Son of the Stom Dragon

Goblin Village - Rimuru POV:

The next day came by sooner than I had expected. Perhaps because I had so much on my mind from the events that had occurred yesterday, and so many unanswered questions that I just could not bring myself to sleep properly last night.

By the time I had returned with Shizue to the goblin village, none of the other members of the human party had woken up, despite the treatment they had gotten, most likely a result of the exhaustion even if their bodies had made full recovery. I left Shizue with them as well for treatment, having already used my healing magic to deal with the injuries she sustained from our battle when Ifrit had taken her over, making it a total of five human patients that were under our care.

Night came and passed and they still showed no sign of waking, which vexed and worried me a bit, but I knew it was out of my hands for the time being. I just had to wait for them to recover their strength on their own. So that was how I ended up having a restless night with many thoughts in mind.

There were many things I wanted to ask this group, especially Masayuki and Shizue, who were fellow otherworlders, or at least I assumed they were, I hadn't really confirmed that. For all I know, they could be the children of an otherworlder or some other weird gimmick. Treyni had more or less filled me in on what the five of them had been doing in the forest before the fight with Ifrit, but hearing it from the source would be a bit more reassuring.

I needed an idea of what the surrounding human nations were thinking in regards to the situation in Jura. The fact that these five had come in looking to survey the land and any changes to the monster patterns means the human settlements were at least cautious about wild monsters potentially leaving the forest and attacking their kingdoms.

It was a valid concern, and one I wouldn't refute. Even the sentient monsters of the forest may do the same thing, especially those that were outside the domain of the Dryads. They had no one controlling them since my mother's presence vanished, and according to Treyni, most of the monsters that lived outside the Dryad's domain were of stronger species than even the Ogres, making them at the very least low A-rank, like Ranga and Raya. If they went on to attack human settlements close to Jura's borders, then the humans may very well feel threatened and choose to retaliate.

It was one of the reasons why Treyni had suggested getting my name out into the forest. That way, even the higher ranked monsters would know the forest was not without a Guardian and leader, that my mother had left a successor behind for them. Honestly, I felt she was trying to sell her own glorified image of me, but I didn't try to stop her, because I did hope that it would stop any sentient monsters from doing anything foolish.

"Good morning, Lord Rimuru!" I was suddenly greeted by a female goblin as I stepped out of my house within this village, quickly dropping onto one knee and bowing her head.

It was a nice wooden building, almost like a cottage, with four rooms and a decent amount of space. Honestly, I was surprised the goblins had been able to build something of this caliber with the short amount of time the dwarves had been in the village. Still though, I couldn't complain, this building was easily comparable in comfort to the one from the Ogre village. And I could tell it was well maintained, even when I wasn't here.

"Morning, you're…Gobwa correct?" I asked, having named more than a thousand goblins, it was easy to lose track of who was who sometimes, but they were a particular few that stood out to me. Gobwa was one of them, her amber orange eyes having stood out among the goblins even before her evolution into a Hobgoblin. It was a unique trait I'd yet to see in any of the other goblins.

"Yes my lord, you granted me the name Gobwa!" She responded enthusiastically, seeming genuinely happy that I remembered her name.

"Yes, well what can I do for you, Gobwa?" I asked her, wondering why she had been standing outside my door when I stepped out. Especially so early in the morning, shouldn't she be training with the other goblins right now?