(Same deal as with my other story, though my goal is still every other day, I might post extra if I am able to get a couple of chapters ahead.)
— — —
After the triumphant victory over the first army of Orcs, the warriors returned to Tempest with smiles of triumph and determination in their eyes. The victory had bolstered their confidence, but they knew it was just the beginning. They headed directly to Hakuro to continue their harsh training, not wanting to fall behind in their quest for strength.
Among them were the key representatives of the Kijin: Shion, the Royal Guard; Benimaru, the leader of the Army; and Souei, the head of the Secret Intelligence. Each played a crucial role in Rimuru's growing empire.
The main reason Rimuru hadn't headed directly towards the Orc Lord after defeating the Orc army was because of Souei's report of the masked individuals watching over the Orc Lord. With Sage's calculations, Rimuru knew that if they waited about a week or two, they could attack without the Harlequin's interference. This gave him some time to continue working on his city.
Rimuru had assigned Souei and his team to branch out, tasked with keeping track of the Orc Lord and informing other villages of the impending threat. Souei's mission was twofold: gather intelligence and forge alliances. Each village they encountered was to be informed of the Orc Lord's threat and, more importantly, to swear allegiance to Tempest, the newly named city in exchange for their protection.
Souei and his team had enough strength to prove to the weaker races that there was a new boss in town. With every return, they brought back more races pledging their loyalty to Rimuru, merfolk, centaurs, dryads, and halflings, each of whom were added to the list to receive a name if they didn't have one already.
There were plenty of jobs for everyone to do with the expanding city, so Rimuru immediately began to delegate jobs for each of them. The Dryads would help in the farms with their magic, planting a few Treants here and there on the farms where they would be nicely taken care of by the farmers.
The merfolk assisted with the cultivation of Hipokute Herbs and any tasks requiring transportation over water. While the Halflings would help out with the farms along with the Dryads
Naming, however, was starting to become an exhausting task. So he had even slipped with a few funky ones for the Kijin, like the artistic brothers Muruk and Gutmut. Gutmut was a painter while Muruk was a sculptor, and though their skills were not particularly useful in battle, they served to spice up the atmosphere.
Thanks to their dedication to art, Rimuru decided to designate one of the city's districts specifically as an art district where all the people could enjoy and express their creativity.
Shizue, in particular, was pleased with the development of the art district. She couldn't help but smile as she said.
"The kids are going to love Tempest."
Rimuru nodded as he sat next to her, overseeing the entire construction effort.
"Yeah, the school has already been built, and we have some great teachers. The only thing missing is information about spells, so we either have to hire a good witch or wizard or find a library so that I can make some more 'For Dummies' books."
Shizue couldn't help but giggle slightly as she heard the name.
"For Dummies?" After pausing for a moment, she asked, "Hey… are you a human? Or, well, were you a human?"
Nodding his head, Rimuru shrugged.
"Yeah, it's not like I was trying to hide it. But that doesn't matter anymore. I am Rimuru now, a slime."
"Yeah, you're not a bad slime." Shizue joked, giggling slightly at her own joke.
As the two of them sat in silence overlooking the city, Shizue continued.
"I know that we are waiting until after we deal with Charybdis to go save the kids and that they will be fine until then. But… I miss them. I want to be there for them again. They're nice kids; I'm sure they would get along with you." Shizue confessed.
"Yeah? If you want, you can start heading back to Englassia. It will take me a few months at least to deal with all the stuff I need to, but I should be able to head there somewhat soon." Rimuru offered.
"No, I made a promise, so I am going to keep it. For this one year, I am all yours. With an Orc Lord and Charybdis in the distance, I don't want to leave Tempest unguarded and break my promise."
Chuckling slightly, Rimuru nodded.
"Yeah… I'll keep my promise, too. I doubt you will be able to beat up Leon during the next Walpurgis, but soon enough, the time will come."
Shizue looked a little lost as she smiled.
"Honestly? I don't even know what to feel about Leon. He saved my life, but he also used me as a killer. He never cared for me or hated me; all he had was pure indifference. But… he still saved me." Then, after chuckling for a few moments, she added. "I guess I kinda wished Leon was more like you. You saved me, and you care for me, I can tell."
Raising an eyebrow, Rimuru asked.
"Oh really? How is that?"
"Women's intuition," Shizue answered with another chuckle as she pulled the sleeves of her Kimono to reveal her arms. "I know I thanked you already, but you don't know how nice it is to see my own skin again. It finally feels like I am… me. Especially now that I don't have Ifrit fighting for control anymore. Honestly, all of Tempest feels more like home than anywhere else I have lived since I arrived on this stupid planet."
Nodding slightly, Rimuru couldn't help but agree.
"Yeah… This is our home, huh… Wanna know something funny?" Rimuru asked, earning a nod from Shizue. "The funky-named ones are my favorite. I have a soft spot for Sir Barksalot and people like Gobananas."
Bursting out into laughter, Shizue continued to laugh like she hadn't ever done before.
"I guess there are only so many serious names you can come up with at a time, huh? I was wondering when I heard GobGobGadget introduce himself. I honestly felt bad for wanting to laugh."
"Hey, at least he is a good engineer now. He is always building little trinkets with Kaijin."
After a few more moments of random talking, Shizue asked.
"Hey, Rimuru, what does it feel like to see the future?"
Stopping for a moment, Rimuru got lost in thought.
"Well… If I am being honest, it's a little scary right now. The more we change, the less I know. I only really saw one possible future, you could say… And I doubt I will be able to see it again."
Seeing Rimuru's expression, Shizue leaned in to give him a side hug with a few pats on the back.
"I trust you. You just have to believe in yourself a little more, visions or no visions. And those people down there trust you, too."
Standing up, she cleaned the dirt off from her Kimono before speaking.
"All right, no more lazing around for me. I have to train to beat an Orc Lord and a big Shark."
Nodding his head, Rimuru also stood up.
"I also have to go train a certain Royal Guard before she starts beating up poor Benimaru. He's at a disadvantage since his attacks all turn his enemies to dust, while Shion is all brute force. And, well, it's not like he is going to burn her up."
"Oh? Maybe I should go meet with Benimaru instead of Hakuro. I could teach him a thing or two about fire." Shizue said, pulling out her sword and igniting it with dark Hellfire. "I might be a bit rusty, but I was still an A+ Ranked adventurer back in the day."
— — —
Fulfilling his promise before they went to attack the Orc Lord, Rimuru met with Shion to practice combat.
The battlefield was a vast, open arena in the forest, shimmering with the latent energy of magicules. Rimuru stood ready, his katana gleaming with spectral light, while Shion, with her imposing greatsword, exuded a formidable aura. Their eyes locked, the tension palpable as they prepared to clash.
[Analyzing Battlewill… Updating Great Sage Sword Arts… Update complete.] Rimuru's mind buzzed with the familiar voice of Great Sage.
[Flaw has been detected in Shion's form.]
[Variation has been created. Great Sage Aura Arts Have been transmitted.]
[Using enhanced knowledge from observing Shizue Izawa to create a prototype skill… Success… Shunpo V0.06327 has been created.]
Aura and Battlewill were a few of the basics of weapon arts. They imbued the body of the user with their magicules, which not only strengthened them but also allowed them to use different weapon arts such as Aura Slash, an attack that shot from the blade of your weapon.
Right now, Shion was going all out in order to impress him. The air crackled with energy as Shion charged, her greatsword slicing through the air with huge power.
"Aura Slash!" she shouted, sending a horizontal wave of destructive energy towards Rimuru.
Rimuru, for his part, allowed his slime biology to carry him as he threw his body backward to dodge the attack, flexing in an unnatural way before two arms sprouted from his back and pushed forward.
Using the newly created Shunpo, Rimuru's form blurred, vanishing from sight. He reappeared beside Shion, his katana swinging in a swift arc. Shion barely managed to parry, their blades clashing with a resounding crash. However, the only reason she could block was because she had seen him use the move against Hakuro, and she made sure to memorize all of his attacks to study them later.
"Rule number one, don't shout out your attacks." Rimuru said with a smile as he vanished from sight again, appearing back where he had started.
Nodding her head with acknowledgment, she raised her sword up again before kicking it off the ground and appearing in front of him in the blink of an eye, not using any skills, just pure strength. She was using the Ogre Guillotine.
Her greatsword descended with the force of a landslide, aiming to cleave Rimuru in two. But before the blade could reach him, Rimuru heard Sage's voice.
[Flaw detected. Possible counters have been provided.]
Great Sage guided Rimuru's movements. He sidestepped the ground where he stood, shattering under Shion's attack. With fluid grace, he spun around, his katana aimed at Shion's exposed side. Stopping just moments before stabbing her.
"Boom. Dead." Rimuru said, causing Shion to nod with determination.
"What was that movement skill you used? It looks like Hakuro's, but at the same time, it isn't… That's why it caught me off guard."
[Acknowledged. Creating Great Sages Aura Arts for dummies.]
The next moment, a book appeared on Rimuru's hand, simply titled. "GSAA"
[Using gathered data to update the Prototype: Shunpo. The new version has been created: Shunpo V0.2949]
[For further analysis and recreation of sword and movement techniques, please continue researching or encountering sword users.]
Opening the book, he saw Sage's instructions laid out in the simplest, stupid proof way, which made him chuckle slightly as he put the book away so that he could teach Shion personally.
"Come on, let me teach you." Rimuru said as he used thought communication with her to explain the basics, courtesy of Great Sage. And the moment she somewhat understood, the battle began once again.
Hours passed until Shion eventually lay on the ground and collapsed, breathing heavily as she tried to raise her weapon.
"Lord Rimuru… Your sword is just too fierce…" Shion said with a slight blush. "I don't think I will be able to stand up for some time…"
Rimuru couldn't help but look at her lying on the ground, saying questionable stuff as Sage gave in her commentary.
[Notice. She is fine. She is currently trying to get another kiss using the skill Eros to regain her strength.]
And just as Sage spoke, he saw her stick out her lips in preparation. Trying to look as appealing as possible while lying on the ground.
"Oh, I am sorry. Perhaps I should call Hakuro to take you back home. I was kind of hoping to continue since we are making so much progress." Rimuru said in a teasing tone, causing Shion to pout slightly.
"Lord Rimuru… there is that skill…" Shion said, trying to act natural.
"Ah, that's right." Rimuru said with a smirk. "I guess I could take you back with Shadow Movement."
"No… not that one…" Shion said, looking as if she was about to give up until Rimuru crouched down and got close to her face.
"Oh… you mean this one?" He asked, sealing her lips with a kiss and instantly activating Eros to recharge her energy.
Shion looked to be in paradise for a few seconds before they parted, leaving her wanting for more.
"Come on, if you manage to hit me, I will give you a reward," Rimuru said with a wink, which made her immediately shoot to her feet and attack with newfound strength. They continued their fight until Shion collapsed for real, making Rimuru carry her back home.
~Confidants~
Shizue Izawa (The Temperance) Rank 2
Shion (The Strength) Rank 2
Just kidding. Though honestly, the confidant system of persona is gonna help me out in the background to write better interactions lol.
Special Thanks to my Beta Readers/Editors: @LuluViBritania (FF.N, SB, WN and QQ)/-LuluViB|99th Britannian Emperor(Discord) and @Kiyan Tribe (FF.net/AO3/QQ) | kiyan_tribe( Discord)