It had been about a day since the Orc Lord was defeated, giving most of the factions involved at least some time to rest as representatives from all of them met in the throneroom of the Lizardmen to discuss the aftermath. Such a meeting had been planned by Rimuru and Tanya to occur ever since the idea of aligning the Lizardmen first occurred, but now with the Orcs, goblin villages, and even Treyni the dryad involved, it had become a meeting of just about the entire western half of the forest.

Rimuru was a bit nervous about it, though Tanya saw it as a vital opportunity. Nevertheless all the sides gradually funneled in and sat or stood in their respective areas. Front and center was Rimuru, Tanya, and the Kijin that had proved a vital help to the battle. While the efforts of the other factions couldn’t be completely ignored either, the sheer effectiveness of Rimuru’s forces was certainly the deciding factor in the battle. As such, it was easy to see how they held all the cards in the battle’s aftermath.

To Rimuru’s left were the Lizardmen, led by the recently named Kurt and with a small handful of representatives of their upper leadership joining him. Standing a bit to the side of the Lizardmen were representatives of the Goblin tribes recruited by Gabiru, the bulk of the Goblins in the forest not yet assimilated into the village.

Lastly were the Orcs, sitting across from the Lizardmen on Rimuru’s right. Most had worried expressions on their faces as it seemed all of them were filled with regret. Whether this was regret for their actions or regret for losing Tanya personally couldn’t tell, but she frankly didn’t care. If they were useful, she could put them to work, but for now she decided to let Rimuru decide on something like that.

Treyni sat off to the side, not far from Kurt as she spoke, “Chairman Rimuru Tempest, please begin the conference.”

Tanya had been around Rimuru enough to tell when the slime was nervous. If he could sweat, he would be sweating at that moment. Despite noticing this Tanya had no intention of stealing his spotlight, at least not yet. Now that the immediate threat of the Orc Lord had passed, Tanya fully intended to take a bit more time away from the village to pursue her own ambitions. She had numerous plans that had been in the works for months, but with the possibility of an Orc Lord attack, Tanya couldn’t reliably leave just yet.

Now that she planned to not be in the village 24/7, even if it was still planned to be her primary residence when she wasn’t working, she needed Rimuru to act as a full leader, rather than the co-leader he was before. Tanya would settle down and focus primarily on Tempest’s army and economy, but politics and diplomacy would eventually need to be handled by Rimuru himself.

Rimuru, pushing through his nervousness, began, “Uh… I’m not quite used to leading meetings like this so it’s not my strong suit, but let me start by saying I don’t intend to charge the Orcs with any crimes.”

Tanya was somewhat shocked, but not entirely surprised. Rimuru was a fairly forgiving person, so it made sense he would forgive the Orcs here. Tanya personally saw value in the Orcs as a labor and military force, though that was unimportant at that moment.

The Orcs however seemed to be the most shocked, looking amongst themselves as if to confirm that the others had heard the slime correctly. 

Rimuru nonetheless continued, “I know this may upset the Lizardmen who have taken the most casualties, but hear me out. The cause of this was starvation due to famine. Anyone, regardless of race, might have made the same choices under those conditions. Of course, this is just my public stance on the matter.”

Tanya nodded, ‘Makes sense. When people lack a resource, especially one as critical as food, they’ll do anything to obtain it. It was the whole reason why Japan in my first life attacked the United States. The United States declared its intent to protect south-east Asia, specifically the European colonies there. With the United States blocking Japan’s oil trade it had no choice but to invade South-East Asia to obtain more, and with the United States declaring such an intent to protect it, they had no choice but to attack the United States if they wanted to maintain their war with China. Of course that’s only oil, something as essential as food… well. If they don’t have anything to lose, then they’ll do anything to win.’

Kurt then spoke up, “May we have your personal thoughts on the matter, as well?”

Rimuru nodded, though in doing so indirectly caused Shion’s breasts to bounce, causing Tanya to look away briefly, annoyed at where the slime was sitting, “I’ve taken all of the Orcs’ sins upon myself. If anyone has a complaint, bring it to me.”

Tanya was a bit confused about what Rimuru meant, but allowed him to go with it regardless.

Suddenly one of the Orcs stood up, both Rimuru and Tanya recognized him as one of those closest to the Orc Disaster Geld, and as such had been recognized as the de facto leader of the orcs for the time being, “P-Please, wait! Surely there’s no logic to-”

“That was my promise with the Demon Lord Geld,” Rimuru interrupted.

The Orc was stunned into silence, slowly sitting back down as the Orcs looked down, seemingly ashamed. It appeared that the Orcs were fully aware and regretful of their sins, having fully expected some form of punishment after all of this.

Kurt nodded, “I see. Though I hope you’ll understand when I say that answer is a bit unfair.”

Rimuru mentally sighed, ‘Yeah I can’t blame him for that thought.’

Benimaru took the opportunity to speak up, “There is one undisputed rule amongst all monsters: Survival of the Fittest. The moment they faced each other, they were both prepared for that.”

Rimuru looked up towards Benimaru, “You guys lost your home, too. Don’t you have any complaints?”

Benimaru shook his head, “I’d be lying if I said we didn’t, but if it happens again, we will not disgrace ourselves a second time.”

The kijin all nodded as Kurt was seemingly satisfied with this, though still he spoke up, “I see. I suppose that answer makes sense. But if you don’t intend to charge them with any crimes, do you plan to take in all the survivors?”

“It may be a bit too much like a dream, but I’d like for all of us to work together. The Lizardmen will share a clean water source and fish, the Goblins will offer places to live, and our town will give them processed goods. And in return, the Orcs will contribute labor.” The Orcs seemed shocked at this proposition, but not necessarily opposed as Rimuru continued, “All of the races of the Great Forest of Jura will form an alliance and build a mutually cooperative relationship!” Rimuru exclaimed proudly as Tanya smiled.

Standing up, Tanya began, “My friend, Rimuru, I believe you’re thinking a bit too modestly…” Tanya began to walk to the center of the room, standing in front of everyone as she spoke, “Why start with an alliance when we can start building a nation right here and now? The Orc Lord has shown that without Veldora there are individuals beyond the forest who would seek to turn it into their domain, with or without us in it. If we wish to prove to Demon Lords and humans alike that we are not to be pushed around, we need more than just an alliance, we need to form a country!”

Rimuru was shocked at how fast Tanya was to building a country, but was equally shocked to see how many people in the room looked to be in support of the idea.

“Together, let us form a Federation of races, goblins, kijin, lizardmen, orcs, all of them working together in unison towards the advancement of the Federation and the prosperity of all. This Federation will be the start of a revolution in more ways than one. From this country we’ll lay the foundations of democracy, technology, industry, and eventually we can potentially bring about an era where monsters and humans can exist side by side.” Tanya turned now to Rimuru, “That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”

Rimuru made another mental sigh but nodded, prompting Tanya to continue, “Together we’ll create not only a country, but a force to be reckoned with. No longer will we be pushed around by Demon Lords or foreign powers. Survival of the fittest may be a prevailing truth in this forest, but by working together our strength will rival any which seek our destruction.”

Tanya silently walked over and picked up Rimuru from Shion’s lap, raising her hand proudly, “Who’s with us!”

Kurt was the first to stand and kneel, prompting the other Lizardmen to do the same, “We would be honored to join in the prosperity of your nation.”

The goblins in the back all nervously nodded, kneeling as well, “W-We’d be honored, m-ma’am…”

The Orcs seemed more shocked than anyone, “A-Are you sure we would be allowed to join in this country?”

Both Tanya and Rimuru nodded. “Do your part, and we’ll make sure you never go hungry again,” Tanya said, much to the amazement of the Orcs.

The Orcs quickly kneeled, the de facto leader speaking up, “We will not fail you, we’ll gladly join in your nation!”

Rimuru and Tanya turned around to see the Kijin all kneeling as well as Treyni stood up from her seat, “Then, as caretaker of the forest, I proclaim Rimuru as the King of Jura and Tanya as the Chancellor”

Both Tanya and Rimuru were startled, Rimuru musing ‘King?! Why the hell am I King?!’

Tanya meanwhile was confused on another aspect, ‘Why am I the chancellor? I was just gonna lead the Military. Oh well, doesn't change my plans anyways, I’ll leave most of it to Rimuru and just use this position as an excuse to help him when he actually needs it.’

Nevertheless Tanya raised Rimuru into the air as he half-nervously half-proudly proclaimed, “Then I formally declare the creation of the Jura Tempest Federation!”

With that the western half of the forest stood unified, brought together under the leadership of a slime and a devil in the Jura Tempest Federation.

The Orc situation was gradually dealt with, Rimuru delegated roughly fifty thousand of the hundred and fifty thousand Orcs to Tanya, as Rimuru named the rest himself. The bulk of these forces went directly to serve as a construction force, immediately working with Tempest’s architects to expand the capital city to accommodate so many new Orcs.

Of Tanya’s fifty thousand, she split them into two larger groups. The first of these groups was twenty thousand strong, titled the ‘Guardian Corps’ by Tanya, aimed to be a force which specialized in defense, being the equivalent of the army’s ‘tanks’ since they currently lacked such technology. The second group, also twenty thousand strong, became Military Engineers, a specialized task force to be trained in building and repairing important infrastructure quickly in the event of a war. Outside of war they specialized primarily in military construction projects such as training areas, fortifications, and other needed military structures. If nothing else, they could also be assigned to Rimuru’s construction teams to aid where needed.

The remaining ten thousand were scattered in various jobs ranging from economic to political affairs. Some were planned to be trained in becoming military commanders of varying levels, others sent to be trained in blacksmithing and forging, mostly in hopes of eventually creating more guns or building factories. A smaller dozen or so were assigned to directly assist Tanya when she needed it within the village itself, especially during times of absence when she was working on other affairs.

While it would take a while for all of the Orcs to settle in, and the naming of them all briefly drained Tanya’s internal mana supply which she still didn’t understand, this was certainly a start and in enough time, they would help forge the backbone of the new Federation.

---

It had been a few weeks since the Orc Lord’s defeat and the proclamation of the Federation. By now the Orcs had gradually integrated into the village, though some organization was still yet to be completed. Nevertheless, progress was being made, and thanks to the large number of Orcs serving as a labor force, the city’s growth was already seeing the beginning of an exponential increase in its size. Rimuru’s own projects, plentiful in quantity though some with questionable necessity were beginning to see the early planning phases. 

Tanya however, had her eyes set on something else. She had been informed that morning of one of her own projects completion, arriving at Kaijin’s forge as the dwarf happily greeted her, “Ah Tanya! Good to see ya! Here just give me a minute and I’ll have it out for you.”

After about a minute as the dwarf had said, he had put away some of his equipment and pulled out a rifle that he promptly placed on the table. It was almost identical to Tanya’s current rifle, however the mechanics on the inside were completely different and its power had increased by several times. Tanya picked up the rifle, inspecting it and running her magic through the various crystals lining it, all of which worked together to function as a glorified magical railgun.

A true railgun may be possible for those who have access to Black Lightning, but due to the limited number of users of said skill, it wasn’t a viable option for many, not that Tanya’s current rifle was viable for anyone besides her anyways.

Tanya nodded with a smile, satisfied at the result, “Good work, Kaijin, I knew I could trust your expertise.”

Kajin laughed, “It was a trick one to make, but I think I got the hang of it now. If you ever need more rifles I believe I could make them a bit faster than I could before. Though if you want one as powerful as that with all the crystals, you’d still need to give me some time.”

Tanya considered the offer, but deciding that hogging Tempest's best blacksmith for too long for a single rifle wasn’t an optimal strategy. For the time being, just this one would do, as well as perhaps another one for Eiga now that she had a human form.

Kaijin lifted a finger before exclaiming, “Oh right! Before I forget.” He turned again to rummage through some items, eventually pulling out what appeared to be a necklace, placing it on the table with a smile. The necklace appeared to be a large jewel with a deep crimson color and three rotating wings around it. Tanya immediately knew what it was as she picked it up with a wide devilish smile on her face.

“I took a bit of creative liberties with the design, I hope you don’t mind. No offense, but the former design was a bit basic, even if it's meant to be a tool rather than a decorative object,” Kaijin said as he found the design blueprints for it again and placed it on the table, “Truth be told, while I am proud of it, it's far from optimized. I have some experience with magical technology, so I think given enough time I may be able to optimize it a bit more… Of course, such would take a good amount of time to research.”

Again Tanya considered it, but since the blacksmith was needed to make armor for the large amount of Orcs they now had in their military, especially since the armor they had before was cheaply made, she couldn’t afford to delegate him to research for the next month. She did, however, wonder if she could perhaps find a scientist or engineer to work on it instead, though Tempest currently lacked such expertise.

Putting on the necklace, Tanya began to run magic through it, causing it to glow a bright red color as she confirmed it functioned as intended, “Good work, Kajin. If you ever need a favor from me, feel free to ask. I have a few more designs for rifles I’d like you to make, but I’ll give those out sometime in the next month or so. They aren’t as complicated as this, so don’t worry much about it.”

Kajin nodded with a smile, “Glad you’re happy with it. With enough of those things you could make quite the formidable force, after all.”

“Indeed you could, Kajin… Indeed you could.”

---

Rerugen’s Log - Week 20

I’ve been in Falmuth for quite a while now as my own skill mixed with my military experience in my last life has allowed me to comfortably rise the ranks until the point where I am now. Now in a position which seems to be their equivalent of a General Staff member, I’ve been informed a lot about their Military Strength as well as that of the otherworlders. The plan supposedly being to place me in charge of them as well as any military force accompanying them. In doing so I would have access to all of their skills if I need them.

They’ve apparently contributed my appearance here to their summoning of another Otherworlder, one which I’ve identified as Viktoria Serebryakov, Tanya Degurechaff’s adjutant, the one who seemingly went missing right after Degurechaff’s death. Supposedly she’s Falmuth’s ‘Trump Card’, holding an excessive amount of magical power seemingly amplified by the summoning.

This excess magical power seemingly made her harder to control, hence why she seems to be basically a lifeless husk that’s given commands. With how strong she is, any free will, they argued, would be enough to resist them and cause problems.

I feel bad for the girl, and as a fellow Imperial I feel somewhat responsible for trying to break her out, but that’s likely not happening, at least not anytime soon. Right now my priority is my own survival and success, and unfortunately that means standing by as they use an Imperial Mage as a glorified puppet.

While her presence here does raise some possible concerns about the possibility of Degurechaff also being here, unlike Viktoria there were recorded reports of Tanya actually dying. Tanya was seen by multiple people being blasted away in a powerful strike. As such, it's not possible for Degurechaff to be alive, and I don’t have to worry about that devil ever again.

Right?

---

This is the end of Volume 1 of the fic, this doesn’t mean anything for the upload schedule ofc, just a means to differentiate arcs. Uploads will still try to be weekly from now on.

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