Hello everyone, just a few announcments to make before we get into the chapter itself.

First things first, after careful consideration from the reviews and dm's that I got both on and ao3, I've decided to switch Rimuru's former life profile to that of a Special Forces agent and CIA.

Changes to the previous chapters has yet to be done but they will be editted well before the next chapter. The summary of the fic has also undergone a change so feel free to check that out.

My other announcement is that I've taken in a co-author/beta reader who goes by Omni-Creator Kami on . I'd like to give him thanks and credit for helping go through this chapter and his continued support in the future.

Chapter 6: Culinary Delights??

It had been two weeks since I welcomed as an honored guest within the ogre village. I've actually kinda settled into this new life really well.

The initial wariness that came from me being a powerful majin and the aura that I emitted eventually began to fade away as I began to interact with the ogres more and more. They still made sure to show me the appropriate respect and stuff, but other than that it was as if I was becoming one of them.

I'd even been allowed to join their hunting party after a few days of just sitting around and being bored. I told the chief that I didn't want to sit around all day and take advantage of their hospitality as well as the teachings that the elder was giving me, so if there was any way that I could help around the village he should let me. And thus I was allowed to join the hunting party.

It also helped that I was able to discover other species that dwelled within the forest, and I took the opportunity to devour them whenever I could. And in the process had gained a few new skills. Skills that I already had were converted to magicules by [Great Sage] that were used to additionally add to magicule count after the monster been assimilated.

Still, doing that with every new creature we encountered eventually earned some questions from the hunting party, so naturally I had to explain myself. I told them an undermined version of the [Unique Skill: Apex Predator] and told them that I had a skill that allowed me to transform into any monster I devoured with it, with a chance at gaining the skills of said monsters. Naturally they were impressed, with the exception of the redhead who just became more suspicious of me for whatever reason. I didn't really bother asking the guy, he clearly had something against me.

Aside from joining the hunting part, my training with the elder of the village had progressed greatly since I started joining their early morning training sessions. I'd now grown to a level where I could match most of the ogres in a clash of swords only, surprising the ogres at how quickly I'd adapted to their sword arts. The elder had recently begun to teach me the arts [Flash Step] and [Formhide].

[Flash Step] was an awesome skill that allowed me to move so fast from one place to another that it actually seemed as though the user was teleporting, unfortunately it wasn't teleportation so the range was limited. But still its battle applications were incredible, especially when paired up with the second art the old man was teaching me.

[Formhide] was a skill that was solely focused on stealth. It allowed the user to hide their conceal their presence. The user rids themselves of any sound, wipes away any smell, disguises their body temperature before hiding their aura and spirit. I hadn't fully mastered this one quite yet, but I was getting there according to the elder. I'd taken to using this art to mask my aura rather than having to suppress it the entire time, so with that kind of practice it should be a day or two before I've got it down.

Aside from that I'd also been doing some training on my own outside of the teachings of the ogres. While I was appreciative of the fact they were teaching me I also wanted to do my dragon heritage proud, and to that end had decided to start forming my own fighting style, mainly based around hand to hand combat since I was already learning sword arts.

As for the fighting style that I was creating, I'd had [Great Sage] sort through the archive of manga and anime stored within my memory in order to find and create the optimum hand to hand combat style. One that both relied on speed and strength but was also flexible enough to be capable of adapting to my opponents. It took three days until [Great Sage] was done sorting through it all and had created the desired fighting style. [Thought Acceleration] really was a handy skill for increasing ones processing ability.

I haven't come up with a name for the style yet, mainly due to the fact that I wanted to have it mastered before actually doing so, but it was probably going to be Japanese or dragon themed at the very best.

Which is why I was currently training away from the ogre village, in the forest, where I came to train on my own without disturbing the ogres. It wasn't too far, I was pretty sure they could sense my presence and vice versa, so if they needed something from e then they knew where to find me. [Great Sage] had recently let me in on something that was interesting something that I had been eager to test out myself.

'Alright [Great Sage] walk me through it one more time.' I requested.

《Understood: Arts are techniques performed entirely through the users own capabilities such as martial arts and magic, rather than the autonomous process of skills. Battlewill is a family of arts that make use of ones aura to increase their physical capabilities as well as achieving feats that are similar to magic. Unlike magic these do not rely on magicules and do not require any chanting, allowing them to be used instantly. Examples include the arts [Formhide] and [Flash Step].》

'So theoretically speaking, I should be able to create my own arts with enough practice and control?' I asked, I could already think of a bunch of anime stuff I was going to incorporate into my fighting style.

《Affirmative: The use of [Thought Acceleration] will also improve the users rate of mastery.》

'Awesome! Now that's what I like to hear. Still though, for now I want to focus on refining my technique with this new martial arts style before I get into creating any arts.' I didn't want to jump the gun and get ahead of myself. The arts I had in mind would only be useful if they had a solid fighting style to go with them, otherwise they were super strong moves that would be thrown around without any real purpose. '…but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to just try it out.' I already knew which move I wanted to create first. It should be relatively easy since I could already visualize it and everything, the hard part would be gauging how much energy to put into it. Well, that's what training and practice were for anyway.

Taking a deep breath I closed my eyes and began to focus. Slowly letting a fraction of my aura leak out into my arms and envisioning how I wanted the energy to form around my hand. I slowly opened one eye as I looked down at my right hand, and almost immediately a grin made its way onto my face.

'That's a whole lot more than I was expecting to achieve for my first time.' My hand was coated in a dark purplish aura that was in the shape of a three pointed claw. Granted the shape was fluctuating a lot and the claw in itself didn't look that sharp, it was definitely a step in the right direction, and far more than I thought I'd achieve for my first attempt.

《Alert: Structure is currently unstable, any attempt to use the aura construct will result in a minor explosion that would damage the user.》

'…' yeah I didn't even know how to respond to that. But at the same time it wasn't that surprising, though if the explosion was enough to hurt someone like me it would probably be a whole lot worse for someone weaker, like the ogres. Meaning I still had to adjust the amount of power I put behind it.

This was basically a rip off of the Pokémon move Dragon Claw, and I had every intention of sticking with the name too, not like Satoshi could sue me now. Still, I had some work to do before it was perfected, not to mention I'd need to practice being able to adjust its strength for lethal and non-lethal combat. But this was a start, and something I could easily incorporate into the fighting style I was making.

Deciding to end today afternoon session there for the day, I allowed the energy to fade away. And picked up my stuff I'd brought with me and began to make my way back to the village.

~~~

"You there, pale skinned outsider!!" I almost tripped over my own two feet when I heard that. I turned my head to the left and saw a purple haired ogress with a single black horn protruding from her forehead making her way towards me.

I'd been thrown off by the way she had addressed me. Up until this point all the ogres had been addressing me as 'Sir Rimuru', even if some of them were becoming casual with it. But this was the first time someone had called me something other than that, and she chose to address me as 'pale skinned outsider'? I had many reservations about that particular nickname but I chose not to make a big deal out of it for the moment.

"Yes, can I help you?" I asked, I really wanted to hit the sack after the training I just did, maybe grab a bite or two if there was something around to eat. But it looks like that would have to wait.

"Yes I require your opinion on something, do you have time to spare?" The ogress asked, looking rather smug as she pushed her rather well endowed chest out.

"Uumm, sure." I said with the shrug of my shoulders, it wasn't like I was in any particular hurry or anything, "What do you want my opinion on?" I wasn't really an expert on fashion or things that ogres may be familiar about.

"I've been working on a new recipe that I want to introduce into our village, one I'm sure even the princess and chieftess will admire. I'd like you to be the first one to taste it, so you can give me an outsiders perspective!!" The ogress exclaimed excitedly, with a smile as bright as rays of sunshine. I certainly didn't mind helping her out with something like that, the ogres had proved to be pretty good cooks based on the variety of foods I'd tasted over the last two weeks, if the ogress was wanting to present her dish to the princess and chieftess then it had to be pretty good.

Not to mention I could do with something to eat right now.

"Sure, I'm actually pretty hungry myself, so this would hit two birds with one stone." I said with a shrug. Unfortunately, smart as the ogres were, they weren't yet up there with humans in terms of phrases and figures of speech, and so…

"Huh? What do birds and stone have to do with this?" The ogress asked with the tilt of her head, I had to resist the urge to sigh and maybe even laugh a little. Before I could even give a response she shook her head sideways, "Never mind that, come we must hurry before the food gets cold." She said before grabbing my left arm and beginning to happily drag me away.

As we walked I couldn't help but notice that she seemed a tad bit too happy about me trying out her food, and the whispers of the surrounding ogres and the looks of…pity? Yeah, that was definitely pity that was being directed at me. It didn't sit well with me at all. Aside from being slightly unnerved I didn't think much about the whole thing.

The ogress led me into a makeshift cafeteria, where I then took a table as she went into the kitchen. The purple haired ogress told me that she would be serving some soup, though she neglected to tell me what kind of soup it was or what components were in it. I figured she just wanted to surprise me with this new recipe of hers.

It wasn't until the dish was in front of me that I realized I was in for a terror.

There were simply no words to describe the monstrosity that had been laid before me. It certainly didn't look like any kind of soup I'd seen. I just stared at the sludge like soup in front of me as I contemplated just what in the seven levels of hell I had done to deserve this kind of punishment?!!

'What the hell?! Does this thing have eyes or something.' I could have sworn I heard the wails of a tormented soul coming from this dish, 'If anything this dish bares more of a resemblance to the sludge Pokémon muk, than any kind of soup.' And chances were nearly a hundred percent that it would be just as poisonous. My nose was burning from the smell alone, how that was possible with [Pain Nullification] was beyond me, but it just went to show how dangerous this dish was.

"These days its hard to find people who are willing to try out my dishes, everyone just seems so busy. But I'm glad at the very least I can cook for our esteemed guest!" The ogress said with her sunny smile, was she that blind to my fear and anxiety?!!

' Busy, yeah right. They probably they wanted to live.' I thought as I shakily took the wooden spoon that was being offered to me, 'Not that I can blame them. Just how the hell am I getting out of this?'

《…》

'Hey don't just stay quiet!! Help me out here [Great Sage]!!' I mentally yelled at my skill.

《…good luck…》

Even [Great Sage] had given up on me. I didn't even think that was possible! That just goes to show how dire my situation really is. The only way out of this now would be to turn the ogress down as gently as possible. So I took a deep breath and prepared to do just that.

Of course as soon as I turned my gaze towards her, whatever resolve I'd built within the last few seconds withered away just as fast as it came. There was no way I could reject her food when she was looking at me with such a happy yet nervous and hopeful expression! It would just be to cruel!

Plus she seemed like the type to cry if I refused.

'Okay fine!! Might as well suck it up!' I thought as I got a spoonful of the chaotic sludge, watching as it began eating into the spoon with a terrified expression. Fortunately, or unfortunately me , the spoon had been reinforced with some metal making it durable enough to withstand the monstrosity. With an audible gulp I shut my eyes to spare the sight of this thing entering my mouth and shoved the entire spoon in.

The effect was instantaneous, and in that one moment I experienced absolute hell. As soon as the 'soup' touched my tongue my taste buds were demolished, and I experienced a pain unlike anything I'd felt before. It felt as if I'd thrown a mixture of acid and lava, with my body being strong enough not to cave all I could do was endure the sheer suffering and pain.

With tears welling up in the corner of my eyes I swallowed the source of my suffering, the burning sensation carried down my throat and into my stomach. [Rapid Regeneration] was working overtime to soothe the pain I was feeling.

I took two more spoons of it, despite how much I completely hated it, this seemed to make the ogress happy as her face lit up even more after the second spoon. Guess the other ogres usually stopped at one, if they ate any at all, not that I could blame them. After the third spoon I just couldn't take anymore and slowly pushed the bowl away from me.

《Notice: You have acquired the [Poison Resistance] skill. Remnants of the meal have been stored within [Stomach] and can be used at a later date as a biological weapon.》

There were so many things to unravel in those two sentences, but what terrified me was that I'd just eaten what [Great Sage] considered to be a biological weapon! The fact that this stuff was potent enough that my body had to adapt and develop [ Poison Resistance] certainly made her 'cooking' a formidable threat, and I had a feeling that if I didn't do something about it now, I would be a constant victim of said threat for a very very long time.

"So, how was it?" The ogress asked with a happy but hopeful look on her face. My first instinct was to lie, tell her it was good, just for the sake of sparing her feelings.

That is until I remembered that she planned to introduce this dish to the chief and chieftess. If I complemented this dish I would only be enabling her, and if it was found out that I more or less encouraged this it wouldn't look good on me. So I decided to just be honest with her.

"It…could use some work, a lot of work." Sue me, I couldn't outright insult a hot babes cooking. She seemed to visibly deflated at that as a cloud of darkness loomed over her and tears gathered in the corner of her eyes. I couldn't help but sigh as she reacted exactly how I'd predicted she would, if I didn't say something soon she would be an explosion of tears, and he didn't want to have to explain how he made a fully grown ogre cry. "Listen I'm not saying this to be cruel or anything, it's quite clear that you like to cook and take pride in it. But it seems like a…recent hobby." I tried to approach the subject as delicately as possible so I wouldn't make the situation any worse than it already was.

"W-well yeah, the other ogresses don't really allow me to help out when it comes to making meals for everyone, and my father prefers that I focus more on my training. Something about me being physically gifted even among our kind." The purple ogress responded as she quickly wiped away the upcoming tears.

Yes, now that I thought about it I had seen her around the village a few times doing heavy lifting tasks such as moving logs and the like. From my understanding, while all the ogres were more than capable in a up close fight, the female side tended to specialize more in magic while the males used weapons. Though there was the occasion where a person of one gender specialized on the other side of combat.

Still though, even I had noticed that her physical prowess among the ogres was somewhat prodigious, it only made sense that others were pushing her to nurture that talent, but she also wanted to cook. And since no one had taught her she ended up teaching herself in the worst way possible.

"Then how about this, next time you decide to make a meal find me first. We'll make it together." I offered with a smile, I wasn't the greatest chef in the world, but the good thing about being single and living alone was that you had to learn to cook for yourself.

Things couldn't be that different in this world if they already had things like spices in this village.

"You can cook outsider?" The ogress asked with a raised eyebrow. I was glad the Chief, Elder and Young Master had not spread the word about the fact that I had been born a few months ago, otherwise her question would have held more merit.

"I've dabbled before." Besides if push comes to shove I could always ask [Great Sage] for help. It had to have some knowledge on cooking since it could analyze stuff and break them down. "Point is I can help you become an awesome cook, everyone will be eating out of the palm of your hand. Besides cooking is more fun when you do it with others." I watched as she took a moment think about it, and I mean really think about it. She had her eyes squinted, eyebrows furrowed and everything, it was actually kind of cute and amusing to watch.

"Very well then!" She suddenly shouted as he eyes split open and a confident grin was suddenly plastered on her face, "I accept your proposal and aid! Next time I'll make a dish so grand you'll be begging me for seconds haha!!" She declared as she brought her fist to her chest.

"Good, I'll be looking forward to it." I said with a sweat drop. Given the monstrosity she had made today, I knew it was going to take a lot more than 'next time' until she became a decent cook.

《Alert: There is someone who's been standing outside for quite sometime. They have most likely been eavesdropping.》

'What?! Why are you only telling me this now?!' I asked [Great Sage, usually she'd tell me of these things as soon as possible.

《Answer: You had much bigger concerns right in front of you. Besides the presence doesn't seem to bare any ill will, based on the signature it is most likely the ogre princess.》

I hated that [ Great Sage] was right about the food in front of me being a bigger problem than someone listening in.

~~~

Ogre Princess POV:

Five minutes earlier

This was bad, this was really really bad.

I'd been accompanying some of the ogres who were taking hell moth silk to the weavers when one of the ogres came running towards me. They looked panicked and somewhat terrified, and so naturally I approached them and asked what was wrong, and that's when they explained the situation to me.

I'll be honest, I too was scared. The purple haired ogress, who while known for her great battle prowess was also known for her rather terrible cooking skills, had invited Sir Rimuru to taste her cooking. And with our honored guest being none the wise he naturally agreed to go with her. None of the other ogres had tried to warn him, not wanting to incur the wrath of the purple ogress, but now they were even more terrified of how Sir Rimuru would react if he was dissatisfied with the food.

And the chances of that happening were almost certain.

I quickly parted from the group and made my way to the cafeteria. Sir Rimuru had already learnt to use [ Formhide] to mask his aura, and while this helped him fit in more with our people it also made it harder to find him when needed. Fortunately I knew just where to go in this particular situation, and so it didn't take me long to get to the cafeteria.

I was tempted to barge in from the minor panic I was feeling, if Sir Rimuru was disgusted and angered by the food he may lash out. And given how dangerous that food tended to be, it could be seen as an attempt at food poisoning him. I certainly didn't want to be on the receiving end of his wrath if that happened.

Sir Rimuru was indeed a powerful majin, while I wasn't quite sure about the true extent of his power, I did know that it was higher than he had initially led us to believe. I possess a minor analytical ability that allowed me to see as much. The aura he had been releasing upon his arrival was not a reflection of his true power, that being said I didn't know what his true power was, it was currently beyond my abilities to measure. But it was a testament to how powerful Sir Rimuru truly was.

I had let my father and mother know about this, and they asked me to keep it quiet, but to also ensure we never incurred the wrath of our guest lest the ogre village perishes. That meant I had to keep an eye on my big brother half the time, it seemed he had a strong dislike towards our guest.

For what reason, I do not know. Thus far Sir Rimuru had been nothing but a respectable guest among our people. He didn't lord his power as most powerful majins would, nor did he make unreasonable demands. If anything he seemed kind to our people and was doing his best to help around and fit in as well, having joined the hunting party and taking part in the villages training sessions

It was strange for someone of his prowess to behave in such a manner, but it wasn't something to complain about. In fact it was something to admire, that he would bring himself to our level despite being far more powerful. It was something that made me want to know more about Sir Rimuru, if only so that I could understand him a bit better.

Still though, all of that wouldn't matter if our relations with him were destroyed because of the antics of one ours. If Sir Rimuru ate that girls cooking it might be what breaks this relationship between the ogres and Sir Rimuru.

"So, how was it?" I heard the voice of the purple ogress suddenly asked from within the building, I was just outside myself, my distress and panic rising drastically as I knew with that one statement that I was too late…Sir Rimuru had already ate some of her cooking.

"It…could use some work, a lot of work." Oh no, this was bad. I moved towards the window and peaked in through the wooden filters. I could see the bowl of monstrous food on the table as well as Sir Rimuru and the purple ogress.

While Sir Rimuru didn't seem outright angry or upset, something I was truly grateful for, he did seem highly disturbed and disgusted, and maybe in a little bit of pain too. That cooking was not for the light hearted, especially if it caused such distress to a being of Sir Rimuru's caliber.

I'm ashamed to admit that I stayed hidden behind the window frames as I listened to the two of them talk. I was truly surprised when Sir Rimuru offered to help her learn how to cook.

'I wasn't aware that Sir Rimuru knew how to cook.' I don't think anyone knew. Perhaps it was because everyone assumed he was a warrior due to his high prowess and never bothered to look into his other talents.

Still though, the fact that he was willing to offer to teach the purple ogress how to cook was surprising. Especially since he had just been fed something so dangerous. Honestly, how could such a powerful being be so kind?! It just didn't make sense, and seemed to defy all monster logic.

Still though, I was grateful for his mercy, even if he himself was unaware of how generous he was being.

Hearing the purple ogress agree to his offer and her promise to get better actually brought a smile to my face. It seems Sir Rimuru was slowly fitting in with our people as father had hoped. Though he was making friends in odd ways I had to admit.

But it seems my concerns were for not, the issue had resolved itself without need for intervention. Though that was mainly because of how kind he was.

With my worries washed away I stepped away from the window and began to walk away from the cafeteria altogether. Though it seemed fate had other plans.

"Princess?" I heard the voice of our guest call out from behind me, accompanied by the sound of the door opening. I turned to see him stepping out of the cafeteria with a knowing smile on his face.

Had he known that she was watching them from the outside?! Of course he had, a majin of his prowess would easily have abilities that allowed him to be aware of his surroundings! This was sooo embarrassing!!

"I take it that you bore witness to my suffering." He said with a sheepish grin. He did not seem angry or upset, if anything he seemed more amused than anything else. Still, I was embarrassed at getting caught and ashamed at my failure to stop this entire thing from occurring. And so I quickly bowed to our guest.

"Please accept my sincerest apologies. You shouldn't have had to go through something like that as an honored guest of our village. If you wish it, we'll make sure that ogress is properly punished." I didn't think he would go that far based on what I had seen earlier. Still though, even if the purple ogress had meant well, father and mother will most likely get furious once they hear of this.

"No no, please don't. Eating that food was hell sure, but I don't think its something worth punishing someone for. Besides it didn't seem like she meant any harm by it, and we came to an understanding." Sir Rimuru said as he shook his arms frantically, looking almost worried about the prospect of the purple ogress getting punished. Truly he was too kind.

"As you wish." I said with a nod as I stood up straight. There was still much I didn't understand about our guest, but I think I was starting to understand him more and more as I interacted with him.

"Besides I gained the [Poison Resistance] as a result so I can't really complain." My head snapped back towards him as both shock and fear gripped my chest.

"You were poisoned by her cooking?!!" I nearly shouted, wondering just how Sir Rimuru could let something like that go so easily and speak about it so casually!!

"Hehehe, yeah. I was shocked by it myself. I don't think it would have hurt me either way, but gaining a new skill in the process was good enough." Sir Rimuru said with a shrug, I couldn't help but giggle slightly at how carefree he was being about being poisoned, my giggles prompted him to show a toothy grin before he suddenly shuddered, "Though I could use something good to probably wash out the taste." He said with a sheepish laugh, the taste was probably still lingering in his mouth.

"I'm sure there is some food available to help with your plight." I said with a smile prompting Sir Rimuru to look at me with stars in his eyes as his mouth suddenly drooled.

"Really princess?! Cause that would be much appreciated!!" He pretty much yelled in excitement. I supposed anyone would be glad for some proper food after eating what Rimuru had. "You're the best you know that princess."

"H-huh?!" I couldn't help but stutter as my cheeks suddenly began to feel warm from the sudden compliment. Looking at Sir Rimuru, he was just grinning as his hands intertwined behind his head. I shook my head sideways rapidly, attempting to sooth the warmth in my cheeks and my beating heart, before facing forward once more.

Though for some reason that even I could not explain, I couldn't help the smile that crept onto my face.