Leaving Fuze behind with the promise that he'll have an ID prepped for me, even though I'm not allowed to have it until after my co-op mission with some other adventurers, I stepped out onto the streets of Lond.

Eren had a firm grip on my left hand; she'd insisted on leading me around like this as if she was my older sister or something.

"Let's go shopping!"

"Do we really have the funds for that right now, Eren?" Gido cautiously asked the excited young woman.

"Yeah, as the leader of our party, I have to veto that, Eren." Kaval put his foot down.

"I'm sure I have something we can barter with in here…maybe even something I could turn in to the guild for some coins…" She muttered as she reached into that 'bigger on the inside' magic bag of hers.

Barter? Oh, yeah, that's probably normal for a place like this. I know I haven't used any money since reincarnating in this world, but my pre-established view on currency biased my thoughts, I guess.

"Phooie…" Eren pouted, drawing her arm out of her bag with nothing in her hand.

"Nothin'? So you weren't holding out on us, then!" Kaval snarked at her, making her pout grow even more exaggerated.

"Don't complain, Kaval! Sometimes I forget about the things I stuff in here!" She shoots back, stomping her foot at him out of irritation.

"Hey, when you mean stuff to barter with, do you mean stuff like…monster materials?" I asked, hoping to divert their attention before this turns into a real argument.

All three immediately locked their gazes on me.

"Rimuru? Do you have some things we can trade with?" Gido asked.

"I'm sure he does! He's been in Jura for months and is strong enough to kill pretty much anything there!" Kaval answered before I could.

"Quiet down, Kaval, people are staring!" I complained, feeling the entire street's eyes on me. Why the hell is he shouting things like that out in public like this, it's so embarrassing!

"Fine. I'll admit that I've picked up a few things here and there during my time living in the forest." I reluctantly whispered.

"Knew it!" Kaval declared, still as loud as before.

"But…I wanted to buy something for Rimuru…if we pay with his stuff, then that kinda defeats the point, doesn't it?" Eren pointed out.

"You guys have done enough for me already. I mean, I wouldn't even be here in Blumund if it wasn't for your vouching for me. I really appreciate it. Plus, it's not like I'm using what I have for anything, really."

"Okay! Why don't we go to the exchange counter and see if there are any bounties you already have the materials for? Then, I'll help pick out something nice for you, Rimuru!"

I watched begrudgingly as Eren dragged me from stall to stall, quickly scanning all the items. For a girl that was apparently poor, she seemed to really have a lot of shopping experience.

"Rimuru, you really need a better disguise, you know? A kid like you will look weird going on long trips without plenty of supplies..." She also seemed to be quite obsessed with keeping up a good disguise. It was a little unlike her.

"Eeeereeeen… I am not a little kid!" I grumbled and tried for the fifth time to wrestle my wrist away from her. I wasn't trying hard or anything, but she was stronger than she looked.

"Well, you sound like one, Rimuru." She stopped at one stall that looked like it had a lot of expensive fabrics folded up, then I noticed that each folded-up cloth had a brooch on it.

These were cloaks.

I stared at them for a few more moments and realized they had a small amount of magicules in them. Magic cloaks, at least some of them.

"You'll need a traveling cloak. They are good for stopping rain, and they can keep all your gear dry. Plus, it would keep up your disguise better if you had one." She explained quickly and brought me up to the side with smaller cloaks. None were really kid-sized, but a few were for teens it seemed.

They were made with a few different materials, some seemingly made of cotton or something similar, others a more flax-like fabric, and a few different others too. Some were thicker, some were thinner; a few even had their hoods lined with fur to keep their wearer warmer in the winter, but that detail wasn't something that I needed. So, I settled on something fairly simple; it was tan in color, not too thick, and made of some sort of reed-based fibers. I thought it was pretty cool and so did Eren. It should help keep the rain off of me while in human form, at least.

It was a bit too long, but Eren showed me a trick to make it shorter while being worn so it wouldn't be dragging on the ground behind me.

This wasn't the end of the shopping trip, though; Eren wasn't yet satisfied.

"Now, let's get you some more things to fill that bag with!" Eren said with excitement as we stepped away from the place we bought my cloak. "Where did you get that anyway?"

"From a friend."

"Who did you make friends with? You need to tell me right now!"

Why is she questioning me like some overprotective parent?

"Hey! Don't get so worked up! I met some people living in Jura and stayed with them for a while before I came to Blumund, that's all!"

"I bet he was staying with 'others of his kind.'" Kaval speculated, and if he meant other monsters by that, he'd be correct.

"Other slime people?!" Eren asked in a harsh whisper.

"No, silly, those don't exist outside of Rimuru here."

"Ogres." I quietly answered, not wanting to draw more attention to our group than the others already had. This wasn't exactly something I wanted to spread around to a bunch of strangers.

"What?" Kaval asked, surprise clear in his voice.

"I was staying with ogres, alright? I came across some of them one day and they seemed friendly enough so I stayed with them for a couple of months since I was all alone."

"I have heard there is a settlement of ogres in Jura…but aren't they super hostile and war-like?" Gido pointed out, also looking just as shocked as the others.

"Dangerously strong and close to humans in intelligence too, as far as I know," Kaval added.

In my opinion, the ogres were as smart as any human, not just 'close,' but I guess without meeting them first you might not be aware of that.

"They just…invited you in, Rimuru?" Eren softly asked, tilting her head to one side.

"Sorta? They were kinda scared of me at first, actually, but they warmed up to me pretty quick." I explained.

Kaval and Gido deadpanned as if I had just said something akin to befriending a dragon. Which, when I think about it, I also did.

"Well…" She hesitated, troubled by the idea I made friends with other monsters, I guess. "I'm glad you made some other friends, but you need to be careful, alright Rimuru? Some monsters are very dangerous and deceptive, to the point that the main religion in the Western Nations has that fact as one of their primary tenants. I'm not into all that religious stuff myself, but I think there's some truth in it, you know?"

"Wait, there's an anti-monster religion around here?!"

That just sounds like racism!

I was appalled, and also a bit more scared for my own safety staying with humans. Now the risks associated with my species being revealed were even higher!

"It's called Luminism. Lots of people are involved in it since their knights protect people from random monster attacks. It's a pretty regular thing for a country like this bordering Jura to get attacked by this and that rampaging beast. That's what holds up the whole anti-monster part of that belief system."

"Magic beasts are one thing, but what about people like me?"

"They're…treated as the same thing in the eyes of the church…"

"That's idiotic."

"Hey, don't point that frown at me! I don't look down on you for being what you are, okay? I'm just stating the facts of what a lot of others think."

After that annoyingly pointed conversation, we walked back to the inn. The walk was a lot more silent, probably because I was clearly irritated.

However, when we walked in, we saw people crowded around a circular table. They were laughing and yelling, and sometimes grumbling and turning away.

I know what this is… GAMBLING! I was just running low on money, so it was perfect. I could make sure to double up and get everything I just spent back.

What? This isn't addict behavior, I know I can win, I really do! I have some powerful skills at my fingertips, you know?

What? Cheating? No… Nooo… It isn't cheating! I'm just using my natural talents.

Yeah, my natural talents!

I walked right up to the table to see what kind of game they were playing and got some weird glares and glances, but they still moved aside for me.

To my surprise, it was sort of similar to roulette, except a lot more complex. It had a spinning disk in the center of the table that you set the marble in the center of.

After that, the teller would spin the disk and everyone would cast their bets for which hole the marble would fall through into the collection tray.

It seemed like it was made a lot more random to account for skills. It'd take some seriously powerful analytical skills to cheat with it like this.

I had the most powerful one I'd encountered so far though, so I just had to ask the trusty sage for help!

[[Notice: Predictions only possible once marble is in action…]]

It was weird, it almost sounded like they trailed off. Like they were irritated or something. Must have been my imagination.

I placed down all the money I had left and declared with a smile on my face, "all or nothing."

The teller glanced at me and raised an eyebrow. "You should ask your older sibling before you try something like that, kid." He pointed past me.

Eren suddenly grabbed my shoulder from behind. "Rimuru! That is a really bad idea! The chances of winning all or nothing are super, super low!"

I shook off her hand. "I'll be alright. I know what I'm doing," and turned back to the teller to wait.

She huffed a bit at me, but my focus was solely focused on the table in front of me, not Eren. She won't be complaining once I line our pockets with a ton of cash, I bet.

The man running the table rolled his eyes and took the bets from everyone else before eventually he spun the marble. "Place your guesses."

The holes were assigned by rows of letters, and the number of the hole on that row, so I just had to make sure to say it right. [Great Sage] was able to translate what I said for me. "R-6."

A few minutes later when the ball finally fell in a hole in the plate, low and behold, I was right.

Everyone else at the table started yelling in frustration. But no matter how much they complained at that point, I still got to pull in everything.

I played two more games with more simple bets before it looked like the teller was starting to get suspicious and Eren immediately pulled me away from the table and back to our room.

"Rimuru, you can't do that!" Eren scolded me harshly.

"Yeah, you can't go angering that many people! It'll cause a lot of problems!" Kaval, holding his head in frustration, complained.

"Okay, fine, fine. I'll be more careful from now on." I waved off their concerns. I didn't see why they were all so worked up; even if we were attacked, these three are fairly strong considering average human standards. I think we would be just fine, even in the worst-case scenario.

"No! No more gambling!" She insisted further, literally putting her foot down.

"But Eren, if I just let myself lose some of the time-" I tried to explain, but she wasn't listening.

"No! I said no more gambling! You clearly can't stop yourself from cheating!"

"What makes you think I cheated?" I innocently asked her.

"Winning three times in a row and nearly causing a bar riot, Rimuru," Gido replied, sighing with folded arms.

We only ended up going back out for dinner once the inn calmed down. It seemed the betting ring had left, I guess I scared them off or something with my incredible luck.

And I should point out that I did spread my wealth around a little too since these three idiots are broke right now. They're my friends, so I didn't mind helping them out a little as long as it didn't become a regular thing.

This doesn't taste as good as the ogre princess's cooking…

Now we were eating dinner at the inn we'd be staying at for at least the next few days. The food in front of me was decent, but it just didn't stand up to what I had while still with the ogres.

Have I gotten picky? I internally asked myself, wondering why I was so dissatisfied.

I never was much of a picky eater, at least back when I was human. For a large portion of my life, I actually lived off of quick, cheap meals due to not having enough time for much else and not wanting to fork over the money for takeout.

I guess eating meals like this purely for pleasure, since I don't need to eat in order to survive (at least not in the same way as a human would), had skewed my tastes a bit.

"Are you still not able to taste anything?" Eren asked me in a hushed whisper, leaning a bit closer so that nobody outside of our table could hear. I'd complained about this issue previously to this group back before I gained this form.

I then realized this was the first time I ate in front of my friends while in human form.

"No, it's not that; I have a sense of taste in this form."

"Haha, Eren, Rimuru just doesn't like his food." Kaval pointed out.

"I didn't take you for a picky eater after seeing the way you enthusiastically devoured monsters out in the forest," Gido added, keeping his voice down.

"That's different…eating cooked meals like this is not the same as that," I explained.

When I'm in my natural slime form, eating has absolutely nothing to do with the taste of what I'm eating. It's purely to get more magicules and water.

"Well, I do think the cooking we had while with Shizu was better…" Eren admitted.

"Eren, let's not think about that. We'll all just get sad again." Gido gently interjected.

"I can't help it!"

Eren looked me straight in the face and stared for a few uncomfortable seconds before forcing her eyes back down at the table.

I got the message; my face is reminding her of Shizu, and she's not saying anything because Eren doesn't want to upset me too.

"Stop that." I scolded her.

"Wh-what?" Eren stuttered, seemingly taken aback by my stern tone.

"I said stop that, Eren! What if Shizu's watching us from beyond the grave or something? She'd hate seeing us sad, you know that, so don't start crying over her!"

I had no right to talk after what had recently happened, but now I was making an active effort to not mope about Shizu's death. Seeing Eren start going down a similar line of thought to what I had before, I felt like I needed to put a stop to it.

The table fell silent and I watched as tears welled up and started streaming out of Eren's eyes, her small semi-repressed sobs breaking the quiet. She again looked down at her food, fighting with herself to stay calm as she tightly gripped the edges of her chair with both hands. Gritting her teeth and avoiding eye contact, Eren sat there crying without saying a word.

I was hit with immediate guilt.

"Sheesh, as blunt as ever, huh, Rimuru?" Kaval quietly muttered, poking at his food with a fork and giving me a 'now you've done it…' kind of look.

Again, my lack of tact had made a girl cry. At least this time it wasn't due to a cruel joke on my part. The least I could do now was apologize.

"That…came out wrong. I didn't mean to be so harsh with you, Eren. I'm sorry."

Should I give her some space? I know I'm not allowed to be on my own, but one of the guys could go somewhere else with me so that Eren can calm down.

Thinking it best to leave, I pushed myself and my chair away from the table and stood up. But, when I tried to walk away, Eren grabbed my hand firmly. I turned around and looked at her.

"No. You're right, Rimuru. Shizu would want us to be happy." Eren sniffled. "I'm sorry for crying like this. I bet you're hurting too, on the inside."

Eren pulled me into a hug and I didn't fight it, which means I was now sitting on her lap as she wiped her tears and snot on my shoulder.

"Don't wipe your face on me, you're getting my new cloak all gross!" I lightly complained and Eren released me.

Gido and Kaval both laughed at this and Eren cracked a small smile.

"So uh… sorry again." I apologized softly, unconsciously twisting the hem of my cloak in my hands. "I've been trying not to think about it lately…"

The trio gave me sympathetic looks, and I let out a yelp of protest as Eren suddenly scooped me into a hug again. She really does see me as some sort of stuffed animal or comfort object, I concluded, with how much she likes to cling to me like this.

"It's alright," she smiled while stroking my head. "We're all hurting."

The feeling of her fingers running through my hair was nice, and I had to remind myself that–despite appearances–I'm not a little kid!

After our meal we made our way upstairs, intending to get some sleep. Well, those three wanted to sleep, but I didn't plan on it myself. It's not like I needed to sleep to get some rest, so sitting still or lying down will do well enough for me when it comes to rest.

They'd rented two separate rooms, one for Eren and one for Kaval and Gido to share. So, when the time came to split, I started walking with the two men, finding it only natural.

"Rimuru, where are you going?" I heard Eren's voice from behind and stopped.

"Uh…with Kaval and Gido…?"

"Silly! We're sharing a room!" Eren corrected me with a raised finger and a smile.

"Hey, wait a sec-"

"What, did you think all three of us were gonna share a bed? That's stupid since Eren's by herself." Kaval interjected.

"But…it would be wrong for me to…I'm a man, remember? You guys couldn't have forgotten that already!" I protested.

"You're too small and delicate to bunk with those two brutes!"

Kaval didn't seem to like being called a 'brute' by Eren, but he just sighed and moved on anyway.

"It would be a bit weird to have you staying in the same room as us." Kaval agreed, scratching the back of his head.

"I'm not that delicate…and being small means that sharing a bed isn't a problem. Heck, I could just sit in the room overnight! I don't even plan on sleeping so the bed problem doesn't even matter!"

Eren's expression was as stubborn as it could possibly be, and I realized this was a losing argument at this point. No matter how much I protested, I wasn't gonna change her mind on this.

Plus, I upset her badly earlier, so acquiescing this one time would help make up for my little blunder.

And just like I thought would happen, without another word, Eren scooped me up with ease and started walking away with me toward her room.

Defeated, I looked back at the two men in the hallway and said "See you two in the morning…"

"Haha…goodnight Rimuru." Gido chuckled and waved at me.

To think, the first time I'll share a bed with a girl in either of my lives, it ends up like this…

After insisting that I rest on the bed next to her, I ended up being hugged and drooled on all night by a sleeping Eren. I tried my best just to relax and not think about it much as the hours passed.

This became the routine every night for the next few days, with my spending the daylight hours doing various things around town with the trio. This place was like a classic medieval fantasy town, and it was triggering my childish sense of wonder.

Unlike the ogre town, Blumund had a more western feel to it; pretty much no Japanese influence in its architecture or the way people were dressed.

Still, I was enjoying being shown around, even though entertainment seemed to be lacking around here. The same went with the ogres, actually, yet I'd stayed busy nonetheless while living with them. Part of that just simply had to do with how much of a struggle it can be for a society to live out in the middle of a dangerous, magical-beast-ridden forest, but here things seemed a bit more peaceful.

Monsters were still a threat here, though, as evidenced by the guards' reaction to me the first time I tried visiting. As far as I understood, threats came here less often than in Jura, but the average Blumundian just wasn't as equipped to defend themself when compared to an ogre against those less-common aggressors.

Finally, after a few days, Fuze called us back into his office again, or more accurately, called me in. Eren led me there anyway since supervising me was her job and everything for the time being.

"Eren, you can let go of my hand now…"

Yeah, she'd been leading me around by holding my hand most of the time since our reunion. I got that I'm supposed to stay close, but this 'kid treatment' had been getting a bit excessive. I'd tolerated it most of the time, but in this case, where I was about to introduce myself to some new people, I didn't think it was appropriate.

Thankfully, Eren reluctantly released me from her grasp without any argument.

I was the last to arrive despite showing up a bit earlier than asked to. Standing in the room, outside of the expected Fuze (and Eren who came with me), were three middle-aged men. Actually, based on looks, their ages seemed comparable to mine in my previous life.

The guy in front was a dirty blonde, all bulky with a big sword on his hip. He looked like he'd walked straight out of a fantasy game, with a shield strapped to his back and a traveling cloak with a pretty embroidered pattern. They must be pretty successful adventurers, I realized, if they could afford such nice-looking equipment.

His buddies were kitted out equally well. A short guy, redheaded, was carrying what looked like a mage's staff, a pretty round ball of glass or something on the end which reminded me of Eren's weapon. When he took a seat on Fuze's couch I saw that he also had a number of potions and a book inside his coat.

The last guy didn't have any apparent weapons, though he did wear a cloak like the blonde guy. He was clearly the serious one in this group, eying me suspiciously the moment he entered the room. [Magic Sense] gave me an acute view of the exact angle his eyes darted to, so I knew he was looking at my hair, which… yeah, I hadn't seen any humans with bright blue hair yet (the ogres did have a few though), so I guess that made sense.

Wait, crap–is colorful hair a thing for monsters in this world? Did I already give myself away!?

His gaze had drifted to my eyes now, and I noticed a frown imperceptible without [Magic Sense] cross his face for a moment. I didn't really get why, but then–my eyes were gold, right? Another weird color for a 'normal human.'

Crap. Blending in might be harder than I thought. Dwargon certainly didn't have this problem, with monsters being allowed in the city–but I better come up with an excuse soon to explain myself to humans.

And they were all my former age. More of my kind of people; I need to make a good first impression on them.

But, the looks they were all giving me were anything but reassuring; a mix of confusion, hesitation, and concern.

Great…they're already looking down on me and I haven't even gotten a single word out…

"Hello, my name is Rimuru." I greeted them as Eren closed the door behind us. "I guess I'll be going on a mission with you three?"

There was a short pause with nothing but staring from the three, creating an awkward moment of scrutiny that I didn't appreciate.

"Guildmaster, are ya sure about this?" The burliest-looking man asked Fuze from over his shoulder, not even addressing my greeting at first.

"Yes, I wouldn't send you with someone incapable," Fuze reassured him sternly.

"Well," he sighed. "If ya say so…my name's Russell. I'm the leader of this lil' group."

I held out my hand to the apparent leader to shake it. It's only polite to shake the hand of someone you're about to work with. As a former salaryman, I had this sort of habit practically ingrained into me.

But, when Russell responded by taking my hand in his own, it didn't exactly go to plan since his hand completely surrounded mine, making the whole thing feel awkward. I still did my best to shake his hand just like normal, but the difference in size sure threw me off for a moment. Even Russell seemed a bit bothered by the blunder.

Wanting to move past it, I looked at the other two men. One of them was chuckling softly at what just happened, but I just tried my best to ignore that.

"Blake," one of the remaining two, the one that had been examining me most closely, said.

"And I'm Eli," the guy with the mage staff added.

"Now that Rimuru is here, I'll explain the mission." Fuze said, "but Eren, why are you here with him?"

"You said that Rimuru had to stay with one of us at all times." Eren justified.

"Well, you can leave now." Fuze retorted.

"But…"

Eren clearly didn't want to, but this was meant to be an order and she knew it.

"Be safe, Rimuru…" She muttered, giving me a pat on the head before leaving.

"Seeya."

With the downtrodden Eren gone from the scene, Fuze seemed to refocus on the matter at hand so the meeting could start for real. But, just as he opened his mouth, Russell asked something out of the blue before Fuze could get a word out.

"Wait, Guildmaster, did you say 'him'? You know, when talkin' about Rimuru here?"

"Yeah, I think he did. Rimuru, are you actually a boy?" Eli gently asked me, but I could feel the doubt in his tone.

I'd been fine with letting strangers assume my gender and come to the wrong conclusion, but if I was going to be traveling with these men for any amount of time, I wanted this cleared up as soon as possible.

"I definitely am a boy. Did I do or say something to make you think differently?" I asked them.

"No, it's just…" Eli hesitantly muttered, seemingly trying to find his words and failing.

Yeah, I get it already. I look like a girl. No need to rub it in further.

"I told you three that Rimuru was a boy before he arrived so this wouldn't happen…you already forgot?!" Fuze sounded annoyed by this, probably tired of repeating himself. I wouldn't be surprised if this is something he has to deal with a lot in his line of work. I did appreciate that he went to that trouble for me, though.

"I remembered," Blake interjected in an aloof tone.

"I'm sure you did, Blake." Fuze tiredly responded.