Finding Home
The attack had occurred in the middle of the night, so after the hostility's abrupt end, she'd gotten the Direwolves to vow not to hurt the Goblins, and tossed in a threat that if they broke that vow, she'd kill them herself, and they'd all bunked down for the night. Well, the Goblins and Direwolves had anyway, she was physically incapable of sleeping, so now that she wasn't on the move with the potential of a timeline on whatever Prophet was leading her towards, her plant gathering as she went, nor the Direwolf attack wherewherewherewherewhywhywhywhyno lock on? What does ‘individual not found’ even mean? on her mind, she turns her attention inwards.
She's not sure if it'll even work, but she tries carefully keeping her magic separate even as she uses her Calanthe magic internally. She holds her breath, proverbially anyway, but there's no reaction to her using it more actively internally. Mustering herself, she sends a telepathic message into the isolation barrier holding the Trunk, also setting up a listening spell of sorts tuned to their telepathic ‘signal’ as it were so she'll hear even if the telepathy itself can't leave the barrier, <Rowena?>
She gets a response immediately, <Creator. It is good to hear from you, I tried getting in touch after your Polyjuice bracelet was called, making it obvious you were around, but I was getting no response, and when I tried leaving with my H3, there was a barrier that was sparking.>
She winces, <Yeah, sorry about that, I was distracted. It may be easier if I just send you a copy of my memories.>
Rowena hums, <Considering it's been a few days, I would imagine so.>
She doesn't respond, not with words anyway, just sending over a copy of her memories. Benefit of Rowena being an AI, she doesn't have to bother with sorting through memories to give her a highlight reel or anything, she can just gather the lot of them from the moment that truck lost control and hit them and send them all, and Rowena can sort through them quickly.
As such, it isn't surprising how quickly she gets back to her, <I see. The H3 doesn't inherently need magic, so if I crafted a new one suitable for me without a magic storage, it wouldn't interact poorly with this universe's magic. Though it would have to be built to genuinely transfer my consciousness to it, since it wouldn't be able to be equipped with the magic to be able to receive a mental projection. I also wouldn't be able to castwith it right this moment since we'll need to find a way to store thisuniverse's magic first, or at least a way for me to access the ambient magicules, but that's fine.>
She tilts her head, <Maybe if we incorporated some of the processed magic ore, magisteel I believe it's called, into your frame? Though, given I can't bring it down there without it either reacting badly or absorbing some of the magic from my first two lives and essentially being contaminated, I'd probably need you to give me designs for the frame and maybe materials for the rest if we can remove any magic that mayhave soaked into them and make it outside with Predator's crafting.>
Rowena hums, <That works. I'll send you the designs now while I sort through the things down here to see what's absorbed magic and try to purge it if I can.>
Rowena sends the designs as she speaks, which she hands off to Great Sage, [Modified H3 design logged.]
She sends a vague understanding towards Great Sage, along with an order to craft the frame, <Works for me Rowena, I've told Great Sage to craft the frame, so just let me know when you're got everything else sorted.>
She gets an understanding response back, then turns her focus back to the world around her. So, what was she supposed to spend the rest of her night on? She isn't comfortable leaving, not with the recent tension, so that crosses the idea of using her night productively and checking more of the plants around and gathering seeds.
She needs something to keep herself busy though since she can't just sit there, letting her brain turn over and over where and why and should she bother staying in this life? How long should she give it? she's never been good at being idle. She'd seen some strange markings that flickered with the slightest echo of magicules on some of the gear the Goblins had. Maybe if there was something like runes here she could analyze them and see if Great Sage can get something to start studying out of it? It's worth a shot at least, right?
Later, after the Goblin elder is awake, she meets up with him to talk, waving him off when he and and his son start to try to hurriedly -or as hurriedly as possible for the older Goblin- get up after she knocks on the curtained door frame, “Oh no, please, finish your breakfast, I just wanted to speak with you Elder.”
They both settle slowly, and the elder tilts his head, “Of course Honored One. What can I help you with?”
She hops up on one of the unoccupied seats after pointing at it with a questioning hum and getting a sort of ‘by all means’ open hand gesturing at it palm towards the ceiling, “I wanted to ask more about the unrest in the Forest lately, now that the immediate threat of the Direwolves has been dealt with. I'm concerned about how you and your people will deal with it.”
He runs a finger over his food slightly, like he can't quite bring himself to pick it up again at the moment, “I am not sure as well.” He sighs, “It's a shame you can't stay, it would ease us a lot in all honesty.”
No matter how she words it, Prophet keeps telling her that her best outcome is to put down roots here so, “Well, I don't actually have any reason to leave exactly.” Except for possibly going to try to look for her soulmates and sister but she doesn't exactly have any leads on that they have to be here they have to be here they have to- so there's really nothing drawing her away, “Actually, if anything, that Skill of mine that was indicating I should go in the direction of your village is telling me it'd be better to settle down here, but if I did that, I have a feeling I'd usurp your authority and I don't really want to step on any toes as it were.”
The elder jolts hard, then immediately seems to regret it from the way his back cracks and the expression on his face, but he pushes forward without hesitation, “No, no! You saved our lives! We owe you our loyalty as much as the Direwolves do for sparing them! We would happily swear our allegiance to you as our Lord as well!”
She blinks rapidly, or well, she feels like she blinks rapidly, but Slimes don't exactly have eyes to blink, so…
She tilts her head, “That… before you go doing something like that, I feel I should inform you.” She finds it a bit doubtful but it's better to ask first, “Are you familiar with the terms transmigrant and reincarnator?” They falter and shake their heads, “Transmigrant is a way to refer to what is usually called an otherworlder from my understanding, who rather than being summoned, came over on their own through a rift between worlds.” They nod their understanding, “A reincarnator is someone who's lived another life before, and after their death is reborn as someone new, but with their memories intact. It's relevant, because I'm both. And I used to be human.”
The elder shakes his head, voice bland, “That doesn't matter, you aren't like the humans who attack us just for being monsters. You defended us actually.”
She shrugs, “As long as you're all comfortable with that. And please make sure to spread it since it'll likely be relevant.”
His son smiles, “We are! Though, it does explain how an intelligent Slime came into being.” At his father's sharp look, he curls into himself a bit, “No offense.”
She laughs, “It's fine. Honestly, from my understanding they really aren't supposed to be. At least, that's the only reason that makes sense to me that they aren't even though they're absolutely equipped with a body capable of it anyway. I accidentally did it to myself when I was in the process of dying and crossing over. You know, when otherworlders gain abilities and all that? I was thinking about how I was dying from bloodloss and the Words of the World interpreted that as me desiring a bloodless body.” He snorts, then quickly tries to control his expression at his father's disapproving look and the way he tenses, and she lifts a tendril to wave it off, “It's fine. You can laugh about it. It is a little ridiculous.”
The elder relaxes at her brushing it off, “We will have to make the joyous announcement to the village.”
She hums, “Sure, though wait until breakfast is done with so we don't interrupt anyone's meal.”
He nods seriously, and she tilts her head, “If I'm gonna be you guys’ new Lord though, well Lady, I should probably give you all names. Though, with so many, I may need some time to come up with enough names that truly stand out.”
The elder’s son sucks in a sharp breath, “You'd- You'd do that for us Lady Rimuru? Name us I mean?”
She hums, “Yeah.”
The elder laughs with tears in his eyes, “Lady Rimuru, I sincerely doubt anyone cares about just how unique their names are!”(1)
The two seem to grow even more excited and she tilts her head in bemusement. Was it really that big of a deal? The elder had told her about his now deceased older son in the time between when she showed up and the Direwolf attack, but really…
She hops down, “I should probably go have a private word with the new head of the Direwolf pack to make sure we're all on the same page before the announcement is made. I'll see you two later.”
The Goblins are all murmuring in excitement after the elder finishes making the announcement, and even the Direwolves seem happy given the way their new leader was standing on her other side from where the three of them were standing before the whole village.
She stirs once the elder is finished speaking, “Elder, you first please.” He hobbles over from his place beside her to stand in front of her, “To honor your deceased elder son, I'm naming you Rigurd.”
She tilts her head as Rigurd bows deeply, tears in his eyes, as she feels some magic flow out of her for the Naming. It was…. Wildly inefficient.(2) It's like tossing the contents of a bucket of water holding a hammer inside at the Named, and letting the washed out hammer smash their name into them, except both the water and hammer are all her magic, and most of it is completely wasted.
As Rigurd's son steps up next, she tries taking control of the naming to make it more efficient while not impacting the power boost it gives him, “As you also hold your brother dear in your heart, I name you Rigur so you may also keep a piece of him with you at all times.”
He bows just as deeply as his father had, and from there she makes her way through the neat line the Goblins have made. They aren't the most unique names, as she warned the elder, but he said no one would care, so…
As she makes her way through them, her Naming ability gets more and more refined until by the time she's at the end, it's nothing like the bucket of water and hammer and more like a precision chisel or stamp. She can't get it any lower than a third though, not if she wants to properly 'engrave' the names to let them get the full benefits.
She turns her attention to the Direwolves at that point, and having spoken to the pack leader about it previously, as he steps forward she firmly says, “I shall name you Ranga, and as your pack serves me, you shall be known as the Tempest Wolves from now on.”
The Goblins were about the third of the strength of the Direwolves and between naming them and the pack as a whole, she's left with about half of her magic, but given she's a Slime and what Great Sage has said about Slimes subsisting on magic they absorb, she decides to play on the safe side to try to reach into that pool of water she'd absorbed from the lake in the cave for the magic imbued in it. She only has to eat about half of what she's missing to kick her own magicule regeneration into higher gear, absently noting the Skill Great Sage mentions acquiring about faster magic regeneration.
While she's doing that real quick while the Direwolves line up, she does feel a shift within herself from naming the pack as a whole, but an internal mental glance as she gives them their individual names just shows that since it apparently still holds a sort of connection to the pack, her absorbed Direwolf form was changing. Evolving rather, as Great Sage informs her.
When she's done giving the Wolves individual names, she's left with sleepy looking Goblins and Direwolves and before they hunker down, she calls Rigurd and Ranga before her again, “As you have all sworn your loyalty to me but I do not necessarily know what each of your people need, from here on Rigurd, you are the Goblin Lord in charge of seeing what your people need and reporting to me. Ranga, you are the Tempest Wolf Lord, and you as well, are in charge of seeing what your people need and reporting to me.”
They both bow, and given Great Sage has managed to answer her question as to why they look so sleepy, apparently their bodies are trying to go into an evolutionary sleep, she waves them off, “Go sleep off your evolutions.”
They nod and everyone disperses sleepily. When she's alone, she sighs internally. Now what? She can't exactly leave when they're all going to be vulnerable in their evolutionary slumbers anymore than she could risk it the night before give the previous hostilities, so she can't go to check various things out to distract herself from the wherewherewhere, why no lock, why‘individual not found’,why, why kill some time, like searching out more plants to potentially use or something.
Maybe some quieter magic manipulation experimenting?
She's in her as of yet rarely used human mimicry since she doesn't have clothes, currently using the blanket the Goblins had scrounged up despite her protests that she physically couldn't sleep before naming them all to cover herself for decency, running the pad of her index finger over her husband's words on her ankle, mind engrossed enough with terrified frantic murmurs, they have to be here, they have to be here, they have to be here! thoughts on the confusion Prophet made regarding her soulmates.
She's so engrossed in it, her mind a million miles away that she's actually taken by surprise when Rigur's voice genuinely startles her, “Good morning Lady Rimuru!”
She twists around, taken a bit aback by the fact he's as tall as a human now, and looks more similar to one too, though a quick analysis and run through of the data through Great Sage tells her its because he's evolved into a Hobgoblin, “Good morning Rigur. Your evolution seems to have been successful. I'm glad to see it. Is everyone else starting to wake up as well?”
He smiles happily at her, “Thank you my Lady! And yeah, people are starting to wake up, but not everyone is just yet.” Then he tilts his head in curiosity at the shifting words on his ankle, “If I may ask, what..?”
She glances down, “One of the previous worlds I lived in had soulmates. People's bonds with their soulmates tended to manifest, to tell them that ‘hey this is your soulmate or one of your soulmates’ in different ways. The writings are from ours, since it was a Mark of the first words we spoke to each other. Well, in each life since they are reincarnators like me. This is the mark for my husband.”
He nods in understanding even as his eyes remain curious, “Why does it shift colors?”
She smiles, “Because the way our Marks work, they're always in the color of said soulmates eyes, so the colors are for his eye color in whichever life these were his first words to me in.”
The confusion clears up, “So then, I assume the ones from a language I at least recognize even if we Goblins honestly can't read are from this life.”
She lets go of her mimicry form, “Yeah, they are. Anyway. We should get going.”
She's never been so happy in her life everyone is starting to wake up. It's been maddening, trying not to be consumed by thoughts of where, where, where , why, why, why regarding her soulmates lonely all on her own in the Goblin Village, with only Rowena to speak to. Assuming one doesn't count Great Sage and the way it piped up periodically about things like her gaining Shadow Motion after her Direwolf mimicry was done evolving. Or the Dark Lightning Skill evolving into Dark Thunder while she was looking over her Skills and had linked Dark Lighting to Molecular Manipulation. Even giving her the concerning notification that she had gained a Demon Lord Seed(3) near the end of the evolution sleep or just generally answering questions for… obvious reasons given it wasn't sentient and only really piped up when she thought a question.
She waits until they're all awake before gathering them all, somewhat grateful for the sake of the Hobgoblins’ modesty that while their clothes don't fit most of their now human sized bodies since they evolved into Hobgoblins that they at least cover the important parts, though it's obviously not a good permanent state of affairs.
That's something to deal with later though, “Alright, if I'm going to be your new Lord, or well Lady really, then there's a few things we need to go over. For one thing, you all were getting along decently well, but there's still a bit of tension. It's easier to come to an understanding on an individual level then as two groups though, so to help handle the aftereffects, I want you all to pair up as much as you can. Each Direwolf pairing up with a Hobgoblin to be partners with.”
“Doesn't matter if it's a hunting partner for the Hobgoblins in charge of that kind of thing or more of a chores partner around the village, I want you to partner up and live together, alright? It should help ease any lingering tension if we get to know each other as individuals, and it's easier if there's a solid starting point. Those of you Direwolves who specialize in combat may wanna separate yourselves to partner with the Hobgoblins whose job it is to secure the village or hunt since it would suit you better, but I don't want to see any fighting amongst the Direwolves on who's best suited, alright?”
“Be honest about it rather than letting ego or anything like that get in the way. I do want whichever Direwolf is best at management besides Ranga here assigned to Rigurd so as to help with communicating any issues that arise and facilitate good communication between both groups as well as the one best at Thought Communication to come up here as well. Also, it's fine if the number isn't dead even, just let me know when everyone from one group is partnered up.”
Everyone takes a few moments to sort themselves out before a group of about eight Direwolves come up to the front, two at the head of their small group, Ranga sending via Thought Communication as they do, <Master, these Tempest wolves are leftovers from the Hobgoblins pairing up, barring Ryouga and Raiki(4) here who are the ones you requested. Ryouga is the one with the qualifications you were asking for Rigurd's companion, and Raiki is the other you requested.>
She nods, “Before I explain why I was asking for Raiki here, there are a few things I need to explain to you all for this to make sense, given I doubt any of you are familiar with the concepts of AI or robots?” Seeing the confused looks, she nods, “Figured. Thought Communication can be used on people who don't necessarily have the Skill themselves, correct?” Ranga nods, “Then, it may be easier to just link up to all of you, including the Hobgoblins and show you all.”
There are murmurs, but no one argues against it, so she links everyone up, stripping things down to the basics but showing them all what exactly those are. She waits until they all have at least a basic understanding before she disconnects, “I wanted everyone to understand to some degree so you wouldn't be alarmed.”
“As I told Rigurd I'm both a transmigrant and reincarnator,” From the way no one looks surprised, he'd done as she'd asked and spread the word, “and I have the means of taking some things with me between lives. Including an AI I built in a prior life. I wanted to explain this so no one would be alarmed.” She removes Rowena's H3 at that point, her mind already transferred into it, “This is Rowena, the AI I made previously. She's something of an assistant to me, so you can consider her my second in command. This is also where you come in Raiki. Rowena can't initiate a Thought Communication on her own right now, so you'll be her assistant in case anyone needs to consult with her at a distance.”
Raiki bows his head, <I am honored to have been selected for such a task Lady Rimuru.>
She nods as he steps over to stand beside Rowena, turning her attention to the six additional Tempest wolves left over after the pairing, “So then, out of you, are there any who aren't good at fighting?”
They glance at each other before two step forward, <All in the pack are good at combat to some degree or another, but neither myself nor Jinga are great at it Lady Rimuru.>
She nods, “Then, you will assist in jobs within the village, only fighting as emergency defense with the rest of the Tempest Wolves paired with those who work around the village.” They both nod and step off to the side and she turns to the other four, “I assume you're all better at combat?” They nod, “Then, you will join the Hobgoblins in charge of security and hunting as both additional assistance and potential a backup if the Hobgoblins’ Tempest Wolf partner gets injured and needs to stay home to heal. To that latter end, while they're training to get used to their partners, I want you to rotate through working with them so you have at least a decent idea of each other and it doesn't throw them and you off completely to be working with someone you never have in that capacity before.”
They nod and move off to stand near Rigur who's sort of in charge of those kinds of things. Once that's sorted out, she turns her attention to the village as a whole, “So then, as a final thing for now, some rules. One, do not initiate conflict with sentient beings. It's fine to fight if you have to defend yourselves but don't start fights, and while not to the extent of putting your lives at risk, when possible, de-escalate the situation by talking it out, as there is always a possibility it's just a misunderstanding. If you're ever uncertain whether it's time to give up trying to talk things out and fight, that's where Rowena comes in. I may not always be available, but she is, so consult with her through the Tempest Wolves’ Thought Communication abilities.”
There are nods and murmurs of understanding, and she makes sure her smile is audible, “If we're all clear on that, then we'll move on. Rule two is not to fight amongst yourselves. There is an exception for training of course, though while it should be obvious I'll say it anyway, training should never be lethal or involve permanent injuries.” She glances at Rigur and the others who nod, “I'm not so naive to think you're all friends or something, but this is your collective home and community. Even if you don't see eye to eye, I don't want to hear of things coming to blows, especially given the fact that since this is your community, someone you don't get along with may very well be the one to help you when you're in trouble since a community looks out for one another even if they don't necessarily like each other.”
There are more nods of understanding, so she moves on, “Third and final rule for now, don't look down on other species. All those with sentience are entitled to a base of respect. They can lose that respect if they take despicable actions like attacking the innocent or other such things, but unless they do something to lose that respect, they're entitled to it. Furthermore, in a world such as this where one can undergo individual evolution, it's foolish to look down on a being that may very well end up stronger than you.”
They all nod for a third time, so she nods back, “That's it for the basics. So then, now we need to shift our attention to taking stock of the situation and how to improve it.” Her tone turns a little dry, “Hunting down non-sentient beings for food and hides for new clothes for starters.”
That gets some laughter as people look at their ill fitting clothes in amusement and things wrap up there for now.
She's gazing at the simple clothes the Hobgoblins have started putting together. They aren't the greatest of course, but they'll do for now. The problem is, they've definitely seen an increase in intelligence since their evolution, and they're no longer satisfied with their current homes, but they don't exactly know how to make anything better.
She sighs, focusing on Rigurd, who went from a hunched elder to a tall buff man in the prime of his life at his evolution, “I've been wondering how to bring it up without sounding insulting since that isn't my intention, so I'm glad you did, but I'm not totally sure what to do about it. I don't really have construction experience myself…”
He sighs as well as he gazes at his and Rigur's house, “I was never bothered before, but since I've evolved it honestly feels shameful. Particularly with you here Lady Rimuru.”
She huffs a laugh, “Don't worry about it.” She shakes her head with a sigh, “Still. I'm not entirely sure what to do since I don't have the know-how for this, and while Rowena has books on it downloaded to her main orb, we had to be picky on what we took to transfer her…”
At her other side, Rowena pipes up, “A large oversight on my part not to try to bring it with me Creator. My sincerest apologies.”
She waves it off, “It's not entirely your fault since I was also more focused on bringing you out, so don't worry about it Rowena. Better to have you here helping then have you locked away with that stuff. Besides, the books can potentially be helpful if there's no other choice, but there's a vast difference between just having that and actual experienced know-how.”
Rowena hums lightly, “I suppose, but what are we going to do?”
She sighs, “Hypothetically you could calculate how to do any blueprints you make based on loadweights and the like, but that doesn't help with teaching them how to do it.”
Rowena nods slowly, “There is that…”
Rigurd stirs, “Lady Rimuru, there are people who may be able to assist with both the better clothes you've mentioned before as well as home building, but… I'm not entirely sure how we'd purchase their services.”
She tilts her head, “Well actually, with the method I can bring things like Rowena's mind to a new life with me, I stocked up valuables just in case I found myself needing money, so I could use it for its purpose and sell some off.”
Rigurd jolts, “Truly? You really are wise with an abundance of foresight, aren't you Lady Rimuru?” Then he shakes his head, “Well, if that's the case, our best bet would likely be the Dwarves of Dwargon, the Armed Nation of Dwargon is its full name actually.”
She hums, “Then, that's what we'll have to go with. Rigurd, make the arrangements on my heading there. Rowena will be in charge while I'm gone, so there's no need to worry about that, but I really need to go speak with them quickly.”
Rigurd nods emphatically, “Right away Lady Rimuru!”
With that, he tears off, and she watches after him in amusement before turning back to Rowena, “When you have free time and aren't needed, start putting together the construction plans please.”
Rowena nods, then tilts her head, “Should I just make ones necessary for the current population, or should I make additional ones in case of expansion?”
She shrugs, “May as well make the base needed first then shift to looking at what we'll need if we start to grow.”
Rowena nods, “Western like the Ancestral Potter Manor or Eastern like your last couple lives?”
She snorts, “While I do miss the manor, it's not exactly the Western style of it that I miss per say though it may be nice to get a little of it back. That being said, it's probably easier just to go with Eastern, and also, given this otherworlder thing, it may help us later in making them feel more comfortable given how many of them seem to be from Japan from my vague understanding.”
Rowena hums, but doesn't say anything. There's a strange look in her eyes, but she doesn't feel like digging into what it is right at this moment, so she just lets it go.
He tilts his head, “...There are going to be scythes and skulls and skeletal hands all over the place.”
Darling snorts, “I don't know what's funnier. That you aren't wrong, or that Rimuru is going to inevitably be taken by surprise since things like the regard they all hold her in are the sort of things she tends to be strangely blind to.”
Sister snickers, “The latter. Absolutely the latter is the funnier part.”
Darling shakes her head in amusement, then shifts topics a bit, “We laughed at her for being so over-prepared with the seed vaults and valuables and all that in the Trunk, but…”
He gives a bemused smile, “She's the one who's getting the last laugh?”
Darling shakes her head in amusement, “So it seems. Then again, we probably shouldn't have teased her to begin with, given Rimuru has a tendency to find a use for all sorts of things… and it's always better to have a plan in place for that one in a million chance than to find ourselves scrambling to respond, isn't it?”
He nods and Sister tilts her head, “I've been thinking about that actually…” He gives her a questioning look and she smiles as her gaze drops, “...Things only worked out for Calanthe when she was a child because of her mom's excessive preparations that lead to Brightblade getting in touch with her which kicked off her running away and meeting Remus and you and… Well, it probably left pretty deep impressions on her, didn't it?”
He leans back, “I've… never thought about it, but now that you mention it… Yeah, it's very likely that's where her obsession with being prepared comes from… Well, that and her perfectionism.”
Darling hums in agreement, but silence quickly settles rather than the conversation being continued as they mull over the notion Sister had pointed out.
It's not very surprising given the fact he was the elder of the Goblin Village even before she showed up, but Rigurd is pretty damn efficient. He had everything sorted out, who would be going with her and who would be covering for his son Rigur and the others that are usually part of the defense and hunting forces since they won't be at the village given they'll be busy escorting her, by the next day.
Given they're much faster and the Tempest wolves don't seem to mind in the slightest, they'll actually be heading out on their backs. She could theoretically change to one of her human forms, but as basic as the clothes the Hobgoblins were cobbling together are, she hadn't wanted to take away from what they were making, so she hadn't bothered them with clothes for those forms. Given she can't really bring the clothes she has stored in the Trunk out without them potentially catching fire due to the poor reaction between her previous magics that have somewhat settled into them and this world's magic and the small explosions that sometimes occur she can't use those either.
So she still doesn't have clothes for those forms, and even if her mimicries don't seem to possess private parts, she's still not comfortable going around naked, so… They're currently unusable. The valuables like gold she was wanting to trade were alright, since even if she summoned them from the Trunk, they weren't delicate flammable cloth, so even if they sparked and popped with small explosions after being taken out of the Trunk and isolation, they could handle it while she worked on drawing any magic of her previous worlds out of them.
That was fine though. Ranga has no qualms about her using one of the two Skills she got from the giant spider monster she'd used Predator on while leaving the cave with Elen and the others, Sticky Thread specifically, to help her secure herself to his back. She'd had a quick experiment to make sure she could get rid of it without yanking on his fur before she asked if he was alright with it of course, but it'd been easy to direct it to let go of him and he'd been more than happy to agree.
To that end, they're on their way pretty early the next morning. The Tempest Wolves are fast enough that they can't really talk out loud, if only because of how loud the wind is, but in a strange twist of events, the Hobgoblins all developed Thought Communication not long after they paired up with the Tempest wolves. Given Skills seem to be gained from taking actions related to them, it's not surprising given the Tempest wolves communicate with it primarily, so the Hobgoblins likely learned how to do it manually from them and Words of the World just granted the relevant Skill. That, or its due to the strange bond that seemed to form between each pair after she had them pair up.
Which means they are capable of communicating while on the move, just not verbally. She's actually mostly just asking them more about the Dwarves before they get to Dwargon. From what they're happily filling her in on, part of the reason they're so chill about even monsters going to Dwargon to trade -provided they adhere to their policies regarding to hostilities either towards themselves obviously or even other visitors- is because they're actually related to ‘monsters’ themselves. Sort of anyway.
They're descendants of Fairies, Elementals who have incarnated into physical bodies who had children with humans. Half spirits half humans in other words. They don't really have any of their ancestor’s Elemental powers nowadays, but considering they're still somewhere between a spiritual lifeform -much like Angels, Daemons(5), Elementals, True Dragons, and the plethora of ‘monsters’ that are descended from one or more of the previous that have slowly changed and/or devolved over time- and a Human, it's not that surprising.
It's frustrating actually, because from what she's learning, ‘monster’ was something that was just applied by close minded humans. When in actuality, monster actually really only refers to the magical life form manifestations like the ones in Veldora's Cave born purely from his high levels of magic leaking out and past the door. Even something as ‘lowly’ as Goblins, which were practically at the bottom of the food chain, were themselves Demi-Humans. She was truly a monster by the actual definition rather than the labels the Humans of this world have applied. The Hobgoblins were not.
Though, on the other hand, it does explain why the Hobgoblins look so much more Human after their evolution. Because as it turns out, they were actually regaining a previous evolution stage they devolved from when they went from Goblins to Hobgoblins.
Really though, why do close minded people always have to do this kind of nonsense and make things harder and more complicated for everyone? The only thing worse is Rigur quietly admitting when they make camp the first night how some humans take it a step further and even refer to Demi-Humans like the Goblins as Daemons.
It absolutely sickens her. She ends up having to spend the whole night reminding herself that not everyone is that cruel and close minded. Also, while she can't say who started the fighting, the Humans of this world do have a long history of fighting with the Demi-Humans, which in and of itself isn't surprising given humans love to fight with each other, and given they're Demi-Human…
She absolutely has to remember that though. To remind herself that the Humans of this world aren't all the very monsters and Daemons they proclaim beings like the Goblins to be. Then again, given the ‘monsters’ aren't exactly intelligent and Daemons aren't inherently evil, that's actually an insult to them to liken the more disgusting Humans to them.
It's a pretty dark and depressing night in all honesty. …It probably doesn't help that her soulmates can't be located by Prophet, what does ‘individual not found’ even mean aren't here to pull her out of it.
He punches the wall, burying his fist deep into the stone, grinding his knuckles in and actually wishing it was enough to damage his hand since at least the physical pain would distract him from the emotional pain, “...She's spiraling again and we're not there-!”
Darling wraps her arms around him tightly, “I know Love, I know. I hate it and feel just as helpless as you to have to watch it and be unable to do anything about it, but this isn't helpful, and really, do you think Rimuru would want us falling apart? Especially since she has no way to find us, which means unknowing or not, she's relying on us to get to her.”
He breathes out a sharp breath out of his tense body, forcing himself to pull his hand out of the wall and unclench his fingers. It's harder then he'd like to admit, given how in control of himself he usually is, and honestly, he really only manages it by making the decision that he's going to hold his wife back, which means he has to unclench his hand, both to do so, and also to force himself to relax somewhat so he doesn't potentially hurt her.
It… probably says an awful lot about just how sensitive to their missing wife's emotional states the long separation has left them in that it's really only the desire not to hurt his other wife that lets him force his body back under control.
As his mind turns over that, he suddenly finds himself letting out a burst of laughter despite how inappropriate it is given Rimuru's state.
Darling pulls back enough to give him an odd look, and he shakes his head, giving her a wry smile, “No, sorry, I just… I was thinking about how much more sensitive her absence has made us and then my mind started wondering further that way, and… We're absolutely going to end up utterly pampering her when we inevitably manage to get back to her.”
Darling blinks, then starts laughing almost hysterically as she buries her face in his shoulder, “Forget ‘pampered like a princess’ or even like a Queen or Empress, whether we mean to or not, it's going to be more like she's a damn Goddess isn't it?”
Off near the magical screen, Sister snorts in amusement. The bubble of humor doesn't last long given Rimuru is still spiraling, they know her well enough that Slime body or not, they can absolutely tell just by looking at her, and they still aren't there to help, but it eases the tension just a fraction for a little bit.
She's chatting happily with Gobta while they wait in the line leading to the massive doors heading into the mountains, which was actually only open for the army or large events. But there are two smaller doors set into it, and they were in line for the one on the left, the right being firmly closed with no line and likely meant for nobility and visiting dignitaries, but they aren't there for too long before their casual conversation is broken into by some jackasses, “Hey! Hey, check it out, there're monsters out here! We can kill ‘em, right? We aren't inside yet.”
Another voice responds to the first, “Yeah, what the hell're you guys standing in line for? You think we're gonna letcha do that, you little runts? Gimme your spot before we kill you! And leave your crap there too, alright? Then we'll letcha go!”
She snorts as she comments blandly to Gobta, “Those lowlifes must be awful broke if they're trying to shake us down for our belongings, wouldn't you say Gobta?”
He seems nervous, but he doesn't dispute her, “Yeah, totally Lady Rimuru!”
She tilts her head, “Did you have trouble last time you were here?”
He nods, “Oh course I did my Lady! Ooh, they beat me silly! The Kobold merchants had to pick me up off the ground! Might've died if they didn't, eh?”
She shakes her head, “Given it affects their reputation to not protect their line going into their main nation, you'd think they'd have more then just the gate guards up front keeping watch and preventing that sort of nonsense. On the other hand, I've yet to meet these Kobold merchants myself, but they seem fairly kind and like good people. Did the Goblins ever have trade with them?”
Gobta nods quickly, “Oh yes! To all of it! They can haggle pretty hard, but they're good people! And yeah, the Kobolds were the main people we've traded with, why?”
She hums, “I shall have to have Rigurd introduce me to them. They've left a good impression on me with their history.”
He beams, “Heh! They'd be happy to hear that my Lady! Ecstatic really!”
The group of obnoxious thugs have been steadily losing their cool as she and Gobta ignore them, and one of the males finally snaps, “Yo! You think you runts got a right to ignore us?! You act all high and mighty pretending like you got names and like a Slime of all people is a ‘Lady!”
She snorts, “You do realize that we couldn't have called each other by names without possessing names? We'd have ended up Naming each other otherwise. And I am technically Gobta's Lady, given his people and the Direwolf pack that was near them all swore fealty to me. And ‘Lady’ is not inherently a title reserved for humanoid nobility. Then again,” She purposely tilts the ‘head’ part of her Slime body up and down to make it clear she's eying them, “I wouldn't expect irritating gnats like you to be educated about things like that, given you look like you have two brain cells left and they're fighting for third place.”
The man turns beat red, “You little-! What would a pathetic Slime know about humans?! You're just dirt on the bottom of someone's shoe!”
She rolls her eyes mentally even as she notes a few guards starting to hurry their way, “Reincarnated otherworlder actually. I know plenty about humans. Which also means I'm well capable of spotting inconsequential assholes. Like the ones in front of me right this moment.”
He gets even redder, and his buddy jumps in, “Hey, isn't a talking Slime pretty rare? Maybe we could get some money outta selling it.”
She snorts, “You'd have better luck bending over and selling your ass then capturing me to sell you dimwit.” Which was cruder than usual for her, but she has been somewhat erratic since Prophet told her ‘individual not found’ when it came to her soulmates isn't in any mood to be polite to assholes threatening her and her people, “Then again, looking at you, it wouldn't be a very lucrative career.” Looking up thoughtfully she tacks on, “No offense to prostitutes in general. I mean, you gotta do what you gotta do. And really, if you think about it, when it comes to the wealthier sort, if they didn't have that outlet, they may very well turn to despicable things like kidnapping and rape. So really arguably they're taking one for the proverbial team when you think about it.”
He sputters and a woman a few spots in line behind them pipes up, “No offense taken dear. Though I must admit, I never thought about it in those terms, but given some of the customers I've had… I can't say you're wrong. About that,” She eyes the man, “or the fact it's not a very good career choice for him. He really ought to stick to being a thug who's only courageous enough to shake down monsters.”
He turns as red as his companion, and that seems to be their snapping point, given they as well as their buddies who were hanging back move to attack with angry shouts. It's easy as all hell to wrap them up with the other variant of the Skill she got from the spider, Steel Thread though, immediately turning them into a laughing stock to the other people around, much to their obvious humiliation.
That's about when the guards reach them, but they must've caught the tail end of the confrontation given they look less concerned now and more amused and the one in front dryly tells the assholes, “Maybe that will teach you a thing or two about starting nonsense.” He turns to her, his expression turning a bit apologetic, “I know you did nothing wrong, saw the end myself, but protocol requires me to take you in for questioning.”
She shrugs, “No problem. Will we have to start back at the end of the line when it's all wrapped up though, or..?”
He smiles, “Thank you for your understanding. And nah, if you're the innocent party in these sorts of altercations, you just get released into Dwargon as something of an apology for the trouble.”
One of the significantly more pissy guards mutters low enough that she only knows what he says because she's watching everything via Magic Perception, “The Chief is gonna yell at us and maybe even dock our pay for letting someone get accosted. It's all this uppity little Slime's fault for drawing attention to it rather than being quiet enough that the situation could just be ignored like usual.”
He may have been muttering low enough that she wasn't supposed to hear, but another guard is close enough to catch it, muttering back angrily, “If that's how you feel you clearly aren't doing your job properly, so I'll go ahead and let the Chief know that if there is supposed to be a pay dock, it should come out of you and your buddy's salaries alone rather than all of ours.”
Ignoring it, she cheerfully says to Gobta, “Oh hey, we get to skip the line because of them, maybe we should actually thank them for being so dense as to start things?”
He snickers, and he's far from the only one who's amused, really about the only ones who aren't are the assholes who'd been harassing them, who look pissed, but that quickly turns into them paling and turning horrified as the lead Dwarf adds, “I wouldn't be giving them so much hostility given you're already on thin ice and may very well become banned from Dwargon.”
One of his men politely asks her if she's capable of releasing the thread, which she happily complies with, before cheerfully waving a tendril of her body at the lady who'd piped into their conversation, “Bye Miss! Nice brief chat! Hope you don't have to wait too much longer!”
She waves back happily as Rimuru and Gobta head off with the Dwarves, perfectly content unlike the assholes, who look like they're being marched to the gallows. Given what she's heard about Dwargon, she can't see them being executed for something like this, but given how Dwargon has the best smiths for armor and weapons and all that, the possibility of being banned from ever returning probably feels pretty similar.
Well, the assholes did it to themselves, so she has no sympathy for them.
After being led into a room for questioning, she's soon speaking to a man who introduces himself as Captain Kaidou. He seems to be fully aware of the fact she hasn't done anything wrong, but perhaps out of a combination of wariness at the idea of an intelligent Slime and the fact the guards didn't hear her explaining about being a reincarnating transmigrant, she ends up having to explain that part to him as well.
It isn't a quick one sentence explanation or anything either, given he pushes for answers as to how she ended up as a Slime if that's the case and how she ended up traveling with monsters, so she ends up having to tell him a limited form of the whole story, even briefly touching on her other lives. It was fine though, given her Prophet Skill was indicating the same sort of honesty she gave Elen and the others was for the best anyway. They haven't even gotten to why she's in Dwargon, only just starting to wrap up how she got acquainted with the now Hobgoblins and not even at the section about the Direwolves when another guard comes bursting in.
Kaidou is just turning to the man in alarm when he starts quickly talking, “S-sir! An Armorsaurus just showed up in the mines! It's already injured several miners at their posts!”
Kaidou quickly jumps to his feet, “What?! Well, did you defeat it?!”
The man nods quickly, “We're good there! A suppression force is on its way. But some of the miners are fairly roughed up. I don't know if there's a war under way or something, but the city shops are out of medicine, and the castle won't let us access their stockpiles…”
Kaidou's face pinches, “What about our healers?”
The other man seems to grow nervous, “That's the thing sir… The injured were deep inside, mining magic ore. The healers at the guard house are all out handling other calls, so all we have left is a single novice!”
She pipes up at that point, “I can help with that. How many are hurt?”
The other man glances at the Captain before stuttering out at his impatient annoyed expression, “Uh, s-six!”
It takes her only a second or two to craft the necessary bottles from sand she has stored before she's depositing them on the table. At Kaidou's surprised look she reminds him, “Storage Skill with crafting abilities and a bunch of Hipokute, remember?”
He quickly snatches them up, “Thank you very much Miss Rimuru! I have to leave so I won't be able to finish processing you, so I'm terribly sorry, but you'll have to wait in the cells I'll have a junior officer escort you to until I get back!”
She waves him off, “Don't worry about it. Go help with the injured.”
As he rushes out with the officer who'd come to inform him, he calls back, “Thank you for being so understanding!”
She waits patiently for her escort to show up, not wanting to stress the poor person out anymore with her vanishing on him then the situation has to be putting on him to begin with.
He seems utterly relieved to see her still in the room despite the wide open door, muttering under his breath, “Least she didn't try to make a runner like the adventurers.” Then he raises his voice to normal levels as he smiles, “Terribly sorry for the inconvenience. Follow me please.”
She hops back down off of her chair to follow after him, “Oh, don't worry about it. Emergencies like this can't be helped.”
His smile gains a bit of relief, “Thank you for being so understanding.”
She tilts her head, “That's the third time you guards have thanked me for my understanding today. Do you usually have to deal with disagreeable inconsiderate assholes?”
He slumps slightly, “I-” He sighs tiredly, “…Yeah, more often than I was expecting when I joined last year.”
She hums, “Sorry to hear that.”
He smiles again, “Thanks.” He opens the cell door for her, and she moves inside, “Do you need anything?”
She waves it off, “I'm good myself, but could you check to make sure my friend, the Hobgoblin I was with, doesn't need any water or something before you get busy?”
He nods with a smile, “Sure thing! Least I can do!”
He hurries off at that point, and she settles in to wait, sending a quick Thought Communication Gobta's way that the guard should be swinging by and he should accept a water at least even if he doesn't need it right that moment since they don't know how long they'll have to wait.
Gobta sends back an acknowledgement and thanks for the advice, admitting he wouldn't have thought about it himself and turned it down since he wasn't thirsty that very moment.
Given she doesn't have a whole lot to do, but also doesn't want to potentially alarm anyone using the down time to work on more magic manipulation, she turns her attention inwards to see if she can't get her magics to start playing nice.
In fairness, she's pretty sure they can get along, given they've been slowly settling down, so it's not like she's trying to do something impossible or anything, she's just trying to see if she can't speed up the process.
She hasn't really gotten anywhere substantial before she hears multiple sets of footsteps approaching. A glance past the doors tells her it's the Captain and six others, presumably the miners given the way the numbers line up and their clothes.
As they enter, the Captain in the lead, the six miners behind him, the Captain suddenly bows his head, “Thank you ma'am!”
One of the six miners pipes up, “You're the one with the potions? Thanks a ton!”
Another barely gives him time to finish before adding on, “My arm was pretty torn up. I didn't think I'd ever work again, even if I survived… Thank you!”
The third in that cluster doesn't say anything verbally, but it's obvious from his grateful and admiring gaze that he's just as thankful. Perhaps he's just mute, or suffers from select mutism. The other three pipe in their own gratuities for her assistance though before they leave, apparently only here because they all but begged Kaidou to bring them so they could thank her in person. After, he brings her and Gobta back to one of the questioning rooms while one of his men retrieves the paperwork for their release so he can fill it out while they wrap up their discussion on what brought her to Dwargon and the incident.
The two who had been harassing them originally as well as the two with them who attacked after the group snapped were from the Free Guild, a nationless adventurers guild that -if you treated Dwargon and the Forest of Jura as borders- has branches in basically every nation in the section of the continent on the northwest side of that border. The quintet was technically stationed in Dwargon, but they'd always been trouble makers, and this latest stunt had Dwargon itself and the Dwargon branch of the Free Guild negotiating on their punishment.
Dwargon was pushing to exile them from Dwargon completely since their troublemaking was already bad enough but now their actions were getting to the point of directly reflecting on Dwargon's reputation. The Dwargon Free Guild branch on the other hand was pushing for a harsh punishment yes, perhaps something like paying a certain percentage of their Guild rewards for a certain amount of time to Dwargon as a fine, but to drop the idea of exile or something even worse.(6)
After their discussion and Kaidou finishing with their paperwork, as something of a gesture of gratitude, he offers to lead her to a talented blacksmith he knew to consult with him on both the village building project, as well as the weapons and armor she wanted to look into for said village.
She still needs to head somewhere to sell of valuables, but Kaidou let's her know that the guy in question, Kaijin, is pretty relaxed in general, and would undoubtedly not only be willing to hear what she's looking for to figure out who would be best to speak to for things that may not be his expertise, but also be able to help her figure out who to go to do as to sell what she needs from her Storage Skill to pay for it all.
That's nice to know definitely, but while she'd be able to offset a lot of costs by providing certain materials like wood by just using Predator on trees and the like and getting them down to usable planks and all that, she still can't help but worry that even her impressive stores of valuables may not be able to cover it all.
One step at a time though.