"Speech"

'Thought'

*Thought Communication*

《Great Sage》

{{Voice of the World}}

I crossed my arms above my head, blocking a heavy punch that came from my assailant. A shockwave went through the field we were clashing in, the ground beneath me giving to the pressure as cracks formed before I was pushed deeper, forming a crater.

I easily stood my ground, my guard unpenetrated. My opponent was strong, stronger than I thought she would be after her evolution. But it should have come as no surprise to me, she was already unparalleled in terms of physical strength, her evolution just boosted those strengths to new heights.

Though the problem now was controlling that strength…

Loosening my guard, I let her fist slip through, her violet eyes widening at the lack of resistance, I couldn't help but grin. I grabbed her wrist, turning around and pulling her over my shoulder before slamming her into the ground. A loud cry was heard from her, as the impact shook the ground and a large amount of dust filled the area. I leapt off the cloud of dust, and waited for my opponent to recover.

It took a minute, but eventually the dust was swept away by a burst of wind emanating from its center. My opponent stood with her hand stretched out, panting and covered in bruises from our long spar.

"I think that's good enough for now, Shion. You've clearly hit your limit." I said with a grin. Indeed, this was the Kijin known as Shion, formerly known as 'the Purple Ogress'.

After receiving her name, she had evolved into a Kijin much like the Hattori family and Hakurou. Losing her large and feral-like figure and becoming more human-like in appearance. She looked like a woman in her early twenties, probably just entering adulthood, but her character was that of someone much younger and livelier.

Unfortunately, or fortunately if you were a normal guy, while her body had slimmed down to a more human figure, the same could not be said for her…ahem…assets. I could have sworn those melons actually got bigger, but that may just be because of her now smaller frame.

"As expected of Lord Rimuru!" Shion said with a wild grin as she wiped some dirt off her robe. "Even after my evolution, your power still far outclasses my own. I can't even land a scratch on you." she admitted as she stood up straight.

'Well, I am the one who named you. It wouldn't make sense for your power to exceed my own.' I wanted to voice that thought, but decided to just let her be. Understanding Shion's way of thinking was not an easy thing for any normal person.

As for how I ended up sparring against this wild Kijin. Well, that all started the day I named Shion, it was the next day after I had named the Hattori Family and the Elder. After her evolution, she was immediately keen on testing her newfound strength.

And so, during the village's daily morning session she decided to challenge five Ogres at the same time. Poor guys never stood a chance, they were absolutely demolished, and the extent of their injuries was so severe, they would have died had they not been treated with healing potions or my [Greater Heal] .

…needless to say, Shion was forbidden from sparring with any of the Ogres.

…the next day, she decided to challenge two Kijin, seeing as I'd named more Ogres. This fight went a bit better than the last. And by better, I mean the two she fought weren't in any critical condition by the time she was done with them. I healed them up more out of pity than necessity, it had pretty much been a one sided fight from the start. Shion's physical prowess was just too unmatched even among her fellow Kijin, and it was made worse by the fact that she could not control said strength completely.

And so I offered to spar with her occasionally, it was mainly as a means to help her grasp her strength so she wouldn't accidentally hurt those who couldn't handle her strength. Of course, she somehow found a way to turn it into a means for her to test the limits of her full strength against me. This was only our third time sparring, but I could tell that we were getting the desired results, she was growing more accustomed to her new power, and was gaining more control.

~~~

It had been a week since I gained the Lizardmen as allies and the Ogres/Kijin swore loyalty to me. And with that major increase in influence and power under me, things began to change between the three races that I'd gotten to align under me. Ideally, I would have preferred to have the three communities come together into one as soon as possible, but even I knew rushing such an idea would be detrimental.

So I decided to leave them separate, but have them working as closely together as possible. The first thing was having all the leaders meet. Between Rigurd, Abiru, and Akatsuki, the meeting took place in the Goblin village on day 3. Abiru and Akatsuki were each accompanied by a small group of escorts for security reasons, though given that the two leaders were evolved, I felt it was overkill. But I guess you can't skip formalities.

The meeting in itself wasn't that long, but we did cover some important stuff. First on the agenda was discussing proper trade with all three parties now being present, and how the goods would be transmitted. Naturally, it was agreed that the Tempest Wolves would be the safest and fastest way of transferring goods, with [Shadow Movement] the chances of running into any trouble were almost zero and the goods being transported would be kept fresh and in peak condition. This made it good for things like fish and other perishable goods.

Following that, I decided to bring up a joint military, or at the very least teams that consisted of various races. Goblins, Wolves, Ogres/Kijin and Lizardmen (and their evolutions), all of them working together and sharing their skills and abilities. Naturally, some would be more inclined towards specific areas such as support, assault, defense, infiltration, and the like, but creating specialized teams would take time. Akatsuki, Abiru, and Rigurd seemed to agree with me on this, creating a unified front would be necessary since they all served under me, and hoped to do so for a long time to come.

Though Abiru did bring up the fact that he felt more of his kin should also be named to boost the overall military strength. Which was a fair point, by day 3 I'd already named up to thirty Ogres thanks to finding a loophole to the recovery period explained by [Great Sage]. Rather than naming seven Ogres in one go, I'd name five instead, which would reduce the amount of time needed to refill my magicules to twelve hours, allowing me to name another five within the same day, making it a total of ten. That meant in total, there were thirty five Kijin within the Ogre village if we included the Hattori family and Hakurou.

That seemed like a good place to stop for the time being, as I named the Lizardmen as well as the ever growing number of Goblins in this village. Given that the number of Lizardmen dwarfed that of the Ogres, I didn't see the need to make them all A-rank, that would just take too much time and felt like it would be a disturbance to the natural order of things. Looking at the total population, I'd probably have two to three hundred become Dragoons while the rest became Dragonewts. Given that they were thousands of them, this felt more in line with how things should be for higher tier monsters.

A few other things were discussed, but it was nothing major. The meeting ended around sunset, and I headed for the cliff that oversaw the Goblin village, the same one that I'd built Shizue and Masayuki's grave on. It was there that I got a visit from Treyni…

*Flashback Day 3: *

"Lord Rimuru." Treyni announced her presence as she appeared in a glow of light and swirling leaves. I removed my eyes from the setting sun and turned towards the Dryad who was now down on one knee. "Please allow me to be the first to congratulate you on the powerful alliance you've formed under your name. Earning the loyalty of both the Lizardmen and the Ogres is no small feat." She praised me.

"Oh please, you were there when Abiru pledged allegiance to me, and I bet you've been expecting the Ogres to swear to me for a while now." I said with a scoff. Treyni was a bit shrewd, but at the end of the day, she always acted in my best interests, even when I didn't ask for it. While I doubt Akatsuki could have been coerced into doing it, I do wonder if Treyni played a part in the Ogres submitting to me. I quickly shook that thought out of my mind, there was no point in wondering such things now.

"Perhaps, but that still doesn't make it any less incredible. Ogres, Lizardmen, Goblins, and Direwolves, these are species that wouldn't mix under normal circumstances, and yet here they are." Treyni said as she gazed down towards the Goblin village, my line of sight following hers.

Even from this height and distance, I could see the villagers thanks to my [Dragon Eye] intrinsic skill. I could see the Lizardmen and goblins drinking and talking around a fire, Akatsuki talking to the smith Ogres that had staying here along with Kaijin and the Dwarf brothers, heck Abiru seemed to be enjoying petting Ranga's huge mane as he talked with Rigurd.

It was a strange sight of blended nature, and yet it also seemed just right. Like this was just the beginning of something that was meant to be much greater.

"This is the start of seeing your dream realized. Creating a nation of monsters where all species are welcome." Treyni said as she turned towards me with a blinding smile.

"Maybe, but for now, it's too soon to make them leave their homes and their way of life. I'll let them grow more comfortable with one another as the alliance develops, and then bring up the possibility of them coming together into one town." I said with a sigh.

"Will you continue to spread your influence in the meantime?" Treyni asked.

"No…the threat of Gelmude still lingers, our time is better spent empowering the forces we have now…and that includes myself." I said with a frown. "I need to get stronger and learn to properly use the skills I have acquired. But I can't do that here, not without causing too much damage to the forest."

"My lord, are you planning to leave the forest?" Treyni asked, sounding slightly concerned, and rightfully so. The situation in Jura was less than ideal at the moment, even though the Dryads hadn't heard or seen any activity from Gelmude since the Ifrit incident, it doesn't mean we were free from whatever he was plotting.

"To be honest, it's something I've been thinking about for a while now. A while back, Kaijin told me about powerful dragons that live high in the mountains of the Dwarven Kingdom. I've been eager to see how I compare against them." I said with a grin. This may sound weird, but what kind of comic, manga, and anime fan would miss out on the chance to fight a real life dragon if they actually had the power to do so?! Even if they were a dragon themself?! "Besides, it's not like I'm leaving you defenseless. I'm only more confident in this choice because of the Ogres I've named and the Lizardmen I will name. They'll be much stronger and more capable, and you can always call out to me with [Thought Communication] and I'll come rushing back in the case of an emergency."

"I suppose so…but still, the timing of your leave…" Treyni trailed, still looking concerned. I could understand where she was coming from, but I also felt that I needed to do this. I felt I was reaching the limit of what I could do in the forest without causing harm to the surroundings.

In terms of swordsmanship, I was already equally skilled to Hakurou thanks to the fast learning capabilities of my [Replication] skill, I'd mastered the Haze Style and its Arts. The Ogres/Kijin had been surprised by how quickly I learnt something that would normally take years, and to be honest so was I. I had no idea [Replication] was this efficient as a learning tool.

My own martial arts style, along with its relevant arts, were coming along pretty well. Adjusting it so I could recreate Dragon Slayer techniques with my [Storm Magic] hadn't been as hard as I thought, but said magic was still hard to control and so I wasn't confident in using it against a living being and not accidentally killing them. But I did need a target to practice this fighting style on, and ironically it seemed I would be fighting Dragons.

My progress with my other skills was going well as well, especially my Elemental ones. But I felt like the only way I could truly test the limit of these skills was to unleash them at full power. That was the only way I would know my limits and gain better control over the skills I possessed.

In other words, I'd hit a wall that I couldn't overcome by going the way I had been up till now, and there was nothing more I could learn from Hakurou. I needed to step out of Jura for a bit if I wanted to get stronger, but Treyni's concerns were also valid.

There had been no activity from Gelmude or his master since Ifrit, but that didn't mean they weren't lurking and watching. For all I knew, they could be waiting for me to leave before making their plans. But one thing we were sure of is that they were no longer in Jura.

"It's a gamble, but there's no telling when Gelmude will act again. It could be tomorrow or weeks from now. Staying here and just waiting would be a waste of time, time that I could use to improve and better prepare for what's to come and even the troubles that lie beyond that." I explained.

"I understand, I won't try to dissuade you any further." Treyni said with the bow of her head, I could tell she still had many reservations, but was choosing to keep them to herself.

*End of Flashback*

After that, I told the village heads of my decision to leave the forest for the Canaat Mountains found within Dwargon. Like Treyni, they had their reservations about the timing of my leave, and they made sure to tell me as much. Still I explained my reasoning to them, and that I would be spending the next few days naming a few more monsters as well as leaving something of a suitable structure behind in order to keep the peace and help keep an eye out in the event that Gelmude acted. At the first sign of trouble, I would fly back at max speed.

They agreed to this, seeing as not only would I be in a neighboring land, but they would also gain the strength to protect themselves if need be. I told Akatsuki that I would mainly be focusing on the Lizardmen and Goblins in the coming days, and perhaps even the Ogres that were currently in the goblin village. He seemed to be understanding of my reasons and accepted it without issue, the Ogre village already had a little over thirty Kijin, so increasing the strength of the other races made sense as well.

And so, the next few days were spent naming the Lizardmen to Dragonewts or Dragoons, naming new Goblins that were being drawn to the ever growing settlement that was the Goblin Village and as promised I named the few Ogres that were in the Goblin Village making them Kijin as well. That actually made me feel a lot better about the Goblin Village's defense seeing as they now had solid A-ranks with them.

Naming monsters wasn't all I did, though. Treyni, Abiru, and Akatsuki were right to be worried about the timing of my leave. There were still too many unknowns for me to be going on a personal training trip, that being said I had to go. So the very least I could do was leave them stable and somewhat prepared.

The first thing I did was talk to Souei, formerly known as the 'Blue Haired Ogre' who was close friends with Benimaru. Upon his evolution into a Kijin, he had inherited the skills [Body Double] and [Shadow Movement] from me. Skills that greatly enhanced his stealth and ninja-like abilities. As an Ogre, he had been their best scout and information gatherer regarding changes in lands surrounding their home, but with these skills, he was able to cover wider ranges and multiple directions simultaneously.

I asked Souei to form a scouting unit, one that had abilities similar to his own. I was certain that he wasn't the only one to inherit [Body Double] or [Shadow Movement] , I already knew a few Goblins, Dragonewts, and Dragoons that had the skills. His job would be to train them up as best as he could in stealth, recon, and potentially even assassination. But for the time being, I was just looking for eyes and ears to scatter throughout the forest.

To further assist with that, I'd have Apito also work with Souei. Her bee drones were excellent spying tools in a forest such as this, and their ability to transmit what they see and hear to Apito was really useful for info gathering too.

The next step was establishing some kind of order that would keep things going in my absence. While I wanted to believe that the three villages under my rule would continue to operate just fine together even if I was gone, I couldn't rule out the possibility of something going wrong and conflicts rising. And besides, there was still the possibility of humans coming to investigate the recent events or more Demon Lord subordinates coming into the forest. Some kind of leadership was needed.

And so I called in another meeting, inviting Treyni, Abiru, Akatsuki, Rigurd, Kaijin, Ranga, and Raya. We had a lengthy talk about how the alliance should be managed in my absence, and how we should react should foreigners come into the forest.

The one thing that was quickly agreed upon was that the Dryads, who had been the managers and caretakers of the forest, would be the ones to oversee the alliance. They would have full authority regarding matters concerning the alliance as a whole, and Treyni's word was to be taken as my own. The only reason why everyone was able to agree on this was because they knew the Dryads were mostly impartial, they only ever acted on behalf of the forest or on behalf of the one they served. And so the Dryads would oversee the alliance, making sure that everyone kept their end of the deals made and stepping in when necessary.

Next was the scenario in which humans came into the forest for whatever reason. Ideally, everyone wanted to avoid violence being the first thing that occurred, potentially risking more humans invading the forest. And so, it was decided that in the event that humans appeared and ventured too close to one of the domains, Treyni and Kaijin would step in and try the diplomatic route first. According to the two of them, humans didn't discriminate as much against Elemental Spirits such as Dryads or Demi-Humans such as Dwarves, along with Humans generally acknowledging and respecting the Dryads as the managers of the forest. It was a bit stupid but I suppose that's just how humans were, choosing to label one thing 'good' and another 'evil'. Still, there weren't many other options, if it prevented unnecessary fighting, then I'd let Kaijin and Treyni handle the talks with humans whilst I was gone.

Next was the scenario in which Majins from a Demon Lord's domain appeared within the forest. In this case, a show of strength was more important than plain diplomacy. They needed to know that this forest had powerful monsters that called it home. I'd leave that task to Abiru, his [Dragon Aura] should be more than enough to intimidate any Majin of Gelmude's level, add a few more A-rank monsters and the message should be clear to anyone.

Abiru would also be responsible for forming an aerial unit amongst his people who were named. Given that the Dragonewts and Dragoons would be the only monsters capable of flight under me, I felt it was important to get started on that as soon as possible. Depending on how his 'discipline' was going, I may just have Gabiru lead this unit after I rename him, something [Great Sage] had informed me was possible if the connection between master and servant was severed or if the new master was significantly stronger than the last and able to override the current connection.

Lastly was the worst case scenario, an all out war or battle between Jura and any of the surrounding nations. If something of the sort started, naturally I'd already be making my way back at full throttle, but until then someone needed to be leading the allied forces against whatever threat they faced. For this, I chose Akatsuki with Treyni and Kaiijn as his aids. Akatsuki was the obvious choice seeing as he was an experienced leader, and of a warring clan to boot. He had a leader's authority and would no doubt be able to gain the respect of those from other races too. I doubted Treyni had any military experience, but her role as overseer of the alliance and manager of the forest meant her words carried a lot of weight, something Akatsuki could use. As for Kaijin, his prior military experience in Dwargon was bound to come in handy here as well.

The three of them would hold the fort until my arrival should the worst come to pass. The idea was that they would use [Thought Communication] to reach out to me the moment things escalated to the point of violence, and I'd rush back and hopefully make it before too much damage was done to our side. Hopefully it didn't reach this point, because that would mean I gambled wrong and it would cost lives.

~~~

With a leadership structure established, all that was pretty much left to do was name a few more monsters and get them used to interacting with one another. Whilst the three villages would more or less be operating as they normally did, they would be a lot more involved with each other as part of the alliance, especially regarding trade and military forces. There wasn't much of a problem in that regard though, after getting through the initial power gaps between them, they actually began to get along pretty well on their own.

Seven days passed like this, meaning it had been ten days since the Ogres and Lizardmen swore loyalty to me. By then, I'd named a total of thirty five Kijin from the Ogre Village, along with two hundred Dragonewts and fifteen Dragoons.

A few more Goblin Tribes had also been assimilated into the continuously growing Village, increasing the overall population by another five hundred in the last week alone and putting the overall population of the Village at four thousand. I had no idea how Rigurd and the others were handling such a massive increase in numbers in such a short span of time, but glad that they were, because I had enough trouble coming up with names for the lot as it is.

Out of the large number of hobgoblins, only slightly over a quarter contributed to military strength. Meaning they were at least a thousand soldiers among them. It wasn't as many as the ten thousand Lizardmen soldiers under Abiru, but the Goblin village was still growing at an unprecedented rate, it was only a matter of time.

The Tempest Wolves were all natural predators, and thus were all easily draftable into a fighting force. For the most part, they were part of the hunting units and local guards, but from what Ranga and Raya had told me, the pack had really grown in terms of skill and strength, their elemental skills being the height of their improvement. It was something I wanted to see in action one of these days. All in all, the number of deployable wolves numbered around three hundred and fifty, the rest of the pack either being young pups or wolves not in condition for combat for one reason or another, e.g. maternity reasons.

All in all, I had a decent force under me for the time being. It would take an army of monsters of incredible strength to defeat them, or at least that was my opinion. There was still a lot of room for improvement, especially when I eventually named more Ogres and Lizardmen, but for the time being, this would have to do.

And that was how my week of preparation was spent. My preparations to leave were set for tomorrow, it had been agreed that I would take Ranga with me since nobody felt comfortable with me leaving Jura alone. I didn't really have any objections to bringing Ranga along, he had been by my side since I named him, only leaving when it was to train his own kin. And besides, it might do him some good to tag along, it might serve as a valuable training experience for him as well. It could help him improve his skill set, and fighting dragons would certainly boost his combat experience.

But surprisingly, Ranga wasn't the only one who ended up wanting to tag along…

*Flashback - Day 8*

The sky was dark in the Goblin Village, many torches lit and monsters eating various foods as they talked and laughed amongst themselves. I was seated on the rooftops of one of the Village houses with my own plate of food. I wasn't really in the mood for casual conversation, but just observing from afar seemed good enough for me.

Looking at the Goblins, it was hard to believe that these were the same fearful lot that had appeared before me, trembling and quivering as they begged for my protection. That's not even mentioning how their numbers had drastically increased over the last few months. To be honest, this place had a population large enough to be called a town rather than a village.

Their lives had drastically changed, and while I may have played a role in it, they took the opportunities I granted them with their own two hands and made their lives better than before.

"Lord Rimuru?" I was brought out of my thoughts upon being called out, it was only then that I also heard the buzzing sound that came from rapid flapping of wings. Looking to my upper left, I was surprised to see none other than Zegion descending towards my position. The large beetle gently touched down on the rooftop. "Please forgive me for interrupting your meal." He said apologetically.

"Don't worry about it, I was more or less done anyway." I said, waving him off. It was true, my plate was nearly wiped clean, at this point I'd just been sitting up here letting my thoughts wander. "So, what can I do for you, Zegion?" I figured he'd be with Apito. The large bee having been assigned to help with scouting the forest with her drone bees.

I couldn't sense Apito's presence within the village though, meaning she was at the Dryad territory or something, making me even more curious as to why Zegion was here. The two were usually almost always together.

"My lord…" Zegion trailed, seemingly struggling to find the words to speak his mind. Did he have something he wanted to ask for? Or perhaps he was also concerned with my sudden leave to the Canaat Mountains. It took him a minute but he eventually found his voice again. "...my lord, if it is not too much trouble, would you grant me permission to join you and Ranga on your expedition?"

I was actually surprised by this unexpected request from Zegion. Frankly speaking, that was the last thing I thought we would be speaking about tonight.

Still though…

"May I ask why?" That was the first question that came to mind at his request. Was he that worried about me leaving the forest or something? No, Zegion had yet to show lack of faith in my strength since I named him, there had to be something else.

"As selfish as it may be, I merely wish to seize the opportunity whilst it is there." Zegion stated. "Testing my strength against monsters revered in this world, and the opportunity to train alongside you, both of these are bound to give me valuable experiences that I could learn a lot from in my pursuit for strength."

I was well aware that Zegion had a desire to grow stronger, to be of better use to me. Whether it was because he felt the need to repay me or it was simply because he was that loyal was something I was still figuring out. Perhaps he just had that warrior spirit, or maybe it was due to past experiences. Regardless, his drive was admirable, and I couldn't really think of a valid reason not to bring him along.

Besides, now that I thought about it, I'd yet to see how Zegion and Apito fought. I was aware that the two were powerful enough to at least be A-rank, but aside from Apito's Unique Skill, I literally had no idea about their skills and abilities in combat. I guess I was too focused on the Goblins and Wolves, and only thought of Apito and Zegion when it came to getting honey.

…that actually made me feel bad. Not to mention it was a terrible lapse of judgment on my part as a leader. Before naming the Lizardmen and Ogres, these two, along with Ranga and Raya, were the only A-ranks I had under me. I definitely should have looked into their abilities more.

"Alright, you can come along." I told him, though he couldn't quite express it, I could feel the relief and joy coming from Zegion through [Desire] . "Though I would rather you didn't tell anyone else you were coming with us." The last thing I needed was more subordinates asking to tag along.

"Of course, I will not utter a word of it to anyone." Zegion quickly responded firmly, but a second later I felt some hesitation coming from him. It didn't take me long to connect the dots.

"I suppose telling Apito is unavoidable though, given how close the two of you are." I said as I turned back towards the monsters eating and drinking in the streets below. And just like that, I felt the hesitation that Zegion had been feeling give way to relief, proving my assumption correct. The two must be really close if Zegion felt uncomfortable keeping secrets from her, from what I observed, the two had a close sibling-like relationship.

"Thank you, my lord." Zegion said in gratitude, most likely having seen through me. "I'll ensure word of my departure doesn't reach any unwanted ears."

"Good, and you better prepare yourself as well. I don't plan to stay away from the forest long, so I plan to milk this trip for all it's worth." I said as I cast a side eye towards the large beetle. Ranga had been made aware of this as well when he offered to come along, there wouldn't be any room for slacking off.

"I understand, I have resolved myself to grow stronger for your sake, my lord. I will not allow such an opportunity to go to waste." Zegion said seriously, and I could feel that resolve and determination. It looks like I had nothing to worry about in regards to him, if anything he may challenge Ranga to push himself further.

"Great, then there's nothing more to be said on the matter." I said with a smile, feeling confident in the fact that I'd made the right choice in accepting Zegion's request.

* End of Flashback *

True to his word, Zegion had only spoken to Apito of the fact that he would be leaving with me. The Dryads more than likely already knew, but they wouldn't speak on the matter if I didn't want to speak about it. And I had a feeling that Souei also knew, having appointed himself as a bodyguard of sorts to me. I always felt the presence of one of his body doubles hidden in nearby shadows. But he was good with secrets, so there was no need to worry about him talking.

~~~

And with all the necessary preparations done within those ten days, the day of my departure finally came. It was decided that I would depart from the Goblin Village and head straight for the Dwarven Kingdom and into the Canaat Mountains. So I made sure to give my final farewells and goodbyes to the Lizardmen and the Ogres threw me a huge feast two nights prior.

"Do make sure to be careful, Rimuru. The Dragons on top of the Dwarf kingdom are both powerful and territorial." Kaijin warned as he escorted me towards the village gates, with us was also Rigurd. "Especially the Dragon Lords, they are said to be Calamity class monsters on par with Demon Lords."

'On par with Demon Lords? They sound super tough, perhaps fighting one of them would be a good way to measure how I compare to an actual Demon Lord.' I thought, my thoughts immediately flying to whichever Demon Lord had been orchestrating Gelmude's movements.

《Notice: Dragon Lords are monsters ranging from S to Special S rank that have lived for a long time, gaining the power, experience, intelligence, and dragon factor needed to evolve to their current forms from Elemental Dragons.》

'Wait! Dragon lords evolve from Elemental Dragons?! Does that mean I could evolve into a Dragon Lord one day?!' I asked [Great Sage] in shock, before a bigger revelation hit me like a bomb. 'As it is, I'm at the pinnacle of Special A-rank, I'll probably break into S-rank in the mountains, but will it be enough to evolve?'

《Answer: Due to the user's heritage, it's likely that the requirements to achieve evolution are drastically higher than would be considered normal. Increase in magicules and absorption of Dragon Factor is recommended.》

The getting stronger part sounded simple enough, but increasing my Dragon Factor might be more challenging. The way I saw it I had two options, one of which was slow and the other was faster but questionable. The first was absorbing Dragon Factor naturally from the environment, unfortunately they were only two places I could think of that may have them in decent amounts. The first was obviously the Canaat Mountains, which was home to numerous Dragons, and the other was the Sealed Cave which was packed with my Mother's Magicules and most likely her Dragon Factor. The only problem was naturally absorbing would take a very long time.

The other option was to absorb the Dragon Factor of other Dragons by devouring them with [Apex Predator] . This had the added advantage of also absorbing their magicules. The only question was how many Dragons would I end up having to kill to actually reach my goal, and would it actually be worth it? I had to remember that I was also a Dragon now, so I'd more or less be killing my own kind just for more power.

'At the end of the day, I'm just too OP for my own good.' I thought with a sigh. I'd figure it out as we went. I'd already decided to do some Dragon hunting to practice my skills against strong monsters, but excessively hunting them was unnecessary.

"Lord Rimuru?" Rigurd called out, snapping me from my thoughts. I knew it had only been a few seconds thanks to [Thought Acceleration] , but it must have looked like my mind wandered regardless.

"Sorry, just thinking." I said dismissively as I waved him off before turning to Kaijin. "I'll try to avoid stirring up too much trouble."

"Please do, if you did, King Gazel would be forced to investigate." Kaijin revealed.

"Oh? Is Dwargon involved with the Dragons somehow?" I asked

"Not really, but the Dragons act as a natural defense to Dwargon, seeing as it was built within the mountains themselves. Any change in behavior from the Dragons would draw the attention of King Gazel naturally as a result." Kaijin explained, I supposed that made sense. I guess I'd have to be careful, King Gazel and I had a somewhat neutral relationship after our first meeting, but there had been promises of a potential alliance once I formed a nation. It was best not to ruin something good before it even started.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." I said as I nodded my head in thanks to Kaijin. The Dwarf smith merely responded with a toothy grin and a thumbs up.

The gate soon came into view. Standing there waiting for us were Ranga, Raya, Rigur, Gobwa, along with numerous other goblins such as Gobwa. Surprisingly Benimaru, Shion, Shuna, and Souei were also here.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked the Kijin, not that I wasn't happy to see them, but we'd already said our goodbyes the day I left the Ogre Village. I didn't think they'd actually be coming to see me off.

"Father granted us leave so we could actually see you off as you left the forest, thanks to Souei we were able to organize transport to make it here in time." Benimaru explained as he stepped up.

Ah, that made sense. With Souei's skills, he could easily move between the Goblin and Ogre villages. They must have requested some Tempest Wolves so they could travel quickly. Which meant that Rigurd had known they were coming. They must have wanted to surprise me or something along those lines.

"We wanted to properly see you off as you departed." Shuna added with a smile, that also prompted me to smile.

"I appreciate it, and I'm glad you guys could make it." I responded with a nod.

If nothing came up in the forest, I may be gone for a while, a month at the most, the last time I'd been away from the Ogre Village that long was when I left to deal with the Goblin Crisis. A lot had changed since then, I'd made more friends and had even more followers. And fortunately, I wasn't leaving things on bad terms like what had happened between Benimaru and I back then.

Now it wasn't just the Goblins and Wolves that were relying on me. The Dryads, Ogre Village, and Lizardmen were all counting on me. So I couldn't let myself become complacent, they were the reason I had to improve myself, and fast too. Evidently time was not on my side.

"Alright, time to get going." I said after talking with everyone a bit more. It would be a while before I saw any of them again, and this trip was more for personal gain than the last. Ranga quickly came to my side and lowered his body, allowing me to climb on his back before he stood up once more.

"Please be safe, Lord Rimuru." Shuna said as she clasped her hands together.

"There's no need to worry, Princess Shuna, Lord Rimuru is more than capable of defeating any Dragon that stands in his way." Shion said with a prideful grin, almost as if she were boasting her own strength. "Though please be sure to bring us souvenirs, like Dragon fangs, claws or something like that, I hear they make good necklaces." She went on to add, I couldn't help but look at her with an amused raised eyebrow.

"As a Dragon myself, I'm not sure if I should take offense to the fact that you're asking me to bring back parts of my species to be used as accessories." I said, I couldn't help but find the way her face shifted to an expression of horror and humiliation to be quite funny.

"No! I-I didn't mean it like that! I hadn't even thought of that!" Shion shouted in panic as she tried to rectify her mistake, frantically waving her hands in front of her.

"Clearly…" Souei responded as he shook his head sideways. The guy was a man of few words, even as an Ogre. But I get the feeling he has become a bit more outspoken since he evolved. Or maybe that was because he reported to me directly now.

"You should try to be a bit more considerate, Shion." Shuna scolded lightly.

"Ehh? B-but…" Shion tried to defend herself.

"To ask such a thing of Lord Rimuru…" Rigurd muttered in disbelief, as if the very thought itself was a crime punishable by death.

"But I wasn't trying to…"

"You're lucky Rimuru is such an easy going guy." Kaijin said, cutting off Shion's attempt of self defense. "Most monster rulers would have severely punished you for such an offense."

"Ehh, but all I wanted was a souvenir!" Shion tried to counter.

By this point, the poor girl looked to be on the verge of tears from the guilt and shame of it all. Though, the worst part was that she couldn't tell that these guys were just messing with her. It seemed at some point they had caught onto my teasing, and decided to take it even further, though I had been surprised to see Rigurd and Kaijin getting in on it too.

"Alright guys that's enough, you've had your fun." I said, and with that the distressed and serious expressions of the four broke into laughter, or an amused expression in Souei's case. Shion looked around in confusion, clearly lost on what was going on. "They were just messing with you Shion, nobody's really upset, myself included."

"Eh?" Was the purple haired Kijin's intelligent reply as she blanked out.

"As for your request. I'm probably going to fight a bunch of Dragons whilst gone, so I might get you some souvenirs. But don't be surprised if I don't skin my own kin." I said to her.

Frankly speaking I didn't even have to physically skin the dragons. I could just have [Great Sage] separate the materials when I devour said Dragons with [Apex Predator] . It would be far more efficient and a lot less awkward for me too. Not to mention, I had a feeling that Kaijin actually wanted me to bring him some dragon materials, but unlike Shion, he was considerate enough not to ask me. If they knew I was an Otherworlder they might have been less reserved about it though, heck it was the reason I wasn't so offended by Shion's request.

"You indulge her too much, my lord." Benimaru spoke up as he shook his head sideways with an amused smile of his own.

"Do I? I just figured since I was probably going to kill a few Dragons I could do this much for her." I said with a shrug. I didn't spoil her as much as Benimaru thought. More often than not, I was strict with her, especially when it came to improving her cooking and lately in helping her manage her newfound strength, it was the only way to get things done with her. "Anyways, Benimaru, I'll be counting on you to help protect the forest whilst I'm gone."

Out of all the Ogres I'd named, Benimaru's Magicule capacity had been the one to skyrocket to astonishing levels, and he had also inherited my [Black Flame] surprisingly. If I had to properly gauge I'd say he was nearing high A-rank whilst most of the Kijin were mid. I told him to make use of the wasteland that was my training ground when practicing with this skill, given its destructive nature. It wasn't something you could use in a sparring session, either.

"Of course my lord, leave it to us." Benimaru said with a smirk, it was then that I noticed that everyone else present was also looking at me with confident expressions.

'That's right, everyone will be playing their part. There's no point in worrying too much, I should focus on my objective, otherwise there'd be no point in me leaving.' I thought, before nodding my head. "I'll leave it to all of you then." I said as I pet Ranga on the neck, a signal that it was time to go.

The giant wolf turned towards the village gates. I turned back towards everyone once more, most of them waving and shouting their goodbyes. Others were silent, read Souei, but I could see the promise to work hard in his eyes. Either way, it felt refreshing to know that I had people waiting for me to come back, which was all the more reason for me to focus on my mission. I'd done what I could to leave Jura protected in the short period of time I had. I could only hope that was enough, and if a crisis came up, that they would be able to handle it or hold it off long enough for me to make it in time.

With that, Ranga took off into a full sprint, the Goblin village and the crowd that had gathered for my leave vanishing in the distance within seconds. Our destination was the Armed Nation of Dwargon, but rather than going to its capital, we'd be entering the Canaat Mountain range. Zegion would be waiting for us a bit deeper within the forest, it was probably best that we didn't leave the village together with him. If Shion had learnt that he was coming with us, she may have thrown an actual fit and demanded to also tag along.

Zegion and Ranga would be doing their own training for the most part, taking advantage of the opportunity while it was there. Of course, I'd still watch over them, these were Dragons we're talking about, and try to teach them a skill or two if I could.

But my primary objective for this trip was to get stronger myself. And absorb as much Dragon Factor as I could from the environment. I'd set my sights on evolving as soon as possible after [Great Sage] informed me it was possible. But like all great things, I had to work for it, and be patient too.

~~~

Between Eurazania and Jura:

In this barren land between the Great Forest of Jura and the Animal Kingdom of Eurazania, a single figure could be seen walking under the scorching hot sun, it was an Orc. The ground beneath him was dry and devoid of all life.

Said Orc was tired, hungry and thirsty. It hadn't eaten in days, and there was no water in sight. But it couldn't allow itself to rest, for it was the Orc King of the Orc Kingdom of Orbic. A nation composed entirely of Orcs and one that was close to the Animal Kingdom.

But that was not the destination of this Orc King. No, he was on his way to the Great Forest of Jura, in search of the salvation of his people. For you see, Orbic had been facing a famine for a very long time now, no crops would grow, and water was a very scarce resource. It was becoming hard for the Orcs to feed themselves, especially given their abnormally large population. Life became so difficult that even the royal family of the Orc Kingdom struggled to put food on their table, as a result the Orc King would rip off his own limbs to feed the few people he could, knowing they would regenerate soon enough thanks to his skill.

Still this was not enough, everyday many Orc lives were being lost due to starvation, and he was powerless to stop it. His people resorted to cannibalism just to stay alive, eating the flesh of those that passed in a hope to live a little longer. It was an act that tore at the hearts of many, and cut deep into the Orc King's soul.

…this couldn't continue.

That had been his thought when he left home for the Great Forest of Jura. His kingdom had already been driven to the point of despair, there was no greater suffering than what they were enduring right now. Slowly withering away, devouring each other's flesh and waiting for death so you too could be devoured to sustain others. It was a level of hopelessness he could not stand by and continue to watch as their ruler and king.

And so he set out for Jura in hopes to find food and water for his people, the domain controlled by the Storm Dragon, one of the mightiest beings to ever exist. Under normal circumstances such a plan would have been considered foolish, suicidal even, but the Storm Dragon Veredia had been sealed away for more than three hundred years now, and his people were in a state of hopelessness. He was willing to take this gamble, if it meant his people would have a chance at survival.

…and should the worst come to pass, he was sure that his son would lead them well, and hopefully find the solution that he could not.

But now, after days of walking through this barren land, with no food or water. The Orc King felt tired beyond words, his body ached from head to toe and his hunger was beyond words.

'I'm…so…hungry. I could eat anything.' He thought as he tried to push forward, his steps becoming sluggish as he struggled to remain upright. Eventually his legs gave out, his body falling forward and hitting the ground on his stomach. 'No…I…have to keep…going.' The Orc King willed his body to move, tried to lift himself up, but his body had no strength left. He was tired, hungry, and burning under this scorching heat. 'I failed…I couldn't even make it to the forest. How…pathetic.'

It was then the dying Orc King heard footsteps approaching him. Unfortunately, he lacked the strength to raise his head to see who it was, but regardless he could feel the person's aura. This individual was strong, far stronger than him.

A shadow fell over him as the footsteps came to a stop right in front of him. The Orc King managed to tilt his head just enough that he could see the figure in front of him. It was a Majin, dressed in a white coat and wearing a plague mask. The Majin sighed before lowering himself.

"I think I'll give you a name, and some food." He said, immediately the Orc's senses told him not to trust this Majin. That nothing good would come from accepting whatever he offered.

"Who…are you?" The Orc King asked weakly, his voice hoarse from his dry throat.

"My name is Gelmude, and I'm here to save you, and your people." Gelmude said, adding further to the Orc King's distrust of the Majin. The fact that this Majin knew of his people's plight meant that he had targeted him specifically. It was no coincidence that he appeared just as he was on the verge of death. "Or would you rather die, leaving your people to an unknown fate?"

No, he couldn't die. Not yet, as much as he had faith in his son to lead his people, it wouldn't be right to leave such a heavy burden on him. And, as selfish as it was, he wanted to rest assured that his people were taken care of. If that meant accepting an offer from a Majin, even one as dubious as Gelmude, then so be it.

"Give me a name, I'll take that and the food." The Orc King relented. If it meant the salvation of his people, then he would gladly make a deal with this devil. He could only hope that he wouldn't come to regret this decision.

"A wise choice." Gelmude said, before laying a hand on the Orc King's forehead. "I'll grant you the name Geld, serve me well."

"Geld huh." The Orc King, now named Geld, said as he accepted his new name. Magicules flowed into him as a golden glow surrounded him momentarily.

{{Confirmed. Conditions satisfied. Commencing evolution…}}

{{Evolution to Orc Lord…Successful. Acquisition of the Unique Skill [Starved]...Successful.}}

Geld felt his hunger worsen, becoming something almost insatiable. His mouth watered as he craved to eat something, anything, that would help ease this growing desire.

Gelmude pulled a large piece of raw bloody flesh from his pocket and handed it to the newly evolved Orc Lord. Geld snatched it and immediately began to devour it, taking large bites. Gelmude was a bit annoyed at the rudeness, but decided to overlook it as he knew it was the endless hunger of [Starved] that was taking effect.

"One day you will take over the Great Forest of Jura, devour everything in your path and become the Orc Disaster." Gelmude said, though he wasn't sure if Geld could hear him over the flesh he was devouring. "Only then will your people suffer no more."

And so the final phase of his plan would now begin.

~~~

Rimuru POV:

Just like before it took us three days to cross into the Armed Nation of Dwargon, Ranga's speed and Zegion's ability to fly made the trip a breeze. I also occasionally flew myself rather than riding Ranga the whole way, it was just to spread my wings and feel the rush of the wind on my face.

I hadn't realized just how much I'd not been flying around as of late. Ever since the Ifrit incident, I hadn't really had much time to myself. Between naming monsters and setting preparations for my leave, I'd pretty much been occupied with little to no reprieve. So it felt good to take a breath of fresh air as we made our way to Canaat.

After crossing the borders, I once more debated going to Dwargon and visiting King Gazel, maybe even let him know the reason I was here, but [Great Sage] advised against it. Saying that I'd be unnecessarily delayed and might even be denied if Gazel knew what I was doing here. So we skipped the visit to Dwargon and headed into the mountain ranges above the underground capital.

"So this is it, huh…" I muttered as I looked at the mountain ranges ahead of me. I could already feel a shift in the atmosphere from here, and I wasn't even deep yet. "...the Canaat Mountains." The magicule density was definitely higher than what one would find near the mountain base where Dwargon was.

"My lord…" I felt it before Ranga even pointed it out, my head already turning up just in time to see a large Dragon flying above in the distant sky. Even with said distance I could tell it had considerable strength.

"I see it." I said, we were entering the domain of Apex predators. While I was confident in my strength against most of these Dragons I still wasn't sure how I compared to Dragon Lords. They were the only ones I truly needed to be concerned about at the end of the day. I turned my attention from the Dragon, as it flew out of sight, to Ranga and Zegion. "Now remember, our primary objective here is to improve ourselves and grow stronger, Dragon hunting is secondary to that. I'd prefer we find an open area to hone our skills and abilities first."

If I'd been by myself I may have considered fighting and eating as many dragons as possible a way of training, but I had to remember that neither Zegion nor Ranga had a skill like [Apex Predator] , they couldn't get stronger through devouring their foes, which meant practicing and honing their skills the old fashion way. They could then test their abilities against Dragons, which I'd then devour.

It was probably better this way, I'd be more focused on perfecting my existing skills and arts, as well as improving my techniques, rather than increasing my magicules and gaining more skills that I'd still need to practice and perfect. Make no mistake though, I would be doing some hunting, this was an opportunity to push into S-rank instead of staying at top Special A-rank. Not to mention the skills I could obtain, it was probably the only chance I'd get to devour and get as many skills as possible, at least I didn't see another opportunity coming up for a while.

"Let's get going then." I said as I got onto Ranga's back once more.

"Right!!"

And with that the three of us made our way deeper into the mountain ranges that were home to Dragons, one of the strongest species of the Central World, in pursuit of greater strength.

Author's Notes:

Alright, so this chapter was pretty straight forward. It was pretty much a prelude into Rimuru's training arc within the Canaat Mountains, we can expect a lot of dragon devouring to occur there and a whole lot of skills to be acquired as well!!

I debated on whether I should have Zegion tag along for a while and in the end I decided that my boy deserves a lot more screen time than what he was given in canon. Coming up with a combat style for his current form is a challenge I'm looking forward to.

Next we have the birth of the orc lord, which was more or less the same as cannon, only a little more fleshed out from Geld the 1st's perspective.

We're entering some exciting times and I'm looking forward to hearing what each of you thinks, so please comment and review!!

Thank you for your support!!!