8 7th Move | Tinkertech

"I... Uh..." Rimuru stuttered for a while as the atmosphere grew increasingly uncomfortable for both parties. The dwarven guard stared at the slime with expectations unmet, waiting for Rimuru's answer.

Just when it looked like things were about to go south, however...

"Hey!"

Another buff dwarf with horns on their helmet quickly barreled into the hallway and let out a loud smack on the back of the guard currently questioning Rimuru's head, causing the one who got smacked to glare at the new guard while softly nursing his wound.

"Captain Kaidou what was that for?!" He yelped.

Kaidou then place his left arm over the shoulder of the questioning guard, taking control. The new dwarf then forced the guard to come with Kaidou until both are further down the hall.

"Listen, newbie, I like you, so as your senior Imma give you some advice; here in Dwargon, we NEVER ask why a monster was named or who named them. If you do, they can get aggressive real quick and things can get ugly real fast from there. Do you know the Mikal War? That started because of an incident involving a Demon Lord's subordinate that got out of control."

The guard nodded, realization dawned upon his eyes as his mind connected the dots. He then slowly turned his head to look at Rimuru as though the slime was a monster in a horror movie. Looking over his shoulder, the guard saw the slime waving at him, letting out an "eep!" before whipping back around to face Kaidou.

"Can a slime really do that?" He desperately whispered. He got this job to serve under the Hero King Gazel because he, like many other dwarves, wanted to be useful to the King. He doesn't want to unintentionally start a war that the Hero King doesn't want!

"Newbie, any named monster is far more dangerous than their unnamed counterpart. A slime that's intelligent enough to communicate with us? That's extra dangerous," Kaidou stated as his junior gulped, "now watch, listen, and learn how I defuse this situation before they go rampaging again."

Turning around with a full 180 on his demeanor, with a bright smile on his face, Kaidou now looked and acted like a completely different person. Taking small steps into the open cell and crouching down right in front of the slime form of Rimuru, "Valued Merchant, I am to understand you wish to sell your wares. May I ask what type of wares are they?"

Even if Kaidou's men had already searched everything and knows they are selling 'fine swords' (he really doubt it was any better than dwarven-made). Kaidou learned long ago that it was far better to let a named monster feel superior and move on with its life.

"Well, we are selling some swords... but we're mainly hoping to get some beginner's magic guide or some magic tomes if possible."

A familiar perhaps? Wondered Kaidou after listening to Rimuru's words, but a slime as a familiar... and so intelligent to boot. In general, like pets it was better for a mage or a Demon Lord to have less intelligent familiars since the chance of said familiar rebelling is extremely low.

"Well, since I am almost off-duty, I'll show you to the best blacksmith in the city, he'll definitely give you a price none others can match. Afterward, we'll hit the best magic shop in town and end the day off with some drinks in some elven hostess bar, eh~?"

Rimuru blushed when he heard elves. No, he does not have a fetish about elves, absolutely not.

While all of this was happening, the Junior guard is looking at the situation with wide disbelieving eyes. The dwarf has never seen Captain Kaidou act like this before.

Getting up from his crouching position, Kaidou walked out of the cell and waited by the door, "Well let's go then, Mr. Slime and Mr. Gobta. After all, as you merchants like to say: 'time is money.'"

_____________________________________________

Later in the day.

It was only after they went out of the cell that Rimuru realized they had spent the entirety of last night being jailed, and they had wasted an entire night.

As apologies, Kaidou helped Rimuru and the hobgoblins acquire a fine tavern where they can stay for the rest of their time in Dwargon. The dwarf even forked over some coins that covered the gang's first night.

Then, Kaidou asked Rimuru if he could see the sword, and maybe appraise it for its worth.

Rimuru thought about it for a few moments before agreeing. The dwarf has been rather good to him, so it's only natural for the slime to return the gesture.

Unsheathing a small part of the blade and merely giving it a superficial glance, Kaidou could tell that they were good. Very good. Whoever made it must be a master blacksmith.

The gears inside Kaidou's head began to turn as he sheathed the sword. That sword was easily in the Rare-grade, maybe even Unique-grade if he push it. Dwargon is known throughout the world as a nation that practices free trade, and as such merchants serve as one of the main political classes within the country. They're also some of the richest.

If he could somehow forge a connection with the slime, he could serve as an in-between for this master blacksmith and Dwargon, a liaison of sorts. He could quit his job as a Guard Captain and retire much earlier!

After forming the basics of his plan, the dwarf set out to complete the first step: getting into the good side of the slime.

"Rimuru was it?"

"Yep," the blue slime ball nodded eagerly, his voice sounding a bit distorted as he ate the sheathed sword.

Kaidou was temporarily stunned at how a Monster was eating a sword that was longer that the slime's body before shaking his head and just accepting it.

"Right anyway, how about this, tomorrow I'll introduce you to the best blacksmith I know. He'll give you a fair price for your wares eh?"

"Really?!" Rimuru said excitedly.

"Yep, but, you, uh, since it's so late, you wanna come to this elven hostess bar to spend the night?"

"Um..."

The slime just needed a bit of a push, "let me tell ya, this hostess bar is actually ancient! Apparently, it was opened by an Otherworlder decades ago and is currently run by their descendants."

"'Otherworlders'?" Rimuru perked up at the unfamiliar term.

"Oh yeah, they used to be a thing before the Western Holy Church banned their summoning. Anyway, the hostess club is this place where—"

"Look, I know what a hostess club is!"

You know that but you don't know what the Western Holy Church is? Kaidou wanted to say but held his tongue.

"... And well... since you insist, I guess I'll go to this... elven~ hostess~ club~!" Somehow, the slime had this dreamy look on his face, which must be something out of the ordinary if the look that the hobgoblin is giving his slimy companion is any indication.

The place was called 'Butterflies of the Night'. Surprisingly to Rimuru, that wasn't the name of a brothel.

Once the door opened, a dozen elvish girls with long pointed ears greeted Rimuru, Gobta, and Kaidou.

"Welcome, master Kaidou."

Rimuru's eyes drank in the sight. The elves were all wearing clothing that barely covered anything, with all of them possessing varying hair and skin colors and pieces of jewelry. They were presented like ice cream flavors, with each girl catering to a specific taste.

"Am I in heaven?" Rimuru wondered out loud.

Kaidou laughed out loud, "ha, that's what I thought when I first came here."

Before anyone could say anything, one of the blonde elves with generous assets came forward and embraced Rimuru in his slime form.

"So who's this cutie, hmm?"

"Ah..." Words failed to manifest.

If Rimuru were still human, a very important thing would be rising.

"A very important person. First round's on me!"

"Ahhhh..."

Eventually, Rimuru found himself on the lap of a very pretty elven lady whose sitting alongside Kaidou and Gobta in one of those closed-off boxes. The dwarf and the hobgoblin were all having an excellent time as the elves shamelessly flirted with them, getting them to buy one drink after another.

If Scientia were here, the Perfect Homunculus would be both disgusted and impressed at the lengths people are willing to earn money. The business side of her would be impressed at the system of wealth extraction present within the hostess clubs while her ethics-orientated human side would be disgusted at the lack of dignity.

Since the slime couldn't actually taste the alcohol or even get drunk, he ordered far less than his companions.

"Hey, Mr. Rimuru was it?" One of the dark-skinned elves called out, catching the slime's attention with ease. "Would you like to try something... special?"

With the way that she said it, and the way she was moving her hand, Rimuru shivered as he began to imagine all sorts of stuff.

His mind was going blank as his imagination went wild. Lots of lewd noises were certainly involved.

"So, are you ready?" The dark-skinned elf now held a small crystal ball in her hands, having just returned from a retrieval mission.

"Uh—... huh..." The slime nodded. His disappointment was easily masked by his physiology as a slime. "Does that actually work?"

During a company vacation to America, Satoru Mikami was dragged by his coworkers to see a psychic. It was... not an enjoyable session. It was almost boring in fact.

"Yep! Here, I'll check who you're destined to be with."

The elf then placed the crystal ball on her lap, then she started doing all sorts of things with her hands that give the appearance that something magical was happening.

"And... I see no one."

"UH!" The slime recoiled as if he was shot.

"Just kidding! Hehe!" The elf said playfully, before seeing the face that Rimuru was giving her, "oh alright, I'll do it for real this time!"

Some more weird hand gestures later, and the dark-skinned elf was now staring at the crystal ball with an abnormal look of pure seriousness.

"I see... I see a woman of time standing in the middle of a field of broken iron... I see a woman who's lived too long directing a massive stage where all have a role... I see an ever-marching woman turning back because of a single mistake—"

"Okay, I think there's enough weird future prophecy shit for tonight." Kaidou interrupted.

The rest of the night went quickly, with plenty more booze and snacks before Rimuru was forced to carry Gobta's completely wasted ass back to the tavern.

The next morning, Kaidou went and got Rimuru. Then, the trio headed toward the blacksmith

"Yo, Kaijin!" Kaidou yelled out when they entered a rather small blacksmith's shop and saw a grumpy dwarf wearing a purple long shirt hammering away at a piece of orange-hot metal angrily.

Turning to face the newcomer, Kaijin looked oddly at Rimuru and Gobta before Kaidou pulled him in for a private talk.

"Help me out here brother, we got some named monsters trying to sell what the people at the guardhouse are saying 'really fine swords'," he then used his finger to slowly tap his chest, "now I know the boys under me are green as all hell when it comes to sword appraising and all, but they are still dwarves. What's more, I saw the swords and saw just how good they are. How about you check out some masterpieces and stop being so angry at being discharged from the Engineering Corp? It's been months already."

Kaijin closed his eyes and dropped the hammer. Then, he dumped the hot metal into a bucket of water. The sound of sizzling, water being superheated into steam, populated the entire workshop, dominating everything and becoming the center of attention as the blacksmith dwarf thought to himself for a brief moment.

Turning around, Kaijin looked at the slime with a dismissive eye before Rimuru spoke up, "Well there Sir Blacksmith, here are our wares we are hoping we'd get a fair deal on."

Chuckling at Rimuru's mannerisms, Kaijin then asked, "is this your first time selling, Slime?"

"My name is Rimuru and I'm not a bad slime! blup~"

"Wha-"

"Nothing! absolutely nothing!" Rimuru insisted as he motioned Gobta to place the swords on the table.

Opening the cloth covering revealed several sheathed blades with boring designs on the handle and guards, causing Kaijin to sigh internally in disappointment. Within the trade of blacksmithing, there is an unwritten rule where the handle and the guard showed just how much effort went into the creation of the sword.

Good swords have good handguards, handles, and pommels.

So boring, he thought dismissively, internally reminding himself to tell his brother to get his boys' eyes checked because there's no way swords that are as boring as these could possibly be masterpieces—

"—!"

The contemptuous thought halted itself when Kaijin partially pulled out the sword from its sheath.

Dimension-wise, the sword was your average one-handed bastard sword. The blade itself was just as boring as its crossguard, but...

Kaijin's jaws dropped at the sight. The blacksmith could easily see this sword as a national treasure belonging to King Gazel or hidden within the deepest vault of a Demon Lord.

The metal... there's no magic. This sword possessed no magic. No magic went into the making of this sword! It's just normal metal! No magisteel or any other fancy metal adventurers like to use! Every fiber in Kaijin's body screamed to him about the impossibility of the thing that was in front of him. His mind desperately tried to come up with a solution— an explanation— an answer for the question that was within his hand.

"There's no magic..." he said quietly, his tone wouldn't look out of place coming out of a cultist having a divine revelation. "ha... Ha... Haha..."

This thing in front of him! Holding the sword up to the light coming from the furnace, Kaijin saw how the dull grey was pierced by smokey ripples of red, rolling waves of crimson, it was as if blood went into the making of the sword.

Kaijin quickly realized he had no idea how to recreate the ripples without the use of magic.

The dwarven blacksmith then began to subconsciously step back in shock and awe while still gripping the sword so tightly that his knuckles went white. It was as if dropping it would mean this miracle, this sword that should not exist, this... this... this DIVINE, magic-less artifact that looked like a God had made it, would disappear forever.

Kaijin then flattened the blade against his field of view. He saw how the edge, the cutting edge of the blade was so sharp his eyes were unable to focus on it.

"Haha, haha haha." tears began to form in his eyes from the sheer BEAUTY radiating from this sword in his hands.

Once his back had touched the wall, he fully unsheathed it and saw Perfection in the shape of a blade. It was as if he was holding a piece of blacksmith heaven. Such a masterpiece—!

Kaidou was creeped out with how his brother was acting, placing a hand on Kaijin's trembling shoulder, "Um... I know it's a good sword and all—"

"'Good sword'? GOOD SWORD!?" Kaijin whipped around and out of Kaidou's grasp. The Guard Captain had to take a step back as spit flew out of Kaijin's mouth, his eyes looked crazed.

Kaijin then held the sword up high, "THIS is perfection manifested upon this ugly world! A sword crafted without the aid of any magic! The finest sword I've ever seen! Who else but a GOD could have made it?"

Kaijin then brought the sword down to emphasize a point.

"Look at the flat edge of the blade," the dwarf then pointed at the ripples, his finger tracing across the smooth metal like a skater dancing across the ice ring, "do you see these red ripple patterns everywhere on the blade that removes the usual dull greyness of normality? I don't even know how to make this without magic! And the edge...ooooh where do I get started on the edge?"

He kissed the flat edge of the blade like how a mother would kiss their firstborn. "The edge is so sharp that it comes in and out of focus. I can barely achieve the same result with the aid of magic but to achieve the same thing with ZERO magical input? Utterly unthinkable! Yet the proof is right in front of me that I simply must accept! I MUST! To do otherwise would mean to disrespect whoever made this!"

Kaijin now looked like a religious man given a divine vision, proof of his god being real, and his faith rewarded. The blacksmith then brought the sword up—

"Whoa, Kaijin, stop!"

—Before drawing back and swinging the blade right through a table. Due to how much force was put into the sword, Kaijin lost control and it slipped from his hands like a half-melted ice cube. The tinkertech blade effortlessly sunk into the ground thanks to its sharpness, and would've continued had the crossguard not stopped it.

"HAHA! Indeed! My life is complete now that I've seen this!" Kaijin screamed as he tried to pull out the blade from the ground. His brother looked on in shock at the sight of the normally prudent old man losing control over himself about some admittedly fine swords.

Wasn't he here to sell them? At least, put a price on them.

"...Well, brother that's nice and all but how much would you pay for these?"

"Pay!?" Spits went flying out of Kaijin's mouth, "I would pay anything! Do you want anything in the shop? Take it! You can even have the entire shop and everything in it if it means I can keep this sword!"

Rimuru felt incredibly uncomfortable at how willing the dwarves are to give away his life's work for some swords, his respect, and his mental image of strong dwarves working away at the metal to create masterpieces burned away like paper in an inferno of fire.

*Thud!*

Kaijin's forehead slammed into the floor as he prostrated in front of Rimuru.

"Brother, what are you doing!?" Kaidou asked worriedly.

"Please! You have opened my eyes to what is possible. Take me on as an apprentice, I know I am not worthy but I promise— I swear upon my honor as the best blacksmith in the Armed Nation of Dwargon that I will succeed in recreating this piece of divine construct!"

Awkwardness caused Gobta and Rimuru to shift in their place as they thought of a way of saying they weren't the ones who made this. Rimuru turned towards his hobgoblin companion before turning back to look at the prostrating dwarf.

Eventually, Rimuru decided to be the bigger man and replied to Kaijin, "Look, mister Kaijin, we aren't the ones who made these."

Looking up from the dent he made on the floor with a bleeding forehead, Kaijin looked disappointed before the realized that if they have this sword, it must mean they knew where they could get more of it.

"O-oh... Then... Is it possible for you to take me to the person who did make these? And would they take me on as an apprentice?" Kaijin asked desperately, not wanting perfection to slip by him before he slammed his head dramatically into the floor once more, "PLEASE! TAKE ME ON AS AN APPRENTICE I BEG OF YOUUUUU!"

_____________________________________________

"—Which lead to the situation right now..." Rimuru trailed off as I looked on with twitching eyebrows, completely unbelieving at the turn of events.

It took me several seconds, but I finally moved and took in a deep breath.

"Let me get this straight..." Placing the emptied cup of tea down onto the table, the octopus hat I'm wearing began to move like another pair of arms and massaged my back as I tried to understand what had happened.

"You," one of the tentacles pointed at Rimuru, "was framed by this... this..." The only thing that resembled what Rimuru had described would be the Ku Klux Klan but even at their biggest during the Second Klan, they didn't have apparently enough political power to be granted diplomatic immunity.

"... fanatical, specist Church hell-bent on the discrimination and extermination of monsters. Then was released free of charge thanks to his brother," another pointed at Kaijin "Your brother then made sure Rimuru have a good time before introducing you as the 'best blacksmith in the city', because of course there would be a conflict of interest after seeing my swords. This is a medieval Tolkien-ish world, nepotism must be everywhere," a second tentacle pointed at Kaijin, "Now after seeing my miracles of technology, you, with permission from your King, want to become my apprentice."

The three dwarves nodded and confirmed my suspicion.

"...All three of you want to become my apprentice..."

The three dwarves nodded even fiercer until the one named Myrd spoke up, "well we have a fourth member that's current in the carriage."

That does not make your case any better! I wanted to say but held my tongue.

Kaijin then pulled out a small bag heavy with coins, "upon seeing your work, King Gazel was so impressed that he offered to pay you 10 Stellar Gold Coins if you accepted us as your apprentices."

Damn it. Socially speaking, what Kaidou did with Rimuru is the equivalent of me giving some expensive gift to my boss' child for Christmas. Afterward, my boss would be socially obligated to 'return the favor' so to speak. I admit, I don't like such tactics since it's like bribery but more subtle, but I can't say it's not effective.

However, if I do take them, my attention will be split between building the nation and teaching them.

Thumbing the bridge of my nose and wrinkling my perfectly smooth face, I began to think of a way out of this mess that wouldn't result in me looking bad.

God damn it Rimuru you can't just take pity on someone and accept whatever they requested. If I was the same as him I'd never have been able to earn a six-figure salary that become seven thanks to year-end bonuses if I just helped whoever I felt pity on in my first life!

"Did you at least get me the magi-"

Wait a minute. A sudden realization caused all other thoughts to cease to exist.

[Silenced Emotion: 60%]

"You revealed my existence to an outside party," I said coldly.

A haunting glare upon my face, my unnatural voice only emphasizing that factor.

"...Uh oh." Rimuru just realized he had messed up, probably recalling how I specifically told him to avoid mentioning me since the best defense I have right now is that nobody knows I exist.

"'Uh oh' indeed," Turning to the dwarves, part of me was actually happy that Rimuru revealed me since now I won't look bad if I reject the dwarves, "if I am to become your master then you need to prove yourself worthy of being my apprentice," I said while taking the bag of coins.

Despite how heavy it is, I lifted it with a single hand due to my new physiology.

I opened the bag and took out a single coin.

The most striking thing about the coin is that it's got a red center around a white edge. Lines of crimson crawled up my right arm and hand as I peered into the Stellar Gold Coin, its entire making process revealed to me like pictures within a comic.

[Magicule] and [Metalworking] recognized and dissected the unusual process by which it was made and instilled with a compressed supply of magicules. Unsurprisingly, this metal possesses qualities that no metal should be able to have, chief among them being completely inert against oxygen, meaning that it's even less likely to rust than Titanium.

I found this out with just a preliminary glance. I bet I could find out far more if I could just get a lab set up.

Anyways, these Stellar Gold Coins mark the first supply of foreign currency. To run an economy, one would need currencies that people trust. Gold is a near-universal currency because it's rare, easy to divide, people trust it, and easy to keep, all qualities needed for money.

As of right now, I can't exactly use paper and fiat money since people don't trust them. Thus, I'll need to back them up with gold, silver, or foreign currencies like the ones I'm holding. That is until I could back up my currency with weapons and trust.

Effectively, I'm introducing the Gold Standard to this world.

I placed the coin back into the bag.

"Y...Yes indeed, you are right! We need to prove ourselves worthy of your tutorage."

I let out a smile, "Your job is thus: craft a sword that passes my requirements using whatever metal you can find. You have one year starting today."

The trio ran out the door faster than the winds, leaving me and Rimuru alone.

Hearing the door slam shut, I didn't relax until I'm sure they were gone. Sighing once more, I thought about the information given to me, especially about the church. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, hatred breed easily.

"Listen, Scientia I—"

I held a hand up to stop Rimuru from talking. "I need some fresh air. We'll talk when we come back."

I walked out of the door. However, as I do, I got the odd sense from my gut that someone is watching me.

The feeling was so strong I had to stop by the doorframe before turning around and walking back inside and grabbing a single-shot handgun. I'm going to murder whoever is spying on me.

With [Chemistry] and Workbench, I was able to synthesize a rough brand of reactive powder that possesses similar properties to gunpowder but an entirely different chemical structure. It's extremely toxic to all known forms of multicellular lifeforms, which is why I'm not going to mass produce it.

It's for private use.

The rather buff-looking gun weighs several kilograms. I motioned Rimuru to follow me before walking out through the side door. With [Acting], anyone seeing me right now would think of me as about to take a stroll, rather than me about to silence whoever is spying on me.

After taking a few steps out the door and the spies are within range, I whipped out the handgun and pulled the trigger which ignited the chemicals within the cartridge case that then propelled a metal shell—

*CRACK!*

—within the span of milliseconds, 100 grams of refined, chemically-treated metal flew at Mach 1.2 and—

*Splat*

—Killed the cloaked spy before they even knew they were spotted. [Marksman] and the gut feeling ensured I got a headshot.

They died painlessly and before they even knew it, a mercy that I wasn't granted.

"What did you do that for?!?" Rimuru screeched upon seeing the dead body.

[Silenced Emotion: 25%]

"Spies." I hissed out, lowering the handgun.

Rimuru instantly backed off, he's never heard me so pissed off before.

This deep hatred for spies was rather new, after all, it took a while for me to realize they were indirectly responsible for my death. On the day I died, I was supposed to receive a promotion. However, due to corporate espionage from a much smaller rival, an internal report about the state of the company was leaked earlier than intended, which caused our stocks to take a 2.1% plunge and forced the CEO to step down. As a result of the chaos of the fiasco, my promotion was delayed by months.

What's worse, we still didn't know who was the spy. Hell, my head was almost on the chopping block as higher-ups started a company-wide purge.

I looked at the dead spy with a passive expression. The act of killing wasn't affecting me at all, as if I had merely broken a toy instead of snuffing out a soul.

"Eat the spy, Rimuru."

"Eh—?" he seemed confused at my command.

With the gun, I flipped the spy over so their face was revealed to the world.

It's a female elf.

"They're dead, so it's not cruel to eat the body," I crossed my arms before looking back at the slime that caused all of this headache. Even if I barely need any sleep or food, my mental facilities still aren't on par as my physical ones. "from what I can tell, the Dwargon situation could've been avoided had the Western Holy Church not gotten involved, thus, it makes sense to use that [Predator] skill of yours to eat the body and take the form of an elf."

Rimuru blushed at the thought of becoming an elf, as if— do not go any further Scientia, that's already too much. I then pressured him to eat the elf, "please do not tell me you have a hatred for elves."

"W—What!?" Rimuru sputtered, "No, no, it's just that your request was so sudden that I wasn't mentally prepared!"

"Mmhmm," I stared at him with eyes half-closed in suspicion, the area already slowly filling up with people who were trying to investigate what that incredibly loud sound was.

Problematic, this will need to be covered up, which can easily be done if Rimuru would just eat the body.

"I'll distract them, afterward you eat the body," I said before turning around. Walking towards the people, I let [Acting] take over and started talking loudly in an attention-grabbing boisterous manner, "Sorry folks! I was just some contraptions of mine before everything got out of hand!"

The hobgoblins stared at the top of my head. Ah, right, I still have the M.A.N.A. on me this entire time. I used the tinkering assistant so many times the extra weight on my head didn't feel foreign anymore.

"Security!" I yelled out to a goblin officer clad in an official-looking uniform. The Factory I had planned a week ago has already begun production. Although it only has a single manufacturing line, for now, I plan on drastic expansion in the near future.

"YES, COMMANDER!" Standing instantly at attention with an arm across his chest, the hobgoblin security guard uniform consists of a light blue collared shirt, sleek black pants, synthetic leather boots, and a hat that's an echo of my military uniform's to represent that these officers are enforcers of the law, that they speak and act with my authority.

Every officer carries with them a wooden baton, nothing too special since I didn't have the time to implement anything more advanced. I'm not a god.

"Disperse the crowd," I commanded.

Saluting via crossing his arm over his chest again, "YES COMMANDER!"

I looked on as the hobgoblin guard quickly got all the normal civilians to return to what they were doing beforehand. A week ago, they were extremely green, but with Ririna training them, they somehow managed to attain a discipline found only in soldiers who had undergone a month of SEAL training.

I must admit, I'm impressed.

It was a very impressive feat that earned Ririna the title of Chief of Security within this Vill—

Can it even be called a village anymore?

I looked around as the officer began to tell the crowd to disperse, what were once houses made from sticks and straws were now made with bricks, mortars, and roof tiles that insulate heat in the winter and have a cooling effect in the summer.

If one ignores the green people, the place could almost be mistaken for a wealthy, semi-urban village in Africa.

Well, I guess the word 'village' refers to the number of inhabitants, so this would count as a village.

Looking back into the alley, I saw Rimuru have already digested the body, leaving not a trace for anyone to find.

Suddenly, his blue blob of a body started to vibrate before—

*Poof!*

An explosion of smoke. White smoke erupted from Rimuru's body, covering and hiding his form from view.

Coughing, I waved my hands to try and disperse the smoke, noting internally that the smoke probably help sell the story of how this is a chemical accident.

Once the veil of smoke have been lifted, I saw Rimuru in his doll-like elven body. He wobbled around a bit, which makes sense given he's spent the last month in the body of a slime.

Looking up and down his naked form, I noticed how, similar to me, he didn't possess any genitals or anything that would place him in any of the sexes. His ears became much longer than a human's, but still not as long as that spy's, and can probably pass off as an odd quirk of elven genetics. With long blue hair and golden eyes, the elven slime could easily charm any female colleagues of my old world. Facially though, he looked androgynous but to a lesser degree compared to me.

Rimuru gives a hint of femininity while still remaining masculine enough to be very hard to be mistaken for a female.

I envy his form a bit. I'm freakishly pretty enough to the point of being unnatural, he looked like he's just got some really good genetics.

I guess I just really want kids to not scream when they see me.

"Woah," he said as he looked at himself.

_____________________________________________

A perspective: within the story of Worm, a Tinker 6 with a specialization in bombs was able to create things like transmutation bombs, pain bombs, and black hole grenades.

That's the equivalent of 2 charges in a single area, although do be mindful that the bomb tinker had access to modern electronics.