Year of the Rabbit

Ch 8 - Demon Lord Milim

With Gazel's hand now resting heavily on his shoulder, Rimuru made a mental note to remember that Black Bunny's instinct for people is always better than his own. The spar had been a short, quick bought and he'd gotten the feeling that the dwarven king hadn't been taking the match too seriously. It had felt like a cross between a test and a lesson truthfully, with the swordsman not making many movements to begin with, merely parrying anything the slime had launched at him. He'd then been blindsided by the revelation that heavy, oppressive aura that followed Gazel around was more than just for show - it turned out [Hero's Haki] was a very real extra skill, and one that could absolutely ruin him if he wasn't careful. Though he'd been frustrated with the resultant taunting he'd received from Gazel while he struggled to break it, he was pretty grateful afterwards when he'd realized it was a lesson.

Imagine if I came across an active Hero without knowing about [Hero's Haki], he thought to himself with a shudder. The idea that Shizue could've been carrying around that oppressive weight once upon a time, maybe even had it when she died but simply hadn't used it made his insides flip with nervousness.

After his stroke of luck in parrying Gazel's blow, he'd happily conceded to the spar with the conclusion that Rimuru was of good character.

"It's a swordsman thing," Black Bunny had said when he tried to probe her about her. "Something about the reverberation of two weapons clashing sends all the masters into psycho-analysis mode. I haven't cracked the code to it yet."

"Well let me know when you do," Rimuru had told her, baffled.

He'd been further startled to discover that Hero King Gazel had apparently been mentored in his swordsmanship by Hakurou as well and the resulting behavior from the king. He'd immediately begun presenting himself as more of an older brother figure, warming up to him in a way that would've made him suspicious if his pegasus knights didn't look equally as exasperated by his behavior, as if they were used to it. The new treatment shone a tiny spotlight on Black Bunny for a brief moment, Rimuru immediately recognizing the new behavior as the same way he handled his friend. He supposes that's just the power of [Plush], without any form of overtly threatening aura you're just compelled to look down on her or protect her - and it said good things about Gazel that his compulsion was to look out for her.

Better still when that compulsion worked in Rimuru's favor.

"You're really willing to recognize our little group of monsters as its own country?" he probed, mentally reeling at the offer that he was just granted. He'd well and truly expected to have to wait a few years of reputation building, repeated demonstrations of them being good monsters and maybe having to come to someone's aid before they were recognized as their own nation. He;d even seriously considered asking Black Bunny to draft a proposal for The Warren (the closest thing this world currently had to a monster nation at the moment to support them to the faces of the humans and demihumans who might cast scrutiny upon then.

And yet.

"This city overflows with natural resources and technologies that haven't been seen anywhere else," the king rumbled, nursing his considerable amount of alcohol still. It was amazing that he was still coherent. "In just a few years, it will be the heart of a trade network. I am speaking to you no longer as a fellow student of Master Hakurou, but as the King of Dwargon so this is an entirely selfish request."

He sat back in his seat as he continued, "A city of monsters as large as yours... this deal would benefit us both. I only name two terms - first, in the case of a severe threat then both nations will send assistance to confront it. And second, we will share technological advances with each other."

<Black Bunny?> he prompted immediately.

<It's a very simple agreement> replied the rabbit, continuing to silently consume her meal and allowing the two of them to speak unimpeded. <Both of which make sense. We and Dwargon are very close together - if something is serious enough to warrant action from either of us, it's a threat to the other. >