"I see... The disappearance of Veldora really is big news. I understand why someone of your caliber being drawn to do this investigation in person." Fuze commented with sweat dripping down his forehead.
It made sense why he acted so nervously around me. I was a pretty important figure in the history of humanity and a key player in their mythology of this world. I was the first True Hero, the First Adventurer, the Adventurer's Guild Founder, father of the current Grandmaster of the Guild, adoptive father of the Dragon Princess, master of the Heroic True Dragon Velgaia, father of the Demon Lord Lilith, husband to the Strongest living True Dragon, Rival of the Strongest Demon Lord Guy Crimson, Mentor of the Ultimate Hero Chronoa, a friend of the Queen of the Spirits, possible suiter (rumored but not confirmed) to the Hero Queen of Amrita, Evelyn, and the person responsible for organizing the defense of the world from the Demon Attacks in the North and Insectar Attacks in the South. /1\
When listed out like that, it makes me out to be his grand god-like figure to the average person, especially if they've never met me before. It's so bad that even just randomly showing up in a somewhat backwater Guild like this is considered international news. It's natural that the Guildmaster of this branch would clear his schedule and immediately meet with me and accept my demands, no matter how absurd.
Hell, I was one of the few individuals in the world who could show up to a kingdom and request a meeting with the King/Queen and get it immediately and without an appointment. Not that I ever did stuff like that. It was way too bothersome to deal with the aftermath of the legions of nobles and royalty who'd try sucking up to me or trying to manipulate me to gain influence. This is why I spend most of my time 'retired' away from human lands, though, somehow people think I must be off fighting terrible foes that humanity doesn't know about yet.
I swear I don't have the [Chosen One] skill like Rudra had, so I have no idea why people praise me so much, but whatever. /2\
I gave a brief smile to Fuze, who was still sitting nervously in front of me and awaiting an answer. "Well, there are a few things going on in the forest right now that I've been putting off, and this investigation will give me the excuse to get them done as well," I commented.
"I see... Is that why they're..." Fuze asked, glancing at Ramiris, Shizue, and Pirino who were standing behind me.
"Ah, well, Mister Alaster requested us, so..." Shizue somewhat meekly replied, scratching the side of her cheek.
I smiled as I looked at her. Despite the fact she was still merged with an Ifrit, due to Velgaia and Chronoa's training, she is strong enough to suppress the Fire Giant's will completely. It also helps that Ifrit wasn't Leon's bodyguard, so she had a much better life than her canonical counterpart, though she was still sad about some things. /3\
She even told me she once encountered Noir and fought him evenly in the Kingdom of Filtwood before killing some random Daemon named Orthus or Orthos or something who was posing as the King alongside her comrade Pirino, who was a talented spirit mage in her own right. Their party, which included a Spirit Fox named Pizu, was well-known as an A+ Ranked party in the guild, second only to the handful of S-Ranked Parties, like the legendary Dragon Wing and Leon's old adventuring party Platinum Saber.
Ramiris, on the other hand, had tagged along because Yumina asked me to take her out for a bit, as Ramiris was too busy complaining that she was bored and getting into trouble by playing pranks on people. I decided to bring her along, as one of her subordinates lived in Jura and I could dumper her onto them- I mean help them reconnect.
<
'Thanks, also, are you done yet? I want to see you sometime soon.' I asked, pining after her, having not felt her touch in over a year at this point.
<
Currently, my darling wife was busy converting herself into a Manas inside of me using [Solomon] as a base. She'd control her True Dragon Physical Body using [Parallel Existance], but her soul would fundamentally reside inside of mine, which could only happen if she became a Manas. Thankfully, [Solomon] having a Manas: Seed of herself inside it from when Veldanava altered it, made this process possible, but since didn't know HOW to do this, and any mistakes would damage her soul directly, we were taking this slowly and surely.
When we figure it out, we'll share the technique with Velgrynd and Rudra, and maybe even Leon and Velgaia, if he ever pulls his head out of his ass and reciprocates her feelings and not being creepily devoted to his childhood friend while lying to himself about not being into her while they are 'closer than friends but not quite lovers'. /4\
Fuze let out a small sigh of exasperation. "Very well... I already sent a few people ahead to do it. Do you mind catching up with them to complete the investigation together?" He asked.
"I don't mind at all," I said with a smile.
"Thanks. They're a bit hopeless, so I hope some of Sir Alaster's influence will do them some good." Fuze admitted quietly to himself.
Shizue, Pirino, and I chuckled, wondering what kind of characters they'd be to worry the guild master so much.
...
"We're saved!" Eren sighed as she lost the strength in her knees and collapsed.
"No wonder he's the hero, so strong!" Gido commented to himself.
"Oh! It's Sir Alaster and Lady Ramiris!" Kaval nearly shouted.
Ahead of them was a giant Knight Spider which I'd killed with a single unarmed blow to its skull. I didn't even use any of my Skills, Magic, or Aura to strengthen myself, just the raw physical power of my body, and there was a reason for that.
These things tasted delicious when steamed with mixed veggies, so I had to preserve as much meat as possible. Even my non-powered half-hearted punch, had completely imploded its skull and killed it instantly. Any sort of strengthening would have blown it apart like I was One Punch Man or something.
"They sure are a lively bunch," Shizue commented, walking past the corpse of the Spider and over to the adventures.
"I see why Fuze was so concerned about them now." Pirino followed with that line and a sweatdrop on her cheek.
"You girls want any of this?" I asked as I motioned to the Armored Spider.
""No thanks"" both women called back as they began talking to the three adventurers.
I turned to Ramiris to see if she wanted any, only to discover she was already gone. I closed my eyes and used my Skill for a moment, only to detect her in the Treant Settlement on the other side of the forest. I also detected two Dryads watching over us right now and one watching at our destination. I smiled and shook my head while sighing lightly at being ditched by her. I then proceeded to store the meat in a pocket dimension with spatial magic to be butchered and cooked at a later date.
"Oh! So the guild master sent you to help us!" Kaval cried out, seemingly thankful.
"More like he was worried you guys wouldn't be able to do it yourselves and since we were on the way through, he wanted us to babysit- I mean- check up on you guys and girl... yeah." I finished.
"That's a bit..." Shizue said, trying to come to the young one's defense but failing to find the right words while Pirirno covered her face, trying not to laugh.
"So anyway, we aren't far from the cave Veldora was sealed in. We should continue there. I think we'll find a place by nightfall." I continued.
"Y-yes!" Eren agreed to my proposal instantly.
I turned to look at her only to see her face was beet red. She noticed my looking at her and averted her gaze to Kaval. "L-let's set off already!" She said, marching off awkwardly in the wrong direction.
"Hey! I'm the leader remember!" Kaval yelled, running after her.
"Sorry about them. We would be thrilled to have you accompany us." Gido said with a look slight regret in his eyes before following after them.
"... Should we tell them that that's the wrong way?" Shizue asked, slightly concerned.
"No way! This is fun!" Pirino said, jumping onto the previously silent Pizu (Spirit Fox) who had grown to a giant size for her to ride on. "Besides, I think our resident heart-breaker here wouldn't mind walking with a cute young girl for a while, right?" Pirino said with a smug grin on her face and pointed toward me.
"You people know I'm a happily married man, right?" I complained, quelling the sudden killer intent coming from my wife who was hiding inside my soul currently.
Pirino's smug smile never left. "Oh my, I never said you should DO anything with her now, did I?" She teased.
I rolled my eyes and was about to continue after them when I stopped and saw the three of them now running back towards us at a quick pace with panic on their faces. Behind them was a pack of Giant Soldier Ants, charging them at full speed.
"Damn it Kaval! Don't just stick your sword into whatever takes it!" Gido yelled.
"S-Shut it! Don't complain about your leader's habits! You only complain when it doesn't result in you getting any on the side!" Kaval shouted back.
Pirino and I both covered our mouths, trying not to laugh at the innuendos. Thankfully, we had a much more mature member of our party who was willing to actually help them out. Shizue unsheathed her sword and coated it in Fire without a second thought. Once the trio of idiots was close enough she quickly burst forward using a {|Magicule Burst|} Magic Art which I'd taught Chronoa and who I guess taught to Shizue.
I watched as she suddenly appeared in front of them for a moment, before disappearing again and reappearing on the other side of the column of Giant Soldier Ants. The second she reappeared, all of the monsters immediately burst into flames and melted, turning into nothing but ash.
I smirked at her technique. She was using a combination of her Unique Skill [Deviant] and the Intrinsic Skill [Combustion] to essentially set their magicules on fire. It was a terrifying skill, even for Ultimate Skill users, as she essentially set the Spiritual Body on fire with that technique, bypassing all forms of Resistance through the creative use of the [Seperate] sub-skill of [Deviant].
Shizue twirled her sword once to clean off any possible blood and in one smooth motion, sheathed the blade completely before turning towards us and giving a gentle smile. Honestly, it was pretty cool, so much so that our vicious little spy was probably feeling self-conscious about the fact he wasn't able to jump out to save us and look like a hero.
I smirked before turning toward the treeline and looking directly at him. He was hidden behind a bush and watching us closely. Even if he hid his aura well, it was possible to detect that he was using [Magic Sense] to get a good look at us.
(Rimuru POV)
'Who the heck was that!?! That was some crazy technique she used!' I thought to myself as I watched the woman spin the edge of her blade before sheathing it again and smiling.
'The woman I'm destined to be with is pretty cool!' I complimented in my mind. 'Hey [Great Sage] was that a Skill? Can I learn that?'
<
'Too bad. When Rigurd told me that there were humans here I knew I might be outgunned but these guys look way stronger than me. They wouldn't attack a cute slime like me, would they?' I asked myself before looking over the woman again. She clearly had some Asain features to her, but she was more beautiful than anyone I'd ever seen before. Even the image that the Crystal Ball showed me back at the elf bar wasn't able to compare to her in real life.
'She's my destined one, huh? I guess I wouldn't mind someone like her... No, wait! This isn't the time for that!' I thought before noticing that the white-haired Bishonen was looking my way. 'Did he notice me? No way, right? I've perfectly hidden my aura, right [Great Sage]?' I asked, slightly panicked and pushing my slime body closer to the ground as if that would somehow help.
<
'It's possible to detect [Magic Sense]!?! Do you mean if I want to stay hidden then I need to stop using it? How else am I supposed to see?' I yelled inside my mind.
<
'No! No! No!!!' I yelled back at [Great Sage] but stopped when I noticed the white-haired handsome man looking at me confused.
"Not coming out?" He asked.
'He can totally see me!' I yelled inside my mind before slowly inching my way out of the bushes and into the line of sight for their party.
The other people seemed to have just now noticed me and the woman on top of the Fox that was bigger than Ranga seemed to smile.
"H-hey everyone! I'm Rimuru the Slime! I'm not a bad slime!" I said. /5\
"I like it! Let's tame it, Shizue!" The woman on top of the Fox said in a happy tone.
"...Eh?"
.~.~.~.
/1\:
People know about Lilith becoming a Demon Lord when she first worked as Alaster's assistant when founding the Guild. There is a legend about how she 'fell' into the darkness after being seduced by Guy into joining his side as both as revenge against Alaster for beating him, and trying to hurt Alaster by taking his 'eldest' daughter. The myth was that Lilith was originally a human but became a succubus after being seduced by Guy, so instead of becoming a hero, which was her destiny, she became a Demon Lord.
This myth is entirely false, of course, but that's just how the public thinks it happened and why Alaster is the father of a Demon Lord, especially since he never once denied the connection and will, if asked, say that Lilith is his 'eldest' daughter.
In the minds of the public, she is a tragic character worthy of pity but is possible to redeem. The reason for this is because her progeny co-exist with humanity (succubus brothel information network) and why she took up the defense against the attacks of Guy's Demons to the north, which Razul would have canonically protected, but now doesn't due to him being a subordinate of Zelanus.
Side-Note. Alaster doesn't know this, but the reason Aria is constantly fighting with Lilith is that she believed those stories growing up as a child and wanted to save her. Lilith is also under the impression that Aria is attracted to her romantically, as Aria tends to say things that are misleading, such as 'Don't worry! I'll always come back for you!' or 'Stop fighting your feelings! Join me in the light and I'll make sure you are finally happy!' and things of that nature.
/2\:
This is actually due to Lilith's influence. She is trying to help her dad from the shadows but isn't telling him about it.
/3\:
The only reason why Alaster even remembers Shizue is that Velzard is messing around with [Solomon] right now which jogged some of his memories of his previous life, though not everything.
/4\:
Alaster has basically forgotten most of the canon and doesn't remember much about Rudra in canon, only thinking of him like an old friend he hadn't seen in a while, which is why he proposed to Velgrynd and he does that with one another.
I may have Masayuki and Velgrynd undergo this process at the end of the story along with Leon and Velgaia, but nothing is set in stone.
/5\:
Yuuki was never summoned to this world by Kazaream, so he wasn't able to be taught by Shizue or teach her that phrase, and Alaster is so old he doesn't remember the obscure phrase from his almost completely forgotten past life.