Chapter 6.5- I wanted to rest a bit more, but an Orc Lord does sound tasty! Part 2.
Two pre-teens. One with a knife to their neck. One holding a knife to the other's neck. One wearing an 'I give in' expression. One with a smile brighter than the sun. One the world's strongest slime, and God's 'chosen one'. One an ancient Demon Lord, and the daughter of God.
"So, how did I do?" The slime- Rimuru, asked.
"Really good! With the ability level I was using, if you hadn't forgotten one thing, then your surprise attack would've succeeded!" The Demon Lord- Milim, responded. "You didn't hide your aura!"
Hearing this, Rimuru sighed, and said, "Yeah, I need to learn to do that as soon as I can." It was then that GS spoke up:
Notice. This is unnecessary. The mask of the 'Conqueror of Flames' was predated along with 'Ifrit'. This mask, among other qualities, possesses, the ability to suppress aura, as a part of Magic Resist.
'Wait, then why didn't you mention it the first time I tried to hide my aura?'
Report. At that time, you were trying to suppress your aura yourself, not thinking of something that could do it for you. The mask would go against your will.
'... Well, next time I try to do something that way, please tell me if there's something to make it easier or better. Thanks!' With that, Rimuru took the mask out of his Stomach and put it on.
"Woah! Your aura's gone! Is that the human woman's mask?" Milim asked, recognising it instantly. Rimuru nodded, before asking GS, 'What else can the mask do?'
Report. The mask also contains Antidote, Breathing Support, and Amplify Senses, as well as an incredibly dense amount of the Time element. This part is too complicated for further analysis.
'I see. Thanks'
He took the mask off and stared at it for a moment. It was white, with a small red nose and numerous grey lines running through it, forming the rough look of a face. It was abstract, sure, but it looked stunning.
Shaking off the useless thoughts, he put it back on, and he and Milim did some more training sessions focused around flying with explosions using Transmutation, individual sword techniques, and flying using, large, dark blue wings from Mimicry: Giant Bat.
After finishing up, they headed back to the city, where Rimuru suddenly realised something.
"Wait, I only have these clothes I got from Shizue-san, don't I?"
"Is that an issue? You can just use some magic to cleanse your clothes." Milim replied.
"Maybe, but doesn't only having one outfit kinda make the spell Dress Chance useless? Plus, if I ever go into a human town, some inconspicuous clothes would be handy." Rimuru spoke his mind. "Well, before I ponder any deeper, I should probably give the Orichalcum you showed me to a blacksmith or something since it could probably make Unique Grade weapons for your soldiers without too much difficulty."
Equipment Grade. It's a system devised by humans to rank the quality of armour, weapons, or tools. It goes like this: Normal, Special, Rare, Unique, Legendary, and Mythical. Most human adventurers use Special Grade equipment, and even the best adventurers use at most Unique Grade. Legendary Grade is reserved as national treasures or equipment for Chosen Heroes. Many don't even believe Mythical Grade exists.
So, Rimuru and Milim headed off to the city's best blacksmith with directions from the guards (Milim never paid attention to where anything is). When they explained what it is, the blacksmith said they couldn't accept something so good, so Rimuru asked for directions to a good seamstress in return.
After they arrived, the entire shop was shown into disarray- I mean, the Dragon Princess had just walked into their clothes shop. Milim got to the point though, and one of the people working there asked if they had any designs. Having expected this, Rimuru showed some ideas he'd drawn out (with GS' help) onto some paper Milim had given him.
For himself, Rimuru had designed a black kimono, pants, and boots, a blue, knee-length overcoat, and a light cream coloured scarf. For Milim, he'd made two designs: A white hoodie, a black skirt and shoes, and long, white and pink striped socks (it sounds weird but I swear it looks good). The second design was just some casual clothes to lounge around in.
When he asked how much it would cost, the employees said they couldn't possibly charge the Princess and her 'bestie'. So, Rimuru decided to provide materials made by tampering with Stick Steel Thread using Transmutation. Not only was the result high-quality material for clothes, but since it was made with magic, it could adapt to the wearer's aura a lot faster than normal.
When clothing is constantly bathed in the aura of individuals with a certain amount of magicules, they essentially become a part of them, meaning they can be repaired and adjusted with magicules.
"Since materials filled with magic are easier to work with, they should be done within a day or two." An employee said.
... A day later...
"Rimuruuuuu! When will the clothes be done?!" Milim whined. Ever since they'd left the clothing shop the day before, she'd been getting more and more attached to the idea of new things to wear.
"If you want to know just go up n' ask." Rimuru was slightly fed up at this point. It's like every 20 minutes an alarm would go off. It wasn't nearly as bad as Veldora's rants, which he learned to tune out in the past hour or two, but it was still distracting enough to take him out of his thoughts. Currently, they were both just resting in the library, though Milim failed to adhere to the typical 'Stay quiet' rule.
Setting down the book he was reading, he turned back into his slime form and made a cocoon out of Sticky Steel Thread around himself. He then used Wind Magic to make it soundproof, as he needed to think without being distracted for a while.
'So, my mental age is still around that of a 10-year-old, which was the same as yesterday, so either my age regression has stopped, or it's just continuing at a relatively normal pace, rather than the 'about 2 years per day' pace it was it before. I feel like I can't talk for as long without becoming really childish compared to yesterday though. Maybe that's just Milim's influence? Also, everyone's shocked when Milim's happy and energetic, so is that just a facade she puts on around me? Or is it the other way around? Or is she just actually happy now, since she did mention she'd 'finally have a playmate'?
'Also, I wonder how Hakurou is doing? GS mentioned that he'd be able to take down an inexperienced Orc Lord by himself, but there's also the huge army of orcs under his command, so he and the rest of the ogres that escaped might've already been captured... Should I go and search or wh-'
Partway through his thinking, his cocoon suddenly burst open.
"Rimuru! Rimuru! The clothes are here, look!" Milim sounded ecstatic.
Using Magic Sense, Rimuru saw that they had indeed arrived, and they looked amazing. They stored them in the Spatial Magic Dimensional Storage (Dress Change doesn't work with Stomach), and with a quick spin, Milim was wearing the outfit with a hoodie. Rimuru had to admit that she looked even better than he was expecting.
Rimuru then turned into his human form, but when he did, he was wearing his new clothes, rather than those from Shizu.
"Ooh, these clothes are so cool!" Milim started dancing around, dragging Rimuru with her. She ignored his protests as they ran out from the library and into the hall, where they encountered Middray and Hermes. Naturally, they were stunned. They quickly managed to take their eyes off Milim, as they had seen her every day for many years, but they ended up staring at Rimuru for over a minute, creating a very awkward atmosphere.
...
As they walked into the Great Jura Forest, a sudden thought settled itself in Rimuru's mind:
'Wait, were they staring at me because of my appearance, or because I'd managed to get Milim to wear something other than her old clothes?'
He was about to ask Milim this when his eyes caught two very injured monsters laying next to a pond. "Hey Milim, look." Rimuru pointed at the insects, causing Milim to jump in shock. She was seemingly deep in thought.
I quickly teleported us over, and one of the insects, a huge stag beetle, eyed us warily but was ultimately unable to move its body, and by extension, that of its friend- a massive bee.
Seeing their sorry state, I immediately knew that we needed to heal them- but that alone wouldn't do it. I remembered something from a book I read yesterday, which mentioned that beings like this, especially when in pairs, were incredibly territorial, and very cautious and observant. If they were injured like this, then it's likely they were attacked by something very strong. If we simply healed them and went on our way, they'd end up in the same state again, since they'd almost certainly try to reclaim their territory.
I'd always loved bugs as a kid, so asked Milim to make sure they don't get any worse while I consulted GS.
Suggestion. Provide the two individuals a small portion of your cells. If you then cast a healing spell at the same time, not only will the regenerative properties of your slime cells accelerate, but the negative effects of the energy inside the cells will be negated, allowing them to adapt to it, and thus increasing their power alongside healing them.
'Really?' I thought, but since GS had always proved reliable so far, I did as she said- along with a little bonus.
As they were adapting to the energy from my cells, I said:
"Beetle-san, you're now Zegion. Bee-san, you'll be Apito." Their energy levels surged, and the energy they were still adapting to entered their bodies without resistance- the new faint purple shine on their bodies did not go unnoticed by Milim or me.
"Rimuru, was that really necessary?" Milim asked, though she didn't sound as if she objected.
I replied honestly: "No. I just like bugs."
...
(3rd person perspective)
Leaving their insect friends in a safe place near some treants, Rimuru and Milim pressed onward- for about 10 metres, before they encountered another forest-dwelling being.
"Greetings, Demon Lord Milim-sama, Rimuru Tempest-sama. I, Treyni the Dryad, caretaker of the Great Jura Forest, come with a request."
Dryads- they are the female counterparts of treants, with the ability to project their spiritual body away from their material body (their tree), though only in a certain radius.
"And, that is?" Milim asked, curious but also cautious, in case she got tricked into doing something boring. Rimuru listened quietly.
"I'd like one of you to defeat the Orc Lord plaguing the forest."
"Well, I wanted to rest a bit more, but an Orc Lord does sound tasty..." Rimuru muttered.