'...So in the end, they gave up on attacking the [Ogre].'
One week.
A full week had passed since we stopped the [Orc]s and the clown from raiding the [Ogre] village.
For the record, I hadn't spent that entire week just trying to persuade the chieftain to enter Rimuru's service.
Of course, the elders other than Hakurou had raised their voices, demanding how anyone could seriously suggest serving a slime as their lord, but—
"...It may be a slime, but if a [Hero] like you chose that monster to become the king who will rule this great forest... then it can't possibly be an ordinary slime."
"Hohoho. Even I, an [Ogre], managed to surpass a [Tengu]. To assume a slime cannot be strong simply because it is a slime would be prejudice, wouldn't it?"
—the chieftain and Hakurou believed me.
Maybe it was because they had seen my strength with their own eyes and had broader perspectives than the others, but the two of them actively persuaded the elders and even managed to push things to the point of, "If you can't believe it, why not see for yourselves and judge then?"
Benimaru, the next chieftain, remained neutral, and with both the current chieftain and Hakurou, the most senior elder, pressing the matter so firmly, the others had little choice but to accept it.
'Well, they definitely won't regret it later, so it's fine.'
Anyway.
To get back to the main point, the reason I had stayed in the [Ogre] village for an entire week was... Gelmud and Rimuru.
As for the former, when I sent Footman back, I made a promise that I wouldn't interfere as long as they left the [Ogre]s alone. But Gelmud was a prideful fool, and there was a real chance he would ignore Footman and attack the village alone, so I stayed behind just in case.
As for the latter, Rimuru had already taken the "[Goblin] village" and the pack of direwolves under his command, so it was about time for him to visit Dwargo. I intended to enter Dwargo around the same time.
And because of that, I had originally planned to send Shizu and Ria ahead to the Kingdom of Blumund.
Shizu had mentioned more than once that she wanted to visit Blumund someday, and Ria was a Queen, so I figured she wouldn't be used to this kind of environment.
But Shizu decided to stay with me because she wanted to talk more with the [Ogre]s, and Ria decided to stay because she wanted to experience this sort of environment for herself.
Thanks to that, the area I had to keep watch over became smaller, which actually helped me quite a bit.
'...But if they still haven't attacked by now, then Footman must have somehow managed to talk Gelmud down.'
I had kept a barrier around the village and watched the surroundings for a week, and there wasn't even a hint of Gelmud appearing. At this point, it was probably safe to say that problem had been resolved—
"—What's got you so deep in thought?"
Just as I was about to pull out the orb and check on Rimuru's side, Ria appeared out of nowhere like a ghost and asked with a faint smile.
Over the past three hundred years, she had done this often enough—closing in so suddenly that even my senses had trouble catching her—that I didn't really get startled anymore. So I just shrugged and answered honestly.
"Since the other majin don't seem likely to attack, I was thinking it might be time to head to where Rimuru is going."
"Hmm. You mean that slime Moss's clone is watching?"
That slime, huh...
Considering that in the novel, Ria had been one of Rimuru's subordinates, hearing her talk about him like that felt strangely off.
Of course, the current Rimuru wasn't strong enough to catch Ria's eye yet, so her reaction was only natural... but I still couldn't shake the odd sense of dissonance.
'It is a very Ria-like reaction, though...'
A faint bitter smile touched my lips, matching that strange feeling, and as I recalled the novel filling my head, I lowered my gaze.
There, below me, was Shizu, chatting away with the [Ogre]s with a bright smile on her face.
'...That same sense of dissonance applies there too.'
There were five [Ogre]s with Shizu.
One with red hair, one with light pink hair, one with dark blue hair, one with black hair, and one with purple hair.
'Benimaru, Shuna, Souei, Kurobe, and Shion...'
The next chieftain, the princess, the assassin, the blacksmith, and the bodyguard.
Aside from Hakurou, who wasn't there, every single one of them was an [Ogre] who would one day become one of Rimuru's closest retainers.
"......"
It seemed Shizu had somehow become friends with those five "by chance," but to me, it didn't look like chance at all.
'...For those five to get close to Shizu in just one week... that's far too perfect to call coincidence.'
Fate, or inevitability.
There was no other way to explain it except that the laws of the [World] had interfered once again.
'Thankfully, it's not causing any real problems yet, but later on... who knows.'
With both the contents of the novel and the utterly incomprehensible laws of the [World] tangling my thoughts, my mind grew complicated. In the end, I gave a short nod, took Ria's hand, and started walking with her.
"Shizu."
"Ah, Master."
When I came down the hill and called out to Shizu, who had been chatting with Benimaru and the others, not only Shizu but all the [Ogre]s turned their eyes toward me and Ria.
Interest, gratitude, curiosity, reverence, and more...
...The weight of those gazes made me fall silent for a moment. Then Benimaru stepped forward as their representative and bowed deeply.
"It is an honor to meet the [Sword Emperor]—"
"—You don't have to be that formal when you address me."
—The moment he tried to trigger my embarrassment, I cut him off at once.
I'd told him several times over the past week that he could just call me by name, so I had no idea why he was so stubborn about using my epithet.
'...It's not like he's trying to kill me with embarrassment...'
It was better than Footman calling me [Sword of Spirit], but hearing [Sword Emperor] day in and day out still piled up the shame whether I liked it or not.
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