Numerous individuals sit at a table patiently, all of them glancing towards the powerful mage who silently took a seat. The mage was donned in elegant robes, showcasing his prestige and position. At the other end of the table sits a man dressed even more elegantly, a proud crown sitting atop his head and a large, gray beard growing from his face. Both the king and the mage look aged, however both still appear to have a good decade or two before their age actually becomes a concern.

The rest of the group seated there were dressed in clothing of fine silk and other expensive materials, composed of the nobility and the military high command. Whatever the case though, each one of them was a trusted advisor of the king, especially the newcomer man in robes, the Chief Sorcerer, Razen.

"I'm sure you all are aware of the sudden allocation of resources without prior intimation." Razen started off, his old voice laced with power. "Unfortunately, due to the sudden nature of it, it wasn't informed to those not important enough." The silence that filled the air showed that no one was willing to oppose Razen's comment on their powerlessness in the face of a Sorcerer. Taking advantage of this, Razen continued. "As some of you might have heard through other sources, we have succeeded in summoning a new batch of Otherworlders."

The silence that filled the room this time was not of oppression, but rather that of shock and awe. Eventually, one of the retired mages under Razen's service decided to speak up. "I never expected a summoning this soon, given that we had just recently performed one. Surely it should have taken a few more years."

Turning to his former subordinate, Razen nodded."Yes, that's what we had assumed as well." He tapped on the table a couple of times with his finger, showing his slight agitation. "Due to the time constraints, a new opportunity to have a new summoning, especially with far fewer resources, we lacked the time to inform those at this table. I would like to apologize, but the results tend to speak for themselves after all."

"Just what are these results, Razen?" The King asks, having been the one to allow the summoning, as such having expected results and glad now to see that it appeared they had gotten just that.

Razen turned towards the king sitting at the head of the table, "Otherworlders normally originate from a world without magicules. This mage, however, originates from one with magicules, albeit less than we are used to. It appears that it likely has had an effect on the amount of power they gained from the transfer." Razen replies as the King looks on in interest.

The king interrupts; "Wait, you just said Mage. That means..."His voice trailing off at the implications.

"Yes, we believe that the individual was a mage in their past world, with immense power judging by the amount we measured. Additionally, we found out that she has a device of incredible complexity that seems usable only by her."

Ryzen sighed, before continuing, as he recalled the stuff that had happened. "The Otherworlder had resisted a lot, and therefore we had to use a binding spell that removed most of their free will. As such, in the event of a battle, they would need constant guidance from someone, though their firepower more than makes up for this drawback."

The King nodded, "Good work, Razen. I take it that it may be some time before we can commence another summoning though."

Razen sighed once more, "Regrettably yes, my Lord. The summoning has not only expended many resources and drained our mages, but it also came at a significant cost of life as a part of the mage's resistance. I believe, however, that this mage is certainly worth the cost."

The King nodded silently, "I do hope so too."

---

A bullet whizzes by, tearing through the air as the wolf can just barely feel it flying inches from their side. The bullet glows an intimidating crimson red, as if to give them a chance at seeing it before impact. Suddenly the bullet strikes the ground, kicking up dirt into the air as an explosion launches outwards, launching the wolf sideways.

The wolf expertly lands on his feet, stabilizing itself as the goblin riding it struggles to hold on. Before either is capable of straightening their own thoughts, yet another bullet flies towards them, prompting the goblin and the wolf to rush away as it explodes on the ground. All around them are the sounds of bullets, explosions, and the screams of their comrades struggling as they are.

The goblin and wolf continue pushing forwards, gradually getting better at moving around the impending bullets and explosions. Just when they finally have it handled they're met with the quick swing of a stick in their direction. The goblin barely manages to dodge it before the stick begins to swing back, prompting him to attempt to block it with his own stick.

His block is successful, however the first strike is met with a second and a third, each getting faster and harder to block, the situation only worsening with the bombardment from above continuing. As the defense becomes near impossible the goblin attempts a retreat, launching forwards on the wolf in order to escape. To his luck, another of his comrades seeks to challenge the old swordsman who had nearly knocked him off.

The challenger is doomed to fail, however in the brief moment of distraction, the goblin is able to flee. He quickly gains distance and once more returns to the heat of the bombardment. With nowhere to flee, nowhere to strike, and nowhere to hide, he is left with no choice but to survive the impending onslaught.

Above flies a small demon, firing volley after volley of explosive bullets down onto the defenseless goblin while her subordinate, an old Kijin named Hakurou, constantly provides a pressuring presence on the ground for them to avoid or fight against. The training, while chaotic, was surprisingly helpful. The Demon, Tanya, knew very well the chaos of the battlefield, something rarely fully simulated in training. For most, understanding the true nature of war was something they learned first hand through a trial of fire, however Tanya has the capabilities to teach them now.

War is hardly ever uniform, and while they may be in an era of lines of swordsmen clashing, considering the possibility of magic, such chaos was likely to form regardless. Would this give the goblins PTSD? Possibly. However, would it turn them into battle-hardened soldiers capable of chaotic evasive maneuvers? Absolutely, at least in the Demon's eyes.

In part, she was enjoying herself, perhaps a little too much. The onlookers, a blue ball of slime riding a horned wolf and a red-haired Kijin wearing a kimono simply watched without much surprise. Both Rimuru and Benimaru had dealt with Tanya and Hakurou respectively, and neither was shocked to see their chaotic, but effective, training only get more chaotic and more effective now that the other was added.

"It's madness down there…" Rimuru said, looking down at the carnage the Demon and Kijin were unleashing below them.

Benimaru sighed, "Just be glad it's not us down there. If he trained me like that… I'm not sure I would've survived."

"Even on his own Hakurou is quite a foe. Now add on a Demon that seems to have a lust for explosions and you've gotten yourself… well, this." Rimuru slouched down, internally relieved that it didn't have to be him down there, not that he would be in any threat considering his [Predator] could likely devour Tanya's projectiles.

As they looked on at the carnage below, a large feline approached from behind. Being roughly the same size as the horned wolf Rimuru rode on, it looked mostly like a large cat aside from the two large blade-like fangs sticking out of its mouth along with various other blades as its claws and the tip of its tail. Despite the initially adorable nature such a large cat gave off, she also gave off the presence of a proud and capable fighter, making her intimidating in her own right.

The cat looked down below with a hint of jealousy, "Wish I could join in on that…"

Rimuru's gaze turned towards the feline which now sat down next to them, "On whose side?"

The cat remained silent.

"Eiga…" Rimuru muttered, continuing to stare at the cat, partially worried she might go in and make the lives of the goblins and wolves down there more of a hell than it already was.

Eiga simply ignored the slime and looked to the wolf companion he rode, "So, Ranga, how do you think your wolves would fare against me?"

Ranga looked down at the wolves already struggling to keep up with running from both explosions and Hakurou and shook his head, "I doubt even they would be much of a challenge for you. If it was just you alone against all of the Goblin Riders I can see it perhaps being somewhat of a challenge, though."

Eiga made a fake sigh of disappointment, "Guess I'm stuck with you then, unicorn." Eiga stood up and began to walk away, "C'mon, if you hurry up I'll go easy on you!"

Ranga turned towards the retreating Eiga, "Like I'd need that from you, butterknife!" Ranga then looked back towards his master who still rode on his back, "May I go, master?"

"Yeah sure, of course. How has your sparring been with her? Hopefully not as bad as your first battle with her." Rimuru asked, having been too busy as of late to fully watch their sparring.

"I admit, she had the advantage in that battle, and she did for a while, but we have both grown. I'd say we're more or less evenly matched. She has learned [Black Lightning] and I have learned [Bodily Enhancement] from our sparring."

"That's good, glad to see you're both growing. Have fun!" Rimuru says, hopping off of Ranga as he runs off to chase down the feline.

"They seem to get along well. Never would I have expected to see a Blade Tiger and a Direwolf so friendly together." Benimaru commented, making a brief glance back towards them.

"To be fair, both are evolutions of those races, so situations change. It's good to see that they can learn from each other." Rimuru said, looking back towards the demon's personal playground below as she finally seemed satisfied, concluding the training, or rather passing it onto Hakurou. With Hakurou changing the training into a more direct swordsmanship training, Tanya flies down to Rimuru and Benimaru, making a soft landing next to them.

"Have fun tormenting those children?" Rimuru teased as the demon simply rolled her eyes.

"They'll be effective units in no time. If trained right, those Goblin Riders can be effective units. Their speed makes them equivalent to cavalry, however the smaller size of the wolves and goblins mixed with their own agility means they can easily maneuver rougher terrain like forests without issue. If need be they can also be used to pick off isolated groups or simply whittle down a larger one." Tanya replies, placing her rifle over her shoulder, resting it on her back.

"You're putting a lot of thought into this." Benimaru comments.

"Of course. Optimally, I want an army that can win wars without us being directly involved. They can't rely on us all the time, and besides, I'm not too fond of fighting. I'm not too fond of wars, either, but nevertheless they happen whether we want them or not. Speaking of which, I feel like we should address the major problem we're facing now." Tanya now folds her arms, looking over at both of them as Rimuru hops into human form with no Ranga to keep him at eye level.

Rimuru nods, "The Orcs, I assume?"

"Yes. We should exercise extreme caution dealing with them." Tanya turns towards Benimaru before continuing, "From your guys' accounts, we don't know the full extent of the Orc army, nor where they're heading. All we know is that they likely have the strength in numbers, and that's reason enough for us to not get cocky. We need information before we can properly act. The Goblin Riders, while their progress as a fighting unit is coming along well, are not a group I want to risk sending out on a stealthy recon mission. At least not until we know their basic abilities."

"I believe the skills Souei has shown could prove useful for recon here." Rimuru comments as Tanya nods.

"Then I'll trust your judgment. Send him out as soon as possible. Have people be prepared in case the Orcs are closer than we anticipated, but otherwise we should wait for more info before making any hard plans. We hardly know anything about this Orc army or its intentions, so we can hardly begin to prepare just yet."

Benimaru thinks for a moment before speaking up, "It's possible this army is being led by an Orc Lord." Both Rimuru and Tanya seemed slightly confused, prompting Benimaru to elaborate, "It's a rare monster supposedly born every few hundred years to the Orcs. It's said to swallow the fear of their subordinates."

"A soldier that never shows fear or hesitation… It's a perfect soldier." Tanya mutters, much to Rimuru's worry.

"I assume that's problematic…" Rimuru mutters.

"It would explain how they keep such a large force unified without any sort of communication technology. With a trait like that, there's nothing stopping them from using their numbers to the utmost advantage. I'd imagine human wave tactics will likely be their go-to." Tanya says, grumbling to herself as she remembers the eastern front of her past life.

Rimuru shrugs; "We still don't have a motive for what has happened. Surely they won't attack us."

Only for Tanya to refute. "It's not that simple, Rimuru." She sighed. "For all that we know, there might be a higher manipulator wishing to gain power."

"Speaking of manipulators." Benimaru cut into the conversation, " There was a Majin that appeared before the Orc assault on our village."

"Was it the same one you mistook me for?" Rimuru asked, looking towards Benimaru.

"No, but when he arrived he tried to give me a name. He felt suspicious so I refused. I believe his name was Gelmud."

"Gelmud is the name for the person who named Rigurd's son I believe."

Tanya shook her head, "Nobody just goes around naming monsters for no reason. When me and Rimuru do it, it's because they're part of our nation in some way. Is it possible that by naming an Orc, this Majin evolved it into an Orc Lord and is now using it to take out his enemies?"

Benimaru simply shrugged in response, "I'm not sure. I've never heard about an Orc Lord appearing from someone naming them."

"I wouldn't be surprised if this was some plot for this Majin to take over the forest. By naming a bunch of monsters across the forest, he leaves a powerful evolved monster which, in a place like this, would be almost guaranteed to take over their respective villages. From there he just needs them to submit to him and suddenly he has a significant force within the forest. All you'd need to do is take out the villages which resisted and suddenly the forest is yours." Tanya sighs. This was too similar to Albion's plot in her previous world after all.

"That makes sense. If it's the case though, then it's inevitable that they come for us as well. Even if Rigur did accept his naming, he's now long dead, and this village certainly won't submit to him. Should we perhaps begin building defenses?" Rimuru asks, looking around for any potential place that would be viable.

"Some defenses maybe, but they're bound to be using sheer numbers and human-wave tactics. If a battle comes to the village, there's no doubt we'll be too overwhelmed to mount a defense. If possible we should avoid a direct confrontation in the village and focus on a battle elsewhere. The best possible scenario would be for us to lure them into a trap of sorts. Firstly we must find out where they're going. Unless the Orc army is inactive and occupying some area, they're likely heading to some target. Assuming this target isn't friendly with the Orcs, we may be able to work with them to plant a trap. If the Orc Lord exists then when it comes time for battle we should prioritize taking it down." Tanya responds, laying out her ideas.

Rimuru seems satisfied with this, though somewhat worried at the fact that defense would be futile if battle came to them. "I think we should have a bigger meeting with more of the village here soon once Souei is done with recon."

"I agree. Any objections to that, Benimaru?" Tanya asks, turning to Benimaru.

Benimaru shakes his head, "None at all."

"Good, then I think we're good to leave it at that for now." Everyone begins to scatter off in their own directions, Tanya returning to observe the training as Benimaru and Rimuru head back to the village to attend to their own matters.

---

The clanging noise of metal echoed through the room as the village's new blacksmith, Kurobe, worked on a new weapon with the oversight of the dwarf Kaijin. Kaijin had a reputation of being one of the best among the dwarves, if not the world. This was especially considering the dwarves themselves had their own reputation as being some of the best craftsmen.

Kurobe wasn't quite as experienced as Kaijin, however that wasn't from lack of skill, rather it was from lack of material. In his past village he lacked the high quality forge, equipment, and materials he now had access to in this village. He was skilled in his own right, however with all these new tools and materials, he was now able to make things of much higher quality, leaving much for him to adapt to and experiment with.

Kaijin was very helpful in this regard, being considered one of the greatest blacksmiths in Dwargon, the better half of his career was spent working with only the best Dwargon had to offer. So while Kurobe had to get used to working with Magisteel, let alone the incredibly pure magisteel the village provided, Kaijin proved to be an excellent teacher in regards to these areas which he was inexperienced in.

Even more so, Kaijin had learned a good bit about the smithing styles of the Ogres, hearing of many methods he had never heard of. He had seen curved swords before, however he knew not how they were made. Among many things, Kurobe helped Kaijin open his skillset to even more potential methods.

Kurobe wiped the sweat off his forehead as he finally finished work on his most recent test with the metal. The product was a basic magisteel dagger. It wasn't much of anything special, but what he learned through the process of making it would help him with more complicated projects going forwards.

Kaijin nodded with his approval as they set the dagger aside to begin considering their next project. As if on queue, the door to the workshop opened as the co-leader of the village, the demon Tanya Tempest walked in. Kurobe hadn't interacted with her much, though Benimaru spoke highly of her tactical abilities.

Even still, Kurobe found it hard to not be at least somewhat intimidated by her presence. Regardless of how friendly she seemed and acted, there was no getting around the fact that she was a demon and did little to hide it. Her charcoal eyes with crimson irises and golden pupils always gave her an unnatural look. The outfit the demon chose to wear was also undeniably a military uniform, fitting for someone in charge of military affairs, though from what he heard from Kaijin, she had always dressed this way. The origins of the demon were an unspoken mystery among most of the townsfolk, though the same could be applied to their other leader, Rimuru.

Even despite his own intimidation from her, Kurobe still had much respect for her. Considering she was co-leader of a village that had so much going for it, as well as being the one who his comrades held in high regards, he had no reason to fear her, though he would make damned sure he didn't get on her bad side.

The demon walked inside, pulling off the rifle from around her shoulders and placed it on the table as Kaijin approached it. "It's good to see you again, Tanya? What can I do for ya?"

Tanya looked down to her rifle, folding her arms, "I was thinking of getting an upgrade. The rifle's powerful, don't get me wrong, but I feel as though some parts could use an upgrade, so I came to request for you to make a new rifle with a more refined design model.

Kurobe approached the table with curiosity as the demon rolled out a piece of paper going into elaborate detail on the design of her new rifle. To Kurobe, rifles were completely foreign, though Kaijin had told him about the rifle he had made for Tanya. The conversation was brief though, so the actual knowledge he gained about how the rifle worked was limited. Nevertheless he knew how much power it had in Tanya's hands.

Kaijin laughed and shook his head, "I can probably do this, but the rifle you got already has quite the firepower. What are you trying to shoot? A demon lord?"

"If needed be, yes." Tanya replied blankly.

Kaijin was somewhat startled but simply sighed and shook his head, "I shouldn't be surprised. These crystals though… They're a lot smaller than you originally had in your current rifle, far more of them too. I'm not sure where you're gonna get that many crystals of that size in the right shape."

Tanya made a slight smile, "I already have that handled." She held out her palm which began to glow. After a moment three small and perfectly shaped crystals appeared in her hand.

Kaijin picked one of these crystals up in awe, gazing deeply into it with amazement, "It seems to be perfectly constructed! Did you make this? How?"

"It's an intrinsic skill demons have, [Material Creation]. I've been trying to work with it for a while, but only recently have I gotten the hang of it. It'll be a while before I can make anything complex, but crystals are effectively just geometric structures in repeating patterns. If anything, they're the easiest thing to make."

In truth, considering the rate at which it took Tanya to even use this skill, it was quite surprising. Tanya was by all accounts aside from her actual power, a newborn demon. Most Greater Demons have the ability to use this skill fluently. Tanya, despite her immense power putting her on the lower end of Demon Peers, lacked the expertise needed to use the skill to an effective degree.

Most Greater Demons had at least several decades to master the skill, the mere fact Tanya managed to use it in such a way at all after just a few months was in part amazing, though one could contribute it to the extensive power she was born with.

Kaijin nodded, "I see… In this case I can almost certainly make this, though with how meticulous this will have to be, it will take me some time. The only problem I see is…"

"Magicule cost?" Tanya asked.

"Yeah. With these crystals, if you were to actually try to use all of the ones you intend to put into this barrel, you would drain a whole lot of your magicules. I understand you have a lot, but even you wouldn't have enough magicules to maintain consistent firing for all that long." Kaijin said, turning towards Tanya. Tanya was undeniably one of, if not the strongest person in this village, and while she had room to grow further, in her current state, such a rifle would cost too much magicules to use at its strongest potential, making him question why she's bothering with some of it at all.

Tanya simply pulled out another design, handing it off to Kaijin, "There's the solution. It's a bit complex, but I feel like you can pull it off."

Kaijin looked down at the design. It was so intricate and complex. Some of the concepts he understood, others were completely foreign and new, some methods used in it possibly even could've been useful in the Magisoldier project he worked on in Dwargon years back. It was a combination of Magic and Technology, something rare, but not entirely foreign to a former resident of Dwargon.

Looking at it all in the grand scheme of things, it seemed like it could work, something that both amazed and terrified the dwarf. "This is all… amazing. Its too complicated to be mass-produced for everyone, and it does seem like you'd have to have a lot of magicules to even use it but…" he looked up at the demon, even without her aura she still gave off an air of power, prompting him to nod, "I doubt you'd have any problems with it. When you said you wanted to have enough firepower to damage a demon lord you weren't kidding…"

"So do you think you can do it?" Tanya asked.

"It'll take quite a while, but yes, I think I could. That is assuming you can supply the needed cores."

"I can provide you with anything you need. I'll look forward to your progress." With nothing else to say, the demon made a slight polite bow and left, leaving Kaijin in shock as Kurobe attempted to look over at the design the demon left.

Some parts of it made at least some sense, but for the most part, a lot of it was foreign to someone who had no experience with magical technology before. Luckily Kaijin did have such experience. Experience which ended in failure, sure, but experience is experience. It would take time, but if he managed to get it right…

He could revolutionize magic.

---

Thanks to various editors and helpers on the Discord who helped with things like plot decisions, grammatical errors, and other aspects of the chapter:

Kyzershlact, Ra2griz, Hoshi, Informer, RoboShark1019, Terraman60, Zirmeister, and ケン

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