Chapter 12

It has been a couple of days now and things are looking a lot better now in the village. Rimuru named the new goblins that joined us and had to enter rest mode and then it took a few more days for him to get back up. While he was resting, I had to take up the mantle of leader and it was alright.

Most of the job for now was just making sure things ran smoothly. There wasn't a need to make any important decisions. For now at least. The village was still in a state of "survival", but it was rapidly getting better. The only thing we needed was time. 

Right now I was just walking around when I saw Rimuru bouncing towards me. He was going kind of fast like he was excited to tell me something.

"Hey, Artoria! I gotta talk to you about something!" 

"What is it RImuru?"

"So, I was talking to Kaijin about the village, and at the end of our conversation, he asked for two chunks of magisteel. I gave them to him and I asked him what they were for. He said that he was making some weapons you designed, and you can imagine my shock when I was what they were. I only have on question. Are you serious?"

"Well Rimuru, if you're thinking about mass-producing them and arming some kind of force with it, then no, I'm not serious about that and you shouldn't be either. They're just something personal for me to have fun with. Do you really think they are truly effective when there are many abilities and natural defenses that make them easily ineffective in most combat scenarios?"

"Oh. I guess you're right about that. I was surprised since I never expected to see something like that in this kind of world."

"Actually, now that you're here I need to tell you something. I'll be leaving this village for a bit. I don't know how long, but if all goes well, which it most likely won't, I'll be gone for a few days, but if I'm being realistic, it will probably take a few weeks. I'm just giving you a head up."

"What you're leaving?!"

"Yes, that's what I just said."

"But why? You're a very important person here, being gone for a few weeks will probably bring the mood down or something."

"Relax Rimuru, you don't have to worry about that. The villagers are a tough bunch, they will only start to worry if both of us are gone. You should have more confidence in yourself. As a leader of the village, the way you present yourself is like a reflection of the state of the village."

"I'll keep that in mind, that sounds important. So when are you going to leave?"

"I'm going to leave tomorrow. You don't have to make a big deal about it, just say I'll be back and it'll be fine."

"Why are you leaving in the first place?"

"Well, something big is going to happen soon. So I'm going to try to make the situation more easier to handle."

"What are you talking about? Do we have to worry about it?"

"On an individual level? No. But on village village-wide level, I would be cautious and do some preparations. Don't worry too much about it at the moment though. There's still plenty of time, but if things go right on my little trip, our village will be getting some new strong residents."

"So what, you're going to recruit some more goblins or something?"

"I don't mean any disrespect to goblins, but it's going to be way better than that. Trust me. Anyway, I'll be around. If you need help or anything like that tell me now before I leave."

"Ok, will do."

After our conversation, I prepared to leave. Not that I had to do much. I don't really need many of the essentials someone traveling alone does. The hardest part will be finding my way, but even then it will be easy.

/\\//\\//\

(Next Day)

I'm at the entrance of the village. It's just me and RImuru. I didn't want to make a big deal out of me leaving, so I'm trying to be as subtle as possible about it. 

"Alright RImuru, I'll try to be as fast as I can, but like I said, don't count on it"

"Yeah I know. Be safe out there."

"I'll be going then. See ya."

I turned and started running through the forest rapidly leaving the village behind. I'm looking for one of two things. A massive gathering of an orc army a few thousand strong, or a smaller gathering of a few hundred ogre villagers that are also warriors. Either way, finding one will lead me to the other no matter what. 

The easiest method would be to find the orc army and simply go in the direction they're headed since they're headed to the ogre village to kill them and eat the bodies to get stronger. 

Yeah, I'll do that. There is no need to make things more difficult than necessary. They won't even be able to detect me. I need to spread my senses and head towards the largest group of living beings.

I keep running while trying to locate the orc army. It took a few minutes, but I eventually picked up a lot of targets. Individually they don't have that much magicules, but I'm only looking for numbers, not magicules.

They were a good amount of distance from me to them and if comparing relative to the village then it's far. It's a good thing I'm on my own for this one so I can really move as fast as I need without worrying about others. 

I picked up my speed and went in their direction. No matter how fast I go the feeling never gets old. That sort of adrenaline rush I feel when going this fast is exciting. 

It's better if I don't get too caught up in that feeling at this moment though. I'm getting closer to the orcs.

As I get closer, I made sure to suppress my aura as much as I can. To be extra safe I enter my spirit form to turn invisible and intangible so I don't accidentally break a twig or something.

As I got closer, I could hear the heavy footsteps they were making in unison as well the the noise of the armor they had on. I went up towards a tree to get higher ground and I could finally see the army or at least a portion of it.

They were all marching together and mumbling about their hunger over and over again. If I had to say something positive about them, it would be that they have good organization to keep them like this even if it's only due to the orc lord's skill. 

Well, that's enough looking. Now that I know the direction they are headed, I just have to go in that direction as well. I'd rather not stick around for any longer than necessary. If I'm going to get the ogres to move to our village I'll need time to try to negotiate with them as have them move on their own. Will it work? Most likely not, but it's worth a try. They'll think they can fight head-on until they realize it's too late. 

Ideally, there would be no ogre deaths, but that probably won't happen as well. It depends on just how prideful they are in their own strength.

I get off the tree and put some distance between me and the army so I don't attract any attention once I start running to the ogre village. I go ahead of them before I exit my spirit form and I start to really pick up the pace.

/\\//\\//\

Running really fast is a great feeling and all, but when the only thing in your vision is just tree after tree after tree it can get a little boring and repetitive. 

So when I encountered a break in that pattern it took me out of the trance I was sort of in during my running. 

I encountered a small clearing in the forest. It was brighter thanks to the extra sunlight that was able to be let in without all the trees blocking most of it. 

What caught most of my attention though was a horse that was eating some grass and grazing.

'What's a horse doing in a forest? I thought horses lived in plains and stuff just grazing on grass living a calm life.'

It was a white horse with a white-grayish colored mane and tail.

I focused my eyes to get a more detailed look at the horse. 'Hold on a just minute here.' I was thinking that this horse was looking a little familiar. A little too familiar.

'This is either a massive coincidence or there must be some kind of fate at play here.'