That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Vol. 3

by Fuse

  “My name is Fuze. I serve as guild master for the Free Guild here in Blumund. Gobto, do you mind if I ask you a question?”

  “What’s that, sir?”

  “This Sir Rimuru, your master… Why did he want us to know about this?”

  “Ooh, the rank ’n’ file like me don’t get told those kinds of things. But he also told me to tell you this: ‘If worse comes to worst, we might need to have the humans slay the orc lord for us.’”

  “I see…”

  “That’s what he said before going out to face the orc lord. If y’ask me, I’d say the orc lord’s well ’n’ truly dead already, but so be it. I wanted to go in with Gobta, too, but Sir Rimuru commanded me personally to travel here instead.”

  Gobto must have been fairly peeved about that, if he volunteered that information without being asked. He practically grumbled the last few words out. But Fuze was too thrown by the revelation to pay his tone of voice much mind.

  Wh-what?! The slime, defeating an orc lord? Are you kidding? Wait… Is this slime treating us as insurance? Is that how far ahead he’s planned his moves? A monster? That’s ridiculous!

  Fuze tried to process the news though his extreme confusion.

  Kabal’s group watched on blithely, apparently willing to let Fuze decide whatever he wanted. Fuze didn’t appreciate that much, but now was no time to complain. He calmed his troubled mind.

  “You ask me, though,” Kabal volunteered, “that orc lord’s gonna be no match for Rimuru.”

  “Oh, you said it! He took out Ifrit all by himself. If you let an orc lord mature, it can be pretty bad news, but freshly born? Nah. It’s just not enough of a threat for him!”

  “Not that we’ve got much to do with it, though…”

  Hearing the trio’s uninvited commentary made Fuze feel like he was about to have a coronary. He summoned up all his spirit, trying his hardest to keep calm as he sized up the situation.

  Between them and Gobto, nobody in the room seemed to doubt Rimuru’s ultimate victory. That was…well, whatever. The problem was, what was Rimuru thinking at the moment?

  His distinctly unmonsterlike activities stood out in Fuze’s mind. Building a town, leading great crowds of monsters, and yet apparently seeking a cooperative relationship with mankind.

  And this latest development seemed to confirm all that. If he was defeated or thought he couldn’t win, Rimuru probably intended to retreat. If the humans weren’t aware of this before that point, they’d be so unprepared that they’d have no chance against the orc lord’s armies—that was the slime’s prediction.

  So if he was telling us beforehand to prevent that…

  Was Rimuru the slime some kind of special creature? He seemed so to Fuze.

  “All right. Thank you for relaying the message. We’ll take action here if it comes to it, so could I ask him for his help at that time if need be?”

  “Understood, sir. I’ll be off, then.”

  Before anyone could stop him, Gobto was off his seat and out of the room—a dignified, and very unmonsterlike exit. “We gotta go, too,” Kabal said as he herded his gang out behind him.

  “What a crazy scene this is turning into,” Fuze whispered as he watched them leave.

  I’m not sure I can deal with this guy by myself. Better talk to my friend first…

  The image of his good friend, the Baron of Veryard, popped into his mind. This was now a national issue, and Fuze was prepared to tackle it. The expedition he was picturing in his mind would soon be greatly expanded, to the point where it would become a three-month investigation.

  Three months later, he had his reports. This was right when the demon lord Milim attacked Rimuru’s city.

  Fuze was there, at the usual spot, having a secret meeting with Baron of Veryard.

  “So this is the report from your investigation? Based on the evidence from their march, the force numbered several hundred thousand. That suggests beyond a doubt that it was an orc lord, doesn’t it?”

  “Indeed, Baron. You would never believe how hard it was to ask the king for permission to deploy his intelligence department… They certainly came through for us, though.”

  Fuze’s face contorted in frustration. The conditions required to earn this favor from the king were far from palatable to him.

  “Ha-ha-ha, yes, I heard. It seems they have a chair all ready for you in that department, no? I imagine your father would like to hand his position as supervisor over to you sooner rather than later.”

  “Don’t remind me. I have enough on my plate dealing with guild master duties here in town.”

  “True enough. But that’s a discussion for another time. This is some extremely valuable information—a town of monsters, and a slime living there that can overcome an orc lord by force. An orc lord who may have led an army of up to two hundred thousand, no less. And scariest of all, all those surviving orcs simply settled across the land instead of rioting and running roughshod over it. Is it all really true? I mean, I know it is, but I cannot believe any of it.”

  Fuze could understand the baron’s feelings all too well. He felt the same way. He had asked the king to deploy his spies on the assumption that Kabal’s report and the hobgoblin Gobto’s message were entirely true. The resulting intelligence both blew his mind and made him realize Blumund was facing unprecedented danger.

  No adventurer in the world could slay an orc lord with an army in the six figures supporting it. Even if they managed some kind of stealth mission to assassinate this nemesis, and even if it worked, that army would go nuts and raze all the nearby villages. There’d be no way to counter that. The national army would be a drop in the bucket, and the knight corps of some tinier kingdom would just be swallowed by the stampeding horde.

  “You’re right. It’s simply unbelievable. Would monsters take such an intelligent, considered approach to this? And how did they convince that massive army not to riot in the first place? Did they actually manage to feed that many orcs?”

  “They must have. It’s impossible to accept, but we have to. That slime, Rimuru… I think he’s saved all of us.”

  “…Yes. Indeed.”

  Fuze fell silent for a moment before continuing, trying to gather his thoughts.

  “So we have a town of monsters about a two-week journey from Blumund. That much, we’ve confirmed. They said it was an astonishing example of functional beauty, but they only had the chance to view it from afar. They’ve clearly been at work on a wide swath of land around the town, but all of it was still covered under a tight network of patrols. Even our own agents suggested that infiltration would be difficult at best. Doesn’t that tell you a lot about the intelligence level of this town’s monsters? And the real question is: How should we handle our own relationship with them? Should we approach this slime as a benevolent presence or as a potential threat to try to eliminate—”

  “Wait. You speak of ‘eliminating’ him like it would be simple, but is such a thing even possible?”

  “Permission to speak freely, sir?”

  “Go ahead, but I think I already know the answer.”

  “Heh. Well, it’s not. How’d you guess?”

  Baron Veryard didn’t raise an eyebrow. To him, as much as it was to Fuze, that was already a given. They had both concluded that Blumund had no chance of victory alone—not unless the Western Holy Church was willing to expend paladins for the job. Each resident of that monster town was at least a C rank in themselves—as expected, since they were all named. Some were reportedly in B or A territory. Their total war power couldn’t even be measured right now.

  “Perhaps I should try paying a visit…”

  “Are you volunteering for that, Fuze?”

  “Sure. I want to measure this Rimuru guy with my own eyes.”

  Veryard gave him an approving nod. Hostilities weren’t anyone’s first choice, but this was no potential challenger that could be left ignored any longer. Fuze felt the need to judge for himself. Relying on someone else to make t
hat call wouldn’t work. That was the best choice—and a choice he could only make because the baron respected him so much.

  Plus…

  Yesterday’s events made Fuze believe all the more that visiting this slime directly was the best solution.

  He had asked Kabal’s group to guide him to the monsters’ town on that same day. While they spoke, they were all approached by another stranger with a message.

  “You are Kabal, right?” the man asked. “I am here to relay a message from Sir Rimuru. ‘The orc lord issue has been resolved. Sorry I forgot to tell you guys!’ That is all.”

  Nobody in the group was more surprised by this sudden intrusion than Fuze. They were all seated in a space inside the Free Guild, a room that took every measure possible against people sneaking in. If this stranger was invited in, that was one thing, but it would have taken unbelievable skill to make one’s own way inside.

  “Wait! Who are you?”

  The blue-haired intruder turned his cold eyes toward Fuze. “I am called Soei. Sir Rimuru has appointed me his Covert Agent.” He gave the reply softly and steadily, completely unfazed by the Coercion from Fuze, an A-minus fighter himself.

  Fuze may have felt overwhelmed by this all-powerful presence before him, but he still had the kingdom’s intelligence force at his fingertips, and he knew how to use those skills of his. So he decided to gather as much information as he could from Soei.

  “Rimuru… The leader of the monster town? Why are a bunch of monsters worried about us?”

  “Heh… Haven’t your friends already told you? Sir Rimuru is exploring ways to live in peace and prosperity with the human race. I am unsure why you are so wary of us, but I would suggest that selecting reconciliation over rejection would be the smarter decision.”

  Not even Fuze could hide his surprise at the statement. It meant that his attempts at intelligence gathering were completely exposed.

  Hoo boy… If this is the level of monster Rimuru has recruited, I simply must meet him soon.

  He could tell that Soei was a monster. Even without the horn on his forehead, the aura was as clear as day. He had no intention of hiding it, but it emitted only a slight amount of magicules. It didn’t suggest this creature was anything special, but Fuze’s sixth sense was still ringing alarm bells. He decided to trust in it.

  “I see. So you’re on to the fact that we’ve been investigating you. Well, before that, there’s something I’d like to ask… How did a magic-born of your level infiltrate this town? Because I believe we’re protected by a barrier that blocks out all monsters ranked A or higher. A high-level magic-born like you shouldn’t be anywhere near here.”

  As guild master, this was a point Fuze couldn’t let slide. Even though it was a short meeting, he was sure this Soei before him was a high-level magic-born, and thus he needed to know how he got past the kingdom’s defenses.

  “Hmm. Ah yes. I did notice the presence of that barrier, but that’s what it was meant for, then? Perhaps Sir Rimuru or Lady Shuna could have identified it as such, but I wasn’t able to see quite so much. Thank you for telling me—in exchange, I will answer your question. This body is generated by my Replication skill, and thus retains only a tenth of my magical energy. In your ranking system, I imagine it would only manage a B or so. Do you see what I mean? This kingdom truly does have a splendid defense network, but if it is willing to let low-level monsters slide that easily, I can see it still has its holes.”

  Fuze listened slack-jawed at Soei’s explanation, feeling the cold eyes on him. It sounded true enough to him, and his point was totally valid. With all the effort they expended dealing with hazard-class A ranks, they had overlooked some of the most basic threats—and it was a monster, a potential target of this system, who had pointed it out to him. A small wonder that it turned Fuze’s world upside down.

  “Well, if you will excuse me—”

  “Wait!”

  As Soei turned to go, Fuze shouted and stopped him. He had just enough time to explain to the monster that he wanted an audience with Rimuru, in the town that he ran.

  “I will inform Sir Rimuru, in that case,” he said, bringing a close to the day’s events.

  This was why Fuze was making the journey. He laughed a bit at the position he was in—dragging the kingdom into this, then dragging himself into the kingdom’s work all over again.

  Damn. I didn’t intend to serve my kingdom doing this, but…

  He might have complained about it, but he liked life in Blumund. He couldn’t just abandon it and flee. So he hired Kabal’s trio as his guides, and they quickly planned the journey to Rimuru, capital of the Jura-Tempest Federation.

  Yohm and his men proceeded through the forest.

  Several days had passed since they had cowed Rommel into submission. They had no need to heed Nidol’s orders any longer, and yet Yohm insisted on plunging farther into the wood. He had no intention of returning to Migam territory—instead, he had a different destination in mind.

  “Boss, why ain’t we goin’ back to town?”

  “Yeah, I’d kinda like to find a girl to sleep with sooner or later…”

  “Shut up, you fools! I don’t trust that crafty ol’ Nidol, but he’s still nobility, y’see? We can’t beat ’im in a head-on scuffle. It’d be easy enough to off the bastard, but then we’ll be wanted by all o’ Farmus. You want the royal knights breathin’ down our necks? They’ll kill the whole group of us!”

  “Yeahhh, but…”

  “So where d’you want us to go?”

  “Oh, now you’re askin’ me? Use your brains a little, guys—”

  None of them had much in the way of brainpower, so Yohm spelled it out.

  He had a point—even if they returned to the Earl of Migam’s lands, they couldn’t expect to ever have a decent living there. They’d be imprisoned again—and indentured into work again. So he thought their best chances lay in other nations.

  “We’re gonna head for the central part o’ the forest and find out what this orc lord’s up to. Then, we’ll travel in whatever direction’s the safest, and whenever we hit another country, we will settle there.”

  “But, boss, why do we have to expose ourselves to danger like that first…?”

  “Oh, what, you wussin’ out on me, you imbecile? The orc lord’s grown to the point where he’s already got an army at his beck and call. What do you think’s gonna happen if we stop in some town and they’re headed straight for it? We’ll be dead with all the other townspeople, is what. Yeah, it’s dangerous, but we need more info if we wanna keep ourselves safe, okay?”

  “Wow. Smart plan, bro.”

  “I got it now, boss!”

  “Plus,” added Rommel, “Yohm has no intention of actually engaging in battle. He’ll just have me check on where the orc lord army is, then relay that information to the earl.”

  “Whoa, hang on, Rommel. Whaddaya mean by that?”

  This was Kazhil, Yohm’s right-hand man, who spoke up.

  Rommel was quickly solidifying his position as the group’s chief of staff—and everyone in the band recognized his extensive knowledge of matters.

  “I mean, once we take care of the original job assigned to us, we can make the good earl think we were massacred by the orc lord.”

  “Wait, so…”

  “We make that old coot think we’re all dead, then we ain’t got to worry about his men pursuing us, and if the orc lord decides to hit Migam, Nidol can figure out a way to deal with it himself. I’d hate to just let my homeland burn at the orcs’ hands, so we oughta warn ’em, at least, yeah?” Yohm explained to Kazhil, who was having trouble understanding.

  “Quite so. I will tiptoe up to the orcish army and use my magic to detect their activity. Once I’ve confirmed where they are headed, I will teleport myself, and only myself, to the earl and report back to him. This is when I’ll tell him that you were all vanquished, so no need to worry about that. Besides, if we’ve gone this far, I might as well collect our pay from hi
m, yes? Then I’ll make up an excuse to return here, so do make sure to wait for me.”

  The spark of understanding finally began to spread around the band as Rommel went more in-depth.

  “Ahh. Now I see. Then we can escape to somewhere safe and start a new life, huh?”

  “Yep. Exactly.”

  Yohm’s intention was to have the entire band join the local Free Guild or whatever, gaining a little security for themselves. Free Guild identification papers were added to a ledger kept by magic, ensuring they were valid in any nation. Criminal records, meanwhile, weren’t. It felt like the perfect plan to Yohm, but any crimes they committed after joining the guild would also be marked on their magical records, so they’d have to be careful about that.

  “Well, we can think about our next moves once we reach our new homeland. With our numbers, we oughta be able to take on some decent monster runs and live off o’ that. But before that, we need to make it outta this mess. You hear me? If the orcs stumble upon us all first, we’re gonna be in deep trouble. Y’all keep your eyes open, you got that?” With that, Yohm closed the topic.

  First, find the orc lord’s army. Then, get out safe. They could bitch and moan at one another all they wanted, but one thing was for sure: They could absolutely never let their guards down.

  Several hours later…

  The band was on the move, running regular patrol shifts to stay alert.

  They could hear fighting up ahead.

  “Boss—”

  “Sshhh!”

  Yohm quieted his men down, gesturing them to group together and get into military formation. When they were ready, he waved a hand forward, and they all began to quietly march, weapons in hand and ready for battle.

  Already, they could hear voices from up ahead.

  “Whoa! Stop, stop, stop! We go there, we’re walking right into its trap!”

  “But…but I don’t think we can win if we keep fighting like this!”

  “Guys, I can only keep our position here for so—whoa! Look out!”