Expansion
She hums happily as they get back to the village, which… seems busier and fuller than when she left? She glances in confusion at Rigur, but he looks equally confused, and his father, Rigurd runs up quickly, “Lady Rimuru! Welcome back! I hate to bother you so soon after returning, but we have visitors...”
She blinks rapidly, mind once more stumbling over the way he's been greeting her -probably because she's already thrown off by the soul crushing despair and panic confusion surrounding her soulmates- along with the surprising information, “Visitors?”
He nods quickly, and she tilts her head, brows furrowed, and she quickly makes up her mind, turning to Rigur, “Lunch shouldn't technically be for an hour or so, but why don't you guys just get an early lunch with the Dwarves while I go see what's going on?”
Rigur smiles, “Of course Lady Rimuru!” He turns to the Dwarves, expression becoming a bit sheepish as he leads them away, and she catches the beginning of what he's saying, “We aren't at the sort of level of being able to make the sort of food I've heard Dwargon has yet, but-”
She could technically use Magic Perception to hear more, but she doesn't have a whole lot of reason to eavesdrop, “Alright Rigurd. Let's see these visitors.”
Rigurd nods, leading her off to a larger hide tent that's been set up in her absence. As she follows him, she stamps down on the feeling wanting to bubble up in her heart, to try to mitigate the likelihood of being crushed. Hypothetically it could be her soulmates, but she's fairly certain they would've mentioned to Rigurd and the others that they were her spouses. In this world where reincarnation is a known phenomenon, if they had somehow found a way to come to her despite how little time it's been since they died, there wouldn't be a lot of reason not to mention it.
Despite her attempts to push the idea down, she's still disappointed at the fact that inside were a decent number of Goblins. By Goblin standards, a few of them were well dressed, while others were armored and while not armed at the moment, they had the rundown sheaths for weapons. Representatives and their guards presumably.
Before she can say anything, they all prostrate themselves before her, speaking in unison, which means they had to have worked out what they were going to say with one another prior, “It is an honor to meet you, oh great Master! Please, listen to our most earnest of hopes!”
She blinks rapidly. Master? Well, she supposes she was technically the master of this village, but that doesn't have a whole lot to do with them. She makes her way over to a seat, “Alright, I have no reason to refuse just hearing you out.”
One of the elders looks up with starstruck eyes, “Oh, thank you for your generosity!” She nods, even though she doesn't personally see her just hearing them out as being generous, but whatever, “All of us here wish to join your throng of followers, oh great Lady!”
She blinks rapidly again, but that seems to be the signal for another call in unison, “Please, grant us your magnanimous kindness!”
She tilts her head, still utterly confused as to the why they'd be here literally asking to serve her, “I… need more details before I can make any sort of decision regarding that matter. Rigurd.”
He steps forward without hesitation, “Yes Lady Rimuru! Allow me to explain!”
She honestly didn't think they were in any position to take them in, but she at least needs to hear them out if nothing else. So Rigurd and the elders, who she's waved up out of their prostrating positions, start explaining. A little bit of credit to the elders, they don't try to sugar coat or misrepresent things, being perfectly honest with her about the fact that the other Goblin villages they were from had essentially abandoned Rigurd's to face the Direwolves themselves, since they didn't think they could win even if they all mustered their collective strength and attacked together. They'd pretty much unanimously agreed that all they could really do was stay away and hope the Direwolves wouldn't turn their hostilities onto them next.
It doesn't exactly paint them in a good light in her opinion, but at the same time, given the number of Direwolves there were and the fact there was an inherent strength difference that made it so Goblins couldn't really hope to beat a Direwolf unless it was ten to one at minimum, and there were about a hundred Direwolves… It probably had seemed unbelievably hopeless to even try, and as much as she wants to condemn them, particularly given how shortsighted it was to just hope the Direwolves would leave them alone after that, well… There was that saying about not lighting yourself on fire to keep someone else warm… And ultimately, they did have their own people to think about first and foremost. It isn't generosity to feed a starving nation if you starve your own citizens to come up with the food to send for relief aid.
And in additional fairness, with Veldora out of the picture, it wasn't just the Direwolves that were making moves. Apparently practically every intelligent race was gearing up for war to start trying to claim more territory. They had actually been in the midst of inter-village talks about how to handle the threat, given the fact the Goblins were at the bottom of the pecking order meant they were basically screwed the moment they got caught in the crossfire. So they'd been trying to come up with ideas on how to handle things when the news of Rigurd's village being under threat had come in. Since they had to prepare to try to protect themselves, they didn't have the manpower to send to try to aid them even if they thought there was any chance at winning.
They'd also had to scale back their hunting out of concern that they might attract the wrong sort of attention or get dragged into a conflict by just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just as they were starting to run critically low on food from the lessened hunting tough, a new report came in.
Namely, that there were large Wolves with Hobgoblins riding atop their backs running around that seemed to be originating from the very village they'd abandoned.
It had caused a split in opinions on how to handle the newest possible threat. One side wanted to go and beg protection, others struggled to accept the story and were concerned it may be a trap. Regardless of if it was or not, there also wasn't any guarantee they'd accept them, especially given the way they'd abandoned Rigurd's village to begin with, and they weren't so foolish to think they deserved forgiveness.
They didn't exactly have much choice given how active and dangerous the Forest was becoming with Veldora gone though, even though they themselves knew and even admitted it was rather shameless to beg for help from what was likely the very people they'd turned their backs on.
After a while of more talks though, they realized they'd reached the end of their intellectual capabilities, so they'd eventually just decided that those in favor of seeking them out would come to try to meet with them.
She's… honestly not sure how to feel about it all. While on one hand, she hates to admit it but even if it came from a more selfish place, they did have to think about securing their own people before trying to help others. On the other hand, that had left them to abandon Rigurd's village. There was also the question of just how trustworthy they were in light of the way they'd abandoned Rigurd and the others. She could always kill them if they tried to stab them in the back of course, but…
Not to mention the purely logistical aspect of it all. She'd purchased some things to tide them over until the Dwarves could teach them enough to be self sufficient, but she'd purchased them with just the one hundred Hobgoblins in mind.
They could do with the manpower though, and she has to admit... she's always had a bit of a weakness for the powerless and helpless. Hei and Misaki once accused her of having a savior complex, though admittedly in the gentlest and kindest way possible, since they meant that it wasn't necessary that she wanted to feel like a savior, and more that she legitimately struggled to say no. She recalls mildly arguing with them that that itself was the difference between having a savior complex and just being a good person but… That was a dangerous rabbit hole to touch with her soulmates missing wasn't really a helpful line of thought at the moment, beyond acknowledging that regardless of whether they realize it or not, they're absolutely hitting her in her weak spots.
A distant part of her mind can't help but wonder if Veldora is even aware of how much his mere presence brought stability to the Forest and its Demi-Humans and intelligent monsters.
Probably not, given how lonely he'd been.
Using Sound Manipulation, she prevents it from traveling past a certain point, essentially making a soundproof bubble around herself and Rigurd even as she uses Molecule Manipulation to create a limited artificial heat haze to blur out their lips, “Rigurd, two questions, could we even support however many Goblins they're wanting to bring?”
He'd had straight posture the entire time, so he doesn't exactly straighten, but he does seem to shake off being lost in thought, “Yes Lady Rimuru! Including my own, that will bring the number of Goblins up to around five hundred, but there are also hunters within their tribes, so we'll be able to increase the amount of food we're bringing in along with the number of people.”
She nods, “Second question then, would the Hobgoblins of the village be able to accept them since they did turn their backs on you, even if, much as I hate to admit it, they may have had good reasons for it. One should never set themselves ablaze to warm someone else after all, proverbially or literally, and with the additional threats from the Forest and the way it would leave them vulnerable even if you could defeat them and they did have to consider their own people...”
Rigurd nods, “Quite right my Lady. I can't say it pleases me either, but given the circumstances… much as I also hate to admit it, it wasn't inherently the incorrect choice. In fact, shamefully, I must admit I likely would've have done the same in their shoes. That being said, given they didn't turn their backs on us for no reasonand we were able to accept the Tempest Wolves, I believe that yes, our people could accept them. There may be a little tension at first, but even that would likely be minimal in light of you being the one to make the decision to accept them.”
She nods slowly, then sighs as she drops the blurring and sound proofing, commenting wryly, “I suppose I need to go explain things to Kaijin and the others and hope they aren't to annoyed with me with the sudden change to the circumstances, as well as come up with a few hundred more names.”
The elders look hopeful, but like they're also trying to temper their expectations, and one who sounds female speaks, “Then?”
She nods, “Yes. I'll take you in. Mind. Given the topography nearby, we may have to move to have the space to build given that. So at minimum, you should leave messengers here if you intend to go back to tell and collect your people yourselves, so they can be informed about the location change and meet you.” Mentally going over her admittedly limited knowledge of the area, funnily enough, the place near Veldora's Cave would probably be best, she glances over at Rigurd, “Probably over by Veldora's Cave though I think.”
Rigurd tenses slightly, “That… Unlike the Forest, it was a veritable den of powerful monsters…”
She snorts, “Not really. The strongest there to my knowledge was just the Storm Serpents, and they're weak enough that one of them was actually the first monster I killed after being born, and it was honestly actually an accident since I was just trying to test how sturdy it was.”
Rigurd jolts, “Y-you what?! I mean, I know you mentioned it being your first fight and that it fell in one attack, but to kill a Storm Serpent on accident…”
She gives him a funny look, “It's not really that surprising. Given it was my first fight, it's not like I had any sense of its durability or anything, so to do it in one attack it's practically guaranteed to have been an accident, isn't it?”
Rigurd is silent a beat, “...You constantly impress me Lady Rimuru. I am astounded. And every time I think I'm starting to get a handle on how powerful you are, you upend my expectations.”
She shrugs, then turns back to the bug eyed Goblins, “Anyway, I've named Rigurd here the Goblin Lord, so you'll technically be within his section of subordinates, and unless it's urgent or a scheduled meeting, you'll be giving your reports to him. Rigurd, while I go speak with the Dwarves, I want you to start to get a handle on what they're good at. If we're making a proper town, we'll need ministers -people in charge of a specific area of government that is- for things like agriculture and laws since while I do have history with that, it may be better to have a Demi-Human write them to make sure my meaning gets across properly, and all that. I know you guys aren't that knowledgeable at it right at the moment, but I want you to sort out who would be best suited to learn whatever knowledge may be lacking.”
He bows deeply, “I will carry it out dutifully Lady Rimuru!”
She nods, then turns her gaze back onto the elders, “I suppose I should give you all at least names now rather than waiting until the rest of your people get here since you're their leaders… I do warn you though, coming up with numerous names at the drop of a hat isn't exactly the easiest thing, so they may not be all that unique if I give them to you now. I mean, other than Rigurd here and his son Rigur who I gave names similar to his other late named son, most of the Hobgoblins have names with ‘Gob’ in them as reference to the fact they were Goblins when I named them. And the vast majority of the Tempest Wolves have some variation of otherworlders’ language for ‘Fang’ in them.”
They all hurry to agree, as though scared she'll retract the offer, “That's fine my Lady!”
She hums, glancing over at Rigurd, “...Would you mind if I made reference to them being higher ups by using variations of your name, even though it originates from your late son's?”
He shakes his head, “Not at all Lady Rimuru!”
She nods, “Then, given you're my subordinate, but the overall leader of the Goblins specifically, Rigurd, I'm adjusting your title from Goblin Lord to Goblin King, and the rest of you elders can be Goblin Lords under him. Come forward so I can name you.” They scamper forward immediately, and she goes through naming them, “You're Rugurd, you're Regurd, and you're Rogurd. You'll need a different one since you're female, so you'll be Lilina.”
They all bow deeply to her, then step back to their people, who in turn bow to them in light of their new authority. She glances over at Rigurd again, “I'm going to go talk to Kaijin and the others about moving and the newcomers we’re receiving soon. Start sorting things out please.”
Despite what she'd thought about him already standing straight, Rigurd manages to straighten sharply, “Yes my Lady!”
She nods and leaves the tent in search of the Dwarves, sincerely hoping they aren't annoyed with her for suddenly increasing what she's looking for assistance on. Since while obviously the overall goal is to teach the Hobgoblins the skills needed for self sufficiency, they will be doing the work in the meantime.
It doesn't take her long to find them sitting around with some of the spit roasted meat that's about the best the Hobgoblins can do right at the moment, holding her hands out and nodding as she approaches, “I haven't had the chance to start teaching them basic cooking, so I hope you gentlemen aren't too disappointed with the food.”
Kaijin looks over with a grin, “Nah. Sure it's not seasoned or nothing, but it's good meat and cooked well.”
She smiles, “I'm glad.”
Then she glances away rubbing at her neck awkwardly, trying to figure out how to tell them that she's suddenly going to have… quite a few more people around. Which since they're sort or in charge of making sure they have clothes and all that until her people can become self sufficient, means they did just get a good bit more work.
She sighs as she settles in to explain the situation, laying it out clearly, but also as swiftly as she can, “Anyway, I hope you aren't upset at the fact the work needed before they can learn how to do the crafting and all that they need.”
Garm laughs, “Nah, not at all Lady Rimuru. Honestly, if anything, while I can't blame you for buying some clothes to try to use in the meantime, I was honestly wondering a bit what I was supposed to do. Just make clothes purely to teach them how to? Now it just means I have a purpose to making what I am while I teach them!”
Kaijin looks around, “Mm. You aren't wrong that this location isn't very suitable for a larger town though.” He glances at Myrd, “We'd need to do a survey near the Seal Cave to see if it's better.”
She nods, “I figured, since I'm not exactly a professional at that sort of thing, and was just thinking it may work in general. It isn't that far away. Did you want to head over after lunch, or did you want to spend the rest of today relaxing after the trip and head out to do a survey tomorrow?”
Kaijin shakes his head with a grin, “Wasn't a hard trip or anything, so may as well do it today. Do you have any plans for the buildings?”
She tilts her head, “Not exactly? I wanted to put down the sanitation groundwork first since it goes underneath, so I figured there was time to work that out.”
Kaijin tilts his head, “Sanitation groundwork?”
She nods, gesturing vaguely, “Pipes going to toilets to remove any waste from bathrooms and others to bring in clean water.”
He looks up at her in surprise, but also seems to grow a bit excited, “Otherworlders have the knowledge to do something like that? How?”
She glances around, “I wouldn't personally know the details, but Rowena should, and even if she doesn't know she can reverse engineer it from what she does know. She should be around somewhere.”
Kaijin nods in understanding, “That's good enough. From the fact she either knows or can work it out, I assume she's not a Hobgoblin or Tempest Wolf though.” He holds a hand up palm facing Rigur, “No offense, just doesn't seem like something you'd know if even Dwarves don't have that sort of technology.”
Rigur smiles, “Oh! None taken mister Kaijin! I'm just as surprised at the notion as you are!”
He flashes him a smile before turning back to her, “Anyway, if she ain't a Hobgoblin or Tempest Wolf, who's Rowena? Is she another otherworlder?”
She hums, “I suppose? It's a little complicated actually…” She rubs at the back of her head, “Rowena… She's an AI. How to put it… It's like- Well, it's not accurate, but it's like putting together engravings just right in such a way that it doesn't just do a certain thing under certain circumstances, but can actually think for itself. AI is actually an abbreviation for ‘Artificial Intelligence’ and I made her a couple lives ago. She was stored in the Trunk, the one I told you about before that I sort of accidentally bound to my soul and stored valuables in? Anyway, she's also got an Artificial Body that looks perfectly human externally. She's actually a machine internally, but… Anyway, I left her in charge while I was gone, so she should be around somewhere, and given her AI nature, if she doesn't have the information on it stored in her memory, she could definitely figure it out in a snap.”
Kaijin gives her a surprised look, “She's… an intelligence you created? And I don't mean the normal way by having a child.”
She nods, “Yeah.” Then she shakes herself out, “Anyway, she'd be the one to talk to regarding details on sanitation, she- Oh! There she is! Rowema! Over here!”
Rowena's gaze snaps over at the call of her name, quickly but gracefully making her way over, “Creator, I am glad you are back in good health. I had heard, so I was looking for you actually.”
She smiles, “Ah, yeah, there was a smidgen of trouble, but I'm fine. More importantly, I figure even if you don't have it saved in your body's memory, you can probably sort of reverse engineer a sanitation system from what you do know right?” Rowena nods, and she beams, “Great! Kaijin and the others here are the Dwarves that will be helping, but they needed to discuss details, and I didn't really have answers, so…”
Rowena smiles as she turns to them, nodding her head respectfully in greeting, “It's a pleasure to meet you. I would be happy to answer any questions you have.”
Garm is starting with wide eyes, “-so realistic. No offense, but are you sure you're artificial?”
Rowena's expression turns a bit amused, and wordlessly, she sends the signal to neatly split her skin to let one of the panels on her face swing open to reveal the machinery underneath, “Quite certain.”
Kaijin nudges her teasingly, “There a reason her form is in that of such a pretty woman Lady Rimuru?”
She laughs, “Yeah, but not for the reason you're thinking. Get your mind out of the gutter Kaijin, because both her appearance and name are from a historical figure from my first life who was renowned even a millenia later for her intelligence and wisdom.”
Kaijin blinks rapidly, “Oh? Do you have some sort of connection to her, or was it just general admiration that had you picking her name and form?”
She makes a so-so gesture with her hand, “A bit of both I suppose? I don't know if it's the same in this world or if it's just built differently, but not everyone was capable of magic in my first life. There were schools that those who were capable of magic went to so as to learn how to control and use their power. The one I attended was over a millenia old, and back when it was being built, the founders sort of disagreed on who to take on as students.”
“It didn't come to blows or anything mind, they just came to the agreement to split up the incoming students based on what traits they were all looking for was the strongest. The brave and chivalrous for knightly Gryffindor, ambition and cunning for Slytherin, wisdom and intelligence for Ravenclaw, and while Hufflepuff originally wanted to just take in any students, given the compromise they came to meant she kind of needed to pick traits to be able to sort them properly, she chose hardworking and loyal.”
She smiles down at the ground slightly, “I suppose it's a good thing he said he wouldn't be mad at any of his descendents if they didn't go to his house since he knew full well there was value in the traits the others chose. As I was actually a direct descendent of Godric Gryffindor, but I was sorted into Rowena Ravenclaw's house of wisdom and intelligence. She was long dead by the time I was born, but there was a statue of her in the common room which is where I got the visual for Rowena's appearance.”
Kaijin's expression turns understanding, “I've heard of people having no talent for magic, but it never occurred to me that they may be physically incapable of magic so I can't really answer that one way or another. Ha. Way you describe it though, it almost sounds like being somewhat adopted by a noble house.”
She smiles, “It sort of was? Like, before the sorting happened, all of us first years were told that our houses would be like our family and McGonagall wasn't exactly lying. Achievements reflected positively on not just the individual but the House as a whole, but so did rule breaking which lost the House points in the yearly House Cup. Points which were generally earned by good behavior or doing well in classes and the like mind. And while there was a singular Great Hall we all went to to dine in and receive school wide announcements, a shared library, and some classes were shared between two Houses, each of the Houses had their own dorms and common room.”
She tilts her head, “Being in a particular House was something one carried their entire life, even though it technically didn't really matter after we graduated around seventeen. No joke, people didn't necessarily tend to introduce themselves with the House they were in while they attended, but it wasn't an uncommon topic with someone you were getting to know. Even if it was more in the playful ‘bet you were in this House’ sort of comment. And, well, while I don't know if they were nobles when they first made the school, the founders were kind of revered by the time I was born at least.”
Kaijin nods slowly, “I see… So you were kind of a ward of the House you were sorted into.”
She smiles, “Yeah, kind of. Anyway, we were so busy in that life, that as shameful as it is, I didn't think to name Rowena in that life. But after I accidentally bound the Trunk to my soul and one of the nodes that housed her intelligence stored in it came with me, I named Rowena after Ravenclaw out of a sort of… mixture of nostalgia and because I thought it was fitting because of Rowena's intelligence. The latter of which made me feel that even if she somehow had a way of finding out, Ravenclaw wouldn't mind me naming Rowena after her given how much she regarded intelligence and wisdom.”
Kaijin hums, “Haven't exactly met her, and the only knowledge I have is what you just told us, but from that alone, I'd say she probably wouldn't have.” Then he flashes her a smile, “But there isn't anything wrong with nostalgia. A little bit of home to take with you I'd say. Or maybe it might be more accurate to say it's a reminder of your roots?”
She laughs, “Yeah, probably. Especially since I was actually still in school in Ravenclaw when I made Rowena.”
Kaijin gives her a surprised look, “You're kidding!” She shakes her head, “...Even if it was at the very tailend you were graduating at seventeen, to have made something so sophisticated at that age…” He laughs lightly, grinning at her, “I can definitely see why you got sorted into this ‘Ravenclaw’ house.”
She flashes him a smile and Rowena looks over from where she'd been discussing quietly with Myrd, who wasn't mute as it turned out, just quiet, “Creator is quite the genius if you ask me, so it really isn't surprising. If anything is astonishing, it's that the method of sorting they used took an incoming students’ preference into account, and even with all of her wisdom and intelligence, House Ravenclaw wasn't actually its first pick for her just because of how strong her other traits were.” She laughs lightly before adding, “It's last choice, actually, which says a lot about how suited it found her to be to the other Houses.”
Kaijin bursts into laughter, “From a young lady intelligent enough to make you before she was even seventeen? I'd say!”
She shrugs, “In fairness, I didn't come up with it entirely on my own. The school had this enchanted hat that the founders made to continue sorting for them after they died. The enchantments on it made it intelligent enough that since it didn't have much to do most of the year, it actually came up with these little songs explaining what it was and briefly going over the houses. Probably picking that way to introduce things to help the nervous eleven and twelve year olds relax given how lighthearted they usually were. Though admittedly they weren't always playful like that.”
“There was actually something of a standing debate on whether it was just its age making it stupidly good at picking up on signs or if it was just based on topics it overheard being discussed in the head of the school’s office where it was kept the rest of the year. But whenever trouble started to rear is head like the civil war that was ongoing when I was born, hit a pause the majority of my childhood, then came back when I was fourteen, it'd also warn the entire school during its song at the sorting ceremony that while it's job was to divide them, now was the time to forget any petty school rivalries and unite.”
She shakes her head, “Anyway, I studied it a decent bit when I was making Rowena. That, and an enchanted Diadem Ravenclaw had that enhanced intelligence when worn. Point being, I did have a pretty good starting point.”
Kaijin gives her an amused look, “Mm. Doesn't take away from your achievement.” Then he turns a bit curious, “Why did you make Miss Rowena anyway?”
She shrugs, “Like I said, the war was restarting. I made Rowena to control a lot of golems I made to act both as defense and offense. An AI is capable of making waaay more calculations and focus on waaay more things at the same time then we are. So I figured if I made golems then just put them under her control, it would be easier, more fluid in responding, than trying to give them complex instructions individually on how to act. You know, like ‘In this circumstance, do this, unless this is happening in which case do that’ and all that.”
He nods, “Mm. Just giving golems some sort of instruction of ‘listen to this being’ is certainly more straightforward then trying to tailor the instructions they have to fit a number of circumstances.”
She hums in agreement, and Rowena gives her a bemused look, “You truly are too humble sometimes Creator. You may have had a perfectly understandable reason, but it doesn't change that you were only fifteen when you created me and the golems. And given that was your first life, I do mean really fifteen.” She huffs a laugh, “Then again, that universe did have soulmates unlike the others we've been to since, so I suppose I should expect nothing less from a woman who went on to revolutionize magic healing, something that wasn't even a strong point for said woman, at sixteen at that, just because one of her soulmates had been hit by a centuries old curse no one understood much less was able to undo so she went and did it herself.”
Kaijin gives her a surprised look then starts laughing, “You're kind of a genius, aren't you?”
She blinks rapidly, “Not really?”
He looks genuinely startled, and Rowena is the one who laughs now, “Don't take it personally mister Kaijin. Creator is humble nearly to the point of self-depreciation.”
He snorts, “Yeah, I'm getting that.”
Rowena shakes herself, “Anyhow. I can absolutely help with the know-how regarding the sanitation groundwork, but have you decided what sort of designs you want Creator? Between the sort of style from House Potter or the sort of style from Clan Yotsuba that is.”
She shrugs, “Haven't particularly thought about it to be honest. Figured I'd just leave that sort of thing to Myrd here since it's his area of expertise and all that.”
Kaijin hums, “Maybe so, but it does help considerably if you have a vague idea in mind. What were the styles of this House Potter and Clan Yotsuba?”
She turns her gaze to the sky as she makes a thoughtful noise, “That…” Then she shifts, “It may actually be easier if I just showed you by projecting images mentally, are you guys alright with that?”
They all nod, but before she can mentally connect to the Dwarves, Rigurd who has been quietly listening up until now pipes up, “Can I see as well Lady Rimuru? I must admit that I find myself curious…”
She smiles and nods in agreement, pulling him in as well when she creates the mental connection to the Dwarves and shows them images of the Potter manor. She does feel a flicker of curiosity from Kaijin at the skeletal designs and the scythes and all that. So she also sends over the vague idea of her catching the question, then a brief explanation on the Grim Reaper, before she starts flicking through the aspects of it one could catch around the manor if they paid attention even as the Potter saying echoes over it. Once they have a firm idea on the Potter's sense of style, she flicks away to images of the Yotsuba main house, not grandstanding, but always containing a certain quiet confident elegance at its own self worth.
After the reel of images she sends over is done, Kaijin rubs at his chin thoughtfully, “I see… Do you think it's possible to make something of a blend between the two styles, or are they just too different Myrd?” The quiet man tilts his head as he seems to contemplate the question, then lifts a hand to make a ‘so-so’ gesture as he shrugs. Kaijin nods, “Maybe, huh? That's fair. Suppose Lady Rimuru will be happy regardless given she's more interested in just taking care of her people then anything. Still, we'll have to run potential designs by her first anyway, so even if she doesn't like something, she'll be able to veto it before we waste time starting to build it.”
Myrd nods though his expression is still rather lost in thought, mind likely a million miles away as it contemplates designs. With a chuckle, she uses some of the wood that was still stored in her Stomach and processes it into paper and a bit more with some metal into a clipboard. Then taking some ink she'd purchased with the other supplies along with something to write with and handing them all over.
Myrd gives her a startled look and she shrugs, “You looked like someone who wanted paper to write down or sketch out ideas.”
He smiles at her thankfully, not wasting time in the slightest to start. Kaijin stretches, “Perhaps we should give Myrd some time to get down his initial ideas at least before we head out for the survey?”
She smiles, “That's fine. It's not like there's a huge rush right now. Things may be a little cramped when the other Goblins arrive, and we'll probably have to pitch some more hide tents like the one I met with the ones in charge in, but that can't be helped and even if we don't get to it until tomorrow, a day or two wouldn't make a massive difference anyway.”
He nods, so they start just chatting, mostly him and the other two brothers asking more about her life as Calanthe out of curiosity stirred from what she briefly mentioned before.
The area near the cave had passed the survey, but it also made zero sense to abandon the village given it at least had buildings for shelter. So after a bit of discussion it had been decided that those who weren't as suited to working as labor would stay behind and continue to use the buildings while they worked at getting the groundwork and first buildings done, then join them later.
She'd also split up the Goblin riders so there would be enough to both keep up on the food for those who stayed behind via hunting and also serve as guards for them. The rest came with the labor force and herself to the new site to serve as security there and hunt for them. They only had hide tents for living quarters, and there were few enough that it was still a bit cramped, but it was better than nothing.
Or, it was cramped as far as she could guess and tell anyway. She basically had a tent entirely to herself despite her protests about being physically incapable of sleep and offers to share, since they adamantly refused to let her not have her own space. The only one who even remotely uses it is Rowena, and she doesn't exactly sleep either.
She supposes that's another benefit to Rowena being here, she distracts her from the all consuming questions about where, where, where and why, why, why regarding her soulmates being alone all night while everyone else sleeps.
Mostly she's been planning out the actual town with her, as well as things like agriculture to support it. They couldn't do that later when they hadn't even built places to take care of the people yet, and to get to that as soon as possible, while the first building that's quickly going up is a smithy for Kaijin so he can make anything they're lacking for building, nails and additional tools and the like, the second building is planned to be a sort of dormitory to get them all a proper roof over their head as quickly as possible. After they start getting houses up, they can reuse it as either an inn for any potential travelers or an apartment building perhaps.
Rowena had gone behind her back and cheerfully filled in the Dwarves and even any interested Hobgoblins about how the Grim Reaper decor really was to her taste, even showing them memories of the designs she used to include them in for clothing. Like the attached veil when she was attending First High as Toshiko, even if it was far from the only time she'd incorporated the designs into her clothes. She'd only found out when Dord had asked her if she was sure she would just use the clothes she bought, since they weren't to her proper taste.
She'd given Rowena a dirty look while reaffirming to Dord that she was fine with her clothes at the moment. Then in private later, she'd gotten into a joking argument about Rowena being a traitor since she knew she was having Dord focus on getting the Hobgoblins clothed. Rowena hadn't even really tried to defend herself, just snickering as she casually countered that she hasn't gone out of her way to tell them, Dord had approached her regarding the clothes after having seen her first two homes and realizing they didn't at all line up with what she currently had for clothes.
After they'd settled down they started discussing engraving magic. She wanted to put up permanent wards to protect the town, but while working out ones for unintelligent monsters would be easy to prevent any from coming in and attacking, putting up protections against people that would let those that didn't mean harm to the denizens in was a little more… complicated.
Honestly, it makes her want to find a way to cast Patronus fire using this world's magic, since that would make it easier to build such a ward, but that in and of itself was difficult. Particularly with the way this universe's magic doesn't like to play well with her first life's. She'd observed it with Elemental Sight at some point in her previous life, but while that let her know exactly what she needed to look into having the magic of this world do, it wasn't really built for those sorts of things.
From there, they had shifted to working out teleporting with engraving magic, since it was built for something like that. It was theoreticallyeasy to apply her knowledge of slipping into the information dimension to it, though a little more complicated in practice. They'd made decent headway on the groundwork of figuring out teleport gates that first night though. It wasn't usable yet of course, but it was an acceptable amount of progress.
What they make no progress on, much as she loathes it, is figuring out how to translate data fortification into the magic of this world. She'd like to find a way to accomplish it with engraving magic and then place it on the buildings. Given Eidos and physical tend to reflect each other, having the Eidos be fortified would make it harder to affect the physical. Which would help in the event of an attack of course, but also just with things like natural disasters. So there was definitely a value in figuring it out. The problem is, they don't even get as far as figuring out how to tell the magic in the language of magic engraving to target the Eidos.
Her and Rowena's nights start to sort of revolve around trying to translate a different world's magic into this one's. Their days on the other hand, are filled with Rowena consulting Myrd and the other Dwarves on the underground sanitation groundwork while she gets busy with naming the other Goblins that caught up. Some of which were meant to stay in the yet to be abandoned village and had only come to the construction site to receive their name before being escorted by Goblin riders to the village for safety reasons. There's also a decent bit of her speaking with them on the building style she wanted, weighing each of the proposed designs Myrd had come up with. Eventually settling on one that was a beautiful mixture between the traditional Japanese style of the Yotsuba main house and the European style of the Potter ancestral manor.
Regardless of what style each part was in, she'd been a bit bemused at how many subtle Grim Reaper designs had been worked into the detailing Myrd had made ‘zoomed in’, as it were, sketches of ideas which also had a decent bit of gothic scrollwork detailing as well. She'd tried to protest it, saying that just because it was to her taste didn't mean it needed to be stamped all over the town they were building. Especially since the Hobgoblins and others would likely have their own separate tastes, but she'd quickly been politely shot down. The counter argument being that the Hobgoblins didn't really have a sense of taste before, and now that they did, they were perfectly content with using her style for things.
Her days were filled with consultations, meetings on planned future development, and polite arguments that she finds herself losing more often than not. Which isn't so much due to being out argued and more due to the fact their lines of thinking were rather incompatible with hers -such as the ‘we had no personal taste and are happy with yours’ argument-, for the next week and a half or so. She'd contemplated using Predator to get more wood for the building work, and even talked about it with Rigurd and Kaijin. But they'd both been on the side of her not doing it since she wanted them to be self-sufficient, and therefore it was better if they learned more about that sort of work.
The day to day gets broken into by Rigurd running up to her to report that they'd caught some people slinking around. Humans specifically, which Rigur had to rescue from a group of giant ant monsters. Thankfully they'd been cooperative on being brought in for questioning since they were close to their new home.
Following him off to the tent that's almost entirely set aside for meetings, she slips inside as he holds the flap open. Smiling and holding her hands out as she nods when she sees who it is that was waiting and happily chowing down on some food they'd been provided, “Oh hello again Elen, Kaval, Gido. Who's your new friend?”
Elen lets out a bark of a laugh, nudging Kaval, “You owe me five silver! I told you it had to be Rimuru behind monsters suddenly building a town!” She glances at her in curiosity, “Human form is new though.”
She smiles, “It's related to me being a transmigrating reincarnator. I've always been able to take on my form from previous lives due to a certain application of one of my Skills, but I didn't exactly have clothes then, so…”
Elen nods, then rounds back on Kaval, “You lost the bet though! Pay up!”
He immediately starts protesting, “I never bet against you-!”
Elen shakes her head, pouting at him, “You expressed uncertainty when I said ‘bet five silver it's Rimuru behind it’, which totally counts as taking the bet!”
Gido, the one who tended to be quieter and more level headed of the trio, hums lightly, “You did express doubt which could be interpreted as taking her up on the bet Kaval.” The other man sighs and grumbles as he reaches into a pouch to retrieve five silver, and while he's digging it out to hand over, Gido turns to her, “This is miss Shizu. She was just joining us when we were dispatched to check the area around Veldora's Cave since you made it pretty clear there was nothing to be found inside and you're also pretty trustworthy.”
Shizu nods politely, “Charmed.”
Shizu is wearing a mask, and a pretty impressive one at that if what her Magic Perception Analysis is telling her. She can see her face under it with said Magic Perception(1) though, and she was admittedly beautiful, if not to her tastes. If only because that is not the words on her chest, reading ‘I've been waiting a long time to do that Rimuru.’ which was strange and confusing on its own, especially in conjunction with ‘It's about time Xiǎolóng.’
Tomomi's words having her name implies she already introduced herself, but they both sort of imply they were waiting in some way? Even though it was their first meeting? She's found herself gazing at that mark in the dead of night when Rowena was busy, trying to figure it out… more times than she'd care to admit. Trying to desperately cling to the assurance that they're here figure out what Kuroha could mean. More interestingly -as far as Shizu herself was concerned anyway-, she looks Japanese. And if the way she was sitting in perfect seiza rather than just keeping her legs folded off to her side like Elen, rather than being descended from an otherworlder, she likely was an otherworlder.
She hums, “I suppose I can see why, but it's a rather dangerous time to be coming into the Forest of Jura friend.”
That catches Elen's attention, “Right?! Like, just in the little while we were heading out and gone things seemed to have gotten a little bit more dangerous! What's up with that Rimuru?!”
She sighs, “...You humanoids view Veldora as an evil dragon, but to the monsters in and around the Forest of Jura, he was simultaneously a protective god, and a deterrent. We sorted things out and even took the rest in, but even with the Direwolves you probably saw my people with, the moment Veldora's aura disappeared, their idiotic previous pack leader took that as a sign to move in and try to grab prime hunting territory. From my understanding, quite a few of the denizens of the Forest are also preparing to make their own territory grabs.”
“Those sorts of things are where the deterrent part comes in. The protective god part is due to the way his previous presence and wariness of potentially angering him prevented them from doing so before and the way it protected weaker species like the Goblins. That, and keeping the less… level headed, understanding, and potentially cooperative humanoids that may not be willing to listen to the notion that they don't have to be enemies out of the Forest and away from the denizens.”
Elen tilts her head, “Demi-Humans? Do you mean the monsters?”
She gives Elen a wry smile, “The only monsters here are me and the Tempest Wolves.” Seeing her brows furrow, she shakes her head, “I'm being literal not self-deprecating. A monster is a being born purely from magicules, such as Storm Serpents, Armorsaurus’, or Slimes. Goblins, much like the Dwarves, are Sprites- descendents of unions between Humans and Fairies. Which are themselves Elementals who have incarnated into physical form. In the Goblins’ case, they've devolved quite a bit, but they still technically aren't monsters by definition. Arguably, myself and the Tempest Wolves aren't either since we have intelligence unlike most of them, but,” She shrugs, “that's admittedly more semantics on the definition of monster.”
Elen narrows her eyes in thought, mouth partly open, “...Wait what?”
She laughs, “Yeah. Why do you think they look so much more human since I named them and they evolved? It's an evolution for them as individuals, but overall it's more accurate to say they're reclaiming a prior evolution step their ancestors had that they devolved from.”
Elen opens and closes her mouth a couple times before taking in a breath, “I know the Dwarves claim to be Demi-Human, but how do you know that about the Goblins?”
She snorts, “Skill I have. Doesn't have all the answers, it doesn't have any personal information for one thing nor access to state secrets of nations or anything, but if it's common knowledge or at least used to be if the fact it was able to tell me that about the Goblins is any indication, it can totally answer those kinds of questions. Well, as long as it also has a starting point. I can't just ask ‘where did Goblins originate from’ for instance, I had to have a Skill based analysis to feed it for it to answer. It's linked to Words of the World though, so…”
The surprise on her face fades as she tilts her head to the side, “So to some extent it can just tell you things the Words of the World knows.”
She shrugs, “Yeah, basically. Anyway, point is, with Veldora gone, things have gotten rather… stirred up in the Forest, so it's more dangerous than usual.”
Elen lowers the skewer of meat she'd been about to lift, “...We should probably warn Fuze. He's smart enough that he may have realized on his own, but if he hasn't, he needs to be warned that places near the border to the Forest are in more danger than usual…”
She nods, “I'm not sure who Fuze is, but if he's in anyway related to defense and clean up, it's undoubtedly the wise thing to do.”
Elen smiles, “Oh, Fuze is the local Free Guild branch master in Blumund- the nation we work out of that is. He doesn't technically have an obligation to preemptively strengthen defenses since that's the nation's job, but the Free Guild branches tend to have contracts to assist in times of need and all that. So he'll need to be warned about that, and he'll know who needs to be informed in Blumund's government and make sure they get the warning and take the proper precautions.”
She nods, “That's likely for the best. While they aren't intelligent, it wouldn't surprise me if the heightened activity from the intelligent beings in the Forest kicks the monsters into an aggravated state and they start leaving the bounds of the Forest more frequently. That's just supposition on my part mind, but…”
Elen nods, but since her mouth is full, Kaval seems to take it as his que to respond, “It doesn't hurt to be more careful though.”
Gido stirs from where he's been gazing at the ground thoughtfully, “There's also a chance that some of the more intelligent beings have held a belief that Veldora would be mad if they struck outside of the Forest's borders, and in those cases, with him gone…”
She nods, “Mm. I can't speak for them, so I can't say for sure, but… I can't say it's not possible.”
Kaval sighs, “...These are dangerous times in general, huh? Especially since the Tenma War should be firing off any time now…”
She tilts her head as she runs the info her continuous use of Magic Perception had captured on his muttering about the Tenma War through Great Sage's ‘All of Creation’ subskill. Mostly just in case there's additional information they couldn't potentially tell her. There's not a whole lot to what she's told, just that it's a war between summoned angels and the world that lasts about a week and occurs every five hundred years.
She straightens her head, “That's the war that happens with summoned angels every five hundred years, right?”
Elen jumps, “Pardon? Summoned angels? Where did you get that notion from?!”
She blinks rapidly as she leans away, “Hm? My… Skill? Is that not common knowledge? …I was under the impression it could only tell me things that were…”
Elen stares at her, then slowly speaks, “I mean, if it was someone else, I'd wonder if you were connected and it was something of a colossal slip up, but I really do trust you Rimuru, so I'm… going to choose to trust you about that too.” Then she shakes herself and takes a deep breath before offering with a scrunched face, “Well, it's not common knowledge here, but maybe it counts as common knowledge because the angels themselves know it or something?”
She hums as she tilts her head, “Maybe? It's so damn strange though, I mean, it never said it was only the common knowledge of this world -plane?- just that it had to be common knowledge, so I suppose it could be that. If it's been happening every five hundred years like clockwork, whoever is setting it off has to be someone with a long lifespan though, which I'd imagine narrows the options down pretty decently.”
Elen closes her eyes as she crosses her arms in thought, “Mm. Probably? There are sometimes Skills that can become part of a bloodline and come to be inherited, but…”
She hums, “I wonder if I could…”
Shizu tilts her head, “Could what?”
She blinks rapidly and glances away, “...It's probably obvious since I reincarnated, but I'm what is usually called a stray otherworlder rather than a summoned otherworlder. When I was dying I-” She huff a little in embarrassed amusement, “Honestly I got a bit mouthy with Words of the World and started popping off with ‘what are you going to give me next? Really?’ kind of things.”
Shizu's shoulders start shaking with silent laughter, “And I've heard a notion that maybe it was because I was actively dying but the thoughts to trigger it to give me Skills didn't need to be particularly intense? So the idea was presented that because I was dying, it kind of naturally intensified every thought that crossed my mind enough to trigger Words of the World, so I got… quite a random collection of Skills to be honest. Also how I became a Slime, since I was having what I feel were perfectly normal thoughts about dying to blood loss which Words of the World interpreted as a desire for a bloodless body, and well- I'm getting distracted.”
She shakes the tangent off, “With one of my Skills, I can feed it a question and it'll give me a percentage chance of how good the end result will be. That's literally all it tells me, just ‘blank percent chance this course of action has a good final result’ kind of thing? It's very much by definition and not by how I'd classify the result though. But theoretically, if the question was very carefully worded so the result itselfreflects it, maybe I could get it to narrow in on where whoever is setting it off is?”
“Since I mean, if they're associated strongly with a nation or something, I'd imagine even if they were intending to hold off on it, an attack would cause them to trigger it early? Assuming the five hundred years isn't because however they're being summoned doesn't have some sort of cool down anyway. Even then, if the question about a hypothetical attack is worded carefullyenough, perhaps embedding what we're really wanting to know into it, something like ‘If I wanted to avoid triggering the Tenma War early and attacked such-and-such nation’ or something…”
Elen straightens sharply, “Oh! Oh, that's a good point actually!”
That immediately has the three and Shizu proposing potential ways to word it, and they spend a decent amount of time hashing the question to ask her Skill out before she starts trying to narrow in on who is performing the summonings. After flicking through the nations a bit, she eventually narrows in on the where.
The Nasca Namrium Ulmeria United Eastern Empire.
The next question is who of course, and Elen had assumed it had to be the emperor, Rudra Nam Ul Nasca, but to much surprise, the results say it isn't Emperor Rudra's doing. Well, it surprises Elen anyway. Not so much her, since from her understanding, Rudra is just a normal Human, so he wouldn't have the lifespan to pull something like the Tenma War cycle off.
That does bring up the question of whether it just says it isn't Rudra because the summoning method is something inherited, but that one is a little less clear. It gives her a more ‘neutral’ result, which essentially means ‘maybe’ in this context. Gido immediately suggests that it just means that while the bloodline of the Emperor hadn't been setting off the Tenma War, it probably means they have some sort of connection to whoever has been setting it off. That perhaps the culprit is doing it under imperial orders.
Some careful wording on that gets them another negative which stumps them all, but for the time being, The Eastern Empire, as it's usually shortened to, is definitely an enemy as far as she's concerned.
Before they can get any further, Shizu suddenly doubles over with a groan.