Outside of the chief's chambers, Shizue stood with her new allies as she met with the dryads.
"Are you still looking for allies?" She asked.
Treyni nodded, "Of course, Lady Shizu."
"How much do you know about the orc lord? Do you know what caused it to appear?"
"Unfortunately I do not." She explained, "We only managed to catch sight of it after it entered the Jura Forest." She remembered something. "We did confirm the presence of a majin traveling alongside the orc lord but we haven't gotten a close look."
"Another majin? That's quite concerning."
Benimaru heard this from nearby. "Are you suggesting the orc lord is working with them?"
"It's likely they're at the very least being led by them. I've seen an orc lord once before, although I was quite young. They are not the kind of monsters to ally themselves with other species. For another majin to travel alongside them. I would go as far as to suggest it's actually them that caused this."
She looked at Treyni with a look of intrigue, "Do you know where the orc lord came from? You say that they entered the forest from elsewhere."
"They entered from the south east and started moving north from there." The potato spirit mapped it out in her head as she explained. "They took a detour around this territory not long after that. They are currently moving east through the Great Ameld Rapids. Thankfully that should slow them."
"If they actively avoided entering ogre territory they are definitely being led." Her look got serious. "Would it be possible to investigate the majin?"
"I have already sent a few scouts before. It will take time for them to come back with results."
"That's good." She thought back to the entrance point. "If they came from that direction then…Orbic."
She turned to the full group. "The Orc Kingdom of Orbic. They must have come from there." She paused. "We would need to send investigators."
Rimuru looked around. "I don't think that's much of an option for the people we have now."
Benimaru agreed. "Our party is made up of mostly warriors. We would be of better use on the battlefield than on an investigation." As he said this, someone else appeared from nearby. Hakurou.
The white haired oni arrived with a group of 7 others. A few of them, Benimaru and Shuna immediately recognized. "Souei? Shion?"
Two of the most prominent were Souei and Shion. Two close friends of the royal siblings.
Quiet as ever, Souei only nodded as Shion waved at them. "Hey, Benimaru! Are you done with the chief's call?" She looked at Shuna. "Oh, you're here too? Looks like something big's happening."
She swung her gigantic great sword in a wide swing, just barely missing an arm of one of her allies as she put it away. As she did this, something else was flung around that caught Rimuru's attention.
"So big!" Rimuru suddenly yelled out.
"Eh? Was I right?" Shion said with her head tilted.
"Oh, no! It was nothing! Don't worry about it!"
As if nothing happened, Hakurou got to work. Already getting the gist of the situation, he said, "You wish to send an investigative team down south, right? Would Souei suffice for such a task?"
Rimuru looked at Souei. He was thin for an oni and low for a kijin, opting for the clothes of a ninja over a warrior's. His face was locked in a constant deadpan with eyes that looked like they belonged to someone who hadn't slept in weeks. [Magic Sense] immediately sensed something very alarming as well. Outside of the twin katana's he had strapped to his back, there were hidden weapons everywhere on his person. Mostly small things like throwing daggers and bundles of shuriken. He was a textbook ninja.
Benimaru, the one that knew the most about the ice prince, stepped up. "I have no doubts about that. However, there is still the issue of him being alone."
He looked over to the group Hakurou had brought. Outside of Souei, all of them were warriors.
"I can handle something like that by myself."
"Souei." Shuna said with worry. Souei was someone that would appear on the side of the dictionary when someone looked up "lone wolf." It was this attitude that had made him strong, but it was also this attitude that made people worry for him.
Shizue had seen the kijin train before during one of her visits. "No, I believe he should suffice." As everyone focused on her, she explained. "If the orcs did come from Orbic, then the nation is abandoned by now. I more so want to see if we can track the movements of the majin. A majin strong enough to take control of an orc lord would have left traces."
Everyone seemed to understand. It wasn't a mission that was as dangerous as it was tricky.
"I believe Souei will bring results." She said.
Souei bowed, "I thank you for your trust."
Treyni bowed in, saying, "I would be willing to send an escort to travel with Sir Souei. If one of my brethren follows, they'll be able to keep us updated on any new information he manages to find. It would also give us a way to give him updates as well."
Shizue nodded along. "Yes, that would help."
As Shizue thought over what they had now, she eventually came to one conclusion. "What we have for now is enough. It would be best for us to hold this conversation until we return to Rimuru's village."
That got Rimuru's attention. "Until we get back?"
"We have what will amount to be the majority of our offensive force here, but there are still valuable resources in your village. I am sure Kaijin would be willing to forge equipment for us, for example."
Rimuru nodded along. "Yeah, that makes sense." He sighed, "Alright, I guess it's about time we return."
The travel back was something Rimuru was not looking forward to. Their party had become too large to travel on Ranga so they would have to walk.
It was going to be a long journey back.
Back in the future Tempest capital, the sound of the clashing of steel on steel could be heard as he sparred with a few martial students. "Hyaaa!"
From above, he watched as Rito slammed down with both his axe and machete. "Too big, Rito!"
He sidestepped the attack and tapped his neck. "That's death." Without even turning in her direction, Mikaeru ducked under a claw swipe from Cait, then casually sidestepped a roundhouse kick from Gray.
"Oh, not bad." Up above Carr charged up a ball of bright blue energy. Instead of launching it however, the ball suddenly dispersed into a collection of smaller energy balls. "I see what you're doing.
Cait, Gray and Rito positioned themselves in a triangular formation around him. The air grew quiet as all three drew in a breath. This was their last shot.
Mikaeru smiled. "Go ahead. Let's see if you win."
All three charged at him full speed. Gray got to him first, attacking with a carefully positioned uppercut that forced the defending slime to step back, only for Rito to move right behind him with his machete ready to strike. "Oh." Mikaeru braced himself on his left leg and kicked off, dodging the swing with a fluid twist of his body.
"Now!" Carr began bombarding the battlefield with a swarm of magical energy. As Mikaeru prepared to dodge a ball of magic heading straight for him, he noticed Rito and Cait on either side and Gray above him. That's what he was talking about!
No escape. At least in human form. In a fraction of a second, Mikaeru switched from his human form back to a slime, dodging both Rito's axe and Cait's claws before gliding past Gray's kick from above. Using Gray's leg as a kickoff point, he then quickly shot himself away from Carr's attack.
Carr's attack ended, leaving the entire area covered in a cloud of dust. Reforming nearby, he confidently crossed his arms as the three warriors down below struggled to catch their breaths.
"Welp, looks like you lost." He proclaimed.
"That's cheating, Lord Mikaeru!" Yelled Cait.
"What? We never agreed that I wasn't allowed to switch forms?" He said with a mocking tone.
"No using skills implied that, did it not!?"
He shrugged, "Eh, not really." The professional rage baiter could barely hold off a smile as he said that. The malkin face looked like she had just been scammed out of a million dollars or something.
For the spar, the group had agreed upon a few rules to make the fight a little fair. For the entire fight, Mikaeru wasn't allowed to use skills, weapons or magic and one hit would mean a loss for him.
Mikaeru smirked, "Let's just call it a tie, yeah?"
"Argh! You're such an asshole!" Mikaeru laughed. Cait wasn't someone to yell at someone like that, which made Mikaeru all the more determined to see her do it. He had been annoying her the entire training session. He put his hands in his pocket.
As much as he was making fun of them, what they had done was genuinely impressive. Their teamwork was extraordinary. For most people starting off, fighting alongside other people was a task that often led to chaotic results. For them, the entire time the group flowed like water. There wasn't a single wasted setup. It was like they shared one mind. They still needed refinement on how to take advantage of their teamwork, but they were already well on their way to becoming extraordinary.
"Huh?" He turned his eyes to the light he could see from Rimuru. "Oh, they're finally coming back." He noted the faint trace of additional powers around Rimuru and Shizue. "They have company too."
"Is something wrong, Lord Mikaeru?" Rito asked.
"It's nothing to be too worried about." He had wondered before on how to get the ogre territory to work with Tempest more. It seemed Rimuru and Shizue had gotten that sorted out for him.
As Mikaeru started monologuing, Kataki ran onto the field from nearby. "That was amazing!"
Rito blushed, "Oh, well, I wouldn't…"
Gray slapped him on the back, "Have some more confidence in yourself, Rito." He grinned, "We're just starting off, remember?" He turned to the slime, "I doubt there's many that can win against him. For a bunch of scrubs like us, we did good."
"Yeah." Rito said. "I guess we did."
Finishing with his internal monologue, Mikaeru suddenly came to, having settled his mind on something. Focusing back on the group in front of him, Mikaeru began coaching. "Right, starting off, there's the basic issues in your fighting styles. Both Rito and Gray need to commit to smaller moves. That last kick Gray gave at the end was good, but it was only because it had some setup. If you keep reaching all the way back just to throw a jab like that, you'll just get countered." He pointed upwards, "Carr, what you have going is good. You're great on support but you definitely need to get more aggressive. You're too calculating for your own good. Sometimes you need to dive in headfirst to do your job. Cait, you've got the basics down, but your swings are too predictable still. Throw in more feints, maybe a few different angles, hell use anything outside of your claws. If you only swing up, down and sideways all the time, it's only a matter of time until your opponent wises up. Not to mention you've got a prehensile tail. It might be good to practice with it a bit more."
They all listened as Mikaeru began to explain what they need to work on. When he was finished, he turned to Kataki. "Now, about why I brought you here. I think you would work well with them."
"Eh? Are you sure, Lord Mikaeru?"
Mikaeru had noticed it earlier. Kataki wasn't very good at working with his team. He was more so an on the ground combatant so the goblins and wolf he had been assigned to had a few problems. He figured it would be best to get him something else.
"I think it's about time we get to work on diversifying our forces beyond the basics we set up at the start. I think you would do well with them."
The group of four visitors turned village residents turned to the goblin. Of the four, Rito was the one to step forward. "I'd be more than welcome to have you join us. We're friends already, right?"
Kataki looked at the human. "Yeah, I suppose so."
Giving a hand forward, Rito met the hobgoblin's own with a handshake. Their team was complete.
Mikaeru nodded along. He could see great potential in them. He wouldn't let it be wasted.
About an hour later, Mikaeru sat in the village square eating lunch when he suddenly felt something. Wait…oh, I think I know who that is.
Making his way over to the entrance of the village, he calmly walked into the forest, quickly running into another out of place human in the forest. That makes two of you, he said internally. This one was a girl wearing what amounted to the bare minimum for survival in the Cardinal World. She had no armor, wearing little more than her school uniform and held a sword and shield he could tell she couldn't wield with much more than slow, clumsy movements.
He smirked as he pretended to run into her accidentally. Moving behind a bush, he walked out of it in the direction of the girl. "Woah. Oh, a human?"
"Kya!" She jumped back. Mikaeru looked at her. Yup, that's Sumire Makino alright. She looked kind of meek, holding her sword and shield up as if to prepare for an attack at all times. Compared to Rito, he remembered her skill was overall worse.
Unique Skill [Overcomer] was a skill that allowed her to increase in strength as she was pushed closer to death. In the game, it made it so she got stronger and healed her enemies as she lost HP. He wondered if placed in the actual story, it would gain more than just stat buffs. If pushed close to death, would it increase her evolution or even grant her new skills? Testing something like that would be hard.
Strictly speaking, it was a noticeably worse Unique Skill compared to the respective arsenal most main story otherworlders like Hinata had. However, "I could still work with this," he muttered aloud.
"Um…woops…s-sorry! I-I didn't see you!"
He motioned her to calm down. "It's fine."
"Uh…so…do you know w-where the cave Veldora was sealed in is?" She asked, getting quieter and quieter with each word she said aloud.
He stared at the socially awkward human. She was avoiding eye contact. "A bit out of the blue, don't you think? Why are you asking about that?"
"Err…I just wanted to…confirm Veldora's current state." Mikaeru looked at her. Entering where Veldora was sealed would end in a horrific death. If not from the monsters, to the acute magicule poisoning.
He didn't say that though. "I see. Well, my name is Mikaeru Tempest. Let's just get that out of the way."
"Oh, yes. My name is…Sumire Makino."
Mikaeru pretended to be interested. "Japanese, eh? What's someone like you doing here?"
She seemed surprised at the Japan namedrop but didn't have the courage to ask about it. "Y-yes. I-I'm here to gather information about something."
"Veldora, right?" Mikaeru advised, "Well, you're not going to get much from wandering like that." He pretended to think. "Why are you interested in him? Most people aren't crazy enough to go out looking for a True Dragon. Especially one in a forest like this."
"I…I can't answer that question." She muttered.
"Uh, huh." He said with a deadpan. Then he smiled. "You're trying to stop Angelus, right?"
"Eh!?" She yelled out. "Y-you know about…"
She immediately pointed her sword at the slime. "Woah, there tiger. I'm not working for him. Let's just say…I know a lot. More than I should know."
She seemed wary. "Look, I know where Veldora is. He's…let's just say a friend of mine."
"Y-you do? Can you tell me?" She asked.
"Afraid not. Veldora isn't in a state to meet with people now unfortunately. Just know he's safe for now. No one would be crazy enough to check where he is right now." Mikaeru crossed his arms. "I'd be willing to work with you if you help out a bit."
She seemed confused, "W-what do you mean?"
Mikaeru smiled. "Follow me. I'll show you."