The World's Ego

Tengu Pride

Rimuru POV

The fateful morning arrived and a table was set up temporarily inside the reception hall as Beni welcomed them inside. A young girl sat across from me, her shoulder-length white hair transitioning to vibrant red at the ends, and pupils that resembled a wolf's looked straight at me after she had taken her seat. This was the representative and daughter of the elder of the Tengu tribe, Momiji.

From the way she presents herself and looks at me, she is quite arrogant and prideful, but it is to be expected from the Tengu tribe from what I understand.

"Demon Lord Rimuru, nice to meet you." Momiji greets me with a bold tone, "I have come in place of the chief of the Tengu tribe. My name is Momiji. I look forward to our future interaction."

"You are being too kind. I feel the same way. Although, I should formally greet you." I said, transforming into my human form and taking a seat, "I am Rimuru, who recently became a Demon Lord. For the convenience of a conversation, I'll be using this human form. I am quite the pacifist, so if you run into any problems, please feel free to discuss anything with me."

"You may spare the concern. It is truly impressive that you've united the Great Forest of Jura in this short time. I acknowledge that you are the ruler of this forest, so I hope you will be a good neighbor. However, do not interfere with us." Momiji quite boldly declares this in front of my executives

Uh oh... Shion-chan's fuming on the inside. It's already a good thing that she is holding back. Momiji on the other hand...

Since she came from a prideful race, she looks calm on the exterior but I could tell that she is actually very uneasy on the inside. I can see all that by her body language from the way she was fiddling with her fan and a shift in her posture as she waited for my response.

I can't blame her. An inexperienced leader is a done case if she's looked down on by others. The young warriors of the Tengu tribe have given full loyalty to her, it seems. That's why she's acting this way.

"I understand. We don't intend to interfere too much anyway. Beni, I mean... Benimaru here has explained to you before, all we want to do is just to conduct some road construction at the foot of Coscia mountain and there is another thing I would like to confirm with you. Could you give the High Orcs permission to stay now that they have moved their settlement to the lower mountain region?"

"Alright, all of these are fine. We've never claimed ownership of the resources of the mountain and forests, so they can do what they wish with the minerals. Those things are beyond our ownership. We simply dislike being interfered with, that's all." Momiji explains

I hummed in thought, finally asking something I was curious about for awhile, "Momiji-san. I would like to know why you are so wary of us. We are hoping to not be hostile with you, but we cannot reach a resolution without any answers."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Well, you could claim that we have ambitions to expand our territory, but would you have evidence to support your suspicions?" I asked

She snaps her head toward me, "Aren't you guys on good terms with that sly bird lady Frey? Her desire to usurp our land is the best evidence!"

"... Eh?!"

In response to my confusion, Keith leans down to whisper to me.

"About that... I have heard that due to Frey's liking for the divine tree and its height in the Sorcerer's Dynasty Sarion, she has tried to recruit the Tengu tribe before to fight against Sarion since their military strength is quite large. However, as you can see here, the tribe is quite prideful and would not abide by Frey's commands. Both sides battled fiercely, depleting each other's strengths while Sarion simply had to watch it play out."