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“—and so, I need your help.”
You nod, and cross your arms (human bodies make posing so much easier), and stare at Rimuru, determined.
It's a flawless plan. It's a flawless plan, because you designed it. It's a win-win situation for everybody!
Okay, maybe you did get inspiration from something you read once, but you adapted it. Refined it.
The point is, it'll profit Rimuru, and it'll profit you, and through him it'll profit everybody, so!
As you almost start to fidget, Rimuru leans his chin on the back of his hand, staring at you with slightly narrowed eyes.
“You're producing too many magicules,” he says, in a tone that's perfectly even yet somehow gives you a strange, faint sense of approaching doom.
No, that's stupid. You are Veldora Tempest. You survived centuries of being locked up alone. You are stronger than ever now, with this name and this bond. There is no doom for you.
“Y-yes, that's right! It really is tragic, to be as powerful as I am.”
“I see. How strange. I thought the labyrinth would be enough to manage it.”
“I-it helps! A lot!” You should have thought this through more. “It's just that—I worry if I release too much, it'll leak up into the upper levels and spawn some real scary monsters! And then they'd make takoyaki out of your baby level adventurers when they want to try going in for the first time!”
Okay. Not bad for an improvisation.
Rimuru's eyes shine. He smiles lightly, almost looking impressed.
Hopefully, he's impressed at how considerate you are for his adventurers.
Somehow, though, you feel your heart beating faster, even though it shouldn't matter because this body isn't actually human anyway.
“Well, we can't have that, can we?”
“Exactly! And that's why I need your help!”
Smiling, he sits up from his chair and walks around the table.
“Good thing you told me. I'll try and come up with a machine that helps evacuate them to—”
No!
“N-no, that's not good, it's—” You scramble. “It-it's urgent! Yeah!”
“Oh? Why didn't you tell me earlier, then?”
“I—I thought it'd be okay, but… Rimuru, come on, please…”
He grins, pets your cheek lightly, then transforms back to slime form, sitting on his desk.
“Fine. Since you came all the way here, I'll be nice and help you personally.”
Yes! Score!
“Yes! Thank you, Rimuru. You're not my sworn friend for nothing!” You stand taller, regaining confidence. “So, I need you to drain my magicules. You can still do that, right? With our bond.”
“Hmm, maybe. Worst case scenario, I can always eat you again for a while.”
You shudder a little. So maybe last time hadn't been that great, because you stayed in for ages, but in some ways, it was fun…
… no. You can't get distracted.
“M-maybe as a last resort. I'm sure doing it normally is fine, though!”
You obviously can't see any expression on him when he's in slime form, but somehow, you still feel him grinning.
“Right. Can you hold on until tomorrow, then? I have things to do right now, and we should do this in your dungeon room just to be safe.”
You nod enthusiastically.
“Yeah! Let's do this!”
You spend the rest of the day in the dungeon to prepare. After all, if you've just had to hold back your aura for hours before, there won't be much of a point, will there? So you rest there, and let as much of it leak out as you can.
You're still not quite sure why you want to do this. It's been an itch at the back of your mind for a while. Ever since you've been freed, really. Freedom is great, but ever since, you've felt a little aimless, an addition to the city that doesn't actually come handy except as an informed threat. You miss that feeling of being useful you got a first taste of when Rimuru started using your pool of magicules to name all his people or for impressive magic.
You trusted him to make it up to you later, but you also trusted him to make good use of them. And imprisonment aside, in the end, it had been… a good feeling.
Not to mention the strange peaceful sensation of being drained. Being powerful is good, but sometimes being a little less Charged With Apocalypse Levels Of Power is restful. At least for a while.
You feel a little bad for tricking him, but in the end, he has a lot to gain out of it too, so it's okay, right?
… maybe you'll confess and apologise. Rimuru's a nice guy. He'll probably do it anyway. Probably.
Just as you start actually putting together the words to a decent apology, he appears in front of you. Is it morning already? You were so caught up in your thoughts that you didn't notice time passing.
“Rimuru! My friend!”
You have to admit, that Demon Lord outfit he's come up with looks good on him. Especially the boots. You're a fine appreciator of style and coolness, after all, if you say so yourself, and the contrast between his ethereal moonlight-blue hair and the darkness of his clothes, between his delicate beauty and the martial flair of his outfit, makes him striking in more ways than one. Honestly, you'd gladly say he comes close to rivaling you in coolness, and that's saying something.
When he walks up to you with a smile on his face, though, that same outfit makes your heart beat faster in a nervous way. For real, this time.
“Morning!” he says, cheerfully. “Let's get started.”
“Ah, before that, there's something I wanted to talk about—”
“Can it wait?”
“Well…”
He sighs. “I don't have all day, you know. We can talk, but I'm not sure I'll have time to stay much after that.”
The extremely long-winded (precise and detailed! It's called precise and detailed!) explanation you'd more or less glued together in your mind collapses.
“… it's fine.”
He grins.
“Well then. Be a good dragon and lay down, will you? We can't have you collapsing in the middle of it.”
As if anyone could make you do that! Hah! … although, if anyone could, it would be him. You decide to obey and lay down.
You curl up in a sleeping position, your head cushioned over your forelegs. In this place, you actually have room to stretch your tail out, but it's more comfortable to keep it tucked around you. It's cosy. You actually kinda like cosy. Maybe it's all those years spent alone in that cave.
You expected him to press his hand to you or something. Instead, he turns back to slime form, and slide-hops his way up your body, all the way to your head, and sits on top.
“Are you ready?”
“Y-yes.”
The shiver that ran down your neck was at the unexpected sensation. Totally.
“Hm, hm, hm~” he hums. Before you can brace yourself, you become hyperaware of the bond between you, like it's being tugged on, and you don't even have time to gasp before your magic starts draining out of you.
Okay, so maybe it's a minuscule amount compared to your overall reserves. Maybe you wouldn't even notice it being gone if you weren't so focused on it happening. But in reality, the flow is massive, and that he can siphon that much out of you so fast despite his small size is dizzying. He really is a Demon Lord.
Maybe you hadn't quite understood how powerful he'd become. How large are his own reserves even? How long can he keep this going?
You shudder a little, and he hums again. It's a good thing you're laying down after all, because your legs are feeling noticeably weak.
“Now,” he says, pleasantly, still sucking in your magic, “care to tell me why Ramiris came to tell me the level of magicules in the labyrinth has been on the rise since last night? Or should I make a hypothesis?”
You freeze. Which is to say, you don't change anything, because you already weren't moving, but the sudden tension and almost fear buzzing in your entire body sure is different.
“I—that's—”
“I know you can hold in your aura much better than that. So you'd have been able to hold on until I got there, if it was actually overflowing. So let me take a guess.” You shudder as he leisurely slides from the top of your head, stretching towards your ear. “You weren't overflowing at all.”
“I…”
“You're not overflowing, Veldora. I calculated this dungeon carefully. Or are you doubting Raphael now?”
“N-no…”
“In fact, even after your little stunt, the upper levels are still fine. The rest will dissipate in a few days. But your aura seems to be lower than usual. So what's all this about, hmmm?” And before you can say more, he stretches over you even more, whispering: “I think you just wanted me to suck you dry.”
Dragons don't whimper. Dragons absolutely don't whimper. That's not what that sound was.
“So, when were you going to tell me?” Suddenly, the flow speeds up, pulling even more of your strength away. Now, the actual amount he's taking is starting to be felt. “Maybe I should actually suck you dry… teach you a little lesson.”
“I-I was going to! You said we didn't have time!” You gulp. You could totally throw him away if you wanted, but somehow you're still scared, the calmness of his voice drawing the opposite emotion out of you, and at the same time, deep inside, a little voice whispers that maybe you wouldn't actually mind at all. “B-besides, how would you even hold all that power?”
“Oh, don't worry,” he says, cheerful. “I knew I'd be able to take a lot, so I went ahead and assigned a bunch of official position titles to some of my citizens—I was putting it off anyway—and worked some large scale magic I'd been thinking of for a while… I used up a lot, so I have a lot of space. And I can always store the rest in my stomach.”
“Th-that's…”
You trail off, and he hums quietly for a while, keeping a steady flow of magicules going, silently sapping your strength. And then, suddenly, he retracts back to the top of your head and laughs.
“I'm just messing with you. I knew what you were up to from the start.”
“Wh-what!?”
“You were so transparent, I'd have to be blind not to notice. Honestly, it was hard not to call you out on it back then. Watching you trip over yourself trying to come up with excuses was fun, though. Made it worth it.”
Dragons don't blush. Thankfully. (But you still feel a little hot. Well, hotter.)
“I am a little disappointed that you thought you could trick me, though...” The flow slows, trickles. You almost pout, but thankfully, it's hard to do in dragon form.
“I'm sorry, Rimuru…”
“Tell you what! If you're good and ask nicely, I'll keep going, and even consider doing it again. If not, I'll stop.” He spreads just a little on your head, the way he does when he feels particularly satisfied, like when Shion takes him on her lap. “That'll teach you not to lie to me again.”
Come on, that's not fair! But then again, you did lie to him. Maybe you owe him. A little.
“I get it… Rimuru, keep going…”
“Tsk tsk tsk… you can do better than that.”
“… please keep going?”
He spreads even further.
“That's a good dragon,” he says, almost like a purr, and before you know it he tugs at your magic again, even stronger than before, and—Dragons do not whimper, damnit!
By now, the lowering of your reserves is actually affecting you. It's nothing you couldn't compensate for if you wanted, and even at this level, you could probably blow up the entire labyrinth and get out without breaking a sweat, but it's the sensation that gets to you.
It's… scary. Like being locked up and fading again. But at the same time, it's… restful. Exciting, in a strange calm way. Like your heart is jumping around in joy while your body sinks into the comfortable warmth of sleep.
And the weakness, pulling at your limbs, at your back, making your spine feel so heavy. You don't want to raise your head. You don't want to move, ever.
It's so different from the energy you have bursting out of you every second that it's almost as much of a relief as the first time you entered this room and released your aura into it.
You let your head sink heavier against your legs. If you could liquefy like him and spread on the ground, you would. It feels so weak and limp that it's hard to remember the nervousness you were feeling mere moments ago.
“That's better,” Rimuru murmurs, rolling a little forward and back like he's petting you. “You just needed to relax, huh?”
You let out a noise that's more like a sleepy grumble than words, but he seems to get it anyway.
“Next time,” he purrs, “tell me honestly what you want. And ask nicely. Then we can actually have fun.”
“Mmmyes…”
He chuckles.
“Good dragon.” A pause. “Who'd have thought you'd be into this, huh?” he murmurs, quieter.
“… Rimuru…”
You feel weak and a little distant, and your voice isn't loud at all.
“Hm?”
“I don't… I don't understand…”
You don't understand why you feel like this. Why it feels so good. Being so low on magicules should make you feel terrible.
He seems to soften, and spreads further over your head again, almost protectively this time.
“… it's okay. You'll figure it out over time.” The flow slows for a little bit, then speeds up again, and the tug makes you sink even deeper, almost like you're falling asleep. “Don't worry about it for now. I'll take care of you, so just rest.”
“Yes…”
It feels good… normally you'd feel offended at the idea that you need anyone to take care of you, but… it's not so bad. It feels good. It feels… restful.
Warm.
Your body feels a little cold, but your heart feels warm.
“Rimuru…”
“Yeah?”
“I think… I'm falling… asleep…”
He chuckles.
“Go ahead.”
“Sorry… so tired…”
It feels like you're sinking into nothingness. Deeper, deeper, and the only things you can still feel, the only things that still exist are Rimuru's safe, blanketing presence on your head, weighting you down, and the steady pull of his magic siphoning yours.
“Sleep,” he says, gently.
“Please don't… leave…” You fade. “Sworn…”
When you wake, your entire body feels so empty and weak that you almost feel sore from it.
You groan, and try to stretch. You feel so heavy still.
Right next to you, as your senses return, you feel a bright, blinding source of magic.
Rimuru.
Your heart clenches. It's happiness, but also fear. Shame.
You lied to him. But even worse, you showed him your weakness. Will he still want you to defend the city after this? Or will he think you're not good enough for even that? If he can just borrow magic from you whenever he needs it… what use does he even have for you?
You try to pretend to sleep, but it's too late. He's noticed you, and walks up to you, in human shape this time.
“Veldora.”
“… Rimuru…”
You don't know what to say, but before you can figure it out, he brings his hand up and strokes your jaw, smiling.
“How are you feeling?”
“… like I could nap for three hundred years.”
He chuckles.
“Try to be awake if someone actually makes it to this level.”
“When does that—” you yawn, and the strength of it sends his hair flying “—even happen?”
“You never know. Didn't you get enough of a lesson in not being too complacent, mister?”
The head you'd barely started to lift flops back down on the ground.
“I'm sorry, Rimuru.”
“It's fine. Just talk to me honestly next time. I care about you, okay?”
And now you're feeling hot again.
“I know that,” you mumble, refusing to look at him.
He rests a hand on your jaw again, and you cave and turn your eyes towards him. He's grinning.
“Don't underestimate me next time, hmmm?”
You nod.
“… I'm gonna take a nap,” you say, and he laughs and pats your jaw a little more before pulling back. “Wake me up if you need me.”
“Oh, I will, you can count on that.”
You bury your head back in your arms. Right now, you're tired, but you'll recover soon. And if he doesn't want to be underestimated, well…
… next time, maybe you'll ask for more.
“Sleep well, you dork dragon,” he calls, before warping away.
You smile, and let yourself sink back into sleep.
Sharing your name with him is something you'll never regret.