A New Home to be built

A day after the Orc Disaster...

All representatives from the clans came to participate, including Treyni, a neutral side.

It was awkward, Touka thought.

From her side under Rimuru are the Kijin, with Rimuru as a Slime on Shion's lap as well as the Hobgoblins and some Tempest Wolves.

From the lizardmen–the Head, Guard Captain, and Guard Vice Captain.

The goblins they recruited also sent their representatives.

The orcs sent the one remaining Orc General and ten clan chief representatives.

They were all pale, depression visible on their faces.

The reason for the previous chaos was, indubitably, the orcs.

No matter how hard anyone tries to pin all the blame on the Orc Lord's manipulation, they were clearly not blameless.

And it is because they understand this fact, that their expressions are so dark.

According to what Souei had gathered, they didn't prepare that much food.

Through cannibalism and the effects of the unique skill, they were able to advance while starving. Now that they have lost the skill's effects they can't possibly eat their brethren.

Their rather unfortunate situation made the atmosphere in the room even heavier.

They are fully expecting to be demanded to take responsibility for the war, but they also know that they can't possibly pay reparations.

As in the first place, the main cause for the war was the perpetually starving orcs and their leaders who could do naught about it.

Even considering that their numbers have decreased, there are still 100 thousand of them. 150 thousand of which, were killed by Touka and the Kijins, as well as Ranga's multi-tornado technique. There's not enough food to feed them all.

And the fact that even with this many troops they can't continue combat simply emphasizes just how cornered the orcs are.

If they did not have the Starving Ones skill, they would have all perished from hunger.

Though there are 150 thousand of them, that also includes women, children and the young. It was a mass exodus of the orc race.

'Before we begin the conference, I wish to share the information I have gathered. Listen!' Rimuru exclaimed. At his words, everyone's expressions hardened, and they fixated their gazes on him. And then he conveyed the information he has gotten from Souei and Orc Disaster's final moments in his stomach.

The cause for the Orc uprising, and their current situation.

The cause was a severe famine.

The Magic Continent is a land with fertile soil under the protection of the demon lords.

Many powerful demonic beasts and demons inhabit it, but thanks to the demon lords, it is safe.

However, there was a price for safety.

A steep tax.

Those who wanted to live on fertile lands had to provide a large amount of crop.

Orc, who reproduced quickly, worked in the mines and toiled the fields, and were necessary to the demon lords.

However. Those who could not pay the tax were immediately killed.

The demon lord never lends a helping hand.

Aiming for the abundant resources, many monsters attack.

Those that have not paid a protection tax are not protected.

Thus that land inevitably becomes dangerous.

The fertile orcs, even if the majority of them were killed, would soon enough restore their population to needed levels.

Though there was a need to control their number, the demon lords decided that the extras would die anyways.

Now, thanks to a great famine, they could not pay their tax.

Thus, losing the protection of the demon lords, they decided to flee those lands in search of a safe haven.

While beset by hunger, the orc lord was born among them, but until then they would never fight anyone stronger than themselves.

And thus wandering, they have made their way to Jura Forest's outskirts.

Around that time, a devil named Gelmud offered them a hand.

Oblivious to his machinations, they decided to accept his offer.

And thus, following his directions, they plunged Jura Forest into chaos.

The orc representatives, not expecting me to bring these things up, stared at him with wonder.

There a few who shed tears listening to Rimuru. They were fully convinced that they'd all be executed without a chance to explain themselves.

And giving Hakurou the signal, he continued the conference.

'Ahem! Now then, the first let's confirm the casualties.'

And thus the discussion started.

Lizardmen's head discussed their casualties.

Listening to his report, the Orcs hid their faces and stayed silent.

'Now then, Head-dono, do you have any demands for the orcs?'

After discussing the losses, the discussion proceeded to discuss appropriate payment.

'Nothing specific. This victory was not wrought by our strength. We were saved by Rimuru-dono!' Abandoning the right to reparations, the Head thus replied.

Not like they could do much in the first place, though.

'Alright. Let's let the orcs speak now,' but when Rimuru just looked at them, one burst out,

'Please pardon my interruption! Please allow me to compensate for this incident with my life! Of course, I understand that it is not enough, but I have no followers to add!'

Orc Generals calls out, falling prostrate before Rimuru.

He desperately pleads, 'I have become a B rank monster, and gained quite a lot of magical energy, so please forgive the rest with my death!' Is what he says.

'Wait. Rimuru-sama has something to say!' Hakurou intervened. The Orc General shut up, and looked at Rimuru.

The rest, as well, quietly waited for him to speak.

'Umm, so this is my first conference, so I'm not sure I can handle this well. Thus, I'll just say what I think. After that, I want you all to discuss my words.'

Having said that he proceeded to discuss his thoughts. First, that he thought that they should not pursue the discussion about the orcs' sins. Next, that he wanted to continue the alliance with the Lizardmen. And finally, that he wanted the orcs to join that alliance.

That was rather shocking. Even Touka knew how weird this is as nobody can be THIS nice, right? The Orcs wronged two races already both of which, are strongly aggrieved. And then Rimuru just wants everyone to get along?

'And those are my thoughts. I bet you have many things you want to say, but know this: I will not permit any punishment to befall the orcs. That is because I have thus promised to Orc Disaster. I will bear all their sins. If you got something to complain about, let me hear it!' So he declared.

The orcs and Touka stared at him, amazed.

In contrast to them, the Lizard Head asked a question.

'We are completely satisfied with what you have said. However, we do have a question...'

'What is it?'

'Now that the war has ended, why do we need an alliance?'

'About that, huh. To explain...'

And thus Rimuru explained that point further. His plan to create the Great Jura Forest Coalition.

The Lizardmen can offer fertile fishing grounds and fish.

The goblins...can't expect much from them. So Rimuru didn't say anything about Goblins.

'My city can provide processed goods. And the orcs excel at manual labor. They can inhabit the lands away from the marshes. Those originally owned by the ogres. That place is also by a foot of a mountain with abundant resources.' he said. 'Speaking of area alone, all 100 thousand couldn't possibly all live on the same land, but they could split into Mountain district, Valley district, River-district, and the Forest district and thus live. If the particularly large clans split into individual districts, this'll work...somehow. We'll provide the technical support about constructing housing and such. However, we'll work the orcs hard in return. After all, our village's population is too small and many things are left undone. That I want to finish all in one go.'

That much he explained to them.

Everyone heard the same explanation.

Unlike last time, this declaration left everybody greatly excited.

Their fears wiped away, a fire of hope was lit in their hearts.

'Y-y-you'd permit us...to join your coalition...?' The orc general fearfully asked.

'You can work, right? I won't let you slack off.'

'O-of course! We'll work as if our lives depended on it!'

The orcs trembled, tears falling from their eyes.

'We have no objections. Rather, we'd like to aid you!'

The Lizardmen's Head also voiced his agreement. Seems like they've all accepted my plan.

Now that we have everyone's consent, the Great Jura Forest Coalition is born.

However, a problem remains.

An unnaturally troubling, worrisome problem!

'I'm sorry for bringing this up while you're rejoicing, but...I want us to tackle the largest problem! That is...provision! How do we prevent 100 thousand orcs from starving? I want everyone to lend me their wisdom in this!'

The last great perplexity.

Provision, or rather–the lack of thereof, is the problem. The orcs have enough for three days. Even if they plant crops now, they won't make it in time; if they fish and hunt for food, they'll clean the lake dry and forests empty of life.

A troubling dilemma is upon them.

The lizardmen have enough food to feed what's left of them for half a year. Even if we gave all of that up, 100 thousand would eat it in twelve days.

Everyone was scratching their heads thinking about it.

Touka has limited ability herself with her magic, having used said magic to instantly grow crops for herself thus could live without leaving her forest home...but she only had enough for herself. She didn't have that much seeds and the flours she lacked, she just steals.

And then,

'Pardon the interruption during the conference! There is an emissary that desperately seeks your audience!' A Lizardman had run in saying, seems to be very flustered.

After Rimuru nodded to Hakurou, 'Show them in!' he responded, sending the soldier away.

And in came a Dryad. A beautiful girl with green hair. Like the people of Europe, her skin was white with well defined facial features. Plump lips, and blue eyes that suit her well. If measured in human years, she'd look about 16-18 years old.

A guardian spirit of the Treants. Among the monsters, she would rank among the top of A rank, as powerful as Rimuru himself. He caught up to their strength now.

Many voiced their surprise when she entered.

'Please to meet you, everyone! I am a Dryad Layato trainee. Pleased to make your acquaintance.' she spoke. 'I had come today to exterminate the orc lord...But that seems to have been done already. I was planning to leave a second ago, but decided to at least greet everyone. And then I found that you are troubled over a certain problem. I ask that you listen to what I have to say!'

She said with a bright smile.

But she also seemed perfectly calm.

And immediately continued her speech.

'It seem you lack provisions, correct? I believe we could assist with that. However, We ask that our beneficiaries, the Treants, are allowed to join your coalition!'

They have no reason to reject that offer.

However,

'Umm, we are grateful for the offer, but why would you want to join the coalition?' he asked on everyone's behalf.

'The Treants are a race that hardly move. Thus, they have little interaction with other races.' the Dryad explained. 'Should they be attacked by a powerful opponent or face some natural disaster, they would be helpless. We the Dryads could escape on our own, but we are few in number. If we were to join an alliance, we could receive help when needed, right?'

She responded with a pure smile.

'Of course! When troubled, our lord Rimuru-sama would help somehow!' With a giggle, Shion selfishly replied.

'Maa! So it was as I thought! In that case, please take care of us from now on.' the Dryad ended the conversation with a smile.

Thus, the Great Jura Forest Coalition was established.

xxx

She had gone to the village where the Slime Lord took up shop. The trip took a week.

'So Touka, you followed us here, what'll you do?' Rimuru asked Touka who took out her sword and gave it to him. 'Eh?'

'Take a look.' because Rimuru was still in his ball mode on Ranga's head, Benimaru took her girly sword and studied the blade. To their horrified amazement?

'T-This is pure Magisteel!' Benimaru's eyes popped out in shock. 'This thing is practically a national treasure! What the hell?!' he squawked out in shock. 'Even for the wealthy and tribal chieftains, their weapon only has a tiny percent within, just enough to cast magic with! It's that rare and your sword is an abnormal of all abnormals being 100% Magisteel! How did you do this?!'

'With my ability, I fed Magicules in caves to create as many Magic Ores as possible to refine high quality Magisteel.' Touka explained. 'I will be a Magisteel Supplier.'

Silence.

'EHHHHHHHHHHH?!'

'Holy crap! The Dwarves are going to shit bricks!' Rimuru howled.

He had learned the value of Magisteel in his early days in the Dwarven Kingdom, thus even he knows how much it's worth now! If they were to sell Touka's sword, it can clean up a large chunk of a country's treasury.

And so, at the forge where the Dwarf Kaijin leads, he and his group, including Kurobee who joined was shocked. That at Veldora's Cave, Touka demonstrated her claims as fact that she can indeed, force the process when they dug it out and bam, high quality Magic Ore wherein they can extract a mind-boggling 50% Magisteel from it. Magic Ores with this much, would take thousands of years to form. Dream ores only smiths can dream of.

If she was doing this, this explains her sword which she crafted with her magic as she cannot explain away how she obtained so much Magisteel to Blacksmiths and in turn, will get her in unwanted trouble with the local government who would use her to curry favor with the local human lords...

The ores they have, can supply Unique Grade Weapons here.

But Rimuru recognized both the value and danger of letting this go out publicly.

'I-I think we should keep this a secret for now, until we're a bit more stronger.' Rimuru stammered out. 'If everyone and their grandma knows, this village will be rubble in no time flat and Touka will be in danger of Exploitative Slavery. So only a select few warriors of A-Class should have pure Magisteel weapons while finding better upgrades.'

Everyone was quick to agree for Touka's sake, greatly charming her.

'W-wow...you're actually...good adults...'

'Kid, that statement of yours seriously worries us.' said Benimaru, frowning at her words.

Well...there's a dang good reason for that, as they learned of her past as the orphan Dita before she renamed herself as Touka upon separating from her fellow orphans due to her changes. They grew up horribly neglected and abused until Touka got fed up one day upon awakening to skills...and power...and took leadership because of her skills so they would all live past ten years old and actually have a future.

They all believed all adults were terrible.

'I see...but Touka, when we're born in this world, luck determines our fate in the wheel called life.' Rimuru told her. 'Some are born lucky in a good place, some like you, are born in a bad place. That its up to you to survive and change your life which you did for yourself and your fellow orphans...or be broken and left with no hope like others if they waited for a Hero that will never come to save them. Sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do which is often, the best choice. And you taught your fellow orphans well.' Rimuru chimed in approval. 'Maybe when not processing Ores, you work as a teacher instead for the children?'

'Eh? Ahhh I guess...?' Touka grinned. 'I'll also get crop seeds from human towns so we can get started with farming. With my shapeshifting skills, I can pass off as a human in farming villages, I just can't get into cities or my immense magic will be detected. Human villages have non-existent security so obtaining seeds is not a problem!'

'Mm! We're counting on you for more food variety for everybody.' Rimuru happily said.

'Build a chicken farm OK? I'll be bringing eggs back too.' and Touka was gone.

'Yikes, we better get started before she gets back.' Rimuru hastily told the Kijins. 'Rearing chickens for meat and eggs is good steady meat supply if we time it right in the future!'

xxx

In the two weeks Touka was back with Magic Books for Warlock-Class Wizards for Rimuru and herself, bags of seeds of crops that grow in a month or less, ensuring quick food supply, she has large bags that one type alone, she has 300.000 of, enough for everyone in the coalition. As well as Crop Feed for a future poultry farm. At least, Rimuru thought, they have grains, veggies and protein now. They have to wait for fruit from the Treants though.

And a crate of fertilized chicken eggs, but until the Chicken Farm was done building, Touka take care of the eggs first while a farming project began. Orcs also became farmers now, other than Laborers.

With a very eager-to-repent Labor Force, there's a Construction Boom...and a smithing boom. With so much Magisteel, the Tempest Smithy were excited to make Unique-Grade Mithril Weapons now and still working on further upgrade alloys through experimentation as where they live now, is very abundant in valuable metals thanks to Touka.

Because of the Massive Farming Project, they also have to avoid angering the Dryads if they cut too much trees. So Touka proposed a Mountainous Terrace Farming. Rimuru recognized the idea as well, being familiar with the term due to a country's famous 'Rice Terraces' back in Earth. The Cereal Grains will be farmed in the mountains hence, after Touka Magically removed all rocks from soil in the built terraces, leaving only soil behind, and even then Rimuru considered soil quality. He and Touka teamed up to make the Grain, Soybean and Sugar Terraces useful. The grains and sugar will be harvest-able in a month thanks to magic instead of the normal ten month long wait humans are accustomed to. It helps that Rimuru also has access to Honey through Monster Bees.

Once the grains are magically-matured, in turn containing lots of magicules, eating the grains as bread or noodle strengthened eaters daily. And good lord, the crop feed...mutated the chickens into triple their size, they had to build more shelter for chickens. The eggs now are the sizes of goose eggs.

This way, there's really enough food for everyone in the long term. They intend to have a large amount. Half of it raised in the budding town, and half of it handled by Orcs in their assigned Districts.

Grain for Bread or Porridge or Noodles. Vegetables, chicken, eggs and spices for soups and stews or plain roasts. Not only that, there's also cotton and flax for fabrics. Grain Chaff can be for bedding and pillow stuffing. For Cotton to stuff beds and pillows as well as couches...that would mean risking the Dryads' wrath. Noooot worth it! Thus they just have enough crop for clothing. The most valuable being the hellmoth silk Shuna weaves as that was also good basic armor for citizens. Normal weapons cannot pierce through, but Rare Grade upwards...yeah. They need to research more.

But still, Rimuru has suspicions about Touka.

Her knowledge...that he suddenly found familiar vegetable and egg recipes to his table...and Shuna and Shion said she learned it from Touka who held Cooking Classes for all women in the village.

Note: even if Shion followed her lessons, her results...still remains an Act of God somehow.

He called her to his office and she came via Shadow Motion.

'Touka...from the knowledge you're sharing around...you're from Japan like me, aren't you?' he spoke. 'Pancakes. Croissants. Tamagoyaki...stuff you're teaching the girls. Then your idea inspired from Rice Terraces. Those are things natives in this world cannot imagine being possible.'

Touka wasn't expecting that at ALL...and it was how she and Rimuru quickly developed a good relationship over. As well as Touka...telling him of her past as an Earthling that cemented her beliefs before becoming Dita in this world. She in turn learned of him as formerly, Mikami Satoru. 37 years old when he died. His former job enabled him to make all this possible.

Rimuru recognized that Touka really wanted being treated kindly and people to turn to. Its up to him and everyone to be the good adults she longed for who for once, would take care of her.

Because she was formerly human, she was the youngest resident of the Coalition. She was younger than even Goblin Children for crying out loud!