The Orc Lord: An Incoming Disaster

After Cabal's group left the village...Rimuru had gone to Dwargon with Dord to help her shop for shopping for salt and condiments. Rimuru had taken a hundred gold coins from Shizu's pouch BEFORE giving said pouch to the trio for this reason, at least until their spice farm fully-matures which WILL be by end of the year. By then, it's winter.

But for now, it's harvest time!

'Alright Farming Team! Look!' Rimuru waved an arm at their ripe farms and the goblins were speechless. 'The one-month crops has finally fully-grown! We can finally eat them!'

'YEAAAAH!'

'For now, only the Wolves are allowed to eat meat with good reason.' said Rimuru. 'The rest of us will eat vegetables! And we'll all listen to Garm how to cook vegetable soup once we're done!'

'We also prepared wooden crates enchanted with magic so food stored in them are in permanent stasis! They won't rot and no pest nor mold will hurt our stocks thanks to magic barriers! Put the crops in them per type!'

'YES!' and a lot of work began, cheerfully harvesting all these crops.

By the time they were done and relocated the first batch to their storage tent, Rimuru heard Ranga's urgent voice in her mind.

Milady!

/Receiving Thought Communication from Ranga: Vocal Intonation implies it is a Request for Aid./ Great Sage reported.

"On it!" 'I'll be back in a bit, Ranga's pack got into trouble!' Rimuru then flew off using her wings.

'Eh?!'

'...suddenly, I'm glad we didn't go hunting today.' Gobta croaked out as their Guardian flew off into the forests in a hurry.

'You said it man, our guys are Rank B while we're Class C...if even THEY can't beat it, what more about us?' another hobgoblin shivered.

xxx

At the forests...Ranga alone was fighting five armored...horned people. The other wolves are out cold.

The horned people dress like...medieval Japanese. Makes sense, Shizu wasn't the only otherworlder and she's of the early 20th century. Some Japanese from different eras must have come here and taught culture. The armor design. Their swords are OBVIOUSLY katanas. And pinky girl is dressed like a miko.

"Great sage, what are they?"

/Answer: they are Oni, the next stage of Hobgoblin./

"In theory, Ranga and them are of the same strength, but in terms of fighting, unless Ranga uses his attacks, he's at a disadvantage." Rimuru thought as she scanned the sleeping wolves who were put to sleep with magic, so she roused them back. Not far from them, are their 'conquests'.

'Milady!' Ranga gasped out. 'Thank goodness you've come!'

'What is going on here? This is our area!' Rimuru gasped out, hovering with her wings.

'Are these wolves yours?' the redhead one asked.

'Yes. They are my subordinates.' said Rimuru. 'They're out on their own food hunt when I received a call for help.'

'Oh...sorry about that, we were hunting them for food.'

Ranga squawked in horror at the idea he looked comical.

'Oi oi! When did WE ever taste good?! We won't know that anyway because we're NOT into cannibalism!' he squawked out in freakout, causing Rimuru to sweatdrop.

'Oh dear...well, my guys are all Named Monsters as is the Village I'm acting as Guardian of.' said Rimuru. 'I'm Rimuru. Rimuru Tempest.' Rimuru introduced herself before dissolving back into Slime. 'I'm a Unique Slime.' then she morphed back to human form.

The Oni were speechless.

They were actually fighting Named Monsters who are subordinates of this frail-looking beauty? Just how strong is she? They don't want to try their luck...the wolves are strong as it is, if not for a lucky hit from one of their own!

'For now if you can't hold out any longer, I'll let you have lunch with us.' Rimuru offered. 'But why far from home though?'

The atmosphere of the oni changed.

'We...have no home anymore.' said the redhead in a pained voice. 'Our village was destroyed!' Rimuru gasped in alarm at this. The wolves weren't happy with the idea either.

'Wait, what?! Was there an invasion of sorts? Who did it?' she asked quickly. 'There's a chance WE could be next and we're still building!' Rimuru gulped. 'We relocated to a new place because food ran out in our old place!'

'I think your village should hear this.' said the elder one in white. 'You are its guardian, correct?'

However, upon arriving at the still-building village, the oni can see that harvest activity is ongoing, people are carrying crates of vegetables and the land is cleared, with people living in Temporary Housing and there are many dug-up places.

Indeed, the village of Hobgoblins are hard at work.

'Er, what ARE they? They look like large goblins...' pinky commented. The men are tall, muscular and green with obvious goblin features while the women's are less obvious with their goblin traits. Its mostly shown through their eyes, ears, teeth, tongue and skin. All of them have silver hair and wore furry blue coats over shirts, dresses, skirts, shorts and trousers in particular styles inspired from Ragnarok and Warcraft in various colors that suited their green skin and silver hair. And its OBVIOUS who the fighters are, judging by their equipment.

The only one dressed differently, was Rimuru herself. She wore a white tank top, a pair of shorts with suspenders and knee-high boots. She also has tekko fingerless gloves.

'They are Hobgoblins.' Rimuru piped up. 'I Named them all!' the Oni froze in shock at her claims.

'They're Hobgoblins?!' they're...too pretty to be Hobgoblins!

'What?! B-but that's of the highest-level magic and it requires so much Magicules...' pinky stammered out, utterly shocked. And how many Hobgoblins ARE here exactly?!

'It's all cool, don't worry~! Let's go to the largest tent where we can talk with our Craftsmen and Village Leaders.' said Rimuru. 'Ranga, have your pack take your meat to the Storage Tent. You need to join the meeting as Tempest Alpha. I'll call for Rigurd, Rigur, and the Four Goblin Lords.'

'Yes, Master!'

'...lords?'

'I call them that because I gave them a particular job, not because they're strong. They help the Chieftain Rigurd run the Village by taking on a Jurisdiction and report to him.' Rimuru explained.

'Ah...'

'My original group was Rigurd's Village, originally 70 goblins...but while I was away to Dwargon for business, 500 others who heard of their evolution and my protection joined us while others are still wary with good reason.'

And so...

'You gathered us all, Rimuru-sama?' Rigur asked Rimuru as there are six Hobgoblins, three Dwarves and one Tempest Wolf as Ririna served drinks to the Oni before sitting down with her peers.

'There is trouble afoot and our guests have a horrible taste of it.' said Rimuru as said guests looked gloomy. 'Their village was attacked and safe to say they're the only survivors. We will take them in as Refugees until they figure out their next action. We will also decide what to do because we might be next based on what they say.' she told her group. 'And while I can fight, the problem is how fast does everyone else evacuate while I buy time?'

'What happened youngster?' Garm asked the red one who's clearly the leader.

'It happened about a month ago.' said the leader. 'A majin came to our village. He offered to give us Names but we know how the Naming System works.' he said darkly. 'We could sense his strength and his arrogance. We clearly can't trust him with our fates so we rebuffed him. He spat curses at us and left.'

By the timeline, that was around the time Rimuru fought Ifrit. So timeline was not that far off.

'Does that majin happen to be short with a leather mask and white clothes?' Rigur asked him with contempt in his expression. He has NOT forgiven what he'd known from Rimuru. That unlike his brother, he has proper evolution and Rimuru is clearly a kinder Master. 'He named my older brother half a year ago but compare to how we turned out under Rimuru-sama, my brother's gains were cheated!' he growled in anger. 'He made a farce of what's supposed to be a great honor, my family got swindled!'

'Rigur...' Rigurd was shocked by his son's resentment.

'Father, Rimuru-sama began suspecting when she heard my tale about brother and compared his evolution to ours...she told me first until I'm ready to tell you too...now's a good time to say it.' said Rigur, clearly vexed. Rigurd was deeply shaken and stunned by his bitter son's words. The Oni listened to the young Hobgoblin's anger and can only give sympathy.

'That one got you first huh.' said the leader with a frown. The other Oni felt they all had a close shave and were correct to rebuff the man. If only what came next did NOT happen! 'But after we rebuffed him? Days later Orcs attacked our village!'

'But that's preposterous! Orcs? Attack Oni? Did the moon turn blue and I just missed that?' Garm was baffled. His brothers were no better, jawdropping in disbelief.

'We're a village with 300 strong warriors.' said the leader, vexed.

300 B-rank monsters.

That is the size of a country's knights order. If you are planning on subjugating such a village with rank B-knights, you'd need about 3,000 of them.

And the orcs possessing that much might? They all have expressions of disbelief. They're C-Class Monsters! They should have lost hands down!

But apparently there's just too many...a never-ending sight of armored orcs wearing Full-Plate Mail and equipped with blades and blunt weapons.

Its too much to the point that the former chieftain and a few others opened a path for the village's young master and princess. Their group are three more bodyguards and a craftsman to protect their young prince and princess and start anew elsewhere.

The last they saw was their destroyed village and the Chieftain falling to his death. They had no time to grieve, they had to flee and survive...and resolved themselves to hunt that majin who rained disaster upon them all. With all of them and he was weaker, they can have their revenge. It was all they have left or their sorrow and anger will never let them taste peace any more.

'Should Orcs having full equipment, they clearly can't do this alone.' said Rimuru thoughtfully. 'They must have that smarmy guy as a backer.'

'And behind that majin could be of someone stronger, wealthier and have resources to make all that possible.' said Dord. 'Otherwise what they have done, is plain impossible. 300 Oni can lay waste to them. The gear must be of high enough quality to make things difficult...enough to make the impossible possible.'

Dord sure quoted Mu La Flaga of Gundam SEED anime, summing up the situation well.

'Our village only has 50 capable armed fighters with Rare-Class equipment as goblins and their stronger form are peaceful by nature to begin with and then there's me, an S-Class Slime as their Guardian.' said Rimuru, making the Oni do a spit-take. 'I can destroy the Orcs by myself, but another thing, Orcs aren't organized unless led well...so suddenly having an army is questionable. There must be something else. Anyone can get a backer, but this is Orcs we're talking about.'

Rimuru wasn't racist, she was simply stating facts, courtesy of Great Sage Encyclopedia.

'...Orc Lord.' said the elder oni grimly after a long pause for thinking, he was the only one to think of this.

'Yikes...'

Indeed, its trouble. A powerful Orc will become either one: Orc King or Orc Lord. A special Orc will evolve into one of those every few centuries.

Both stand equal to Kijin in strength. The proper evolution should have been to Orc King as Orc Kings retain their sanity and become wise leaders.

Orc Lords are these special Orcs who strayed from the proper path. He possesses the Starving Ones unique skill, making his entire race into a swarm of deadly ravenous monsters who will consume everything in their path, even their own fallen comrades. Forever tormented by hunger as one mind hive.

'That...is quite the problem. And it actually makes sense!' Dord exclaimed. 'Orcs are peaceful by nature, free-spirits thus disorganized. They'd never start trouble by themselves.' he blurted out while waving his arms about in emphasis.

'It seems Gelmud has been busy...this must be his master's aim. Look for powerful subordinates. Name them. Gather them. Invasion of Jura and make it their territory, annexing it for themselves.' Rimuru frowned deeply. 'Surrender or die. But such a grandiose plan isn't gonna stay unnoticed for long...'

'Yeah, the Demon Lords.' Garm shivered. 'If they get wind of this attempt to break balance of power...let's just say that's another brand of trouble we don't want.'

If Demon Lords started fighting among each other...the whole world will have to unite to ensure the survival of the human race and other weaker species!

'We'll settle this on our own as natives before it gets to that point.' Rimuru decided firmly. 'Young master, you have a decision to make.' she told the leader seriously. 'As all tribes are affected, we will prepare for this as well. We're thankfully near Veldora's Cave and the Gate is still functional and very sturdy as a True Hero created that Gate. We can evacuate our villagers there and shut the gates with Engraved Magic...and use that tunnel we dug up to reach Dwargon for refuge for refugees.'

'Ou!'

'For now let's get dinner ready, it'll be sundown soon.' Rimuru stood up. 'Ririna, Inventory Report.'

'Yes!' Ririna beamed. 'We have about 10000 per type of root crops and leafy vegetables! It'll last us three months max but with these types being ripe in a month, no problems that we can get by until the slow-growers have fully-ripened too.'

'Good to know.' Rigurd grinned. 'Tomorrow we'll proceed with weeding, tilling and plowing again before seeding. Are the seeds organized?'

'Yes, in the container Rimuru-sama designated.'

'Well, we're secure.' Rigurd sighed in relief. 'On Rimuru-sama's instructions, we'll eat vegetables for a while and give time for prey to reproduce for sustainability's sake. That way we can eat meat in winter plentifully and survive winter.' he told the Oni.

'That's impressive.' said elder oni. 'We have the same idea. We were taught by a young lad who came to our village four centuries ago...and he was my grandfather. Young master's grandfather was chieftain back then as a young man.' he said.

The villagers were suspicious, but the Chief warmly welcomed him.

Around the same time, a lesser dragon was rampaging in the forest. After expressing his gratitude, the lad defeated the dragon.

'The villagers hallowed his name, and passed down his praise to us. He began living with us and taught us many things.' elder oni continued. 'We began imitating the lad's attire, and that has been how we dressed ever since.'

And that's how it is.

They imitated his equipment and successfully recreated it? So an ancient japanese had been here before, judging by their gear.

That explains why these Oni brought something familiar over.

Well, clothes befitting a young master and princess will do. Hmmmm...

But first...they gotta evolve but its their choice.

xxx

A huge pot is boiling over a massive iron board. Rimuru took charge, after putting a large wooden board of the recipe. The ladies helped with vegetable prepping and Rimuru was multi-tasking.

'Er...is it OK for your guardian to do that?' leader asked Rigurd who was heping with stringing up the lights. He pointed at Rimuru joining the cooking.

'Rimuru-sama is our guardian but she doesn't elevate herself like most in her position. She would rather do things herself if she knows she can do it. But asks help if she doesn't know things or lets experts do it for her. She's only born half a year ago so there are lots she does not know. But she also has knowledge of things unbelievable for a Slime and is too powerful for one.' said Rigurd to the leader's shock. 'She gets real...antsy when bored doing something is actually calming for her. Its a little strange, but its how she rolls.' he said. 'She knows everyone she's Named and is always up to date with concerns so we have no worries.'

'I see...'

After preparing the vegetables, Rimuru took out sacks of who-knows-what, and began teaching Gobuichi, the large goblin who took up Community Chef as his job. The girls put in the hard parts first when the water got a bit warm and Gobuichi put spices in by the shovels, as well as salt, changing the color of the water.

As the soup started to boil, it's starting to smell really nice!

Vegetables are added in particular order. Why? It's so the fast-cooking ones don't get too soggy!

Once the leafy vegetables and herbs are put in, Gobuichi mixed the boiling pot of soup well for one minute, and let it rest for five minutes, before declaring, 'Soup's up people!' he then churned up the pot some more before people lined up for food. However, the pot was enchanted to give certain amounts of each vegetable in the pot and six pieces of each leafy vegetable so everyone gets an equal share. That by the time the last person gets their bowl, nothing is left but children can keep coming back for what's left of the broth.

Upon getting a bowl of vegetable soup, everyone let it cool down before sipping the soup and it's delicious!

'Uwaaaa!'

'This is so good!'

'Plants actually taste this good?!'

'We can have as much as we want now?'

'Not all plants taste good.' Rimuru sweatdropped at the nearby hobgoblins. 'There's a reason societies cultivate in farms a few things because those are the only things that can be eaten. Tomorrow we'll start from scratch to keep food coming!'

'YEAH!'

'...this village is kinda lively.' the blue-haired one mused. The villagers were all very cheerful and happy and get along so well. And food is also great. Sure they ate vegetables before, but never this good!

'Isn't it? These guys live by the community. They do everything together except sleep together so all families go back to their huts to sleep.' said Garm. 'Everyone here knows each other and everyone works. Even our boss who has occasional strange but actually great ideas.'

'You're dwarves right? How do they pay you?'

'...missy would give us one magic ore with 20% magisteel every four years worth a million gold coins.' said Dord, causing the oni to choke hard. 'I guess by the time our contract is done in a few more years, we can retire to old age happy and never work ever again and never trust investors and people wanting to be business partners with us.' he sighed. 'We brothers are skilled, but we have the misfortune of attracting swindlers and cheats causing us to be flat broke, until Kaijin and Rimuru happened.'

'We worried our mom since no matter how we tried, we get swindled by investors and business partners.' said Garm gloomily. 'We'll enjoy our last job from little lady before retiring for real.'

xxx

Upon observing the village, the leader made a decision.

Rimuru told him he has a big decision to make.

He's seen enough.

'You've made up your mind?' the blue-haired man asked him.

'If its for our survival, I'll do it.' said the leader. 'If only we had more power, we won't resort to this. But...she would make a great master.' he told his companion. 'We rebuffed Gelmud as he is not worthy of us and he proved that all too well.' he said darkly. They are a mercenary village, working for only clients worthy of their strength. 'Rimuru treats everyone fairly and equally...and she is our biggest chance.'

'We'll follow you to where you'll take us.' said the other. 'I can also agree with your choice after my own observations. This is clearly...what she meant by making a big decision.'

'Yeah. As of this moment, we Oni, will join under her banner.' the leader declared. 'Gather everyone.'

xxx

Rimuru's House...

Rimuru was doing embroidery on her clothes when the Oni asked for permission to enter.

She was ready for this, IF the guys decided to become her subordinates too. She can budget again with Great Sage! She would grant them each 180000.

'So, you've made your decision?' Rimuru asked them. For a guardian, her house was extremely humble as well with little furniture. To be fair, they WERE building a village, they thought.

'Yes.' the leader nodded. 'We talked about it...and we all agree.'

'Very well.' Rimuru smiled. 'But first...elder, may I know the name of your grandfather?' she asked him.

'Byakuya Araki is his name.' said the old man.

'I see. He is also an Otherworlder Japanese.' Rimuru mused, stroking her chin. 'Just like the Explosive Monarch Shizue Izawa. I learned a lot from her during her brief stay. I shall give you Japanese Names in memory of this man.' the oni gasped at her words, as she would give them names in respect to their hero?!

Rimuru now looked at the Oni Leader. 'Young master, you are now Benimaru.' as magicules she granted left her body, they sensed how much she gave and went inside Benimaru's body and they were in utter shock. She just gave away an immense amount of power! She showed the kanji of the name and above it in this world's letters was how Benimaru was spelled and what the name means. Benimaru flushed awkwardly as his japanese name means 'crimson perfection'?!

She indeed knows otherworld japanese language!

Rimuru then looked at their princess. 'Your sister will be Shuna.' same amount left her body too! Just how strong IS she?! Her name means 'vermilion vegetable'.

Then blue-haired man is 'Souei' a name that meant 'blue shadow', other girl is 'Shion' whose name meant 'tartarian aster flower' and since Rimuru knows they don't know what that is, showed them an image of the flower, Kurobe means 'black middle palace guard' and lastly, Hakurou meant 'white tower'.

'R-Rimuru-sama, are you still OK? You gave us so much!' Shuna stammered out in worry. They will surely evolve into powerful monsters for sure after this! But at what cost to their Namer who's ridiculously-generous?!

'Well I did say I'm a hair into S-Class, I'm totally fine!' Rimuru smiled reassuringly. 'Naming six of you won't tire me that easily! Oh, a little warning...it starts inside out so it can be a little disorienting...since its nighttime, you'll probably sleep it off than spend hours in discomfort.'

Rimuru designed their evolution into Kijin. They would gain fair-skinned complexion and have the best looks and traits their genes can afford them to become powerful Kijin. Bringing beauty and brawn into play! She also ensured she rejuvenates Hakurou and gave him a stronger, younger body. And should they have wishes, they might gain a Unique Skiil or two. That was out of her hands.

They'll find that out later.