“All right. Let’s have you train under Shion, then.”
I gave Shion a glance, knowing she’d probably hate it but hoping she would take this ticking time bomb off my hands. But Shion nodded back at me with an evil grin. Wait a minute. This wasn’t what I expected.
“Hee-hee-hee… I have received my orders from Sir Rimuru. And trust me—I, Shion, can even take a pack of weaklings like you and build you into first-rate warriors. You may follow me with confidence!”
“I-I’d hope for nothing else!”
“Yeah! We’re gonna do our best for you, lady!”
“Me too! But can you give me something to eat first?!”
I was expecting some sass back, but Shion was pretty up for it. Which, okay, if she’s cool, I’m cool. I decided to head back to the audience chamber, hearing cries like “Let us call you our teacher… No, our master!” and “I’ll expect all of you to follow my commands to the letter!” behind me. I figured I’d just ignore them for now.
.........
......
…
Back at the chamber, the bovoids and equinoids were now kneeling before me, visibly quivering. The younger fighters were following their leaders’ example, prostrating themselves as well. The high-and-mighty attitudes of the past were gone; now they reminded me of some of the weaker races I saw the previous day.
“We—we were awaiting your return!”
“Our loyalty shall forever be with you, Sir Rimuru!!”
I wondered what made them have a change of heart like that. It’s certainly a new attitude, coming from them. I climbed up to my throne, reverting to slime form and expecting them to get huffy with me again, but they didn’t.
“Do you mean it?”
“Of—of course, my lord!”
“Please, use our powers however you like!”
I guess this was a sincere change of heart. Judging by how frantic they looked, they really were trying to curry as much favor as possible with me. That little bout just now must’ve shown them how scary Shion can be, huh? In that case, no need to hold back. I’d have no qualms with taking advantage of these guys. They had been fighting for a century, which was really something I didn’t need in my domain, but I suppose that meant they loved combat. Would anyone complain if I just moved their battlefield into the labyrinth?
“Well, by the looks of things, you guys have more power than you know what to do with. How about I prepare an arena for you guys to duke it out in?”
“Y-you’re going to forgive them?” a saddened Rigurd asked. “I was thinking I could provide them with their divine punishment for you, Sir Rimuru…”
Yeahhh… I had forgotten, what with all this nonsense going on, but both races had pissed off Rigurd pretty good. But I thought it better to give them a chance and see if they could be useful.
“Now, now, Rigurd. They were just ignorant of us, I think, so why not forgive them just this once? If they try that stuff again, though, go right ahead.”
“If you say so, sir, I have no complaints. How good for all of you, hmm? If Sir Rimuru wasn’t such a forgiving lord, you may all have breathed your last just now. If you dare to defy us a second time, all that awaits is your final destruction. Give up your resistance and know your place!”
I was glad Rigurd got me, at least.
“Yeah, you guys are lucky,” chimed in Shion, who was already back from the arena. “If it wasn’t for those unwelcome visitors just now, I would’ve joined with Rigurd to do you all in. Why, for all the unbearable things you said, I would have plucked your tongues out so you could never speak again! So thank Sir Rimuru for his mercy, and try to show some obedience from now on!”
The bovoids and equinoids all nodded, shaking uncontrollably. “We—we promise we’ll live up to your expectations! Please forgive our disrespect!” And given how they were acting, I could believe they wouldn’t try it again.
“If you swear loyalty to me, I will consider it. First, though, stop your fighting and be quiet until you hear from me.”
I didn’t need to speak to them directly, but I thought it best to be doubly sure. I wanted to invite the bovoid leader over later under one pretense or another, so I could negotiate with him about working in the labyrinth. Given the (unintentional) fright we gave them, he ought to be cooperative.
Really, the chance at getting such a great boss for my project made all the stress of the day just fly out of my mind.
The audiences went smoothly after that. Rumors of Shion taking control of Daggrull’s sons spread like wildfire, enough to make even the powerful bovoids and equinoids lie low, so nobody was looking down on me now.
I was hoping things would end on a high note, but…
Soon after, an elder from the elven race and a few of his men arrived. I say elder, but he looked like a regular young man to me. No women were among them, which was kind of a shame, given how gorgeous lady elves tend to be.
Elves, of course, had a reputation for living practically forever. Both they and dwarves were originally spirits brought to physical life (or fallen from higher planes of existence), who became fairies and were eventually granted material bodies. Apparently, you could trace the genealogy of goblins back to the fairies, too: Fairies bearing the earth element eventually became dwarves; those with the water element became merfolk; fire became goblins; and wind became elves. Their ancestors were the results of fairies intermingling with creatures from other races long ago.
Apparently, goblins had little in the way of fairy blood left,
