As the sun rose, it lit up my new house and I rolled out of bed. It felt very nice finally having something soft to lie on, even if it wasn't possible for me to get sore from resting on the ground. My soft body combined with the cushy bed made for an amazingly relaxing sensation that was much better than anything I'd ever experienced as a human.

"Sir Rimuru, are you awake?" I heard a voice ask from the other side of the door, accompanied by a polite knock.

"Yeah, I'm awake."

It's not like I could sleep, even if I wanted to…

"May I come in?"

"Sure."

The door swung open and revealed the person I expected; the pink-haired ogre Princess, cutely hiding her face behind her sleeve again. It's a little mannerism I've seen her do a lot now.

"Uh…Sir Rimuru?" She asked, sounding puzzled as she swept her eyes across the room before affixing them to me.

"Yeah?" I asked, wondering why she didn't see me when I was right in the middle of the room.

Her pink eyes went wide as I spoke for some reason.

"Uh…" She muttered, still staring.

Then it hit me; she's never seen me as a slime!

In a panic, I changed form, but as soon as I did, I noticed something was wrong. My arm is through the head-hole of my shirt and my head is through the arm-hole.

"Sorry, give me a sec."

I dropped the mimicry in those parts of my body and reformed them through the right parts of my clothes, breathing an internal sigh of relief.

[[Report. Mimicry of the unique skill [Predator], combined with [Synthesis] and [Separation] skills of the unique skill [Degenerate] has earned you the extra skill [Universal Shapeshift].]]

Wha…? Did I seriously just get a skill by screwing up my clothes, and fixing it by melting my head? And here I thought skills were supposed to be something hard to gain…

"Was that your…true form, Sir Rimuru?"

The Princess's voice snapped me out of my internal consternation about my stupid skill acquisition.

"Oh, yes, it was. I'm actually a slime, but I can take other forms like this one. Sorry I hadn't mentioned that to you yet."

I hadn't really thought it was relevant, so I didn't think to tell the ogres that this isn't my body, but a mimic. It's not like it was something I was trying to hide from them.

"No, no, it is fine, Sir Rimuru, I just had no idea… if you wish, you can go back into that other form. There's no need for you to inconvenience yourself by taking a human shape."

"Really?"

I pondered the offer for a moment, thinking it might be more comfortable than human form, but then I'd have everyone literally looking down on me even more than they already do.

"Yes, nobody would mind it if you prefer that form over the one you take now." She continued.

Knowing that hopping around as a slime will just cause more confusion from everyone in the village, I decided to not go back to my natural shape.

"I'll just stick with human form for now, thanks. I'm guessing that it's easier for you ogres to talk with me like this rather than a blob." I said with an awkward laugh, scratching the side of my head; which reminds me…I pull Shizu's mask out of my stomach and put it on again.

"Are you alright with showing the Chief your true form, Sir Rimuru? I'm certain he would like to see it."

"Yeah, I don't mind."

At this point, I don't think he'll see me any differently since he's been respectful to me so far.

I was left stunned; speechless, and completely shocked.

I turned to my daughter with an astonished expression on my face but quickly reestablished my demeanor, not wanting to be rude to our guest.

Still, to think that a majin possessing this much force is a slime?!

The weakest of all monsters, but an individual that outclasses us in strength by droves…what an incredibly rare creature we have found.

No, not a creature, but a person. This slime-majin possesses just as much intelligence as any one of us, he is not a simple slime monster. Slimes are normally nothing but food, but Rimuru is one that can talk and carries exponentially more magicules than any average slime.

"Um… Sir Rimuru," my daughter suddenly spoke up. Hiding behind her long sleeve, she asked, "do you mind if I…hold you?"

What are you doing my precious child!?

"Huh?" Rimuru turned toward her, and to my astonishment: "Sure. I don't mind."

"Awww!" With a squeal of delight, my daughter scooped him off the floor and began patting him.

I had forgotten how much my daughter loves the small creatures of the forest. She's told me before that slimes are especially pleasant to hold with their soft bodies and smooth surfaces. Given how they do not often come near our settlement because of our strength, this is a treat for her.

"Is everything all right!?" My son suddenly bursted into the room, followed quickly by the Elder ogre. "I heard you scream!" His roving eyes landed on his sister holding Rimuru, and his expression softened. "Oh," he sighed, but then he took another look.

"Father…" My son pointed at the slime she was holding, "is that the majin?"

"Oh! Uh, yeah." Rimuru answered for me, and my daughter let out a disappointed sound as he jumped out of her arms and landed on the floor, returning to human form. "I actually forgot to mention this…" Rimuru grinned awkwardly. "I'm a slime."

"...are you kidding me!?" My son's voice was cold, just barely lowering his volume to avoid shouting. "You have so much strength," he snarled, stalking up to Rimuru and looming over him, "and you're telling me that you belong to the weakest monster species in this forest!?"

"Well, when you put it like that, it sounds rude." Rimuru frowned and crossed his arms as he met my son's gaze. I needed to put a stop to this, but his sister beat me to it.

"Now, Brother," my daughter stepped between the two. "That's no way to speak to our guest, is it?"

My son huffed, but he backed down, having never won an argument with his sister. In his place, the Elder stepped forward.

"Pardon me for saying this, Sir Rimuru," the white-haired ogre said, "but that is fascinating. If you don't mind, how did you come by a human form?"

"Ah," Rimuru's expression was suddenly much more solemn–I hadn't seen a look like that on him before. "I made a friend," he explained as he looked away with a distant expression. "This is her form; a sort of parting gift to me. I don't really want to get into the details."

"I see. You do not have to share it if you are uncomfortable with the subject."

"I do have one more question about you, Rimuru." I said, "What are your origins? It's not normal for a slime to have such strength and intelligence as you do. You must be some sort of unique monster, am I correct?" I probed.

"Yeah. I've been called that before, actually. I was born in the Sealed Cave; you know, the one where the Storm Dragon was sealed inside up until recently. I guess I spawned from his magicules or something? Honestly, I don't really understand the process, but that's my best knowledge about where I came from."

"You're a spawn of the Storm Dragon…no wonder…" I pondered.

"A second Charybdis…" the Elder astonishedly muttered under his breath.

"Cha-ryb-dis? What's that?" Rimuru asked us, stumbling on the word slightly.

"Hundreds of years ago, when the Storm Dragon was not yet sealed, the monster named Charybdis was born from a cloud of the Dragon's magicules." The Elder said, "I heard tales of it from my grandfather. It's a beast that lives for nothing but destruction, laying waste to whatever is in its path. It's impossible to stop, resurrecting every few centuries in a permanent cycle of destruction."

Rimuru stared at the Elder, mortified. "Uh," he turned to me and pointed at himself, "you don't think I'd do that, do you?"

"Of course not," I reassured him. The last thing I wanted was to strain our relationship. "Charybdis is a monster with no intelligence, only instinct. You may have come from the same origin, but that doesn't mean you are of the same nature as that beast."

"But still…doesn't that make us siblings or something?" Rimuru asked with a tilt of his head.

"Ohoho, that's not entirely accurate, Sir Rimuru." The white Elder responded with an amused chuckle.

"You would have more in common with the Great Storm Dragon Veldora himself than any of his other spawns," I explained.

"Yes, even I can tell that you have some sort of connection with the guardian dragon of Jura; your magicule signature is remarkably similar to his." The Elder added.

"I see…"

"One more thing I must ask about you, Rimuru. Who is it that named you? You haven't mentioned any sort of master, and being a magicule spawn, you have no parent to name you, so where did you get the name Rimuru Tempest?"

It must be an incredibly powerful monster that named him, if not one of the Ten Great Demon Lords…there's no other way that someone would survive naming Rimuru.

"No, I don't have a master or whatever…" Rimuru muttered with a complicated expression. "I guess I'll just tell you since you already know I came from Veldora's magicules."

Rimuru paused and sighed, seeming slightly reluctant to tell us this.

"I was named by Veldora before he…um, disappeared."

We all gasped at this, but it does make sense that the Storm Dragon would be capable of naming Rimuru.

"But you say the Storm Dragon isn't your master?"

"No, he named me as an equal."

"Is there such a thing? I've never heard of an equal naming before…how interesting."

The room fell silent as we all pondered this fact for a few seconds, but said silence was quickly broken.

"So that is the source of your power then?" My son obstinately asked, a snarl peeling his lips. "You didn't gain such strength by your own merits, but by the grace of a greater being!"

"Look; I've been struggling from the start, so don't say my strength is sourced purely by my naming. I didn't even feel that much stronger after receiving my name."

"Nonsense, that's just an exc-"

"Silence!" I commanded.

"But, Father!"

"How many times must I tell you not to disrespect our guest!?"

"Let him say what he wants to," Rimuru said calmly out of nowhere.

"What?" I asked, surprised by Rimuru's reaction.

"It's obvious he's not gonna quit until he voices his thoughts and gets them out of his system, so go ahead 'Young Master,' why don'tcha tell us what you were about to say to me?" Rimuru shrugged.

"From the first moment I saw you, you have done nothing but trample on the pride of myself and my people! Carelessly accepting my father's hospitality, winning over my sister's affection, and even gaining the approval of my mentor! Yet, I have seen nothing in you that is worthy of such treatment! You are just a slime with a name whose power is nothing but a bluff in the face of true strength!"

My son drew his blade and took a swing at Rimuru, but before the sword reached the small figure, there was a flash of silver and a clang. Blazingly fast, Rimuru had drawn his own sword and had moved to block my son's.

"That's it. Let all that anger out." Rimuru said in a level tone. But, his calmness in this situation just seemed to aggravate my son further.

My son kept swinging and swinging, abandoning his training in his fury, causing the Elder, his teacher, to scowl in disgust.

Rimuru swiftly, yet awkwardly, blocked every blow. His physical capabilities are incredible, but he would simply hold the sword out in a static block, and wouldn't properly affix his elbow to redirect or absorb the force. He was relying on his raw strength and speed to compensate.

This went on for a few minutes before my son was left out of breath and exhausted, hunched over and gasping for air.

"I was never trying to disrespect you or anyone else, man. Even if a lot of my strength came from luck, that doesn't mean I don't have it. Yeah, I have a lot to learn; I've only been alive in this world for a few months at this point, but I'm trying my best. So don't get so bent out of shape over me being a bit stronger than you."

Rimuru then turned his golden eyes to me.

"Also, you don't need to give me the royal treatment, Chief. I actually prefer to keep things casual, so your people don't need to call me 'sir' or treat me any differently than any other guy. That might help your son here tolerate my presence a bit more, too."

Rimuru summoned his mask, which had disappeared when he returned to his true form, into his hand and placed it on the side of his head. Immediately his immense aura was hidden. "See? I'm a normal guy; nothing special," he said with open, outstretched arms.

I nodded at this; if he doesn't want to be called by honorifics, then my people don't need to use them. It was out of respect, but if it is unwanted, that defeats the purpose.

"You didn't even…strike me back…!" My son gasped, still catching his breath after the duel.

"Well, I barely know what I'm doing with this thing, so I might've accidentally killed you if I actually tried to hit you with it." Rimuru matter-of-factly responds as he peered at his sword.

"Speaking of which, would you like to learn more about the art of the sword? That is a fine blade you have there, but after watching your fight just now, I see a lot of room to learn and grow." The Elder proposed, which was not surprising. I'd noticed how much interest he was showing during their fight.

"You wanna be my swordsmanship teacher?" Rimuru asked with a raised eyebrow.

The Elder nodded with a soft smile which Rimuru repaid with a smile of his own.

"Sure. I'd love to learn how to properly use this sword, so some instruction would be greatly appreciated!"

"Well then, why don't we start right away?"

"You mean like right now?"

"Yes."

"Uh…" Rimuru hesitated, looking over at my son again then back to the Elder, "sure."

He was then gently ushered outside by the Elder, who gave one more glance back at my son before exiting the room.

As I left the building with the old ogre, I overheard the redhead getting scolded by his father and sister. Hopefully that, combined with my letting him take his anger out on me, will be enough to stop him from causing further trouble for a while.

The Elder led me to a clearing, followed by some onlookers who seemed curious about him bringing me to what I assumed is a training ground of sorts.

The grandfatherly ogre faced me in the middle of the open area.

"So we're getting right into the thick of things?"

"The best way for me to gauge your abilities is to face you in battle myself."

"Right away? You sure… Sensei? I dunno what to call you when practicing like this." I still needed to figure out how to hold myself back, and I didn't want to hurt him. He has been really kind to me, after all.

"That is fine. Call me what you like, when you are on this field, we are opponents." After that, he threw me a wooden bokken and shimmered into the air like some kind of elderly ghost.

I glanced around a few times, before settling on focusing with [Magic Sense], not wanting to get caught off guard whenever he showed back up. I took the same stance I normally did against large monsters, with the bokken held straight in front of me, tightly gripped with both hands.

I was barely able to notice him as he suddenly sprang back into my perception inches away from my neck.

So I immediately ducked and turned on my heel to try to swat him away. The old ogre was beyond anyone else in this village, that was for sure.

Seriously, I was shaken by how quickly he'd moved. I'd gotten faster recently, getting in a lot of practice chasing down and hunting various monsters out in the forest. But, this old man makes that look like nothing.

"Ohoho. You defended yourself well enough. Let's get serious." The old guy was almost mocking me with that, and he completely disappeared into thin air again.

I focused with all my might, employing [Great Sage] to search for any minor difference in the air, but I just couldn't manage it.

So when the old man's bokken bonked me on the noggin, I barely even saw it when it was half an inch from my hair.

"Ow!" I belatedly yelped, but I didn't really feel anything. Force of habit, I guess.

The elderly ogre raised an eyebrow. "Did you actually feel any pain from that?"

I rubbed my head a bit more, fixing my hair. "Uhm. Not really? Sorry about that, it was just an impulse."

The old ogre nodded but hid his interest immediately behind his well-aged poker face. "Well, do you think you can actually put your all into this if you aren't in any danger? Usually, I try to keep my students under pressure; they tend to learn faster that way."

"Huh? Well, I mean… you probably can't hurt me with that, but if you used your real sword… With that thing, you could definitely take some chunks out of me." I didn't like the idea, but I ran my mouth without thinking about it.

I'd pay the price for that momentarily.

"Very well. Then we shall spar sharp." The old ogre drew his real metal sword.

I drew my own blade, first having brought it out of my stomach. There's no way a bokken would stand up against the Elder's sword so there's no sense in sticking with it at this point. If I end up hurting the old ogre swordmaster, I'll just use my reservoir of potion to heal him in a jiffy.

Again, the ogre lunged at me, slashing swiftly and I blocked his approach with my sword.

He's definitely faster than the 'Young Master' of this town…

Even worse, he seemed to be speeding up the more I evaded, and every time I thought I was starting to recognize a pattern in his movements, he'd switch techniques, throwing me for a loop over and over.

[[Notice: you have taken damage. The degree is 1%.]]

What? Where?

I hadn't noticed, so I quickly inspected my body with [Magic Sense] to find where I was injured. The old man's blade had grazed my cheek, somehow having cut right through my [Multilayer Barrier].

The slime-exposing wound quickly closed up, reforming into smooth, pale human-like skin, but the fact that this ogre was actually able to cut me was disturbing, to say the least.

"Your ability to heal is astounding." the Elder commented.

"Hehe…you say that, but I think your ability to injure me is even more impressive."

I'd taken hits from fighting monsters many times, but almost always I escaped without any damage since I gained [Multilayer Barrier].

"I see that your mimic of a human form is only surface-level, so does that mean you don't have any vital points?" he asked me with an almost devilish smile.

"I guess so?"

[[Notice, the subskill Mimic: Human is only a change in shape and outward appearance, not physical nature, so the internal structure of your body remains unchanged.]]

So that means I'm slime to the core, even as a human.

"I see, I see…well then," he said as his already scary smile widened.

Why do I feel like something bad is about to happen?

The smile that peeled across the Elder's lips after I gave my answer was extremely unsettling. It was almost as if my instincts were alerting me to the danger this man posed.

The next thing I knew, he disappeared out of the sight of my [Magic Sense], throwing me into a brief panic. Eyes darting around, I spotted him at the very last second with his blade slashing right at my neck.

I ducked to the side to avoid it, successfully preventing decapitation. But after finishing my evasion, I noticed that something about my body felt different.

Huh?

I glanced down at my left arm… and found it severed, completely sliced off by the Elder ogre's blade, the disconnected limb lying on the ground nearby.

Despite the grievousness of the injury, [Pain Nullification] was still doing its thing and stopping me from feeling any of it. I was grateful for that, too, because I still remembered the searing feeling of being stabbed and could only imagine that losing a limb would feel much worse.

"Whoops." I casually said, not knowing what else to say in a situation like this. How do you expect a guy to react to sudden amputation?

I quickly snatched my lost limb off of the ground and absorbed it with [Predator], wanting to use its support to help with its regeneration.

[[Notice: Would you like to sacrifice the intrinsic skills [Self-Regeneration], [Absorb], and [Dissolve] to gain the extra skill [Ultraspeed Regeneration]? Yes/No?]]

Yes!

Speeding up my ability to heal was the only option I could take, even with the sacrifice of my slime intrinsic skills. I'm not in dire straits at the moment, but getting a better healing skill can't be a bad thing in any situation.

With a little focus, I rebuilt my arm at record speed, the process taking much less time than I expected. I knew I healed fast, but something this extreme was still astonishing to me.

It was faster than what the Elder expected too, based on the slightly surprised expression he made as it reformed right before our eyes.

"So you can heal that fast then? I suppose I could cut you up as much as I want and you would be just fine. How exhilarating!"

The smile that peeled across his face was nothing short of demonic.

This old man is terrifying! So much for that nice grandfather vibe he was giving off earlier!

"Wait, no, no! I can only do that so much! Please don't dice me to death!" I pleaded with him, not wanting him to get the wrong idea about me.

I knew for a fact that regenerating like that took a substantial amount of my energy (I learned that the hard way after fighting those spiders), so if I kept taking damage to that extent, eventually I would run low on magicules. I wasn't sure what would happen to me in that case and I honestly didn't want to find out any time soon.

But really, if he ended up trying to kill me for real, I supposed I could just use some of my skills to fight back instead of relying on my novice-level swordplay and accelerated perception. The Elder is simply instructing me harshly, nothing more.

That old ogre really beat me into a pulp. I'd actually felt tired afterward, even though I didn't think that was really possible. It was a nagging tiredness that urged me to rest–something I hadn't felt so far in this life.

[[Notice: Sensation of exhaustion is being simulated to inform individual, Rimuru Tempest, of low magicule stockpile.]]

Huh, really? That's real useful Great Sage. I bet it concocted this feeling to stop me from depleting my energy to a dangerous level after that last incident. Can you tell me exactly how much I have left, though?

[[Notice: Current stockpile represents 56% of total magicule capacity.]]

Thanks, Great Sage! I wouldn't be able to tell how much I have left on my own without pain or the need to sleep or eat. You're a great partner!

[[Notice: Prompt incomprehensible. Unable to form a response.]]

Eh... Guess that is a little bit too much for you. Well, I'm sure you'll get there! You've been getting more talkative these days.

I changed my perception back into an outward perspective so I could focus on the big meal in front of me. It was all thanks to that ogre Princess, she's really a good cook, and she made me a meal for the second night in a row now.

As I went to take my first bite of this meal, I noticed the Princess' eyes on me, watching closely to see my reaction. She seems to take pleasure in me enjoying her cooking for some reason, and this has been a pattern every meal I've eaten with the ogres.

Thankfully, Redhead wasn't scowling at me this time. Instead, he focused on his food and avoided eye contact with me. I guess our little spat earlier did end up helping him blow off some steam.

After eating, I got a good night's rest, which was just me chilling in my new house all night. With how tired I felt, I'd really like to get some shut-eye, but that seemed like an impossibility even now. I'll put "figure out how to sleep again" on my long-term bucket list, I guess.

Melting into my bed will be good enough for now, I concluded.

I'd been staying with the ogres for a week or so now, mainly helping out their hunting teams and training more with the Elder, even if that man terrifies me. I've decided that learning to use Shizu's sword properly is a necessity so enduring that ogre's demonic-level training is just something I need to do.

There is something in this world called Arts, which are not skills. I can't just learn them with [Predator], which kinda sucks, but I've managed to at least learn one of the more basic ones called [Formhide], which I can hide myself with. I'm not very good at it yet, but I've noticed that it helps hide my aura, even without me using my mask.

So, since I've gotten a little annoyed about everyone's eyes being on me anytime I don't have that thing on, I've gotten in the habit of constantly, barely applying [Formhide], which solved the problem.

After our spat, Redhead had left me alone for the most part, which is just fine in my book; I've had other things to focus on. I think he'll eventually try to challenge me again at some point, but in the meantime, I'd just been ignoring him.

While I walked through the streets to go help the morning hunting team, as I'd gotten into a habit of doing, I was stopped by a voice.

"Blue-haired outsider! Wait!"

"Huh?"

A tall, purple-haired ogress with a single black horn growing from the center of her forehead came running in my direction. She clearly was after me, despite there being a few ogres with blue hair around town.

"Do you need something?" I asked her, wondering what this person that I've never even spoken a word to wants.

"Yes! I have heard you are strong, so I ask for your help!" She proudly declared as she pushed her chest out.

"Help with what, exactly?"

I didn't think helping her out was a problem, but I wanted to know what I was getting into before agreeing.

"There are some logs that need to be carried across the river! Not many are strong enough to manage this job, but if you have as much strength as I do, then I am sure you can help me!"

Oh? That was it? "Sure," I replied, "Where do we need to go?"

She took me to a pile of lumber about three times my height, many of the logs more than a foot in diameter. Smugly placing her hands on her hips, the purple ogress bragged, "My record is fifteen minutes to get the whole pile across, but this time we'll split it in half. So," she turned to me and pointed, "You can start first."

"Oh… uh, okay." I glanced at the swiftly moving water, then back at the log pile. I really don't want to get my boots wet… these are my only pair. Deciding to take the straightforward approach, I grabbed a log from the bottom and experimentally hoisted it up.

For such a large object, it was surprisingly light in my arms and easy to lift. I even surprised myself, but the simplicity of the action makes this job significantly easier than I'd first expected.

So, deciding any extra movement was just inefficient at this point, I hucked the thing across the river.

It landed with a SLAM that made flocks of birds soar into the sky in a panic. Wow, I winced a bit. That was a lot louder than I expected… I could practically feel the vibration from here.

The Purple ogress was staring across the river, her eyes bugging out, but I had a job to do. One after another, I threw more trees after the first, until the pile was about halfway done.

"So," I dusted my hands off, "your turn?"

Still staring across the river, the Purple ogress' shocked expression morphed into determination. "HAH!" She bellowed, "quite impressive, newcomer! Now prepare to watch a seasoned professional in action!"

So she walked up to the pile, wrapped her arms around one of the logs, and lifted it up.

So far, so good. I was impressed; that thing had to weigh, what, a ton?

Teetering a bit, Purple stumbled back until she had regained her balance. Hoisting the log above her head, she flashed me a wry grin and said, "now watch!"

I stood aside as she bent her knees and launched it like a springboard. It landed a few feet in front of her with a much less impressive thud.

"Rrrgh!" Oh, she was getting frustrated now. Were those tears in her eyes? Nah, monsters and tears don't really mix. I just decided to ignore them.

Rounding on me, she shouted, "I'm just not in top form today! Meet me here tomorrow, I'll show you another test!"

Whatever you say, kid. I smirked at her. She was clearly an adult, or close to it, but her apparent immaturity was becoming clear to me. "Sounds great." Just don't cry when I win tomorrow.