Children of Tempest - That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime(Discontinued)

Chapter 13 - Storming Out

By the time of returnal, the majority of the village was burnt down and destroyed. The outer walls were completely obliterated as if an army rolled through. No one was present and there was nothing visibly remaining that showed a possibility of what could have happened.

Rimuru couldn't help but look around to find an eerie presence with a feeling of sins crawling on his back. As he began to walk around, all he could notice was more damage and signs of a small scuffle around the entrance and exits of the Ogre Village. He crawled up onto one of the pillars that once held up the walls of the village. On the outside of the village was massive destruction, large amounts of trees were burnt towards the ground and the stream that Rimuru had made completely overflowed and flooded into a different section of the forest nearby. There was more damage on the outside than the inside of the village which was strange...

<<It could be concluded that a siege occurred.>>

<A siege?>

<<A prolonged fight that occurred outside the village rather than inside. To delay and make time for something.>>

<For what?>

<<Unknown. More information required.>>

Rimuru looked around and noticed that there definitely was a difference on the inside and the outside. Some parts of the village had overgrown foliage that was still burning, several houses were burned but they seemed to just ended up getting caught in the crossfire, and doors were destroyed but the internals of the building besides a couple of walls were destroyed as if something was trying to find something or someone...

Rimuru entered some of the houses to find only chairs, desks, and beds remaining. There were some household objects remaining, including one Veldora mini statue but there was nothing else that would really indicate that they stayed behind. There weren't any foods, no blankets, no utensils, nothing remained in the village as if they picked up their stuff and left immediately.

Rimuru entered his own 'dragon den' and found the same thing, it looked like everyone had packed up everything and left since the clothing he had from the Princess was completely missing. All of the clothes were gone and there was really nothing else that remained there, not even his hammock. Rimuru left behind his house and went about the other houses, he found the same pattern within the houses where it all looked like early abandonment and retreat.

Rimuru entered the forge and found what was once filled with a massive amount of materials and custom weapons. There was nothing inside it, not even the Anvil remained. The coal that was used to fuel the fires was gone, and the materials within the weapons were gone as well.

<<It can be perceived as a planned evacuation. The village was directly attacked but it seems that they had laid out traps on the external sections of the village.>>

<Traps...?>

Rimuru walked over towards the outside of the village and there were definitely signs of fighting and combat here. There were several chest plates made of iron and steel along with countless weapons. There were areas that were completely undamaged while other areas that were clearly planned out for a strike. There were even several paths around the exterior of the village for escape... things here were planned...

<Would that mean they are all safe?>

<<Unknown. More information required. It can be likely deduced portions of the population survived but many were sure to have ceased existence.>>

As soon as Rimuru heard 'Cease Existence', it nearly broke him. That was just a fancy way of telling him that they died... he hadn't survived a year in the wilderness to not know what death was...