Rito felt as his companions clung close to him as they slowly made their way through the strange village they had been taken to. "Rito, what do you think?" Asked the feline monster next to him.
"I…I'm not sure." His mind ran fast as he thought about his situation. "I don't think running is a good idea though." The monster that had taken them was fast enough to pick them up and carry them away before any of them could even react. Even if they tried to run, he doubted they could get far.
Not to mention– he looked around–there were giant wolves everywhere. If they were anything like dogs, there was no way they could avoid getting tracked down even if they managed to get away.
A shiver ran through the boy's spine. They were stuck here, whether they wanted to be or not.
That monster told him that he had taken him and his friends to "satisfy his curiosity." That alone made Rito think of something terrifying. What if…they failed to satisfy him. Would he kill them? Enslave them? Just the thought alone made him want to run.
"Hm, it appears the boy is quite the cautious one." Mikaeru commented while watching from above. "We'll need to make a good impression on him."
He had already commissioned equipment for them with Kaijin, so he didn't have to worry about that, however, "There's more to trust than just a simple gift." His eyes turned to his shadow.
"Ranryo, how's today's meal prep going?"
The wolves were the most knowledgeable in that front as the pack was necessary to hunt and collect all the food the village needed. From the darkness, a wolf's head, half obscured in inky black popped out. "The hunts were successful. I imagine the hobgoblins have already begun cooking. I apologize, but that much is all that I know for now, Master."
"Don't worry. That's enough." Mikaeru's eyes shined red. "You know what they say. The road to a human's heart is through their stomach."
"This place is…I've never seen anything like it."
"What do you mean?" Rito asked his gremlin companion. "Is there something wrong?"
"Well, I wouldn't say wrong. More like…" He stopped to think, "It's rare to see Dire Wolves serving another group. Let alone a goblin village."
"It's a sight to see, isn't it?" All four turned around with a careful jolt. "Oh, I guess I didn't introduce myself, huh? Sorry about that. The name's Kataki." He gave them a hand. "Nice to meet you."
Rito calmed himself, "Kataki. I-I see. Hitokawa Rito. These are my friends. No names though."
Kataki looked at the other three. "A caitsith, carbuncle and gremlin, eh? Can't really go around calling us odd with a group like yours, you know." Kataki laughed to himself. "Want me to show you around?" The outsiders looked among themselves.
"Y-yeah. Sure." Kataki smiled at them.
The hobgoblin took them to the center of the village where he explained, "Not too long ago the wolves and us weren't on good terms. They were planning to kill us, actually. But that changed."
The group listened as Kataki explained the story. How two powerful slimes were brought in by one of their scouting parties and saved them all. How they subjugated the wolves and incorporated them into the village. How they eventually learned to work together…for the most part. When he finished, Rito spoke up about his story and how he got there. How they were saved by him. "You said Lord Mikaeru was the one who brought you all here, yes?"
Rito nodded. "I see." He turned away as he walked, "You shouldn't fear him. I don't think he's someone that would hurt you." He thought to himself, "But I do agree with you on one thing. He probably saw something in you to get him to do that."
"But, is that a bad thing?" Kataki asked aloud.
"What do you mean?" Rito asked.
"You're worried that he wants to use you." Kataki explained. "Isn't that the same with everyone? Tell me, Rito. Even with your friends, do you believe that the way you could use one another truly isn't something that decides how you treat each other?"
"O-of course not! They're more than just…"
Kataki lifted a hand up. "Let me rephrase the wording. Do you help one another?"
Rito paused for a moment. "Eh…of course."
"Is that not no different from using each other? You rely on and use each other's strengths to ensure you are all able to push on as friends." Kataki's voice got serious, "I believe Lord Mikaeru wants to make use of you, but he is not an unfair ruler. He would not offer you an olive branch without rewards in return and even if you chose to leave, I do not believe that he is one to hold you against your will."
"My advice. Try not to get too worried, yeah?" Kataki turned to them, "We're not savages."
"Kataki!" Yelled a hobgoblin as they turned the corner. "We need some help over here! One of the supports for the new house cracked! Can you hold that part still so we can get a new one!"
"Understood!" Kataki ran over and prepared to hold it steady. "Woah, this is really heavy!"
Rito looked at his friends. "I…" He looked around again. The people here. They didn't seem hostile. No, rather, they just looked like normal people living their lives like anyone else. "I-I can help!"
He ran over. "Let's see." He looked at his hand and raised it towards Kataki. Unique Skill [Supporter]. It granted the user the ability to boost and amplify the abilities and stats of their allies. It was something he had only previously used when helping his friends escape danger. Now though. "Hold still, Kataki."
With a glow of his hand, Rito amplified the hodgoblin's strength to about double his normal output. Kataki immediately felt the amp.
"This is." He looked down at himself, then at the human boy nearby. "Is this what Lord Mikaeru saw?"
A group led by Rigur ran by with a collection of wooden beams. "We're here! Eh?" He looked at the human boy he was told about by his father. "I-I see. As expected of Lord Mikaeru." He smiled to himself for a moment before getting to work, directing everyone expertly through the reconstruction.
When they were done, Rito collapsed. "Rito!" His friends yelled out in worry. "Are you okay?"
Rito breathed out in exhaustion. "Yeah. I've just never used my skill for that long before, haha."
Rigur and Kataki walked over. "We appreciate your help. It made everything easier for our workers."
"Don't…mention it." Rito said quietly.
"You seem quite tired." Rigur commented. "A meal would help, would you not agree?"
"Food!" Everyone looked at the source of the outburst. The young carbuncle of the group had immediately locked onto the offer. "Oh, sorry."
The caitsith's stomach was heard not long after. "No, I'm hungry too. It's been over a day, right?"
"That is unfortunately the case," said the gremlin.
Kataki kneeled down and offered a hand to Rito. "Stand up. I believe it's time you had some food."
"Yeah. Thank you." He grabbed on and stood up.
Heading to the designated eating area of the village, Rito watched as the village indulged in what looked to be a large-scale roasting of several large boar-like monsters with spines on their back.
Rigur explained, "The hunting party got lucky today. A group of charger boars just so happened to be walking by. They even captured all of them."
"Charger boars!?" Yelled out the caitsith.
"Yes. Is there something wrong, young lady?"
"No, it's just. I heard they're super juicy." She started drooling. "I always wanted to try one but, even for a group of caitsith, they're too strong."
"I see. Then go ahead. I hope it's to your liking."
Rito laughed as his friend jumped in glee. He felt something tug at his side. "Huh?" He looked down.
It was a tiny baby hobgoblin offering him some food. "Oh," he laughed, "Is this for me?"
She didn't say anything. She just ran off.
"I guess that's a yes." Rito looked at the meat on the wooden plate. It was perfectly cooked. Maybe getting taken there wasn't as bad as he thought.
Mikaeru laid down with his head hanging off the roof of the building. "Kokobu might have been overkill." Worst case scenario, the child was his last resort. No one could say no to a gift from her.
"Welp, time to get in there." Jumping off the building in his slime form, he flew over and landed at the entrance to the feast. "Seems things are going well!" Everyone cheered as he made an entrance.
Accepting a plate for himself, he made his way over to where Rito was sitting and sat nearby. "It seems you guys are finally enjoying yourselves." He looked at one of the people in the group. "Looks like you found yourself some new friends, eh, Kataki?"
The hobgoblin could only nod. "About my offer? What do you think? Do you still need more time?"
He watched on as the group thought about it. Then, Rito explained, "I'm not sure if we're going to stay permanently, but I guess we can stay for now."
"That so?" Mikaeru smiled. "I understand."
He manifested a collection of clothes and armor. "Even so, I'll just go ahead and give you all this."
Putting the equipment on the table, he explained. "I figured you would at the very least need this. They're new." Rito and his friends looked at the stuff. "With one of you still in a uniform and the other three in old clothing, I can't say you all were ready to leave, even if you wanted to. I went ahead and prepared some gear for you all. There's weapons in there too so you can protect yourselves."
Rito stared at the equipment, speechless.
"What, it's not like it cost us much to make. If anything, it was a good experience for Kaijin's new hires. On the house, really. You can keep it." He turned to Rito's friends. "Come to think of it, you guys don't have names, right? Would you want some?"
"Eh!?" That got all three monsters to jump.
"Names!? Th-that's really no issue, we can…"
Mikaeru smirked, "You shouldn't worry too much. It won't actually put much of a dent in my magicule reserves to name you three. It's not a big deal."
The three froze. Names? Was this real? They looked at their human friend. Rito. The gremlin asked, "Are you serious? Are you offering this?"
"Yeah, yeah~. Really, it's not that big a deal."
The three turned to Rito. "Rito. We…can you come up with the names for us?"
"Eh? Me?" He knew why monsters couldn't have names usually. They had told him when they met, after he asked for theirs. "You want me to choose?"
They didn't respond. The look in their eyes was enough. "I-I see. Then," he turned to the slime…
Not long after Mikaeru named the three. "Your names shall be Cait, Carr and Grey."
With that, Mikaeru watched as all three began to glow. In the original version of their story, the three were directly named by Rito. Something that resulted in the three barely getting stronger and never evolving truly. However, now, that was not the case. They had been named by Mikaeru, meaning…they had evolved. [Great Sage], can I get an analysis?
{Notice- In response to their naming, Cait, Carr and Grey have evolved. Cait has evolved from a caitsith into a malkin, Carr has evolved from a carbuncle into a jeweled carbuncle and Grey has evolved from a gremlin to a phantom gremlin}
Mikaeru nodded along. "I see." He looked at them.
Cait had grown taller, more so resembling the size of a full grown human woman with longer ears and whiskers. Her tail had grown longer but thinner, almost looking serpentine in shape. "Huh." She looked more developed in…certain areas as well.
Carr grew larger and more streamlined into a giant floating rabbit about the size of a large dog. The colorful appearance remained although beyond that, nothing really seemed to change. Mikaeru took note of the hornlike jewel on their forehead, which grew longer, sharper and began to glow ever so slightly.
Finally, Gray. Like Cait, he had grown taller, comparable now to a human male as well as developing a straighter posture. The appendages on his head grew into fully developed wings. Mikaeru wondered if the monster could fly now. The face changed as well, becoming noticeably more human, although he noted he more so resembled something like a human ancestor than a full blown human. The development of noticeable white in the eyes with real, developed irises was the biggest shift.
As for strength. "Not bad." Gray was the strongest in terms of raw power, being more or less comparable to a weak ogre, followed by Cait and Carr who were around equal in strength.
{Notice- Subject Cait has developed a new intrinsic skill to the malkin race. Intrinsic Skill [Soulshift]}
Can I get an explanation, he thought.
{Notice- Intrinsic Skill [Soulshift] grants the user the ability to freely alter and change their own soul, altering their body in the process. With permission or by force, the skill may also be used to alter a target of the user's choosing. It is impossible to heal the effects of the skill with normal healing magic}
"Got it. Idle transfiguration." He looked at the cat monster. "That's…so strong." He wouldn't do it forcefully but he could eventually copy that skill by getting Cait's loyalty and adding her to his [Soul Link]. He would get to work on that eventually but for now just the evolution was enough for him.
"Rito!" "Waaagh!" Cait jumped at the boy as she looked around. "Wow! You look so small!"
Now taller than him by a noticeable amount, Cait smiled as she tested out her new body. Jumping up and down, she couldn't believe her strength. "Rito, what do you think? Do I look good?"
"Uh," he grew red, "Yeah. You look really good."
"Hahaha, that's quite the look from you, Rito!" Gray walked over with a grin while Carr floated around them all. They seemed to be having fun.
Mikaeru looked at them. "Destined friends, eh?"
Even in this altered timeline, they had found each other. Even Kataki still got in on the action, moving over to congratulate them. "If only my destined one was something that simple." He pushed that thought aside. "Not bad, not bad~. You guys got pretty strong. How about you try on that equipment?"
Cait seemingly realized something. "Wait, will it even still fit on us? We got bigger, right?"
"No need to worry. I had already thought of that. The armor can stretch out to fit bigger bodies. I made sure you could wear it whether or not I named you all or not. There's a place you can change nearby. I can take you guys there if you want. Might as well."
He looked at the two that wore clothes. "Especially, you two. Those clothes are full of tears."
After changing, Mikaeru looked at them. "Now you guys look like you mean business." He had given them all more well equipped versions of their old clothing as well as more well crafted versions of their weapons. Even Rito, who he gave the axe, machete combo he had in the original version.
Rito looked at his weapons. "Uh, sorry but…"
"You can't fight, right?" He finished his sentence for him. "That much I expected. If you want, I can teach you all the basics. I know some martial arts. I have a friend who lives with us. Her name is Shizu. She left on a personal mission not long ago, but she'll be back. She can take over for me after that. Does that sound good to you?" He turned to the rest of his group, "You all can join him if you want."
They flinched at his suggestion, then decided to accept just to spend more time with Rito.
"Nice." Mikaeru looked out into the forest. With that, his role was more or less done until the orc lord got to work. "I hope things are going well for you."
"Waaaah!" Back in Ogra, Rimuru could only yell out in fear as an oni launched him into the wall and pinned him down with a gigantic sword that was shoved straight past him, mere inches from his face.
"Rimuru. That is what you are called, yes?"
Rimuru shakily turned to look at the red haired monster towering above him. With eyes that shone like the sun, the chief asked, "State your reason for visiting. I shall decide what comes next."
"Eep!" Shizue sighed. This was not going well.