Ciel: <>
Voice of the World: <<>>
******
It has been three months since Rimuru's visit to the Armed Nation of Dwargon, and life has been quite peaceful ever since.
Due to everyone's efforts, Tempest was growing quite steadily. The addition of Kajin and his brothers, along with Framea, significantly boosted the progress of the village. By now, their once small village almost resembled a small town, with all the huts replaced by wooden houses and numerous quality-of-life additions incorporated into the village.
What helped the village even more was the additional manpower that arrived in the form of goblins from all over the Jura Forest, requesting to join Tempest, which Rimuru accepted. Once Rimuru named them all, he had an additional five hundred Hobgoblins under his command, providing extra hands for the development of Tempest.
This development however didn't go unnoticed by Gazel who was keeping tabs on Tampest's development, suspecting that Rimuru allowed him to do so. However, as Tempest grew so did Gazel's wariness towards Rimuru since the rapid growth shown by the Tempest was quite unheard of.
So just to be cautious, he decided to inform one of his trusted associates about Rimuru and his nation, in hopes that the ' kingdom of information' would get him something more about this mysterious man named Rimuru.
******
In the Kingdom of Blumund, a short middle-aged man named Fuze sat in his spacious office, rubbing his head and examining a particular piece of paper in his hand.
As the Guildmaster of the Free Guild's Blumund branch, Fuze had a multitude of responsibilities on his plate, and he was accustomed to handling them with efficiency and haste. However, in recent times, things have taken a turn for the worse.
It all started with the disappearance of the Storm Dragon, Veldora, and from there, things kept spiraling down. Now, he held a letter in his hand from none other than King Gazel himself, warning him about the possible emergence of a new nation in the Jura Forest. More importantly, the letter mentioned a man whom even King Gazel was wary of.
Now that rang the alarms in Fuze's head. What intrigued him, and more importantly, confused him, was how anyone could build a nation in that deadly forest. The Jura Forest had always been a perilous territory; even for veteran adventurers, the forest could be a death trap. Whenever there were quests related to the Jura Forest, the guild always recommended and actively pushed for multiple teams to take on those assignments. For Fuze, whoever was attempting to build a nation there was either an utter fool or an extremely dangerous person that he should be wary of.
The second thing that worried him was the mention of the mysterious man in King Gazel's letter. Fuze was well aware of how strong King Gazel was. There were only a few people he knew who could stand in the same ring as King Gazel himself, so for him to be wary of someone said a lot about this mystery person.
After thinking about it more, Fuze made a connection that the guy who was building a nation in the Jura Forest and the man whom King Gazel was worried about might be the same person. If that was the case, Fuze had more reason to worry about it, as Blumund shared its border with that forest. As the Guildmaster of the Free Guild's Blumund branch and a loyal subject of Blumund, he decided to investigate the matter and opted to send someone to the forest. Fortunately, he had the perfect party in mind.
******
Sitting at his house, Rimuru was enjoying his lunch while going over the reports that his subordinates had submitted earlier that morning. Next to him, Framea ate quietly with a huge smile on her face, clearly savoring the delicious food that she had grown fond of in the past few months.
Rimuru glanced at her and smiled, thinking about how their relationship had grown in the past three months. Now, they both saw each other as real brothers and sisters.
For Framea, it felt quite nice to depend on someone who cared for her, for who she was. She couldn't help but smile when every few days Rimuru made time in his schedule to either check on her or invite her over to his place for dinner. Soon, she grew so comfortable around him that she subconsciously started acting childish whenever he was present. She would whine and complain about Testarossa's harsh training, suddenly cling to his arm and demand something with puppy eyes, and sometimes ask for a day off only for him to turn her down, prompting her to grumble about the 'tyrant brother' and whatnot.
For Rimuru, it felt really nice to have someone to call family... his family. Satoru had lost his parents at a very young age and was forced to live with extended family until he became an adult. After that, he moved out and lived alone until the day he was stabbed and reincarnated in this world. Here, he made quite a lot of friends, built a nation, and did many absurd things; however, in the end, he was alone with only Ciel by his side. Now, having Framea in his life... something just felt right.
Just then, Rigurd knocked on Rimuru's door, saying that he had important news. 'Oh... she is here...' Rimuru thought, unable to contain the excitement in his heart.
Rimuru then asked Rigurd to enter the house, which he did and apologized for disturbing his lunch. After that, Rigurd began the report, "Rimuru sama, we received a message from Rigur and the security team. It seems that they've discovered the suspicious humans in the forest."
"Humans?" Framea arched her brow. "Hmm... they could be bad news, Niisama."
"Indeed, just as Framea sama said, they might be spies from some nation, trying to expand their borders," Rigurd expressed his opinion.
"Hmm..." Rimuru pretended to think while he asked Ciel, 'It's her right?'
"Hey, Framea, how is your training coming along?" Rimuru inquired.
"Pretty good, I would say," Framea replied. "I still can't use [Usagi Battle Mode] without almost killing myself, but other aspects of my Ultimate Skill and my overall battle skills are coming along well."
"Good. In that case, I have a task for you..."
******
Deep inside the Jura Forest, it was a calm afternoon. Small animals and birds were enjoying the warm weather when suddenly, the tranquility as four humans sprinted desperately for their lives, relentlessly pursued by a horde of Giant Ants.
This group of humans consisted of four adventurers. The first two were men named Kaval and Gido, dressed in standard adventurer gear. The third one was a young woman named Eren, also wearing similar adventurer gear. The last one was another young woman named Shizu, donned in a white cloak and top, along with black pants. Her face, meanwhile, was covered behind a mask.
"This is your fault, Kaval!" Gido accused, not stopping his feet. "You just had to stab the Giant Ant nest with your sword!"
"Shut up! Quit complaining about your leader!" Kaval retorted.
"For a leader, you are way too careless!" Eren screamed at Kaval. "If I die, I swear I'll come back to haunt you."
"Hahaha!" Kaval laughed in response. "That's not possible because I will be dying with you!"
Meanwhile, the fourth member of their group, Shizu, just let out a tired sigh as she observed the antics of the group. It had been three days since she started traveling with this group, and she was surprised by how much trouble a single adventurer's party could get into in such a short time. And honestly, it takes a lot to surprise her, considering all the things she had gone through.
However, she could not deny that, despite their shortcomings as adventurers, the three of them were good people. Besides, Fuze had specifically asked her to watch over them, though he hadn't disclosed the exact reason for hiring her on this seemingly straightforward reconnaissance mission. He had only instructed her to protect them if the need arose.
So, as Shizu realized that running away wasn't going to get them out of trouble since the Giant Ants were hell-bent on taking their revenge, she stopped and faced towards the ants, unsheathing her sword.
"Shizu!" "No, don't!" Eren and Kaval said as their party stopped as well, refusing to leave Shizu behind.
Flames swirled around Shizu's blade as the Giant Ants closed in on her. 'I need to end this quickly... I won't last much longer,' thinking to herself, she moved, and in one swift motion, Shizu unleashed a torrent of flames upon the approaching horde of Giant Ants, reducing them to ash.
Undeterred by her attack, more ants rushed toward her to attack. Shizu jumped at the ants with her blazing sword, beautifully maneuvering through them, slicing one Giant Ant after another.
Meanwhile, Kaval and his party watched the unfolding scene with wide open mouths. "Wow..." Eren whispered to herself, her voice filled with awe. Their amazement, however, was short-lived as Eren spotted a giant ant that still had some fight left in it, rushing towards Shizu from her blind spot. "Shizu, that one is still-"
Hearing Eren's words, Shizu hurriedly turned around and readied her blade to defend herself; however, just then, a wave of pain surged through her body and mind, causing her to collapse to her knees.
Eren screamed Shizu's name as the Giant Ant closed in on the defenseless Shizu. However, just before the ant could reach her, a rabbit girl leaped out of a nearby tree, her leg raised high above her head. "Luna Arc!" the rabbit girl shouted, delivering a powerful blow with her raised leg directly onto the Giant Ant's head, shattering its skull into pieces. The force of the attack crushed the ground beneath the ant, creating powerful winds and a cloud of dust that enveloped the entire area.
"Shizu!" Eren immediately rushed towards Shizu, who no longer had her mask on her face, revealing her black eyes as well as a red burn scar under one of her eyes. Enveloping Shizu in a hug, Eren asked, "Are you okay? That ant didn't hurt you, right?"
"No, I am unharmed, but..." Shizu replied, then turned towards the cloud of dust where once the Giant Ant stood.
Slowly, the dust settled, revealing a beautiful bunny girl with brown hair and a wide grin, walking towards Shizu while holding her mask in her hand. Seeing her approaching, Kaval and his party immediately went into a defensive stance.
Not bothered by their caution towards her, the bunny girl continued walking and stopped in front of Shizu, offering her the mask in her hands, "Here miss, this is yours, right?"
Shizu accepted the mask, placing it back on her face. "Thank you for saving us," Shizu smiled at the rabbit girl.
"No worries! I just did what my Niisama asked me to do," the bunny girl replied with a smile. "Name's Framea, by the way, and luckily for you, my Niisama has invited you to our village!"
"Your Niisama invited us?" Eren asked.
"Yep! Our security team told him about you guys and how you were being chased by the Giant Ants. Upon hearing about you guys, he really felt bad since, you know, Giant Ants are amongst the weakest monsters around here, so he deduced that you must be really weak to be chased by them," Framea said in a cheerful voice, not noticing the dark clouds forming on the top of Kaval, Gido, and Eren's heads. "So just to give you a break, my Niisama decided to invite you guys over to our village."
"The offer doesn't sound bad but..." Kaval hesitated, glancing at Shizu.
"I think we should accept the invitation," Shizu suggested. "All of us could really use some rest right now... besides, she just saved our lives; it would be rude to distrust her without meeting her brother first."
"Great! Let's go; Niisama is waiting for you," Framea said and began walking towards the village, with Shizu and the others following her.
******
"This... is not a rabbit village," Kaval said as he and the rest of his party stood outside the village gates. "This looks more like a goblin village... really tall and strong-looking goblin village."
"Huh?" Framea looked at Kaval and tilted her head. "I never said this was a rabbit village, did I?"
"No, you didn't, but still, we weren't expecting this..." he said, gesturing towards the village while Framea just shrugged, not caring about what he expected or not.
Then, just as Framea set foot inside the village, Rigurd came running towards them and approached. "Welcome back, Framea-sama, and it seems you brought the people Rimuru-sama had invited to the village," he said, and Framea nodded in confirmation. "In that case, welcome to Tempest," Rigurd bowed his head. "Now, please follow me; we have prepared some food for you."
As they followed behind Rigurd, Shizu observed the village and found herself genuinely surprised at how happy everyone looked around her. Even though most of them were busy with work, all wore smiles on their faces. Then, some Hobgoblin children who were running around the town suddenly stopped in front of them to greet Framea and Rigurd. They curiously glanced at Shizu and the others, asking who they were. Once they learned that they were Rimuru's guests, the children politely bowed to them and ran away again.
'It's always nice to see children being so happy and well,' Shizu thought, a smile forming behind her mask.
Then Rigurd led them to one of the medium-sized houses and served them food, which Kaval and his party immediately jumped on. Shizu, too, decided to eat some food; however, unlike Kaval and his party, she refrained from eating like her life depended on it. At one point, the dining table turned into a battlefield when Kaval, Gido, and Eren started fighting over the meat, only stopping when Rigurd intervened, requesting more meat to be served to them
However, at that moment, another voice drew their attention, "I'm pleased to see you're enjoying our cuisine." Turning towards the source, they spotted a blue-haired man entering the room, accompanied by the white-haired woman following closely behind him.
Just as curiosity about these newcomers sparked among the group, Framea happily skipped towards the blue-haired man. "Hello, Niisama," she said with a beaming smile. "I brought these people here safe and sound, just like you had asked."
"You did great," Rimuru praised, ruffling her hair. "As a reward, you can take the rest of the day off."
"Really!?" Framea exclaimed with gleaming eyes. "Does this reward extend to training as well?"
"Don't push it," Rimuru rolled his eyes, giving a light chop to her head, which prompted her to grumble about 'stingy brother and stingy rewards.'
Meanwhile, Shizu couldn't help but wear an amused smile as she watched the interaction between Rimuru and Framea. By now, it was clear to her that both of them were not biological siblings, but the way they interacted just reminded her of one. However, no matter how heartwarming the scene in front of her was, she wasn't blind to the power that Rimuru and the white-haired woman held. Additionally, she didn't know why, but the presence of the white-haired woman felt similar to a certain Demon she had faced in her past.
Ignoring Framea and her grumbling, Rimuru turned towards his guests, but then, when his eyes landed on Shizu, she noticed a myriad of emotions flashing through his eyes until he managed to compose himself again. Now, that wasn't the reaction Shizu was expecting, especially from someone she had never met before. So she observed Rimuru more closely, and suddenly something clicked in her mind... something that Eren noticed as well.
"He kind of looks like Shizu... but still different... somehow," Eren whispered in a low voice. Indeed, Shizu thought the same thing; however, upon closer observation, she realized that Rimuru looked as if her body was molded to look appealing to males and females alike. Like he held a divine charm that radiated out of his eyes and smile, giving off a reassuring yet intimidating feeling, depending on which side of him you were on.
"Hello, my name is Rimuru Tempest, and I am the head of this village," Rimuru introduced himself. "I hope you enjoyed the meal."
"Yeah, it is really great!" Kaval said, still chewing on the piece of meat in his mouth.
"By the way, is there any particular reason why you invited us to your village, Rimuru-san?" Shizu asked while taking a sip of her tea.
"Well, there were two reasons for it, one of which Framea must have informed you about," Rimuru stated, noting the embarrassed expressions on Kaval and his party's faces. Then, the atmosphere shifted as Rimuru took a seat in front of them, resting his face against his fist. "The second reason I invited you here is because I know that you are here to investigate me and my village, isn't that right?"
Kaval and his party choked on their food upon hearing Rimuru's accusation. "No! No! It's not like that, Rimuru-san!" Eren Eren exclaimed frantically, shaking her hands. "We were just told to investigate the abnormalities in the forest."
"Like the sudden emergence of a village in the Jura Forest?" Rimuru asked, raising his brow. "You see, your guild master, Fuze, is a very sharp and cautious man, so when he got a tip about our little humble village, he sent you to investigate us. And don't even try to deny it, after all, if that wasn't the case, why would he send Ms. Conqueror of Flames here with you," he said gesturing towards Shizu.
"What!!!" Eren, Kaval, and Gido exclaimed and looked at Shizu, who nodded in confirmation.
"Now..." Rimuru said in a bored voice, once again getting their attention. "What should we do with you? After all, I don't like people putting their noses in my business, you know?" he said, eyeing the three adventurers, who were looking pale with fear.
Meanwhile, Shizu, observing from the sidelines, felt uncertain about how to react. Typically, she would have intervened to defend her companions by now. However, something felt off about how Rimuru was threatening them. She couldn't feel even a speck of negative emotion coming off of him.
"Niisama, stop it! You are going too far..." Framea interjected with a tired sigh. "Look at that poor girl," she pointed at Eren, "you were almost going to make her cry."
"Oh..." Rimuru responded, glancing at Eren, who had tears welling up. "Sorry, I was just kidding, my bad," he said, diffusing the tension in the air.
"What kind of joke was that!!!" Eren, Kaval, and Gido comically exclaimed, their fear turning into a mix of relief and irritation.
"Anyway, you don't have to be so scared. After all, as long as you are not a threat to me or mine, I am as harmless as a slime," Rimuru said with a cheeky smile. "And trust me, I am not a bad slime!"
Suddenly, Shizu let out a muffled chuckle, getting everyone's attention. 'That line...' she thought to herself as she connected the dots in her mind. 'Well, it seems you are more interesting than I thought, Rimuru-san.'
******
Later that evening, Shizu found herself outside the village, standing on a hill, gazing at the sunset, and relishing the calm atmosphere that surrounded her.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" hearing a familiar voice, Shizu turned around and saw Rimuru approaching her with a smile.
"Yeah, it's lovely," Shizu said, turning her head back towards the sunset. "Rimuru san, that line you used earlier, 'I am not a bad Slime!' was from a game, right?"
"Yeah, it was," Rimuru nodded his head. "Have you played it before?"
"No, I never played it myself, but I have heard it from someone else from my country," Shizu replied and turned towards Rimuru. "Are you from Japan, too?"
"Yeah, I was, but then I got stabbed and got reincarnated here in this world," Rimuru explained with a chuckle, as if recalling a memory from a distant past.
"I see," Shizu said and removed her mask, revealing her beautiful smile. "I am glad I met you."
"You were summoned here, weren't you?" Rimuru asked with a sad smile.
Shizu was taken aback by his sudden question, but she soon calmed down and nodded, "Yeah, I am summoned and cursed..." she said, looking at her feet, unintentionally missing a frown on Rimuru's face. Then she looked up and asked, "How did you figure it out?"
"I can sense it... the spirit inside of you," Rimuru said, noticing how visibly Shizu tensed. "Unfortunately, I can also sense how your body is getting weaker with each passing minute, and that spirit will burst out soon."
"I know that... soon my body will fail, and Ifrit will take control over me," Shizu said in a stoic voice. "And honestly, I am not afraid of dying... I never was, but there are still some promises I would like to keep before my time comes."
"And what if I tell you that I can help you?" Rimuru asked, and Shizu turned towards him with wide eyes. "What if I tell you that I have a way to save you? If I could give you a chance, do you still want to live?"
"I-I..." Shizu didn't know how to respond to that. Gathering her thoughts a little, she continued, "If I could get a little more time, I might be able to help those kids-"
"I am not talking about that," Rimuru interrupted her as he walked forward and grabbed her shoulders, looking straight into her eyes. "Shizu, I promise you that no matter what you decide, I will help your students. Shizu, I swear on my name that I will not let them die," normally Shizu would have questioned Rimuru how he knew about her students, but right now she was too mesmerized by the look in his eyes that held promise and reassurance, making her believe that he would keep his promise no matter what.
"Shizu, I am asking if you would still like to keep living in this world, without any promise or debt tying you to this world?" Rimuru clarified.
'Would I like to live?' she asked herself, and the answer was immediately in front of her eyes. This was a world that took so much from her, a world that gave her so much pain, a world that kept testing her in ways she couldn't even think of. Why would she ever want to keep living in such a cruel and bleak world?
However, just as she was about to answer with a 'no,' she looked at him and was taken aback by what she saw. Rimuru appeared so scared and helpless, as if he already knew her answer. His eyes refused to look anywhere but at her face, silently pleading for her to say 'yes.' His hands held her protectively, as though he feared she would vanish if he let her go. At that moment, Shizu realized that Rimuru wanted her to live even more than she had ever wanted to herself.
"Rimuru..." Shizu said as she gently removed his hand from her shoulder and held it between both of her hands. "... What is it that you're trying to hide from me?"
Rimuru thought for a moment, trying to come up with an answer. In the end, he decided to be honest with her. "I cannot tell you everything; however, I can show you some of it," he said, creating a privacy barrier around them. Then, he held her hand and continued, "Come on, let's go down memory lane."
To be continued...