"I should pay you for the spar?" Asked Gazel with a bewildered look on his face and Yuki calmly nodded and said "Of course, I don't do such things for free, my time is precious" The crowd fell silent and those who knew Yuki couldn't help but wonder in what way his time was precious when he spent most of it lazing around... Meanwhile, The king's knights were about to start screaming at Yuki when a feminine voice suddenly echoed

"Ohh, Yuki so cool!" Cheered Milim from the crowd with a toothy grin on her face that brought a frown to Gazel as he felt like he recognized her but he shook his head and tuned to Yuki and asked "Name your price"

Yuki put a contemplative look on his face before he smirked and said "I want you to be my friend after this is over"

Gazel once more was hit by a wave of confusion from Yuki's antics before he laughed out loud and said "Sure, If you can defeat me, I will gladly accept being your friend"

'Not the same deal as with Rimuru huh? it seems like he already has an idea about our strength, as expected of a king' thought Yuki while observing Gazel while Rimuru interrupted from the side with a smirk "Isn't he your friend Yuki? Why are you asking him now to be your friend"?

Yuki didn't blush at all as he took out his sword from his space ring and said "Of course I was talking about it in future terms when I beat him"

Gazel smirked slightly and said "Oh, you are quite confident huh?"

"What can I say, I was born with a long sword… This fight is over from the start" Said Yuki causing question marks to pop on top of the watchers' heads before Rimuru got what he meant and he blushed slightly 'Damn Yuki how shameless can you get?'

Gazel stood in a fighting stance and said "Show me then this long sword of yours"

Yuki stared at him weirdly and said "I didn't think you swing that way, how surprising…"

"Swing what way?" Asked Gazel with a frown and Yuki was about to respond when Rimuru yelled quickly with a red face "JUST START THE FIGHT PLEASE"

"Hmm, What's wrong Rimuru? Don't you want to see Yuki's long sword?" Asked Shizue curiously which made Rimuru freeze in fright and Yuki couldn't help but chuckle at this and said "Yeah Rimuru, don't you want to see it?"

"Treyni-san, please start the fight" Said Rimuru hurriedly and Treyni nodded at him confused by his behavior before she stood between Yuki and Gazel and said seriously "Are you two ready?"

'This reminds me of the underground arena?' thought Yuki and he somehow started hearing the famous cheers echoing behind him… 'NUT DESTROYER! NUT DESTROYER'

'I shall honor your cheers my eternal fans' thought Yuki before he nodded at Treyni indicating that he was ready, although the weird smile on his face while he was looking at Gazel and his lower half was quite worrisome and only Rimuru got a hint of what was going on… 'It seems like a sword is going to get broken today…'

"I won't hold back" Said Gazel before he moved at high speed and rushed at Yuki with a sideways slash…

Yuki raised his sword and blocked it easily 'Not bad, he's quite strong' Dwargo as well was shocked by how strong Yuki was and instantly determined that he was stronger than him physically

'Swordsmanship is more than mere strength' thought Gazel before he covered his sword with magic and used a serious attack of his

"Haze of rambling heavens: Quick draw!" Said Gazel before he disappeared from Yuki's vision and senses completely before appearing behind him and delivering a devastating slash to his neck!

'Checkmate' thought Gazel who was planning to stop his sword at Yuki's neck, however before he could even compute what was going on, Yuki suddenly disappeared from his vision and appeared behind him with the tip of his sword right at the back of his neck

"Guess I win" Said Yuki as the crowd gasped in shock at the quick outcome of the fight… 'I had to cheat a little and use quick step, but a victory is a victory in my book' thought Yuki as he retrieved his sword and watched as Gazel was approached by two of his knight leaders that were concerned if he was okay.

However, Gazel simply raised his hand calmly and said "It seems like I underestimated you a lot"

Yuki smiled at him and said "Don't put yourself down, you are strong… in fact very strong" Yuki narrowed his eyes slightly at Gazel who the moment Yuki appeared behind him started exuding a tyrannical aura that defended him like a shield so Yuki couldn't kill him even if he wanted to…

"I shall accept your compliment, F-friend…" Replied Gazel forcefully and Yuki couldn't help but laugh and said "Don't worry you will get used to it"

Meanwhile, Rimuru heaved a sigh of relief as he looked at this scene 'Thankfully no deadly strikes were unleashed…'

"Winner Yuki!" Announced Treyni suddenly and waking people from their shock as they finally realized that Yuki had just defeated the famous dwarf king Gazel Dwargo!

"That was awesome Yuki! Even I couldn't keep up with your speed… Not bad" Said Milim while nodding her head repeatedly as if it was expected of her friend to be this strong…

After this was settled, Gazel and his men were invited into the settlement and he finally revealed why he acted that way…

Apparently, he had a unique skill that allowed him to read his opponent's intentions when fighting, and he used it to see Yuki's and Rimuru's intentions during their fights… From Rimuru, he only saw the clear innocence of someone that truly thought of the fight as a simple spar.

But with Yuki, he felt something wicked at the start but it then turned into something similar to Rimuru's… If only Gazel knew that he almost got his nuts destroyed but Yuki thought otherwise since he wanted him to become his friend and that injury was simply impossible to recover from and become friends after…

Then, after some discussions, Gazel decided to form an alliance with the great jura forest and was even willing to stand by them as they declare their existence to the world… Of course, they also negotiated on how to benefit from each other…

….

"So, what's the name of this nation?" Asked Gazel to Yuki and Rimuru who were sitting in front of him and the duo couldn't help but stare at each other awkwardly before Yuki smirked slightly and said

"Our nation's name is the shadow forest! We shall creep into every nation and stea—have many adventures!"

Rimuru punched Yuki away and said "Please forget everything that he just said"

'How can we?' Thought everyone before Rimuru pondered 'I need something that represents us… Yuki as well since this place wouldn't be what it is without him… in fact, I'm only the leader because he's letting me…' suddenly an idea came to Rimuru's mind 'My last name is Tempest, and Yuki's last name Chibana means wisdom flower…'

"Our nation's name is the Wisdom tempest Federation!"

"That's a great name!"

"As expected of Rimuru-sama"

The Kijin instantly started stroking Rimuru's ego while Yuki stared at him deeply before he nodded in acceptance as he thought 'It seems like this slime is pretty considerate'

"Hmm, Wisdom tempest Federation huh? Nice name" Said Gazel before he stood up and shook hands with both Yuki and Rimuru while saying "This settles it then"

...

With things settled, Gazel and his men spent the night in their town and left early in the morning of the next day…

During this time, Yuki decided to check out the rewards he gained from his chain quest

"Let's see, I believe I gained an ability during my fights with orcs and one from the quest itself…" muttered Bakorio as he opened his system and checked his abilities and indeed there were two new ones which he immediately clicked on to check their description

[Enhanced Stamina Recovery: Absorb any kind of energy (sunlight, magic, moonlight...) to enhance the stamina recovery by 300%]

[Wicked Thought: Grants the host increased creativity and intelligence when thinking in a wicked way… The higher the wickedness of the host the higher the attributes gained]

"Hmmm, not bad, although I feel like I'm going to turn into a super villain because of these abilities…" Muttered Yuki with a wry smile, unaware that the people already thought of him as an incarnation of evil…

After doing a few tests with his new abilities, Yuki was suddenly approached by Shizue who came to say her goodbye since she was planning to go back to the kids and bring them here which Yuki easily agreed to since he didn't know that a storm was brewing in Ingrassia by none other than Yuuki…

"Take care, and bring them as soon as possible okay?" Said Yuki to Shizue who smiled gently at him and said "Don't worry, it won't take me too long, you are letting me take Dariun after all"

"Hmph, it will take us no time at all" Bragged Dariun while rising his beak to the sky arrogantly and Yuki was quite tempted to punch him in the throat but he held himself back and said "Take care of Shizue, and don't let any harm befall her, otherwise I will make sure to make a mattress out of your soft feathers"

Dariun suddenly shivered when he remembered Yuki plucking his feathers and using them to make a pillow after he annoyed him once which left him traumatized so he immediately saluted like a soldier and said "Don't worry sir, I will definitely do my task perfectly"

Shizue chuckled slightly at this, and she felt happy that Yuki was concerned for her and she soon bid him goodbye and did the same with the other friends she made recently before she sat on Dariun's back and flew away…

"I hope this weird feeling I'm having isn't related to Shizue…" Muttered Yuki to himself before he turned around and went to find Hakurou to practice some swordsmanship or spend some time with Milim…

…..

With Dariun going at full speed, it didn't take long for it to reach the kingdom of Ingrassia where the headquarters of the free guild was as well as the free academy…

Shizue decided to land outside the entrance of the capital since she didn't want to alarm the people with Dariun's presence and decided to make her way on foot to the free academy.

However, she noticed that along the way, people were staring at her weirdly and some of them rushed away the moment they saw her, and through her magic sense she heard them say "Isn't that the girl on the posters? Quickly, inform the guards!"

"It seems like this place isn't safe, we need to leave"

The area started clearing up with only some curious people staying behind and Shizue couldn't help but frown and mutter "What's going on here?" She suddenly felt like a stranger in the place where she lived in for decades…