WN/Benimaru

"It's a shame it has no gender"

- Benimaru, on Rimuru's transformation

"Flare Lord" Benimaru 「, Benimaru, lit. "Scarlet boy"」 is one of the third group of subordinates to be named by Rimuru Tempest. Originally an Ogre, he was uncertain of his servitude and asked for it to be temporary, but after being named, he evolved into a Kijin, immediately becoming Rimuru's most powerful subordinate for the time, and decided to serve him permanently.

Soon after, Benimaru was given the position of Commander-in-Chief, giving him more command priority over all of Tempest's war potential than Rimuru himself, unless he is completely against an action.

Later on, he was given the Title of a "Lord" as one of Rimuru's Twelve Patrons and continued to hold his place as one of the three strongest subordinates, alongside Diablo and Zegion.

Ogre
As an Ogre, he had a tall, burly build. He had flame-like lightly wavy crimson hair from which two large jet-black horns protruded. He has a pair of iconic tear-like red markings that flow down from the bottom of his eyes over his cheeks, which persists throughout all his evolutions. His eyes are incredibly sharp and fierce looking, and has orange-red iris.

In the anime, his skin tone has a reddish tint as a sort of colour scheme matching his hair, and his canines are large enough to peek out from his mouth.

He wore black clothing with a thick woolen collar, covered by armour (matching his colour scheme) that the Ogre tribe had learnt to wear from a human warrior who visited them a couple of centuries ago. He also carried a Japanese-style katana.

Kijin
After evolution Benimaru's build shrunk to a height of 180 cm and had the appearance of a lean young man in his early twenties or younger. His hair turned less wavy and more straight and pointy. His horns also shrunk slightly and became more narrow, glowing more brilliantly than obsidian. His eyes became more lax, making him look both more confident and laid back at the same time. Furthermore, his skin tone changed to that of a human, meaning, if his horns and drastically increased aura was hidden, one may not be able to distinguish him from humans at all either.

Thanks to Shuna and the team of weavers (Goblinas and the Dwarves), Benimaru and everyone else received new clothing, weapons and armour, his being a kimono that turned blood red to match his aura and a new katana.

Personality
Benimaru has a carefree personality, that of an excited and confident man. Even so, he is actually really cautious and cunning as well. He has no interest in serving anyone who he doesn't deem worthy, however, he doesn't belittle those weaker than him either.

Benimaru felt hesitant when faced the responsibility to take over the position of the Ogre Tribe village chief. Thus, he is content with his current position with Rimuru as the Lord he serves. As the military commander, he merely wishes to rampage to his heart’s content. Had he become chief, he could not ride off to battle, but now it was different. He can participate without any concern.

Background
Originally the young master of the Ogre Tribe, Benimaru would have taken up the weight and responsibility of the clan leader soon. One day, a suspicious Majin named Gelmud offered to give them names. Thinking nothing of it, since the man seemed untrustworthy, the tribe drove them away. But unbeknownst to him, the situation turned on them as ten thousand armed Orcs, accompanied by a masked Majin invaded his town and slaughtered all but six ogres.

Escaping the disaster, he ran into Rimuru wearing Shizue's anti-demon mask, thus causing the misunderstanding that he was an ally of the masked Majin. With the turn of fate, he pledged his loyalty to Rimuru after witnessing his benevolence and a promise of retribution.

Differences from Web Novel
Footman isn't introduced until the Tenma Great War Arc alongside the rest of the Moderate Clown Troupe.

Background
Benimaru was introduced in the Forest Disturbance Arc as the Young Master of the Ogre Tribe. They were attacked by a horde of Orcs, who had a Devil wearing a mask accompanying them, acting as their leader. In the Web Novel, this masked devil was Gelmudo whereas, in the Manga, it was Footman.

Having his entire tribe eradicated, Benimaru and his 5 remaining tribe members flee with great regret, only to encounter masked devil who was leaking great amounts of power. Afraid, angry and frustrated at his failure to flee, Benimaru called out to this masked monster and prepared to attack.

Meeting with Rimuru
This person was actually Rimuru, who had just exited the Cave of the Seal after testing out his newly acquired powers from Shizue Izawa and Ifrit. Since he was wearing Shizu's anti-demon mask, he had mistaken him to be the same devil, if not an accomplice.

In the Web Novel, it isn't clearly explained how Rimuru convinced them that he was not the one who attacked their tribe, but simply that he did. In the Manga, he ended up fighting them until they were shown the utterly devastating difference between him and their powers. Preparing to sacrifice their lives on the line so that their Young Master and his little sister, the Young Mistress, could escape, the 4 once again stood in front of Rimuru, only to be stopped by Benimaru's yet unnamed younger sister, Shuna, who explained that Rimuru was probably telling the truth and that he has no connection to the ones who attacked. With the situation having finally calming down, Rimuru used healing potions on them and his injured subordinates and returned back to the village with all of them.

After some rest, Rimuru learnt about his circumstances and asked him if they were willing to become his subordinates, even if it's temporarily. Since they too would need to fight these orcs, it would be better to join forces, was what Rimuru had said. In the Web Novel, he easily accepted after some thought. In the Manga, he asked for some time to think about it and walked away, only to meet his childhood friend and rival stating that it wasn't a bad idea after looking at the state of the goblin village Rimuru ruled over. After some frustrating reminiscence, Benimaru finally decided to accept and finally, as a symbol of Rimuru's rulership, granted the six of them names: Benimaru, Shuna, Souei, Shion, Hakurou and Kurobee, and thus they all evolved from Ogres into Kijin.

Against the Orcs
Some days passed and Benimaru, Hakurou, and Souei trained together to get used to their new found powers.

Trivia

 * Benimaru won the" Tempest Tournament", after defeating Gozurl, Souei, Gobuta (with Ranga) and Diablo.