Redhead and I made our way back.
That was quite the fishing trip, I have to say. And what we ended up catching was impressive.
I'd even had the passing thought to just eat the fish on the spot after escaping from its mouth, but I'd decided that was much too barbaric. I knew I'd been eating monsters whole, slime-style, for a while now, but resorting to eating it raw and unprepared in human form was not okay.
Honestly, having that urge was a bit disturbing to me, but I brushed it off as nothing but a silly intrusive thought.
Right when we arrived back at the ogre village, we were crowded with kids asking us if we'd caught anything. Redhead tried to shift away from them, seeming a little bit uncomfortable. So I bumped him forward and whispered, "Come on, just talk to them. They're your people."
He sighed and rolled his eyes before setting them forward. "We caught the largest fish I've ever seen!" He tried to do it all proudly, but he was still a bit uneasy.
"Hehe." I chuckled at his awkward boasting.
It wasn't long after I urged him on like that, that we got to planning the feast. The old Whitehair was honestly really helpful with preparing the fish. He made a lot of interesting cuts after making the odd request of skewering it on a single large wooden pole–literally just a stripped and sharpened tree trunk. This thing was huge.
Redhead got to be the de-facto leader for just one night, and after getting over the initial stage fright, he took to it well enough.
Everyone got to spend their time happily. They even brought out alcohol, which I was banned from drinking by the Princess! According to her, I was both too young and too powerful to drink safely.
The Redhead certainly got a kick out of that, grinning evilly as he drank sake right in front of me.
The fish we caught by the way? Great.
The Elder even confirmed the sage's intuition. After I showed him the heart of the fish, he explained to me that it was using its heart to circulate mana around its body.
The forge ogre went crazy when he saw the mana crystals on the heart too. He nearly begged me to use a few to set into the hilt of the sword for Redhead, so I let him have the fish heart. I didn't particularly need it, and according to the sage, I could make another whenever I get monster-fish flesh. Which was information I didn't need to know.
Luckily, late into the feast, near midnight it must have been, I managed it. I got a sip of sake while the ogre princess wasn't looking!
But god had forsaken me.
[[Notice: Effect of poison has been nullified.]] The sage declared defiantly.
Alcohol's not poison! I internally protested, but to no avail.
[[Notice: EFFECT OF POISON HAS BEEN NULLIFIED.]]
The message was repeated more forcefully the second time, which I thought was strange, but I ignored it. I was too annoyed about not being able to get intoxicated even if I did get my hands on some liquor. Just another thing I had to miss out on thanks to my biology, I suppose.
So I stayed one more night, relaxing in my house and patiently awaiting sunrise while musing on my time with the ogres. They were good people, and I wished the best for them. Unfortunately, I needed to leave, but who knows? I could always come back.
I certainly couldn't let that redheaded hotshot get one up on me.
As the sun finally rose, I popped up into human form and walked out to the front of my house. A few of the ogres were waiting for me, I guess they wanted to see me off.
The Chief spoke first. "Thank you for your stay here, you have taught us many valuable lessons." The old guy was as dignified as always.
Redhead made a declaration after that. "I'll be far stronger next time you show up here!" His grin was a lot more amiable now–friendlier. I liked that.
"I will patiently await what stories my student has to tell me when he returns." The Elder ogre nodded to me.
Purplehair was in a huff, but she still seemed disappointed about me leaving.
The Princess had gotten bold enough to hug me. She ran up and wrapped her arms around me on my way to the gate, before hiding away again.
"Aw, thanks guys," my smile was probably as wide as the horizon, these guys were making me so happy.
"You are always welcome back, of course!" The Chief placed a hand on my shoulder. "This house will be reserved for you, so don't worry about losing it."
"Oh, really?" I asked, glancing back at the hut-sized structure. "You're just giving it to me?"
"Of course." He smiled, "it's yours."
Huh.
…I wanted to ask something really weird, and possibly very greedy.
Was this fine?
Screw it.
I decided I would ask.
"If you're just gonna give it to me…" I asked slowly, a little hesitant, "do you mind if I just…take it?"
"Take…it?" The Chief gave me a strange look, and I couldn't blame him. Redhead, meanwhile, was shaking his head knowingly–but he had a smile on.
"Uh… yeah… I can store stuff, right?" I brought Shizu's sword out to demonstrate. "So can I store the house?"
The Chief stared a moment, then burst out laughing. So much for the dignified act earlier, old man! "Sure," he chuckled. "It's yours, after all!"
"Ahaha, thanks," I chuckled awkwardly. Yeah, the whole situation was kind of absurd, but I wanted to have it, y'know?"
Walking up to the side of the house, I placed my hand against it. I didn't want to envelop the whole thing like I normally did, just 'cause that seemed a little undignified. I hadn't actually used this method since Veldora, but with objects or monsters bigger than I could cover with my slime body, they could be drawn into my space so long as I was touching them.
This ability also required that they didn't resist me, so like, I couldn't just punch a wild beast and store it, but it was helpful for situations like this.
[Great Sage] helped me measure out the area, and in the blink of an eye, the house was gone.
Wow. The empty lot looked… kind of sad. Barren.
"Thanks, Chief." I smiled awkwardly, rubbing the back of my head.
"You're quite welcome. I hope it serves you well."
"Rimuru?" The Princess spoke up, peeking behind her sleeve.
"Yeah?"
"Can I carry you to the gate?"
I knew that's what she'd want.
"Sure."
I went into my natural blobular form and the Princess happily scooped me up and hugged me tightly. She held me close up to her face, pressing her cheek against my soft body as she laid her head on me.
"Please come back soon." She whispered.
"I'll try. I have a job to do, but when I'm done, I'll come back. I can't promise I'll stay, but I'll definitely visit."
"Thank you."
She lowered me a little but continued holding me as we finally started toward the gate with my little procession of ogres.
Getting to the gate, the Princess reluctantly set me down, subtle sadness in her pink eyes.
First taking human form again, I looked back at them all and saw the forge ogre run up to the Chief and his son with something wrapped in cloth. "It's done! I've been working on it since before the feast began!"
"Oh?" The Chief nodded. "Rimuru, what do you think of this?"
"Give it to him, I think your son has earned it. You saw him last night, didn't you?" I didn't really wanna leave the guy defenseless, so it was best for him to get to carry a sword again.
"Hm, very well. Rimuru Tempest, would you do the honors?" The Chief grinned at me in an amused way.
"Hey, hey! What!?"
He wants me to do the fancy ceremonial hand-off of the sword?
I wasn't thrilled since I'm bad with this sort of thing, but all their begging eyes were boring into me.
"He wouldn't be getting this if not for you." The Chief urged further.
I sighed. "Really, you guys?" I walked up to the forge ogre, and took the cloth carefully, before walking over to Redhead and rolling my eyes.
But before I could say anything, we were interrupted by a storm of pure chaos that engulfed the village.
"Rimuru!"
"Mister Rimuru!"
"Wait!"
The ogre kids, all twenty-something that lived in the village, appeared out of nowhere and stampeded around us like something out of a horror movie. Pushing aside Redhead, the Princess, and even the Chief, the whole swarm conglomerated around me, and suddenly I was buried in a sea of kids.
"Mister Rimuru!"
"We made you something!"
"Don't leave, pweeeeaaase!"
One of the younger ones (maybe four years old, or close to it) grabbed onto my hand, and immediately their legs stopped supporting them as they hung on to me.
"Uh-ah, wait!" I tried to say, but an older kid came up from behind and wrapped me in a literally crushing hug. "Ack–no! Stand back!"
It was a good thing I didn't need air, because even my squishy self was feeling uncomfortable in this kid's grasp. I was released shortly after, and another immediately started grabbing my shoulders and shaking me.
"Hold on! Calm down!" I tried to say, but the horde just kept chattering and grabbing and I was pretty sure the entire forest could hear them–and having mapped its entirety, I knew exactly how big that was!
I had no idea what to do. Half of them were shouting about a 'present,' half were begging me to stay, one was bragging about how far they threw a rock yesterday and the one grabbing onto me had a hand so gross and sticky that I was trying not to think about it.
"Alright, MOVE!" It was Redhead who saved me from my untimely fate. At the sound of his voice the sea receded, and I gasped in relief at seeing the sun again.
Redhead was looking kind of irritated that our moment was ruined, but he still had a half-hidden smile. "One at a time," he ordered. Kind of him; maybe he wasn't as aloof as I thought.
"Mister Rimuru!" One of the oldest, I think he was the leader of that team I first played 'Hammerhorns' with, pushed his way to the front and bowed deeply. Him bending over let me see the large, round, blue object clutched in his hands–still dripping, I might add.
Now that I was looking, around half the kids had hands–and arms, and faces, and hair–covered in some sort of blue goop disturbingly similar in color to my slime form.
"What is this?" I asked, completely bewildered and vaguely aware that my clothes were now covered in blue smears and handprints.
"Thank you for playing with us!" The ogre kid said, and presented the object to me. It was a rock, much bigger than any human kid his size could hold, and covered in some sort of blue… paint? It was close in size and shape to my slime form, too.
"Oh, uh… thank you." I said, taking the gift. It was still sticky from whatever paint they used–and wasn't blue pigment like, super rare in nature? Was this a fantasy world thing or did I really not want to know what this was covered in?
[[Confirmed. The paint-substitute is made from–]]
NO! No, don't tell me! At least not until I'm cleaned off!
[[...understood.]]
I think the sage was sulking, but that really wasn't my problem. "Thank you so much!" I smiled brightly, putting on my best customer service face. "I'll make sure to put it somewhere special!"
"And if your sword ever breaks, you can crush the bad guys' faces with it! I'm sure they'll stop moving good with this!" A little kid chirped from the back.
What the heck!? Did they make it for me as a weapon!?
"I'm sure it'll come in handy," I replied cheerfully, trying to ignore that last comment. Quickly storing the questionable object in my Stomach, I dropped into slime form briefly to clean off. "Thank you so much!"
"Alright," the Chief intervened, looking bemused. "Our guest has something to say to the young Master."
The crowd of kids stepped back at his command, waving frantically at me and shouting goodbyes. After several hushes from the surrounding adults, I retrieved the sword from where I put it in my [Stomach] while being swamped earlier and presented it to Redhead.
"Use this to protect yourself, and your people first. Use it to get stronger second." I unwrapped the cloth and presented him with the sword in the most dignified way I could manage, trying to be all serious despite my internal cringing.
"You have your right again, take it." The Chief went along after me to tell the redhead he had permission.
Redhead seemed excited but restrained himself. "Thank you, Rimuru." Only after he said that did he take the sword from the cloth, holding it high toward the heavens. The dark crimson of the blade shone dully, but as his magicules rushed into it, the crystals on the hilt glowed a fiery red and the blade ignited into flames.
I smirked, it was exactly what that kid must have wanted. The lingering crowd of children around us started cheering, sending birds flying with the sound of their voices.
"H-huh! The voice of the world?" Redhead turned away and examined his sword himself, questioning it for a few moments before turning back. "The ogres have never possessed a weapon of this grade. It gave me a skill, [Tempest Flame]."
"Woah, really? I don't have that one." I mused, only slightly jealous. "That's awesome man." I grinned at him before turning away.
"I'll challenge you the next time you are here, Rimuru!" Redhead had to declare it one more time. "You best be prepared!"
"I will be. Seeya around, ogre village!" Waving goodbye, I spread my wings and was off into the sky.
I decided to drop my house off in a safe place. There was no reason to keep it with me at this point, I just wanted to have it in case. Everyone needs a home to return to, and I also thought that it might pose a problem when it came to my stomach's capacity. Yeah, the sage said I was only at 32.6% (or more specifically 32.639502%), but who knows what I'll come across in my travels? I just felt better placing it down somewhere, even if I could've just left it with the ogres.
Where is it I picked? The Sealed Cave, of course!
Nobody else ever steps foot in here, and I just feel a sense of safety and security here. Perhaps that has something to do with the fact I was born in this cave, but there's no real way for me to know.
As I arrived at my destination, I nostalgically looked around at the large chamber I found myself in at the deepest point of the cavern. This was where Veldora was up until I ate him, and the open floor space makes it perfect for my purposes. There's even a nearby lake for me to take a dip in.
Ready, I plopped my house in the flattest spot. Seeing a house inside a cave was a little strange, but I had no real problem with it. Besides, no severe weather or rampaging monster would damage it down here. Yeah, the magicule concentration was a bit intense, but for a monster like me, it actually felt nice. I subsist off the stuff, so there's no reason for me to be against being surrounded by a thick concentration of magicules.
I stepped inside my little house and took a seat on the bed, running my hand across the smooth fabric.
"I should stay down here for a little while." I decided.
I still felt apprehensive about traveling back to that human country called Blumund after what happened last time. I wanted to see my human friends again, but if anybody outside of those three found out what I was…things would turn horrible very fast.
"Flying away would be an option now…I don't think I'd have any trouble running away if it came to that, unlike last time."
But, I'd like to avoid that at all costs, which means I need to know how to properly hide my monstrousness. The mask I received from Shizu certainly helps since it hides my aura, as well as her body making me look nothing like the blob I am.
Still, I'm so hesitant to go…even with everything I'd gained from Shizu. I was given these gifts in exchange for a promise, but now when push comes to shove, I'm chickening out due to my own fears of…rejection. I don't want to be rejected by human society; not after being invited in so warmly by the ogres.
But, my promise to Shizu means more than my feelings.
I flopped onto the bed, feeling sorry for myself and trying to work past my fears. I lay there for hours, feeling worse and worse as time ticked by. Remembering how I'd failed to save Shizu, and how I was failing her again by not going straight to those children she clearly loved so much.
I'd stalled for time with the ogres, insisting that staying with my newfound monster friends for months was okay, but in hindsight, it wasn't. And guess what? Part of me wants to go back to them.
"I wish I could just sleep so I could clear my head and resolve to go. I'm never gonna leave at this rate…" I grumbled to myself.
[[Notice. Development of skill [Sleep Mode] has been completed. Would you like to activate this skill? Yes/No]]
"Sleep…mode?" I asked, confused that this seemed to come out of nowhere. I guess the sage had been working on that in the background after I whined so much about not being able to sleep.
Can I set this skill to put me to sleep for a specific amount of time?
I wouldn't want to accidentally sleep for years or something equally as insane, so to be safe, I asked the sage.
[[Answer. The default for the skill [Sleep Mode] has been set at 8 hours based on records of the optimal period of sleep located in your memories. Would you like to activate the skill [Sleep Mode]? Yes/No]]
What are you, my wife? [Great Sage] seems to almost be nagging me about this, but that can't be right.
Yes. I answered, deciding that it was safe enough for me to try, given where I currently am at the moment.
The fatigue hit me like a truck and my [Magic Sense] blacked out within seconds.
Darkness.
Again, I could see nothing, hear nothing, or sense a single thing. Just a void of sensory deprivation that I was floating in, alone.
"Kwahahahaha!" Suddenly a familiar, resounding voice echoed in my head. "That little show at the campfire you gave was impressive, my brother! I find those small little totems so unflattering! Luckily you showed those ogres the true glory of my image!"
"Eh!?" I whipped around in the empty space to see him, already feeling hot with embarrassment. "You saw that!?"
"But of course, my little slime friend! You've provided me with so much entertainment!"
"...so you've been watching everything I'm doing? Aren't you supposed to be working on escaping your prison!?"
[[Notice: The individual Veldora Tempest has been working with low efficiency toward the goal of the individual Rimuru Tempest.]]
"Gah!" Veldora looked shocked. "How dare you, Rimuru! I have been working at my utmost best!"
"Wait, what?" I said, "I didn't say that!"
"But haven't you been communicating with me through your skill this whole time?" Veldora asked, looking confused.
"No! This is the first I've heard of this!"
Then, I felt two arms wrap around my body from behind and I turned my attention to the person responsible.
No…there's no way…
"Shizu-san?" I cautiously asked her.
"Yes, it's me, Satoru-san." She said with a smile, but this kind expression only lasted a moment. "I didn't think I needed to drill into your head that you have not failed me, Satoru-san." She chidingly commented while still embracing my slime body.
"I thought you were gone! What are you doing here, wherever this is?"
"We are inside your soul, my little slime buddy!" Veldora boomed. "I bravely convinced this, erm… steadfast, incredible, and beautiful woman to come here and solve your anxieties! Quite impressive, no? Nothing to someone as great as I, but nonetheless an amazing feat!"
"Oh shush, you big lout!" Shizu harshly scolded him, while shooting a very stern glare.
Huh? Shizu is bein' kinda forceful… And this is with the Storm Dragon of all people! I haven't ever seen this side of her.
"Listen, Satoru-san, the dragon brought me here to speak with you since he was concerned, and after hearing his reasons, so am I." Shizu continued, talking over the disgruntled muttering of my dragon friend.
I immediately felt guilty, knowing that I'd been worrying both Shizu and Veldora without even noticing.
"I…was just…I wanted to-" I tried and struggled to explain.
"I understand your feelings, but you don't need to suffer for my sake. Enjoying your new life a little is nothing to be ashamed of. Don't force yourself, Satoru-san."
The dead seriousness in her dark eyes made my regret all the more intense.
"I still need you to break my prison, so don't get yourself killed by rushing into things!" Veldora boomed, butting into our conversation again and shattering the serious tone in one fell swoop.
"I said be quiet!" Shizu scolded him again before she turned her attention back to me. But, before she could say anything, I spoke up again.
"But, Shizu-san! Your body, your mask, even the skills I gained after your death…I need to repay all of it! I can't just sit around doing nothing all day when I owe you a debt for your kindness!"
Shizu's expression turned troubled at this.
"You still see all those gifts as 'mine?'"
"Yes, Shizu-san, of course, I do."
"Satoru-san, I'm dead." Shizu bluntly responded.
"Yes, but-"
"I'm dead." She further emphasized.
"...but you're right here!"
"No, Satoru-san, I'm not. I died months ago, and what you see is all that is left of me, nothing but an echo, a memory of who I was, a fragment of my former self that felt she couldn't yet move on to the afterlife."
"But…you're still you, Shizu-san!"
"All I am is the part of me that you knew, nothing more."
"Even so, now that I know you're inside me, I can bring you back later, kind of like how I'm going to release Veldora. Then, you can live again, and-"
"No, I can't. I'm dead." She insisted, "and I wouldn't want to go back to that world, even if it was possible."
"But-"
Shizu cut me off, patting me gently. "We need to talk about something other than me, Satoru-san." She sighed. "Take your human form for me."
I was a bit hesitant, finding it strange to morph into the shape of a person that's right here, holding me in her arms. It felt wrong.
"You mean your form, Shizu-san?"
"No, your human form. Don't mistake that." She paused and pinched me. "Take your form."
I knew that she wouldn't drop it and I wanted to make her happy, so I obliged and did as she said, even if I still felt like it was a strange thing to do.
Shizu stared down at me for a moment, her dark eyes meeting the golden ones I'd gained with this body. She lightly stroked the hair on my head before finally breaking the silence of the void around us.
Shizu took my face in her hands, squishing my cheeks between her palms. "I am glad to see that you've gained a form similar to my own, but don't mistake yourself. That body is yours, not mine, do you understand? Don't look at your own face and grieve over it because I've passed. It's a gift that belongs to you."
"No, my face is the one I used to have in my previous life, not this one."
"You are so stubborn, Satoru-san…"
"I'm just being realistic, though. This is pretty much a carbon copy of you with a pallet swap, so how can I call it mine?"
"Yes, and I look very much like my mother, but does that make my body hers?"
"No, but that's just because you're her daughter, while I'm some random bum who got reincarnated as a slime!"
"Yes, and a slime chosen as the sworn brother of the Mighty Storm Dragon Veldora! Kwaha-whahahahaha!"
Shizu shot Veldora another icy stare and he withered in the presence of it.
Shizu then turned back to me and huffed. "I always wanted a beautiful daughter of my own, but I didn't want to raise her in this world. Yet here you are, complaining about getting to practically be my daughter."
"Wh-what are you saying, Shizu-san?! I'm a man, remember!?"
"Yet you insist your face is one that's a woman's. Don't you see the contradiction in that?"
"I'm just using your face!" I insisted.
We kept bickering back and forth about the issue until she pulled out her ultimate weapon of mass ego destruction.
"Slime-san, do you really wanna keep denying that this is you now? If you can't accept yourself, you can be my darling daughter instead!" She even hugged me tightly and used one of her arm-wraps to start tying a bow in my hair!
I grabbed the makeshift ribbon and pulled it off of my head.
"Please, Shizu-san, not you too! Why does every woman I've met in this world enjoy dressing me up!? I can't even avoid it within my own mind…"
"Will you please just accept this body as yours then? That's all I want right now."
"I-I…" I choked. "Y-yes…I will…" I said, finally giving in, "...thanks, Shizu."
She hugged me tighter and I felt tears begin to flow out of my eyes "Aw, Satoru-san." Shizu smiled, cupping my face. "You're beautiful, even when you cry."
"...don't wanna be beautiful," I grumbled, wiping my eyes.
Shizu just chuckled lightly at this before she faded away into the darkness like a mirage. I heard one last whisper from her before she finally left me.
"I don't even know if my body was really mine… after all it had gone through…"
What does she mean by that?
I floated there for a moment in the nothingness, questioning many things as well as missing the warm feeling of Shizu's embrace.
After a few moments alone, my surroundings began to brighten, and the next thing I knew, I was staring at the ceiling of my home.
I strangely woke up in human form, despite falling asleep as a slime. I felt something on my face and brought a hand up to wipe it away and found that I had even cried in my sleep. That seemed kinda pathetic to me, but I couldn't mope about it.
"Funny how my first dream as a slime was a nightmare…but, it wasn't all bad…"
I took my time getting up and getting ready to head out. I should still get to save those kids, but if Shizu didn't want me to rush, taking time to learn how to be a human in this world would be best. For that, I decided to go to the only place the ogres said monsters walked among humans freely.
Dwargon.
As I finally got ready to leave the cave, I wandered by the lake next to my house, the same lake I'd swam in while still blindly wandering this place. I crouched by its shore and peered at its shiny surface. My reflection looked back at me, golden eyes staring and silvery-blue hair framing my childish, somewhat feminine face.
But, unlike the last time I'd looked at myself, I felt differently about it.
This is my face.
It came from Shizu, but it's mine, and so is this body.
"You idiot…you made Shizu-san worry about you, even from beyond the grave…" I grumbled to myself scoldingly, smacking my cheeks with both hands before resolving to leave and head to what I'd heard was known as the Armed Nation of Dwargon.