Chapter 19 (1/2)

Volume 1

Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken (WN) Chapter 18

Well then, now.

We were still in the bar, 『Night Butterfly』.

It was something quite obvious, but bashing the face of a government minister was an extremely bad thing to do.

Yes, it was something quite obvious indeed…

[Big bro…what were you thinking?]

It was Kaidou-san, who was together with another guardsman.

As you would expect of a captain, even he could not skip duties all the time, so he was nowhere to be seen earlier today. We had invited him to go drinking with us, but he had curtly refused by saying, ‘I have things to do!’.

And so, it wasn’t that surprising to see Kaidou-san looking so appalled at us for causing another uproar while he was away on business.

Running away in itself would be an easy thing to do, but I was sure it would be a poor move…

[Hmph! Because that fool acted so rudely towards Rimuru-danna, who is my guest as well as my benefactor, all I did was to teach him a small lesson!!!]

Kaijin had angrily answered, and pointed a finger towards Minister Bester, who was being looked after by the four knights he had brought with him.

But even now, Minister Bester had not recovered from the shock and astonishment of the previous incident. He still managed to glare at us, even as he wore a dazed expression and dripped blood from his nose.

He must’ve never imagined that he would actually get hit on the face. It looked like he was too surprised to even feel any pain.

Sighing, Kaidou-san quietly muttered,

[Hey now…a small lesson you say, and against the Minister to boot…]

And continuing in a louder voice he said,

[Anyhow…for the time being, I’ll be taking you all into custody!]

He then handed down the necessary instructions to his subordinate.

But he also added in a voice that only we could hear,

[I won’t be treating you guys badly, so please don’t make any trouble!]

Of course, I had no such intentions to cause a fuss!

I stealthily moved to the side of Mama-san and placed 5 gold coins into her hands.

To the surprised Mama-san I said,

[I’ve included extra for the trouble we caused! I’ll come again!]

And with that I’ve said farewell.

The quality of this bar was really great. It wouldn’t be a laughing matter if I couldn’t come here again, just because of this incident.

And so, that was how we were arrested and taken away…but I felt like I forgot something…

Right!

It was Gobuta.

We hadn’t brought him along with us to the bar.

As a consequence for his repeated idiotic acts, he was in the middle of a punishment I had imposed on him which I called, the “bagworm hell”.

In the beginning, I had wanted to hang him upside down, but I supposed it would have been too much. And so, I wrapped all around him with『Sticky Thread』, then left him dangling from the top of a room.

[Wha-! This is cruel! I want to be taken along as well!!!]

He had pitifully cried out in protest, but I figured that being too lenient would spoil him.

So I retorted by saying,

[You fool! Your daily behaviour is unacceptable! If you don’t like it, then why don’t you try summoning your partner (Storm Fang Wolf) to help you out!!!]

And after telling him to do something he obviously couldn’t, I simply left him there.

For a goblin it would have been unreasonable, but the current Gobuta who had evolved into a hobgoblin should do fine without food or drink for a week.

If it turned out that we were going to be confined for many days, I would break out just once to go save him. And with that, I decided to push all thoughts of him out of my mind.

I did feel a little sorry for him, but considering how healthy he was, he should be fine!

The five of us were being taken away to the royal palace. (Kaijin, three bros’, Rimuru.)

But I should mention that we weren’t exactly put into heavy restraints.

It felt like we were going along voluntarily. Although we were being forced…

In the end, we were to be stuck in jail for about 2 days.

But the meals provided here were pretty good, and there was even furniture in the room we were imprisoned in. And although all five of us were in one room, it didn’t feel like a jail, but more of a dormitory.

I had the impression that we were being treated fairly well.

[This is all because I let my temper get the better of me…I’m sorry!]

Kaijin was apologizing.

However, none of us minded such a thing.

[Kaijin-san, it’s alright! There’s no problem at all!][That’s right, it’s nothing that Uncle-san needs to worry about!][…….!]

*Third bro is silent

The three brothers all seemed to feel the same way.

[But rather than that, after being released, we’ll follow Kaijin-san as well!][Rimuru-danna, will it be bothersome if we go too?][…….??]

*Third bro is silent

Although I had no way of divining what the last one (third bro) was trying to say with my level of understanding, his feelings came across anyway.

[Hmph! I’ll take care of everyone! However, I’ll be working you all hard, so be prepared for that!][ [ [Yeah!] ] ]

*Three square brackets will mean more than one person saying the same thing.

And so, in this way we began discussing what we would do after being released from jail.

The first day had passed in that manner, and it was now night time, well into the second day of imprisonment.

[Come to think of it, isn’t that Minister especially aggressive towards Kaijin? I wonder, is there a reason for that?]

It was a question that had come across my mind by pure chance.

Upon being asked, the look on Kaijin’s face soured as he sighed, then began talking about it.

It turned out that Kaijin was formerly one of the commanders of the royal palace knights.

Having said that, in the entirety of the royal palace knight order, there was 7 separate corps, and Kaijin was entrusted with leading one of those groups.

All 7 corps were tasked with different roles.

The three support groups, working behind the scenes, were the engineer corps, logistics corps and the first-aid corps.

The three main groups, acting on the frontlines, were the heavy attack corps, the magic attack corps, and the magic support corps.

And finally, the most important of them all, was the royal guards under the direct control of the king.

Kaijin was the commanding officer of the engineer corps, and his adjutant at that time, was no other than Minister Bester.

[You see, because Bester was descended from the family of a marquis, it was rumoured that he ‘bought into his position with money!’…. But because I was born into a common family, I was jealous of him then. It must’ve been complicated for him. And it might also have been humiliating for him to be forced to take orders from a commoner…but at that time, I just didn’t have the luxury to be considerate of other people’s feelings. I was desperate to be able to meet the expectations of the king….It was such a difficult time, when that incident happened….]

He then spoke further about the details of the incident.

The incident that caused Kaijin to resign from the army.

The artificial magic soldier incident.

In those days, without having produced a single technological innovation, the dwarven engineer corps was resigned to being the least evaluated corps among the 7 knight groups.

The engineer corps was split into two factions, one side on Bester’s and the other on Kaijin’s.

Bester’s faction insisted that ‘considering that our country is the founding nation of technology, the engineer corps should be the star of the knight order!’.

Kaijin’s faction had refuted, instead advocating that ‘we should steadily advance our research, as we have done up till now!’.

The arguments of both sides only resulted in a clashing of opinions, and their meetings never ended in a conclusion.

And it was during that period of struggles, that one elf engineer had initiated a joint development plan that was named, the “artificial magic soldier project”.

Bester had wanted to make that project succeed no matter the cost, all in order to redeem the honor of the engineer corps, once and for all.

Although Kaijin had pointed out that Bester was being too impatient, he had paid no heed at all, because the warning was given by a superior of commoner’s descent.

At that time, only the best of engineers had assembled to participate in the project.

But as a result of his over eagerness, Bester had ended up causing the rampage of the “enchanted soulstone”, and the project was brought to a standstill.

And it was in this way, that the “artificial magic soldier project” met its demise!

.

.

.

At the end of the day, Kaijin was the one to take full responsibility for that failure, and forced to leave the army.

This was because Bester, on top of pushing all blame onto Kaijin, had even bribed the upper echelons of the army to prepare false evidence.

I must say, this Bester was the very picture of a villain. In a way, he was easy to understand.

To put it simply, Bester was afraid that as long as Kaijin remained in this country, there was a possibility of Kaijin returning to the army at any time to threaten his position.

For such an unjust coward, wouldn’t the death penalty suit him just fine? Well, perhaps that would be a bit too much….

[Well, that’s how it is. After I leave the country, you never know if he’ll become a better person.]

With that, Kaijin brought an end to the story.

The three brothers must have detested the Minister, because they had experienced that incident first-hand.

After hearing such a thing, even I couldn’t help hating on him….

But even so, Kajin had punched someone who was a noble.

At this rate, I didn’t think we would be safely released…

When I voiced my concerns,

[It should be alright, for now. Though I’ve retired from military service, thanks to having made it up to the position of commanding officer, I’ve been granted the status of a semi-baron.

If it wasn’t for that, they might have already executed me without bothering to go through a trial!.]

After saying that, Kaijin burst into hearty laughter.

Though I couldn’t laugh at all….

When push comes to shove, I should escape! I’ll disassociate myself with this incident, and pass the time inconspicuously as an ordinary slime until matters cool down.

That was what I had decided to do in my innermost thoughts.

*So disappointed in you Rimuru

The night passed, and it was now the day of the trial.

Our group of five were brought before the king. The hero king of the dwarfs.

Within his presence, the overwhelming air of intimidation was no joke.

The current king, Gazelle Dwargo, was sunk deeply into his seat with his eyes closed.

He possessed a very dwarf-like tough looking body, covered in an armor of muscle that hid the surging energy beneath. His skin was a characteristic tanned brown of his race, and his jet black hair was slicked back all the way.

Strong!

For the first time in a while, every single fibre of my instincts were frantically warning me of danger.

On each side of the king, there was a knight standing ready.

I felt that those two were also strong, but in front of the king, they were mere shadows.

This king was a monster.

I had expected that running away would be easy, but this…the very moment I had come into his presence, my slackening consciousness had instantly snapped awake.

Since coming to this world, this might have been the first time that I truly sensed an impending crisis upon me.

A man fell to his knees before the king, and made some sort of affirmation.

Then, as if having received permission, he stood back up and loudly called out,

[The trial will begin! Everyone, remain silent!!!]

Our trial would begin now.

Over the course of 1 hour, representatives from both sides would appeal their defenses.