"I won't be polite then!"
Bai Ye was indeed hungry and started eating directly. As the host, Rimuru naturally wouldn't be constrained, and both of them put a piece of roasted meat into their mouths at the same time.
Then...
Rimuru's face instantly changed, and he looked at a goblin serving him and said, "Who cooked today's food?"
"It's Sister Shion," the goblin replied. "She said she misunderstood Mr. Bai Ye and wanted to cook herself to apologize!"
Bai Ye trembled and said, "Are you sure she wanted to apologize, not assassinate me?"
Bang!
As soon as Bai Ye finished speaking, his head slammed onto the table, and he began to foam at the mouth.
The next moment...
Rimuru had higher resistance, but he didn't last long either. He turned back into his slime form, and even his jelly-like body began to dissolve.
"Ah, Mr. Bai Ye!"
"Ah, Lord Rimuru!"
The goblins cried out in alarm, then ran out of the room.
"Quick, someone! Lord Rimuru and Mr. Bai Ye seem to be poisoned."
Listening to the shouts, Bai Ye twitched his lips and then shakily took out a talisman.
"Purification Charm!"
The next instant, flames ignited on Bai Ye and Rimuru's bodies, and some black substances were forced out of their bodies, quickly being burned away.
The feeling of having narrowly escaped death gradually disappeared.
After finally recovering, Bai Ye was drenched in cold sweat. He truly hadn't expected to use the Purification Charm so soon, and all because of a meal.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have looked down on you," Bai Ye confessed to the talisman. "The Purification Charm is just too useful!"
On the other side, Rimuru watched as a large group of his subordinates rushed into the room and said seriously, "Remember, keep Shion away from the kitchen, absolutely not. This is an order!"
Others cook for money, but she cooks for your life!
...
At the same time...
The outskirts of the Jura Great Forest!
This was a barren land.
Yellow soil, covered with thick sand and gravel, was cracked everywhere. Occasionally, a large tree could be seen, withered from lack of water, its branches bare, without a single leaf.
A tall figure in a cloak walked across the arid land. He had a human-like form, but his head was that of a pig. As he looked up, the pig-headed man's eyes were filled with sorrow.
"The child born yesterday died this morning."
"The child born this morning is also about to die."
"Why are we treated like this? Is it a curse from heaven?"
"A curse upon this land!"
"And a curse upon the hobgoblins!"
"If this isn't despair, then what else could it be?"
Suddenly, the hobgoblin raised his head and roared, filled with utter unwillingness.
"Food, food, food..."
"We need..."
"Food!"
After the roar, the hobgoblin gradually calmed down. The anger in his eyes receded, replaced once more by deep sorrow.
Then...
The sky around them darkened. It was no longer a desolate Gobi desert, but a vast forest.
Tens of thousands of hobgoblins stood before him, their eyes crimson, exuding ferocity!
"Is it a dream?"
The hobgoblin with sorrowful eyes murmured, then looked at the armor on his body.
"If this is a dream, then I shall shatter it!"
"I will eventually make my homeland's land grow with green grass and bloom with flowers."
"Through war!"
"Kill!"
And on a distant hillside...
Li Jiayi lowered his binoculars, raised his hand to his ear, and made a dialing gesture, saying, "Hello, I'm in the arid land on the outskirts of the Jura Great Forest, and I've found the Orc Lord!"
"Is war about to begin?"
Li Jiayi smiled and said, "Of course!"
"But... Boss, can the Orc Lord really destroy the Jura Great Forest? And what benefits can we get? That guy is impossible to communicate with, and the forbidden zone hasn't opened yet, so we don't have any forbidden zone quests."
"Forbidden zone quests?" Li Jiayi scoffed. "I think you're just trying to die faster. According to my deductions, the Jura Great Forest has more than two or three forbidden zones, and the lowest difficulty forbidden zone is enough to tear us to shreds."
"I was just saying, and besides, I'm just curious, what can we get from the Orc Lord?"
"Our target is not the Orc Lord," Li Jiayi said. "It's the power hidden behind the Orc Lord, the power of a Demon Lord!"
...
Jura Great Forest, Monster Country.
Bai Ye was walking down the street when his eyes suddenly lit up, and he rushed into a grocery store.
"Is this a talisman? There are talismans here?"
"Those were left by some passing travelers," said the store owner, a rabbit-eared beastwoman. She looked at Bai Ye and smiled. "Mr. Rimuru's friend, do you need them? If you do, I can get them for you."
"Of course, please get them for me," Bai Ye said, taking out a money bag from his waist and pulling out a few unfamiliar coins. "Is this enough?"
The rabbitwoman owner smiled and said, "It's enough, thank you for your patronage."
Bai Ye nodded and left the grocery store with a large stack of talismans.
Bai Ye truly hadn't expected to be able to buy Eastern talismans in the neutral zone of the fantasy region. This was a pleasant surprise, and Bai Ye hadn't paid anything. The bag of coins was given to him by Rimuru; otherwise, how could Bai Ye have the currency of this place?
However, the amount of currency wasn't much, only enough to buy small items or sustain daily living expenses. Otherwise, Bai Ye would have gone to the weapon shop and magic shop to get things for free.
"Hi, Mr. Bai Ye, would you like a flower cake? It's made from fresh flowers I picked this morning, very fresh."
"Mr. Bai Ye, would you like an apple? It's very sweet!"
"Mr. Bai Ye, this is this year's summer limited product, a shaved ice shaped like Lord Rimuru, would you like a bowl?"
This was the third day since Bai Ye arrived in the Monster Country.
Although it hadn't been long, given that Bai Ye spent his days aimlessly wandering the streets, the residents around Rimuru's mansion had become quite familiar with him. They greeted him affectionately whenever they saw him.
After all, Bai Ye was different from the humans they had encountered before; he neither feared them nor looked down on them.
"Flower cake? No, I can't get used to that stuff."
"Give me an apple."
"Shaved ice shaped like Rimuru? Rimuru treats you as subjects, and you want to eat him."
Bai Ye smiled and responded to the people around him, then took an apple and took a bite, finding it indeed quite sweet.
To be honest, life in the Monster Country was indeed quite comfortable.
However...
Comfortable as it was, why hadn't the mission arrived yet?
...