"I wasn't there, but it seems you were too impulsive, Young Master." The blue-haired ogre said to me.
"Tch."
He's one of my closest friends, but at this point, he's more of a 'babysitter' since Father has told him to stay with me at all times for the foreseeable future. I'd made a mistake and attacked that slime Rimuru, and now I was paying the consequences.
I'd avoided talking about the subject until now since it angered me, but I couldn't avoid the cold-hearted scolding from my friend that I was expecting.
"If Rimuru is that strong, you need to plan out your attack better than that next time." My friend continued.
"I know, I know."
"I don't recommend killing that majin, though, or the Chief will be upset with you. Defeating him in a duel isn't impossible if you train hard enough. That would be a better choice, I think."
He's telling me what I already know, but I have no reason to stop him after what I just did.
"That mean bluehair cheated! He was supposed to carry them across the river, but he went and threw them instead!" I heard a cry from not too far away, interrupting our conversation.
"Bluehair…" my friend muttered quietly.
"Probably Rimuru, if I were to guess. That damned overpowered slime!"
"Young Master…"
I ignored his complaint and decided to ask about what Rimuru apparently did.
"What happened?" I asked the purple-haired ogress.
"I challenged that majin and he…and he…" she sobbed.
"Wait, you fought Rimuru?" I asked.
"Fought? No, I decided to hold a little contest carrying logs across the river. He looks so small I thought I had no chance of losing, but…he threw them! Didn't even bother trying to carry them the way he was meant to!" She complained.
"He…threw logs so far that they landed across the river?" I testingly asked, surprised.
"Yes, isn't that ridiculous!? If he just did the job the same way I do then I would've won!"
I'm not so certain about that, but this is just how she is about things from the time we've been kids. Convincing her she's lost is a near-impossible feat.
She's another friend of mine, one I grew up alongside. She's a very physically talented ogress, but mentally, she's immature and stubborn.
After venting, she just stormed off in a huff.
"It seems like you're not the only one wanting to challenge our guest's strength." My blue-haired friend muttered emotionlessly.
As I'd promised, I met the purple-haired ogre in the same spot the next day.
"Aha, outsider! You're brave enough to show up!"
Brave? I don't think bravery really plays a role here, lady.
"Sure…so, what's it that you need my help with today?"
"Follow me!"
I followed her to nearby where two large, unnaturally round boulders were resting at the bottom of a steep hill.
"These need to be taken to the top of the hill! I can push one and you the other; can you beat me to the peak, outsider!"
"I have a name, you know. It's Rimuru; call me that instead of 'outsider', please."
I was starting to get annoyed by her not bothering to use my name when speaking to me. I mean, I got that monsters aren't used to someone having a name, but I'd been around long enough that she should've been aware that I have one.
"If you are able to beat me, I will stop calling you 'outsider'!"
"Fine. I'll hold you to that."
Casually, I walked up to the boulder closer to me and waited for the ogress to approach her own. We both place our hands on it and she starts to count down. "Three, two, one….go!"
I crouched down and tried to lift the thing since I was confident I could just pick it up and carry it, despite how large the boulder was. I thought it would be faster to do it this way as long as the lifting wasn't a problem; and guess what, it wasn't. Just like with the logs yesterday, the boulder wasn't that hard to lift and I swiftly had it held above my head.
Boulder in hand, I started running up the hill and quickly reached the peak and dropped it, this time being careful to not cause an earthquake like when I tossed the logs.
I, of course, beat Purplehair to the top by a decent margin, which seemed to upset her quite a bit. She had to roll it, unlike me, so it took her longer.
"I will come to you again for your final challenge tomorrow, Rimuru!" The ogress said with a forced grin, hiding tears that seemed to be welling up in the corners of her eyes.
"Uh-huh…sure…"
The purple hair ran up to me the very next morning. She'd already regained her bravado, "Rimuru! You will fight me today! We will fight with our fists, and whoever passes out first is the winner!"
"Passes out? I don't think that is a good idea!" I dodged preemptively.
She'd gotten annoyed and already started swinging. She wasn't exactly being careful not to over-extend herself, but I didn't think knocking her out would do any good.
That meant I needed to do something else about this.
So, I came up with the perfect idea. I simply dropped into slime form, and let her punch me.
Her punches didn't hurt, so I could just let her go on and on like this. I even used some magicules to make myself bigger, now being around the size of a large beanbag.
She kept swinging, even as the hours passed.
It was around the afternoon when I heard her yawn, and an hour after that, she slumped over.
She fell right on top of me, sleeping and snoring while snuggling into my slimeness like a pillow.
"Rimuru, I have noticed that you have been wearing the same clothes every day since you first started staying here with us." The ogre Princess said to me in a concerned tone early in the morning.
"Yeah, that's because it's my only set of clothes." I matter-of-factly answered.
There's no way I'd tell her about the outfit that Eren gifted me, and there's even less of a chance that I'd wear it around all these tough monsters. Looking 'cute' around this sort will do nothing but make me look weak, I thought. Well, when it comes to the Princess it might be fine, but if Redhead saw me like that I'm sure he'd get the wrong idea. After how he'd responded to finding out I'm a slime, I don't think his reaction would be a good one.
The Princess' pink eyes went a little wide at my reveal that this roughshod outfit I threw together is my only set of clothes.
"We can't have that," she said in a surprisingly stern tone. "Follow me!"
Is it just me or does she sound a little excited…don't tell me that I'm in for another dress-up session like the one I had with Eren!
A few minutes later, I found out that was exactly what I was in for. The ogre Princess even got a few of her friends in on the fun too and they all mobbed me, throwing many different outfits onto me rapid-fire-style.
What is it about me that seems to make girls want to do this sort of thing? Honestly, it's a bit disturbing how much they seemed to enjoy themselves, but I ended up walking away with a few new outfits.
I also gifted the Princess some material for her to make some new fabric as payment since I didn't want to take all these clothes without paying for them. I'd already been staying in one of their guest homes rent-free, after all.
What was it I gave her? Some thread I made with my skills, of course!
I'd learned that I can actually imbue my resistances into [Sticky-Steel Thread], meaning that I can make it fireproof among some other options. This makes it valuable for crafting things like fabric for clothing, meaning that the ogres can make better-quality stuff with it.
I'd gotten the idea after seeing the silken fabric around town being used for various things. It was explained to me that it's sourced from some sort of silkmoth-like monster called a Hellmoth, specifically from their cocoons.
Yeah, spider silk isn't exactly the same thing, but it's still a valuable material that I can practically make for free anytime I want, only taking up a few of my magicules to conjure up.
The Princess insisted on making me some more clothes using my own material, her eyes sparkling with apparent inspiration.
I was relaxing a bit on a bench in the ogre town, watching some of the children play. These are the ones that are too young to actually join in on the teams working around town and going on hunting patrols and stuff, ranging from around 6-12 years in age, at least based on appearances.
They seemed to be picking teams for whatever game they were about to play.
"I want him!"
One of the ogre children, one of the two oldest-looking ones that seemed to be the team leaders or whatever, suddenly pointed in my direction.
This triggered all of them to stare at me, of course.
"No, that's not fair! That slime guy isn't even playing with us!" The other leader protested.
"He's just sitting over there watching, so why can't I invite him to play?" The first asked.
"Dad said he's super strong so that's cheating!" One kid chimed in.
"He doesn't look that strong." Another commented.
"But, remember at dinner the other night? That aura was huge!" A third says, holding his arms above his head to gesture how 'huge' he was talking.
"Wait, that was him?!" The doubtful one asked.
"Yeah, Rimuru is strong!" Yet another insisted.
"Oh yeah, he has a name! That's so cool!"
"Rimuru, come play with us!"
"Pleeeeease!"
All of them were pleading with me using their cute puppy-dog eyes.
Sighing, I stood up and approached the group of kids, unable to resist their begging any longer. It reminded me too much of my nieces from my previous life; I'd always struggled to say no to them too when spending time with them.
"Fine, I'll play with you a bit. So, what's this game you're all playing?" I asked.
"Hammerhorns!" One answered.
"But Rimuru is hornless!" Another pointed out, jabbing a finger at my hornless forehead.
"He's strong so he'll be fine!"
"Wait, what kind of game is this?" I asked, now starting to worry that I got myself into something I shouldn't have.
"No hands, only heads!"
What does that even mean?!
Before I could question them further, I was shoved by one of the children into the middle of the clearing, now facing one of the older of the group.
He gave me a grin, baring his inhumanly sharp ogre teeth and locking his hands behind his back. First dropping his stance, the boy started charging at me head-first.
Oh, so he's trying to knock me down.
I could've just stood and taken it, or even fought back, but I was scared I'd just hurt this kid in the process. If he ended up slamming into me with my [Multilayer Barrier], he could get a concussion from the impact, I thought.
So, I let him run up close to me before rapidly dropping into my true form, reducing my height greatly, and slipping to the side. It was a technique I'd been practicing as a method to dodge while training with the Elder. To someone not aware of my true nature, it's a wonderful and unexpected way for me to avoid an attack.
The ogre boy, expecting an impact, stumbled forward and started to fall face-first.
Ah shoot, I don't want him to eat dirt right in front of me!
I bounced over to catch him with my soft slime body, stopping his head from hitting the ground. Clearly surprised, he laid there for a few seconds, using me as a makeshift pillow.
Here we go again…another ogre using me as a pillow…
"You're so soft…" he muttered as he pushed himself off of me and gave me a poke with his finger.
"Yeah, slimes are like that, but I wasn't going to be soft if you had actually run into me. If I knew that was the type of game you were gonna play, I would've refused."
My barrier would've probably hurt him badly if we had a real impact.
After standing, he just picked me up like that was a normal thing to do with someone. I just let the boy do it, not minding it too much.
"Lemme see! I wanna hold the slime guy too!" One of the other children insisted.
The ogre kids started passing me around like a small animal they happened to find outside. It seemed to make them all happy, so I put up with it.
When I got passed to one of the youngest of the group, a little ogress, she just stared at me wide-eyed for a moment as she held me in her small arms. Then, without warning, she tried to take a bite out of me!
Immediately, I squirmed my way out of her arms and hopped to the ground, reforming into my human shape again.
"Did you just try to eat me?!" I asked, shocked and disturbed.
"I just…wanted a little bite…" she mumbled, almost in tears.
"No way! Why would I let you do something like that!?"
Then they all stared at me like I was the crazy one for not letting her chomp a chunk outta me!
"Last summer was when I last got to eat a slime. I'd like a bite too."
"Don't you heal super fast, Rimuru? I heard you grew an arm back like nothing!"
"One little bite for each of us would be fine!"
"Yeah! I wanna taste! I wanna taste!"
Nope. I'm getting outta here! These kids are terrifying!
I darted away from the demonic children trying to eat me and hid from them using Formhide. I stayed there, completely silent and still for a while, hoping that the children would give up their search. But, as I started to calm down a little and think, I realized how strangely intense my reaction had been.
Why am I so freaked out by this? It was to the point of feeling irrational.
I knew that those kids couldn't hurt me seriously even if they tried, but right then, I was in a legit panic at the idea of them trying to eat me.
Is this some sort of instinctual thing? They did mention that they eat slimes during the summer… are they usually prey animals? I guess that makes sense.
Normal slimes are weak, as far as I understood, not that I'd come across any others at this point. Still, they are low-level mob monsters in most games from my previous world, so the idea of them usually being nothing but food was believable to me.
Wait, no! That isn't okay! I'm a slime, so of course I'm disturbed by it! Who would be okay with the idea of being eaten!? And who would be okay with the idea of eating a person?! I know I'm a slime, but I can speak and have human-level intelligence; someone considering a slime like me to be food is just downright wrong!
It took the kids hours to find me (they tracked me down as a group like some sort of pack of wolves), but they were very apologetic when they did. I was hiding in slime form under a bush, still utilizing Formhide to its fullest when they tracked me down.
"We're sorry, Mister Rimuru," the oldest one said. "We promise we won't try to eat you, we were just curious!"
"...yeah, it's alright." I muttered.
Sue me, I can't stay mad at kids. I crept out from under the bush and one of the ogre girls scooped me up.
I rejoined them in their play under the promise to not attempt to take bites out of me again. I played spectator, or referee, or whatever you want to call it; either way, I just watched as they took turns bashing their heads against each other and wrestling with their horns, trying to knock their opponent to the ground. It reminded me of how goats butt heads, but it was amusing to watch a bunch of humanoid children do it. It didn't even seem to hurt them too, which showed how sturdy ogres are, even as children.
This must have been what they meant by 'hammerhorns,' but because of their subpar at best explanation, I hadn't gotten the memo when I was still participating. Not that I'd want to play something so stupid in the first place. Watching them play was more entertaining for me than trying out the game myself.
Once they get bored with this nonsense, perhaps I could teach them something new to play? I bet they'd like that.
Leaned into a windowsill, I watched as Rimuru spent time with the village children. He was showing them a new game of some sort, although I wasn't sure what. I wondered to myself where he would learn a new game, but perhaps Rimuru came up with it on the spot.
Rimuru seemed to be having fun, and watching that made me smile to myself.
I suddenly felt a tap on my shoulder.
I yelped and turned around, startled.
"F-father!"
"What are you doing, my little Princess?"
"I was…observing my people."
"No, you were observing Rimuru, weren't you?"
I couldn't deny that, but I was not lying either. I was watching the children play, and Rimuru was with them at the time.
"The children have been searching for him for a long time. I was growing worried that he might've left us, but now he's outside spending time with them again."
"They were searching for Rimuru? Why would he be hiding in the first place?"
"I think I overheard one of the children apologizing for trying to take a bite out of him. Rimuru is a slime, after all, so they were curious, I suppose."
Father looked disturbed by this, but dismissed it with a sigh.
"What are your thoughts on him? You have seemed preoccupied as of late, and I believe it has to do with our guest."
"I…don't know, exactly. He's so different from what I expected at first from a high-level majin, even if he is a slime. Rimuru is fascinating, and a bit mysterious too…"
Father raised an eyebrow at this, surprised by what I just said, but I continued. He seemed to be getting the wrong idea, so I needed to clarify what I meant.
"Do you think he was named by the Storm Dragon in order to watch over the forest? I've been considering what he shared about his past, saying how he was born from the magical force of the Storm Dragon himself, and I can't help but feel that was all for a reason. What do you think, Father?"
Father's eyebrows furrowed and he turned his eyes to Rimuru, still running around outside.
"Perhaps." He nodded, "Although, from what I know about Lord Veldora, he is not one to make complicated plans. After 300 years of being sealed, though…there is a chance that was his intent. It's not my place to speculate on the decisions of the gods."
"So you aren't even going to ponder the idea? I think it is important to know!" I insisted.
"Instead of focusing on overarching and nebulous issues, we should focus on our people and their role in it all. We cannot change that which is out of our hands." Father lectured, not entertaining the thought much.
"This is something that affects us ogres."
"Which is why we are staying on good terms with Rimuru. He is powerful and has a connection with the Storm Dragon, so we are treating him with the proper respect. If he is fated to 'watch over the forest', as you say, we are already in good standing. There is nothing more to do with what we have."
Now I was getting a bit annoyed; Father was brushing me off. But, unlike my brother, I am no hothead, so instead of losing my composure, I brought up more of my concerns.
"What about the chaos stirring in the forest? I've heard rumors from the hunting teams; Direwolves invading in packs, goblin settlements being wiped out, an unknown change causing mass migrations of magical beasts. Something is happening in Jura, and the mighty Storm Dragon may have seen it coming."
"That is just a result of his disappearance, my daughter. I have already increased the guard patrols to keep our people safe."
"But, will that be enough…?" I muttered under my breath, the foreboding feeling in my chest remaining.
I glanced out the window again, seeing Rimuru still playing with the children, completely carefree. It helped ease my worries a little, seeing his unbeatable smile.