8. Properties of Loyalty

I had came back from my late night stroll quite some times ago and I came back to Rimuru trying to think of something really hard.

"Rimuru" I called him out from behind.

"Uaaghh!" But he suddenly got startled by that alone..

"Don't scare me like that.." He said with a little bit of annoyance in his tone. Well he seemed so serious and it's not my fault he couldn't sense me.

"So what are you thinking about?" I asked him about it. It seemed quite important so I thought maybe I could share my thoughts on it.

"Hmm.. I am trying to think of a way to take care of the Goblins and The Direwolves at once." He explained to me. So it seemed like he is worried about how the Direwolves would live among the Goblins. The Goblins could still bear hatred towards the wolves and the wolves still may not forgive us for killing the alpha.. But even then, I think I found the best solution..

"Why not just pair them up..? I mean it would solve the problem right?" I suggested to Rimuru and he suddenly looked like he just got an enlightenment.

"Why don't I think of that earlier!" He said loudly which earned some glances from the sleeping goblins and direwolves but I just gestured them to go back to sleep.

"Don't be so loud, they are asleep.." I muttered to Rimuru..

He seemed to realised his mistake and laughed awkwardly. But I just sighed and gestured him to go away.

"I want to sleep for a bit.." I said even though I couldn't really sleep in this form.. But at least the feeling of my consciousness being calm is still very relaxing.

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Well morning came. We had confirmed our plans for the direwolves and the goblins. Just like the original plan, we will pair them up together. I had counted the numbers of the dire wolves and I got their number around 82 surviving and healthy direwolves.. well a few of them are injured but they either healed themself up or Rimuru gave them some of his potions.

Well then, our morning began with us gathering all of the goblins and the direwolves were in front of the goblins. Then for the rest.. well I'll let Rimuru do the talk for me.. I could feel his glare pierce through me but I just completely ignored it. I could see him sigh in defeat as he faced them all.

"Um, okay" He began.

"From now on, I am gonna have you all form pairs and live with each other, all right?" Well he got no reaction from any of the goblins and the direwolves as they stared at him silently. Well they didn't immediately object the idea which is good.

"Uhmm.. do you understand what I meant? Like, a group of two, okay? Get to it!" They then began to exchange glances slowly and meekly but then slowly but surely they each made a group and formed a pair.

'Huh.. the saying really is right.. 'Yesterday's enemy is today's friend'..' I silently thought without any intention of interfering.

After all of them formed their own pair, I was getting ready to approach Rimuru but he did something beyond his own volition.. well let's just watch the scene unfolding itself.

"Elder" he called the goblin elder. The goblin elder responded by getting closer to Rimuru and looked at him silently.

"It's too inconvenient for me to refer you and your people. I'd like to give names to you all. Would that be alright?" Rimuru said to the goblin elder.. well now everyone heard him somehow.. every one of their gazes were locked to Rimuru..

"Are.. are you sure?" The elder timidly asked.

'Hmm.. what's the big deal with names.. there must be a reason.. is it that feeling that I had when Veldora gave me my name..? Well.. only time will tell' I silently thought while watching Rimuru. But as I got out of my thinking trance everybody suddenly started cheering like they've won the lottery..

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Well the naming starts with the elder himself first.. of course they will be named by Rimuru. I do not have any responsibility in that as he is the one who proposed that idea. I am going to just make them form a line so they would be organised.

Apparently.. Rimuru named the elder 'Rigurd'.. the name of his late son.. well he also named the scout leader 'Rigur'.. isn't that quite lazy.. well who am I to judge.

"Sir Rimuru" I then could hear the newly named Rigurd asked Rimuru.

"We are so appreciative of this, but are.. are you sure?" His question kind of confused me.. but let's observe for now.

"I mean, I am fully aware of the extent of your magical powers, Sir Rimuru, but providing us names all in one go.. will you be all right?" Rigurd said with concern.. wait does naming monster use.. our magical power? If it certainly does.. how much will it use.. it will not be that much right?

'Aibo, can you observe the level of magic Rimuru had?' I tried to ask Aibo for help but she is unusually unresponsive.. well I had given a big task on analysing the theories of magicules..

{Rimuru, be careful of your magical level.. I have a theory that naming monsters uses your own Magical Power..} I used [Thought Communication] to communicate with Rimuru.

{Don't worry about it. I'll be fine.} He said assuring me.. well I'll take up on his words then..

{Don't overdo it} I said again then left the place.

{Mhm~}

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"Well you can certainly show yourselves, you know?" As I walked deep into the forest my sense picked up 4 people who followed me. Based on my [Killer's Instinct] and [Sense Heat Source] there are 3 goblins and 1 direwolves.

"So then. Why had all of you followed me?" I turned to look at them. I could see a pretty big direwolf, two male goblins and one female goblin.

"'We pledge our allegiance to you!"' They all said together while bowing down in a sync..

'...' This honestly surprises me quite a bit.. or a lot actually. I've never done anything big or that sort of thing. I've mostly stayed hidden and move in the background. So this raises a few question..

"Why?" I asked them simply. One of the most effective question to ask. No much words are needed for it.

"I had never done anything noteworthy for you to respect so much, though?" I said to them. They all suddenly widen their eyes and looked at me as if I was joking.

"Do not lower yourself like that, August-sama!" The direwolf said. He had a deep voice.. a fierce one at that.

"We had seen what you had done for us!" One of the male goblins said with a determined expression.

"Indeed, you had kept your promise of not letting any of us injured in battle." The other male goblin said. Compared to the others I could see that he is more of a silent guy. He had a very hazy aura around him.

"You also had helped us not falter in battle because of your strategic plans" The female goblin said with a smile of gratitude on her face.

It certainly is surprising.. I never had thought anybody would praise me such much for doing nothing honestly.. I mean I just did the bare minimum and let Rimuru done the rest.. but I won't reject their proposition as well..

"Here, follow me." I told them and they all stood up from their trance and followed me as I walked to a place that I had found myself with the power of [Magic Sense].

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Here we are.. in front of a majestic view. I had sensed this place because of the amount of Magic on this area. In front of me was an underground lake inside of a cave that I coincidentally found while going out last night.

The lake is quite big really and based on my senses it held a considerable amount of Magic as well in it's waters. The water itself was crystal clear, no impurities could be seen. It looked very cold too.

Above the lake and all around it were batches upon batches, chunks upon chunks of a magical looking crystal. They were all light blue in color and scattered a lot of light making the cave lit.. they were 'Magic Ore.. all of them.

There are so many of them that maybe if I sell all of this I could actually ruin the entire economic state of the world itself.. well not like I am planning to sell any of them..

Near the side of the river there is a giant stone that is flat enough for a person to sit on top of it. So I sat on the top of it.. or rather just placed myself on top.

"Well come here, all of you" I called out to them who had just been staring around at the cave like some curious children. I couldn't help but chuckle a little seeing this.

But after I called out to them, they finally realised I had sat down and all of them gathered in front of me. I somehow felt like a wiseman like this but I just ignored that feeling.

"Do you see the beauty of this place?" I asked all of them. Instead of answering verbally they all only nodded in agreement. They were completely speechless about this place.

'How could something like this place be completely unknown?' That is probably what they were thinking right now.

"Do you know.. pledging loyalty and allegiance to someone aren't only words you could say easily?" I said to them while slowly getting up and walked towards the unmoving peaceful lake.

"This water is like one's trust." I said while lowering myself to the surface of the water. It's to the point that I touched the surface of the lake calmly amd gently.

"As you put your trust to someone the water will still be perfectly calm. But once they betrayed you.. a turmoil would be caused.." I gently used [Blast] with the lowest possible output. As a result the surface of the lake which previously was unmoving and calm began to tremble..

"And as more and more of your trust began to be broken more and more turmoils began to form.. slowly but surely it will became waves.." I increased the output of [Blast] enough that small waves could be seen on the lake..

"And as more you betray that trust the stronger the waves get until suddenly.. that wave rips yourself" I looked as the waves collide into themselves and broke apart sending all the water into chaos.

"Do you all understand what I said?" I turned to look at all of them in their eyes. They all looked confused but I only chuckled a little on my end.

"For me to put my trust on all of you.. do you have the redeeming qualities..?" I asked them straightforwardly. They were a bit surprised and I could see their honest reactions. All of their reactions are different yet one thing is real.. their will.

"Well, let's see your will!" After I said that I immediately uses [Blast -Overcharge-] to launch me behind them. To them it seemed like I moved instantaneously.. but I haven't reached that speed.. yet.

"Let's see your true nature in the face of danger!" I then immediately used another [Blast] but it is a different type then normal one that I uses.

[Blast] is a very unique skill I have. It is a fairly simple skill by exerting your own Magic to be a simple explosive power. But depending on how good your control is.. you can improve this skill.. limitlessly.

[Blast -Barrage-]!

This is one of them. An improved version of the skill [Blast].. this version used the capability of Aibo to multicast the [Blast] as much as I wanted it..

Well with that I used it to launch all of them into the lake and watched them struggle to get out.. one of the properties of the lake is.. it will suck you in deeper when you flail around.. so let's see what they would do in such danger..

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'Well of course I'm going to help them when they struggle too badly..' But let's see for ourselves. How loyal could they actually be to me right? I mean it must be not THAT loyal.. right?