The town had gotten quite a bit cleaner.
A product of my usual efforts, no doubt! Even if I only contributed by running my mouth…!
Well, that didn't matter one bit right now.
What I'd focused on were the toilets, water infrastructure, insect repellent, and baths!
The first three were Japanese-style. I had spider silk processed into a substitute for mosquito nets, going so far as to produce screen doors.
At first, someone carved a toilet seat out of wood, but I made them redo it after declaring it completely unusable.
It was a Japanese-style seat. A wooden seat would be a nightmare to clean. And it would rot, too.
But as expected of the dwarves — they were wonderfully skilled.
Aside from the toilet seats, there were no major hiccups, and production went smoothly.
What really came in handy here was Thought Manipulation — an evolved form of Thought Communication, but one that could be used in the same way.
So it was easy to convey what I had in my head to them.
Things that were hard to express through drawings or words alone could be transmitted simply by sending my imagination directly, making it easy for the other party to understand.
I even tried conveying the image of turning a faucet and having water come out, but that proved to be impossible.
Apparently there are devices that use high-grade Magic Stones to produce water from air, but they're extremely expensive and bulky.
On top of that, the Magic Stones need constant replacement, which costs too much — making them impractical for military use and such.
Truly, it's a luxury only the mega-rich can afford.
We didn't have that kind of leeway, so we made do by improvising with what we had.
Well, the plumbing situation was a challenge for the future — we weren't going to be able to pull it off anytime soon.
As a workaround, I had barrels placed at each household and at water collection points, which were then stocked with water, creating a system where water could be drawn from those.
Like with the toilets, once the initial water supply was loaded in, turning the faucet would release water.
As expected of
I also drilled the monsters into keeping the water stations clean and made hand-washing and gargling a habit.
I didn't know whether monsters could even catch germs, and it might end up being pointless, but better safe than sorry.
According to Kaijin, adventurers would typically either recruit a Purification Magic user into their party early on or learn the skill themselves.
It apparently kept them from getting too filthy during long journeys.
That said, for anyone below the upper ranks, it was mostly just a comfort measure.
Then there were the mosquito nets.
Since we were in a forest, there were plenty of bugs. Without proper prevention, even something like insect bites could become terribly painful.
I could handle it, but the Hobgoblins looked like they were suffering.
So I came up with the idea and had them produced.
Ideally, I'd have wanted an insect-repelling barrier, but the dwarves couldn't make one.
We'd have to go to a human town to buy one. Not that we had the money, anyway.
I once asked the trio to go buy one for us, but: "Don't be ridiculous! They're absurdly expensive!"
"And besides, we have no idea how many you'd need to cover the whole town!"
"Covering a town would require something on the scale of the Royal Capital!"
"Even if you had the money, Lord Rimuru, transporting it would be a nightmare!"
Was their response.
It was nice that they came to visit, but they were useless in terms of actual help.
That said, I was on good terms with
We cooked together often, and I'd bought her sewing supplies — we'd gotten fairly close.
Just in case guests did show up, I'd prepared lodging houses for them as well.
The monsters' birth rates had fallen to roughly human levels.
Given that, I needed to think about how to handle the marriage system.
It was said that Goblins, Orcs, and Lizardmen all had the right to choose their partners based on strength.
That was presumably a custom aimed at producing stronger offspring from a species standpoint.
The issue that arose here was whether to allow polygamy.
I figured it would be fine to permit for women whose husbands had passed away. The Kijin supposedly could have children with anyone, but they'd said they weren't planning to — because having a child could drain a significant amount of Magicules, sometimes permanently if recovery didn't occur.
According to
…That was a bombshell!
Hey, hey!!! I've been naming people left and right! Don't drop that on me now!
Looking back, it was honestly a miracle I'd recovered my Magicules every time.
Going forward, I'd need to be much more careful about naming. Though I'd always assumed recovery was a given and had felt confident it would be fine.
Apparently, there were also two types of offspring.
The pattern where you only passed on your seed, and the pattern where you were serious about it.
With the former, the child would inherit some of your abilities but would be weak. With the latter, they'd inherit all abilities powerfully.
When you were serious about procreation, it even reduced your lifespan, apparently.
"I'm fine staying single! I'm not interested anyway!"
Was the kind of thing he said.
On a different note, it was different for women.
Those of non-strong species could refuse. If you were strong enough to force yourself on someone, then by definition the other party was weaker, but even resorting to underhanded methods wouldn't result in a child, apparently.
A woman only had the right to bear children with a partner she acknowledged.
This was apparently common among high-ranking monsters and demonoids.
The Goblins and certain demi-human races didn't have that same level of compulsion — they were no different from humans.
Previously, they'd been having five to ten children, and now it had dropped to one or two.
From the perspective of continuing the bloodline, polygamy was acceptable — but limited to widows only!
That was the rule I decided on. If problems arose, we'd revise it.
Confession ceremonies would be held at the start of each month, and couples who successfully paired up would receive a home. We'd establish that as a custom.
Single folks would stay in the lodging houses.
Well, once someone rose to a higher position, they'd be free to have their own home.
I planned to set things up in a way that minimized complaints.
Ultimately, completely eliminating everyone's grievances was probably impossible, but it seemed a custom had taken shape where matters were left to my judgment.
When opinions clashed and a dispute threatened to break out, they would defer the decision to me.
That said, the elders could usually settle most things on their own — it was only in truly exceptional cases.
Everyone was considerate enough to try not to trouble me with the small stuff.
What surprised me was that the monsters actually had a stronger sense of cooperation than I'd expected.
Socialism, capitalism — both had their arguments, but corruption was an unavoidable constant in either system.
A country ruled by a king who always made the right decision. One where everyone was equal under the king.
It was an impossible fairy tale. And yet…
I decided to aim for it.
I could only pray that I myself wouldn't become corrupted. And if I ever did, I'd want someone to put me down.
Watching the confession ceremony, my mind wandered to those thoughts.
Now then — life in the town had stabilized, and the rules of daily living had been established. It was about time I went to a human town.
After all, I could now take human form, and I wanted to go sightseeing openly.
Normally, in a reincarnation-in-another-world story, this would be one of the first events, but I still hadn't encountered that many humans.
There were the guys who hassled me in the dwarf town,
When I thought about it, over a year had passed, and my human contact was sorely lacking.
I couldn't forget my original goal of meeting "otherworlders" either.
Two names had appeared in the fragments of Shizu-san's memories — her two disciples: Kagurazaka Yuuki and Sakaguchi Hinata.
I wanted to meet both of them, but Sakaguchi Hinata sounded like trouble.
Still, there was something nagging at me — why had the kind Shizu-san abandoned Sakaguchi Hinata?
As a senior, as a fellow countryman, couldn't she have guided her? I felt I needed to meet her to find out.
Predator could inherit a portion of its target's memories, but it wasn't omnipotent. Memories were just that delicate.
I'd been thinking for a while now that I wanted to meet this person in person and verify the details.
The trio had been getting things arranged with the Free Guild's Guild Master, and they'd even brought a letter for me.
The letter expressed a desire to meet me once.
Even if it was just a branch in a small nation, this person was still calling themselves a Guild Master, and they had connections.
I wanted to meet and have them do me various favors.
If things went well, they might even write me an introduction letter to the Free Guild's Supreme Commander in the Royal Capital — Kagurazaka Yuuki.
The town had settled down, and I figured the residents could manage on their own for a while without me around.
Which meant something was going to become necessary.
That's right — money!
That trio seemed pretty broke and didn't have much on them. I hadn't expected them to, anyway.
I wanted to buy vegetable seedlings in town, and there might be rare Magic Stones or crafts available too.
I'd initially thought about selling my
The reason was simple: Magisteel was rare.
We needed it for arming ourselves, so selling it would be a waste.
Magisteel was also indispensable for developing mounted weapons — its shape-shifting property allowed for switching between slashing and blunt attacks, and it was convenient for transport too.
We had a lot of it, but it was a finite resource. Until we could secure a reliable supply chain, I decided to stop any outflow.
As for iron ore, a mine had been discovered in part of the mountainous region, and the Hobgoblin miners provided regular deliveries.
Kurobei and Kaijin were making steady progress on crafting iron-based weapons.
Weapons and armor could be self-sufficient, but we also needed Magic Stones to make magical gear.
On top of that, research required a huge quantity of Magic Stones. Magic Stones were apparently processed by humans using Spirit Engineering, and natural ones were rare.
They extracted something called a "Magic Crystal" from defeated monsters and processed it.
It required large-scale factory equipment, and only the Free Guild headquarters had the capability to process them.
Magic Crystals, which rarely appeared when monsters were slain, were collected at each branch and sent to the center. The volume determined how much support funding each branch received.
That was how the system worked. Adventurers hunted monsters not only to prevent damage but also for profit.
It was a well-designed system.
Which meant the only way to get Magic Stones was to purchase them…
And once again, we hit the wall of money.
So how could we earn money?
Working for it ourselves was far too inefficient.
Even selling something — we were still in the early stages with vegetables, and I couldn't imagine fetching high prices for them.
Weapons and armor — no plans to sell those aside from our own use.
So was there nothing we could sell?
Actually, there was! Because I'd anticipated this, I'd had
That's right — Hippokute herbs!
I called for Gabiru.
"Gabiru. How's the cultivation going?"
"Heh heh heh, I'm glad you asked! It's going splendidly! This is the fruit of my labor!"
As he said this, he proudly presented a blade of grass to me.
It was a weed.
Without a word, I blasted him with Black Lightning.
Don't worry — he wouldn't die. I'd perfected my power calibration recently.
"Gwaaaah! What was that for?! What did I do?!"
"You idiot! That's a weed! What the hell have you been growing?!"
"H-how unexpected! My sincerest apologies! I, Gabiru, may have been a little hasty in seeking results!"
"A 'little hasty'? That doesn't even begin to cover it! Geez. Be more careful! It's actually harder to grow weeds than anything else in that high-density Magicule environment!"
Despite that exchange, things had mostly gone according to plan.
The cultivation of the rare Hippokute herb had progressed smoothly.
Teaching Gabiru how to distinguish the herb from actual weeds had been the hardest part, if anything.
Anyway, Gabiru had been strutting around the cave like he owned the place and had essentially become its master.
Monsters would flee at the mere sight of him.
His Dragofolk subordinates were producing individuals who could defeat giant centipedes one-on-one, and the cave had essentially become their domain.
He was honestly quite capable. I'd never tell him that, of course, and I certainly wouldn't praise him.
That guy was the type who got carried away and failed the moment you praised him. Just like me.
Takes one to know one. So I'd left the cultivation to him, and a substantial amount of Hippokute herbs were being produced.
I called for Kaijin and showed him the Hippokute herbs.
Beside them were Recovery Potions made from the mass-produced herbs. Appraising them returned a result of "High Quality."
This meant they were on par with natural ones — an excellent product.
I decided to broach the subject.
"Kaijin. If we sold these Recovery Potions in town, I think we could make good money. What do you think?"
Kaijin pondered for a moment.
"Hmm. Boss, that'd be tricky. These potions are too good."
"The extraction efficiency is too high. They're impossibly complete!"
He explained further.
These Recovery Potions had a 99% extraction rate, placing them in the category of Complete Recovery Potions — the highest grade.
Normally, 98% was the upper limit, and even dwarf technology couldn't go beyond that.
At that 98% extraction rate, the potions were already sold as High-Grade Recovery Potions at premium prices.
And so on.
"So if we put these on the market…"
"We'd stick out like a sore thumb!"
A voice came from the sky in response — yet my Magic Sense hadn't detected a thing.
"It's been a while, Kaijin! And you, Slime — do you remember me?"
As the voice spoke, a figure descended from the sky riding a winged horse. A magnificent white steed with wings — a pegasus, then. The figure dismounted and stepped onto the ground.
I'd never forget that face — the Dwarven King! The Hero King
"Y-your Majesty! Why — how on earth did you come here?!
A-and more to the point — did you escape from the palace?!"
Kaijin's eyes nearly popped out of his head in shock.
Well, naturally. Here was the king — no, he was accompanied by someone else. The two of them had traveled all the way here!
Wait a second — the other guy looked familiar…
Hey — wasn't that Vester?! The guy who'd tried to set a trap for us… What was he doing here?
"Hmph! I had a hundred guards watching me, and not a single one noticed I slipped away!
They've gone soft. I'll have to put them through rigorous training when I get back!"
"Y-your Majesty, but in your guards' defense…"
"Hmm? Kaijin, did you have something to say?"
"N-no! Nothing at all!"
"Good! Then we're fine!"
Oblivious to my thoughts, the two of them carried on their exchange right in front of me.
The king had snuck out — what was even happening here?!
We relocated to have a proper conversation.
It wasn't a makeshift arrangement — the central building had been properly constructed. This building housed the rooms of the town's key figures, where they conducted their business.
We were in a small conference room within that building.
"So, Your Majesty, what exactly is going on here? You've even brought Vester with you…"
"Well! It's simple, really!
I was the one who unilaterally declared you off-limits and had you expelled from the Dwarven Kingdom. So I came personally to make amends.
As for this fellow Vester — I held him accountable for scheming against you and banned him from the royal palace as well. Figured it'd be a waste to let this capable man just sit around, so I brought him along."
"…"
"'So I brought him along' isn't an answer!
Your Majesty — surely you understand? You don't intend for Vester to work here, do you?"
"Hmm? Is that not acceptable?"
"It's not a matter of whether it's acceptable! Wouldn't it lead to the leakage of Vester's techniques?"
Kaijin pressed the issue with complete seriousness.
His earnest nature showed — he was desperately interrogating the king.
The king, on the other hand, brushed it off with a nonchalant expression. The dignified persona he'd shown before wasn't the real him — this was the king's true nature.
As for Vester himself, he seemed completely bewildered by everything.
"Leakage, you say… The moment you left, we had already lost those techniques!
In truth, I even considered eliminating you — yes, I was that serious!"
The Dwarven King's expression turned grave as he said this.
"Y-your Majesty, that's…"
"I'm not joking! I stopped myself in the end, of course — I don't do pointless things.
The reason I brought Vester here is because I want him to work to his fullest!"
Those words lit a fire in Vester's eyes.
"Your Majesty!"
"Don't get the wrong idea, Vester. I did have expectations of you — that's true. I won't let you serve me, but I'll permit you to work here to your heart's content. That's all there is to it!"
"Your Majesty, does that mean you're authorizing us to freely share Dwarven techniques here without any restraint?!"
Kaijin panicked.
"Hmph. Listen carefully. If you're here, then this place could be said to be at the forefront of technology. Understand?
Not as king of the Dwarven Kingdom, but as your friend, I'm interested. Got it?
The Dwarven Kingdom hereby enters into a formal Non-Aggression Pact with this settlement, effective today!
But that's just the surface. What I truly want is a Mutual Technology Sharing Agreement behind the scenes. This is something that can never be made public, no matter what.
So? Are you willing to enter into both agreements?"
He stared at me with a serious gaze and said this.
A Non-Aggression Pact plus a Mutual Technology Sharing Agreement? That was everything we could have asked for!
He was officially recognizing us as a legitimate collective.
"Are you sure? Recognizing us as a nation is essentially what that means, isn't it?"
In response to my question: "Of course. I believe it's mutually beneficial.
Also, I'm curious — what's the name of this nation?"
Huh? The name of the nation?
Kaijin and I looked at each other.
"We haven't decided on one yet…"
"Now that you mention it…"
It suddenly dawned on us — we'd never actually picked one.
King Gazel Dwargo announced he'd be staying for the day.
With a Pegasus, the trip between the kingdom and here apparently took about a day.
However, nighttime flight was dangerous, so he planned to leave the next morning.
We gathered the key executives and held an emergency meeting to decide on a name for the nation.
And so it was decided: the monster town of "Tempest."
They'd nearly named it after me — Rimuru — and I had to stop them out of sheer embarrassment. Tempest was barely tolerable.
It didn't feel like it was just about me, and the sound of it was just about acceptable.
That night, with the town's name decided, everyone threw a wild celebration.
The town had plenty of food, so we were able to put out decent-quality dishes.
The Dwarven King seemed more than satisfied with the food, which exceeded his expectations.
That was largely thanks to Shuna's incredible cooking skills, of course.
Under the guise of "entertainment," the Dwarven King proposed a sparring match.
He grumbled about how he never got to move his body properly in the palace. He was surprisingly easygoing, and we'd already moved to a first-name basis here…
But a sparring match with him seemed like a bad idea. I thought so, but the king wouldn't hear of it.
He had his reasons, apparently.
Left with no choice, I agreed to be his opponent.
I transformed into human form.
Having consumed the Pig-Headed Demon Lord, my body had grown slightly larger.
I was no longer child-sized — more like the height of a young boy or girl now. Maybe just under 150 cm? I felt like I'd grown a little.
We each took wooden training swords and squared off.
On Hakuro's signal, the match began.
"Begin!"
In an instant, the king vanished from in front of me. None of my senses caught him.
This is bad — and in that very moment, my wooden sword was sent flying from a frontal strike.
It was over. I'd lost in a single instant.
So this… was the Dwarven King. I'd just glimpsed a fraction of a Hero's true power!
"Listen, Rimuru. You didn't notice me coming from the sky in the first place.
Your Magic Sense is certainly remarkable. However, there are countless ways to get around it.
I predicted your detection method and found a way to counter it. That's the basics of battle! Train harder. If you rely on your abilities alone, you'll never grow!"
So that was what he wanted to say…
I accepted it and felt genuinely grateful.
"Thanks, Gazel. Next time we meet, it won't be this easy!"
"Hmph. Big talk from a brat!"
As our match ended, the monsters' cheers echoed across the square.
Excitement and energy filled the plaza.
Benimaru,
Hakuro nodded, a pleased smile spreading across his face.
We still had a long way to go. That was the reality this event drove home.
The celebration continued late into the night, and everyone let loose and had a blast.
The next day, the formal mediation with Dwarven King Gazel Dwargo was carried out, and both treaties were officially signed.
This was the first time in history that the monster town of "Tempest" made its appearance on record.