Relief

Trewy and Nemu left the cave and when they went out they could see that the fruits from the bushes were already picked. Everyone was sitting outside and some of them seemed happy, unlike before. The fruits had a magical effect. They were not big, yet only two or three of them could fill the stomach. So everyone looked satisfied.

When Trewy and Nemu stepped out of the cave they were looked at by everyone. All of the rabbit tribe had a curious look in their eyes. Obviously, they were wondering what was decided inside the cave. However, Trewy and Nemu didn't want to make a public announcement or something like that. That wasn't their job, so they kept it to themselves for now. Maybe it was unfair, because most of them would be relieved, but the elder should handle the situation. It was his decision whether to trust Nemus and Trewy's words or not.

A few rabbits came to them, asked what was happening, if they would help them and even if they knew what happened to the humans. But they only said that they would find out later. Most of them were unsatisfied with the answer, but they couldn't help it.

For now, Nemu and Trewy wanted to help. The village was a mess. But they couldn't blame them. Being locked behind the barricade for weeks must have been exhausting for them. So it's time for some stress relief! Nemu picked all of his games from his dimensional space. Unsurprisingly, the most popular toy was a ball. They had never seen anything like it. It may look simple at first glance, but it required advanced leather skills to build a ball without it deflating. Something the rabbits could not do. Even the tribes they traded with didn't have the skills to do that, so it was something new for them. Nemu also had other games. Like cards and even a game called chess. But as expected, the king and queen were Rimuru, besides it was not a game that could be explained quickly. Nemu will talk about this with Rimuru later. He was sure that Rimuru didn't know about the slime queens.

The mood in the village was getting better and better. The children were finally once again busy and could distract themselves. Distraction was important, many had lost someone, no, all had lost someone. The village was like a family and even if they were not direct relatives, the loss was still hard to bear.

Sometimes one of the adult rabbits would disappear. They went into the cave to talk to the elder. Whenever they came back, they had many emotions on their faces. Surprise, doubt, relief, happiness, it was a mix of all these feelings. However, doubt was the feeling that almost everyone had. That was to be expected. A slime and a dryad came out of nowhere and told them that their whole world has changed. Trust was good, but blind trust was dangerous. And how could they trust someone who had just come to the village? Even the food, the firewood and the games could not convince them yet.

Nemu tried to play with the ball. But he failed miserably and retreated as the whole village laughed at him. A slime body really wasn't practical for something like that! Trewy laughed the loudest, in the end, just before Nemu stopped playing, she could barely stand. He really needed a humanoid body.

At one point they wanted to go out, Trewy needed more seeds to grow bushes and also the firewood was still not completely filled up. But the rabbits were holding them back. Trewy and Nemu knew it wasn't dangerous for them, but the rabbitmen didn't know it yet and they didn't want to worry them. So Nemu and Trewy stayed in the village and waited to hear what the elder had to say.

Nemu had many questions about the rabbit people, but he also held them back for now. It was not the right time. First they wanted to spend a good time here to cheer up everyone in the village. And it went well.

To make it a little more pleasant, Nemu has started cleaning up. It turned out that his absorption skill was quite useful for cleaning. It only took a few minutes for everything that had accumulated over the last few weeks to disappear into his dimensional space. The village finally looked clean again.

After a few hours, the elder finally came out of the cave. It wasn't boring for Trewy and Nemu but they were a bit nervous how the Rabbits would handle the information. The chances that they would not believe them were rather small. That was because Trewy confirmed it and the word of Dryads had a lot of value.

And so, all the Rabbitman gathered in the center of the village. The elder held nothing back. He told everything, why the people had disappeared, about Rimuru and Tempest, about Veldora and that they were safe again. Throughout the story, the Rabbitmen looked shocked, with each further reveal they looked to Nemu and Trewy with more disbelief in their eyes. Even after the elder finished speaking, silence fell. No one said a word and tried to process the information. Nemu was relieved that they believed him. The elder had also told them about the invitation to Tempest, but that would have to wait for some time. Many of the men had died and even though the humans were gone, the forest was still a dangerous place for them. And leaving the village unprotected wasn't an option. Understandable. Nemu would tell Rimuru later and he was sure he would understand.

In fact, the situation was a bit more complicated than he had described it before. Even though Rimuru was the ruler of the entire forest and the country, there were countless autonomous tribes. He promised them protection and only the name of a demonlord almost guaranteed it. Of course, they were not completely safe. There were always over-motivated people who decided to disregard such things, but the future would be easier. However, Rimuru was not only a benefactor. His position as Demonlord did not allow that. If the tribe was doing well, Rimuru would expect a visit. But that was not the case here. Still, it was a republic of monsters and good relations with each other were important. Even if it was only about trade. At first glance, it looked like the rabbit people didn't have much to offer. But that was not the case. They had their own culture, they had knowledge to share, they were good at hunting and they would be a good addition to the whole Jura Forest because of that. Sometimes such goods were more valuable than gold and silver.

Obviously, the children were not interested in the entire story. After being told that they were finally safe again, they quickly moved away from the conversation with happy faces. That was one of the reasons why Nemu and Trewy started the journey. For Trewy it was very important to see the people in the forest happy. She had not directly contributed to it, but just seeing the children smile was enough for her. It was not important who was responsible for it. It was they who transmitted the information and thus made the Rabbit People's Village easier again. And it was not only this village, also Kumo was happy after they had left their web, they had freed the forest from the demons, saved three young harpies and now they made the rabbit village happy again. Only a few weeks have passed and their journey has already been worth it. Nemu felt the same way. His journey had started as an adventurer but now he felt like he could actually make a difference.

However, he also learned that the world was not always a nice place. Many people suffer. If the bandits had still been here, he wouldn't have known what to do. Trewy would have fought them without a doubt, after all that was what a Dryad was supposed to do. But Nemu? He decided to become stronger once again, to be able to help others in the future. He did not want to fight, but he underestimated the dangers that lurked everywhere. So he will not always have another option in the future.

The elder was in his cave before when the rabbits were playing, but after seeing what it looked like outside, he was relieved. He knew that it was Nemus and Trewys doing. But he also looked tired, as if a great weight had fallen from his shoulders. Well, that's exactly what happened. He promised Nemu and Trewy to talk to them again tomorrow. But for today, they need a break. Actually, he had some plans for tomorrow, after they would finally leave their village again, they had to catch up on what they couldn't do the last weeks. He also hadn't forgotten Nemu's first reason for coming here. He wanted to get to know the Rabbit tribe and the elder promised Nemu to answer all his questions. That was the least he could do.

Nemu had another job to do. He had to tell Rimuru what happened here. After he did that, Rimuru immediately agreed that they would help anyway. In the beginning, Nemu had some magic balls with him. He had no idea how they worked, but apparently you can talk about them with others. However, all of them were destroyed when they escaped from Corsar. They were made from some form of glass and weren't durable. Rimuru flinched a little after he found out. It looked like those balls were valuable but he couldn't blame him either. He knew that Nemu had no choice. So Rimuru wanted to send someone else here. Unfortunately, he couldn't bring any food. A dimensional space was really something practical. Trewy can joke about it, but in the end it has a lot of advantages. Although it seemed like a rather simple skill it is a very rare skill. It was Raphael who gave him the skill. And it is only a sub skill of Rimuru's Predator skill. How powerful does this skill need to be? Anyway, he also told Rimuru that the maps were garbage and sent him a better map so they could find the rabbit village without any problems. And that should be it for today.

They spent the rest of the day playing games. Nemu was asked again and again why so many of the game pieces are slimes. He told them that it is a tradition in Tempest. Well, it wasn't a lie. They will find out when they visit the town! He still hadn't mentioned that Rimuru is a slime.

Finally, when sundown was already there, the Elder approached them. Most rabbits in the town were already asleep. After so many weeks of fighting and uncertainty, for many it was the first time they could sleep without worries. And tonight was the first night they didn't all spend in the cave.

"Hey, thanks again for today you have done a lot for us." The elder said.

"No problem. We were happy to do it." Nemu said and Trewy nodded.

"I'm afraid I have no idea how to repay you."

"Just tell me about yourself, I would really like to know why you left the beast kingdom." Suggested Nemu.

The elder sighed. He hadn't lived back then but of course his ancestors who left the beast kingdom had told him about it and apparently it was an unpleasant memory. Nemu already suspected it. Leaving one's homeland was not something one liked to do. There must have been a reason for it, and the reason was probably not a good one.

"It's a long story. I will tell you about it tomorrow." The elder was looking around. Many of the rabbitmen were already sleeping. Some of them even outside on blankets they had taken from the cave. The night was fortunately warm and there was no sign of rain. Actually, Trewy and Nemu were lucky. It had not rained a day since they left Tempest. "It's great to see everyone happy again. It has been far too long."

They sat by a fire and Nemu threw a stick into the flames. He didn't even use his skill for that. Meanwhile, he was able to control his slime body. He could even use parts of his body like hands. They didn't look like hands, though. But he was able to touch and grab things. Rimuru had done the same. With him it looked natural. Nemu still had a long way to go, but it was practical to be able to use his body like that and he trained every day. He even tried to imitate animals, Trewy had to guess which animal it was. But she laughed all the time and barely got anything right. So they dropped it again.

"I would also like to know from you. I've seen red slimes before, but you're the first one who can talk." Said the elder.

"Actually, all red slimes can talk. Or at least understand. We can use thought transference to communicate with each other." Nemu explained. He never understood why his fellow red slimes didn't use their abilities. Probably they were afraid that it would make them a better target. Red slimes were rare, but almost everyone, except dryads, thought it was just the color. Wait... Shouldn't he have told them? "But don't tell anyone. It's a secret." He tried to save himself.

The elder laughed. "I'll keep that in mind."

"By the way, you said you met red slimes before. I'm looking for red slimes but haven't found any yet. Can you tell me where you saw some?" Nemu asked.

"Hmm... There is a place a few days from here. We call it the slime cave. We never went in but there are always slimes in front of it. And sometimes red slimes too." Explained the elder.

"Really?" Nemu was now fully focused on the conversation. He didn't know such a place existed. It was known that slimes often travel in groups. But that they gathered in one place was new to him. "Where is the cave? I want to go there." He said excitedly.

He had never put it on his list, but finding red slimes and bringing them to Tempest was actually one of the main reasons for his journey. He knew it would be hard to convince them to cross the forest. Most red slimes have been hiding their whole lives. But if this cave existed, this was the biggest chance for him to convince them.

"I can tell you the direction, but I'm afraid we don't have any maps."

"Oh, I can help with that!" He retrieved one of the maps from his dimensional space. Meanwhile, it wasn't just the original maps he found in Tempest. He had modified all the maps with Guide so that they were now much more accurate. And... if he used his detective skill and there were many slimes in and around this place, he would be able to find them easily.

"It's there." The elder pointed his finger at a spot on the map. "That's a really good map."

"You can have it. It has Tempest on it, too. If you ever go there I'm sure you can put it to good use." Said Nemu.

"I can't just take a valuable map like that." Said the elder defensively.

"Don't worry. I can make tons of them." Now Nemu wanted to show off his skills and dropped several maps from his dimensional space.

"Oh, that's... convincing. Well, thank you again." He then took the map.

Nemu was looking at the place where the slime cave should be. He showed something like a smile. 'Target locked.'

Trewy, who had been listening to the conversation, giggled. They had their next destination.