"I'm really sorry about this"
Rimuru bowed deeply—or at least intended to—inside the guardroom.
After the ruckus that was caused, the guards surrounded the place and brought us for questioning and unfortunately for me I was discovered, Hope they would still allow us entry.
Rimuru tried turning back to a slime and slink off! But before he could move they grabbed him en masse lifted him up, and as for for gobta he was still next to me eyes closed and his hands over his ears, so all of us were taken away.
So rimuru began explaining what happened to the guards:
"So here's what happened!
1. I got accosted!
2. I turned into a wolf!
3. I kind of howled a little.
Whatcha think? Not my fault, right?" he asked as he glanced at the soldier standing above him.
The Gaurd was smiling at him, that expression suited this gruff, friendly looking dwarf and his long, bushy beard. Except for those unfortunate viens popping out of his forehead.
"Umm, why did you take me along with you, officer?"
"You damned fool! What do you think you're saying? Our chiefs are yelling at us because you were accosted."
"What?! Really? I'm sorry… I've messed up again, haven't I…?"
"Well, there's nothing to be done about it this time, but try to be a bit more careful, all right?"
Well at least the guards were reasonable after verifying with the witnesses about what really happened they didn't outright accuse us.
"So what was that wolf, then?" the soldier watching over rimuru asked. "What is it?"
"Um, the species, you mean? It's a—" rimuru answered
"No, not the name. What I mean is, why did that kind of monster show up around here? Where'd it come from, where'd it go… I wanna hear everything you know!"
Mmm? we'd told him that was just mimicry. He didn't believe the story and was throwing me suspicious glance, I wasn't concealed anymore since they already discovered me, guess I need a powerful skill to hide from them.
"Well, I told you… That was just me transformed!" as rimuru exclaimed no one believed him.
"Huh? Look, it's already rare for a slime to talk, and you want me to add shape-shifting to the package, too?"
"No, I mean… Look, would you like me to show you?"
"Hmph. Nah, it's fine. But if you can shape-shift, how is that possible? You're a slime, aren't you?"
That was a tricky question how would rimuru explain his origins.
"Well… I was actually cursed. My talents must have sparked some jealously, I guess… I'm capable of wielding illusory magic."
"Oh, really? A curse, is it? Then what?"
"Then, um… Well, I know a few illusory spells, but I was still just a student at the time, so this evil mage turned me into a slime… I'm on a journey to find a way to undo the curse, and, um, that's pretty much it!"
"Why'd you run into an evil wizard, then? Why'd he curse you instead of just killing you? a d what with Sir Spirit over there?"
Really a curse of an evil mage, If he actually bought that story, that'd make him more gullible than a goblin.
This little back-and-forth between rimuru and the soldiers went on for a other two hours or so.
By the end of the intensive debate, Rimuru had just about an entire novel's worth of backstory. A story about a forlorn young (and beautiful) girl, brutally transformed into a slime by an evil mage.
In the midst of their tit for tat, if you want to call it that, the soldier's questions helped weave a grand story of heroic tragedy in our minds. rimuru was a young prodigy, a girl inherently gifted in the arts of transformation and illusory magic. A cruel witch had cast a terrible spell on her, and he was traveling with us to rid myself of the curse.
Why did this have to happen? And why did he turn himself into a magical girl along the way?! And the worst part of it was, whenever he said something that wandered off-script, the soldier's next question would help him fix the mistake.
By the end of it, both rimuru and the soldier were enthralled, hoping against hope that the girl would somehow succeed on her quest. Their eyes burned with passion—at least, the soldier's did. Truly, they had a connection that went beyond mere words.
"All right! That's it for the report. Thank you for your cooperation! But we're going to need to—"
Slam!
Before the soldier could finish, the large door behind him opened. Another soldier rushed in.
"S-sir! An armorsaurus just showed up in the mines! It's already injured several miners at their posts!"
"What?! Well, did you defeat it?"
"We're good there! A suppression force is on its way. But some of the miners are fairly roughed up. I don't know if there's a war under way or something, but the city shops are out of medicine, and the castle won't let us access their stockpile…"
"What about our healers?"
"That's the thing, sir… The injured were deep inside, mining magic ore. The healers at the guardhouse are all out handling other calls, so all we have left is a single novice!"
"Ah, damn it all"
Hearing the situation, rimuru interjected.
"Um, sir! Sir!"
"What? I'm busy. I'm done with you for now, but I can't let you go yet. Stay in this room until things calm down a little!"
"No, not that, um… I've got this."
Rimuru took a recovery potion out. Or spat it out, is the way we saw it.
"…Um, what's that?"
"A recovery potion. Drink it, rub it in—it's high quality!"
"Eh? What's a slime like you doing with that?"
Oh, come on. What happened to the story? Why's he treating rimuru like a slime again? He was egging him on during that entire interrogation, wasn't he? Not that rimuru wasn't an eager participant, but…
"That kind of doesn't matter right now, does it? Go ahead, try it. How many do you need?"
"We've got six men down…but are you sure?"
The soldier who'd just stormed in gave the slime a quizzical stare. If I were him, I probably wouldn't take a potion from a monster, either.
"Tch… Stay here, all right? Let's go!"
"Um? But, Captain, that's a monster…?"
"Enough from you! Just take me over to them!"
The bushy-bearded captain snatched up the six recovery potions and ran off. What with the grand fantasy tale They'd just woven, I supposed rimuru befriended him somewhat. Maybe he was a kind guy after all. Didn't expect him to be a full-fledged captain, though.
"You were lucky that the captain of the gaurds was a reasonable one, we would have got into much more trouble if you told someone else that tale."
I couldn't help but to comment after the gaurds left the room
"Uh, I got a little carried away with my story"
"Yeah, looks like a talking slime is already unusual there is no need to add more to the backstory"
"Is it over?" Gobta asked after silently nodding at everything w'd said before now.
"No, but I guess we'll sit here and see what happens."
"Got it, sir!"
Then we stared into space. The soldiers who peeked in on occasion would give us confused looks, but otherwise, not much happened for an hour. Rimuru was practicing his Sticky Thread moves a bit and I was meditating when I heard the captain's heavy footsteps. We stopped what we were doing and waited for him to come in. Gobta was asleep, probablyfor the best.
"Thank you, sir!" the bearded captain thundered as he stormed into the room, head bowed. The miners filed in behind him.
"You're the one with the potions? Thanks a ton!"
"My arm was pretty torn up. I didn't think I'd ever work again, even if I survived… Thank you!"
"..."
The last guy didn't say anything before they all left, looks like the potions worked.
By this time, it was past sunset. It was almost fully dark outside when the captain started talking with us again—seriously, this time.
It turned out the quintet who'd tried taking rimuru on were members of this nation's Free Guild. They had talent, but they also had a prior reputation as rabble-rousers. "That oughta teach 'em a lesson!" the captain said with a roaring laugh.
The guard was already certain that we were guilty of nothing, but we were still being detained out of respect for the other "victims" rimuru had inadvertently inconvenienced with his actions. Nobody was pressing charges, though—I suppose they figured asking restitution for crapping their pants wasn't the shrewdest of social moves.
So we told him the truth. Rimuru was helping rebuild a goblin village, and needed arms and clothing, as well as someone who could provide a little on-site guidance, while I want to inquire about Swords compatible with spirits. The captain listened intently, some of his men chiming in on occasion. They even asked Gobta a few questions, despite his darting eyes and bewildered expression.