The conference table was enveloped in silence. The dryads, long-lived though they were, rarely left their holy sanctuaries. They were heralded by some as the wardens of the whole Forest of Jura, and only a few lucky ones would see one for themselves. They were fabled to exact divine punishment upon the wicked—those who damaged the forests.
Benimaru and the other ex-ogres reacted much the same way as Rigurd. But the dryad didn’t let it faze her. She sized up the room for a moment before locking her eyes upon my figure.
“My greetings to you, Leader of the Monsters, and your followers. I am Treyni, a dryad. It is nice to meet you all.”
She smiled, like a bud sprouting into a flower. That was all it took for me to wonder, Am I being too wary of her, perhaps? She had a fairylike beauty, that was absolutely true.
“Um, you too. My name’s Rimuru. We can keep it casual here, okay? None of that ‘Leader of the Monsters’ crap.”
I hated nicknames enough on Earth. I didn’t want any here, so I made sure to do away with it before the rest of the room could introduce themselves.
“So,” I said, still trying to overcome my embarrassment, “what did you want to see me for?”
“Thank you. I have come here to discuss the events taking place in this forest—events which, I imagine, you all are aware. As one of the Forest of Jura’s appointed wardens, I cannot allow this series of calamities to go unaddressed, and so I have appeared before you. I do so because I hope to join in your conference.”
She nodded in turn to each of the participants before turning back to me.
Treyni, huh? A named monster, then. High level, no doubt.
“But why here?” Benimaru dared to ask. “Surely there are races more powerful than the goblins you could have turned to for assistance.”
“This is the most powerful outpost in the nearby region,” the dryad replied. “The others no longer exist, their people now affiliated with the lizardman known as Gabil. The treants are incapable of moving from location to location and thus interact little with other races. If they were blighted by an outside enemy or natural disaster, there would be little they could do to defend themselves. We dryads are granted permission to travel to the outside world only in these spiritual forms, and I regret there are but few of us… If the root cause of all this were to attack the treant community we share our lives with, we lack the numbers to provide them an effective defense. That is why I wish to tap your strength, if I may.”
She closed with another cheerful smile.
In contrast to her astounding looks, the way she spoke was oddly calming. They must have been a long-lived race, indeed—she must’ve seen a lot over the years. The issue was whether she could be believed. Someone as strong as Ifrit—several of them, living in this community or whatever—not even they could handle the orcs. Did she want to use us as bait, maybe? Or was there some other goal?
“You speak of a ‘root cause,’” Hakuro said. “Does that mean you know what is happening in the forest now?”
“I do,” Treyni responded without hesitation. “An orc lord is invading it with a vast force in tow.”
The freely given revelation plunged the conference room into silence once more.
“Should we take that to mean,” Benimaru finally said, “you have confirmed the orc lord’s presence?”
“You may. And if they were to turn their sights upon our community of treants, we have no effective way to resist them. They cannot move from where they are rooted, and their mystical magic can do little against an orc race unafraid of death. We could perhaps sear them with flame magic, rendering them into ashes, but that could backfire upon the tree people, and none have mastered it anyway. And anything more powerful than that—anything that could strike an entire army at once—would wipe the treants out with it. That…”
Treyni paused, sizing us all up before once again focusing her gaze squarely upon me.
“In addition, we have found that a high-level magic-born is working behind the scenes to support this orc lord. As dryads, we must prepare for this. We are unsure which demon lord might be behind them all, but we are not interested in letting these intruders do whatever they like with our forest.”
Her eyes seemed to sparkle even more as she spoke. As one of the most powerful creatures of the forest, Treyni exuded a presence in the room that was electric. It was like energy coursed across her entire body.
“Well, we’d like to help, but what did you want us to do, exactly?”
“I would like you to defeat the orc lord,” Treyni immediately replied.
This rendered everyone speechless. “Whoa,” I protested, “this monster is, like, crazy-ass strong, isn’t it? Why would someone like me have to take him on?”
Treyni responded with a quizzical look. “But the ogre mages here are intending to fight against the orcs, though, aren’t they? And you plan to contribute to the effort yourself, right? You were the one who extended a hand to save all those defenseless goblins, not long ago. I had thought you would show similar kindness to us and the treants.”
She smiled again.
I wasn’t sure what sources she was tapping, but Treyni seemed to know a remarkable amount about what happened in this forest. She must have looked at my assorted exploits in this world and concluded that I was a sort of omnipotent good samaritan. Perhaps the secluded lives the dryads led caused them to assume the best of everybody they met.
Did it ever occur to her that we—okay, I—might stab her in the back? The smile made it impossible to tell, but as our eyes met, I could feel it in my gut—this was no liar in front of me. I decided to trust my instincts.
If her story was true, we really did have an orc lord on our hands, as well as a high-level magic-born lurking around behind him. I didn’t know exactly how I could contribute to the cause yet, but if she trusted in me, I might as well repay the favor.
I took a deep breath. But before I could speak:
“Of course! To our leader, Sir Rimuru, the orc lord is no more of a threat than a passing cockroach!”
Shion stole my thunder, a bold look of determination on her face. Geez. I’m not a god or anything. Wish she could’ve conferred with me first. And why’s it already a given that I’m the one doing the orc slaying around here?
Before I could protest, Treyni gave me another smile. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “Then it’s just as I have heard. I wish you great luck against the orc lord, then!”
And that was that.