I Got Reincarnated! - Kitsune Chronicles
~Chapter 2~ Slime Time!
'Where am I?' The little black kit questioned, looking around with a panicked little heart. The sun fully in the sky now and lighting up the beautiful forest around her, but none of it was familiar. 'How far did I go?' she questioned worriedly as her head throbbed, looking up the river she couldn't see the familiar land that she had grown up in. Sniffing the air gave her nothing but the smells of trees, dirt, flowers, and a few other animals… none of it was familiar.
'It has to be a few miles from the den… I hope momma and the others managed to get away.' She though as her little paws shook, even with her soaked black tail around her but it wasn't from the cold. She couldn't feel the cold or the heat that had come from the fire, but that that wasn't important now as her stomach demanded food.
'Well, those voles won't hunt themselves… maybe I can find some berries. Foxes are Omnivores, right?' she was thinking as she made her way into the unfamiliar forest in search of food. Sniffing around and her ears up and scanning for any sound of a small vermin to eat. Following her nose the little fox found some bushes of blue berries, excited for the familiar food but also carefully nipping at a few to try them. 'Yes! Blueberries!' she yipped happily as she picked a few more form the bushes and even found a lazy rodent that had gorged on the blueberries as well. 'Well, that's the circle of life for ya.' She thought as her jaws snapped the neck of the rodent before she started eating it, then got up to find some shelter and more food.
Ears perked up for any large creatures, avoiding them as the little fox kit was still too weak, but there seemed to be something else other than rodents she could possibly prey on.
'Is that… a slime?!' she questioned in shock as she saw a light blue creature pass by in the forest, the fur on her back standing up like there was danger nearby but nothing but the slime was close by. 'Hmm can a fox take out a slime? I know video games used to use them as beginner level monsters.' She was thinking but the feeling of unease was all around her still. So carefully she stalked this weird blue creature, hiding when it stopped and seemed to look around. The slime had no real features, and she was curious if the slime could be a meal or a nice drink.
'Or maybe XP? I could gain levels by fighting monsters and stuff... but then what level am I now? Negative 3?' She mussed and got closer to the slime before she noticed it stopped… being quiet and still, she carefully crouched and then- 'GOT CHA!' she pounced on the blue slime but below her paws she could just feel the wiggly texture of the starter monster below her.
'FUCK! HOW BIG IS THIS SLIME!' she thought in panic and yelped, trying to get off the slime.
Meanwhile the slime seemed to be studying the black fox kit that just tried to hunt him, a bit shocked and amused by the panicked kit. 'Um? Hi Mr. slime… um don't hurt me… I'm just a small little fox. Oh, what am I doing? It's a slime! No way could understand me.' She grumbled unknowingly, but the slime could understand her.
'Hey… I'm not gonna hurt you.' The slime told her making the fox kit freeze in panic. 'D-did you just talk?' the fox kit asked as it's face and ears turned completely on the slime, golden eyes wide as it stared at the unassuming blue slime. 'Yeah, I can understand you too. Do you live around here?' It asked, and the fox felt the need to back up and run away, no way a slime could outrun a fox, even just a little runt. Instead, she came closer and looked curiously at the odd slime.
'Not really, I got away from some hunters.' She told it carefully, unsure if it had others working with it.
'Don't be stupid, of course there are bound to be hordes of slimes. Or an even bigger slime ball.' She muttered and the slime studied her more and took in her odd words. 'Hey. I'm not here to hurt you. I'm kind of lost myself. How about we make a deal?' the slime suggested, not wanting to hurt the odd fox kit. It had been the first thing besides a dragon, some monsters, and the three adventures he snuck past to come close to him.
'A… deal?' she tilted her head in confusion, looking adorable to the slime. 'Yeah, I felt you pounce on me, so you got to be hungry right? What if I give you some food?' he offered and the fox kit looked flatly at him, not believing in his offer. 'I can hunt on my own thank you. I was just curious… I've never seen a smile before. Well not in person.' She added and put a paw on the slime curiously, feeling the cool goopy creature under her small paw. Something in her mind told her to run and get away, but also, she found something… odd about this starter monster.
'Not in person? Did you see one in a book? A video game maybe?' the slime asked, curious about the kit, and from what he saw, the adventures this world wasn't very advanced, never mind a random fox runt he met in the woods. 'An Anime, a lot of beginner adventures take on a lot of your kind for easy experience.' She responded without thinking, she used both her little paws to squish and poke at the slime ball that didn't seem to mind her little paws poking at it.
'A-anime?' the Slime questioned in shock as he heard that familiar word. 'You… are you from another world?' he asked and was a little put off by the fox kit climbing on top of him, it didn't hurt, and she wasn't that heavy, just a little annoying to the reincarnated slime. 'You could say that-Wait! You know about video games and anime?' the kit asked as it lay on top of the slime, thinking he would make a very cozy pillow.
'Yeah, I got reincarnated as a slime. Did you die and get reincarnated too?' he asked the kit who didn't respond before there was a group of goblins in front of them. 'Goblins! Shit! They gotta be tougher than slimes. Aren't they supposed to be in dungeons? Why are they here?' the fox kit questioned as it sprang up from up on top of the slime that was giving off a massive amount of aura that the goblins could feel.
"Strong one, do you have business here?" Asked a goblin with a marron-colored bandana covering his head. The fox kit blinked and looked at the slime who also looked at her and then away and around them. 'Does… he mean me?' the slime asked in asked in confusion. "The slime, what business do you have here in the Jura Forest?" he asked as the kit saw that he and his group were shaking in fear of something.
'Are slimes stronger than goblins?' the fox kit questioned as the slime ball didn't seem to be all that strong to her. 'I don't know, but it seems you're the only one who understands me. Can you speak to them?' he asked the fox kit how tilted her head and looked at the goblins. 'What do you guys want from the slime?' The fox kit asked but the goblins could only hear barks and yelps from her. 'Well, that's not gonna work… let me try.' The slime suggested and then started to 'speak' for the first time in this new world.
"RIGHT. SO. HELLO! I'M A SLIME AND MY NAME IS RIMURU!" Came a sonic attack form the little slime as it had all the goblins on the ground overing their ears, and the little fox kit covering her receptive ears in pain, thankfully not getting the blunt of the unintended attack but she was closer to the source. "We're aware of how strong you are, sir! Please quiet your voice." The goblin leader asked as the group all bowed their heads low to the ground, as if begging the slime to stop. 'Did I think too hard?' The slime, Rimuru questioned as he saw the fox kit next to him whining on the ground in pain.
"Sorry. So did you need something?" Rimuru asked in a much quieter voice.
"We sensed a powerful monster, so we came here as a precaution." The goblin explained, making the slime look at the fox runt next to him. 'Could she be...' Rimuru questioned before the fox kit seemed to recover. 'Oww~ I think my ear drums popped.' She softly whined and shook her head to stop the ringing.
"Surely you jest! Even if you face us in that form we won't be fooled!" The goblin asked the slime only now the Fox kit was confused. 'What are they asking?' She asked the slime who informed her. 'Apparently they think I'm a strong monster.' He told her, and wasn't upset when she muffled a laugh or tried to 'Oh god, they think a slime is powerful? Maybe I'll take them as my servants if the think a smile is strong. No offence slime ball.' She chuckled in amusement. 'None taken. I was thinking the same thing, minus the servants part.' He assured her, starting to get attached to the fox kit who seemed to be someone he could get along with in this new world.
"Strong one. Having seen your power, we wish to ask you a favor." The goblin leader spoke up, getting both creatures attention. The fox tilted her head confused but decided to follow them back to their village along with the slime, then again none of the goblins were stopping the curious kit from following.
~Goblin Village~
'Wow this really is a generic Goblin village you see in every video game and anime.' The black fox kit was thinking as she padded threw the village besides her new friend. Making their way to one of the nicer looking huts near the center of the village. 'Wanna bet we met with an elder?' the kit mussed as she let the slime get the 'seat' a bunch of cloth on top of some dried grass as she lay down on the ground to the left. Not a moment after she mentioned that an elderly goblin entered the hut complete with wooden cane.
'Hmm Pickle.' The kit thought of upon seeing the old goblin, drooling a little as she thought of that preserved vegetable. Only the elderly goblin and the goblin that lead them here looked scared. "Is your pet hungry? We don't have much, but we can spare something." The goblin leader offered as Rimuru looked at the kit. 'I think your scaring them, are you hungry? I don't think you will get much form them even if you did eat them.' Rimuru mentioned as the kit shook her head. 'I'm good.' She lied, not having eaten much since her last hunting trip with her mother and siblings… then that encounter with the hunter and then plunging into the river... her stomach growled while the goblins asked for help.
"I am the elder of this village." The Pickled goblin greeted them, the fox noticing he didn't give a name and found it odd, and it seemed the slime did too. "Hi, nice to meet you. So what favor did you want to ask of me?" the slime asked as the goblins looked at each other and nodded, as if they were agreeing on something. "Have you noticed that monsters have been unusually active as of late?" the picked goblin asked as Rimuru and the kit looked at each other. 'Have you seen any monsters?' He asked her and the kit and she huffed. 'Just some humans trying to turn my family into coats, but other than you and the goblins, I haven't seen any monsters.' She told the slime honestly, a bit worried they might have to fight some monster, her ears pressed to her head.
"Our god disappeared one month ago. As a result, monsters in this aera, have been continuously harassing us." The pickled Goblin explained.
'Their god? Does he mean Valdora?' Rimuru questioned and the kits ears popped up.
'Valdora? Wait! Papa told me about him! He's supposed to be the guardian sprit for the Jura Forest. He's supposed to be this big strong dragon who keeps the big guys in line. Did something happen to him?' She questioned the slime and Rimuru was now sure that the dragon he had met in the cave was who they were talking about. 'The timing fits… it has to be him. As for what happened to him... well...' Rimuru trailed off, unsure how to tell his new fox pet what had happened.
"We tried to fight them, but we lack the numbers..."
"S-so we hoped that you would..." The two goblins explained and looked hopeful that the slime would help them.
"Help you out. Huh? I doubt I can do all the things You expect of me or her." He mentioned as he looked at the kit who was busy thinking and looking at Rimuru.
"Please don't be modest." The goblin elder tried to assure the slime along with the younger goblin. "A mere slime would not emit such a such and intense aura. You're quite a famous monster are you not?" he mentioned, and the fox kit got up and walked around Rimuru, looking, sniffing and even licking him in confusion. 'Looks like a slime, smells like a slime and tastes like one too. Am I not able to since auras anymore?' She voiced in confusion as her front paws poked and kneaded the slime. The goblins noticed this and where unsure if they should be relived or not of the fearless black fox kit that dared to mess with this powerful slime so causally.
'Whoa! I've been admitting an aura this whole time! I feel like I've been walking down a major street with my fly open! This is bad! So that's why the goblins where scared of me!' Rimuru was sweating nervously and looked at the fox who seemed unaffected. 'Can't you feel it? Surely You can't be that dense.' He questioned only to get pounced on by the kit's full weight as she was insulted, then again, her weight wasn't much.
'I am not dense! I'm just not scared of you.' She huffed; a bit angry before hopping off the slime with an idea. 'Why not roll with this then? I mean the goblins fear you so what else is scared of you? You could take care of their problem just by using that aura. Like a Yakuza Boss!' She yipped and barked at Rimuru, the goblins couldn't understand her, but the slime could as he liked her idea and tried to get into character
"Leave it to the elder to notice." Rimuru voiced, getting into the mindset of a Yakuza boss or just a boss in general. This seemed to relive the elder goblin. "But of course. You cannot hide that formidable air about you." The elder seemed a bit proud of that little praise. "I see. So, you figured it out. You guys show a lot of potential." Rimuru then sucked in all the aura he was leaking, only it seemed to only effect the fox kit as she started to cough once it did. 'Agh! What happened? The air just became all stale and gross.' She voiced, still coughing from the smells around her as it was mostly just one dominating smell before… one of wild storms and not of smelly goblins.
'I sucked the aura in. You were probably just smelling me this whole time.' Rimuru informed her as Great Sage informed him about Kitsunes in this world, how they could smell auras and souls, this young kit was an almost extinct, Void Kitsune.
"Ah… Have you been testing us? Its fortunate so many of us where frightened by your aura." The elder mentioned as some other goblins peeked in on their meeting from the doorway. "Y-yeah, that's right. You got potential if you can talk to me without fear." Rimuru tried to keep up the act as he noticed the kit approach the goblins and sniff them, the younger goblin flinched at first, but she walked away and looked at the elder and sniffed him, all the while Rimuru could only the white fur on her body as she moved around.
'What potential? Come to think of it, how did those humans in the cave not see or smell my aura? Are those guys, okay?' He questioned, recalling the three humans he had slipped past without much trouble, before the kit spoke up. 'Maybe because they ARE humans? They aren't as in tune with the forest and nature being so far removed from it. These goblins smell like dirt and plants. As far as humans go... they smell like stale bread.' She yipped, growling a little as she recalled the face of the man who grabbed her tail and was trying to make coats out of her family.
The goblins stiffened as they felt a small but dangerous aura come from the kit, Rimuru also felt it but wasn't as scared. 'Hey, come over here, you're scaring them.' He told the little fox who came right beside him without a fuss, the goblins relaxed as the fox calmed down and took its place besides its slime master.
"Thank you so much, as for the favor we wish to ask..." The elder spoke and explained to them about how their village had been attacked by monsters, specifically some Dire wolves coming from the east. They had lost many goblins in the ensuing battle as it took 10 of them to even come close to beating one wolf. There had been one goblin with a name that served as their guardian, only... he wasn't enough to defeat the wolves and was ripped apart by them as a result.
"There are about 100 dire wolves in total." The Elder Goblin informed them, and the kit picked up on something when he mentioned the named goblin guardian but stayed quiet, it was also the same reaction as the goblin leader next to him. "How many do we have?" Rimuru asked, not liking the number of wolves they had to fight but also. "Including females, there are about 60 who can fight." The ender responded which worried the slime even more. 'That's a pretty devastating difference in strength. It's like an impossible Video game.' The slime thought in worry.
"So did that goblin guardian fight them knowing he couldn't win?"
"No... that goblin gave his life just retrieving information on the dire wolves for us." The elder confessed and bowed his head low, the kit got an awful gut feeling as the goblin leader also seemed to be holding back tears as his eyes were shut tight and fist clenched on the ground in front of him, ready to beg for the slime's help. "That warrior was my son, and his eldest brother." The elder dropped that bit of information on them, and the fox kit shivered as she could almost smell their devastation.
"I see… forgive me for asking that." Rimuru apologized, dropping the act as he looked at the goblins now peeking into the hut. Their worried faces and small stature almost looked like scared helpless children. 'We got to help them… somehow… strength isn't all in numbers and it isn't always strength that wins battles. It's how the available resources are used.' The kit reasoned with the slime who was taking a while to think it over and with her words added to the mix.
"Elder, tell me one thing."
"Y-yes!"
"What will I get in return for helping this village? What can you guys give me?" The slime asked and the air was heavy with devastation and even the kit flinched. 'Harsh, but... even here the strong, smart and cunning survive. It's all for oneself in this lonely world too.' The kit admitted sagely, but Rimuru found himself agreeing with the fox. 'I'm not actually looking for compensation. I just need to put on a bit of a show.' He admitted to her, since the goblins couldn't hear him like the kit could. 'Meany.' She poked back with slight amusement.
"W-we will offer you, our loyalty!" The elder offered in desperation and bowed to the slime. "Please grant us your protection. If you do, we will swear our loyalty to you!"
"We will swear!" The Goblin leader followed his father in bowing low to the slime. 'In desperate times… all you can offer is your body and soul.' The kit reasoned sadly, as Rimuru thought back to the time his young coworker begged him for help. It wasn't as serious as what the kit was saying but he did have to put in overtime to help his young coworker.
Then came the grizzly howl of the dire wolves, very close to the village and the kit understood the message clearly in that howl. 'TONIGHT WE FEAST ON GOBLIN FLESH!' was what the howl sounded like to her, and she told the slime what it had said.
'Well that leaves us a little time at least. Are you going to stick around? You don't have to, and I can understand if you want to run away. This is your second chance after all.' He offered the young kit who shook her head. 'No… I think I'll help. I know a bit about defenses, but communication seems to be tricky. Wanna stay and be the official translator for the goblin's new fox overlord?' She lightly joked and got the slime to chuckle a little at her attempt to be in high spirits as he nodded. 'Okay, I'm counting on you.' He informed her and went to go tell the panicking goblins what had already been decided, his fox friend coming with him, trying to be brave and come up with ideas.
"There's no need to fear. We're going to defeat them." Rimuru told them all as he hopped out of the hut, the fox kit looking around at all the goblins, the huts and general aera that was wide open for many attacks from the forest around it and no defenses for anything but mild bad weather.
"In leu of storm dragon Valdora. I, Rimuru Tempest, will grant your wish. " Rimuru told the goblins that were quick to get on their knees and bow to him.
"Thank you so much! We are your loyal servants, Great Rimuru!"