!" He yelled out.
Mikaeru finished. "Close your eyes and ears. Do not uncover them, no matter what you feel."
Gobta immediately did as told, leaving the slimes and adventurers alone for a confrontation. Mikaeru thanked the skies that Rimuru had already figured where this was going. Mikaeru warned them, "You can still back off. Are you sure you want to do this?"
Mikaeru wasn't seriously trying to get them to back off of course. By this point they had become too heated to stop with just that. The real purpose of that was instead to do two things. One, to further enrage them at the thought that a slime thought they were weak enough to lose. Two, to emphasize that they were not the aggressors to those standing nearby.
At the provocation, one of them yelled out, "What the hell're you talking about you little pissants!? Do you think we're scared of you!?" Everyone in the line began to back off leaving the slimes and adventurer party.
"Pissants, do you mean us?" Rimuru said aloud.
"Who else do you think we're talking to!?"
"If you think you're so eloquent, how about we turn you two into our slaves instead!?" Followed another.
He could almost feel Rimuru as he thought about the idea of monster slaves being possibly legal. He remained silent though as Rimuru confidently shot back, "You think you can call us pissants and get away with it!? You just called us slimes too!"
The only girl in the party, who had remained silent with rage for the most part, finally yelled out, "Well, duh, you stupid monsters! What else are you!?"
Three of them drew their weapons as the leader of the party yelled, "You worthless insects! It's too late to beg for your life now! You're all dead!"
Two spells and a sword swing were thrown at the monster group which were all either absorbed with [Predator] or blocked with [Body Armor]. After which, both sides jumped back to reset the attack.
Rimuru laughed confidently, "Hahaha," emulating Veldora, he declared, "Insects!? Where did you weak humans get the idea that we were slimes!?"
The adventurers got mad. "Cut the crap! If you're not slimes, show us what you really are!"
Rimuru deepened his voice, "Very well." A wave of power shot out as he unsealed his aura and began to transform. Mikaeru looked at his brother's appearance. In response to their provocations, he had decided to copy the form of a tempest wolf, only to change into not just that, but a full size double horned tempest star wolf. "Allow me to show you my power!"
Rimuru used [Menace], showering the area in an intense fearful aura. All five adventurers were immediately knocked out at the force of the aura as everyone else fell to their knees around him.
When Rimuru turned back into a slime, having completely knocked out the party, Mikaeru sighed, "Talk about a disaster." The sound of guards running out was added to the growing panic and fear around them. It seemed everything went according to plan.
{Notice- Unique Skill [Soul Link] has been activated}
For the first time ever, Mikaeru used [Soul Link] to talk to someone other than Rimuru as he prepared to give Ranryo his instructions. It was time to forcefully draw the attention of Kaidou, and in turn, Kaijin.