Gathering Intelligence

Kaijin spoke as he pushed open the doors of Night Butterfly and walked inside.

"Ari, let's go in too."

The moment Rimuru saw Kaijin enter, he said impatiently.

Hearing Rimuru's words, Mo Li helplessly shook his head and carried Rimuru inside.

Seeing this, Gobta hurriedly followed after them.

"Welcome to Night Butterfly."

As soon as they entered, several young and beautiful elf ladies came up to welcome them.

"Master Kaigin, what brings you here today?"

At that moment, one of the elf ladies cried out in surprise.

Kaijin laughed heartily.

"I just finished my work, so I brought some new friends here to broaden their horizons."

"I see."

The little elf nodded in understanding.

"These two guests are so cute."

At that moment, a petite and lovely little elf exclaimed when she saw Mo Li and Rimuru.

Mo Li looked around, then turned back to look at Gobta before realizing she was probably talking about him and Rimuru.

No matter how one looked at Gobta's face, it had nothing to do with being cute.

(Gobta: I really have to thank you! (?_?))

So many elf ladies. They're all so beautiful. Am I in heaven? This is too wonderful.

Rimuru was utterly captivated in his heart.

Mo Li looked at the Rimuru in his arms and found that Rimuru had already been dazzled by the beautiful elf ladies around them.

Looking around, Mo Li realized that there truly were no ugly women in anime. Even the insignificant minor characters from the original work were this beautiful. Still, although Mo Li liked beautiful women, he had standards. He was not like those other transmigrators who came to an anime world and opened up a harem, indiscriminately becoming some stallion protagonist. Nor did Mo Li want to be like those hypocritical protagonists. His principle was simple: if he liked someone, he would pursue her; if he did not, he would not. He would not force it. Having been given another life, Mo Li had no intention of becoming a simp.

Before Mo Li could come back to his senses, he and Rimuru were surrounded by a crowd of elf ladies and pulled deeper into the establishment.

The decor was different from what Mo Li had imagined. He had thought it would be that kind of place, since the original work had never described it in detail, and the name of the establishment was indeed easy to misunderstand. But this was merely somewhere like the bars and KTVs of Mo Li's previous life. At most, the elves working here accompanied customers for drinks and entertainment.

Moreover, this place was not simple. Mo Li had started observing the establishment the moment he entered, and he had sensed several rather powerful presences within it.

Ever since arriving in this country, Mo Li had felt as though someone was watching him. That feeling grew increasingly intense after entering this place. Knowing the plot, Mo Li understood that this was likely some intelligence organization belonging to Dovagon, the Dwarf King.

Mo Li carefully surveyed his surroundings before his gaze finally settled on the proprietress chatting with Kaijin in front of the liquor cabinet. She was tall and exquisitely beautiful, with long golden hair and a gentle temperament that made her seem instantly approachable.

But none of that mattered. In Mo Li's senses, the proprietress' aura was far from weak. Judging by it, she was an expert.

"Ari, what are you looking at?"

Rimuru asked then.

Looking at Rimuru in his arms, Mo Li replied gently.

"Nothing. I'm just a little curious about this place."

"Then, Ari, put me down. I want to go play with the elf ladies myself."

Rimuru said impatiently to Mo Li.

Mo Li could only look helpless after hearing that. Honestly, Rimuru had been a girl in her previous life. How could a woman be this lecherous? She was even worse than him, a man.

As he thought this, Mo Li set Rimuru down on the floor.

Before long, an elf lady had picked Rimuru up and started playing with her. Seeing Rimuru's slime face already flushed red, Mo Li was truly at a loss for words.

Afterward, Mo Li stopped paying attention to the fujoshi Slime, who was hopelessly immersed in the beauty of the elf ladies, and began observing the other people in the establishment. There really were quite a lot of them.

There was every sort of person here, though most were locals from nearby. Quite a few monsters and humans were chatting here, while many demi-humans were drinking as well.

Sure enough, this really is a great place to gather intelligence.

Mo Li sighed inwardly. In just this short time, he had already overheard quite a bit of useful information.

The proprietress, who had been watching Mo Li the entire time, noticed his behavior but said nothing.

Mo Li had always wanted to know how the surrounding countries had reacted after Veldora disappeared. He knew he could not rely solely on the original plot. The plot could only serve as a reference, not something to believe completely. After all, Mo Li was not supposed to exist in this world. If his carelessness caused something bad to happen, he would feel guilty.

Only after coming to this world did Mo Li understand that it was a real world, not a novel or manga. It truly existed. Anything could happen.

According to the intelligence he had gathered, after Veldora disappeared, many countries had sent adventurers into the Jura Great Forest. On one hand, they wanted to investigate the reason for Veldora's disappearance. On the other, they coveted the fertile land of the Jura Great Forest. After all, the Jura Great Forest was not only vast and sparsely populated, but also rich in mineral resources. These countries had no intention of giving up such a juicy prize.

Yet without exception, not a single country dared to declare sovereignty over it, all because of Veldora.

While Veldora had still been there, the Jura Great Forest had been under his protection. In other words, the Jura Great Forest had an owner—Veldora. It was precisely Veldora's existence that had prevented these countries and many powerful monsters from coveting the Jura Great Forest.

Veldora had not even been gone for long, yet some countries were already growing restless. Even the Dwarven Kingdom, which had no interest in the Jura Great Forest, had begun forging weapons in preparation for any eventuality.

Those twenty longswords Kaijin had been asked to forge were probably for this very matter.

Mo Li had also heard a familiar kingdom's name. The Magic Kingdom was also called the Elf Kingdom, Sallion. From what Mo Li knew, this Elf Kingdom was a powerful nation, its national strength not the slightest bit inferior to the Dwarven Kingdom's. Its ruler was likely someone no weaker than the King of the Dwarf Kingdom, apparently a female elf named Emilia. Furthermore, this country would later establish diplomatic relations with Tempest, which Rimuru would build. Right now, Mo Li and Rimuru were still far too weak. If Mo Li possessed the strength of an Awakened Demon King, he would not need to worry about such things. If Mo Li awakened as a Demon King, then the future Tempest would truly become somewhat terrifying.