The conference slowly sprang into action, the lizardmen going first. As they reported their numbers lost, the orcs hung their heads, unable to speak.
Rimuru: 「Well, before we get down to business, I'd like to tell all of you what I know at this point.」
Everyone's faces tensed up. I tried my best to ignore it as I listened to what Rimuru learned from Geld's memories, as well as what Soei had researched for me.
The reason why the orcs took up arms and the current state of their affairs.
The orc delegation looked at him wide-eyed. I guess they weren't expecting this to come up.
As he continued, some began shedding tears. Perhaps they didn't think they'd have a chance to give their side at all.
Perhaps they were prepared to die on the spot.
Hakuro: 「Ahem! In that case, I would like to make sure all of us are on the same page when it comes to the casualties wrought by this invasion.」
Hakuro: 「Well then, do you have any demands you wish to make
of the orcs, Chief?」
"Not particularly," the chief replied. "This victory was one we earned through none of our own doing. It came thanks to the aid of Sir Rimuru and his followers."
Thus, he essentially forfeited the right to ask for reparations. Not that he could've expected to get much out of them.
Well, there's the mistake that I was also a high-ranking subordinate of Rimuru, but I wasn't really bothered about it.
He didn't also seem intent on clearing up the dust, so where's the dirt?
So, were the orcs up next? I turned to their chiefs, wondering what they would say.
"Please, allow me to speak!" The orc general suddenly shouted, all but rubbing his head against the rough ground as he bowed to him.
Rimuru: 「Kuh?」
"All of us here, we wish to make up for this disaster with our very lives… I know even that is not enough, but there is nothing else we could possibly pay you!"
He was ready to die, I could tell that much. This monster, ranked A-minus or so, would no doubt provide us all with a wealth of magicules to harness, and he
wanted to put that on the table in exchange for our forgiveness.
I had no interest in this, and it was beside the point anyway. I was really starting to resent this meeting.
All these procedures and formalities were eating away at the time we could spend actually talking matters over.
Well, screw it. Let's try things my way for a second.
Fubuki: 「Hey, you mind if I butt in for a second?」
Hakuro: 「One moment. Sir Fubuki has something to say.」
The orc general fell silent, looking straight at me. So did everyone else.
I was never a fan of being the center of attention, but I couldn't exactly say so.
Fubuki: 「Some may say that our side suffered no such damages, but to be completely honest, I have no interest in charging the orcs with any crimes or whatever.」
Rimuru: 「Wha—? Exactly what was in mind!」
Oh? He, too? Then I'm not in the dark alone.
Hakuro: 「Sir Fubuki, do you mind further elucidating what you mean?」
Fubuki: 「Not at all.」
I went on to explain my reasoning.
Fubuki: 「Staging an invasion of the forest was, if you had to rate it on a scale of "nasty" or "nice," pretty nasty.
Whether Gelmud was using and abusing them or not, I figured the moment they said "yes" to him, they were accomplices. But it was also clear that the forest offered their only possible hope for survival.
All other races here might've decided to do the same thing in their shoes, so I feel it hypocritical to judge them without giving so much as a second thought to the future.」
Following my explanation, most of the chiefs nodded in agreement.
Seeing it all flow smoothly, I was pretty content.
Simply asking us to accept their presence was, I suppose, tough.
It would be like asking our neighbors to hand over their land. Nobody would simply roll over and say yes to that, and that was doubly true for the survival-of-the-fittest types
around here.
There is no point debating over what was now firmly in the past.
Rimuru: 「I share the same notion. I understand that there are losses to be accounted for, but it is a burden I'm included in.」
"Is that so?" The chief of the lizardman tribe spoke up after his sudden remark.
Rimuru: 「That is my thought about this, and I'm sure you all have your own thoughts, but I see no need to punish the orcs for anything.
I say this because I promised the demon lord Geld as much. I have taken on all the crimes committed by the orcs. And if any of you have a problem with that, I'd like to hear it!」
The orcs stared at both of us, clearly shocked.
Rimuru: 「Benimaru, your homeland was annihilated by their hands. Do you take issue with this?」
Fubuki: 「Hmm, yeah. You guys are arguably the ones who suffered the most from this invasion. Got a problem with that?」
Benimaru: 「We do not, my lords, and I doubt any of my fallen comrades would.
The sole, immovable rule that links all monsters together is that only the strong have the right to survive.
We faced up to them without fleeing, and thus, we were prepared for the worst.
And, my lords, we would never have an issue with the decisions you make.」
Good.
The other ogres nodded agreement. Everyone appeared to be with me.
I then turned to the lizardmen, but the chief spoke before I could.
"We, too, have no complaint with your stance. There is one thing I wish to ask, however."
No complaints? Really? I was kind of expecting some background characters to bitch about and stuff.
With that, I was more than willing to pressure them a little with a bit of aura farming, but meh.
There's always another day.
He was more sympathetic to their plight than I thought, maybe.
Fubuki: 「What is it?」
"It is a good thing, I think, not to pursue the orcs' crimes any further.
We were saved by you, Sir Rimuru, and are thus in no position to make any grand proclamations. However, there is one thing I wish to be fully clear on…"
The chief stopped and looked straight at me.
"Are you suggesting that we accept the entirety of the orc population's right to live in this forest?"
…And here we go. It was an obvious question, and it came at a critical time.
Rimuru: 「Yes.」
Oh?
Instantly, the meeting erupted into a commotion. The orcs, shocked, discussed whether such a thing was even possible.
The goblins were screaming incoherently, some foaming at the mouth.
Treyni watched silently, gauging the situation with a hostile eye.
What's that about?
Only our ogre mage friends remained undisturbed.
Fubuki: 「Silence!」 I shouted, finally bringing order back to the tent after a prolonged furor.
I had waited for everyone to get over their initial surprise
before giving the command.
Earlier on, before the meeting even began, Rimuru had briefed me about his ideals.
Well, it was a great solution as far as I can tell. Just a few adjustments here and there, and we were good to go.
It was time to present the grand alliance.
Fubuki: 「I understand what all of you are thinking, and I understand how the thought makes you nervous.
And you're right—we have no idea whether it's possible or not. But I think it is. Like I said, I just want you to hear us out.」
Rimuru took it from there, laying out the plan that could potentially improve the situation of the forest.
◇◇◇
Even if we let every orc in the marsh off the hook right now, they were still doomed to starve.
The straggler forces, left without stronger leadership, would form small raider bands that'd strike the lizardman and goblin villages before long.
They had nothing to eat, no place to live, and nothing about this
conference would mean anything until we tackled that fundamental issue.
Hence this alliance.
According to investigation, the lizardmen had plentiful water and seafood resources. The goblins had living space.
We had a wealth of manufactured goods. The orcs, in exchange,
could provide their labor resources.
Their settlements would have to be spread out among us all to some extent—they numbered in the six figures, after all—but I was sure we could maintain decent lines of contact.
We'd need to put some in the mountains, some in the foothills, some by the river, and some deeper in the forest.
My team and I could provide technical home-building assistance, although we still wanted them to handle their own affairs otherwise.
We were already short on labor in our town; we didn't have the capacity to look out for others.
If anything, my ulterior motive here was to obtain more stout men to beef up our own workforce.
The land the ogres ruled over was now free, of course, and I figured we'd build a town there sooner or later.
Forest land extended well into the nearby foothills, offering a wealth of resources to harness.
It'd have to wait until our town was finished, but by then, I wanted the orcs to be proficient enough that they could build their own.
Then, all the dispersed orc populations would have someplace to live together again.
Everyone in the tent listened attentively, as I explained.
◇◇◇
Rimuru: 「That about covers it. We will form a great alliance among the peoples of the Forest of Jura and build cooperative relationships with one another.
It'd be pretty neat if we built a nation composed of multiple races, I think, but…」
Unlike before, the conference was now filled with a sense of excitement.
The attendees' enthusiasm was starting to pervade the room, as if he had just taken their anxieties and replaced them with a flickering sense of hope.
Shion straightened herself up, like she was presenting him as a prize, which I felt he didn't really appreciate.
Though, he seemed to calm down a bi… Oh…
I saw it.
Shion was pushing her breasts against him, which must've been a pretty nice sensation for him, after all.
His adventurous days weren't over, it seemed. I can respect that part of him, I guess.
Fubuki: 「You always have an open mind to that sort of thing, don't you?」
Rimuru: 「W-Wah?! But how?」
Fubuki: 「Blame it on the world. It always works. At least for me, it did.」
The orc general was slow to react. "Us…building a town…?! Is it all right for us to join in this alliance?"
Fubuki: 「Not gonna lie. You're homeless. I understand the feeling very well, so yeah, I'm cool as long as you work for it.
We tolerate no slackers. I'mma work you to the bone. You can count on that.」
Rimuru: 「Not like you got anyone, or anyplace, to return to, do you?
We'll getcha someplace to live, but as he said, you gotta work, all right? No room for lazy orcs around here.」
"…Yes, my lord!" The orcs immediately stood up and took a knee, overcome with an emotion that drove tears to their eyes. "Of course, of course! We will
dedicate our very lives to the tasks ahead!"
The lizardman chief nodded. "We have no objection. If anything, we would love to cooperate!"
He kneeled as well, imitating the orcs, and the goblins hurriedly took action to follow suit.
Shion: 「What are you up to, my lord?」
Rimuru: 「Huh? Oh. I thought this was a ceremony or something.」
Shuna: 「Oh dear, Sir Rimuru. It certainly is not…」
What's with the weird glances?
Wait a minute…
And the ogres, judging by the looks they shot at me…
Shion stood up, placed Rimuru on a chair—and then fell to one knee before us, accompanied by Benimaru and the rest.
Oh?
Treyni: 「Very well.」
Shit!
Treyni: 「As a warden of the forest, I, Treyni, make the
following declaration.
I hereby recognize Sir Rimuru and Skr Fubuki as the new leaders of the Forest of Jura and the Great Forest of Jura Alliance hereby established under their good names!」
I saw it coming. Man, what did I ever do to them?
This lady…
Rimuru certainly wasn't taking the news lightly.
Rimuru: 「Um, can you give me a moment, guys? Why am I suddenly the dude who's supposed to run all this crap?
Because I don't remember any discussions along those lines! Why'd it turn out this way?!」
Fubuki: 「Hey you, it's been decided. There's no turning back. Things like these never work out.」
Rimuru: 「*Sigh* All right. I get it, guys…」
He stood up.
Rimuru: 「Well, so be it. Do me proud, guys.」
"""We will, my lord!!"""
With that said, all eyes where on me now.
Gotta make my own approval, I guess.
Fubuki: 「Well, we've got a big load on our back, but with time, I know we'll work it out. So I need you all to do your best for me; that, I will also try. I hope we have a fruitful cooperation.」
Everyone took that cue to prostrate themselves before us.
"""Yes, my lord!!"""
The sheer fervor was as clearly present in all their voices as it clearly wasn't in mine.
The Great Forest of Jura Alliance was born, and already it was making me break out in a cold sweat.
I'd never been one to take care of things directly without dumping it on… Hold on.
That's it! That's the stuff!!
I'll dump it on the slime!
What else was I supposed to do? I mean, yeah, I'll help out once in a while, but the job load that comes with these types of things must be huge.
No way in hell am I doing all that. He'd have done same, so I wasn't about to let him off the hook.
I hate to rain on the party, guys, but we'd better get to talking about that, yeah?
Fubuki: 「Right, that's enough. So now that we have this alliance in place, we need to solve the largest problem facing us right now—the question of food supply.
We have 150,000 surviving orcs here, and we need to keep them from starving to death. I would like some ideas, guys, please?」
The orcs had less than two weeks' worth of provisions on them, overall.
That was nowhere near enough.
We had no time to raise crops for them, and we'd exhaust the river of fish if we tried going that
route.
So now what…?
Everyone in the tent turned their minds to the issue.
Nobody seemed to be acting like it wasn't their problem, which gladdened me a bit.
Maybe this alliance would work out after all.
Then Treyni stepped up, smiling.
Treyni: 「So the issue is a lack of food supply? In that case, I think I might be able to help.
The treants that I help protect have agreed to join this special alliance, and I think they might come in handy sooner than I thought.」
So they were interested, then?
Well, great. And if they were that enthusiastic about handling the food issue, let them, I'd say.
It's not like we had any other great ideas.
With all our most pressing issues covered, we ended the conference.
That was the day my name was first written down in the annals of history.
○
The day our great alliance was formed was one which, I suppose, no monster would ever be able to forget.
It was, after all, the day I decided that each and every one needed a name.
Which, yes, I said I would, and I was super-cool about it. But why were they counting on me to come up with all those names…?
I mean, yeesh, a hundred-fifty thousand orcs alone. Insane. It took me three days to come up with five hundred goblin names, guys!
I couldn't imagine how long
it'd take to handle this job.
I gave serious thought to simply up and running away this time, but I still had all those orcish crimes to gobble up for them.
So basically, this was just a matter of me taking in the magicules lost to the air after Geld's defeat and breathing them
back into each one.
That way, I could "name" them all without exhausting myself in the process.
The problem I had, though, was what the names should be. Simply going down the alphabet wouldn't save me this time.
Maybe I could divide them by race or start giving out last names or something, but managing all that would be even more of a hassle.
In the end, the solution I came up with was as simple as it was beautiful.
The perfect series, one that I could extend for as long as necessary, all the way to
infinity.
That's right: Numbers. It was a little like assigning an ID number back in my home world, but damn, did it make things easier for me.
So I had all the orcs in the marsh stand in neat lines before me.
I was worried they might resent being given such unfashionable names without any right to say no, but the magic they had lost could directly lead to their deaths.
They might decide to take matters into their own hands if it came to that, and then the village raids would begin…
And so the ordeal began. I decided to start by assigning a basic sort of "tribal" name to each one.
I devised ten of these: Mountain, Valley, Hill, Cavern, Ocean,
River, Lake, Forest, Grassland, and Desert.
If you were part of the Mountain
tribe, your name would be along the lines of "Mountain-1M" if male, "Mountain-1F" if female, and we'd just go from there.
What about the generations to come, then? Like I gave a crap!
The first son born among the Mountain tribe could be "Mountain-1-1M" for all I cared.
Fubuki: 「You're surprisingly good at genuine trash. I'm elated.」
Rimuru: 「You have no right to judge me. You couldn't have done it any better either way.」
I had a feeling things might fall apart a bit if two orcs from different tribes had a kid, too.
But, hell, let them worry about that. I didn't care.
Rimuru: 「Hey, you mind helping out? I don't wanna stay here all alone for that long.」
Fubuki: 「But I must warn you, I'm not as trashy as you are. Don't be envious of my supreme naming abilities!」
Following his stupid declaration, he reached out to the heavens with an overdramatic expression.
Rimuru: 「Pfft-hahahaha! Tina? Who names their servant Tina? Just admit it! You secretly hated her, didn't you?!」
Fubuki: 「..... Oh—you're so on.」
And so, the naming contest that would go down in history began.
I consumed some magic lost from each orc and used it to name each one in succession, so it was pretty easy to keep a quick pace.
Of course, while I was busy naming a small city's worth of orcs, my ogre mages weren't just screwing around.
They were on their way to the treant settlement, guided by Treyni.
I had left procuring our food supply to them, although privately, I had my concerns about how they'd come up with enough.
Treants were monsters that lived off water, sunlight, air, and magic.
They didn't need food in the first place.
But they did produce fruit from the magic they didn't need, which were beyond the reach of most.
Treants couldn't set foot nor root outside of their own sanctuary, so they simply collected and stored the fruit on-site.
The real problem was transport time, and the tempest wolves were ready to help with that—or to be exact, the starwolves evolved from them.
As a newly minted tempest starwolf and leader of his pack, Ranga was able to evolve all
the other wolves in his pack to regular non–tempest starwolf status.
Each one was ranked around B, making them high-level magical beasts, and while we still
only had a hundred, I had a feeling we'd be caring for more soon.
As part of his newfound skills, Ranga was able to summon something he called a Star Leader, an A-minus commander wolf that would serve as his representative during the transport effort.
His take on Replication, I supposed; he could summon and dispel it at will.
Geez, Ranga, you really don't want to leave my shadow, huh? …Ah whatever.
It was worth mentioning that all the starwolves were now capable of Shadow Motioning themselves around.
Not at the near-lightning speeds that Soei and Ranga could manage, but still far quicker than their feet could take them.
That was the neat thing about Shadow Motion; it always brought you to your destination in a straight line, ignoring all obstacles in between.
As a rule of thumb, the starwolves could traverse this straight line at around twice their regular speed.
One little snag, though: The wolves' hobgoblin riders couldn't accompany them since they could only remain in Shadow Motion space for as long as they could hold their breath.
It'd be nice if they could be trained to fix that, somehow, but in the meantime, they were helping me with the whole orc-naming process.
I definitely didn't want them idle while I was going through this four-day-long ordeal.
Either way, we finally had a nice, clean solution to the most present problem facing us. I was satisfied.
◇◇◇
I limped my way to the finish line. I could see nothing but
numbers dancing in my head by the end, but the feeling of achievement was like nothing else.
I mean, we're talking 150,000 here, you know?
Think about even counting that high, and you can get an idea of how much torture it has been.
Even though the load was lessened with Fubuki's interference, it was still hell for me.
A little thing I noticed was that Fubuki never really used the lost magic from the orcs to serve as replenishment.
He used his own magicules, for that matter.
In the end, I lost the competition.
He managed to name four hundred and sixty one more orcs than I could, marking a one-sided beat down.
But for that matter, I also noticed that he never even faced magic drain or whatever.
Not even a single sleep. Then came the drawn conclusion that he must have an infinitesimally large magicule reserve.
I mean, seriously? That's cheating!
Who even allowed that type of thing?!
「Note: A certain manas did.」
The naming process had evolved each orc into a high orc.
I didn't use any of my own magic for it, so they didn't need to see me as their "ruler" or anything.
They entered the alliance under their own free will, and I could only hope that we remained on sunny terms.
Each of the tribes thanked me in turn and set off for their new homes, guided by a squad of ten goblin riders.
We were planning to send tents and other supplies once they reached the area of their choice, along with technical instruction, so they could build their own settlements.
But we weren't done yet. I turned toward the several thousand remaining
souls.
It seemed that the orc general, along with the high orcs who directly served him, were insisting upon working directly under my command.
I said yes, as reluctant as I was.
I did need some spare hands to handle the work around there, and we were still chronically short on people to build the town.
They wouldn't number enough to put a major dent in our food supplies, either.
So I didn't need to think too much about my decision, even though it meant a lot more people answering to us.
Around two thousand, in fact—the
remainder of the elite orc corps, numbering two thousand or so, decked out in their black full-plate armor.
Their strength must've been what helped them survive this long.
If they were going to be my elite guard of sorts, I couldn't very well put them in the same naming series as the rest. But if not, what, then?
Given the yellow auras they emitted, I figured I'd name their tribe after that color instead.
Through the lens of Analyze and Assess—like Shuna, I could use it to analyze people to some extent via my eyes alone—I sized up the elite guard, then lined them up in the order I decided on.
I then gave them numbers from strongest to weakest, without dividing them by gender.
Such was the birth of what would later be called the Yellow Numbers.
Rimuru: 「I hereby declare that you shall inherit the will of the Orc Disaster. You shall be called Geld from now on!」
"Yes, sir!!"
Our eyes met. His overflowed with tears. And the moment I gave the name, the orc general's body was wrapped in a yellow aura as he began to evolve.
At the same time, I could feel the magic flowing out of me. Oh crap. Not that much…
Once more, I was back in sleep mode.
◇◇◇
I awoke to a situation that I probably should have expected by now.
There were two thousand soldiers in front of me, now high orcs. Still ranked C-plus, since they were stronger than the rabble, I guess.
Geld, though…
Geld: 「My loyalty is forever yours, my lord!!」 he shouted as I groggily tried to get it together.
I cursed him for being so damn ceremonious about everything.
Let's see. He had evolved into… Whoa, an orc king? That's pretty much the same level as an orc lord, isn't it?
Hmm. About what I figured. They were functionally identical, but Geld wasn't as creepy.
He had also gained the unique skill Gourmet, which granted him abilities like Stomach, Receive, and Provide.
The latter two were restricted to his own race, but apparently, all two thousand of his troops had access to that stomach.
Maybe they could use that to transport supplies to faraway places? What a goofy skill. It could turn the entire transit industry on its side, to say nothing of military supply lines.
The only limitation was volume, not item type. It could store about as much as I could, but it couldn't hold anything too big—in other words, about the size of an orc itself.
A suit of armor was about all it could take in at once. (My stomach had no such limitation.)
Before I took my leave, I decided to wish the lizardman chief a fond goodbye.
Rimuru: 「Hey. Sorry, we never really got a chance to talk amid all this nonsense. Hope we can keep this ship sailing smoothly, huh, Chief?」
"Ah, hello there, Sir Rimuru! There's no need to call me Chief like that. It puts me on edge to hear it from you!" he exclaimed in surprise.
I knew the monsters had other ways of identifying themselves, but I wasn't delicate enough to pick up on that junk.
His not having a name really annoyed me.
Rimuru: 「Well, yeah, but… I know. You're Gabil's father, right? Why don't you try calling yourself Abil or something?」
I always had a tendency to blurt out whatever was on my mind like that.
"What?!" he exclaimed, half in shock.
And so, in the midst of a little friendly chitchat, it came to pass that I named the lord of all the lizardmen who walked the earth.
Not every lizardman who
existed—ugh, nothing that big again.
Just the chief, I figured, and maybe others later, as kind of a reward for their exploits in battle or whatever.
That I inadvertently transformed him into a dragonewt just because he didn't like "Chief," well, who'da thunk?
Everything was now well and truly wrapped up. Only about three weeks had passed, but I felt like I was now a battle-hardened veteran.
Really, I'm pretty sure I fought harder than anybody else in the marshes—harder than the traitorous bastard, that's for sure.
I'll make sure to find something for him to do while I'm at it.
These death matches were really trying on a body. Let's just go home and relax a bit.
◇◇◇
I was resting in my room.
Over three months had passed since I returned.
All kinds of things had happened since, but I was taking a moment to reflect on all the chaos of a time gone by.
So despite all the nuttiness, things were coming together.
Right here, in this land, there lived over ten thousand monsters gathered here because they believed in what Fubuki and I were doing, all working together to make it a better place.
They saw this as a place of peace. Our place of peace. A true town of monsters. And it was finally here.