The cool night air felt nice flowing through my hair as I flew high in the sky, headed for Blumund. It was refreshing after being in that crowded city all day and the stars were visible with the cloud cover only being sparse.

While enjoying the sensation, I noticed something: another monster flying nearby, higher in the air than even I am. Curious about who else might be soaring through the sky, I raised my altitude to approach them. But, as soon as I made a move to get closer, they darted off in another direction, seemingly trying to avoid me.

What was that about?

I wondered for a moment if it had to do with my aura, but I'd been wearing my mask, so that's not the reason. Something spooked them, but I'm not sure what. I was just trying to strike up a friendly conversation, man!

I didn't get much of an idea of who they were since they flew off so fast, and they also seemed to be hiding their presence somewhat. But, I still grabbed a glimpse of the mysterious fellow flier.

Still, I couldn't help but question how long they'd been near me; part of my mind felt like I might've been being spied on by whoever that was, considering their strange reaction to my noticing them.

[[Notice. That individual has been within [Magic Sense] range for the period of 16 days, 15 hours, and 32 seconds.]]

Wait, what!? That's news to me!

Creeped out was an understatement for how I was feeling now as I hovered far above the ground. Now I was certain I was being spied on by whoever that was. But why would someone wanna keep an eye on a silly little slime like me?

I'll have to keep a closer eye out for creeps like that one from now on, I concluded before continuing toward my destination.

Hey, uh, Great Sage… Could you tell me if someone follows me for more than a few hours from now on?

[[Notice: Affirmative.]]

Thanks. I could at least fly a bit safer with that in mind.

To be safe, I'd landed miles away from Blumund, because unlike Dwargon, getting outed as a monster there would lead to me getting attacked. It took me a long time to reach the entrance on foot this way since running would also be suspicious behavior, so I kept my pace casual as I approached the gate.

Also, unlike Dwargon, there wasn't a huge line–more like a security checkpoint with a flow of people passing through, the same as the last time I came here. The security wasn't as strict, but I was still worried that I'd possibly have a hard time. My previous attempt to enter was less than successful, and a small part of me was concerned that might happen again.

As I walked up to the guards, I got quizzical looks. I guess it is strange for what looks like a little kid to be alone in a situation like this. I just had to play it cool and they'd let me through, is what I told myself.

"ID please." The guard held out his hand.

Crap.

I didn't have one of those, of course. Time to smooth-talk my way out of this.

"I don't have one, sir." I politely explained and pulled my mask off of my face.

His stern expression softened a little.

What? I'm exploiting Shizu's face to get away with something shady again? No, I'm just being polite. Talking to someone with your face covered isn't the best manners, I thought.

The guard gave his fellow guard a hesitant look, possibly grasping for some kind of advice on what to do while I continued staring at him. Not with begging eyes, of course; don't get the wrong idea!

"Are you with anyone, kid?"

"My family lives inside the city, but when we went out earlier, I got lost. Can you please let me inside, sir?"

"Where did your family leave you? We saw you coming from a great distance."

"They're adventurers and we were out in the forest hunting monsters."

"The Great Jura Forest?!"

I nodded.

"What were they thinking bringing a child like you with them, and why would they leave you behind?!"

Lacking an answer, I just shrugged innocently.

The guard sighed and his colleague nodded to him.

"I'll help you find your family. Come with me."

No! Just let me inside, man! I don't want your babysitting!

"No, I know my way home, so can you just let me pass?"

"Are you certain?"

"Uh-huh."

The guard again paused as he debated the situation.

"If you have any problems, alert any guard that you see and they will help you, alright, little girl?"

"I will!"

Ignoring him assuming I'm a girl, I acted as thankful as I could.

Then he let me inside the city without any more interrogation.

Once inside, I couldn't help but stare a bit at the view in front of me. It was like a medieval town from video games, stone walls and everything! Excitedly I started walking, using [Magic Sense], [Keen Smell], and all the other sensory skills I had on tap to take in the sights and smells with as much detail as possible.

After about five minutes of walking, I realized something was off.

Uh, Great Sage? Who don't I feel weird like last time? The first time I came to this city and got chased out, I remembered feeling extremely uncomfortable for the brief moment I was inside.

[[Answer. It is the effect of the individual Rimuru Tempest's [Multilayer Barrier], and the mask from the individual Shizue Izawa which prevents the barrier from detecting individual Rimuru Tempest's magicules. The city barrier originates from a magic crystal located in the royal castle, which forces local magicules into an alignment unfavorable for monsters. This causes–]]

STOP! Okay, I get it. Thanks.

…I felt like the Sage was huffy again, but I ignored it.

It didn't take me long to track down the adventurer's guild, so I stepped inside, hoping that Eren, Kaval, and Gido would be there, but I didn't see them. I got some strange looks from some of the adventurers sitting around inside, but I ignored them.

Maybe I should register as an adventurer so I don't have any more ID problems from now on…

Coaxing the guards to let me inside worked, but it was annoying and I didn't think the same trick would work twice.

I walked up to the counter with a receptionist seated at it.

Why's this thing so high?!

I could barely peek over the edge of it. It made me question the thoughtfulness of the designer, not to understand humble slimes like myself are small in stature. I didn't have this problem in Dwargon!

"I'd like to register as an adventurer, please!" I called out to the lady behind the counter.

She hadn't even noticed me until I spoke up; that was how damn high up this counter was.

Finally, she looked up from whatever she was doing and down at me, scrutinizing me for a second before forming a response.

"Oh, honey, don't you think it's a bit too early for you? Being an adventurer is a dangerous job." she gently said to me in a concerned tone that grated my nerves a little. I was clearly being talked down to, both figuratively and literally, and I didn't like it at all.

"No, I think I can handle it just fine," I replied, hiding the hints of irritation in my mind from my expression and tone.

The lady just looked at me like the wayward child she thought I was.

"Can I ask how old you are? We don't usually admit anyone that's not in their teens or older."

Saying my true age, counting my human years or not, wouldn't be believable given my current appearance.

"Old enough." I vaguely responded after deciding that's probably the best option here.

She pursed her lips, starting to get annoyed by my insistence on joining.

"I can't in good conscience allow a young girl like you to throw yourself into danger."

Here we go with the 'girl' assumption again…

"I promise I'm stronger than I look! Can't I just take the test and prove it?" I asked, brushing off the misunderstanding.

"No, I cannot allow that."

"But look, I have this powerful sword, and I know how to use it too. I'm not weak!"

"Please don't wave that around! Taking one of your parent's weapons won't change my mind."

Now I was getting very annoyed; this woman was dismissing every attempt to prove myself.

I guess I'll need to prove it another way.

So, first reaching into my travelling bag for effect, I pulled out the skull of a lesser dragon that I'd killed a while back. I'd kept it because I thought it looked cool, but now it actually had a use. Slapping it hard on the counter with a loud thud, the receptionist nearly jumped out of her skin, squealing in surprise.

"Is that…?" she shakily asks, still surprised.

"A lesser dragon. And I killed it. Does that prove enough to you?!" I forcefully asked, driving home my point as well as I could.

Her mouth gaped silently for a moment, opening and closing without saying anything as the shock set in.

"Where did you…how did you…?" The woman muttered desperately.

"I would like to take the combat division test now, please!" I insistently said to snap her out of her stupor.

"I will grab Thegis for you!" she squeaked.

The woman ran off, still thrown by the dragon skull, I guess. She was sure in a frenzy after I pulled that thing out. If she'd just listened to me, I wouldn't have had to do that, so it's her fault she's all worked up now.

A few minutes later, a middle-aged man limped his way into the room. He seemed to have a prosthetic leg, making him move a bit awkwardly, but his tough-looking face made up for any weakness that insinuated.

He glanced at me, then the skull, then back to me, some disbelief in his eyes and eyebrow raised.

"C'mon." He gestured for me to follow him. "I'm in charge of the exam."

Thegis seemed annoyed to even be talking to me, like I was wasting his time or something.

"So, what am I gonna be fighting for the test?" I asked, knowing that this will surely involve combat of some sort, but I can't imagine I'll be directly fighting this guy.

"I'll explain the exam once we get to the exam site." He gruffly responded.

He led me outside to an open area with a large magic circle drawn on the ground and instructed me to step inside. Thegis joined me in there and cleared his throat before explaining the rules to me.

I'm not allowed to leave the circle, and he's going to summon monsters for me to fight. That's the gist of it.

Simple. Easy. Nothing I couldn't handle.

…

That was even easier than I expected.

I mean, that lesser demon was a bit tricky, but it was no match for me. I wish I could've eaten it (I bet I could've grabbed some cool skills from it), but I didn't wanna freak out the spectators. But, as I looked around, it seemed like I still did.

Why are they all so surprised? I mean, I just cut it down with my sword after figuring out that wrapping some magic around it would be enough to do some damage.

"Can I take the A-rank test now?" I asked, but before Thegis could answer me, another man burst onto the scene, instantly silencing the rowdy crowd around us.

His name was Fuze.

Uh…wait…how do I know that?

I knew his name without hearing it and his face gives me a strange sense of familiarity. But, there's no way I'd know this man since we've never met before.

I turned and looked at him, and as soon as he saw my face, his own twisted into a disturbed expression.

Oh man, he's recognized me, I think.

"Rimuru Tempest?" He asked in a strained voice, trying to confirm his thoughts.

"Um, yes?"

At this, he sighed deeply.

"What are you even doing here out in the open…?" He grumbled under his breath, now holding his head.

"I…wanted to get an adventurer's license…?"

He stared at me like I was crazy and again inspected me with his eyes before sighing and speaking up again.

"Follow me," he commanded, and I obeyed.

We passed someone else in the hallway, which Fuze paused and addressed.

"Go grab Eren, Kaval, and Gido for me. Right away."

The lady nodded and rushed off.

Once the door closed behind us, he looked at me again.

"You're lucky I didn't immediately call the guards after identifying you." Fuze coldly stated. "If it wasn't for those three idiots vouching for you, we wouldn't be talking."

"I understand you're cautious of me, but I really don't mean any harm."

"That's what those three said, but that's to be determined," he said as he took a seat behind the desk.

Fuze kept his eyes solely trained on me as he skeptically scanned my appearance. I'm not sure what he thought was so interesting, but it sure felt awkward standing there for a few minutes without another word being said.

Finally, after being stared at by the man for an uncomfortable amount of time, there was a small knock on the door before three familiar faces joined us in the office-like room.

"Rimuru!" Eren squealed joyfully before she ran right up to me and scooped me up into a hug that lifted my feet off the ground.

"Hey, lil' buddy. I didn't think I'd see ya again so soon." Kaval chuckled.

"Oh yeah, I finished that job you guys gave me, so I didn't really have any reason to stay in the forest any longer."

That was a bit of a lie, but I've already resolved to venture into human lands, so despite the fact that I did leave something important behind back in the Jura forest.

"Job?" Fuze asked, seemingly unaware of the little deal I made with the trio.

"Rimuru has been mapping out the forest to make jobs out there even safer for everyone, right, Rimuru?"

"Haha, yes, and I even gathered some info on monster movements, although those did seem to be changing a lot over the last couple of months so I'm not completely sure how accurate some of that is by now."

It was something even the ogres had noticed; lately, the way monsters had been moving around was anything but normal, according to them. I didn't have any frame of reference for it so I didn't realize until they told me, but I did observe it myself a little bit during the time I lived in Jura.

Pulling the map out from my [Stomach], I handed it to Fuze. It was made of thin leather, processed by [Great Sage], and was quite large. He opened it with a disbelieving look.

Scanning the map, I grinned to myself as Fuze's expression got progressively more shocked until his eyes bugged out. "How did you manage this? And in such a short time?" He asked, gawking at me.

"I have an analysis skill." I shrugged, not seeing the big deal with it. There were probably more skills like mine out there, right?

"But how did you travel through the entire forest in only a few months?" He pressed further.

"Uh… I walked?" I really didn't get what this guy's deal was. Sure that wolf form I had was fast, but anyone on a horse or something could probably do the same thing, right? This was a crazy fantasy world, they had to have weird mounts of some sort!

"That doesn't–nevermind." Fuze put a hand to his head in exasperation, setting the map aside. "It's unfortunate we can't verify its accuracy right away, but regardless, this is quite impressive."

That's rude! I kinda wanted to tell him off for doubting my (meaning [Great Sage]'s) mapping skills, but I had more important objectives.

"So, can I please have an adventurer's license? I need to go to Englesia to carry out Shizu's will, and I'll have a lot of trouble getting inside otherwise." I asked, trying to move the conversation along.

"You're asking me to give you, a monster, something that would allow you to enter pretty much any human land without screening?"

"Boss, we told you that Rimuru used to be human. He isn't a dangerous monster."

"Yeah! As far as I'm concerned, Rimuru is human! Tell me this is the face of a monster!" Eren squished my face from behind with her hands, apparently to make her point.

"Yes, I understand your feelings Eren, but if anyone found out I did this…I would get prosecuted for certain. It borders on treason!"

"It's not treason if you play dumb. Rimuru makes for a pretty convincing human, so if you pretend you aren't aware he's a slime, nobody can fault you, now can they?" Kaval asked with a sly, conniving grin, causing Fuze to scowl disapprovingly.

"You haven't done anything to give away what you are to anyone else yet, have you, Rimuru?" Eren asked.

Well, I did tell that one guard in Dwargon, and I, of course, told the ogres too, but I don't think that's relevant here.

"Why would I do anything like that? It'd get me killed! Or at least chased out of town, like that one time!"

"What're you talking about? That 'one time'?"

Oh, I guess I forgot to tell them about that 'incident'.

"Um, never mind about that. It's not important."

Fuze sighed defeatedly and straightened himself.

"I will allow you a license, only because these fools are convinced you're harmless, but even more importantly, because Shizu would want me to if she was still with us."

Silence filled the room and the air chilled; the change in mood was drastic, everyone here growing somber at the mention of Shizu and her passing. I knew her death would probably come up, especially since my body is based on hers.

If Fuze knew Shizu well, there's no way he wouldn't think of her just from seeing my face. That must be why he was staring at me so much earlier.

"Don't make faces like that; that's what you told me when you first came back from your missions, isn't it? You said that Rimuru was going to carry out Shizu's dying wishes, and that involves coming here to Blumund eventually."

Seeing my opportunity to get the conversation back on track, I spoke up.

"Yeah. My destination is a country called Englesia; that's where Shizu-san's students are. I need to go there and save them."

"I understand. But, before I give you your ID, I need one thing from you."

And here I thought I was in the clear…

"What would that be?" I asked as nicely as I could.

"I'm going to send you on a mission with a group of experienced adventurers."

I gave him a questioning glare, thinking this just sounded like trouble I really didn't need. I really just want to get going since those kids are waiting for me.

"Wait, this is the first we're hearing about this!" Eren spoke up suddenly.

"That's because it has nothing to do with you three," Fuze answered as if that was obvious. "But I do have some other work for you if you're so eager."

"I wanted to go on an adventure with Rimuru!" Eren pouted, "He just got here and now you're gonna send him away!"

She squeezed my face again, this time with a lot more force, apparently to drive home her point or something.

"Not for a week or so, Eren," Fuze explained with a sigh, looking annoyed by her childish complaining. "In the meantime, keep Rimuru with you at all times. I'm still not comfortable letting a monster roam free in this city without supervision."

So these three are gonna babysit me, then?

I decided that's tolerable and understandable, at least until I can earn Fuze's trust by completing this mission, whatever it's gonna be.

"And." Fuze sternly turned to me, "if I hear anything about you causing trouble in this country-"

"Yeah, yeah, you'll have me kicked out or worse. I'm mature enough to behave myself, I assure you."