Ah. Well, at least he wasn’t bringing up something stupid. Apparently, this creeping forest was sucking up the magicules in the labyrinth before those monsters could be spawned. As a result, we weren’t seeing monsters worthy of being deemed bosses of the lower dungeons. We did have a single tempest serpent born (rank: A-minus), but I already designated that the boss of Floor 40. It was Veldora and Ramiris, after all, who said they didn’t need “small fry” like that in their domains. If they wanted it back now, forget it.
“Also, I’m thinking about making a new Elemental Colossus, so I want you to get the materials for me!”
“Yes, and I want you to employ monsters worthy of serving as my bosses. And clean up the forest for me.”
“......”
Ramiris, I could at least lend an ear to. I was only planning to open everything up to Floor 50 for this unveiling anyway, so I figured we could manage. But I really didn’t have time for Veldora’s selfish demands. We’d have time to worry about that later; for now, he’d just have to take care of things himself.
I was just about to turn him down when I heard three voices at the same time.
“I think we have the perfect person for the job, actually.”
“Sir Rimuru, why don’t you let them take care of this?”
“My master, I can think of someone suitable…”
It was Shuna, Treyni, and Ranga.
Shuna suggested that Adalmann the wight would work as a boss; Gabil rapidly agreed with her. “Adalmann’s forces are weak against sunlight,” she reasoned, “so they would thrive in cave-like environments. I think the labyrinth would be perfect for them.”
Indeed, while Adalmann could leave the cave in the day, none of his forces could. I heard they liked to wander outside at night, much to the consternation of passing merchants. I had a stack of complaints from them in my office. Yeah, if I ran into a walking skeleton in the dead of night, I’d probably pee my pants, too. Putting them down in that maze seemed like a good idea.
“Besides,” Shuna glumly continued, “he is a little pushy. Praising you as a god and everything…”
In Adalmann’s eyes, I was a god, and Shuna my shrine princess. That was pretty annoying, yes.
“All right. We’ll stick Adalmann in Floor 60 as the boss. And Ramiris, I’ll get some stuff to make an Elemental Colossus with. Have Adalmann help you out.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. He’s got a lot of intelligence, if not much else. He ought to help out with your research.”
“All right. Thanks, Rimuru!”
So we had bosses for Floors 60 and 70.
Now it was Treyni’s turn, and she suggested leaving Floors 71 through 80 (where the vegetation was still relatively sparse) to Zegion and Apito. “Those two can summon their underlings,” she said, “so they should be able to reclaim those floors in quick order. Plus…” She flashed a look at Ramiris. “I think that Zegion would make a fine boss for Floor 80,” she said, smiling. “He’s done a wonderful job protecting the treant homeland up to now.”
“I see…”
“That sounds like a splendid idea,” chimed in Veldora. “I would be happy to train him up to a fighter worthy of making Floor 80 proud!”
Yeah, Zegion was definitely a lot stronger than one might guess. Definitely stronger than a tempest serpent, or at least he was the last time I saw him. But this is still Zegion we’re talking about—he’s just a bug the size of a squirrel or something, you know? I’m not sure how much you could “train up” something like that, but oh well. I already knew Veldora was a weirdo, so I could just let him do what he liked.
“Okay. Let’s go with that.”
Then for Ranga.
“Master, the fox spirit I have been tending to has awoken and claims to be gifted at clearing out forests in any way requested. I would suggest accepting the offer, perhaps,” he said, poking his head out from my shadow.
And sitting between his ears was what looked like a fox pup with four golden tails swaying behind it. So cute.
“Wanna try it?”
“Indeed, I do, sir!” The fox nodded, eyes gleaming at me. Again, sooo cute.
Essentially, this kit’s offer was to blaze animal trails through the vegetation, creating a sort of maze with them. If that was what it wanted to do, I saw no reason to say no. If it proved not up to the task, I could just raze the forest then.
“Okay. So…”
Then I noticed a problem of my own. This fox, nicknamed Nine-Head back when it was under Clayman’s control, still didn’t really have a name.
“Well, wait. Before that, lemme give you a name. From this day forward, your name is Kumara.”
It was totally casual, like giving a dog a name. But I wasn’t stupid. I had learned my lesson by now, and I wasn’t gonna have all my magical energy sapped away this time. No, this time I could control— Wait, whooaaaaaaa…
I was suddenly seized by a flooding sort of lethargy. This was soon followed by panic.
Report. This is the effect of the naming. Since the subject, Kumara, held a vast amount of magicule energy, more energy is being consumed than…originally surmised.
I was tricked by this tiny fox pup in front of me, but… Yeah, it’s actually one of the rarest, most high-level monsters out there. I, um, may have dropped the ball there. Plus, the moment I uttered the name, Kumara started growing fast—not in size, really, but in number of tails, which went from four to nine in a hurry. It had only three during the fight with Ranga, and each of those tails had its own special ability.
In a way, what I had done…I suppose…was summon not one, but nine different magical beasts at the same time.
“My deepest thanks, Sir Rimuru!! I shall do all I can!!”
Ah well. No point dwelling on the past. I managed to avoid slipping into unconsciousness, so I guess
