#tensura oc | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

myths-of-fantasy · 4 months ago

Text

Year of the Rabbit - Ch7 Jura Forest Alliance

When a woman dies and becomes a warrior bunny, only shenanigans can ensue. Or, that time Rimaru got a rabbit bodyguard that immediately declared war on a demon lord.

Chapter Directory | Previous | Next Chapter | Ao3 Link

| | | |

All things considered, that Gabil had managed to hold his own surprisingly well, Rimuru noted from the sky watching as Gobta jumped in, preventing the lizardman from being killed on the spot. The lizardman was as crafty and clever as he was boastful and stupid. And brave he supposes, he did defend the goblins rather than leaving them to die. Admittedly, he’d kind of assumed the cocky bastard was all talk and no action - especially after he’d gotten defeated by Gobta. Watching this though… was Gobta actually just powerful?

Gabil had dodged the snapping tendrils extending from the orc’s shoulders with strain but he’d done it, despite the strength Rimuru could feel radiating from the general. And still, Gobta had taken him down with one kick to the head.

Does this mean Gobta has talent? he blinked in confusion. Ugh, the idea rattled him. Best not to think about it too hard.

Especially with Ranga evolving to a Tempest Star Wolf and promptly demonstrating his new unique skill.

“[Great Sage] what is this?!” he shrieked, dodging quickly from the path of the series of massive twisters that descended from the sky, crackling with electricity and began frying and ripping the orcs below to shreds.

[Answer: this is the unique skill [Death Storm] of the individual Ranga.]

Death storm is right, holy crap!

Was he able to use that ability too given he’d [Mimicked] the dire wolf and had actually taken the form of the Tempest Star Wolf first? It was something to test - far, far away from his little village.

Where is he, he slime thought furiously, scanning the hoard of orcs. The reason he hadn’t joined in yet (beyond fulfilling his side of the oath taken between himself and the kijin), was that he only intended to fight the orc lord, as he promised Treyni. And yet, for such a powerful and unique monster, he’d yet to catch sight of the threat to their livelihoods.

The number of orcs was shrinking rapidly under the liberal fire and violence exhibited by the kijin, at least simplifying the numbers he had to pick through.

<Rimuru, I found him.>

Hm?

He was interrupted before he could ask with an explosion away from where the kijin were wreaking havoc erupted making him whip around. It only took him a few seconds to be hovering over the place he’d left Ranga and the lizardmen again, bringing him the slight of an odd majin in a long, flowing coat wearing a plague-doctor mask standing with visible frustration just a little ways away front the startled defenders, Black Bunny standing in-between them wild Wildfire raised defensively.

The rabbit lowered the sword with narrowed eyes.

“I was wondering when you’d come out,” Black Bunny said, her tone completely void of emotion. She was pure business mode from what he could tell, watching Wildfire’s blade light up a blazing orange of menace. She adjusted her grip, pointing the glinting tip in the majin’s direction, “Spying from the bushes… that’s no way for a majin to behave, hm?”

The majin stamped his foot like a petulant child, “Who the hell do you think you are?! Ruining my plans?!”

“Your plans,” she scoffed, not lowering her weapon.

“That- That majin… that's Lord Gelmond,” Gabil said, visibly perking up with relief at the sight of the demon who named him. He started to move towards him and Rimuru abruptly felt really bad for him - he was an idiot sure, but being someone's Namer was a great honor. That was going to be a rough betrayal to recover from.

He stumbled to a stop just as quickly as he’d started moving, the flaming blade of Wildfire held out as a physical barrier.

“That demon is not your ally Ser Envoy,” and Rimuru was surprised by how gentle her voice was. She didn't turn her head to look at him, still fixated on her energy just in case he tried a sneak attack but the rabbit was still trying to break it to him gently. “I haven't fully unraveled his plan, but I know enough to be aware he did not grant you your name in good faith. “

“I- wha,” Gabil blinked.

The masked individual turned angrily, waving his hand at the massive hulking figure that Black Bunny had likely been calling him to come address. Towering over all of the other orcs with arms as thick and burly as their heads, a large and ornate helmet with a massive jewel directly in the center of it matching the thick armor covering his upper body.

The Orc Lord.

“A demon lord who would’ve done my bidding was just about to be born an now you’ve ruined everything! I’m not supposed to interfere but the at this rate, he’ll be furious with me!”

A demon lord. That title was being used more and more often lately.

“Ah, so that was your plan then,” Black Bunny deciphered immediately. When he’d sat down and talked to her once, she had explained that she’d been in this world for a full two-years before they’d even caught word that Rimuru existed. [Great Sage] had immediately puzzled out for them that Black Bunny had thus, been reincarnated three years before Rimuru had died. And it was in that time that she had amassed a lot of knowledge about this world (Central, he remembers she’d called it), enough knowledge to successfully fool him and anyone else not looking too hard into thinking she was native. And that thirst for knowledge and determination to understand was benefitting him more and more every day. “Go around granting a few monsters names, then letting your orc lord devour them to gain their strength. I suspect you even named this orc lord to give you even further influence over him - you’re sick.”

“What?!” Gabil said, shocked as his own warriors mumbled their dissent and disbelief as the revelation. He moved around Black Bunny’s sword and tried to walk towards the demon lord again, “But- But Lord Gelmond, it was you who granted me my name - aren’t you here to save-”

He was interrupted by the enraged, petty majin launching a powerful circle of flame towards them.

“Lord Gabil!”

“We’ll protect you!”

“Shit!”

Black Bunny sprung forward. Immediately becoming airborne in the face of the the attack. Wildfire blazed to uproarious life in her paws, a powerful aggressive gale kicking up around her blade.

“[Flame Drill]!” she roared, the tip of her sword piercing the attack and sending up a massive cloud of smoke.

“You little rat! Such a lowly and pathetic monster like yourself daring to stand against me?!” Gelmund raged, giving another immature stomp of his foot as he raised his palm again, this time forming a truly massive ball of malicious energy towards the sky. “I will show you to true power of a greater majin! I will wipe you from this blasted land! [Death-March Dance!]”

<Rimuru- >

He’d gotten so wrapped up in watching the stand-off between the two he’d almost forgotten. He flashed down as quickly as he could, sticking out his hand as he watched the purple lights become a ring of red in the sky, shooting towards the ground with all the menace of blazing storm and activated [Predator]. It only took a minute to devour, he supposed in retrospect it wasn’t all that great.

[Notice: You have acquired the skill Death-March Dance]

Thanks [Great Sage].

“...that was superior?” he said aloud instead, lowering his hand. He put on his most unimpressed expression as he re-absorbed his wings, no longer needing them in this moment. He crossed his arms as Black Bunny sprung up to perch on his shoulder again, like she’d done when they faced off against the ogres. “You can’t kill anyone with that weak sauce move. I was more afraid of Black Bunny using [Firestorm].”

“I-Impossible,” Gelmund said, stepping away.

“That was an accident,” she said, visibly embarrassed. “I didn’t think it would do all that.”

“I was scared for my life,” Gobta laughed.

<For a brief moment, I thought you had gone rouge and intended to kill us all,> Ranga joined in with the teasing.

“It was an accident!” she shrieked again, drawing a paw across her face.

“We know Black Bunny,” Rimuru soothed, patting her head lightly. She would’ve told him if she was actually upset by their remarks, so he figured she was playing along with his idea. It was nice to have someone who caught on so quickly, he mused as he side-eyed Gelmund. “It’s just that your little ‘accident’ was ten-times more intimidating than this supposed ‘greater demon.’”

“You- you stepped in for us?” Gabil said, eyes watery with shock and gratitude.

“You’re not a bad guy, Envoy Gabil,” Black Bunny said kindly. She turned her head to glare at the majin who’d been behind it all apparently, “And no one deserves to be yanked around on puppet-strings like that.”

“Speaking of,” Rimuru hummed as Gelmund launched another attack (this time, directly towards the ground creating a massive wave of smoke) as he tried to escape their wrath. He extended his palm boredly as he watched the fleeing majin, promptly activating [Sticky String] forming a thick, binding cocoon of silk that tied him to the ground. “You didn’t think we’d let you get away that easily did you?”

The majin immediately began trying to struggle free, shouting curses and insults all the while. The moment he was restrained, the kijin seemed to materialize around them, glowering furiously down at the one who had ordered the destruction of their village. “You mentioned a ‘him’ earlier. Who is him? Who is the real mind behind all of this?”

“Save me orc lord!” he practically wailed instead of answering the question, the massive demon staring down at him. “Repay your debt to me, the one who fed you, the one who named you, Geld!”

The beast shifted, raising his head slowly.

It’s responding now, Rimuru thought. He was curious - the orc lord radiated a pretty intense amount of strength, even compared to his own comrades. He was fairly sure that altogether, the kijins could defeat him but it would be a much harder fought battle than anything they’d ever experienced yet. That said… it didn’t seem very bright. In Gelmund’s fits of anger and temper tantrums, he had thrown many insults on the monster’s intelligent and self-awareness - none of which the orc seemingly understood.

[Confirmed: As the Orc Lord continue to gain different powers and abilities, his consciousness has been slowly corroding.]

Ah. Well that was tragic - if that was true, that meant Gelmund had been manipulating him the way he’d been puppeteering everyone else involved. And sadly, they would still have to kill him. He couldn’t just let him continue on with devouring the entire forest and everyone who crossed his path after all.

“...demon lord,” the orc lord voiced finally, his words slow and sluggish as if he was struggling to string them together. “Who…”

“Ugh! It’s you, you stupid tub of lard!” Gelmund snapped. “Come forth and protect your master who gave you a chance!”

Woah.

Rimuru went stiff as an utterly threatening aura seemed to engulf the battlefield, pure rage and killing intent trying to strangle him. It felt like a more powerful version of Ranga’s [Coerison], the lizardmen and goblins surrounded by them dropping frightfully to their knees. He turned his head in disbelief to the furious form of Black Bunny, eyes narrowed and her lips peeled back away from her teeth as her tiny claws sank into the fabric of his clothes.

He jumped again, looking up as the orc lord - or rather, Geld - started shuffling forward with a dangerous sway. Gelmund laughed manically as he moved forth with his raised butcher-knife as a weapon, resting the blade in his hand.

“Oh look, the mountain of lard has decided to move,” he cackled, twisting to look at Rimuru and the rest of them. “Oh you’re in for it now… you’ll regret messing with me! Get them Geld, make them rue the day they dared to interfere with my-”

Rimuru jumped as Geld cut him off with one deft swing of his weapon, the majin’s head sliced clean from his shoulders. It landed on the ground with a wet sound, leaking blood as it rolled.

[It appears that Gelmund life signatures have stopped.]

Yeah, I can see that.

Geld moved forward in complete silence, dropping to his knees and began to loudly crunch and devour the carcass.

“Back up!” Black Bunny yelled at the kijin suddenly. “Back up! Back up! Back up-!”

As her fourth warning left her mouth, a deep menacingly dark purple energy seemed to seep right from Geld’s skin, seeming to wrap around him in a more sinister version of the evolutions he’d seen of his underlings.

[Confirmed: The orc lord Geld’s magicules have drastically increased, evolution to demon lord has commenced.]

The kijin seemed suddenly more willing to take Black Bunny’s warning seriously, quickly behind them as a destructive wind of powerful began whirling furiously around Geld’s body. Just as they cleared his range, the power exploded off of him with his menacing roar of announcement.

Affirmed - Individual Geld is now commencing evolution into demon lord, The Orc Disaster

“Oh that’s not good,” Black Bunny murmured with apprehension, the others present on the field all beginning to inch nervously away from the being and the ominous smoke that was steadily leaking from his body.

[Great Sage] that wasn’t you, was it?”

Affirmed - that was [The Voice of the World].

“Rimuru!” Black Bunny cried out, dragging him back into aware at the same time that [Great Sage] proceeded to ring a warning through his mind.”Watch out for the smoke!”

“Huh?” he blinked as he reflexively leaped up, watching as everyone else thankfully followed Black Bunny’s directive without him having to warn them again. He stared in muted horror as it wafted over the various bodies still strewn untouched on battlefield, eating away at them like some kind of flesh-eating parasite. It only took a few seconds each for the smoke to devour them. “So this is his new ability… applying [Corrosion] to anything it touches…”

“Without a powerful resistance, he will continue to devour you,” Black Bunny agreed seriously, looking up at the looming enemy before them.

“Our king,” said one of the larger orcs beside the orc lord, dropping down to a knee in fealty. “And father. Hail Demon Lord, Geld.”

“Our Lord Geld,” the orcs intoned reverently, each dropping to kneel in turn.

So this… is a demon lord. I can’t believe Gelmund called himself one, the power difference is insane!

“Shion!”

“Right!”

“Huh?” said Rimuru, watching the kijin take off with her sword.

Benimaru placed a hand on his shoulder with a slight incline of his head, “My lord, let us take care of this filthy swine for you.”

“...please lay off on those remarks.”

They each turned their attention to Black Bunny who watched Shion unwaveringly, her paw still gripped tightly around Wildfire’s hilt, “Filthy swine, tub of lard, dirty pig - stop it. Take revenge for your people all you like, but stop belittling them like that.”

“My Lady…” Benimaru trailed off, seeming uncomfortable.

She peered at the red-kijin from the corner of her dark eyes, a frown fixed on her adorable face, “I let it go before because your people had been slaughtered, I can excuse venting your grief.”

She throws her paw out to the still kneeling orcs, “But all you and anyone else has ever done is talk down to them, insult them - for being orcs. Should I have called you all foolish brutes for just being ogres? They aren’t stupid. This display of loyalty… this is beyond a majin taking advantage of their leader. There is something pushing them onwards - and they will keep marching until we find out what it is.”

Rimuru allowed the silence that followed her words as Shion was furiously repelled, her attacks taken up instead by Hakugou making an attempt to completely sheer his head from his shoulders once more. The orc lord revealed a pretty horrifically intense healing ability though, thick lime green chords of energy reaching out and beginning to reseal his head upon his shoulder. At his declaration that he was still starving, one of the orcs immediately and willing knelt before him, offering up his body and life to serve his king.

She’s right, Rimuru thought to himself grimly watching as Ranga stepped up, howling as he released lightning down upon the orc lord in vain, as the being merely shook it off with a determined roar only matched by his followers. These orcs… whatever their reason for wanting to devour the Jura Forest, they all believed in it as deeply and truly as their leader.

“Ranga… rest in my shadow,” Rimuru commanded gently.

<I’m sorry,> the wolf murmured.

“There’s nothing to apologize for,” the slime reassured, turning his attention to the beast before them.

“It’s my turn,” Black Bunny voiced, hopping down to stand beside him.

“Wait-”

“We can do this together,” she told him firmly even as a gentle golden glow illuminated around her fur.

[Great Sage]-

[Acknowledgment - the individual Black Bunny appears to be powered up by a skill acting upon her oath to save the lizardmen.]

So that’s why she glowed but didn’t evolve, he realized watching the tiny rabbit go sprinting towards the behemoth like she was David.

She sprung up electricity crackling across her little body as she raised Wildfire.

“[Thunderbolt]!” she bellowed, impaling the creature’s head with her sword, and a massive column of blue electricity rivaling (or even, beating out) Ranga’s snapped through the air harshly enough that he felt his hair raise from the latent static crackling through the air between them.

The orc lord released a startled cry as it went crashing to the ground as if it had been sucker punched by a giant right in the solar plexus.

“My Lord!” the orcs cried out in despair.

What was…

“That was Black Bunny?” Gobta blurted out, sounding utterly stunned. “But-but-”

“I know…” Rimuru agreed faintly, taking a half-step back as he watched the tiny black figure fall towards the ground. She landed on her paws, doing an additional backflip to expend the inertia of her contact but seemed otherwise unphased.

“...I am so glad Shuna stopped me from making such a big mistake those weeks ago,” Benimaru mumbled to himself, now aware of just how close he’d come to being murdered.

Has she always been this powerful? Rimuru blinked in amazement. How was she hiding her aura so well though? Without a mask like Shizue's… wait a minute, [Plush]! Her unique skill.

<We have a problem,> Black Bunny’s thought communication echoed through his head while he reeled from the revelation of the moment. <He’s got [Flame Resistance] and some form of [Electricity Resistance] I think.>

Rimuru shook his head, pushing aside his disbelief and panic - this wasn’t the time to be so distressed by that. It was time to gt his head in the game.

<I’m coming in.>

Alright [Great Sage], let’s see what you can do!

| | | |

The aftermath of the ‘war’ with the orcs was almost more difficult than the actual battle itself.

It took him a brief moment after everything to well and truly grasp what he’d seen of Geld’s memories… Black Bunny had been right again. There had been more than it seemed to the orc’s march on the Jura Forest. An entire species starving to death, infants dying mere days after birth because their mothers were so hungry they couldn’t produce any milk for them. An entire species, forced to resort to cannibalism, the young eating the old just so they’d have enough to grow stronger, to reach a state of maturity. An entire species on the cusp of being wiped out and yet, not a whisper on the wind of it.

He wanted to really sit down with his head in his hands to think it through, to really consider that the orc people as whole could’ve vanished from the world and no one would’ve known. And many wouldn’t have even cared.

“Filthy swine, tub of lard, dirty pig - stop it. Take revenge for your people all you like, but stop belittling them like that.”

I want to build a land of peace, where everyone can get along. I’ll pay more attention to how everyone talks about some species… I’ll be more attentive.

The dryad, Treyni had appeared on the tail-end of the battle ready to organize the beginnings of the clean up. She called for a meeting of all the species there, requesting each of them choose representatives to attend for the discussion of the meeting. The lizardmen had elected their chieftain and his daughter, Benimaru and the oni he’d brought to the battle were the representatives of the kijin with a few of the miscellaneous goblins gathered by Gabil to stand in as the goblins’ representatives. Black Bunny had joined the meeting too, stating her presence as the voice of the Field Warren that held a vested interest in the Jura Forest alongside a few of the released Killer Rabbits that had begun to find their place within the village as hunters.

Rimuru himself had gotten drafted into being the chairman of the meeting.

From there, he’d been the one forced to start the meeting awkwardly but steadfastly revealing all that he had learned from Geld’s memories that led up to his awful luck in encountering Gelmund and the subsequent slaughter of the ogre village and his eventual attack on the lizardmen.

“I… see…” the lizardman chief trailed off, seeming to the be considering his work. “A horrible famine slowly wiping out their people… and that manipulative Gelmund.”

“If you want to make them pay for what they’ve done, you’ll have to find a way that doesn’t involve money,” Black Bunny pointed out. “Quite frankly, everyone around here has always treated orcs poorly. Even before the famine, they had no money - no one sells to orcs.”

Rimuru winced with the rest of the room, letting her words sink in for others as they had for him.

“Luckily we don’t have to use only monetary compensation,” he took over when everyone seemed suitably chastised even though she wasn’t scolding. He straightened up, narrowing his eyes in an attempt to look unflappable. “When I consumed the orc disaster, I agreed to take on his sins - and all the sins that his people bore in his name. So if you have any complaints, then I will hear them gladly.”

Survival of the Fittest rules this land and all of the monsters within it, regardless of if it was fair or kind to those who were weaker. From the moment any monster decides to fight, they accept that a potential outcome of that encounter is death. All of them. So…

“And if you wish to take your anger, I will be more than okay to fight you.”

As expected, the room remained quiet for a long moment as the demons looked among each other.

“...Our pride as warriors is not more important than our survival,” the lizardman chief decided. “It was Lord Rimuru that won this war and so, we have no objections to your decisions.”

Phew!

Rimuru hadn’t been completely certain that move would work - he’d learned from his experience with the Dire Wolves to be a lot more careful with the phrasing of his words to avoid unintentionally giving them a ‘third choice.’ If the lizardman chief had been a more confrontational person, it would’ve gone much, much worse. He was sure he had the strength to defeat him if he needed to of course, but after everything… sue him for wanting a few days of peace.

“Forgive me Lord Rimuru, but I now have a question,” the lizardman chief continued, pulling his attention back. “If you do not intent to punish the orcs for their sins, do you then intend to welcome the survivors into the Jura Forest?”

“...” although the fighting had greatly decreased the number of orcs they were taking in, 15,000 was still a big number. Small in the scheme of talking about an entire species but for their little forest? He sighed - well, all that was left was a big gambit.

“Why don’t we form an alliance among all the species of the Jura Forest?” he suggested, causing soft murmuring from everyone in the meeting. “If we did that, I would like to spread the orcs out evenly among us.”

“I see,” Black Bunny said, immediately catching on again. “Payment in the form of manual labor. They can fix the places they destroyed and in return, they have food to eat and a place to live.”

“Yep,” Rimuru chirped. “We can leave the technical portion of the building to our various architects but the orcs could supply the manpower needed to make those architects’ plans into reality.”

He wished he could smile in this body, making due with offering a kindly voice to the orcs, “And any of the skills you pick up can be transferred over into building your own village together, rather than apart.”

“I think they could benefit from having perhaps a capital city,” Black Bunny tapped her chin thoughtfully, “I would like a bit of time to perhaps draw up some papers - a general guideline that everyone has to follow about working the orcs. Just because they’re paying back a species-wide debt doesn’t mean they should be treated poorly but otherwise, I - and thus the Field Warren bordering the Jura Forest - have no objections.”

“I’d like to build a country together, where all of us can live in peace and harmony.”

“And- and we could be a part of that?” the lead orc asked tentatively.

“I’ll work you hard, there will be no slacking allowed,” Rimuru said sternly. “But if you do, there is no reason for you to be excluded.”

The orcs all fell to their knees, seemingly overcome with emotion.

“O-of course,” choked out the lead orc. “No objections.”

“No objections,” the lizardman chief voiced as well, dropping to take a knee before him. His people followed suit, bowing their heads to Rimuru. “We would be honored to cooperate in such an ambitious goal.”

Is this another monster custom I don’t know about, Rimuru wondered, promptly tugging on the Heartlink with Black Bunny for answers.

Oh.

He did his best to bow back in his gelatinous form as Shion placed him on the chairman’s bench, joining the rest of the kijin in bowing before him. The only monster who didn’t was Black Bunny, who merely stood up from her position to his right, drawing her arm across her chest and forming a fist with her mitted white paw - not an expression of deference, but certainly a declaration of loyalty all the same.

Good, I wouldn’t know how to handle Black Bunny bowing to me as well.

“Then it is decided,” Treyni - who had remained silent for the entire meeting - voiced finally. “As the manager and protector of this forest, I Treyni now hereby pledge to recognize the authority of one Rimuru Tempest as the new Lord and Master of the Great Jura Forest - and it is under his name that the Great Jura Alliance has been formed.”

Why does it sound so much more serious when she says it?!

“I- um. Please take good care of me I think,” he stammered out.

“Yes sir!” they all cried in agreement and that was how Rimuru took over and became the leader of the Great Jura Forest.

| | | |

From there, they took a break while Black Bunny produced paper from her inventory and began furiously scribbling terms and conditions for the employment of the orcs under the rule of the other species. She had begun teaching him the written language of Central used in their area but most of it was still completely incomprehensible to him - from Kaijin’s reaction though, the attention she had to detail would be enough to make a lawyer proud. Still kind and non-judgemental of his lack of literacy, she’d politely read her terms aloud to him and allowed [Great Sage] to process them. His skill hadn’t heard anything wrong with her terms and so, Rimuru gave her the greenlight to begin sharing the terms with the other representatives.

With the initial paperwork sorted, he moved onto the most daunting task: naming all 15,000 orcs.

You see, under the effects of [Starving One], the orcs had all gained a power boost that was sustaining them despite their severe malnourishment. With the death of the orc disaster, the effects were slowly but steadily wearing off. Although Black Bunny’s efforts to formulate a community farm were slowly starting to bear fruit, there still wasn’t enough to outright feed all 15,000 orcs and all of the usual forest inhabitants without devastating all of her efforts from over-consumption. And although Treyni and the dryads offered to assist with creating rations, the weakest of the bunch would likely die off almost immediately after the effects ended even with steady food (Black Bunny called it ‘refeeding syndrome.’)

The prevent them from dying off one by one while they’re waiting for food to come in, he would have to distribute his magical essence among them. And he didn’t know any other method to do that than naming them.

Initially, he was just going to name them all basic number - ‘Mountain, 633M’ and ‘Field, 635F’ for example because there was just so many but Black Bunny had come for his throat when he proposed the plan. She scribbled up a list of names that she remembered had basic meanings like ‘first born,’ ‘twin’ or just talked about hair-color. She figured he could keep using the landscapes as something similar to clan names, ‘Mountain,’ ‘Westriver’ and ‘Field’ would be differentiating enough but he could just keep cycling through.

Lake Anane (fourth born) even taken to following her around after his initial naming, more than a little awed by the powerful bunny.

Rimuru took a bit of a breath and readied himself to name the last batch of orcs - 2,000 of them. Just as he was beginning to speak, the main orc - the one who had acted as the previous lord Geld’s retainer and watcher spoke up.

“My Lord, we have a request,” he began hesitantly, waiting until he received an approving nod before continuing. “We are the last members of the orc-race’s elites - we are warriors and defenders. I and the rest of us agree that we would like to devote our strength to serve you as we served our Lord Geld.”

<That’s a good offer,> Black Bunny communicated immediately. <We’re still getting trickle-in members from across the forest as our reputation expands. With the addition of the elite corps, we could better defend our territory and expand the city.>

“I accept your offer,” Rimuru voiced aloud in acknowledgement. He adjusted the direction of his names - rather than grant them a landmark if they were going to stay in their town, he hadn’t used any default colors yet. “Alright, let’s wrap this up - Yellow Kenzo. Yellow Kenji. Yellow-”

Two thousand felt lot a lot of people when you alone were responsible for naming each and every one of them, even with Black Bunny helpfully informing him when to tag ‘Jr’ or a minor sound modification to keep things straight. He dredged his way through the names, Black Bunny kindly offering him little bits of fruit from her hyperspace to help him push through before finally coming to the least of the orcs.

The aid, he mused. He was the most recurring face I saw from Geld’s memories - he even seemed to be considered a son to him. The power he radiates… it’s comparable to that of the orc lord.

“I would like you to inherit your former leader’s will,” Rimuru decided aloud. This high orc had kept the rest of his people together and alive while Geld ventured off in search of safe lands, cared for him as his mind degraded in his sacrifice to his people. Though he had defeated Geld and taken command of the orcs, they already had a perfect successor for leadership. “The great orc disaster who always thought of his people, even as he suffered, even as he died. His name was Geld and now, so is yours.”

The newly named Geld dropped to a knee, bowing low, “...I will accept that name with utmost gratitude and I will carry his will with honor.”

Phew! Rimuru thought, even as cries of shock erupted from the named orcs while Black Bunny scooped him up. Glad that’s over. Rest easy now Geld, your people are in good hands.

| | | |

As punishment for the coup he enacted and the unlawful imprisonment of his father and sister, Gabil had been exiled from the lizardman tribe and sent away, followed only by his three most loyal followers. When they were discussing where to go, during his break from naming orcs, Rimuru was surprised to watch Black Bunny approach him. She asked if he was alright and what his plans for the future were - when he admitted that he had none, she had promptly asked if he wouldn’t mind sticking around.

Rimuru had been a little confused but didn’t object to her offer and so, the former envoy had taken the offer eagerly and then offered something he couldn’t possibly refuse.

“...would you mind if I got rid of that pesky reminder?” she asked.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Gabil inquired.

“That name Gelmund gave you,” she explained, making all of the lizardmen jolt with shock. “I can re-name you something else, remove those last ties you have to that manipulative bastard. Oh, and your friends too of course - loyalty like that should be rewarded.”

Huh, that was good information to know - he could overwrite an already named monster's Name to provide them additional power or strength. She had barely finished her sentence when Gabil was eagerly agreeing to her offer.

And so, Gabil became Gabiru.

“Your past still happened after all,” Black Bunny said. “And although you’ll be forging a new path forward, there’s much to be gained from observing your past.”

His friends had been unnamed, so Black Bunny chose a few names that she was more familiar with. In honor of his efforts to defend Gabiru, being the first to jump in front of him when he didn’t know that Black Bunny would step in, willing to sacrifice his life for him, one lizardman was named Alexander. The happiest and most carefree member of Gabiru’s group was subsequently named Acacius while the final, remaining member became Galen. He tuned out a little as he watched her run seemingly magnanimously through the large group of lizardman that had originally accompanied Gabiru - all with those distinct, more western sounding names.

He was less surprised than she was to see the gentle but sharp light of evolution coat the lizardmen, stretching them a bit taller and granting them deeper, richer-scale colors with Gabiru in particular turning a lustrous purple. Gabiru had been incredibly pleased to spread his newly acquired wings and even more delighted that he could blend them back into his back. With their names chosen, Black Bunny led the newly created ‘dragonewts’ to the Sealed Cave and had them begin harvesting the Hipokute grass to replenish their medicinal stores.

“I want to experiment with Hipokute extract for uses other than healing,” she informed the serious faced group. “The Sealed Cave is dark but the wind that cycles through is relatively warm so hopefully though it will be a bit of an adjustment, you can come to see it as another home. That place is Lord Rimuru and I’s training grounds so you’ll be granted plenty of opportunity to grow stronger.”

“Yes ma’am!” Gabiru had declared and marched off.

“Feel free to collect other plants as well!” Black Bunny called after them. “And make yourselves comfortable!”

On the other side of things, Gabiru's sister alongside a handful of lizardmen made clear their intentions to follow Souei after his display of flawless powerful when he rescued them. With the lizardman chief (now called 'Abil') granted a name, he had more than enough power and strength to rule over his people for much longer. Which of course, freed up a few elites to begin pursing their own dreams and ambitions.

Rimuru happily accepted their offer, assigning them beneath Sousei in the stealth and intelligence unit.

In the next three ensuing months, a tentative peace had been established in the town. With the help of the orcs (who evolved into outright high orcs upon being named), the dreams and ideals of Kaijin and the other dwarves unfolded rapidly. The people who had been on the verge of extinction from the famine had taken to their new duties furiously, learning steadily from their dwarven instructors. The newly appointed orc king, Geld even seemed to be overworking himself, often having to have Black Bunny step in and remind him of his contract and how ‘dead workers don’t build houses.’

Rimuru resolved to invite the man to a bar when it was constructed.

Black Bunny set herself back to training, having been granted a set of enchanted footwraps that increased her physical strength and healing factor on her legs. Witnessing her usage of [Lightning Foot] with her new equipment had been a bit terrifying, the tiny bunny successfully using it to kick down a massive tree - by kicking through it, like she was using an axe, not her toes. She was a lot more busy than she used to be though, now managing her sect of dragonewts alongside the loosed killer rabbits that had requested that she open a courier’s post within their rapidly developing town.

She dutifully ran around their city with a paper and a brush, taking inventory of their food stores, the money slowly accumulating from the monsters that elected to hand it over, building a census of everyone around. It made his head spin to see how easily she stepped into the role of a bureaucrat.

“My step-mother hated dealing with finances and the like back on Earth,” she’d explained when he asked, watching her manually bind and label the various sets of information. “I paid taxes, managed the household budget and did my best to wrap my head around investments until I moved out. I even took a few financial literacy and business management classes to help. I feel like I’m a kid again - and this time, you even thank me for my efforts.”

Sometimes, he gets the feeling that she is understating what her childhood had been like but even these little snippets painted a picture that made him uncomfortable asking directly. While that happened, the last of the goblin people had finally begun showing up in waves requesting names and insisting that they work there. It kept him busy while the finishing touches on the land came together.

Plumbing for every single house like back on Earth was just unwieldy and a bit implausible at the moment but he’d worked around it by having a series of public wells being established all around the city. The toilets had to be manually flushed but they worked all the same. He’d felt slightly awkward asking Black Bunny to do even more work, but she’d agreed easily enough to adding the formation of a city-map drawn up to her list of ‘things to do.’

“We were going to need an update map anyway if we’re going to be open to tourists,” she’d remarked casually. “I am going to see about finding a way to duplicate documents though… I don’t want to rewrite all of these documents again and again like before…”

He let that comment slide and moved swiftly on.

If I don’t think about it, it can’t hurt me.

He'd just begun to close his eyes and enjoy the peaceful energy in the air, a [Thought Communication] echoed loudly through his mind.

<Rimuru-sama, there's a severe emergency.>

"Shion," he voiced aloud, drawing attention from the purple themed kijin. "Order Rigurd to begin the process of evacuation."

"Yes!"

He hurried off immediately, knowing the emotions of concern he was giving off would alert Black Bunny to begin tracking him down. He bounced as fast as his little slime body could manage, not wanting to take his human form and draw any additional attention from the army soaring above them. He was intercepted only mid-way to the location Souei projected into his head, Black Bunny wordlessly scooping him up into her paws and began bounding towards the location at his direction.

"There!" Rimuru called out, tilting his body to look up toward the sky. He was startled to see what appeared to be a fleet of winged horses, dressed and armored like they intended to enter directly into war. He wondered if those coverings had magic imbued within them as well.

Several more presences began to appear in the peripheral of his vision as the kijin all rapidly came running over to join him, all prepared to fight the army above. One presence, a non-combatant stood out to him though.

"Kaijin-san, what do you think you're doing?" he demanded. "You should be evacuating with the others!"

"I don't think he needs to Lord Rimuru," Black Bunny remarked, still watching the pegasus as they began descending towards them. "Master Kaijin may be the best dwarf for this conversation."

"Eh?"

"I heard from a general at a bar once about a special military division under direct command of the King," the dwarf said, straightening up almost completely. "The Pegasus Knights."

The muffled thump of cloven hooves landing on grassy meadow patches drew his attention to the foremost pegasus as the imposing aura of Hero King Gazel easily dismounted. Kaijin immediately dropped to a knee, bowing his head with a fist on the ground and Rimuru thinks he felt the harsh and heavy aura of the king lighten in their direction.

"It has been a while my king," Kaijin said.

"It has," responded the king. "You still kneel to me?"

"I do my king," Kajin responded swiftly. "My sentence was lenient and though I serve my Lord Rimuru now, I will not forget your kindness."

That is the loyalty of a true ruler, Rimuru noted. Now that he was wearily, the leader of the Jura Forest Alliance, he would have to keep the dwarf-king’s tactics in mind. Though Kaijin hadn’t done anything wrong in Rimuru’s eyes, the dwarven Lord had been capable of wrangling a way to give Kaijin a light-sentence despite the possible outrage of the other nobles.

"It has been a while since I have seen you as well, slime."

"Oh," said Rimuru, a little surprised. "You remember me?

“I would never be foolish enough to forget such a powerful slime,” the king said. “That is why I am here - I came not as the king of Dwargon, but as an individual.”

Rimuru blinked - as an individual? A sense of wariness crossed him - why would the Hero King come to speak to him on a personal level? His eyes slid over to the kijin, watching them with wary expressions themselves. They were all tense, ready to spring into action at the slightest provocation - that wasn’t good, he’d learned rather quickly that even a perceived insult to himself would send them into a furious rage. It was a good thing Gazel had phrased his remark in the way he did. Well, he supposed this wasn’t a trial so he couldn’t be penalized for speaking for himself instead of letting Black Bunny speak for him.

He wiggled in her arms, doing his best to convey the intent of wanting to be put down and was obligingly, allowed to spring from her arms. He quickly transformed, taking on his human form and touching his feet lightly to the ground. He allowed Shizue’s mask to hang lightly from his head, the strange magic that kept it attached in battle allowing it remain perched delicately in view.

“Then it would be only polite to speak to you in my new form,” he said, extending a hand to the king. “I am the new master of the Great Jura Forest and leader of the Great Jura Forest Alliance.”

One of the soldiers behind him went to grab his sword, only to be stopped by the Hero King accepting his hand and gave him a firm shake. Rimuru did his best not to wince - the combination of thick gauntlets with the Hero King’s large hand made for a slightly painful grip.

“If you have a human form, then words are unneeded,” the larger man noted, his gaze sharpening with something Rimuru couldn’t decipher. “One strike will be enough. You have taken good care of Kaijin and Black Bunny’s continued presence at your side is indicative of your integrity as a person. Draw your sword.”

“Huh?” Rimuru said, taking a slight step back in disbelief. The looming presence of the kijin increased dramatically, bearing down on them with a sense of weight upon their shoulders.

Black Bunny for her part was the only one who didn’t seem shocked or even offended. Much to Rimuru’s surprise, she gave a little giggle and shook her head with amusement, “Swordsmen. Can you at least move this outside of the village? Master Kaijin and the others might react badly if he ruined the buildings again.”

Before Rimuru could fully process what was happening here, the wind and grass stirred at the ground before them. A moment later, Treyni appeared in front of them, a look of slight annoyance clear in her features.

“I will not tolerate any arrogance towards our master of the forest,” she said seriously.

“Treyni-san,” he greeted brightly, ignoring the surprised murmuring of Gazel’s calvary. The dryad offered a kindly smile towards him - no one had seen her since the meeting when the Jura Forest Alliance had been formed. Even the deliveries of food to supplement them had arrived with the assistance of the dryad’s creatures, ferrying them into the village for storage purposes. It was nice to see her again and confirm that she was well.

“Ahahah!” Rimuru jumped in surprise from the surprisingly hearty laughter from Gazel, shaking his head in satisfaction before lowing his gloved hand. “If the manager of the forest says so, then I must apologize for any rudeness I’ve conveyed. However, I’d still like to confirm for myself - draw your sword.”

“If you continue to spout insults-” Treyni began bristling.

“Hey!” Black Bunny interjected sharply, her tone a lot harsher than he was used to. Her dark eyes were narrowed at the manager of the forest as she bounded in between Treyni and Gazel. “He has every right to test Lord Rimuru, who is founding a city right next door to him. It is what any good king would do.”

“Thank you for your word of confidence Black Bunny,” Gazel noted, tilting his head to her lightly.

"You are a good man, Hero-King Gazel and I pride myself on maintaining an honorable stance and avoiding hypocrisy," she levies the kijin and Treyni with a sharp look that made Rimuru feel like she was two seconds from sending them to stand in the corner. "I will not allow my comrades to compromise those morals for something as silly and small as personal pride and ego."

"...I apologize for my own rudeness," Treyni said, the dryad appearing suitably chastised.

"You all need to get better at handling diverse personalities and cultures," The rabbit scolded. "You could've provoked a feeling of genuine distaste from the Hero-King with your behavior that seems to insist that a lack of deference to Rimuru is a form of disrespect."

He wonders if her decision to use his name, rather than the title she called him aloud was intentional on her behalf.

He cleared his throat, relieved for a brief moment that she couldn’t read minds and quickly drew his own sword. Best to take any possible negative energy away from himself and Gazel.

“I accept your offer of a spar,” Rimuru said, relaxing a little bit when the king didn’t deny his declaration that this would be a spar. That… that made him feel a lot better about all of this. Despite how highly the kijin and the goblins thought of him, he wasn’t overconfident. He remembered the presence Gazel had back in Dwargon (some of it even lingered with him now) and he knew, as he was now, he didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of defeating him in a true fight.

But a spar?

A spar he could handle.

“Very well then,” Treyni coughed, drawing the attention back to herself once more. “Then I will serve as the judge.”

Though Gazel didn’t smirk or even grin, Rimuru could practically feel his satisfaction with the situation.

“Begin!”

#projects by ankh #year of the rabbit #tensura fanfic #year of the rabbit chapters #tensura #tensei shitara slime datta ken #tensura oc

2 notes · View notes

myths-of-fantasy · 2 months ago

Text

Year of the Rabbit - Ch8 Demon Lord Milim

When a woman dies and becomes a warrior bunny, only shenanigans can ensue. Or, that time Rimaru got a rabbit bodyguard that immediately declared war on a demon lord.

Chapter Directory | Previous | Next Chapter | Ao3 Link

| | | |

With Gazel’s hand now resting heavily on his shoulder, Rimuru made a mental note to remember that Black Bunny’s instinct for people is always better than his own. The spar had been a short, quick bought and he’d gotten the feeling that the dwarven king hadn’t been taking the match too seriously. It had felt like a cross between a test and a lesson truthfully, with the swordsman not making many movements to begin with, merely parrying anything the slime had launched at him. He’d then been blindsided by the revelation that heavy, oppressive aura that followed Gazel around was more than just for show - it turned out [Hero’s Haki] was a very real extra skill, and one that could absolutely ruin him if he wasn’t careful. Though he’d been frustrated with the resultant taunting he’d received from Gazel while he struggled to break it, he was pretty grateful afterwards when he’d realized it was a lesson.

Imagine if I came across an active Hero without knowing about [Hero’s Haki], he thought to himself with a shudder. The idea that Shizue could’ve been carrying around that oppressive weight once upon a time, maybe even had it when she died but simply hadn’t used it made his insides flip with nervousness.

After his stroke of luck in parrying Gazel’s blow, he’d happily conceded to the spar with the conclusion that Rimuru was of good character.

“It’s a swordsman thing,” Black Bunny had said when he tried to probe her about her. “Something about the reverberation of two weapons clashing sends all the masters into psycho-analysis mode. I haven’t cracked the code to it yet.”

“Well let me know when you do,” Rimuru had told her, baffled.

He’d been further startled to discover that Hero King Gazel had apparently been mentored in his swordsmanship by Hakurou as well and the resulting behavior from the king. He'd immediately begun presenting himself as more of an older brother figure, warming up to him in a way that would’ve made him suspicious if his pegasus knights didn’t look equally as exasperated by his behavior, as if they were used to it. The new treatment shone a tiny spotlight on Black Bunny for a brief moment, Rimuru immediately recognizing the new behavior as the same way he handled his friend. He supposes that’s just the power of [Plush], without any form of overtly threatening aura you’re just compelled to look down on her or protect her - and it said good things about Gazel that his compulsion was to look out for her.

Better still when that compulsion worked in Rimuru’s favor.

“You’re really willing to recognize our little group of monsters as its own country?” he probed, mentally reeling at the offer that he was just granted. He’d well and truly expected to have to wait a few years of reputation building, repeated demonstrations of them being good monsters and maybe having to come to someone’s aid before they were recognized as their own nation. He;d even seriously considered asking Black Bunny to draft a proposal for The Warren (the closest thing this world currently had to a monster nation at the moment to support them to the faces of the humans and demihumans who might cast scrutiny upon then.

And yet.

“This city overflows with natural resources and technologies that haven’t been seen anywhere else,” the king rumbled, nursing his considerable amount of alcohol still. It was amazing that he was still coherent. “In just a few years, it will be the heart of a trade network. I am speaking to you no longer as a fellow student of Master Hakurou, but as the King of Dwargon so this is an entirely selfish request.”

He sat back in his seat as he continued, “A city of monsters as large as yours… this deal would benefit us both. I only name two terms - first, in the case of a severe threat then both nations will send assistance to confront it. And second, we will share technological advances with each other.”

<Black Bunny?> he prompted immediately.

<It’s a very simple agreement> replied the rabbit, continuing to silently consume her meal and allowing the two of them to speak unimpeded. <Both of which make sense. We and Dwargon are very close together - if something is serious enough to warrant action from either of us, it’s a threat to the other. >

She had a good point - and if Dwargon had been their allies during the chaos of the orc disaster, Rimuru might’ve been able to send his people to evacuate into the massive city on the off-chance that they’d lost the fight.

“You don’t have to decide right away,” Gazel noted. “Take a some time and think it over with your people.”

Rimuru was shaking his head though, “There’s no need - I accept your offer.”

The king seemed to pause for a brief moment before a boisterous laugh burst from him, strongly reminding Rimuru of all the depictions of vikings he’d seen in fantasy media back on earth as he clapped the transformed slime’s shoulder.

“Such firm and decisive judgment befitting of a king,” he boomed proudly. “That’s my junior, Master Hakurou only trains the best!”

Who knew the king would be such a big brother?

“So, what is the name of your nation?”

…I knew I’d forgotten something important.

“Uh-”

“We’ve been distracted with rebuilding and fortification,” Black Bunny cut in as the rest of his inner circle moved in closer. They had been mostly watching Gazel and Rimuru speak back and forth, enjoying their own drinks and answering questions when asked but primarily seemed content to let him be their face. With this new question posed however, Rimuru was pleased to see them coming closer - he doesn’t want to bear the weight of trying to name an entire nation on his own, he was still a little burnt out from naming all the orks and the few straggler goblins that arrived as well. “We’re all here now though - let’s try to get a good name for our nation. It’ll make it easier to not have to keep writing ‘the great goblin village’ in a nation where there are almost no ordinary goblins left on all of the official documents.”

“Try to come up with at least a placeholder,” Gazel murmured. “I need something to put on our documents for our Alliance as well. We can update it with a new name later if needed.”

“I vote that we call it Rimuru City!” Shion said, enthusiastically.

“What?!” he squawked.

“I agree,” said Benimaru calmly.

“Hey wait-”

“That’s two votes for Rimuru City,” Black Bunny said calmly, putting two strikes down on her page like this was a completely normal conversation. She had a good poker face, even though his link with her conveyed a hefty dose of amusement and sympathy, her whiskers weren’t so much as twitching. “Does anyone else have any votes?”

“I think we should call it Bunny City,” Sirocco said loyally.

“Me too!” Gobta claimed.

“I like Rimuru City,” Souei said.

“C-can’t we have a normal city name?” Rimuru protested. “What about ‘Jura City’ because it’s the Jura Forest!”

<A city’s name should reflect its master,> Ranga rebuked.

“In that case, what about Veldora City?” Black Bunny suggested. “To honor the first master of the forest and all that he did to protect its inhabitants before he vanished?”

…oh right, Black Bunny doesn’t know about Veldora either, he realized. He’d told his entire story to Shizue from his death, to the consumption of the storm dragon in the cavern but he doesn’t remember specifically telling Black Bunny about ‘eating’ the old storm dragon. He’d sort of brushed over that part - he’d have to set some time aside to give her the same, whole entire truth that he’d given Shizue. It would make him awfully happy too…

“I like Velodora City,” Rimuru said.

Shion crossed her arms, giving a stubborn huff, “I still like Rimuru City.”

“...Veldora isn’t a terrible alternative…” Benimaru said slowly.

“Benimaru!” shrieked Shion, betrayal on her face.

“We can always name another city after Rimuru if you’d like,” Black Bunny suggested.

“Another city?!” Rimuru gasped.

“This nation is growing rapidly already - once we formally ally ourselves with Dwargon, other monsters will come,” said Black Bunny matter-of-factly, as if it was merely a forgone conclusion. “Pretty soon, we’ll have to look into expansion and constructing a second, proper city. We can name that city, Rimuru if you’d like.”

“How about none of the cities be Rimuru City!”

The argument lasted the rest of the night, pushing well into the next morning. And somehow, despite his best efforts, when Black Bunny inked the new name onto the formal paperwork, ‘Rimuru City’ was listed under the territories of their brand-new nation of Tempest.

As the leader of the Allied Nation of Tempest, Rimuru was the one who had to sign the magically binding contract. He was relieved that Black Bunny had been so patient with teaching him to read and write so he didn’t have to embarrass himself constantly double checking with [Great Sage] to ensure he’d written his name correctly in front of everyone else. Although admittedly it wouldn’t have been too bad given the discovery that most of the monsters in his nation couldn’t read or write either - only monsters that regularly interacted with humans and demihumans in a positive (or at least neutral) manner really knew. And it hadn’t caused them any trouble before, it wasn’t like written language was necessary, it was just a useful component.

But now that they would be part of the wider, more connected world, it would be important to ensure they wouldn’t get screwed over just because they couldn’t understand a contract and didn’t have an impartial Black Bunny willing to ensure that the terms were fair for both sides.

And thus, the Allied Nation of Tempest, Capital Veldora City was carved into the very world of Central.

It didn’t take long for Black Bunny’s prediction to bear fruit either.

It seemed that the migrations that had finally slowed down during the few months of peace after the defeat of Geld the First had exploded again. The establishment of the Rabbit Courier’s Post meant that monsters that had settled into Tempest could send messages to their families and kin to join them in the new city and the alliance with Dwargon meant a few dwarves that wanted a change of scenery (alongside a few artisans looking for a less saturated market) waded in. The sheer number of visitors had quickly made the hypothetical construction of Rimuru City into a reality. Many of the monsters that had been chased off by the former Dire Wolf’s aggression had returned as well, happily settling into the no-longer-hostile lands to raise their families and return to their old homes. It was a bit sobering for Rimuru to realize just how much damage Ranga’s father had done, how many creatures had lived in the forest before the rampage of the dire wolves - he understood now why the alpha had been willing to resort to such drastic measures against his father.

Many of the returned creatures had willfully offered their services to the protection and guardianship of the reformed territory, Rimuru happily assigning them under Benimaru and Shion for dispersal.

It was quite funny, watching the few hostile monsters and mercenaries that showed up with the intent of raiding or destroying the city be beaten to a pulp mere seconds after announcing their intentions. He’d ordered that none of them were to be killed (especially none of the ones that had been publicly known) , but for their crimes to be known and their punishments be public. This way, they could introduce themselves slowly to the wider world as a merciful nation of friendly monsters who wanted to live in peace while also making it known that they weren’t exactly soft either.

“I’m not sure about this rule against harming humans entirely,” Black Bunny had said slowly as she recorded down the official laws she’d created to be posted in public areas. She’d recommended making the rules easy to access so that there could be no claims of ignorance to the laws as they slowly raised the literacy of the nation which would cut down on stipulations they had to make. “But I will not argue if you want that rule. However, if you don’t want to kill any unfavorables, you must have some way of discouraging the behavior.”

So public humiliation had become the default method of handling these incidents, with little placards announcing the crimes committed by those being forced through it.

And slowly the chaos of the new settlement had begun to simmer down, the shops in the city had been filled with artisans of all kinds creating a bustling shopping district ripe with smells from the various restaurants that tried to take advantage of the dense population. The city garden had flourished, now being tended to full-time by a team of gardeners in addition to any children who wanted to volunteer in their free time now that a few basic schools had been erected for them. Laughter and squeals filled the streets as monsters and demihumans alike swished down the streets, going from stall to stall while children played and enjoyed himself.

He should’ve known the peace wouldn’t last.

Alarm and surprise spiked through Black Bunny’s end of the link, the little mob’s [Sense Danger] skill likely triggering at the same time that Rimuru had sensed the overwhelming spell of power that abruptly began to smother them. He wiggled fiercely, springing from Shion’s hold as he bounced furiously towards the edge of the city where he could feel the presence shooting down like a menacing comet.

This presence is even greater than the Orc Disaster! He thought to himself frantically, turning to stare up at the sky at the same time that Black Bunny landed only a few feet behind him. [Magic Sense] told him her little paw was on the hilt of Wildfire, glowering nervously up at the approaching other.

“Agh,” he grunted, futilely ‘squinting’ his body as a massive cloud of wind laced with magicules exploded out from the figured that impacted against the ground. He crouched closer to the ground as the shockwave alone threatened to send him flying.

“Nice to meet you!” said an ominously friendly voice from the thick of the smoke.

Rimuru stiffened, confusion overtaking him at the sight before him. It was a girl he thinks, though he’d have to ask to be certain. She didn’t seem all that old, he’d label her as a teenager at the eldest and if you asked for his honest opinion, he’d probably aim younger. With vibrant, long ping hair held up in two cutesy pigtails while distressingly wearing barely anything of substance (though with the sheer ungodly power radiating from her, he supposed she could afford to be walking around in an open high collar cropped jacket and short-shorts), he was getting very conflicting signals from this threat(?)

“I am Demon Lord, Milim Nava!” she chirped cheerfully, setting her hands on her hips. “Since you’re the strongest in your city, I thought I’d say hi!”

…SAY WHAT?!

Mentally and numbly, he pushed back his goal of beating up Demon Lord Leon. He pushed it way, way back. This was a demon lord?! No wonder Shizue hadn’t been able to do anything about her situation, regardless of the little rune likely carved into her soul! If this was the power that a demon lord wielded so casually, Rimuru and Black Bunny had a whole lot more training to do before they could even begin to compare themselves to these… these beasts.

Suddenly, he understood the rating system a bit better.

“Nice to meet you Milim,” he voiced aloud, both to be polite and to avoid potentially offended the living grenade that was standing in front of him. “What makes you think I’m the strongest?”

“Oh! Did you mean to hide your aura from me?” the demon lord giggled, scooping him up from the ground with a childish spin. “Sorry~ My [Dragon’s Eye] can see through all your hidden energy!”

She paused abruptly, fixing her gaze curiously on Black Bunny. Rimuru could see her little white paw had dropped away from her rapier, returning the look with an intrigued expression of her own. The slime was a bit surprised to see that she’d abandoned any form of hostile energy, momentarily wondering what he’d missed.

“Your friend comes close to you though,” the demon lord remarked. “Hi! I’m Demon Lord Milim!”

“A pleasure to know your name, Great Lord Milim,” Black Bunny greeted immediately, dipping her head in a friendly response. “I have no name but most call me The Black Bunny.”

“Oh I know who you are Twelfth!” she teased earning a shocked look from rabbit and slime alike. “A unique monster like yourself will be such a great sparring partner!”

“I am humbled by your praise of me but I’m afraid I’m not nearly strong enough to entertain you Great Lord,” Black Bunny said quickly. Not that Rimuru could blame her, the very last thing he wanted was to so much as stick his tongue out at her. “I’m sure your [Dragon’s Eye] can see that - maybe when I’m a bit stronger we can try that spar.”

The pink demon lord eyed her up and down critically, likely using her skill to test her claim. After a moment, she puffed out her cheeks blowing an obviously annoyed raspberry.

“I guess you’re right,” Demon Lord Milim said in a put-upon tone. “Alright, get strong soon okay? I want my spar!”

She punctuated this demand with a firm point in the bunny’s direction, earning an obedient nod of acknowledgement to the girl.

“So is this your true form?” she asked Rimuru, refocusing on the slime clutched in her arms. “I saw white haired humanoid in the orb that Gelmund left!”

Gelmund huh? Rimuru mused, springing from the demon lord’s arms and allowing himself to shift into his human form. No point in hiding it when she’d already seen it and he intended to use it in public more given his (somewhat unwilling) status as the face of Tempest. I guess Souei did say we were being watched - who would’ve thought it was a demon lord?

“So!”

Rimuru tilted his head at her suddenly intense look.

“Did you eat the orc disaster?” she asked, a sharpness glinting in her eyes.

“...yeah, kind of,” said Rimuru cautiously. What was her goal here? Black Bunny still seemed mostly relaxed and hadn’t said anything through [Thought Communication], so hopefully that meant her [Sense Danger] skill hadn’t received anything worth mentioning. “So what brings you here today?”

“Hm?” she said, tilting her head at him. “I told you already didn’t I? You’re the strongest monster in your nation, and I wanted to come say hello.”

…THAT’S IT?!

Immediately, he tugged on his link to Black Bunny.

<According to [Sense Danger], she’s being honest,> the fluffy mob confirmed. <And from what I know, this is just how Demon Lord Milim is. Every story I’ve ever heard speaks to her being kind of… whimsical. So long as we don’t provoke her, she’ll probably leave on her own.>

…huh. It was strange and it didn’t make any sense to Rimuru but if they could avoid a fight, that would be for the best. Especially after a check in with [Great Sage] confirmed that the tiny powerhouse had more than ten times his own magical capacity - and considering his capacity was kind of insane from how everyone reacts to him, she easily outclassed everyone else in the Allied Nation. If things got bad, not even Black Bunny would be able to back him up he thinks.

“Well in that case would you like to see-” he began, only to be interrupted a sword cleaving down from the sky directly at the demon lord’s face.

“What?!” Black Bunny yelped, seeming just as surprised as he was.

The mild dust kicked up by the attack cleared, revealing Shion standing fiercely in front of him with her sword pressing against the palm of the previously calm demon lord.

“Ranga! Sirocco!” the kijin called. “Take Lord Rimuru and Black Bunny! Run! Hurry!”

“Excuse me?” Black Bunny said indignantly as the two beasts leapt from their shadows, grasping them quickly and starting to take off. “Hey! Stop!”

“What’s this?” Rimuru heard Milim say, a shiver running down his spine as the darker tone, mischief threading through her voice. “You want to play with me?~”

“Ranga wait!” he tried calling down at the dire wolf.

“Forgive me Lord Rimuru, I won’t!” the cried, seemingly to be moving as quickly as he possibly could.

<They must have - or Shion summoned the others when you left the city,> Black Bunny theorized. Her long ears were pulled flat against her head, her dark eyes narrowed but the way she was baring her teeth, Rimuru had a feeling it wasn’t to defend them against the powerful wind whipping their faces from the speed of their loyal companions.

“I said stop,” Black Bunny finally, snarled aloud. Rimuru shuddered briefly, feeling the familiar but intimidating energy of [Coercion] rolling over him as the two quadrupeds immediately scrambled to a startled halt. The tiny biped jumped down, landing with a soft ‘thump’ as she glared at the now overwhelming presence of the demon lord radiating from the scene, likely being expelled by a confident Milim for dramatic effect. “Has no one ever taught them how to read a room?”

Whatever reply Rimuru could formulate was cut off by a flash of light and an explosion that made them all flinch, the kijin coming flying and crashing into the ground at their feet. The slime glanced up, unsurprised and a little dismayed to see that Milim didn’t have a scratch on her, didn’t even seem bothered by the attacks that had been launched at her. Meanwhile, his strongest members laid strewn in front of them, barely clinging to life.

The slime sighed, grabbing a full-heal from his [Stomach] and taking a moment to crouch beside the downed swordsmen, “...here’s some recovery potion Shion, take this - you’ll feel better.”

“Lord Rimuru… what are you doing?” Benimaru coughed, adjusting his stance like he was going to have another go at Milim. “Hurry and run away-”

He was cut off by Rimuru tossing a few more potions to them, allowing each kijin to have at least one before he turned his attention back to the now riled up demon lord in front of him. He’d barely gotten to know the woman - their interaction consisted of a very short conversation after she landed, [Great Sage] informing him that she could totally kick his ass up and down the continent if she wanted and Black Bunny carefully managing to dodge a spar with the woman so he didn’t have a lot to go on with regard to soothing her. But hopefully, what little information he had gained would be enough.

“You all take a potion too,” he commanded, not turning around. “I’ll take care of the rest.”

Oh Veldora, please let this work!

| | | |

“Oh wow…”

“Shh! Don’t remind her we’re here!”

Ordinarily Rimuru would face his opponents head on - even if he had to use a subtle, sneaky way to do it. Taking into account Milim’s childlike, whimsical demeanor, he’d quickly realized that sweets - particularly, honey - would be the best way to defeat her, preventing him from trying to have any real fight with her. He’d known she would’ve defeated him without breaking a sweat so a non-violent solution (one that even [Great Sage] hadn’t anticipated he noted with a bit of pride in himself) was the most optimal solution.

But this…

The slime pointedly turned his head, ignoring the frightened, desperate looks the kijin were sending towards him and instead pretended to be completely engrossed into grooming an equally uninvolved Ranga. Rimuru had been perfectly content to let the kijin off with a mild scolding and a warning to be a bit more careful in the future regarding this little mishap - after all, he hadn’t gotten injured, the city remained standing and although the kijin had gotten a bit beaten up, none of them had died so all in all, it seemed like an unfortunate misunderstanding that everyone had learned their lessons from.

Black Bunny on the other hand…

As soon as she’d confirmed that the kijin were alright, she’d lined the three of them up - Benimaru in the front as his people’s representative while having Sousei and Shion flanking him - and promptly delivered a dressing down to end all dressing downs. Shockingly she hadn’t raised her voice once and although the words flowing from her mouth were harsh, [Great Sage] confirmed that she wasn’t using [Coercion]. So the way the three prideful monsters were now shrinking away like chided school children was a testament to the sheer presence she had without it.

No wonder she came here as a unique monster.

“Well?” she demanded snappishly of the kijin, tapping her left foot impatiently against the log she’d chosen to stand on. “Are you trying to sabotage him?”

“No Black Bunny.” Shion mumbled.

“I didn’t hear you. Were you trying to sabotage him?!”

“No Twelfth!” they choroused as one, cringing away.

“Then why the fuck did you jump in like that with no signal that he was in any form of trouble?” Black Bunny, her tone still deceptively calm in comparison to the glint of danger in her gaze implying there was a correct and an incorrect answer to the question.

“We were just trying to protect him-” Benimaru began.

“It looks to me like you intend to throw your lives into an incinerator and let this entire Alliance crash to the ground while he grieves for you,” Black Bunny growled, earning shocked looks from the three demons. Ah, that was the angle she was going for. Rimuru had to admit, with how protective they were of him, it was a good one. “Do you think he would be okay with that? If you just threw your lives away for him? For a situation that didn’t even need for anyone to die?”

“...no Twelfth,” they said, a bit more subdued.

“Did you feel the power coming from the Great Lord Milim? Did you feel how easy it could’ve been for her to have killed you all outright?”

“...yes Twelfth.”

The rabbit remained silent for a long moment - a full sixty seconds [Great Sage] supplied when he prompted - presumably to let the threat to their lives truly sink in. Rimuru couldn’t help his own shudder as he thought about the potential consequences if he hadn’t been able to calm Milim - even if she had been satisfied with only killing the three of them for directly attacking… what would he have told Hakurou Kurobe? Dragon’s wings, what would he have told Shuna if Benimaru had been killed? Her big brother that she adored so much? She’d have been devastated.

It was part of the reason he hadn’t stepped in when Black Bunny’s rage had been made clear - aside from him having learned to stay well out of the way of person protecting someone, as Black Bunny’s words washed over him, he found himself agreeing. It was unfair he’d realized, that they were putting him in the position of potentially having to apologize for their overreactions. What if they acted with way with a political appointee of some point? What if they antagonized a friend of his? The rage they’d expressed at Gabiru returned to the forefront of his mind - what if they entered a conversation with someone stronger and even more capable than the dragonewt?

Worse, what if like Black Bunny, they had some method of hiding their true strength in a way they wouldn’t be able to readily identify without a unique skill like [Dragon’s Eye] or Shuna’s [Analyst]? In fact, Benimaru had come close to allowing this very thing to happen during their first encounter with him! If Rimuru had been a crueler monster, just the ability to hide his aura could’ve gotten the entire rest of the ogre race wiped from the planet without them ever having the chance to avenge their people or evolve.

So he remained silent as they shrunk in on themselves and Black Bunny released a slight sigh.

“You have all grown too used to being the strongest monsters in the forest,” she asserted finally, drawing their gazes from Rimuru and to herself once more. “You went from ogres, the strongest things in the forest that weren’t Veldora to kijin, to the strongest things in this forest that isn’t Lord Rimuru and although you acknowledged Great Lord Milim’s power, you didn’t act like you knew her strength.”

She jumped down from the log, beginning to pace back and forth in front of them. And yeah, [Great Sage] said that it was probably [Plush] getting to him again but he couldn’t help but swallow down a grin from how adorable it was to watch her bounce back and forth with such severity in her motions. Even the angry flaring of her nostrils (manifesting as a furiously twitching nose) didn’t really lend itself to the intimidation that she’d been manifesting from her more stationary position atop the log.

“Anyone with any kind of true power can learn to hide their strength,” Black Bunny began, her voice still strong and steady but somehow lacking an ‘edge’ that had been present moments ago. “I have my own ability, Lord Rimuru has his mask and I’m sure Great Lord Milim can conceal her power if she so chose.”

“I can!” the pink haired demon lord provided happily, earning a light nod from the rabbit.

“The lesson here is that aura isn’t everything,” she said, abruptly turning on heel to look up at them. “And acting like it is without properly assessing the situation is embarrassing at the very best and dangerous and stupid on average. At the worst, it could’ve gotten you, me, Lord Rimuru and our entire city killed.”

She gives the red-haired kijin in particular a harsh expression, “As your people’s representative, it is vital that you set a good example, that you look beyond the immediate present and make sure that your orders are truly the best you can give with what you have. Shion and Sousei look to you for guidance and today, your direction could’ve ended with them both as a paste on the ground.”

Benimaru flinched, looking between his compatriots which seemed to be Black Bunny’s signal to relax, clearly recognizing that they saw the extent of their actions. The usual friendly smile crossed her face as her tone softened further into the gentle, controlled voice that they were used to.

“I acknowledge my own role in not teaching any of you to know better and today, that changes,” she said. “I will formally teach you all - especially you Benimaru - the most important traits of being a representative. Your first lesson? When you make a bad call, you apologize to Lord Rimuru - and anyone that call has affected.”

She gestured to Milim, who looked up a bit surprised from the honey she was consuming.

To his credit though, Benimaru straightened up to his full height as he approached the pink-haired demon lord before dropping down to a knee and bowing his head. His actions were mirrored by a subdued Shion and Sousei.

“Great Lord Milim, I formally apologize for the misunderstanding and the order I gave to attack you,” Benimaru recited, sounding every bit like the prince Rimuru had been told he was. “It was an error of judgment on my part.”

“I too apologize for my part in attacking you,” Shion voiced, echoed by Sousei.

“It’s no big deal,” Milim said flippantly, as if the scolding had gone mostly over her head though Rimuru could swear she’d given Black Bunny something of an approving look a few times into the telling-off. Maybe he’d just imagined it - she could have just been pleased with the treats she’d been offered. “You three are super strong, that [Hellflame] could’ve hurt one of the other demon lords! You should get stronger so we can have a real spar!”

Black Bunny chuckled, the last of her rage simmering back into the usual protective passion she felt for those under her care, offering a paw to the demon lord.

“My sincerest apologies too Great Lord Milim,” Black Bunny said. “Now as our Lord Rimuru was going to offer earlier, would you like to visit our nation? There’s plenty more sweets there.”

“There’s more honey?” she demanded, suddenly very interested in the apology.

“Honey and more,” Rimuru voiced, happy to speak now that it seemed like Black Bunny was in a more amiable mood. He made a mental note to never do anything to warrant that kind of scolding to be directed at him and happily moved in his head.

| | | |

Introducing Milim to Tempest went a lot smoother than it could’ve.

Benimaru had quickly sent a warning ahead of time to prevent any further misunderstandings about Milim’s presence and the demon lord had chipperly demonstrated her proficiency in hiding her aura, tucking it neatly away from easy sensing. As such, she was greeted with the exact same level of chipper enthusiasm and warm joy that anyone else would be shown when they entered the city. And sure, she darted off immediately, bouncing between the various stalls with the wide-eyed enthusiasm of a seven-year-old and Gabiru was knocked out cold for calling her ‘little one’ but given what she could have done, the slime wrote it off as a win.

At least it hadn’t been Gobta, Rimuru shivered.

After that brief incident, Black Bunny had ordered Gabiru to quietly call everyone he could to get a quick glimpse of the demon lord so as many monsters knew what she looked like as possible. Though she’d been kind enough to not murder him, neither Black Bunny nor Rimuru wanted to test who else could get back up from a sucker bunch from the pink-powerhouse, letting their most ‘problematic’ members know who she was right away made things easier on them all.

Even more important given that minutes after punting Gabiru, she happily announced that she would be living there with them and also that Rimuru was her best friend.

He and Black Bunny had stood there in a shaken silence.

<...I’ll make sure Gabiru stays a safe distance away from her,> Black Bunny had said solemnly, followed by [Great Sage] informing him that she was using a long-distance [Thought Communication].

Luckily (or unluckily depending on who you asked), the demon lord’s appetite was seemingly endless, so getting her away from the less delicate and tactful members of their newfound city was as simple as the offer of lunch. It was a good thing the kitchen was fully staffed and that Black Bunny had no issue with bouncing dutifully back and forth with plate after plate and bowl after bowl, offering to Milim only the finest meals Veldora City could offer. And it might be [Plush] affecting him again but he thinks the little diner-server outfit Shuna had immediately presented her only tied the whole scene together.

A tiny white paw patted down one of the ruffles that tried to flare out, moving to readjust the grip the tiny creature had on the saucer of curry, its scent so intense and fragrant the slime could feel his eyes starting to water just from being near it.

“This ‘curry’ is so good,” the demon lord gushed, handing off the old plate she had with a cheery smile.

“I’m glad you like it - our chefs have truly innovative minds,” she said, sitting down the new saucer. “Careful now Great Lord, this last batch was created using my own specially grown peppers.”

“Specially grown?” the demon lord inquired, interest piqued.

“Indeed - I have yet to discover a native pepper that I find suitable in spice,” Blac Bunny explained, reaching into her hyperspace. Rimuru shuddered when her paw returned with a somewhat shriveled looking dark red pepper, leaning away from the malicious energy he imagined it was emitting. “I have been working to grow much hotter ones - this one is the first to be up to my standards. I call it a firebrand chili - and what’s before you is firebrand curry.”

“Firebrand is right,” murmured Shion, eying the chili like it had personally wronged her. Which, Rimuru could understand. The warrior hadn’t truly understood what Black Bunny’s goal had been regarding the breeding of the peppers and had snagged one from the rabbit’s roped off section of bushes. She’d popped one into her mouth, likely expecting the same sweet, tangy flavor of the red-berries Black Bunny had begun growing for the kiddos and had instead received fire in the shape of a delicious snack. The kijin had promptly screamed, vanished for the better part of the day and returned sulkily with a newfound [Heat Resistance].

“My apologies for not better labeling the patch Ms. Shion.”

Milim reached out, curiously plucking the chili from Black Bunny’s paws and taking a curious nibble.

Rimuru would later swear that literal stars had appeared into the pink-haired demon’s eyes as she released a delighted squeal.

“That’s so tasty!” she said, putting the whole thing in her mouth, seemingly unfazed by the intense heat of the creation much to Black Bunny’s obvious surprise. “We should put it in everything! Do you have anymore?”

“...yes I do,” Black Bunny agreed slowly, reaching back into her hyperspace and withdrawing three more chilis, offering them willingly to the demon lord. “Great Lord, would you enjoy testing my creations?”

Milim paused mid-chew, glancing up.

“Testing them?”

“I will continue to breed hotter and hotter peppers and other sorts of treats,” Black Bunny explained. “But I will need a pool to test their flavors on and I’ve already been declined a few times.”

“You have?”

“We don’t wanna die,” Rimuru says plainly. Just because he has [Heat Immunity] doesn’t mean he wants to blaze his tongue off.

“And I would get some before everyone else?” Milim probed.

“I’ll be sure to always set aside a patch specifically for you,” Black Bunny vows.

“Sign me up!”

At least it’s not me, Rimuru sighed, slumping with relief in his chair.

“Hey can I put honey on these?”

Hm?

“I don’t see why not,” Black Bunny mused. “Sweet and spicy could be enjoyable.”

The demon lord didn’t need any further encouragement, happily squeezing a decent amount of her honey into her curry bowl, then swiped the firebrand pepper through it. She made pleased hums of delight, rocking side to side in place while she presumably allowed the flavor to seep into her mouth.

“Honey?” Shion inquired around her own curry, pausing with the spoon in her palm. “Is that the nectar you collected from the flowers?”

Shion’s got some sharp eyes, Rimuru mused as he produced another pouch from his [Stomach] for further inspection by the suddenly intrigued kijin,

“I thought it was a healing potion,” Benimaru mused, observing the bottle intently. “Lady Twelfth has been making potions with colored forms - I presumed it was of her making.”

Rimuru felt his surprise reflected in Black Bunny’s face at the change - while the kijin had occasionally referred to her as ‘my lady’ when they wanted to appease her or convince her of something, Ranga remained the only one in their village to refer to her as The Twelfth for a long time. Even now, ‘Twelfth’ usually only comes from the mouths of the killer rabbit couriers. The telling off must’ve instilled a bit of further respect for the tiny mob.

Black Bunny tilted her head curiously but shook her head all the same, “Honey does have some restorative properties but it’s not one of my creations. Your Lord Rimuru reminded me that we even have the ability to gather it now.”

“Honey is a sweetener, like sugar,” Rimuru explained, pouring a little on the fingers of the kijin (and an insistent Milim) for tasting purposes. He smiled at the series of pleased and surprised hums, “It can’t really be gathered in large quantities but I’ve considered mass-producing it.”

“If we can get a bee-farm set up, I would support such an idea,” Black Bunny asserted.

“Mm!” Shuna hummed, covering her mouth before turning a curious gaze on Rimuru. “Sugar is an expensive delicacy so I’ve never had any before - is it anywhere as sweet as honey is?”

“Yes though it’s rarely eaten on its own,” said Rimuru. “If we could get regular supplies of sugar it would really open up our food variety - particularly, desserts.”

“Desserts?”

Rimuru blinked at the way Shuna, Milim and Shion all surged to their feet at the same time.

“Yes,” Black Bunny took over for him. “If we could get regular supplies of sugar, I can start baking again. Or teach some others to bake.”

“You bake?” Rimuru asked curiously.

She nodded her agreement, “When I have the tools. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a good cinnamon roll.”

“I see…”

“Huh?” Rimuru followed Black Bunny’s gaze to the three women still standing, now in a circle placing their hands atop each other as if they were about to perform a cheer. “What do you-”

“Our next mission,” Shuna began, her tone as solemn as someone would be for a funeral. “Will be to acquire sugar.”

“We will search to the farthest ends of Central,” agreed Shion solemnly.

“Nothing will stand in our way!” Milim proclaimed

“Uh….”

“Leave them be,” Black Bunny chuckled, shaking her head fondly. “It can be a bonding experience. Also, I really would appreciate being able to bake again. I’d kill for a decent chocolate muffin.”

Rimuru shook his head in amusement but left them to it, enjoying the prospect of many sweets in the future.

#projects by ankh #year of the rabbit #tensura fanfic #year of the rabbit chapters #tensura #tensei shitara slime datta ken #tensura oc #oc black bunny

0 notes