Sorry for the delay, I had some stuff going on.

"Speech"

'Thought'

*Thought Communication*

《Great Sage/Raphael》

{{Voice of the World}}

Chapter 9: Foundations

Rimuru POV:

Morning came by sooner than I imagined. I'd been given the best hut that the goblins had to offer, but even then, it was a far cry from the comfort I had enjoyed in the ogre village.

But that was to be expected given that the goblins were nowhere near as developed. To compensate I decided to just sleep in my hatchling form, warming the ground beneath me using [fire breath] in a circular motion, much like I had seen Toothless do in How to Train Your Dragon. It turned out to be highly comfortable and warm, and I reminded myself that I should do it more often in the future. And so with that I slept nice and warm through the night.

"Lord Rimuru we have a situation!!" It was the goblin's elder son, the goblin with the red bandana, shouting from outside the tent. Though I'd already been awake I couldn't help but groan at the disturbance.

I mean seriously, what could be happening so early in the morning that it required my personal attention.

《Answer: [Magic Sense] has detected the presence of Treyni and the other dryads approaching with numerous lower class monsters. Based on the numbers it can be assumed these are the wolves you asked to be guide here.》

Oh…right. Treyni had left the previous night after the entire matter had been handled, claiming she would help her sisters guide the female wolves and pups towards the goblin village.

'I hadn't expected them to arrive so early in the morning but whatever.' It was probably for the best that they did arrive early though. It would make sorting this whole thing out a lot easier.

That said, I could understand why the goblins would panic at the sight of more wolves approaching their settlement in large numbers.

"Relax." I called out as I stretched my small draconic body. Flapping my similarly small wings a few times I hovered out of the tent and surely enough was greeted by the goblin with the red bandana. His eyes widened upon seeing me and I realized that this was the first time that any of them had actually seen me in my dragon form.

"L-Lord Rimuru?" The goblin asked, I merely nodded my head in response not even bothering to respond to the obvious question, "I-I see. So this must be your true form, you truly are the son of Lady Veredia."

Putting aside the fact that he had actually doubted the claim of my heritage I decided to just move forward. I could understand the doubt a bit, even I would be hesitant to believe someone who just claimed to be the son of the guardian deity of the land.

"I take it the 'situation' you were referring to earlier was the arrival of more direwolves?" I asked, the goblin heir responded with a nod of his head. "Alright then, tell the chief and other goblins not to worry, I'll handle this myself."

"Yes sir!" The young goblin responded enthusiastically before running off to complete the assigned task.

I then flew off in the direction where I could sense the male direwolves already gathered, it seemed as though they had already pieced together what was going on. I landed in front of the unique colored direwolf, who was now the pack leader.

"Master, good morning!" He greeted excitedly, tail wagging and everything. In fact now that I took a better look, all the direwolves seemed to be reacting the same way.

"Morning. Judging by everyone's reaction you all know who is heading this way." To this the direwolves all nodded their heads like excited children or dogs being given treats. "Good, allow me to make one thing clear then."

This time my expression became stern and serious, prompting the wolves to calm down and pay more attention to my words. Which was good, cause I wanted to drive this point home.

"What happened before with the previous pack leader was unacceptable. And I'm not just talking about the attack on the goblin settlements or the disruption of the forest, but I'm mainly the fact that you all abandoned the females and young of your respective packs." I scolded them sternly. The wolves lowered their heads in regret as wines could be heard coming from some of them, "Abandoning comrades and allies is not how things should be, even in a world of 'Survival of the Fittest'. As my subordinates I hope this mistake will never be repeated again, cause I won't tolerate it. Are we clear?"

"Yes Master!!"

As someone who once worked in an environment where teamwork and comradery could save your life I wasn't happy with the way things had turned out in the direwolf pack. Hopefully it wasn't too late to fix things.

"Good, I asked the dryads to gather the females and pups and bring them towards the village. Hopefully they will agree to serve me too, thus allowing me to right this wrong." I said with a nod as I closed my eyes. And yet I could still see the tail wagging of the wolves start once more through [Magic Sense], honestly…

Being able to reunite the wolf packs under me would be great, but if the females refused to submit then that would mean having to let the males go. I wasn't really going to force them, nor was I going to keep the males and females separate. So regardless of how this went the direwolves would be whole by the end of the morning.

I took the wolves with me out of the village to intercept the incoming dryads and female wolves, wouldn't do to suddenly crowd the goblin village with over four hundred direwolves. That reminded me of the fact that I was going to have to think about what I was going to do with all these subordinates after all was said and done. Including the goblins they would be nearing five hundred.

Before I could think further on it Treyni and her sisters once more appeared before me using their leaf teleportation technique that I for some reason could not copy with [copy]. [Great Sage] had said it was because it was an Intrinsic Skill tied closely to their nature as dryads that allowed them to connect with plant life within the forest. Meaning it would be useless to me since I lacked that connection.

Whatever, I'm sure I'll find my own teleporting skill soon enough.

"Lord Rimuru, we have returned, our mission accomplished." Trya said as all three dryads went down on one knee in front of him and bowed their heads. The female wolves stepped out of the forest behind them, small pups in the center of the moving pack. Guess all creatures had strong maternal instincts, even in this world of monsters.

'They're really taking this whole loyalty thing too seriously aren't they?' On one hand I was glad to know that I had three beautiful and strong girls serving under me, but I couldn't help but feel as though they were laying it on a bit too thick.

The male wolves wasted no time running forward and mingling with their mates and pups, it was a somewhat touching moment seeing several of them be reunited and all that. One of the female wolves stepped forward, her eyes met mine for a moment before turning to the unique direwolf who was still beside me and then looking down at the ground as she continued walking towards me. Was this a sign of submission?

"My lord, this is the direwolf that took charge of the remaining wolves that were left behind." Treyni explained, it certainly explained why she was stepping forward. Still though, she had to be strong by direwolf standards to gather and control so many wolves in such a crisis.

"Please, I merely gathered us together under the common goal of protecting and taking care of our young." The female wolf tried to lower herself.

It made sense that the female wolves would band together for the sake of the young, even if they were from different direwolf packs. They all shared a common goal, and with each pack having lost more than half its hunting force and protection, it was better the adult females and mothers band together for the sake of the young.

"What happened with the Black Wolf was unacceptable, and I've made sure all the remaining direwolves know I won't tolerate the abandoning of comrades. Should you and the rest serve me, I can guarantee a safe place to raise your young to be strong as well as my divine protection for all the direwolves." I said hoping that she would accept.

The other females and pups seemed happy to be reunited with the males. So chances were she would also accept.

"The managers of the forest spoke very highly of you, Lord Rimuru. We will gladly yield and follow you." The female direwolf said as she lowered her head in submission.

I had no idea what Dorris and Trya had said but this just made things easier for me so I didn't complain.

…still though, that meant there were nearly five hundred direwolves now, including the pups. That was a lot more than the sixty plus goblins that were currently in the village. No matter how you looked at it the goblins wouldn't feel very safe given the recent events.

Well there was nothing I could do about that for now, other than make sure that both parties knew to get along well together. I had no intentions of staying here any longer than absolutely necessary.

"Tryeni, Dorris, Trya." I called out to the dryads as the two wolf leaders went to join the rest of the pack upon my dismissal. The three spirits turned towards me, "I just wanted to say thanks for the assist. I doubt I would have been able to handle this as quickly and smoothly without your help."

"There is no need to thank us, Lord Rimuru."

"Yes it is simply part of our duties as managers of the forest."

Tyra and Dorris were the ones to respond while Treyni merely smiled and nodded her head in agreement.

"Right. That being said, I also wanted to let you know that you can also count on me for help should something occur within the forest." I told them, I had promised to look out for my mothers domain, and these ladies had eyes all over the forest.

"Understood. Though please don't hesitate to call on us as well Lord Rimuru. Regardless of the task, we would be happy to help." Treyni said with a smile as her sisters also nodded in agreement.

"I'll keep that in mind." Like I was actually going to forget these three anytime soon. Still, it was reassuring to know that the burden of looking out for the entire forest didn't rest solely on him, and that these dryads would be there to back me up should I ever need it.

After that the dryads left for their home, and I went back to the goblin village with the wolves in tow. Thanks to the village elder, soon all the goblins and wolves were gathered together outside the village, the village was still too small to fit the large population of wolves.

"Alright everyone, now that the crisis has been resolved and everyone present has sworn loyalty to me I expect every one of you to get along." I knew that my words weren't magic but I hoped they would at least put in some effort to get along, "Now given the absurd number of wolves compared to goblins, I think it's only fair that we even things out a little bit. Elder, are there more goblin villages nearby?"

"Plenty my lord, we are scattered all over the forest." The old goblin answered swiftly, it was expected. Even in video games goblins were well known for their mass reproduction and high numbers. Why they chose to live in such small numbers in this world was beyond me though.

"Do you think it would be possible to recruit them under me as well?" I asked.

"With relative ease." He said with a bow before explaining further, "As I explained yesterday, we goblins are among the weakest species in the forest, and so most times we are at the mercy of superior species and even humans. If the other villages were to hear of the forest's new guardian and the son of the storm dragon offering protection they would no doubt agree to become your subordinates."

It was a sad reality, and the fact that he spoke about so casually spoke volumes about how this world worked. This was their lot in life, and they had all accepted it.

"Alright then, I'll be coming back to that later, for now let me deal with the lot in front of me." I said before taking a deep breath, "As my new subordinates I'm going to give all of you names to mark you as mine."

…

…

…

I was confused by the three seconds of absolute silence that followed that announcement. I guess I thought they'd be more ex-!!

"Woohooooo!!!"

"Oh yeeeeaaaahhh!"

"Lord Rimuru is the best!!"

"Thank you so much sir!!!"

All of a sudden all hell broke loose, and everybody just seemed to lose their minds. They were loud cries of joy, frantic jumping and hugging, even the wolves were howling and tail wagging expressing their own joy. It was just a crazy site all together.

'I expected them to be happy, but this…isn't this a bit too much.'

It took a while for everyone to stop jumping up and down all over the place. I had them line up, separating the goblins and the wolves. I decided to start with the goblins, wondering what they would evolve.

"Alright you will be Rigurd, you Rigur, Gobta, Gobuzo, Gobichi, Ririna, Haruna…" And so forth until I had named all sixty something goblins.

I wasn't really creative in the names that I gave them, but each one was very appreciative and seemed to like the names I had given them so there was nothing to be worried about.

'Great Sage, how am I looking on my reserves?' I asked, naming all the goblins had taken far less energy than I thought it would, but now came the wolves. They were of a stronger race than the goblins and their numbers were far higher. I needed to know if I could safely name them all or if I'd have to split the naming process.

《Answer: Magicule capacity is still at 84%. It is possible to name all the wolves in one sitting and still be left with enough energy to operate normally》

'Good to know' I thought before approaching the wolves, who at first glance looked serious, but the wagging of their tails gave away their excitement.

The two wolf pack leaders stood in front of the rest and were likely going to be the first to be named. I wanted naming the pack leaders to hold a bit more significance than the rest, not to mention I planned to take one of them as a familiar of sorts should all go well, that said I decided I would give them each a name that held a relation to my family name 'Tempest' and my affinity 'storm'.

"Alright then, I'm going to call you Ranga," I said pointing at the male direwolf leader with a star on his forehead, before pointing at the female direwolf leader, "and you Raya ." I declared.

A golden glow surrounded them as my magicules were transferred. Just when I thought that was the end of it, something peculiar happened. My magicules continued to get drained at a much larger rate than before.

'Wh-what's happening?!' I couldn't help but ask in alarm. Had I accidentally poured in too many magicules when I was naming them? No, that wasn't possible with [Great Sage] here to help me regulate all of my magicules.

《Answer: It seems all the direwolves have also begun to go through the evolution process as a result of naming the individuals Ranga and Raya. This is most likely as a result of the pack mentality of the direwolves, allowing them to evolve through the shared name of their respective leaders. Total magicule capacity remaining is 54% 》

'Damn, does that mean the magicules used are equivalent to the amount I would have used if I named all the wolves myself?' I couldn't help but wonder, it was really convenient that I didn't have to spend the next few days naming all the wolves, but at the same time it seemed unfair to not name the rest, since part of the reason I was naming them was for the sake of individuality and identity, strength and evolution were just a bonus to that.

《Negative: The rest of the pack has received less magicules than the named leaders, and thus the magicule count is less than if you choose to name them individually. In the event that you do name them the individuals Ranga and Raya would also gain more strength in order to maintain hierarchy.》

'Huh, word. Guess that means I can still name the rest, though I'll probably do that after they have all evolved.' There really is no point in naming them right now when they were about to evolve.

"It seemed as though all the direwolves have gained strength from naming the two of you." I spoke to Ranga and Raya.

"It makes sense master, we wolves normally operate as a single unit, one mind and body, with the leaders being the head." Ranga said as Raya nodded along in agreement.

"A pack mentality, then that means you will all most likely evolve through a shared name." It was just as great sage had said, "If that's the case then I'm going to hold off on naming the rest of the pack until said evolution has occurred." Both named wolves agreed to that.

And just like that the naming spree came to an end, at least for now. I decided to give the wolves and goblins the morning off to relax as their evolutions took place, it also gave me time to regain some of my magicules.

It was about an hour after noon that everyone was once more gathered before me, and I have to say I was surprised by how everyone had more or less 'grown'.

Looking at the goblins, the males all had slim but muscular figures, with the village chief Rigurd looking far more jacked than the rest, a major contrast to the frail old man form he had before. The male goblins had all evolved into hobgoblins, and their moss green skin had turned apple green and they reached a maximum height of 6 '7, with Rigurd standing at 7' 2. They all seemed to have taken on an appearance that seemed identical to humans except for their green skin and pointed ears.

Turning to the female goblins who had all evolved into goblina, I had to stop my mind from going down the gutter almost immediately. Which was hard given their current state of dress. Anyway, the goblina had all evolved wonderfully and seemed to have become more human shaped as well. The tallest among them reached up to a height of 6'4 and they all had light green skin. They all had envy-worthy figures that would have had any straight male looking back and several women glaring in hatred and envy, despite that their proportions were different, most likely as a result of genetics and all that.

Aside from that all the hobgoblins and goblina's had beautiful facial features that complimented each of their figures. Seriously, it was like an artist had sculpted these guys!!

'Are all Hobgoblins and Goblinas this attractive?!!' I couldn't help but wonder.

《Negative: The evolution of the goblins was influenced by your subconscious desires. Physical appearances and capabilities. Aside from outer appeal, the evolution has also resulted in the goblins gaining more magicules than initially intended and jumping rank. Where they were previously low E-rank at average and were meant to evolve to mid D-rank, they have all reached a standard level of mid C-rank》

'Hold on, so what would have happened if I poured a large amount of magicules in one of them?' I asked in curiosity as apparently I could not only influence their appearance but also the amount of magicules I gave an individual upon naming them.

《Answer: the goblins would have skipped the hobgoblin evolution and evolved into ogres, requirement to achieve this is the reaching mid B-rank capabilities.》

Well wasn't that something, to think that goblins and ogres were part of the same evolution line. Still though the goblins were close enough as is, if they actually trained their bodies and developed some techniques of some kind I bet they could reach high C-rank or maybe even low B-rank if they put the extra effort, maybe even go far enough to evolve on their own. Either way they had gotten stronger than planned but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing as long as they remembered their humble beginnings.

Turning towards the direwolves I was just as shocked by how they had changed as well. They all stood three meters tall in height and their length was double that, making them quite bigger than the goblins. Ranga and Raya were naturally the exceptions, Raya having grown 3.5 meters and Ranga standing at 4 meters tall and their body length being twice that.

In other words the wolves had become huge.

《Notice: The direwolves, through your intent to name the individuals Ranga and Raya after your storm element, have undergone a unique evolution into Tempest Wolves. This means they have inherited a fragment of your [Storm Magic, thereby giving them a lightning and wind attribute respectively.》

' [Storm Magic]? Since when did I have a skill like that?' I didn't remember [Great Sage] telling me that I had acquired such a skill.

《Answer: You inherited the [Intrinsic Skill: Storm Magic] as a result of your heritage and dragon factor from the Storm Dragon Veredia. The skill had been present since birth but laid dormant, only awakening upon reaching a certain level of strength and control.》

So I had my mothers unique True Dragon magic. Honestly I shouldn't have been surprised by that, being her son and all, but it was somehow still a lot to process. The fact that the direwolves had also managed to gain a fragment of this affinity simply because of the names I chose for their leaders was also absurd, but not unwelcome. That just meant I had stronger subordinates.

'How strong are the Tempest wolves now anyways?' I asked my sentient skill, I already had a rough estimate based on magicules alone but [Great Sage] could give me more accurate details.

《Answer: Where previously they were D-rank monsters, with the leader being C-rank, the Tempest Wolves are mid B-rank with their leader being high B-rank. As a pack they were previously a B-rank threat, now they are an A-rank threat capable of more complex techniques and strategies. They can also run up to 100 km/h for seven hours before needing a short rest.》

Woah, talk about a major evolution. I looked forward to seeing them in action one day, and that thing about running at 100 km/h just made me want to take one of them as a familiar even more. I'd probably take Ranga, seeing as he'd been sticking by me more since I took the wolves in.

"Alright everyone listen up!!" I called out after inspecting everyone. Ranga laid down on his belly to my left and Rigur stood at attention to my right. It took a minute but soon everyone was quiet and paying attention. "Saying you've all grown up would be the understatement of the century. You've all evolved more than I expected, even going as far as skipping a rank. That being said, don't let this power get to you. I won't tolerate complacency or discrimination of weaker races from people who used to be weaker themselves. Understood?"

"Yes sir!!"

However not even a second after they finished responding so enthusiastically one of the goblins went on to raise their hands, gobta if I remember well. He didn't seem to have changed much in terms of appearance, but there was no mistaking the increase in strength.

"Yes Gobta, what is it?" I asked, already having a feeling as to where this was going.

"Lord Rimuru sir, what do you mean by 'complacency' and 'discrimination'?" Gobta asked as he tilted his head to the side. I could immediately tell that others amongst the goblins and wolves had also had no understanding of what I had said.

I couldn't help but sigh a bit, while their recent evolutions allowed for them to grow and for their minds to clear, basically they had a higher level of intelligence than before, but they still had to learn things like literacy and other stuff before they could properly apply that newfound intellect.

"Basically I'm saying don't let your newfound strength get to your head and become arrogant. There are still plenty of individuals out there that are stronger than you, so you always strive to grow stronger and better yourself." I explained as they hummed and nodded their heads in agreement, "Also don't look down on weaker races just because you have become strong. Treat others how you would want to be treated."

I especially looked at the goblins whilst saying that last part as this would be their first time being in a position of power, or at least being stronger than the other goblins of the forest.

Second rule, no attacking or killing humans unnecessarily." I'd taken some time to think about this one before coming out here, "Reason being that humans tend to live in numbers that range from tens of thousands up to even millions, with armies of equivalent size. If we attack them without reason they will just report back to their leaders and attack us with their numbers. If peaceful solutions fail then make sure none of the attackers leave alive to report back. Understood?"

"Yes sir!!"

Good, it seems as though there were no questions this time. Would have been worried if they were cause I'd been as direct as possible.

"Third thing, no infighting between any of you. As my subordinates I expect all of you to work together in the best interest of everyone. Any arguments that happen should be taken to Rigurd, he'll be the head of this village and the goblin lord." Rigurd immediately began to bow and thank me for the honor, I didn't have the heart to tell him that I was just dumping all the responsibilities on him. "That being said, I'll be taking a few measures to ensure cooperation. To ensure a balanced community, I will be tasking Rigur and a few others to travel to the nearby goblin villages and offer them my protection, this should help even out the numbers for both goblins and wolves."

"Yes sir, please leave it to me!!" Rigur said with a bow, I could feel his excitement at the prospect of completing such a task that would add to my ranks. I decided not to ponder further on that.

"Additionally I will be asking some of the wolves and goblins to pair up with the wolves, forming groups of two. You'll form the hunting parties, cause we'll definitely need more than one, local guards, and watch guards . We'll refine the details later, but that's the gist of it. Any questions?"

There were none, which was good.

"The last thing is that I will not be staying as a permanent resident." I announced, prompting more than a few frowns, scared expressions and even whimpers from everyone. I decided to explain myself, "Thing is I've already been living in a nearby ogre village for a while now, and have more or less made that my home. That said I will be staying until everyone is well on their feet and more than capable of defending themselves and taking care of themselves ."

That seemed to put them at ease, though none looked particularly happy about that news. That was to be expected, the goblins thought they had finally found a protector that would guard and watch over them, which I would do just not in the way they had been expecting. As for the wolves, I had more or less taken over their pack and become their true leader, so it made sense they would be just as bummed about it all. Still though, I rather liked where I was at with the ogres. I would make sure to check on the goblins and wolves often enough that they would feel reassured of their protection and that I hadn't abandoned them.

"Alright, with that being said it's time to address the three main issues. Food shelter and clothing…"

~~~

It's been three days since I named everyone in the village. In that time frame I had helped the goblins and wolves settle into a proper system. It wasn't that complicated given we were literally building something from ground up, but it would do for the time being.

The first thing I did was organize a hunting party. Naturally it was mainly comprised of direwolves, the number of goblins were still too few to match the wolves but Rigur and five others had already gone out to some nearby goblin villages to spread word of the protection I was offering, I was expecting them to be back by noon today given they left the day before yesterday.

The goblina's helped by gathering herbs and spices that I told them about based on what I had learned in the short time I had been with the ogres. The Princess and Chieftess had been more than willing to tell me about this world's herbs when they found out I was teaching the purple haired ogress how to cook. They also gathered fruits from the trees of the forest that could be eaten safely.

I had the goblins prepare watch towers within the trees surrounding the village and a fence surrounding the village itself. Local guards of both wolves and goblins made sure the perimeter was secure during the day and night.

All in all, the only problems I was seeing right now were the clothing and housing. Given how everyone had grown the small huts the goblins used to call home just didn't cut it anymore. Worse was the fact that these guys weren't skilled in making houses, meaning that I would need to find some proper artisans real soon if I wanted proper shelter for these guys.

The other issue was clothing, due to the fact that the goblins had grown so large compared to how they were before their clothing was literally being stretched to the limit. Which certainly made for a lot of eye candy for me when it came to the goblina.

Hey, I'm a growing dragon, you can't blame me.

《...》

I chose to ignore that silence from great sage. Anyways, for the time being we were making do with animal skin from the hunted monsters and animals, meaning they were at least able to cover the essentials, but that still left a lot of skin visible. That would need to be addressed real soon, preferably before I evolved the goblins that Rigur was going to be bringing today.

I was currently scouting the woods with Ranga, it certainly beat sitting in the village all day as the goblins tended to my needs as though I were some god or deity. I didn't mind it at first but it got old really fast and I just had to escape. It probably didn't help that the goblins had less to offer in terms of hospitality compared to the ogres.

《Alert: Hostile presence detected, threat level A-rank!》

I was brought out of my wonderings as I turned my head in the direction I could sense the spike in magicules as well as the malicious intent. Judging by the way Ranga also tensed he could also feel it.

"Master…"

"I know, I felt it too." It was natural that he would be weary of this threat. A-rank would make this the strongest monster, outside of the dryads who were actually spirits, that I had encountered since entering the forest. Whilst it still posed no legitimate threat to me in terms of raw power it was always good to lean on the side of caution, "Let's go check it out, a potential threat this close to the village cant be left unchecked."

"Right Master!!" Ranga responded as he ran in the direction the malicious aura was coming from. He really was a good boy.

As we got closer to the scene I could make out two additional signatures as well, both very faint and weak. Either an injured and exhausted monster or a very weak species.

It didn't take us very long to arrive at the location of the aura. I was rather surprised by the scene that Ranga and I walked into. It seemed I had landed right in the middle of something, and I meant that literally.

On my left side was what I could only assume was a majin that was wearing a plague mask and a white cloak, holding a cane in his left hand. This majin seemed to be the one that had been responsible for the malicious aura that I had sensed earlier on. He looked totally sus.

Turning to the other side I noticed two insectoids, or at least that's what [Great Sage] said they were, insect-like beings that were gravely injured. One greatly resembled a large beetle, except for the fact that it was slightly over a foot and a half in height. The other resembled a garden wasp, about a foot long. They were both missing more than half their bodies and were rapidly bleeding out. Next to the beetle was a dead blade tiger monster that [Great Sage] explained to me was B-rank.

"Who might you be?" The majin suddenly spoke up grabbing Ranga and I's attention, "How dare you stand in the great Lord Gelmuds way?" The majin spoke arrogantly as he flared his aura some more.

I had to admit, he was decently strong, far stronger than the ogres that's for sure, but still small fry to me. Part of me was tempted to flare my own aura just so I could get that point across but I decided to wait a bit, see what I could get him to spill before actually scaring the living daylights out of this bastard.

"Are you the one that did this to them?" I simply asked as I gestured back to the insectoids behind me, the bee was barely conscious at this point and the beetle was fighting to stay awake as it stood protectively in front of its comrade.

"What is it to you?! Leave us to our business or you will feel my wrath!!" Gelmud shouted in frustration at seeing his attempt to scare me with his aura being rendered useless. It wasn't an answer to what was going on, but whatever it was I could tell through [Desire] that this guy was not wanted here, and was more than likely not even a resident of the forest given his self proclaimed title of 'lord'.

"You called yourself a 'lord' earlier. Pray tell what exactly you are the lord of?" I asked as I hopped off Ranga and turned to the majin, the alpha Tempest Wolf growling threateningly at Gelmud. I placed a hand on his head to hold him from acting, but he still kept his eyes on the potential enemy. What a good boy!

"W-what?" Gelmude stuttered as he took a single step back, becoming tongue tied in that moment. That was the only reaction that I needed in order to tell that this guy wasn't the ruler of anything. The whole 'lord' thing really was a self proclaimed title. I couldn't help the shitty grin that made its way onto my face and judging by the way he began to growl and shake in fury he didn't like being looked down on by some bratty looking majin, aka me. "I won't be insulted by some stupid child, know your place. I am lord Gelmude, an esteemed member of the demon lord's army!!"

Okay, this guy was very stupid and incompetent. But hey, I wasn't complaining, if he was that willing to spill his guts out then I was more than willing to listen. Still though, that thing about being part of a demon lord's army, if that was true then this guy was more trouble than I had initially assumed.

Thanks to the ogre chief I had some idea as to what demon lords were in this world, they were the highest and strongest beings, only surpassed in power by the true dragons themselves. But unlike in most video games and manga, there wasn't just one demon lord, but rather there were many of them in this one, ten of them!!

And that wasn't even the worst part of it all, the Great Forest of Jura was bordered by four of those demon lords!! That was something that kept me up at night for a few days. If these demon lords came to investigate the disappearance of my mother and found out she was gone, there was a very big chance they would act and try to take over the forest to grow in strength and power.

From my mothers words I knew I was pretty much the strongest individual within the forest at the moment, but it's hard to take her words at face value and trust her to be unbiased. At the very least I was stronger than treyni who was the strongest individual I'd met since coming into this world aside from my mother herself. Still though, that didn't mean I was strong enough to go against a demon lord.

If this Gelmude person was here then it can only mean that one of them was taking action. I promised my mother that I would protect this forest, her domain, in her absence. Part of that promise includes protecting all those that were under her protection. But now I also had my own reasons for wanting to protect the forest. I'd made friends and grown close with some of the residents and even managed to get a few subordinates. Whether or not I can beat a demon lord is up in the air, but until such a threat presents itself I'll continue to do that duty.

"Alright I think I've heard enough, it's time for you to leave." I said as I let out a breath of air, I took a step forward as I slowly began to unleash my aura. I wasn't subtle about it this time, oh no, I released about two thirds of my aura this time around as a burst of energy left me and blew everything away from me, uprooting the nearby trees and scaring away creatures within numerous miles of our position.

Ranga swiftly leapt from beside me and landed behind me in front of the insectoids, protecting them from the brunt of my power, yet the wolf creature was barely holding his own as well. As for Gelmude, he was blown back by the sudden force of energy and actually rolled on the ground a couple of times before coming to a stop.

I stopped emitting my aura, everything seeming to come to a stop and dropping to the ground. I watched as Gelmude shakily stood up.

"Who are you?! How can this be, nobody told me there would be any majin this powerful in the forest!!" Gelmude shouted in frustration as he stomped on the ground and threw a fit like a child.

"All you need to know is that I'm the new guardian of this forest, and you are not welcome here. Leave before I decide to kill you." I told him flatly, and I really would too. The more this guy spoke the more I felt like he was plotting something.

I watched as Gelmude growled in frustration once more, his grip on his cane tightening so much that I thought it might break.

"Why you…" I could literally feel the rage burning within the dude as he was contemplating whether to attack me or not. But we both knew I could kill him within a split second if I wished, so in the end he made the 'wise' decision to live to fight another day, "You haven't heard the last of me! You'll regret interfering with his plans!"

Before I could even ask the dude what he was babbling on about now the dude shot off into the sky like a freak'n rocket. Within seconds he was out of sight. Guess he's heading back to report to his master or whatever. Things were starting to get chaotic faster than I had thought they would, I needed to get stronger.

"Master, are you sure it was a wise decision to let him escape?" Ranga asked as he came up to me.

"To be honest, probably not. But there was no right answer in this specific scenario, if he really is a superior majin under orders of a demon lord then him dying here would have alerted said demon lord to the presence of a powerful individual in the forest, and scaring off Gelmude meant showing my hand a bit." I said with a sigh, in the end I just made the decision that was less than likely to have an immediate effect. With Gelmude reporting, his superior would more than likely want to investigate before making any sudden moves, meaning I had bought me some more time

"Understood , please forgive me for doubting your actions." Ranga said as he hung his head low. I couldn't help but shake my head sideways at the wolf's antics. It was then that I remembered the two other creatures that were present, and turned to face the insectoids, who surprisingly were still very much alive despite missing large chunks of their bodies.

As I turned and walked towards them the large beetle dragged its body forward and stood in my way. Glaring at me defiantly. A stupid move on its part given its current state and my recent display of power. But it was trying to protect its friend, and that sense of comradery was something that I could respect.

"W-wait…" a soft and pained feminine voice suddenly spoke up through [thought communication], I traced the origin of the 'voice' to the large bee insectoid. I was actually surprised that she was sentient enough to even speak.

"...please forgive me. I no longer have the strength to protect you." The beetle said, proving that it too was an intelligent being. It seemed as though it had resigned itself to its fate, knowing that it stood no chance against me but would still rather die trying if it granted even a second for his friend to escape.

"What happened to you two?" I asked.

"...blade tiger attacked us…heavily wounded…majin appeared…offered healing and names…but we didn't trust him." The beetle spoke between heavy breaths.

I see, it was impressive that these two had managed to defeat a B-rank monster on their own, despite the injuries they sustained at the end of it all, and it certainly showed the potential they had to grow under the right circumstances. It also seemed Gelmude had appeared shortly after the attack and tried to coerce them into joining him by offering to heal them and names to make them stronger or whatever. Fortunately they had the intuition to tell that the guy was bad news.

"Strong one..." The bee spoke up, I couldn't help but wonder if that was how the monsters of this world referred to every powerful individual? "you…protect us?"

Well I guess my recent actions could be seen as me protecting them from Gelmude, not to mention the fact that Ranga had protected them from the burst of power I had unleashed earlier on. But still, even I wasn't sure that I could heal injuries as severe as these ones with a potion or magic.

《Answer: It is possible to heal and empower the insectoids through the use of magisteel to rebuild their exoskeletons and blood and scale samples from you to boost their regenerative abilities and increase the effectiveness of the full potion.》

'Really, it sounds a lot like a blood transfusion with a bunch of other stuff.' I would basically be infusing these two with some of my dna. But if that was the only way I could save these two then there was no reason not to.

"I can treat your wounds, but are you willing to put your trust in me?" I asked, basically asking if they were willing to become my subordinates.

"Yes" They both responded.

With their approval I then stepped forward and began the procedure that would save both of their lives. Using some of my blood and scales to increase their regenerative abilities and magisteel to give them stronger and more resilient exoskeletons. Once all was said and done I decided to put the final nail by giving the two of them names.

The bee I named Apito and the beetle Zegion. The two of them swore their loyalty to me and as a result I decided to bring them back with Ranga and I to the goblin village.

The two of them seemed to have gotten pretty strong from the healing method and naming, putting them on low A-rank, so I decided to have them serve as guardians to the village especially in my absence. This helped relieve many of the worries that the goblins had about their safety after I left.

Even better was the fact that Apito had apparently awakened a unique skill as a result of her recent growth. A unique skill called [Hive Queen], it basically allowed her to create and control worker bees about slightly less than half her own size. She could only create about three per day but we had yet to determine how many she could control.

Said bees had very weak egos and lacked any free will of their own, meaning they were very reliant on orders from their queen. The other disappointing factor was that they had no military use whatsoever, not being built for combat.

But I later asked Apito if she was capable of making honey, something which she confirmed for me. We later came up with the idea of using her 'worker bees' or 'drones', as I liked to call them, to collect pollen in the forest which she would use to make honey. For higher quality honey I had to strike a deal with Treyni that would allow Apito's drones to enter the Treants forest to collect pollen from their territory. Treyni and her sisters agreed easily enough, only asking for a portion of said honey in exchange.

I'd also asked Treyni to keep an eye out for Gelmude or any other suspicious majin or people within the forest. Things were changing a lot faster than I had expected in the forest. I had to prepare and train harder if I was going to protect my mothers domain, not to mention the bonds that I had forged within the forest.

I was the guardian of this forest now, it was up to me to maintain the peace.

~~~

Two days had passed since I found Apito and Zegion out in the forest and more or less recruited them under me.

In that brief time period a few things had changed within the goblin village, for starters our population had grown some. Turns out Rigur had been more successful than I thought he'd be when it came to that recruitment task I had assigned him and a small party to. Returning home with a group of slightly over a hundred and fifty goblins, given the time frame I expected less than a hundred. Still that boosted our goblin population to just above 230 so I wasn't complaining.

Apparently these goblins had all come from one village and though it had taken some explaining and convincing had all jumped on the wagon after Rigur explained that I was offering to name them as well as granting them protection. They all happily agreed with my terms of being under Rigurd, with their chief being one of the goblin lords that reported directly to him.

Naming all the goblins had been a tedious task, not because of the magicules or anything like that, I had plenty of power to spare, but rather because of how time consuming it was and how creative I had to get, in the end a lot of the names I gave out weren't creative but the goblins were still appreciative nonetheless. By the end of it all they had all grown into attractive hobgoblins and goblina just like the rest.

I also took the time to start naming the tempest wolves, naming them didn't result in any further evolutions, however the tempest wolves did rise to high B-rank while Ranga and Raya rose to low A-rank as the pack leaders. From what I had noticed in the short time I spent with the tempest wolves, both seemed to have an affinity for wind and lightning as [Great Sage] had told me but the scaling differed, the males had a higher lightning affinity while the females had a higher wind affinity.

By the time all was said and done I was feeling confident in the village's security and was ready to set out to dwargon on with a small group, I'd be going with a small group of five goblins and tempest wolves. In that party were Rigur and Gobta, apparently Gobta had traded with the dwarven kingdom before, even if most of the time he got bullied before even getting in.

"Alright we're heading out, try to keep yourselves out of too much trouble." I told the gathered crowd as I sat atop Ranga with the rest of the goblins on their respective wolves.

"Yes Lord Rimuru!!"

"Have a safe journey!!"

"Come back soon!!"

There were many other farewells, and so with a smile my party and I took off towards the Armed Nation of Dwargon, in hopes of finding some artisans that would help with the expansion and development of this village.

"Ah wait!" I exclaimed as I suddenly remembered something important, bringing a pause to the hunting party, "Dorris." I called out, it wasn't a shout or anything just how you would call someone a few steps ahead of you.

And yet with that simple call the wind seemed to change direction and a swirl of leaves suddenly appeared before Ranga and I, before finally the dryad revealed herself. Many of the goblins and wolves were surprised, but honestly they shouldn't be, given the role the three dryads played in bringing about the current peace they had.

"You called for me Lord Rimuru?" Dorris said as she went down on one knee.

"Yeah, I know that dryads aren't in the habit of appearing before others whimsically, but I need you to pass along a message for me." I told her. If she refused that was fine too, I'd just deal with the aftermath of my absence when I got back to the ogre village.

"Of course, please do not trouble yourself with such minor details." She said with a smile as she shook her head sideways.

"Thank you, in that case I need you to go to the ogre village I've been living in recently and explain to the chief the events that occurred here. Tell him I'm also leaving Jura to find dwarven artisans so my return to the village may take longer than planned." I explained, they were probably worried about me after not hearing anything for five days.

I'd also left after dropping the bomb of my heritage on the. So that was something else that would need to be addressed once I got back to the village.

"Leave it to me my lord." She said with another bow before leaving just as swiftly as she appeared.

The ogres would probably be surprised by the appearance of a dryad in their village, but I'm sure Dorris could handle it. I had something else to look forward to right now.

I wasn't really sure what I was expecting to find there but I couldn't help but feel excited at the concept of what I would see. This would be my first time leaving Jura after all.

Seeing Dwargon would give me some insight as to how civilizations in this world operated and perhaps what to expect from some of the surrounding nations in terms of development and the like.

All in all, it was bound to be an adventure.

Authors Note:

So yeah, I always wondered why cannon never showed the opposite genders for some of the major races of Tempest such as the orcs and tempest wolves, that's obviously something I plan to fix this time around.

In case it wasn't already obvious, I intend to make Rimuru's subordinates stronger than they were in cannon since this Rimuru is stronger too. It just makes sense given his food chain skill.

Skill wise nothing will really change, but I do plan to introduce more arts rather than having Benimaru spamming Hell Flare every chance he gets. It will give them a wider range of abilities.

Feel free to throw in any ideas you have for character arts, I may just use it.

Please comment and constructive criticism is welcome!!