After the break, Vester and the others went back to work.
"This might be beyond my knowledge…but it's fascinating. I have a job, and it's time to carry it out. Let's go, Vester."
"All right, Sir Deeno."
Deeno, emphasizing the fact to nobody in particular that he was working, took Vester out of the room. I'm not sure he had ever worked before in his life. He was clearly a worthless grifter, but he was making an effort for me, so whatever.
I guess I'll go back to my own work—
"Wait. Rimuru, I have a favor to ask. Ramiris, time to fulfill your end of the bargain!"
Great. This was bound to be some insipid, time-consuming favor, so I was
trying to flee before he could say it. Veldora was waiting for just after the break to bring it up, wasn't he?
"Now, to tell you the truth—"
"The master says he wants an assistant! And I'd love to have more people around, so um, if I could be assigned one, too…"
Just as insipid and time-consuming as I thought! Here we go again… We're already aching for people, so I wasn't about to give Veldora another playmate.
"No, look, everyone's busy here, so there's no time to give you someone to mess around with—"
"Wait, wait! Rimuru, you have the wrong idea. Currently, I am assisting Ramiris, guarding the labyrinth, and performing a number of other important tasks. I don't see the harm in someone available to help me relax, to soothe me and sing my praises!"
Ramiris was nodding at this heartfelt defense. But considering the conversation I overheard earlier, I think I'd have to disappoint him.
"Well, sad to say—"
"Wait, wait, wait!!"
I was interrupted again. Veldora was hell-bent on getting my approval today, wasn't he? Guess he wasn't backing down.
"To be honest with you, ever since I was in your Stomach, I have had someone I feel confident in calling a companion with me. I dearly hope you will deign to grant a body to him as well."
This came out of nowhere. I had no idea who he meant. What kind of acquaintance was this?
Understood. It is believed to be the high-level magic-born Ifrit. Huh? Why is Veldora friends with Ifrit?
Report. Due to an intervention from the subject Veldora at the time, Ifrit was subjected to the same Predation into isolation.
According to Raphael, when I took Ifrit from Shizu and consumed it, it was
taken to the same space in my Stomach that had been isolating Veldora. Since this presented no obstacle to taking Ifrit's data, Raphael—the Great Sage at the time—let this pass without comment. It wouldn't have bothered me, either; in fact, I never even noticed until now. Thus, I guess Veldora and Ifrit had been fostering a friendship while I wasn't paying attention.
"Oh, so you want to revive Ifrit?"
"Kwah-ha-ha-ha! How nice of you to understand so quickly, Rimuru!"
Veldora seemed happy about the idea, but me, I had my misgivings. Ifrit did not get along with Shizu, to be sure, and besides, he worked for the demon lord Leon. If I resurrected him, would he even try to cozy up to us? The thought prevented me from just deadpanning "Sure" to that.
"Hmm…"
"Y-you don't want to?!"
"Please, Rimuru, let me ask you as well! I want you to make my master's dream come true!"
Veldora was acting all sad, and now Ramiris was joining the fray. Give me a break. I brought a hand to my head—this was turning into a pain in the ass.
Honestly, we really did need extra hands. But to me, releasing Ifrit just made me anxious. At the end of the day, he was still much more powerful than your typical high-level magic-born. Maybe we could beat him in battle, but if he went on a riot, we'd have a lot of trouble to deal with—and he might always flee back to Leon, too. I didn't want to wake up a sleeping dog here, and I didn't think I could be blamed for that.
"But didn't Ifrit swear his loyalty to the demon lord Leon? Do you even know whether he'll serve you if I revive him?"
"Mm? Hmm… I see, I see. No, that is no concern at all. My passion's rubbed off on him, so he's eager and willing to help."
Um, really? It looked like Veldora was discussing matters with an unseen partner for a moment. That had to be Ifrit, right? So I guess they had some unknown method of speaking to each other.
"Were you talking to him just now?"
"Yes, well, there is nothing I cannot accomplish."
"The master's really somethin', I'll have you know! Why, he even had Ifrit summon a huge number of flame salamanders for our magic trains! So I really think having him join us would help out a lot, going forward!"
Oh. He did?
Summoning spirits, of course, was easy with Ramiris's help in the labyrinth. But once we started running magic trains worldwide, we'd likely want a go-to person handling all our salamander needs. Ugghh… In terms of what we stood to gain, I really had no counterargument. And if Veldora was really willing to look after Ifrit and keep him on good behavior… Well, maybe it'd be right to trust in him.
"All right, all right. If you say so, I'll grant you permission, but you need to take responsibility for this to the end, all right?"
"You got it!"
"Oh, that's so great, Master!"
I felt like my children were begging me to buy them a puppy. "In that case…"
"Yes, yes. Rimuru, you still have the empty husk of Charybdis after removing the core from it, right? That is the afterimage of my own magic force, so it will be easy for me to work with. And Ifrit has been exposed to my aura for an extended period of time, so perhaps we could use that as his core?"
As Veldora saw it, this would be better for him than employing a pseudo-soul. Understood. The subject Veldora's opinion seems valid.
And if Raphael was agreeing, I had no room to turn him down. "Okay. So we'll give this to Ifrit for his body, then?"
I stood in front of the incubation capsule I repaired just before our break. The magisteel skeleton inside had transformed into the unique metal dragontite and was further exposed to Veldora's excess magicules; your average monster
didn't have a chance of withstanding it. I felt that as a higher-level spirit, Ifrit was up to the challenge.
"Ah, very good. I'm sure he'll be delighted."
With Veldora's agreement, I started the procedure.
Report. Ifrit's afterimage detected. Transferring to the core of Charybdis… Successful. Creating soul vessel… Now fusing with dragontite body.
The whole process wrapped up in an instant. That's Raphael for you. We had it down to a literal science.
And with that, right before our eyes, the body infused with Ifrit's core began to undergo rapid change. The skeleton, now dark silver, seemed to be growing muscles as we watched, blood suddenly flowing through them. The skin protecting them was dark brown, the same as Veldora's. The eyes were gold, the dragon-like pupils shining a deep crimson red.
…Also, this really looked like a woman. A pretty one, too.
"Ahhh, Ifrit! How's it feel to come back with a new body?"
So this beautiful girl was Ifrit? Ignoring the question of whether spirits have genders for now, I seemed to recall fighting a muscle-bound, masculine figure. What happened?
"We meet for the first time in the physical realm, Sir Veldora. And Sir Rimuru… I cannot thank you enough for restoring me."
Ignoring my confusion, Ifrit faced me and fell to one knee. I feared his loyalty to Leon would lead to instant aggression, but that didn't seem to be a concern any longer.
"S-sure. Glad you're doing well. I wanted to ask you something…" "Anything."
I wanted to ask him a lot, actually. But the first thing:
"The last time I saw you, you were, like…more physically geared for combat? Or you looked like you could, um, move around a bit easier…"
Not to dance around the subject too much, but you didn't have such big
breasts, did you? But I was too timid to say it. I mean, how could I? Ifrit was now dressed in some kind of exotic South Asian–style outfit that left almost nothing to the imagination. Ifrit's shoulders, navel, and inner thighs were completely visible, and the allure was just blowing my mind.
"Oh, this form…?" Ifrit sighed for some reason. "I think this is Veldora's faul— er, Veldora's preferences taking form."
He was about to call it Veldora's fault, wasn't he? He seemed kind of exasperated about it. The vibe I got indicated he had been through a lot. Maybe his time in my Stomach wasn't all smooth sailing after all. If you think about it, he was alone in there with Veldora the whole time, with no place to run. There must have been some harrowing experiences.
"Mmm. Yes, thanks to me, you have taken on a physical body. I hope you will not forget to appreciate this!"
"…I will not," Ifrit replied, resigned to his fate.
"What does he mean by your 'preferences,' Veldora?"
"Hmm?"
"Ah well, I am a higher-level flame spirit, but I'm now able to exercise my powers over wind as well. My hair would normally be a deep-red color, but it's taken on a much darker hue. From what I can tell, the impact of Sir Veldora's force has had a profound effect upon me. I believe the fact that Charybdis was a female type may have caused this change to me."
Report. This is correct.
Whoa, so even his sex changed? I guess it wasn't deliberate, though, so I didn't want to comment on it too much.
"Oh… I see. Well, if you're not a fan of that…"
"I have no complaints at all," Ifrit said with a smile. "No matter how it looks, this form is far more powerful than I used to be."
Glad to see he was so adaptable. I suppose getting browbeaten by Veldora all this time must've made him used to things. I kind of liked that—and besides, unlike when I brought Shizu within me, I detected no hostility from him at all.
"You don't, uh, resent me or anything, do you?"
"No, I don't. Inside you, I learned about a great deal of things from Sir Veldora. Looking back, I feel that I, and Shizue Izawa as well, perhaps felt our duties and responsibilities too much. We rejected each other and were unable to interact at all. Now I can't help but think we could've found another way to overcome this."
Sounded like Ifrit wasn't dragging any baggage from the past along. In fact, he seemed to even regret not working things out with Shizu. The mood was thus unexpectedly somber as we decided to all sit down and work out our future.
Ifrit told me about assorted things as well. Life, as I surmised, had been tough on him. I began sensing an affinity among us. Now I was sure there was no better person to leave in Veldora's control.
As he put it, while he still had feelings for the demon lord Leon, he couldn't call those feelings loyalty at all. "Right now," he said, "I see myself as already defeated and killed once by you, Sir Rimuru. I was lucky enough to have Sir Veldora rescue me and keep my consciousness from fading away, but I feel I am a completely different being from before. I do still believe that Sir Leon is a great demon lord, but right now, I only wish to serve Sir Veldora."
That seemed believable to me, and Veldora never doubted Ifrit from the start. I saw no need to fret over it.
"All right. Well, consider yourself officially Veldora's assistant now!" "Very well. I will stake my life and body on serving him."
He definitely sounded serious. It's not that I had put the affair with Shizu totally behind me, but that was true for both sides. We needed to work past that, and in the meantime, I decided to accept Ifrit.
"Now, Rimuru, I have one thing to discuss."
There's more?! I really didn't want to get involved in anything else, but if I didn't hear him out, I'm sure he'd harangue me about it.
"What is it now, Veldora?"
"Well, I was hoping I could give a name to Ifrit. Ifrit, you see, is not his individual name, but that of his spirit type. All upper-level spirits summoned by the Spirit Summon: Ifrit spell are referred to as Ifrit."
Hmm. That was actually a decent suggestion. A name, huh? He might need one of those, yeah. But the naming process in situations like this could be fraught with danger. I had personally screwed it up multiple times, so I knew.
"But if you name Ifrit right now, wouldn't that be kind of dangerous? I know you have a huge magicule store to tap, but get the levels wrong, and you could be in deep trouble."
Too many magicules would be poison to Ifrit and even potentially damage the namer. I managed to survive all my namings more out of luck than anything.
"Kwah-ha-ha-ha! But you can accurately calculate the exact amount required, can you not? If I am pumping in too much energy, I want you to shut off the soul corridor linking us."
Hmm. That sounded safe enough.
Report. This can be provided for.
Raphael was eager to help, likely because I was in no direct harm. "All right. I'll help."
"Good! I knew you would say yes!"
So we were now naming Ifrit.
"Ifrit, from this day forward, you shall be known as Charys!!"
With a solemn voice, Veldora gave Ifrit his command. Charys was now the name of Ifrit—a name that was more a contraction of Charybdis than anything resembling Ifrit. I thought something like Iris would be more suitable, but better to keep my mouth shut with things like this.
Now, via the soul corridor between them, I could see Veldora being drained of his magicules. Ifrit, right now, was a Special A in rank, with enough magicules to be deemed a Calamity-level threat. He'd lose out to Shion or Benimaru but was about equal with Soei or Geld. So if he was given a name…
"Yes, my lord. Then by my name as Charys, I solemnly swear to serve my master, the great Sir Veldora!!"
The name was accepted—and at that instant, Raphael shut off the soul corridor and sealed up Veldora's powers. Mission accomplished. Veldora had successfully named Ifrit.
And now Ifrit was evolving.
He had far, far more magical force within him. Now he was demon-lord caliber—a far cry from Treyni and even above people like Carillon or Frey.
Report. The upper-level spirit Ifrit has evolved to Flame Lord.
A Flame Lord? Apparently, this was what happened when spiritual life-forms attain physical bodies and assume something closer to demonic form.
"Kwaaaah-ha-ha-ha! How impressive! I'm glad I relied upon you now, Rimuru!"
Veldora couldn't be happier. But one look at Ifrit made me squint. He had undergone major changes—or really, he was back to how I remembered. The hair was still the same extremely dark red as before, but now he was male in structure again, exactly as the time we fought each other. There were some small differences in the details, but now I think I was seeing Ifrit more as how he pictured himself.
"Pfft! After I gave you such a fun— Er, after I gave you such wondrous beauty! I was hardly expecting this."
Veldora was already whining about it. I guess he was playing a trick on him the whole time. Ifrit—or I guess I should start calling him Charys—bowed deeply at him.
"Is that the case? I expected as much…but I am glad my own desires won out, in the end. However, I can always return to female form, so if you insist upon it…"
"No, no, I was just poking fun at you regardless. I have no complaint about whatever form you take!"
Veldora's jokes weren't very funny. Things were back to normal now, but
there was a decent chance Charys would've been stuck that way all his life. I better watch how I act around Veldora, too.
"So how's your body feel?"
"It feels excellent, my— Wait, what's this?!"
As he answered my question, he began to notice some kind of change. Carefully, he gauged the powers within himself.
"This much power…?"
He seemed shocked.
"Heh-heh-heh… Well, I should hope so," Veldora said with a satisfied smile. He had been expecting this, it seemed. "It seems you've evolved into a Flame Lord."
"A—a Flame Lord?! I can hardly believe this power…"
Yeah, if I was just resurrected, and all of a sudden I had demon lord–level power, I'd probably react the same way. But even with all that power, you're still mainly just a caretaker for Veldora, all right? In fact, with all that strength on tap, Veldora might wind up trying to take even more advantage of you. I was starting to sympathize with Charys a bit—we had gotten chummy pretty fast, after all.
Regardless, we had a new member of the office. Before long, Charys was just another part of the picture, worked to the bone by Veldora and Ramiris—just as I feared, but nobody seemed to mind. Thanks to him, our work was humming along even faster than before.
"Hey, uh, since when did we have someone like this working for us?" "He joined while you were all occupied with putting cores together."
"But it's not like you just hired someone on. This is a spirit lord! He's got, like, demon-lord powers!"
"No, he's a Flame Lord, to be exact."
"It doesn't matter! That's not what I'm trying to say!"
Deeno seemed pretty agitated, but everyone else got used to things quickly.
"Well, you know, these things happen, I suppose."
"They…do, Vester?"
"Deeno, if we're going to work with Rimuru and the master here, you can't afford to let things like these throw you."
"I know, but…"
He looked less than convinced but, with the help of everyone else, grudgingly accepted it. Yes, it's best to just adapt. Knowing when to give up is key.
So now I was cutting down more trees and creating more dolls. Before long, I had a number of dryads evolved into Dryas Doll Dryads, capable of tapping their full powers no matter how far they were from their trees. Not one of them refused the offer, so now there were nearly ten of them. They didn't have battle experience and thus weren't as strong as Treyni, but they had a whole labyrinth to learn the ropes in. Looking ahead, I'm sure they'd be great assistants for Ramiris.
I was also just about done with the bodies—or really, the avatars—I'd be lending to the treants. They'd simply be possessing these bodies, not taking them over entirely, so they didn't need to be top-of-the-line. I made sure they were fully compatible with the hundred-odd treants who would now be able to explore and work in the labyrinth. That was a lot of new personnel, and now I regretted not doing this sooner.
Many of the dryad bodies were female in shape, while most of the treant bodies were male. They themselves were genderless, and they told me I didn't need to worry much about this, so I made their bodies with efficiency as the watchword. If they wanted to adjust any details, they could do it themselves once they took possession.
Regardless, I was told they were ready to hop in whenever the bodies were good to go, and before long, my work was complete.
With the new help, we finally had a little free time to work with. "Thank you very much, Sir Rimuru!"
I jiggled my slime body in response to Treyni's words of gratitude. This was
really no big deal for me. I wanted to repay them for their hard work, and besides, I got a lot out of the bargain.
"Okay, everyone, keep it up! Ramiris, if anything happens, let me know." "Roger! I'll fly right over!"
She'd report back at once if something flared up, I was sure. But we still had work left to do. I was meeting with Rigurd and Mjöllmile daily, and I had a mountain of projects and proposals to approve. My feedback was required for our criminal justice system as well, and I needed to mediate over and resolve any conflicts of opinion in my cabinet. In an ideal world, I'd help all day with this research, but life was getting in the way. What I really wanted was a staff to help me with bureaucratic work—that was my main priority. I had time for my hobbies because I didn't need to sleep, but even I enjoyed a nap now and again.
I had thought of myself as someone who talked a big show and let everyone else do the actual work, but now I really was working hard. I couldn't help thinking about that as I returned to my office.
"Sir Diablo has returned, along with several unfamiliar individuals. They wanted to see you—what would you like me to do with them, Sir Rimuru?"
That message had been waiting for me for quite a while.
If it were Diablo alone, of course I'd welcome him right in. But he had brought strangers along. It was an annoyance, but with all the people I had around me, we needed to go through this procedure. I decided to get this rolling before Benimaru demanded he sit in on matters.
"We'll meet in the reception room. Bring them right over!"
The attendant briskly bowed at me and left. She seemed to move kind of awkwardly—I guess she was nervous around me. Exasperated, I asked another attendant in the next room over to prepare some tea.
Shuna was busy elsewhere with her own work in the daytime, although she always allotted time in the evening to prepare dinner and the like. Shion, for her part, was training Team Reborn in the labyrinth. They were apparently testing out just how immortal they were, pushing the far edges of their
endurance. I heard they were going down to some pretty deep levels, so I resolved not to call for her unless needed.
In their place right now were two attendants assigned exclusively to me, a pair of evolved goblinas who pretty much looked human, in my opinion. Some Shuna-developed cosmetics had gained popularity as of late, and I felt like all the women around me had been looking prettier. They were first-class attendants, and I'm sure they'd be at ease around the kings and princes of other nations, although I must've been a tad intimidating. I couldn't ask for better.
So I headed to the next reception chamber over—one of the rooms designed for rustic sturdiness. I figured nothing would go wrong, but no need to go in unprepared. I had zero idea what kind of weirdos Diablo would pick for his crew.
The moment I stepped in, the attendant brought our tea. Very organized, I thought. Then I sensed someone outside.
"Sir Rimuru! I have returned!"
With a gregarious smile, Diablo entered the room. Not that I'm one to talk, but a smiling Diablo is about the most evil sight I can think of—and if I thought so, I'm sure he was just as sinister a symbol to everyone else. There was just this wicked atmosphere around him, like he was always planning some nefarious deed.
"Today, as promised, I have brought along some people I'd like you to extend an audience to. If you could meet them for me, nothing could make me happier."
He greeted me respectfully as ever. It was needlessly polite, really, but I had gotten used to it. He saw me as his sole superior, approaching me almost like a god, after all.
Behind Diablo were three women. He had talked about people to work under him; were these the ones? They looked young, but I suppose age didn't matter to demons. I had no idea how old Diablo was, but he said he'd be tapping old friends, so they must be decently well aged.
At his behest, the three girls filed in, bowed to me, and sat down on the sofa. "So these are all your acquaintances?"
They didn't look that powerful to me…
Negative. These are Arch Demons, among the most powerful of demonkind. They are fully suppressing their magicules in order to pose as human.
Raphael quickly stepped up to correct my mistake. I thought I had an eye for this by now, but I still had room for improvement. I tried ratcheting up my Magic Sense a little, but they still seemed like normal people to me.
…Wait. Arch Demons?!
Even among those who could summon higher-level demons, calling for an Arch Demon was well on impossible. Just one of them provided a whole column of tactical strength for any army. You had to be willing to make colossal sacrifices to even have a chance at summoning one. If the human race tried it, that'd be a national-level project requiring all kinds of large-scale rituals.
Now I had three of them on my sofa. And wasn't Diablo an Arch Demon as well? If these were his friends, maybe I should've expected this.
"Yes. These are the ones I decided were worthy enough to enjoy a personal audience with you, Sir Rimuru."
"I see. They certainly camouflage themselves well. I can hardly see a difference between them and regular people. I'm not sure even a paladin could tell these were Arch Demons."
Diablo smiled appreciatively. "Keh-heh-heh-heh… Well spotted, Sir Rimuru. I told them to devote their full force to concealing their race, but you saw through the ruse regardless?"
"Yeah, kinda," I said, giving Diablo a cool, collected nod. It was all Raphael, to be honest, but still. "So are there more?"
"Yes, I have seven or so others I think would be useful…"
He always had this exaggerated way of talking about his business. I had a thousand bodies ready for him, and now we'll only need, like, one percent of them? Of course, I did use a hundred of those bodies for the treants already, so
that worked for me.
"…Beyond that, I have a number of rank and filers, whom I picture as serving under the people you see before you. I hope you will give them the honor of joining Tempest's forces, Sir Rimuru."
Oh, there are more.
"All right. How many of those did you bring?"
"I will allow them to brief you on that."
"It is good to meet you, Sir Rimuru. I must regretfully say that I lack a name at the moment, but I look forward to hopefully working with you. I understand that Black adores you, which I honestly found hard to believe…but now I see why."
"Oh?"
I was greeted by a beautiful woman with snowy-white hair. She stood before me like a noble heiress, remarkably elegant. There was a fetching, fleeting element to her smile. She seemed so kind and gentle that I could hardly believe she was a demon.
"Yes. From the moment I laid eyes upon you, I could not stop my heart from racing. I sincerely hope you will add my two hundred followers and me to your force."
With a cheerful smile, the white-haired lady pledged her oath. Honestly, it embarrassed me to get complimented like this, but Diablo had already accustomed me to it, so I let it slide.
"Me too—um, I mean, and me as well. I want to offer my two hundred servants and myself to you, Sir Rimuru."
The energetic young lady who spoke next had purple hair and a ponytail on her side that complemented her naturally cute looks. Despite Diablo's declaration, I almost doubted whether she was a demon at all.
"No complaints here, either! I've brought my own army of two hundred along, and I'm ready to let you have 'em all!"
The dazzling, pompous blond spoke up last. Diablo, peeved at her act, was
about to stand up before I lifted a hand to stop him. I had the impression she was trying her best to be polite with me. No need to scold her over little things.
That rounded out our greetings. I had three girls here, each arriving with two hundred people. So Diablo wanted to add six hundred people to his personal force? I had to hand it to him—this was scary. He was seriously trying to form his own army.
"Keh-heh-heh-heh… Now, each of these people has two trusted assistants with them. In addition, there is one more whom I thought would make an amusing addition. These seven are accompanied by approximately one hundred servants, making for seven hundred in total. I had hoped to assemble a team of a thousand, but regrettably, I am forced to disappoint you on that front. My mishandling of this affair truly pains me."
"No, no, no. Don't worry about it. Let's go meet them."
So seven hundred, not six? That was almost too much.
"Ah, thank you very much! But before that, I thought I should debrief you in detail on how I came to invite them to my side—"
"Is that gonna take a while?"
"Well, Sir Rimuru, I wish to keep you updated on my activities…"
And so Diablo was already beginning his boastful speech. I needed to stop it at once.
"Okay, I'll pass on that. I'm sure they're not here to listen to you brag at me, either, so how about we save that for another opportunity?"
An opportunity I was pretty sure would never come, of course.
Diablo froze, giving me a "huh?" look. The three demon girls snickered. I supposed they were worried he'd talk about himself for hours, too.
Satisfied I was in the right, I grinned. "I don't want to keep everyone else waiting, either. Introduce them to me."
"…I—I understand. In that case, allow us to relocate…"
He looked disappointed, but I couldn't spoil him. I'll admit that Diablo was a talent, but giving him preferential treatment in front of the new staff wasn't a good idea. I'd never wanna be accused of playing favorites, so he'll just have to put up with it. (Of course, what I really feared was him talking my ear off all day, but that goes without saying.)
Diablo, of course, recovered quickly. As a spiritual life-form, he had real backbone. You'd think that meant he wouldn't be swinging between joy and sadness after everything I said, but he did anyway for some reason. Very strange.
"Summoning them in town may cause trouble, so let's call for them within the labyrinth."
Regardless, Diablo had now matured enough that he actually cared about people and things around him a little. I was impressed…but I shouldn't have been.
"Keh-heh-heh-heh… After all, if they appeared within town, they would shatter the barrier over it. You spent a lot of time and trouble on that magic spell, Sir Rimuru, so I must take consideration of that."
Hearing his slightly askew observation made me realize how wrong I was. But it reminded me of something else.
Here in Rimuru, the capital of Tempest, we already had a barrier deployed on an experimental basis. This was an enhanced version of the Holy Field, suppressing the magicules that leaked out of monsters. We had a lot of human visitors these days, and this was one measure we took for their safety. It was a bit of a burden for our monster residents, but not enough to affect their daily lives at all. Put up with that, and we could retain the city's magicule counts to a level humans could easily abide by. The barrier also helped enforce our laws against casting certain magic spells in town, and it also kept magical beasts from entering city limits.
If anyone was big and mean enough to break this barrier, they'd have to be A rank and assigned some kind of disaster level—and even they couldn't smash it with one hit. If anything happened to the barrier, we'd all know at once, so our sentinels would be able to swing into action. Even an A-ranked beast, of course, was nothing to fear without intelligence. With our well-honed soldiers, we'd be able to calmly take care of matters.
My main concern was whether there were people among these seven hundred who could break down the barrier. It'd be child's play for the three women behind me, but were there any other menaces among them? Diablo tended to be a harsh critic, so if he described seven demons as useful, they had to be extremely dangerous.
Inside the Dungeon:
"I hereby permit you to show yourselves. Manifest!"
With Diablo's order, seven demons appeared, seven hundred more kneeling behind them.
I guess…I should have expected this. Six out of the seven were Arch Demons. Magicule flow was regulated within the labyrinth, so it was easier for them to appear here than up on the surface, hence why all of them were their full, ominous selves in here.
These seven demons who earned Diablo's trust, though… Now these guys looked like actual demons. One among them was just a Greater Demon, but a special one apparently, and no doubt pretty strong, too. Strong enough to pick a fight with Diablo and get smashed up in the process, by the sound of it. He
had guts, at least, although clearly he had to be an idiot. Nonetheless, Diablo saw something in this Greater Demon, and if he did, I had no complaint.
But enough about that. My concern was still on the first three. These three Arch Demons each had two Arch Demons of their own, essentially indicating they had some kinda special talent beyond just their magicule count.
Understood. As demons have no life span, the older they are, the more battle experience they build up. In the demon realm, there are classes of nobility they are categorized into based on that. Those in the ruling classes enjoy exclusive levels of authority and power…
Oh?
Raphael told me that demons are limited in how far they can grow, Arch Demon being the very top. However, even under these same conditions, they can polish their battle skills and establish themselves as superior over others. Different demons can have different strengths, even with the same magicule count. That difference can come in knowledge, the drive for victory, the strength of their will… Put it all together, and that's how a demon built their rep.
Plus:
…Arch Demons are further categorized by the era they were born in. To be exact:
• Legends whose names have been known for over three thousand years are classified as Prehistoric.
• Arch Demons at least a millennium old are Ancient.
• Beings with over four hundred years of accrued knowledge are Medieval.
• Demons who survived past a hundred years are Pre-Modern. • Those with more than a human life span's worth of study are Modern. • Newborns are called Contemporary.
And at the far end of time, you had the Origin category, the very first of all
demons.
The strengths of demons are evaluated based on how long they have lived. The ruling classes of demons, the nobility ranked count or higher, are all Ancients.
Thanks for the detailed rundown, Raphael. I appreciated that bullet-point presentation. Now to use this newfound knowledge to examine the demons before me.
The first three were in the ruling classes, and these six were their subjects. I suppose this meant that the trio—and Diablo as well—were all very old demons, ranked count or higher. I may have been oblivious at the time, but I befriended some pretty notorious characters, didn't I? It made me shiver a bit as Diablo smiled.
"This group, I feel, boasts some aspects worthy of your attention. When I regaled them with stories of your wondrous deeds, Sir Rimuru, they all broke down and begged for the chance to serve you. Thus, I decided to grant their request and let them join me."
It sounded like a very moving tale, although I felt like he was making up aspects of it.
I took a closer look at the seven underling demons. Maybe they had wept, but I'm not convinced they were begging to serve under me. My evidence for this was how clearly all of them had been beaten up—with the lower-end Greater Demon in particular, I marveled at how he was even alive. Diablo really was making up that story, I thought. All seven of them looked like they had something to say, but none of them spoke in front of their boss. They were very well trained—or I'm sure, Diablo sternly warned them otherwise.
"From this moment, we shall ever be your faithful servants, Sir Rimuru! Please grant us your orders!"
The seven of them all bowed their heads and swore their fealty, the choir of seven hundred behind them doing the same. Seven hundred demons lying prostrate before you is quite a sight, let me tell you. Diablo observed the spectacle, smiling and nodding. He scares me. The fact that he was my ally made me breathe an internal sigh of relief. I'm so glad he's on my team.
As spiritual life-forms, demons must acquire physical bodies, or else they have to expend tons of magical force to manifest themselves. I didn't want to subject them to that forever, so it's time to get this party started.
The process was really simple. First, I used Belzebuth to consume the demons. Then I called upon Raphael to Combine each one with the pseudo-soul inside each incubation capsule. It worked great. Before long, all the demons had their bodies, customizing them to their liking. They'd be fully used to them in two or three days.
I did run into some problems with the first three, though. I didn't want to give them the same treatment as all the demons under them. They were apparently longtime friends with Diablo, so I figured they deserved a few perks. Besides, they were beautiful, and I'm nothing if not a patron of fine beauty. If I wanted to have them drop the demon look and appear more human without affecting their appearance, that much was a snap for me. So I offered my services.
"Would you like me to work on your outer appearance?"
"Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure."
"In that case, by all means."
The white-haired beauty smiled and accepted the offer, the other two following her lead. With their consent, it was time to get started.
It's tough to change someone's appearance without adjusting their internal bone structure. My fingers were more than nimble enough for the effort, and Raphael's calculations were perfect. Forming and adjusting their looks was a cinch for me—and once their structures were set up, some magicule-flow fine tuning should perfectly re-create their looks.
I also gave them a little extra, mixing gold into their magisteel skeletons to make them orichalc. If they're friends of Diablo's, they deserved that much. In this world, gold was kind of an all-purpose metal, keenly compatible with magicules and providing durability and capabilities that far surpassed magisteel.
They were literally beautiful down to the bone—and very appreciative.
"""Thank you very much, Sir Rimuru!"""
And if they were happy, I was just as happy.
Mission accomplished. Now we just had to wait for everyone to wake up. Oh, and it'll be an annoyance if they don't have names…
"Whoa, whoa, what are you doing in here?"
"Hey, hey, Rimuru! Did Diablo bring his underlings back? I wanna say hi to them— Whoa, look at this!"
Deeno, Ramiris, and Veldora had invited themselves in.
"Yep," I explained to the ignorant Deeno, "Ramiris is right. Diablo's brought his team over. They're all demons, so I have a set of bodies for them."
"No, I knew that, but…"
If he did, why was he acting so surprised?
"Well after all, if he's gathered this many demons together, Diablo must be quite formidable, indeed."
Oh, the numbers, huh? Yeah, there's a lot. Veldora seemed to have a point. If I wasn't forewarned, I probably would've been just as shocked.
"And not just that. I'm a little surprised, too. The three leaders over there… Is it me, or are they really, really old?"
Ramiris looked kind of put off. Deeno nodded his agreement.
"Yeah," I said, "they're Ancients in the ruling class, so they've supposedly been alive at least a thousand years."
"Huh…?"
"It's gotta be more than that, isn't it?"
Was it? Raphael couldn't have made a mistake.
…Negative. It is a difference of interpretation. With no way of knowing an exact age, estimates given are strictly estimates. If they have lived over a millennium, then it is not out of the question for them to be over 30,000 years old as well.
I supposed that was true. Being over a thousand could potentially make you three, four, even ten thousand years old. Raphael wasn't wrong, but it didn't necessarily have the right estimate, either.
"Yeah, but it's hard to ask a woman for her age…"
"Kwah-ha-ha-ha! I have learned that well. It leads to unwanted anger, to be sure."
"Well, one's age isn't all that important anyway. If I've got a trio of ruling-class demons on my side, I'm not gonna ask questions."
"If you're fine with that, Rimuru, then so am I."
"Funny way to think about it. I sure couldn't do that."
"Heh-heh-heh-heh… Well stated, Sir Rimuru. It is not the years in your life, but the life in your years, am I right?"
Um, maybe?!
Diablo seemed eager to close the book on the subject. As embarrassing as it was for me, I followed his lead.
Deeno and the gang had almost made me forget what I was here for, so I decided to focus on what I'd name these demons. I figured I might as well keep it simple and stick with the exotic-car theme I started with Diablo. It's not like fighting power should be measured like the price tags of cars, but with the Ancient demons in front of me like this, I think they deserved names like that.
"Okay," I boastfully stated at the three body frames in the capsules, "from now on, you three can call yourselves Testarossa, Ultima, and Carrera."
The first among them had beautiful, shimmering white hair, snow-like skin, and—floating amid all that blinding white—elegant, vibrant eyes and soft red lips, which reminded me of the classic Ferrari Testarossa.
Ultima was the perky lady with purple hair and a bubbly personality, and I thought the name perfectly suited her image. Carrera, meanwhile, was every bit a Porsche—blond locks, a cutting stare, a real leader of the pack.
"Wh-whoa! You can't just name them like it's nothing…"
Only Deeno voiced any concern. But the warning already came too late, so there was no point panicking about it now. Look at Ramiris and Veldora. They didn't freak out about every little thing I did.
"Par for the course for him, I'd say."
"Yeah! As if Rimuru would act any other way!"
There you had it.
As the three Arch Demons listened on, I worked them through the final stages of the body-claiming process. Muscle covered their golden frames, and in an instant, they were naked personifications of beauty. The magicules kept flowing into them, clothing their bodies. The incubation capsules shattered, unable to withstand their mystical auras. I could see why—thanks to me naming them— they had now evolved into Demon Peers, nothing like they were before. Their power was overwhelming, upgraded to a dimension beyond all common sense.
"Wow," muttered Deeno. "Not even old-era demon lords like Carillon could take those guys. I couldn't even guess how deep they go down, man. Good thing I'm not on hostile terms with Rimuru."
Nobody reacted to him. Only Vester, who showed up later than the others, could be found in the corner whispering "I see nothing, ha-ha-ha, nothing. I know nothing; I'm not involved in this…" The way he was slapping himself on the head and talking incoherently made me feel a little sorry for the guy, but let's just pretend I didn't see that.
This wrapped up my work for the day. I didn't want to drain my magicules all at once, so I proceeded with caution, giving names only when I was confident I had the wherewithal for it. Three a day seemed like a good limit.
Thus, the next few days were spent on a naming spree. I gave out the following names, in order of strength:
• Moss
• Veyron
• Agera
• Esprit
• Zonda
• Cien
• Venom
Testarossa's underlings were Moss and Cien, Ultima had Veyron and Zonda, and Agera and Esprit worked for Carrera. Venom, meanwhile, was Diablo's wild card favorite. Even with Testarossa and the other two alone, I held command over three Demon Peers, which was an insane amount of force. But that was only the start of it.
All seven evolved immediately after I named them, stepping out of their incubation capsules like everything was normal. Two of them had become Demon Peers; four others remained as Arch Demons but seemed a little different—I can't explain how too well, but it's like the blinders had been taken off. Venom also evolved into an Arch Demon, greatly boosting his own fighting power.
To me, it was so much of a surprise that my brain just shut off. I mean, Demon Peers aren't beings you see just pop up all the time. They were legendary figures, more powerful than your average demon lord, and (counting Diablo) I currently had six of them within my borders. Now they weren't seeming so rare to me. What was I even gonna do with all this force? I wanted to procure people strong in things like politics and economics. Could they handle that stuff? I sincerely doubted it, but I guessed we'd have to try it out…
As I pondered this, I started thinking up names for the remaining seven hundred. This was my promise to Diablo, and I wanted to see it through to the end. I had, as it turned out, made some miscalculations—Raphael informed me that the magicules that had already built up in the incubation capsules would be enough to name them with. That was good news. Just the motivation I needed, in fact, because I whipped through the whole naming process in just two days.
Now these seven hundred were prostrating themselves before me. Most of them were Lesser Demons to start with, but with a name and a physical body, they had evolved into Greater Demons. As expected, they had all gained enough magicules to be firmly A-ranked territory, and now I had seven hundred of them at my beck and call.
Not that I'm one to talk, but something about this screamed "stat inflation" to me. Some of them even looked for all the world like Arch Demons. Did I just have another oops moment? It was simply astonishing. I mean, the first three alone—Testarossa, Ultima, and Carrera—were more than enough already. But it was too late to turn back now. Let's pretend that I didn't notice anything. That was probably the best way to preserve my sanity.
"Sir Rimuru, I cannot contain my joy upon receiving such a wonderful name. And all this force! Please allow me to continue granting you my absolute loyalty!"
Testarossa spoke for everyone there when she addressed me. I nodded my approval. Sure, have a blast, guys.
Thinking about it, this was all Diablo's fault, wasn't it? All I did was keep my promise. I'm sure he'll educate them for me and stuff. As irresponsible as it was, that's what I wanted to think.
As Rimuru was attempting to escape reality…
"Black— Er, Diablo, I think I understand why you are so enamored of Sir Rimuru."
"Yes! Amazing, isn't he?"
"He saw us for what we really were, and he concluded that we were not a threat worth considering. Even that old demon lord Deeno turned white as a sheet when he saw us…"
Testarossa and the other two demon leaders were talking among themselves. Rimuru had no way of knowing, but this group had zero intention at all of swearing loyalty to him when they had first showed up. Their old friend Diablo had only convinced them to lend him their powers for a little while.
...…
...
…
They had lived a long time, becoming the strongest their world had to offer—
as were the demons who served them. Two of them were even defined as Prehistoric by humankind—and over all those years, neither of those demons had tasted defeat even once.
This was Moss and Veyron. Moss—an archduke in the demon realms, second in power only to the Origin, a spotless battle record for tens of thousands of years. Veyron—an old, crafty marquis-class noble whose life spanned over four thousand years. He had been defeated by Moss several times before, reincarnating himself each time.
The other servants were no pushovers, either. Agera, a viscount and a Pre Modern demon. Esprit, also a viscount, who boasted a streak of victories dating back over the past five hundred years. Zonda, a baron who'd been undefeated for three hundred years. Cien, another baron with a similarly long record.
Agera was a special case, a demon who'd been undefeated for three centuries after bowing to the force of Carrera. He preferred fighting with a sword over magic, a rarity among demons. Meanwhile, Esprit, Zonda, and Cien had (like Veyron) repeatedly resurrected themselves. They all got their starts long ago, very close to the Origin's own family tree. Venom was another special case, a demon born with a unique skill; he hadn't lived very long, but his growth and maturation were noteworthy.
Diablo had rounded up this band of standout demons for his plan—and Rimuru, oblivious to all this, just casually gave them names after a moment's thought, an incredibly reckless move. As a result, every demon reborn here had obtained power beyond the natural ways of the world. They were now an unimaginable force, a great assemblage of demons feared by all. Despite numbering less than a thousand, they were an army all by themselves.
They would later come to be known as the Black Corps, Tempest's most powerful military and a horrifying symbol of fear. And the Black Corps was born the moment they were unleashed from their capsules.
...…
...
…
There was a slight blush to Testarossa's lily-white cheeks as she spoke in a low voice.
"Yes, it's so fascinating. It's far more exciting to look at him instead of going through this cycle of destroying nations or jostling for territory with both of you."
Ultima nodded. "Yeah, something tells me it'll be a lot more entertaining working in this country instead of the old grind of torturing out-of-line demons."
"You're right," said Carrera. "Like you said, Sir Rimuru is an amazing figure. He just brushed away the Coercion I threw at him, like I was a naughty kitten! Accepting him as my lord was a truly tempting proposal—and now that I've accepted his name, he's got every bit of my loyalty."
"I almost killed you when you tried that, you know."
Diablo was looking serious but let it slide without major comment, perhaps realizing Carrera wasn't lying.
"Oh, right," interjected Testarossa. "Diablo, I need to thank you. When you spoke to me, I really did think about killing you."
"I'm aware. You always were that type of woman. But why did you accept my request at all? I thought you would keep challenging me until I convinced you…"
The Original White that Diablo knew had an intense personality. She never accepted what anyone said at face value. Battles between demons tended to focus on the knowledge and technical levels of the fighters involved, and even as a Demon Peer, Diablo wasn't completely sure he could defeat the Original White in battle. That's why he found her behavior so fascinating.
"Well, we are strong, as you know. Did you think there was anyone in this world stronger than us demons?"
"No," Diablo replied with a smile. It made Testarossa smile even wider.
"Right? Of course not. And that's why, Diablo. I've taken an interest in this master you cherish so much, someone capable of charming one of my cohorts in strength and power. If he proved a trifle, I would have considered killing
him."
"As would I."
"Heh. I'm not exactly itching to any longer, but I was planning to pick a fight with him first thing."
Diablo rolled his eyes, a touch irritated. "I appreciate you not causing an embarrassing scene in front of Sir Rimuru for me, but if you were actually intent on trying that…"
"Don't worry, Diablo. You take pride in your name, and just like you, I am tremendously proud of the name Testarossa that Sir Rimuru gave me. By that name, I swear my loyalty to him, and I am sure Ultima and Carrera feel the same way."
"Yeah!"
"Yes, as I said before."
The three girls nodded in unison. Diablo shook his head, giving them a "What will I do with you?" look.
"Of course, I doubt the other rank and filers besides you three will be of much use to Sir Rimuru…but so be it. I don't want you to cause me any more trouble, so I will expect you to follow Sir Rimuru's and my orders."
"So be it, indeed! I must repay you for introducing me to Sir Rimuru." "Oh, uh, I'm in agreement, too!"
"If I can help out Sir Rimuru and dispense of you as well, all the better. Until then, I will allow you to command me."
Diablo still felt irritated, but if Testarossa and the others promised to heed his orders, he felt no further need to remain. There existed in the world only a small number of people Diablo was willing to put up with, and the girls' being a part of this list demonstrated just how unique they were.
And so unbeknownst to Rimuru, the chain of command was set in stone.
…This is the sort of conversation Diablo reportedly had, or didn't have, or
whatever, as he gave me his report. I was trying to enjoy a little peace for a change, but ah well.
"…And that is how we worked matters out. They are now under my command, but there's still no telling what kind of nonsense they might pull. I'm sure you have little to worry about from them, Sir Rimuru, but regardless, stay on your guard!"
"Um, all right…"
What was he going on about? He's the one who brought them over here! But it was too late to rant and rave about it. I just wanted one day of peace and harmony in my life, and now it looks like I had more problems. And here I thought we had more allies now…
Of course, I didn't have the slightest idea how true any of this was, and if they're under Diablo's command, they're all his responsibility anyway. What? What about the guy who appointed him? Gee, I dunno, who was that?
So I decided to just toss the problem completely aside.