A group of adventurers were preparing to set out on an investigation into the forest.
They were a trio of B-Rank adventurers: Kabal, Elen, and
The activation of monsters had been getting worse lately, and merchant caravans no longer headed toward the forest. Hiring guards was too expensive, making the trips unprofitable.
As a result, the only way to reach the forest was on foot.
Though, to be fair, even the road leading to the "
Just when they had finished their preparations and were about to depart, a figure approached them and called out.
"Pardon me. If you're heading into the forest, might I join you for part of the way?"
The voice was impossible to place — neither clearly male nor female, neither old nor young.
Their expression was hidden.
They were wearing a mask.
A beautiful face, expressionless. The mask radiated a suspicious aura… or so one might think.
"Sure, why not?"
"Hey! You! I'm the leader here — I haven't even given permission yet. Seriously, what's wrong with you?!"
"Well, once the big sister decides something, there's no point arguing, is there?"
The trio agreed with almost no deliberation.
"Much appreciated."
With that single sentence, the mysterious figure fell silent, walked behind them, and followed along without another word.
And so, the three adventurers set off on their investigation once more — now with one additional companion.
*Clank, clank.* *Clank, clank. Clink! Clink! Thud!* The sounds of chopping wood and hammering nails echoed through the forest.
They were clearing land for a new town and building houses in sequence.
Underground water and sewage pipes were being installed first, so no houses had been built yet — just open plots of land.
The water system was designed to draw directly from the river.
While construction was still underway, they planned to build a water management facility. The idea was to purify the water there and distribute it to each household.
The sewage system used wooden troughs buried underground. The interior of the wood had been treated with preservative to prevent rot and reinforced with cement.
That was the work currently underway. Fortunately, they had been able to obtain lime-based materials from a nearby mountain.
At the edge of town, they were building a sewage treatment facility that would also produce fertilizer.
A temporary building — roughly the size of a large gymnasium — had already been erected. It served as temporary lodging for the workers. Being makeshift, it was rather roughly constructed.
The district layout was progressing smoothly.
The area nearest the cave was designated as the upper tier, where my residence would be built.
From there, the tribal leaders' homes would stretch outward, with the residents' houses forming a surrounding ring.
Because the layout had been planned from the start, it felt orderly and clean rather than chaotic.
The roads formed a cross pattern, making it easy to mobilize in groups when needed.
Well, I suppose that also made it easier to attack, in a way.
In hindsight, evolving the young goblins into Hobgoblins first had been the right call.
Their intelligence had developed rapidly, and they had excellent memories.
Their physiques had also improved — they were stronger now.
According to the dwarves, goblins were F-Rank monsters, but Hobgoblins were equivalent to C- to D-Rank.
In fact, it made more sense to count them as "one person, two people" rather than "one goblin, two goblins."
In short, there was wide variation. Their rating depended on their equipment, individual occupation, and skill level.
Now that it was pointed out, the strength difference between individuals was quite significant.
The four I had appointed as Monarchs appeared to have notably higher abilities than the rest.
And
"Oh! So this is where you were! I've been searching everywhere!"
Could this guy be any more of a monster? That was what I wanted to say — he had become so muscular and massive.
Even compared to the Kijin, he was not inferior — in fact, he seemed to tower over them! At least, that was what
It wasn't just a matter of a name change; the transformation must have come from assigning him an occupation.
The ecology of monsters truly remained a mystery.
Perhaps I should try appointing a few others and see what happened.
"Is something the matter?"
"Sir! We have captured some suspicious individuals and have come to report."
"Suspicious? Some kind of monster faction?"
"No, sir, they are humans. As per your orders, we have not made any moves against them."
"Humans? What are they doing all the way out here?"
Humans… here?
This was it! I needed to get on good terms with them!
Well, if they turned out to be the same kind of idiots as those adventurers from before, I'd quietly dispose of them and feed them to the monsters…
"Apparently, they were fighting a swarm of Giant Ants, and Rigul's security squad rescued and took them into custody…
It seems they had been investigating this area. We thought it best to consult you for a decision."
Hmm.
Some country had sent an exploration team here, perhaps?
I had confirmed with the dwarves — the Jura Forest was a neutral zone belonging to no nation.
It was entirely possible that some country was conducting reconnaissance with territorial expansion in mind.
If so, this could become troublesome…
I'd think about it after meeting them.
"Right! Let's meet them. Take me to them!"
With that, I hopped onto Rigurd's shoulder.
I had sent
Walking on my own was no different, but a slime's eye level was annoyingly low.
To maintain my dignity, I didn't want others looking down at me from above.
…Okay, that was just an excuse!
Rigurd carried me on his shoulder and led the way to where the captured adventurers were being held.
I wondered what kind of people they were?
As I was mulling that over, I heard— "Hey! You! That's the one I was going for!"
"That's awful! That's the piece of meat I was aiming for!"
"When it comes to food, the boss and I don't back down!"
*Munch munch.* What a boisterous commotion.
"……"
In response to my silent inquiry— "S-sorry. It seems their supplies were taken by the ants, so we provided them with food…"
Hmm.
Rigurd, that guy — he did have a kind side after all.
"No, that's fine. In fact, good on you for noticing! Being kind to people in trouble — that's a good thing!"
I praised him for it.
Gradually, the others were becoming able to lead without needing to consult me on every decision.
That was a good thing, I thought.
"Ha ha!! From now on, I shall endeavor to never cause Lord Rimuru any trouble!"
Well, at least his stiffness hadn't changed.
Satisfied, I entered the makeshift tent.
A guard at the entrance opened the door for me.
All eyes turned to me.
Adventurers with mouths stuffed full of vegetables and meat, staring wide-eyed at me. Making funny faces without any awareness of it…
Hmm? They looked familiar somehow.
Oh! The trio I had passed in the cave!
One person was someone I hadn't seen before, though…
They were wearing a mask — how were they eating, exactly?
*Munch munch.* They were eating vigorously and entirely at their own pace.
But seriously — grilled meat? Ugh… If only I had a sense of taste…
Good old meat. Ahh… Could my sense of taste be lying around somewhere…
Whoops, my thoughts were heading in a strange direction again.
Rigurd approached the seat of honor and set me down.
"Guests, I regret we have no grand hospitality to offer, but please make yourselves at ease.
This is our master, Lord Rimuru!"
He introduced me, then sat down beside me.
I heard the sound of someone gulping down a mouthful of food.
Then— "A Slime!?"
*Munch munch.* Total shock.
One person's reaction was a bit odd… Oh well.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Rimuru, a slime. Not a bad slime, I promise!"
*Pffft!* My greeting caused the masked figure to spray their drink.
However, the mask caught the spray, preventing the contents from scattering.
How rude.
They were clearly startled by the fact that a slime could speak.
The trio was equally surprised, but fortunately, none of them had food in their mouths at the time.
So, what kind of people were these?
I hoped they were decent humans…
Having recovered, the one in front spoke.
"My apologies! We never imagined we'd be saved by the Demonfolk, but you have our sincere gratitude!"
"Oh! We're human adventurers! This meat is so delicious!
We've been running for three days without a proper meal… Thank you so much!"
"Thanks a bunch! You really saved us. But I never would've guessed that Hobgoblins were building a village in a place like this."
"Ahem, cough, gulp. Glug glug."
No rush.
"Well, take your time finishing your meal, and once you're done, tell me what happened."
And so I waited for them to finish eating.
In hindsight, they should have called me after they were done, but they probably weren't that considerate yet.
Well, they had been in a panic, so I couldn't blame them too much. It was something to work on going forward.
And honestly, even I hadn't anticipated human guests — or prisoners — showing up, so it was understandable.
Not wanting to make things awkward, I stepped out of the tent.
I instructed the guard to escort them to my private tent near the cave once they had finished eating.
Rigurd looked apologetic, but I told him: "Don't worry about it. It's something we'll improve on."
He was growing in his own way, after all.
Not everything goes perfectly from the start.
I entered my tent and waited comfortably.
Rigurd had Gobrina prepare tea for me.
It seemed to be a better quality than what had been served before, but unfortunately, I couldn't taste it.
The influence of evolution showed up in even these small details.
It was fascinating. This assured me that a genuine culture would take root here.
Time passed, and eventually— "Sorry for the intrusion earlier!" — saying this, four people entered.
The makeshift tent felt a little cramped.
Gobrina stepped aside as another Gobrina came in carrying tea.
See? Even in little ways like this, they had grown.
On evenings when I drank with the dwarves and discussed culture and daily life, I took note of it all.
"Now then, let me introduce myself properly. I'm Rimuru, the master of this place. What brings you here?"
My question had been expected, it seemed.
I had given them time to discuss among themselves, so they apparently had their answers ready.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Kabal. I'm the leader of this party, more or less.
This is Elen, and this is Gido.
Think of us as B-Rank adventurers."
"Hi there! I'm Elen!"
"The name's Gido. Nice to meet ya!"
So these three really were a party.
B-Rank meant they were reasonably strong, but I doubted they could handle the cave…
And the fourth person?
"And this is
"I'm Shizu."
The voice was impossible to place — neither clearly male nor female, neither old nor young.
But determining their gender was trivial for me. When I could even tell goblins apart, this was child's play.
She was female. And I had a certain suspicion.
Could this person… be Japanese?
Something about her just screamed it.
The way she drank tea. The way she sat in seiza.
I wasn't well-versed enough in this world's customs to say for certain, but wasn't seiza rather unusual here?
Indeed, the other three weren't sitting that way.
They sat cross-legged on wolf-pelt rugs. Even Elen lounged in a casual, side-sitting posture.
(I just realized — these guys are way too relaxed. Do people in this world have no sense of danger?)
Right, enough of that. Back to the conversation.
"That's very kind of you. So?"
I urged them to continue.
……
…
I listened to their story.
These people had no concept of suspicion — they blabbed everything they'd been doing without hesitation.
According to them, they had received a request from the Guild to investigate unusual activity in this area.
The problem was, as they put it: "When they tell you to investigate something suspicious, how are we supposed to know what's suspicious?!"
"Exactly! They should have told us specifically what to look for!"
"No matter how good we say we are at investigation, there are limits, you know!"
And so on — they started badmouthing the Guild Master.
Hopeless, the lot of them… I sympathized with the Guild Master.
To top it off, they had spotted a suspicious-looking boulder with a hole in it and thought, "That's it!" — then stabbed a sword into it…
Which turned out to be a Giant Ant nest. I was speechless.
Why on earth did they choose to stab a sword into it?! I wanted to demand an answer. I wanted to grill them!
It was a miracle they had survived this long.
From there, they had spent three days fleeing desperately, lost their supplies, and ended up here.
Honestly, all I could say was — congratulations on making it this far.
"But wait — there really isn't anything suspicious around here, is there? If anything, maybe the cave?"
When I asked— "No, no, there was nothing in there!
You know what people say, right? Like, 'An evil dragon is sealed inside!' or whatever.
We stayed in there for two weeks investigating — couldn't even take a bath — and there was absolutely nothing!"
"Hey, idiot! You really shouldn't be saying stuff like that!"
"How should I know? She's the one who blurted it out! It's got nothing to do with me!"
Elen let the secret slip casually.
The two men panicked.
Well, I already knew — we had passed each other on the way out.
Speaking of which, bath culture existed in this world… I definitely wanted to build a bathhouse in this town too.
But setting that aside— "You said you investigated the cave, but why did you go in there in the first place?"
They hadn't come looking for treasure, it seemed.
They shook their heads with a resigned air.
"Well, the cat's out of the bag now. Basically, as Elen said, rumors started spreading that the evil dragon's presence had disappeared…"
I see.
I had no way of knowing, but Veldora's disappearance had apparently caused a huge stir among humans.
A creature that was supposed to be sealed away — and all it took was for it to vanish for people to panic.
It really had been one heck of a dragon. Talkative and good-natured, but still…
The ripple effects were enormous.
To think people would actually send investigation teams…
Maybe building the town near the cave had been a mistake?
"On top of that, the inside has such high Magicule concentration that we brought detection stones with us, but the readings were lower than expected.
We couldn't detect any anomalies at all.
Now that cave still has a higher concentration than normal, but it's basically become just an ordinary cave."
"Well, there are tons of strong monsters in there, so it's definitely not safe to enter! And there was no treasure, no ores — nothing! No benefit at all to fighting the dangerous monsters and going inside!"
"If you searched around, you might find equipment from some Thieves lying about, but it probably wouldn't be worth much."
My heart skipped a beat.
The ores inside… I was the culprit who had cleared out everything that stood out!
Well, no worries. As long as I didn't say anything, they'd never know!
The conversation continued.
Since they had already let things slip, they saw no point in holding back and provided all sorts of information.
Turned out, they were actually pretty decent people.
With the cave's value diminished, investigation visits here would likely decrease too.
Moving the town had crossed my mind as a worst-case scenario, but it should be fine now.
There was no country that claimed ownership of this area, after all, so no one had grounds to complain.
Just to be sure— "By the way, as you can see, we're in the process of building a town here. Do you think the Guild would have any objections?"
I asked.
"Nah… I don't think so?"
"Yeah… It's not really the Guild's business. What about the country, though?"
"Hmm… I wouldn't know about that."
Fair enough. Even the Guild members wouldn't know whether a country would intervene.
Just as I was thinking that— The masked woman, Shizu, who had been quietly listening the whole time, let out a groan!!!
G-groaaarrrrrr!!!!!
It came on without warning!
I'm completely wiped. Tomorrow I've got a meeting too, so this might be bad…
If I can't update tomorrow, I'm sorry!