Saga of Slime and Devil (Remake)

Vol 1 | Epilogue

It had been about a day since the Orc Lord was defeated, giving most of the factions involved at least some time to rest as representatives from all of them met in the throneroom of the Lizardmen to discuss the aftermath. Such a meeting had been planned by Rimuru and Tanya to occur ever since the idea of aligning the Lizardmen first occurred, but now with the Orcs, goblin villages, and even Treyni the dryad involved, it had become a meeting of just about the entire western half of the forest.

Rimuru was a bit nervous about it, though Tanya saw it as a vital opportunity. Nevertheless all the sides gradually funneled in and sat or stood in their respective areas. Front and center was Rimuru, Tanya, and the Kijin that had proved a vital help to the battle. While the efforts of the other factions couldn't be completely ignored either, the sheer effectiveness of Rimuru's forces was certainly the deciding factor in the battle. As such, it was easy to see how they held all the cards in the battle's aftermath.

To Rimuru's left were the Lizardmen, led by the recently named Kurt and with a small handful of representatives of their upper leadership joining him. Standing a bit to the side of the Lizardmen were representatives of the Goblin tribes recruited by Gabiru, the bulk of the Goblins in the forest not yet assimilated into the village.

Lastly were the Orcs, sitting across from the Lizardmen on Rimuru's right. Most had worried expressions on their faces as it seemed all of them were filled with regret. Whether this was regret for their actions or regret for losing Tanya personally couldn't tell, but she frankly didn't care. If they were useful, she could put them to work, but for now she decided to let Rimuru decide on something like that.

Treyni sat off to the side, not far from Kurt as she spoke, "Chairman Rimuru Tempest, please begin the conference."

Tanya had been around Rimuru enough to tell when the slime was nervous. If he could sweat, he would be sweating at that moment. Despite noticing this Tanya had no intention of stealing his spotlight, at least not yet. Now that the immediate threat of the Orc Lord had passed, Tanya fully intended to take a bit more time away from the village to pursue her own ambitions. She had numerous plans that had been in the works for months, but with the possibility of an Orc Lord attack, Tanya couldn't reliably leave just yet.

Now that she planned to not be in the village 24/7, even if it was still planned to be her primary residence when she wasn't working, she needed Rimuru to act as a full leader, rather than the co-leader he was before. Tanya would settle down and focus primarily on Tempest's army and economy, but politics and diplomacy would eventually need to be handled by Rimuru himself.

Rimuru, pushing through his nervousness, began, "Uh... I'm not quite used to leading meetings like this so it's not my strong suit, but let me start by saying I don't intend to charge the Orcs with any crimes."

Tanya was somewhat shocked, but not entirely surprised. Rimuru was a fairly forgiving person, so it made sense he would forgive the Orcs here. Tanya personally saw value in the Orcs as a labor and military force, though that was unimportant at that moment.

The Orcs however seemed to be the most shocked, looking amongst themselves as if to confirm that the others had heard the slime correctly.

Rimuru nonetheless continued, "I know this may upset the Lizardmen who have taken the most casualties, but hear me out. The cause of this was starvation due to famine. Anyone, regardless of race, might have made the same choices under those conditions. Of course, this is just my public stance on the matter."

Tanya nodded, 'Makes sense. When people lack a resource, especially one as critical as food, they'll do anything to obtain it. It was the whole reason why Japan in my first life attacked the United States. The United States declared its intent to protect south-east Asia, specifically the European colonies there. With the United States blocking Japan's oil trade it had no choice but to invade South-East Asia to obtain more, and with the United States declaring such an intent to protect it, they had no choice but to attack the United States if they wanted to maintain their war with China. Of course that's only oil, something as essential as food... well. If they don't have anything to lose, then they'll do anything to win.'