I was staring at a single blade, utterly entranced.
It was an unremarkable katana. Neither too large nor too small in size.
Not as big as an ōdachi—just a regular katana.
Its curvature was more pronounced than a standard uchigatana, giving it an elegant feel.
The masterpiece forged by Kurobei.
You could call it a divine blade.
It was such a remarkable piece that it seemed to qualify as Mythical-grade.
It was the finest sword crafted from Mythical-grade materials that were eternal and unchanging. Brand new—freshly made—yet its performance was extraordinary.
It fit my hand superbly, too, as though I could wield it at full power right away.
That property of being eternal and unchanging didn't mean it couldn't evolve. It referred to the ability to repair itself even if degraded or damaged.
Since it had no attribute in its pure state, its grade would probably be Legendary, but I could assign an attribute myself, so there was no issue. In effect, I had acquired a Mythical-grade weapon.
"Man, swords really are cool—"
I murmured while gazing at the beautiful temper line along the blade.
The craftsmanship was so impressive I could stare at it forever, and that was exactly how I'd been spending every day recently.
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
I'd been lazing around my office, lounging about, but it seemed I had a guest.
I shifted back into humanoid form and called out, "Come in."
The door opened, and
She bowed toward me and said, "Rimuru-sama, you have a visitor. He says his name is
"Dino? Oh, that's one of the Demon Lords, isn't it? What's he doing here?"
"Demon Lord? Shall I summon Brother and have the guard stand ready?"
"No, no need. If it somehow comes to a fight, just send
That said, I doubt there's anything to worry about. I think he's probably just here to hang out."
With that, I rose from my seat.
There was no reason to be concerned. I vaguely recalled Dino had mentioned something about dropping by before.
"Understood. I'll make the arrangements."
Shuna nodded and led me toward the guest room.
Having so many rooms was actually a blessing. I used them depending on the visitor.
For merchants and nobles, the lavish parlor.
For powerful monsters or suspicious individuals, a modest but sturdy room.
The reasoning was simple—if someone trashed the fancy room, the losses would be significant.
Following Shuna inside, I found Dino lounging about in a completely disheveled state.
He was sprawled on the sofa, looking thoroughly relaxed.
"Yo, long time no see. How've you been?"
Noticing me, he greeted me without even getting up.
Shuna shot him an irritated look but said nothing, bowed, and left the room.
She'd probably gone to prepare tea.
"Yeah, I've been doing alright. No major problems, but I can't exactly say it's all been easy."
I answered as I took the chair opposite him.
I observed Dino. He had the same laid-back aura as the last time we met.
However, there was an unmistakable undercurrent of danger about him—enough to put Shuna on guard.
"What's that look for? Sounds like you've got problems. Looks troublesome."
"You could say that. Things are never simple, are they? So, what brings you here?"
"Huh? Like I said before, I'm just here to visit?"
Shuna returned with tea and cake.
In the quiet room, she set everything out as though nothing were out of the ordinary, bowed, and withdrew.
She was a complete professional.
I took a sip of tea and turned my gaze to Dino.
Resigned to being honest, he said, "Well, actually,
So I was racking my brain about what to do, and then I remembered that his sons are being taken care of at this place.
So! I'd like to be taken care of here too!"
"Uh, no."
"—Huh?"
"What?"
Silence fell over the room once more.
I didn't care if we were acquaintances—I had no intention of taking in someone this dubious. This guy was definitely the "I don't want to work!" type.
"Wait, hold on. So what then? Are you telling me to get lost?"
"No, I'm telling you to work."
"Don't be ridiculous! I have a philosophy about not working.
For the past several hundred years, I haven't earned a single coin on my own, and I've never spent my own money on food or drink!"
"Wow, impressive. Well, once you're done eating, you can leave."
Ignoring Dino's words, I reached for the cake.
The snack Shuna had prepared was cream puffs.
Delicious. I didn't think I'd ever get tired of these.
Dino grabbed a cream puff too, bit into it, and said, "Fine. Make me a resident of this country then.
If I can eat something this good every day, I'll have no regrets.
Rimuru—no, Rimuru-sama. I'll do whatever you command!"
He started spouting nonsense like a sleepwalker.
I had no intention of hiring him...
"Jeez, we've only met once, you know? What's your real objective?"
I finished my cream puff, took a sip of tea, and asked him seriously.
Dino shrugged, dropping the clownish act, and answered, "Actually, Guy told me I should stay in this country.
He wouldn't tell me why. That guy's self-centered like that.
Cross him and he gets annoying, and Dagruel really did kick me out for real.
Thinking about it is just a pain anyway, so here I am."
"Guy—the redhead—said that?"
"Yeah, the redhead."
Hmm.
He didn't seem to be lying.
It was probably something Guy had seriously proposed.
"Oh, right. I was holding onto a letter from Guy."
Saying that, Dino produced a letter and handed it to me.
It bore a seal, and Demon Aura.
Without question, I could sense
The message was one line: "Take care of Dino for me."
"See?"
I nodded at Dino's prompting and considered.
Annoying as it was, making an enemy of Guy was out of the question.
At the very least, I needed to deal with the Empire and Yuuki first before I could even think about anything else.
Taking care of just Dino wasn't a big deal, so I might as well accept.
But just letting him loaf around wasn't ideal either—I hadn't exactly invited him, and it felt wrong to simply let him do nothing.
Then it hit me.
This guy couldn't handle
Ramiris was currently using the facilities I'd set up in her room within the labyrinth, working on some kind of research and development.
She occasionally stopped by the joint development room to exchange ideas. By now, she'd become the idol of the development team, and her popularity was sky-high.
And that Ramiris had been looking for an assistant. Apparently,
Perfect. I'd make Dino Ramiris's assistant.
"Alright, deal. But I'm going to put you to work."
"What!?"
"Well, 'work' might be putting it strongly. I'd like you to assist Ramiris.
She seems to be having a great time with it, and honestly, I'd join in myself if I could.
I help out when I have time, but I've been a bit busy lately...
Anyway, don't overthink it. Just do what you can and that'll be fine."
"Hmph. Fine. What does it involve?"
"Hm? Oh, it's pretty straightforward. You'd mostly just follow Ramiris's instructions."
I doubted a layman could contribute much to actual research and development.
Moving supplies around, helping collect data—that was probably the extent of it.
I stood up and decided to escort Dino to Ramiris's lab.
The modification plan for Beretta that I'd been working on for a while was complete, and Ramiris and I had been carrying out the upgrades together. At Ramiris's request for future facility operations, I'd mass-produced and installed a large number of cultivation capsules.
A cultivation capsule was the same type of high-density glass container that had been used during Beretta's modification—something that could incubate monsters and the like inside.
It came equipped with a Magicule injection port, allowing Magicules at controlled concentrations to be fed in. The interior was filled with magical water—water that had absorbed a large volume of Magicules inside my stomach from the skill Predator—and the system maintained a constant state by injecting Magicules whenever the concentration dropped.
We'd confirmed that monsters grown inside these capsules were significantly stronger than those born naturally. The supply of Magicules was apparently provided by Veldora.
As always, they got along splendidly. It was heartwarming.
As a side note, I'd been asked to prepare one thousand capsules last time, and they'd all been installed.
I'd asked what she needed so many for, but she wouldn't tell me.
"I want to work too! Please, I promise I'll be useful!"
When she'd asked me with those watery eyes, I couldn't refuse.
Looking back, even I was being used by Ramiris.
Well, Ramiris might be an airhead, but she was brilliant. Her mastery of Spirit Engineering seemed flawless, and she'd visited numerous times to study Magitech engineering as well.
Having lived for so long, she'd already mastered the laws of physics. Surprisingly, she had all the qualifications of a researcher.
If Ramiris said something would be useful, there was no reason to think she was just being thoughtless.
She'd also asked me to build various other things, and I was curious to see how those had turned out.
I'd been too busy to check in recently, so this was a good opportunity.
I'd use the trip to escort Dino as an excuse to see how things were progressing myself.
Passing through the door in Veldora's room, we arrived at Ramiris's research facility.
Oh? I didn't see Veldora anywhere. Where had he gone off to?
"Hey, why are the Magicules so dense in here?"
"Ah, this is Veldora's room.
Don't touch anything without permission—he'll fly into a rage."
"Seriously?! Veldora lives HERE?!
I had a feeling you two were more than mere acquaintances, but having him in a place like this...
No wonder his presence suddenly vanished."
"Yeah, I think that's because he learned to control his Magicules.
Before, his Demon Aura leaked everywhere and he was just pouring out Magicules nonstop.
Having people settle in a country of monsters wouldn't work with that, so I had him practice until he could control it."
"You're kidding?! Veldora—the guy who went on his merry way and became King of the Great Forest of Jura—is taking orders?!
And he can suppress his Demon Aura to the point that even I can't detect it!?"
"Huh? Oh, he'll do pretty much anything if you ask. He's not as selfish as you'd think.
As for his Demon Aura, he said it was because it looked cool, but he apparently practiced really hard.
Besides... if anyone's selfish, it's Milim."
That was something I could only say because Milim wasn't here.
Even Milim couldn't handle
Dino seemed rather shaken, so I told him about some of the troubles Milim had caused me recently as we headed into the lab.
He wasn't listening to even half of it, but it was just venting, so no harm done.
Now then, looking around inside, I found Veldora helping Ramiris.
As usual, he was being put to work by her. What a diligent dragon.
He grumbled about it, but in the end he always helped out.
He didn't seem to mind being called her apprentice, and was surprisingly soft on Ramiris.
Vester was there too—supposedly participating in joint research, though he'd apparently delegated the Recovery
Ramiris and Veldora were grinning wickedly, clearly having a great time, while Vester looked utterly drained and lifeless.
Was he going to be okay? I was a little worried.
"Hey. How's it going? Research moving along?"
I greeted them casually as I walked further in.
Vester stopped writing in his documents, looked up at me, and stood.
"Rimuru-sama. It's been a while."
"Yeah, don't get up. So, are you alright? You look kind of run ragged."
"I'd like to say I'm fine, but... the research being conducted here is hard on the heart..."
Hmm? He seemed reluctant to elaborate.
Veldora had noticed me—he came over without any surprise.
"Oh, it's been a while. I've been helping out here too.
Ramiris kept insisting, so I couldn't really refuse."
"I appreciate it. She did say she was short-handed.
Today, I brought an assistant to meet her demands.
He won't have any academic knowledge, but I think he can handle the physical labor."
"Hi there! Rimuru, I've been waiting!
Having the Master help out has been a huge help.
And the research has really been progressing!"
"Oh? Looking forward to it.
Ramiris, you know about this, right?
Starting today, Dino here is going to help you out.
Feel free to put him to work."
I then introduced Dino to Veldora and Vester as well.
Dino was looking around with apparent curiosity, and he gave a proper greeting when introduced.
"Name's Dino. I'm technically one of the Demon Lords.
Don't want to work, but I've been roped into helping out. Nice to meet you."
It was, to put it mildly, the most unenthusiastic introduction imaginable.
But no matter. For just helping out, he'd probably manage.
After the introductions were done, I asked Vester why he was here and what the research had been about.
Vester had been brought here because Ramiris had essentially kidnapped him.
She'd discovered that Vester was working on my research in the joint research room, and she'd dragged him here on the grounds that she needed more help.
Apparently, she wanted someone for meticulous work—organizing documents, collecting data. Veldora refused to do any of that kind of work whatsoever, so her eyes had landed on Vester.
"Rough times, huh, Vester?"
I said to him, and he gave a resigned smile.
"Not at all. This is part of the job."
Just earlier, Dino had shown visible shock upon learning that Vester was a Demon Lord, but he'd recovered his composure in an instant.
It seemed he'd been so startled so many times that he'd developed an unshakable mind.
I'd originally thought he might prefer joining the joint research over Rimuru's personal projects, given his competence... but apparently that wasn't the case.
The reason he looked so worn out was the research itself.
And according to him, "Please, let me continue this research! Ramiris-sama's ideas are brilliant and fascinating.
Data comes in almost daily—I hardly have time to sleep!"
He pleaded with me, unable to hide his excitement.
The reason for his haggardness was simply a lack of sleep.
There was magical recovery, of course, but that didn't mean he could go without sleep entirely.
It seemed I'd need to force him to rest at some point.
Since Dino had arrived, it would be best to have Dino take over Vester's menial duties while he slept.
So that's what I did—I had Dino get a rundown of Vester's work from Vester himself. Hopefully they'd get along.
Vester explained things methodically and without hesitation, despite the other party being a Demon Lord.
I watched for a bit and everything seemed fine. I decided to leave it in their hands.
Now then, I was curious about the research results— I was led to the main hall where the cultivation capsules had been installed.
And upon seeing what floated inside them, I nearly spit out whatever was in my mouth.
WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!
That was the scream in my heart.
A while back, I'd been asked to produce something for the facility's security, and I'd made Bone Golems out of
They were technically fakes—assembled from bones made of Magisteel—but those same Bone Golems were now floating inside each and every cultivation capsule.
At their core, in place of a heart, a Spirit Magic Core pulsed with life. Fist-sized, but of premium quality.
These golems had been designed with an entirely different purpose from the toys Ramiris had made before.
Cursed seals had been inscribed onto the metal bones, and Magicules were beginning to materialize around the framework, enveloping the bones... It was like artificially recreating the process by which monsters were born.
No wonder Vester said he couldn't afford to sleep.
Spirit orbs had been embedded at each joint, though it seemed the spirits themselves hadn't yet taken residence.
Were they trying to artificially create a new species of warrior—a fusion of monster and spirit? Now that was an interesting concept.
"This is fascinating. Ramiris's idea?"
"Of course it is! Pretty amazing, huh?"
Ramiris puffed out her chest proudly.
Yes, she had every right to be proud. This was incredible.
"This is amazing. All of these?"
"Well, yeah. I'm confident it'll work. The question is whether they'll develop a will or not.
But even in the worst case, with no will, I can link them all to Beretta and keep them under complete control!"
To think she'd already considered things that far ahead.
It was uncharacteristically methodical for Ramiris.
I watched the Bone Golems drifting inside the cultivation capsules and tried to imagine their capabilities. They'd likely be born as high-ranking monsters—upper echelon even among the Demon Corps.
And there were one thousand of them. Being produced simultaneously.
"This is perfect. They'll really come in handy."
"Right? Right?
I got the idea after watching how Beretta worked before!"
Ramiris flew circles around me, clearly delighted.
This was shaping up to be a fighting force that exceeded expectations.
"But, we've hit a snag.
Even if I put a spirit in, if the attributes clash, there's repulsion...
It's just not working out. With attribute-less energy, I can't activate magic.
Beretta's energy could be made holy or demonic, but without attributes..."
The Spirit Magic Core was designed to concentrate Magicules.
It converted Magicule energy into the activation energy for Spirit Magic.
However, when spirits of different attributes were housed in the surrounding Spirit Orbs, the attribute effects repelled each other, resulting in a null state, and magic couldn't be activated.
"Can it at least output energy?"
"Yeah, but it just disperses into the air—no practical use..."
Ramiris looked disappointed.
So having magical power was meaningless if you couldn't actually cast magic.
Wait a second...
"Hey, what if I tried fitting these in?"
What I pulled out were the Magistones that Kurobei had given me earlier.
They were red, so these were Fire Magistones.
In truth, these Magistones contained a mechanism that gathered ambient Magicules and converted them into attribute-based magical energy.
The reason they increased in power when the owner infused their own magic was that more Magicules could be collected that way.
If I embedded these at key points, they might be able to use each attribute without issue.
"It could work!"
After hearing my explanation, Ramiris's face lit up.
She happily accepted the Magistones and said she'd ask Kurobei about the crafting method.
I could make them too, but I couldn't explain the principles behind them. All I knew was that I could replicate them.
Asking Kurobei was the right call.
Ramiris cheerfully resumed her work.
Veldora grumbled as always, but he was clearly enjoying himself.
Vester and Dino seemed to be getting along too, so I'd leave the rest to them.
Still, it was a little alarming how everyone was doing things behind my back.
I was also curious about
There seemed to be a lot of volunteers for the army as well. I should probably formalize the organization.
Ever since we'd leveraged the Council into entrusting us with defense duties, adventurers and mercenaries had been flooding in.
They were mostly staying in the labyrinth city, settling in there, but apparently some of them wanted to join the Tempest Army.
I should consider reorganizing the military, taking all of that into account.
With those thoughts running through my mind, I left the scene.
There was still so much to do.