(Risa POV)
Sure enough, when we got back to the village, ogres in tow, Rigurd had already organized a veritable feast to celebrate Big Bro's new taste buds. By the end of the night, the pink-haired ogress was beloved by all of the Goblinas, because she had access to knowledge on all sorts of spices and seasonings. With how low-ranked monsters they'd been, the goblins didn't have much freedom to deal with quality-of-life things like that in the past. Now that they were evolved, their repertoire was growing by leaps and bounds, but it was nothing compared to the ogres' centuries of culinary freedom.
As for me, I didn't care much for food. I had taste buds from the Direwolf I'd once eaten and analyzed, but once I'd tasted something, it didn't have any mystery anymore. I knew its composition, flavor, content, and a second bite didn't introduce anything new to that. I'd eat anything once, but once I'd tasted it, I had no interest in it anymore. Big Bro seemed to love the feast, though, and, thanks to the pink-haired ogress, I did get to taste a few new flavors, so it was a fun experience in the end.
…
The day after the feast, we gathered the ogres in the log cabin that we'd built in the center of our vacant lot (village) to hear their story and decide what to do. Basically, they just repeated what they'd told us in the forest yesterday. Four stupid high ranking orcs blasting through the ogres' ranks with thousands of fully armored orcs at their beck and call, all overseen by a magic-born in a mask, who was clearly over A-rank. In fact, they'd thought at first, thanks to the way that Rigur, Gobta, and Ranga deferred to me, that I'd been in cahoots with the majin, scouting or something.
"Those pigs… those-those orcs!" the red-haired leader spat in disgust.
There was a moment of tense silence. Rigurd was the one to break it. "We believe the orcs are seeking to seize leadership over the forest." Everyone looked at Big Bro for a decision. It was a tense moment. Big Bro's decision would decide the fate of our village. Everyone knew that. If he decided to join the orcs' alliance, then we'd immediately become the ogres' enemies again, and a fight would likely break out on the spot.
The moment was made slightly less tense by the fact that I was splayed out in the middle of the room, using a tiny Raya as a pillow, though.
"So, what are you guys gonna do?" Big Bro asked.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you guys gonna run to fight another day, or hide out somewhere, or what? 'Cause if you were gonna run, to where?" Big Bro asked the ogre leader.
"There's only one path for us. We build our strength, and challenge those pigs once more!" The red-headed ogre replied with conviction bleeding out of every pore. As expected, the other ogres all chimed in, agreeing with him wholeheartedly. They were all fully ready to die in a hopeless battle against the orc armies, if it got them their revenge. It was all they were living for.
To me, though, that was obvious. Just imagining what I'd do if Big Bro died… Yeah.
"Then how about you join us?" Big Bro made the offer that I was expecting, shifting to a more formal sitting position. One where he wasn't casually prodding me with his foot just to break the tense atmosphere.
"Whaa?" The ogre leader was shocked by the invitation.
"*I mean it. You guys normally work as mercenaries, right? If that's the case, then why not just work for me? If you want to fight for your old lord, then we can at least offer you a base of operations… We can't pay you beyond three hot meals and a cot, but I still think it's a pretty good deal, right?" Big Bro laid his offer on the table as casually as taking a sip from the teacup he was drinking from.
"We couldn't! That'd involve your village-" The ogre leader immediately began protesting, but Rigurd spoke up.
"Don't worry about that. As far as the people of this village are concerned, we live to serve Lord Rimuru and Lady Risa, no other. If he wills it, everyone would happily follow."
"Plus, if there's that many orcs on the move, we'll probably end up involved in this thing anyways, y'know?" Kaijin added.
One of the goblin lords agreed with Kaijin's assessment of the situation, mentioning something about a lizardman that'd come to his former village, investigating something.
Beyond that, if we had thousands of orcs coming at us, as well as a few over-A creatures, it'd be best to have as many strong allies as we could.
"Plus, if you serve me, then I can help make your dreams come true, too." Big Bro added, to sweeten the pot.
"What do you mean?"
"Simple. Around here, we never abandon a friend. You let me hire you, then we'll be glad to cooperate with you." Big Bro explained.
I nodded in agreement, "Look, as it stands, you're wandering around, ready to die against a foe that we know nothing about, and you're probably gonna get your wish. Even if you succeed, slaughter all the orcs, you'll still have nowhere to go.
But the facts are, this isn't the Orcs' forest. It's ours. It belongs to Big Bro and I, so it's pretty much inevitable that we'll need to stop those things eventually. You've got the choice to likely die alone, or fight by our side." I said.
"Risa-!" Big Bro exclaimed.
"Big talk… but you have a point. We protect the village, and the village in turn fights by our side. We do need a base to assemble our forces, and a place to come to once the battle is done… this proposal is a welcome one, for sure. For now, could it stay in place until the orcs' ringleader is defeated?" The red-head ogre asked.
"Sure. And, just to be clear, Risa and I don't actually lay claim to the forest. For now, I don't think there's much point in thinking beyond the matter with the orcs. I'm just asking you to help us until the battle's done. From there, you guys can do whatever you want. If you don't like it here, then I'm not gonna make you stay or anything." Big Bro clarified.
The red-headed ogre closed his eyes, thinking our offer over in his head. This was a big decision, after all. As for the other ogres, they simply waited, trusting in his decision-making abilities.
"Alright. We will serve under you!"