Chronicles of the Star-King

Chapter 2: Stranger with Surprises

"Hmm. A hobgoblin?"

A blue-eyed man, asked himself. Hobgoblins were quite rare in his time, and most who had managed to evolve were quickly killed off by humans out of fear that they would break into their homes, something Veldanava didn't quite understand himself.

"Y-yes, my name is Gobta"

The hobgoblin, Gobta, himself was confused at how easily he gave away his name to a stranger who he thought... no, he knew was dangerous. The black haired man had, though for a mere instant, released an Aura that was like, no, even stronger than Lord Rimuru had when he saw Shion's corpse.

'It's alright. Lord Rimuru is way stronger now that he is a Demon Lord, and there's Lord Veldora too, this guy won't try to attack... right?'

"I am Veld..., no, just call me Nova. And you do not have to be so cautious, I mean no harm"

The man, who proclaimed himself Nova, uttered in a low, calm voice. This gesture calmed the goblin down, bizarrely so. While the goblin was subconsciously letting his guard down, Nova was caught up in his thoughts for a bit.

'I should keep my identity as Veldanava concealed for now. I'm not sure my presence could entail after all these years. I am certain I have taken at best a few years to reincarnate, so the world might as well be convinced that I had truly passed on'

Nova... no, Veldanava concluded. On the surface, it would seem like a logical supposition that he took bearing in mind the disturbance his reemergence would trigger in the Central World, but that was not the entire truth.

Veldanava had lived long, inconceivably so bearing in mind the age of humanity. He had observed the said race ever since their first emergence, and with his virtually perfect memory, remembered their acts with unparalleled clarity. A child who has never seen their parents frequently does not have any feelings attached to them, some even hate them, believing themselves to be throw away.

Remembering this, an acute anxiety took form in the Dragon Emperor's soul. What if Milim doesn't accept him? What if she hates him? These feelings remained engrained deep in his mind, as he for the first time in his life felt... uncertain.

"So anyways, where are we? Gobta right?"

"Huh? You don't even know where you are?", Gobta was slightly relived at this, "We are in the Great Forest of Jura, on the outskirts of the Rimuru city"

'Hmm. So its name did not change. I wonder how much time has passed?'

Truth was that Veldanava had already inspected the area with his 『Universal Sense』 but still asked, not only because the terrain could have changed, but also give him a rough assessment of the time passed, since names of locations seldom changed.

"Rimuru?"

"Huh? You don't know Lord Rimuru?"

"I'm afraid not"

Gobta wondered if Nova was from a faraway land. The hot topic of 'Demon Lord Rimuru' was spread almost across all of the world, so only someone who was living somewhere desolate would not know about it, or the person was just living under a rock, or maybe he was just straight up stupid.

"Would you mind telling me about this, Rimuru?"

Gobat's face lit up at Nova's request. He knew he was weak, he knew there were numerous monsters near Lord Rimuru that were stronger than him, faster than him, and smarter than him. Benimaru, Shion, Diabo, Milim, and even Veldora. So, moments like this made him feel useful, like he was worth to his master.

"Lord Rimuru is the founder and ruler of the Jura Tempest Federation"

"Tempest Federation?" Veldanava asked, amused at the turn of events.