The battle was over, and we headed back to town.
Leading home a force of roughly two thousand was honestly exhausting, so I had Hakuro take charge of the return march.
After sending Souei off, I selected who would return ahead of the main force.
The argument was over who got to go first.
Honestly, I couldn't have cared less.
Wait — that's when I remembered. I could use Shadow Movement too.
I decided to go ahead myself, and that settled the argument.
Ranga, who'd been eager to carry me, and Shion, who'd been chomping at the bit to ride along, both looked crestfallen, but that was hardly my problem.
"Well then, I'm heading out first!"
With that, I activated Shadow Movement.
What a convenient technique. It created a straight path to your destination, like a tunnel through another dimension.
I flew along that path using Movement-type Magic.
The speed was absurd. In the blink of an eye, I arrived at the town under construction.
Apparently, this technique could create paths not just to people or monsters, but to any location I'd previously visited — towns included.
The trip there had taken three days, but the return felt like less than an hour.
I'd probably been traveling well beyond the speed of sound.
My Movement-type Magic alone couldn't produce that kind of speed, so having this ability for transportation was a massive upgrade.
The experiment was a resounding success.
Ranga and the others would take two to three days to get back.
Hakuro and the Orcs would need at least a month.
Either way, I needed to get the living arrangements and other infrastructure sorted before they arrived.
The moment I reached town, I was greeted by cheers and a welcoming crowd.
There were still plenty of problems to deal with, but the biggest one had been handled.
For now, I wanted to take it easy.
--- After that, everyone gradually made their way back to town, settled into their assigned roles, and things returned to a sense of normalcy.
The town was taking shape at a remarkable pace.
The Orcs arrived in under a month, and under the guidance of the Dwarves and seasoned Goblins, they picked up the necessary skills in no time.
According to
With the influx of labor, areas that had been stalled suddenly had manpower, and a construction rush began in earnest.
At the same time, supplies were being shipped out in stages.
We dismantled the tents we no longer needed and delivered them to the various Orc settlements.
The Goblins who'd scattered across the land were apparently providing proper guidance — they'd taken root and were establishing solid living foundations.
They were even trading goods between settlements, creating a system where each community circulated its specialty products.
It was reminiscent of ancient bartering in its infancy, but the fact that they were thinking and acting on their own was wonderful.
Of course, large-scale agriculture wasn't feasible yet, but they'd learn in time.
Though still limited in variety, we had some remarkably resilient potato sprouts going. These things could grow in harsh conditions, and their nutritional value was decent enough to sustain a life, if you weren't being picky.
So bit by bit, I distributed the sprouts and taught them how to cultivate them.
By the year after next, I was hoping they'd reach a degree of self-sufficiency.
Geld proved invaluable for transporting tents and seedlings. True to his word, he swallowed up the dismantled tents and supplies and delivered them wherever they needed to go.
The biggest advantage was being able to piggyback on the Star Wolves' Shadow Movement.
Geld took to it seriously and was the first to become resistant to the technique's effects.
After that, things moved quickly.
On foot, delivering supplies to the mountain settlements would've taken months. Now round trips could be done in a single day.
This also greatly accelerated the establishment of a major communication network between the settlements.
It was like the dawn of a postal service.
Messages were written on wooden boards and circulated from settlement to settlement like a bulletin board.
The problem was that nobody could actually write, so messages had to be relayed orally — which was concerning.
Hopefully, since a single person visited all the settlements, the messages wouldn't get too distorted along the way.
Learning to read and write would be nice, if possible. Thought Communication was out of the question at these distances.
That was a challenge for the future.
And so, the bonds between the various tribal settlements grew ever stronger.
Oh, but I almost forgot someone.
That idiot showed up in town out of the blue: "Well, well, ha ha ha! I, Gabiru, have come rushing here to be of service to Lord Rimuru!"
He said this with a straight face. The nerve.
"Shall I cut him down?"
Shion asked, dead serious. Her expression literally read "I will end you."
Gabiru turned pale.
"I got carried away! I'm sorry!
Please, please allow us to serve under Master Rimuru!
We will prove our usefulness, I swear!!!"
With that, he and all his followers dropped to their knees in unison.
Apparently, his father had disowned him — kicked out with nowhere to go.
He was so pathetic that I decided to take him on.
He'd probably get cocky again in no time, though.
Hm? I happened to notice that among the Lizardmen, there was a captain of the elite guard mixed in.
"Huh? Captain, why are you here?"
When I asked: "I've always admired Lord Souei, and I want to serve under him!"
"What?! I thought you were following me!"
"I'm nothing like those meatheads behind me! Can't you tell just by looking?!"
And so the bickering began.
Most of them were loyal to Gabiru, that was certain, but some of the elite guard had tagged along too.
Well, if they wanted to serve under Souei, that was fine by me.
"If you want to serve Souei, I'll put in a word for you. But he's a ninja, you know. Can you lot actually be useful?"
"No problem! Unlike that soft little brat over there, we've got the right stuff!"
"Wh-what did you say?! Don't look down on me, you little—!"
They really didn't get along.
During Gabiru's attempted rebellion, some of them had been captured, and old grudges clearly still simmered. I left them to it.
Too much hassle. I wanted no part of it.
Later I found out that the captain was Gabiru's sister. She'd admired her brother and had been acting like a man her whole life.
She had to be a bit eccentric too, given Gabiru's bloodline. Their father, the chief, had been a fine leader, though.
"Well, if you're going to serve under Souei, let's go with
"As for the other four —
Women got "flower." Men got "spear." Of course, it was all meaningless and completely random.
These five formed the elite guard unit. I left them in Souei's care.
The moment I named them, their evolution began.
Gabiru watched with visible envy.
But I couldn't name Gabiru — he already had a name.
"Hey, Gabiru. Stop looking so jealous, will you?
You already have a name — 'Gabiru.'"
His eyes went wide, and he looked at me sharply.
In that instant, Gabiru's body began to glow. Wait — was this the prelude to evolution...?
Just as that thought crossed my mind, I felt a massive chunk of Magicules being ripped from my body.
This again?!
Seriously... I never thought I'd be able to overwrite someone's name like this.
It was probably a coincidence — the one who'd originally named him was already dead, and maybe our wavelengths just happened to align? I wasn't sure of the exact reason, but there was no denying I'd ended up naming Gabiru.
I'd wanted to make the guy reflect on his behavior a bit more, but now he'd evolve and get even more full of himself. Terrifying.
With that thought, I entered low-activity mode.
--- Starting the next day, I gave names to the hundred Lizardman warriors as well.
I mixed in some alphabet letters and assigned names at random.
Around twenty was my limit. As expected, higher-rank monsters drained far more Magicules.
It took about five days to name them all.
Or rather, I was getting ready to slack off.
Seriously, I felt like I was working harder than I ever had when I was alive. This was all Gabiru's fault. Every last bit of it.
That much was certain, so I fired a magicule projectile into him on the spot.
"Wh-what are you doing?!" he yelped.
"Training!" I declared flatly.
He looked pleased and nodded in acceptance. Definitely an idiot. He might actually give
For the record, the magicule projectile wasn't fired without reason.
Gabiru had evolved into a Dragonnewt.
His body was now covered in hard, fortified dragon scales, and multiple barriers automatically deployed around him.
Strangely, the males and females looked quite different.
The males weren't drastically different from their Lizardman form — they'd sprouted wings and dragon horns, and their scales had hardened and fortified. Their color had shifted from a greenish-black to a purplish-black, which was the most noticeable change.
The females, on the other hand, had transformed to look almost human. Quite beautiful, in fact.
However, they still had dragon horns and wings, and could shift their skin into dragon scales at will.
It reminded me of my own human Mimicry combined with the Black Serpent fusion.
That Black Serpent might have been a type of dragon too.
Anyway, since Gabiru had evolved into a Dragonnewt despite being such an idiot, I wanted to test just how high his defenses were.
I didn't want to try it on myself, so I fired a test shot at him — and he was completely unscathed.
I'd fired at normal power, which should've been equivalent to five times my normal striking force...
Well, maybe he was too stupid to feel pain, or perhaps he'd inherited my pain nullification. Dinosaurs were said to have dulled pain sensitivity, so maybe that was the right line of thinking.
Now then, I'd evolved them, but what about their lodging?
There was a river nearby, but...
Having just a hundred of them set up their own settlement would be more trouble than it was worth.
There was an underground lake inside the cave, but the Magicule concentration was too high for fish to inhabit.
Hmm, but Gabiru might be able to handle it. If anyone could, it was him.
I'd been thinking about having them cultivate Hippokute herbs there too.
But with their strength level, was it safe to send them into the cave?
The five elite guard members were already in Souei's hands.
They'd be trained into fine Ninja and Kunoichi. That guy didn't pull any punches.
I was too scared to stick around for that training.
The real question was what to do about Gabiru and his group.
Throwing them into the cave shouldn't result in them becoming monster food...
The Dragonnewt warriors had all become B-rank monsters.
They could handle most threats, though I imagined the Centipede would still be a tough fight.
With their combat skills and proper weapons, they should be fine.
Gabiru didn't seem worried at all. He'd evolved to A-minus rank, and he'd retained a considerable amount of Magicules. It wouldn't be long before he reached A-rank.
"Gabiru, I'd like you to handle Hippokute herb cultivation inside the cave. Think you can manage?"
His response came immediately: "Leave it to me! I, Gabiru, will work myself to the bone!"
I'll take that at face value.
Above all, having Gabiru and his crew living in the cave meant they'd double as guards. That was reassuring.
And so, Gabiru and his Dragonnewts have been cultivating Hippokute herbs inside the cave ever since.
I got worried and went to check on them once, but they were handling things quite well.
The warriors, who were constantly fighting in an unforgiving environment, were gaining experience and growing stronger.
Now even five of them could take down a Centipede.
That was encouraging.
I thought about getting them better weapons before long.
And so, time flowed on.
--- Two months had passed since I returned to town.
Everyone had settled into daily life, and their respective tasks were progressing smoothly, when the last group of visitors arrived.
The Goblins.
When I went to meet them, nearly eight thousand Goblins stood before me.
They noticed me and dropped to their knees.
Then, in unison: "Please, we humbly ask that you also take us as your servants!"
"Please accept us!!!"
They bowed their heads together.
I gave it some thought.
If I turned them away here, it could plant seeds of resentment down the road.
I'd been the one to say it myself — don't look down on other races.
Turning them away would certainly foster exactly that kind of attitude.
I decided to accept them.
"Fine. But slackers get kicked out. No objections?"
"None at all!!!"
They accepted without hesitation.
What awaited me was...
The Death March!
Not again! My scream echoed through the town shortly after.
I burned through numbers, assigning them names as the Green Corps.
This was the birth of what would later become the Green Corps.
Alongside the Yellow Corps, they formed the two main pillars of my military force.
Right now, though, they were nothing more than scrappy little Goblins.
It took about a month to name them all, one at a time.
It wasn't all bad, though — my maximum Magicule capacity had increased slightly.
Well, when you repeatedly drained yourself to empty and refilled to capacity, I supposed some growth was to be expected.
And with that, the naming of the Goblins was finally complete.
By the time I finished, every monster living in the town had finally received a home.
The Goblins were housed together in a dormitory-style building, which was still better than tents.
Though it used a drawbridge-style water system, each home had a well, making the town surprisingly civilized.
Flush toilets were a particular point of pride.
You did have to manually refill the toilet's water bucket from the drawn well water, but for monsters with physical strength, that was trivial.
Some of them didn't even need to use the bathroom. Me included.
But having the town stink everywhere was out of the question.
That was one point I refused to compromise on.
There were still many areas with no results to show — farming, livestock, and more.
I wanted to keep developing this town going forward.
At last, I had found a place to call home.
The monsters under my protection at this point: Demon-Warriors — 6 Black Storm Star Wolf — 1 Star Wolf General — 1 Star Wolves — 100 Goblin Wolf Riders — 100 Ogre King — 1 Ogre Lords — 8 Ogres — 8,657 Orc King — 1 Orcs — 1,984 Dragonnewts — 106 And four allied Dwarves.
Over ten thousand monsters would live in this land.
The town was finally built.