4 3rd Move | Elimination

Genocide

One of the worst crimes someone can possibly commit.

At least... it's what a humanist would say.

However, you'll find that you'll get far less resistance if you advocate for the genocide of something like mosquitoes or similar pests.

Such irony, such double standards, such is life in general.

That is what I'm dealing with right now. Within this village, every villager is asking (begging) me to make plans that'll annihilate the dire wolves after hearing what I'm capable of from Rimuru.

Even now, I'm still cursing out Rimuru's name for revealing my abilities without my permission. I had thought that working as a general contractor would make Rimuru realize the importance of company secrets or discretion but apparently, I was mistaken.

And now I'm paying for my mistake as I looked at the most detailed map of the surrounding area that the goblins possessed. While it may not be complete, or even all that accurate, it's better than nothing.

As the saying goes, inaccurate information is better than no information.

If I had a free charge right now I'd place it in [Strategy], that way I can come up with battle strategies that'd lead to the least amount of death on both sides. In a war, it's about who can lose the least that wins. Plus, these wolves seem to be intelligent if the words of these goblins are any indication, so killing them like pests is out of the question.

I'm not going to collapse the local ecosystem by taking away a top predator.

Since I don't have an extra charge, I had to make do with [Planning] to see what I can make out of it. It's not ideal but, well, as Bear Grills once said, 'improvise, adapt, overcome'.

A basic estimation puts the wolves attacking sometime within the next 2 days.

Tracing the lines around the whole town, I used soft charcoal jammed into wooden sticks as makeshift pencils. Marking any place I deemed to be important in the defense of the place to minimize casualties.

The hills next to the village are going to be a problem. That's a blind spot for one.

The planning stopped when I heard commotions outside as a particularly scrawny goblin burst into the room, bringing in unwanted smells. My face scowled as the intense smell felt like needles pricking the inside of my nose.

One thing about living in a Tolkien-knockoff world is those poorer people rarely properly self-wash. The most they have is a dip in a river, and since it's early fall, the rivers are freezing.

Forget [Strategy], I'm going to revolutionize the hygiene of this world up to modern standards as soon as I can.

"I had ordered I am not to be disturbed," I said without taking my eyes off the map, having half a thought to completely ignore what the goblin would say.

I heard a 'fwump' sound, "PLEASE, Lady Scientia, save our wounded! You can perform great miracles on the body with nothing more than a knife!"

I dropped my makeshift pencil and sighed. I can't really be called either gender, can I? I mean, this new body wearing the white cloth I made with the robe from that mage girl really does make me look more female than male—

Huh?

Wait a minute.

I suddenly froze when his words registered in my brain. Turning towards the kneeling goblin, my eyes widened as I wondered just where he had learned that. That ability of mine is one of the cards I decided to hold close to my heart.

Just like in poker, you never show your deck to strangers.

After all, a one-man R&D department that can outperform a whole nation's is way too tempting.

Standing up from the chair and looking down at him, I walked over and picked the nameless goblin up effortlessly by the back of his rugged shirt, his face in deep fear as his breathing stilled.

My crimson eyes stared unflinchingly into his own green ones. I could see the vague outline of my face inside his dilated pupil, with a single flicker of candle fire being the brightest light source in the room.

"Where did you hear that?"

My voice was soft, yet there was a cold edge to it, like an unsheathed blade in audible form.

The goblin struggled but his feet were unable to touch the ground.

He visibly shook with fear, "From... From Lord Rimuru Ma'am."

I don't even bother with the honorifics as I drop the goblin and stormed down the road to where Rimuru is residing, that damnable fool is far too trusting. All of war is deception. That is both true in the business sense and during an actual war.

[Silenced Emotion: 40%]

Like flipping a switch, I calmed down and began to walk much slower, the rush of anger disappearing.

Over the last week, I had Rimuru's [Great Sage] aid me in discovering my skills, one of the particularly useful ones was [Silenced Emotion].

Yet it can also be the one that's the most self-destructive.

Emotions... they're one of the last connections I have to my past, if I fully commit to being an emotionless machine, I could easily lose that part of me. [Psychology] recommend I never go above 70%, and the ever-illusive [Guide to Victory] gave me the option of going up to 99%.

I am not ashamed to say that I'm afraid of what would happen if I hit [Silenced Emotion: 100%]. Morbid curiosity almost made me do it just to see what happens before I got this gut feeling of incredible danger and turned the dial back down.

Using techniques I learned from [Stealth], I sneaked right up the group Rimuru is training like I'm in an Assassin's Creed game and pounced on him, taking him completely unaware.

It was as though I was pouncing on a large, blue pillow.

"Gah!"

"Gatcha ya bastard." I felt a savage smile on my face, a wild grin that looked too perfect to be natural. The blue 'pillow' that was Rimuru struggled like a fish that had just been caught, "Why did you tell them about my Unique Skill huh? I thought as an adult you'd at least have read The Art of War."

I heard several more knees hitting the ground, "PLEASE! Lady Scientia, heal our family and friends!"

That took me out of my amusement at the struggling Rimuru. I simply stared at them with a hint of annoyance in my features.

"Wel-Well..." Rimuru somehow looked sheepish and stopped struggling, "I ran out of medicine to help these goblins so... I suggested you as an option?" he trailed off.

"Please help our families!"

God damn it all to hell, guess I really am tying my futures to some scrawny goblins huh?

Rubbing the bridge of my nose and sighing, "Fine, but I'm going to need alcohol-"

"What's alcohol?" one of the smaller goblins asked as I stare at them in confusion.

Right, the primitive village would not know what wine is made out of. The best form of sterilization they have is either using a flame or cauterization.

"Never mind, instead bring me a lit torch, 3 mirrors, a bed, some clean-" I looked at their ragged appearance, hygiene nowhere to be found, "-scratch that."

I looked toward a goblin to my left, "you, go to the map room and bring me a jar of clear liquid and another of the brown variety, there should only be one of each."

When I came here, I saw how dirty everything is. So I demanded some of the crops they had and distilled small amounts of alcohol and several other chemicals from what little lab equipment Rimuru's stomach was able to make. With [Chemistry] I should be able to make General Anesthetics with those chemicals I had already made.

"And bring me a towel that's as clean as possible."

[Silenced Emotion: 51%]

After everything was prepared and the patient with massive slash marks lay on the operating table within a room lit with multiple torches and enhanced with mirrors, one of the elders handed him a towel to bite on.

I stopped writing notes on the paper Rimuru gave me and looked at the exchange. Only now did I realize that these primitives had no idea what Anesthesia even is.

This society... when I was young, I had read stories about how doctors back in the day had to cut off a leg without the use of anesthesia, only a towel or cloth to chew on for the patient to help bear with the pain.

Seeing it right now, right in front of me is so surreal. It made me fully conceptualize how I've taken so much of modern life for granted it's not even funny.

"Stop, there's no need for that."

They looked at me in confusion, well the one on the table is more in fear than confusion. Probably fearing the pain that is going to come.

"There's no need," I said as I hold up a jar of a translucent liquid: an oral ingestion version of anesthesia. This is an extremely safe version I created with a single charge into [Chemistry], it's impossible to kill any multicellular organism with this liquid unless you drown them in it as the extra anesthesia passes through the body using the urinal tract or its equivalent.

"This is what I call: General Anesthetics, when ingested through the mouth it'll cause the host- the person ingesting the liquid- to go under, essentially entering into a deep sleep during the operation, that way we can avoid all the pain involved."

According to [Biology], a goblin's body is freakishly similar to a baseline human's they can almost be counted as a subspecies of the Homo Sapiens if their skin color wasn't green.

It's as if someone genetically altered some humans to have this design... such a possibility leads to some... shall we say, Sci-fi explanations.

They began to cry tears of joy, completely ignorant of my thoughts, especially the one on the operating table.

"Thank you Lady Scientia!"

Pouring out a spoonful of the stuff and feeding it to the patient, the effect was almost instantaneous even with the patient trying to fight the sleepiness, probably due to him never being put under. I should know, I too once tried to fight it.

He finally collapsed on the table, out cold but still breathing. The elder even made sure to check his breathing.

I started by placing the tools directly into the alcohol to sterilize them. The elder looked at me in confusion, as he'd probably expected me to use the fire to clean them.

They have no Germ Theory, Scientia, you cannot fault them for not knowing microbes exist.

[Biology] and [Surgery] crackled into the night as I began to operate biological miracles on a dozen goblins, so tempted to improve these weak bodies.

I heard a chuckle or two from [Sewing] as I stitched up the wounds.

My paranoia ran high as I showed my cards, wary of information leaking out.

I tried to suppress it but my paranoia won out, causing me to secretly place biological kill switches that'll start an unstoppable cascade of massive cellular degeneration before leading to Total Organ Failure within each of the bodies I operated on in the event where I am betrayed.

Is it truly paranoia if people are out there to get you? Especially when the biggest defense you have is the fact that no one knows you exist...

For now, my mind whispered.

Yes, that eventuality. Perhaps when I'm more situated I'd be more trusting, but that is not relevant here or now.

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It was honestly quite fortunate that no wolves attacked last night. Had they done exactly that we would've been caught with our pants down. A basic damage estimate with [Mathematics] puts maybe 30% of the village wiped out before Rimuru takes out all of them.

It took the whole night, but I healed whatever injuries these goblins sustained and even improved those that volunteered.

The volunteers gained subdermal armor made from spider silk, increased strength, hidden bone knives within the wrist area reminiscing of hidden blades from Assassin's Creed, and a redundant pseudo-spinal cord made from the flesh I harvested from the waist area.

Redundancy is key when I don't have the hyper-advanced technology [Inspired Inventor] is telling me I can build.

A particularly lucky volunteer managed to gain a sack inside their body that steadily produces a knock-out gas that can be used whenever required.

These I hereby named 'Improved Goblin'.

When I asked for more, the remaining goblins seemed to back away in fear, causing me to be confused before Rimuru asked me to complete the plans since the wolves would likely attack tonight.

Do they fear what's possible? Are they like those strict parents who'll ban their kids from ever getting tattoos?

Either way, I now stood over the map I had before the surgeries, placing a charge into [Strategy] and ideas, concepts completely foreign to me popped into my head like a dam bursting open.

I looked over my old plans for defense and saw mistakes, inefficiencies, and carelessness dotting the entire paper.

So much so that I preferred to just restart, this thing burns my eyes to look at...

13 hours, that's around the time I have left.

3 charges into [Home Defense] and another into [Traps] just made it even easier.

I felt a grin on my face, "Let the game begin."

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The first howling from the north of the village, signaling tonight is the night when they are going to attack.

I breathed out a sigh of relief, but even if they had attacked elsewhere, Rimuru, under my orders, had set up impossibly sharp and almost invisible spider threads that harden with a dip in specialized chemicals that strengthens their tensile ability.

[Vocal Recognition] combined with [Mathematics] tells me they are around 3 kilometers out and moving at speeds of 64 kilometers an hour

Two and a half minutes later, the first cries of pain are heard even from the inside of the village as traps that would make Viet-congs proud are set off one after another.

I had spent the entire day setting up primitive traps with [Home Defense], [Primitive Weapons], and [Traps], creating a zone of death that can even halt a modern American Infantry Battalion using nothing more than sticks of wood and spider silk,

If a modern army stands no chance, simple dire wolves are easily slaughtered.

Finally, after around 10 minutes of crying, we saw the survivors on top of the hill overlooking the village, most are bloodied from the trek of what was their version of Vietnam.

The wolves now numbered in the dozens, [Vocal Recognition} estimated the first howl was made with at least 300 wolves before they were massacred.

"Hmm, it seems I had underestimated the amount that would come..." turning to Rimuru, "your turn now."

The wolves seemed almost hesitant, [Psychology] whispered to me that they are afraid, scared at the fact that mere goblins were able to create such effective traps that thinned their numbers out so much, and now they're absolutely terrified at the fact a human was amongst them, crediting the traps to me.

As they rightfully should.

'Human,' the apparent leader yelled out telepathically to me and I fully take in his form.

He is much larger than my current body (I need to get a proper frame of reference because I will eventually use my height as the Unit), with a full grey fur coat and a scar on his right eye.

Man, they really are just overgrown wolves, aren't they?

'Why are you interfering in the business of monsters?'

Internally, I was happy. Glad to know I can easily be mistaken for a human! I thought giddily, "Why not?" a simple answer that seemed to anger the leader, he then rushed out towards me, mouth wide open to chomp down on my throat.

Just as planned. I smirked and begin to walk fearlessly toward the charging wolf, the goblins gasping in horror at my action.

The rays of moonlights lit up my frame ethereally, like a ghost. My unnaturally perfect albino features only exacerbated that factor.

Time for a single charge in [Acting] to take the stage.

Pulling out a knife I had made at the last second, I ran forth with elegance every step of the way, like a dancer who's masterfully refined their craft for decades, I danced around the bushes and the potholes as the distance between me and the Alpha wolf closes in.

My heart was pumping, my attention was completely focused on the wolf in front of me. Right at this instance, I could only acknowledge its existence, the rest of the forest, village, other wolves and even Rimuru melted away like snow during a thunderstorm.

'DIE HUMAN!'

He lunged at me, but unknown to him I was not just a mere human...

I am a Perfect Homunculus, a forbidden existence, a superior lifeform, Perfection manifested upon the world. I am Eternal.

So is it any wonder that my physical attributes are many times that of a human?

Using [Martial Arts], [Mathematics], and [Biology], I quickly determined the most efficient way to eliminate the opponent while also leaving the body still usable for me to tinker with later. At the last possible second, I leaped forward with my legs out, my body leaning backward like a celebrating soccer player that's just scored the winning shot, my bare legs grinding against the grassy ground trying to slow me down.

With my knife raised up, I caught the wolf by surprise and made him sail above me like a baseball thrown too high.

The raised knife gutted the wolf in one fell swoop. Utilizing his own inertia against him, a massive gash formed from the lower neck to the pelvis area. Had the knife been any duller, it would've been broken and stuck within the creature, causing unnecessary pain and suffering as it bled out and died. However, a gut feeling before the battle told me to make the sharpest knife I could with the materials available to me.

The most efficient way indeed as during the cut, I had nicked the heart area, killing him instantly.

Instant death, is the greatest mercy a reaper can give to its customer.

Intestinal tracks spilled out and blood pooled, I felt like I would've had a greater reaction concerning my first kill in this world than just apathy if my [SIlence Emotion] wasn't at 70%. They are clearly smarter than the average wolf if they can communicate with me, complex thoughts and all.

I got up, my legs were still the same ghostly albino pale. Had I been human, I don't doubt my skin would've had some serious friction burns.

My face morphed back into a superior smirk when I turned to the rest of the wolf, throwing my left arm to the side in a wide gesture, I gave them an ultimatum.

"All of you, I know you can understand me. My name is Scientia Tempest and I am the architect of your fall! The engineer of your casket! I designed all those traps you ran through that mercilessly killed off your brothers, sisters, and packmates in general." I let that sink in for a moment as I connect my eyes with Rimuru off to the forest left of me, ready to jump in in the event of my plan's failure. He then zipped out and began to eat the cooling carcass. Returning the hand and placing it above my chest, I continued, "But I am not as so heartless and cruel as to genocide an entire species (not that you would know what that means), so instead I will give you a choice-"

I raised the other arm towards them, fingers stretched outwards.

-submit or perish."

Before hooking the fingers inward.

[Acting] directing every move I make, making suggestions as I win hearts and minds, the last part reminded me of this one comic I read once when I was an older teen.

Both of the arms then are swung to the sides, emphasizing myself within their eyes, my head raised high.

"If you submit, I can assure you that I will be far kinder than your old leader is, the massacre of your brethren today will not have happened had I been in charge! You will be properly fed, housed, and treated fairly under my rule. So, what say you? SUBMIT OR PERISH?!" I ended up bringing my arms in.

I cannot afford guerilla warfare in my backyard in the same way the US didn't want communism in Cuba. The hampering on potential trade in addition to other factors [Psychology] suggested is just way too high, and with a forest that's the size of a country, ain't no way am I going to allow them to roam freely. Especially now that Rimuru had, albeit reluctantly, set up steel webs that ensure they cannot escape in the event that they decided to perish. Make peace not war, he repeated until I convinced him to plan for the long term.

Morphing into the old pack leader, Rimuru repeated my words, though this time with a roar and telepathically. 'SUBMIT OR PERISH!'

I frowned upon seeing them inching closer and closer, [Psychology] completely silent on the matter. I have a feeling that it's as confused about the unfolding situation as I am.

'SUBMIT OR PERISH!'

They walked forward.

What? What are they doing? I wondered, are they choosing death?

I raised a hand to the height of my face, Rimuru's eyes widen at the gesture and grew increasingly nervous. The man seemed to be unused to massacres. Understandable, as he's probably only seen massacres through RTS Games.

Just as I was about to bring the hand down, both literally and metaphorically on their life, they stopped, and began to bow, showing reverence more to Rimuru than me. It made sense since Rimuru is their old leader.

I'll need to place more into [Psychology] in the future.

'We submit to your rule, oh great leader.' the one with a star-like feature upon his face said.

"Huh..." I said, disregarding the fact [Acting] is berating me for breaking the carefully crafted mask of superiority. "Well, I guess wolves are different huh?"

My normal, unnaturally smooth voice caused the wolf with the star-like fur on its face to look at me oddly before continuing his bowing, the goblins cheered loud enough that I can easily hear them way out here, at the base of the hill.

"All's well that ends well," Rimuru said, summing up the day.

I yawned, huh it seemed like I'm going to need some sleep now.

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