"......"
When the [Dryad] appeared and everyone fell silent, Rimuru, as their representative, spoke first.
"Um, Treyni... right? I heard you had some business with me, but what exactly is this about...?"
But Rimuru still wasn't used to this sort of thing, and her voice quickly trailed off.
Later on, thanks to Walpurgis and the [Council of the West], she'd get a little better at speaking in situations like this, but for now she had no such experience, so the awkwardness showed.
"Hehe, I came today because I have a request for all of you."
"A request...?"
When Rimuru asked again, Treyni smiled quietly, the thoughts behind it impossible to read.
"Rimuru Tempest, ruler of monsters. And Adelio, the ashen [Hero]. I would like to request that you subjugate the [Orc Lord]."
"......"
"You want us... to defeat the [Orc Lord] ourselves?"
It was a sudden request.
And since that request was to defeat the [Orc Lord], Rimuru clearly looked troubled.
Adelio, on the other hand, merely watched Treyni in silence with an expressionless face, still saying nothing.
"Yes, that's correct."
Treyni seemed intrigued by Adelio's reaction as well, glancing over him once before setting that interest aside and answering Rimuru.
"We [Dryad] may act as Lord Veldora's agents, but there is no way we can stop two hundred thousand [Orc], let alone the [Orc Lord] commanding them. That is why I came to ask powerful people like you for help."
It was a plea born from both a caretaker's duty and the need to protect her race.
Then Treyni continued.
"More importantly, I believed this person could defeat the [Orc Lord] even alone."
The one Treyni pointed to was Adelio.
"......"
Adelio, who had kept silent this whole time, closed his eyes for a moment when Treyni singled him out. Then a faint smile touched his lips.
"I figured as much, but it seems you really do remember me."
"Hehe, there is no way I would mistake one of the two [Hero] who sealed Lord Veldora. Besides, unlike that black-haired [Hero], you visited the Sealed Cave regularly for the past three hundred years."
There was a faintly teasing note in her voice at the mention of Veldora being sealed, but Treyni didn't seem to bear any real grudge over it.
Veldora had been the [Dryad]' benefactor, yes, but he had been swallowed by a stronger being under the law of the strong devouring the weak, and as monsters, they seemed to have accepted that.
To begin with, she had not witnessed that battle herself, and as always, it had been Veldora who rampaged first and attacked a human village.
"I too am a monster who follows the law of the strong devouring the weak, so I have no intention of holding you responsible for what happened to Lord Veldora. I merely wish to borrow the power of one as renowned as you, a [Hero]."
Treyni had judged that asking Adelio alone would be better than requesting help from the [Tengu] or the [Ogre].
If he was a human proven to be both comparable to a [True Dragon] or a [Demon Lord] and friendly toward monsters, then he was more than worth trusting.
"What will you do?"
Treyni's question hung in the air.
And Adelio's answer to it could only be one thing.
"I don't mind. Dealing with the [Orc Lord] was one of our goals from the start anyway."
"Hehe, is that so? Then I was right to come here after all."
"But the ones who'll face the [Orc Lord] won't be me. It'll be Rimuru and my disciple."
"......Huh?!"
At Adelio's answer, Rimuru raised her voice, clearly saying this was the first she'd heard of it.
"Why am I suddenly the one who has to fight the [Orc Lord]?!"
Rimuru still didn't really understand the extent of her own power, so she was reluctant to fight the [Orc Lord]. But Adelio, who remembered her strength perfectly well, only shrugged.
"Because you're the master of this place, aren't you? I'm just an ally and a guest. I'm not the one leading a massive faction of my own here."
"But you're a [Hero], and you're strong too! Wouldn't it make more sense for you and Shizue to step in instead of me, a [Slime]...?"
"No. It's precisely because Shizue and I are the [Hero Party] that we can't."
Cutting Rimuru off, Adelio explained with a bitter smile.
"This is Veldora's domain, and it's monster territory. If a human comes in and handles everything alone in a place like this, then before long not just adventurers, but other human powers too will try to ride on that human's success."
Even if he tried to block that opportunism in the name of a [Hero], there were clear limits.
There were also forces like Cerberus, manipulated by Yuuki, that could skillfully avoid Adelio's reach.
"The monster side has to make a showing too, at the very least."
And for that very reason, Adelio himself could not be the one to do it.
From the moment he first appeared before the world, he had been someone who killed [Demon Lord]. If word got out that someone like that had needed monsters' help just to fight the [Orc Lord], how many people would actually believe it?
Most would almost certainly assume the monsters were merely piggybacking on the [Hero]'s accomplishments.
"And on the monster side, there's no one but you."
In this great forest, the only leader capable of bringing multiple races together was Rimuru alone.
Only she, who had come to rule the [Goblin], the wolf clan, and the [Ogre], could do it.
"Isn't that reason enough?"
"......"
Rimuru fell silent for a few seconds, as if thinking it over. Then, wearing an unhappy look, she slowly opened her mouth.
"...If you're going to put it like that... then I guess I don't have a choice."
She looked like she wanted to refuse with all her heart, but in the end, Rimuru still gave her acceptance.
Right after that, she rose from her seat and declared to Treyni,
"We were always going to have to fight the [Orc] from the beginning, so we'll accept your request."
The subjugation of the [Orc Lord].
Adelio and Rimuru had now stepped onto the starting point of that path.
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