Having sufficient magicule reserves and no racial limitations only meant that Ren Kuroda possessed the qualifications to become a Demon Lord Seed—nothing more.
Otherwise, given Ren's current magicule capacity, which already rivaled that of a Demon Lord Seed, he would have transformed long ago if the only requirements were magicules and race.
Not knowing the exact conditions wasn't an issue. Rimuru possessed the near-omniscient skill Great Sage, and after asking, Ren learned several possible paths to becoming a Demon Lord Seed.
Among them, the method Ren found most reliable—and simplest—was this:
Continuously defeat Named Monsters.
By repeatedly defeating Named Monsters and turning them into nourishment for oneself, the "seed" of a Demon Lord could be nurtured.
"Defeat," in this context, didn't necessarily mean killing and devouring them outright. As long as the opponent was defeated and the corresponding conditions were met, it counted.
By continuously overcoming Named Monsters, once the Voice of the World acknowledged that one's strength had reached the threshold of a Demon Lord Seed, everything would fall into place naturally.
In fact, this was precisely the method Demon Lord Clayman had used to create the new Demon Lord Seed—Geld, the Orc Disaster.
The higher demon Gelmud's appearance in the Jura Forest, traveling from village to village to name the strongest monsters, had never been an act of kindness.
Those Named Monsters were meant to become fodder—fuel for Geld's evolution into a Demon Lord Seed.
If Ren wanted to complete his mission, the Jura Forest was clearly not the right place.
There were simply too few Named Monsters here—and most of them were already under Rimuru's banner.
So Ren decided to leave.
On one hand, he needed to seek out other Named Monsters elsewhere. On the other, he needed more intelligence about this world.
And if you wanted information, there was no better place than where people gathered.
Around the Jura Forest, there were four neighboring nations.
The closest was the Armed Nation of Dwargon, a country primarily inhabited by dwarves.
However, Dwargon wasn't particularly friendly toward monsters. And compared to intelligence, it excelled more in industry and craftsmanship—so Ren crossed it off his list.
That left three options:
The Kingdom of Blumund,The Kingdom of Falmuth,And the Beast Kingdom of Eurazania.
Blumund was a small country with highly developed agriculture and livestock industries. Despite its modest size, its intelligence network was exceptional.
Falmuth was also a human-dominated nation, but compared to its neighbor Blumund, it possessed significantly stronger military power.
Although its royal family was said to be stubborn and not particularly bright, the kingdom boasted the strongest human magus, Razul, and its strongest warrior, Furgen, whose strength was rumored to reach Special A-Class.
Lastly, there was the Beast Kingdom Eurazania—a nation ruled by beastmen, with a staggering population of three hundred million, making it the most powerful country in the region.
Its ruler was also one of the Ten Great Demon Lords—
The demi-beast Lion King Carrion.
According to rumors, he possessed… the eyes of an eagle, the ears of a wolf, the speed of a leopard, and the strength of a bear.
In short—basically a walking super-beast.
To defeat enough Named Monsters and complete the Demon Lord Seed mission, Eurazania should've been the ideal first choice.
After all, with three hundred million citizens and a Demon Lord as its ruler, there was no way it lacked Named Monsters.
However, Ren had only recently arrived in this world. He had no real sense of how powerful Demon Lords truly were.
Carrion was said to be among the weaker of the Ten Great Demon Lords—but even so, the sheer population of his kingdom alone made Ren feel that provoking Eurazania right now would be asking for trouble.
Dwargon was off the table due to its ban on monsters—and since Rimuru seemed to be on good terms with them, stirring up trouble there didn't feel right.
That left only Blumund and Falmuth.
After careful consideration, Ren chose Falmuth.
The reason was simple.
As the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the region, Falmuth naturally had more information.
And if it truly possessed the strongest human magus and the kingdom's strongest warrior, then defeating them should significantly speed up Ren's progress toward becoming a Demon Lord Seed.
Named Monsters were elite among monsters, and defeating them provided nourishment toward Demon Lord evolution.
So logically, defeating humans whose strength rivaled Named Monsters should yield experience as well—there was no reason it wouldn't.
Northwest of the Jura Forest.
At the gates of Marlis, the capital of the Kingdom of Falmuth, several squads of guards stared in shock at a lone figure slowly approaching from the distance.
The disturbance quickly drew the attention of nearby pedestrians—and when they saw the approaching silhouette, they froze just like the guards.
After parting ways with Rimuru and the others, and lacking any proper map, Ren had spent most of his journey simply marching northwest.
Crossing the entire Jura Forest alone—while habitually suppressing his aura—meant his journey had been anything but smooth.
Almost every monster with even a shred of confidence had tried to take a bite out of him.
As for their final outcome—
They now made up part of the long chain of monster corpses dragging behind Ren.
The guards and citizens of Falmuth weren't shocked because of the number of monster corpses.
As one of the region's strongest nations, Falmuth had no shortage of powerful adventurers.
And thanks to its location, Marlis was a commercial hub—monster materials were among its hottest commodities.
People here had seen everything.
But what truly stunned them was what those corpses were.
The youth had tousled chestnut hair, a long blade at his waist, and looked no older than twenty.
Yet the prey trailing behind him consisted of monsters many veteran adventurers would never hunt in their lifetimes.
No—some of those monsters were creatures they'd only heard of in stories.
"That's… a Ground Bear, right? The most dangerous bear-type monster—the one adventurers call the One-Hit Bear!"
"Ground Bear? Look at the last one!"
"That's a Crimson Winged Wyvern! A Special A-Class monster listed in the bestiary!"
"It's just a lesser dragon with barely any dragon blood—but it's still a top-tier monster!"
"And now it's being dragged around like trash…"
Among all the monsters behind Ren, the Crimson Winged Wyvern was indeed the strongest.
And ever since Ren added it to his grim procession, no other monster had dared attack him.
"Um—excuse me," Ren asked with a friendly smile."Is this the Kingdom of Falmuth?"
Despite his gentle tone, the guards tightened their grips on their weapons, trembling as if facing a mortal enemy.
The boy looked harmless.
But the "trophies" behind him screamed otherwise.
They couldn't sense a particularly powerful aura from him—but anyone capable of dragging hundreds of tons of monster corpses across long distances with such ease was anything but ordinary.
They had no idea what Ren wanted—and they were terrified he might be here to cause trouble.
If that were the case, wouldn't they be the first to die?
"Y-Yes! This is Falmuth!" a merchant suddenly chimed in enthusiastically."Say, young man—are those monster corpses for sale?"
"If so, please consider our guild first! We'll offer you the most reasonable—and satisfying—price!"
Guards hesitated, but merchants never did.
Profit was profit.
Whether Ren had come to cause trouble had nothing to do with them—especially since most weren't native to Falmuth anyway.
Adventurers earned money by fighting monsters.
Merchants earned money by dealing with adventurers.
Unarmed merchants feared monsters—but not adventurers. Monsters didn't negotiate. Adventurers did.
In their eyes, Ren was a walking treasure vault.
Ground Bear pelts. Wyvern fangs, claws, and wings.
These were materials people begged for and never found.
Buy them cheap, process them into weapons and armor, and resell them—
Instant fortune.
Watching the merchants swarm Ren with smiles, the guards were practically cursing them out internally.
But there was nothing they could do.
All they could do was hold their spears tighter and watch Ren closely.
Ren, meanwhile, scratched his head and laughed.
"So this really is Falmuth… Finally."
"Traveling without a map is a nightmare, you know. I walked for days!"
"So, officers—what kind of procedures do I need to enter the city?"
"And why do you all look so nervous?"
"Relax—I'm a law-abiding citizen. A very law-abiding citizen."