It was absolutely a good idea to name all the goblins and upgrade them into hobgoblins, though. It did wonders for their intelligence levels, and they were all astonishingly quick studies. Their strength was upgraded, too. The dwarves described regular goblins as straight-on F-ranked monsters, while hobgobs hovered between C and D for the most part. They felt more like people than they did before, to be sure. Depending on their weapons and armor, not to mention their classes and magical arts, there was a lot of room for growth.
On that note, I was seeing substantial variation in the hobgobs’ sizes and strengths. The four goblin lords I’d just named, for one, all seemed more talented in life than the rank and file did. Rigurd the Goblin King, meanwhile…
“Oh, is that where you were, Sir Rimuru? I was searching for you!”
Who was this guy? He was practically a muscle-bound freak of nature at this point, huge in frame and almost the size of an ogre. “Hell, larger, even!” as Kaijin put it. That must’ve been the result of giving him a class in addition to a name, I supposed.
I swear, the biology of these monsters was a total mystery to me. I’d have to try assigning a few more titles to see what happened.
“What is it?”
“I’ve come to report to you, sir. We’ve captured a few suspicious individuals.”
“Suspicious? A bunch of monsters, or?”
“No, sir, humans. We did not engage them, as you ordered.”
“Humans? Why here?”
Whoa! Sweet! Better get on their good sides, fast! If it was those three idiots from the dwarven gate, I’d be happy to chop them up and feed them to our work crews, but…
“They were engaged in battle with a group of giant ants, it seems. Rigur and his security detail rescued them and took them here, but…apparently he suspects they are conducting an investigation of the local area. I thought I would come to you for advice…”
Hmm. Some country’s checking out this place? I already knew from the dwarves that the Forest of Jura was considered neutral territory, unclaimed by any nation. It seemed plausible that this was an expeditionary force, trying to find some new territory to take for its own. This could be trouble, but there was no point fretting over it without hearing them out. I could think about what to do after that.
“All right. Take me to them!” I said as I hopped on Rigurd’s shoulder.
Ranga being out on patrol made transport around our new town a bit of a pain. I could walk easily enough, but when I was by myself, my lack of height was an issue. I always resented the feeling of being looked down upon whenever I met anyone. Having people kneel to greet me just got in the way of actual work. I had a reputation to uphold, besides, and I didn’t want to be under people all the time. Perhaps I worried about it too much, but I always thought it was better to avoid trouble before it started.
That was why I tended to travel around on a lot of shoulders these days.
✦ ✦ ✦
So aboard Rigurd’s shoulders, I made my way to see these adventurers. Who are they? I wondered before a conversation entered my (figurative) ears.
“Wh-whoa! Hey! I wanted that!”
“That’s just mean, isn’t it? I raised this meat myself!”
“Sir, I regret to inform you that I am not giving up this food!”
“Munch, munch.”
Certainly seemed like some excitement.
“…”
Rigurd replied to my silent question. “M-my apologies, Sir Rimuru. It would seem the ants made off with most of their luggage…and even before then, they had not had a decent meal in some time, so I had some brought to them.”
Hmm. That was kind of the goblin king, to be sure. “Oh, that’s no problem,” I replied. “In fact, good job noticing. Helping out someone in need is a nice thing, you know?”
I felt it was appropriate enough to praise him. He was gradually becoming more and more of a leader, no longer asking me about every little thing that cropped up. A good thing, I thought.
“Ha-ha! I will do my best to improve my rule and be less of a burden upon you, Sir Rimuru!”
But I wish he wouldn’t be so formal with me all the time, I thought as we approached a simple tent. The hobgob guarding it opened the flap for us.
The moment we stepped in, I felt all eyes upon me. Four adventurers sat on the ground, their mouths full of assorted meats and vegetables. Their eyes were wide open as they gawked at me. It was a hilarious sight to see, although they probably didn’t realize it.
Hmm? Have I seen them somewhere before? …Oh, right. They were the adventurers I passed by in the cave, although one of them was new to me. I wondered how any kind of food got through the mask this figure had on.
“Munch, munch…”
They sat there for a moment, chewing. They sure were taking their time.
Fresh roasted meat…mmm. If only I had a sense of taste. Argh… Does anyone have some spare taste buds…?
Whoops, got a little distracted there. I turned my focus to the matter at hand.
Rigurd walked up to a tall seat on one side and placed me upon it. “My guests,” he bellowed as he sat next to me, “I do hope you are comfortable here. Allow me to introduce you to our master, Sir Rimuru!”
I could hear them swallowing down their food. Then, in unison:
“““Huh? A slime?!”””
“Munch, munch.”
All of them reacted with shock.
Well, I’m not sure about the last one, actually. Whatever.
“It is good to meet you. I am Rimuru, a slime. Not a bad slime, you know!”
I heard a sputtering sound from under the mask. With all the food that guy was chewing, the results probably weren’t pretty.
Rude jerk.
Must’ve been a surprise to hear a slime speak. The other three looked equally surprised, but at least they didn’t have their mouths full at the time.
So. Who were these visitors? Good guys, hopefully.
“Well, pardon us, I guess. I just didn’t expect we’d be saved by a monster tribe.”
“Oh! We’re human adventurers, by the way, and this meat is really good! We’ve been running for the past three days, I think, so it’s been hard to eat much of anything… Thank you so much!”
“Yeah, thanks. I sure didn’t expect some hobgoblins to be building a village around here.”
“Urrp… Koff! Glug glug.”
“Well,” I said, “please, feel free to enjoy your meal, all of you. We can talk afterward.”
I sort of wished the hobgobs had called me over after the humans were done stuffing themselves, but they were still lacking in politeness here and there. I’m sure they were surprised, but something told me I’d need to hold a workshop on manners shortly anyway.
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
So I left the tent, not too interested in watching them eat on the floor, wondering about my good luck at obtaining these human guests (or prisoners, depending). On the way out, I told their guard to take them to my personal gate near the cave once mealtime was over.
“Don’t worry about it,” I reassured the crestfallen-looking Rigurd as we walked. “We can work on manners later.” They were, after all, growing by leaps and bounds. I wasn’t expecting every diplomatic effort to go perfectly with these hobgobs.
Settling down back in my tent, I began patiently waiting. Rigurd had one of his female assistants prepare some tea for us. It looked more palatable than the last beverage I’d tried from them, but I could only guess at the taste. Neat how evolution even affected areas like that.
Slowly, we were settling down into a truly cultured society. Something about that tea convinced me.