The Familia limit was three.

This meant that, at present, Damien could have up to three monster races as his Familia.

As for where Familia came from, they had to be related to his Familiars.

In other words, only monsters of the same race as his Familiars could be converted into Familia by Damien.

"So…"

Damien considered his current Familiars. "Only the Ogre qualifies for this?"

Shaking his head, Damien set the thought aside for now and turned his attention to the Direwolves before him.

"Surrender or die?"

Damien looked at the Direwolves leader, who had been obediently prostrating itself since earlier.

"Woof!"

Feeling Damien's gaze, the Direwolves leader shrank back, its voice trembling. "I-I am willing to surrender to you, great Demon Lord Majesty!"

The overwhelming pressure from that moment earlier was undoubtedly far beyond that of a mere Majin.

The only thing the Direwolves leader could think of that surpassed an upper Majin was a Demon Lord!

As mentioned before, the Cardinal World didn't clearly distinguish between Demon Lord Seed and True Demon Lord.

To most, 'Demon Lord' was just a title, not a combat rank.

This confusion existed even among the Ten Great Demon Lords.

The bottom three... Clayman, Carrion, and Queen Frey... were unaware of the gap between themselves and the others.

Demon Lord Seed, True Demon Lord, and True Demon Lord with Ultimate Skills.

The power gap between these tiers could only be described as crushing.

So, while the Direwolves leader called Damien a Demon Lord, he was actually at the weakest tier.

"Let's skip the Demon Lord title. I have no intention of becoming one just yet."

Claiming the title of Demon Lord could trigger a Walpurgis Banquet.

Other Demon Lords might not care, but Clayman, that troublemaker, would definitely stir up problems.

While Damien wasn't afraid, he didn't want the hassle.

With his rate of growth, he'd eventually crush Clayman anyway, so there was no need to rush.

"Yes."

The Direwolves leader didn't know Damien's thoughts.

A Demon Lord's mind wasn't something it could fathom. For now, it would keep its head as low as possible.

"Bring your pack here."

"Yes!"

The Direwolves leader didn't dare defy him and let out a long howl, summoning its pack.

Soon, nearly 500 Direwolves gathered before Damien.

Massive in size, each stood nearly a meter tall, proper large wolves.

"Submit to me, and you'll be my people."

In the original story, Rimuru killed the Direwolves leader, yet its son, Ranga, still chose to follow him, leading to the meme of 'a mere father's death.'

In contrast, Damien had no real conflict with the Direwolves.

"Select the eighteen most outstanding wolves from your pack, and I'll grant them names."

"!!!"

Damien's words stunned the Direwolves leader.

It looked at him in disbelief, wondering if it had misheard. "Y-You mean you'll name us?"

"What?"

Damien teased, "Don't want it?"

"No!"

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The Direwolves leader trembled with excitement. "We, the Direwolves, swear to follow you for generations, defending your authority with our lives!"

As the leader's words fell, the Direwolves behind it knelt one after another.

They pledged their loyalty to their great and generous master.

"And the goblins."

Damien didn't forget the weaker ones. "Select 100 of your kind, and I'll grant you names."

"R-Really?"

Hearing that Damien was willing to name even weak goblins like them, the goblins were deeply moved, many female goblins even shedding tears.

"What a merciful lord."

"To think you'd shelter even weaklings like us."

The elderly goblin village chief had thought that being under Damien's protection was already a great fortune.

Who could have imagined that the goblins would be so lucky as to encounter such a lord?

"Come forward and line up."

Damien waved, signaling the village chief to bring the 100 goblins forward.

"You stay too."

As the village chief turned to leave, Damien stopped him. "At your age, without a name, you probably won't last long."

"From now on, you'll be Rigurd, leader of the Goblins, serving me."

These words moved the village chief to tears again.

Damien even felt that if he ordered Rigurd to 'end himself,' the goblin would unhesitatingly obey on the spot.

As for the name Rigurd, at this point in time, the Majin Gelmud hadn't yet visited the goblin village or named Rigurd's eldest son.

"For you two, the older brother will be Rirud, the younger Rigud."

"And the rest of you…"

For the goblins, beyond the initial father and sons, Damien named them more casually: "Gobta, Gobna, Gobya…"

The naming process was quick. Damien checked his magicule consumption, which had dropped by about 60,000.

With over 200,000 magicules, losing 60,000 brought him below 200,000.

Yet, his Demon Lord Seed status remained intact.

In fact, even if Damien depleted all his magicules, he'd still be a Demon Lord Seed.

The Demon Lord Seed title was the Cardinal World's recognition of a monster's potential to reach True Demon Lord status.

"I used 100,000 magicules and got 40,000 back from the goblins, so a net loss of 60,000."

Normally, elevating an E-rank goblin to a C-rank hobgoblin would require around 2,000 magicules.

For 100 goblins, that would be 200,000.

But Damien had someone upstairs. Violet pulled some strings, giving him a fifty-percent discount, so it only cost 100,000 magicules.

'Not bad, Violet…'

Damien mentally gave Violet a thumbs-up. His trusty partner was already saving him resources right after joining.

Magicules: 205,000 → 145,000

With the goblin naming complete, the Direwolves had also selected those worthy of receiving names…

***

Bonus Chapter:

100 Power Stones = 1 BC

300 Power Stones = 2 BC

500 Power Stones = 3 BC

700 Power Stones = 4 BC

1000 Power Stones = 5 BC

***

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