"By the way."
At that moment, Rimuru remembered a problem: he seemed not to know where Master Kaigin was.
"May I ask you a question?"
Rimuru spoke to the female dwarf.
"Please, go ahead?"
Hearing Rimuru's words, the female dwarf hurriedly answered her distinguished guest.
"Do you know where Master Kaigin is?"
Rimuru posed his question.
"Oh, Master Kaigin! What do you need Kaigin for?"
The female dwarf fell silent for a moment before asking.
"We have something we'd like to ask the master to do."
Upon hearing the female dwarf's response, Rimuru hurriedly said.
"All right, then. I'll take you there. Follow me."
As she spoke, the female dwarf headed out of the shop.
Hearing her reply, Mo Li picked up Rimuru and walked in the direction the female dwarf had gone.
As they walked, Rimuru kept dwelling on a question he could not understand.
Seeing Rimuru's troubled expression, Mo Li grew curious and used telepathy to ask him.
"Rimuru, you look like something's on your mind?"
Rimuru jumped at the sound of Mo Li's voice, then finally realized what was happening.
"Ari, you scared me to death."
Mo Li found Rimuru's startled reaction rather amusing.
"Wasn't it because I saw your expression and thought you had something on your mind?"
Mo Li asked Rimuru with a smile in his voice.
"Ari, I still don't understand. I was clearly going to give that female dwarf the entire large piece of Magic Ore just now, so why didn't she want it?"
Rimuru sent Mo Li a telepathic message, his face full of confusion.
Only then did Mo Li understand why Rimuru had been so troubled. So this was what he could not figure out.
"Rimuru, have you ever heard the saying, 'A common man is innocent, but a jade ring brings trouble'?"
Mo Li instructed Rimuru.
"What does that mean, Ari?"
A huge question mark immediately seemed to rise over Rimuru's head, making it clear he did not understand at all.
Seeing Rimuru's blank look, Mo Li could only explain it to him.
"Rimuru, a transaction is about fair exchange. Do you understand? That piece of Magic Ore you offered was clearly worth far more than that sword. Not to mention, Magic Ore is extremely rare. Great Sage must have told you how precious it is, right? Never mind whether it was worth it or not—do you think that female dwarf could protect such a large piece of Magic Ore?"
Mo Li posed a question to Rimuru.
"I don't know."
Rimuru shook his head.
"Then I'll give you the answer: she couldn't protect it. It might even bring about her death. That's what 'a common man is innocent, but a jade ring brings trouble' means. And even if you cut off such a large piece of Magic Ore, the remaining piece would still be worth more than this sword. Do you understand now?"
Mo Li spoke to Rimuru word by word.
"I think I understand, Ari."
Rimuru nodded, seeming to understand but not entirely.
"Rimuru, remember this: no matter which world you are in, everyone believes one thing—there are no eternal friends, only eternal interests. Remember that, understood?"
Mo Li's tone was stern.
Hearing Mo Li's serious words, Rimuru nodded and sent him a telepathic message.
"I'll remember, Ari. I won't forget."
Before long, the female dwarf led them to a place where weapons were forged. A group of soldiers stood outside the door, apparently serving as guards. When they saw Rimuru's group arrive, the dwarf soldiers paid them no attention. It seemed that quite a few people came looking for Kaigin every day.
"All right, we're here. This is where Master Kaigin forges weapons. At this hour, he should be inside. I have matters to attend to, so I'll be leaving first."
After saying that, the female dwarf turned and left.
Rimuru looked at the building before him and could not help asking Mo Li.
"Ari, should we go in?"
"We should. Don't forget why we came."
Mo Li replied calmly.
With that, Mo Li stepped forward and opened the door. What greeted his and Rimuru's eyes was a dwarf wearing a horned helmet. The dwarf's face was filled with worry.
"Are you Master Kaigin?"
The moment Rimuru saw the dwarf, he impatiently asked.
"I'm not. Are you here to see my big brother? He's inside forging weapons!"
The dwarf in the horned helmet looked at Rimuru as he spoke.
"Oh, thank you."
Rimuru thanked the dwarf.
"It's nothing. I have things to do, so I'll be going."
As he spoke, the dwarf stepped past Mo Li and Rimuru and headed out the door.
"Ugh, how could there be such an unreasonable assignment? How could it possibly be completed? Aren't they just making things difficult for my big brother? I just hope the punishment won't be too severe."
The dwarf muttered complaints under his breath as he walked away.
Rimuru was just about to ask something when Mo Li carried him into the building. At a glance, they spotted a dwarf hammering iron. He wore a pointed cap and looked very much like the dwarf who had just left.
"Are you Master Kaigin?"
Rimuru, held in Mo Li's arms, asked.
"That's me, but I don't make weapons here. If you want to buy weapons, go outside."
Noticing Mo Li and Rimuru's arrival, the dwarf put down the hammer in his hand and spoke to them in a somewhat perfunctory tone.
After saying that, he prepared to usher Mo Li and Rimuru out so he could resume hammering iron.
Only then did Mo Li recall the plot from the original work. Kaigin seemed to be suffering from a headache because Vester had given him an impossible task. In the original work, it was precisely with Rimuru's help that he completed it.
"I'd like to ask, why don't you make weapons?"
Rimuru questioned Kaigin.
Only then did Kaigin realize that the one asking him was a Slime. But he had no time to think about that right now.
"Ah, there's no point in saying it."
Kaigin said with a worried frown.
"If you don't say it, how can you be sure it can't be solved?"
Mo Li spoke up then.
"Exactly, exactly. Tell us. We'll help you think of something."
Hearing Mo Li's words, Rimuru hurriedly chimed in.
"Ah, it's because the higher-ups gave me an assignment: forge twenty standard longswords within two weeks. But the time they gave me simply isn't enough. Worse still, they won't provide the materials. I've only forged one so far, and the materials I have on hand are only enough to make one more. I sent my friends to gather materials, but because of monsters, they not only failed to collect any, they were injured too. The deadline is almost here. How could I not be anxious?"
Kaigin said with a heavy sigh.
Before you continue