The Ruined Village

Upon hearing the words of the old village chief Rigurd, all the goblins were filled with despair.

Meanwhile, Rimuru was still seeking praise.

"Mo Li, Mo Li, look, did I do a good job?"

Like a child showing off their achievements to an adult, Rimuru sought recognition from Mo Li.

"Alright, alright, Rimuru is the best."

Seeing Rimuru's proud expression, Mo Li held her in his arms and praised her.

"Alright, let's go take a look outside."

Mo Li said to Rimuru.

"Okay."

Then, Mo Li and Rimuru stepped out of the grass and walked toward the group of goblins.

The goblins, already consumed by despair, didn't notice Mo Li and Rimuru's arrival until they drew close.

At that moment, Rimuru was still radiating the aura of a B-rank or higher monster.

All the goblins fell to their knees at the sight of Rimuru.

The leading goblin bowed toward Rimuru and said, "Esteemed unknown strong one, please spare us."

Seeing their leader like this, the other goblins quickly dropped their rusted iron swords and bowed as well.

"Unknown strong one, please spare us."

Seeing this scene, Rimuru was stunned and looked to Mo Li for help in a fluster.

Watching Rimuru's frantic reaction, Mo Li found it quite amusing.

"You'd better retract your aura, or they won't get up."

Mo Li reminded Rimuru.

Only then did Rimuru realize—she still had her aura simulation on! No wonder they knew she was strong. She quickly turned it off. But even after she withdrew her presence, the goblins still didn't dare to rise. At a loss, Rimuru blinked her big eyes at Mo Li and said, "Mo Li, help."

Mo Li had no choice but to step forward in front of the goblins.

"Alright, all of you, get up. My friend here means no harm, and neither of us will kill you. So rest assured."

"Thank you, lords."

The leading goblin slowly stood up, and only then did the others dare to rise.

"Don't worry, there's no need to be afraid. We won't hurt you. As fellow monsters, there's no reason for us to fight each other. Besides, we were the ones who saved you from those humans."

Mo Li said gently to the weak goblins.

"That's right, that's right. We mean no harm, so don't be scared."

Hearing Mo Li's words, Rimuru quickly chimed in.

When they heard that Mo Li and Rimuru were the ones who saved them, they immediately knelt again and said, "Thank you both for the grace of saving our lives. We will do everything we can to repay you."

Seeing them kneel again, Mo Li was a little speechless. Couldn't they just talk while standing? Why did they have to kneel at every turn?

"Alright, let's set aside the life-saving grace for now. I have a few questions for you."

Mo Li said to them.

"Lord, please ask. We will answer everything we know."

The leading goblin quickly replied.

"Why are you here?"

Mo Li voiced his curiosity.

"Because, in the past few days, our village was attacked. So we came here to find a safer place to build new homes and relocate. But on the way, we ran into human adventurers hunting monsters, and that's how things ended up like this."

The old goblin explained to Mo Li.

Mo Li fell into thought as he listened. An attack—that must be the Direwolves. But the plot had deviated a bit. In the original story, there was no goblin migration. It seemed the story had changed again.

"How about this: you don't need to relocate. We'll resolve the crisis at your village. In return, you find us some food and let us rest at your village for a while. How does that sound?"

Mo Li proposed to the old goblin.

Hearing Mo Li's words, the old goblin's eyes lit up with excitement.

"It would be our honor."

Along the way, Mo Li asked the old goblin about other matters and gathered a lot of useful information.

First, the goblins' crisis was indeed caused by the Direwolves, the very ones that Rimuru would later take under her command in the original story.

Second, regarding the Storm Dragon—with the disappearance of Veldora the Storm Dragon, the Jura Great Forest had fallen into chaos. Many monster conflicts had arisen, and human adventurers had become far more frequent.

Hearing this news, Mo Li also let out a long sigh of relief—it seemed the plot hadn't deviated much. To be honest, knowing the plot was one of Mo Li's inherent advantages. He didn't want to lose that ability so early, at least not until he had the means to protect himself in this world. If the plot got chaotic, it would cause him no small amount of trouble.

It seemed Veldora's disappearance had still brought considerable impact. Not only were the monsters stirring restlessly, but humans were also starting to lose patience. No wonder—after all, the Jura Great Forest with the Storm Dragon and the Jura Great Forest without the Storm Dragon were two completely different concepts. It was obvious that, thanks to the Storm Dragon, the Jura Great Forest had at least been stable for the past three hundred years. Once the Storm Dragon vanished, all sorts of demons and monsters came crawling out—the Orc Lord, the Great Storm Ogre, the Demon Lord Clayman from the original story all popped up.

Soon, under the leadership of the goblin tribe, Rimuru and Mo Li arrived at their village.

Looking at the few shabby little wooden huts before him, Mo Li seriously doubted that a single gust of wind would blow them over.

Then the two were led by the Old Goblin to a relatively better wooden hut.

Staring at this tiny, dilapidated shack, it was not only small and extremely worn, with countless pits and gaps in the wooden planks, but even the roof let the wind through.

"Can people actually live here?"

Rimuru asked with serious doubt.

"Alright, stop complaining. Having a place to stay is already good enough. Don't be so picky."

Mo Li said to Rimuru.

To be honest, Mo Li had known from the original story that the houses would be shabby. Though he had anticipated it, he hadn't expected them to be this bad. But since they were already here, he'd just have to make do.

After all, the original story had mentioned that goblins didn't know how to build houses—even the techniques were brought back by Rimuru from the Dwarven Kingdom. Speaking of the Dwarven Kingdom, Mo Li remembered that the King of the Dwarven Kingdom was actually Rimuru's senior. And that Dwarven King was no pushover—he seemed to have combat power on par with an S-rank Demon Lord. In the original story, he not only taught Rimuru many techniques but also sent plenty of talented people his way, especially the four master builders and technicians, who helped Rimuru immensely in the early stages of building the Demon Country Federation. Later on, that Dwarven King even established friendly diplomatic relations between the Dwarf Kingdom and the Demon Country Federation on behalf of his kingdom. He was a really good guy.