The Dragon's Anxiety

"You really never learned huh?"

'uuu...!!'

Veldora cast thought transmission via Soul Corridor on Rimuru who was in his sleeping state, he had taken the liberty of naming the Orcs.

After the death of the Orc Disaster, the effects of the skill starving ones were gone but still, the after-effects were there, which means the orcs were still charged with extra magicules from the skill. Rimuru (great sage) use these overflowing magicules to name them before it could fade away.

But still, he had to use his Magicules too as a result he borrowed Veldora's Magicules through the soul corridor. And there is Veldora, transferring Magicules through the corridor constantly so that Rimuru won't sleep.

"COMPLETE RECOVERY!" as the slime shouted those words when he woke up, The dragon replies:

"You're welcome."

"Ah, Veldora! Where have you been this whole time!?"

"Just left to see a family member."

"Huh?"

.

.

.

Revival, the concept of manifesting a soul into a material world is already known even in Veldora's past world.

The only thing you need was a strong soul and a new body. If Veldora wants to make sure Rimuru and all they've built until now was safe, there's only one thing he could do.

Make everyone else strong enough.

"Oi, lizard come over here." Veldora approaches the banished Gabil and his subordinates who currently freeloads in this place.

"I-I-I-I Pay my respect to you, Veldora-sama!!!" Gabil was banished from the Lizardman territory as a punishment for performing a coup.

However, Gabil came to this place in order to serve Rimuru as one of his subordinates. He, as well as a few of his Lizardmen squad.

When Veldora coldly calls for him, his subordinates went on their knees as Gabil went to greet him.

"What have you come here for?"

"G-G-GREAT DRAGON-SAMA!!!"

His way of calling him made Veldora raise an eyebrow.

"I would like to serve you and Rimuru-sama!!"

He may sound like an idiot since you can't serve two masters at a time as a monster. But this situation was in Veldora's favor so he doesn't think about it too much.

"Ah, is that so? Then... I rename you, Gabil. Receive the Tempest Crest, and be sure to follow Rimuru from now on." Right after that, Gabil's body radiates light, indicating the success of naming.

Veldora may have only taken a move now out of all times, but in the end, he doesn't want to see anything that Rimuru had built crumble. So if a few names and Magicules can do the trick, he knows he would take the opportunity to make them stronger.

He is a True Dragon anyway.

"Oooh! I shall work hard, Veldora-sama!!!"

"You're so cool, Gabil-sama!"

"Ga • Bi • Ru! Ga • Bi • Ru!"

His friends cheered for his name.

Amidst the noisy Lizardmen, Veldora stared at them with a cold stern face. He can empower Rimuru's subordinates, but what about Rimuru himself?

"Ah, Veldoraaaa~ Here you are!" Rimuru arrived at the scene with Shion.

"Huh? Why are those guys here?" (Rimuru)

"Should I cut them up?" (Shion)

"W-W-WAAIT! Please wait a minute! I've pledged to serve under Rimuru-sama as Veldora-sama's orders!"

They turned to Veldora.

"They become your subordinates?" Rimuru asked.

"No, they become YOUR subordinates."

"Huh?"

"I couldn't help but notice that you would've named them individually sooner or later. They'll probably beg to serve you and you granted them names. So I took the liberty of naming them."

"Eh? Ah... Okay?"

Even if it was Veldora who named them, they will still end up with Rimuru as their true master. Even though both Veldora and Rimuru grant everyone else the Tempest Crest, Veldora planned to protect Rimuru as he is "not that powerful yet"

But something lingered in Veldora's mind: 'Would it be fine if Rimuru became a demon lord? But that would be giving Guy a free ticket to use him as a pawn. And the core heart of Orc Disaster won't be enough to give Rimuru an Ultimate skill had he awakened as a demon lord...'

Veldora wanted to tell Rimuru about it as fast as he can, but he seems to be hesitant. Even he doesn't know why...

"Souka, Nansou, Hakusou, Touka, Saika, Those are your names from now on." Rimuru decided the names and Veldora told him to command Great Sage to take Magicules from the Soul Corridor.

Rimuru named all of the Lizardmens who would later transform into Dragonewts. Five of them who gained human-like appearances were given a role under Souei the ninja Oni.

Whilst the rest... "Ga • Bi • Ru! Ga • Bi • Ru!" They're the same as ever.

With this, Rimuru gained more subordinates --Veldora thought.

But still, Veldora was worried.

So that afternoon he tells Rimuru, "Rimuru, do you want to be a demon lord?"

...

...

"Ha?"

.

.

.

"Demon lord, I'm too old for that you know?" Rimuru talks as if he was ridiculing the chuuni-est line Veldora had said today.

"I'm not talking about those demon lords in the stories..."

"No, what are you even talking about then? I am sure this fantasy world would have a demon lord and a hero. But seriously, coming from you, do you even need to ask me that?"

Then the dragon answered.

"As I said, our terminology is different. A demon lord is not like what you think. A True Demon Lord will awaken from a monster that has become a demon lord seed, after evolving, you'd become a stronger race. But proclaimed demon lords are those who were simply strong enough to obtain the title. I am asking you right now, to proclaim as one."

Rimuru was skeptical, "That's basically what I said I don't want to do! What are you talking about!?"

"It's to make you stronger! As a demon lord, that title will help us. A territory that is being protected by a demon lord would be less likely to get atta---!!"

*Slam*

Veldora was not able to finish his words. Rimuru with a little bit of force gets up from his seat and looks Veldora sternly in the eye.

"Veldora. If you haven't forgotten, it was you who gave the chancellor position to me. So I won't be a demon lord. If you want it, then you should've probably taken the position."

Veldora looks at him, dumbstruck. He tries to figure out the perfect set of words to answer the humanoid slime, yet the mouth that he opened makes no voice.

Before he knew it, Rimuru already turned around and makes his way to exit the room. *Thud* Still without any ideas, Veldora stared at the door where Rimuru left.

"Haa... I guess that's on me." he just wanted to protect Rimuru.

In truth, Veldora was in a dilemma. Had he flaunted his aura, he may have had the chance to say "This country is now protected by the evil dragon Veldora". Guy and Velzard may have been reasonable since Guy won't move after they had an agreement.

But what gave Veldora this excessive feeling of wariness was the Eastern Empire. They're just next to the Jura Forrest, and they are absolutely anything else other than "friendly".

First of all, Veldora is not that well acquainted with Rudra. And his other sister, Velgrynd, was very hard to deal with. He was worried Rimuru might get dragged into this world of chess.

Just like an ant being crushed by the players' pawns and knights in the middle of the black-and-white board, Veldora refused to have Rimuru get involved in all of this. In a worst-case scenario, he might even need to teleport the whole forest.

"How can I make Rimuru stronger...?" All down to the plan of making Rimuru stronger. He figured Rimuru will enter the game no matter what happened.

In the end, right after dinner...

"What is it, Veldora?"

"Eat this."

That line was delivered by Veldora with a face of a certain no. One hero from a manga he read.

"... Whuh?" Rimuru gets dumbfounded.

Instead of a strand of hair, Veldora holds a pink heart with radiating Magicules on his hand. It was the Orc Disaster's Core heart.

If Rimuru ate it, he will gain more skills and a boost of Magicules.

"Eat this" The dragon repeated with the same grin on his face.

"NO, I GET WHAT YOU MEAN, BUT WHY!??"

"It's Orc Disaster's heart. If you eat it you get more Magicules so... Eat this."

"Stop with the reference first..."

.

.

.

--- Please standby ---

.

.

.

"Okay, listen... I will be honest with you, Rimuru. I'm worried."

"Worried is it?"

"Yes. I have lived for over 300 years, I know which troublesome people you should avoid and which you can deal with. I'm not saying I'm older, but I know they might come for you sooner or later."

"Because what? do they have dirt on you or something?"

"Because, they're assholes."

Rimuru got a bit surprised after hearing a curse from his Dragon partner. But Veldora didn't stop there.

"We're in the middle of the chess board, Rimuru. You might not see it directly, but they're going to war against each other. If you're not strong enough, you'd be dragged into their whole mess. And this place is in the middle of them."

Rimuru went silent to process Veldora's words. He then asked. "Can you tell me about them?"

"...Yes."

.

.

.

To be continued.