This caught Reinhard off guard more than he expected.
The thought settled in slowly: was this the reason he had been acting strangely since his talk with Rimuru simply because he wanted a name?
Reinhard searched back through their exchanges from the day before. Every small hesitation, every careful glance suddenly made sense, fitting together with a quiet click.
He looked at the red-haired ogre, his expression steady. "Okay."
A single word. Nothing dressed up, nothing weighty. Just okay.
The ogre blinked, like hearing something he was expecting his composure breaking for the first time. "I thought you'd refuse," he admitted, voice roughened by something caught between relief and disbelief.
"But…" then he got caught by something he at all wasn't expecting to be, "wait, did you just say 'ok'?"
"Yes," Reinhard replied, a faint, knowing smile tugging at the edge of his mouth. "Hahaha was this the reason why you were being so weird around me yesterday? I don't mind it as long as this is what you actually really want, I won't stop you. But think it carefully first. Being named by someone is a very improbable thing for you. I'd rather avoid giving you something you regret later on."
The red-haired ogre shook his head, slow but firm.
Regret had been living inside him these last few days, far too much of it. He had failed to protect his parents, his mother, his people.
He hadn't been strong enough, hadn't trained hard enough, and those failures carved themselves into him until they felt permanent.
It was only Reinhard's intervention that kept that list from growing any longer.
His sister, his friends, all of them would have been added to that grim count.
But being named by the one who saved those he still had? That would never lie in that regret list… never.
"I regret many things and the list is longer now because of the past few days," the ogre said, locking eyes with Reinhard, crimson against blue. "But this won't be one. Not now, not later."
"Then I don't mind," Reinhard said, the smile widening just slightly.
The ogre lowered his head, silent yet full of meaning. Among monsters, being named carried weight. It was sacred. A connection formed, an evolution triggered, a hope realized.
Many dreamed of being named by someone they admired. Even more died without ever having the chance.
Reinhard turned away for a moment, returning the wooden practice sword to the weapon rack.
Then he walked back to the center of the training grounds, thoughts shifting through the steps ahead.
He had never given a monster a name before. He knew it required magicules, which posed an immediate and very real problem for him.
His body just sucks magicules every moment, never holding them, never storing them like a mage.
By all normal logic, naming someone should have been impossible for him.
But Reinhard had never belonged to the normal logic category in any way actually.
He closed his eyes. He then requested a blessing to gather magicules from the surroundings to a single point between his hands.
And it was granted instantly.
The blessing swept through him instantly, granted without hesitation.
He lifted his hands, palms facing each other. Air shimmered around him. Magicules across the training ground shuddered, then rushed toward him in one powerful stream.
They spiraled together, tightening into a dense sphere of swirling light locked between his palms. Goblins watched, brows knitting in confusion, unsure what to make of the spectacle.
But the gathered magicules still lacked direction. They had power, but no meaning.
He then Requests a blessing to assign a specific task to the gathered magicules.
Granted.
Something shifted. The energy seemed to breathe, waiting for purpose.
Reinhard exhaled softly, steadying his thoughts. The task he gave it was simple, clean, and specific: to name the monster before him.
"From today onward," Reinhard said, his voice tinted by a strange resonance that drifted through the training ground like a low echo and in the magicules in his hand, "your name will be… Benimaru."
The sphere erupted with brilliant light. The gathered magicules surged outward in one sweeping blast, sinking into the red-haired ogre and disappearing into him as if they had always belonged there.
It all happened so quickly, thirty seconds at most. Even the goblins who watched the whole thing struggled to grasp what they'd seen.
Reinhard couldn't wield magic. Yet magicules still obeyed him through external blessings, much like when he used a sword swing to obliterate the spiders.
He felt a faint ripple of surprise at how cleanly the process went.
And just like that, the naming was done.
Let someone watch this process of naming someone, demon lords, humans, mages, or even dragons, the surprising thing would be if they wouldn't be surprised by this.
Reinhard remained as he was, unshaken, unharmed. There was no reason for him to feel strain at all. Benimaru, however, stood at the center of a sudden brilliant white radiance.
It was the unmistakable light of evolution, pure and blinding, reminiscent of the power Reinhard had unleashed against the orcs.
Benimaru's silhouette warped inside the glow, shifting as the energy enveloped him. When the light dissolved at last, the ogre that had stood there moments earlier no longer remained.
What emerged instead of ogre was a Kijin.
His large demonic horns had thinned into elegant points. The dark red markings on his face shrank into refined, almost sharp lines.
The rough red skin vanished, replaced with a pale, smooth complexion that gave him a strangely noble air. His unruly red hair had straightened, now sleek and almost regal.
The transformation was rather dramatic, far more than what the goblins underwent when Rimuru named them.
Reinhard's expression warmed as he observed the change. "You look stronger now. More human actually. Anyway… your name is Benimaru. I hope to see how far you grow."
Benimaru flexed his fingers, stunned by the power running through his veins. The old white-haired ogre approached, awe trembling in his voice.
"Young master," he said quietly, "your strength has increased by many folds, if you trust this old one's senses. Not to mention you have evolved into a Kijin now."
"I feel it," Benimaru replied, his voice deeper, flowing smoother than before.
He turned toward Reinhard, wanting to say something to Reinhard to pledge his alliance to him, but the air split between them before he could form a single word.
A burst of green light surged upward. Unlike the white flare of evolution, this one pulsed with life. Leaves spun through the air, circling the growing light.
Beneath them, the ground trembled, and a sprout burst from the earth at unnatural speed. It grew, thickened, and expanded into a full plant in seconds.
A red flower blossomed at its center, then vines twisted around it, weaving themselves into an egg-shaped cocoon.
The cocoon vanished into the green light after a woman emerged from it.
Her long green hair flowed like living vines. Her dress was formed of leaves and pale fabric interwoven with quiet grace.
Her presence seemed to declare, without speaking it, that her arrival stood above every other priority in her world.
"Greetings, human," she said, her voice carrying the hush of forests and distant winds. Her eyes shifted to Benimaru and the other ogres. "And greetings to the Ogres by him from Orcs. Forgive the intrusion. I am Treyni, a Dryad."
Her gaze sharpened, her tone clear.
"I have come to ask for your help."