Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken (WN) 2018

c98 - Letter of Invitation

Templars, defeated!

Every country bordering the Jura Forest soon heard these news.
It was preposterous to think that they could have secretly invaded without being seen.
Moreover, countries that had relations with Tempest could hardly believe that their intelligence gathering teams were negligent.
Of course, Rimuru was aware that these countries were sending spies.
Which is why he had ordered a victory that produced the fewest casualties.
And country executives realized this fact.
After all, the fact that none of the knights were killed only proved their hypotheses.

For example, in the Dwarf Kingdom–military nation Dwargon.
The ministers gathered upon the Dwarf King's request.
They were analyzing a recorded image, while scrutinizing every bit of data they could acquire. With every minister having access to the said information.
The data they had acquired disclosed the matters of the battle.
The results were rather surprising.
One hundred Knights Templar, believed to be the strongest among humans, planned an invasion of the country.
However, Demon Lord Rimuru had intercepted this plan, and his response left the knights completely defeated.
How truly terrifying the Demon Lord Rimuru's information gathering skills are!
Certainly no less terrifying than his ability to strategize!
So murmured the Ministers.
However, was it as they said? The Dwarf King looked over the data, and his sight fell upon a bizarre pattern of movements displayed by the combatants.
Was this not supposed to devolve into a haphazard encounter between the forces?
Such a thought came to his mind. Actually, that's the only possibility he could have imagined.
No matter how much anyone claimed that the altered terrain caused the knights to dance in the palm of Rimuru's hand, it should have had no bearing on the actual combat.
If so, he was actually constantly staying aware of Hinata's plans while modifying the strategy to sway the battle in his favor.
And as a result, by controlling every aspect of the battle, the knights were completely defeated.
Unfortunately, since the recording magic is rather limited, the dwarfs could only lament the lack of a comprehensive report.
That is, it could only produce a soundless spectacle of the battlefield.
Nor could it analyze the skills used; at most, it helped identify the winner.
Even so, the data they gathered is certainly of grave importance.
Thus he scrutinized it again.
Captain-class knights were seen moving in various directions with some plan in mind. The Tempest department heads intercepted resulting in combat.
The result was a total war across all fronts and a complete victory for Tempest.
Among these battles, it was noted that a single monster could overwhelm eight knights–much to the dwarfs' surprise.
Considering that these knights were at least of captain class, it is best to assume that Monster Country Tempest easily surpasses the military might of Dwargon.
The ministers noisily grumbled about this, while King Gazelle Dwargo sighed in relief.
He was truly glad that Demon Lord Rimuru was an idealistic monster who sought friendship with the humans.
Had he been a monster who sought to destroy humanity, humans would have faced an unprecedented calamity.
(Besides, he's growing too fast!)
Was Gazelle's true thoughts.
He had thought Rimuru to be full of potential when they had first met, but he had never considered that he could progress this far.
Should he have destroyed him then? He could not come up with an answer.
For better or worse, this demon lord was interesting.
And, they currently have a cooperation pact and will be proceeding on friendly terms in the future.
Moreover, thanks to his "World Traveler" ideals, he has been developing some interesting contraptions.
Sparing no time nor effort, and aligning himself with no other "World Traveler", perhaps such is the true strength of this demon lord.
His movements have thus produced some interesting results.
And the many skills and technologies developed thus the dwarfs are able to obtain without lifting a finger.
So Gazelle decided.
Even if the angels destroy him, the dwarfs will not allow the technology to be lost.
Of course, they will probably become more and more militaristic in the future... but Oh well!
How much joy the dwarfs felt from all the inventions that came from that country.
(At this point, we have no choice but to trust Demon Lord Rimuru!)
Besides, he had released all the knights unharmed this time.
This could be interpreted as seeking to coexist with the humans.
Had he intended to fight them, he could have massacred the knights. After all, who can complain that an invading force was destroyed?
And yet he had let them live. Completely unharmed.
This could also be interpreted to mean that he had the confidence that Knight Templar class soldiers are of no threat to him.
This is causing quite a division among the ministers: some calling him a danger, others rejecting that notion.
Both are probably correct.
But there's only one decision.
Gazelle cleared his throat and thus got everyone's attention.
The conference room was completely silent, with every gaze focused on the king.