We walk through the part of the Jura Forest where the Dryads and Treants live. This is the Dryad's domain, the part of the forest where the Dryads are located. My reason for being here is simple. To get Zegion and Apito. The two were recruited by Rimuru to protect the Dryads a while ago and should still be here.
For now, while Ramiris works on building the Labyrinth I will prepare the people that will actually work there. First of all being Zegion and Apito who are the farthest away. Kumara is hanging out with Ranga and for some reason Ranryo who she somehow managed to tame and Adalman got recruited and is working for Shuna. Both are back in Tempest meaning getting Zegion and Apito first is more convenient.
The 4 future Floor Guardians haven't really interacted with me much with my work. Shuna occasionally comes to clean my lab, refusing to allow anyone else to go clean it, I see Gobzi pretty often when I walk out and in my lab, Cerulean and Souei both occasionally report to me and I spend some of my free time with Rimuru occasionally but outside of that, I don't consistently see many people on purpose although that doesn't mean I never see anyone. For example, Gobta's a common sight because Gobzi forces him to train with him.
I hear someone snapping me out of my train of thought. It's Treya, one of Treyni's sisters. "Hello, Lord Migeru, it is a pleasure to meet you."
I look at them and say,"Hm, oh, sorry, I was thinking of something. It's good to see you too."
She smiles, "I appreciate your kindness. So may I ask what brings you here?"
"Oh, I'm here to see Apito and Zegion. I've got some work for them." I look around, "I know they protect this place so I'll send some members of my personal army to help guard this place in their stead. Would that work?"
"Oh, certainly, we appreciate your consideration." She turns around, "Zegion and Apito are this way. Follow me."
Veldora stands behind me, "So this is where they live."
I turn around with a deadpan, "You didn't know?"
"Oh, no, as their wise ruler I of course knew. I just never visited!"
"Figures."
Treya brings up something, "If I may, might I ask what my older sister is doing?"
"Oh, I think she's still running her little bar and eating potato chips. Not much else other than..."
A dark aura emanates through the area, even scaring Veldora. Treya comments, "I see. Maybe I should visit my older sister soon. May I come visit Tempest, Lord Migeru?"
"Y-yeah. Sure."
"Thank you very much."
I have to get out of here. I look around with [Universal Detect] and find Zegion and Apito. "Well, uh, I found Zegion with my magic perception so is it okay if Veldora and I go ahead and see them?"
"Why yes."
"Thank you." I grab Veldora, "Let's get out of here!" We both fly off. As we do, I turn and see Treya's composed demeanor vanish.
She angrily yells, "Elder sister!"
Escaping that landmine we finally make it to Zegion and Apito. The two are still just giant bugs having yet to gain a human form although they are still pretty strong in their own right. Landing next to the two of them I see Zegion as a giant stag beetle standing next to Apito as she hovers around collecting honey like a normal bee. Zegion sees me and immediately looks up respectfully saying, "Greetings Lord Migeru. What an honor it is to meet with you again. May I ask what brings you here?"
I lean down a little so he doesn't have to look up as much, "I've actually come to ask for your help with something. You see, I'm doing something that requires strong people to work for me and I've noticed you two have a lot of untapped potential. Because of that I've decided to train you guys to help me out in this mission. Of course if you don't want to, you don't have to but it would be a big help if you could help me with this. What do you two think?"
Zegion immediately responds, "My it would be an honor to help you, Lord Migeru. I respectfully accept your offer." Apito happily nods yes next to him.
"Alright then, I thank you for your help. Now," I stand up, "this is Veldora the Storm Dragon, my sworn brother. He will be the one training you two to become stronger. I hope you're up for it."
Zegion yells, "Lord Veldora! It-it'll be a privilege to work with him!"
Veldora yells, "Kuahahaha! Why do even insects know how great an, oof!" I punch him in the stomach.
"Quiet old man, this is serious."
He makes an over-the-top shocked expression. "Old man!" He droops down, "So now you too?"
I sarcastically ask myself, "Oh, right! Doesn't Rimuru also call you that?" Veldora just saddens even more. I ignore that and turn to Apito, "Well, Apito, what do you say? Are you up for it?"
"Well, if my brother accepts then I do too."
I give the same bright smile Rimuru does. Something so rarely seen that people forget I can even do it, despite me being his identical twin in facial features. "Great, come with me."
{Notice- Ultimate Skill [Saul], subskill [Tempest Link] has been activated.
Opening connection 6, Cerulean.}
"Yo, Cerulean, can you hear me?"
"Eh, Lord Migeru?"
"Yes, it's me. I'm contacting you through a skill. I have a request. Can you get a few strong subordinates with you. Maybe three or four? I'm taking some protectors of the Dryad territory so I need a replacement."
"I see. Understood. I'll get right to that."
"Thank you."
{Notice- Ultimate Skill [Saul], subskill [Tempest Link] has been deactivated.
Connection 6, Cerulean has been closed.}
The 4 of us leave and head to Tempest. When we get there, Cerulean and 3 Tempest Slimes wait for us. That's fast. Veldora and I land with Zegion and Apito in tow. "Already done? That's good, so these'll be the ones to work there?"
Cerulean informs me, "The two on the right shall be the ones to take up the task."
He points at two Slimes, one with a female appearance and one with a male appearance. The two have red eyes like mine but hair more similar to Rimuru's. The two stand ready for orders. "I see. And who might the other one be?" Next to Cerulean stands a taller, feminine Slime with red eyes and darker hair. She stands next to Cerulean, calm and composed with a dignified look.
Cerulean explains, "The one next to me is my new right hand Navy. She is to work with me to help lead the Tempest Slimes in my stead should I ever get preoccupied."
"I see. It's good to think ahead." I analyze Navy, "She's pretty strong." Navy is about 80 percent as strong as Cerulean, which is crazy for a Tempest Slime, making her strong enough to give people like Diablo a good fight. Cerulean is the strongest of the Tempest Slimes and the strongest person in Tempest that doesn't have it as a last name. I didn't realize someone like her existed, it's been a while since I used [Tempest Link] to look through my subordinates.
When I look at the Slimes I realize something. Their hair matches their names. Cerulean has cerulean hair and Navy has navy hair. That's interesting. I hear [Solomon] mutter something.
{You just noticed.}
I heard that. Can you stop commenting on everything I say and do?
{Notice-Unable to understand the question.}
Of course. Now you do that. You can't go back to this response when you just ignored me the last few times I asked that.
{...}
Turning to Cerulean I tell him, "Oh wait, there's one more assignment I've got for you." I explain his assignment and walk away with Veldora, Zegion and Apito. I can sense Cerulean getting right on it. He's really loyal, almost like Diablo in some ways just way less openly fanatical.
As we leave Veldora asks, "Is that it?"
I respond, "No, there's three more we need to pick up, they're names are Albert and Adalman and one that isn't named yet that I've decided to name Kumara. They are also going to work in the Labyrinth and need some training up. Shuna is someone I would also like to pick up but she's busy right now. Maybe I'll get her when she has some free time but not now. She isn't going to be in the Labyrinth but she would be useful with training Adalman easier later on."
Veldora nods. While slightly confused, he understands what I'm saying relatively well. Kumara isn't too hard to get. She is spending a lot of time with Ranga and to my surprise managed to sleep on Ranryo's neck fur a few days ago. Even Ranryo isn't immune to cute little foxes.
When we show up, I find her playing with Ranga's pack. I land next to her and lean down. Motioning her to come, she jumps in my arms. She telepathically asks, "Hi Lord Migeru. What brings you here?"
"I'm here to pick you up. You see, I'm trying to train up a group of monsters to work in a little project for me. You may be young but I know you've got promise so because of that I've decided to come ask if you want to help me with this or not."
"Hmm, sure. I agree."
"Just like that?"
"Yup, you saved me so this is the least I can do to pay you back."
"Oh, I see, thanks for your help then." Veldora walks up to me. He heard the entire conversation so he already knows what's going on. Ranga comes and asks, "May I help you Lord Migeru?"
"Oh, hey Ranga, I actually already came for what I'm looking for. Can I take Kumara for a bit?"
Ranga looks confused, "Yes but, may I ask why?"
"Oh, it's just for a new project I'm working on, I looked through everyone in Tempest and found her to be the best pick for it. There's not much else."
"I see. I thank you for your honest answer."
"Don't worry about it." He nods saying I can take her and walks to the rest of the pack to explain the situation. Looks like I only need Adalman now.
We travel to the Sealed Cave where Rimuru left Adalman. He can't stay out in the sun too much so Rimuru decided keeping him there during the day was the best option. I still haven't formally met him yet but I can guess how this meeting will go. Walking in and finding Adalman and his undead army I can see Adalman's empty sockets light up with more light than any living monster I've seen before.
He runs up to me and starts praising me in a way only Diablo can rival. He enthusiastically asks, "May this humble acolyte ask what brings the great Lord Migeru here!?"
"So you know who I am?"
"Of course! How could I ever forget Lady Shuna's wondrous descriptions of the magnificent appearances of my Lords!"
"Magnificent, huh. Uh, okay." Looking around for Albert I ask, "I've heard you had a companion named Albert right? I would like to summon you both to me, I've got some news for you two." Albert and Adalman are a tag team duo with Albert being the agro and Adalman the support. The two friends are way better together than apart, being much more effective in battle when they are supporting each other. I need the two of them here together for the dream team.
"I shall summon him at once!"
He rushes off to fetch him as I comment, "Really over the top, huh?"
He comes back with Albert where I explain my intentions to them. Albert is actually just as devoted as Adalman is, just less eccentric so the two immediately agree to my suggestion. Not to mention moving to the Labyrinth would also make it so they have more space to work with than the Sealed Cave. Using [Hermetic Reality] to cast a dark area around Adalman and Albert when they come with us outside Veldora asks, "Shall we get started now?"
"Calm down Shakespeare, there's one more person here. I'm surprised you haven't noticed her."
"Eh?"
I turn to a nearby bush. "Milim, you can stop following us around. Stop being a little stalker.
She immediately jumps out, "I-I wasn't following you!"
"Yes, you were. You heard me with [Milim Ear] right? I guess there was no keeping this a secret from you. You can come I guess."
Stars flash in her eyes. "Really!?" She runs up to me and hugs me, "Thanks besty!"
"Uh, y-yeah, sure." And with that, the squad's all here. I would take Rimuru as well but he's busy and doesn't really need it thanks to [Tempest Link]. I can actually make it so he gets stronger at the same rate I do, even when he isn't actively trying to get stronger. It also works vice-versa with every other connection to [Tempest Link] I have meaning, I'm growing not at my normal growth speed, but instead at the growth speed of every single [Tempest Link] connection I have combined including people like Veldora, Rimuru and Milim. That is the true potential of [Alpha King Saul] the shared power the connection between a king and their subjects grants.. What I'm about to test here.