Hakuro was standing in front of me and rimuru, wooden practice sword in hand. He was a master of the sword; there was no doubting that. his skills in swordsmanship is above mine. He was elderly, but his spirit was like nothing else.
Having his new human form and everything, Rimuru thought he'd learn some sword skill of his own. I accompanied him hoping to gain a thing or two from Hakuro's swordplay. Similar to myself in the beginning rimuru was quite unaccustomed to the sword, if I word it nicely, apparently his last experience with that sort of thing was back in middle-school phys ed, and heI'd never even held a sword before. No way it'd be that easy.
I figured he'd progress quite fast, what with Hasten Thought and all that, but Hakuro quickly proved otherwise. He had that, too, it turned out, so he had no advantage at all from the get-go. The end result? he basically stood there and let this kijin beat him up for an hour or so.
The ease with which he had been learning skills had probably spoiled him. Unlike those, Arts were earned strictly through training and concerted effort. It was never going to be quite that easy. And while magic seemed a bit like Arts, they essentially ran on two different engines.
There would be no shortcuts with this, like swallowing a spell and learning it—he'd just have to give up and admit that it'd take constant, extensive practice.
As for me, I was honing my senses while watching the spar between Hakuro and rimuru. The biggest reason for my inability to win against Hakuro in a simple spar is his ability to trick my senses. It is not that my detection skill are bad, it just while I can use magic sense in addition to my ability in sensing spiritual fluctuations, I am not accustomed to the minute changes in magicules and its patterns and also I am not using my new body's senses to their full capacity. So I decided to familiarize myself with my normal bodily senses first before integrating them with my spiritual and magical ones.
I got this idea from rimuru who actually combined all his sensing skills, magic sense, Sense Heat Source and Keen Smell, next he enhanced ultrasonic Wave to evolve the extra skill Sense Soundwave with the help of Great sage.
That gave him an extra jab of confidence as he took on Hakuro, his sword casually lifted up to his chest. The next thing he felt was a dull blow to the crown of his head. It couldn't have been a cleaner strike—no pain, no damage. He didn't put any force into it at all. Still, though… That was skill , not speed
"What was that?" exclaimed rimuru.
"Hoh-hoh-hoh! I call that Haze," Hakuro explained with a smile. "It is part of my Formhide skill set, and the more magic I invest, the more I can dilute the presence I project. I believe you have the ability to obtain it for yourself, too, Sir Rimuru."
It is that technique again, the same one that always messes up with my senses. his spiritual fluctuations is drowned in magicules which blend with the surroundings reducing his presence to a minimum. and although I figured how it works, countering it is a different story.
"Yeah, I… I'd sure like to, sometime." answered rimuru weakly.
"Right," Hakuro said, smiling like a doting grandfather. "One more time, then."
Before they could make another move, though, we heard the sound of a large bell ringing. Something had triggered Soei's alarm system. I had a feeling the rimuru was quite grateful for the interruption. and so we headed for Rigurd's residence instead.
He ran right up to us once we were in sight. He tended to do that a lot.
"I have news to report, Sir Rimuru," he said, half in a panic. "A lizardman envoy has come to visit!"
Lizardmen? I was expecting that unwelcome visit sooner or later, but I guess they're here, huh? Ahead of the orcs, no less. Well, We were ready to deal with either. Let's hear this one out.
We headed for the town's entrance to greet this envoy. They hadn't arrived yet, instead sending an advance messenger who told us to bring everyone in the village out front. I asked why the guard didn't just shrug him off, but he was riding a hover lizard, a fairly large mount reserved only for the knight classes, and I'm sure that must've made Rigurd pee his pants.
If this was a troop of knight-level lizardmen, no goblin village would stand a chance. They'd be ripped apart.
There were five of us there at the entrance—me, Rimuru, Rigurd, Benimaru, and Hakuro. Rimuru made sure everyone knew to tread carefully. "Absolute politeness, unless I say otherwise," I said.
"Yes, my lord," Rigurd said, the rest nodding with him.
"You deal with them, I won't interfere." was my answer.
"Hmm? Where is Shion?" Benimaru said. Apparently, the word politeness reminded him of something.
"Oh, I think she's been cleaning my place since morning, but…" replied rimuru
"Wh-what?!"
For some reason, Hakuro appeared shocked at his reply.
"Um, is that a problem?"
"N-no… Not at all…"
"Indeed," Benimaru added. "She has grown. It should be all right…"
This was starting to concern me. And as it turned out, we should've been alarmed. Shion was soon there at the entrance, providing tea. Working hard as the secretary. I thought she was doing fine until I took a sniff.
Um… This is tea, right? There were these weird, seaweed-like leaves flopping over the edge of my cup. It could not have been any potable beverage.
I looked to Rigurd, seeking out a possible explanation. He averted his eyes. What the heck? Benimaru, meanwhile, had his eyes firmly closed, not giving anyone a second glance, and Hakuro had vanished, using his Arts to become one with the wind.
They knew, didn't they? And all the time, luckily for me her attention was on rimuru so I copied hakuro in blending with the surroundings to avoid her.
Shion was looking right at Rimuru, waiting for his praise. How is he supposed to heap praise on her for this? but Rimuru had to drink regardless. I bet he misses his taste bud–free slime form. when he took a sip just now I could've sworn he was readying Predator to take it apart.
while he was reaching for his cup, someone was a step faster.
"Ooh, some tea? I was just feeling a bit thirsty!"
Gobta, freshly back from his patrol detail, grabbed the cup and emptied it in one gulp.
Nice one, dude!! A warm round of applause for the man!! Shion's face was now a mask of pure anger, but Gobta didn't bother noticing. Or to be more exact, he was in no shape to notice. When a small plume of foam escaped his mouth, he immediately collapsed, twitching in a spasm.
Shion looked on quizzically, apparently not expecting this. It was a cute piece of body language with her looks, but I wasn't fooled. From now on, Rimuru better bann her from any work involving food or drink.
"Uh, Shion," rimuru said, "next time you make anything you want people to eat or drink, make sure to run it past Benimaru first, all right?"
Benimaru shot him an icy stare. Well who made you follow him, he'll have handle it.
Benimaru joined Shion in staring awkwardly at the ground.
By the time we heard the full lizardman envoy thundering toward us, about an hour had passed from the initial alarm call. Rimuru reverted to slime form, enlisting Shion to hold him in her arms. Just in case , he explained. he said he couldn't help but feel overall safer as a slime. That bastard was just enjoying the situation, doesn't he?
Shion was all gung ho about her guardian role, too, and there was no reason to throw shade on that. I bet she wants to make up for that tea disaster, besides. Wonder how she did in cleaning his place, though, come to think of it? …No, it isn't my problem, he'll have to figure it out himself.
There were around ten lizardmen, and after a moment, one of them, chest puffed out, dismounted his hover lizard and sauntered up.
The leader, apparently.
"Thank you for greeting me! I will give this village, too, the chance to submit to my rule and authority. I hope you will consider it an honor!"
Talk about a ridiculous opening line. This wasn't a negotiation so much as it was a declaration. What was this idiot going on about? And none of my companions knew what to make of it, either.
"I apologize, sir," Rigurd offered, "but asking us out of the blue to submit to you like this—"
"Pfft! Have you not heard yet? Those pigs, the orc race, are on the move! They will attack this very village before long. And I am the only one who can save your puny, pathetic hides!"
And that's how we met the arrogant Gabil, warrior lord of the lizardman tribe! as he declared for the first time.