The goblin's development of the village continued to progress with Kumiko helping to oversee the projects. Kaijin and the three dwarf brothers made clothing and tools and built more homes. The Goblin Lords under Rigurd, the Goblin King, worked out a system to rule the village. Things were progressing well.
Rimuru had Kumiko oversee most of the construction, as well as security and hunting, as she did previously. In regards to the resources that Kumiko had reported to Rimuru, he formed a few new units of goblins and wolves to scavenge for resources or mine for ore. Kumiko was also in charge of overseeing them, though for the most part they were self-sufficient. Rimuru said nothing, but he kept track of Kumiko and noticed a growing trend of her finding something to busy herself with every second she could. Normally, this wouldn't be an issue, but it was different from the Kumiko that would find times to hide away on a tree through the day to avoid talking. Now it seemed like she wanted to do anything but that. Rimuru sighed sadly as he observed her. After Shizu's death, Kumiko refused to even mention to Rimuru about her problems. He assumed that she was worried he was still grieving, but he was worried about her mental health for bottling it up. She respected him too much to rely on him for her own problems, but at times it made him feel like a bad leader. She had been accompanying him since the cavern and had loyally remained by his side, yet he couldn't say a word to help her.
Rimuru was currently hitching a ride around the village on a wooden door carried by two goblins. Kumiko was nearby, but busy doing her usual duties. Once he had confirmed that there was nothing urgent he needed to address, Rimuru hopped off the door and started making his way back to his own hut. Kumiko noticed out of the corner of her eye and she watched over Rimuru from her distance until he made it safely inside.
"Kumiko-dono," the goblin lord she was talking to called out. She turned her head back to the conversation.
"My apologies. What were we discussing?"
"Ah, we were hoping to get approval for expansion into this area of the forest," he said, pointing to the north of the village.
"I will have the security units scout the area shorting, and then report it to Rimuru. Please wait before starting to clear the trees."
The two discussed a couple other minor issues, joined by a few other goblins and goblin lords. She addressed all of their issues and delegated them tasks to keep them busy. After Ifrit destroyed half their village, they were set back in being able to comfortably house their population. In the first few days, she had the goblins report to her first to give Rimuru time to grieve for Shizu. Afterwards, they reported urgent matters to Rimuru directly for fast results. They reported to Kumiko when they needed approval from multiple units and Rimuru or if they were unsure of something. Other than that, the goblins and artisans had free will to build and do as they pleased.
Kumiko was always efficient with her work, even though at this moment, she wished she took longer. Her first stop after addressing the goblin lords was to check in with the hunting team. They didn't all go out daily, but it was always a good idea to keep track of the prey in the area. She had permanently assigned a few warrior goblins with each hunting unit to protect them from aggressive monsters when necessary. The hunting units were trained mostly to avoid having to engage in fights with monsters, but it was always better safe than sorry. According to the reports she got, they had dwindled the prey to the north of the village and were hoping to head back to the western part where they had been hunting before. Kumiko denied their request, and told them to head east instead. The numbers of prey to the west were still recovering. She had also been getting reports or a large increase of prey in the east, so it should be safe to hunt there for the time being.
She headed next for the artisans. She left Kaijin, Garm and Dord to do their thing, since they knew to report to her if they were running low on resources. Since Myrd was in charge of the village construction, she mostly addressed him. It was a blessing that she could communicate with him somehow, though she still hadn't understood how. Myrd and her discussed various things ranging from the layout of the village to defenses. Myrd was in charge of the village design, but the layout sometimes needed to be checked for security purposes. Myrd addressed the need for expansion to the north, as the other goblin lords had mentioned. She assured him that she would have security scout the area and prep it for expansion. As for defenses, since they kept expanding, there was really no way to build physical defenses such as walls around the village quite yet. Instead, they focused on paths the villagers could take through the village to escape if there was a need to evacuate.
Last on her list, but the one she spent the most time with, she headed to the security units. With the expanding village, more security units were formed so that the wolves and goblins wouldn't tire themselves out. The units were rotated 4 times a day, 2 units deployed at once. There was the morning shift, which should still be out, the afternoon shift, which most likely were getting ready, the evening shift and the overnight shift. Allowing the goblins to rest allowed for them to work efficiently and thoroughly when protecting the village. Kumiko quickly gathered all their reports for the day, and assigned one of the afternoon shift security units to scout the northern area of the land. When preparing land for construction, the security unit was mostly focused on detailing any suspicious monster tracks that may have been in the area. If it was recent, they would seek out the monster and determine it's hostility. If it was incapable of holding intelligent conversation and was aggressive, they had permission to subdue it. She had them report their current routes, which were repeated with each shift. The morning units came in while she while she was discussing possible formations to ensure maximum safety of the security units. They greeted her and quickly filled her and the afternoon units in on their findings.
Rigur, who used to be part of the security unit, was no longer bound to the tasks. Since his father had become Goblin King, he had taken over the position as Goblin Lord. Every so often, Rigur would join a hunting unit or a security unit if he felt like it, but he mostly spent his time with the main group titled 'Goblin Riders.' The Goblin Riders did as they pleased and when they pleased, for the most part, with Rigur as the Captain and Gobta, believe it or not, as the vice captain. They checked in every so often with Kumiko, but had the most autonomy of all the units. If they felt the need to hunt, they could do so. If they wished to forage for medicine, they just needed to be safe. Currently, Kumiko was headed over to just do a brief check in on them.
As she headed towards Rigur, she noticed Rigurd was joyously preparing something, chatting with the goblins and almost prancing around.
"Rigurd, what is the big fuss about?" she asked him as she approached. He turned to her with a bright gleam in his eyes.
"We are preparing a grand feast for Rimuru-sama!" he exclaimed. "Rimuru-sama has stated that he will dine with us from this day forwards."
Ah, Kumiko thought. Rimuru-sama had been whining endlessly before about wanting to be able to taste the meat. He finally has a chance to. Kumiko gave a brief report to the Goblin King to keep him in the loop, and he in return also gave her a short report of his own tasks. She quickly let him leave to busy himself with preparing the feast.
Kumiko had the option to use her skill [Shadow Movement] to travel directly to Rigur like she usually did, but she hadn't been doing that lately. Using direct paths like that only meant that she would finish her tasks quicker and run out of things to keep her occupied. She needed to be busy. Ever since the fight with Ifrit, she hadn't been able to rest well for even a minute. In the first place, she didn't sleep deeply to avoid nightmares and seeing that boy's pleading eyes. Now, however, even if she just rested her eyes, the image came back. She, of course, needed to rest sometimes, but she avoided it unless she had to. When she did, she would always retreat into her personal hut, shutting the door and blocking it with a spare plank. She had learned shortly after the battle that whenever she awoke from her visions and nightmares, she woke up frightened and her instinct to fight was triggered if there was movement near her. It made her even more scared of herself.
There was once, before she learned to block the door, that Rimuru had come into her hut looking for her. She woke up from the sound of his movements through her room and quickly reached for her scythe. Dazed from the images in her head, she had attacked Rimuru. In fear, Rimuru retaliated, albeit only in defense, but it only triggered her to fight back. She had developed a new skill by the name of [Shadow Manipulation] which allowed her to use the shadows around her as she pleased. She could turn the ground below her enemy into quicksand or have the shadows completely engulf them in darkness. Using this skill, she wrapped the shadows around Rimuru. Needless to say, she had to apologize to both Rimuru and Myrd profusely since the entire hut had been destroyed. From then on, once her new hut was completed with a warning from Myrd, she began to blockade herself every time she rested.
Kumiko made it to Rigur right as they were trotting off. Ranga was accompanying them.
"Ah! Kumiko-dono!" Rigur called out, waving his hand slightly. He stopped the group. "We're headed out to hunt a bulldeer for Rimuru-sama's feast tonight. Do you want to join?"
"Rigur," Kumiko greeted. "Thank you, but I will be heading back shortly. I'm here to check on the Goblin Riders. Are there any matters I need to be made aware of?"
Rigur took a second to think. Meanwhile, Ranga walked up to Kumiko and nudged her hand. She patted the large wolf on the head.
"Not that I know of Kumiko-dono!" Rigur replied. She nodded. She trusted that if there was any danger to the village, Rigur would report.
"May I ask why Ranga is accompanying you?"
"Rimuru-sama assigned me to accompany them for security purposes earlier," Ranga replied, his tail wagging as Kumiko pet his head. "He was worried why there was an abundance in prey. I'm sure you've heard about it."
Kumiko nodded. It didn't seem like much, but if Rimuru thought that the Goblin Riders might need Ranga, perhaps the matter was more serious than she thought. However, she decided to not delay Rigur and his team any longer and allowed them to continue about her way. She hadn't checked in with Rimuru in a while, but he was nowhere to be found at the moment.
Rimuru-sama? She telepathically called.
Kumiko? Did something happen?
Rimuru-sama I have finished with the daily reports from the security and hunting units. Kumiko quickly mentally filled Rimuru in on everything going on in the village. He made adjustments where necessary and then sent her off. She headed back to report changes to the village and Rigurd before heading into her hut to write out a report. Rimuru mentioned that written reports were sometimes easier to keep track of, so she made it a habit to do so. In addition, it gave her something to keep busy with.
She was just finishing up the last bit when Ranga's urgent voice called out to her.
Kumiko-dono! Kumiko sat up, alert at his urgent tone.
Ranga? Did something happen?
Ogres! In the clearing on the east! Rimuru-sama is...
Kumiko quickly used [Shadow Movement] to instantly travel to Ranga's shadow. As she emerged, she saw just in time for Rimuru to jump back and entangle one of the ogres with thread. Behind him, another ogre dressed in blue was charging forward. Kumiko couldn't risk thinking about how she would be fighting ogres. This was a personal nightmare all over again. However, right now, she had to focus.
"Rimuru-sama!" she yelled out.
Kumiko quickly flicked open both blades of her scythe and launched, her scythe blade clashing with the blue ogre's sword, producing sparks. Rimuru seemed surprised she was there, and had activated his body armor, not expecting her to jump in. The blue ogre's eyes widened slightly as he saw her.
"An ogre?" he jumped back, avoiding her blade as she twirled her scythe forward. He stared at her horns as he gained some distance. "She -"
He was cut off as Kumiko rushed forward, her scythe blades flashing dangerously. She one-sidedly beat down on the blue ogre, while he could only remain in defense. He looked up in her eyes as she leaped forwards, her scythe clashing with his sword. He wasn't sure, but he thought he saw hesitation and fear behind her mask. She hid it well though, and the ogre soon forgot about it as he quickly ducked to avoid her scythe.
"I'm sorry..." he heard her whisper to him before she used his own shadow to travel behind him. "Don't fight anymore, please." He heard her whisper from behind. She kicked his knees in, forcing him to crumble to the ground. His own shadow wrapped around his hands and feet, keeping him still. He was surprised to find that while the shadows kept a secure grip on him, they were gentle.
The fight between Kumiko and the blue ogre barely lasted a minute. Quickly retreating back to Rimuru, Kumiko stared at the captured ogre with a bit of fear and sadness. Rimuru couldn't help but note that despite the fact that she was beating the blue ogre easily, Kumiko was being very reserved in her attacks. They were non-lethal to say the least. In fact, it appeared as though she wasn't even actually trying to hit him.
She quickly took a stance slightly in front of Rimuru, her golden eyes trained on the two remaining ogres. Ranga was continuously growling at the pink ogre who had a blue flame lit in her hand.
"They beat us that easily..." the pink ogre stated in fear.
"So, that just leaves..." Rimuru looked towards the two ogres that Kumiko was facing. The older looking ogre was dressed in white while the other was dressed in red.
"What'll it be?" Rimuru asked. The two ogres eyed him and Kumiko warily, though they seemed to be more confused at Kumiko's involvement. Rimuru couldn't help but take note of the heights of the red ogre. When he first met Kumiko in the cave, he estimated her height to be 250 centimeters. The red and blue ogres had to be taller than that. He estimated nearing 270 centimeters to 300. Compared to Kumiko's current height of 170 centimeters, they towered over them.
"The Evil Centipede's [Paralysis Breath]... The Black Spider's [Sticky Steel Thread]... The Armorsaurus's [Body Armor]..." The ogre in white listed. Kumiko's grip on her scythe tightened as she lowered her center of mass so she could more easily launch herself into an attack if she wanted.
"He may have learned the skills of many other monsters, as well. Do not lower your guard, Young Master."
"Can we stop this?" Rimuru asked extending his hands to his side. "I'd like you to hear what I have to say now."
"Quiet, evil majin!" The red ogre yelled. "And to think you had an ogre, no, a Kijin working for you. Traitorous." Kumiko flinched as she heard that, a wave of pain flashing through her eyes before she quickly masked it. For the blue ogre who had been watching her closely, he noticed it. Her actions confused him greatly. Why didn't she just knock him out? Her attacks earlier, although strong, intentionally avoided actually striking him. As an enemy, and as the reason for their village's demise, shouldn't she be aiming for the kill?
He also couldn't help but stare at her horns, protruding from the sides of her head. He couldn't remember what made them so familiar, but he had a feeling it was painfully obvious. He just couldn't grasp it at the moment.
"Okay, um... So, listen..." Rimuru started, rubbing the back of his head. Kumiko relaxed her stance ever so slightly and move to stand a bit behind Rimuru to his left, allowing him to make his negotiations.
"I admit you and the Kijin are strong," the red ogre declared. "That makes me all the more certain."
"Certain of what?"
"You are one of them! It is unthinkable for us Ogres to be defeated by mere Orcs!" Kumiko couldn't help but agree with his claim. Ogres were far more proficient compared to Orcs when it came to fighting. She had fought numerous Orcs at the front lines, even by herself.
"Orc? H-hang on, what makes you -"
"Quiet!" The red ogre interrupted. Kumiko's grip tightened on her open scythe. She really didn't want to fight the ogres. She may not have felt like an ogre, but by blood she was. Even if she didn't grow up feeling included, she felt all these negative feelings even when imagining having to attack or worse, kill, one of these ogres.
"I know it was all the work of you and your majin comrades! You even have a traitorous kijin on your side! Don't deny it!" Kumiko snapped.
"You know not what you speak of, Ogre." She said, her tone deadly calm. The blue and red ogres flinched at her tone.
"Wait! You've got the wrong -" Rimuru was cut off as Kumiko suddenly jumped towards him. She used her scythe to deflect the blade of the white ogre as he appeared behind Rimuru, ready to behead him. Thankfully, she protected Rimuru's head, but unfortunately not his arm. The ogre still managed to cleanly slice off Rimuru's arm as he jumped away. Kumiko quickly swung her scythe down on top of the elder, expecting him to parry her attack. Indeed he did so, and she used the force from her swing to push herself up and back towards Rimuru. Rigur and Gobta voiced their worries while Ranga took his attention off of the pink ogre and growled.
Kumiko was conflicted. Rimuru had just been hurt, his entire arm sliced off, and she was livid, but she couldn't attack the ogres. Despite vowing to protect Rimuru and exact revenge on anyone who dares harm the slime who took her in, she couldn't uphold that vow standing in front of these ogres. She had no qualms about defending Rimuru and the village from any other monster, but against ogres...
"The Cursed One..." Kumiko flinched harshly at the term, taking a step back as her eyes focused on the white-dressed ogre, standing where she and Rimuru once was. "I never thought the Cursed One would be still alive."
"What do you know of me?" she asked stiffly. He didn't reply, only stared at her.
"I must be going senile. I was certain I cut off your head." The elder completely ignored Kumiko.
Rimuru-sama. Kumiko's voice sounded in his head. He turned his head ever so slightly to look at her out of the corner of his eye. To his surprise, there were tears in the corner of her eyes. Her face was void of emotion, but the tears threatening to leak out said something different. Her mental state was a mess. I cannot fight them, Rimuru-sama. By blood I am ogre, and I will not fight them.
Rimuru nodded at her.
If they attack, at least defend yourself, but I won't ask you to engage.
"I'm fine!" Rimuru said to Ranga. "Don't let your guard down!"
Did he get under my Magic Sense? Rimuru thought to himself. And he easily broke through my [Multilayer Barrier] and [Body Armor].
"Next time, I won't miss," the elder threatened.
"Looks like you were just foolhardy after all," the red one taunted. "I commend your courage to remain calm after losing an arm."
The ogre lifted his blade.
"The pride that compelled you to take us all on alone will be your downfall! Regret your folly in the next life!"
Rimuru calmed picked up his severed arm, appearing to ignore the red ogre's declaration. Kumiko hadn't moved from her spot, but her blades were now closed and her stance defensive rather than offensive. Both the blue and pink ogres recognized that her defensive stance held no aggression whatsoever. With her double bladed scythe closed, she clearly was declaring that she wanted no fight, but the red ogre was too enraged to see. They watched as the severed arm exploded into a light blue blob before Rimuru absorbed it in. Immediately after, Rimuru's arm was regenerated. The ogres gasped in shock
"Did you think you'd beaten me just by cutting off one of my arms?" Rimuru asked, waving his regenerated arm at them.
"F-Foul beast!" He lifted his sword and activated his skill [Ogre Flame]. Kumiko immediately jumped back, her form directly behind the flames and out of sight of the ogres, but Rimuru didn't move at all. Kumiko knew from the fight with Ifrit that Rimuru would be fine. But she couldn't say the same for herself. She saw the flame and immediately got a flashbacks of the fight with Ifrit, her rage and the ice that coated the entire village. Then she got flashbacks of the skewered ogre boy. She clutched her head roughly and winced as she forced herself past the memories. Too much had happened recently to trigger her memories of the past.But Rimuru needed her to focus right now. She can't let the flashbacks she was having endanger Rimuru.
The flames raged in a whirl, extending upwards like a tornado.
"Young master..."
"Did I... get them?" He gasped as Rimuru's form casually walked out of the fire, not a single burn on him.
"Too bad." Rimuru said as he calmly exited the fiery spire. "Fire has no effect on me. You were right though. I did underestimate you." The fire died down, revealing the Kijin who had jumped away. She made no move to move closer, nor to return to Rimuru's side for the time being.
Rimuru removed his mask.
"I'll show you what I'm like when I'm serious." The red ogre took up a stance to engage. Rimuru didn't move, but instead let his aura shine through. "Take a good look."
He raised his hand, a black flame appearing, and lifted it above his head. A tornado of black fire spiraled upwards towards the sky, turning the sky an ashy grey. The ogres all glanced up in shock as Rimuru put more power into the fire, causing it to expand outwards into the sky, wind blowing harshly around the forest opening. The blue ogre quickly tried to fight the shadowy hands holding him down so he could rejoin the others in the fight, but a voice sounded in his head.
Please don't struggle... I won't hurt you and neither will the shadows. If you just stop fighting, Rimuru-sama doesn't want to fight either...
It was that Kijin's voice. He could recognize it despite only hearing it a couple times. But why did she sound so... sad? Not only that, but it sounded like she was desperately pleading him to stop this fight.
"That's... That flame is..." The pink ogre stared up in fright. "It's not produced by using the surrounding magicules! The only thing forming that flame is his pure strength! And the size of the flame mirrors the size of his powers..."
"I'll show you something even more interesting," Rimuru announced, easily controlling the flame with just his one hand. "This is my true power!" Rimuru faced a boulder not too far from him and used his skill [Black Lightning], demolishing the rock into electrifying shards.
"What now? Still want to fight?"
"Young master, please take the princess and flee," the elder said. "I will end this."
"Quiet, old man," the red ogre said, barely looking back. He turned back to Rimuru, his blade still held out in front of him. "That is intense. It saddens me to say it, but it seems we are no match for you. Still, I have my pride as the next leader of the powerful Ogre clan! And what leader would fail to avenge his slain brethren?! Even if I can't win, I will still fight back!"
"Young master, if you fight, I will fight by your side!"
"Wait!" the blue ogre voiced. His plea was drowned out by the princess, the pink ogre, who ran straight in between Rimuru and the red ogre and held her hands out.
"These individuals may not be our enemy!" the princess yelled at her older brother.
"Move!"
"No!"
"Why? He's a masked majin, just like the one who attacked our village! You said so yourself..."
"Yes... but please, try to think this through calmly. Why would such a powerful majin use such underhanded tactics as forcing the pigs to attack our village? It makes no sense. He surely has the power to kill us all on his own, if he so desired. In addition, the Kijin who remains loyal to him. Surely you saw she had the chance to kill but didn't take it. Not a single scratch was made by her blade, yet she was so easily winning. Surely she could've destroyed our village alone as well. There is no doubt that they are unlike us, but I don't think he or the Kijin have any connection to the ones that attacked our village."
The red ogre gasped slightly, the words of the princess processing in his mind. He looked up at Rimuru, his offensive stance weakening.
"Feeling a little more willing to listen now?" Rimuru asked. "I don't need this anymore, right?" With that being said, he absorbed the black flame back into his body, the sky once again lightening. Ranga took his place next to Rimuru as Kumiko made her way forward, not looking at any of the ogres.
I'm sorry... The blue ogre heard her voice inside his head again before the shadows released him. He stood up, making his way to stand by the other ogres, absolutely baffled by the Kijin's words and actions
"Who are you?" the red ogre asked, staring at Rimuru.
"Me? I'm just a slime." Rimuru held up his hands. "Rimuru the slime." He dispelled his mimic and took his original form. The ogres gasped in shock. He quickly hopped onto Ranga's back.
"I-It's true..." the red ogre stated, staring at Rimuru. Rimuru produced the mask from inside his body and offered it to the ogre.
"And this mask if a keepsake from someone I knew. Feel free to see for yourself whether it's the same one that your attacker had." The ogre reached out and took the mask into his hands.
"It does seem similar but..." He was cut off by the princess.
"This one contains anti-magic power."
"But the majin from back then wasn't concealing their aura..." the elder supplied. Realizing that they were wrong for attacking Rimuru on the presumption that he was the majin, the red ogre quickly knelt down in front of Rimuru.
"Forgive us. It seems our desperation cause a grave misunderstanding. Please accept my apology."
"Sure I accept." Rimuru said easily. Kumiko remained silent while standing behind Rimuru, her hair covering her eyes from view. The red ogre glanced at her, noticing that she purposely hid her expression behind a blank mask, but didn't say anything.
Rimuru swiftly released the ogre he had tied up and woke up the other he had put to sleep with paralysis, allowing them to rejoin their comrades.
"Well, this is no place to talk. Let's head back to the village. Come with us," Rimuru invited.
"Are you sure?" the red ogre asked in shock.
"Yep. I want to hear about what you've been through."
"But we wounded your companions."
"And we did the same to yours. But no one died, so we'll say it's all good. Besides, we're having a feast today! The more, the merrier, right?" The ogres all gathered around Rimuru. The red ogre smiled and agreed.
The princess quickly reversed the sleep spell that had been put on the rest of the Goblin Riders and the group was on their way after Rimuru healed everyone. Rimuru glanced at Kumiko worriedly. She had been strangely silent since the fight. Even though she usually was silent, she had absolutely nothing to say, nor did she even look at Rimuru or the ogres. She was putting some distance between herself and the group, but Rimuru couldn't really understand what had happened. The ogres and Rimuru stopped fighting, so he thought she would've been fine, but what was wrong now?
"By the way, what's your name?" Rimuru asked the red ogre who was walking beside him.
"Oh, we have no names," the ogre replied.
"Oh yeah, I forgot, most of you don't. That's right..."
"Rimuru-sama," Kumiko stopped walking, causing the entire group to stop and look at her. It was hard to tell what she was thinking since she hid it well, but Rimuru could detect the slightest bit of pain in her tone. "I will inform Rigurd of the extra guests."
Before anyone could utter a single word, Kumiko used her skill [Shadow Movement] and disappeared in a streak of black. The group stared at where she once was and Rimuru sighed as Ranga let out a small whine.
"That Kijin..." the red ogre trailed off, not knowing what to say.
"Kumiko has her own reasons," Rimuru said, not giving too much away. Clearly, she reacted to the phrase 'the cursed one' from earlier. If they knew something, he didn't want it to negatively affect Kumiko. "She'll ensure that things are prepared in the village when we arrive."
"Kumiko..." the blue ogre whispered under his breathe. That was the name of that weird Kijin who keep apologizing. The cursed one...
~~~
Kumiko had finished talking to Rigur and was currently sitting in her hut with her legs pulled up to her chest, staring blankly into space. She felt so many conflicting emotions from being around the other ogres and she had so many questions raging inside her head.
"Why did it have to be ogres..." She tucked her head down as her arms tightened around her legs.
She was scared, unbelievably scared, of those ogres. Not of their strength, but of just them. She couldn't even begin to form her thoughts around why she was so scared. For the second time, she was running away. She wanted to disappear and hide until people forgot her. She was scared that the first ogres she came across in over 10 years would shun her, solidify that she was a monster, a curse. She thought accepted it herself, but she didn't want to hear it from another ogre, much less six of them. She didn't want to hear their fearful comments of her previous deeds, of the innocent blood that was shed. She was scared that she really was a monster and they'd only prove it.
More than fear though, she was envious. She envied the ogres' loyalty to each other and their bonds. She envied them for having each other cover their backs. For the 11 years she was surrounded by ogres, she didn't have a single person watch out for her. She was The Cursed One. She envied them for being normal, for having normal horns. One of her hands lifted up to touch the horn protruding from the side of her head.
It was a good few months were she was able to forget that she was different, that her horns were unnatural. Since arriving at the goblin village, everyone treated her with so much respect and like a normal ogre that she forgot she had horns protruding from her head. She had no reflective surfaces in her room, nor did she even want to look, but for the few months with the goblins who had no idea what normal ogres were necessarily, she felt okay. Just okay, but that was always better than feeling like her existence was nothing but a pain. But the real ogres were here now, with their horns in front of them and not to the side, the goblins would see just how abnormal she was.
She wanted to run, but even if she did there was no where for her to go. She'd be alone again. Here, she had Rimuru-sama at least, though she still craved for the acceptance from the ogres. It was just natural for her to want a bond with those of her own race.
"I'm sorry..." She continuously whispered into the air. She was apologizing for refusing the order, for scaring the little boy, for hurting him, for running away, for causing her village pain, for forcing the village to move. She was apologizing for attacking that blue ogre earlier, for wanting to get revenge on the ogres for hurting Rimuru, for not being strong enough to protect Rimuru, for running away from the ogres.
She was sorry for living.
Up next: The Orc Lord
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Hey everyone!!
We're finally here!! I'm literally probably more excited than most of you XD
Just a quick note: I changed Kumiko's ogre height to 250, but her Kijin height is still 170. I did some research and I think Benimaru's and Souei's ogre heights are close to 3 meters or something crazy like that. :)
Let me know what you thought of this chapter! Stay safe!
ThePurpleDragon