The Ooze Village

Long story short, it didn't work. Alaric tried amplifying the amount of mana he used, shouting, and even struggling to mimic the feeling of a telepathic link, but nothing was able to establish long-distance contact with Sonic.

Of course, Alaric tried it with other slimes, but the results remained the same.

"I guess such an ability is beyond me as of right now. Would've been useful too..."

Alaric looked to his side, and examined Wurst who was still guarding over him diligently, 'Wurst is probably just as powerful in combat as Sonic, right? Should I send Wurst to retrieve it?'

It didn't take long for Alaric to reject the notion. He had already conspired against the Ryder family, he needed a bodyguard more now than ever. Nothing was stopping Penne Ryder from burning Alaric's village down while he slept.

"I guess it's time to order those slimes to reproduce. More military power is practically everything I need as of right now."

Although he was especially confident that the three rank-2 slimes on hand would be enough to defeat the Ryders, he also knew that he may be underestimating them. A trump card on the level of a rank-3 wielder was something that every single one of the 5 villages had.

'Of course, the backbone of every village is, in the end, its villagers. If I can remove a good amount of villagers from the equation, human shields, sacrifices for some demonic formation, and a defending hunting team will all be possibilities removed from the equation. Especially if I can have Clarus speak on the battlefield.'

Alaric soon arrived at the house where he was containing the slimes, and simply ordered them to reproduce, before leaving. He wouldn't invest much time into the slime reproduction procedures. War was a numbers game, but it was easier to lower enemy numbers than to increase ally numbers, even with the cheat-like reproductive capabilities of slimes.

For various reasons, Alaric wanted to first rename this village. It wasn't exactly on the map, as it only had a small population of 22 before being destroyed, so this would cause no issues.

Alaric brought a wooden plank from the village warehouse, and had Pamela transform, in order to inscribe two words upon it.

"OOZE VILLAGE"

While Alaric didn't exactly love the name, he thought, 'I can't really think of a better name for a place founded on the backs of slimes...'

After creating this signboard, he promptly grabbed a hammer, and some nails, and walked to the gate in front of the village. Atop it, was a similarly wooden board that was labeled "FORGER VILLAGE."

Gunnar just so happened to be standing guard over the village's front gate at this moment.

Alaric looked at the ring on his hand, and at Gunnar, before saying, "I gotta do some menial tasks myself because the other 5 are sleeping, you two, help me out. Pamela, Leg Armor! Gunnar, carry me to the village's signboard."

Soon, Alaric's legs were covered in a film of slime, and he was standing atop Gunnar's giant body. Gunnar stretched himself upwards, reaching a height of 5 meters tall.

'Kra!'

"Yeah bud, it's high enough."

Alaric quickly removed the old signboard and attached the new one. From this day forward, they lived in "Ooze Village."

"Okay now let me down, I'm terrified up here. I need to go get some shut-eye... it's already getting late."

...

Alaric awoke from his slumber, a bit groggy. He turned his head towards his window and noticed it was still dark out.

"So noisy..."— he checked his pocket watch —"it's still 4 a.m., did the people I poached already make it?"

Outside, there was a large group of people, they seemed a bit nervous and even confused.

"Is this the right place... the message said to come to Forger, not Ooze!"

"I think so! There has never been an 'Ooze' Village in the perimeter of the forest. Maybe Forger got annexed."

"It's so small and dinky... can it even contain all 17 of us?"

"This slime is so big..."

At this moment, Alaric arrived outside of his house, making no effort to hide the fact that he had just woken up.

'This group of people... 17 in total? I guess this is the last wave that'll be arriving... barely a few days into my rule, and I've recovered the population of 22.' Alaric thought.

One of the villagers noticed Alaric, and shouted at him, "Are you a resident here? We come seeking protection from the Ryder family!"

Alaric looked in their direction and said, "Yeah... you could say I am the leader around here. Protection from the Ryder family? I did offer that to you all."

Instantly, all 17 of the newcomers were shocked.

"You're so young, how can we trust you?"

"Did Clarus and Mike truly come here?"

"When I saw that message ingrained in the farm's horse stalls, I thought it was someone powerful! He is still such a young kid..."

As they spoke, everyone in the group became more and more hopeless. Even the few children there seemed on the verge of crying.

Alaric, as he had just woken up, seemed to be getting a little annoyed, 'I'm way too stressed out to handle these idiots.'

He looked in the direction of Clarus's cabin and ordered the room slime Wurst, who had been idling beside him to go retrieve Clarus.

'You better be rank-1, they're on the verge of rioting...'

Soon, a confused Clarus was shot outside of the house at high speeds, seemingly because of Wurst, and slammed into the ground. His already shaggy appearance become a bit dirtier.

Still, Alaric felt that his mana signature was much stronger, "It's good that you've become rank-1. Calm these people down for me, I need to sleep. Invite them in and treat them well."

Clarus seemed to understand, before getting up, and saying something to the 17 newcomers. They all immediately went silent, and Alaric left it in his capable hands.

'This manpower increase will be put to use immediately!'