A Different Start

Chapter 18: Number People ?

Somewhere...

"What do we do now, chief?" A warrior asked, kneeling on one knee in front of his superior.

"Just push them enough to not enter our borders." Their chief replied as their eyebrows furrow, and they grit their teeth.

"Hai!" The warrior then ran out of the room to inform the others of their chief's decision.

"Call my son!" the chief yelled, his voice echoing throughout the room they were in.

"Hmph, there is no need for I am here," someone said as he arrived in the room. "I have been named father, refer to me as 'Gabiru' from now on."

"It matters not for you are my son. Now, go to the neighbouring races, and I want you to ask for assistance in our battle." The chief ordered.

"Hm? Are you saying that we, the proud Lizardmen, one who came from the lineage of dragons, has to ask for assistance from others? Pathetic!" Gabiru exclaimed.

"It is indeed true that we have an advantage in the waters and warrior quality, my son. However, their numbers are too great for us. All our warriors can do is push them off and waste their energy." Chief said, 'If we do not settle this here, we may cease to exist and bring forth disaster for the rest of the Jura Forest,"

"Now do as I say with no questions, and you shall return with great news and success." The chief said, closing off the matter with no rooms for other opinions.

"It shall be done, Father." With that, Gabiru left his homeland with a few companions to accompany him on his journey.

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"Rimuru-sama," a silhouette of shadow appeared behind Rimuru.

"Yeah?" Rimuru asked without looking back at the being behind him without even the slightest bit of worry.

"I have come to report you the intentions of the lizardmen," he replied.

"I see. Go on." Rimuru said whilst doing paperwork in his office.

"Hai. According to our findings, their tribe chief had his son, Gabiru, as we recall, gather assistance from various races to help them stop a forest disaster." He stated while kneeling.

"Hmm, I see. So no ill intentions then. Good work, Souei. Inform the others to welcome the guests. My previous orders stay. Keep an eye on those folks." Rimuru said as he kept on looking through cardboard files on his desk.

"It shall be done," Souei nodded before disappearing.

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| Somewhere... |

"Hmm," the person¹ said as they looked up in the sky, "I sense danger..."

"Danger?" Person² repeated as they looked at person¹.

"Yeah," person¹ nodded.

"I see. What will you do then?" Person² asked as they sipped a glass of wine.

"Observe, of course. If that person can't stop it, I'll help him. Well, without him knowing that is." Person¹ said straightforwardly.

"That's pretty rare of you," person² said with a teasing smile.

"Pretty normal, I would say. I feel that it is him that will bring change to this world." Person¹ said with a smile which brought person² to have a bead of sweat.

( Like hell, that's normal! ) person² secretly yelled at person¹ in their thoughts.

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| Somewhere... |

"Person³-sama," a guard entered. He then got down on one knee as he spoke, "There is a rising monster nation in the Forest of Jura where the Storm Dragon Veldora resides..."

"Oh? So the rumours are true, huh..." person³ muttered under their breath, "You may leave," they said.

"Hai," the guard then got up and bowed before leaving the room.

"Nee Person⁴, did you hear that?" Person³ called out, their voice echoing throughout the room.

"Of course, I did," they answered. They then walked towards person³.

"So then? What do you think?" They asked as they looked at them.

"Well, we could use them as a vassal state?" Person⁴ suggested as he pointed out a finger.

"Hm? And why is that?" Person³ inquired, keeping eye contact with person⁴.

"I feel that some time in the near future, they will become a famous town, y'know? Something like that. We can monetise and, at the same time, use their monster forces." Person⁴ replied.

"Hmm, I suppose. Then I shall have somebody do it." Person³ said with a nod of their head.

"I'll leave that to you," Person⁴ responded with a smile that normally wouldn't seem quite right in normal circumstances.

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| Somewhere |

"Hey, is it really okay that we leave things like this?" Person⁵ asked.

"Well, I don't think we should interfere with them..." Person⁶ said thoughtfully.

"Well, that's really boring," Person⁷ said, their tongue sticking out.

"Hm, hm." Person⁵ mumbled with a nod, agreeing with person⁷.

"We can do nothing about it," Person⁶ said with a soft sigh, "If worse comes to worst, we'll have to move," they continued.

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Meanwhile...

"Achoo!" Rimuru sneezed as he covered half of his face in reflex.

"Eh? Are you alright, Rimuru-sama?" Shuna asked as she approached Rimuru with a towel in hand.

"Well, yes... I think, " Rimuru said with an imaginary bead of sweat forming on his face, "Achoo!"

Shuna stood there, worried along with the other bystanders that were there. After all, why is it that their master, a slime, is able to sneeze?

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....

"Ah~ marvellous, absolutely marvellous!" person⁸ said as they hugged their own body and squirmed around, "I have never thought that I would meet such an individual!" they said with a creepy smile.

"Kufufufu... I shall meet you in the near future~" they continued.

"Person⁸ sure is hella creepy..." person⁹ said in a deadpanned expression.

"Well, as much as I'd hate to admit it, you're right... he's a fucking simp..." Person¹⁰ also said with a sigh.

"Ara, ara~ tone down the chattering. Talking behind someone's back is certainly not a nice thing to do, is it?"  person¹¹ said in a very elegant manner as they sipped their tea.

"Well, aren't you one to talk?" Person¹⁰ snickered.

Person¹¹ merely sighed at the childishness of the two people they were in with.

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Thus, while the chapter ends with new characters being introduced in the story, we shall have the people reading this from the real world guess who the corresponding numbered people are throughout the entire chapter. Good luck, superior beings!

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Still alive fr,

https://discord.com/invite/6Cwxd777fM

Does anyone know where in the light novel to start after reading the manga? I'm talking about tensura, by the way. TvT

Thanks for reading!!