Chapter 15 - 2

CHAPTER 2

NEW COMPANIONS

The demon trampled across the dark realm like a savage beast.

Beyond the Gates of Hell lay a spirit realm one could call the land of the dead, or even hell itself, and there he was annihilating demons, like a living manifestation of violence. The powerless ran screaming, the more powerful banding together to defend themselves, but to that demon, it was just helpless struggling. All foes fell to his might, and his rampage continued.

Demons were a kind of spiritual life-form. If you destroyed the physical body of one, it would self-regenerate over time. Perhaps he knew this, because he held nothing back, showing no mercy to anyone coming his way. The name of this personification of violence was Diablo.

"Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… It's been so long since my last visit. Quite a number of chumps have sprung up in the meantime, haven't they? Assembling a group of these will accomplish nothing. I need to find my old friends."

His "old friends" were those comparable to him. His mission, during this long journey, was to recruit them.

"Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… I am sure they have what it takes to make Sir

Rimuru satisfied!"

With those words, Diablo teleported away and disappeared, leaving nothing but the carcasses of those who failed to correctly gauge his might.

My inspections were complete, and I had a grasp of where we currently stood.

I couldn't even see the end of rail installation work yet. We were considering three lines for now—from the Dwarven Kingdom to Tempest, from Tempest to the Kingdom of Blumund, and from Blumund to the Kingdom of Farminus. There was also a route that forked south from the line to Dwargon, running past Lake Sisu (stomping grounds of the lizardmen) on its way to Eurazania. In addition, we had to build a highway from the Blumund line to Thalion, which included a tunnel through the Khusha Mountains. A railway along that route would be considered later, but I had to expect it'd come well into the future.

I'd really like to build a railway to the ocean somewhere soon, so we can get seafood for cheaper. Going forward, I also envisioned a trunk line between Blumund and the Kingdom of Englesia—but either way, completing this whole network would take a lot of time, and we still had more trains to develop.

With our test locomotive completed, we were officially over the hump. Now we just had to run that thing to the ground in a trial-and-error test process. We had the exact energy drive I wanted, but development wouldn't end there. It had to be comfortable to ride in, and we had to eliminate noise concerns for the surrounding areas. These were already quieter than normal steam trains, but the speedier these got, the louder they'd be. A research team led by Kaijin was tackling these smaller details, digging deeper into them and working out theoretical solutions. I wanted his team to record all their proceedings, because I figured it'd help us with future developments. Of course, the magic core was the hardest part, and with that completed, I could let Kaijin handle the rest of the locomotive.

When this project got started, I covered all the expenses with our national budget—even giving them a little more money, as much as it made Mjöllmile's chins jiggle. I was now an occasional visitor to the project, giving me more chances to befriend the researchers and have in-depth conversations. They were interested in my otherworlder knowledge, apparently, so they'd ask for my opinions on this and that. Anything very tricky, Raphael handled for me—it worked faster than a quantum supercomputer, so any calculation was completed in an instant. No reason not to make use of it.

After work was done, it was time to socialize. Our evening haunts didn't

all have to be high-end nightclubs. If people were encountering walls in their research, we'd hit the city, debating among ourselves and forgetting our problems. I kept up with them late into the night, although I didn't get paid any overtime, oddly enough. (I should note that our generous budget wasn't being entirely devoted to the drink tabs. They really were contributing to

science and technology, though, so I let it slide a bit.)

By the way, between Veldora, Ramiris, and me, Ramiris was earning the highest salary at the moment. Even subtracting her Dungeon maintenance fees, we were raking in a massive profit from the labyrinth, and she took twenty percent of that. Our initial goal of two gold coins a day now seemed quaint— we were making over twenty on average, the equivalent of at least twenty thousand dollars. Ramiris used her cut to pay Treyni, her sisters, and Beretta, but I reckoned she ended every month up nearly a hundred gold coins.

Veldora and I, meanwhile, were paid equally—one gold coin a day from the national treasury. As master of the labyrinth, Veldora also got an allowance from Ramiris, and since his magicules were a constant boon to us, the treasury sometimes awarded him special payments. Thus, he was definitely making more money than I was. Of course, I had my own hidden revenue streams and business involvements, so I wasn't exactly destitute, either.

Inspired by everyone's suddenly impressive work ethic, I resolved to put in more of an effort. First, it was time to get serious about the physical body vessels I promised Diablo. Ramiris was my assistant; we'd also be working on bodies for Treyni's sisters, and I wanted to get her feedback. She kindly accepted the request, although she was already whining to me about needing more personnel.

"I really need someone to handle all the odd jobs I need, and I have a few other things I wanna ask you for, too. With Treyni and Beretta alone, I can't quite seem to keep up with all my work…"

I thought she just wanted more people to brag about herself to—but recalling how busy Treyni and the others looked, I reconsidered. Plus, Ramiris wasn't just my assistant. She had her own mission: craft a new Elemental Colossus.

Its heart, the core of the whole thing, was complete. I had a skeleton and framework in place, as well as a sample Elemental Colossus to work with. I figured we could just proceed based on that, but modifications always take a lot of time. Kaijin's hands were full with the trains, and Vester was hard at work by himself, picking up his old armored-soldier project again. He was already lending a hand to Ramiris in his spare time, and I worried he was overworking himself a bit. This was going to be built into the completed magic core, so I want to get some test data—and for that, we'd need as many people as possible.

"What about Veldora?"

"Ahhh yes, what about the master, indeed? Whenever I ask him for some detailed piece of work, he disappears…"

I see. Maybe not worth relying upon, then. It makes sense to me. Veldora is Veldora, always busily running from one spot to the next. I thought he'd be a bother to most people, but he actually wasn't. He was smart, despite his personality, and I suppose he really was helping out a lot. He certainly loved being the center of attention, so instead of asking him to assist Ramiris, I felt it was better to just let him do his own thing.

"All right. I'll round up someone."

"Great. Thanks!"

With that promise, I began pondering who to select.

The days then proceeded by, peacefully as ever…until one day, when they came along.

Right in my office, atop my desk, was a huge pile of documents requiring my approval.

I couldn't guess how long it'd usually take to process all these, but in my case, I left it to Raphael. It nimbly evaluated all the proposals, rearranging them by priority level. It approved or rejected them, and then I applied my stamp, all in a continuous flow. Maybe it wasn't that taxing, but this kind of rote work was always a pain to me. Silently, I stamped away, wishing Diablo were here to handle this.

Time for a break.

Returning to slime mode, I lazed around on my sofa. This always felt great—the softness of my body and the elasticity of the cushions. Put together, it felt like a ball pit full of feathers. Now that sleeping required a trick or two for me, this was my secret little heaven right here.

Then I heard knocking. I wanted to keep chillaxing for a bit longer, but someone was here. Ah well. Switching to human form, I sat on my chair.

"Come in," I replied, making sure my pose was just right. The door opened, revealing Shuna. She bowed at me.

"Sir Rimuru, you have a visitor. He gave his name as Deeno, and he says you'd know who he is?"

Just as expected, a visitor was here. But Deeno, though? There was only one Deeno I could possibly know of.

"He's a demon lord, isn't he? Part of the Octagram. What's he here for?"

"A demon lord? Should I ask my brother to assemble our troops, just in case?"

"No, that's all right. If we come to blows, just get me Benimaru and

Shion…but I doubt we will. If I had to guess, he's come to check things out."

I reassured the concerned Shuna and stood up. There seemed to be little to worry about. I think Deeno did say he wanted to stop by during the Walpurgis meeting, didn't he? I kind of ignored it then, but I guess he was serious.

"…Very well. I will make the arrangements."

With a nod, Shuna guided me to the room where Deeno was waiting. It's helpful to have a lot of rooms for occasions like this; then you can choose one for the situation. Merchants and the nobility can have ornate parlors; famed monsters or suspicious people can be shown simple but solidly built rooms, if only because they might cause expensive damage otherwise. Thus, Deeno was waiting in a functional, if not very flashy-looking, chamber.

When I came in with Shuna, I found Deeno looking pretty, well, casual. In fact, he was sprawled out on the sofa, taking full advantage despite being a guest. He certainly didn't care what people thought about him, for better or (likely) worse.

"Hey. Nice to see ya. Doing well?"

He greeted me from the sofa, showing no sign of getting up. Shuna wrinkled her nose but silently bowed and left the room, no doubt to fetch some tea.

"Great, thanks," I said as I took a seat facing him. "I got a lot of problems to deal with, so things aren't exactly chill, but…"

I took a closer look at Deeno. He looked just as blasé and unaffected as the last time I met him, but still his attitude suggested I better keep my guard up. No wonder Shuna was wary of him.

"You got problems? That sucks."

"Yeah, kind of. I'm still pretty new to demon lord-ing, so nothing's going easy for me yet. But what brings you here?"

"Oh? Me? Well, I said I'd visit you, so here I am."

His reply was rather brisk—sounded like a lie to me. We both quickly fell into silence, but just then, Shuna came back with some tea and snacks, navigating the quiet chamber like nothing was amiss. Hastily laying everything out, she bowed again and left the room. She really is a professional.

I took a sip of tea and turned my eye toward Deeno. He was the first to relent.

"…Well, to tell you the truth, I got kicked out of Daggrull's place." "Huh?"

"Yeah, y'know, I'm kind of homeless, so I'd been hangin' at Daggrull's joint. I'm also penniless, so…"

Whoa. This is a demon lord? He may be honest, but this guy's bad news, isn't he?

"…So I thought about what I oughtta do, and I remembered that Daggrull's sons had nice things to say about their time in your country. So now I'm lookin' for a place here!"

I couldn't show him a single iota of mercy.

"No. You can't."

I immediately turned down the request.

"…What?"

"Hmm?"

The room fell to silence again, Deeno reacting like he never pictured me saying no. If he was really that oblivious, that surprised me even more. Yes, I knew him, but I had no obligation to house such a sketchy drifter. Already, I could tell this was the kinda guy who'd never work a day in his life.

"W-wait. I want you to give me a sec, okay? I mean, what do you want me to do? Go die out in the wilderness?"

"No. Get a job."

"Are you crazy?! To me, staying out of the working class is part of my style. I've never earned any of my money the past few hundred years, and I've never paid for any of my food or drink!"

Well, there you go. You're penniless because you don't work. No wonder you can't pay at restaurants.

"Wow. Impressive. You can leave after you're done eating that, okay?"

The sooner someone like this was out of your hair, the better. Ignoring him, I reached out for the snack in front of me, a fluffy cream puff to go with the tea.

Delicious. Doubt I'll ever grow sick of this.

Deeno looked a bit panicked, but he followed my lead, took a bite—and suddenly, his eyes changed.

"All right. I'll become a citizen of this country, so let me serve you." This nonsense struck me like a lightning bolt.

"What? Look, why are you coming in here, and—?"

"No, I'm serious. If I can eat stuff like this every day, I have no regrets. Rimuru… Um, I mean, let me call you Sir Rimuru. Your wish is my command!"

...

I told him I wasn't gonna hire him.

"Ughhh… I know we've met before and all, but it was just that one time, okay? What do you really want?"

Finishing my cream puff, I gave Deeno a stern look as I sipped my tea. His eyes darted around—a habit he shared with Ramiris, except he wasn't nearly as cute. But giving up, he shrugged and dropped the couch surfer act.

"Well, the way Guy puts it, I'm probably best off here in this country. He didn't tell me why, though—he's selfish like that. It's a pain in the ass if you defy him, and I really did get kicked out of Daggrull's place. And I got sick of thinking about it, so I just came over."

"Guy? That redhead?"

"Yeah. That redhead."

Hmmm. He didn't seem to be lying. Guy must've actually said that. But why me?

Understood. It is very likely the subject Guy Crimson disliked supporting the subject Deeno and wishes to have you care for him instead.

Dude. Way to be blunt with it. But that did seem likely.

"Oh, right, I got a letter from Guy."

Deeno took it out and handed it to me. Between the seal and the eerie force oozing from it, I could definitely spot Guy Crimson's mark. The entire contents of the letter: Take care of Deeno for me.

Guess I wasn't wrong, then. If Deeno was carrying this around, he must've been mooching off Guy for a while. Apparently, I was having the hot potato thrown in my direction now.

"So…we good?"

No, we're not good!

Irritated, I thought matters over. This was a pain in the ass, but antagonizing Guy was ill-advised. He was on a level of his own among demon lords, and I doubted I could beat him now. It'd be safer, certainly, to accommodate Deeno than tangle with Guy.

So do I just grin and bear it? If I do, I'm not gonna let him screw around. I never invited him as a guest, and I didn't want to set a bad precedent. Then I remembered: This guy's subservient to Ramiris, isn't he? And she said she needed more staff. Maybe this is actually perfect timing. I can't let my guard down around Deeno, but (whether he meant it or not) he did offer his services, so I may as well reach out and accept them.

Yes. Let's make him Ramiris's assistant. I grinned at him.

"All right. But you're gonna have to work!"

"What did you say?!"

Quit acting so shocked, dude! You told me seconds ago that my wish was your command! Bottling my frustration, I tried to explain the job in question to Deeno.

"Of course, when I say work, it's really simple, actually. I want you to be an assistant to Ramiris."

"Ramiris? She's here, too?"

"She sure is. She's helping with a lot of my work."

"Huh? I thought she was like me, just holed up in her labyrinth all day…"

Looks like Deeno thought Ramiris was a kindred soul. I could see why, but these days, she was actually workin' pretty hard.

"No, she's pitching in around here now, and between you and me, I think she's having a lot of fun. I want to focus on development, but I have all these other things keeping me busy, so she's really a big help to me."

I'd never tell her that since it'd go to her head, but it was truly how I felt. It stunned Deeno into silence for a bit, but after a few moments, he gingerly spoke up.

"S-so what kinda work would she have me do?"

He sounded really against it. I thought about telling him, but maybe not right now. Better to just put him on the job and teach him whatever he needs to know on-site.

"Well, no need to fret about it. Whatever you're able to do is welcome.

But let me show you to your workplace first."

"Mmngh… All right. Don't expect much from me."

"Hmm? Oh, don't act that way before you even start. I think you'll be just fine. Probably you'll only be following Ramiris's directions, so…"

With a pang of anxiety still fresh in my brain, I decided to take Deeno to our personal laboratory on Floor 100.

Taking the direct trip there, we proceeded past Veldora's chambers—the large room he used as his lair for engaging challengers—and his private quarters behind that. He was nowhere to be found, either. I wondered where he went? Probably out goofing around somewhere.

"Dude, why're there so many magicules around?"

"Oh, that's Veldora's room in there. Don't go in, okay? He's pretty selfish, so he gets pissy if anyone touches his stuff."

"Um… Veldora lives here?! I've been wondering since the last Walpurgis

— How are you two connected, exactly?"

"We're friends, is all."

"Friends? You seemed like more than acquaintances to me, yeah, but… Well…"

Deeno was usually a little droopy-eyed, but now they were opened a bit more, out of surprise.

"So that's why Veldora seemed to disappear from my detection. He was hiding in Ramiris's labyrinth!"

"Ah, not exactly. He disappeared because he learned how to control his magicules. He used to let his aura pour out of him, so there were tons of magicules all over the place. If I wanted to invite a bunch of visitors in here, I couldn't really have that, now could I? So I had him practice controlling his aura."

"Huhhh? Veldora, ruler of the Forest of Jura? And now he's holding his aura back so well that not even I can detect it? Him?!"

The agitated Deeno must've thought I made it sound too easy. But it was the truth.

"Huh? I mean, he was pretty amenable to it. Otherwise, I'd say the majority of people in this city would be having problems right now."

"Y-yeah, but… I mean, all that magical energy he had… Until the Hero sealed him away, people feared him as this flying disaster, his aura spreading across the world. So why?"

That sounded pretty mean to me, although it was probably the truth. Given his past with Luminus, he must have misbehaved a lot.

"Well, I suppose he's changed a little. Now, if I ask him to do something, he'll actually listen to some extent. He's not that selfish any longer." "Didn't you just say he was selfish a moment ago?" Oh, did I?

Understood. You did.

Oh.

"Yes, but I mean it's never that bad. But that aura control, remember…"

In a situation like this, it was best to change the subject as soon as possible. I decided to tell Deeno about what happened when I released Veldora.

"And with his aura, I told him he'd look cooler if he held it back, so he practiced pretty hard. It was tough for me, too, helping him with it."

It was tough but worth it. Not that we had much choice anyway. As he was, I couldn't possibly show him around to others.

"R-really? Wow, Rimuru. You definitely live up to my expectations."

Weren't you just trying to bum free meals from me? You might try to sound all cool right now, but you can't trick me.

"I'm amazed you actually managed to tame Veldora," he continued, still looking impressed. Really, though, Milim's way more selfish than he ever was, and even she couldn't mouth off against Frey. Everyone has people they know better than to mess around with.

"Well, Veldora's hardly the only selfish brat I had to deal with; Milim, too

—"

I regaled Deeno with the story of how I met Milim and how intensely unfair she acted toward me. She wasn't here, so I was free to speak my mind, telling him all about her most recent annoying nonsense. I also told him about some of Veldora's terrible exploits as well, figuring I could ask him which one he thought was the worst.

There was a lot I had to talk about, and it seemed to put Deeno in a state of shock, unable to even comprehend half of it after a certain point. I never did find out which was the worst in his mind.

In the midst of this, we finally reached my laboratory. Looking inside, I found Veldora himself busily assisting Ramiris—another day of honest work, by the looks of it. Considering how much Ramiris used and abused him, he was proving to be a very loyal dragon.

"V-Veldora…is working?!"

"See? I told you."

Even with all his complaints, he was still lending Ramiris a hand. He was awfully kind to her—maybe he liked her habit of calling him Master. He always did what I asked him to, in the end, and it was even easier to keep him in line if you buttered him up a little. By dragon standards, he was a pushover.

Vester was there, too, despite his responsibilities modifying the Elemental Colossus on Floor 95. I said we were short on people, so maybe he decided to put my job first? Ramiris and Veldora were having fun, flashing evil grins at each other, but Vester looked exhausted and in dire need of a break. I wondered if he was all right.

"Hey, guys. How's the research going?"

I said hello as I stepped inside. Vester stopped whatever he was writing and stood up.

"Ah, Sir Rimuru…"

"Nah, nah, stay where you are. Hey, you doing okay? You look kinda worn out."

"I'd like to say I'm okay…but this kind of research is rather taxing on the mind…"

Hmm? Sounds a bit hard to talk about. I considered asking further, but Veldora interrupted.

"Well, well, Rimuru! I am pitching in here, as you can see. I normally wouldn't, but Ramiris insisted, of course."

"Thanks. It really does look like she could use more help."

My research was treated as top secret. I couldn't bring in researchers from Floor 95 for it, so I could only show it to people I could trust. Well, no —I could only show it to people who wouldn't bitch at me about it, more like. After all, I was preparing a small army of bodies to implant demons into. Research or not, people might see it as a military threat, so it's better not to let people from other countries know.

"Heya, Rimuru! I've been waiting for you! The master's been helping me

in a lot of ways, but I still need to fill up my open spaces fast!"

"I thought you'd say that, so I brought along some help today. You know this guy, right, Ramiris? It's Deeno, a demon lord like us, and it sounds like he wants to help starting today. If you need anything, ask him, okay?"

I doubted Deeno had any academic knowledge, but anything requiring muscle ought to be up his alley. It's not like an amateur could assist at a research lab anyway. Chances are he'd be doing things like moving stuff around and collecting data—but we needed people to cover the more basic tasks like that, so he could still be useful.

Deeno looked around the room, curious. "Name's Deeno. As you know, I'm a demon lord, more or less. I don't like working, but I've got no other choice, so I'm gonna help out here. Thanks in advance."

A pretty listless way to introduce yourself, but that's all right. At least he was willing to pitch in.

I moved on, discovering why Vester was here and what they were up to. Vester was at my lab on Floor 100 because Ramiris kidnapped him, basically. As expected, there wasn't enough staff on hand, so she placed a temporary halt to his work and put my own project first. Vester didn't have any say in the matter, but I'm not sure what I could've done. We needed someone to fuss over the details of organizing documents and collecting data. Beretta handled the physical labor, while Treyni was taking care of Ramiris and managing her labyrinth. Veldora didn't want to help with any of that, so Vester was the next best option.

"You can afford to ignore the Elemental Colossus for now?"

"Wellll, not really, but once we're done with this, Treyni's sisters can have bodies, too, right? I figured we could kick off development from there." That did seem more rational to me.

"Sorry you got it so rough," I told Vester. He shrugged and gave me a childlike grin.

"Part of me wants to see the armored-soldier project to completion, but this research has its gratifying aspects as well…"

I guess he had mixed feelings about it, too. He had a valid complaint, but being involved with this research made him happy, too. I guess, as a scientist, he had his own internal conflicts, and they were helping him rapidly mature. He looked a little surprised to learn Deeno was a demon lord, but he recovered almost instantly. All the surprises Tempest offered must've given him a protective shell of sorts. As talented as he was, I figured he'd want to devote himself to his own research…but maybe that's not necessarily the case. No, he was just worn out because of this research.

"But indeed, I hope to continue with the research here. These base bodies you're trying to create, Sir Rimuru… I'd like to see them completed. There's a new surprise every day. I almost hate to lose time to sleep!"

He didn't try to hide his excitement. I guess his haggard look was just the result of sleep deprivation. There were magically driven ways to refresh oneself, but it wasn't an all-in-one solution. You still needed to take breaks; you couldn't just go on forever. So I decided to order Vester to rest for now. Since Deeno happened to be here, he'd be able to handle any miscellaneous tasks for the time being.

So Vester was now explaining the work to Deeno. Hopefully, they'd get along all right. Dealing with a new demon lord sure didn't faze Vester anyway.

"Now, Sir Deeno, not to hurry things along, but would you mind assisting me?"

"Huh?"

"No, not 'Huh.' We only have so much time!"

"But I'm a demon lord."

"So?"

"So…"

With a sigh, Vester kept a steady gaze on Deeno.

"Listen, whether you're a demon lord doesn't matter here. Look at how much fun Sir Veldora and Lady Ramiris are having with their work."

"I—I can see that, but…"

"I'm glad you understand. Now, let's begin!"

"…Okay."

Vester's a strong guy. I watched them for a while, but it looked like they'd be okay. I decided not to worry about them.

Now for our research results.

I know I promised Diablo and everything, but preparing a thousand physical bodies took a ton of effort. One idea was to craft a magisteel doll like Beretta and then make copies of it with Raphael, but this sounded like a slog to me—at the same time, however, painstakingly crafting each one was out of the question. So I came up with another brilliant idea: a facility that could manufacture mass quantities of these bodies.

For this, I prepared a set of reinforced clear-glass capsules, around three and a half feet wide and almost ten feet tall. I called these incubation capsules, and as the name suggested, they were meant for growing monsters and other organic matter inside. Each one was filled with a liquid solution— water from the Sealed Cave's underground lake, internalized inside my Stomach. This was magic water, infused with a high concentration of magicules, making it useful for diluting or strengthening all kinds of medicinal effects.

Each incubation capsule included a port for magicule injection, letting people add more at any time. We could freely adjust the concentration of the magic water to best suit the monster we were trying to generate inside. If that concentration dipped down too low, our system would automatically inject magicules, keeping the count at a predefined level.

I had a thousand of these capsules ready. Part of me felt that crafting all these was about as much work as just making the damn bodies myself, but I banished the thought. It's all about the spectacle. It was a blast designing them anyway, so I had no regrets.

So we now had a chamber lined with incubation capsules. It was quite a sight. We also knew from our research that generating monsters required that certain conditions were met. Just filling a capsule with magicules wouldn't cut it, no matter how much you had. But if some other element was included —an element that would enhance and manifest itself in the monster who resulted—the story was different.

Let me explain. Assume I put a snake in an incubation capsule. The magicules inside would kill it, but its body would melt, mix with the magicules, and become reborn as a tempest serpent. From a common snake, you now had a creature of A-minus rank, which should show just how dangerous one of these capsules was. The monsters these capsules produced were thus guaranteed to be several levels more advanced than what Mother Nature would create. You'd have these powerful, refined bodies, perhaps because we kept the magicule concentrate at just the right level.

However, some monsters born this way would quickly collapse and die. Body stability, as it were, seemed a matter of luck. We had room for improvement, to be sure, but I still wanted to use these capsules' features to produce a thousand demon bodies.

"So how have things been going?"

"Perfectly, Rimuru! And you know, my research has been moving along, too!"

"Oh? I look forward to seeing it— Wait, what's that?"

What I saw floating in the capsule made me laugh. It was amazing, wholly unlike what I expected. Personally, I thought we'd just make skeletons out of magisteel and toss them in the capsules, producing the base for a bone golem. Its artificial frame would minimize the risk of collapse, and it wouldn't be infused with a soul, either. The magicules in the liquid would just crystallize on the bones, so I thought there was zero chance it'd achieve sentience. There was no need for intricate design work, unlike with Beretta, because the demons occupying them would use their own magicules to customize them to their liking.

…Or so I thought.

Floating inside the thousand capsules here were a thousand bone golem bodies, that much was certain. But each one of them had assorted work done on varying sections. The area around their hearts stood out the most—in the middle, where their hearts would be, a spirit core beat a rhythm instead.

"This…"

"Yeah, it's my idea! With a strong core like that, I'm sure the monsters usin' them will be stronger than ever!"

Ramiris, smiling, seemed to see this as no big deal. Preparing a thousand spirit cores had to be a pain in the ass, though. I didn't need much time for that, but unless you had a real interest and passion for it, it was too rote a process to enjoy very much. That's why I chose the simplest method for making all these bodies, but that wasn't good enough for Ramiris. She put in the hours required to produce a thousand of those, and each one had a pseudo-soul inside it as well. It even featured tech we cribbed from the Thalion homunculi.

Beretta had no problem possessing his body, but Treyni's sisters might have a harder time of it, so adding pseudo-souls was probably a good idea. But that, too, must've taken up so much time… No wonder she constantly complained about needing more staff.

"Lady Ramiris's idea was wonderfully compelling to me," Vester said, gazing into the distance. "One look, and I really just had to help out." I could see his point. With this large of a sample run, you could record all the data you ever wanted.

Each fist-size spirit core looked high quality to me when I sized them up. Fusing them with the skeletons I crafted resulted in changes not imagined in my original plan. My frameworks were magically inscribed so the magicules would form muscle groups over them, too, which made it look like we had an up-close perspective on monster development like never before. Now I understood why Vester barely felt the need to sleep.

"What d'you think? Pretty neat, huh?"

"Kwah-ha-ha-ha! Just seeing that face from you makes this project a fine success!"

Ramiris and Veldora seemed happy with themselves.

"It's pretty interesting, yeah…but was this really your idea, Ramiris?"

"What? Of course it was. What d'you think of that?!"

She was almost shouting as she puffed her chest out at me. Yeah, she deserved to be proud. I was sure impressed. Ramiris might seem like an idiot at first glance, but she was actually pretty smart. Her sense for spirit engineering was perfect, and she was studying sorcerous science and paying frequent visits to Floor 95. As long as she's lived, she's had a full grasp of the laws of physics, and although it astounded me to say it, she had all the qualifications you needed for a researcher. You can't judge her by the externals, I suppose.

"This is really amazing. If this was all handmade, it must've been superdifficult, right?"

"Well, kind of. These frameworks are modeled after people's skeletons— not like with Beretta's ball joints. But with an artificial heart, they really soak in the magicules and gain a lot of magic energy, I think!"

I nodded at her impassioned theory. She was right—this probably would enhance their bodily strength beyond what I pictured. By a lot, actually.

Watching these bodies in their incubation capsules, I tried picturing what powers they'd have. If I had to guess, in terms of magicule energy, they'd be positioned on the upper end of the A rank. And we had a thousand of them. I still couldn't believe Ramiris prepared enough spirit cores and pseudo-souls for them all. She really deserved a round of applause.

Several days passed since Deeno's arrival. Diablo wasn't back yet, but I had a feeling he would be soon. Today, as well, I headed to the lab to get those bodies wrapped up for him.

Things were busy as always over there, Ramiris and Veldora verbally jousting over something.

"I told you, Master, if you want to encourage growth, we need to inject your magicules directly into them!"

"Yeah, but what if that winds up breaking this thing? Then Rimuru will yell at me, not you."

They were at it again. It sounded interesting, so I hid myself and watched. I was getting good at concealing my presence lately, so it didn't look like Veldora noticed my arrival.

"It's fine! You know how many we have! And I promise I'll put in a good word when you ask him for your favor. So please?"

Sounded like Ramiris was asking him for some magicule support. But what did Veldora want from me? I couldn't guess.

"Well, all right. You better live up to your word, though."

"Yep, yep! Just trust me!"

They had a deal, so Veldora nodded. Considering how haughty he usually acted, he seemed to be enjoying what was to come quite a bit. It looked like Ramiris put him up to it, by and large, but he was receptive from the beginning.

So Veldora brought a hand up to an incubation capsule, and—with an apparently meaningful "Hah!"—infused it with magicules. The capsule was now swirling with an unusually high concentration of them, and considering the pressure, I could see how the capsule might break apart. Was this going to be okay? I was worried but decided to keep watching silently. If it shattered, we could deal with it—I was more curious about what Ramiris was attempting.

Inside the capsule, the crystallized magicules attached to the magisteel skeleton began transforming into what looked like muscle tissue. Raphael had predicted this much; it was part of the plan. But now, with Veldora directly injecting his own magic force, something unexpected was about to happen. Vast numbers of magicules began to pervade the skeleton, transforming the framework itself.

I could hear Ramiris say "Oh? I didn't expect that." Which, well, that's what experiments are for.

The skeleton material could really no longer be called magisteel. Nor was it orichalc or mithril—not without any gold or silver mixed in. But while its strength wasn't crimson steel yet, it had risen to at least the level of orichalc.

More impressive, however, was how the skeleton seemed to live— literally breathe, even—despite being metal.

Understood. It is a type of adamant or bio-magisteel. It has been transformed by the magical waves of the subject Veldora.

Theoretically, one could call it dragontite.

I see.

To me, it looked like Ramiris was groping for a way to finish the bodies faster, and in the process, she'd stumbled upon the discovery of a neat new metal. And it wasn't over yet.

"Wh-whoa! Master?! Stop! Stoppppp!!"

"Mm? Oooh. There are cracks in the capsule…?!"

Both of them panicked. I couldn't tell if they were geniuses or dunces right now.

"What are you people doing?"

I decided to finally step in and regain control of the situation.

After repairing the capsule, I called for a coffee and snack break, inviting Vester and Deeno to join. Treyni the dryad was kind enough to serve us. "Tch. Just when we were at a good part…"

"Oh, you didn't want any cake? I'll just let Ramiris have it, then…"

"I'm sorry. I was lying. Well, no, it was true, but um, just a slip of the tongue…"

Deeno was having a snit over his work being interrupted, but he bowed his head and got back in line once I threatened to leave him high and cakeless. Are you sure that's how you want to act, Deeno? Some Sleeping Ruler you are— But he seemed devoted to his work, at least, which was a relief.

Vester and Deeno were working on experiments together, recording data from the thousand incubation capsules and checking out Kurobe's completed slot-compatible swords in their spare time. This was mainly thanks to my bragging. Vester was eager to join in on this, hoping it'd help with the impasse in his Elemental Colossus modification work. Deeno was using the sample cores I gave him, and Vester was diligently recording the results.

As I surmised from his attitude when he came in, Deeno really liked this work. It was work, but just a thin line away from play, really. He may've whined about how much he hated a decent living, but in this environment, he was doing real work whether he realized it or not. If you find your work fun, you never work a day in your life, I suppose.

After spending a few minutes relaxing, I turned to Ramiris and cut to the chase.

"So, Ramiris, why were you in such a hurry to create a complete body?"

"Oh, ummm…"

She seemed hesitant.

Treyni stepped up to defend her. "Wait a minute, Sir Rimuru. Lady

Ramiris is devoting her all to helping my sisters and our friends!"

I didn't intend to criticize her, but Treyni must've thought I was angry, because she was already arguing in Ramiris's defense. That's how it always worked. Treyni was just way too lenient with her.

"No, I just want to know the reason. I'm not mad at all. Well, Ramiris?" I tried to put Treyni's mind at ease before continuing.

"Hmm…looking back, I was probably moving too fast. You know, I have a lot of adoring fans, so I wanted them to have their own bodies ASAP. That'd make them a lot happier and stuff, and I'd have more personnel, and then everybody's good, right?"

Awkward as she seemed, Ramiris did have a point. Even without bodies, the dryads could work and operate within the labyrinth. Treants, on the other hand, couldn't. They could manifest themselves nearby the trees that were their "main" bodies, but they couldn't venture anywhere that tree wasn't in view. Without a body, they'd be discharging magicules like mad, a major drag on them. Even dryads faced a drastic cut in power once they were too far from their "real" bodies—and they were on the upper echelon of A rank, a level above high-end magic-born. The lower-level treants couldn't expect much at all by comparison.

As Ramiris reasoned, the bodies in these incubation capsules would give physical freedom to both the dryads and the treants. Thus, she was surreptitiously completing, and borrowing, a few bodies for herself.

"Well, if that's all you wanted, why didn't you ask? Diablo's not back yet, and I don't even know exactly how many demons he's bringing with him. We can always make more if we need to later, so let's get bodies ready for the dryads first."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I am."

"Thank you, Rimuru!!"

She flitted happily in the air, doing a few laps around me. But this suited my purposes as well. We really didn't have enough people. Treyni's sisters and the other dryads were working hard maintaining the labyrinth, which was tough work in itself, so clearly we didn't have much of a safety net. At this rate, we were all bound to burn out and screw something up. The labyrinth was open day and night, after all, and we needed to set up a proper shift system to deal with that soon.

With these bodies, even the treants could be A-ranked creatures, able to hold their own in the labyrinth. If they managed to wreck their physical bodies somehow, they'd be safe—they were just possessing them, is all. This would likely only apply within Ramiris's labyrinth, which was as far as their thoughts could travel, but that was good enough.

The dryads, meanwhile…

"So yeah, I figure we could make Traya, Doreth, and Alpha and the others into Dryas Doll Dryads like you, Treyni—"

"…?!"

"Hmm?"

"Are you sure about that?"

Even before I could finish, Treyni latched on to my proposal with astonishing speed.

"You're sure, Rimuru?"

Ramiris was similarly uneasy, leaving Deeno and the rest in the dark.

"Am I sure about what?"

"Evolving creatures to Dryas Doll Dryads takes a ton of work, doesn't it?"

"Oh, kind of. But I owe them for all their efforts, and I'd like to have them keep helping with the labyrinth, so…"

"Yes, but we've been granted a place to live already… Lady Ramiris has agreed to work with you, Sir Rimuru, and as her servants, we are only carrying out our promise."

Treyni sounded apologetic, but her help around the labyrinth was a massive boon. To pay for that, I wanted anyone evolved to dryad to have the chance at an independent body. It'd involve handcrafting a body for each one, but in a way, making handsome-looking male and female figures was a hobby of mine—and besides, just reusing the bodies I was making for Diablo seemed trite. Dryad bodies really demanded you make them with wood, I thought.

"No, no, you really do help us a lot. I'd like you to keep up the good work, so please don't be afraid to accept them. I'll let each one of them decide whether they'll use one of the bodies here or evolve into a Dryas Doll

Dryad with the bodies I carve for them."

Treyni eagerly nodded. Ramiris, next to her, was grumbling along the lines of "Why is he kinder to Treyni than me? I don't like that…," but I ignored it.

After the break, Vester and the others went back to work.

"This might be beyond my knowledge…but it's fascinating. I have a job, and it's time to carry it out. Let's go, Vester."

"All right, Sir Deeno."

Deeno, emphasizing the fact to nobody in particular that he was working, took Vester out of the room. I'm not sure he had ever worked before in his life. He was clearly a worthless grifter, but he was making an effort for me, so whatever.

I guess I'll go back to my own work—

"Wait. Rimuru, I have a favor to ask. Ramiris, time to fulfill your end of the bargain!"

Great. This was bound to be some insipid, time-consuming favor, so I was trying to flee before he could say it. Veldora was waiting for just after the break to bring it up, wasn't he?

"Now, to tell you the truth—"

"The master says he wants an assistant! And I'd love to have more people around, so um, if I could be assigned one, too…"

Just as insipid and time-consuming as I thought! Here we go again… We're already aching for people, so I wasn't about to give Veldora another playmate.

"No, look, everyone's busy here, so there's no time to give you someone to mess around with—"

"Wait, wait! Rimuru, you have the wrong idea. Currently, I am assisting Ramiris, guarding the labyrinth, and performing a number of other important tasks. I don't see the harm in someone available to help me relax, to soothe me and sing my praises!"

Ramiris was nodding at this heartfelt defense. But considering the conversation I overheard earlier, I think I'd have to disappoint him.

"Well, sad to say—"

"Wait, wait, wait!!"

I was interrupted again. Veldora was hell-bent on getting my approval today, wasn't he? Guess he wasn't backing down.

"To be honest with you, ever since I was in your Stomach, I have had someone I feel confident in calling a companion with me. I dearly hope you will deign to grant a body to him as well."

This came out of nowhere. I had no idea who he meant. What kind of acquaintance was this?

Understood. It is believed to be the high-level magic-born Ifrit.

Huh? Why is Veldora friends with Ifrit?

Report. Due to an intervention from the subject Veldora at the time, Ifrit was subjected to the same Predation into isolation.

According to Raphael, when I took Ifrit from Shizu and consumed it, it was taken to the same space in my Stomach that had been isolating Veldora. Since this presented no obstacle to taking Ifrit's data, Raphael—the Great Sage at the time—let this pass without comment. It wouldn't have bothered me, either; in fact, I never even noticed until now. Thus, I guess Veldora and Ifrit had been fostering a friendship while I wasn't paying attention.

"Oh, so you want to revive Ifrit?"

"Kwah-ha-ha-ha! How nice of you to understand so quickly, Rimuru!"

Veldora seemed happy about the idea, but me, I had my misgivings. Ifrit did not get along with Shizu, to be sure, and besides, he worked for the demon lord Leon. If I resurrected him, would he even try to cozy up to us? The thought prevented me from just deadpanning "Sure" to that.

"Hmm…"

"Y-you don't want to?!"

"Please, Rimuru, let me ask you as well! I want you to make my master's dream come true!"

Veldora was acting all sad, and now Ramiris was joining the fray. Give me a break. I brought a hand to my head—this was turning into a pain in the ass.

Honestly, we really did need extra hands. But to me, releasing Ifrit just made me anxious. At the end of the day, he was still much more powerful than your typical high-level magic-born. Maybe we could beat him in battle, but if he went on a riot, we'd have a lot of trouble to deal with—and he might always flee back to Leon, too. I didn't want to wake up a sleeping dog here, and I didn't think I could be blamed for that.

"But didn't Ifrit swear his loyalty to the demon lord Leon? Do you even know whether he'll serve you if I revive him?"

"Mm? Hmm… I see, I see. No, that is no concern at all. My passion's rubbed off on him, so he's eager and willing to help."

Um, really? It looked like Veldora was discussing matters with an unseen partner for a moment. That had to be Ifrit, right? So I guess they had some unknown method of speaking to each other.

"Were you talking to him just now?"

"Yes, well, there is nothing I cannot accomplish."

"The master's really somethin', I'll have you know! Why, he even had Ifrit summon a huge number of flame salamanders for our magic trains! So I really think having him join us would help out a lot, going forward!" Oh. He did?

Summoning spirits, of course, was easy with Ramiris's help in the labyrinth. But once we started running magic trains worldwide, we'd likely want a go-to person handling all our salamander needs. Ugghh… In terms of what we stood to gain, I really had no counterargument. And if Veldora was really willing to look after Ifrit and keep him on good behavior… Well, maybe it'd be right to trust in him.

"All right, all right. If you say so, I'll grant you permission, but you need to take responsibility for this to the end, all right?"

"You got it!"

"Oh, that's so great, Master!"

I felt like my children were begging me to buy them a puppy.

"In that case…"

"Yes, yes. Rimuru, you still have the empty husk of Charybdis after removing the core from it, right? That is the afterimage of my own magic force, so it will be easy for me to work with. And Ifrit has been exposed to my aura for an extended period of time, so perhaps we could use that as his core?"

As Veldora saw it, this would be better for him than employing a pseudosoul.

Understood. The subject Veldora's opinion seems valid.

And if Raphael was agreeing, I had no room to turn him down.

"Okay. So we'll give this to Ifrit for his body, then?"

I stood in front of the incubation capsule I repaired just before our break. The magisteel skeleton inside had transformed into the unique metal dragontite and was further exposed to Veldora's excess magicules; your average monster didn't have a chance of withstanding it. I felt that as a higher-level spirit, Ifrit was up to the challenge.

"Ah, very good. I'm sure he'll be delighted." With Veldora's agreement, I started the procedure.

Report. Ifrit's afterimage detected. Transferring to the core of Charybdis… Successful. Creating soul vessel… Now fusing with dragontite body.

The whole process wrapped up in an instant. That's Raphael for you. We had it down to a literal science.

And with that, right before our eyes, the body infused with Ifrit's core began to undergo rapid change. The skeleton, now dark silver, seemed to be growing muscles as we watched, blood suddenly flowing through them. The skin protecting them was dark brown, the same as Veldora's. The eyes were gold, the dragon-like pupils shining a deep crimson red.

…Also, this really looked like a woman. A pretty one, too.

"Ahhh, Ifrit! How's it feel to come back with a new body?"

So this beautiful girl was Ifrit? Ignoring the question of whether spirits have genders for now, I seemed to recall fighting a muscle-bound, masculine figure. What happened?

"We meet for the first time in the physical realm, Sir Veldora. And Sir Rimuru… I cannot thank you enough for restoring me."

Ignoring my confusion, Ifrit faced me and fell to one knee. I feared his loyalty to Leon would lead to instant aggression, but that didn't seem to be a concern any longer.

"S-sure. Glad you're doing well. I wanted to ask you something…"

"Anything."

I wanted to ask him a lot, actually. But the first thing:

"The last time I saw you, you were, like…more physically geared for combat? Or you looked like you could, um, move around a bit easier…"

Not to dance around the subject too much, but you didn't have such big breasts, did you? But I was too timid to say it. I mean, how could I? Ifrit was now dressed in some kind of exotic South Asian–style outfit that left almost nothing to the imagination. Ifrit's shoulders, navel, and inner thighs were completely visible, and the allure was just blowing my mind.

"Oh, this form…?" Ifrit sighed for some reason. "I think this is Veldora's faul—er, Veldora's preferences taking form."

He was about to call it Veldora's fault, wasn't he? He seemed kind of exasperated about it. The vibe I got indicated he had been through a lot. Maybe his time in my Stomach wasn't all smooth sailing after all. If you think about it, he was alone in there with Veldora the whole time, with no place to run. There must have been some harrowing experiences.

"Mmm. Yes, thanks to me, you have taken on a physical body. I hope you will not forget to appreciate this!"

"…I will not," Ifrit replied, resigned to his fate.

"What does he mean by your 'preferences,' Veldora?"

"Hmm?"

"Ah well, I am a higher-level flame spirit, but I'm now able to exercise my powers over wind as well. My hair would normally be a deep-red color, but it's taken on a much darker hue. From what I can tell, the impact of Sir Veldora's force has had a profound effect upon me. I believe the fact that Charybdis was a female type may have caused this change to me." Report. This is correct.

Whoa, so even his sex changed? I guess it wasn't deliberate, though, so I didn't want to comment on it too much.

"Oh… I see. Well, if you're not a fan of that…"

"I have no complaints at all," Ifrit said with a smile. "No matter how it looks, this form is far more powerful than I used to be."

Glad to see he was so adaptable. I suppose getting browbeaten by Veldora all this time must've made him used to things. I kind of liked that— and besides, unlike when I brought Shizu within me, I detected no hostility from him at all.

"You don't, uh, resent me or anything, do you?"

"No, I don't. Inside you, I learned about a great deal of things from Sir Veldora. Looking back, I feel that I, and Shizue Izawa as well, perhaps felt our duties and responsibilities too much. We rejected each other and were unable to interact at all. Now I can't help but think we could've found another way to overcome this."

Sounded like Ifrit wasn't dragging any baggage from the past along. In fact, he seemed to even regret not working things out with Shizu. The mood was thus unexpectedly somber as we decided to all sit down and work out our future.

Ifrit told me about assorted things as well. Life, as I surmised, had been tough on him. I began sensing an affinity among us. Now I was sure there was no better person to leave in Veldora's control.

As he put it, while he still had feelings for the demon lord Leon, he couldn't call those feelings loyalty at all. "Right now," he said, "I see myself as already defeated and killed once by you, Sir Rimuru. I was lucky enough to have Sir Veldora rescue me and keep my consciousness from fading away, but I feel I am a completely different being from before. I do still believe that

Sir Leon is a great demon lord, but right now, I only wish to serve Sir Veldora."

That seemed believable to me, and Veldora never doubted Ifrit from the start. I saw no need to fret over it.

"All right. Well, consider yourself officially Veldora's assistant now!"

"Very well. I will stake my life and body on serving him."

He definitely sounded serious. It's not that I had put the affair with Shizu totally behind me, but that was true for both sides. We needed to work past that, and in the meantime, I decided to accept Ifrit.

"Now, Rimuru, I have one thing to discuss."

There's more?! I really didn't want to get involved in anything else, but if I didn't hear him out, I'm sure he'd harangue me about it.

"What is it now, Veldora?"

"Well, I was hoping I could give a name to Ifrit. Ifrit, you see, is not his individual name, but that of his spirit type. All upper-level spirits summoned by the Spirit Summon: Ifrit spell are referred to as Ifrit."

Hmm. That was actually a decent suggestion. A name, huh? He might need one of those, yeah. But the naming process in situations like this could be fraught with danger. I had personally screwed it up multiple times, so I knew.

"But if you name Ifrit right now, wouldn't that be kind of dangerous? I know you have a huge magicule store to tap, but get the levels wrong, and you could be in deep trouble."

Too many magicules would be poison to Ifrit and even potentially damage the namer. I managed to survive all my namings more out of luck than anything.

"Kwah-ha-ha-ha! But you can accurately calculate the exact amount required, can you not? If I am pumping in too much energy, I want you to shut off the soul corridor linking us."

Hmm. That sounded safe enough.

Report. This can be provided for.

Raphael was eager to help, likely because I was in no direct harm.

"All right. I'll help."

"Good! I knew you would say yes!" So we were now naming Ifrit.

"Ifrit, from this day forward, you shall be known as Charys!!"

With a solemn voice, Veldora gave Ifrit his command. Charys was now the name of Ifrit—a name that was more a contraction of Charybdis than anything resembling Ifrit. I thought something like Iris would be more suitable, but better to keep my mouth shut with things like this.

Now, via the soul corridor between them, I could see Veldora being drained of his magicules. Ifrit, right now, was a Special A in rank, with enough magicules to be deemed a Calamity-level threat. He'd lose out to Shion or Benimaru but was about equal with Soei or Geld. So if he was given a name…

"Yes, my lord. Then by my name as Charys, I solemnly swear to serve my master, the great Sir Veldora!!"

The name was accepted—and at that instant, Raphael shut off the soul corridor and sealed up Veldora's powers. Mission accomplished. Veldora had successfully named Ifrit.

And now Ifrit was evolving.

He had far, far more magical force within him. Now he was demon-lord caliber—a far cry from Treyni and even above people like Carillon or Frey.

Report. The upper-level spirit Ifrit has evolved to Flame Lord.

A Flame Lord? Apparently, this was what happened when spiritual lifeforms attain physical bodies and assume something closer to demonic form.

"Kwaaaah-ha-ha-ha! How impressive! I'm glad I relied upon you now,

Rimuru!"

Veldora couldn't be happier. But one look at Ifrit made me squint. He had undergone major changes—or really, he was back to how I remembered. The hair was still the same extremely dark red as before, but now he was male in structure again, exactly as the time we fought each other. There were some small differences in the details, but now I think I was seeing Ifrit more as how he pictured himself.

"Pfft! After I gave you such a fun— Er, after I gave you such wondrous beauty! I was hardly expecting this."

Veldora was already whining about it. I guess he was playing a trick on him the whole time. Ifrit—or I guess I should start calling him Charys— bowed deeply at him.

"Is that the case? I expected as much…but I am glad my own desires won out, in the end. However, I can always return to female form, so if you insist upon it…"

"No, no, I was just poking fun at you regardless. I have no complaint about whatever form you take!"

Veldora's jokes weren't very funny. Things were back to normal now, but there was a decent chance Charys would've been stuck that way all his life. I better watch how I act around Veldora, too.

"So how's your body feel?"

"It feels excellent, my— Wait, what's this?!"

As he answered my question, he began to notice some kind of change.

Carefully, he gauged the powers within himself. "This much power…?"

He seemed shocked.

"Heh-heh-heh… Well, I should hope so," Veldora said with a satisfied smile. He had been expecting this, it seemed. "It seems you've evolved into a

Flame Lord."

"A—a Flame Lord?! I can hardly believe this power…"

Yeah, if I was just resurrected, and all of a sudden I had demon lord– level power, I'd probably react the same way. But even with all that power, you're still mainly just a caretaker for Veldora, all right? In fact, with all that strength on tap, Veldora might wind up trying to take even more advantage of you. I was starting to sympathize with Charys a bit—we had gotten chummy pretty fast, after all.

Regardless, we had a new member of the office. Before long, Charys was just another part of the picture, worked to the bone by Veldora and Ramiris— just as I feared, but nobody seemed to mind. Thanks to him, our work was humming along even faster than before.

"Hey, uh, since when did we have someone like this working for us?"

"He joined while you were all occupied with putting cores together."

"But it's not like you just hired someone on. This is a spirit lord! He's got, like, demon-lord powers!"

"No, he's a Flame Lord, to be exact."

"It doesn't matter! That's not what I'm trying to say!"

Deeno seemed pretty agitated, but everyone else got used to things quickly.

"Well, you know, these things happen, I suppose."

"They…do, Vester?"

"Deeno, if we're going to work with Rimuru and the master here, you can't afford to let things like these throw you."

"I know, but…"

He looked less than convinced but, with the help of everyone else, grudgingly accepted it. Yes, it's best to just adapt. Knowing when to give up is key.

So now I was cutting down more trees and creating more dolls. Before long, I had a number of dryads evolved into Dryas Doll Dryads, capable of tapping their full powers no matter how far they were from their trees. Not one of them refused the offer, so now there were nearly ten of them. They didn't have battle experience and thus weren't as strong as Treyni, but they had a whole labyrinth to learn the ropes in. Looking ahead, I'm sure they'd be great assistants for Ramiris.

I was also just about done with the bodies—or really, the avatars—I'd be lending to the treants. They'd simply be possessing these bodies, not taking them over entirely, so they didn't need to be top-of-the-line. I made sure they were fully compatible with the hundred-odd treants who would now be able to explore and work in the labyrinth. That was a lot of new personnel, and now I regretted not doing this sooner.

Many of the dryad bodies were female in shape, while most of the treant bodies were male. They themselves were genderless, and they told me I didn't need to worry much about this, so I made their bodies with efficiency as the watchword. If they wanted to adjust any details, they could do it themselves once they took possession.

Regardless, I was told they were ready to hop in whenever the bodies were good to go, and before long, my work was complete.

With the new help, we finally had a little free time to work with.

"Thank you very much, Sir Rimuru!"

I jiggled my slime body in response to Treyni's words of gratitude. This was really no big deal for me. I wanted to repay them for their hard work, and besides, I got a lot out of the bargain.

"Okay, everyone, keep it up! Ramiris, if anything happens, let me know." "Roger! I'll fly right over!"

She'd report back at once if something flared up, I was sure. But we still had work left to do. I was meeting with Rigurd and Mjöllmile daily, and I had a mountain of projects and proposals to approve. My feedback was required for our criminal justice system as well, and I needed to mediate over and resolve any conflicts of opinion in my cabinet. In an ideal world, I'd help all day with this research, but life was getting in the way. What I really wanted was a staff to help me with bureaucratic work—that was my main priority. I had time for my hobbies because I didn't need to sleep, but even I enjoyed a nap now and again.

I had thought of myself as someone who talked a big show and let everyone else do the actual work, but now I really was working hard. I couldn't help thinking about that as I returned to my office.

"Sir Diablo has returned, along with several unfamiliar individuals. They wanted to see you—what would you like me to do with them, Sir Rimuru?" That message had been waiting for me for quite a while.

If it were Diablo alone, of course I'd welcome him right in. But he had brought strangers along. It was an annoyance, but with all the people I had around me, we needed to go through this procedure. I decided to get this rolling before Benimaru demanded he sit in on matters.

"We'll meet in the reception room. Bring them right over!"

The attendant briskly bowed at me and left. She seemed to move kind of awkwardly—I guess she was nervous around me. Exasperated, I asked another attendant in the next room over to prepare some tea.

Shuna was busy elsewhere with her own work in the daytime, although she always allotted time in the evening to prepare dinner and the like. Shion, for her part, was training Team Reborn in the labyrinth. They were apparently testing out just how immortal they were, pushing the far edges of their endurance. I heard they were going down to some pretty deep levels, so I resolved not to call for her unless needed.

In their place right now were two attendants assigned exclusively to me, a pair of evolved goblinas who pretty much looked human, in my opinion. Some Shuna-developed cosmetics had gained popularity as of late, and I felt like all the women around me had been looking prettier. They were firstclass attendants, and I'm sure they'd be at ease around the kings and princes of other nations, although I must've been a tad intimidating. I couldn't ask for better.

So I headed to the next reception chamber over—one of the rooms designed for rustic sturdiness. I figured nothing would go wrong, but no need to go in unprepared. I had zero idea what kind of weirdos Diablo would pick for his crew.

The moment I stepped in, the attendant brought our tea. Very organized, I thought. Then I sensed someone outside.

"Sir Rimuru! I have returned!"

With a gregarious smile, Diablo entered the room. Not that I'm one to talk, but a smiling Diablo is about the most evil sight I can think of—and if I thought so, I'm sure he was just as sinister a symbol to everyone else. There was just this wicked atmosphere around him, like he was always planning some nefarious deed.

"Today, as promised, I have brought along some people I'd like you to extend an audience to. If you could meet them for me, nothing could make me happier."

He greeted me respectfully as ever. It was needlessly polite, really, but I had gotten used to it. He saw me as his sole superior, approaching me almost like a god, after all.

Behind Diablo were three women. He had talked about people to work under him; were these the ones? They looked young, but I suppose age didn't matter to demons. I had no idea how old Diablo was, but he said he'd be tapping old friends, so they must be decently well aged.

At his behest, the three girls filed in, bowed to me, and sat down on the sofa.

"So these are all your acquaintances?"

They didn't look that powerful to me…

Negative. These are Arch Demons, among the most powerful of demonkind. They are fully suppressing their magicules in order to pose as human.

Raphael quickly stepped up to correct my mistake. I thought I had an eye for this by now, but I still had room for improvement. I tried ratcheting up my Magic Sense a little, but they still seemed like normal people to me.

…Wait. Arch Demons?!

Even among those who could summon higher-level demons, calling for an Arch Demon was well on impossible. Just one of them provided a whole column of tactical strength for any army. You had to be willing to make colossal sacrifices to even have a chance at summoning one. If the human race tried it, that'd be a national-level project requiring all kinds of largescale rituals.

Now I had three of them on my sofa. And wasn't Diablo an Arch Demon as well? If these were his friends, maybe I should've expected this.

"Yes. These are the ones I decided were worthy enough to enjoy a personal audience with you, Sir Rimuru."

"I see. They certainly camouflage themselves well. I can hardly see a difference between them and regular people. I'm not sure even a paladin could tell these were Arch Demons."

Diablo smiled appreciatively. "Keh-heh-heh-heh… Well spotted, Sir Rimuru. I told them to devote their full force to concealing their race, but you saw through the ruse regardless?"

"Yeah, kinda," I said, giving Diablo a cool, collected nod. It was all

Raphael, to be honest, but still. "So are there more?"

"Yes, I have seven or so others I think would be useful…"

He always had this exaggerated way of talking about his business. I had a thousand bodies ready for him, and now we'll only need, like, one percent of them? Of course, I did use a hundred of those bodies for the treants already, so that worked for me.

"…Beyond that, I have a number of rank and filers, whom I picture as serving under the people you see before you. I hope you will give them the

honor of joining Tempest's forces, Sir Rimuru." Oh, there are more.

"All right. How many of those did you bring?"

"I will allow them to brief you on that."

"It is good to meet you, Sir Rimuru. I must regretfully say that I lack a name at the moment, but I look forward to hopefully working with you. I understand that Black adores you, which I honestly found hard to believe… but now I see why."

"Oh?"

I was greeted by a beautiful woman with snowy-white hair. She stood before me like a noble heiress, remarkably elegant. There was a fetching, fleeting element to her smile. She seemed so kind and gentle that I could hardly believe she was a demon.

"Yes. From the moment I laid eyes upon you, I could not stop my heart from racing. I sincerely hope you will add my two hundred followers and me to your force."

With a cheerful smile, the white-haired lady pledged her oath. Honestly, it embarrassed me to get complimented like this, but Diablo had already accustomed me to it, so I let it slide.

"Me too—um, I mean, and me as well. I want to offer my two hundred servants and myself to you, Sir Rimuru."

The energetic young lady who spoke next had purple hair and a ponytail on her side that complemented her naturally cute looks. Despite Diablo's declaration, I almost doubted whether she was a demon at all.

"No complaints here, either! I've brought my own army of two hundred along, and I'm ready to let you have 'em all!"

The dazzling, pompous blond spoke up last. Diablo, peeved at her act, was about to stand up before I lifted a hand to stop him. I had the impression she was trying her best to be polite with me. No need to scold her over little things.

That rounded out our greetings. I had three girls here, each arriving with two hundred people. So Diablo wanted to add six hundred people to his personal force? I had to hand it to him—this was scary. He was seriously trying to form his own army.

"Keh-heh-heh-heh… Now, each of these people has two trusted assistants with them. In addition, there is one more whom I thought would make an amusing addition. These seven are accompanied by approximately one hundred servants, making for seven hundred in total. I had hoped to assemble a team of a thousand, but regrettably, I am forced to disappoint you on that front. My mishandling of this affair truly pains me." "No, no, no. Don't worry about it. Let's go meet them." So seven hundred, not six? That was almost too much.

"Ah, thank you very much! But before that, I thought I should debrief you in detail on how I came to invite them to my side—"

"Is that gonna take a while?"

"Well, Sir Rimuru, I wish to keep you updated on my activities…"

And so Diablo was already beginning his boastful speech. I needed to stop it at once.

"Okay, I'll pass on that. I'm sure they're not here to listen to you brag at me, either, so how about we save that for another opportunity?"

An opportunity I was pretty sure would never come, of course.

Diablo froze, giving me a "huh?" look. The three demon girls snickered. I supposed they were worried he'd talk about himself for hours, too.

Satisfied I was in the right, I grinned. "I don't want to keep everyone else waiting, either. Introduce them to me."

"…I—I understand. In that case, allow us to relocate…"

He looked disappointed, but I couldn't spoil him. I'll admit that Diablo was a talent, but giving him preferential treatment in front of the new staff wasn't a good idea. I'd never wanna be accused of playing favorites, so he'll just have to put up with it. (Of course, what I really feared was him talking my ear off all day, but that goes without saying.)

Diablo, of course, recovered quickly. As a spiritual life-form, he had real backbone. You'd think that meant he wouldn't be swinging between joy and sadness after everything I said, but he did anyway for some reason. Very strange.

"Summoning them in town may cause trouble, so let's call for them within the labyrinth."

Regardless, Diablo had now matured enough that he actually cared about people and things around him a little. I was impressed…but I shouldn't have been.

"Keh-heh-heh-heh… After all, if they appeared within town, they would shatter the barrier over it. You spent a lot of time and trouble on that magic spell, Sir Rimuru, so I must take consideration of that."

Hearing his slightly askew observation made me realize how wrong I was.

But it reminded me of something else.

Here in Rimuru, the capital of Tempest, we already had a barrier deployed on an experimental basis. This was an enhanced version of the Holy Field, suppressing the magicules that leaked out of monsters. We had a lot of human visitors these days, and this was one measure we took for their safety. It was a bit of a burden for our monster residents, but not enough to affect their daily lives at all. Put up with that, and we could retain the city's magicule counts to a level humans could easily abide by. The barrier also helped enforce our laws against casting certain magic spells in town, and it also kept magical beasts from entering city limits.

If anyone was big and mean enough to break this barrier, they'd have to be A rank and assigned some kind of disaster level—and even they couldn't smash it with one hit. If anything happened to the barrier, we'd all know at once, so our sentinels would be able to swing into action. Even an A-ranked beast, of course, was nothing to fear without intelligence. With our wellhoned soldiers, we'd be able to calmly take care of matters.

My main concern was whether there were people among these seven hundred who could break down the barrier. It'd be child's play for the three women behind me, but were there any other menaces among them? Diablo tended to be a harsh critic, so if he described seven demons as useful, they had to be extremely dangerous.

Inside the Dungeon:

"I hereby permit you to show yourselves. Manifest!"

With Diablo's order, seven demons appeared, seven hundred more kneeling behind them.

I guess…I should have expected this. Six out of the seven were Arch Demons. Magicule flow was regulated within the labyrinth, so it was easier for them to appear here than up on the surface, hence why all of them were their full, ominous selves in here.

These seven demons who earned Diablo's trust, though… Now these guys looked like actual demons. One among them was just a Greater Demon, but a special one apparently, and no doubt pretty strong, too. Strong enough to pick a fight with Diablo and get smashed up in the process, by the sound of it. He had guts, at least, although clearly he had to be an idiot. Nonetheless, Diablo saw something in this Greater Demon, and if he did, I had no complaint.

But enough about that. My concern was still on the first three. These three Arch Demons each had two Arch Demons of their own, essentially indicating they had some kinda special talent beyond just their magicule count.

Understood. As demons have no life span, the older they are, the more battle experience they build up. In the demon realm, there are classes of nobility they are categorized into based on that. Those in the ruling classes enjoy exclusive levels of authority and power…

Oh?

Raphael told me that demons are limited in how far they can grow, Arch Demon being the very top. However, even under these same conditions, they can polish their battle skills and establish themselves as superior over others. Different demons can have different strengths, even with the same magicule count. That difference can come in knowledge, the drive for victory, the strength of their will… Put it all together, and that's how a demon built their rep. Plus:

…Arch Demons are further categorized by the era they were born in.

To be exact:

• Legends whose names have been known for over three thousand yearsare classified as Prehistoric.

• Arch Demons at least a millennium old are Ancient.

• Beings with over four hundred years of accrued knowledge areMedieval.

• Demons who survived past a hundred years are Pre-Modern.

• Those with more than a human life span's worth of study are Modern.

• Newborns are called Contemporary.

And at the far end of time, you had the Origin category, the very first of all demons.

The strengths of demons are evaluated based on how long they have lived. The ruling classes of demons, the nobility ranked count or higher, are all Ancients.

Thanks for the detailed rundown, Raphael. I appreciated that bullet-point presentation. Now to use this newfound knowledge to examine the demons before me.

The first three were in the ruling classes, and these six were their subjects. I suppose this meant that the trio—and Diablo as well—were all very old demons, ranked count or higher. I may have been oblivious at the time, but I befriended some pretty notorious characters, didn't I? It made me shiver a bit as Diablo smiled.

"This group, I feel, boasts some aspects worthy of your attention. When I regaled them with stories of your wondrous deeds, Sir Rimuru, they all broke down and begged for the chance to serve you. Thus, I decided to grant their request and let them join me."

It sounded like a very moving tale, although I felt like he was making up aspects of it.

I took a closer look at the seven underling demons. Maybe they had wept, but I'm not convinced they were begging to serve under me. My evidence for this was how clearly all of them had been beaten up—with the lower-end Greater Demon in particular, I marveled at how he was even alive. Diablo really was making up that story, I thought. All seven of them looked like they had something to say, but none of them spoke in front of their boss. They were very well trained—or I'm sure, Diablo sternly warned them otherwise.

"From this moment, we shall ever be your faithful servants, Sir Rimuru!

Please grant us your orders!"

The seven of them all bowed their heads and swore their fealty, the choir of seven hundred behind them doing the same. Seven hundred demons lying prostrate before you is quite a sight, let me tell you. Diablo observed the spectacle, smiling and nodding. He scares me. The fact that he was my ally made me breathe an internal sigh of relief. I'm so glad he's on my team.

As spiritual life-forms, demons must acquire physical bodies, or else they have to expend tons of magical force to manifest themselves. I didn't want to subject them to that forever, so it's time to get this party started.

The process was really simple. First, I used Belzebuth to consume the demons. Then I called upon Raphael to Combine each one with the pseudosoul inside each incubation capsule. It worked great. Before long, all the demons had their bodies, customizing them to their liking. They'd be fully used to them in two or three days.

I did run into some problems with the first three, though. I didn't want to give them the same treatment as all the demons under them. They were apparently longtime friends with Diablo, so I figured they deserved a few perks. Besides, they were beautiful, and I'm nothing if not a patron of fine beauty. If I wanted to have them drop the demon look and appear more human without affecting their appearance, that much was a snap for me. So I offered my services.

"Would you like me to work on your outer appearance?"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure."

"In that case, by all means."

The white-haired beauty smiled and accepted the offer, the other two following her lead. With their consent, it was time to get started.

It's tough to change someone's appearance without adjusting their internal bone structure. My fingers were more than nimble enough for the effort, and Raphael's calculations were perfect. Forming and adjusting their looks was a cinch for me—and once their structures were set up, some magicule-flow fine-tuning should perfectly re-create their looks.

I also gave them a little extra, mixing gold into their magisteel skeletons to make them orichalc. If they're friends of Diablo's, they deserved that much. In this world, gold was kind of an all-purpose metal, keenly compatible with magicules and providing durability and capabilities that far surpassed magisteel.

They were literally beautiful down to the bone—and very appreciative. """Thank you very much, Sir Rimuru!"""

And if they were happy, I was just as happy.

Mission accomplished. Now we just had to wait for everyone to wake up.

Oh, and it'll be an annoyance if they don't have names…

"Whoa, whoa, what are you doing in here?"

"Hey, hey, Rimuru! Did Diablo bring his underlings back? I wanna say hi to them— Whoa, look at this!"

Deeno, Ramiris, and Veldora had invited themselves in.

"Yep," I explained to the ignorant Deeno, "Ramiris is right. Diablo's brought his team over. They're all demons, so I have a set of bodies for them."

"No, I knew that, but…"

If he did, why was he acting so surprised?

"Well after all, if he's gathered this many demons together, Diablo must be quite formidable, indeed."

Oh, the numbers, huh? Yeah, there's a lot. Veldora seemed to have a point. If I wasn't forewarned, I probably would've been just as shocked.

"And not just that. I'm a little surprised, too. The three leaders over there… Is it me, or are they really, really old?"

Ramiris looked kind of put off. Deeno nodded his agreement.

"Yeah," I said, "they're Ancients in the ruling class, so they've supposedly been alive at least a thousand years."

"Huh…?"

"It's gotta be more than that, isn't it?"

Was it? Raphael couldn't have made a mistake.

…Negative. It is a difference of interpretation. With no way of knowing an exact age, estimates given are strictly estimates. If they have lived over a millennium, then it is not out of the question for them to be over 30,000 years old as well.

I supposed that was true. Being over a thousand could potentially make you three, four, even ten thousand years old. Raphael wasn't wrong, but it didn't necessarily have the right estimate, either.

"Yeah, but it's hard to ask a woman for her age…"

"Kwah-ha-ha-ha! I have learned that well. It leads to unwanted anger, to be sure."

"Well, one's age isn't all that important anyway. If I've got a trio of ruling-class demons on my side, I'm not gonna ask questions."

"If you're fine with that, Rimuru, then so am I."

"Funny way to think about it. I sure couldn't do that."

"Heh-heh-heh-heh… Well stated, Sir Rimuru. It is not the years in your life, but the life in your years, am I right?" Um, maybe?!

Diablo seemed eager to close the book on the subject. As embarrassing as it was for me, I followed his lead.

Deeno and the gang had almost made me forget what I was here for, so I decided to focus on what I'd name these demons. I figured I might as well keep it simple and stick with the exotic-car theme I started with Diablo. It's not like fighting power should be measured like the price tags of cars, but with the Ancient demons in front of me like this, I think they deserved names like that.

"Okay," I boastfully stated at the three body frames in the capsules, "from now on, you three can call yourselves Testarossa, Ultima, and Carrera."

The first among them had beautiful, shimmering white hair, snow-like skin, and—floating amid all that blinding white—elegant, vibrant eyes and soft red lips, which reminded me of the classic Ferrari Testarossa.

Ultima was the perky lady with purple hair and a bubbly personality, and I thought the name perfectly suited her image. Carrera, meanwhile, was every bit a Porsche—blond locks, a cutting stare, a real leader of the pack.

"Wh-whoa! You can't just name them like it's nothing…"

Only Deeno voiced any concern. But the warning already came too late, so there was no point panicking about it now. Look at Ramiris and Veldora.

They didn't freak out about every little thing I did. "Par for the course for him, I'd say."

"Yeah! As if Rimuru would act any other way!"

There you had it.

As the three Arch Demons listened on, I worked them through the final stages of the body-claiming process. Muscle covered their golden frames, and in an instant, they were naked personifications of beauty. The magicules kept flowing into them, clothing their bodies. The incubation capsules shattered, unable to withstand their mystical auras. I could see why—thanks to me naming them—they had now evolved into Demon Peers, nothing like they were before. Their power was overwhelming, upgraded to a dimension beyond all common sense.

"Wow," muttered Deeno. "Not even old-era demon lords like Carillon could take those guys. I couldn't even guess how deep they go down, man.

Good thing I'm not on hostile terms with Rimuru."

Nobody reacted to him. Only Vester, who showed up later than the others, could be found in the corner whispering "I see nothing, ha-ha-ha, nothing. I know nothing; I'm not involved in this…" The way he was slapping himself on the head and talking incoherently made me feel a little sorry for the guy, but let's just pretend I didn't see that.

This wrapped up my work for the day. I didn't want to drain my magicules all at once, so I proceeded with caution, giving names only when I was confident I had the wherewithal for it. Three a day seemed like a good limit.

Thus, the next few days were spent on a naming spree. I gave out the following names, in order of strength:

• Moss

• Veyron

• Agera

• Esprit

• Zonda

• Cien

• Venom

Testarossa's underlings were Moss and Cien, Ultima had Veyron and Zonda, and Agera and Esprit worked for Carrera. Venom, meanwhile, was Diablo's wild card favorite. Even with Testarossa and the other two alone, I held command over three Demon Peers, which was an insane amount of force. But that was only the start of it.

All seven evolved immediately after I named them, stepping out of their incubation capsules like everything was normal. Two of them had become Demon Peers; four others remained as Arch Demons but seemed a little different—I can't explain how too well, but it's like the blinders had been taken off. Venom also evolved into an Arch Demon, greatly boosting his own fighting power.

To me, it was so much of a surprise that my brain just shut off. I mean, Demon Peers aren't beings you see just pop up all the time. They were legendary figures, more powerful than your average demon lord, and (counting Diablo) I currently had six of them within my borders. Now they weren't seeming so rare to me. What was I even gonna do with all this force? I wanted to procure people strong in things like politics and economics. Could they handle that stuff? I sincerely doubted it, but I guessed we'd have to try it out…

As I pondered this, I started thinking up names for the remaining seven hundred. This was my promise to Diablo, and I wanted to see it through to the end. I had, as it turned out, made some miscalculations—Raphael informed me that the magicules that had already built up in the incubation capsules would be enough to name them with. That was good news. Just the motivation I needed, in fact, because I whipped through the whole naming process in just two days.

Now these seven hundred were prostrating themselves before me. Most of them were Lesser Demons to start with, but with a name and a physical body, they had evolved into Greater Demons. As expected, they had all gained enough magicules to be firmly A-ranked territory, and now I had seven hundred of them at my beck and call.

Not that I'm one to talk, but something about this screamed "stat inflation" to me. Some of them even looked for all the world like Arch Demons. Did I just have another oops moment? It was simply astonishing. I mean, the first three alone—Testarossa, Ultima, and Carrera—were more than enough already. But it was too late to turn back now. Let's pretend that I didn't notice anything. That was probably the best way to preserve my sanity.

"Sir Rimuru, I cannot contain my joy upon receiving such a wonderful name. And all this force! Please allow me to continue granting you my absolute loyalty!"

Testarossa spoke for everyone there when she addressed me. I nodded my approval. Sure, have a blast, guys.

Thinking about it, this was all Diablo's fault, wasn't it? All I did was keep my promise. I'm sure he'll educate them for me and stuff. As irresponsible as it was, that's what I wanted to think.

As Rimuru was attempting to escape reality…

"Black— Er, Diablo, I think I understand why you are so enamored of Sir

Rimuru."

"Yes! Amazing, isn't he?"

"He saw us for what we really were, and he concluded that we were not a threat worth considering. Even that old demon lord Deeno turned white as a sheet when he saw us…"

Testarossa and the other two demon leaders were talking among themselves. Rimuru had no way of knowing, but this group had zero intention at all of swearing loyalty to him when they had first showed up. Their old friend Diablo had only convinced them to lend him their powers for a little while.

...…

...

…

They had lived a long time, becoming the strongest their world had to offer—as were the demons who served them. Two of them were even defined as Prehistoric by humankind—and over all those years, neither of those demons had tasted defeat even once.

This was Moss and Veyron. Moss—an archduke in the demon realms, second in power only to the Origin, a spotless battle record for tens of thousands of years. Veyron—an old, crafty marquis-class noble whose life spanned over four thousand years. He had been defeated by Moss several times before, reincarnating himself each time.

The other servants were no pushovers, either. Agera, a viscount and a Pre-Modern demon. Esprit, also a viscount, who boasted a streak of victories dating back over the past five hundred years. Zonda, a baron who'd been undefeated for three hundred years. Cien, another baron with a similarly long record.

Agera was a special case, a demon who'd been undefeated for three centuries after bowing to the force of Carrera. He preferred fighting with a sword over magic, a rarity among demons. Meanwhile, Esprit, Zonda, and Cien had (like Veyron) repeatedly resurrected themselves. They all got their starts long ago, very close to the Origin's own family tree. Venom was another special case, a demon born with a unique skill; he hadn't lived very long, but his growth and maturation were noteworthy.

Diablo had rounded up this band of standout demons for his plan—and Rimuru, oblivious to all this, just casually gave them names after a moment's thought, an incredibly reckless move. As a result, every demon reborn here had obtained power beyond the natural ways of the world. They were now an unimaginable force, a great assemblage of demons feared by all. Despite numbering less than a thousand, they were an army all by themselves.

They would later come to be known as the Black Corps, Tempest's most powerful military and a horrifying symbol of fear. And the Black Corps was born the moment they were unleashed from their capsules.

...…

...

…

There was a slight blush to Testarossa's lily-white cheeks as she spoke in a low voice.

"Yes, it's so fascinating. It's far more exciting to look at him instead of going through this cycle of destroying nations or jostling for territory with both of you."

Ultima nodded. "Yeah, something tells me it'll be a lot more entertaining working in this country instead of the old grind of torturing out-of-line demons."

"You're right," said Carrera. "Like you said, Sir Rimuru is an amazing figure. He just brushed away the Coercion I threw at him, like I was a naughty kitten! Accepting him as my lord was a truly tempting proposal—and

now that I've accepted his name, he's got every bit of my loyalty."

"I almost killed you when you tried that, you know."

Diablo was looking serious but let it slide without major comment, perhaps realizing Carrera wasn't lying.

"Oh, right," interjected Testarossa. "Diablo, I need to thank you. When you spoke to me, I really did think about killing you."

"I'm aware. You always were that type of woman. But why did you accept my request at all? I thought you would keep challenging me until I convinced you…"

The Original White that Diablo knew had an intense personality. She never accepted what anyone said at face value. Battles between demons tended to focus on the knowledge and technical levels of the fighters involved, and even as a Demon Peer, Diablo wasn't completely sure he could defeat the Original White in battle. That's why he found her behavior so fascinating.

"Well, we are strong, as you know. Did you think there was anyone in this world stronger than us demons?"

"No," Diablo replied with a smile. It made Testarossa smile even wider.

"Right? Of course not. And that's why, Diablo. I've taken an interest in this master you cherish so much, someone capable of charming one of my cohorts in strength and power. If he proved a trifle, I would have considered killing him."

"As would I."

"Heh. I'm not exactly itching to any longer, but I was planning to pick a fight with him first thing."

Diablo rolled his eyes, a touch irritated. "I appreciate you not causing an embarrassing scene in front of Sir Rimuru for me, but if you were actually intent on trying that…"

"Don't worry, Diablo. You take pride in your name, and just like you, I am tremendously proud of the name Testarossa that Sir Rimuru gave me. By that name, I swear my loyalty to him, and I am sure Ultima and Carrera feel the same way."

"Yeah!"

"Yes, as I said before."

The three girls nodded in unison. Diablo shook his head, giving them a "What will I do with you?" look.

"Of course, I doubt the other rank and filers besides you three will be of much use to Sir Rimuru…but so be it. I don't want you to cause me any more trouble, so I will expect you to follow Sir Rimuru's and my orders."

"So be it, indeed! I must repay you for introducing me to Sir Rimuru."

"Oh, uh, I'm in agreement, too!"

"If I can help out Sir Rimuru and dispense of you as well, all the better.

Until then, I will allow you to command me."

Diablo still felt irritated, but if Testarossa and the others promised to heed his orders, he felt no further need to remain. There existed in the world only a small number of people Diablo was willing to put up with, and the girls' being a part of this list demonstrated just how unique they were.

And so unbeknownst to Rimuru, the chain of command was set in stone.

…This is the sort of conversation Diablo reportedly had, or didn't have, or whatever, as he gave me his report. I was trying to enjoy a little peace for a change, but ah well.

"…And that is how we worked matters out. They are now under my command, but there's still no telling what kind of nonsense they might pull. I'm sure you have little to worry about from them, Sir Rimuru, but regardless, stay on your guard!"

"Um, all right…"

What was he going on about? He's the one who brought them over here! But it was too late to rant and rave about it. I just wanted one day of peace and harmony in my life, and now it looks like I had more problems. And here

I thought we had more allies now…

Of course, I didn't have the slightest idea how true any of this was, and if they're under Diablo's command, they're all his responsibility anyway.

What? What about the guy who appointed him? Gee, I dunno, who was that?

So I decided to just toss the problem completely aside.