Chapter 22: Ch 20: Protection of Haulia.
Rimuru acquired a new companion and was also taking the Haulia to the Northern Mountains to rescue their friends.
To do this Rimuru produced a bus from the materials of the Empire's wagons.
This bus was quite large, it had two floors and each floor had 40 seats. The actual Haulia were just over 40, however they were getting more people. So Rimuru made a very large bus.
This bus flew with Rimuru's magic essence. It wasn't very fast and would take a few days to reach the northern mountains.
The only one who could fly it was Rimuru. Ciel also made some very luxurious adjustments, such as a toilet and even a heater. He also had something so the air pressure wouldn't affect even if they opened the windows.
"Huooooou. Rimuru-sama is really amazing!"
One of the Haulia spoke as the Bus took off. All the Haulia were very impressed with the things Rimuru could do and were also very grateful that Rimuru saved them. They even took him as their master, including the 'sama' after calling him. Even though he said there was no need they kept calling him that, so he gave up.
"Err, thanks I think we'll reach our destination in a few days. By the way Sakura-chan why are you so close?"
Rimuru spoke half embarrassed.
He was sitting on a chair that could turn into a bed, this chair was in the driver's seat. However, since the bus was guided by Rimuru's magic power, he only needed to be close to the bus. So there was no steering wheel or anything.
What he spoke was also right. Sakura was really very close to him. She was sitting next to him while hugging his arm with her eyes closed, a small smile on her face and her cheeks slightly flushed.
"Physical contact is the best way to get close to someone of the opposite sex, and like I said, I will do everything I can to get close to Mas...to Rimuru-san. It's also I like to be close to you."
She spoke in a calm voice, yet she seemed a bit embarrassed.
"Errr... Is that so?"
"Yes. If Rimuru-san doesn't like me around I can stay away."
"It's not that I didn't want you around it's just that I have a fiancée you know and I don't know if she would like to see us like this."
"Yeah, I figured the master would have a mistress by now."
"Figured? And I already told you that you don't have to call me master. So you want to stay with me even if I have another?"
Rimuru gave this permission, because he thought his other subordinates were too formal. So he wanted Sakura to serve as an example to the others when they met.
"I don't mind if they have others. Ah, yes I won't call Rimuru-san master anymore. The reason I think Rimuru-san would already have a beloved is that you are very kind, beautiful....
She started complimenting Rimuru in various ways. Having a pretty girl complimenting him made him turn red. He interrupted her to avoid further compliments.
"All right! I get it. You can stay cuddled up to me."
Rimuru gave up arguing and continued driving. Sakura looked happy and continued hugging on his arm.
●●●
A few days later.
"Roaaaaaaaaar!"
They were arriving in the northern mountains, so Rimuru decided to fly low to proucure the Haulia. However they were being attacked by monsters.
"Ahhhhhh. I'll have to land to kill them."
"Rimuru-san, no need, leave them to me. They're not worth your time."
"Are you sure? Have you fought before?"
"I am very happy for your concern. However, even though I haven't used this body yet. I was already killing monsters like those before Rimuru-san named me."
"Fine. Then good luck."
"Yes!"
She jumped off the flying bus. She opened her beautiful pink butterfly wings and went flying toward the monsters that looked like ogres.
One of the ogres picked up a tree and threw it at Sakura. She simply went through the tree as if it was nothing. The others were confused, so Sakura attacked.
She stayed in the air and her wings began to glow pink. After that she went so fast that she looked like a beam of pink light. She killed the ogres quickly by crossing them. When she saw that everyone was dead she went back to the omnibus and clung to Rimuru's arm again.
"Well done Sakura-chan!"
"Thank you, fufu."
She looked happy at the compliment.
Rimuru pulled two things out of infinite space.
"Sakura-chan, here it is."
"What's that?"
"A space ring to hold your things and the best sword you can use right now. I made them both in Pink to match you, but you have a way to change the color if you want."
It was a 'Treasure Chest' similar to Hajime's, only it was pink. And a powerful Katana of the same color.
Sakura was looking at Rimuru's gifts without saying anything.
"You don't like it, I can make another sword if you want."
She put the ring on and leaned the sword on the wall. Then she clung to Rimuru's arm and laid her head on his chest.
"I loved it. Thank you so much."
"Err... I'm glad you liked it."
They stayed like that for a while and when it was getting dark Rimuru spoke up.
"By the way Sakura-chan. How long do you plan to stay like this?"
Rimuru left her like that for a while. He wasn't uncomfortable and didn't dislike the feeling of her breasts on his arm one bit, he just asked to know if she slept
"Until master asks me to leave. I am very happy with Rimuru-san gifting me and I don't want to leave."
Damn! What a cute sentence! How should I respond to that? Hmmm...
While Rimuru was thinking a Haulia called out to him.
"Rimuru-sama! Our ears have detected shouting in the direction of that mountain."
"Oh! Let's go then."
It could be Haulia in danger so they went to investigate. And when they got there, that was it.
There was a Rabbit Man running away from an ogre while screaming.
"Sakur..."
"Leave it to me."
She moved forward before he asked and used her new pink katana to kill the monster.
The Haulia who was lying on the ground looked at Sakura as if she was a goddess who saved him from death.
"Qu...who?"
He asked with a trembling voice. The bus landed and the Haulia got off with Rimuru.
"Len? Is that you?"
"Guys!"
Haulia ran to hug his family members. They greeted him and then he asked.
"How did you guys get here? And who are these two?"
He pointed to Rimuru and Sakura.
"Easy, easy. We'll explain everything."
The Haulia began to explain the events after they got separated while fleeing from Faea Baelgen. After they told everything the Haulia named Len approached Rimuru and knelt down.
"Rimuru-sama allow me to guide you to our hiding place."
"O..ok"
Rimuru almost argued against being called 'sama'. However he knew that wouldn't work.
Haulia guided them to a well hidden cave. Inside the cave were several makeshift beds, fires, and some boxes. There were almost 40 Haulia here, if you added them to the ones Rimuru had already rescued, it would be 81.
The cave had no guards. It made sense, because the Haulia (at least these ones) didn't know how to fight. They had only one escape route on the other side of the cave.
When Len arrived the Rabbit Man of the cave looked at him. Then he shouted.
"Brothers! We are saved!"
They were confused, but after they heard the events they were happy.
""""Rimuru-sama our deepest thanks! """"
They bowed and declared in unison. Some children even came over to hug Rimuru.
"Hummm. It was no big deal you know? You don't have to be like that."
Rimuru was a little embarrassed and Sakura seemed happy to see Rimuru and the Haulia like this. It was as if she was saying "It's Great that they recognize your greatness."
They went back to the bus. Rimuru gave everyone food and water. Then he took off in the direction of the Haulia.
●●●
It had been 11 days since Rimuru had parted with Hajime and Yue. He knew that Hajime was going to the Big Tree, so he looked around for some base there. He found some tents and took the bus down beside him.
The bus landed and Hajime and the others approached. Rimuru got off first and waved.
"Hey. Hajime-kun Yue-san. How are you guys doing?"
Hajime who was the only one not confused by the flying box(omnibus) approached and spoke....
"We're fine. And since when did you become a bus driver?"
"Hahaha. I needed something to bring the Haulia, so I made this out of the materials from some imperial wagons and mixed it with some of my own stuff. By the way, I have a problem. These guys keep calling me Master or something. Can you help me?"
"Good. The same thing happened to me so I can't do anything for you.
"We're lost."
After that the Haulia came out and greeted each other. The Haulia who took Rimuru as their master (Haulia A) were surprised by the physical changes of their comrades who were trained by Hajime.(Haulia B)
"Hajime-kun has taken heavy training right?"
"Well..."
"Yes."
"That's right."
Shia and Yue answered in Hajime's place. Hajime looked away.
"Hahaha. At least they know how to defend themselves now. I also have an idea to protect them."
"Good. Let's settle that argument first."
"Yes."
They walked to the place where the Haulia were discussing which master to follow. From there one could hear things like.
"Our master is better looking!"
"Our master is more detached!"
"Our master is more powerful!"
"Our master is more brutal!"
"That's not even quality!"
And so on...
Hajime couldn't take this argument any longer and Interrupted.
"Okay idiots gather here. Neither my brother nor I want to be your 'masters'. However you guys don't give up on naming us like that, so the two of us will be your Equal rank masters."
Rimuru nodded in agreement.
""Yes! Gentlemen!"
All the Haulia accepted and Hajime continued.
"Alright. Kam I will leave it to you to train those who want to get stronger. My brother will also give you guys a hand so you can protect yourselves and not have to run away from the forest."
Rimuru approached and spoke.
"Very well. If you guys leave the forest you might be attacked by human armies. Your combat style is stealthy, so fighting in the open against an army would be a big disadvantage. You also can't go back to Fea Baelgen. So for you guys who fight with surprise attacks the best place would be here."
"Huh!?"
None of the Haulia understood. In this place the fog was dense and that was good for sneak attacks, however 9 of 10 days the fog here was so dense that even demi-humans got lost. So it was impossible to stay here.
"Rimuru-sama how will we do this?"
"Kufufu, come with me."
Rimuru went into an open space and everyone followed him.
"Summon higher spirit!
He placed his hand on the ground and a large magic circle appeared. Everyone was surprised by the unknown magic being used.
It was the magic of summoning nature spirits. Rimuru decided to summon them to help the Haulia. The wind spirit for example could make them immune to fog. The water one could create some lake near the Haulia Village if an earth spirit finished a hole and so on...
"That's..."
Yue had read about this magic in an old book, but never got around to using it. She looked dumbfounded to see it. After the magic circle disappeared only a few higher spirits remained in front of Rimuru.
Spirits of: fire, wind, water, earth, thunder, light, darkness and a drayd(forest spirit).
"!!!!!!!"
Everyone could only stare in amazement at the spirits in front of them that should only exist in legends.
"Very well! Your orders: prioritize my orders. After me the highest priority is my brother. Then the orders of the leader of the Haulia. Also, don't be hostile to the other Haulia. Protect the forest from hostile people. Is that okay?"
""Yes!""
The spirits replied in unison.
"Ok and the payment..."
"We don't need any payment just physical bodies."
"Eh?"
"Rimuru-sama is a great person and a friend of the Queen of spirits. It will be an honor to serve you. We only need physical bodies to remain on this material plane."
"Great! Here they are!"
Rimuru took the bodies of the Bear Men that had been killed by the Haulia. The spirits possessed them and began to modify their form as they preferred.
"Ok time to name them."
"!?!?!?!?"
It seems that the spirits didn't expect that one. The spirits had forms nothing like humans and it would be difficult to get along with the Haulia like this. If they were given names they would get stronger and gain more human-like forms, making it easier to interact.
"Okay you first. You will be Aqua."
The water spirit turned into a girl with blue hair, eyes and dress.(She looks like Aqua from Konosuba)
"Thank you very much, Rimuru-sama!"
"You sera Fior."
The fire spirit turned into a young man with red eyes and blond hair.
"Thank you very much, Rimuru-sama!"
"You will be Caizi."
The spirit of wind turned into a girl who appeared to be 18 years old with white hair and white clothes. Her hair was in several braids and her eyes were light green.
"Thank you, Rimuru-sama!"
"You be Tremor.
The earth spirit turned into a stout Man with brown hair and eyes.
"Thank you, Rimuru-sama!"
"And you will be Volt."
The spirit of Lightning took the form of a tanned young man with white hair and blue eyes.
"I thank you from the bottom of my heart Rimuru-sama."
Those were the elemental spirits. Now the strongest ones are missing.
"You be Flora."
Driade turned into a woman with faint green hair, clothes and eyes.
"I thank you Rimuru-sama."
"Okay, Flora I already have a mission for you. The driades in this forest are asleep for some reason, probably the fog. I want you to wake them up with the help of the other spirits. Now that you have been named, it won't be a problem. Once they wake up it will be your mission to lead them in protecting the forest."
"Yes!"
Rimuru re-named and turned to the spirit of Light.
"You will be Liz."
She turned into a blonde woman with blue eyes and white clothes with Gold.
"Thank you very much, Rimuru-sama."
"You will be Hollow."
The spirit of darkness turned into a Man with pale skin, purple hair and eyes, and black clothes.
"Thank you, sir."
"Okay. Now that we've done that n...Eh!?"
When Rimuru turned around, all the Haulia were kneeling. Hajime and Yue also looked confused, only Sakura was giving a gentle smile.
"What happened?"
"A Driade..."
"The elemental spirits...."
"The great spirit of light..."
"Eh?"
"Rimuru."
At this moment Yue called out to the confused Rimuru.
"Spirits are legends of this world. In the Haltina forest they are treated as deities. Especially those 3..."
She pointed to Flora, Liz and Hollow and continued.
"And you being able to summon them and still boss them around is... well, it's unbelievable."
"I didn't know they were some kind of deity, I just used my ability..."
Rimuru spoke discouraged. (Note: these demons are not the same demons that are at war with humans. They are powerful spirit forms like spirits and need to be summoned.) However, he thought that the Haulia were frightened. He then summoned spirits that he thought the Haulia would like, only it seems they liked them too much.
"And you. Why do you listen to his orders?"
Yue asked the spirits. They turned to answer and it was Liz who spoke first.
"Good. It is an honor. Rimuru-sama's greatness is far greater than we can think of achieving."
"That's right."
"Exactly."
"What!?"
Even the calm and serene Yue could not hold back her surprise. The Haulia also had the same reaction.
These beings that only appear in legends, some of them are even described as arrogant. These powerful beings who control the forces of nature are saying that it is an honor to follow Rimuru. Yue was about to ask Rimuru, but he had already found a way to escape.
"Hey. Hajime-kun, spirits can manipulate elements, have you thought what you can do with that? We could use a Water spirit to make a submarine."
"!!!!"
"We could use fire spirits to make it immune to heat."
"!!!!"
'He fell.' Rimuru thought.
"We can use a spirit of Lightning to decrease the magic spent on his weapons as well."
"Rimuru let's talk about it. Now!"
Hajime's mad scientist couldn't take it and Rimuru managed to escape the conversation. After a while of talking technologies they stopped talking, the spirits seemed to get along with the Haulia and Shia and Yue were eating something with Sakura.
"Rimuru who is that?"
Yue pointed at Sakura as she asked.
"Ahhh. I was going to leave it to introduce later, but there's no reason to wait any longer. This is Sakura, an err.... friend."
He didn't mean subordinate. That would sound very strange to Hajime.
"Nnn, and what is she doing here?"
"Ah, yes she is going along with us to conquer the Great Dungeons."
"Is that serious? Why? Does she know how to fight at least?
At this moment Sakura stood up and spoke
"Nice to meet you, I am Sakura and I will be with you from now on. My objective is to go with Rimuru-san. I am in love with him and I want to be near him, that's why I am going with you. As for whether I can fight or not, I'm certainly stronger than Yue-chan and This Girl with Rabbit Ears whose name I don't know.
"It's Yue-san. I'm a 300-year-old vampire."
"I know. I'm 400 years old."
"Huh!?"
Yue thought Sakura was too weak to go with them and was a little angry that she claimed to be stronger. So she quickly corrected her on how to call Yue. Everyone was surprised at her statement that she was 400 years old, that was because there are few races that live that long and Yue knew almost all of them, but Sakura couldn't remind her of any.
"What race is she from? I've never seen that hair color before."
Yue turned to Rimuru and asked.
"Oh that? She's a magical Beast."
"...."
Everyone was silent. That was impossible. Magical beasts could not assume human forms and reason. Hajime after thinking for a while spoke...
"Hey Rimuru I know you make jokes sometimes, but this is not the time. You know that magical Beasts don't talk right?"
"-Sigh- Sakura-chan."
VUP
When Rimuru said that she opened her Butterfly Wings.
"I am not like the others of my kind."
She declared and gathered her wings. Yue who was watching the beautiful wings came to her senses and spoke...
"Alright if you want to go with us you have to pass the same test as Shia. All right?"
She spoke this with a smile on her face. And Sakura agreed serenely. By the way Rimuru already learned from the Haulia that Shia would go with them on their journey. He didn't make any objections.
●●●
The fight would begin.
"Ok you make me a scratch. If you can. Fufu."
Yue said this and Sakura agreed. Hajime would start the match.
Sakura was without spreading her wings or picking up her sword. She was just smelling a beautiful pink flower that she found. Yue was a little annoyed that she wasn't paying attention and decided to use a strong magic before Sakura did anything.
"You're underestimating me, huh?"
"I don't understand what you mean."
She spoke without taking her eyes off the lymph flower.
"Well come on."
"Get started!"
Hajime announced the start of the match.
"Heaven az..."
FUSH
Yue was about to use a fire magic, but she felt a cut on her cheek. She was stunned and looked back to see what had hit her. There was a pink petal (hardened), the same pink that Sakura was holding. Yue looked back at Sakura and saw several petals flying around her.
"Looks like it was you who underestimated me."
"Sakura won. End of match."
Hajime declared without surprise. He and Rimuru noticed Sakura gathering magic in the flower and knew that she would use it for an attack. Yue was half down and Hajime went to comfort her by patting her back.
"Yue-it's okay. You can't win all the time. And why are you so angry?"
"Hmmm. I know Hajime said he doesn't care about that. But I just wanted to teach her a lesson for showing off that shapely body around."
"Huh?"
It seems that Yue's real reason for wanting to battle with Sakura was out of envy. Yue stopped growing when she awakened her power in adolescence, so her body didn't develop. She got angry with Shia for calling her a board and took it out on her training. And now Sakura. Her breasts were the same size as Shia's and she also had an ass that would captivate any man.
This Yue could handle, but as Yue said she was showing off. Her dress was made by her own mana, so she could modify it however she wanted. She removed the part that was under her arms from her dress. So part of her breasts would show if she turned sideways or raised her arm. The current dress also had a very suggestive neckline and she was without a bra. Why?
In her words it was to "Seduce Rimuru-san" he said he didn't need it, but since she caught him looking discreetly, she decided to keep it that way.
So Yue wanted to hit Sakura to ease her frustration. Hajime hearing this tried to cheer her up in various ways and asked
"Is there anything I can do for help?"
"Play."
"Huh?"
"Feel me and prove that my body is great!"
"Here!?"
"Yes. That's the only way I'll get better!"
Hajime approached while scratching the back of his neck in shame and placed his hand on Yue's chest.
"Do it willingly. Do it like an old pervert who is still a virgin!"
He started groping Yue even more.
"It's not enough!"
"W-why do I feel like I'm the one being harassed..."
.....
Sakura overheard this conversation of the two, but she didn't care and went over to Rimuru.
"Sakura-chan you did very well! Now you will be able to come with us!"
"Hmhm. I am very happy. Now how about we go back?
"Yes."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone