7 6th Move | International Students

Over the next week, the goblin village changed drastically. Hobgoblin villagers turned themselves into workers that the Soviet Union would've been proud of. Well, I may have used some propaganda but that's for the purpose of keeping the workers motivated.

Anyways.

Group 1 managed to mine out a large variety of ores that [Mineral Examination] is having a field day trying to catalog it all. There were a lot that I recognize and a lot that I didn't.

Group 2 managed to forage huge varieties of berries that the other half turned into jams per my instruction, ensuring that any food made during the winter wouldn't be too stale with the condiments we currently are stocking up.

Group 3 managed to dig out the area on the third day surprisingly, guess [Human Resource] really is good at managing people huh? Afterward, I had them start to create a large warehouse with the materials I made with half a day's worth of charge into [Chemistry] and a full 5 into [Material Science]. With those two combined with [Interlocking Design], I completed the general Factory building in a day and a half.

Group 4 was the one I expected to fail to be honest. I was planning on- what was her name again? taking my eyes off the map of the surrounding area and beginning to wack my brain for answers, her name... her name was... Ri... yes, Ririna. Point is, I expected Ririna to fail, and me having to punish her to tough her up. I've met her kind before in the business world, those who are too soft and lacking in ambition to be in such a demanding corporate environment.

While nowhere as cutthroat as most works of fiction would like you to believe, to climb the corporate ladder as quickly as I have, you'd need to be hardcore and efficient.

My gut has this feeling that she will be important in the future. And instead of failing, she surprised me by managing to whip Group 4 into an elite police force capable of handling most domestic threats. Which amounted to mostly petty theft. No domestic abuses, interestingly enough.

The goblin riders were able to easily catch enough meat to ensure a balanced diet for the villagers.

The Youth League is also coming along finely, they've fortunately reported no problems on the horizon.

I sat down on an office chair I made and looked around the room. Where I'm currently residing is the new town hall building. From the outside, it looked like a really large metal cube. It's meant to represent the future I'm bringing, and to stand out from the shacks of the rest of the village, so I'd say it's working.

Then, I looked up at the ceiling, at the single bulb that was showering this room with light.

As of right now, this is the only place in the village that has an electricity generator that uses ambient magicule as fuel.

I got up from the chair, my officer uniform reforming and straightening itself out, ridding of any folds and completely removing the need for ironing. The inside of the town hall looked like one of those bunkers you'd see in WWII movies about Midway or taking back Guam, i.e. dinky, dark, and very utilitarian. [Psychology] recommended this design for better mood creation as well as culture shock, after all, every goblin that went inside had this healthy dose of fear from the unknown environment. Plus, it also fits the theme of the clothes I wore.

Walking downstairs, I saw the generators still working just as intended- and let out a sigh of relief. It was during that one week out in the cabinet that I discovered whatever I built has this tendency to break down. This 'breakdown tendency' also trended further into the more likely zone when I tried to build more complex machines with basic materials.

That was only a theory since Workbench seemingly had no issue but when I tried to build an automated sewing machine, there were issues.

In fact, it seems complexity is a major factor governing how quickly something worked as maintenance sessions on the Workbench lasted an hour for two days' worth of work

Recognizing this as a problem, I issued enough orders for the groups and secluded myself for the remainder of last week as I try to see a resolution to this problem.

The solution came when I had placed a single charge into [Longevity] and saw many, so SO many design issues with Workbench that cripples the flesh golem as time went on. Which was fixed only the day before yesterday after an intense five-hour tinkering session.

This leads me to my current problem right now; that being the Magicule-Electricity Generator that's going to break down in the next 13 hours unless I do something about it.

"Workbench, come here," I yelled out as the massive modified wolf noisily came down the stairs.

There's a reason why I left the ears in. Similar to humans, the Vestibular System, or the system that's responsible for balance is located within the inner ear of the dire wolf. With this in place, the flesh golem is far more agile and can maintain its balance better than anything Boston Dynamics had released before I reincarnated.

I've bypassed one of the main problems in modern robotics, ha! I felt a smirk grace my lips.

Inputting Dasher in the keyhole, its sides opened up to reveal a new set of metallic tools. With more ores to play with, I could finally have harder and better tools to work with, even if they're much heavier compared to their bone counterpart.

Turning off the generator, the small humming dies as it comes to a halt and the backup comes online.

It was with [Interlocking Design] combined with [Power Generation] and [Magicule] that caused me to build this electricity generator, as such the case with interlocked constructions- that being fast and cheap to build- I only have to take out a few pieces for the whole thing to collapse.

Observing the stopped machine and basking in the silence, I then reached deep into Workbench to get my tinkering assistant: Multi-Arm Neural Attachment or simply known as 'M.A.N.A.'.

Its design is similar to that of a red octopus, except this octopus has an opening at the front for viewing and a smaller ninth tendril used for the neural connection. Placing the octopus above my head like a hat, I shivered a bit as the ninth tendril brushed against the nape of my neck. Ultra-thin, almost microscopic tendrils— neural connectors— drill into the back of my neck with only a tickling sensation. If these tendrils had been any thicker I think they'd be painful.

These neural connectors will then wrap around my spine, touching upon certain nerves to better read those electric signals coming from my brain.

It's a basic, organic form of extra limbs.

Slowly, like someone reaching underneath a cabinet to search for something, I began to feel the connection to the M.A.N.A. With a single forceful thought, the tentacles of the M.A.N.A. began to move according to my will, acting as extra arms.

A minute later, the M.A.N.A.'s tentacles moved with far greater speeds than before, with the reflex almost being as good as those of my own limbs. Granted, they'll never be as reactive as my own limbs thanks to the limits within those neural connectors, but they serve well for now as extra hands.

"Now, lets-"

*Beep!*

I was interrupted when the doorbell was rung.

The edge of my mouth treaded downward into a frown. Just as I was about to work on the generator...

[Silenced Emotion: 12%]

Opening the metal shutter of the townhouse's main door, I was greeted with the sight of three old, tiny people with excitement clear in their eyes as if they were a group of priests about to meet their god. One of them was even jittering around like a schoolgirl before their first date.

It was an odd sight, for an odd bunch. My own judgment of these people will get waivered for now, as in business it's often best to have a good first impression even if it leads to nowhere.

Opening the door with one of the many tentacles, I saw Rimuru right in front of the door, "Hey, Scientia! look what I brought back..."

Rimuru's line of sight trailed upward until they ended up at something above me. Is it because of my hair?

The tiny men looked at me in awe and fear, not backing away due to their trust in Rimuru.

Seeing how all of them were in silence, I decided to start, "well Rimuru, you caught me in a bad time, I was working on the generator-"

"WHAT IS THAT!?"

I stopped in confusion, wondering what the hell the slime was talking about. Seeing his protrusion pointed at my head-

[Silenced Emotion: 45%]

Ah. I've had the M.A.N.A. for so long that it's normal for me and the hobgoblins I've interacted with, but not for other people like Rimuru who've never even seen something like this.

"Oh, you mean M.A.N.A.?"

"What?"

"Multi-Arm Neural Attachment. It's a thing I made to help me tinker to make the things you see around me," I said as I moved to the side, revealing the room to the unsuspecting guests and Rimuru. "I figure having extra arms would be extremely useful."

Many alien things assaulted the eyes of the tiny yet buff men as they dropped to their knees much to my mounting confusion and suspicion at the purpose of their visit. Not to mention a sudden discomfort coming from their kneeling. However, to Rimuru on the other hand everything must've looked like it belonged in a museum due to his modern perspective.

"Now, as I was saying, I was working on the generator in the basement when-"

"Electricty generator?"

"Yes, the electricity generator," I said a bit annoyed at the constant interruption while his 'eyes' widened, probably not expecting such a fast process in advancement from the 15th century to the 19th century, a veritable 400-year technological gap, within the span of over a single week. "It should be obvious no? How else did you think I powered those light bulbs?"

One of the M.A.N.A.'s tentacles reached out the door and pointed at one of the lights outside.

"Well... yes..." Rimuru said sheepishly, with a hint of guilt mixed in like how a person would say if their coworker did all the work in a project before they had even contributed anything.

"Come on in," I said with a small grin that caused the dwarves to blush heavily. After a month of being reborn, I was finally at least somewhat comfortable with the alienness of my voice.

Not my looks though. I still can't get used to how eerily perfect I looked, how every time I smile it felt like there was something off as if I was something else wearing the skin of a human. So much so that [Psychology] noted how I have this subconscious tendency to look away from mirrors.

The M.A.N.A on my head stretched itself out around the room, one of the tentacles reaching into a cupboard by the wall and taking out an Eastern Tea set while another brought forth tea leaves the goblins foraged from the forest that I later baked to dry them.

Walking towards the couch area, as I passed through several folded-up chairs, I— or rather, the tentacles— grabbed three chairs for the guest to sit in. No need to be rude to guests and more importantly, potential allies after all. Thanks to my new physiology, I didn't feel any additional strain on my neck when M.A.N.A. picked those up.

Reaching the long corner sofa that's sitting cozily up to the wall, the tentacles unfolded the chairs before placing them neatly facing the corner.

It must've been a rather frightening or weird sight as Rimuru and the Dwarves haven't made a single peep.

Hmph, if I showed this to any robotics engineer or geneticist in my old world they'll be begging to take a look at it. It'll take decades for neural-based prosthetics technology to even approach the level seen inside the M.A.N.A.

With one graceful movement, I slid in and sat down on the sofa. The tip of two tentacles split open like a mouth to reveal a set of four smaller tentacles which I can better manipulate things with. Using this smaller set, I started working on the tea as Rimuru sat pretty far from me while the dwarves took the hint and sat on the chairs.

My eyes discretely observed them as the tea started to boil.

They kinda look like dwarves from Tolkien novels not gonna lie. They're tense, which is a given since this must be an extremely alien place for them. It'll be like taking a Sentinelese and placing them in the middle of New York City.

There was a veil of silence that hung in the room. Seemingly no one other than I was willing to break it but I was 'busy' brewing the tea. The silence continued until the teapot whistled.

"I remember tea being an important part of East Asian culture, so I had Group 2 specifically forage for any potential tea ingredients and found three plants viable in the forest, one of which turns out to be mint of all things," I said as the tea finished. The teapot used to brew the tea was shaped in such a way as to better circulate the heat from the fire.

The tentacle poured the tea into five smaller cups as I just laid back on the couch with one leg over the other in a casual manner.

"So fast..." one of the dwarfs said while looking at it in awe. I can practically see sparkling in the eyes of the other two.

The way they're almost worshipping the teapot is... predictable. I can tell they're probably people who saw the weapons, saw how good they are and their potential, and probably used Rimuru's overtrusting nature to seek a business opportunity with me. I can respect a person using such methods, so I'll at least hear their business proposals out.

The dwarves suddenly got on their knees as I handed them the cup, their sudden movements made my hands instantly reach for where Dasher is while the tentacles coiled in front of me, creating a shield.

"PLEASE! ACCEPT US AS APPRENTICES, MASTER SCIENTIA!" They all yelled out, causing my jaw to drop.

Well, looks like I was mistaken. Slowly, the tentacles went to the edge of my line of sight while my hands moved to get one of the filled teacups.

As I do, I did a quick glance over at Rimuru, the slime looked as if he wants to disappear.

I took a sip of tea as the dwarves continued to be on their knees, having never left their position. Even without looking at them, I could feel uneasiness emanating from the dwarves as they continued to grovel, even Rimuru is looking at me to resolve the current situation.

The silence continued, and I still do not bother answering them, instead continuing to drink the tea that is in front of me.

All four fear the power of silence, not realizing it is one of the most powerful tools in negotiation. I should know, orators use silence to great effect in their speeches.

Rimuru could no longer hold it, "um, Scie—"

"I..." I finally spoke, but I didn't continue. That word was meant to tell Rimuru to stop, "...Think you should start from the beginning, Rimuru."

"Um, yeah I guess I should."

_____________________________________________

A week ago, 3rd Person POV.

"So what do you guys think of Scientia?" Rimuru asked Gobta who sitting beside the fire and eating some deer meat skewers hunted and prepared by the goblin riders.

Currently, the group had just left the village and is now sitting around a campfire for the night.

"Well, I think she's scary honestly, and her voice was so..." Gobta paused to think of a respectful word to use. Rigurd had said to never piss off these two people who could destroy the village as easily as they breathe.

So Gobta, for the first time in his life, is forced to think of a respectful word that wouldn't offend the slime but accurately describe his companion.

"so...?" Rimuru asked, trailing off.

"Her voice is just so... strange I guess." The other five goblins looked at Gobta like they wanna kill him. Clearly, they thought Gobta's words were still too disrespectful.

Thinking of a way to salvage the situation, one of the other five goblins opened his mouth-

"Phew! so I wasn't the only one who thought that her voice was creepy!?" Rimuru exclaimed. "Man I thought I was alone when I had thought her voice was just so ALIEN that—"

Coughing to himself, "Well, either way, we can all agree that Scientia has a weird voice right?"

Internally, the six goblins were glad that they didn't piss off someone as strong as Rimuru. Although between the two, they're more afraid of Scientia.

Ranga was silent on the matter due to him swearing his loyalty to his new masters, yet he can't help it but sometimes he dreams to tell her of how disrespectful reanimating his father— any packmate really— as mere storage for tools is.

Gobta and the other goblins were afraid of her for other reasons. When she had first come to the village and promised to better them if they choose, the bravest among the goblins said yes and became monsters. Abominations that can't be called a 'goblin' or a 'hobgoblin' anymore.

Thankfully the evolutionary process into Hobgoblins seemed to get rid of her 'upgrades' as the Improved Goblins had reverted to normal hobgoblins.

After that, the elder— Rigurd— secretly forbids anyone from volunteering and kept an extra eye out for Scientia. He reasons that a flesh-sculpting witch like her could easily warp and reshape them all into horrific abominations of myth and horror and Rimuru seemed to be the only one capable of stopping her from going too far. Thus, the most optimal thing to do is to garner the favor of Rimuru.

So became Gobta's secret mission, unknown to the other five, which was to become friends with their new friendly Overlord. And the only way that Gobta knows how to make friends is through common interests.

"Yes indeed, Lord Rimuru, Scientia does have a voice that sounds pretty unnatural to me, it's like it's been altered by a wind spell," Gobta reported his thinking, causing the other five to further harden their glare.

"Hmm... wind spells that alter someone's voice? That's new." Rimuru said to himself quietly, "What other things do you guys find weird about Scientia?"

She is scary. She plays with flesh as a child plays with clay. Even in a village as remote as the one that Gobta lived in, Fleshcrafting is still known rather infamously as a very dark field of magical study. More so than even Necromancy.

No, no, but he can't say that now can he? That could easily be seen as an insult, even more than calling Scientia 'weird'.

"Um..." One of the other 5 chimed in, "Scientia...is flat?"

"..."

"..."

"... Well I guess Scientia is flat."

"Is she really 'she' though? Like from certain angles Scientia almost looks like a 'he'." Gobta's beginning to ask the really important questions.

"Well..." Rimuru paused for a moment before stating, "Did you guys know that Scientia is of neither gender?"

What the slime had said shocked them all.

"No way."

"That's impossible."

"It's true! she's like a doll or, I guess the more accurate answer would be a mannequin."

"What's a mannequin?"

The slime was stumped before realizing in retrospect, it made sense they wouldn't know what they are since they'd never even been inside a city.

"Well, a mannequin is..." Rimuru thought of a way to explain to these primitives what a mannequin is,

[An oftentimes humanoid doll used for clothing purposes]

[Great Sage] helpfully said.

"A humanoid doll that's modeled after a human."

"..."

Gobta is soaking in this new information on their new Lady who is actually neither a Lady nor a Lord like a dry sponge to water. The hobgoblin doesn't question it further despite the logical incoherency, merely imagining how he'll need to report this to the elder after he returns.

Rimuru yawned, "It's getting late, we've got a long journey ahead of us guys, so let's rest early tonight." He said as he lay down to sleep, with the other six goblins scrambling to their simple beds composed solely of straws.

It wasn't until the end of the day after tomorrow that the group had reached Dwargon, a white castle built into the confines of a mountain so tall it touches the clouds themselves.

Beyond that, there was a long line of people waiting for entry into the country.

"Well, that's not something you see every day, can't wait to see some elves- I mean magicians," Rimuru stated as they got in line. The sun was already setting and it looked like they were going to have to camp for the night before they managed to get inside and sell the swords for magical guides Scientia had requested.

Just as they were setting up camp for the night with Gobta waiting in line in a rotating shift, Rimuru and the gang heard a commotion from the small goblin's direction and went to check it out.

"Hey! What's going on here?" Rimuru exclaimed when he saw the scene

Said scene was a gang of humans (more like drunken boys to Rimuru's perspective) laughing and beating down on Gobta while the others in line just gave them space and watched. Rimuru, alarmed, charged in by shooting out a geyser of water that slammed the boys off of Gobta while splashing other people closest to the beating.

Budding in so that the slime would be between the fallen men and the hobgoblin, "Why were you all beating him?!" Rimuru hissed.

"Oh, what's this? Are you goblins so low as to listen to a pathetic slime?" The leader of the group sneered at them in further disgust as he got up. "Ha! And here I thought you monsters couldn't be any lower!"

"Gobta, are you alright?" Rimuru turned to the side, this way he can see both the drunks and Gobta at the same time.

"Y-yes Lord Rimuru..." He stood up, bloodied but fortunately, Rimuru could spot no broken bones. However, the small Hobgoblin suddenly collapsed from pain, "Owwww..."

"Gobta was there any part of the Consitution of the Jura Tempest Republic or the Charter about what happens when an assault by foreigners occurs?"

Had this been when Rimuru had just reincarnated, he probably would've jumped in and attacked without a second thought. But after seeing how angry Scientia got at him for revealing something personal about her, the slime knew he should be more responsible.

Now, to avoid a potential future international incident with the President of a budding nation illegally beating someone...

"Um..." Gobta racked his brain for answers but the pain is seriously clouding his memories, "I don't remember much, BUT, I recall that the Charter of Rights and Freedom states that Article 3, section beta, subsection 3, point A, line 1-4 which reads 'Any citizen of the Jura Tempest Republic found to be a victim of an unprovoked attack (See the Article 18, section alpha, subsection 2, line 44-45 for details of what constitute under the term of 'Unprovoked Attack') shall have the rights to use psychological counteroffensive such as: scaring the opponent and others of a psychological nature, and physical/magical counteroffensive are only acceptable when no other options (including fleeing, blocking, restraining, and teleporting) are available."

Rimuru stopped to look confidently at Gobta before turning to face the impatient drunks.

"'Psychological nature' huh?"

Next, the slime activated [Intimidate], the same ability he used to aid Scientia in pacifying the direwolves.

Immediately, Rimuru's body changed to that of a dire wolf and let out a roar that caused everyone in line to flee in terror.

This also meant the group of thug's bravado evaporated like water on a hot sunny day and ran away as fast as their legs could carry them.

"Hey hey! Who's causing all these commotions huh?" A rather buff guard came out to check up on the situation, causing Rimuru to revert to his old form.

"Officer—" Rimuru moved to talk but was interrupted.

"THESE MONSTERS WERE JUST ABOUT TO ATTACK US!" A man in a priest's garb who was in front of them screamed, despite being completely untrue.

"What?"

"Yeah! take these monsters away, they're a menace to human society!" The companion to the priest yelled out. "They are a danger to us all! Only God Luminous can protect us all!"

The Officer paused before taking in a deep breath. His eyes spoke of immense frustration, and the way he talked next was filled with loathing, "Ooooh, boy."

_____________________________________________

The door to the hallway which connected to Rimuru's cells lit up with artificial lights as multiple dwarven guards walked in.

The lead guard began, "So, we checked out with other guests and it turns out the priests were just lying—"

"Pfft, of course, those zealots from the Western Holy Church would try and pin whatever blame on monsters." Another guard said as the first one opened the door to Rimuru's cell. "And we can't do jack because King Gazel granted them diplomatic immunity to all but the most heinous of crimes, and framing innocents apparently doesn't fall into that category."

As Rimuru went out of the cell, he can't help but recognize the discrimination and prejudice this 'Western Holy Church' seemed to harbor against the monster races.

"Who are the Western Holy Church?" The slime had to ask. Being in the middle of a remote village, Rimuru felt like he heard that name from somewhere, but can't exactly put his fingers on it.

"How..." the second guard seemed to be surprised at the fact that Rimuru doesn't know despite being an intelligent beast, "Well the Luminous Faith is the most widespread religion in the West. They worship God Luminous as the one true God and monsters as devils that will go on rampages as Relentless did 400 years ago eventually. Buncha pointless zealots I tell ya, if the monsters were just as they said in their religious books, we'd all be dead already with how long the Demon Lords have reigned. I mean, hell, they've existed alongside written history!"

How... interesting, so this is the classic church of evil he saw in those JPRGs the slime would play when he was the man known as Satoru Mikami? Rimuru thought back to his first life and felt a hint of nostalgia. Fortunately for Rimuru, had he been human he'd be experiencing a massive case of homesickness.

Then a third dwarven guard budded in, "Bah, we're only surviving because of True Heroes like Granbell Rosso or the Great Hero of Time. Well before the latter disappeared mysteriously anyways."

"—!" However, that feeling of nostalgia was dashed when a specific part registered "Demon Lord...?"

The guard now looked at the slime in front of him with serious concern in his eyes, "Where ya from, Slime?"

"The Great Jura Forest," Rimuru recalled how Scientia specifically said not to invoke his status as a President-to-be. She said how the Republic isn't strong enough to reveal itself to the rest of the world yet.

"Well, I guess the Great Jura Forest is rather remote..." understanding dawned upon the dwarf's face, "alright, I'll explain the just of things, if you want to know more, go ask someone else. The Ten Great Demon Lords are this group of scarily powerful monsters that usually represent the best in their race. However, there are some self-proclaimed Demon Lords here and there but those all usually die within a month or so. In the past, there used to be dozens upon dozens of Demon Lords, but after the civil war that happened almost 450 years ago, it consolated into the present ten." He said casually as if he were speaking to Rimuru about the weather.

So casual! To someone coming from a modern perspective, all of these sounded like fantasy jargon, but to these people, it's their everyday life. To them, talking about Demon Lords is the same as Satoru Mikami talking about NATO.

Turning around, the slime then softly slapped Gobta awake, "Let's go Gobta! We need to sell our wears before heading back and have Scientia heal you."

"Now just wait a minute.."

Rimuru then turned to the guard who had this extremely suspicious look on his face, "What's your name, Slime? and don't lie to me that hobgoblin over there has one then it means you must have one too."

"Uhhhhh...."

_____________________________________________

[Timelessness]- As the most perfect existence in this world, time should not have any effect on it, and it shall never have any effect upon a Perfect Homunculus. A Perfect Homunculus is eternal and unchanging.