That time I got reincarnated as a slime does not belong to me.
Turn the Clock:
A group of Ogres approached him hours after the meal, consisting of about 150 to 160. The lot of them were led by Benimaru and the others.
"Lord Rimuru…?" Benimaru hesitated slightly.
The Demon Lord smiled "Yes? How can I help you?"
The Ogre waited a moment, considering the reaction he'd just gotten "We'd like to become your subordinates! We don't know yet if we'll stay after the defeat of the Orc Lord but we want to fight under you, please consider this request."
"Huh? No need to consider! I offered it in the first place. Welcome on board, I'll reintroduce myself. I'm Rimuru Tempest, the head of this town. Above all, I hope we can be friends!"
All of them looked surprised but quickly responded.
"Alright!" Rimuru clapped his hands "Then let's name you? How about it? Do you want me to?"
"R-really?! But we're so many…!"
"It's fine, it's fine! It could be worse!"
"I'd like to know what worse is…" One ogre muttered.
Rimuru enlightened him "Diablo. He was an Arch Demon, you know! He took a lot of my magical energy! Thankfully, naming doesn't harm me. ...If I use too much I'll be defenceless though, so if I ever overdo it, I'm counting on you as well!"
"Yes!" The Ogres shouted excited.
"Alright then… let's see…" He pretended to think before looking at Benimaru "You'll be 'Benimaru', you will be 'Shion', then 'Shuna', 'Souei', 'Hakurou', 'Kurobee' and..."
He kept going, naming all assembled Ogres. It filled him with glee. He had his friends back and gained others in the process.
"Now then," He said as he finished "Why don't you rest up? You had a rough day. You can ask anyone here to bring you to the spots we prepared. I'd show you myself but my presence is required elsewhere."
"Ah, my apologies!" Benimaru exclaimed "We didn't mean to take up your time."
"It's fine. It's not so important that I need to run, I just don't want to miss too much."
"That's good to know… We'll excuse ourselves then."
"Good night!"
"Are you really alright, Lord Rimuru?"
"Yes, stop asking please. I'm not so weak that I'll be hurt by someone being a bit rude."
"I never meant-!"
"I know." Rimuru sighed "But there's no need to worry so much Diablo. I'm fine, I will still be fine even if he does it again. If anything, try to keep your cool during such situations. What if that had been some super important person in disguise? He wasn't but that's not the point."
"My apologies."
"...Everyone is apologising for something today. Is it apology day or something? Seriously…" He smiled fondly "Besides, if he'd tried anything I'm sure you would have protected me. Veldora, too. We gained new friends, too. All is good, so let's not drag the remainder of the day down with such things."
"Friends, my Lord?"
"Mh? Yeah. You might be my subordinates, but you're also all my friends. I think it's important to be close to the people you care about. Only being subordinate and master kind of makes it difficult. That's why I like to think of everyone as my friend. Do you want to be friends with me?"
"Of course, if it's what Lord Rimuru-"
"I want to know what you want."
"Yes, I'd like to be friends, my lord."
The slime laughed and looked at the sky "Then all is good."
His friends wouldn't die on him, not again. And Diablo wouldn't have to experience his distraught state either. Maybe, maybe it was time for a new tactic, a new strategy but he'd think about that once this mess was over.
Gabil should arrive soon, right? Better deal with that. Treyni would arrive as well. Not long, not long at all. Nobody can stop this demon lord.
Gabil was... like usual. Thank the heavens Diablo was keeping an eye on the ogre leader. Veldora, too. Where Shizue was, he didn't know. He was sure he saw her follow Diablo though. Oh well.
Not his problem right now. Souei had come back with the intel and everyone was informed quickly. A problem, is what it would probably seem like to them. For Rimuru who once effortlessly massacred 15,000 humans that was nothing.
He sent Souei to deal with the alliance and ordered everyone to prepare. The Ogres who had chosen not to serve him had stayed but did not partake in their preparations. Were those fools planning to throw themselves into the fray without any plans? Were they going to be hinderances? As long as they didn't hinder them, all was well but otherwise...
He took a stance before his forces "Listen up! Whether the lizardmen ally with us or not, as soon as Souei's message arrives, we're leaving! The orcs need to be stopped at the marches or the forest ecosystem might get destroyed, got that!?" A loud shout of agreement echoed and he continued "Everyone, I want you to support the Onis and Ogres to the best of your ability, as planned, they will be the first to get in to execute their revenge!"
"Yes, Lord Rimuru!"
"Furthermore, I want as little lethal injures as possible! If you see anyone that needs to stop fighting, get them out of there! I won't forgive needless deaths, alright?!"
"Understood!"
Then the message came and they started to move, the remaining Ogres trailing behind. Their pace was fast but not at a running speed, they would be at the marches soon. A few days only. Souei was already instructed to keep an eye on Gabil and to help the Lizardmen should they ask for it. Their first force would travel via the wolves, the second force were the generally faster monsters among them, so they would follow behind as fast as they could but separately.
The Oni were with the Wolves, of course. The Ogres, he didn't particularly care about. They took a break as soon as the marches were reached but he knew it wouldn't be long before Souei would send another message.
True to his expectations, a message did arrive. Gabil had taken over the Lizardmen and started the fight. At least this might serve as a lesson to him. He entrusted the safety of the head and the rest in the labyrinth to Souei.
And thus, they proceeded to the battlefield after he confirmed the alliance. It was about time to settle this.
As promised, the Oni were the first to enter the fight. He smiled as he realized it went far better than last time, some were even so nice and kept as many Orcs alive as they could. Which was basically capturing them or knocking them so unconscious Rimuru worried if they would ever wake up again…
As they losses of the Orcs ranked up to 40%, ten more than last time, the Orc Lord moved. They were good with the time, maybe the Oni could have their revenge without them this time. However, the foolish Ogres stormed ahead just as he was giving orders to the Oni.
"Hey!" He yelled "Get away from there! You can't beat that thing!"
The Ogres did not listen and Ciel dutifully informed him that there was almost no saving them, almost. Half of them had fallen in the span off a few seconds, all decapitated by a single strike of the Orc Lord's weapon.
Rimuru clicked his tongue and used [Void God Azathoth] to temporarily hold the Ogres.
"Benimaru! I will keep them from going to their death for now, you guys get your fight against that thing!"
"Understood, Lord Rimuru! We will kill this beast without fail!"
Yeah, let's see about that. If Gelmudo arrived within the next few minutes, they wouldn't be fast enough.
The Oni all decided to attack at the same time. It was a sea of colour, a fire sea, a sea fire? Whatever. They seemed just about done when Gelmudo arrived. And here he thought he could keep out of this.
The devil was, of course, spilling his entire plot. You know, like and idiot. He let the Oni deal with the true culprit (Kind of, he would devour Clayman later). After being beaten to an inch of his life, he retreated to the Orc Lord's side, begging him to help.
As a result, he was eaten. But the Orc Disaster was still heavily injured and he'd failed to use the short period of time where he didn't regenerate. The Oni tried to kill it but it was no use. That thing was still out of their league.
"Should I kill it?" Veldora suggested.
"No, it's alright." He moved in front of everybody and released the Ogres behind him "I will show you that I'm no pushover. Since even the Oni can't beat that, I will. In fact, it won't even take two minutes."
"As expected of our Lord." Diablo praised.
The Slime smirked. He could just swallow Orc Disaster but where was the fun? He could just easily compress him within the matter of an entire world-
Wait, stop, stop! What was wrong with him! Where the hell did that thought even come from?!
'Ciel? What was the that?' He asked a bit scared internally.
-I must admit that I do not know, Master, however I will immediately begin investigations.-
'Please!'
He closed his eyes for a moment and relaxed, drawing his sword "Let's get on with this, pig!"
The Sword of Tempest, although his abilities related to the two dragons were gone, he could easily recreate them using either [Harvest Lord] or [Creation Lord]. With all the time it had been inside him, with the power infused by [Turn Null]…
It might not be Veldora Sword, but it was nonetheless a Genesis Class weapon.
Rimuru grinned wide. What a waste it was to use it against such an opponent but his intention right now was showing off.
"Your days are number, to 0 in fact!" He leapt forward, doing a spin to get into a sideways position and then slashed.
The effect was disastrous. The Demon Lord was split cleanly in half, black flames hindering his recovery. The surrounding area was charred badly. Using an extension of [Black Flame] might have been a mistake. He wanted to show off, not burn the land.
Gripping the sword with his other hand as well, he cast an ice spell over it and charged forward. The plan was to slash his torso in half and freeze him before eating him. And so he did. The Orc Disaster didn't even have time to struggle as he was devoured. Swinging the sword to get any possible remains off, he held it towards the Orcs.
"As I'm sure [Starving Ones] is fading, I ask of the ones sentient enough to answer me now. Will you surrender? Or should I wipe you all clean with a single strike? The choice is yours!"
"We surrender!" One Orc immediately shouted. He recognized this monster as the one he named 'Gerudo'. He was glad to see he was unharmed. He noticed tears.
Right, their leader just died, was simply eaten even. He remembered the Orc Disaster's regrets from last time. All this, because some Devil wanted a puppet of great power.
It was time for a conference.
The atmosphere was heavy. Although the situation was explained, it did not change the present. So he asked the Lizardmen if they had any demands but they refused their right for reparations. This lead to him explaining and offering the idea of the Coalition. It went well, he had to bring up the problem with the food though. He could prevent it like last time, but they needed to prepare.
That's when the Dryad arrived. It went pretty much like last time, except he was the one to accept their joining and not Shion. The following events were the gathering of the food from the Treants and the naming of the ogres. Soon after it was time to go...
It turned into a living hell.
On one side was Shion, insisting that she should be the one taking care of him, on the other Diablo, claiming the same thing. For the sake of his sanity, getting Diablo to stay with him was probably better but...
He didn't to be a part of this "I'll be going ahead, you two make sure everyone arrives safely!"
He dumped all responsibility on them and prevented them from being able to argue further. Two flies at once!
Honestly, this was too much for him.
"You're back already?" Shizue asked when he entered the town.
"Yeah, the rest will slowly arrive, too. Thanks for looking after everyone here."
"It wasn't a problem, it's not like anyone came here. I guess all other monsters were scared off by the enemy."
"Probably… Oh well. How is your training going?"
She smiled "Good, I'd say. I'm hoping I can get strong enough without Ifrit, not like I have a choice, since he's… you know."
"Yeah…" He averted his gaze.
Two months had passed and they grew even more. Gabil and his troops, the eight thousand goblins as well as Souka and her team. He also sent Souei ahead to the Dwarves, to finally give an answer to the King after asking the opinion of the Oni, Orcs, Lizardmen and new hobgoblins. They now lived with them so he had to take their opinion seriously. As everyone was in agreement, Souei departed quickly.
Now the next matter...
"So, what will you be doing now?" He casually addressed the Ogres. They had been loitering around for two months but never officially stated whether they were going to join or just thinking on what to do from then on.
The Ogres remained silent.
The leader shook his head "We won't serve under you. I, personally, have been extremely rude to you and those foolish men still wish to follow me even though I led half of us to death. I can't disappoint them."
He smiled "Then I'll let you stay until you know what to do but I expect you to help around where you can."
"Of course." The ogre bowed to him.
Happy to have an answer, Rimuru left. He had other matters to attend to. The last time the adventurer trio had come they were in the middle of organising the chaos that came with so many new people. He had asked them to bring a message to their guild master though. Yuuki...
Shizue shouldn't take too long. He had to go save the kids, nevermind the fact that Yuuki would grow more dangerous with each passing day. Not letting him know of his identity was the best option. A fake name, maybe even a fake appearance? Just to be sure, he should take someone else with him beside Shizue.
In the middle of his thoughts, he saw Kaijin and Kurobee "What a surprise! How are you two doing?"
"Fine, fine." Kaijin laughed "But we wanted to ask something."
"Hoh? What is it?"
"If it's not too rude to ask this, Master Rimuru, can we take a quick look at your sword? The others told us of your performance and we thought we might get to see some interesting things with Kurobee's ability and forge better weapons for everyone."
He blinked "Sure, give me moment… There!" He handed them the sword "It's precious to me though, so take good care of it. Will until tomorrow be enough time?"
"We-" He looked flustered "There's no need to give us the sword, we just wanted to take a quick look! We already guessed it was precious so asking to take it away-"
"It's completely fine!" Rimuru assured "As long as you give it back and don't tamper with it, you can study it all you want!"
"I- Thank you! We will be careful." Kurobee spoke up.
"I know. I will come by tomorrow to see how it went, alright?"
"Yes!"
He laughed as they departed, discussing heatedly among themselves. He could trust those two with his sword.
Furthermore, he could fight just fine without it for a while. Maybe he should make some kind of battle competition, now that he thought about it. He wouldn't evolve into a Demon Lord again or undergo another change like when he became a Great Demon Lord, so nobody would grow the same way as before. So in the competition, every place would get some kind of reward, skills mostly. More than one, depending on what rank the person achieved. Maybe a new position even.
He had to think up a system first though. He left that to Ciel. She was far better with that than him.
As stated, he went to the smithy the next day. The two and pretty much all their apprentices were staring at the sword still, taking notes. It seemed like they hadn't slept at all!
"How's it going?" He asked normally but as soon as he said that, all activity was halted and they stormed up to him, talking so much that even he couldn't follow their words.
Kaijin shooed them aside "My apologies, everyone here was just simply amazed- no entranced- by your sword. I assume you've come to pick it up?"
He chuckled "I came to see how you were doing. If you want to look at it some more, you can. Just make sure all of you sleep properly, you look like wrecks."
"I'm afraid we're already done. We were just jotting notes on what we discovered earlier. No matter how much we try, we can't obtain more information." Kaijin shook his head and handed over the weapon "We got the basic structure and it's materials down but no further. The energy, we can't place, the more advanced materials, we don't recognize. If I had to guess, it's probably Magic steel or something of higher quality. But with just the basics, we can start making more advanced weapons as soon as we get materials! Honestly, I wish I could meet the creator of this sword! It's beyond a God Class even, it's something unimaginable!"
He was right here, Rimuru wanted to say but refrained "I'm glad it was able to help. I'm afraid it's impossible for you to gaze at the creator of this sword but I'm sure the two of you, Kaijin and Kurobee, will one day reach his skills. The weapon was already of the utmost grade upon its creation but the refining into the higher class came from me. But should you ever be able to form a sword like this with skill alone, that too would be unimaginable, however, you might just be able to."
"We will do our best to meet those expectations! Please believe in us!"
"I already do, so just do your think and remember not to overwork because of this. Sometimes, the best works take the slowest approach to reach new heights."
Loud laughter bellowed from behind "But such weapons would truly stand out!"
He was here already? Did this guy sneak out of his castle?
He had a wide grin "So what exactly are we talking about? I only heard the last part about weapons of the highest grade. Are you planning on creating God Class weapons en mass?"
Certainly not. Not everyone could wear those!
So he wanted to say but "I'm afraid not, but weapons of higher class are still better than rusty claws or how do you say it again? What brings you here with only two guards, your Majesty?"
"I received the message from your subordinate. Can you imagine how freaked out some people were when seeing an Oni? Those are quite rare and this one looked so young, too! It's said some old ogres may reach that level but such a young one… Honestly!"
"Ah, apologies. Should I have sent a hobgoblin? I'm sure that would have went well." The slime replied sarcastically with crossed arms "If you want someone else next time, I can send Diablo, too. But I'm afraid that would be worse."
"How so?"
He raised an eyebrow "We're talking about a Demon Duke. Quite a bit more dangerous than an Oni I believe."
"A Demon Duke? I never heard of that, is that above or under a Greater Demon?"
"Try guessing with an Arch demon as the criteria please."
"So between Greater Demon and Arch Demon, yeah… I definitely wouldn't want that anywhere near us!"
"..." Rimuru just stared at the King, he wasn't dumb, so why.
The King noticed and stilled comically "That's not it?"
"No." The slime stated bluntly "I summoned an Arch Demon, named him and voila, Demon Duke!" He threw his hands in the air enthusiastically. It would have been a great pose, if not for the fact that his face couldn't be more neutral.
There was literally no sound, not even breathing. Wasn't this too much.
"You did what?!"
Yeah, that was a great start to a new day.
After calming the King down and bringing him and his two accomplices in escaping to one of the conference rooms, he asked Shuna to prepare some drinks and light snacks. He had recently taught her the basics of cookie making. They were rather bland though, both because of missing ingredients and his inexperience with baking. But Shuna made them delicious regardless.
He regarded the two partners in crime of the King for a moment. Bester and another. This was probably about the Trade and Research treaty. Would Bester be a part of this again?
Diablo came in and placed a cup in front of everyone and a tray in the middle before standing behind Rimuru.
"My apologies." He said with a pleasant expression "But all other possible servers are currently helping elsewhere."
Rimuru replied happily "That's fine! Thanks for bringing this over. I'm sure Shuna is glad about a break, too."
"And who is this?" King Gazelle asked carefully, eyeing the tray full of cookies.
Rimuru took one and bit in it before swallowing "That's Diablo. You should try the cookies, they're not the finished product as we're missing some ingredients but Shuna made them delicious anyway. I personally recommend her cooking."
He looked exhausted and took one, eating it "Don't try to divert my attention- Those are really good!" He paused and suddenly cleared his throat "Anyways, I came over because of the Trade we spoke of before as well as a Mutual Technology Research Treaty. Bester here, he was the one who interjected during our last meeting, would be a great help, I'm sure. You said the recipe for the medicine was unknown to you in general but I'm sure you'd be able to do something together. He has a great mind."
"I'm not against it but is this fine? We have Kaijin here and they didn't seem to be on good terms…"
Laughter resounded "It's fine. It seemed like this ones attitude changed after his encounter with you back then. You make impressions on people you don't even speak with! And with Kaijin away for a while, he calmed a lot, thought a lot, too. If there are any problems, though, you can just inform me and I'll do something!"
"I'll have to ask Kaijin and the others first but if they're fine with it, then I have nothing against it either." He wondered for a moment and then turned to Diablo "Could you go ask them? They can come if they want to as well, unless the King has something against it?"
"Not at all!"
Diablo bowed towards the slime "I'll be right back."
Gazelle sighed "So that was the Demon you mentioned. He seems like a terrifying fellow, please keep him away from my kingdom."
"Alright. Unless I have no other choice, I won't send him."
"Good, a high rank demon would start a panic."
"Well, that is understandable. Diablo can be a nice guy though, I mean, he loves to fight, but it's pretty hard to anger him? I think…? He got angry a lot recently but that was provoked."
"Well, as long as he keeps out of my hair."
"What would he be searching for there?" Rimuru joked.
"Hahaha! What indeed!" The King laughed "To more important matters, what is this city's name? We'd need one for official documents later."
"We don't have one yet. Why don't we talk about this later? Around evening maybe, if you don't mind. Everyone would be taking work more easy then and it would be easier to get their opinion."
"That's fine by me. In fact, how about I stay the night? Let the guards panic a bit?"
"That's cruel, but okay with me. I'm not responsible for your direct troops."
Evening rolled around fast. The Dwarves accepted Bester. There were still some attitude problems but he was sure those could be worked out. At least he was making an effort of working with Kaijin. They also decided on the City name 'Tempest'. What ensued was a great celebration after the treaties were signed.
The King requested Cookies, probably taken by the taste, and more tea. He guessed the cookies made him thirsty. Rimuru absentmindedly took a few in his hands and started wandering about innocently, the King, interested, following him with his eyes. The slime didn't notice.
This was just going to be joke, a harmless experiment! Now, he had quite a few cookies. Well, he could try with Diablo who was just standing to the side.
'How lame!' Rimuru thought 'He should at least have some fun!'
Not that Diablo wasn't capable of that, he had probably already celebrated and was just bored now. He skillfully evaded the celebrating monsters and sneaked up on Diablo. Well, not really, the demon was attentive and noticed him right away.
Rimuru lifted a cookie up, right in front of the demons mouth. Then he shoved it in. Just as Diablo was about to ask something. Behind him he thought he heard someone choke or something, probably his imagination.
"Tasty?" He asked.
Needing a second to recover, the demon just nodded, probably surprised. Not waiting for a verbal response, he looked for his next target. Who could he pick...? Not Shion, she would be all over him. He'd give her something else later, probably a new hairband, hers looked quite worn. As an apology for disappointing her so much on the occasions she intended to help at but couldn't.
Anyway, Benimaru was the next victim. Then went Souei who had been a minor pain to find among the mess. He had one more cookie left. Shuna already knew what they tasted like. From the corner of his vision he saw Ranga. You weren't supposed to give dogs, or wolves for this matter, sweets, right? Well, this could hardly be considered a sweet at the moment. It was quite healthy actually.
He went over and patted the wolf, holding out his hand for the dog to eat the cookie. The fur was soft, he could get lost. But now Ranga was all over him. It could have been worse.
"You're actually kinda crazy, aren't you?" Gazelle asked after Rimuru freed himself from the fluffy prison.
"Define crazy." Was the nonchalant reply "Why anyway? Did you see that? Aside from the thing with Ranga, not many noticed."
"You shoved that cookie right in his mouth!"
"You have to define which one. I shoved a cookie each into the mouths of three different people."
"Well, which one do you think I mean?!"
"Dunno?" He shrugged "Benimaru, maybe?"
"Definitely crazy..." The King muttered "I'm talking about the demon. Pretty sure you broke him or something, too. He looks more lost than a lost puppy you know."
Surprised he turned towards Diablo. ...He had been exaggerating. Diablo looked surprised still but not lost or even confused. Wait, the choking he heard earlier, was that the King...? Oh, wow.
"I was just trying to get a reaction out, but it didn't work."
"A reaction?"
"Well, the cookies are new, so I thought they might comment on the taste."
"You hardly gave them a chance to reply!"
"It was just a bit of harmless fun. Besides, did you see Diablo, he was just standing there!"
"That's hardly a justification."
"Well, does it matter?"
"Not really. Can we get the recipe of those?"
"Ha! So they do taste good!"
"I never denied that." The King laughed "You're really something else, though. You have a sword, right? How about a mock battle?"
"What? Looking for any wrong intentions with a battle as a front?"
He sighed "My, I've been seen through... But it's also important to know your allies true strength."
"That is true." He chuckled.
He and the King went outside, the rest watching them attentively as they both drew their swords.
As an opener, the King attacked from the sky. Rimuru effortlessly avoided. In sword skill, he was beneath the King but that didn't mean he couldn't win.
Using the evading motion he spun his foot that was on the ground and attempted to slash the man as he regained the right footing. It was also evaded easily and the two started to trade blows. A slash here and a strike there. All were either evaded or blocked. However, Gazelle didn't get any in either.
As they jumped apart after another row of blocked strikes, they started to laugh.
The King smiled "I fear if we fight any more, we won't be done before tomorrow!"
Rimuru returned the gesture "Definitely. I have to say though, you have amazing skill. As expected of the Hero King! I still have a lot to learn in that regard."
"Ha! You say that but you effectively use your mind and body to make up for it. It's been long since I had a proper fight, let alone one where I was evenly matched. ...I'm sure though, had you used the magic ores or your skills, I would have lost."
"Who knows? No telling without doing."
The King and his remaining man had left the following day. At least that was over. Rimuru was currently sitting with Shizue who had told her of her wishes regarding Yuuki. He wasn't sure if it was possible, but he would try. He had promised after all.
The children's deaths were coming closer, so once the rest was settled, they had no choice but to move.