"Hmm."
Violet said, "If anything truly happens, I will notify you immediately."
"Treyni, I appoint you as the administrator of the Great Jura Forest."
Rin looked at the fairy woman.
"As before, continue to maintain the ecological balance of the Great Jura Forest for me."
"As you command."
Treyni first bowed respectfully, then said,
"As per your instructions, those with less than 500 magical energy will be directly expelled."
"However, while we were sleeping, some adventurers and an otherworlder entered the Great Forest."
"Please advise. How should we handle them?"
If it were the old Treyni, given her temperament, she might not have cared about them.
But now, Rin was the Lord of the Great Forest.
The lives and deaths of those who entered could only be decided by him.
"Hmm?"
"It's them."
Without Rin's prompting, Treyni had already projected a screen showing the people in question.
Rin only glanced briefly at most of the groups.
His attention remained on two scenes.
In one was a three-person party. It was the Elyun trio from the original story, exploring the Sealed Cave.
However...
"Woahhh!!"
"I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die!"
"Help!!"
"..."
Watching the three being frantically chased by a B-rank monster, Rin honestly didn't know where to begin complaining.
"Are all adventurers in this world this reckless?"
Those three were adventurers from the Free Guild, but in truth, they were from the Sorcerous Dynasty of Sarion.
The blonde girl, Elyun, was even the daughter of the Grand Duke of Sarion.
The other two only appeared to be B-rank.
In reality, their power was sealed and would only be unleashed if Elyun were in real danger.
Their true combat strength was probably enough to trade blows with A-rank Oni like Benimaru when he had just received his name.
That kind of power, in the old Great Forest, would've been enough to move around freely.
But the problem is...
My friend, times have changed.
The current Great Jura Forest is a different beast altogether.
Magical mist, new rule-based powers, monsters whose strength has nearly increased a tier, and a gathering of magical beasts.
If they kept exploring based on old maps, they would quickly learn the meaning of despair.
"Don't let them die."
Rin sighed.
"Treyni, guide Izawa Shizue."
"That girl in the mask in this image. Lead her over there."
The masked girl Rin pointed to was none other than Izawa Shizue—Shizu-san, the destined one of Rimuru in the original work.
Rin wasn't surprised that these two groups had entered the Great Forest.
Even though the Storm Dragon was still sealed here, the recent movements in the forest,
Especially the barrier set up by Treyni and her sisters, would naturally attract attention from various powers.
"Is that all?"
"Yeah."
Rin said, "No need to stop them. No need to monitor them closely either."
He had more important things to handle and really didn't have the time to fuss over Ellen and company.
As for Shizu, Rin did have some thoughts.
She was a tragic character in the original story. If they met, Rin wouldn't mind lending her a hand.
'Just in time. After this evolution, my number of subordinate slots has increased significantly.'
Rin felt that Izawa Shizue might be a good candidate.
Fwoosh!
Just as Rin was thinking that, four figures appeared before him.
They were the four Primordial Demons he had summoned.
All four knelt on one knee, offering their congratulations to the newly awakened Rin.
"Thank you."
Rin smiled at the four.
"Thanks to you, this town was protected."
Violet had already filled him in on what happened while he was evolving.
To protect the town, and to prevent the magical energy erupting from Rin from destroying the territory, the four had truly done everything they could.
"Not at all."
Primordial Black said,
"We were summoned. Serving our summoner is our duty."
"Hmm."
Rin nodded. "Even so, I will not mistreat those who have contributed."
"So, one last time, are you willing to pledge loyalty to me, never to betray?"
"We are!"
Without hesitation, all four demons answered in unison.
They were willing to pledge loyalty to Rin, to never leave nor betray him.
"I accept your loyalty."
Rin said, "And now, I shall bestow names upon you."
"!!!"
Hearing Rin was about to give them names, all four showed looks of shock, followed by joy.
For demons, being bestowed a name was equivalent to the highest form of incarnation.
They were the ancestors of demonkind. It was already extremely difficult for them to obtain physical bodies, far harder than it was for other demons.
But if it was Rin...
He definitely had the ability to give them bodies.
"You... you're really going to name us?"
"But if you do, it'll consume a tremendous amount of magical energy. Perhaps—"
"No need to worry."
Rin cut off Primordial Black and White's attempts to dissuade him.
He had more than enough magical energy now, and it was still rising.
With the Star King Dragon's bloodline, his 210 million magical energy wasn't the limit at all.
According to Violet's estimate, he could sustain 400 to 500 million without issue.
"Sustain" here meant his magical energy would recover instantly after being used.
And once magical energy surpassed 100 million, its actual numerical value started to lose meaning.
From the Cardinal World's perspective, anything above 100 million was already considered infinite magical energy.
In other words, Rin no longer needed to calculate how much magical energy he was consuming or consider its feedback.
As long as he willed it, he could name demons endlessly.
The consumed magical energy would immediately recover.
Rimuru needed to rely on the Storm Dragon.
But Rin himself, was an enhanced Storm Dragon.
"This is your reward for protecting me."
"No need to hesitate. Just accept it."
After speaking, Rin looked to Primordial Black and said,
"From now on, you are Diablo."
Then came Primordial White, Testarossa.
Primordial Yellow, Carerra.
Primordial Purple, Ultima.
"Thank you for bestowing names upon us!"
After receiving their names, the magical energy within all four surged dramatically.
From hundreds of thousands, it instantly broke through the one million mark.
At the same time, Rin discarded four subordinate slots, linking them together and transforming them into his official dependents.
"This is..."
The four did not resist.
Even the most hot-headed of them, Primordial Yellow, quietly accepted Rin's transformation without resistance.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)