I woke up feeling quite relaxed today.
In theory, Gabiru and his men were supposed to arrive today, followed by a long meeting to discuss our course of action, where the Dryad Treyni would make her appearance.
Honestly, since I already knew everything that was going to happen, the meeting didn’t hold much significance for me, but I figured I had to attend out of respect and to look like a proper leader.
I’d try to make use of the time by meditating or doing whatever else.
What a pain.
Either way, over those past seven days, while I was busy training, the village had developed quite a bit in several different aspects.
Shuna was successfully leading the tailoring workshop alongside the female goblins Lilina and Haruna, making the production of Hellmoth silk cloth a resounding success.
Even though it wasn’t particularly comfortable on my current body, having high-quality clothing was always nice.
On the other hand, Kurobe and Kaijin had formed a fantastic team at the smithy.
Kaijin focused on research and mass production logistics, even starting work on designing specialized weapons for mounted hobgoblins.
Kurobe was more concentrated on forging the weapons themselves.
If I remembered correctly from what Rimuru told me, Benimaru and Rigurd were planning the creation of a formal military corps composed of trained volunteers dedicated exclusively to combat.
Although it was nothing major right now, Tempest’s military power in the future would be terrifying.
Just thinking about the four Primordials was enough to ruin any thought of a potential surprise attack on the Jura Tempest Federation.
Lastly, Souei had established a perimeter alarm network around the village.
On top of that, he was using his new skill, Replication, to create up to six clones of himself for long-range espionage.
Honestly, extremely useful.
In short, while I was training, the village kept growing and developing at a steady pace.
Of course, most of it was thanks to the Kijin and Rimuru; I barely contributed anything beyond an occasional idea or suggestion.
During this time, Rimuru had also started practicing with Hakurou.
I didn’t know exactly how many sessions he’d done, but the lucky bastard managed to acquire the Extra Skill Sound Wave Perception after just a few brief moments of training.
The lucky guy didn’t take long to cheerfully tell me about his new acquisition.
Even though I knew it was coming, I couldn’t help feeling a bit frustrated.
Either way, according to what Rimuru told me, once he recognized that learning Arts relied on hard work and perseverance, he seemed to set that option aside a bit.
I suppose having the ability to acquire skills so easily somehow makes options that require effort feel less important.
Leaving those days behind, right now I was following Rimuru, Shion, Benimaru, Hakurou, and Rigurd to the entrance of the village.
A little less than an hour ago, Souei’s security system had been triggered, so we were currently waiting for the alleged intruder to appear in front of the village.
Although both the anime and the light novel had made it crystal clear that Shion’s cooking was terrifying, seeing it with my own eyes was genuinely shocking. You are reading on novelping . com, the official source.
While we waited, Shion decided to offer some of the tea she had prepared, but the appearance of that stuff was horrifying.
I doubted anyone could replicate something like that even if they tried.
In the end, poor Gobta was the one tasked with consuming the poison, causing him to go into spasms with foam bubbling from his mouth.
Poor guy, I thought.
Shortly after that terrifying scene, the Lizardman prince appeared before us along with his men.
Before Rimuru could even start speaking, Gabiru launched into his introduction, which honestly felt more like a theatrical performance.
In short, he simply boasted about how grand and awesome he was, and how we had the honor of becoming part of his troops.
This ostentatious introduction annoyed everyone present; I even saw with my own eyes how Shion began squeezing Rimuru tightly using her newly acquired Extra Skills Steel Strength and Strengthen Body.
Rimuru decided to summon Ranga so he would be the one to talk to the Lizardmen and handle the situation.
In the end, poor Gobta was tricked into fighting the moment he woke up.
Though I have to admit, seeing the hobgoblin use Shadow Motion with my own eyes was quite surprising.
Maybe I should try to learn that skill sometime.
After the fight, we all acknowledged Gobta’s strength, and the Lizardmen quickly beat a retreat from the area.
Seeing their leader fall in such a humiliating way must have been pretty sad for them.
After that entertaining spectacle, Rimuru and I summoned the thirteen key figures of the village to formally organize the government into six departments, which played out as follows:
Executive Leadership: Rimuru as the supreme leader, myself as the secondary leader, and Rigurd as Prime Minister, supported by three other ministers (Rugurd, Regurd, and Rogurd).
Security: Assigned to Rigur for the time being.
Military: Commanded by Benimaru (Samurai General) and Hakurou (Instructor), who were already planning to recruit volunteers from the guard.
Intelligence: Led by Souei.
Production and Development: Supervised by Kaijin (planning and new ideas) alongside Kurobe (dedicated entirely to forging).
Agriculture and Resources: Managed by Lilina, who was doing an exceptional job cultivating fast-growing wild potatoes, domesticating magic beasts for livestock, and setting up fish hatcheries.
The black-haired ogre girl, who had remained by my side from the beginning as a faithful bodyguard, did not receive a formal government position—much like Shion—since the two of them were currently serving as royal guards.
Although there was a clear lack of personnel right now, these roles would greatly aid the growth and security of the village in the future.
Next on the agenda was the information Souei had gathered through his patrols.
Upon returning from his reconnaissance mission—which he conducted using his clones spread across the terrain—Souei presented a detailed overview of the situation across three fronts related to the problem of the orcs:
First, he reported on the surrounding goblin villages.
Most of the villages had fallen for Gabiru’s sweet talk and joined him, handing over all their supplies in exchange for protection.
The goblins who refused fled toward human territory, where they would likely be wiped out.
According to Souei, Gabiru had already assembled an army of 7,000 goblin warriors encamped near the base of the mountains.
Honestly, all those little soldier guys are destined to die if we don’t help them.
Though honestly, it didn’t look like that was going to turn out very well either.
Facing this situation, Rimuru and I—though I was mostly just trying to act like I was taking it seriously—concluded that we couldn’t allow the Orcs to advance toward our village.
The decision was made that the war had to be fought and won in the marshlands to protect the forest’s resources and avoid endangering the lives of our people.
With our objective for the conflict more or less settled, Souei dropped the ultimate bombshell: the Orc army numbered approximately 200,000 combatants, all equipped with armor and various types of weaponry.
The ogres were also deeply shocked to learn that the force that destroyed their homeland was only a small fraction.
The main force, numbering no fewer than 150,000 Orcs, was marching from the south along the Ameld River, covering entire roads for miles, while multiple smaller squads carried out raids in the forest with the intention of devouring every living thing they found.
By the end of the report, we all reached the same conclusion: the Orc army was heading directly for the marshlands of Lake Sisu (Lizardman territory).
If they continued in a straight line, they would inevitably collide with several human kingdoms afterward.
Rimuru didn’t seem too fond of that last part, though I couldn’t blame him—I preferred avoiding those kinds of situations too.
We’d have plenty of trouble with humans in the near future as it was.
To discuss and organize a strategy with greater precision, Rimuru asked for a map to analyze the geography, but he was quite surprised when he discovered that the concept of a “map” was completely foreign to most monsters.
Thankfully, Kaijin was present to explain that in this world, maps were considered classified military intelligence by human kingdoms, and monsters rarely ever possessed one.
It made a lot of sense.
Both Rimuru and I immediately realized that because monsters used Thought Communication to share mental images directly, they never developed print media or paper records.
While useful, relying solely on such primitive methods ultimately serves as an obstacle to building a true civilization.
Honestly, seeing how much Rimuru has been using Thought Communication lately, I can understand why monsters wouldn’t need maps.
It really is a useful skill; I should try to acquire it myself one of these days.
In the end, using wooden boards, memories from Hakurou’s grandfather, the processing power of Great Sage, and place data shared by others via Thought Communication, Rimuru consolidated everyone’s mental images and drew a functional, practical map of the Great Forest of Jura and its surroundings.
While the others discussed things in a serious, focused manner, I was taking it pretty easy, which seemed to catch the attention of my bodyguard.
“Is everything alright, Lord Kaelion?” she asked me.
Not wanting to disrupt the meeting, I replied in a quiet tone:
“Of course.
I was just thinking about the future and a few other irrelevant things.
Don’t worry,” I answered with a smile.
“I see.
If you need anything, please do not hesitate to inform me, my lord,” she concluded.
After that, I continued listening to the others plan.