Coming Together
Almost the moment Geld is gone, a good portion of the Orcs start to cry out in despair, even as some of them faint immediately, likely due to effects of starvation that was being pushed off by Starved.
Benimaru looks somewhat displeased as he approaches and she shakes her head, “Don't hold it against them Benimaru.” At his confused look, she sighs, “Geld, the Orc Lord that is, was their king even before he became an Orc Lord and placed them under Starved. And as horrible as the things he did or made them do are, this whole thing started because of a famine and him trying to desperately claw a way forward to survive for his people. Of course they mourn him, as is their right.”
Benimaru blinks a couple times quickly in surprise, then understanding washes over his face and he bows his head, “I understand my Lady.”
She turns to Soei who had silently slipped over to them as they spoke, “I don't know if you still have Replications at the town and with Kouki, but you can bring the latter one here now, since we'll be heading in to discuss with him shortly. You should likely leave the one in town there in case there's anything we need to relay quickly. Please use your Replications to start sorting out the Orcs, particularly getting those who fainted from hunger together. Also find the son of Geld, the General who wasn't under Starved that is, as well as the leaders of the various tribes Geld ruled over. I wish to have them in the meeting we will have with Treyni and Kouki to go over things. I don't think we need to take a break, but Kouki's people likely do, so we'll have it tomorrow.”
He bows his head, “As you command my Lady.”
He disappears basically immediately via shadow motion, which isn't surprising given how quickly he always snaps into motion after she gives him orders.
Probably having been waiting for her to be available so she wouldn't potentially distract her from her fight, Rowena pipes up, <Creator, there was something else I wanted to tell you about, but I should probably start by informing you that absorbing Geld means you gained the Starved Intrinsic from him. Perhaps it will just happen on its own sometimes if the Skills are close enough in function, but it immediately combined with Predator and evolved it into Gluttony.>
Her brows furrow, <It didn't mess it up by tying it to the most infamous part of Starved, did it?>
Rowena is quick to reassure her, <No Creator, and I managed to create a backup of Predator before they completed their merge anyhow, so it wouldn't have been a big deal even if it had. No, while you've gained his Rot subskill, primarily and most interestingly, you've gained the subskills Receive and Provide. Receive essentially allows you to gain Skills from monsters under your command. Provide grants access to part of your own powers to your subordinates, and allows you to even consciously grant them a full Skill to possess on their own. Interestingly, it's not reliant on the bond of Starved. It also applies to those you've gained bonds with via processes such as naming, which means all of the ones you have named are within the two Skills influences. It's significantly weaker with one's like the now Dragonewts since your bond has only what I'd estimate to be one percent of the strength of the bonds to other monsters you've named, but they are still technically in their realm of influence as well.>
She hums, <Nothing to be done about the weakened bond, but otherwise that's fairly interesting and very likely to become handy later. You were wanting to inform me of something else though?>
Rowena seems to refocus a bit on her original goal of reaching out at that, <Ah, yes. It was regarding that Skill you gained when you killed Gelmud. Given its effects and name, it was likely triggered because he was pleading for his life and you killed him without hesitation, but you gained the Skill Merciless. Essentially how it works is if an enemy's morale breaks, you can reap their soul from their body and absorb it. Or perhaps it would be better to say it devours it, as I was wanting to bring it up because it seems similar enough that Predator and it were already being drawn to one another. I was going to suggest merging them to strengthen Predator in general, even if you don't use Merciless's abilities much if at all. After seeing the way Predator and Starved automatically merged, I must confess I'm a little surprised Predator didn't automatically merge with Merciless.>
She hums again, <Perhaps it's just different enough due to the fact Merciless specifically eats the soul, whereas while Predator can, its more a by-product of eating a living being whole?>
Rowena makes a thoughtful noise, <That's quite possible actually. Anyhow, should Gluttony be merged with Merciless?>
She nods habitually, <Yeah, go for it. Let me know the results.>
She feels Rowena get to work even as she sends back an acknowledgement for the last part. It doesn't take very long in the slightest, but she's taken quite by surprise when she gets a feeling similar to when Great Sage evolved into Lord of Wisdom. If that had been a shining golden light breaking through limits though, Gluttony was a blackhole that sucked those limits in and ate even those.
In light of that, she's not very surprised by what Rowena tells her, even if she sounds a little stunned, <Ah. Well, it worked. It also has evolved the Unique Skill Gluttony into the Ultimate Skill Lord of Gluttony, Beelzebuth(1).>
Even as she contemplates that and the subsequent report Rowena gives her on its abilities, her gaze travels over the hordes of Orcs and she sighs. The crisis of the Orc Lord was dealt with, but there was still a lot of work to do.
The next day, the meeting she'd had Soei gather up the Orc leaders for takes place in a tent that had been quickly set up on some of the limited dry land of the marshes. Kouki was there for the Dragonewts of course, as well as Treyni for the Dryads.
She looks around, gaze lingering on the Orc Lord's son and the sixteen leaders from the ten tribes who had served under him, “First things first, when Geld and myself were both trying to devour one another with our respective Skills, as something of a side effect, we saw into each other's minds and memories to a certain extent. I believe the things I learned from Geld's memories will shed some light on explaining the situation and is also rather relevant. As such, please bear with me a moment, but I would like to briefly explain.”
The Orcs look surprised, likely not having expected even a chance to explain themselves, but Kouki and Treyni nod. She'd vaguely been aware of it but had been focusing more on what happened, however she had gotten some information on where the Orcs were from and more particulars on their situation, which she shares as she explains the whole thing. Essentially, Orbic, what the Orcs homeland was called, had been to the west of the Great Ameld River from Demon Lord Milim's territory, right between Demon Lord Frey and Demon Lord Carrion to the south and the Forest of Jura to the north.
The problem was, the famine hitting wasn't the only issue they were contending with. Yes, they were basically labor for hire for the Demon Lords, but they also paid a tax for protection. A food tax specifically. Then the famine hit. They had tried to plead with the Demon Lords to give them leniency on the taxes given the circumstances, but the officials they had met with for both Demon Lords had coldly informed them that if they didn't pay, forget losing their protection, they may very well be the threat they have to worry about.(2) Worse, they couldn't afford to pay just one and risk offending the other, especially as they sincerely doubted that protection extended to protecting them from the wrath of another Demon Lord.
They had managed to scrape together enough for their double tax, but it had taken a sizable chunk of what little was on their plates to keep the Demon Lords from potentially crushing them. As though that wasn't enough, the Orcs usually tended to survive disasters and the like through essentially reproducing faster than whatever was killing them off could kill them, and the danger had triggered those instincts. Given what the disaster was though, the famine, it only made things worse.
Eventually, Geld Senior had decided to embark towards the Forest to beg help, regardless of the cost. He hadn't even made it before the heat and hunger had gotten to him though, and he'd collapsed. It was then that Gelmud found him and named him and the ball had started rolling on the Orc Lord's invasion since Gelmud wanted to conquer the Forest. It hadn't been Geld's goal personally, but the Forest was rich in resources, so he'd gathered up all of his people, even the children and elderly, placing them all under the effects of Starved to power them through the hard journey across the waste into the Forest at minimum.
Everyone had listened patiently, a mixture of sorrow and bitterness at what the Orcs had gone through and what it had cost them all washing over the group, even as the Orcs tear up a bit in remembered pain.
She sighs as she finishes, “I apologize if that took a bit, but I felt it was necessary to explain how this whole tragedy started to get a clear picture of the entire situation. I also felt it was necessary to explain this next bit. Before he passed when our minds were linked, I promised Geld I would take care of his people. Personally, I couldn't agree with such anyhow, it's not my way of doing things and it doesn't fit my morals, but even if you're more inclined to do so, I hope that understanding the circumstances that led to the birth of an Orc Lord to begin with can help make it clear why it would be a bad idea to simply drive them from the Forest and back to their barren lands, given it's practically guaranteed to simply result in another Orc Lord.”
“While I sincerely doubt any of you were thinking of it, just to make sure we're all on the same page, given the circumstances nor would it be fair to kill them all to prevent the creation of one as an alternative. If nothing else, given they were under the mind control of Starved and the impression I got from randomly selected ones I've looked through the minds of to get a sense of what sort of people they are in general. It was mostly to be certain they weren't horrendous by nature and were only when put under Starved for the travel here and benefits, which they aren't just to clear. But given all that, I have zero intention of prosecuting them for any crimes.”
She looks over at the Orcs thoughtfully, who look stunned likely not expecting this turn of events, “I doubt any one place could support them all, so they'd need to be spread out, but the problem is where and how to help tide them over until they can get on their own feet since from the reports I've gotten, they're almost out of what food they have. Sorting out the details of where to put them and how to tide them over until they can get established at least will undoubtedly take a bit, but it's not inherently unfeasible.”
She looks back to Kouki and Treyni, “Particularly if the Dryads and Dragonewts are amenable to extending the way we were working together on this crisis into a full alliance and include the Orcs since they're innocent of the crimes as far as I'm concerned, in need of help and a home, and are valuable in their own way. The Dragonewts already had plentiful food access from Lake Sisu, and that's only increased since I named them all and they evolved, extending potential food gathering both in raw range to gather from in good time and also to the skies in a more reliable manner than bows.”
“The Dryads abilities mean they have unparalleled knowledge of the Forest of Jura and where would be best to place them without invading anyone else's home, and their reputation also means they can sooth any of the Orc settlements’ neighbors on what's going on. We have the knowledge for production and the like, as I'm sure is clear from our town and gear. And the history I learned from Geld's memories make it clear that the Orcs are not only more than happy to trade labor for resources, but they're incredibly versatile, they learn quickly enough, and their builds means they're hardy and have great stamina for even the most tiring of jobs.”
She huffs a laugh, “I suppose maybe I worded that strangely. Given I'm a transmigrant reincarnator, I'm used to making deals with other nobles and factions but ultimately knowing we're all under the same banner of a shared nationality. Obviously that isn't the case here, if nothing else even if we wanted to make a nation we'd have to all agree on a ruler and I can't see that happening. I mean, for starters, I'm not much one for bowing to another but I'm also not so arrogant to think I have any ground to stand on to demand that of either of your factions. Even if it would admittedly be nice to have a place anyone can live regardless of race without the sort of prejudices I've already witnessed even in my short time here.”
She's a little confused when they all suddenly start to get excited expressions and start damn near vibrating in place with enthusiasm while they impatiently let her finish, “The… point I was trying to make isn't that I have the right to demand that of either of your factions, but more that there are benefits across the board for us all. Even for the Dryads, since while they don't necessarily need our expanding building and crafting expertise, nor the food the Dragonewts have to offer, they would have strong groups they can reliably call upon if something complicates the defense of the nigh immobile Treants despite their power that makes them somewhat unsuitable to it, such as this incident with the Orc Lord.”
Treyni claps her hands happily, “Sold!”
She blinks rapidly, “Ehh?”
The son of Geld asks in a stunned voice, “You'll really let us live here..? And even help us and let us build towns..?”
That at least makes sense to her, “Yes. Honestly, the first place that comes to mind is the Ogres old homeland, but given the history that's probably a bit insensitive, so perhaps not since I wouldn't want to create any unnecessary resentment.”
Benimaru pipes up, voice firm, “I believe I speak for all six of us when I say this, but it's fine my Lady. It's a good place to settle down and there's no point wasting it.”
The other Ogres nod and she hums, “Well, that's one location. One of the ten tribes can settle there, but to avoid potentially straining any one region they'll have to spread out which leaves at least nine other places to select. There is our own burgeoning town, and we could use the additional labor so that's two, but we'll need to tap the Dryad's and Treant's knowledge for the other eight Treyni.”
She glances at her at the last part and Treyni happily nods, so she turns back to Geld's son, “I don't know if you'll find it unpleasant to split up, but there isn't much choice. I hope you understand, and it won't exactly be easy since you'll need to do the setup work. Also, I wasn't kidding that we could use the labor, but we'll take care of you in return for it, alright?”
Geld's son, as well as the others, all lower themselves from their chairs to kneel, though it's Geld's son who speaks, “Understood my Lady! Every ounce of our abilities are at your command!”
She hums, “Let me ask you something, not as interrogation about your crimes but a genuine question. How exactly do you feel about your father?”
He falters slightly, “I- …I must confess, I have rather… conflicted feelings about him. I know he did terrible, unforgivable things, but at the same time, he was trying to take care of our people in desperate times…”
She hums again, “Then, to both remember that he had good in him even if it was misguided, to carry a piece of him with you always, and also to serve as a reminder to avoid such pitfalls, I name you Geld. I also title you the Orc King to serve as the main contact point of your people to bring concerns to me. There is the question of feeding you all in the immediate, but that's part of what this meeting is for, to sort out such issues.”
His eyes tear up, and he lowers his head, “Thank you… thank you my Lady.”
Kouki speaks up at that point, “We have no objections to joining this endeavor! If anything, we would be overjoyed to cooperate!”
She gets why the Orcs did, but she's quite taken aback by him also lowering himself into a kneeling position, which the other Dragonewts with him follow suit on. She at least also understands why the Ogres may kneel to her, even if she doesn't really get why everyone is kneeling right this second.
Treyni rises to her feet with a gentle smile, “Very good. As a warden of the Forest, I, Treyni, make the following declaration. I hereby recognize Lady Rimuru Tempest as the new leader of the Forest of Jura, and the Great Forest of Jura Alliance hereby established under her good name!”
Then she kneels and lowers her head but she's thrown by the wording, and also the emphasis given how thorough she seems to be, “Recognize? Not proclaim? And that emphasis…”
Treyni lifts her face, giving her a mysterious smile, “We Dryads can truly see everything within the bounds of the Forest through the plants. I would like to remind you that you didn't gather the remaining Hipokute until after your conversation. While it wasn't explicitly stated per say, given what was said, arguably you possessed the authority back then.” Benimaru looks like he wants so badly to ask, and he's not the only one, but he is the one who begins to open his mouth before Treyni adds, “We Dryads kept our distance to respect the fact you wanted to hide it until the period of potential vulnerability had passed.”
He snaps his mouth shut immediately, holding up his hands wordlessly to Soei when he gives him a dirty look, ever protective of information security, particularly when it's vital like Treyni implies. Treyni does however add, “Though, if I may, if this incident has shown anything, it may not be as vital to maintain secrecy as you believe.”
She nods slowly, “I'll think about it.”
Treyni bows her head briefly once more in acknowledgement before looking back up, “Furthermore my Lady, I believe we Dryads and Treants can assist with seeing the Orcs fed in the immediate timeframe. There is a fruit the Treants naturally produce, which due to their large magical stores, make it so eating a single one can keep an individual fed for seven days and when dehydrated never go bad. We don't have any particular use for them, but we Dryads gather them all up when the Treants produce them and dehydrate them, so we have a considerable stock. Enough that we can distribute multiple to all one hundred seventy-three thousand of the Orc survivors which buys time to figure out the details regarding longer term food acquisition.”
She hums, “That will help tremendously, particularly in getting more immediate aid to those who fainted from hunger after they ceased to be under the influence of Starved, thank you.”
Her smile momentarily widens, “We are sincerely pleased to be of assistance to you.” Then she winces, “Although… while it was already arguably a questionable decision given what we saw in the Sealed Cave,” What relevance could this possibly have to her? “it almost feels like a betrayal now that we've sworn our loyalty to you.” Why would she care about betrayal? “I can only explain and beg your forgiveness on behalf of not just myself but the Dryads and Treants as a whole.” Forgiveness implies a sense of betrayal or anger before, and she's hardly capable of that now. “You see… the Black Primordial Daemon has… something of a reputation for being arbitrary,” In what manner does some random Daemon's particularities matter to her in the slightest? “though if our recent suspicions are correct it makes… significantly more sense.” Please just get to the point. She doesn't want to be here. “It also brings into question how many incidents weren't reported truthfully or didn't have all of the relevant information.”
Actually, why was she even bothering to set up a government, a nation at that, when by ‘here’ she doesn't mean this meeting, Dragonewt territory, or even the Forest of Jura. “So I hope you can understand that we didn't want to risk potentially complicating the situation even more and increasing the chaos if things went so poorly that we were wrong, and you summoned the Black Primordial.” She means this life when she says she doesn't want to be here. What's the point of it if her soulmates aren't after all? “I apologize for taking a bit to get to the point, but I wanted to make sure you'd hear our reasoning first given how understandably… upset you'll likely be after.”
Should she dismiss them all from her service? If she's going to give up on this life, to take her chances on the next, she should probably cut all ties first, shouldn't she? Treyni takes a deep breath before meeting her gaze and smiling nervously, “The Black Primordial has very… unique and distinctive eyes. Which I've seen myself a time or two running into him occasionally over the centuries.” Who should she pass the responsibility of leading off to? Benimaru maybe? He was going to lead the Ogres before, so… “Specifically he has golden eyes with a red streak through them and black sclera.”
Or maybe Shuna- Wait- “What?”
Ba-bump... Ba-bump.
Her mouth goes dry, “What did you just say?”
Ba-bump Ba-bump Ba-bump
Her vision tunnels on Treyni, everything in her straining to hear her, towards her as she opens her mouth, “The Black Primordial. His eyes are gold with a red streak through them and black sclera.”
Ba-bump Ba-bump Ba-bumpBa-bumpBa-bump
“He's the only being I have ever heard of with such unique eyes, but given the situation was already tumultuous and the, possibly in retrospect, twisted and undeserved reputation, we didn't want to risk somehow simultaneously being wrong and also you finding a way to summon the Black Primordial and him entering the chaotic situation and possibly making things worse. Myself and the rest of the Dryads and Treants beg your utmost forgiveness.”
Suddenly her vision goes blurry as the entire world unfocuses, while her mind hyper focuses on the words around her ankle, and she swears in that moment she can feel them like each individual one is carved into her. Not painfully. Never painfully. The man those words, ‘It's about time Xiǎolóng.’ in gold with a red streak cutting right down the middle outlined in black would never hurt her.
She can see them clearly in her mind. How could she ever forget such important words meant to be spoken by such an important man? She couldn't. Even if she hadn't spent hours upon hours staring at them. Even if she didn't have Occlumency.
She feels like the proverbial cylinders had been on their last rotation, what little movement they had on its dying breath when the engine suddenly flares to life, “Do you happen to know- Wait nevermind. Gelmud knew Daemon Summoning and I raided his mind for all his knowledge with telepathy before I killed him.” All the cylinders start firing at full throttle, “But there is the problem of how I'd target it for- Actually, duh, I'm fucking stupid. Cycle the magic through the body, specifically through the soulmark for him before I utilize that magic in the summoning and it should target him. Assuming whatever it is that's disabled the link being utilized by Prophet doesn't block that too anyway.”
She whirls towards an empty space to try just that, her mind racing, she actually keeps having to toggle off Thought Acceleration because it keeps kicking in instinctively and she does not want things to take even a second longer. It definitely is though, given how much her mind can race in those brief moments it's on before she turns it back off. It doesn't help that the engine is starting to warm up now, and fuck she's been stupid.
How the hell has she been struggling to figure out the things she's felt like she's been banging her head against a wall over?
There's literally a Skill called Malice Perception. If she can just target that on any ill intent towards anyone within the ward-!
And she has the Trunk, which has had a Time Turner inside it in the past that it can make a replica of for her to observe with Multidimensional Perception to try and gain Time Manipulation Skills using it as a starting point-!
And after she first met Treyni, Benimaru and the others explained to her the significance of the Dryads and even what they were. How did she not make the connection between her Spiritual lifeform self and the all too similar Eidos data in the physical world she had no explanation for-!
It's all just-! Her mind is going down a million pathways and she-! Fuck! She's been so damned stupid!
Hell, even that damned heartbeat before was practically an illusion she bought without even questioning! Her subconscious, which has been human for centuries, literally manipulating her Slime body deeper to literally mold some of the internal formless liquid into the shape of a heart and replicate a beat instinctively out of an expectation she should be experiencing a harder beating and quickening heartbeat. And she didn't even think it odd or anything! What the hell is wrong with her?!
Despite her fighting with her Thought Acceleration, finally, finally Cast Cancel manages to finish the Daemon Summoning, the magic cycled through the words on her ankle in a desperate hope to target her husband. Given the slight uncertainty Treyni threw on it, even as she feels like nonexistent lungs freeze up at the sight of those gold eyes with a red streak and black sclera above a wide ecstatic smile, she also can't help but feel the slightest bit uncertain.
That uncertainty is tossed out the window when she barely gets a chance to look at the man before her and feel that flicker of doubt get stronger for a moment given how extravagant his clothes are, which is not her husband's style, before there are insistent lips pressed hard against hers, kissing her deeply and desperately. She pulls back reluctantly, unable to help herself as her mouth says without her input, “I swear, you better be my damned husband's reincarnation, because if you're some rando who just happens to have similarly distinct eyes and kissed me for no reason, I will kill you.”
He laughs euphorically, stroking her face blissfully as he grins at her leaning forward as though imparting a secret, “It's about time Xiǎolóng.”
She laughs, bright and happy and free from the crushing uncertainty and terror even as that part of her in the back of her mind that was having an absolute meltdown this entire time but also slowly losing energy like it was curling up and dying from bitter heartbreak finally falls silent. She wacks his arm with the back of her hand, “He says, like I had any control over any of this situation.”
He chuckles even as a swirl of magic surrounds him and his extravagant clothes are swapped out for something more low key that suits her husband far better, “I suppose that's true. You should probably do the same thing with Darling's mark, since she's also a Daemon.”
Even as she turns slightly to do just that, she gives him a bemused look, “Since when does being a Daemon remotely suit-” She bites back the habit to use a previous name until they learn new names, since the Darling nickname and her being a Daemon means she's susceptible to naming, “our wife.”
He doesn't have a chance to say anything before she's getting all but tackled into another eager kiss. He lets go of her face but just moves his hands to her sides even as he watches in amusement and chuckles, “We'll explain later. It's a smidge complicated and you were busy with something. Although, now I suppose there's the question of how to target Sister since she's also a Daemon…”
She pulls back, slightly dazed from her wife's kiss, who grins as her, “I've been waiting a long time to do that Rimuru.”
She pauses at the second mention regarding a length of time, which still confuses her but they promised they'd explain later, so she turns her gaze to their husband and uses Telepathy to connect their minds, cycling the magic through him and his own connection to his sister before setting it off.
‘Sister’ appears with a grin, “Hope you understand why I'm not kissing you. But man that summoning!”
She'd been nodding in amusement at the first part, but she gives her a confused look at the second half, “Pardon? What about it?”
Her husband chuckles, “Not that any of us ever would but I don't think we could've rejected that summons if we wanted to. You know how portkeys are described like a hook behind the navel dragging you away?” She nods, “Not the painful part of such a thing, but that was like a ship anchor in the chestwrenching you away whether you wanted to or not.”
She blinks rapidly, and before she can say anything Rowena pipes up mentally, <Now seems like a good time to mention you also picked up the respective Skills Primordial Black, Wife, and Sister-in-law. Undoubtedly the one for your husband is tied to his title while the other ones are just… vague since they don't have any official title. They all have a summoning function as well as the ability to maintain their presence through an additional magic cost. It's not a permanent solution, but it at least prevents you from having to constantly re-summon them.>
She hums in understanding, and seeing the three's confusion quickly explains, “Rowena intercepts notifications from Words of the World for me to make sure it doesn't potentially distract me during something critical. She was just informing me with a mental message that I gained Skills because of your targeted summons. Plus side, don't have to worry about having to constantly re-summoning you, since one of its effects is I can maintain your presence here for an additional magic cost.”
They all seem perfectly happy about that, but her wife steps away as she glances around at everyone, who'd all risen from their previous kneeling positions at some point, “You were in the middle of something though. Apologies for the disruption everyone.”
Treyni smiles back, “It's fine. I explained what was happening.”
Geld gives her a hesitant smile even as he droops s bit tiredly, stubbornly delaying when the evolution sleep from naming hits him she assumes given his expression. Which she wasn't exactly thinking straight, but right in the middle of the meetings was a terrible time to name him, “Let me offer my congratulations on reuniting with your soulmates my Lady.”
She smiles, “Thank you.” Her brain seems to catch on the reminder of the Orcs plight, and she quickly turns to Treyni, “Actually, how big are the fruits the Treants produce?”
Treyni blinks quickly, “Pardon?”
Her husband snickers, “Oooh. I know that tone. Now she's really getting going.”
She waves her husband off impatiently, “The size of the fruits. How big are they?”
Treyni glances between them in confusion, “Um. Perhaps around the size of a grape?(3) May I ask why?”
Her gaze flicks away as she turns that over, “I was wondering if they actually have the magic to keep one fed for a week or if it was possible they were small enough that it was natural to eat it whole. And perhaps that they actually have enough magic that it's capable of keeping one fed for longer than seven days, but by the time the seven days are up the magic has naturally dissipated so you lose the rest of the benefits. If that's the case, it may be possible to stretch them out even further by having the Orcs not eat all of one in one go. Crushing them into powder and mixing them with water perhaps. Or using them whole and steeping them to make a tea. Actually depending on the exact nature of them, that may make the effect even better. It's not uncommon for heat to bring various properties out stronger.”
Treyni suddenly gets an expression of realization, “That… I've honestly never considered the possibility my Lady. I mean, it's certainly possible given the rates magic can dissipate…” Treyni tilts her head, narrowing her eyes in thought, “I… don't think anything like that was ever tested… I certainly can't recall any incident of such, and neither can the other Dryads and Treants at least…”
She waves it off, “It'll take a bit to name all the Orcs anyway, so even at the slowest of having the Tempest Wolves help transport them back, if you bring extra there will be time to run a quick small experiment to see if someone eats maybe half but gets the same benefits. Would need longer experiments to narrow in on the exact detail of it if they can actually be spread out to see exactly how much is needed to get the full benefits without wasting any, but it's not super important right at the moment.”
Everyone is giving her surprised looks, and she gets defensive, “What?”
Benimaru eyes her, “Nothing my Lady, just… you seem even… sharper than usual is all.”
She gives him a funny look, “Not really? I mean. I was absolutely distracted by the confusion the weird result one of my Skills gave me when I tried to apply it to get answers on my soulmates and sister in law-” She quickly turns to them, “Actually what the hell was that about? Well, I guess I need to explain the Skill-”
Her husband waves her off, “No you don't actually, and we have a theory about it, but it's related to Darling being a Daemon actually so we'll explain that later as well.”
She accepts that immediately and turns back to Benimaru, “Anyway, I was distracted but I'm not sharper.”
Benimaru's brows are furrowed, and he's far from the only one confused, “No, my Lady, you're definitely…”
Her husband grins at them as they all continue to be utterly baffled, “I'd like to remind you that Rimuru was a noble in previous lives, for centuries at that, and if you ask me, something of a genius innovator as well. There's a saying from other worlds. ‘We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.’ And that's exactly what you've been getting up until now while she wasn't really capable of focusing completely with the confusion regarding us plaguing her. The habit of excellence. Not the actuality that made those habits. As another otherworlder saying goes, ‘Buckle up buttercup. We're just getting started, and you're in for a wild ride.”
She turns towards Treyni quickly as her mind really starts going, as though it was just waiting for the main part of the emotional reunion to be done with and needed a few moments to really get started, “Also, I don't know if they're in season or even have a season, but I need you to being me one of those Treant fruits before it's been dried. When it's still fresh. I know the Treants produce them naturally, but I want to look into getting a regular plant to be able to grow them to potentially ramp up production, both for our potential use as a nation and perhaps as a trade product. Maybe not raw except in limited quantities since I wouldn't want to tank other markets or something, but it's definitely marketable. Also while the what depends on what type of fruit it is specifically, I'd like to test out using it as an ingredient in various productions to see how it works out and if it has any special effects.”
Rowena's H3 teleports in, already writing, glancing up as the Dragonewts and Orcs tense up, “Don't mind me. I'm Lady Rimuru's assistant essentially. Thought I should come over and make notes to make sure no one forgets anything they're doing.”
Everyone relaxes as she turns to her, “Rowena! Excellent timing! I've been an absolute moron trying to figure out an intent based ward. There's literally the Malice Perception Skill to translate into engraving magic and use as a base, at which point it's just a matter of targeting it for malice towards the denizens of the area the ward covers or something similar and treat it as a trigger to deny entry to specifically the source of the malice. Also, the Trunk can replicate Time Turners to get a starting point for those experiments I've been running. Furthermore, you weren't bringing all the knowledge you amassed on my orders as a just in case given limited storage capacity, but I want you to make another server to download it all from the one in the Trunk. Try to apply Replication on your mental form itself and make a new H3 to take into Isolation to connect to the Orb as a bridge. It doesn't have to be highly sophisticated, just enough to serve as a relay between the two.”
“Also, connect with Thought Communication with Treyni to get the information on potential places to place the Orcs and start sorting through them to pick out locations as well as the Orc leaders to get something like a roster on numbers and all that please.”
Rowena nods and glances at Treyni and they connect with Thought Communication if the brief few moments of unfocused eyes before Rowena turns towards the Orcs to continue doing as she asked, multitasking writing while doing that, even as she herself turns to Kouki who's somewhat wide eyed, “Kouki, can I count on the Dragonewts to patrol the skies for national security, since your flying ability gives you the range to keep an eye on things that are either themselves airborne or just as a potential additional avenue of monitoring? We already have the Dryads and Treants through the plants of course, as well as Soei, but the more layers of monitoring one employs the less likely for something to slip through the net. I wouldn't want to overextend your people though, and they're already slated to potentially help with any deficiencies regarding feeding the Orcs until things are more stable.”
Kouki blinks quickly, “Of course my Lady, we can easily do both and would be overjoyed to assist.”
She turns to Treyni, “Also, speaking of the abilities with plants, Treyni, do the Dryads have the ability to speed up growth? It may be helpful for getting things established faster. It's fine if you can't, it was just an idea.”
Treyni blinks, “We can actually. I must confess it didn't really occur to me given we have the dried treants. If you're wanting to explore how far one goes precisely if it's at all different as well as potentially getting plants other than Treants themselves to grow them to increase the production to perhaps utilize as a resource, it would be wiser to use less of them and speed up how quickly fields of crops can be established and yield results instead.”
She nods, glancing over briefly as Rowena steps close murmuring about borrowing use of some of her Skills before leaving it to her and turning back, “Speaking of production be it for personal use or trade, I wanted to investigate what causes Hellmoths to be more common around the Ogres old homeland. If we can figure out why, we may have the means of causing it artificially to ramp up on silk as well.”
She then looks over at Kouki, “I spaced it before with everything going on, but I just remembered, your peoples’ patrols need to pay stricter attention to the Eastern Empire, as a Skill of mine once revealed that they have something to do with the Tenma War, and the Angels that appear during it are summoned.” Everyone stiffens at that, even Treyni, though it makes sense given there wasn't any foliage inside the tent when she met with Eren and the others and discussed it, “I do not expect your people to put yourselves at risk, and we also can't afford to be lax about other monitoring, I just want you to keep closer eye on any incursions from that direction and report with haste.” She glances at Soei and Treyni, “That goes for all of you obviously.”
The other two nod firmly, Soei looking grim, Treyni looking angry which makes sense given the devastation she's been told the Tenma War always causes.
She taps her lower lip, “What else…”
Her husband laughs, “Xiǎolóng, sweetheart, I know it's practically inevitable you'll come up with more, but I think that's enough avenues for the time being. Leave it at that for now.”
She huffs, before giving him a playfully dirty look, making sure to make it obvious given the others tend to be too literal far too often and she doesn't want them to get the wrong idea, “Hardly back an hour and already nagging me! Why did I ever miss you in the first place again?”
He grins unrepentantly even as he flutters his eyelashes jokingly, “Because of my devilish good looks and irresistible charm clearly. What else could it possibly be?”
Rowena looks up from her papers, “Oh, that reminds me actually. There's something you need to more genuinely nag or maybe scold her about, and I did say I was going to tell you two later.”
Her wife's smile flips to a scowl even as her husband also gives her an unhappy look, “If you mean when she turned Elemental Sight on, we already know. We'll explain later with everything else, and I'd prefer not to get into an argument on our first day reunited, but thank you for keeping us informed.”
Rowena nods, then rolls out a map drawn on the large roll of paper, she starts placing carved wooden pieces around it, both of which Rowena made borrowing her Skills, “So, based on what Treyni showed me and the numbers and the like I got from the Orcs, I believe this would be the best spread of the Orcs, both in general to prevent straining any regions and also to add them to our chains of production in the likes of being dedicated to something specific, for example farming,” She points to one in a flatter area from the elevation indicators, then over to a mountain, “or mining. Any concerns or objections?”
As they all study the map, there are murmurs of agreement, a couple questions just for clarification, but otherwise it takes maybe five minutes for it to be given the proverbial stamp of approval and for Rowena to clarify with the Orcs which of their tribes are heading where, as well as any production chains they'll be in charge of supplying.
Once that's done with, she nods firmly and glances at Treyni and her own people, well, they're all her people now, she means the ones who have been her people longer, “I'll get started on naming the Orcs, which given the sheer number is bound to take a considerable amount of time. While I'm getting started on that, please head with Treyni and some Tempest Wolves to serve as transportation to pick up the dried treants. Run a couple initial tests of how much magic is imparted if one doesn't eat the entire thing and also whether things like mixing a powdered variant or steeping them into teas affect it. Like I said previously, there's not time for an extensive test, but it can give us preliminary results which in and of itself will at least tell us if there's even anything there to more thoroughly test.”
They all nod in understanding and she turns to the Orcs, nudging Rowena mentally with a brief flash of thought to make sure she's completely up to speed on what she's wanting to do, “You'll all sort yourselves out into your tribes and be given slips of paper. While you aren't obligated to be named and are welcomed to turn it down if you like, as you go through the line to either receive a name or turn it down, you'll hand over your slip to have it added to the paper. You'll receive it back with those names if you accept one or some other indicator if you turn a name down, then turn it in to receive your rations to make sure we get everyone. It also -as while I don't inherently suspect any of you and this isn't an accusation- will double as a safety precaution against anyone trying to get double rations or something.”
“And again, I'm not saying anyone will but please make it clear that theft against one another given how important those rations are will not be taken lightly and there will be harsh consequences. I know I'm repeating myself, but I want to make it abundantly clear that I'm not accusing your people of being like that in any way, I just wanted to make it equally clear that such behavior won't be tolerated. Theft from one another could arguably be considered attempted murder given how crucial those rations are.”
“Given how many of you there are, Treyni and the others will likely be more focused on making sure they grab enough than in securing excess just in case anyone tries anything.” She glances over at the group in question, “Even if it would be the smart thing to do just in case anyone does pull anything.” They nod their wordless understanding and she turns back to the Orcs, “If there isn't enough to go around because someone pulls something, that too, could be seen as attempted murder from making it so there wasn't enough to go around in the first place. Both of which will be tried as such.”
“Please make it clear to you tribes that I am not saying they are susceptible to such behavior or anything like that, but in the event that ninety-nine people out of one hundred do not behave in such a way, it is better to make such things clear to all one hundred so the one who would do such things hears the warning of what any behaviors they may be tempted to act out would get them. You are also free to inform them that Rowena will be monitoring the area, and given she has access to all of my Perception based Skills which may not have the same range but are not reliant on nearby plants, you would sooner slip something past a Dryad than her.”
The all bow their heads in understanding and she nods, “As one last point, when you sort yourselves into tribes, those who fainted from hunger are to be in the front of the line to get named, as if they're that far along on their symptoms of lack of food, their situations are undoubtedly amongst the most critical to see to. After them though, the lines are to be in order of priority. Others amongst those who's starvation is further along towards the front along with the physically more susceptible like children. The hardest and healthiest in the rear essentially, so those who need help the most can get it quickest.”
They all look grateful, probably far too used to this world that believes so heavily in ‘Might Makes Right’ and ‘Survival of the Fittest’ in doing it the other way around, which would inevitably see their children and the like left for last as little more than an afterthought. She glances over at Treyni again, “I honestly don't know if the energy gain from naming them will help with their unconsciousness due to starvation nor in any wounds they may have, but if the dried treants can at least be crushed and mixed into water without ruining it, at minimum they may need the sort of unconscious assisted swallowing for that, and they may need healing if the Dryads know any.”
Treyni's expression turns serious, “We do. I will need to call over some of my sisters to help given the sheer numbers and the amount that likely need healing, but they're more than happy to help.”
She glances at Kouki, “I don't know if your people know healing, but if you don't know how to help someone unconscious swallow, it's a fairly easily learned talent, and to free up the Dryads for healing, depending on how many of all of three categories -the unconscious, the injured in need of healing, and how many available Dryads- there are, I may need to ask your people for assistance with helping with that.”
Kouki dips his head gravely, perfectly capable of understanding the seriousness of the situation, “Of course my Lady.”
She nods, “Then you all have your tasks and there's no time to waste given the potential criticality of the situation for some of the Orcs. Begin!”
They all immediately snap to their feet to get started without hesitation, pouring out of the room to see to their tasks. She sighs, rubbing at her eyes after they're left alone before giving her soulmates an apologetic smile, “Sorry. You both keep mentioning waiting for me but when we finally get back together it's right in the middle of a frenzy of work, I need to see to the Orcs, I need to name the Orcs, I need to get the ball rolling on everything I went over-”
Her husband opens his mouth, expression knee meltingly warm, or it feels like that even if she doesn't exactly have knees in the most traditional sense at this moment, but her sister in law beats him to the punch, cheerfully chirping, “Think that's my cue to head out! I'll go have Rowena fill them in on the fact that as your sister-in-law, I totally have the authority to be overseer of this beehive of activity for the first little bit.” She winks as she backs out the doorway, “Give you guys at least a couple minutes to yourselves! See ya in a bit!”
Then Sister whirls away. She shakes her head in amusement before turning back to her husband, who laughs lightly, “Can't decide if she's being nice or bailing before we ‘make her feel like she's going to puke pure sugar’ as she puts it.”
She snorts, “Both. Even if she buys a little bit of time, I'll still need time to go out to start with the great naming adventure when they start sorting their people out.”
He smiles again, letting go of her sides to stroke at her face, slow and gentle, “It's fine. Darling and I are just happy you're here and we get to be near you once more after so long.”
She flashes a smile before her brows furrow as she chews her lower lip, “...You two keep mentioning that. How long it's been that is.”
Darling sighs looping an arm around her from where she's standing off to the side, “It was totally instinctive, but Noir -that's a name free nickname our husband has- and Sister both activated BK-201 right before the impact that killed us.”
She blinks, “I know. I mean, I vaguely remember it, but I honestly remember more of that lingering crackle of the aftereffects and that taste of metal you can sometimes get on your tongue when they activate their powers close to you, then I, I don't know, came to? The shock started fading? I couldn't say, I just… one moment it's that brief second before the truck hit, the next thing I know, my ears are ringing, my vision is blurry, my brain is sluggish to remember what the hell happened, and when I recalled the truck and looked up, you three were alreadydead. Heard a female voice going on about Skils and stuff, mouthed off to it, and before I knew it I was finding out first hand just how literally it takes everything when it interpreted me thinking about dying to blood loss as a desire for a bloodless body and I was a Slime.”
Her wife, Darling as her husband calls her to avoid names, looks a bit upset, “Yeah, we heard you mention your death before.” She tilts her head in confusion and she waves her hand, “One of those things to explain more in depth later. I can't decide what I hate more though, that you survived long enough to experience the pain of dying to the crash, or the fact you lived long enough you had to see our bodies after a violent death.”
Her husband makes an agreeing noise as he gazes at her with furrowed brows, but he shakes his head a moment later, “It's upsetting either way, but we can talk about it later. We're getting distracted. To be brief about it, we actually already knew about you getting mouthy with Words of the World since you talked about it out loud, and we'd -well Darling really, Sister and I aren't great at that kind of thing- actually set up magical scans looking for you. After you were reborn here it got a lock and we've been watching and waiting for an opportunity this whole time. Darling was bringing up us activating BK-201 because it had a… weird interaction with the rift between the world the otherworlders come from and this one. It flung us back into the past specifically. All the way back to when Veldanava was just beginning to create the first life in the Primordial Angels and Daemons.”
She sucks in a sharp breath as her heart plummets, “Just… Just how long have you been waiting..? I mean, beginning of the world… there's still… so much to wait to pass… billions of years of things that need to happen…”
He shakes his head, “It wasn't that bad actually. I mean, it was bad yes, but during some of the discussions we had with Veldanava and I explained the reincarnation and all that, at some point dinosaurs came up. Mostly because I mentioned how there was vague reassurance in the way he was making his cluster of universes which meant we wouldn't have to wait aforementioned billions of years for planets to cool and go through dinosaurs and only after that would we have any hope of reuniting with you unless you also got flung back in time.”
“Ended up getting into a discussion about them since he was curious and he thought it'd be a funny joke for those in on the know if he remade their skeletons as a prank on the humans he knew were going to exist eventually because of our time travel. And later, when he made Twilight Valentine who went on to make humans and Vampires and do all sorts of experiments that resulted in the beast-men and Demi-Humans and all that… Well, humans didn't need to evolve either. So it was only like, two, almost three hundred thousand years, which yes, obviously is a long time and still pretty damn bad but compared to how bad it could have been…”
He's not wrong that it's not as bad as it was if that all happened naturally but her heart still aches for her soulmates as her husband glances at their wife in vague amusement, “Anyway, that's actually how Darling ended up as a Daemon. When we went back to the very beginning, he had just finished laying down the rules of his worlds and had barely started on the Primordial Angels and Daemons when the rift spat our souls out. He just sort of assumed his older self had sent us back to become some of the Primordials he was making for some reason, so irony of ironies, he made me, former Black Reaper named Hei which as you know is Chinese for black, the Black Primordial. Except like I said. He'd already made the rules of his worlds. And while soulmates don't exist here, he had made soul links of a sort, and Daemon Dependants are based on those.”
He shrugs, “So the moment he made me the Black Primordial, the Words of the World assumed they were dependents of mine and automatically snapped Darling and Sister into that role. It would've sort of fit for Sister if not quite entirely accurate, but the only real difference in types of bonds he made is between soul links and soul corridors and a soulmate bond doesn't fit the rules of the latter of those… So it didn't differentiate between them and Darling was assigned as one of my dependents as well. We're also pretty sure that's what was interfering with Prophet getting a lock by the way. He mentioned where he thought we came from, and we're pretty sure that essentially told Words of the World to ignore our past and all that, so… as far as it and therefore Prophet is concerned, the people you were looking for didn't exist. I am a little confused why the fact the upgrade to our soulmate link to a soul corridor seeming to disable it didn't block the the targeted summoning though.”
She blinks rapidly, “Ah. That… makes sense actually. And as for the summoning… maybe it didn't have anything to do with it being disabled? Maybe it was an extension of him unintentionally telling Words of the World to ignore your history, but there is Eidos coding matching some of yours embedded into the soulmark itself, and summoning isn't exactly tied to Words of the World, now is it? Anyway, Veldanava wasn't upset with you when he found out you weren't sent by his future self, was he?”
Her husband's lips twitch, “Words of the World doesn't have anything to do with summoning, so that's probably it actually. And nah. I explained everything to him later, asked if he wanted to detangle the part of the Great Spirit of Darkness he split into seven pieces to make us Primordial Daemons from my soul to use it for a different Daemon entirely of his own make. Veldanava was absolutely delighted by the idea there were universes he had no hand in though and that we may have made something of a pitstop in one he did, the world we came from through the rift, but otherwise we were genuinely unknowns from outside of his influence. Rather than being upset, he found the entire thing great.”
She huffs a laugh, “I'm glad he wasn't mad at you, being as unreasonable and illogical as the powerful can sometimes be and thinking you'd tricked him into giving you that slice of the stuff that makes the Primordials, but he was kind of like a kid in a candy shop sometimes from the way you describe him.”
Her husband laughs, “Oh he was. He absolutely was. Not all the time mind, but for things like that, for how delightful he found the humans and all that later… yeah, he totally was.” He shakes his head as a blissful smile spreads over his lips, “But it's exactly because of how long we've been waiting that we don't really mindfinally getting to you but it being while you're in the middle of a rather… large high focus project. After so long, merely finally getting to be with you, to be near you… it's more than enough for now.” He laughs, “Actually, I don't think I could be a house husband this life, if only because I don't think I could bear to be separated from you for so much of the day.”
Darling nods quickly in agreement and her cheeks feel like they warm under their utterly besotteddevotional gazes, even if it's physically impossible for her cheeks to be warming given her body. She looks down, “I-... Well, I'm glad you aren't upset you've waited so long only to get here and have to wait even more.” Then she gives him a hesitant teasing grin, “But no cute house husband for me this life?”
Darling hums lightly as she runs her fingers through her hair seemingly utterly enraptured at the feel and watching the way the torch light shines off and through the gaps, “Ooh, we're not upset in the slightest love.”
Her husband grins as he answers her question, “Nope! Maybe a cute secretary or something. Secretaries get drinks and lunch and stuff right? It'd combine my desire to be near you with my desire to take care of you, so perhaps…”
She knows, she knows it's impossible, her body isn't conductive to such behavior, but gods does it feel like her cheeks get even warmer as her heartbeat quickens, “I-”
She cuts off as she gets a mental message from Rowena, <Creator, preliminary sorting is almost done and we're almost ready for you to begin naming.>
She blinks rapidly at the feeling of whiplash from rapidly turning back to back to back from her heartbreak over what her soulmates have gone through to them knee melting cheek warming heartbeat quickening doting on her, and then to business. She blinks rapidly as she shakes her head, “Rowena just got in touch with me. They're almost ready so we should probably head out now.”
Her husband leans down to steal a quick kiss before leaning away so their wife can snag one as well, “Alright Xiǎolóng. Let's get going then.”
Shaking her head to try to clear it, she steps away from them and turns towards the exit. As they start to head out, something occurs to her and she glances back, “Hold up, the way you kissed me before…” They tilt their heads in question, “What about the physical aspect of the block? What happened to that? I mean, other artificial means of aging like polyjuice never worked, so why…”
Her husband shrugs, “Maybe it's just the difference of you being an actual shapeshifter and using that to achieve it rather than relying on an outside source. Or maybe it's because technically Slimes are born fully mature so there's no aging up for you in this life. Don't know, don't care. I can tell you I was attracted to you again the moment you took an older form but not initially. If it is related to the lack of Slimes needing to grow up, it's absolutely possible the block was always off and there was only a lack of attraction then because you were in the form of a child and it had nothing to do with the block and was entirely because we aren't pedophiles.”
She chews her lower lip, “That makes sense I guess.”
Her husband hums, “Man am I glad it's not a thing in our way despite you being in the form of an adult though. Like, being flung back in time and having to wait for you already feels like a form of karma for our first life and your three years not only unable to be in a relationship with us and us not even able to see you that way but even having to hide how you felt to avoid making us uncomfortable. If we had to wait until things changed with the block even after we finally reunited as well…”
She hums in agreement before a sudden realization hits her like a ton of bricks and she laughs in slight hysteria, “Ooohhh. I'm in trouble.”
Darling sounds concerned from where they're following behind her, and given she can absolutely see them with Multidimensional Perception, she can see their worried expressions as well, “Sweetheart? What's wrong?”
She looks back with a wry smile, which at least has them relaxing, “So, you two have been sexually active with one another this whole time you've been waiting, right?” They both nod as they start to get confused where she's heading with this, “I'd like to remind you that even when someone isn't trying to improve, repetition is practically guaranteed to result in improvements over time.” Their confusion only grows, “Which means. That you two have been improving your sexual talent with one another for three hundred thousand years now. You two probably haven't noticed since it would've been slowly over time and your ‘resistance’, as it were, to that level of intercourse would have also built up. I don't have that same resistance. ”
They both get looks of sudden understanding and realization and she turns back around as they both slowly break out into dark grins, giggles, and chuckles, “Yup! I'm in so much trouble.” As those heavy, hungry dark gazes above those darkly grinning and lightly laughing mouths pin their weight on her back, she shakes her head in bemusement, “So, so much trouble. Just don't get all disappointed that I'm not capable of rendering the same sort of pleasure you're used to the other giving you! It's not my fault! …I suppose that arguably just puts me in more trouble though, since you two will probably be taking the lead more often…”
Not just yet though, she has names to give out using her Full Potion magic drain trick(4) and food to distribute and all that. Her soulmates are already going to be able to absolutelybreak her later, but they can wait a smidge more.