Timeline: Spring of Year 19, Rimuru moved the goblins and dwarves to a nearby river...

Rimuru just got back from Dwargon after Kaijin's Workshop was politically banished by King Gazel out of 'kindness' as not even Gazel can deal with Kangaroo Courts engineered by nasty politicians, and 'he must be seen as fair'. But how?!

Kaijin would tell him that to keep Dwargo FUNCTIONAL, Gazel had to work around the sleazeballs that he could trust very few. Since they were friends, he understood Gazel's motives and it was far safer for Kaijin's group as a whole. So now Rimuru has to take care of the foursome so they can eke a living.

Right now, they are under construction work, as well as fining a way to cloth all these naked Hobgoblins and Goblinas who have NO SENSE of shame. Heck, they'd be fine walking around naked if they could, but while Rimuru and the dwarves are 'typical males', he was NOT interested in seeing his fellow males' schlongs, thank you. Brrrr.

But right now, he has interesting guests.

A pair of siblings who were amazed that goblins of all monsters, look a lot smarter, and can build good-quality temporary housing! They were incredibly good-looking and healthy for humans too, with very white, poreless skins one would think they're from a rich family.

But they're not judging by their manners alone and their clothing.

As proof they're friendly, they brought dead aggressors for dinner enough to feed everyone for two days.

'We're adventurers from Blumund Branch, Freedom Guild.' said Donna. 'We're Donna and Melvin Kleine.'

'We're also our own Pharmacist Shop.' said Melvin. 'Problem is, we need supplies so we're harvesting Hipokute until we stumbled here.'

'You mean you kids can produce Potions?' Kaijin asked them, amazed.

'Donna can.' said Melvin, and he explained what was going on that until they set up shop in Blumund, Blumund has inferior medicine that people are afraid to sign up for the military, that to survive as a Kingdom, Blumund's trade, was being Information Brokers. Information is their specialty product. Otherwise the neighboring country in the west would have trashed Blumund long ago and take their territory for themselves.

The siblings are Falmuth Citizens by birth, but the poor are NOT loyal to Falmuth due to how they were treated. They figured their home village 'died on its own' due to starvation and sheer stress, while the Kleines are better off, and threw their lot in Blumund on the sly. So now Blumund can train better Adventurers until they have a working military, and aiming for quality over quantity.

They can freely tell monsters as monsters don't care much for human politics anyway.

'I see, that's rather troubling.' Kaijin frowned. 'I'll be sure to let his majesty know soon.'

'Er that did NOT come from us, OK?' Donna said nervously. 'Or a country will pay for ahem, airing their closet out!'

'Of course. This is in our interest too.' said Kaijin. 'At this rate, we may have a bad reputation behind our back and we didn't even know!' he said with a frown. 'We're generous people you know!'

'Sooo anyways Rimuru,' Donna asked. 'What're you gonna do after building a goblin village? Culture? Cuisine? Economy and Mercantilism as well as Military?'

'Well, I have to think about that later.' said Rimuru. 'Since our first worry is having enough houses before summer, rainy and winter season hits and that, is bad.' he said. 'We're on a tight schedule.'

'That's within reason I guess...well, I created Ale, Fruity Mead and working on Beer in Blumund...since what kind of pharmacist am I if I can't even make beer?' Donna scoffed. 'But the problem is, I never tasted beer in my whole life...I only ever had Ale and Mead and it became popular in Blumund I got royal backing to make it so its now Blumund's secondary trading specialty.' she said. 'Mead is traditionally made with Honey, but Hamadryad said Honey is to literally die for as monsters called Army Wasps makes it and I value my life, thanks.' she grumbled as she had Hamadryad come out, showing she's a Spirit Magic User. 'So I compensated with fermentation of concentrated fruit juice and sugar with water.'

"Mead huh?" Rimuru thought.

/Mead is a fermented form of honey with water in medieval times up to present date in European Countries. Mead and Ale does not exist in this world./ Great Sage reported. /Beer does, created in Ingrassia as of five years ago but apparently, it does not taste good, when compared to Master's memories of beer./ she said, replaying Rimuru's memories of Izakaya Night Outs.

This made Rimuru suspicious of Donna's true nature now.

'Army Wasps eh?' said Kaijin. 'They are classed as Special A because they fly at supersonic speeds, can both locate and follow the slightest movements of any being in their vicinity, possess wicked sharp claws and deadly poison. They are also incredibly aggressive and come in swarms. So yes, going to them for this honey thing is a bad idea and I don't even know what honey is.' he said.

'In the Western Countries when an Army Wasp or its weaker cousin the Army Bee is spotted (and the witness manages to escape with their lives to tell about it) the entire alliance is mobilized, they summon the strongest Paladins of the Western Holy Church to carefully deal with the threat, placing an anti-magic barrier and still many elites lose their lives in the attempt.' Kaijin continued. 'In the case where the colony has a queen, the disaster level of the swarm jumps to S, because the queen coordinates the exact movements of her subordinates via thought communication and the colony reproduces faster.'

'Heee...' Rimuru stashed that information away for future use.

'Honey is a sweet, viscous liquid only Bees and Wasps can make.' said Donna. 'It's a clear, amber in color and deliciously sweet found in their hives that feeds the colony and their babies. Well, its a dream substance for humans now as its not worth dying for.' she lamented. 'We'll rest here for now, our legs are sore from all that walking and fighting for dinner.' she said as not far from them, Gobuichi's team was dismantling all those monsters for food, but Donna took the livers before giving food away.

'Is being an Adventurer profitable?' Rimuru asked them.

'For commoner standards, yes.' said Donna. 'Because a daily wage for a commoner in good countries is 4 silver coins a day but for Adventurers...'

Hiring Adventurers depends on their rank and quest.

A - 50 gold coins a day for an individual + the difficulty level of the quest. This is because they are known as Champions, the third strongest type of Human.

B - 1 gold coin a day for a team of B-Class Adventurers but for an individual, 50 silver coins + job.

C - 25 silver coins an individual, 50 for a team of three split even, + job.

D - 10 silver coins an individual + job. D and E-Classes don't form teams.

E - 6 silver coins + job.

'When you look at it its not good for weak adventurers.' Kaijin scratched his head. 'Your jobs are dangerous.'

'Its a Compromise with the Council of the West through Politics as Adventurers are looked down on, but nobody can deny we are necessary for jobs military doesn't wanna do. Their jerk-assery enabled us to exist.' Donna sighed. 'And for commoners, the highest daily wage, is 4 silver coins. Yet that very 4 silver was our monthly wage in Falmuth Territory yet our annual taxes are two gold coins...!' she said in a pained voice as Kaijin was horrified and affronted. 'So yes, we starved in the old days.'

'Of course you would! 4 silver a month yet expected to pay two gold for annual taxes?! That's not humane treatment!' Kaijin sputtered out at the terrible conditions that brought. 'You won't make it in time!'

'Yeah, and until I was born with my Skill, our parents have whip scars for being unable to make it.' Donna snorted. 'I used my abilities to whip up medicine and eating monster meat became a thing for us to help them. It enabled us to recover from malnourishment as monster meat is highly nutritious. Especially the liver. We healed from skin and bones, to what we are in less than a decade...along with sneaking potions guising them as fruit juice when I was strong enough to make potions.'

"In even chinese medicine, liver's used." but Rimuru was amazed monster liver has such potential. 'But how much liver did you guys eat?'

'Equivalent to need based on one's physical condition...because too much is toxic.' said Donna. 'I can compute the portion needed by looking at patients and the liver. Because excess is poison. The right amount is a powerful recovery agent for ill and malnourished patients, even a small amount is a great help if one wants to play it safe. So a really skilled doctor who doesn't have my Pharmacist Skill should use this treatment...for humans and dwarves.'

'Heee...'

'Welp, we'll continue this conversation as one of my 'tricks' got triggered.' said Rimuru, bouncing away. 'Four people on the run from something big. I'll go look at it.' he grew wings and flew away, causing the siblings to squawk openly.

'C-can Jura Slimes do that now?!'

'Just him. He's unique.' Kaijin snorted.

Later, Rimuru was back with four VERY FAMILIAR people...

'Oh! Hi there!'

The adventurers know each other.

'Rimuru said you guys are in trouble.' Melvin piped up.

'Cabal the moron poked a sword in an Army Ant nest that's what!' Gido complained. 'We ran for three effing days! Gear broke! Lost our bags!' the siblings sweatdropped at the string of bad luck.

'We're so hungry and we don't have sleep at all.' said Cabal tiredly.

'At least its not an Army Bee.' Rimuru snarked as the foursome stiffened and looked pale with terror at the idea. 'Hey Donna, is Army Ant tasty?' the siblings looked queasy in disgust.

'Hell no! They taste too acrid with this nasty sour-ish smell worse than B.O when we opened up a carapace!' Melvin looked disgusted. 'And when cooked, it's nasty made meat! Knight Spiders tasted better!'

'Isn't that a B-Rank Monster?!' Cabal squawked out.

'But with Donna's skill that's nothing.' said Ellen wryly. 'They probably know by heart which monster tastes good and what not.'

'Well at any rate,' said Donna, taking out a piece of cooked liver out of Space Magic and one look at them is enough to know how much is needed. 'Here, medicine for malnutrition and high level of stress. In an hour you'll feel the effects.'

'What is it?' Shizu asked her.

'A Rank-A beast monster's liver. As long as it's Class A any beast will do, really.' said Donna, breaking off small pieces already. 'A high-class medicine that if given in excess...you die in seconds. So only Pharmacists and Doctors can hand this out as medicine, or a person with Analysis Skill. Ladies first! Ellen and Shizu, c'mere.' she said, giving them each a piece. Ellen has a size thumbnail while Shizu's...was enough for a man's three large bites, worrying the other three, and Rimuru's company.

"That big?!"

'Shizu-san, are you sick?!' Cabal croaked out worriedly as the boys got their tiny pieces before Donna got her and her brother a small piece as well and tossed the rest away into her space.

'...despite how I look, I'm a very old lady. I look like this, because of magic.' said Shizu, removing her mask, revealing her asian beauty...with world-weary eyes in her smile. 'The older you get, your appetite is changed, too. I eat little these days since I just can't stomach any more lately.' she said softly, accepting the liver and ate it...slowly in small bites, showing she really had no appetite. 'Fufu, this must be the tastiest medicine I had in my long life...' she giggled in pleasure after a first bite. 'It's delicious and creamy feel is pleasant to the tongue.'

'As long as you're not sick, but eating too little is no good at all.' said Gido, as he and Cabal had the same size as Ellen. Indeed, it was tasty compared to livestock liver they were rather sad they have tiny bits of it, but excess will kill them as it was a very potent medicine.

'WOOOOW!'

'Don't worry, lunch will be ready soon.' said Rimuru.

In Rimuru's tent...

The humans waited anticipatorily as monster meat grilled with vegetables Donna brought with her which are now sizzling on an iron griddle. Including mushrooms, which they must eat with sharpened sticks as monsters don't use utensils.

We only ever had fish and what fruit we can find until Donna taught us all that monster meat is tasty...' Cabal drooled. 'How tasty? We could only have D-Class monsters on our own ability so far and we just got the chance to eat B-Class goods...'

'...its so good that if you eat livestock meat its bland in comparison.' said Melvin wryly. 'The transition can be...jarring. And the higher class the beast, the better because it was strong enough to mature for decades or centuries. Like wine, the older the better so high-class beasts are gourmet goods the rich will kill for.' he explained. 'Buuuut let's not spread that news for Blumund's own good, OK?'

'Ehhh?!'

'Yup, after our family had high-class palates on the sly, we were deeply shaken by that too.' said Donna with a fake sniffle. 'But humans will find it weird that we enjoy it as only my family knows aggressors CAN be eaten, so we had to adapt quickly when we moved to Maybelle. Besides, our parents are doing OK anyway.'

'Heee...'

Soon, when it cooked, they all got their share, and they had their first bite and it was flavor assault bomb that got Cabal's party moaning.

'I-IT'S GOOOOOOD!' they moaned in pleasure.

"I guess tasting stuff is something I'll miss." Rimuru sighed as the siblings are clearly, long used to eating 'gourmet food' they kept their manners while the other four were on schweet mode.

He'll never taste meat that tasty being a slime.

xxx

After a meal, the siblings went off to the uncleared forests as Donna took Hamadryad out.

'OK! Time to do our job!' Donna grinned as she and Hamadryad stretched their open arms and imbued the weeds with magicules to mutate them into Hipokute.

The process is faster with Hamadryad.

Before, she needed twenty seconds. Now, its a second. The difference was striking.

'Uwa! It's so fast with Hamadryad!' Melvin's eyes popped out as his sister can now turn weeds into Hipokute in an instant!

'We need sixty sacks of these to create two shelves of Full Potion and one full potion equals 20 High Potions or 100 Low Potions.' Donna reminded him. 'Busy-busy!'

They were thus hard at work harvesting the herbs with great care.

'Whoa, why do you need so much?' Rimuru piped up, apparently following them.

'That's BECAUSE the guild's spending them like water too fast!' Donna cried in annoyance. 'And I'm a one-man operation!' she whined before sighing irritably. 'For now, while I'm around, Blumund is raising its skill to prepare for the future when I'm not around anymore. Training their research and technological department and mages to replicate my abilities.'

Well, being human she's not around forever, is she?

'Riiiight...have you kids seen Shizu?'

'She went further ahead.' said Melvin. 'She sure is resilient for someone who ran for three days straight, huh?'

'Anyone who can be with Spirits are resilient.' said Donna. 'Humans with Lesser Spirits will remain human, but for us with Greater Spirits, we will become Majin over time.' she said. 'Shizu's a Spirit Magic User as well but...'

'But?' Rimuru asked her.

'...she is in utter disharmony with hers.' Donna narrowed her eyes as she knows who Shizu is with a glance alone thanks to childhood tales. 'She lasted this long because of her mask that nullifies magic. Had she been a typical person...she won't last a week. But Shizu's an old lady now...and she's a disharmonized Fire Spirit Pairing.' she said. 'Anytime or any day...whether here or elsewhere...when she gives in, I'll call a specialist over.'

'All the way out here?'

'I have Space Magic linking to a certain person.' said Donna. 'We'll be OK...if Shizu blows up here. I'm an Earth Element attuned to plants through Hamadryad, we can't defeat Shizu as a team even if we tried. Even an Earth Element aligned to rock will just become Lava used against us.'

'I see...'

'Be careful.' Shizu warned him. 'She's ready to blow...it must be why she's distancing herself...for our own good.'

'Alright.' and Rimuru went off on his own, warning heeded in his mind.

'...you're gonna call Hinata, right?' Melvin asked his sister grimly.

'Yeah. Only Hinata can help us if Shizu's spirit went crazy.' Donna agreed.

xxx

Rimuru had a talk with Shizu.

'...I know of Donna. Though today is my first time meeting her in person.' said Shizu when the fact that they're Otherworlders came out. 'A student of mine looked for me after a year of leaving me.'

'A student?'

'I have many students in the past...the most recent, being seven children.' Shizu told him. 'The first two are adults by now, and the five others are little kids. Sakaguchi Hinata came looking for me when she was eighteen...and apologized to me for leaving without a word...this was because Donna who has a Unique Skill: Tome of Magic discovered Hinata has a cursed crystal in her mind when teaching her Holy Magic in return for teaching her family how to read, write and do math as well as swordplay. It reinforces a spell called Thought Restraint on Hinata with specific instructions that manipulated her mind without her knowing, that she felt betrayed in the classmate she thought she could trust while under my tutelage...I was shocked too.' said Shizu glumly.

'...You thought you knew them when you truly don't.' said Rimuru grimly.

'Yes. He was such a nice boy too...or so I thought.' Shizu croaked out, dismayed at what she just got wind of in the past. 'Hinata stayed with me for a year, telling me how her year with Donna's family was like...poor, but happy and loving. Things she never had in our country as her father was an abusive person with a gambling addiction...and her mother turned to religion and delusion to escape reality, neglecting her daughter, causing Hinata to become bitter about adults.'

She took a deep breath as she gazed at the horizon from the lookout point, overlooking the budding village.

'I was the first person to treat her with kindness...and living with a poor family afterward showed her what a good family life is like even when poor, making her resent her parents even more as Donna's family was to her what her own never was to her. She learned how to cook, make clothes, and learned about monsters and herbs from Donna as well as survival skills in the woods. She also learned how cruel medieval people are, when she saw what life in Northdale was like. In turn, Donna learned more about this world. She used to be a boy who died as a child. Harry Potter. He was from the British Isles.' Shizu continued softly.

Rimuru felt that explained why Donna knows of Ale and Mead, and utterly sorry for Harry who lost his 'son' as Donna, but he was deeply concerned with his fellow otherworlders.

'Donna has three Unique Skills...Survivor, Tome of Magic and Pharmacist. Donna taught Hinata how not to be biased and prejudiced as Donna was disgusted with people like that, having suffered it in her past life. So you can count on her in the future as she will never hold being a monster against you. With reason of course.'

'Where is Hinata now?'

'She's now the Captain of a group of Paladins in Ruberios called the Ten Great Saints.' said Shizu. 'If monsters can become Demon Lords, humans can become Saints, the counter-equivalent.' she said. 'Or even better, Hero. Heroes are stronger than Saints.' she elaborated. 'As of now, Hinata is an Enlightened, having achieved it recently...and its the goal of Ruberios to have their Paladins become Saints, as Heroes are rare to come by...you need to be blessed by a Light Spirit and granted Hero's Egg which the candidate must hatch to evolve into a Hero.'

'By the sound of that, its easier to become a Saint.' said Rimuru wryly.

'Yes...Enlighteneds and Saints become a sacred version of Majin, a lengthy lifespan and slowed aging. Hinata became one this year, telling me about it in a letter.' Shizu smiled. 'She's now 25 years old. She and Donna are six years apart with Donna the younger one.'

'What of your other student?'

Shizu's face fell from the proud smile she wore.

'He's now the Chairman of the Freedom Guild Association after Improving the Adventurer's Guild, and introduced many changes.' said Shizu. 'Changes that appealed greatly in politics. How much of that was his own effort or his ability to manipulate is unknown. And a year ago, he called me to Ingrassia to teach five otherworlder children as no other teacher was willing to teach them out of fear or they don't want to be attached to children with a death sentence over their heads.'

'How come?' why would KIDS have a Death Sentence?!

'There are three ways to end up here.' said Shizu. 'Summoneds like me, Yuuki and those kids...strays like Hinata...and Reincarnates like you and Harry-kun.' she continued somberly. 'But being a Summoned as a child is fatal to children.' she told him. 'Nations summon Otherworlders in hopes there's one with a Unique Skill that can bolster their military forces against their wills. But sometimes the summoning is done improperly, resulting in children.'

'Unlike the Otherworlders who are guaranteed to possess a unique skill, the Summoned's rate of success of gaining a unique skill is relatively low, with a curse carved into their souls in the bargain. The rampaging magical energy of the curse within will cause their bodies to implode, fried alive by the very power they possess.' Rimuru choked at the notion. 'The recorded lifespan of those improperly summoned without a unique skill is three years. Therefore, unless a unique skill is obtained, death is certain...so I left the school to find Demon Lord, Leon Cromwell to save those children. I was a child when I was summoned by him. He was looking for a specific girl but was disappointed when I'm not the one...' she told him. 'But he did something that I lived this long up to the end of my human lifespan.'

'I must know what he did for me and use it on the kids. Its why I joined those children when they said they'll go to the forest.' Shizu said. 'Once I get south enough, I can approach the Demon Lords living south of Jura and ask them where Leon is.'

"The thing is, she doesn't have much time left." Rimuru thought anxiously as Donna implied it can be today or tomorrow, Shizu will die and her spirit will run amok due to their disharmony. Shizu won't have the chance to.

The most he could do for her, was show her modern Japan...after the war and tell her that there's a fellow Japanese through him.

'...its inevitable you will meet...but be careful of Yuuki.' Shizu warned him. 'I'm safe because of Spirit Magic and my mask...everybody else isn't.'

'Wakatta. Let's go back for now. Your party had a really rough week, you should rest, even if Donna gave you guys medicine.'

xxx

Back at the Village...

Cabal's group and the siblings were talking with the Dwarves.

'So you guys want Unique Grade gear?' Kaijin asked the Adventurers.

'Yeah, we have no way of going to Dwargon without paying an unfair toll to get through and you know how much we're paid.' Donna told him as the others nodded. 'But we really need to level up more.'

'Well, the materials are an issue you know.' said Kaijin. 'So far we got the carapaces of the monsters Donna's got for us but we need to mix magisteel into them. That, we don't...have?!' Donna's response was taking out a large slab of magisteel out of her space. 'Where'd you get this?!'

'From a really nasty area.' Donna chimed. 'With this big fella, can you?'

'OF COURSE!' Kaijin sputtered in glee, 'I can make ten pure magisteel swords out of this! Any requests, youngsters?'