When we arrive at the village I look around. It's really sad looking around, all the goblins are starving to death and really dirty, the huts look like they might collapse any second, and everyone looks like they've given up hope. Rimuru seems to be affected by the sight more than me. He is nicer and more generous than me after all.
The goblin soon to be named Rigur motions us inside a small hut. Inside Rimuru and I awkwardly wait until an old senile looking goblin walks in.
When he comes in Rimuru gets straight to the point asking, "So for what reason have you invited us here?" He has adapted to being a strong godlike figure surprisingly fast.
Rigurd weakly and timidly answers in a shaky old voice, "If I may you are aware of the recent monster activity correct? You see we have lived peacefully here under the protection of our god for many years." His voice gets even sadder, "Sadly, he seems to have disappeared one month ago. Due to his disappearance many monsters have begun to invade our lands. We tried to fight back but unfortunately…"
{Notice- Unique Skill [Sage's Link] has been activated}
Rimuru in a worried tone asks, "Do you think their god is Veldora?"
"Yeah, the timing fits perfectly, that's right when you absorbed him."
He asks, feeling guilty, "Then this is our fault?"
Trying to console him I say, "Well, yeah but this was always going to happen. Veldora was always going to die."
"I still feel bad."
{Notice- Unique Skill [Sage's Link] has been deactivated.}
With Rigurd's explanation over, Rimuru responds with, "I understand your request but as slime's I am afraid we won't be able to live up to your requests."
Thinking he is joking he says, "Hahaha, how modest, a slime could never emanate such strong demonic aura."
Rimuru begins using [Magic Sense] on himself which I can tell with [Sage's Link] so I turn to look at him. Strange he didn't know how strong he was considering earlier I told him we were stronger than the goblins. I guess he never truly checked and thought we were only average monsters.
I watch as the left bubble on Rimuru floats up 3 millimeters. He's really surprised!
Rimuru immediately hides his aura.
Yo, [Great Sage], can you also hide my aura?
{Answer- Yes, drawing magicule aura back into the body.}
Thanks [Great Sage].
After Rimuru and I draw our aura back, Rimuru confidently says, "Fufufu, how perceptive of you to notice us. You understand our power!?"
What a 180! He went from having the confidence of a bullied middle schooler to the confidence of Bill Gates in seconds.
Rigurd praises Rimuru saying, "It was obvious your grace! Your wonderful persona's cannot be hidden!"
Rimuru keeps laughing confidently as Rigurd continues complimenting him. After a while it gets annoying so I say, "Yeah, yeah, that's enough complimenting. For what reason have you summoned us? What do you want us to help you with?"
Scared about my slightly annoyed tone he shakily says, "Oh, y-yes, I apologize. You see since we lack manpower we humbly ask you for your help in the fight against our besiegers."
I ask, "So what's in it for us?"
Rigurd makes a hopeless face when he hears that. I bet he thinks he has no chance of convincing us considering he doesn't have anything to offer us. "Unfortunately we have nothing physical to offer but we can offer our unbridled loyalty." He bows or as close as he can get to a bow with his frail frame.
[Great Sage], activate [Sage's Link], I want to talk to Rimuru for a little.
{Answer- Understood
Notice- Unique Skill [Sage's Link] has been activated.}
"So what do you think, Rimuru? Do we take the offer?"
In a caring tone he says, "Well we can't just leave them here to die. We have the power to help them so we should."
I chuckle a little, "So I have a very optimistic, nice, and caring older brother then. What a contrast, I probably would have left them here. You know what, let's do it. Plus, it also gives us a place to stay."
{Notice- Unique Skill [Sage's Link] has been deactivated.}
In a loud archaic and overconfident voice Rimuru says, "It is so, having beheld our aura yet having the confidence and will to speak with us. You all have earned our respect and have earned the blessing of our protection!"
What the fuck was that!? He sounded just like Veldora for a bit there. I'll never let him live this down, haha.
Rigurd happily says, "Your kindness is wasted on us, we shall not inquire over the visages of your true forms, lest we awaken your anger. We wish for you two to acknowledge our request and hold true to it."
What the hell? It's like I'm hanging out in the middle of medieval Europe. What's with this archaic conversation? Visages, lest? I don't know whether to laugh or cringe.
Pushing back into the conversation I ask, "So how is your fighting force looking? How many can fight and how many are wounded?" I already know but it's definitely something I would ask.
Rigurd droops down clearly, really sad, "Unfortunately there are only a hundred denizens capable of fighting."
Rimuru then asks, "What about the enemy? How many are there and what kind of monster are they?"
Rigurd says, "They are from the wolf species, unfortunately even ten of us can't match up to one in hand to hand combat and there are one hundred of them."
This is a hopeless fight. They really did get lucky. If Rimuru hadn't found them in the original they would have been overrun and ripped to shreds. What a terrifying visual.
Rimuru says, "So the previous goblin warriors that were mentioned before gave their lives pointlessly knowing they were entering a hopeless battle?"
"No, this intel we have on them is due to their sacrifices."
The bubbles inside Rimuru drop a little. He pities them. Right after they raise up. He's thinking.
Suddenly in a booming voice he says, "We shall help you!"
What looks like the first shred of excitement in his old eyes in years Rigurd begins praising our generosity. I fear that he might have had a heart attack if we had said no in the end.
On the way out the hut I picked on Rimuru a bit.
[Great Sage], activate [Sage's Link].
{Notice- Unique Skill [Sage's Link] has been activated.}
I jokingly say, "So, Rimuru, what was that? You sounded just like Veldora. Did you copy him or something? Hahaha."
Embarrassed, he says, "No."
On our way out I ask Rigurd, "Can we take a look at the injured?" He responds with yes and takes us to the hut the goblins use to house the wounded fighters. When I roll in I see them in terrible condition. Some are out cold, possibly in a coma.
"This looks worse than I thought, Rimuru, you ready?"
"Yes." He goes over to a wounded goblin and eats him. Rigurd, alarmed, asks what he's doing. Rimuru glows a bright blue green as the goblin is healed and then he ejects the goblin from his body fully healed.
Rigurd in awe can only say, "Incredible," as Rimuru heals all the goblins back to perfect condition. They all thank Rimuru.
I then say, "With the wolves incoming we should prepare. I suggest a fence. While it may not be perfect at least it'll help, do you have goblins capable of doing that?"
Rigurd, still in awe, says, "I'll see what we can do."
All the goblins work on a small crudely built fence. Considering how much time they had to make it though and how bad they are at building it's actually pretty impressive despite looking like it might collapse any second.
We hear wolves howling in the distance. With the wolves on their way and marale down things aren't looking too good right now. Rimuru tries to motivate them.
He yells, "Don't worry, this battle won't be like the last! With our help you will surely win! Don't freak out, we can do this!"
The goblins half-heartedly nod at Rimuru. They are still really scared and nervous. They shake violently every time a hopeless is heard in the distance and it's only getting worse as the howl's get closer.
Alright [Great Sage], where are they?
{Answer- The nearest wolf is located a half-mile north-west.
Calculating number of wolves- 108 have been confirmed.}
That's a pretty large number of wolves, they definitely didn't stand a chance. I think back to Rigur the first. He probably died by getting overrun and ripped apart. A truly gruesome death.
Their howls echo throughout the forest as they get closer and closer. The goblins continue to shake more and more unsure that they can win.
I try to calm them down, "Listen, everything will be fine! With our help you all will achieve victory today so hold your heads up high and fight with all your might!"
All of them yell out, "Understood Lord Migeru!"
That's a very strange thing to hear. I was just some random engineer living in the suburbs of a normal city a few months ago and now I'm being worshipped by a bunch of fantasy creatures. What a strange turn of events in my life.
The wolves appear in the horizon as the howls beget louder and louder. Eventually they stop in front of the village.
Rimuru yells out, "Allright, stop right there! If you withdraw now we shall not attack you but if you attack us we will be left with no choice but to fight back! Leave now or face the consequences!"
The wolves laugh, mocking us and calling us weak. From behind them walks out the leader. An older looking wolf with a scar running across its left eye. He angrily yells, "Miserable, weak existence! I'll pulverize you!"
He orders the wolves to attack us, making some charge at us full speed. Some are shot down by arrows from the goblins while others seem to be ripped apart mid run or fall into traps with spikes on the bottom catching the wolf leader's attention. He growls as he notices the [Steel Thread]'s in the path the wolves were taking. They were running into traps.
Some of the wolves begin losing their morale and start rethinking attacking the goblin village to the leader's anger. He angrily yells, "What are you doing!? Can't you see their weakness, why are you retreating!? I'll show you!"
The wolf leader begins to charge straight at us, ripping through the [Steel Thread] and jumping over holes in the ground.
Knowing that we are responsible for the goblin's burst of courage, the leader opens its mouth full of razor sharp teeth and charges straight at Rimuru, fully intent to rip apart his soft blue balloon-like body.
The goblins look horrified until they see the wolf stop dead in the air. Rimuru used his [Sticky Thread] to stop the wolf dead in his tracks.
He struggles yelling, "This won't hold me for long!"
I confidently say, "Yeah, that's what this is for." I use [Water Blade] to cut his head clean off his body to the shock of both the wolves and the goblins.
Rimuru then eats the wolf's corpse.
{Notice- Unique Skill [Sage's Link] has been activated.
Using Unique Skill [Sage's Link] to obtain Skills [Menace], [Telepathic Communication] and [Enhanced Smell].
Obtaining the ability to transform into a Dire Wolf using subskill [Mimic].}
Upon obtaining that ability we both transform into Dire Wolves and use [Menace] to intimidate them. We yell at them to either leave or die.
The wolves begin inching their way towards us to the dismay of Rimuru who thinks they still want to fight. When they get close they bow to us and swear their loyalty to us. Seeing this massive pack of wolves swear their loyalty in person is really cool to see myself.
What's not cool is the aftermath. Some of the fence collapsed crashing into nearby buildings and there are wolf guts on goblin's front lawns. Fixing this might take a while. Leaving it for tomorrow the goblins go to sleep.
With today over it's time to prepare because tomorrow is the day Rimuru names everyone and that will take quite a bit of energy considering I also want to help so he doesn't pass out like in the original.