Alone, in the dead of night, I sat in my house. Everyone else in the ogre settlement was sleeping right now and I had nothing to do, so I was simply resting, waiting for the sun to rise.

My mind wandered, and the images of the faces of five children flickered into view, their smiling faces staring up at me. Their laughter filled my mind but the feeling I got from these hallucinations was anything but cheerful. A sad longing and fear, a helplessness and foreboding dread. Negative emotions washed over me as I looked at what should've been a happy scene.

Those were Shizu's students, the ones I'd promised to save; I just knew in my heart that was a fact.

They're waiting for me.

I shook my head, or I guess my whole body since I wasn't in my human form currently. I'd been seeing Shizu's kids more and more as of late, mostly whenever I'm not doing anything.

I love this peaceful life with the ogres, and I finally have friends to talk to and hunt with. But the images were sticky. They came to my mind at every opportunity, clinging on and drawing my gaze toward the western horizon.

For a reason I couldn't explain, these last few days I had been itching to move, while the ogre's warmth and kindness kept me rooted in place. I felt like I was being pulled in separate directions, and it was ripping my heart in two.

And, on top of that, thoughts of Shizu have also been creeping into my mind as a result. I guess I never really processed the fact that she's gone… I just… moved on? But I didn't move on, truly. I just stopped myself from thinking about it. It was too painful.

But…I still miss her. I miss her a lot.

Our time spent together may have been brief, but she was the first person close to me to ever die, even back in my previous life.

A knock broke me out of my somber thoughts, immediately yanking me back to reality.

"Rimuru?" The ogre Princess's voice came from the other side of my door. "Are you awake?"

I quickly jumped into human form to open the door and found her on the steps of the house wearing a cheerful grin. "Hey," I waved, smiling brightly to cover up my disturbed emotions. "What's up?"

As I stepped out of my house and closed the door, the Princess's expression changed from cheery to worried, a frown crossing her lips. "Are you alright?" She asked in concern.

How does this woman know what I'm thinking!? I was positive I had given my usual greeting.

"Oh, I'm fine!" I forcefully pushed the gloomy thoughts to the back of my mind. "Don't worry. What are you here for?" Change the subject and throw her off.

"No, you seem out of sorts." The Princess wasn't buying it. She placed a hand on my forehead, examining my face with squinted eyes. "Are you sick? Can slimes get sick in the first place? I think you may be a bit paler than usual, now that I look closer…"

"I'm fine, really!" I had to lift my hands and push her back, keeping them between us placatingly. "Slimes can't sleep, so I was just doing some thinking overnight, that's all. I promise I'm fine."

Just leave out the important stuff. She certainly wouldn't settle for anything but the truth.

"Hmm…" Great, now she looks worried and skeptical. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am!" I raised my hands placatingly.

She huffed a bit but dropped the argument. "Alright. You can always ask me or my father if something's bothering you, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah." I laughed a bit. "Sure."

"And be careful out with the hunting party later too! I heard you will be helping them today, particularly hunting Knight Spiders."

"Yeah, I did promise to help them hunt those today since I know the people here struggle with them a bit." I actually got a little carried away earlier while conversing with some of the ogres, bragging about how I'd killed Knight Spiders before, and so they invited me to go hunting with them. The ogres love spider meat when they're lucky enough to get it, and I want to eat it too, so I agreed.

"Here." She shoved a bundle into my hands. "I made you a lunch to bring along with you."

How sweet. This must've been why she came to my house first thing in the morning.

"Thank you very much!" I smiled widely as I gratefully accepted her gift.

The Princess turned her face away from me a little, looking a bit embarrassed.

Did I say something wrong?

But, her broken composure only lasted a moment before her pink eyes locked squarely onto me again.

"Are you certain you will be alright?" She asked me again.

"Yeah, I'm plenty strong enough to take down a Knight Spider."

"That's not what I was referring to. You still seem out of sorts this morning, as if something is worrying you greatly."

"No, please don't worry about me."

She didn't seem convinced by my reassurances but didn't hassle me further about it after that.

Right as I was leaving the gate to go out with the hunting party I'd been invited to, Redhead stopped me by placing his entire body between the rest of the party and me.

"What's the big idea, man? I thought we were done with this back and forth already?" I rolled my eyes and stood at the ready with my hand on the hilt of Shizu's sword.

"This isn't over until I prove I am better than you." He insisted, practically growling the words out, the hostility clear in his voice.

I concluded this guy was delusional. I mean, if he kept challenging me like this he'd get seriously hurt, yet he doesn't seem to understand that despite what happened last time.

Still, I didn't want to put my foot down just yet–it seemed like it might just make things worse. "How about we do this later? I gotta go help your village."

"You can do that later, I will keep myself under control. So meet me at the training field." He forced his expression to be more plain and stared me down more coldly.

Does he really think that's a concern? He's talking like he could pound me into a pulp to the point that I wouldn't be able to join in on the hunt later…

Now I was even more convinced he was delusional.

"I can't do that man… They'll need help if they wanna fight Knight Spiders." I begrudgingly sighed.

This seemed to set him off because before even Redhead probably knew he was doing it, I felt an oncoming attack impulsively coming from him. I could feel it in the change in his aura.

So, I used a trick that the Elder suggested. I dropped my human form and fell to the ground, right under the blade of the sword swinging above me.

The Redhead looked shocked for a moment, before jumping back and calming himself back down. I guess he wasn't expecting to lash out himself.

"Come on man, I don't wanna do this." I reformed into my human shape, using the sage's assistance to put everything back in the right place. I didn't really wanna waste time messing around with my clothes right now.

"Fight me like a monster! Don't use tricks to avoid my attacks!" At least he had a head on his shoulders, as he tried to sweep me before slashing, using the scabbard of his sword as a staff.

The wise old ogre must have taught him that trick though, so I was expecting it. I jumped back before knocking his sword away with Shizu's, being careful to deflect the force instead of trying to stop it statically.

Unfortunately for me, it seemed he had been expecting that too because he lashed out with a kick right to my gut while my sword was off to the side.

It would have hit me too, if I didn't partially de-transform that part of my body into slime, catching his foot inside my body. His foot got sucked into my torso like quicksand, which based on his wide eyes, he clearly didn't expect to happen.

"Game's over." I matter-of-factly declared, trying to force a resolution at this point. I seriously didn't want to be doing this right now, I had a job to do after all and multiple other people waiting for me.

"You cheating slime!" He screamed as he futilely tried to pull his foot out of my stomach, but I held tight, wrapping my hands around his ankle and determined to make him just give up.

Oh, his aura flared big time and I could feel the air heat up around us, or at least the sage told me it did; it's not like I could feel it for real. His entire frame covered itself in a massive flame that shot out at me from his captured foot.

It was surrounded by an entire ball of fire. Honestly, it was almost as impressive as Ifrit's. I was immune to Ifrit's, though, so his fire was no problem.

So I fell back, releasing his foot, and let the fire surround me for a moment. I waited until the redhead looked satisfied in [Magic Sense]. After deciding that he's probably figured out that his attack is useless, I walked back out of the fire, confirming to Redhead that I'm not so much as singed by what was probably his trump card. "Did you just try to kill me, man!?" I could definitely feel a bit of my anger flare up, but I tried to keep it under control.

"Well, if you won't fight me for real, I need to!" He shouted.

Redhead still thought he had the advantage here, but he was sorely mistaken.

"Do you really wanna see me fight for real?" I cautiously asked, maintaining my outer calm despite being pretty angry about his little murder attempt.

I was very tempted to just take off my mask and attack him with my aura, but I had a better idea.

"Yes!" Redhead growled, giving one more line before I finally got serious.

"Okay, then. This is what it is like when I fight for real!"

I pulled Shizu's mask into my stomach, fully unleashing my magical force into the air around us, the density of it causing my hair to flutter a little in the air. I immediately brought a foot into the air, intending to kick Redhead viciously to teach him a lesson.

As I attacked, I felt a lot of my magicules collect in the foot I was kicking with, a sort of glow forming around it before my roundhouse kick landed my foot square in the gut of the fool in front of me.

He must have flown a good dozen meters before grinding to a halt.

Part of me thought it was funny and well-deserved, but then I realized I might've overdone it…just a smidge…

He's not gonna die from that if I don't use some healing potion on him…right?

[[Notice. That individual has not sustained a fatal amount of damage.]]

Good.

He was still lying prone on the ground, unmoving. I didn't care though, I just put Shizu's mask back on and left with the party I'd come with, telling them not to worry about it. They'd still get Knight Spider tonight.

I wasn't storming off, what gave you that impression?

I stared at my son on the bed, being tended to by his sister. He had been injured badly after foolishly attacking Rimuru. I'd warned him multiple times to be rational about this, but his pride got the better of him.

If Rimuru wasn't intent on keeping him alive, there's no chance my son would still be breathing.

I felt the anger of our guest even from here, if for a mere moment. I suspect that was the point where my son was struck, but according to witnesses, Rimuru was not the aggressor in this.

Not only that, but our sacred Ogre Flame technique, reserved purely for true enemies, was used on Rimuru–our guest and a friend of our people. It is a method meant to kill, incinerating our foes to nothing but ash. Not a skill to use lightly, and never one to be used in a duel.

Rimuru survived it without issue, apparently, and continued with his plan to help out one of our hunting parties. I was grateful for that, but it didn't change the intent behind what my son had done.

"I never expected you to do something so shameful. I am disgusted that you tried such a thing, my son. What in the world were you thinking!?"

"...I wanted to fight that slime seriously…and prove my superiority…" My son grumbled, wincing as his sister bandaged him up.

I kept my expression stone-cold as I watched him.

"Proving your 'superiority' should be the least of your concerns. We have no reason to attack someone with immense power, but no intent to attack us. Your actions could have spelled doom for our entire race. Do you not understand that?"

"I doubt that slime could kill us all…" He muttered under his breath, scowling.

"Stop calling Rimuru Tempest 'that slime'. He deserves more respect than that, even before sparing your life."

My son fell silent, looking downward, deep in thought over my words.

"Because you were spared the consequences of your actions by Rimuru, I will impose a separate punishment on you."

He sat up and looked at me with surprise.

"Father, wait-"

"I am revoking your right to carry a sword. You are clearly not cool-headed enough to be trusted with it."

"But I cannot grow stronger if I'm not allowed to practice with a sword!"

"You should have thought of that before pulling that stunt. When I feel you are worthy again, I will return your sword and right to wield one."

With my decision finalized, I took his sword from its place resting against the wall and left him in the care of his sister.

My father stepped out of the room, leaving in a huff after scolding my brother. I couldn't really blame him for being angry about this either. My brother nearly died, and he didn't seem to understand that.

"Thank you, sister… I doubt I would have been able to tend to these wounds myself…" He turned away, but he was still trying to play this off as if nothing had happened. As if he had just come back from some failed hunt.

That wasn't what he did though. He had attacked our guest, the most powerful majin either of us have ever met, and after these repeated attacks, our guest finally attacked him in retaliation.

Despite retaliating eventually, Rimuru even still tried to de-escalate the situation first. He used a new technique to avoid conflict, using his true slime form as a way to avoid my brother's attacks completely.

That was interesting in itself, that he was going to such lengths of self-defense despite his immense power already.

My brother still interpreted that the wrong way, and just kept up his attacks. Going on and on and on about how our guest, Rimuru, should attack him seriously!

As I lost myself stewing in my thoughts, I hadn't even realized it. I'd slapped my older brother as hard as I could.

His hand went to his cheek, as he stared at me. His eyes were wide–he hadn't expected it either. "Sister-"

"No!" I cut him off. I needed to use this to tell him just how stupid he was. "You could have died! You should have died! Had Rimuru not been so insistent on holding himself back, you would be dead!"

He tried to speak so I clapped a hand across his mouth to keep him quiet. "Don't get yourself killed! Please! That kick should have killed you! It nearly did! You were so lucky!"

Having had enough, I pushed him away and scrambled out of the room after saying my piece. I needed to seclude myself to regain my composure.

It was unladylike to do such a thing, but it was entirely necessary.

The mood while hunting was dampened by the events that happened right before we left, but I tried to ignore it. The ogres I was with were especially quiet. They seemed to be trying to avoid the subject but I guess they couldn't stop thinking about it.

It was dragging on my mind too, but that didn't mean I had regrets. If anything, I was focused on exactly what happened when I kicked him. Looking back, it seemed like I'd instinctively focused my aura around my foot before kicking Redhead with it, and that added a good deal of force to my attack. I'd kinda learned about something similar when training with the Elder, something called Modelwill, but that had more to do with swordplay rather than hand-to-hand. Maybe it applies to both.

It was just something I did in the heat of the moment, not really thinking about what I was doing, so I wasn't sure I could replicate it on demand. I'll have to experiment with it later.

A spear-like leg jabbed right at my face and I barely dodged it. Whoops, guess I got a little lost in thought just then. Maybe I shouldn't let my mind wander while in battle.

I pulled out Shizu's sword and allowed my arm to whip out into slime while slashing at the spider's joint. I tried to get away as I did that, and went away from the Ogres so the spider wouldn't target them.

The thing's foreleg fell off as it let out a shrill whistle of pain before rearing up and shooting a massive net of web out at me. It seemed like it could control the thread with its mind because it formed an intricate pattern as it flew through the air.

That is a neat trick… Can I do that? I wondered as I gathered up water with [Water Manipulation], and sent a massive jet of it through the joint between the creature's abdomen and thorax.

[[Affirmative. Due to eating the Black Spider, the individual Rimuru Tempest possesses the ability to manipulate thread produced from [Sticky-Steel Thread].]]

Just another skill to experiment with later. With my ogre companions around and in danger, I don't think now's the time to try out any new tricks.

Unfortunately, a fountain of purple liquid flooded out of the open wound, and I got covered in the stuff. A quick change into slime form and back to human was enough to shake the goop off of me, though.

I watched as the spider gave a few last desperate twitches before falling over, covered in gashes from the brutal fight.

I wasn't going overboard, I just needed to let off some steam. What, you think I shouldn't still be mad hours later? I'm not mad; I was the coolheaded one earlier, remember?

I turned to my ogre partners, smiling with satisfaction at my handiwork.

Some looked a bit freaked out, others had big grins; either way, we'd gotten ourselves some juicy meat to cook up tonight.

The whispers when I got back to the village were ever-present, gossip about what happened between me and Redhead earlier reaching every ogre here.

"The Chief is waiting for you." A passing ogre told me as I walked my way back to my house.

Am I in trouble? I wondered. I'd just kicked the heir to their leader across a clearing, showing no mercy, but it was self-defense.

Whatever ends up happening, I resolved to just deal with it. Still, the last thing I wanted was to be banished from this place now that I've made friends and started really enjoying life here.

I stepped inside the Chief's house, politely knocking before entering.

"You asked for me?"

He was seated on a cushion at the low table in the middle of the room, sipping at some tea, alone. The Chief turned and looked at me with an incredibly serious look in his eyes.

Getting what he wanted from this set-up, I took a seat across from him and he poured me a cup of tea without saying a word. I took a sip, enjoying the same taste from before, and tried my best to read his intent.

I couldn't tell if he was angry, resolute, or just calm. His poker face was something else, let me tell you, and it sure was making this hard for me.

So, I just silently stared at him, waiting for him to finally say something.

"My son has been punished for his transgression against you."

I was a little surprised. I mean, I didn't see myself as doing anything wrong, but I did kick what could be called an ogre prince of sorts. Isn't that normally something that'd get a person executed or banished or whatever? I know I have some clout around here, but I still…

"You're not…upset with me for kicking him?" I asked cautiously just to be certain, but at this point, I was getting the impression that I wasn't in any trouble.

The Chief cracked a smile at my words, amused for some reason.

"No. I am grateful you spared my son's life after he attempted to take yours. Most would not be so merciful."

Yeah, Redhead did try that flame thing on me, but I was completely immune, so it wasn't that big of a deal for me. I was upset, yes, but it didn't feel much like a murder attempt to me in hindsight, even if it technically was one.

"Well, killing him wouldn't do any of us good, now would it?" I responded before taking another sip of the tea, again watching for the Chief's reaction.

The Chief paused hints of confusion on his face that I wasn't expecting.

"Would it…not do you any good? Your pride was hurt, was it not? Is it not taxing to deal with this, day after day? I know my son has been treating you with disrespect since you started staying with us."

"Not really…? I mean, it's annoying…but…" I muttered, wondering what was so shocking about my attitude.

"Can I ask you something that may seem rude?" He suddenly asked me.

"Go right ahead."

"Why is it that you're so strange? You act unlike any monster I have ever known."

Puzzled, I cocked my head to the side, narrowing my eyes a bit at the Chief. His question made little sense to me.

"Uh…what do you mean by that, Chief?"

"You are strong, but don't seem determined to show it off. When attacked, you show mercy. You are certain, you are a monster?"

Now that I see that there's a lot of pride behind being a monster in ogre culture, I can't just go and tell the Chief I used to be human. That actually might get me kicked out; he'd probably be offended by it. Best to keep that part of my origins to myself.

"Yes. More or less." I shrugged, muttering that last part quietly.

"More…or less?"

Whoops, I accidentally let that one slip out.

"Nevermind that," I waved him off. "I promise I'm a monster."

There was an awkward silence as we sat across from each other. Feeling uncomfortable, I decided to speak up again.

"Soooo…I should probably check up on your son since I'm guessing he's pretty hurt."

The Chief almost spat out the sip of tea he was drinking.

"Please don't do that!" He said surprisingly loudly, sounding like he nearly just choked on his drink.

I just wanted to make sure I didn't injure the guy that badly, and if he seemed apologetic enough, I'd consider using some potion on him. But, apparently, the Chief is against that.

He sighed before clarifying. "If my son saw you now, it would only rekindle his anger."

"I…see…he's not mortally injured or anything, is he?"

I had no intention of inflicting anything serious, so to ease my concerns, I needed to ask.

"No, he will be fine. My daughter has been tending to him." He explained. "Although, I'm sure she has scolded him for his behavior as well…" He muttered much more quietly. "Nonetheless, avoiding him, for the time being, is for the best."

"Sure." I was glad the Princess wasn't angry with me. I've seen her scold people before, and she's scary when she's mad!