Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Move

Danger

Go 

No through 

Here

Yes 

The coordinator slimes send feelings of contempt throughout the colony as the mass successfully slips through a rook in the rock.

The rest of the colony sends back confirmations, resuming regular activity, seeker slimes at the mass’s edges signaling:

Safe

Safe?

Yes safe

The local coordinators' attempts to calm one odd observer weren’t working. It keeps requesting, relentless in its questioning. The coordinators shove the young slime, towards one of the herders.

The herder’s quick to tug the young observer back into the mass of the colony as it tries to seek out the danger itself, smothering the young slime. Membrane softening, melting.

Stay colony safe

The observer sends its frustration at the herder as it repeats. Membrane still firm.

Stay colony safe

The herder wraps the young slime yet to reach its proper size in a hug. But even the herder’s calming presence that makes the observer want to stay, soften up their membrane and melt into the embrace. Was not enoght to soothe the need to know that gnawed away at its mind.

The observer allows its membrane to soften, starting to stick against the older slime, the herder sending it waves of happiness at the observer's relaxed state.

It’s membrane firms, growing slick. Gathering itself, the slime bounces off a cave wall going faster than any slime should, gliding across cold rock.

Now separated from the colony the observer stretches itself out, feeling the ground before it. The danger seems to have passed.

A part of its body is lost, danger!

Despite all the surrounding food sources, it’s hungry. It wants danger to go away. Joy fills the slime as the danger relentlessly struggles against its inevitable fate. No longer moving, the slime encases its body, the observer buzzing from the reward of new information.

As it dissolves the danger, it feels odd. Did it not dissolve the danger? But the danger is gone, the body’s magicules taken to be used. Yet it feels there is more to be done.

The slimes body stretches again, movements frantic as anxiety creeps in, its hunger now satiated. It knows what the danger was. Knows its body, the hard plates, sharp hooks and spikes. Evey soft inner part. Where the rock that held its power was.

It quickly returns back to the colony. Membrane softening at the touch of its fellow slimes, exchanging feel-good emotions between them.

The same herder finds the observer again, dosing the young slime in disappointment.

The observer keeps the signals of “can’t believe herder fell for that.” to itself. Choosing to report all the data it found. Despite its constant seeking, the slime’s an observer to the core.

The herder is unsure how to process the information. The observer is unsure how to properly communicate it all. It can’t find the right signals for it all.

Regardless, it tries. 

Struggles.

And fails.

The observer doesn’t mean to worry the herders, coordinators, guards, seekers, younglings, and fellow observers but it can’t stop. 

It always manages to find a way out, slip out, slip back in and report. Trying to be the observer it was supposed to be, even if it often crossovered with the resident seekers and guards when it came to colony tasks. Even if the data was hard to fully communicate, the slime tried again and again.

Frustration was a feeling it quickly grew used acquitted with and the herder’s complaining. It was just looking out for the colony. The colony learns to understand, sending it zaps of joy and gladness that their odd observer returned with more data, happy that the observer is happy, but despite their acceptance, the colony can’t understand their odd observer.

Frustration skims the edge of anger. Even when the herders finally learn to stop bothering it. The observer is happy to be part of the colony, want to be, needs to, it’s a slime. But the thought of something more, something bigger nagged at it like a danger tearing at its membrane.

Even when staying near warm spots, letting it’s membrane soften to let the small-life in. Enjoying the intoxicating effects of the small-life’s byproducts like the rest of the colony: the observer was not satisfied. Unable to loose itself fully in the euphoria.

The herders notice the observer’s want to leave again, its desire leaking into their interactions with their colonymates. As it edges closer again to where the seekers and guards usually dwelled, a herder follows.

Herd need?

It stops. The observer now the same size as the herder. The observer has never wished to herd and start a colony, it's too odd to be a proper herder. But perhaps?

Yes. Herd need.

The observer feels something click inside like a rock being broken by a danger, releasing the water hidden behind. 

That stream pushes them to leave, the herder, the colony sending encouragements, countless membranes softening, melting and sticking against them. They let go one final time.

The slime wanders.

Covering stone floors, both hot and cold, spiked and flat.

They feel no anxiety, no need to turn back, not with so many dangers to absorb, dissolve and analyze. 

Some dangers prove too strong to just dissolve. The danger keeps moving, tearing pieces out of the slime's body. For most, they manage to slip past its defences and tear out the danger’s inner rock that buzzes with strength.

The slime stretches out, the body eventually reaching wetness. Water.

The water’s moving, making the slime’s membrane stiffen so as not to get damaged by the danger. 

As they spread themself out the slime finds the stone in the moving water’s smoother, thinner than the parts above. 

Out of all the dangers, water has always been their favourite. So lifeless yet so animate, the perfect herder for countless living dangers and small-life.

Moving water is danger to rock?

They absorb and store the water, aiming it at a rock. Their body circles the drenched rock checking the groves.

Slow danger then.

But if they make the water go faster?

Their gelatinous body shakes, rumbles passing through the rock, overtaking the water’s rhythmic drum. Danger!

They buzz with frustration at the rude interruption, but that frustration soon dissolves. 

From what they can tell from the rumbles, the danger’s arched in striking position. 

Given enough water the danger’s pushed back but it’s not enough to make the danger cease.

They put all the power they have into the last burst of water. The water cutting through the danger, making warm liquid cover the cold rock. 

They absorb the danger, analysing it’s make up. Its long body with parts sticking out to help it move draws the slime’s attention, they’ve always wondered what it was like to have those, but what drew their attention the most was the layers of plates covering its membrane, plates tougher than any regular rock. What are these plates even made of? The slime reviews their pool of data, they need to think better, they need…

[Extra skill: Sage] 

The odd, familiar feeling, reverberates through their mind, and despite the nature of the reverberation being foreign to them, the slime understands, though the shock makes them spit out the dead danger.

What was that?

They approach the partly dissolved danger again. Following instinct they access whatever the odd reverberations said they’ve acquired.

[Sage]

The data rushes past them faster than water, the danger’s body perfectly destructed and reconstructed in their mind. They know everything, they can feel it so clearly the slime could take the danger’s form.

Take its form? That’s not herdering fever is it?

It continues to nag at their mind as the slime continues to analyse and store all the things it’s finding, like the still-life. There's far too much of it. Where are all the things they’re eating even going?

Somewhere. It’s odd, like whatever the “extra skill: Sage” is weird. Maybe it’s like that too? But they haven’t heard that odd rumble before have they?

When they were a fraction of the size, a youngling that’s just recently split from a herder.

Hunger has always plagued them, despite never starving.

The desire to hunt. 

[Unique skill: Predator] 

Unique?

The slime can't find a signal that directly correlates, even with Sage’s help. Just approximations, like with most of their thoughts. 

Again, it’s endlessly vexing but at least they know where it’s going, somewhat. 

What a hopeless observer they are. The slime goes back to indulging themselves in hunting, absorbing hard rocks, still-life, the danger’s inner rocks, and other rocks.

As a long, appendage-less danger’s body falls they try actively using the skill.

[Predator]

They feel the danger’s body goes somewhere after analysis has been completed. Again, they want to use its body. The body that’s gone?

No wonder they were such a pain for the herders. Wanting things that don’t exist.

But they really have nothing better to do, besides eating more rocks, still-life, harder rocks, and dangers.

Mimicry.

Their membrane shifts, plates growing on top of the former dangers, now their membrane. 

Some odd membranes blackout the lay of the land that the former danger could feel.

When the membranes leave, the observer’s flooded with data they didn’t even know existed. Can this danger feel everything around, without touching?

The slime, as the long, appendage-less danger slithers towards a hard, smooth rock with sharp edges. It’s different from the other rocks that the slime knows, when dissolved the hard ones give them buzz, like a danger’s inner rock.

But the difference was never so easy to discern. The slime had to pay attention to the buzz radiating from the source. Now they could tell what rocks have a buzz without needing to feel.

Exhaustion starts to chip away at them, making the slime have to drop the danger’s form. They wonder if they could feel like the danger too. The buzz is everywhere, just concentrated in certain places, like the hard rocks or living dangers.

If they could just feel like the danger, They wouldn’t have to keep losing parts of their body to dangers feeling out the terrain. The feeling was unpleasant, to say the least. Painful.

They feel the odd revelations in their mind again, announcing to the slime they’ve acquired [Magic Sense].

It allows them to feel like the danger better even, dissolve more dangers, better aim the short bursts of water and whatever attacks the danger’s various abilities gave them. They take a liking too using a 12 appendaged danger’s string, if they aimed it right the slime could even pull an inner rock outside a danger.

They spark with joy, gleefully going further and further away from the colony, slipping through cracks, climbing up gaps, sliding down smooth rock. 

There were so many dangers, so many dangers they could dissolve and analyze.

But eventually, they grow bored, dangers longer new, just more of the same, no longer dangerous to them. There were barely any dangers left anymore, just the water and stalactites 

The slime keeps going, bouncing off the walls, using the momentum to slide across the rock at blinding speeds.

Their body goes splat against a wall. But it’s not rock.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Veldora felt like he was dying from boredom and not… that other thing, but he'd mulled over that point for long enough. 

Problem was that it was even more boring than usual when he broke his daze, hopelessly trying to break the barrier again. All Veldora could hear was the stream that ran through the cave, the occasional water droplet falling from a stalactite. It was odd to say the least, with an aura as great as his, the cave should be swarming with monsters.

Is he dying already? Is this it for this incarnation of Veldora the great and powerful Storm Dragon, foolishly brought down by his own hubris. 

In his defense the hero was beautiful, distracting with movements so well practiced and fluid, giving him the fight of his lifetime. 

Veldora would rather not acknowledge Velzard’s existence. The hero was far nicer than her. Yet both want to kill him. He almost breaks into a laughing fit.

Perhaps he should mull over it some more, maybe then his next incarnation wouldn't be so foolish. He does not get exhausted, no the Storm Dragon is far too great for that, but it would be nice to just lie down for a bit.

Until his definitely not a nap was interrupted by something slamming against Ultimate Imprisonment's barrier. 

Nothing ever dared to approach him, not even the strongest of monsters in this cave. 

The thing that had slammed into the barrier gathers itself. 

It’s a slime. The only one around. The only living thing near him.

Call him insane, and after all this time perhaps he is, slimes are thoughtless creatures, mere insects beneath him, and yet.

{Hello little one!}

The slime’s two markings, similar to squinting eyes, turn towards him. Is it an unique?

{Who are you?}

It… No. They can speak! That’s hilarious, is he going insane? This should be impossible, most definitely this monster is unique. This is great, perfect! Even if  “anomaly from the abyss” better describes them, the slime’s obviously the culprit behind the recent mass extinction event and clearly intelligent. How long has it been since someone last talked to him?

{I am Veldora! The great and mighty Storm Dragon!}

{What’s a storm? And what’s a Veldora.}

How do you describe a storm to someone who doesn’t know what life outside the cave exists? Would it be better if he never knew too? Veldora wishes, but he wouldn’t be here if that were the case.

The slime stay still, eagerly awaiting answers. This was the first living thing they’ve met they could eloquently communicate with, but the Veldora was sure taking forever. Drastic circumstances require drastic solutions.

{Where are you going!}

They feel the Veldora’s desperation filter through, whatever this odd form of communication was, like signals straight to the mind, more complicated than just emotion.

{Oh I’m bored, might just move on. Are you going to answer or not?}

{Of course I will! I was just about to share. I am not “a Veldora” my name is Veldora! If species is what you’re referring to, I am a True Dragon, the strongest of all races, nature given will! We True Dragons are embodiments of it, the storm is mine. Tempests, squalls, tornadoes, hurricanes!}

{Um okay. So through Magic Sense, I get that a tornado is like, a lot of spinning wind. So is a storm like that?}

{Yes! Though they are more than just wind, they are destructive, unstoppable, like I! It really doesn’t matter what element it is; a snowstorm, a firestorm, a thunderstorm, though usually storm refers to the latter, the kind that happens in the sky.}

{What’s the sky?}

Veldora is glossing over the fact the slime has Magic Sense, because of course it does and somehow it’s not even scared of him. Then again the slime did say they were bored. Veldora wonders how long the slime’s been alone, as demi-spiritual lifeforms, slimes don’t age past maturity. It could have been centuries, months, or hours the little one has been alone. Like him.

But he doubts the slime would have a concept of time to answer with if he were to ask. The slime doesn’t even know what night and day are, or anything beyond some cave, monster, and combat-related factoids, as well as rocks, far too much about rocks. In all his greatness, Veldora admits he might not be the greatest teacher but he is doing pretty well for someone with no experience, if he does say so himself. Even if it’s giving him a headache trying to explain what colours are without reference or a concept of sight or light.

Like an adorable little parasite, the slime grows on him as he teaches them the basics, to be the best of his limited ability.

{So how did the “great and mighty” Veldora, the strong among the strong, an unstoppable force of nature, get stuck here?}

It seems Magic Sense wasn’t the only skill the slime has learned on their own.

{Ah you see, let this be an important lesson for the future. I was, for once truly enjoying battle, having found the first playmate that could keep up with me. The hero put up such a valiant fight, it was like nothing I’ve had before, all my enemies trembled before me! But she stood and fought, she was… she beautifully took advantage of my weakness. I thought there was no way for someone like her, a human to defeat me, and yet, here I am.}

The True Dragon lets out a defeated sigh, all four wings growing slack against his body. 

The slime wants to comfort him, body pressing against the barrier, trying to send feelings of comfort through Unlimited Imprisonment’s barrier.

{Thank you, little one.}

{Can I help you somehow?}

{Break Unlimited Imprisonment? I’m not sure how that’s even possible. I’ve been trying since I got stuck here three centuries ago.}

{Didn’t you say there's more stuff outside of the cave? A whole world?}

{Yes, I did?}

{Why not I go there, collect data, maybe even reverse-engineer the barrier from how the hero did it and ta-da, free Veldora!}

"KWAH-HA-HA-HA! FWA-HA-HA-HA!" Veldora's laughter booms through the cave, making water droplets fall from stalactites. Despite how ludicrous the ‘plan’ is he can’t help to believe there’s a chance. It dies down as the other fact makes itself apparent. 

{You’re going to leave aren’t you.}

{I’ll be back, don’t be an idiot, idiot.}

Again, where does that attitude come from? But no one’s ever thought to just talk to him like a friend, let alone help him, brushing off his immense aura as “free food.” He does really owe it to the slime. 

{Wait! Before you go I have one last thing for you.}

{Hmm?}

{Since it’s dangerous out there I will grant you the honour of sharing names with me, like siblings! To aid you in your quest and for no other reason. You can call me a brother if you wish.}

{Ha, sure. I accept this great “honour” bro~ther.}

This slime, he swears, how could he so viscerally feel that eye roll? Slimes don’t have eyes, nor the concept of one.

{Ah, that’s great, I’ll come up with your first name, you come up with our second.}

{Okie!}

Second name… Second name… What would fit both them and Veldora? Ah!

{Kwah-ha-ha-ha what a sublime name, I am Veldora Tempest!}

{So how’d you come up with Rimuru? My vocabulary is rather limited.}

{Ah I made it up, thought it sounded cool. Something suitably unique for such a unique monster as yourself.}

As Rimuru readies themselves to bounce out the supposed way out, they stop. Body reeling from the released tension.

{Hey Veldora, what does “she” mean?}

{It’s a pronoun women use.}

{What’s a women?}

{A gender.}

{What’s gender?}

Rimuru swears they can hear Veldora’s mind struggling. Two lone magicules that make up his thought processes rubbing together in hopes of creating a spark.

{It’s okay, we all can’t be perfect.}

The True Dragon huffs, the patronizing tone in Rimuru’s voice oozing off their words.

{Hey, you’re the child here, didn’t you just say you’ve reached maturity in recent memory? I’ve lived for thousands of years!}

{We all can’t perfect~ Time’s a concept anyways.}

Veldora regrets informing the slime about music and the concept of teasing. He goes back to his sulking, his life now in the slimy clutches of a young adoptive sibling. Hopefully Rimuru will be nice unlike some, the slime seems nice.

Not-sulking on the rocky floor of the cave, he hopes for some monsters will spawn soon. He is bored, capital B bored and about to die from it.

{Heeeeyyy broooo, did really you think we could only communicate being physically near? Ha, what a handy thing this is, I’m going to have so much fun~}

Veldora already both doesn’t and regrets every life choice he’s made that led up to this, even if he is relieved that he could talk still to Rimuru and be subject to whatever the demon child has thought of in the moment.

His saviour, the Storm Dragon snorts at the fact.  

Chapter Text

What is that?

Is it safe? Is it a danger?

The thing covers the exit of the cave. Fortunately, in events such as these Rimuru has it handled.

{So, Vel-bro-ra what is the warm-making thing near the exit?}

{What does it look like?}

{Look?}

{Like seeing.}

Rimuru doesn’t get it. What is seeing? Magic Sense isn’t helping.

{Rimuru don’t you have magic sense? You can see with it, like knowing something exists without having to touch, feel, smell, hear or taste it.}

{Ah that explains the new data I’ve gotten ever since I got it. So what is the warmth? It’s filling my… view?}

{Oh, is it sunlight? Do you see only one bright ball in the sky? Brightness fills up your vision.}

{Bright? So that’s what it is. Yeah only one.}

{It’s just sunlight, it’s no danger.}

Rimuru has some choice words to say to Veldora, this slime is a creature of the dark and not this accursed ‘sunlight’ thank you very much. But, the surrounding swaying still-life and noise is nice.

At least, it is before another overload of new data hits them. They start absorbing some various still-life, or “plants” according to their new brother, having to keep up defenses as the ground is soft, bits trying to cling to their membrane, the wrong types of little-life trying to permeate it, insects and worms crawling and writhing trying to get a bite.

{Hey Veldora so, I think I get colours now. So grass is green, sky is blue, cloud is white,  sunlight is the bane of my existence and bark is brown.}

{Sunlight is not a colour, Rimuru.}

{It is a fact that I needed to express.}

The slime bounces through the forest until it sees something move, a warm body filled with magicules. They stop. 

{Hey uh Rimuru, just don’t kill everything like you did in the cave okay? I’d like some forest left to witness my greatness when I make my glorious return.}

Veldora’s voice breaks Rimuru from out of their trance. 

{Yeah, yeah of course bro. So like a fifth left? How much is some?}

{And here I thought you weren't a bad slime.}

{You got me, I’m a terrible, evil slime, out to eat the world! Fwa-ha-ha!}

They turn their attention back to the monster, a water panther with glossy pitch-black fur and sapphire blue scales like Veldora’s, sniffing at the air near the river.

The monster’s quick to catch notice, but how? They should be perfectly hidden by the grass. Seeing the water panther ready to bolt, they give chase as a giant bat, steering it away from the water. They shift into a tempest serpent and coil around the water panther, the monster’s claws scratching at their scales as they squeeze.

Water’s pulled from the air, the water panther’s about to use one of Rimuru’s favorite tricks on them. How mean! Rimuru’s jaws open, shooting a concentrated burst of poisonous breath at the water panther’s face, making its agile body go limp.

Rimuru takes the water panther’s form, enjoying its flexibility. Unlike the rather stiff creatures of the cave, besides the giant bat, the water panther’s body moves as if it were fluid, like their original body, but unlike their slime body it can swim. Even if the form is bigger, meaner looking and more powerful than the original panther Rimuru ate for some reason, the water is theirs.

Swimming at such high speeds gives then a rush, like hunting or finding new data. The water panther’s no slacker on land either, that was mostly just a Rimuru problem. The slime is still painfully inexperienced in the leg department.

They go on the hunt again, in search of more data.

After far too many ambushes turning into chase-downs, Rimuru notices it’s probably them being an idiot. They can see other monster’s aura’s, so their prey must be seeing theirs.

Rimuru jumps, falling off a branch and sinking like a stone in the waters below after they see the aura. Maybe they are an evil slime.

{Heyyyyy my bestest, favorite brother in all the lands, do you know if you can hide an aura? That's a thing right?}

{Just how many have you hunted?}

{A few.}

{And?}

{Ugh, fine, twenty-si–seven now. But they’re all different species okay, the forest will be fine, oh great storm dragon. So, you know if that’s a thing?}

{While I see no need for such things, yes, it is very much possible}.

{I dunno ‘Dora, sounds like you can’t~}

{Hmfpt}

Rimuru’s not sure whether they like Veldora or hunting more. Probably Veldora, he’s so fun to tease, they could just imagine the True Dragon crossing his arms and huffing in the cave.

From that day forward Rimuru works on suppressing their aura, even if it still flows free when they’re not actively suppressing it. But that’s more progress than Veldora’s had in his life, so like the youngest sibling they are, Rimuru holds it over him. 

Over time the sunlight becomes less grating, even if Rimuru has a preference for the dim light of the night, unfortunately most of the monsters that are fun to play with sleep then. Something Veldora isn’t useful for explaining, leaving it up to Rimuru to learn.

They might have developed a habit of watching others sleep, whether monster or majin. Rimuru’s endlessly fascinated by it. Veldora calls their behaviour ‘weird’ and ‘boring’ but they can’t stop, even when said subject notices them. Standing still as a slime, aura running wild. 

Why waste time like that?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The slime sits up high in the canopy, watching the sunrise. They’ve watched every one since their first. None have been the same, but every single one was beautiful, appealing to their non-existent eyes.

They wish Veldora could see it too.

Rimuru’s mind spins, if the mental link can transmit thoughts, why not just try thinking visually? 

{Hey Veldora~} 

The slime visualizes the sunrise, the oranges, the reds and pinks, the countless trees and the shining red sun.

{And here I thought you were going to tease me, thank you.}

{No probs bro.}

It’s been about a month since they’ve left the cave, green leaves having turned yellow, red and orange, falling off the trees to litter the floor.

Ripe fruits fall, berries line the bushes, mushrooms fruit. And with the right form, like a horned bear or cowdeer, the berries and fallen fruit were tasty. While Rimuru does enjoy the fruits fresh, climbing up trees as an evil opossum or slime, the fallen, squishy fruits call to Rimuru. Giving them a buzz like the little-life’s by-products.

This behaviour leads to the acquisition of poison resistance, but with a bit of effort. Worrying that they’ve been robbed of life’s simple pleasures, Rimuru manages to find a way to turn it off, allowing them to have fun again.

{Yooooo Veeeeldora ‘ook wha’ Iiieee can dooooo. Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!}

Veldora blinks blankly in the cave as the slime sends over a mental image of themselves ricocheting off various trees and the rest of the forest in slime form.

{He he ‘Dora I ea’en  ‘ese fruits an’ now everythin’ ain't borin’! Weeeeeeeeeee!}

The slime spins around a branch as a cowdeer from the form’s head.

He sighs, dear (evil) little Rimuru is very drunk. This is his chance.

{Hey Rimuru, I dare you spook a village.}

{Spook ‘em? I can spook ‘em reaaaal goood.}

The storm dragon can’t wait, rubbing his talons in anticipation. The slime returns to their original form, body bouncing on the leaf-cluttered forest floor.

{Okie, I’m just gonna have more of the funny fruities.}

{Wait no! Just prank that ogre village you said is nearby.}

{Hmmmm, I dunno, that’s effort and people. I need a snack first.}

{You don’t even need to eat, you’re welcome for the magicules. Come on Rimuru it’ll be funny.}

Rimuru reactivates poison resistance. 

{You don’t need to take advantage of me when I’m intoxicated to prank the village.}

{Then why haven’t you?}

Veldora feels the slime’s hesitation thought the link.

{Just you know, they’re so, it’s so… }

The slime shivers at the thought. Interaction? Speaking? No thanks, they’ll keep their distance and  stare.

{You don’t have to if you don't want to. Just thought it’d be funny. Considering your short track record, I look forward to what you’re capable of.}

{Aww thanks bro, I’ll get ‘em another day.}

The slime still lurks at the village’s edge, watching its inhabitants go about their day, not too unlike their old colony. If only they had thumbs. Rimuru wants those opposable digits so bad, but while they may be mean to Veldora, the slime can’t bring themselves to eat any intelligent inhabitant. Even if Veldora doesn't care. Even if no one would know they killed that goblin. Even if they’ll face no consequences.

The slime makes their way through the long grass.

Having learnt from hunting, Rimuru carefully suppresses their aura as they edge closer to the settlement, closer the sources of footsteps felt throughout their body. But they’re distracted by a moth, chasing it instead.

A particular pair of footsteps draws Rimuru from their half-hearted chase. Light, bipedal footsteps.

It’s an ogre… youngling? They’re not sure, Rimuru doesn't have the heart to hunt Jura’s more intelligent residents. So while panicking that this might result in social interaction, they still.

The youngling’s hands reach out.

“Don’t worry silly slime, I’m not going to hurt you, can I hold you? You’re so cute with those weird eye-like markings.”

Rimuru relaxes a little at the words, though still panicking despite knowing the youngling couldn't hurt them. Rimuru doesn’t want to fight the youngling, that’ll be no fun. They complain as the pink haired ogre picks them up before they could even reply, which was rude. Though, the motions on their membrane the ogre does make up for it.

“What are you even doing here? It’s autumn, I thought slimes come out in the summer? What do you even do for the rest of the year, sleep? Die?”

Rimuru feels the need to sass the rude youngling. Unfortunately, their witty retort is intercepted by another ogre youngling. Not that they would have ever said it.

“Sister, how did you slip past again!”

She runs her hands across Rimuru’s membrane again. “He, that’s a secret. Brother I am sooooo bored, what’s wrong in stretching my legs once in a while. And look, I found this cute slime all on its lonesome! Isn’t it adorable?”

The red haired ogre squints at Rimuru with the most focus he’s ever been given in his short years of life. 

“I think something’s wrong with it, that’s probably why it’s alone. It was probably abandoned, I see a few every year.”

Rude sister, even ruder brother. Rimuru is an exemplary slime. There is nothing ‘wrong’ with them, they aren't even alone, and have they never heard of herding slimes? Maybe slimes out here are different? Rimuru doesn’t even give the last comment the light of day, abandoning a colonymate? They were lucky Veldora explained that, since slimes lack the concept. 

Rimuru’s not sure if the gentle touches are worth it anymore, there’s too much stupid in the area. Though they still wish to observe more to add to the ‘gender data pool’. So despite the rudeness they stay, they have Veldora for a brother after all. They can be patient.

The red-haired youngling is downright hysterical. “What's wrong! What’s wrong!? Sis the forest is dangerous, full of dangerous monsters that could kill you in a blink and eat you alive, unlike something as sad and weak as that weird slime. Also, mother wants you.”

“Could’ve led with that, oh wise and strong big brother, I know all that stuff already. Blah blah, we live in the middle of a monster’s den, blah blah be careful.”

Rimuru gets an idea. Perhaps motivated by spite, just a little bit.

They jump out of the pink haired youngling’s hands, shifting into a bulky water panther.

They roar, letting their aura run wild. Making the screaming younglings run faster than they ever had, pink and red hair becoming small dots in the distance. Far enough away that Rimuru could hear the sister teasing her brother for screaming like a mouse.

The water panther chuffs, so much for sad and weak huh? Picking a random direction, Rimuru breaks into a sprint. They are not interested in dealing with whatever guards get sent out to deal with them. 

Wind whips at water panther’s fur as they shoot through the forest at such a speed that nearby cowdeer don’t even worry when the water panther passes their herd.

Rimuru slows down as the terrain starts to change, trees becoming sparser, the smell of sulphur and smoke filling the air, obscuring the clear sky with grey. Their water panther form doesn’t appreciate the emanating heat.

Only their wyvern form can comfortably stand it. Rimuru doesn’t count the armorsaurus, it’s a hardy form in general. Besides, the wyvern is far more agile.

 The source of the heat moves like mud, bright as the sun before dusk, covered by black, partially cooled rock. 

Can they eat it? Would it burn them? Rimuru takes to the smoke-laden skies, getting closer to the hot, viscous liquid.

It bubbles, splashing on their snout, eating at the wyvern’s scales.

Rimuru roars in pain. Regretting coming that close. 

{So Veldora, do you know what this bright red hot stuff is? Ugh, I swear I’m going to get heat resistance any moment just by being in its vicinity.}

The mental image Rimuru provides elicits a ghost of a memory in Veldora’s mind. Was Velgrynd behind this? Was it just a natural phenomena or was this his doing? Veldora’s unsure, but he was sure of one thing. Definitely not ever having tried it himself.

{Don’t eat the lava!}

But he was too late, Rimuru was already seething from trying to eat the putrid liquid.

Burnt, in pain and having exhausted a good amount of magicules regenerating, Rimuru climbs into a nice, perfectly slime-shaped space in the rock to rest. 

Talons rip at their membrane. To Rimuru’s ire, the spot was reserved.

They’re not even bothered to find out if the bird is intelligent or not. 

The bird’s feathers burn the slime as they try to consume it. That’s fine, Rimuru’s in the mood to fight too. They shift into a evil opossum, using Body Armour to keep the flame from further burning them.

Talons and fire work to wear Rimuru’s armour thin.

The evil opossum’s jaws clamp down on the firebird’s talons, the venom-laden bite making the bird screech as it’s slammed against the wall. Rimuru pays no mind to the flames that scorch the rock, their form’s mouth biting down on its neck. It doesn’t matter if the firebird is resistant to the venom anymore, the bird is pinned beneath them. 

Blood stains the firebird's warm plumage. Its blood stains Rimuru’s ashen fur as they bite down, giving the firebird more venom, screeches and flames growing every second like a wildfire. The slime doesn’t let go.

[Individual Rimuru Tempest has acquired the skill: Heat Resistance] 

The fire soon quiets down into dead silence. 

[Predator]  

Just from that one firebird Rimuru’s magicules are fully replenished, with some to spare that the slime directs into their skill’s Stomach. 

Now where is that lava?

The slime takes the form of a firebird, noting again that the form is different from the original they ate, body larger, claws sharper, tail feathers longer with a crest on the head they could raise and lower.

Rimuru takes flight, feathers glowing a mix of white and blue like the stars above.

As if they were at a waterhole, Rimuru dunks their head, getting a taste of the lava.

It tastes like rocks. Go figure, according to further analysis lava is very hot rocks.

{Of course I won’t eat the lava, just takin’ a sip.}

They feel Veldora sigh. { Well at least you can enjoy it.}

{It’s rocks, I’m adding it to my collection.}

Some lava dribbles from Rimuru’s beak as they ready to take flight, their talons leave prints in the slowly cooling lava. With enough force it’s even squishy, like that earth called clay they’ve seen goblins making into vessels.

They change back into slime form, trying to mould the molten rock into a pot shape.

Maybe they need fingers for this, and more practice. 

They change into a phoenix to heat up the lava again with one of its skills, [Eternal Flame]. Once the rock softens again they take the form of an evil opossum, using its nibble digits to make a pot that looks more like a sad, lumpy attempt at a bowl.

Rimuru definitely needs more practice, and to observe how the goblins make those pots more. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not too far from the village a lone slime inches closer to the potter’s workshop. 

Unlike with the ogres, who’ll try to kill them if they don’t manage to properly suppress their aura, the goblins would run for the hills if the slime were to slip, making Rimuru wonder if Veldora was wrong about their strength if goblins could run, climb and swim that fast at a moments notice.

The domed building that smells of ashes at the end, separate from the workshop, is cold today. A goblin’s inside with some clay with their hands, the potter’s wheel left untouched as the goblin works the earth on a table.

Rimuru dares to inch closer, they’re not sure if they’ve ever seen the wheel so dry and clean before.

The goblin’s hands start to shape the ball of clay, nimble hands seemingly effortlessly sculpting the clay into the shape of a little song bird.

Once satisfied with the shape, the goblin gets a small wooden stick, poking a hole into the clay bird.

Rimuru watches on in rapt attention, almost losing control of their aura as the goblin carefully makes the holes.

The holes supposedly done, the goblin brings the clay bird to their mouth, the resulting sound like… Rimuru doesn’t have a reference for the echoey, bird-like tone. 

The goblin keeps adjusting the holes with the stick until the majin makes a happy noise, bringing the bird to their mouth again, playing a string of the sounds, fingers moving to cover and uncover the holes.

The sounds come together like a colony, notes swaying at the edge, entering unexplored territory, some never returning, some returning with new and interesting paths. A pattern emerges, keeps the piece together, a stable, constant presence with little variations splitting off from the parent.

The goblin looks down, setting down the little ocarina, at a lone slime on the workshop floor.

“Did you like the music lil’ slime?” The goblin laughs nervously. “I broke my last one, haven’t played in months but I guess if you’re here it wasn’t that bad.”

Rimuru’s brought out of their trance, starting to panic at the sight of a person. They start to crawl as fast as their membrane could let them.

The goblin sighs. “Fine, slimes only taste good in summer always.” The potter’s made the mistake of trying to eat a lone, late autumn slime as a child. The goblin would rather eat the kiln than taste that foul thing again. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

The moon is high in the sky, countless stars twinkling, nebulae filling the night sky with colour. A chilly gust of wind shakes the leafless branches.

A cold crystal of water falls on Rimuru. 

Followed by many more. Little crystals starting to pile up on their body.

Rimuru shifts into a firebird. The crystals melt off them, water sliding down their feathers.

They heat up even more, the temperature dropping.

{So Veldora what is this stuff?}

Rimuru takes to the skies, perching on a branch, sending over a metal image.

{Where in Jura did you eat a phoenix? Not to mention such a rare morph! Besides that, what you’re looking at is snow.}

{But I’m pretty sure I ate a typical orange, red and yellow firebird? Not a ‘phoenix’.}

{Ah, you’ve been saying some of your forms look different from the original, haven’t you?}

{Well, I mean I can take the firebird’s form if I try hard enough but my skill defaults to this phoenix one.}

{I suppose there is another thing I forgot to tell you.}

{Other than snow?}

Veldora would rather forget ice exists, the vague reminder of Velzard having him shivering. 

{Given enough magicules and certain criteria being met, depending on the monster or majin they will evolve into a stronger existence.}

{Huh, a guess that ‘water panther’ form isn’t really a water panther anymore. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about something so simple while you were explaining what adventurers, heroes or countries are.}

{You asked about what humans are okay! I was a little busy trying to explain all that. So can I see this form?}

{Sure bro-bro.}

Rimuru hopes they’ll be developing a cold resistance soon too. Considering how they got heat resistance they’ll probably have to go further north. Rimuru flies down from the tree, paws pressing down freshly fallen snow.

{I haven’t seen this kind before, but it’s definitely not a water panther.}

Rimuru huffs, they doubt any merchants or adventurers are going to pass through the forest in this cold, and they are not talking to anyone, no way. They lie down, snow piling on them until Rimuru remembers the two ogre younglings they scared with the form.

They shift back into phoenix form, flying towards the village.

It seems their genius has been foiled by sleep. Most of the village is dead silent. 

Except a few.

Back in their colony, the guards were great sources to gather data on dangers, before Rimuru started getting said data themselves anyways.

They obscure most of their aura, leaving some out as not to be too suspicious, aura blending into the background of the forest.

As they were hoping for, there’s a few guards making idle chatter.

And a youngling? They aren’t all too good at reading and telling apart human and human-like faces, not having one normally, nor the instincts in any form. But this one-horned, blue-haired youngling looks almost comically serious with how he’s staring into the forest.

Rimuru moves closer, the branch bouncing as they set on the new perch. 

The youngling is quick to point them out. Which, considering they’re glowing thanks to running [Eternal Flame] in the background, that’s fair. Rimuru’s noticed the ogres and a few others tend to rely on light to see in the dark, Rimuru must be a second sun to them.

Unlike their ‘water panther’ form, the phoenix is met with warm reception, one of the guards pouring something sweet from their flask, into the lid.

It smells similar to the fallen fruits, and Rimuru can’t say no to that, chirping on their way down to the guards arm, held out like a branch.

They take some of the sweet, tasty liquid, according to the phoenix’s tongue anyways as the guard pets them, making their form’s crest raise with the action. They chirp as the others pet them too.

The guard lowers his arm to the overly-serious youngling, the young ogre still staring out into the forest.

“I’ve heard it’ll give you good luck and fortune if you pet a phoenix.”

“I don’t need luck.”

“I get the training you’re put through you is intense, but it won’t hurt you to loosen up once in a while kid, all work and no play is no way to live a life.”

The youngling’s eyes turn to face Rimuru’s. A hand slowly reaches out, mirroring the motions of the other guards.

It makes them chirp, bringing a reluctant smile to the younglings face.  

“Aw look at that, our little shadow-in-training can smile.”

The youngling hides his face in his scarf. “Shut up.”

It only makes the guards laugh more.

Rimuru feels warm in the cold night, making them feel only a tiny bit bad for scaring the other younglings, they do wonder what the guards mean by ‘shadow’. It sounds like a job.

The phoenix flies off into the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

The river is frozen. This is a travesty, they can’t even swim! Rimuru sadly slides on the ice in slime form, bouncing between the river banks. At least they could pass the time molding the snow like semi-cooled lava or clay.  Their sad looking snow-doras are all beautiful in their own way, the sculpting process made harder by Rimuru’s lack of hands or cold resistance.

{Veldoraaaa, how long does this ‘winter’ thing last?}

{About 3 months, the snow won’t start to melt until early spring.}

The slime collapses. {Uuuughhh.}

{I know Rimuru, I’m not fond of the ice either.}

The slime considers using the phoenix’s flame related skills. But they should really start heading north-east, mostly east.

Rimuru takes the form of a phoenix again, the form is becoming a quick winter favourite thanks to the intrinsic skills [Eternal Flame] and [Thermosynthesis], the heat made from lightly using Eternal Flame feeds them with Thermosynthesis. 

Barren trees give way to needle-leafed ‘pine’ trees, as Veldora calls them. 

The magicules start to thin, though not low enough to have Rimuru worried. 

Unlike near the sealed cave, there’s a growing number of lifeforms untouched by magicules. 

Rimuru eats those, as a creature fuelled by magicules, life without them is so alien. They need data, along with a few monsters like the one-eyed owl or more intimidating ones like a giant bear.

Rimuru flies, still mostly as a phoenix, yet to find a monster with cold resistance or acquire it themselves. It’s so damn cold. 

Rimuru spots the tell-tale rising smoke of a fire, now as a phoenix they can’t resist the pull of warmth. As they fly closer they hear voices in the distance, the crackle of a campfire.

Yelling actually.

“Brynjar! What do you mean you didn’t notice the fucking FIVE YEAR OLD untill now?”

The speaker, covered in clothes that made Rimuru warm just looking at them, paces around the fireplace, adding more wood as two others sit nearby, one constantly checking something in a pan, another looking in a backpack.

“Quiet Sylvi, you’re going to attract attention, and don’t swear in front of the child.”

“We passed through the entirety of Dwargon and you didn’t notice until now?” 

“He’s a very sneaky 5 year old, and y’know the bag is enchanted,” Brynjar replies.

The traveler covers their face with a scarf as the chilling nighttime wind bites at their skin, Brynjar covering the shivering youngling with a heavy cloak.

None of the people near the fire had enough magicules to be majin, though the three adults were clearly strong enough to camp in Jura. 

“Bright bird!”

As payment for staying a comfortable temperature in phoenix form, Rimuru’s feather’s glowed like the sun.

“Hush Youm, we wouldn’t want to attract any predators would we?”

The accidental youngling-napper, a human? Rimuru assumes, eyes widen at the sight of them. 

Again, some liquid that smells sweet, like the fallen fruit, is poured as an offering. 

And once again, who is Rimuru to refuse? This one tastes much sweeter than what the ogres gave them. As they drink the ‘desert wine’ according to the adventurers, Brynjar pets them between checking the pan. A sweet, savoury smell fills the air.

Their happy chirping attracts the youngling’s attention.

“Is that a monster?”

The human who poured some of the desert wine, answers. 

“A phoenix, a rare blue-star morph too, they’re good luck.”

“But aren’t monsters bad?” The youngling tilts their head.

“You want in on a little secret? Just between us kiddo?” The human says as they take the pan off the fire, checking its contents are cooked.

“Yeah!”

The adult, named Davo, that’s been keeping the youngling close like a herder moves, sitting near the human that’s petting them.

“The church isn’t all that good at being correct, like with any animal, there are nice monsters out there but most are wild. You wouldn't mess with a moose, would you? And like with any human there are nice and mean majin. Do you promise to keep this a secret Youm?”

“Yes! Are phoenixes nice?” Youm asks.

“They are, and intelligent too, you can pet them like I am, just don’t grab or pull anything out yeah?”

The youngling nods, an action Rimuru assumes is another way to say ‘yes’, the youngling’s little hand carefully petting them. 

Rimuru chirps, they may as well encourage people assuming them to be intelligent, unlike some redheads. They decide to sit down, to the youngling’s amusement. Why, Rimuru has no clue, but at least they made someone happy.

Brynjar starts peeling the roasted things, giving a few to them.

“Here, have some chestnuts too.”

Chestnuts, Rimuru decides, at least as a phoenix, taste amazing. They’ll protect these humans if they’re planning on staying around. 

With more observation, considering how comfortable these humans are so far from any human settlement, the three must be these ‘adventurers’ Veldora told them about, the same species as the hero too. A lead perhaps?

They move to sit on the youngling, the small human having trouble keeping warm unlike the adult adventurers. Youm pets the slime-phoenix, eyes unable to look away from the bird glowing like a fallen star. 

While being told not too by his something-cousin something something, Youm can’t be bothered to remember other than Brynjar is cool and an adventurer, by accident, he swears it’s an accident, a feather is pulled out. 

The glow fades from the white, blue-tipped feather as it melts into a thick blue goo that reminds Youm of slime, though the goo tastes like the worst thing he’s ever had. What an odd bird. But soon sleep takes hold, the phoenix starting to sing, their song melodic and cheerful. 

A mark of territory, a warning.

Chapter Text

If it weren’t for their sleep watching habit, Rimuru would have panicked when the humans body temperatures dropped, their breathing and heart rates slowing.

It’s really such an odd thing to do. After having consumed so many beings that require sleep, Rimuru wonders if they can cobble together a replica. 

As the slime gets busy trying to construct the simulation, without any heat related skills active the cold becomes bearable as long as no snow gets on them. Rimuru could almost imagine it was late autumn again, the air and ground finally a comfortable temperature to Veldora’s confusion. They were no fan of the summer heat, their membrane complaining about all the warmth and sunlight despite any resistances. 

It was a comfortable existence, until ice crystals started to form on their membrane’s coating.

Rimuru produces more slime to dislodge the ice but it persists, like thousands of little fangs the crystals prick at their membrane, hankering for a bite. 

The frost slowly creeps past their membrane.

It’s then that Rimuru starts to wonder if they already have cold resistance, this is even worse than what they had to do to get heat resistance, but if so why are they freezing? 

A specific hunger hits them like a falling stalactite. One never felt before, but one their instincts knew what was needed.

The rock. 

Despite the danger, their slime body stretches out in search of a deposit. What traces could be found in the ground and plants isn’t enough to absolve their hunger, just enough to stave off their body from becoming an ice block.

They search and search until they find a promising site with magic sence.

A cave. 

Rimuru bolts over to the cave, after a little searching they find a beautiful deposit of the rock. While it does not shine or shimmer, and lacks even a glimmer of strength or hardness compared to other rocks, the rock makes up for that in being the only thing Rimuru can truly taste in their slime form.

The rock doesn’t really have a flavour in slime form in the typical sense, Rimuru still struggles to describe it, and what’s the point of categorising the singular. Rimuru just knows it tastes good, the rock is what they need. The taste makes their system buzz with signals of joy despite there being no other slimes around. 

Satisfied, Rimuru journeys out. Their membrane’s outer coating is no longer prone to forming ice crystals. With the rock in their body they drop any heat related skills, the cold not bothering them in the slightest. It feels natural in a sense to have this much of the rock with them. Were they deficient before? They’ve seen many Juran residents making sure their food varies so they don’t get sick from a defincity. Were they sick? 

As they bounce back to the humans they ask Veldora.

{Hey bro, do you like the rock too?}

{The rock?}

{Like the best, tastiest of all rocks?}

{Aren’t you supposed to be hibernating by now? I thought you were after all the silence recently.}

{Hibernate, what’s that? No, I got caught up in exploring. Ooo, I’ve got so much to show you!}

{Like sleeping until it gets warm enough, I’ve seen slimes dig themselves in, only emerging after the snow thaws. You haven’t been ignoring those instincts?}

{Vel-bro-ra while I get what you mean, all my instincts have told me to do so far is hunt, eat the rock, water good, and stay out of the vile thing you call sunlight. No urges to bury myself and hibernate here.}

{So, can you show me what the rock looks like?}

{Sure!}

{...}

Rimuru stops their bouncing as Veldora takes far too long to respond, making the slime worry that their brother hates the rock, they don’t know what they would do if that were the case. Disown and never speak to him again probably.

{No, there’s no way, that’s rock salt, don’t slimes die in contact with salt!? I’ve seen this myself. Rimuru are you even a slime!?}

{Rude, and what are you on about? The colony loves the rock. Honestly makes the best rock game hard to play for us observers when rock salt always wins. We always have to go by the second rock for the data to change.}

{I never thought slimes could or would play games, your colony is an odd one.}

{I dunno Veldora, it seems pretty natural to me to play around with data when there’s nothing to do, guess we’ll have to wait until the snow thaws to see if the slimes out here do too.}

Veldora looks around the cave for any possible slimes, trying to catch one in the act. Unfourtably there’s only oversized insects, bats and reptiles around. It’s like his worldview has been flipped on his head. Again, slimes loving salt? Veldora really does feel like an idiot when he complained of being bored when he was free, even slimes are complex creatures. Just how complex is the world?

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

The humans are still asleep.

Rimuru keeps a respectful distance, busying themselves with analysing the composition of the dirt until the humans rise, beating the sun.

The three adults stretch out their limbs in some strange ritual Rimuru has yet to understand. They’ve observed this occuring with the ogres, rabbitmen, and any other muscle-having residents. After a quick breakfast and relocating of the youngling back into the bag, the adventurers set off in search of spectrolite. 

The red haired human, Sylvi, leads the group with a circular object in hand and a piece of paper Rimuru learns to be a map. The slime hopes they aren’t annoying Veldora with their questions as they go on to ask about the human’s tools.

The adventurers continue in a particular direction, worrying that they might be going the wrong way. 

The party's worries are soothed as the trees start to thin.

More sunlight filters through the trees, tough grasses and shrubs peeking from the snow, moving in the growing winds.

Rimuru follows the adventurers as the group pivots, walking along the pine forest’s edge.

Boots crunch the growing piles of snow on the ground as dim fragments of sunlight filter through the hazy sky.

The youngling pops his head from the bag, instantly regretting the decision as the cold bites at his skin. 

“Oowie, where are you going anyways?”

“Right now we’re finding shelter from the oncoming blizzard,” Brynjar replies. “You can come out later, the blizzards are a lot meaner here than Falmuth.” The adventurer pushes Youm back into the bag.

The group walks down a familiar path.

They’re going to the cave too! Rimuru happily hops after the adventures, making sure to keep their blue body hidden. A task easier than ever thanks to the intensifying snowstorm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

The adventurers let out sighs of relief as they make it before the blizzard picks up, settling deeper in the oddly fragrant cave.

The cave is like the many others Brynjar has had the pleasure of exploring, though this one was thankfully devoid of any territorial monsters, or much life at all.

Youm climbs out of Brynjar’s bag as the adventurer reaches in to find some food and weapons.

With the walking closet of an adventurer busy shifting through his bag, Sylvi nabs one of Brynjar’s fur coats to sit on. As he mourns the loss of one of his dear coats, the redhead accuses him of hiding his lack of muscle with 15 coats. Which isn’t true, he has lean muscle and thin bones, he is not a “bean pole stick man that hides behind Battlewill.”

Despite the long hike, Davo’s yet to sit down, inspecting the wall in the cave.

“Is there something wrong with the cave?” Sylvi asks.

Davo runs a hand down, whining as his fingers come in contract with the expected slimy substance.

At least it isn’t eating away at his skin, the slime forming little clumps up as it picks up all the dirt on his hand. If anything it was cleaning them.

He stumbles on a larger pile of the stuff, the nearby wall still wet as the rest of the slime slowly dribbles down into the growing puddle on the cave floor.

The faint smell of roses grows stronger, making it undeniable that the goo was the source and not just some debris caught in it.

There were a few other smells mixed in, undeniably slime-like in odour. A bit foolishly he brings some to taste. Davo winces. The goo is a salty, tart, sweet and bitter mess with a few notes of rose among the many other flavours, it doesn’t seem to be poisonous in the slightest, though his taste buds would like to argue otherwise. 

It looked like some would-be hibernating slimes died from salt poisoning on the cave walls, but then where did the salt come from? And how did the slimes even make it that high if slimes die so soon after contact? Or the rose smell, did the slimes eat some, even if roses don’t grow here?

Davo has no clue. Was this an undiscovered monster’s track? Did he just try some sick monster’s mucus? He hopes it’s not either, but as hilarious as using slimes as scrubs is, they need to stay on guard if they want to complete their quest.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rimuru relishes the darkness of the cave, the shadows a comfort like no other after far too long in the winter sun.

Stupid ice crystals. Worst rock by far.

From deep in the cave, Rimuru watches one of the adventurers inspect the membrane coating they left behind, the human commenting on how odd it is to smell roses in a cave. Can humans smell their happy signals too? 

{So what’s a roses?}

{How did you find that one out?}

{One of the humans kept saying my membrane coating smells like it.}

{Interesting, to my memory roses are flowers prised as a symbol of fleeting beauty since they only bloom once a year and die soon after.}

{I didn’t know the great Veldora would take interest in pretty little flowers.}

{Ah no, during our playfight I crashed into a garden full of them, the hero didn’t take that all too well.}

{Oh brother, I wonder why? Why would she be? It’s not like you did anything wrong, brother.}

Veldora could hear the sarcasm dripping off the statement like water falling to the cave floor but this time, he couldn’t get why the slime had decided to get on him for that.

{I’m surprised you aren’t defending your actions here, do you not see what you did as wrong?}

{No, why?}

{You know the pots and sculptures I keep sending mental images of to you?}

{Yes, they’re ador- I mean good for a beginner. Yes, great job.}

After months of watching Rimuru go through the ups and downs of creation, Veldora was inspired by the slime’s dedication to attempt some art making of his own. Scratching out “sketches” as he believes they’re called on the rocky walls of his prison. Besides Rimuru, it was one of the few things keeping him from deathly boredom nowadays.

{So how do you think I would feel if someone were to destroy all of them, making any hope of recovery impossible?}

Veldora wasn’t sure how he'd react if anyone but him erased his sketches. He’s just doing it out of sheer boredom, but after seeing all the work and effort Rimuru puts in to make their figures and pottery, he knows what must be done.

{Why you should seek vengeance for such a transgression!}

{So then…}

{It’s just a patch of flowers, not special like your creations.}

{And yet, the hero I assume, called it a garden. You know what that word means right?}

{Well… isn’t it where plants grow?} 

The slime sighs internally. {I’ll show you later, gardens are art as well.}

Rimuru was quick to learn after one of their skills harmed a berry bush, earning the old ogre's ire and a monologue on the significance of gardens.  

Along with the adventures, Rimuru waits out the blizzard. Endlessly peeved about their body not being built for the ice-filled sunny winter. Longing for a place cold, wet and dark.

Rimuru seeks out more salt to soothe themselves, coming across another chunk with a little digging.

The slime continues to follow the adventures after the blizzard's subsided, at least now their blue body was obscured by piles of snow when they crawled.

It was really, really hard to ignore instinct when something like a horned hare hopped by. Rimuru wanted nothing more than to chase the monster down, but they need to know why the humans have journeyed out to such a harsh place for both of them. The slime compromises with doing a little hunting nearby.

After a certain point the humans start digging in the rocky hills, gloved fingers and tools moving more and more rock.

Rimuru didn’t know humans liked rocks that much too. 

Though it seemed they were hunting for a particular one, their own best rock?

The slime shifts through the discarded rocks, wondering what is the adventurer’s best rock.

The fur-covered adventure slaps himself in the forehead. 

“How did I forget?” He sets the bags down, calling for the youngling. 

“Ooo are you mining? Pa’s a miner! What are you mining! Any suuuuper cool magic gems?”

“We are, it’s for a guild quest since this place is supposed to be overrun by monsters.”

The winter winds howl in the adventurer’s ears, the emptiness of the tundra only putting the group more on edge.

The youngling rubs his hands together, pulling his cloak close. “Cool, can I go back in? It's cold.”

The adventurer hands the youngling one of his furs. “Sorry kid, don’t want to crush your head in by chucking a chunk of ore in, we should be finding it soon.”

Brynjar looks up to the darkening sky. 

All for that sweet, sweet guild money. What were they thinking?

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a long day of not-stalking the adventurers, shut up Veldora, the night graces Rimuru with its dark embrace, allowing the stressed slime to finally unwind.

The slime’s aura is revealed in all its glory.

Oops.

The tundra stays dead quiet, save for the winds and mumblings of the humans.

Relife floods Rimuru’s system as it seems their aura hasn’t attracted anyone. Back in their usual grounds there would have been some aggressive monster or ogre that would have challenged them to a fight, despite what form they were in.

It was fun, teasing the oldest looking ogre in the village with increasingly meeker-looking forms, full well knowing the old man knows it’s them from their aura. After consuming so many little critters here, Rimuru can’t wait to play with the ogre some more. Unlike the many monsters they hunt, Rimuru has to be careful, calculated with their moves when playing with the white-haired ogre.

They search around as an ice fox, well, their version of the little monster, sniffing the air. Wondering with the humans, where has all the life gone? Other than to their brilliant hunting skills.

A distant glimmer catches their eyes, Rimuru scurries to the rocks discarded by the humans in search of the source.

The glimmer shines like the feathers of a starling, though the rock’s base colour is a vibrant blue, and far too eager to suck in any free magicules.

It feels like they’re the one being eaten, by a rock of all things. Rimuru is tempted to do a Veldora-style laugh.

Would the rock burst if Rimuru continued to stay near? They poke around near the other rocks, spotting more and more bits mixed in as the rocks start glowing as bright as the stars above.

Their shifting draws the attention of the humans.

“Aw, look at the little foxy.” 

“Sylvi, don’t go petting random monsters.”

The redhead looks at Davo with a mix of confusion and betrayal.

“After all this time, are we even friends? And it’s fine, we’re all B’s and ice foxes are oddly skittish C-rank monsters.”

“And does that look like just an ice fox?”

Rimuru tries their best innocent look, despite knowing that their current form is likely the next or a few steps up from an ice fox.

C-rank is weak right? 

Rimuru gets the feeling they can’t trust Veldora on this.

With rocks glowing brighter and brighter, the odd ice fox disappears into the tundra before they find out if the rock could blow up. Even if they can’t feel the rocks taking any magicules, Rimuru doesn't trust them.

“I guess it really was an ice fox at heart.” 

After Davo’s comment, Sylvi resumes hacking away at the peaking rock polity swearing at the stone to be the ore they were freezing thier asses off looking for. She swings her pickaxe high with a resonant chink, the chuck of rock falls to the snowy ground, making the snow around it blue from it’s glow.

Sylvi inspects the chunk, finding opalescent blue crystals in the grey slate, glowing in the darkness. She swing at the rock more, making chuncks of spectrolite ore fall to the ground. 

The adventurer looks around to tell her companions the good news, only to see more blue in the snow from the chucks they’ve mined earlier.

If she was Brynjar’s elven friend, Lokke, she thinks? Sylvi would have been crying about how the potential one stellars worth of money was just lying on the ground. If all the spectrolite was as good as the piece she was holding. Sylvi settles on shedding a single, dramatic tear. 

As the slime-turned-ice-fox tears into some freshly caught food, Rimuru puffs their chest in pride for leading the humans to find the rock they were looking for. You're welcome.

As Rimuru enjoys their catch, deep rumbles travel through the pads of their paws, making them shake like they were in slime form.

The heavy thuds of footsteps, ice cracking, permafrost shaking.

The giant, legged serpent’s mouth opens, focusing on the adventurers and youngling.

The ice fox breaks into a desperate sprint, shifting into an armorsaurus to block the monster’s bite. They slip out between shifts taking the bulky, midnight-black form of the water panther’s evolution, staring down the beast that dares to attack their humans.

The adventurers watch, frozen in awe, as the two monsters circle each other. The ice greatwyrm and shapeshifter that’s taken the form of a fabulous night panther lashing out on occasion, before returning to glaring holes into each other.

Rimuru circles the white dragon-like monster, observing the pale serpent. There’s a mark on the beast, just under one of its ruby eyes. Black as obsidian, and clearly not a scale pattern. Some odd swooshy lines, curves and dots that look like a symbol or letter.

They’ve seen people, mostly passers-by, with art drawn on their bodies, though the monster they’re locked circling seems to lack any intelligence to get or appreciate any artwork on them.

Maybe they are just overthinking it and it’s just an odd scale pattern despite the greatwyrm’s scales being a mix of white and pale blues.

The winds picks up, the ice greatwyrm summoning a blizzard.

The fabulous night panther pounces.

A flurry of claws and fangs tangle, tails lashing like whips at each other's fur and scales. The scent of rose fills the winter night, Rimuru feeling lighter than a leaf, on the highest of highs. They dance in the storm, Rimuru using the fabulous night panther’s shadow manipulation to make themselves more comfortable, playing tug-of-war with ice crystals as both monsters share a water manipulation skill.

To Rimuru’s disappointment, the blizzard starts to die down, the ice greatwyrm dancing at a sluggish pace. A shower of ice crystals pierces the greatwyrm’s pearly scales, making the legged serpent’s body fall with a thump onto the snow-covered permafrost.

As Rimuru absorbs their prey, the adventurers run, having gotten what they came for. The youngling waves “bye” to the shapeshifting monster as Brynjar scoops the child into his arms, running like the wind with Battlewill’s aid.

Chapter Text

A lone slime crawls through growing piles of snow, nibbling on a salt crystal as the temperature drops with the lowering sun.

While the ice made the day a living hell, the longer nights and cold made up for the pain, reminding Rimuru of the cave’s comforts. Perhaps they should try hunting like their colony did?

They can hear the phantom call of the coordinator's orders. Countless colonymates membranes near them, countless signals packed in outer membrane fluid, trickling streams of magicules passing emotion from slime to slime.

The coordinators were always sure each colonymate was in a certain position when they used a lure. 

What is it? Rimuru knew what it was, but where?

In the darkness of a winter night, with the howling winds that kick up snow and lash at any tree or brush…

A little red light grows. 

Rimuru stares at the redded snow, their “weird markings” glowing. Brother dearest really is clueless about slimes.

Is the lure always red? Can they change it? 

Rimuru sighs in disappointment, all they can do is control the brightness, but that’s fine. For now. They have a hunt to get back to.

Though they’re not sure if…

The snow’s crunched down by gentle, heavy steps, followed by a thunderous roar.

Oowie. The slime gathers themself, the reverberations of the roar passing their membrane like a thicket of brambles. 

The blade tiger pouches, its jaws clamping down. With fangs sharper than obsidian moments away from piercing Rimuru’s membrane as the slime slips past the wall of fangs and down.

Their prey moves, throat desperately trying to cough out the predator. 

As they stretch out, starting the process of dissolving their prey, Rimuru feels the blade tiger’s struggling cease, crushing the fresh snow under it as it falls.

More crunches follow.

Snow pressed under a pack of boot-covered feet.

Humans? Did they want the blade tiger?

Rimuru bounces toward the group, the adventurers don’t seem that angry that a slime took their kill, maybe they’re friendly? 

The pack of humans disappears, barely leaving a trace.

Rude. The slime thinks and bounces off into Jura, tailed by adventures.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

A group of three B-ranked adventurers once reported sighting a peculiar monster. 

A monster that could overpower a greatwyrm.

A monster that stalks the darkness, striking without a sound. 

A monster not of blood and flesh, a being that never sleeps, never satiated. 

The Silent Devourer.

Despite it being far into winter, adventures dare to track the beast.

With every exposition into Jura, information on the monster grows, though it only serves to give the guild a bigger headache.

“You say it can what now?”

“It can glow. It became a slime.”

“Again with the slime form, what does it see in slimes? So, what happened afterwards?”

The adventurer snorts.

“It slipped down the throat of a blade tiger and ate it from the inside out.”

“Yeesh, brutal as always, any new skills for the book?”

“The blade tiger’s and some kind of light manipulation I assume for that lure.”

Ink slides across paper in a slowly growing catalogue of the Silent Devourer’s abilities. Due to the number of skills, and its defeat of a greatwyrm, the Silent Devourer was easily an A-rank. 

The guild debates this odd monster’s rank as more and more reports come. But despite the growing evidence of the Silent Devourer’s intelligence and true strength, the monster shows no interest in leaving Jura or any human or demi-human prey.

So despite the few paranoid voices, the Silent Devourer stays at an A-rank. A few madmen arguing its rank should be lowered due to its disinterest. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rimuru learns to ignore the odd groups of adventures, while curious and venturing a bit too close to their prey for Rimuru’s liking they are ultimately harmless. If anything they gave Rimuru information Veldora wouldn’t know.

Unlike what Rimuru discovered when spring swept in.

Among the budding branches, blooming flowers and constant rain lies sleet.

Despite its true nature it appears to be cold water, only to have chunks of these horrid ice crystals hiding beneath. 

True evil.

But along with the arrival of sleet, comes the waking of countless slimes.

Colonies’ worth rise from rain soaked soil, dotting the forest with patches of light blue.

The slimes are the same shade of blue as the sky, unlike Rimuru’s blue, that blended in with the blues of the nearby lakes the lone slime frequented. 

Rimuru observes the forest colonies. 

The sky blue slimes don’t hunt, lacking any lures or markings. 

They’re so… docile.

The masses of light blue ravage the forest for scraps and compost, hanging around in the warm spring sun, leaving behind globs of outer membrane fluid.

After some time Rimuru decides to approach the sky blue slimes. While odd, Rimuru found a way to appreciate how calm and mellow these slimes are compared to them.

Hello

The nearby slimes don’t react, continuing to crawl on.

Question request

They don’t even get a response of “no” or “go away”. Rimuru didn’t know these forest slimes could be so mean. But they enjoy the sunlight, perhaps they’re just as mean as what they enjoy.

Failed attempt after failed attempt has Rimuru questioning their worth as a slime, thankfully Veldora is there.

The forest colony doesn’t seem to be acting how their colony did, if they were in the caves the colony would have greeted the lone slime and assessed where in the colony the newcomer would integrate if the slime wasn’t just a herder passing by.

It’s practically the only way Rimuru knew roughly where to go when they left, with data gathered from slimes originally from other colonies.

Maybe these slimes have different signals. A thought that has Rimuru deflating in disappointment. They’ll never understand the calm ones. They still stick around after their failure, observing the sky blue slime’s ways. 

Rimuru doesn’t want to be mean to their somewhat-fellow slimes, but these sky-blue slimes seem… stupid. More animalistic than the typical slime from their colony. 

Just bouncing around, melting on each other on occasion to show they were colonymates. The coordinators and herders seemed to be slacking with how everywhere the colony was. 

Did these slimes even have the intelligence for coordinators? 

No wonder Veldora thought they were weird, if this was a typical slime. Though Rimuru did envy their simple minds, their lack of basic comprehension was endearing, but ultimately boring. The slime leaves in search of better stimulation, it’s been a while since they’ve played with the Sword Ogre.

They flare their aura, attracting the old ogre’s attention.

The two dance, Rimuru regretting a few steps as the Sword Ogre shows no mercy when playing. A few limbs fall to the ground, slowly losing their form and becoming a mass of slime on the dirt.

As Rimuru starts to enact their devious plan, they try to move where a leg was once was only for the recently cut-off limb to move. The slime stares at the still responding limb in surprise mind racing about the possibilities. Having to move at their top speed in fear of getting cut in half.

“To perch on the branch of the garden’s plum tree, how devious.”

The red-breasted robin chirps, the old orge’s sword resting by his side. 

Rimuru stays on the branch, admiring the sweet scent of the plum blossoms.

“I didn’t take you for one to stop and sniff the flowers shape-changer. Though I’ve heard you go by another title recently.”

The robin-shaped slime chips in a questioning tone.

“From the adventurers and other passerbys, the Silent Devourer.”

Rimuru chips in recognition.

“Do you have a preference for any title, the insatiable one?”

Rimuru lets out a series of chips. Mostly questions. They find themselves wanting to speak for once. The Sword Ogre’s always treated them like an intelligent monster, a majin. He’s fun to fight too. They want to tell him.

It’s like walking, they just need to practice. 

Rimuru flies down to the ogre’s level, making the old man huff with amusement as the robin bows, before bouncing off as a slime.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rimuru cycles through a few forms and skills to get it.

“Heeeeelo beeeeeeee.” Using the giant bat’s skill.

“Aaaaaaaye.” Using a fabulous night panther form.

“Heeeeeeeeey a f-fl-flaaaoowvar?” Using a raven’s form.

The other majin made this look far too easy. It takes far too long to say “flower”. 

Or any other word. 

Using mostly avian forms and the giant bat’s skill Rimuru’s able to get something speech-like going. They’ve tried using mental communication to reach out, the humans just thought they were going insane and ran away like usual.

Rimuru wishes the rest of the remaining sleet to damnation as the days go by, turning to weeks, to months.

The slime, now a raven, dips their head in a bow before their favourite person to ann- they mean to play with.

“Thank you.” Rimuru croaks, before flying off into the cloudy summer sky.

They spend the summer watching the forest slimes get drunk off their cultivated little life’s by-products, laughing at their antics with Veldora.

{Hey Veldora, look at this one!}

{Kwa-ha-ha-ha! Such tomfoolery. I still can't believe you’re the same species.}

{Me too, I envy them. They don’t seem to get bored.}

Rimuru finishes up molding the piece of once-molten, heated rock. Finally, they can make a jug that looks like one. 

{Hmmm, did you say your colony acts like you?}

{For the most part, yeah.}

{Then perhaps we’ve been thinking about this wrong, my apologies for grouping you in with those weaklings. You’re a different kind of slime.}

{Oh yeah, we’re definitely a different kind, those sun lovers don’t understand my signals at all, and I’ve tried everything!}

Rimuru face palms at the revelation, a favourite gesture they’ve seen the adventurers that like to follow them do.

Summer was fun despite all the light and warmth. Rimuru manages to cultivate some little-life of their own and have fun, Veldora enjoying their drunk tries and stunts.

Before they know it a year passes, Rimuru cursing the existence of the slush of water and ice once more as the spring rain rolls in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

She's joined a team of adventurers made up of experienced B ranks, A’s and the odd special A rank.

Like herself.

The esteem granted to her by being the champion known as the Conquer of Flames is useful most of the time. Though some can be a bit too passionate with their admiration, for joining a quest on the fly, Shizu counts herself blessed for once.

And that the group has ignored her apparent age, though that might be due to her rather bombastic entrance.

She hears there’s some terribly strong monster, likely a unique, prowling the great forests of Jura. A monster with no known form, with a book’s worth of skills.

It sounds like something out of a horror movie.

For reasons beyond her the thought of this shapeshifter, this Silent Devourer, has been stuck in her mind ever since she first heard. Enough for her to dare to adventure again.

As she drags the body of a cowdeer through the woods, clean sword resting by her side as boot-covered feet traverse the wilderness, nostalgia hits her. It’s an old joy to walk in the middle of nowhere with only fellow adventurers and yourself watching your back. Adrenaline pumps as a smile creeps on her face.

From the reports, the Silent Devourer doesn't see humans or demi-humans as worthwhile prey. That’s fine, she’ll show it she’s worthwhile to fight. She’s foolish enough to go after the demon lord that summoned her, this is just a warm up.

“Wow thanks, you need to rest from dragging that cowdeer all the way here?”

Shizu stares at the adventurer, knife at the ready. 

“I’m good, and here, have mine. That knife of yours is dull.”

Shizu nabs the dull blade to sharpen it as the food is prepared. Their last meal before they enter the Silent Devourer’s hunting grounds.

Shizu looks up to the stars, already dreaming about the day ahead. Yuuki told her the monster’s closer to a special A if the thing ever bothered fighting properly. After some time on the road, Shizu knows most of these adventurers would run for the hills the second the Silent Devourer is provoked.  It’s an efficient hunter, using traps and knowing what skill to use for the occasion, hinting at some form of intelligence. Her knee bounces, far too giddy with excitement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

{Hey, Veldora, look, I'm a slime on legs, weeeeeee.}

Rimuru sprints through the forest on a pair of the landfish’s legs as Veldora watches on, on the edge of laughter.

The true dragon loses it as Rimuru whizzes through the ogre village, before tumbling down into a patch of brambles.

Ow, ow, ow. Why is the world so mean?

Regeneration fixes the damage, pulling from Rimuru’s decent pool of magicules. But the slime still shakes in pain.

The legs dissolve, the slime bouncing far away from the brambles.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

She’s been walking for a while now.

Ifrit thinks this is prime time to fight her, but at least she’ll be able to satisfy the spirit's urge with fighting the Silent Devourer. 

It’s really the only thing they share besides hating for each other. 

“You sure you aren’t a majin with how revved up you look?” One of the bolder adventurers asks.

“He he, last time I checked I’m human, I’m both an adventurer and champion after all.”

“My apologies for comparing you to them.”

“It’s no problem.” 

She continues walking, ignoring the other adventures laughing about the thought of a majin adventurer. It’s like the word's just a synonym for monster. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

The winds howl, grey clouds covering the increasingly starry sky. A full moon shines from behind the cover.

A horned rabbit jumps through the forest, before shifting into a Fabulous Night Panther, warping the shadows around it.

Rimuru’s not sure how they could live before after discovering possibly the best skill the Fabulous Night Panther possesses.

Paws pad in utter silence closer to their prey.

A moon moose.

One of the largest monsters they’ve seen in the forest.

The sight of the monster’s aura has Rimuru salivating. The promise of tasty, worthwhile prey keeps the Silent Devourer from picking up on Jura’s newest visitors.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shizu watches transfixed as the Silent Devourer hunts down the Moon Moose. The shapeshifting monster relishing in combat, dancing with the moon moose instead of going straight for the kill. 

It’s playing with its food, like a child.

Looking around, a good part of the adventurers she’s with are ready to run. She respects that, less potential casualties.

As the dragged out fight between the two monsters continues Shizu speaks.

“I’ll handle this, go if you are unsure.”

An adventurer with a trembling voice faces her masked face. “But…”

“Don’t be foolish and take on more than you can chew.”

They look down, ultimately understanding as the moon moose is torn apart by the Silent Devourer, eaten by the monster in various forms.

An ice greatwyrm mimic lays down on the dirt, closing its red eyes.

The wind whips at Shizu’s hair, ruffling the fabric of her clothes.

With no one by her side. 

Her footsteps are measured, steady but unmasked, every footfall landing with a soft thump.

The pearly-scaled greatwyrm's eyes open, the serpent’s many legs scuttling on the dirt as the monster unwinds.

Its eyes look down on her, ruby red glistening with curiosity as she draws her sword.

The greatwyrm melts into blue slime, replaced by the midnight-black Fabulous Night Panther.

Her sword ignites, covered by Ifrit’s flames.

The panther tilts its head, paws lightly treading the ground beneath it.

She swings.

The Silent Devourer dodges, using its slime-like form. The panther owlishly staring at her before rearing to pounce.

Her blade doesn’t often connect, and the few times it does the monster regenerates, never madder but eager to get in a hit itself. Her fire’s countered with water but it seems the Silent Devourer is resistant to fire anyways.

It flinches everytime the flames approach, wrapping more shadows around it.

Taking advantage of the monster’s weakness to light she’s able to cut more and more parts off, hoping to exhaust its magicules before she’s too tired to fight.

She pants, regaining her breath, cursing herself for being such an idiot to leave herself open like that, she’s fighting a monster she’s going to…

The Silent Devourer tilts its head again, from their loose stance it’s as if it’s waiting for her, eyes wild.

Though it was probably just exhausted too. She lunges.

The exchange is brief, with no victor.

The Silent Devourer changes into an ocean-blue slime, bouncing towards to her.

“Fun.”

“Huh?” 

The slime crawls toward her. The monster is going to eat her, is this it? At least this was a good final fight. 

The slime stretched out a bit, touching her leg, some of the cool slime seeping through the fabric.

She should’ve worn more armour.

Joy not her own floods her mind, followed by a feeling of thankfulness.

“Eeeit was fun, playing.”

The champion takes a deep breath, sitting down on the kicked-up dirt. 

“I had fun too.”

“You too!”

The scent of roses floods the air. Shizu lowers her mask to get closer to the source, sniffing the slime.

“Oh that's me. Happy signal, slime smile.”

Monsters be damned, she’s going to sleep here.

“So you’re a slime?”

“You know!? Finally!” The slime’s voice is filled with excitement as the scent of roses reaches full saturation.

Shizu’s hand brushes against the slime, cool and soothing, she pats the smooth blue as her aching body urges her to sleep, though the thought keeps her up.

The Silent Devourer is a slime.

It-they’re cute. Dangerous, though adorable, the markings on the little slime giving the illusion of eyes. She can’t stop petting them, making the slime send more of their emotions to her. Dirt’s never felt so fuzzy and warm before.

Shizu swears she’s seen slimes like the Silent Devourer before, but her body has other plans, eyelids threatening to jam shut with every passing second.

“Good night slime-san.”

“Oh, don’t worry I’ll keep wa-watch!”

Her emotions bounce back to the slime, making Rimuru swear they’ll keep their new playmate safe no matter how exhausted they are. 

Chapter Text

If Rimuru could, they would be sleeping as the exhaustion sets in. It feels like they have next to no magicules left, all used up in the best fight they’ve had the pleasure of experiencing. Even if their new playmate was a bit mean. Fighting as if to the death, constantly cutting off parts of them. 

Rimuru’s glad the fire loving adventurer didn’t kill them when possible.

Playmate did however fight while asleep.

The slime crawls a bit away, close enough to guard and far enough to be out of the line of fire.

A group of armed humans come by, weapons quivering with the rest of their bodies. All it takes is to shift into a bigger monster and glare to rid of the potential threats.

They are a slime that keeps their promises. 

The slime crawls close again, checking if they disturbed the masked one’s sleep. As Rimuru lulls their half awake playmate back to sleep, they find an abundance of heavy fear and stress, so much so it seems physically painful to carry.

Rimuru does their best to calm the playmate, sending them the best comforts they know. The stress is lowered, though it lingers as the masked one falls asleep.

Rimuru knows from their observations most humanoid majin prefer to sleep on soft things, with hard things often ruining the quality of sleep. Like the ground their playmate had decided to use.

The slime shifts through their memories, only to find nothing on how to build a bed.

Aw, bummer. As a compromise, they shift through the contents of their stomach, making a nest from leaves, poor attempts at making fabric, feathers, and fur. 

Rimuru moves the sleeping adventurer to the nest as gently as they can. 

The masked adventurer curls up in the impromptu bed, hand unwilling to let go of a stretched out tendril. 

It’s so warm.

Warm but not uncomfortable like the sun’s. The slime moves closer, within range of the sleeping masked one’s arms that bring the slime closer, huddled securely against her chest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shizue feels something cool and squishy against her. Maybe a bit wet.

Feels the pile of fur, feathers and fabric she’s laying on.

Where am I?

The chirping of birds, gentle rustling of leaves, and the pattering of forest critters greets her ears.

Right.

And a slime, the one she broke her muli-decade long retirement to fight.

“Morning!”

The little majin her arms are wrapped around like a teddy bear.

“Morning. Did you make this?”

Shizu sinks deeper into the nest, remembering why she never allowed herself to get too comfortable when adventuring. 

“You too stressed, wanted to help.”

“Thank you slime-san.”

Shizue makes an attempt at getting up, but the little slime-made nest drags her back with its softness and warmth.

She stares up into the blue sky, a rare spring day in Jura with only a few fluffy white clouds dotting the sky. She chuckles, finding clouds that look like a slime, fox and water panther.

How she’s missed adventuring.

How she’s missed the monster’s den known as Jura.

She chuckles to herself again, I must be getting old if I’m getting nostalgic over all this.

“Playmate, you okay?”

Playmate? Just how young is the Silent Devourer.

“I’m fine, just thinking about some funny things. You can call me Shizu.”

“Rimuru!” 

The adventurer blinks blankly under the mask. Who?

“Hi Shi-shishu-shi-zhoo. Um… Sorree”

“Shizu.”

“Shizooay?”

The conquer of flames lets out a small chuckle from the mispronunciation.

“Shi-shizu!”

“Good job Rimuru.” The adventurer pats the slime, the smell of roses filling the air as she does. Shizue has half a mind to coo at the enthusiastic slime. Rimuru moves as she tries to leave, the majin hopping down to the bare dirt being the motivation she needs to get out of the overly comfortable nest-bed and get some food.

The nest is swallowed up by the slime.

Adding another question to her growing list, she listens for the sound of water.

A trickle. The slime hops beside her as she closes in on the sound, the squishing of their body breaking up the forest ambiance. It’s the calmest she’s ever heard in Jura, with only a single cry of pain in the distance among the rustling leaves, cicadas, birds and the pattering of hooves and paws.

“Do you know how old you are?”

The slime wiggles, as if cocking their head.

“Umm, umm wait a bit.”

{Veldora do you know how old I should be?}

{Considering the differences you and your colony have shown compared to the slimes I know, I have no sure answer.}

{Thanks anyways bro.}

“Weelll, I left the cave in summer so, a year, almost two? Do you know how long it takes for slimes like me to mature, to be herders?” 

The sea blue slime’s eye-like markings look up at her.

Oh, that makes so much sense.

“It takes three years for deep slimes to be old enough to be herders, so you'll be around four or five years old depending on your birthday then?”

“Deep slimes?”

“The type of slimes that call the ocean’s depths and caves their homes. You’re so unmistakably a deep slime, Rimuru.” 

Shizu gives Rimuru a few more pats. 

{Hey Veldora~ You’ve been beat.}

{What! How is this possible! Why I-}

{Calm down, it’s just Shizu knows more about slimes than you. I’m a deep slime! There are other species!}

{Who is this “Shizu” person and-}

Rimuru tunes Veldora’s ramblings out of their mind, reassuring the true dragon he isn’t being replaced as they try to determine their age.

“Sorry Shizu, I don’t know my birthday.”

“That’s okay, how about an estimate?”

“Okie! After I became a herder, I left the colony and wandered for a bit or longer? I don’t know. Then I left my old cave in late summer.”

“It is rather hard to track time in caves, pick a month, you do know them right?”

“Yep, Veldora told me about them. Hmm, april.”

Shizu almost trips over herself from the news, shoe-clad feet shuffling the leaf litter of the forest floor. Of course that’s who.

“A day?” She asks the slime bouncing near her.

“Umm, 15.”

The adventurer smiles under her mask. “Happy late birthday, you just turned five two weeks ago.”

“Happy?”

“Just a tradition from back home, we celebrate every new year someone’s lived.”

As odd as the tradition is, Rimuru understands. It’s a harsh world out there and life is precious. Despite their short time with their colony, they’ve had to mourn dead colony mates before. Birthdays seem fun.

The slime stops on the wet ground near the river, their companion shifting through nearby shrubs, trees, and grasses. Picking some on occasion. Walking down to the lake.

Shizue smiles under the mask as she picks some oil fruits, spotting the tell-tale, near-black purple flowers of what she’s been craving for years. She understands why Jura is a monster’s den, there's food everywhere she looks.

Perhaps she shouldn't have quit adventuring, despite her fears near-crippling her ability. This part of her former lifestyle she’s missed more than anything. About half of the plants she’s foraged are filled with magicules. Tasty in her opinion, though troublesome to keep in the Freedom Academy.

She’s able to keep some for educational purposes, though it never tastes as good as the stuff growing wild in Jura, besides she can never enjoy it in peace like here.

The conqueror of flames takes off her shoes, leaving them by the water’s edge.

She’s so close she can taste it.

The slime watches on as the adventurer walks into the lake, picking out a flowering, black-stemmed plant by the roots.

They edge closer, tracking Shizu’s movements. Out of all the adventurers they’ve seen this is the first time one has taken that plant for food, or the many others playmate has taken.

But this is the first time Rimuru’s seen a majin adventurer.

The black plant is dragged out of the water, dark roots skinned and chopped up by a small blade.

Rimuru watches, engrossed by Shizu’s careful cuts, slices revealing a pattern of holes in the roots. It’s kinda pretty.

Shizu snacks on a few berries as she prepares the black lotus root for frying, heating up a makeshift stone hotplate, taking in the savoury, lightly sweet smell.

Oil dribbles down from a handful of squeezed fruits, lotus root sizzling in the mix of herbs and spices. 

Shizu takes in a deep breath, the rising fragrant aromas making her mouth water. A real shame she couldn’t share this with her fellow adventurers.

But she doesn’t want to cut herself off from her human friends or befits that come with being a champion. The adventurer ignores the whispers in her mind questioning if they even are her friends. Besides, she has one curious deep slime to deal with.

“Shizu, how common are people like you, majin adventurers? I’ve never met one before you.”

The conqueror of flames flips her lotus root, looking down at the ground.

“As far as the guild knows, there are none. Though there are some that dare.”

“Oh.” Rimuru hops closer, settling by Shizu’s side, body soaking in the emanating heat from the stone hotplate.

A droplet of oil hits Rimuru, the membrane absorbing the sizzling droplet.

“Are you okay?” 

“I’m all good.”

Shizu pats the slime again, feeling that the membrane has fully healed. Rimuru leans into her touch as she indulges the slime with a few more than necessary.

“Shizu, why do you do that? Not that I don’t like it or anything.”

“You’re cute, though that time I was checking you’re okay. Do you have heat resistance?”

“Yep!”

Shizu gets Rimuru’s slime off her hand with a few shakes, before flipping the lotus root. At least my hands are now clean.

Though the happiness of having nice, clean hands for breakfast is nothing compared to the confirmation of Rimuru’s heat resistance. Finally, a cute little deep slime that she can be near. Ifrit can’t ruin this, her desires burn brighter. 

The big ones are fine, but she won’t pass up on a rare small intelligent one. Rimuru’s so small they’re still a youngling, one that’s old enough to be a herder but a baby compared to her or any elder deep slime.

She flips the lotus root, killing the flame after an experimental bite.

Shizu hums in joy, the black lotus root and spices in perfect harmony.

The slime shifts into a phoenix as she hands the slime a piece, the blue feathered bird savouring the lotus root like her, letting out a happy squawk. 

The adventurer wipes her fingers clean to pet the phoenix-shaped slime that’s made themselves comfortable on her lap, making the phoenix's coos turn to near purrs as she continues to pet them, eating some more breakfast.

As much as she’s grown to appreciate adventuring alone, the company is welcome.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Serpents and spiders slither and scuttle through the cave.

Veldora sighs at the new sketch on the cave wall. How does Rimuru manage to be so expressive? It’s the movement isn’t it. Unfortunately, he can’t make his drawings move.

Rimuru isn't just going to replace him with Shizu, right? Not like there's much to replace. He’s just an idiot of a true dragon who gets his ass handed to him whenever he fights an opponent in his weight class. Like that hero. He didn’t even know there were other slime species. 

Ha ha ha, not like he needs Rimuru, no. He’s been fine being alone for three centuries. He can do that again.

The true dragon lays down, listening to the water droplets falling from the stalactites.

He bores quicker than he remembers.

{Rimuru?}

{Hey Veldora! Good time, I found a way to get more information.}

{Really? And what is the method?}

{I’m going adventuring with Shizu!}

{Ah, of course… you’re not going to leave me alone are you?}

{What no, you’re my brother Veldora!}

{Do you even know what that word means?}

{It’s like colonymates, family, never abandon.}

Abandon, huh? He remembers teaching Rimuru the word. Veldora curls in on himself. How could he have forgotten the sheer size of slime colonies? Of course Rimuru isn't going to abandon him, the little slime’s far too sweet. 

{So who is this Shizu person you keep on talking about?}

{Shizu's the first adventurer to talk to me! And the first majin adventurer I’ve met ever, played with me yesterday, so cool.}

{I’m glad you’re happy, did you tell Shizu about me?}

{Shizu does know I know you.}

Oh stars above, this sweet little innocent slime. 

{Just don’t tell the adventurer about our operation to get me out.}

{Um why?}

{I have amassed certain… reputation after many years.}

{You mean it’s bad.}

{It’s for the best if others don’t know who named you or that you have any association with me either.}

{But-but… ugh fine, I can see what you’re getting at. I’ve heard tales from the goblins}

{Thank you for your understanding, I can't have my little sibling getting killed or imprisoned for trying to help me.}

{Shizu seemed to take it okay?}

{Might be just processing.} 

{Why?}

He can’t, he can’t anymore, letting out a bout of cave-shaking laughter.

“Why o why, Kwah-ha-ha-ha! Kwa-ha-ha-ha!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

After breakfast the slime stayed by her. 

Rimuru follows her as she starts walking through Jura in search of some fruits and berries.

Even if they aren’t speaking, Shizu’s come to appreciate the quiet company.

“So Rimuru I meant to ask, is Veldora still sealed?”

“Yep!”

“And he was able to name you while sealed?”

“How did you-”

Shizue chuckles. “Who else would have named you?”

“I swear he’s not evil or anything, mostly just an idiot that didn’t understand why people got mad that their cities got destroyed until a year or so ago.”

“Really?” Shizu’s disbelief filters through, with how long Veldora has been around she would have thought he would know.

“Yeah, I took up making pots and stuff and he finally understood why the hero sealed him.”

Shizu breaks into laughter, making Rimuru drop down back into slime form.

“Oh Rimuru. Can you show me these pots of yours?”

“Follow me!” 

She walks through the depths of Jura, uncharted territory for most adventurers. Of course, she’s no normal adventurer, getting her skills before any quest. She wonders if Rimuru noticed she got carried away fighting yesterday, they did call her playmate, if she took things seriously then... Shizu doesn’t want to think of the outcome.

She focuses back on deep slime’s pots. Shizue would be squealing from excitement if she was the type. 

Her excitement carries over to her blade, cutting up a pack of leech lizards in record time the second they get too close.

The two stop for lunch, the slime making some cookware for her before leaving to chase around an insect as Shizu prepares the leech lizards. 

“Rimuru come, the food’s ready!”

The slime ends its chase, settling as a phoenix by Shizu’s side, taking pieces of offered meat.

“You like that form?” The masked adventurer asks.

“This form’s tongue likes cooked food, and some other things.”

“Like wine?”

“Oh is that the general term for the old mushy fruit drinks ? So what’s a dessert wine?”

“Dessert wines are sweet, like a desert.”

“Dessert?”

“It’s a term for a sweet food.”

Rimuru takes another bite of meat, the firepit’s heat being half of the meal. They hop, settling themself between Shizu’s crossed legs 

“You’re a rather touchy slime.” 

“I can’t get past my brother's barrier, am I annoying you?”

“Not in the slightest. By brother do you mean the Storm Dragon, Rimuru?”

“Yeah, that’s how we named each other, as siblings.”

“Each other eh?”

“We share a name! Tempest, that’s my second, I came up with that one.” The slime sounds especially smug, puffing their chest and feathers in pride.

Perhaps the Evil Dragon isn’t so evil. She does have to thank him for Rimuru’s continued survival, even if Rimuru doesn’t seem to deviate much from the typical deep slime besides that skill of theirs and early intelligence. She’ll ask some elders later about if that’s Veldora’s influence or not. It has been a while since she’s had some good seafood. 

She can picture the Storm Dragon impulsively naming an unintelligent slime, but at the same time she can’t picture a being like him bothering to consider a supposedly lower species worthy of such a thing. Rimuru must’ve charmed him. She’s definitely not immune.

As the fire dies down, smothered out by Shizu’s boot, Rimuru gets back to hoping toward their open air workshop. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

The plants start to thin, smoke fills the air, volcanic rock covering more and more of the ground.

“This way!”

The slime bouches over a small stream of lava, with her following suit. Is this why Rimuru has heat resistance?

The slime shoves a long rock out of the way, revealing a series of shelves carved into the rock. And on them were some of the most precious things Shizu’s seen, besides the artist behind them.

She could see which pots and sculptures were the oldest, awkward and lumpy compared to the newer, smother, more controlled ones in their shape and form, the fact they were moulded by hand? Slime? is near invisible.

Like they were just naturally formed by the lava flows. 

“They look great, that dragon over there, is that Veldora?”

Rimuru nods at the figure she’s pointing at, bringing it down for her to hold. She blinks at the display of trust, before inspecting the stone figure. Its four resting wings, the rough scales, and crouching form, a tail bending around.

It looks nothing like what Shizu’s come to associate with the Storm Dragon, the dragon looks tired, wistful. The figure’s bright yellow eyes staring out to the distance, hopeful. She admires the craftsmanship it must have taken to get the gem behind the head and artistry it took to show such emotion. 

She looks down the shelves, finding the figure came from the end of a long row of Veldoras, the earliest being a melted mess that resembled the idea of a dragon.

“I can see how much you’ve grown over the past two years. Why did you start?”

She sits down, patting the slime in her lap as Rimuru tells her about the first time they heard music, and telling her about the trials and tribulations of attempting pottery without hands, the scent of rose cutting through the volcanic fumes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rimuru bounces near her side, asking question after question. The adventurer hasn’t shooed them off yet

 “What do you think of water?”

“It’s nice, I particularly like the smell of sea water and what lives in it.” Shizu replies.

“What’s your gender?”

“I’m a woman.”

Rimuru notes it down, they think they get the general difference, though it’s still hard to tell.

“Do you like fighting?”

“Yes, I am an adventurer after all.”

“So what is your adventurer rank?”

“I’m Special-A rank.” 

Rimuru stops for a second, missing a bounce. They’re so thankful the adventurer didn’t stab them on the spot when they approached her. She really was playing.

“Oooo that would make you a champion then? Do you have a cool title? They gave me one!”

“I’m known as the Conqueror of Flames.”

“That’s cool. So are you famous? Do people like you?”

“Yes.”

“But they don’t know you’re a majin do they?”

“They can’t.”

“Oh. Okay.” The slime says in disappointment, crawling in their sadness.

Shizue never thought a slime, even an intelligent deep slime, could look so sad, though Rimuru definitely smelt sad, the scent of cut grass filling her nose.

“Rimuru, what’s wrong?”

“Well I knew, but it still hurts hearing it, I was hoping I could be an adventurer. Guess not, I enjoyed today with you.”

The scent of cut grass became near irritating on her skin, despite not directly upsetting the little deep slime, Shizue hated being even slightly responsible. 

It’s not that she wants an adventuring partner.

“Your phoenix form.”

“What about it?”

“On the rare occasion one does meet a phoenix, it may form a bond little to none can break, the guild approves of them as companions.”

A phoenix with their glowing white and blue plumage perches on her shoulder.

“Can we?”

One just so happened to fly in.

“We can.” Shizu replies with a growing smile.

The phoenix cheers, the quick succession of chips and clicks echoes through the dense forest.

It passess Shizu’s mind as she looks up to the lowering sun that the group she came with might think she’s dead. Ah well, I’ll deal with that later. I have a new adventuring partner, it’s time for the Conquer of Flames’ long awaited return.

Chapter Text

The two start their trek out of Jura, a blue feathered phoenix hastily flying ahead, chirping back the news to their new-found adventuring partner.

Often it was asking about some plants, what it’s it called, what does it do?

Next to never was it about some animal or monster, most having run away from the deep slime’s untamed aura.

“Rimuru.”

The phoenix answers “Yes?”

“As we approach the city, you’ll have to properly mimic a phoenix, and that includes your aura. Your method of suppression would be too suspicious.”

“Um, right. What does that look like? This form was first a firebird, I’ve never seen a phoenix.”

Shizu lifts the mask for a split second, careful to mimic the grace of a phoenix’s aura.

“Woah. I’ll start practising now!”

Rimuru perches on her shoulder, doing their best to make it second nature to them, leaving Shizu as look out. Fair enough, I’ve been stuck in my own head for a while. She wipes her mind clear of Demon Lord Leon or her odd, disappearing mentor, focusing on the forest before her.

Though memories of her mentor are harder to shove away than first thought, feeling history repeat. Shizu often finds herself questioning her mentor’s sanity again as old memories fly by. Just what was she thinking? 

With magic sense Shizu can tell there’s a few monsters and animals around, the kind she wouldn't break a sweat killing if it came to a fight.

Though she can’t let her guard down, this is Jura after all. Not that she could let her guard down when they make it to Blumund.

Shizu keeps scanning the sky, trees and ground.

It’s what she expects for Jura, passing the occasional deathly-poisonous or hallucinogenic plant that she has to drag Rimuru away from trying.

“But why? I have poison resistance.”

Shizu encloses the milk thistle look-alike in a barrier, reducing every leaf and root to nothing within a barrier, leaving behind a hole of charred dirt. 

As she speaks, the adventurer scans the hole for any surviving remnants of the plant. “They’re addictive, Rimuru. This plant, traveler’s bane, would make you hooked, desperate for more until it bypasses your resistance and takes your life as punishment for daring. Your resistance is no immunity.”

Rimuru looks down at the charred remains. “Oh, okay then. It looked gross anyways.” 

“The worst ones usually do here.”

She picks the occasional safe plant, savouring the irresistible, bright red metris berries that she shares with Rimuru. It would never stop being off-putting how the bushes always grew to the same height. Every single one.

Shizu’s glad that she can still identify everything on sight and with magic sense, some even better than when she was last active thanks to her years of teaching.

Though there was one thing that took a bit longer to identify.

At first it seemed like an odd rock. A closer look and a little magic sence revealed it was a terracotta pot, filled almost to the brim with the goblins of Jura’s signature fermented soybean paste.

She’s tempted to take the pot of what was effectively miso, the smell tempting, the paste on the darker side than usual, a rich shade of warm umber. Red miso.

“Ooo salty!” 

Shizu pushes the slime away from the pot’s contents, asking the slime to wait. 

Rimuru complies with a huff, leaving behind a light scent of cedar wood.

But besides the size of the pot, which in that case she could ask Rimuru to carry it, she couldn’t just take it. The thought of someone like her stealing from goblins leftleaving a bad taste in her mouth no amount of goblin miso could hide. 

With a quick glance, some fresh tracks are evident near the pot, the owner must be nearby.

“Can I have some?”

“We’re returning this pot to the goblins, though we could trade for some.”

“Ooh yeah, I'd like to give something! I did learn pottery from them. But what? I have so many things, Shizu can you help decide?”

“Of course, can you show me?”

The adventurer follows the trail, the slime showing her their collection.

Shizu’s quick to discover just how potentially rich Rimuru is, the slime’s holding on to more hipokute than she’s seen in her entire life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

A goblin pants, tightening the bloodied cloth on a limp arm.

The potter recollects himself, returning to his former sprint, the need to get back to the village pushing him through the pain.

It was even worse that it was late noon, at least at midnight there wouldn't be any big predators, adventurers or other threats around.

The goblin shivers at the thought. No, calm down, that’s just some dumb old horror story.

Did he just screw up big time? Yes, but the loss of some old valuable bean paste won’t matter if there’s no village left.

Why do all the worst monsters come out in the day? Though, now with the beast known as the Silent Devourer afoot, not even the nighttime can promise some peace and quiet.

The trickles of blood that escaped the makeshift bandage shine no longer, chipping off as the goblin navigates the forest. Oh thank the storm dragon, it’s closing.

An ear twitches, the goblin swivelling to the noise in a split second.

Leaves shuffle, twigs snap.

No, no, no, not again!

The goblin can hear his heart beating in his ears, as he runs.

Runs the second a branch splinters. From the monster that tore into his arm earlier, or worse. He doesn’t need to know. He runs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey! Wait… up.” Shizu’s gloved hand drops in disappointment, after all these years she might have forgotten just how flighty goblins can be around strangers. She’s not that shady looking, right?

She gives chase, pot snug in her arms, with Rimuru flying beside her as a phoenix, practising holding their aura.

The two weave between tightly woven networks of vines and trees, Shizu jumping from branch to branch and climbing the side of a cliff face, the pot entrusted to Rimuru’s talons.

The goblin looks back at her, eyes frantic, splatters of dried blood decorating his dust-covered face.

“Wait, I mean no harm! Please just stop…”

The adventurer growls as her words fail to reach the goblin, the majin booking the second he drops down from a rockface, leaving behind a trail of dust.

“Dammit, just listen, you!”

Her hand grips her sword's hilt, body temperature rising to boiling with her frustration.

It’s a good thing she remembers these cliffs. She takes a few breaths, steadying herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

He’s completely and utterly screwed.

The only thing he has going for him is his speed and soon his muscles contract and burn, starting to give way with the masked demon behind him not breaking a sweat.

His short little goblin life is over.

So much for being the bird of the heavens, why did it choose that demon!

Exhausted, his feet still, though the potter urges them to move. But all he’s met with are stone walls.

He pivots, stone falling from above as he does, the masked demon’s sword lit ablaze.

She greets him with a growl, the blue phoenix perching on her shoulder.

His back bumps against stone walls.

No, no, no.

She moves.

No, he doesn’t want to die like this, he’s not going to be some horror story's snack.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

The goblin drops.

Body smacking the stone floor with such a resonant thud, the sound has Rimuru flinching in sympathy.

The deep slime nudges the goblin with a tendril.

“Are they dead?” Rimuru tries to find any sign of life, no matter how small, only to come back empty.

The adventurer takes a seat on a smaller rock. “No, it’s just a goblin related skill. We’ll just wait for them to wake up, while we do, let’s take a lunch break. I found some herbs which will go great with this Juran gavial.”

After setting up camp, Rimuru switches to phoenix from anticipating the gavial, watching Shizu boil some water to put dried leaves in it.

While Shizu enjoys the hot leaf water, Rimuru approaches their cup, sampling the aforementioned tea. Starting off with little dunks until they dunk their whole head in the cup.

As the two enjoy their lunch, the goblin readies himself. 

The plan is simple, while the two are distracted by better prey, he runs.

The masked demon’s hand traps his uninjured arm in an iron grip.

“You shouldn’t be moving with an injury like that. Sit down.”

The potter freezes, deciding it best to obey the stronger majin’s will.

His heart still threatens to jump out of his chest with how fast it’s running.

She tilts her head with a questioning hum. “Ah, is it the mask? I know it can put some on-edge.” Is that what makes me shady? Star’s sake Heniz, could you have elaborated what you meant.

While she isn’t a fan of taking the only memo of her mentor off, but with how quiet it's been–mostly thanks to her jump in drive–he decides to move the mask to the side of her head as a compromise.

The goblin never thought living horror stories could be so beautiful. Or be looking at his wound with some form of worry, though he might be misreading her expression. 

“We were passing by when we found a pot that clearly belongs to a goblin village. As I am aware of the gap in our strength, I seek to return it. No need to reward us.”

There’s a slight pause as the masked demon’s expression becomes more frantic, eyes filled with excitement, the majin losing any fragment of her once calm demor.

“But if you’re willing to trade some of your fermented soybean paste for some of the many, many items in our possession you’re more than welcome too!”

He feels the need to back away abit from the growing intensity, the blue phoenix chirping in agreement as it rips into more well-seasoned meat.

“Um.”

He’s not sure what to do, no outsider ever takes interest in their culture, no less some salty, fermented seasoning. The potter’s not even sure how much it’s worth. 

“How about we offer you some healing herbs, hipokute, enough for your injury and then some.”

The phoenix nods as the masked demon then the bird shares a look.

The promise of hipokute is tantalising, but he can’t ignore this prime opportunity, the masked demon and a phoenix? It’s perfect. He might be asking for too much but he has to try.

“If you would allow it, I beg of you to slay the amarok who injured me as payment, even if it costs more than this pot.” The goblin bows as deep as he could, not wanting to be burnt to a crisp by either the majin or phoenix.

“Half, and we keep the amarok’s remains.” 

The goblin tries his best to hold his surprise. It is a large pot he supposes, full of the longest aged paste they have. With the amarok’s body the potter has no place to bargain, considering the feared predator the two are happily eating. It’ll be a wonder if any of the amarok makes it back in one piece. 

As some meat is given to the potter, the few hipokute herbs stay in the masked demon’s hand.

They’re crushed up into a paste, left to sit as he’s held in place again, wound cleaned and treated with ointment, covered by some mysteriously appearing cloth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shizu cleans off the cookware from their lunch break.

“What are you thinking about Shizu?” The phoenix walks over to the adventurer, the bird’s voice startling the goblin.

“Have you been able to sense the amarok?”

“Nope. I haven’t eaten one before, so I might have missed it.”

“Really? Didn’t you say you went to the tundra?”

“I did see one but it ran away and I had other things to do.” The phoenix stops, head lowing in guilt.

“It’s not your fault, another amarok would have wandered down here for easy prey.”

“Oh okay then, so are we going to hunt it now?”

Shizu spares a glance at a gobsmacked goblin. 

“We should return the goblin to his village.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the cliffs it was a short walk back to the village. What an idiot he is, he almost led two possibly hostile majin home. He’s glad the pair were so kind, and swayed by the pot’s contents.

A farmer stares at him. 

“That looks rough, what happened to you?”

“An amarok, I thought I was a goner when it got my arm until I tricked it into thinking I was dead.”

“A classic- Ahh!”

The blue phoenix on the Conquer of Flame’s shoulder cocks their head.

“Potter, i-isn’t that!”

The masked demon speaks, tilting the mask to the side of her face.

“No need to be afraid, we are here to kill the amarok in exchange for some of your fermented soy seasoning.”

The masked demon walks off, talking to the phoenix on her shoulder.

The farmer looks at the potter in disbelief.

“I know, they’re weird, but run with it. At least we aren’t going to die to the amarok now.”

“I hope we don’t die to either two.” 

The story spreads like wildfire through the village, overtaking any generations-old horror stories about the masked demon, the majin of flames.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Crickets chirp in the darkness, as a pair of moonlit figures stand by an amarok’s lifeless form, the monster’s mouth open, blood and drool soaking the dirt, head cleanly served from the body.

“Wow, after all that tracking, that was over a lot quicker than I thought.” Rimuru’s crest lowers before the deep slime hops down, returning to their original form inspecting the body.

“My apologies, I barely acted on thought. It was only a young one anyways, nothing to write home about.”

“That’s even cooler, you saw it for a split second and swoosh, gone! Shizu you’re so good. Wish I had the hands to use a sword.”

The adventure chuckles at the slimes starry eyes, they really are a child.

“Maybe we can find a quest for a more humanoid monster so you can take its form. I have a few in mind that even have opposable thumbs and nimble hands.”

“Really! That’s great, let's get going, I need some of those!”

“Wait Rimuru, are you going to eat the monster? You must be hungry.”

“Um… there's magicules around.”

“You need food more substantial than just free-floating magicules, though just feeding on them like a forest slime you can do, if you wish to stunt your growth and look like a little baby forever. Not that I’m against the motion, you’re adorable.”

“What no! I was just thinking we could give this to the guild or somewhere, this would get us a lot of coins right? Even if it’s young, it feels pretty soft and warm.”

“Please little one, you’re worth more than any amount of gold to me. Eat your dinner, Rimuru Tempest.” The Conquer of Flames’ aura flares.

“Yep, yes, doing that now heh, heh.” Rimuru’s only seen Shizu’s aura once, by accident. Rimuru’s glad they’re in the upper rank of majin, they would have passed out from fear alone! Still, so cool, where can I get an aura like that?

The deep slime covers the fallen young amarok, dissolving the monster’s body bit by bit, analysing to take its form.

The slime hops up to their adventuring partner’s feet. Popping out a single fang.

“I thought you said you’re going to eat it all.” 

“This fang looks cool, like ice, and you’re the Conquer of Flames, you should have it.”

“Very funny, Rimuru, next time do finish your meal.” Shizu pockets the fang, starting to head back to the village with the deep slime hopping after her. A calm summer breeze ruffles her raven hair as the sun lowers, painting the land with oranges and growing shadows.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

“The amarok is dead.”

The fang shines, catching the moonlight like a gem. If the thing didn’t tear his arm open, the potter would have called it pretty, though he supposes the fang possesses the same kind of deadly beauty the majin of flames does. Shizu, if he didn’t hallucinate the phoenix talking.

“Right, do you want...”

The phoenix hands him a smooth stone pot. He gets to work, under the eyes of the whole village, his nerves making him pack the paste with shaky hands.

“A pleasure doing business with you.”

And as quickly as legend came, the masked demon wanders off into the Juran wilderness, the glowing blue phoenix on her shoulder becoming a mere dot in the distance, like a star in the night sky.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rimuru was glad Shizu was so insistent on them eating almost everything they came across, as after a good day’s hike from the village the magicules start to thin.

Thin enough that Rimuru or any member of their kind would turn to aggression. 

The slime grows uneasy at the news at the border on the edge of Jura, though Shizu assures her companion.

“Deep slimes are always in that aggressive state, so don’t worry.”

“That doesn’t help!”

The Conquer of Flames laughs, deciding to take the chance to hold the slime as she walks. Ignoring all the membrane fluid, that helps to cool her anyways, slimes are great monsters, or majin, to hug. 

As the two journey the magicule concentration reaches the lowest Rimuru’s ever seen. The deep slime shifts into phoenix, making themselves at home on Shizu’s shoulder and careful for their talons not to dig too far in.

They practise controlling their aura, few phoenix calls and mannerisms. Polishing off their act as they find a way to access the phoenix’s instincts through their mimicry.

Once they step on official Blumund soil Rimuru’s confident they’re unmistakably a phoenix and nothing else. A deep slime pretending to be a rare variant of a rare magical bird? Preposterous.

The grasses grow shorter and shorter, far tamer that Rimuru is familiar with.

Shizu and Rimuru find themselves on a road, drawing the attention of any and all travellers. 

Rimuru hates the stares of the adventures the most, looking at them in awe, and later jealousy. Like they want to be perched on Shizu’s shoulder.

The slime’s tempted to take to the skies again but they’re so close, the traffic ever so busy with people and carts filling the dirt road.

{Hey Shizu, what are those white funny looking donkeys with a horn on their heads?}

{They’re known as unicorns, a horned horse.}

{Oh that’s what a horse is!}

Shizu smiles behind the mask, until they hit the end of the road, the stone gates of Blumund’s capital towering over them.

One of the guards glares at her until the Conquer of Flames shows her adventurer’s card, the guard’s demeanour instantly becoming more relaxed, friendly. Aw, a fan.

“And the bird? It’s tipping our monster alerts.”

“This phoenix has just chosen me as a companion, I’ll be sure to register them when I get to the guild here.”

“That’s a phoenix?”

“Don’t you think their feathers are such a beautiful colour, a rare blue-star morph.” 

Another guard nods, assured that the other the adventurer’s not lying as he hands her a leg band that will mark the phoenix as safe for next 24 hours. She’s a famous champion after all, what would she gain from causing undue chaos?

Lond’s gates draw open.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Woaaaaakk!” Rimuru squawks, lowering their head in relief as they manage to save the slip. 

How could they not exclaim surprise, when shoe clad feet, hooves and paws fill the streets. Music, chatter, the advertisements of merchants and vendors, the scent of grains, spices, leather, fill Rimuru’s senses, threatening to overwhelm them.

Vendors line the street with their stalls, merchants filling the other side with brick stores, temping the deep slime with the delectable scent of food and the odd magical item. Shizu wasn’t immune either, walking around the stalls until she caves, being sure to share her market spoils.

While the chatter gives the slime more data than ever to work with, soon the cacophony starts to overwhelm them, licks of flames escaping their feathers as they try to get used to all the noise.

A honey fritter phases through the mask.

“Why did I even get these, they’re never as good as the ones in Jasmine.”

Rimuru focuses on their partner's voice, the scent of Jura that clings to her clothes, to the slight bounce that comes with every step the Conquer of Flames takes.

Flames turn to embers, heat made to stay within glowing feathers as the bird exhales.

The phoenix tilts their head. {Jasmine? Like the flower?}

{The City of Jasmine, or just Jasmine. It’s great, definitely at the top of the list for me, why don’t we head there after we find you a humanoid monster?}

Rimuru trills in agreement, pecking at an offered fritter.

Shizu stops a building near the edge of the high street.

{We’ve been lucky so far but it’s possible someone here might know what phoenixes are like, be sure to keep up your acting, you’ve been doing great so far.}

{Have you met a phoenix before?}

{Once.}

Shizu opens the guild’s door, the idle chatter within dying in an instant. It feels like being at the goblin village again, with countless eyes tracking every movement, every twitch of the feather and muscle that makes Rimuru flatten their feathers, shuffling closer on Shizu’s shoulder.

“Hello, I am here to register this phoenix as my companion.”

The chatter returns to the building, half of it gossip.

“Right of course, please wait here.”

Shizu leans against the wall, mindful of the shapeshifting deep slime resting on her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shizu smiles under the mask as a familiar face and aura makes his way to her.

“Long time no see, kid.”

Fuze sighs. “I thought you'd stop calling me that when I passed 30.”

“I’ve changed my mind, it’s over 40.”

“Demonic head instructor, here is everything you need to fill out, then we can take an apprehension test.”

“Aw you’ve grown so much, Fuze.”

The man huffs as he hands Shizu a pen, the phoenix-shaped deep slime on her shoulder wiggling the clunky band on their foot, desperately trying to find a comfortable spot to wear it, but with no avail.

The phoenix lets out a warble, voicing their discomfort.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be off soon.” Shizu pats Rimuru to comfort them, the slime letting out a few trills of content.

As they’re being pet Rimuru makes sure to keep up their act, especially under this man’s, the guildmaster’s, gaze as they pick up from the whispering.

“Here.” A gloved hand returns the forms to the guild master, who shuffles through them.

“You found the blue-star morph in Jura? Oh that’s hilarious.”

Didn’t Rimuru manage to scare off a group of adventurers when she was asleep?

It dawns on Shizu the party she was with might have reported her as MIA.

Oh, that’s what was funny.

No wonder everyone was looking at her like they saw a ghost. 

Ah well, that’s their problem. She’s clearly still alive.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

The bird was undoubtedly a phoenix, but Fuze couldn’t shake away his suspension. Something was afoot. 

He’s aware all his staring was making the bird uncomfortable, but something was for sure up, though that might be due Shizu’s natural shady nature. 

But regardless, the bond between the two is undeniable, the Conquer of Flames showing more affection than his father has ever described. The magical beast on her shoulder eagerly responded in kind.

“Before we start, I will state the conditions. Cheat and you will fail. The companion must find its adventurer on its own, the adventurer is not allowed to alert said companion to where they are.”

With another huff, the guildmaster asks for the phoenix, reading a flask of sweet wine to keep the bird on his hand as he makes his way up to the highest point of the city as Shizu walks off into the crowd.

The magic beast in question is a phoenix, with his analysis and general knowledge Fuze doesn’t need to worry about its strength, the bird being a guaranteed A rank or over. Not even the two’s bond, having been shown, but for the books the test starts. He can’t show favouritism.

“Apologies for taking from your partner, now go find that old woman.”

Rimuru lifts their head out of the flask, wind ruffling wine-soaked feathers.

The Phoenix spreads their wings, hopping off guildmaster’s falconer glove, blue tinted feathers near-perfectly blending in with the summer skies.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rimuru perches on a shop’s roof. How am I supposed to find Shizu at all? 

The city’s noise threatens to overwhelm them again, and their partner isn’t here with her calm, herder-like presence. 

Even if her aura is obscured by the mask she likes to wear. 

The added difficulty makes Rimuru’s feathers lower as they fly between roofs.

Where would Shizu be?

As the deep slime flaps and hops, they drop down in excitement in finally having found-

Hey! That’s not funny. Ugh, human younglings.

As they search, coming through the streets, they find more imitators, people selling look-alikes to Shizu’s mask. But none are able to capture the subtle intricacies of the original. 

What is it with all the copies? Considering all the awe and reverence people have for Shizu’s title, are they imitating her? Like how non-poisonous species would imitate the poisonous to ward off predators. But didn’t Veldora say humans aren’t like that? 

Rimuru flaps their wings, gliding close to the street.

They should ask Veldora. This is getting weird, and a bit embarrassing.

…

Huh? What’s going on?

…

They can’t open it, why, why why-

They smack into the side of a building, falling onto a street food vendor’s tarp roof.

Recollecting themselves, a little detail resurfaces.

They’re too far. 

What if Veldora thinks they left him to rot! Or something even worse, Shizu killed them! They’re a terrible sibling, getting too wrapped up in their own excitement to notice they’ve gotten out of range.

Rimuru takes a few breaths, while pointless the act calms them, soothing the embers that threaten to burn the tarp. That would be cruel to the okay-honey-fritter vendor.

The phoenix returns to the skies, a new fire lit inside to get this test over with.

Though they have no luck, the city is far too busy to pick any particular thing or person out, even following a trail reminiscent of Jura’s scent brings up nothing. The void left in Veldora’s and Shizu’s absence consumes them.

Rimuru tries using magic sense to aid their search, blue feathers sparking with flames as the onflow of new data overwhelms them. Setting them back.

They don’t want to be alone.

They can’t be alone. 

Can’t stay alone.

Breathing doesn’t help.

The clunky metal band makes Rimruu fumble their landing, they just want to tear the stupid thing off.

The phoenix flies between roofs as the sun lowers, bringing Rimuru some relief from their turmoil as the sunlight fades.

And so do the people and carts, vendors packing, shops locking up.

It’s only been a short while but they already miss Jura’s wilderness.

From the wild grasses, shrubs and trees to the crops of the goblins, ogres and lizardmen. Veldora and the cave. 

Rimuru starts searching for anything reminiscent of Jura, even just a tree.

They swoop down, catching a familiar scent, a peek of a white cape.

{Shizu! Shizu, oh finally I found you! I don’t know how much longer I could have taken that, please never leave again.} 

Rimuru nuzzles into Shizu like a cat, the adventurer rewarding the slime some long-awaited pats.

{Not again, and I missed you too. Let’s get back to the guild now.}

{It’s still open?}

“The sun’s only just set, of course.”

Shizu rises from the tame grass, Rimuru taking their spot on her shoulder, the phoenix’s walking, or rather awkward waddle, unable to keep up with the majin’s speed. 

The door opens to the near-empty guild, the building lit by a few lanterns.

“A bit late but welcome back, I see the test was a success.”

“Can you ensure the new band wouldn't irritate, the current one is doing no favours to my friend.” 

Fuze sighs. 

“Of course miss Shizu.”

The guildmaster walks past a door, eventually emerging with two bands and enchanted clippers in hand. 

Fuze moves the phoenix’s leg up, attaching a band that looks more like a greave, soft padding under the inscribed metal.

“Apologies for the wait, but I assumed you need something fireproof.”

The band the guards gave them falls to the floor, making the phoenix relax as it’s replaced by another guild-issued band.

“I wonder what gave that away, thank you, kid.”

Shizu closes the door, smiling at Fuze’s audible annoyance as she walks back to the park.

None of the inns had a single vacancy that didn’t count the price in gold. 

She really should have accounted for summer, perhaps used her status but, that would lead to someone being kicked out of their room if it worked. Unbecoming for a champion like herself, not that sleeping outside bothered the Conquer of Flames. No one’s stupid enough to try anything with her, and if so, Shizu feels sorry for the grass.

In the darkness, the blue star phoenix makes a small burrow under a tree’s roots, slipping into slime form with the adventurer’s companion ID bands on two small tendrils.

Chapter Text

The night drags on.

The young deep slime doesn’t, can’t, leave Shizu, but every moment the clocktower’s hands move furthers their guilt.

But Rimuru doesn't have the heart to wake the dozing adventurer. They wait. 

Crickets chirp, rodents and the odd cat’s paw steps patter, the tree’s leaves sway to the breeze, a gentle rustling accompanying the nighttime chorus.

The eerie near-quiet has the slime on edge, never in Jura was it this empty. They didn’t think it possible for Lond to be this quiet after spending hours adjusting to the daytime bustle. 

Heavy footsteps with the clashing of plate mail pass, every step and metallic clang felt so vividly through Rimuru’s body it reminds them of a blade tiger trying to tread lightly.

Metal shifts and rattles, though the footsteps don’t move further. 

The slime shifts back to their phoenix form, not trusting the armoured and armed strangers that resemble high ranking adventurers.

It seems Rimuru doesn’t have to be the one to wake Shizu as their companion stirs at the noise.

“Is there something wrong?”

Her masked face turns toward the knights.

The two stand, blinking blankly.

“No just, miss-”

“Shizu.”

The holy knights stare at her masked face. 

“If not, you can go back to your patrol.”

“Right, of course.”

Shizu’s gaze doesn’t leave the knights until sabaton-clad footsteps blend into the nighttime noise. The adventurer continues to feign sleep even with the pair out of easy view.

She shuffles around on the ground, adjusting her white cape in various ways. 

Perhaps their adventuring partner wasn’t pretending, she was having trouble sleeping.

Rimuru pokes their head out of their burrow, talons waddling their way towards Shizu.

{Rimuru?}

{Um, Shizu before you sleep again, can we turn back? I didn’t tell Veldora anything! I could be dead for all he knows, it’s the first time I’ve gone out of range of our link.}

{You want to go back to Jura?}

{Is that a problem?}

{No, but I do have a different route in mind, we can take a pit stop at a town I think you would enjoy.}

{Do we have too? I’m fine.}

Shizu's gaze gives Rimuru the feeling that they said something stupid.

{Like any young majin of your rank, deep slimes have certain food and magicule requirements that can’t be met without effort outside places like the Great Jura Forest.}

It sounded like Shizu was speaking from experience.

{Oh that makes sense, I can keep lookout if that’ll help you sleep.}

{Thank you, but won’t you go hungry? I have some dried fruit on me.}

{Your body heat gives me some energy, it’s one of the phoenix’s skills. But, can I have some fruit too?}

{I run that hot huh?} Shizu takes out a handful from a pouch, telling the slime about the few unfamiliar pieces.

The slime can’t decide whether they like the dates or the dried Zaneta grapes more. In the end the quandong wins, the fruit being the only one that had a distinct saltiness with the expected sweetness out of the selection. 

Shizu chuckles before returning to sleep. Of course Rimuru would prefer the fruit of a hardy desert tree that flourished in Juran soil. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Even with Rimuru playing lookout, her sleep was a fleeting thing, the adventurer waking after a few short hours, fully rested. The dark starry sky she was greeted with didn’t concern her. She’s no human.

A gloved hand strokes the feathers of her companion.

“Let’s get going.”

{Hurra!}

The phoenix chirps, perching themselves on her shoulder, talons ever so careful not to dig in uncomfortably. Perhaps she should get a spaulder, maybe even a pauldron for Rimuru to perch on. With her savings she could definitely afford it.

Darkness covers streets, the city of Lond soundly asleep as the clocktower’s hands mark 2 o’clock in the morning. 

Shizu treads through the night with ease, evading the paths of patrolling knights. 

Rimuru wonders if their partner has good low light vision, her head tilting and moving as she walks to the gates, following guards, running rats and flying birds. Rimuru doesn’t know many humanoid majin with low light vision this good, most relying on other senses, light sources or skills, the last ability mostly a monster exclusive. 

They wonder what kind of majin Shizu is, definitely not a goblin or any other they know. They’ll find out later, Shizu seems to be thinking about something, they don’t want to annoy her.

The deep slime’s mind drifts off as the pair pass the gates. Are Shizu’s eyes shiny like the monsters with good dark vision are? 

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sun slowly drags itself over the horizon, spilling warm orange light onto Blumund’s countryside, to Rimuru’s woe.

{Shizu, how do you deal with this? Can you just tolerate it or are you just lucky?}

{Did you pick up on it?}

{Your great vision? Unless you were using a skill, I mean.}

{No, the first guess was right. I was yet to fully wake up so I relied on my natural senses to get me through Lond.}

As much as she resents Leon into making her into a demonoid, or existing, there were so many pros her younger self would have taken it, if asked. But there was never any asking. 

She hates that demon lord, but she can see the upsides in being what she is.

The lack of darkness when the day turned to night used to scare her young self, a ugly reminder of what’s been done, what was taken from her. She felt like a freak, despite most of the people she knew seeing the same. Telling her it was a privilege to have fangs as sharp as hers, that she was lucky.

After her forays into the great forest of Jura that lay beyond Leon’s castle, she quickly grew to appreciate every little non-human feature that gave her the slightest advantage. If not, this cruel world would have taken her.

She hates to admit the Magic Knights were right. 

Human or not though, she still has a love-hate relationship with her fangs, a great weapon, yes, but one which easily backfires.

She has the feeling Heinz would still ask her what she spat out after their first quest together. And she would still deny a very tasty looking quandong was the reason she had trouble speaking for a while.

Idle thoughts become tainted with anger at the reminder of Leon. Even after the sun has set and risen once more, it lingers.

She’s glad for the mask, and for Rimuru, the slime’s weight grounding her as she takes a few breaths. She could really go for a fight right about now.

The adventurer moves her cape to cover the deep slime perched on her shoulder as she treads out of the little forest, on the edge of a vineyard. With some of the posts knocked down, plants trampled, wine grapes laying on the dirt. 

She smiles wide under the mask when she catches sight of a cottage past all the vines, covered with dewy grapes, that catch Rimuru’s attention like shining jewels. The damaged vine posts don’t end, though they decrease the closer to the town they get.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rimuru peeks from under Shizu’s cape, their sanctuary from the sun’s vile rays, the cloth resting on them a comforting weight. Is that why others wear clothes? With the revelation, Rimuru’s willing to try, curious to see why most humanoids wear garments, if only clothes worked for slippery hemispheres.

Or birds, cats, fish, serpents and so on, no form they had was good for clothes. The slime lets out a defeated sigh, smelling lightly of grass and cedar, setting their hopes on finding a humanoid monster soon. At least the nearby fruit smelled good. 

The vineyard cuts off, giving way to well-trodden earth leading to an old cobblestone house, with smoke rising from its sooty chimney.

Wooden window panels swing open, a young looking human waving at Shizu as she passes by.

She waves back, making the human stiffen up in shock, what Rimuru assumes to be a teenage boy? Rushing deeper into the house at the sight of Shizu’s mask.

Humans really are a mystery,  with all those houses and hands.

Though speaking with hands seems useful, and again Rimuru wishes they had hands, but they need to get to Veldora first. The mental link fails to start, making the slime huff. Still too far?

By the time they make it to Zaneta’s streets the deep slime just wants to sink to the bottom of a cool lake and not resurface for the whole year. With still next to no magicules, their body feels heavy, reserves running lower than they’d like. 

The phoenix moves more of Shizu’s cape on top, trying to ignore all the eyes on them.

{Are you okay there?}

{You were right Shizu, can we have a break?}

{Of course, let’s get some food first. I assume you’re too tired to hunt?}

The phoenix bobs their head in confirmation as Shizu turns towards the high street, opening a bakery’s door, the melodic chime of a bell announcing her arrival. 

The baker stares at the two in shock for a second, face quickly returning to a more neutral expression.

“Well, what brings someone like you here?”

“It’s been a while, but I remember you having good bread, especially those currant buns.”

“Lucky, these are the last 6 for a long while.”

“What makes you say that, doesn’t Zaneta produce its own?”

“We do, but despite it being harvest season for the vineyards, most don’t wanna come out. If some passing adventurers were killed by monsters one night, the farmers ain’t risking it. Can’t fault them really, we’re waiting on someone to take the quest, but for a town like this and unknown monsters...” The baker sighs. 

“I understand. I’ll take all 6, 2 loaves of black bread, and each a loaf of King Ludwig, pumpernickel, wheat-rye, multigrain, and spelt.”

The baker gathers Shizu’s order, catching sight of a blue feathered phoenix slowly poking its head out.

The phoenix chatters, the Conquer of Flames seemingly understanding the chirps as she pays for the load of bread. 

“Consider the beasts dead.”

The bell rings, the adventure taking her bag, now full of bread.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just outside of town, Shizu takes her seat in the shade of a tree, the phoenix on her shoulder jumping down, resting in her lap as a deep slime.

“Aww you’re so small.” She pats the deep slime, using the outer membrane fluid that clung to her hands as soap. She’d better save her red ash leaves and berries for better things. 

“It’s not like 5 year olds are known for their size.”

“Fair, but if you were a goblin you would be an adult.”

“Wait seriously? How long do goblins live?”

“About 20 years, I’ve known some that have lived until their late 20’s but that’s uncommon.”

“So, how old are you?”

“I’m 74.”

Flicking the slime off her hands, the adventurer takes a currant bun, savouring the sweetness from the dried berries and honey.

“You’re old.”

“Oh I’m not that old, you’ve seen my face.”

She would be if she was still human, though she’s not even close to the ages of the Magic Knights, or stars forbid, their lord Leon. Shizu resents what that demon lord did, but she wouldn’t be able to adventure after a decade or two of teaching if not for it.

She doesn't mind being a demonoid anymore too much. Her time as a human was brief, nothing more than a fading memory now. She’s made peace with herself. But she can’t bear spending more time with that curse, ifrit. Why did my life have to be spared?

Shizu takes a chunk of the black bread, savouring the loaf flavoured with the perfect amount of caraway. 

Rimuru shifts back into a phoenix as she offers a piece.

The scent of rose assaults Shizu’s nose as the phoenix tears into the piece. The smell of citrus rises as the phoenix watches Shizu eat with hopeful, wanting eyes.

Until Shizu breaks off a large chunk of the loaf. 

{Enjoy, and care to store the rest in your skill? I’ll be back with some more food.}

{Thanks. And no problem, I’ll do that!}

Giving Rimuru one final pat, the adventurer follows the sound of croaking, to a bountiful lake.

Hands reaching into a pouch, she pulls out some  red ash leaves, crushing them up before introducing it to the water.

As Shizu waits she forages, looking for any potential monster tracks or lingering magicules. All she could find were the tracks of birds and frogs, the only disturbance in the paper thin amount of natural magicules being a resting deep slime.

After a fruitless search, she laments that Zaneta’s mostly farmland and town, very much dependent on said farmland, no starting fires to lure the monsters out. Though she does find a cave, part of a larger system, magic sense informs her. At least Rimuru would be happy.

With a disappointed huff she collects the stunned fish, happy with a decent catch that could feed a tired slime and adventurer. 

Shizu takes a seat near a rock cutting up the fish, starting a controlled flame. If only she could let it run wild, she hopes it’s not an organised group of monsters. Direwolves can be such a pain.

{Do you want me to make something to cook with?}

Shizu pats the slime, offering offcuts that Rimuru eagerly accepts, offal fizzling away under ocean blue.

{No need, rest for the fight we have ahead.} 

A few offcuts Shizu eats herself. A part of her knows it’s gross, unsafe for humans, uncouth for Magic Knights. But her nose doesn't lie, the metallic tang of blood sweet like sugar on her tongue.

The pair enjoy foraged spoils, waiting off the harsh sun of midday in the mouth of a cave. Rimuru’s membrane goes soft on Shizu out of gratitude, filling the cave with the smell of rose for finding such a homey, familiar cave.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

With the cooling afternoon breeze that rustles the grasses and leaves, two majin set off on their quest. Walking through a near empty city centre to the town hall.

As expected there was one quest on the board. No wonder no adventures have taken it.

ADVENTURERS NEEDED IN ZANETA!

Help return peace and safety to the dear town of Zaneta. Us winemakers wish to commence harvest.

Quest Type- Subjugation, monster extermination.

Monster species uncertain, number uncertain. Recommended rank of C or above.  

Reward of 70 silver, additional compensation for monster rank and number is available.

The poster wasn’t the worst Shizu’s seen, mostly riding off Zaneta’s reputation. The baseline reward seems nice at around a B rank price point. She supposes those dead adventurers must have been a C. Nighttime man-eater doesn’t cross many monsters off the list but the few help.

{Shizu, why are you looking at the board so long?}

{It’s the quest poster.}

{Oh, so is that what letters look like?}

{They are, Veldora didn’t teach you how to read common?}

{I don’t know if he can, silly dragon didn’t know what a garden or wine was. Can you teach me, pretty please?}

Shizu pets the phoenix. She notes down to get some wine, a personal favourite ever since bottled wine. 

{Well why not? Literacy is rather useful to have.}

{Yay!}

Rimuru’s heard of the repositories of knowledge that are books, the only issue being that literacy is required. The slime didn’t even know what literacy meant until Shizu said it. As much as they want to say why they so desperately wanted to read beyond their own curiosity, Rimuru heeds Veldora’s warning. 

That dragon’s reputation could not get any worse.

“Are you taking the quest?”

The pair turn the source of the voice, which Rimuru’s quick to recognize is the older boy from the cottage. His auburn hair is in a tousled mess, clothes speckled with fresh dirt. He smelled like them, carrying the woody-earthy slightly musty scent of a comfortable cave.

“We are.”

Rimuru puffs out their chest and feathers at being included.

“See, I want to be an adventurer, I’ve been training so much! I won’t-”

“You will not be joining us, go home kid.”

The boy looks down, gritting his teeth.

“So what, just because you’re famous you think I can’t. I’ve been training every day!”

“Kid, I don't want the first thing I tell your parents to be your demise. You don’t even know the species, it’s recommended with a quest like this the adventurers be A rank or above at the very least.”

The boy's hazel eyes grow slightly wet.

“But I-”

“Can you prepare for everything? With Zaneta so close to Jura it could be anything that could tear you limb from limb without effort. While they exist, there are few that a green adventurer can challenge and remain alive in that forest. Forest slimes, goblins, leech lizards, bauks or wyrms, while weak alone, are formidable with sufficient numbers.”

Deep slimes vary far too much for Shizu to say. She doubts the kid even knows the difference. Barely everyone frequents those parts of monster manuals, even with the numerous additions she’s made. 

The boy is silent.

“Sorry, I’ve forgotten that bauks are considered strong. Though it rings true with any being.”

“Oh, there are… that few?” The boy’s surprise tells Shizu just how greener than green the teen is. 

“Go train, do your work and hobbies, just don’t get yourself killed. It’s important to know when something is past your rank.”

He huffs. “Fine, can I at least help? I’ve been searching for a while, I live here, I can give you more information than that dumb poster.”

The conquer of Flames stands quiet, looking at the phoenix on her shoulder. 

“Alright kid, just leave the rest to us professionals. You wouldn’t ask me to grow grapes or make wine would you? Don’t have the slightest clue, I just drink. Though I got to say the glass bottles have been a major improvement, it used to be near unpalatable when I was your age.”

He laughs at the mental image of a clueless Conquer of Flames. Even just talking to the adventurer he could feel her experience and knowledge, and the stern air of authority it came with that overshadowed how shady the old adventurer seemed. “Sounds rough, follow me.”

Despite having some of his spirits crushed by his idol, the teen still mutters “so cool” under his breath as he walks to the edge of town, Conquer of Flames in tow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey bro you’re back! Wait a sec…”

The girl wipes her eyes.

“I assure you, I am real, and currently on a quest.” The Conquer of Flames replies.

“Oh shit, um, I don’t know what else to say other than you're like, really, really cool, thanks for taking it.”

“It’s a pleasure.” Shizu faces the boy. “Care to show where the monster has been.”

“Yeah, of course.”

They trudge down the vineyard stopping at some fallen posts and trampled vines.

“Here, this happened a few days ago, I saw some black shapes knock them down. I thought they were hogs or something until I heard their weird growls and saw…”

Shizu squats down near the ground, taking in account there were multiple. 

“The claws? Fangs?” Shizu traces the claws marks, passing a bite that had a post only attached by a few splinters. She stares at the dirt looking for good footprints, magic sense aiding her search.

“Unmistakably a monster’s, and shining yellow eyes.”

Spotting a faded, undisturbed footprint in the dirt Shizu internally cheers, the print a mix between a wolf’s and a bear’s. 

“Could you make out the shape of its body? And did it look like the monsters had two eyes each, more or less?”

“It was hard to tell, my torch wasn't no limelight that night but the bodies looked humanoid and hunched over, with brown fur and pairs of eyes, I’m pretty sure about that. Two each.”

The Conquer of Flames tastes the dirt for a final confirmation, happy with her investigation.

“Thanks for the information kid, be safe out there.”

“Um, sure.”

The adventure walks off following an old trail the monster’s left. Definitely a group, a horde.

His sister catches up to him as the adventurer walks into the forest.

“You're going to do something stupid aren't you?”

“What makes you think that? I would never.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shizu sniffs the air, not letting go of the familiar musty scent she caught at the vineyard as she’s led back into the forest.

The mix between moss and wet dog grows stronger, as she trudges the forest floor, leaves crunching under her feet, a curious phoenix silently sitting on her shoulder, anticipating her every move.

The trail leads to a place where the detritus of the forest was disturbed, revealing the black soil underneath.

The ground dips, trails on the bare forest floor looking like something was dragged in, footprints near-undecipherable as they all layered on top of each other.

Shizu unsheaths her sword. Pushing her mask to the side, revealing a smile, and brown eyes that shone amber from the phoenix’s luminescence.

{Rimuru, some advice. Bauks are attracted to light, though easily blinded and scared away by it. That's how the kid wasn't mauled the other night.}  

{I’ll make my feathers stop glowing, you want to ambush the bauks in their den?}

Shizu’s grin is predatory, fangs on display as the smile reaches her ears. A pep in her step as she makes it to the depths of the den, where the air was old and stale.

{Of course, since there's so many.}

{Oh, good thinking.}

{You did well picking up on my plan, good thinking.}

The Phoenix shuffles around, trying to hide their embarrassment while the sweet smell of jasmine makes any attempt moot.

The two pick up on dozens of heartbeats in the den, a horde of bauks snoring in the darkness. Shizu’s footfalls are dead silent.

Far in the den, in near total darkness.

The Conquer of Flames hits her scabbard against a stone, only for the echoing boom to be overshadowed by a thump followed by a scream of pain.

In seconds the horde rises, a sea of monsters rushing toward the noise, toward the human that wasn’t masking his presence, now moaning in pain, prone.

Shizu’s eyes widen as she senses it’s the boy from earlier.

It’s been too long, she got too caught up in the excitement of her first quest with Rimuru, her first quest where she could let loose, without the threat of discovery looming over her head.

And this foolish boy just had to be such a teenager. At least Rimuru listens to reason.

Her aura runs wild, making the horde still, giving her the time to put a barrier in place. 

Though her presence wakes the horde’s head.

While the wolfish humanoid creatures before her were covered in scraggly black fur with a face like a horseshoe bat’s, mouth full of fangs, the splitting image of a northern bauk. This bauk has a thick rufus mane and a long snout, better resembling a fruit bat’s. Though the bauk still shared features with the general horde, black fur covering most of its tall body.

A southern and northern mix. 

{ Rimuru, control the horde. Remember that boy is still conscious.}

{Got it.}

The phoenix jumps off, a protective urge overtaking them when they sense how hurt the young teen is, surrounded by a horde of bauks, gnashing their fangs, growling in anger.

The phoenix flies near the bauks, dimly lit feathers catching the attention of yellow eyes, and claws.

Rimuru makes a quick dive, just escaping a bauk’s clutches with the fallen boy staring in fear. Phoenixs can’t speak can they? Sorry for this.

The soft blue feathers glow as bright as the sun, illuminating the whole dank den for a flash as embers spark, growing to a white-hot blaze.

With wide eyes the wanna be adventurer watches the stunned bauk’s fur start to melt, some monsters recovering from their daze only to be too late as their flesh is taken by the ravenous blaze, revealing bone. 

The phoenix swoops with a shriek like a barn owl’s, talons and beak tearing into the bauks that were too far to be killed by the pyre.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

It wasn’t all too weird for southern and northern bauks to mix breed, the result often referred to as a “snourdern”, the offspring taking both parents strengths, covering each subspecies weaknesses.

Even if it was strong and fast, both weren’t immune to heat. 

The bauk winces from the light that brightens the den.

Extra skill: Heat wave. 

The beast pants, its movements slowed, though it still tries to grapple her. Which the adventure simply dodges, stabbing its hand through the palm, making blood run.

Enraged, the bauk lunges to bite. 

Giving Shizu the perfect opening to drive her blade through the bauk’s heart, movements so slow the monster was practically telling the adventurer where it was going to move as it hopelessly swiped at her with clawed hands.

The sweet smell of blood makes Shizu have to collect herself, moving the mask over her face as she goes to help Rimuru finish the remaining monsters. Disappointing that she didn’t get to tear into the monsters but the fight was enough to satisfy her impulses for now.

She has a gift to give after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rimuru flaps lazily, slipping off Shizu’s shoulder after a hasty landing, but thankfully they’re saved by her hands.

{I need to turn back, tired.}

Shizu looks at the boy. He’s human. The son of winemakers.

The barrier drops, the boy breathing heavily from the heat and stress.

She hits him carefully, the boy passing out.

{You can turn back now.} 

The phoenix in her hands melts into a deep slime, that Shizu settles near the snourden’s corpse.

{Happy late birthday, a gift from me to you. Eat.}

The exhausted slime hums in confirmation, deep blue encasing the fallen beast until all was fully dissolved.

{It’s humanoid!}

{With the combination of the northern’s stubby hands and the southern's long digits, a mixed breed’s are practically the same as mine.}

With a puff of black mist the slime takes the snorden’s form, towering over her like the beast did, only for the mane to be shades of blue, with a purple and blue glimmer to the black fur.

{Too tired ugh.}

The slime takes a smaller form, the size of a 10 year old. Shizu rushes to Rimuru as they blink in shock, lifting them in a tight hug.

“Oh you’re adorable, I didn’t know it was possible for bauks to be but you did it. Your fur’s so soft too.” Her hand comes through Rimuru’s blue mane, far softer than the coarse manes of southern bauks.

Rimuru returns the hug with newfound arms. I have arms, hands, and fingers now! Birthdays are amazing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a quick but messy snack of bauk, Shizu cleans them both with magic, before picking up the unconscious boy, making her way out of the den.

For some weird reason Shizu expected it to be pitch dark when she saw that sun had set during their time in the bauk’s den, not the desaturated colours of her dark vision she’s seen for most of her life. The adventurer blames the novels she’s read, they’re too addictive.

With all her swirling thoughts, she hasn’t factored the young deep slime she suddenly picked up in her mission. Her goal was to fight Leon, even if that meant dying herself but she can’t leave Rimuru. Shizu didn’t even notice how attached she’d gotten until she had to spend time alone in Lond. 

Shizu thought it was Rimuru who was attached, it was only in their nature as deep slime so young that they could be called a baby. Yet her time alone wasn’t the same as in the past, when no pesky party members around meant she could finally rest, play around in ways that would have made Alrose disappointed of her uncivilised behaviour.

She’s proud of that. Etiquette ended up being such a waste of time, what adventurer needs 6 different forks to eat a meal? No noble she’s met expected her to know, and she hates remembering, not having touched a single fork out of spite for decades.

As they near the boy’s home, Shizu gains a new worry, considering Rimuru’s lifespan.

With her remaining life force she won’t even see Rimuru reach the deep slime equivalent of a teenager or what’s socially considered an adult, never mind elder age. 

For the first time, she dreads death. For the first time, she wants to live. If only to see Rimuru grow up. It hurt beyond all else to find her mentor gone that one fateful day. She doesn't wish the same pain on Rimuru, only worsened by the finality of death.

Though Shizu won’t lie, her mentor’s sudden abandonment cut a deep ugly wound.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rimuru bobs on her shoulder, perfuming the air with the smell of citrus as they excitedly wait for them to hit the road again.

The adventurer sighs as she walks through the vineyard, knocking on the winemaker’s house.

“Is this your kid?”

Expectedly, eyes widen at the sight of her, though if it’s because the kid’s mother found a masked stranger holding her unconscious son on her doorstep at night or if the winemaker recognises her, Shizu can’t tell. She misses when it used to be just the one.

“So that’s where Eike went. As thanks, do you want to join us for dinner?”

Shizu stands for a moment. 

{Will you be okay holding your form a bit longer?}

{Yeah, for food, I’ll get some right?}

{Don’t worry I’ll be sure to share.}

“It won't be a problem would it?”

“We’re no nobility, though we’re pretty comfortable.”

“You do make pretty good wine, it’s a personal favourite.”

The winemaker smiles. “Thanks, there’s been quite a few advancements in recent years I’ve heard. Follow me.”

Shizu lays down the kid in his bed before following the woman to the dining room.

“Can I ask what happened to my foolish son?”

“He followed us and passed out from the heat during combat, don’t worry none of the bauks got to the kid.”

“Bauks? There were bauks here! Eike…” She sighs. “I am curious, how much will that pay?”

“Since it was a large horde, a few gold coins.”

“If only I had the strength.”

Shizu’s invited to sit at the table, Rimuru even getting their own spot, with a share of the winemaker’s dinner.

Shizu’s never been able to get used to the odd palate of nobility beyond desserts. Never mind the stuffy manners despite Alrose’s harsh attempts and Maetel’s gentler insistence. The armoured turnips tasted better with a little salt and then a cup of sugar.

And the wine, Shizu almost feels bad for the nobles who are stuck acting like snobs about some fermented grape drink. The winemakers, noticing her enjoyment, give her a bottle or two for the road after she shot down an offer to stay overnight. As nice as a bed seemed, the house was full of humans fond of the church. 

Shizu waves goodbye as Rimuru squawks, a summer night breeze ruffling her hair and the deep slime’s melting feathers as the pair make their way forward, Rimuru dropping into Shizu’s arms the moment they reach the woods.

Chapter Text

Wow, being an adventurer pays as Shizu brought in a bag full of bauk skulls as proof to the townhall, receiving a few gold coins in return, while the bread cost coppers.

The two eat their currant buns together in celebration, Shizu sorting gifts from thankful villagers. A few silvers, trinkets, and a lot of food. It almost made Shizu question if they knew about her eating habits in such low magicule zones.

Thankly she could always use the excuse of stress when her appetite dipped down to a normal level in magicule-filled havens.

There was a fair amount left over after their snack, as Rimuru had not been all too hungry that time. The young slime had been eating the ground last time she checked. 

“I took the bauk form when you were out, hands are sooo cool! Tired now.”

She picks up Rimuru, letting their cool body rest in her arms. “Are you used to them yet?”

“Yeah! I can do basic stuff, but I still need more practice.”

Shizu smiles. “What do you think about learning sword fighting? I’ve seen how you look at my blade.”

“Can I?”

The slime melts on her in sheer unbridled joy when she replies yes. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rimuru was starting to feel increasingly embarrassed as their phoenix form falters, unable to reel in the signal for it, the floral scent soaking Shizu’s clothes as they’re forced to revert back.

They want to take that bauk form again so much, but their body feels as fluid as a rock with their growing exhaustion. Ocean blue slime jiggling like jelly as they’re carried, starting to regret using up so many of their magicules to enjoy hands. 

Rimuru was so grateful that Shizu fed them regularly, patted them and scouted out wet and dark areas for them to rest in before she rested. Even if the slime felt like they were being babied, they liked the attention, as it made up for Veldora’s absence.

Slowly but surely their energy returned, enough for Rimuru to dissuade Shizu from hunting and foraging as much as she’d been doing recently to feed them. The deep slime bouncing and crawling by her side as the adventure walks.

More of the same jasmine smelling signal fills the air as they struggle to keep up. Instincts yell at them to conserve what energy they’ve regained and hunt.

“Do you want me to carry you some more?”

The slime squishes down on themselves. “Yeah…”

They almost eat her hands as she picks them up, until Shizu’s aura flares at their action, making the slime retreat into themselves. 

“I’m so sorry, I tried so hard. I couldn’t help it, I’m sorry!” Rimuru hoped Shizu wasn’t going to leave them alone after that, they couldn't bear the thought.

Assuming Shizu wanted some space after being bitten Rimuru tries to slip out of Shizu’s hands, only to slam into a barrier. 

“No need to feel sorry for a response that’s only natural. You’ll learn better restraint when you’re older but for now eat this, I’ll get you more food.”

“But-”

Shizu sighs, “Rimuru you’re so young, any adult deep slime would call you baby, please let me take care of you when you need it.”

She stops near a river, placing the slime in cool waters, safe under the shade of a tree. With a nub like tendril, they send their happiness and comfort towards the adventurer that makes her so incredibly warm. She pats the slime, hand moving in such a way it would have ruffled hair if slimes had any.

“Okay then, so how long until I’m an adult?”

Shizu laughs as she starts digging around some plants. “Biologically speaking, you are an adult, you can reproduce, though at a great risk to your health due to your young age. No children until you’re 100 Rimuru.”

Happy with her digging, Shizu pulls out lines of thick roots, the dirt clinging to the tubers.

“But since you’re no animal. You will be considered an adult after 200 years by most deep slime traditions.”

“After 200 years!? That's forever! Ugh, Are there any shorter ones?”

“Some only consider 250 or 300 year olds as adults. For the typical deep slime this wouldn’t be that long but you’re a special case.”

The tubers are cleaned by rushing water, then rubbed clean by Shizu's hands, left to rest on a clean river stone the adventure pulled out as Shizu scraped off all the slime Rimuru left behind on her.

“Special? Veldora did think so too, but that’s just because he didn’t know what a deep slime was.”

“Like dragons, it takes time for deep slime to develop intelligence worthy of speech, around 200 years though it’s rather hard to tell the exact time, your elders only bother tracking time in the millenia.”

“Huh so I am weird. Wow Shizu you know alot about deep slimes.”

Shizu cleans the potatoes with the collected membrane fluid, the oblong tubers’ deep purple skin shining in the light of midday. 

“It took a lot of effort, many thought I went mad when I started my research.”

The adventurer pauses to laugh, as she remembers the manic fervour that took over the second she learned the manuals were wrong. Shizu had a hard time talking about certain adventures afterwards, or being near them.

“I endangered quite a few of my friendships with the ferocity of my study but something drew me to slimes, particularly yours. Maybe it was because they’re the only slimes I know to be smart enough to speak, maybe because I found out I could trade with them so I can make sushi. I’m not sure, I just like slimes. They’re cute.”

Rimuru didn’t know what to think. Should they be glad, proud, grateful? That Shizu is fond of their kind, particularly their own species? They’re happy that someone knows how and what they are. 

They crawl towards Shizu, melting on her in gratitude and to their surprise send over magicules that Shizu returns with extra like a herder. That just makes them melt more, stinking of roses.

The thinly cut up roots sizzle on a stone hot plate, bright purple insides exposed to the air, browning as the tubers cook.

As Rimuru thinks, Shizu makes a fair bit of food and to their excitement, salts the cooked root.

“What’s sushi?”

“A dish from my homeland, though troublesome to make here. I need to get seaweed and, out of preference, seafood to make it. The rice I harvest from jura, well a look alike I assume is rice anyways. Then sugar, salt and the right vinegar.”

“That's a lot of effort. Is it good?”

“Oh I love it. Honestly the journey all around is part of the fun, even if a former student complained about the long journey.” 

It felt odd to remember her. The stray kid she took in a short while ago that ran off before she even reached Oksaenos. Hinata was cold like ice at first, though quick to melt when shown even a little kindness. 

The adventurer’s thoughts of the kid were still mixed, Hinata clearly had issues, but still… to run off and join the church. It hurt. She hasn’t heard a word from her since she joined, only news bordering on gossip of a squire who’s destined to be the youngest to be knighted in history. At least she’s doing well for herself.

As the last batch of potatoes crisp up Shizu places them in the bowl, salting the accidental hot chips thanks to the cooking oil she was gifted.

She moves her fingers in the water, making Rimuru move towards her, smelling eager as they notice the salted chips.

She makes excuses in her mind that young deep slimes, weirdly intelligent for their age or not, need constant touch and socialisation for proper development. But she knows, she’s hugging the slime tight hoping to feel better.

Shizu thought things were going well after that talk. Why did she leave me without even saying goodbye ? Am I that bad? Why does it keep happening?

Rimuru notices her sadness and confusion, something Shizu should’ve expected with how strong her emotions were. Remembering Hinata running away eventually leads to opening the bag of hissing wyrms that was Chronoa and Leon.

Thoughts and emotions better not felt by a literal baby flood her mind. She tucks the thoughts away, choosing to focus on why they were going back to Jura in the first place.

She breaks the hug, Rimuru resting on her lap as she enjoys the food, the slime following suit like she was their herder.

That can’t be possible right? 

But with how terribly Rimuru took separation, even more scared at the thought of doing it again when Shizu offered for the slime to rest in the forest while she got the quest money. And that Rimuru unmistakably melted on her earlier, sending magicules like they would in a colony that she sent back with extra. Like a herder. Great going Shizu.

She never planned for any of this to happen, feeling a bit too soon after the last personal student but with Rimuru being who they were she doesn't have to worry about being abandoned. 

The pair head off, following the stream, her newest and first majin student trailing behind her, stinking of citrus, asking her when lessons on either subjects they’ve agreed to can start.

“Soon, how about the next break?”

“Sure!” The slime bounces higher than before, empowered from their excitement and the growing amount of magicules.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Water falls from the stalagmites with an ever constant drip, drip, drip.

Pools grow in the vast caves with the storm dragon’s deathly boredom as the dripping water’s echoes fill his mind.

It must have been raining a lot.

Veldora huffs in mild amusement. Typical Juran spring.

Though poor Rimuru, wherever the little one is. He remembers Rimuru’s first rain, the slime frantic over the mental link, digging a hole as they screamed for an explanation of why water was suddenly pelting down from the sky, washing off their protective coat of slime, exposing and irritating their membrane. 

After the storm had subsided the slime emerged, bouncing around in the rain puddles, asking a few lingering questions about the water cycle, making a game out of making the largest splash possible. 

Veldora hopes his younger sibling isn’t dead, he doesn’t know what he would do then, speed up his eventual death probably. It’s not like he has anything better to do. He’s Veldora the storm dragon, the evil dragon, like anyone would want to save him besides odd little Rimuru.

Maybe Rimuru has left him. Maybe they hate him now and has decided Shizu’s better and left Jura. Though the true dragon is a bit confused why a majin, such a great combatant as her no less, is an adventurer. It seems a bit foolish to make your nest in a snake's den when not immune to their venom.

Veldora flops to the ground with a long melancholy sigh that tapers off as a whine as he stares at the sketches above he’s made using Rimuru’s mental images as reference. 

Please little one, come back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the two’s food cooks, Shizu sits nearby, her young student by her side, drawing in the dirt as they wait.

“And what does this say?”

“Sh.”

She points to the stick and another set of letters.

“Ei.”

“Ch.”

“Ao.”

“Good job, now let's try something harder.”

The stick rubs out the letter sets. Scratching three longer strings.

“Grrrra, no. Great-ar no, er Jura! Forest.”

Shizu pats them as a reward. Starting to scratch a few more words until the scent of cooked meat reaches her nose. 

She darts to the pit oven, retrieving a few scaled quails with the purple potatoes that loved to grow nearby. 

The roasted potatoes are a heaven on her tongue, she takes a quail for herself and offers Rimuru the rest, which the slime eagerly devours.

Baby herders have quite the appetite, no wonder elders fussed so much over them. She should probably stick to bigger game to meet Rimuru’s needs until they get deeper in and she can forage for some filling juran plants for the road.

As she finishes off her meal a glob of water falls on her hand.

Dropets start to trickle, until they start to soak her clothes pelting down.

The deep slime that had been idly drawing letters in the dirt hops into the water, digging themselves into the riverbed.

Shizu rushes under a nearby tree’s cover, the water on her body evaporating in wisps of steam as she heats up.

{You don’t like the rain either Shizu?}

{I despise it.}

She would rather walk across the barrens than deal with the rain, but thankfully after a short while the droplets slow to a drizzle.

{Come,  I think I remember a cave we can hide out in until the rain’s done.}

{Oh a cave? Sounds great.}

The slime hops out of the river, happily bouncing along with the adventure as she searches for the entrance.

As the rain picks up again Shizu seriously considers using a barrier, until she spots the mouth of the cave.

Both majin dash into the darkness at blinding speeds, relishing the lack of water pelting them.

Shizu’s footsteps echo in the cave as the two journey further in, the water dripping from the stalagmites like music it falls into the dank cave’s pools.

{This cave seems really familiar.}

Much of the caves, peeking ores and pools, have a shimmer, polluted by centuries of intensive magicule exposure. Hipokute growing on beds of luminescent moss.

Rimuru’s hunger wanes to near nonexistence, the demonoid beside them barely bothering to breathe as magicules surround them, giving her a feeling of comfort and relief like no other, like finally taking a breath after holding it for decades.

The stone inclines downwards, until the two face a dead end. 

If one couldn’t swim as a pool of water lies near the tips of Shizu’s boots.

“Rimuru can you store my boots and cape?”

“Huh?”

“It’s easier to swim without them.”

“You can swim?”

“Like your kind, we have to be taught.”

“I can swim as a slime!”

“You didn’t know that?”

A faint scent of jasmine mixes with the earthy smell of the cave, as Rimuru deflates in embarrassment.

“Can you teach me?”

Shizu dips her feet in the water, adjusting her body heat to a comfortable level as she sinks into the frigid liquid.

Water up to her chest, Shizu makes her hands into an upside down bowl shape then squeezing them together, moving them to her right with every squeeze.

“Move like a jellyfish, stretch out your body and push. I know there are other ways, but I lack the proper body to teach you them.”

The reasons to make a trip to Oksaenos beach and the village itself just kept growing. An aquatic creature not knowing how to swim is just a bit too sad for Shizu.

And of course, sushi.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

The slime crawls closer to the water’s edge, storing Shizu’s boots and cape in their skill before dropping in. Their adventuring partner’s hand motions playing endlessly in their mind.

If only they knew what a jellyfish was. But they understand the concept, it’s pretty similar to how frogs or Shizu swam, until she changed to moving her legs like a fish but on the other side, pushing with her chest, following the sinking deep slime until they hit the cave floor.

Being in the water felt like coming home, though Rimuru was convinced the water was missing a thing or two. Rimuru feels embarrassed that they don’t know despite being an apparently aquatic majin, but it’s not their fault their colony was stupid.

Wait, was that why? There were just no colonymates old enough and I’m just some freak of nature? Though there should be some intelligent slimes somewhere, Veldora’s been here for 300 years.

The heat rolls off Shizu in waves, rising to the surface as Rimuru stalls.

The adventurer makes the hand motions again, returning to swimming like a frog. 

Having stalled enough Rimuru bounces from the rocky floor, stretching their body forwards, then pushing out into a bowl shape that disturbs the water behind them, small currents swirl behind them like Shizu as they repeat their movements.

They stumble on a few strokes, losing speed, hitting the cave walls as they awkwardly try to adjust the direction. But no matter how seemingly out of reach they are, Shizu always manages to catch them, giving Rimuru a starting push.

It’s like flying. Rimuru thinks, a constant fight to stay up, requiring them to keep a consistent pattern of movement, but all so freeing once finally learnt.

They glide through the water, relishing the simple joy of speed and weightlessness, following the heat Shizu gave off.

They hope Shizu knows where she’s going. They have no clue, though some of the stone starts to feel familiar.

Their partner angles herself upwards on a harsh angle, making the novice swimmer wobble as they adjust until one final stroke had them jumping out of the cool water.

And falling back in, with a splash that got water past its typical bounds.

They swim towards the edge, the area becomes more and more familiar until the slime could predict the shape of all the grooves in the rock.

Rimuru wonders if their baby colony is nearby. It feels weird to have so much more knowledge than their herders. Or being closer to an adult than them.

The magicules swell to deathly high concentrations as Rimuru follows a specific set of grooves. 

The slime moves their attention on Shizu to make sure she’s okay, remembering Veldora’s teachings. 

To their relief the adventurer is fine, perfectly comfortable in the magicule-dense environment like them. Just a little uncomfortable from being drenched until she dries herself off, donning her shoes and cape again.

Any monsters that approach them are quickly slain, both by sword and phoenix talons.

Rimuru lets out a joyous trill at their growing synergy, turning back into slime form. They’re tempted to contact Veldora now but they want they’re appearance to be a surprise, having concealed their aura and presence the entire time, Shizu following suit.

Rimuru comes to a stop before Ultimate Imprisonment's rainbow barrier, dropping all forms of concealment. 

{LITTLE ONE!}

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Veldora was on his way of accepting his fate, cursed to die lonely and alone. If only he wasn’t such a fool when he was free.

Until he was saved once more by an odd slime.

He shouts in joy and relief through the mental link the second his little sibling makes their presence clear, their aura’s bright multitude of dark colours breaking though the grey misery.

Veldora pushes himself against the barrier as Rimuru nudges against it, just like when they first met. He’s sent over raw emotions, then words. It’s an apology.

The slime’s thoughts run at a faster pace than Velgrynd, rattling off apology after apology at such speed Veldora was having a hard time keeping track.

While Veldora appreciated Rimuru’s thoughtfulness and regret for leaving without warning, soon it got too painful to listen to, apologies devolving into self deprecation. 

He can’t stand for such thoughts! No, when clearly Rimuru really is just a child. The deep slime shyly alluding to how long until they are an adult, which Shizu clarifies. A fact the true dragon will never forget.

{My dear little sibling, I accept your apologies, there is no need to wallow in your past lapses of judgement! While yes, I was painfully lonely these past few days. You sought to correct yourself and have successfully atoned. Be proud little one!}

{Really, it’s okay?}

{I cannot hate you for long Rimuru. Are we not family as Tempest? Never abandon and all.}

{Of course, I’ll never leave like that again! I’m so sorry.}

{That better be your last apology, you merely fell for the common whimsy of youth. I do not resent you. Expected honestly, now knowing how far you are into your development.}

{Don’t remind me. I’m going to be a baby foreeeeever.}

 {Kwah-ha-ha-ha, do not worry. 200 years will go by in a flash, you’ll be an adult in no time!}

It seems his assurance didn’t have the effect he wanted it to have. As the slime moves closer to their new friend. He hasn’t paid much attention to the newcomer much, but now on closer inspection…

{That’s terrifying! So much happens in a year, what do you mean they’ll all go by in a flash! Goblins only live a tenth of that! Not sure how long ogres live.}

As Veldora tries to counsel Rimuru out of the crisis he gave them on accident, he can’t take his attention away from the adventurer’s mask.

It can’t be.

Right?

No, her name was Chronoa, not Shizu.

Unless?

The storm dragon was sure that Chronoa is a true hero, a human. Not some majin, who seems good at comforting young slimes. Better than I could dream , he complains but Veldora chalks that up to the fact Shizu’s physically available for Rimuru. From his observations there is no doubt such contact is important to them.

He can’t really hate the majin much if Rimuru is already that close with her and is able to provide something he alone cannot. He supposes he can share. Rimuru likes them both. If Veldora was better, then perhaps he wouldn't be jealous but he is far from the true dragon he wants to be.

The scent of pericour leaves a comforted slime, that hops toward the barrier, glowing red markings facing him. Veldora supposes it’s a successful method to get his attention, one that unfortunately works too well, and not that the young slime wants to eat him. How hilarious of a proposition.

There's a click over the mental link as it’s expanded.

{Oh Veldora, Since you’re so great and all you’ve probably noticed my new friend, but I want to introduce you anyways, as my two favourite people. Veldora met my adventuring parenter and teacher Shizu, and Shizu met my best big bro Veldora Tempest!}

The dragon takes the time to get a good look at his little sibling’s teacher, the mask no doubt belongs to the hero that sealed him. To the mask inheritor’s credit, she does not falter under his gaze, standing steady, returning his gaze with an unmasked face. Brown eyes shining like gold as they catch the glow from his.

{It’s a pleasure to meet you storm dragon, I’ve heard alot about you.}

{Of course, it is only natural you know of my great exploits. It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, feel free to call me Veldora. So what are you teaching my little sibling?}

The majin, casual as ever before a living natural disaster, takes a seat on a nearby rock, basking in the magicules.

{Reading comprehension, among any general life questions, soon Rimuru will begin learning swordsmanship after request.} 

{Swordsmanship? Very well.} Veldora nods in agreement, such a graceful weapon . If Shizu fought anything like her predecessor, such a fluid, not to mention beautiful, fighting style would fit young Rimuru as well. 

The slime shifts into the form of a bauk that borrows his colour palette, the forms short tail wagging as the slime shows off its nimble hands, a wide tooth filled grin engraved into their muzzle.

{I have the hands for it now!}

The slime’s head is pat in a way that makes Veldora want to be there. Wanting to break the barrier and master his shapeshifting skill he’s hopeless at so he could give his little sibling such a simple yet powerful joy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the magicles spiked as she followed an increasingly happy slime, she should have expected the outcome.

The storm dragon’s presence was intense as she expected from a being that could be called a god. 

A four winged dragon that dwarfs any dragon lord with scales that came in every shade of blue from the pale sky blue on his belly to the deep ultramarine on the true dragon’s back sat behind a barrier. 

This really was the monster that her mentor had sealed. Though she doubted calling the true dragon a monster suited him that much anymore as Rimuru introduced the both of them.

Veldora was clearly moping earlier.

As the storm dragon took notice of her mask, Shizu couldn't unsee the countless sketches that adorned Veldora’s prison.

For reasons beyond her, his dedication to his new hobby allowed her to relax her guard and enjoy the sheer amount of magicules in the air instead.

Some had the charm of a child learning how to draw, while recent works better resembled the quality Shizu would expect from a novice artist, the intent behind the art clearer, though the artist still had much to improve on.

Veldora first looked at her in jealousy as she comforted Rimuru, though passion and longing filtered through as Rimuru’s older brother moved closer, pressing against the barrier.

Shizu doesn’t exactly trust the true dragon yet, but she can see why Rimuru so fondly calls him their older brother. The feared protector of Jura wanted nothing more than Rimuru’s continued happiness. There both of their values met, a shared understanding that helped move their budding relationship in a positive direction as they talked.

Shizu’s glad the storm dragon didn’t react negatively when she confirmed the masked hero was her mentor. If anything it just made him more eager for her to teach Rimuru sword fighting. Does he… fancy my old mentor?

Shizu swears Veldora's pupiless eyes of pure glowing yellow went all dreamy as if thinking of a crush as he recounted the battle with Chronoa from his perspective, making Shizu understand why Rimuru called him “silly dragon.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rimuru was glad Shizu and Veldora were getting along, Shizu petting them as she and Veldora talked and talked and talked. Neither pausing, endlessly conversing.

While Rimuru learned some patience from ambushing prey, it soon ran out. The pets soon fell short of the stimulation they required as the two droned on.

They send a tendril or two to playful poke at Shizu, the need to constantly move them past defensive hands providing some entertainment.

Ultimately they end up whining about being bored over the mental link despite their efforts.

It draws an amused set of laughs from Shizu.

“How about we begin training now?”

Rimuru’s quick to turn into their small bauk form again.

“Awesome! Come at me teacher.”

Shizu sighs, sparing a glance to look at an excited Veldora. 

“First dear student, you need a weapon, secondly you need to learn your basics before sparring with me.”

The bauk’s bat-like ears lower in disappointment with the rest of their body. “This is going to be like learning to read again? I need to learn the letters before I can understand words.”

“Well put my pupil, at least getting you a weapon shouldn’t be too hard around here”

Rimuru whines from the cave floor. “It better be.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

A number of different methods for acquiring a weapon fly through Shizu’s mind. She considers simply fashioning a training sword from reeds but with both her and Rimuru’s strength, it would snap too soon. 

She needs something strong and sturdy. Rimuru does have a lot of magisteel in their possession, perhaps the slime could make a sword? 

She laughs at the thought, Rimuru at five years old still has a while to go with pottery. And unfortunately her student might die from anticipation if she were to carve the sword from suitable wood. 

Another idea comes to her mind.

{Rimuru are you willing to trade for a suitable blade?}

{For my own, of course!}

Veldora’s wings lower. 

{You two are going to head now aren’t you?} 

Shizu faces the storm dragon.

{We’ll be staying in Jura, don’t worry. If my memory serves right we won’t have to go all too far.}

Rimuru brushes up against her foot, smelling hopeful.

{Can we practise here when we get back?}

Despite Rimuru not possessing a need for shelter like most slimes, it need instead overrun by a constant need for socialisation for most of their lives. These caves are the closest thing the young slime has to a home.

The adventure squats down to the young slime’s level to give them a pat in confirmation.

{Thanks!}

As Rimuru bounces by Shizu’s side they don’t ask a single question, seemingly knowing where she’s taking them.

She continues her forest walk, only able to helplessly watch after having arrived too late as a horned rabbit makes a crime scene, a peach tree falling to the forest floor.

She flares her aura, making her frustration known, making the wretched little monster faint from fear. 

Surround leaves russel with the breeze, thin branches bouncing in the air.

A burst of movement makes leaves and branches sway, a single sharp-edged blade bouncing off Shizu’s long sword.

The sword ogre’s grey eyes peek through his scarf, meeting Shizu’s brown.

“Majin, your aura is remarkably familiar. Have we met before?”

Shizu slides her mask to the side, giving her best friendly smile. “It’s been a while Sword Ogre, you might remember my younger self from around 60 or so years ago.”

“So you’re the one that once ran amok these woods, welcome back Majin of Flames.”

“Thank you, though you can call me Shizu, less of a mouth full. Apologies I was too nervous to introduce myself last time. Despite my earlier outburst I have come here to trade, I promise neither me nor my student bite.”

The old ogre looks at a familiar slime that’s sitting near the majin of flames’ feet. Gone unnoticed due to the silent devourer masking their aura.

“And what do you wish to trade for?”

“My student here requires a blade.”

Two of Jura’s infamous residents in one place. A sight the sword orge thought he’d never see, as student and teacher no less. He’s tempted to offer one of his own blades.

“And what do you have to give in return?”

“We have a variety of monster parts, gems, herbs as well as magisteel and hipokute.”

The offer of magisteel is enticing, it takes a while for the Sword Ogre to think of something worthy of the desired metal. The wind rustles leaves as the silent devourer amuses themselves by contorting their slime body.

“Say Shizu, the Majin of Flames, I have a sword that was forged by one of our most talented smiths a good time ago, though the blade has barely seen any use, being closer to the kind of blade you wield than mine.”

“Old and mint condition huh? Is it a double sided blade, with a two handed grip?”

“It is, though the sword is even smaller than yours.”

“That sounds great, my student’s hands aren’t too large. Can we see this blade?”

The sword orge turns with a contemplative hum. He’s never seen the silent devourer take a humanoid form. Admittedly he is curious what the young majin ate, having heard the majin whine about a lack of hands.

“Follow me.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rimuru bounces along with Shizu’s footsteps, going where no slime has ever gone before.

The ogre village.

The residents' eyes never leave the two newcomers, gazes full of suspense and tension at the powerful majin with a mask on the side of her face that occasionally talked to the sword ogre as if an old acquaintance, with a majin far too strong to be an actual slime hopping near the other newcomer’s feet.

The slime also talked. Chaos would have erupted if the village didn’t have better things to do.

But a young red haired ogre shivered at the sight of an ocean blue slime as they happily hopped by. 

“Here, is this blade you're looking for?”

The sword ogre hands the sword to Shizu, who pulls a shining steel blade from its sheath.

The adventurer enjoys the well made blade of steel, not too far off from becoming magisteel if kept in a place like the sealed cave. Shizu doesn’t find the long sword all that short, but she is no ogre. Though it would likely drag on the ground if Rimuru carried it the typical way on their small bauk form.

She finds the long sword perfectly balanced as she swings it, the blade tapering off to a fine sharp edge, lending well to both cuts and thrusts. An accommodating sword, great for a beginner that hasn’t figured out their strengths and weaknesses yet.

Though it means nothing if her student finds it uncomfortable, the sword’s grip is short, with an odd pommel.

“Rimuru, try out this blade to see how you like it.”

The slime shifts into a short humanoid that resumbed a mix between a wolf and bat beastman with an odd colouration.

Clawed hands take the offered sword, mimicking what movement the majin of flames performed, only without the well practised grace.

The old ogre huffs in amusement. Truly the majin of flames has grown since the last time they met, no longer the lost child he met. He’s glad the named majin has no intention of biting, he still has the scar from when she bit him as a child. 

Satisfied, the silent devourer hands the blade back to their teacher with a nod, procuring a lump of shining multi coloured metal.

“We accept the trade from this piece of magisteel. I understand it can be hard to let go of an old blade.”

“I accept.”

The lump of magisteel is handed over, now resting heavy in the ogre’s hand.

The old swordmaster walks to the edge of the village with the pair, while not all too worried about the two problem majin that seem to be in a rather mellow mood, the rest of the village is not, considering the impressive auras that thankfully both have proudly on display.

He’d hate to clean up the resulting mess of such a battle.

As a pleasant surprise the wild Majin of Flames bows, her student still as a bauk, mimicking the movement perfectly.

“Thank you for your cooperation sword ogre.”

“It’s been a pleasure Shizu.”

He returns the bow, as thanks for the high grade ore.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

{Are you two coming soon?} Veldora almost whines over the mental link, bouncing two claws between each other.

Making Rimuru chuckle over the mental link, keeping their presence fully masked.

{Surprise bro! We’re here with a cool new sword too. Look, see! My new friend}

The slime shifts into their small bauk form, swinging around a shiny new long sword until they lose their balance in a downwards strike, body hitting the floor with their blade.

{Dear student, stop fooling around and copy how I’m standing, this is your first lesson.}

Chapter Text

Rimuru’s blade catches the emanating dim light of Veldora’s barrer, increasingly magicule-polluted steel shining as if under moonlight as it’s twisted and swung.

“How am I doing, teacher?”

“Hm.”

Shizu walks towards the small bauk-shaped slime, instructions barked out in quick succession.

“Form 1, form 5, form 2, form 8!”

Sharp eyes analyse the young deep slime’s movements as she circles them. Giving a small nod before resuming.

“Form 6, 10, 7, 9!”

Rimuru looks up at a Shizu who’s dedicated herself to teaching. A form of Shizu that Veldora has taken to comparing to a shark who’s smelled blood. They assume it’s negative, but the young slime has no complaints. 

Shizu nods again.

“Form 11, 12, 4, 3!

The teacher circles Rimuru again as the slime adjusts an awkward grip. 

Shizu turns on her feet, walking toward them without a nod.

“Still having trouble on form 3?”

“It’s pretty different from the others, it feels so awkward and open.”

“Ah I must’ve forgotten to tell you when I originally showed you. Form 3 is a master of deception, swift and mobile. It allows you to cut, thrust and beat your opponent all the while defending yourself.”

After fixing Rimuru’s wonky grip the demonoid produces a body double to demonstrate. The Majin of Flames assumes guard 3 as the clone approaches to stab, only for its thrust to be diverted by Shizu’s own as she closes the distance. With her sword poking through the clone’s right shoulder it dematerialises in a puff of magicules.

“Woah, so cool!”

Rimuru was engrossed for those few seconds, soaking up the new formation.

“Am I? ”

“You are!”

“Come here, kid.”

Rimuru leans into the hug and pats, stubbly tail wagging so fast it was in danger of flying off.

Shizu breaks the hug with a contemplative hum.

“Your footwork is fine, your forms are functionable. We shall begin applying what we’ve learnt.

Shizu takes a sturdy stance, telling Rimuru everything they needed.

Defeat was instantaneous.

But Rimuru’s swift defeat did nothing to chip at their confidence, lighting their ambitions for at least a small victory like knocking their teacher’s sword to the side.

Not even out of her hands, just not to get stabbed a little.

“Remember student use the “strong”, this low to middle part of your sword-”

Shizu knocks Rimuru’s sword again, leaving the slime open as it flails to the side, the slime scrambling to not lose hold and let the blade fly through the caves.

“To move your opponent's blade like a lever. The lower the more power you have. Understood?”

Shizu blade’s returns to her side as Rimuru replies with a short. “Yes.”

The demonoid smiles a fanged grin. “Then show me, dear student.”

Rimuru readies themselves again, doing the customary circle around before engaging. If they didn’t recognize Shizu as their herder Rimuru would have been terrified by the adventurer’s constant predatory gaze.

Brown eyes tracking every footstep and adjustment they make to their guard.

I am sooo going to get stabbed.

Circling done, swords meet, Rimuru using the lowest part they could to push Shizu’s blade away.

Which they manage, they cheer, until that blade uses its given direction to stab them in the shoulder.

“Agh, what was I even thinking? That was nothing, I’m not even close.” Rimuru huffs, not wanting to show their frustration.

Seeing Rimuru's lack of progress, Shizu suggests.

“How about I attack and you counter? It’s easier to react. Apologies for giving myself an unneeded upper hand, it's been far too long since I’ve taught absolute beginners. The academy deemed my easy too harsh for the younger grades.”

{Fwah ha ha ha! Such weaklings, of course my little sibling is fine. You are fine Rimuru?}

After shaking the caves with laughter, Veldora turns his head to the little bauk.

{Yeah, just annoyed at myself, I guess. You’ve seen it all.}

Shizu frowns, walking up to comfort Rimuru.

{Don’t be frustrated with yourself. It was my failure as a teacher. There’s a right amount of difficulty to push a student and then there’s going too high and making progress unreachable, my apologies again. You have your odd moments of maturity and resilience, my silly self forgets you’re five.}

Rimuru and Shizu return to their guards.

Like Shizu before them, the slime observes their circling opponent, not letting her go behind their back.

After a short review, Rimuru learns they needed to move their legs as well as their sword. Hands are amazing but so is not getting stabbed.

Shizu goes in with a thrust, they parry, moving out of stabbing distance as they do. Their teacher goes for a high cut. Novel considering all the stabbing, but it’s still aiming for the same spot.

Metal slides against metal as Rimuru blocks.

The young slime considers shoving Shizu’s sword away now but they’re hanging a bit open. They’ll get stabbed. Rimuru stays on the defensive.

It was a rush just lasting this long, Rimuru didn’t want it to end.

Shizu smiles but her eyes remain like a tiger waiting to pounce.

“Rimuru I suggest you attack some time, as great as it has been watching you parry.”

Rimuru blocks a cut to the foot.

“Aw but it's fun.”

“You can’t fight forever, you’re still young. Most of your energy will go towards growing and most of the time you won’t be able to have a large meal beforehand.”

Shizu thrusts.

“Think quick.”

Her sword edges ever so close to stabbing them, in the shoulder again too.

Despite not having [Thought Acceleration] active, time seemed to slow as Rimuru focused on their and Shizu’s sliding blades.

Rimuru moves their sword as Shizu’s slides closer, and when the time was right–

Their teacher’s sword was knocked away, and further pushed away from a follow through letting Rimuru safely land a finishing blow.

With a sword in the middle of her chest Shizu smiles wide. 

“Good job kid but…”

She moves the sword’s tip to the side.

“Stab here, middle’s a bunch of bone, the sternum. With humans and weaker it’ll easily go through but for anyone tougher… Over here, it’ll go through like butter with no bones in the way. Knowledge is power.”

“Cool, thanks!”

Rimuru’s never been more proud to be an observer and herder, but the latter is for the far off future.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Veldora watches as his little sibling soaks up every tidbit of advice and information, yellow eyes trained on their opponent, movements becoming smoother, more precise and thoughtful.

Rimuru’s victories were few and far in between no matter how long the two continued their volley of parries. 

The Majin of Flames is far from a forgiving teacher but Veldora soon comes to notice Shizu allows the slime victories in the form of experimentation with techniques, but never the satisfaction of a finishing blow unless absolutely earned.

Still, he wouldn’t wish for such a teacher, but Rimuru seems to enjoy the fight.

Short lived spars turn to something more refined and graceful as Rimuru becomes acquainted with their blade, the song of metal on metal filling the caves.

While jealous that he can’t join, the true dragon takes advantage of the seemingly endless dance to better his artistic skills, sketching and sketching to try and catch the two’s movement in stone. Their dance became downright hypnotising to watch after Rimuru familiarised themselves with their new body and sword.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~

Metal slides against metal, Shizu’s blade lazily nudged away as her sword edged closer to Rimuru’s crossguard.

“You okay there student?”

Yellow eyes look up to their teacher.

“I- need- a break.”

“Hm, it has been a while. Let’s get some food.”

The storm dragon laughs like a manic kookaburra behind the barrier. 

{O at last the two swordsmen tire! I do thank you though, having a whole 6 days to focus on a subject has done well for my artistic ability.}

Shizu and Rimuru share a look. Mostly of disbelief and an agreement to get some food.

Veldora bends down to the pair. {Are you leaving now? Fine, fare well little one and Shizu.}

{We’ll be back bro, besides we’re staying in range of communication right?}

{We are, we'll be coming back soon, Veldora.}

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daylight peeks at the cave’s mouth, making Shizu wince as her sensitive eyes adjust, Rimuru keeping to her shadow until they make it to the trees.

On a soft looking patch of grass, the demonoid takes a second to sit down for the first time in days only to greatly regret the action as the aches she’s ignored for days all come rushing at once as the magicules dip in concentration. Hungry, tired and sleepy, her eyelids grow heavy. 

It always astounded Shizu how good simple stone was at keeping magicules in. Wonderful in ruins to drag out supplies but adjusting to the disappointing amount outside was always a pain.

And Rimuru, her dear student in a sweet turn of childish behaviour mimics her, their fun-sized bauk’s form melting to a puddle of slime, experiencing the same pain.

“Come ‘ere.” Half asleep, she drags the young slime close to her with a lazy hand, both taking a small nap outside the sealed cave.

With the sun lower in the sky the two set off, rejuvenated though their bodies still reprimand them in the form of a dull ache.

Spotting Rimuru about to head off to hunt, Shizu grabs them with a barrier. “Don’t waste the effort, there are fruits worth far more than an animal that’s just woken from hibernation.”

“Good point, bears are too boney now. How have I never come across these fruits?

“You’ve told me you like to eat fruits in autumn, mostly the ones that fall to the ground.”

“Yeah! They’re great.”

Shizu looks up, orientating herself southwards.

“This type, meatfruits, are rather popular. Most are eaten the second they are edible, and if I’m right we should be on time to snag some for ourselves.”

Rimuru sends both citrus and mint scented signals in both intrigue and confusion. Ripe fruit in spring?

“Fruit but meat? Why?”

“When you’re something that can’t move, it’s useful to employ strong guardians to protect yourself from outside threats.”

“Ooooo, I haven’t thought about that much, it must be scary to not move.”

“The treants manage.”

“The who?”

Shizu sighs, finding another odd gap in the slime’s knowledge and taking the time to fill it. At least it staves off boredom as she explains but after a while of silence it begins to crawl in.

The adventurer hums a silly Ingrassian folk tune that still amuses her to no end as she walks, leading to more questions from the young slime.

“It’s about grass?”

“Ingrassians love their grass but don’t like what their dry autumns do to it. Golden in the autumn chill, emerald in the springtime sun~.”

She sings one of the lines out loud, deciding to let Rimuru hear the full grass appreciation and user's manual of a tune.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the pair arrive at a nearby meatfruit tree, the site was already the location of a loud dispute between a young water panther and mountain lion, both cats circling the tree, yowling and hissing at each other.

Shizu steps forward, drawing both predators' attention. 

She lets out a snarl when both have the gall to bare their teeth at her that closer resembles a territorial roar as she asserts her presence, flaring her aura as she approaches.

The adventurer smiles as both cats turn tail and flee.

Climbing the tree as Rimuru watches, she picks a bundle of fruits to share, setting them down before a curious slime. 

The shapes curve, reminding the slime of fruits that grow in pods or a creature's severed tail, light brown fur covering the fruit except for a wide bright red end that emanates a rich sweet, savoury scent.

“These ones are known as kangaroo tails, enjoy.”

“Ooo.”

Rimuru changes into their small bauk form to enjoy the odd fruits while nestling themselves in Shizu’s lap like it was part of an evil scheme.

It doesn't take long for Rimuru’s appetite to be quelled, after a few juicy fruits they can’t resist the pull to return to slime form for rest, the closest they’ll ever get to napping. As Rimuru rearranges themselves on Shizu’s lap they feel a few rumbles, low pitched and therapeutic leave Shizu before they’re halted by a few coughs.

Rimuru deflates a little when it became apparent the nice sound wasn’t going to return. Could they mimic it?

With magic sense active they catch the sound again as Shizu cuddles them, after getting the slime to store some of the meatfruits. 

The sound comes from the throat, when their adventuring partner’s vocal cords rapidly tap together as air both exits and enters.

Tapping then…okay.

They curve their membrane so two separate sides touch and tap to two sides as fast as they can.

The produced sound is disappointing to say the least, membrane fluid getting in the way of a clean, dry rumble. 

The attempt draws Shizu’s attention but Rimuru keeps trying, unaware of the audience, moving membrane fluid away, better replicating Shizu’s slime-free vocal cords.

As the slime holds a constant rumble, Rimuru cheers. Content with their success they experiment with different taps, playing with the tempo, rhythm and volume.

Shizu pats them with a chuckle. “It’s a bit odd seeing you do regular deep slime things after all the feats you pull off regularly, it's cute. Rimuru, were you trying to mimic my purring earlier?”

“Oh that’s what it’s called, yeah! I mimicked your purring. I liked the purring, why did it stop or start? Is it a bad sound?”

Shizu sighs. “Of course you would. It’s not, it happens when I’m very comfortable or happy, it’s just, it’s a bit embarrassing and I can’t get into the habit with knights around.”

“But it’s a good sound? Why is it embarrassing?”

Rimuru remembers their time in Lond. The knights seemed mean, very mean, if they would make someone like Shizu lose sleep. 

“No reason really, but as a bodyguard, I was taught not to be overly affectionate or expressive.” Shizu tells them in a new tone of voice Rimuru’s only heard from teasing Veldora as she tried to hide her increasingly warm face.

“That’s mean. Um…You can purr here, I won’t judge.”

Shizu breaks into a fit of laughter. “Oh you’re adorable Rimuru. Too cute. How about we relax in the hot springs then? There should be a mineral water spring nearby too.”

“Hot water? I don’t know, maybe if it’s really hot? But is mineral water water with lots of rocks inside? That’s awesome, let's go!”

“It is.”

Rimuru takes their small bauk form again to pull at Shizu’s clothes as their tail wags.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the sunsets and the sky turns dark, Shizu thanks the stars for providing the aid in navigation. For as extreme as Jura can be, the local volcano was awfully tame, with lazy lava flows trickling out and wafting noxious gas. 

As she looks up to the sky she spots a few constellations obscured by clouds. 

If only I could remember all the lyrics to these songs. She settles on humming most of the star suite’s melodies hoping it’ll jog her memory.

By the time she remembers the lyrics of the songs, trees and shrubs lie behind her as gravel crunches under her boots. Heat radiates from below as the spray of geysers fill her ears.

The warm magma Shizu can feel moving under her feet makes her impatient, the seasoned adventurer almost diving into her death only for an unfortunate insect to beat her, its flesh devoured by the highly acidic waters. Scalding water sputtering as the spring finished its meal.

She remembers somewhere in Jura the hot springs, at least to her tastes, are perfect. She hopes she can find that heavenly spring again. 

“Aw, and that water was the perfect temperature.”

A scared slime behind her legs dares to ask. They think Shizu has a very different idea of good water.

“It was?”

“Anything that’ll cook a human in a second is perfect for me, I’ve almost killed party members that way in the past. I’ve had luck with turning off my poison resistance but not my heat resistance.”

With a forlorn sigh and blaming her lack of success on ifrit, Shizu resumes her search.

The majin walks around checking only to find hungry sulfuric springs and angry geysers, eventually deciding to breach the tree line and hope the next spot was right. All the trees, shrubs and rocks look the same, confusing her vague recollection of where she was supposed to be going.

Rimuru bounces ahead, in search of a hot spring that wouldn’t eat them alive. The slime knows they’ll heal but they doubt it’ll be faster than the spring.

Wet dirt is squished under as the slime hits the ground and collects themselves to bounce again. Possums and fruit bats chatter as they explore, a soft nighttime breeze ruffling shrubs and leaves.

While taking in the busy forest, Rimuru‘s mindful to keep a look out as Shizu starts humming again, a hum that quickly turns to song.

As the fragmented song continues, a tale about a blacksmith forced to fight a dragon, the young slime can’t help but want to join. Something in them calling to tap along like when they were trying to imitate Shizu’s purring. 

It was as simple as finding the beat Shizu was singing to.

The story in the song reminded Rimuru of what a herder would tell to their children to teach them, as the smiths' resilience and valour was celebrated. 

But there was something more to the song than some lesson.

“ -and Kuron’s harlequin spear proves itself no jester, as it brings a sight before never glean’d .”

Rimuru’s mind was stuck on the word before, as the dragon’s blood flowed from the stab wound.

Was this the first time someone saw dragon blood? How old are weapons? How old are magisteel weapons? How old are dragons? Why is Shizu constantly checking all her pockets?

The song feels old, with countless references to things Rimuru didn’t understand. 

The slime has so many questions but Shizu seems to be having a fun time singing, they’ll bother her later. They never expected a song to make them feel so small, or smaller, they’re not a big slime, tiny compared to Shizu. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shizu knew that Rimuru enjoyed music a bit more than the average slime.

It was sweet, and made it easier for her when Rimuru started to tap. 

It was like hearing a human child's first words. She finds herself thankful for Rimuru’s odd situation as it answers a question Shizu’s been wondering for years but never had the heart or lack of morals to try to answer. 

Her voice fades as she finishes a vocal rendition of the closing instrumental, hands still searching for lost instruments. And she thought her earlier purring was embarrassing. Both whistle flute and jaw harp were attached to her person. How did she lose them? At least they’re simple folk instruments.

In the absence of music, the sound of boots on stone take over, with a distant bubbling among the hubbub of the forest.

Shizu smiles, taking Rimuru by shock as she hones in to the sound.

She sits down near the spring, filling her canteen.

A young deep slime bumps against her from bouncing between trees like a slime-shaped football as the advententer takes a few good swigs, enjoying the fizz of the sparkling water.

She moves the slime in between her crossed legs, in front of spring.

“It’s not hot? But it’s bubbling?”

“It’s just volcanic gases, mineral water sparkles sometimes.”

Rimuru edges closer to the spring, letting a tendril touch the fizzing water.

While the image of the bug being dissolved into nothing refuses to leave Rimuru’s mind the water feels pleasant against their membrane, the little bubbles even more so as they cast their siren call.

Still, Rimuru refuses to move further until they feel their membrane open slightly, starting to cycle the dissolved parts of rocks in the water. Salt!

Rimuru slips out of Shizu’s lap in an instant, entering the spring of incredibly tasty water with a ploink. Comfortably sitting at the rocky bottom of the little spring.

Luckily Rimuru’s presence doesn’t taint the quality of the water. Shizu knows crying is inevitable with a student this young but she’d rather avoid the stench of cut grass.

{You getting out anytime soon?}

{Hm water’s nice, plenty of rocks, but we haven't found a hot spring yet and you probably want to be comfortable, this one’s too small.}

{Hot springs have lots of rocks in their waters as well, or so other deep slimes have told me.}

She knows she’s goading Rimuru but she’s still a little sore from earlier. It’s been so long, her patience has been reduced to a child’s.

{Other deep slimes? I wanna meet them! And I guess I’ll go.}

{You’ll meet them at Okseanos.}

Shizu fills her metal canteen with more sparkling water as a slime crawls out at a snail’s pace.

The spring of sparkling water is a good sign. She’s sure she knows where a good spring is. In her haste she grabs a half emerged Rimuru, catching the faint scent of cut grass as she does.

She pets Rimuru, reassuring the young slime they’ll be in the water as soon as she tracks a promising heat source. She’s so glad Rimuru’s more prone to sobbing than throwing tantrums, oh thank the Star King.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

The adventurer breathes a sigh of relief when plumes of steam lead her to a deathly hot spring, with sapphire-blue waters that won't dissolve a thing, just boil any unfortunate souls alive.

After cleaning herself with a spell and throwing her clothes somewhere they won't be torn up by wildlife, she slips straight in.

In the clear blue water she lets herself slump against the spring’s edge until her chin was touching the scalding spiringwater. Shizu lets out a sigh as all the soreness from her muscles fades, only leaving behind pure bliss.

Perfectly relaxed, purrs escape her, and so does the reflex of halting the noise as soon as possible escape her mind as her eyes droop.

The rumbling purring attracts her young student, who taps in short lightning fast bursts, making a trill like noise as she welcomes them on her lap.

She hugs the slime with a hand as she fetches her canteen. The cool evening air and chilled mineral water provide a wonderful contrast to all the heat of the steamy hot spring.

The slime in her lap climes up as she drinks. “Can I have some?”

An indent is made in the slime’s partially surfaced body.

Shizu dips the canteen, the sparkling water lingering in the indent until it slowly drains.

“You like the bubbles huh?”

“They um, what’s the word… Tickle? I don’t know, it feels funny and nice.” Rimuru can’t help themselves but to melt on Shizu again. They didn’t think such hot liquid could be pleasant after the lava incident, even if it was water.

The canteen is set down again at the spring's edge.

“Ugh, you’re such a baby.” Shizu whines as her purring grows thunderously loud, hugging the slime close.

Chapter Text

“Shizu, Shizu, look at what rocks I found!”

The slime nudes the conqueror of flames, her sudden awakening making splashes in the hot spring's scalding waters. 

The adventurer's eyes slowly open as she stretches, replying with a groggy “hm.”

“Oh, um sorry.”

“It's no problem. What rocks did you find?”

“A bunch like this clear purple one, clear blue-purple one, this red one, a pink one, this speckled black one and this one! It has so many colours in it and it breaks like this speckled one into sharp bits. So cool. I did cut myself a little bit though.”

“Can I see? We do have names for rocks.”

“Rocks have names? Weird, but cool.”

The slime moves their pile into Shizu’s hands, settling in her lap as the adventurer shifts through the rocks.

Well, really, gemstones, not all too recognizable due to being raw but with magic sense and a little knowledge it was quick to identify.

Shizu pats the little deep slime. “Let's see, in order of what you mentioned, the purple rocks are topaz, this blue-purple colour is called violet. The red is ruby, pink is topaz again, this specked one is called snowflake obsidian and that’s rainbow obsidian.”

“Ooo I like the rainbow obsidian the most, I don’t trust snowflakes, they’re mean.”

Shizu laughs as she rubs circles on the young slime’s membrane as Rimuru asks them again.

“Can we trade them? How valuable are these rocks?”

Shizu brings the rough ruby to the sky, the moon light exposing a brilliant blood red stone, small compared the palm sized chunks of topaz that were likely broken off from a larger formation, only as big as a thumb print. 

Even so for a ruby of this quality her wage would look like mere pittance compared to how much the gem could sell for…

The two topazes are decently clear with good colouration, they had great potential to sell for a decent price.

“You did very well, Rimuru, are you sure you aren’t a phoenix? This ruby is very good, it’ll trade for so much. The topazes you found are good too. We could stay at all the pricey inns, listen to the best of bards and eat fancy food with even fancier fluffy beds. The only downside is any noble folk or alike around.”

“Nobles? Veldora mentioned something about them but I didn’t understand at the time. And what’s a bard?”

“Rich people that become richer from surplus possessions, they own far more than they need and don’t allow others to take it no matter what, guarding it like dragons and charging a fee to access. Nobles hold the power in their territories, they are rulers. One can only become a noble by being born into it, or rarely, by marriage.”

Shizu pauses to gag at the thought of the nobility. It was hard to stand near them, nauseous at the though for being friendly with such people. Despite her long years, Shizu had yet to find one that didn’t make her want to rip her skin off, and theirs, in discomfort.

She shivers in disgust at the memory. A terrible time she made up by spending some quality time at a tavern and a little “accidental”  house fire the second and last time she met them. She didn’t care, she couldn’t let that law go into effect.

“Bards are storytellers that often share their tales and learnt legends through song, like the star suite which you heard me sing a little. They have a bit of a… reputation, better left for later, you’re a bit too young. But I haven’t met a single boring bard, it’s not a bad reputation they have.”

“Oooh cool, I want to meet a bard. Don’t really like nobles, they seem mean, the colony would hurt then die if we did that. Nobles hurt people, don't they? And the knights?”

Shizu hums in confirmation as Rimuru’s words trail off, massaging the slime in calming patterns. She almost feels bad for telling Rimuru, but it’s better if the young slime has time to process and ask all the questions they want. As a majin they’ll learn one way or another.

She shifts in the hot spring again, promising to herself to get out soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s been a few hours and Shizu has been having the time of her life, hunting for rocks in hot, dark waters. 

At first she joined Rimuru in search for more precious gems but Rimuru’s sheer excitement about all forms of rock soon bled into her.

From basalt to the few coloured diamonds they found, every rock was met with an excitement and appreciation that almost appeared to be worship, which makes Shizu curious if it was part of Rimuru's parent colony’s culture. 

{Yeah me and the others would play a game where we found and rated rocks, to find the best rock, salt’s too good to be ranked. Ah, salt, nothing can be better, how can I ever carry on without….}

Shizu hears the chuckles of the storm dragon over the link as Rimuru waxes poetically over salt, utilising their odd vocabulary of older words learnt from veldora to common adventurer’s slang to sing the mineral’s praises. What a little bard my student is.

{How are you two doing? It has been some time since we last talked.}

{Hi bro! We’re looking for cool rocks, Shizu knows so much about rocks, even all the names, rocks have names! So cool.}

The storm dragon asks the adventurer.

{Why do you have so much knowledge on the matter?}

{As an adventurer, I come in contact with a lot of semi-precious and precious gems, part of it is just curiosity. The other is I hate getting swindled by double faced merchants.}

{Man, adventuring sounds even better than before, I wanna do some more with rocks! And met the deep slimes at Oksaenos! Maybe on the way?}

{Oh you want to do a dungeon crawl? We could, on the way there.}

Veldora whines over the link like a kicked puppy.

{You’re leaving again?}

He should have seen that the pair would want to journey, Shizu is an adventurer after all.

{Well.. Um, I just wanna meet some deep slimes that can talk too. I want to have what the other younglings have here,  I want to know my people too. We’ll come back, promise.}

Veldora shifts in his cave, unsure. 

It was more than just simple wanderlust this time. The dragon could feel his little siblings longing, with a tinge of jealousy at the thought of other younglings.

He can’t help but feel a little inadequate, he isn’t enough anymore?  He was enough for two years, why now? Even with Shizu.

Was this the adventurer’s fault, putting ideas into his little one’s head?

But what Rimuru said was they envied the children of other Juran majin. It’s likely the slime would grow to desire community, no matter the influence. Slimes seem to be extremely social no matter the particular kind, unlike dragonkind. He can't hate his new friend for long.

While Veldora refused to acknowledge those lizards as any way related to him, he could understand their thoughts and ways without thinking, it was logical to him. But it was a constant effort to understand Rimuru, the slime requiring the mental link to be open even when not in use.

There were all sorts of odd behaviours that stupefied Veldora, despite their apparent normality to Rimuru. Shizu was lucky enough to understand them but it was likely all through study. She seemed quite the academic.

But the dragon can’t help but feel lacking. His sisters were right. 

Useless 

Idiot

Lost cause

Veldora ignores the worried tugging that turns to spoken word on the mental link. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

 {Bro? Brother? What’s wrong?}

{Please respond, please was it something I said, you mean alot to me you’re my brother!}

Shizu pats the slime as a sharp herbal scent seeps into the water bringing Rimuru closer to her chest to comfort them. It stunk of grass.

“How about we check up on him in the caves?”

“Yeah.”

The two swim up to the surface, Rimuru storing their new collection of rocks before returning to their herder’s arms.

Rimuru feels so much that they lack the skill to put their thoughts to words, listening to Shizu’s soft reassurances to get through it all. But above everything the sadness was overwhelming, they wanted to meet the deep slimes at Oksaenos more than anything.  

Was it wrong? Were their wants bad? Were they bad then? A bad slime with bad thoughts that can't help but to hurt their brother.

“It’ll be okay, we just need to talk it out. I’m sure there’s a way we can communicate long distance.”

“Re-really? You aren’t just saying this to make me less sad?”

“There are some I have in mind, one where even Veldora could use it to send messages to us since activation can be set to verbal. The only issue is getting them.”

“What is something like that called?”

“Have you heard about crystal balls?”

“Um no? Maybe, I think I heard a merchant wish they had one once. What’s so special about a ball shaped rock, I find those all the time.”

The slime pauses for a second, before bouncing into the cool waters over the cave system that leads to Veldora.

“Oh, ooooh, it’s a name. But how does it work? What does it do?”

“Crystal balls are used to communicate from a vast distance, instantly. The enchantments and runes are numerous and complex on crystal balls. It’s not something I know, only the ingredients involved.”

“So can we get someone to make it?”

Shizu sighs underwater, uncaring for letting air escape thanks to the mask and numerous magicules making air a non-necessity.

“As well off as I am these days, I can only dream of affording that.”

“Awww, is there another way?”

Shizu smiles.

“It’s possible to find a set during a dungeon crawl, but with difficulty.”

The scent of rose leaves Rimuru in the mineral rich water around them.

“Awesome! Oo ooo can it be Veldora’s birthday present? I got one, bro should too, they’re great.”

“Sure, crystal balls are rather rare but there are a few hotspots we can try. If anything I have other methods in mind, though they are overly complicated.”

While half of the process eluded Shizu, as an adventurer she was intimately aware of the final step.

Besides as if a little theft would hurt whatever noble commissioned them.

The two swim in comfortable silence until they reach the end of the water. Magicules are more numerous than before as the storm dragon’s aura runs rampant.

“Did I hurt brother? I haven’t seen him this sad before.” 

Rimuru grazes against Shizu’s feet as they walk. Shizu picks up the slime that was sending grass, pepper and sandalwood scented signals. A perfume of misery, pain and confusion.

“From how it seems, he’s spiralling but I can’t be sure. It’s okay, you didn’t hurt him on purpose. If you did, it’s not forever, we just need to talk through it. It’ll be okay.”

The young slime wobbles out an “okay” as they rest in the adventurer's arms, bouncing with every step she takes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Veldora laid still, dark blue scales blending to the darkness and stone with the way he was curled up the great Storm Dragon could be mistaken for a piece of slate.

If not for his aura that had scared all life far, far away from him. An aura he was yet to learn to contain, a mark of failure.

He was going to die faster if he kept this up. He knows he shouldn't, he’s a true dragon, the strong among the strong, a being that could be called a god. They don't sulk, they most certainly don’t cry, they don’t struggle to use their skills, they don’t let some dumb pretty hero defeat them and get stuck since they don’t have an ultimate skill of their own.

He curls tighter. He misses the softness of grass and soil. How the muddy earth would warp around his talons, leaving behind an impression. As it would now, as the falling water droplets from the stalagmites forming pick a faster rhythm.

Veldora lets the incessant dripping fill his mind as he closes his eyes.

{Hey, Veldora.}

{Veldora?}

{Brother! Hey, you okay?}

{You’re leaking a lot of magicules, you there?}

{Storm dragon, we have more to talk about. I’d take your romanticised fantasies about my teacher over this.}

{We won’t just leave Veldora, you’re important to me and Shizu…?}

{Though our friendship is young, I truly value it. I’m friends with too many humans.}

The voices continue until the true dragon dares to open an eye, fearing the words were just a trick of the mind. Velzard has always called him feeble in every way. 

There were two people at his door, two of his first friends and they haven’t left! They care, they value him, they don’t constantly bring him down.

The storm dragon slams against his barriering in excitement. 

Noticing his movement the two relax, the mixture of scents grow faint. Though Veldora could smell a grassy odour that made him long for freedom even more.

{Kwah ha ha! I forgot there was a barrier there, erected by one wonderful teacher, oh how could I ever forget such a perfect being.}

{Veldora I’m sorry to break it to you but Chronoa she was…}

{La-la-la-la-la not listening, she has a stellar personality.}

Shizu snorts at the statement that could not be any more wrong.

{You can swoon about how she swung her sword, how her long silky hair billowed in the breeze, Chorona is rather proud of it. Or her strength and tactics, anything but that personality of hers.}

Veldora observes Shizu as she speaks, noticing she wasn’t amused in the slightest.

{You seem agitated, should I stop?}

He was not going to lose a friend he just met. It seemed far too pathetic, even for him.

{I’m just not in the best of moods to talk about her. She is a true hero, not a good person.}

{Did she treat you badly? You seem fond of your mentor from what you’ve told me. Apologies.}

{She treated me well even if training did get a bit rough. I was her precious student in her eyes though not much can be said for other people, it felt like looking after a careless child sometimes.}

The adventure sighs, as old memories come rushing back. What in the hell was wrong with her? Was she alway like that or was it time taking its toll? Shizu had alway thought it was some mental condition but never asked, unwanting to bite the hand that fed her. On purpose at least. 

{Fantasise about her all you like, and if somehow the chance arises, don’t. She’ll just leave you alone and heartbroken in the end. Why, why did she just… Ah Sorry. Not a good day for me.}

Shizu hugs Rimuru closer before looking up to Veldora.

{Veldora.}

He felt a shiver go down his spine despite Shizu only being on demon lord levels of strength.

{Are you using my issues to avoid talking about yours? Your sudden silence had us worried.}

{Kwah-ha-ha, why would I do such a thing, I’m far too great for that.}

Shizu’s eyes narrow when the dragon tries his best to fake his former confidence. As much as he was putting off his issues, it assured him that the seemingly ever-so-put-together Shizu had issues.

They seemed even similar to his, not that he wanted Shizu to have them, but it was nice knowing she could understand. Her mentor was starting to sound more and more like his sisters in one person and Veldora prayed to Veldanava that it wasn’t true. Other than Velzard being evil manifest in his option, it just seemed weird.

{I have been doing that, other than just I enjoy building rapport with you, adventurer. As you are not fond of talking about Chronoa, I am not fond of talking about my sisters.}

Shizu sits down, with Rimuru still in hand who’s been silent for most of the exchange. Poor little one, they must be too young to have such dialogue yet.

Until the young deep slime comes rushing to the barrier, but instead of purely sending him emotions, Veldora starts to feel a slow pulse, akin to lapping waves. The odd feeling calmed his mind, washing away all his raging emotions until near empty husks of the original remained.

Content, yet confused at the results, Rimuru returns to Shizu. 

{Thank you little one.}

The slime puffs up proud. Without saying a word, Veldora was reassured Rimuru still cared. He’s never felt such affection, the dragon feels so warm and soft on the inside as the emotions Rimuru sent to him lingered. Perhaps he is adequate, his sisters may not love him but the sibling he chose does. 

A true dragon’s life is eternal, he has time to work on his… everything. Who cares what his sisters think, he hasn’t seen them in centuries. It’s not much but the warmness Rimuru gave him reasures him, he can work through it. 

{I was scared you weren’t going to reply, so I’m happy you did. I, we, don’t want to leave you alone but I still really, really want to go to Oksaenos.}

Veldora keeps himself from laughter as he notices the name. Who would name a place seasea? After further thought, trying to understand the slime’s desperate want from their perspective, unlike him Rimuru has never truly spoken to a member of their species. As a social creature they would desire to belong to a group, to a culture.

Not like true dragons had much of a culture compared to other Juran inhabitants, but it was something. If Veldora was being honest he wanted to belong to something else, something with more fun customs than destroying things and fighting. He’s an artistic soul after all. 

The storm dragon marks it down for something to do after he’s free but Tempest is enough for him now.

{After some deliberation, I understand your wants Rimuru, I suppose it’s okay, I’ll be fine to be alone for a while but be sure to visit.}

{Wait, wait bro, I mean I’m glad you’re willing but we can find a way to communicate even outside the mental link.}

The true dragon tills his head, dull blue scales shining under the barrier's light.

{Is that so?}

{Yeah! We were planning when you were uh, big sad and numb?}

{The word you are looking for is depression. I was depressed.}

{Would a birthday present help you? They’re great! I got hands.}

Veldora snorts. Perhaps it would. 

{Very well, may my birthday be decided when you return.}

{Then it will..} The slime laughs, with a pattern of taps Shizu’s herd many times before. {Shizu it is May now, right?}

{Yes, all thought late.}

{Cool! Let’s go, don’t worry Veldora we’ll be back soon and you can still speak to us over the mental link for a bit, can’t go too fast, no magicules outside Jura.}

Veldora sighs, but such is the nature of adventurers.

{See you two soon.}

Rimuru and Shizu wave goodbye, wishing him well as they hit the road.

After a few days of hiking and chatting with the storm dragon the link starts to fail, the magicules starting to thin. 

Rimuru starts playing to offset the boredom instead, returning to Shizu as the free-floating magicules plummet. They graze against the adventurer's legs, using a tendril to pull on her pants.

“You weren’t conserving your magicules were you?”

“He, sorry, I was having too much fun.”

Shizu chuckles as she picks up the slime. 

“Have a meatfruit and rest, we’re approaching a human territory, I suggest you exercise caution and conserve your strength.”

Rimuru trills in confirmation, lazy after their rich meal. Perhaps they should eat pieces of it like humans do, the kangaroo tail meatfruit was as long as a bulldeer’s leg, they should savour the large fruit.

The slimes lets the rhythm of Shizu’s footsteps pass the time, a rhythm that turns to song as the path leads into the mountains.

Rimuru missed Jura already but found the young local ravens fun to play with, transformed into a raven themselves. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rimuru’s name echoes as it’s called, the raven turning into a blue-star phoenix as they return to their adventuring partner’s shoulder. 

{Just down this mountain and through the valley, we’ll be there.}

{What is this “there”?}

{Raja, and hopefully the place where we’ll get the balls.}

Rimuru cheers, already catching sight of constructed buildings, but no ruins. Maybe I missed them? I’ve never seen ruins. 

{Shizu where are we doing our dungeon crawling?}

{A old mine that's full of monsters, I’ve heard there’s more down there, likely the source of the magicules but I never bothered visiting.}

{I’ve never heard of a mine before, what are those?}

{It’s where rocks are found and collected, mined out then carried out for other uses.}

{Oooo new word!}

Shizu sighs as she remember a trip to Raja would require her to brush up on her Rajan, but since the only place she’s going is the mines, Shizu’s sure she wouldn’t have to use the few words she knows and the odd couple of words she’s picked up in taverns from fellow adventurers making fun of the language.

If worse comes to worst there’s always magic sense. The adventurer wonders if the slime even notices when she sings in a different tongue. Rimuru didn’t seem to notice the difference between her speaking goblin and common, or Veldora using old common but to be fair she didn't notice the changes either but the adventurer's well acquainted with all three. 

The young slime has no excuses, other than likely not having a concept of language. Rimuru’s mother colony is a stub after all.

Possibly, Veldora teaches that slime the oddest things, so she wouldn’t be surprised about another hole in Rimuru’s knowledge.

As she enters the valley, Raja’s city gates stand behind the mist and the chattering of guards in Rajan.

Shizu continues walking down, until the gates loom over her and the guard’s attention is turned solely on her.

Shizu’s pretty sure she’s the only adventurer around. She didn’t even have to wait due to the lack of line. 

As she tries to decipher the guard’s gibberish she starts to wonder why she’s not at the much shiner nearby Sarion. Until she remembers it’s best not to make enemies with Sarion’s ruling class or upset her elven friends.

It’ll make her feel much better if she’s inconveniencing some western nation’s nobility or the church. The thought of that makes her feel high, she can’t wait to steal some balls. Until she remembers, she’s just been standing there, without magic sense active. As the guard has been droning on.

“I do not speak rajan.” Shizu feels like a tongue tied toddler trying to talk with their mouth in a beartrap as she gets the pronunciation on key, using up most of her vocabulary besides the typical “yes” and “no.” 

She holds up her adventurer’s id, hoping that the guard would just let her in and spare her from hearing more rajan.

The guard lets out an understanding sound and smiles at her as the gate is lifted.

Should she even be leaving evidence of her arrival?

But unfortunately even raja’s residents know who she is, it would be more suspicious to enter without documentation.  She’s even picking up on what sound to be some strong-seeming adventurers speaking in common so the crime can be pinned on someone else.

Besides, knowing how often the balls are checked, it’ll be years before someone notices, Shizu reasons. 

For now she decides to fill up on some supplies. As lacking as raja’s markets are, she has a growing slime child to account for. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

The phoenix flies over the town, blue feathers blending into the clear sky. Compared to Lond, buildings were simple stone brick, likely mined from the mountains nearby. From a mine! 

What a funny word.

The quaintness of even the inner city is a relief for Rimuru’s senses, as sad it seems. Maybe the town would be better if the big building above shared some. The slime could see all the shiny things and other valuables trapped inside its walls.

Shizu did say nobles hoard too many things. Is this where the nobles live? Dragons do live in the mountains.

With a few flaps, Rimuru soars. Perching themselves in an open window.

They cock their head at the sound of hissing. Do humans hiss?

Only to find the room was full of wyverns that weren’t happy about the newcomer. 

The draconic creatures roar, spit and hiss at Rimuru, bare teeth and lash their tails, drag long clawed feet that scrape against the stone floors.

The deep slime replies in kind as a phoenix, screeching and puffing up their feathers as they start to glow white hot, flaring their aura to the fullest.

But the wyverns, emboldened that they were in a flock, continued their kind greeting.

“What the hell is all this noise about!”

A human enters the wyvern’s room, making Rimuru stop their threat display out of sheer curiosity.

To the deep slime’s surprise the human doesn’t get mauled by angry lesser dragons. Instead they calm the raging monsters with friendly pats and a few treats. Rimuru wants pats and treats, but before they can return to Shizu to get said pleasures of life, the human locks eyes with them.

“Is that why you were hissing idiot lizards? Huh, so phoenixes are that strong.”

The wyvern keeper takes out a few treats from their pouch, leaving out a hand for the phoenix to perch on.

“Do you like meat?”

Rimuru lands on the human’s arm, taking the treats with their eagle-like beak from the keeper’s palm, the slime enjoys a few pets before flying off further inside the giant building. 

They enjoy the chaos they cause, hopping shoulder to shoulder, plucking at the human’s hair or swooping at nobles like prey.

Rimuru screeches cryptic omens from the air, as they analyse the royal palace’s walls, find all kinds of interesting rocks, but a lot of the shiny yellow one called gold.

They rip fancy tapestries and scribble on boring looking paintings that are all of people just sitting.

The people inside of the palace couldn’t stop talking about gold or on occasion taxes. It was gold this, and gold that as the young deep slime scratched all the fun sounding words Shizu would say when upset, hurt or passionate, the nobles calling their work on the walls “obscenities.”

Some faint at the sight of them creating their masterpiece. 

Rimuru doesn’t care, they write more, they write worse. Shizu was right, nobles hurt people. They can’t understand. They don’t, trading made sense, money mostly made sense. This doesn’t in the slightest, these nobles are a colony's worst fear. 

Rimuru was stunned, sitting so still they were mistaken for a statue as they listened in where the nobles' mouths ran wild. Praising what the knight did. Praising what they thought all adventurers did. Praising a trade and occupation Rimuru didn’t know, and for the first time wasn’t desperate to find out an unknown.

No wonder Shizu was scared. 

The phoenix goes to perch on a shiny chandelier to process the horrors, only to send it crashing down as their added weight proves to be too much, crystal shattering as it slams against marble.

A maid stares in shock. “Is the blue phoenix okay?”

A nobleman yells, “I hope that wretched thing is dead, go smack it, It’s getting up!”

There’s a sigh as the maid watches the bird rise. “All due respect sir, a phoenix can burn the palace to the ground if offended.”

“HIT THE DAMN BIRD OR ELSE.”

The dry broom half-heartedly smacks against Rimuru’s hot feathers, the smoke giving the slime new, brilliant ideas, but magicule exhaustion starts to set in before any grand plans can be executed, and they hop onto a window to leave and recharge near Shizu.

Until they pick up a peculiar scent.

Rimuru really doesn't understand nobles, but magicules are magicules. As they fly off deep into the palace they enjoy the fear and disorder they incite as they pass.

A giggle starts that turns to a laugh like Veldora’s as they slip through an open window above an immaculate door.

Rimuru is already done with nobles and hopes to never see the type again, but a fancy bed, food and music sound nice.

They hop onto a bedside table, finding the source mounted on a human’s head, in a sort of crest made from metal and rock. Gold again by the looks of it.

The intruding slime makes themselves comfortable on the wood, basking in the radiating magicules.

The item was probably why this human was sick, Rimuru remembers Veldora mentioning magicules being deathly bad for them. But like they care about some weird noble, in this knight-infested territory. 

The sickly human tries to pet them, Rimuru snaps at the hand, leaving a shallow wound, surprising even themselves that they turned down pets. They must have been away from Shizu for too long. They’ll come back later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

They spot Shizu talking to a group of armed, rough-looking humans, adventurers judging from the auras.

Rimuru lands on her shoulder, nuzzling into the crook of her neck.

{You had your fun? We’ll go soon.}

{Cool! I’m ready for the dungeon crawl, and yeah I had fun.}

{That’s great then. And Rimuru?}

The phoenix hums as they’re generously pet by Shizu, fighting all urges to melt on her again.

{Yeah Shizu?}

{Do you see me as your herder?}

{I do. Is that okay?}

{It’s okay, I can’t really deny I’m not, I’m happy to be your herder Rimuru.}

The scent of rose hits Shizu with the weight of a downed dragon as she wraps up conversation with her fellow adventurers.

“It was an honour talking to you Shizu, hope you and that starkissed bird of yours find the loot you’re lookin’ for.”

“It was great meeting all you, I never learnt that fucked up sideways catacomb of a langauge for a reason but at least the views and air here is nice, toodles.”

Shizu waves her goodbye as she heads towards a soon-to-be crime scene, Rimuru noting down all the interesting and fun words Shizu said, but with the frequency “fuck” is used, the slime wonders what it means, probably another word with multiple meanings from the looks of things.

Shizu takes a breath, praying to the Star King luck is on her side and walks past the old mine’s entrance, descending into a pitch black abyss.

Chapter Text

As the pair make their descent into the abandoned mine the small whiffs of magicules both slime and demonoid catch on occasion urge them to go lower, to go faster, unconcerned with the dropping temperature.

Whenever there was a fork in the road the two continued walking to where the magicles were. The pull was magnetic, it took hold of the majin’s minds, urging them to never rest and keep going down, away from the sun and humanity closer to its comforting embrace.

After magicule concentrations climb to levels that would cause trouble for a typical human, teacher and student find themselves with monstrous company.

“Rimuru how about you get out your blade? I can see there's nothing dangerous around.”

“Okie!” A sword clatters on the cold stone floor, picked up by a little bauk.

Trekking their way through the abandoned mine reminded the slime of when they first split from the colony, walls of stone surrounding them, the stretches of nothing that lead to absolute euphoria when something that wasn’t stone was there. A new monster to slay and eat, a new gem or metal to learn the name of. 

It helped keep Rimuru from dwelling on what they learnt at the palace, but the horror clung to the slime no matter what they tried, ven after Shizu announced they were in territory where some precious crystal balls would be hiding. 

It stuck to Rimuru like their own membrane. The cruelties are confusing, unable to be comprehended logically by the slime, making it worse than any action predators do. What they and fellow deep slimes do. They hunt when they’re hungry, they don’t hunt for pleasure. They would never hunt their colonymates, force submission upon them for odd reasons. It was so antithetical to colony life Rimuru felt gross merely thinking about it. 

But this was a horror so common it was dismissed as normal. To the slime’s lament there was no escape. As much as Rimuru wanted to forget, all they could do was process the information.

Humanity continues to be a mystery. At this point they’ll never understand humans.

Rimuru continues bouncing by Shizu’s side until the adventurer comes to a halt before a pile of rocks. Odd, I thought Shizu wasn’t interested in common rocks?

The adventurer shifts around the pile, dislodging a few to reveal large scratch marks that carve deep into the rock as if it was clay.

Shizu’s fingers trace the giant claw marks. “That’s what probably caused the cave in. Stay on guard, we’ll be having fun soon.”

Feeling around the rubble, Shizu moves a few larger rocks, carefully creating a hole she could fit through.

Catching on to the oddly gentle treatment of the rubble, Rimuru spreads out tendrils between the rocks, aiding Shizu in deeping the hole. The familiar task of shuffling rocks calms the slime.

As Rimuru continues stretching, sensing and shuffling, a tendril reaches out, swirling around to find the next rock surface only to be met with air in all directions. 

More body mass moved in the direction to get a better sense of the space, the tendril finally finding the smooth stone floor. Dark, dank and packed to the brim with magicules. The rest of the slime rushes to the perfectly cosy space.

{Shizu, Shizu, I found the other side!}

The cosy space, despite all the magicules floating around, was surprisingly empty.

Rocks both small and large are shoved and dislodged as Shizu climbs to the other side, jumping down to join her student.

The adventurer revels in the magicules, though after a good inspection, she hesitates to move forward, going back to the pile of ruble to collect a good few rocks.

The lightless space was immense, its high ceiling dwarfing the two majin, walls with the occasional ornament and mural surrounding them. The flat, featureless floor, free from any damage or wear, had Shizu on high alert.

Even if there were no crystal balls to be found, the adventurer would be happy with whatever treasure or artifacts she could find from these ruins.

Shizu tosses a rock forward, the clatter of the chunk bouncing on the floor echoing through the expanse.

She asks the slime with regeneration to go in front and warily explores, the whine of a machine echoes as her student investigates piles of rock that resemble a cooled lava flow, parts of the floor shake but never give, darts lazily fall to the floor and roll as Rimuru bounces by.

As the majin go down the hall, every triggered trap fails. Less anxious about being randomly skewered, Shizu turns her attention to the ruin’s walls.

The murals and likely script are a novel curiosity, etchings that were filled with gold, still as shiny as when first cast. Noticing the liberal use of gold in the room, Shizu starts to consider keeping the discovery a secret, until she could trust archaeologists and adventurers not to just loot the place for coin.

Though she doubts many humans could even survive down here, the air is stale and musty, with an aftertaste of rot and metal that lingers in Shizu’s mouth and nose after every breath. Shizu worries the longer they search the ruins that, as much as she wants to know what lies beyond the gold decorated doors, her young student will end up sick.

But much like herself, Rimuru found the ruins intriguing, often running off before her without caution, setting off well hidden functioning traps; even if the slime didn’t understand the death traps as so, dubbing them “fun events.”

Projectiles were toys to catch and collect, monsters from triggered summoning circles were snacks, suffocation chambers were places of rest, and lava pits were puddles to invite her to play in. How could she say no to such a sweet face?

A dumb smile spreads on her face as she treats the death trap as a sand pit, like she did when she was a kid, sharing what she enjoyed with Rimuru. It prompts the slime to return to their small bauk form, making Shizu unable to resist giving a few pets and scratches to the fruit-bat-like face.

“You know Rimuru all these fun events are called death traps, since they’ll kill most, and I would have asked you to act like they are a concern in the case of us having human tagalongs, but I’d hate to be a wet blanket to the both of us.”

“A wet blanket?”

Shizu continues scratching Rimuru as she speaks. “Physically a wet blanket is used to put out a fire, metaphorically someone who is a wet blanket puts out people’s figurative fires, their passion, excitement or enjoyment.”

“I am learning so many new words today! Thanks, Shizu.” Rimuru’s tail wags in the lava.

In those moments, the slime was almost doglike to the adventurer, until Rimuru ran off like a cat, uncaring for traps as if the world was theirs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

After more encounters with an increasing amount of death traps, or fun events, Shizu admits the name is more fitting for them, the pair sit down to enjoy a meal in the depths of the ruins, despite all the magicules. Shizu hated to crash the moment she left again, but as the older adventurer she had to encourage good habits for the younger.

As she stands, Rimuru’s escape attempt is halted by a barrier, as the stench of death and rust fills her sensitive nose.

“I would err on the side of caution, the magicules here are as dense as Jura’s caves near Veldora. I worry about you getting sick, and not the kind you can recover from.”

“What about you Shizu? Will you get badly sick?”

“I am older, I will recover after a while, but I worry about you. You’re adorable and babies can easily die from illness.”

The slime pouts in their own way, smelling of cedar and sandalwood. “I’m five not a baby…” Rimuru trails off as they notice they’re only a fortieth of the age of an adult. Using a rough average of what humanoids like Shizu considered to be an adult, even going as high as 30 years, still results in them being under a year old. A mere nine months.

They are not a pathetic, blabbering nine month old! Or even worse, six months. They are a high-ranking predator… that still chases after mice and low value insects. Maybe they are a bit of a baby, only cubs chase after such small prey.

Rimuru reasons as much as they hate the thought of being compared to something so helpless, it’s depressing, but their herder is just worried. The slime can sense her care as Rimuru grazes past a pant leg. Shining amber eyes soften with the look they’ve come to be familiar with when Shizu’s attention is on the deep slime. Despite Rimuru’s initial lack of understanding, it was comforting when they saw other younling’s humanoid herders have the same look. From gruff ogres to stuck-up nobles. 

Rimuru hops along near Shizu, who shows them how to watch out for traps and not get stuck in a room until the time was up.

It took an awfully long time.

Rimuru couldn’t help but to complain when they failed to watch out for all the signs, leading to both majin getting stuck in the small room.

“It’s long to make sure the trapped suffocate, as the runes do their work.”

“Suffocate? Like die? This is a death trap?”

“To poor unfortunate souls that need to breathe air, yes.”

“Lucky they didn’t consider magicules.”

Rimuru taps the ground as they wait to be let out of whatever void they are in. The deep slime tries to eat their way out again in impatience only for the room to punish their attempt, leaving a fallen slime in seething pain as the wall regenerates.  

Rimuru entertains themselves by asking what games Shizu played as a youngling, they pass the time playing tic-tac-toe with pebbles, the sound answering the slime’s question on the odd name.

As Rimuru learns what onomatopoeia is, the room spits the adventurers out into a monster-filled hallway. 

Flames and swords dance through the horde, both adventures smiling in unison as they scorch stone black and paint it with red. 

Shizu pets a little bauk-shaped slime in celebration at the edge of the carnage.

“Care to dispose of the bodies?”

“You don’t want any?”

“I’m good, it’s a bit too well-done for me anyways. Go on, eat.”

Ocean blue slime envelopes the charred corpses, cleaning the stone of the bloodbath.

“All done, let’s keep looking!”

The slime bounces by Shizu’s side as they descend. After getting almost caught in several death traps and triggering a lava pit to play in, the pair comes before a towering door that wouldn’t be out of place in a palace, with more gold inlaid in it.

Shizu was getting the suspicion that these people didn’t value gold as currency. But with all the locks placed on the door, both magical and physical, there was no doubt it was keeping something precious. 

Or dangerous, but magic sense didn’t pick up anything living nearby. Just objects, cursed, enchanted, and plain untouched.

After cracking all the safeguards, the doors swing open on their own, welcoming both adventurers in.

The walls are lined with a script and lanterns Shizu’s unfamiliar with that glow as she walks by.

Her footsteps echo through the vast chamber, it was only with magic sense the adventure could see the room had an end as the walls got further and further away from the room’s centre.

Rimuru sticks to her slide as if glued on. The endless nature of the room has the slime on high alert as they search for any possible traps, the discovery of only scattered large dry bones, enough for a full skeleton, leaving the slime further on edge.

As script-covered walls come into view once more, illuminating as the pair get closer, the flat floor gives way to steps, steps that lead to a large rectangle. 

She knocks on the stone, her hearing supplying it was hollow, magic sense telling her multiple objects rested within. Multiple enchanted objects. A set of crystal balls if she was lucky.

With as much as she hated taking artefacts out, Shizu doubts she’ll ever get the chance for another set. She’ll keep a record of everything she does.

Hands and tendrils explore the stone box, fingers and slime gingerly lifting a stone panel that was acting as a lid.

The panel was hiding a wooden case among many other trinkets. A surprisingly intact wooden case, that within velvet woven from hellmoth silk held two brilliant crystal balls. 

A tendril taps against her, but Shizu continues investigating the balls, as the scent of rot and metal grows stronger. Bones rattle.

A deep voice, dry as its worn bones, echoes through the chamber in old common. Making the adventure shove the balls back into their case.

“YOU DARE DESECRATE MY MASTER’S TOMB!”

Rimuru clings to Shizu’s clothes, the smell of cloves overpowering the must in the air as the slime makes their fear known.

Shizu turns to the ancient undead in excitement. A towering death dragon so old, the scales have blacked, becoming their own suit of armour with not a speck of flesh left, replaced by spectral matter glowing through any patch of missing scales.

The arch dragon roars in pure rage, the red dots that made up the guard’s eyes forced on the intruders. 

Shizu stands her ground, unsheathing her sword, all spells and skills brought to the ready. 

While the action assures Rimuru, the slime finds themselves unable to unstick from Shizu’s form, taking a little damage as the adventurer dodges the miasma of the dragon’s breath weapon. 

A quick glance and the slime knew they couldn’t just eat the tomb’s guardian.

Rimuru has never encountered such a big dragon, not wanting to kill sentients, shying away from the Canaat mountains. The breath weapon made the slime pulse in disgust as their melted membrane closed up. With the dragon’s hostile intent clear to them, the slime is okay with whatever Shizu wants to do to the death dragon.

The slime unsticks themselves from their murderous herder, deciding better not to get involved with the fight. Shizu was shaking with rage.

“YOU, VANDAL WILL REFER TO ME BY THE NAME BESTOWED UPON ME BY MY MASTER AND GREAT KING OF RAV’LI, DIBUQ!”

As the death dragon ends his sentence with another jaw breaking breath attack, the Conquer of Flames smiles as she escapes the focus of the dark miasma, 

Dibuq attempts to attack her with a lash of a bony tail as the adventurer closes the distance, only to make a body double poof into a puff of magicules as the real Conquer of Flames bombards the death dragon with explosive fire spells. 

Dibuq screams in pain as Shizu smiles, the dragon’s own bones becoming shrapnel that wedges itself into the wing membrane and body.

The two go back and forth in their rage, playing a game of cat and mouse as the dragon tries to catch the Conquer of Flames, succeeding a few times only for his talons to be shattered with an explosive blast. Causing the arch dragon to roar in pain as his spiked tail thrashes.

Rimuru stands on the sideline unsure whether to interfere with the dragon and demonoid dead set to rip each other apart, for what seemed like their own cruel pleasure. But the slime felt like they had to do something, as much as Shizu was smiling while the arch dragon readied to attack, eager to cut, burn and explode.

Flames and corrosive miasma fill the chamber as the slime crawls closer, taking advantage of the distraction Shizu was proving.

Closer than ever to the battle, it dawns on Rimuru Shizu might be upset if they kill her currently main form of stress relief. After being in contact with her constantly and from the moment they first talked, Rimuru knew down to their core she needed the relief. 

As much as they loved to watch Shizu’s fluid movements and skills in action, this battle was being drawn out. They were sure they could devour Dibuq now, after having to regenerate so much, the death dragon was starting to run on empty despite the magicules in the air. 

Rimuru was glad to be on Shizu’s good side. Perhaps they’ll drag her to the hot springs again, or speed up the journey to Oksaenos? Their herder seemed as excited to go there as them.

{Should I land the finishing blow now?}

Shizu flips in the air, slashing at the guarded neck of Dibuq as the dragon slams himself into the ground with the adventurer beneath. Barely taking any time to recover, the majin’s scorching blade opens the closing wound, detaching the dragon’s head.

Flames erupt from the cut as the death dragon goes to reattach his skull of a head, making him screech in pain as Shizu bathes in the spectral blood and pain.

{Oh…}

Her sadistic smile disappears as Shizu watches her opponent's sluggish movements, wounds slowly closing, still determined to keep fighting to the bitter end despite the battle having lost a while ago. 

“You were a worthy and honourable opponent, Dibuq, despite being a king’s pet. I apologise for drawing out your death like this.”

The dragon’s glowing eyes focus on Shizu, raising a crown of jagged horns as a spike-covered chin points toward the ground the adventurer stood on, readying another breath attack.

“I resent you vile vandal, I know when a battle is lost but I cannot abandon my master.”

“I just needed these crystal balls for my kid’s sake and their older brother. These ruins hold value for their history, despite appearances I am a scholar as much as a combatant, I will not let further harm come to these ruins.”

The growing miasma dissipates from the arch dragon’s jaws.

“Has it been that long master’s resting place has been relegated to ruins and a subject of historians?”

Dibuq lowers himself, laying on the stone floor as if already dead.

“Despite your vicious nature, and taking out your frustration at me, marauder, I accept your apologies even if you insulted my master. I have lived long in both life and undeath, allow me to finally join my master among the stars.”

The dots of the dragon's eyes fade, leaving the dragon’s scorched boney face completely lifeless, attached to a skeleton covered in a ragged cloak of scales.

“My kid will eat you now, my further apologies Dibuq for letting my anger get the best of me when your breath weapon harmed them.”

Shizu speaks with regret in her voice. She really needed  to not take something so typical personally if the both of them were to adventure further.

{End this.}

The ancient dragon chuckles as ocean blue slime begins to cover him.. “A sea slime? What a thoughtful, odd parent.”

The slime starts breaking down the large dragon, after eating away at his core, using the boost in energy to stretch over the giant mass of partially scorched bones and scales that better resembled metal by their makeup.

Before Dibuq goes they ask if they could use his form. While he tried to kill them, the death dragon was pretty and Rimuru was eager to obtain such a powerful breath weapon.

{Oh you flatter me so, child of that explosive scholar. How smart you must be to take others' forms already and how polite of you to ask. Take your given spoils, send me to my master.}

Dibuq’s near incomprehensible words of devotion distract the slime from their eating.

{How can you be so eager to die? I understand he named you but, your master? Aren’t masters someone’s owner? Why would you want to be owned?}

A weary Dibuq laughs. {It’s not something I expect a majin like you to understand, but perhaps with time you may. My master gave me everything, he gave me a place, a power to serve, the greatest honour, a purpose. Now go on, to the stars with me.}

The last of the dragon’s bones dissolve, the slime analysing the remains, taking the form of the death dragon in excitement, curious about the glowing matter that resembled their own slime in appearance, colour and nature and left the bones within visible.

They move a few slow steps forward, unused to having such a large form with their herder barely the size of a paw.

Rimuru can see the form’s size as something possibly useful in the future, but they shift to a smaller form that requires less effort to maintain. Their head now comes up to Shizu’s face.

Shizu smiles, petting their smooth neck. “I never thought I'd see a baby death dragon.”

Rimuru's snout nudges at Shizu as their earlier calculation of nine months rises like an undead in the slime’s head.

The adventurer rubs the snout that would be mistaken for a skull if not for the golden glowing eyes. “Can you feel this? It looks like there’s only bone here.”

“Yes? I don’t know. Pet me more.”

Shizu wobbles before dropping herself down to the ground, leaning against Rimuru to the slime’s surprise.

“Shizu?”

The adventurer hums in confirmation. “I’m exhausted, let’s take a break here and head out. Can you store the balls?”

“Sure!”

They gently nudge Shizu off them, paws pattering as the spikes on the end of their tail rattle as the adventurer settles on the stone floor af if it’s bedding. 

Rimuru does an experimental hop, flapping their glowing wings thanks to the death dragon’s spectral flesh, quickly gaining speed with the dragon’s powerful wings. 

Their first flight as a dragon was cut short as the young slime crashes into the side of the tomb, displacing a few bones until they rearrange themselves within the form, making the slime shiver and cringe at the foreign feeling. Is this what creatures with bones feel when their bones move? Egh. 

Not wanting to drop the shiny new form, the death dragon’s mouth opens, swallowing the case.

With a flap of wings and only slightly more graceful landing, Rimuru recovers and constructs a nest to drag their tired herder onto.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shizu awakes from an impromptu nap with a young looking death dragon curled around her, engrossed by how their visible bones would move as they flexed their talons underneath a substance that uncannily resembled luminescent deep slime.

“Shizu!”

She blinks before rubbing the form’s face as Rimuru nuzzles her. “You like that form?”

The slime replies, speaking at the speed of sound.

“It’s so weird, bones are weird, but cool, I feel cool in this form. I think I understand Veldora now. Can you feel your bones inside you? Feel when they move? Can you put them in and out like this?”

“No, I can't feel my bones normally. I can feel when they move out of place, it’s painful, and yes they can be popped back in.”

“Oooooooooo.” Rimuru bounces around the chamber in excitement with talons outstretched from the information, smelling like a field of roses all the way out of the dungeon.

The slime returns to phoenix form with a huff, but compromises by basking their herder’s body heat.

The adventurer peeks around the old mineshaft’s exit, finding only a moonlit road and shrubs swaying in the nighttime breeze. 

Shizu lets go of a breath she didn’t know she was holding as no monsters or humans are found with magic sense. The demonoid feels the rush of magicules fade, leaving her dead on her feet, and the phoenix on her shoulder leans against her neck with closed eyes.

Longing for a bed, Shizu starts the trek towards town, only to be surrounded by guards shortly after re-entering the city, and this time she didn’t even commit a crime. Unless…

Spears and armoured men shift at her every movement, their eyes trained on the phoenix that was disturbed from their rest. While the men were well armed, there was a significant lack of any luminist paraphernalia.

The majin lets out a deep sigh of relief.

Thankfully the adventurer was yet to drop magic sense as a better decorated guard speaks to her in Rajan.

“You, Shizu the Conquer of Flames have been summoned by the Queen to the royal Palace.”

The adventurer was at a loss for words. All that managed to escape her mouth was another relieved sigh. Shizu hopes a nod is enough to communicate that she understands and complies, not sensing any murderous intent from the group, but fear. As they should be.

Footsteps patter from behind the two majin as Shizu waits for a reply from the guards. Did the nod not work? The Conquer of Flames does her best to pronounce “yes” in Rajan, without giggling.

It didn’t seem she was in big trouble or there would have been mention of a court, but Shizu can’t discern what she did to get all this hostility thrown at her. 

The guards eye her phoenix as she follows the decorated guard.

Oh it wasn’t her was it?

{Rimuru.}

{Huh! Yes Shizu?}

The phoenix jumps to attention, feathers puffed.

{What kind of fun did you have when you were away?}

{Oh, I found a “palace” building, told some wyverns to back off, and messed up the mean noble’s dens. Which was all the nobles.}

{Even the one with a crown?}

{What’s a crown?}

The demonoid sends a mental image to the slime.

{Oh yeah, got a bit snappy when the crowned noble tried to pet me and made a cut with my beak.}

Shizu replies with a disappointed voice. A familiar tone to the slime.

{Rimuru…}

{I’m in trouble aren't I?}

{Yes, yes you are. How bad was the cut?}

{Just a small wound on the hand, didn’t touch a tendon, there was only a little blood.}

{Small mercies, and the damage to the palace and other nobles?}

{Broke a chandelier, ripped up a few tapestries, fixed some boring paintings, swooped at nobles stealing a little hair at most, and wrote what the nobles called obscenities on the walls. How bad?}

{It’s not that bad but still.}

{I understand, it was a bad idea. Ah!}

A hand saves the phoenix from falling. The feathers would have burnt the adventurer’s hands if not for the Conquer of Flames heat resistance.

{Shizu, I feel funny.}

She inspects the phoenix, feathers lacking their usual lustre as a few slimy clumps form, that edit themselves to be plausible feathers. With the emanating heat and Rimuru’s lethargy even after adjusting, the slime was undeniably sick.

{Make it through the consequences of your actions and you can rest all you want.}

The phoenix nods in agreement as magic sense supplies the meaning of the word consequences. They should have thought of those.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keeping up the phoenix form was a punishment in itself as their body cried for Rimuru to drop it and rest.

Stupid, stupid, stupid slime.

They have so many regrets. Their herder advised them that if they were to annoy nobles, they must do something that wouldn’t be noticed straight away, like stealing coin. 

It was even worse to enter the place again, the entourage of guards following them every step of the way gave the slime no hope to even lower the quality of the form’s manifestation. 

It was torture.

They pass walls with obscenities burnt in, making Shizu smile at amusement under the mask, a grin that only grew when the adventurer saw Rimuru’s edits to the portraits. What a little kid.

“No weapons are permitted within the queen’s chambers! Surrender them to us, they will be returned shortly.”

Shizu fiddles with her sword’s holster as she frees it from her hip. The adventurer takes one final look at the sheath, slightly pulling out the sword to take in the seric magisteel’s feather-like pattern and multicoloured shine before it’s confiscated.

Her eyes are glued on the sword as it sits the the hands of a guard by the door.

An odd security measure but at least it’s nearby.

The two majin enter the queen’s chamber, swarmed by royal guards.

The queen herself lay propped up in bed as if the ornate, gaudy bed was her throne, surrounded by a small throng of nobles.

“What a quaint mask, Miss Shizu the Conquer of Flames so you are the owner of the blue phoenix?”

The queen addresses Shizu in common to the adventure’s relief, even if it’s the worst version, sharp and stilted like a snake trying to speak unlike its smooth, melodic origins or flowing, rhythmic modern counterpart people like her use.

“I am their companion.”

“Their! That ghastly beast is an-”

The queen raises a hand, the guards turning toward the man at the movement. “Do not correct our guest Aaldenberg.”

The nobleman man opens his mouth to retort only to bite his tongue and huff in futile frustration.

Shizu lets out a small huff of her own as she brushes up on old etiquette,  the adventurer feels increasingly lighter and lighter, ready to bolt and fight at the slightest provocation.

The adventurer kneels, careful to not drop a now burning hot Rimuru.

Using such a complex skill while sick is punishment in itself Shizu decides.

“My greatest apologies for my phoenix's prior misbehaviour, they are still young and new to human, civilised ways and manners. We only met about a month ago. It shall not happen again. As their chosen companion, I offer to atone for the damages accrued.”

Shizu’s speech was coarser than she wanted, as she tried her best to scrub her rougher accent clean to something that was grating to the majin’s ears, making up for any failings with fancier words. 

The queen looks down on her and the wobbly phoenix who’s been clinging onto her shoulder for dear life.

She really needs cushioning there as her shoulder grows itchy, joining the general sensation of her skin wanting to leave her. The Conquer of Flames hopes her attempt was enough for her head to stay off the chopping block. As dumb as nobles are, they wouldn’t kill a sorry champion would they?

“Your majesty, if I may suggest?”

“Denied, this is my palace, the phoenix injured only mineself. You are here by courtesy duchess.”

The duchess bows until excused by the queen.

Shizu sneaks a hand to keep a lethargic, white hot phoenix from falling off her shoulder.

The majin stays kneeling to her best ability, ignoring any impulse to stand, ignoring the voice in her head begging her not to show submission to someone she could so easily crush.

Ignoring the existence of the holy knights that is. The room isn’t free from luminist trinkets, with a pile of strung prayer beads resting on the queen’s bedside table among the collection of statuettes and books.

“I cannot fault a magical beast for acting as such, as long as you can promise this will never happen again. You are permitted to rise, Miss Shizu, the Conquer of Flames.”

The demonoid manages to recover from her shock to properly thank the queen. “I thank you for the great mercy, your majesty, I swear this shall not recur.” 

The queen smiles, dismissing disgruntled nobles from her chambers. 

Leaving only the majin and guards with her.

Until with great reluctance, the guards are convinced to leave the room. Shizu contains her amusement, knowing what would happen if this were a horror novel. She hates it even though she would be against about half of it.

Why did the lack of anyone else put Shizu more on edge then one brimming with nobles and armed guards. The queen was holding onto life by a thread, a slight breeze could knock her over. At least Rimuru wasn’t deathly sick, as their feathers and talons glowed with emanating heat.

“Your majesty, may I ask what is the meaning of this?”

“Before you leave champion, care to share some tales of your exploits? I happen to be an admirer of yours. It’s been so long since I’ve left the palace, you may address me as Eina, my given name.”

And here Shizu was hoping to get off scot free, but alas she would have to pay in one form or another. Not a bad price but…

Rimuru falls off her shoulder, hitting the carpeted floor with a soft thud. 

{Are you okay?}

{Tired. When done? Can’t no?}

{I can’t leave unfortunately. I’ll try to make it as fast as possible but it’ll still likely be hours, perhaps you could fly out? It’s been punishment enough for you.}

{I try, feel bad.}

{Always think before you act, this world is not a kind one. We were lucky my fame saved us.}

The phoenix lazily tries to flap their wings only to fall and crash into the ground again, making Shizu pick them up and hold the disguised slime in her hands.

{Sorry herder, no again.}

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

After some of the most painstaking and terrifying hours of Rimuru’s life as the slime desperately tried to keep up their phoenix form, the pair were freed from the queen.

It was odd hearing from the queen or Eina, that she had a child of her own the same age as Rimuru, Towa. It was even odder for Shizu to think of Rimuru as hers. Even if she is the slime’s herder. She’s not… 

The Conquer of Flames ignores the weird thoughts, focusing her attention on coaxing Rimuru out of a warm, comfy corpse.

“It’s only dragon flu, you get sick once and you’ll never get sick again. You’ll be better soon.”

The slime taps against the ribs as their peppery signals of pain overpower the smell of blood.

“But, feel real bad.”

Shizu fishes the slime out of a partially eaten chest cavity.

“Every adventurer gets it after their first few quests. Consider this an initiation, you'll be a real adventurer after. Does that help?”

“Real adventurer? Yay! But still hurts. Pats?”

The adventurer hugs the deep slime close to her, as Shizu runs her hands over the little droplet of live lava as she journeys over the mountains through the dead of night, leaving the half-eaten meal to the forest.

Chapter Text

{Happy Birthday Veldora! So that makes your birthday… Um, um… aw I thought I was keeping count.}

The sickly slime shivers, crawling closer to warm up in Shizu’s hands.

{It’s the 10th of June, the way back took a bit longer since you got sick.}

Shizu pets the deep slime as they gather themselves in her arms as she heats up the slime with a spell.

{The little one has come down with an illness! It’s not life threatening is it?}

Veldora wishes sometimes he could hold the slime and get Rimuru to stay still for once in their life. Too many times has he watched the slime lose considerable parts of their body mass from botched hunts, experimentation with skills or not letting sleeping, at times literally, dragons lie.

{No it’s pretty common, even if Rimuru is young they’re already recovering.}

A tendril moves the adventurer’s hand back on the top of the slime, dividing into smaller sections to show the motion Rimuru wanted. The smell of rose filling the damp cave.

“Alright, alright, now are you going to show Veldora his birthday present or is getting more pets the only thing on your mind now?” Shizu curls her fingers, squishing lightly then scratching.

“Oh yeah! I didn’t get distracted at all. Definitely. I thought the fever was done.” The slime reaches inside their stomach as they speak, feeling tricked by their own body, spitting out an old wooden case.

The storm dragon inches closer, his snout brushing against the barrier.

Veladora tilts his head in curiosity as Shizu takes a shimmering blue ball into her hands. The crystal possesses the same shine as his lighter scales once did centuries ago, placing it on a rock formation shaped as if it was a pedestal. With a touch the sky blue shimmer is replaced by the dancing colours of Unlimited Imprisonment’s barrier, and his dull scales.

Despite the disappointing scales, Veldora still takes the time to stare at himself and pose. His scales might be matte but his physical form was still a work of art, who needs shapeshifting when your body is already perfect anyways.

{What is that?}

{A crystal ball, it allows for communication between linked crystal balls, such as this set.}

{You were serious about a solution, this is wonderful, really and truly wonderful! But, how am I supposed to use this crystal ball?}

“Crystal ball, off link.”

The advertiser is sure to pronounce her old common as passively as possible hoping that the draconic tongue would work.

The ball turns the darkest of blues for the blink of an eye, the light blue shimmer returning soon after.

The adventurer lets out a breath that she's been spared from making manual adjustments. Shizu wonders if it can filter out the barrier’s light, and choses to dig around the case for anything before trying the typical method.

The storm dragon pushes against the barrier in excitement, the impact of the dragon crashing against the wall of his prison making the ground shake, and the crystal ball roll.

“No, no, no, no!” Veldora thrashes against the wall in his desperation.

A tendril catches the falling ball, making the panicked dragon collapse in relief.

{O, little one I am ever so thankful. I will no longer be on my lonesome when you wander. To turn the ball on, do I say on link then?}

The adventurer nods, still lightly squishing and scratching Rimuru, the motion like catnip to the increasingly feverish slime.

Veldora stands like a scared cat, with his ears stuck to the side of his head as the slime starts to speak without rhyme or reason.

{Shizu, are you sure this isn’t a life threatening matter? Just look at how the little one is acting! Is that not the action of one doomed to be taken by their aliment?}

Despite being however old he was, the true dragon has never heard of this supposedly benign dragon flu, the few diseases the storm dragon knew were plagues that he was often likened to. One of the few things nations feared as much as him, and one of the many things Velzard wished upon him.

Emboldened by the barrier and his hopeful resistance, Veldora could see no boils or bleeding on the slime, just a buildup of their paler blue external slime pooling in the adventurer’s lap.

Shizu chuckles and changes her tone to something Veldora’s never heard in his long life while omitting certain constants, talking oddly to an even more oddly excited slime while squishing them more intensely. 

“Don’t you worry, we’ll get you somewhere nice and warm and with plenty of snacks for a little growing slime like you, who’s a good little slime? Yes, yes you are.”

Shizu looks at the true dragon studying her through the barrier, the smell of smoke filling the cave as the adventurer burns with embarrassment.

“This did not not happen, I never have or would baby talk to Rimuru. I am taking them to the hot springs so the kid can rest and recover, I’ll call to test the balls.”

Just as he was about to ask about what baby talk was, the majin of flames was gone after fixing the crystal ball to the rock, leaving behind footprints scorched into the stone floor.

Veldora paces around his prison, too distracted to continue any artwork.

Another lap, another glance at the still shiny sky blue crystal.

As he waits, anticipation turns to anxiety, his mind coming up with more and more nightmare scenarios both for Rimuru and the crystal ball. 

With a few more laps around, the true dragon decides to sit waiting before the crystal, fidgeting with his tail, the tip slowly finding its way into his mouth as Veldora begins to gnaw on it.

He jumps back as the crystal ball chimes, flashing with bursts of blue light.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

A deep slime crawls to the shallow edge of the hot spring as their herder returns with her arms full of food.

Shizu takes a few fruits for herself, dropping the rest into the hot spring.

A tendril opens a dark red, familiarly shaped object.

“It’s meat but has seeds?”

“There were still some meat fruits around.” Shizu points out floating imitations of liver and skulls among the typical fruits, nuts and berries. 

“Oooo new things. What called?”

Shizu bites into one of the fruits she saved for herself. 

“The one I’m eating is a sweet bullskull, the one you’re having is a liverskin.”

The slime taps against the hotsprings rock in feverish excitement. “Let’s call Veldora, I gotta tell news!”

“Why are you looking at me kid? You have the ball.”

“Oh. I'll call then.” Despite feeling marginally better, Rimuru’s speech still slurred as if the slime was drunk. 

The adventurer hopes it won't spook the storm dragon too much.

The ball’s request to link was accepted near instantaneously, the slime taking the time to yell a greeting before going on a short rant on the rock composition of the two new meat fruits, proudly slurring their names.

Veldora’s eyes are still stuck to his head.

“You are recovering, are you little one?” 

The true dragon had yet to stop imitating a house cat with a fluffed up tail between its legs.

“Yeash! Still have fever, but feeling better, Shizu said it’ll be over soon, she been giving lots of food to help! Like these nuts and this sweet bullskull. Cool right?”

“Has the fever gotten any better?”

Shizu speaks from the edge of the hotspring. “The kid should be good in a few days, I had it for about four days when I got it.”

Rimuru tries to crawl into Shizu’s lap only to be shoved back into the water and kept under by some pats.

“How old you were?”

“I was 9, rather young but still older than you.”

“Noooo.”

The slime thrashes in the water as their only-a-fortieth-of-adult-slime-age haunts them.

The deep slime dashes to the bottom of the hotspring. “‘M no baby!”

“How are you feeling, Veldora?” Shizu asks as she enters the water. 

“Okay I suppose? Still slowly dying.” The dragon’s ears finally unstick from his head after watching the young deep slime dash underwater. Perhaps Rimuru is okay if they could do that. His second friend even got it young, Rimuru will make it.

“Ha! Same.”

“Wait, what?”

Shizu makes a similar dash underwater before the storm dragon could get any more words out of the adventurer. The dragon watches the majin talk and what looked like play with the slime. 

The ball was eventually dragged underwater by a tendril, giving Veldora a better view of the games being played but at no point did the dragon get to ask what Shizu meant, the majin ignoring his questions and distracting an increasingly deliriously sick Rimuru from them as well. 

He’ll get her to talk about it sometime. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the early summer days passed, Rimuru’s speech started to return back to normal, the deep slimes’s body temperature lowering to their usual cool.

“Finally I can leave, freedom at long last!”

Shizu chuckles, “such drama, let’s get going.”

Rimuru jumps, joining the majin.

“Am I a real adventurer now?”

“Even if the guild doesn't know, you are.”

The slime taps rapidly, trilling in joy.

The young deep slime hops by the Conquer of Flame’s feet as they walk through the forest of Jura, following the adventurer as she looks up to the night sky and adjusts her path.

The slime first relishes bouncing in the cool night air, pressing against soft, wet leaf-covered soil, snagging the occasional unlucky worm or small rodent or insect in their slime.

But the curiosity of what Shizu was doing overtook their simple pleasure of bouncing.

“Shizu whatcha doing?” 

“Navigating, I haven’t gone from this part of Jura to Oksaenos, I’m just checking I’m going the right way and not to the Canaat mountains.”

“We- well you did just fight a dragon, ooo, ooo! What if I fly us?”

The adventurer takes her time to consider as she looks to the stars.

“Yes, though our journey won't be a straight line, I’m not sure how kindly the tengu and Kusha’s other flighty residents would take to a death dragon, mounted or not.”

“I have a wyvern form too! I saw some were being kept in Raja? Are they seen as more tame?”

“Huh. Yes, even if you have a non domesticated breed, the wild ones can be tamed easily, they are decently common mounts. But I’m guessing that the death dragon form is a faster flyer?”

“For sure, It was so strong and fast that when I just flapped my wings a little, I crashed!”

The slime takes the smaller death dragon form, nudging against Shizu, jumping around the adventure like an excited puppy.

“Alright I’ll get on, you’ll let me take the reins and steer? I’ll teach you about the stars.”

“Deal!” The slime chips in the dry resonant voice of the death dragon.

The adventurer climbs onto the dragon’s back, thankful for the snug fit and rough scales on the back as Rimuru speeds off.

Towards the Canaat Mountains.

“South! Go south!”

Shizu grabs the dragon’s horns, forcing Rimuru to fly in the opposite direction.

{You see the stars I’m pointing to? Those make up the constellation known as the Star King or Veldanava. That bright star here, the one you were flying towards. It is known as The Dragon’s Guidance, King’s Claw, Pole Star or just the North Star albeit the first is an archaic term. Can you guess why?}

{If you fly towards it you fly north?}

{Exactly, we’re going to Sarion’s southernmost settlement, Oksaenos, not the dragon’s nest.}

{Oh that’s why.}

The death dragon beats their wings, cutting through the few clouds in the sky. 

{What about the other constellations, are they useful too?}

Shizu takes a calming breath with how the high altitude was mimicking the suffocating air of a blaze, making her wish for a wildfire’s comfort. Perhaps she could surf a wildfire in Sarion, it would be the season.

{There are many, I’ll tell you about the main nine.}

Rimuru flys over the nearby ogre village as Shizu details the large constellation of Veldanava and nebula the dragon circles, The Star King’s Grave.

The slime never thought to use the night sky to track seasons. To know when to hunt certain animals, to look for eggs, fruit, anything, it was all written in the skies above.

Shizu pointed out a smaller constellation near The Star King as the ghost dragon snapped up a horned rabbit from above.

{That’s his youngling? I feel bad that her dad’s dead, at least she’s with him, also what’s a father?}

{A father is a herder who’s a man, mother is for women. And don’t feel too bad, the dragon princess is the one of the ancient demon lords, Milim Nava and very much alive.}

Shizu refuses to thank Leon for the information, she can’t let Rimuru sympathise with such beings.

{I still feel bad, and that just means her father’s been dead for ages! Like long enough to be an elder long! I don’t know how I’d live if two of my herders died.}

With all the true dragon’s names starting with Vel-, Rimuru can’t help but be suspicious of Veldanava and thus Milim being part of Veldora’s birth family. The slime can’t help but feel a bit left out that Veldora hasn’t spoken a word about Milim.

Did he not know? Was he too guilty that he could have helped or that he couldn’t when he was free? Does the slime now have an ancient niece, or does the dragon princess not count like brother’s older sisters? Plans start to form in the slime's mind to gently bring up the topic.

Shizu sighs. The adventurer looks down as the two zoom by a goblin village to the grassy plains that lie before the Kusha mountains. They flap their wings, enjoying the speed the dragon’s wings offered them.

{So Shizu, does that make you my mother?}

The Conqueror of Flames freezes in surprise. Shizu almost manages to stutter in her mind.

{...Of course. Now the next constellation is called The Blacksmith, or Kuron by the elves.}

{The hero from the song you sang! From the star-something?}

{The star suite, a collection of songs referring to the nine guiding constellations, yes.}

{Oooo can you sing it again? Please. That’s the nice word right?}

{Alright.}

The dragon lets out a happy, haunting hum as the song starts, flying around the Kusha mountains, careful to heed Shizu’s warnings about tengu, kotengu and other fickle locals. Embarrassed that they had flown a bit more west than they should have. Thankfully their herder is nothing but kind.

As the song ends, chuckling at Rimuru’s disappointed whine, the adventurer sings two other star suite songs she fully remembers, pointing out the constellation of The Serpent, the song’s name sake, singing about the ancient wyrm king Basiliskos tempting the content to go to war with each other in honour of a deal him made for his name.

As it ends, Rimuru has questions but Shizu transitions into a new song before they can ask.

While The Serpent King’s Reprise was far more whimsical despite the events and countless deaths, at least the slime could root for Basiliskos winning back his home for his people’s sake from invading dragons. The Price of Pride, was the detailing of a mage’s slow descent as he fell prey to his jealousy, a foolish but understandable mistake.

It hit too close for comfort, The slime's main source of confidence was their magical strength. The chilling mood was not helped by Shizu’s voice, which while beautifully smooth and melodic, was haunting as she sung the tragedy of a failed summoning as if it was a wonder to behold. Rimuru’s not sure if they’re interested in summoning anything if one demon could cause that much destruction. 

But the potential power still tempted them, even when Shizu moved on to teach them about the remaining constellations. After all the traps in those ruins just summoned weaker fiends and monsters but anything was weak compared to that Guy. Do all demon lords destroy nations as their debut or is it just a hobby?

Rimuru glances behind them as they pass the Kusha mountains, leading to warm and humid, nicely green lands.

They flap their wings lazily, head dropping as the sun rises.

Shizu rubs the smooth side of their neck as she finishes up on informing them of the ninth constellation. Rimuru gets confused as they counted ten and the two nebulas. Did the Dragon Princess not count since she doesn't have a song in the suite?

{You tired kid? We can land now, there’s folks we can stay with near.}

{Land? I’m- Yeah, I will land now.}

They glide down to the ground, cheering as their practice from countless swoops lands then in the middle of a little meadow.

Shizu jumps off the death dragon’s back as the form melts, the adventurer carrying the exhausted slime. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

An odd figure walks down a river bank, with a terrifying unobscured aura leaking from a small being in its hands.

The forager walks as quietly as cloven hooves would allow, fur and clothing keeping him obscured in the dense forest. His hand goes to rest on a knife meant for cutting vegetation, desperate for any assurance he wasn’t caught unarmed in Jura of all places.

The figure’s sheathed longsword bounces with every step, along with the bluest forest slime the young buck has seen in his life.

Fear fills the cervitaur’s being as the figure appears more and more likely to be human. A beast tamer? Adventurer or not this was a problem. If they have such a strong beast by their side, how strong is the tamer?

Just about as he’s to run off his ears swivel behind him.

“Wait! We mean no harm.”

The possible adventurer, from just a glance at the odd traveller’s gear, the forager could tell it was beyond likely. 

“Really?”

Closer now, the stranger wasn’t human, it was clear from the small wisps of aura and visible fangs. Still, adventurers are trouble.

“Our journey has been long, we only wish to rest. I mean no trouble, honestly the kid needs a safe place to rest more than me, they were recently sick if you don’t trust me.”

The cervitaur tilts his head in confusion, almost hitting his velvet-covered antlers on a nearby tree branch. 

“What child?”

“The deep slime in my hands.”

“That’s a deep slime?”

Did he eat the wrong type of leaves last night? The cervitaur rubs his eyes, kicking himself with a hind leg for good measure that he isn’t dreaming of a friendly vampire or majin with too many sharp teeth? That was holding a baby deep slime of all things. 

Vampires only have a pair of sharp teeth last time he checked. It was like seeing a fairytale creature hold a baby pigeon. 

But the markings and ocean blue hue didn’t lie. They must be as young as a fawn that’s standing for the first time in their life. 

“And can I ask what species you are?”

“I’m a demonoid.”

Oh he is screwed if she wants to fight him, but on the other hand a demonoid would make a great guard, they are in Jura, albeit only on the southern edge. The young buck never thought he’d see one 

“I never thought they could be so small. Can I?”

“This little one is only a youngling, all of them were this small at one point.”

Moving a half full basket, the young buck reaches out a hand towards the deep slime, the sloped eye like marking making the youngling look adorably tired.

“They say it’s alright.”

From watching other members of his herd make deals with deep slimes, the forager had some idea of what it’d feel like to touch one, but he never thought the slime that coats them would feel like liquid rubber, slippery like soap and as cold as the waters the slimes live in.

It was very welcome in the rising heat of the morning, even if the blue slime stuck to his hand like mucus.

The forager pulls his hand back and sighs as he sees the contents of his basket again.

“Thanks for letting me, now I really need to hurry.”

“Your basket? We can help to fill your bags.”

“You don’t know yet if you’re even granted permission to stay with us.”

“No problems, we’re just passing through on our way to Oksaenos, again I’ll be fine but the youngling need to recoup and wait out the midday sun. Honestly I’d be fine if we just get to rest nearby.”

“On the ground?”

He couldn't see any camping supplies.

“There’s nothing wrong with the ground.”

An adventurer for sure, one of the crazier non-human ones too.

“You know what, follow me. Can you keep me safe while I pick?”

“No problem, I can help pick too.”

The forager breathes a sigh of relief that he stumbled upon the duo of weirdos so late, as an opportunistic black tiger meets its end the second it pounces by the demonoid, then is fed to the youngling deep slime as casually as a berry. 

A few hours close to noon the three return with baskets full, not a disappointment for once.

The forger can’t help but laugh at the shock and surprise on Shizu’s face when the two tagalongs are dragged towards anything more comfortable and civilised than sleeping on the ground, allowed some of their greatest comforts for slaying “just another black tiger”.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the sun’s position in the sky lowers, the pair rises.

As Shizu waves farewell and safe travels to the few wake cervitaurs, the deep slime dons the form of a wild forest wyvern, with the breed’s distinctive mix of green and brown scales and takes to the late afternoon sky, the wyvern’s mud brown belly shining like copper in the summer sun.

Shizu’s hair flies in the air as the adventurer moves the mask back over her face. As she watches the space between the trees grow larger the further from the coast they flew.

She felt a little mean for keeping Rimuru away from the sea even longer, but the excitement is better saved for later, she knows the deep slime would not want to get out of the water and probably throw their first tantrum.

As much as Shizu was quick to learn how to provide for a student so young, she’d rather deal with something like that later rather than sooner, or has Rimuru grown out of it already? Shizu never bothered to learn about how to care for children this young with no plans to be a parent, content with just teaching and her studies.

She tilts one of the forest wyvern form’s branch-like horns to keep the slime on route.

The two watch the sun retreat below the horizon, bathing the grassy, occasionally forested landscape with warm reds and oranges. Every settlement in Sarion from small villages to cities starts to sparkle with lights as if reflecting the star-filled sky as the wyvern flies down the Sarra-Balti river, the King’s Claw behind them.

Shizu pats the side of Rimuru’s increasingly drooping neck.

{I suppose it’s time to land, eh? I can walk from here.}

Rimuru cheers, letting out a huff of fire in their excitement, embers bouncing off Shizu’s clothes as the wyvern glides down.

The adventurer hops off, twigs and leaves crushed under Shizu’s feet as Rimuru falls into her arms as the deep slime returns to their original form. 

Shizu continues to follow the Sarra-Balti, as the smell of smoke reaches her nose.

She can sense the growing heat behind her. The adventurer runs towards the growing bushfire.

The demonoid pushes the mask to the side, showing her ear to ear grin as the flames grow higher and higher, letting off long billowing clouds of smoke.

The scent of burning wood and soil fill her lungs as the adventurer takes a deep breath as a leviathan born from the embers dances before her eyes, razing all in its path.

Leaning against a tree’s smouldering bark, Shizu watches the seed pods above open from the heat, letting herself relax in the suffocating air as if it were a sauna’s steam. 

“Thanks for the flames, kid.”

The scent of rose leaks from Rimuru as they’re petted, kept safe from drying out by their outer membrane closing. 

The waves of fire wash past Shizu, prompting the adventurer to begin the trek down. As much as she wanted to make a pit stop at Elmine, the blaze was travelling down south, where the majin should be heading.

Shizu doubts any inn, no matter the price, could be as good as flames.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the bushfire dies down, content with only smouldering, the grasses start to grow greener above and below the water, the river leading itself to a delta bustling with life. 

The rustling of grass and leaves fills the adventure’s ears as the crashing of ocean waves sound in the distance among the countless cries of every animal and monster Shizu could think of. But no elves speaking or the bustle of town life. 

She might have gone a bit too far east. The deep slime in her arms perks up at the sound, as if trying to chase a fire they couldn't see.

Shizu lowers Rimuru into the brackish water, watching the slime bounce and roll around in the mix of fresh and sea water. Then they chase any worms, fish and some of the most distressed shrimp she’s ever seen when the deep slime got bored of sampling seagrasses and reeds. Filled with joy as the water and animals almost made sense for once.

Rimuru’s emotions soon overwhelm them, making the slime dash back to Shizu, crying as they’re lifted from the water and held close as the adventurer does her best to calm the slime, repeating relaxing motions to let Rimuru to work through their emotions.

She lets out a sigh of relief as the deep slime jumps out of her arms with a “thanks,” returning to exploring the delta as the adventurer walks to town as if nothing ever happened. 

The slime was kind enough to share their spoils with her, engrossed with how Shizu would open offered shellfish with white-hot hands, and turn caught crustaceans red by just holding the creatures.

As an experiment, Rimuru catches a larger fish, one that their herder simply couldn’t cook with her hands or fit in her mouth.

The fish is accepted after a quick inspection, Shizu reveals the nightmare hidden in her mouth as Rimuru swears she had dislocated her mouth to bite it whole, while somehow having more hidden teeth. Maybe herder has a snake’s jaw?

Not many of Rimuru’s forms had that many teeth, some none. Maybe their Juran gharial form came close with its long snout, or their river shark form that has rows of teeth like Shizu. So cool, I wanna see it again!

“I thought you always cooked your food?”

“Sometimes I’m not bothered, it probably cooked as I ate it. Thanks for the trout, we’re almost there.”

The slime bounces up to Shizu’s eye level with excitement 

“Really?”

“Can you hear the crashing of the ocean waves and see the chimney smoke? You can probably hear some of the locals too.”

Shizu smiles as her ears manage to pick up on Beimuni’s yelling so far from town.

“Finally, other slimes like me!”

Shizu chuckles as Rimuru runs off in search of another wild fish, the penguin wyverns above gliding closer.

Chapter Text

Beimuni looks down from the skies both as rider and wyvern had picked up on a stand out presence.

The aura was visible from so high up the elf couldn’t just ignore it, her fellow riders tailing her as the signature moved closer and closer towards town.

And here she was hoping to end her shift on time for once as the moon rose higher and higher in the sky. 

{You good going after this one yourself?}

{Of coure me and Runda can take it.}

She readies herself for combat as it becomes clear the aura didn’t belong to a beast but a person as Runda descends. Ugh, another stupid adventurer to chase off, at least it’s just one.

Her wyvern dives, talons perfectly pinning the adventurer to the ground without killing them. The lesser dragon growls, showing off fangs.

The adventurer growls back like an angered tiger as she bares her fangs, making the wyvern whimper in apology as the lesser dragon is shoved off.

Shizu’s eyes glow amber in the moonlight. Almost the picture of innocence, ignoring the odd spots of blood, ash and that she just moved a wyvern as if it was a puppy.

{False alarm, it’s just Shizu, don’t bother landing, I'll join you all back in the air soon.}

{Sure Bei, you just want her all to yourself don’t you.}

{Shut up Ofeni, I do not have a crush. We’re friends.}

{Sure, and your face isn’t as red as a tomato at the thought.}

The elf can’t help but grumble as Runda sniffs a second time, then runs up to the demonoid, happily nuzzling the adventurer as Shizu showers the black and white lesser dragon in affection.

“Every fuckin’ year I think it’s some monster or nitwit human adventurer but no, it’s you, star-damned migratory pyro.”

“I’m not that much of a pyro.”

With a happy yip the wyvern lets out a blast of flame towards a piece of driftwood that the adventure shuffles toward.

“So you say. Sorry for jumping on you, but ain’t Ingrassia still warm and flammable this time of year? Whatcha doing here already?”

“Well yes but-” Shizu’s cut off as a fish slaps her in the face.

As the flounder falls into her hands, Rimuru comes rushing over. 

{Sorry Shizu, I was aiming for your hands.}

{It’s okay kid, I have thick skin. Don’t worry about these guys, they're just friends of mine.}

{Oh okay, weird entrance.}

The adventurer empties her hands by eating the fish in a few bites, and picks up Rimuru.

She looks at a shocked and confused Beimuni, the dragon sniffing at the newcomer.

“I found a youngling deep slime in Jura, can you believe it? There’s been a stub colony in the caves the whole time. ”

“Oh the baby’s not from here? Cute little slime.”

“I’m not a baby.”

The elf jumps in surprise, the wyvern returns to her side to nuzzle her.

Beimuni rubs the wyvern’s snout as she pushes the dragon off. “I’m fine you doofus. Um, hi little one, just surprised, I’ve only dealt with elders before, didn’t know.”

Shizu laughs. “That’s the kid for you. Bei, you wouldn’t mind giving us a ride?”

The blue haired elf inspects the slime and adventurer, then turns back to her wyvern.

“You’re lucky Runda was named recently.”

“The youngling is still decently light.”

“It’s not the little deep slime I’m worried about.”

Shizu pouts, reigniting the dying fire on the driftwood.

“I’m not that heavy.”

“Sure, and I’m a dwarf.”

The adventurer's hand ruffles the elf’s blue hair. Beimuni smiles as she hides her blush. It’s unfair, how can one person be so perfect, strong but not a knucklehead, a scholar that doesn't neglect their body and fighting skill, it was rather hard not-. Shut up Ofeni, who doesn't think Shizu is pretty. It’s just fact.

“May as well be, you come up my chest.”

The elf grits her teeth. “I’m only a bit short, and you’re just tall. Can I check? Runda’s gotten stronger so I’m sure, but we’re at the end of our shift, fella’s probably tired.”

“I’d hate to overwork the poor dragon, you going to try to pick me up again? I see someone’s been training.” 

Shizu’s eyes follow her as the elf tries to figure out where to approach the problem from.

“Yeah, thanks.” Her hands grab on Shizu, the adventurer may weigh as much as a boulder but the Oksaenos local manages to lift the adventurer for a few seconds before having to drop the demonoid, cheering at her progress. 

She hops on the wyvern. “Get the slime and your ass over here.”

Shizu climbs on slowly to let the wyvern adjust, remembering Runda isn’t Rimuru as the slime takes the form of ringtail possum, to cling on to their herder as their slime form only ends up sliding down the penguin wyvern’s smooth scales.

“Did I see that right? I am remembering things right?” Beimuni’s grey eyes stare at the offending possum.

“The kid’s very ambitious.”

“Ambitious is a word for it.”

“You get used to it.”

As Runda takes off, Shizu holds on to the elf with an iron grip, her eyes staring at the ground with uncertainty. Now close to Beimuni, Rimuru notices the rider's ears are bent, and a bit smaller than other elves they’ve seen in jura, with a darker skin tone.

After watching a magisteel earring of some kind of wavy blue material that looks like the patterns on Shizu’s sword, Rimuru gives into temptation and paws at the droopy ear so close to the deep slime. They're shoved back into Shizu’s cape before they could begin analysis on the strange material.

Ofeni gives Beimuni a side eye, which the elf ignores and leans closer to Shizu, moving her ears like she was about to dive to save them from the curious shape-changing baby. Unable to resist the pleasant adventure in the cool night air. The wyvern rider doesn’t understand why Shizu is holding on for dear life, the demonoid has only fallen from the skies one time on wyvern back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shizu happily falls to the ground when the wyvern lands, Rimuru transforming back as their tail gets squashed under the adventurer.

“Sorry kid.”

Beimuni and Runda miss their heater already as the cold ocean winds howl in their ears.

“You good to go?”

Shizu gives a thumbs up before starting to walk down a dirt path that led to the edge of town, the majin’s student bouncing after her.

{Hey Shizu, where we goin’?}

{My house.}

{You have one of those?}

{It's more of a shack than anything.}

{Ooooo a shack.}

{Do you know what a shack is?}

{No clue! But it’s yours so it must be cool.}

The sweet comment makes Shizu’s core squeeze. She picks up the trailing slime, Rimuru securing themselves in her arms as the weather turns violent, thunder crashing as rain begins to drizzle. The drizzle soon turns into a hard down poor as a shack that’s seen better days stands before the two.

The adventurer makes it up to the veranda, standing at the door as the rain pours to let her high body heat dry her off before rushing inside, slamming the door shut the moment she enters. Despite the rundown appearance , the inside showed no sign of damage, outdoing most houses in Jura if scorch marks weren’t an issue.

The smell of smoke, wood and books greets the Conquer of Flames as she collapses on her study couch, taking in the smell of the hung, now drier than ever herbs. She kneads the old dragon leather couch like a cat, checking the quality of the leather, blinking in dumbfounded amusement when she finds a jaw harp and whistle flute in the folds. 

The couch seemed hilariously lavish considering where it was, but necessary if the majin wanted something comfortable to sit in that wouldn't be burnt to a crisp. Though the ashes of the many chairs the adventurer went through still haunt her from the fireplace.

Catching a yawn, the adventurer finally manages to drag herself off the couch to set up the fireplace. 

The movement catches the exploring slime’s attention, making them hop towards the edge of the room.

“Whatcha doing?”

Shizu opens up a door in the wall, taking piles of wood, rune stones and ash covered fur from the linen closet.

“Getting ready for sleep.”

The slime follows her with excitement in every hop, from starting the fire to laying the chimaera fur and pillows in the fireplace.

Shizu settles in the person sized fireplace, walled off by a small wall of stones to keep any stray embers in and not fireproof people out. As a phoenix, her student joins the Conquer of Flames as she lies in a nest of flaming furs, the blistering heat and smoke make the majin purr up a storm.

“Hey Shizu if you’re sleeping here then what’s that typical bed looking bed for?”

“Just in case, most people around here aren’t fireproof.”

Rimuru snuggles close, enjoying the rumble of the deafening purrs, grateful for the phoenix’s forms ability to feed off heat and the generous amount of magicules in the air.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shizu wakes to Rimuru inspecting the pale, sandy coloured flaming fluff that made up her bed.

“What has you so curious?”

“It’s been on fire for hours, how is there no damage?”

“A chimaera’s intimidation tactic is surprisingly comfortable. Though it usually doesn’t come this pale, this an albino’s fur, a mutation that results in a paler colour than is typical.”

“Can deep slimes be albino?”

“Yes, though rare, darker colourations are more common.”

“Cool.”

Shizu stretches in the fireplace, getting herself caked in ash in the process.

“Talking about albino slimes, let’s go down to the shore. It's still dark out so some local deep slimes might still be around.”

“Yippee!” Rimuru bounces out of the fireplace, eagerly awaiting their herder to finish her dust bath and join them at the door.

Shizu yawns, taking a bite of some charred jerky, that makes Rimuru want to try some but they can’t wait. Other talking slimes! They are going to dig through the shack’s wood if they keep vibrating this much.

Shizu’s quick to join them at the door after grabbing her smoking pipe, now ash free. Black hair having gained an opalescent shimmer of mostly red and oranges, nails longer and darker, better resembling claws of the firebath.

Rimuru has never seen their herder in better condition, she was short of glowing with how much her skin shone like young scales.

The door creaks open, a trail of smoke escaping into the night air before it was shut again.

The second Rimuru hears the crashing of nearby waves and lapping water, the slime slides down to the sandy shore.

Rimuru gets lost in a field of slimes roughly their size. While excited to meet more fellow slimes, their fellow residents of the deep were less talkative than the slimes in their colony. For the first time in a while all that mattered were signals and emotions.

Rimuru did, however, accept their invitation to play. They hoped that maybe for most of these slimes vocabulary was for games, but it turned out they were the odd one out, with all their talking.

Were these just smarter, dark coloured forest slimes? Were they being ignored?

But the sea water would have killed them as they hopped, trying not to get touched by the sea foam as part of a game.

They end up crawling back to Shizu. 

“What’s got you so downcast?”

“Those slime aren't talking to me.”

“Those were babies, you gotta wait for the herder to come over, they should be soon with how much smoke left the shack.”

“But they’re the same size as me?”

“You are a baby.”

Rimuru pouts. “Fine, you can say that cause you’re old, but I’m not a baby.”

Rimuru jumps to Shizu’s feet as a deep slime the colour of seafoam and as big as the death dragon Shizu fought, knocks seawater into their faces the over the two, towing over them. But the deep slime doesn’t loom for long as they take a form similar to the local elves.

With hair the same shade as their original form, bent ears, tan skin, and grey eyes, wearing a simple blue dress, white vest and a silver bracelet with shimming blue and green leaves. The slime turned elf comes barrelling towards Shizu, attacking the adventurer with a hug.

Shizu’s quick to return the hug, patting the slime’s pale hair. “Hello Salis, it’s been a while.”

“Only a little this time! You’re so early, this is great. It would be like a dream come true if I had them, any reason you came during herding season? I’m going to be busy but it's still a dream!”

“As much as I like talking to you, I do have another.”

Shizu picks up Rimuru who’s been lurking near her feet.

A bit wobbly from their nerves the young slime manages to say, “Hello I’m Rimuru it’s nice to meet you.” As excited as they were, Rimuru was desperate not to mess up their first interaction with a properly talking deep slime, especially one this big, this old.

Salis blinks blankly at the youngling, taking their time to respond as they give Shizu an accusatory look.

“Um. Hi. Little one. I’m Salis, young elder herder.”

{Shizu I don’t want to be rude but what in the fuck am I looking at?}

{Rimuru.}

{You absolute sadist, tell me what’s going on! The youngling clearly isn’t from this colony, where is its, or their, herder? Why is a baby speaking coherently? Or able to make those kinds of sounds at all?}

{The youngling is from a stub in Jura, as for their verbal speech Rimuru uses a skill. Why a five year old can, I don’t know, this hasn’t happened before has it? And I’m their herder. I swear I didn’t kidnap them, they left their colony early and I just couldn't leave the youngling alone.}

{You’re kidding? You have to be.}

Shizu shakes her head, watching Salis’s sanity slip.

{Thanks for showing ways of measuring time that are shorter an a millennia so I know you found a talking, skill using fetus with a name! Why? How? How!}

Salis falls to the sand, as they try to make sense of the madness contained in one ocean blue package.

“Shizu, did I say something wrong?”

“No, Salis is just being dramatic.”

“To answer your question, over my mere lifetime of a few millennia, I have never seen this, nor have I heard of such a drastic developmental variation from any elders before me.” 

The young elder composes themselves again, standing to pat the youngling, using their herding skill to assure them.

“I saw you playing with the younglings over there, did you have fun?”

“Mh, yeah.”

“You know those younglings are around 100? You’re a bit big for your age-” Salis squishes the slime, eyes turning red as the herder runs an analysis. “but not like that’s an issue, you look okay. Are you a herder by any chance?” 

Salis wonders if Rimuru could lay roe without detriment if they're already this big, even if they’ve only been a herder for a short while. According to the analysis everything needed was there but Salis still doubted a youngling could.

“Yes.”

“That explains your size, somewhat. Stubs seem so weird, how do you manage to live without any elders?”

“We do? What’s life with elders?”

Salis stares at Shizu.

“What? They were named when I met them, the story behind it is rather sweet.”

“I still feel you’re responsible for some of this madness.”

“I just brought them here, Rimuru has never been to the sea until now.”

“Seriously, never?!”

“Nope, my colony lives in the caves under jura, they get flooded usually but no saltwater.”

Salis wipes a single fake tear. “That must be fixed. I’ll introduce you to the reef, the vents and everyone and everywhere else! It'd be fun. I have to get these little ones back under anyway. If that’s okay with you and your herder.”

Shizu gives a nod as Rimuru chirps “Yes!” in reply as they hop down to the pale yellow sand to follow Salis down to the water.

The young slime turns back when they notice a lack of movement on Shizu’s part.

“You’re not coming?”

“Go on kid, have some slime-on-slime time, I got friends and nosey townsfolk to meet, and I’d hate to bore you.”

A wave crashes over the young slime, almost reaching Shizu’s feet. As the water receded Rimuru couldn't ignore the sea’s pull. 

“Would I be able to contact you from the sea?”

“It’s too far for a mental link.”

Rimuru whines at the realisation they won’t be able to contact Shizu while in the sea. They press against Salis’s leg, smelling of grass and pepper, the signals of distress making the elder herder soothe them by instinct.

“I’ll be back soon then, you won’t be too long?”

“Don’t worry about it, come to the shack’s veranda when you're ready. I’ll get there as soon as possible.” 

“Okay then, see you soon.”

Shizu goes to give Rimuru a few more pats before leaving the young slime desperately clinging onto her fingers, seizing any signals of joy until the moment Shizu’s hand leaves, the adventure turning her back to the sea.

Salis can’t help but coo and comfort the youngling, a baby’s still a baby.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the water starts to reach up to Salis’s chest, the elder begins to swim, still their elf form.

Rimuru switches to their water panther form to keep up with the surprisingly agile form Salis has taken.

The elder’s eyes go wide again as Rimuru does something they’ve assumed is normal. Salis could change forms like them. Did the elder’s colony not hunt water panthers?

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No, no, I’m just not used to a youngling changing forms, you’re rather… Special.”

“I’ve noticed I’m weird, is there somewhere I’m normal?”

“Your colouration and pattern is. What colour is your bioluminescence?”

“Red.”

The elven form’s hair turns to pale slime that glows like a white star. “Can you illuminate other parts than your secondary pattern or do you mean you’re secretly a red slime that’s gained intelligence? I wish mine could speak.”

“You can do that?! I don’t think I’ve ever tried but how? What’s a red slime?”

“You’ll meet them soon enough, here youngling.”

A pale tendril from the mass of former hair reaches out to Rimuru, moving in front of the young slime's mouth. The tendril wiggles, the tip detacting of like the tail of a frantic lizard, all the movement making Rimuru pounce on the morsel on instinct. So many rocks.

But along with the rich content of rocks that made the slime feel like eating wet sand, with the food came memories, instructions.

At first Rimuru worried that they were being weird, again. But after a few more attempts and using primary luminescence it soon becomes effortless to run. Salis compliments their bright blue, which made the small struggle worth it. Other than finally doing something normal.

Bright yellow markings like a tiger’s stripes cover Salis’s body as they swim to the reef followed by a new scent filling the water, one Rimuru can’t help but follow with a calm mind.

“I’m curious, can you use your tertiary luminescence? You don’t have to, but I’d appreciate some help herding the younglings back down, it’s the only way those troublemakers will consider listening to you. ”

“I’ll try.”

Rimuru goes through the motions of their primary, all it results in is them becoming as blue as some of the stars in the sky. The slime tries using their secondary as a reference feeling those yellow stripes just out of reach, but to their disappointment they only glow red.

In a final desperate attempt Rimuru analyses their own membrane, searching for a different source of luminesce. No matter how hard they tried it would only result in blue or red bioluminescence, perfectly optimised to not give off anything but light.  

They had to look deeper, older.

“Youngling, if you can’t you don’t have too.”

“No, no, I’m so close, give me a bit.”

The deep slime’s body lights up in a deep amber like Shizu’s eye shine, the bright stripes and occasional dots covering Rimuru’s original form.

The elder tries their best not to stare, Salis can’t believe they’ll likely have to give a five year old the talk about responsible laying. They’ve seen early bloomers before, but the elder never had to worry about those youngling herders laying. 

With such a drastic mutation, the elder herder was worried Rimuru only appeared to be healthy for now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rimuru was engrossed by the salinity of seawater. They’ll never have to worry about getting enough salt ever again, for the first time in their short life Rimuru had to cycle it out, and harden up their membrane to keep all the little life in the water out.

The sudden bloom in life when the pair reached the shallow water reef, it blew Rimuru’s mind away, the occasional fish near the shore was nothing compared to the grand reef. 

At first the ways of reef life seemed alien. All the colourful fish, crabs, snails, slugs, snakes and many more inhabitants interacted in odd ways. To the octopus punching the fish that were its hunting partners to how sea stars walked and small fish had the gall to clean a shark’s mouth. 

But the closer they looked the more sense it made, the more similar the reef was to the forests of Jura. Corals created trees made of rock with vibrant reds, purples, blues and greens that provided shelter and food. Large groups of fish moving together like bulldeer, solitary predators searching for the next meal or lying in wait or scavengers shifting through the sands and water for debris.

As Rimuru explores every part thoroughly like they were on a mission to be pinched, punched, and bitten by every living thing at the reef, Salis swims by them. The elder wasn't worried about the youngling get hurt, as like any deep slime Rimuru handled the various toxins the animals they annoyed with an "owwie" before swimming off. Salis was there for emotional support after a  blue ring octopus or yellow belly snake bit.

As the moon grows closer to the horizon, Salis starts swimming back to shore. Out of habit, Rimuru follows their herder.

“So youngling, er, Rimuru, you want to help me herd these troublemakers before the sun comes out? Every time, they refuse and escape to play in the sun, then cry till their wits’ end when they get sunburnt. It would be endearing if there wasn’t so much pain involved.”

Rimuru was glad that they were born under a rock and for once, born all weird. 

Rimuru was worried that they be labelled defective, even if their mutation seemed like a net benefit so far besides the soreness. They’ve seen what some animals do to defective young. They hoped deep slimes weren’t that sort, their parent colony didn’t, and according to observation most intelligent beings didn’t. But there were still some that did. 

To Rimuru’s relief, Salis had not shown any intention of killing them and instead taught them how to herd hundreds of troublemaking slimes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

“No! Stay there you fu- boo- fools!”

For once Rimuru was glad these slimes couldn’t understand as complex concepts as language, but the young herder still kept their insults as lukewarm as they could when dealing with hundreds of baby escape artists.

Their tertiary markings shine a warm yellow, giving off a scent that makes Rimuru want to follow themself as they lead the younglings to be held within Salis.

Tendrils surround the group of younglings, taken into the elder’s mass.

Rimuru follows the tendrils with their own, helping lull the younglings. Despite Rimuru constantly using their herding skill and tertiary luminescence the younglings still wanted to play with them, albeit differently since they were now considered an old one and herder.

As the supposed last group is shoved in, the two herders find a few younglings to be missing. Rimuru would blame Salis, if they haven’t spent ages trying to get them to stay in one place.

The slimes remind Rimuru of themselves. 

Huh, why didn’t they think of that earlier?

They send intentions of play to a few slimes, the slimes are quick to share the message of a herder wanting to play.

Just a simple game of catch. With Rimuru as the prey.

With all the attention of the 93 escapees Rimuru runs as a fabulous night panther, their tertiary bioluminescence making them look like a mix of a tiger and a fish, as wave of blue crawls along the sand.

They jump into Salis, swimming inside the elder. 

News of the game spreads, them being now pursued by all the younglings as Salis descends into water, thankfully before the sun rises.

Eventually the mass of younglings catch them. Rimuru fears the game is over but the role of prey thankfully switches to a group of younglings, filled with relief, the young herder switches their attention to the water.

The temperature keeps dropping, life gets sparser and sparser as the darkness grows, magicules gradually decreasing in density.

As the temperature becomes as cool as Jura before snow falls, the magicules remain sparser than than Rimuru prefers but just enough to be liveable.

Life returns to the dark abyss. Like stars in the night sky, dots of luminescence fill the void.

Rimuru couldn’t look away. Their own bright blue bioluminescence turns on without a thought to blend in. 

Exiting Salis, everything felt so right. The pressure, the darkness, salinity, temperature, the way the water flowed lit with countless lifeforms. Some passively feeding off the water or too scared to swim near, others looking for their next meal. 

And like Rimuru was one to back down from a fight, or free food.

Swimming beside Salis, there's a near complete lack of interest for the local predators. Rimuru guesses some things are universal, predators always pick the easiest target.

Not that Rimuru blames them, they wouldn't want to fight an elder either.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

The descent continues, the void seemingly endless until their magic sense picks up a hotspot of life on the seafloor.

The shallow-water corals were nothing compared to the towering, sprawling mass before them.

“Welcome to our reef, herder Rimuru.”

The slime almost gets swept up in a sudden wave of younglings, who swim towards distant pillars of black and occasionally white smoke, ignoring the wonderful reef right infront of them. Can fires start underwater?

“Well at least they don’t need herding to the vents, I love the little gremlins but they’re Mura’s problem now, come with me!”

Salis returns to their elven form, moments away from dragging Rimuru if the youngling didn’t move.

“Vents?”

Rimuru could taste all the rocks those pillars of smoke hurled into the water from the reef’s edge.

“Right, first time home. The vents are hydrothermal vents, they’re like the hot springs of the sea, we’ll go there next if you want to.”

“Yes!” As a slime the young herder follows the elder as they weave through the deep sea reef. Without a trace of sunlight so deep down, the reef and it's inhabitants brought their own light with certain, stony corals like those above outshining the rest, glowing as if they were trying to take the sun's job above.

As Rimuru swims closer, the sweet scent of one of these corals pulls them in like a bee to a flower. 

As the young herder comes in contact with a smaller blue glowing coral, around the size of a metris bush from Jura, the polyps' tiny tendrils taste their outer membrane, and start nibbling on the slime. 

To Rimuru’s surprise it didn’t hurt in the slightest, they stretched out to cover the whole dome-like coral, the slime regenerating before the next microscopic bite was taken. Satisfied the polyps cease their nibbling, taking a bit more glowing outer membrane fluid to keep, giving a sweet gel that was the source of the pleasant scent in return.

“How’d you know to feed the coral?” Salis can’t help but sniff at the young herder. “Love the smell of laburinthos. I’d ask for some but you should enjoy your first nectar.”

“Nectar?”

“That’s what we call it, these corals are our flowers, the reef is our garden. Such delicate and precious things, yet are the stars of the deep, a dead reef means a dead colony.”

As Salis speaks an eel darts out of a crevice under the laburinthos, snagging a fish that was eating at the coral’s soft tissue. The elder themselves plucks a few sea snails from  they were hiding under the coral on to eat, saving the shells.

“Why’d you not eat the shells?”

“Look inside,” Rimuru takes the time to stare at the pearly multicoloured inside that matched the material Beimuni’s earrings had inlaid, mostly blue-like spectrolite with wavy bands of black. “Who doesn’t like a good shiny?” Salis shows off their bracelet as they swim.

“I would love to use some. Do I have to find these specific snails?”

“Since there’s so many k’rrut’u and their ilk around this time of year, just take from this family of snails, wide and flat. This size minimum, no babies.”

The snail's name is made up of the same clicks, trills, taps and whistles Salis had been speaking since Rimuru learnt to use their primary and tertiary bioluminescence. There were more than just instructions on how to use their luminescence in the tendril, wasn’t there? 

Yet the young elder was surprised when they fed the coral. Was it an accident or a handy side dish? But not wanting to wait, Rimuru darts off as a horned river otter in search of the shiny snails as Salis waves around a palm-sized shell.

Like the fish, crabs and serpents the otter searches in holes, gaps and crevices, in search of the sea snails. 

They bump into a few slimes around eight times their size being shown around by a likely elder, considering a medium sized monster was speaking and had far more aura than it should have.

Their horned otter form attracts attention, but thankfully the supervising elder tells the young adult off for distracting an elder from reef management. As the slime picks k’rrut’u near the class, their attention wanes from the shiny snails and their delectable meat to what Elder Milah was saying in the form of a sea drake.

Rimuru swims out of sight to snatch a local fish to turn into, hiding their aura to tail the class in coral care and management. Thankfully it was a course for newcomers but plenty comprehensive. Rimuru could get lost in Milah’s words of how best to best feed each coral, or about the facts and histories of corals themselves. Even if the Elder’s students weren’t the most enthusiastic. 

The young herder goes around the entire reef that they swear is the size of Jura, being sure to keep up their act until an eel snaps at them when listening to another one of Milah’s lectures.

{Well guess who’s a little master stalker. Ready to go to the vents? I don’t know about you but I’m tired.}

{It’s the mark of a good hunter. Just a bit more until the lesson is done.}

{Really, you like Elder Milah’s jabbering? Oh right you’re Shizu’s, of course you would. Fine, I’ll wait.}

As the sea drake swims away, the groups spreading themselves around the reef in little teams, the eel releases the fish from its jaws.

{No matter how old I get, hours are still hours. Let’s go to the vents, I can show you my reds there too!} 

The youngling herder follows Salis, off to the distant plumes of smoke and blaring heat.

Chapter Text

As Salis and Rimuru swim closer to the end, they change forms to elf and water panter respectively, catching the attention of the young adults who dream of hitting the two millennia mark.

Rimuru can’t help but laugh and chuff that the yearning slimes below them were hundreds of years older than them. As much as they hated being that different, they took solace in the fact that if any colonymate was like the younglings they helped herd, the colony would have been wiped out long ago.

They were just an extreme outlier. Rimuru wasn’t sure whether to take pride in it. Just some time playing with the hundred-year younglings put into perspective how constantly hungry they were. They were typically terrible at ignoring their hunger, though Milah’s lectures were enough then, the need to end the pain soon consumed Rimuru whole.

“Rimuru?”

The water panther detaches their jaws from Salis’s head.

“Sorry, very, very, sorry. I was hungry and acted stupid.”

The young elder schools there surprise, they really shouldn’t be considering Rimuru’s growth rate. “It’s okay, I understand you must be starving.”

Salis does their best to soothe the water panther, they couldn’t handle having a youngling go hungry. Salis had eaten all their stores besides a few snails. Ropes of little, sapphire blue orbs, filled with every nutrient the elder could pack are made in the ravenous youngling’s direction. Despite Rimuru’s development, Salis can’t help but to feed them something more age-appropriate.

The herder’s sea jewels disappear within seconds.

By the end a dead-tired Salis in their original form crawls on the seabed.

“You want me to carry you?”

The young elder isn’t bothered to ask how, and just clicks in confirmation. Letting a dragon lord swim them to the hydrothermal vents.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

The death dragon’s eyes narrow as Salis is surrounded by a pack of red coloured slimes that are dwarfed by the young elder but still large enough that Rimuru could perch on top of the red slimes.

The red slimes click, trill, whistle and tap but all Rimuru understands the noises as are whines and whimpers, barks and howls. They show themselves smarter than forest slimes, but not as smart as a deep slime. Unable to properly speak.

Some red slimes stay near to nudge and push against Salis, making the young elder feel joy at the sensation while others leave for reasons beyond Rimuru’s understanding, nor was Rimuru bothered to find out as the smoke and heat of the vents told them to stay and relax.

Eyes low and unable to resist the vent’s lull, the youngling herder returns to their original form to an audience of surprised taps and trilling gasps, inciting a chorus of chatter. Deep slimes many times larger than Rimuru began to crawl closer, some that loomed over Salis, others that seemed to be at the minimum size to be able to talk.

But that was still eight times bigger than they were.

Rimuru did want to meet the whole colony, they were beyond excited, the youngling wanted to talk to everyone before they left. 

But not everyone and their younglings, closing in on them like they were prey. They hop over to hide in Salis, wishing for Shizu to be there. 

“Oi Colonymates! Don’t surround ‘em like that, you’ve managed to stress out a youngling at the vents of all places.”

The gossiping deep slimes move, crawl just a few notches away, yet Rimuru still remains stuck inside Salis.

“Further, they’re from a stub.”

As the crowd retreats, Rimuru finally manages to unstick themselves from Salis.

But the confirmation of Rimuru’s youngling and stub-born status did nothing but cause further uproar. They assure the youngling hiding inside them, colonymates slowly backing away to a proper distance as Rimuru’s grassy signals float in the water.

Salis sighs, they really thought the colony wouldn't be such gossips.

The water fills with signals of “sorry” and embarrassment, the mental link following suit, drowning Salis’s mind with apologies. A contact from a coordinator that took priority over the endless slew was a welcome change as it damped the noise.

{Herder Salis, are you this youngling’s herder? Your duties can be relieved for the meantime.} 

{No, Shizu is, I’m just showing them around. They’ve never been to the sea before. There's no need, I can still carry out my tasks. As noticed, despite their size, the youngling is sapient.}

{Guard Shizu is a Herder now? Curious. Very well then, continue on.}

The young elder gives the time for Rimuru to slowly make their way out, back into the smokey water to at least fill up their nutrient stores, though the herder wasn’t too sure how long it’ll take with their mutation. 

As Salis notices Rimuru’s tendency to call most of the nutrients within the smokey water “rocks”, recognizing a chosen few, the elder fills in the gaps of knowledge to pass the time. Rimuru is careful to remember the name of every chemical and compound with its function, the youngling clinging onto their every word. 

Salis couldn't help but pet and melt on the youngling, Rimuru returning their affections.

“So I can’t use my tertiary bioluminescence without enough magnesium too? Can you tell me why? Please.”

The mechanism behind the reaction is a lesson for another time, just know if your magnesium is low, your tertiary is the first thing you lose, if everything is low you lose your primary then lastly, secondary. But don’t worry about it, it’s pretty easy to find what you need, the benefit from living here so long.}

{But what if I need to find magnesium away from the deep? There's not much magnesium just floating around like here.}

{Look for the greens, nuts and seeds of plants or magnesite, dolomite, and some other minerals I’ve likely forgotten. I’m sure Shizu would know.}

{Cool! I knew dolomite should have been a higher rated rock. Stupid baby colony is too young to have good taste.}

{You’ve never felt tertiary luminescence before?}

{No.}

{Forget no elders, how did you all survive without adults?}

{We were quick?}

As much as Rimuru has enjoyed learning about what they need to keep themselves in good condition, the mention of Shizu just made the slime want their herder more, despite wanting to stay for longer.

“Anyways, come on kid, I got things to do. You want to follow?”

“What things?”

Salis just laughs as they turn back to their elven form, swimming through the scalding hot water of the vents.

The young herder follows suit as a water panther, partially distracted by how gas-like the water was acting while still a liquid.

They swim higher and higher, until the water fills with white smoke, then just whatever has managed to drift to where they were as the vents stopped, the temperature dropping with their disappearance. 

The seafloor continues to rise like a mountain until a sudden spike in heat takes Rimuru by surprise, they didn’t know volcanos could be underwater, it was fascinating and far more active than Jura’s. But to Rimuru’s partial woes, the water soon returns to its typical near ice cold temperature.

Unlike the reef or the vents, this part of the deep was near desolate, with only a few animals managing to live off the detritus on the rocky seafloor, moving sluggishly slow, some just drifting in the water. Ignoring the everpresent local colony that was using the vast space for combat practice, attracting some of the sea life to feed off lost body mass and magicules.

In no way shape or form could the rocky floor and detritus sustain a colony or just Rimuru. Parts of Milah’s lecture began to make much more sense if this was the wasteland that failure and negligence promised. 

Rimuru watches elder guards spar to get rid of their creeping boredom as the most exciting thing the sea floor offered now was sand, until a near-collision with a patrolling guard makes Rimuru stop and pay attention. Salis swims toward a building with domed roofs that dwarfs the Rajan Royal place, with an even larger, shiny dome looming over it from the distance.

Before Rimuru could ask Salis the young elder enters, following the same odd script Rimuru saw at the front, lining shelves of stone tablets, scrolls and a few token books.

Remembering the alphabet Rimuru picks up some of the stone tablets, only to find more of the same round, curve-loving script that looked like it was written when the stone was still liquid. The young deep slime tried their luck with the scrolls, only finding all the writing in a different more angular script. Finally the books yield success, thankfully all in old common.

Rimuru picks up a purple leather-bound book. changing back to slime form to move the pages with a tendril.

Nali Growing Guide for All Varieties and Cultivars.

They flip through the pages. The plant’s textile, medical and recreational usages pique the slime’s interest. Rimuru didn’t know one plant could be so versatile and nice looking. But as they come by illustrations of the colourful, glowing and occasionally sparking smoke, a dream is made.

Didn’t Veldora say he was depressed? I should find some- Oh right the barrier. The other books were recipes for potions, ingredient identification manuals, extraction methods and explanations of reactions. Despite all their reading, Rimuru was lost on what an elixir is.

In hopes of things making sense, the young slime follows the trail Salis left as a water panther again. 

Their ears perk at the sight of the young elder, making the deep slime rush towards Salis.

They flop onto a dry floor, feeling cleaner than ever.

Rimuru regains their footing, carefully standing up in the room full of everything from dried seagrass and sea snake venom from the reef to jars of body parts and cultures of little life, all labelled in that round, curvy script.

“Salis, what’s an elixir and what’s this round curvy script that’s everywhere? Can I learn it?”

“Why don’t you come down here, join me as my little brewing assistant if you’re so curious.”

Rimuru paws their way down to the cauldron, getting a few pats from Salis that has them growling in happiness. As much as the elder herder wanted to keep Rimuru in the nursery, Salis is pretty sure the youngling would attempt murder. Twice if the elder grouped them in with slimes their age at the hatchery.

The water panther stands on their hindlimbs, wobbling as Rimuru’s reminded that the room is bone dry, as paws grip onto the cauldron to keep the deep slime from falling.

Golden eyes stare down at the pot, the liquid within perfectly clear, allowing Rimuru to see the bottom.

“Let’s get started, shall we?” 

Salis cackles as they hold out a hand over the cauldron, cutting off the appendage in a single swing, the hand falling with a splash before settling at the bottom. 

The liquid begins to move like a whirlpool as the disembodied slime spins.

“Now I need- Oh you wouldn't know… Wait, did you read all the books?”

“Yeah, they were in the only script I understood.”

Salis laughs, the herder can’t believe they forgot Rimuru is under Shizu’s care. “Alright, get me a jar of what ingredient I say, I’ll teach you measurements and our written script later.”

“Is that the curvy round one that’s everywhere?”

Salis summons a scroll to read, leaving it floating in the air.

“Yes. Now bring some moly root, should be in the corner there.” 

“Coming!”

As a bauk, Rimuru grabs a jar of the pitch black roots, as they open the jar to let Salis reach in, the sweet smell of blood fills the room. Just like the books said. 

They cheer at their success as a measured amount of moly gets thrown into the cauldron, turning the water a bright ruby red.

As the slime returns the jar, Salis requests another ingredient, they fetch and return, another request, Rimuru fetches then returns. The young deep slime is quick to fall into a pattern, using everything from their own tendrils to a greatwyrm’s many limbs, watching the water thicken, change colour, darken, lighten, sparkle, and hiss.

All the while the cut off piece of Salis kept the water moving, the young elder herder having too much fun with the puffs of fumes. 

With a final addition of tabulata nectar, the cut off hand within the cauldron dissolves, making the elixir glow a vivid cerise.

“This Rimuru, is an elixir, made to order by yours truly. Now all we need is to package it and deliver.”

Rimuru sniffs at the final product, the tabulata coral’s nectar masking all the harsh smells the elixir had prior from its seemingly endless list of ingredients. They recognized some ingredients from the potion making books, it had a bit of everything.

Oh so that’s what an elixir is. They can’t believe they didn’t get it sooner.

“So how do you package it?”

Salis brings out a bowl of liquid and a jar the size of the cauldron.

“Fill up the syringe, drop it into the solution, take out the little ball then place it into the big jar and repeat.”

“Why not just package it like null-eggs? The shells are so good.”

The young elder laughs. “So that’s what younglings think of them? Makes our term of sea jewels seem overly poetic.” Salis packages a few with the same shell given to roe, storing the elixir in their stomach. “For our use we do, but the merfolk find it off putting for some reason so we do this.” The elder lowers the batch of orbs into the gold plated jar with a tendril, Rimuru coping them.

“Cool.”

As the cauldron stands empty, Salis announces their departure to Mai’ozu.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rimuru was not a fan of leaving the deep. Hiding their aura they got attacked, letting it run wild, they got attacked. Despite Salis swimming right besides them, predators still tried to get a bite but found out the hard way not to anger a herder. 

The comforting pressure left, the water warming up but only to a fraction of the heat near the vents.

And worst of all, the light returned. Salis wasn’t happy about it too judging of the young elder’s signals. But at least the reef before them was beautiful, full of life from seaweed to large fish that tasted as good as they looked.

As the pair swam through the reef, passing homes, shops, a cultivated forest of kelp, the water was lively, populated by humanoids with tails of fishes. Many had colourful scales that travelled up their back and speckled their face, webbing between their fingers with rows of strung pearls, shells and fabric covering bare skin.

The merfolk’s shimming eyes never left the pair as they swam towards the centre, despite them being in the form of an oksaenos elf and water panther. The awed gaze the mers gave the two reminded Rimuru of how people looked at Shizu.

Salis smiles and waves, greeting the guards before what the young herder assumed to be a palace.

The armoured merfolk bow, opening the gates. 

While void of the comforts of the deep, Rimuru couldn’t ignore the place was beautiful, full of lively mosaics and flowering seagrasses that swayed in the water.

Merfolk covered in anything precious and frivolous, from ropes of uniform pearls and chains of rare metals to jewels embedded into scales swam through the halls, along with lesser decorated, yet cloth-covered mers following behind them. All stop before the two, bowing like the guards. 

“What a lovely day, Elder Salis is it? Say, have you taken on an apprentice?”

Salis’s expressionless face glares at the noble.

“It is. They are learning under me for the meantime.”

With a huff Salis speeds down the hall in a cloud of bubbles, they grab Rimuru as the youngling starts to wander.

“Aye, aye let's keep this trip brief and not cause another succession crisis.”

“What? Oh, yeah.”

As the youngling watches the jewel covered merman that talked to Salis carry on, ordering his servants and speaking to jewel-encrusted others, Rimuru understands the young elder’s disdain. 

Nobles.

“So Salis, where are we going?”

The herder sighs. “The leviathan’s den, the royal chambers. In and out, no longer.”

“I don’t like it here anyways.”

While less outwardly vile than what Raja’s nobility spat, Mai’ozu’s would still be the horror of any hatchery tale that would haunt a hatchling to adulthood.

They reach the royal chambers, the doors already open, the hallway lined with decorated guards. 

Salis huffs, unimpressed with the fanfare as they remove the golden jar of elixir from their stomach, replacing it with an offered golden jar in the chamber.

“Thanks Loie, we’ll be on our way now.”

As Salis readies to swim off, the prince’s scornful words make the deep slime pause.

“That is no way to address father, you shore-grazing cow!” 

Salis glares at the young mer, eyes glowing a bright red.

The king’s hand shuts the prince's mouth, speaking in a hushed whisper. “That is no way to act around the deep slimes. Have some tact if you lack respect.”

“But they-”

The king’s hand covers the boy's mouth again, the merman smiling to cover the fear in his eyes. “Ah, children just say the oddest things. Elder Herder Salis, Gaulai has been cleared for hunting ahead of schedule, you’re welcome to commence now.”

“Has it? That’s good. Well see ya.”

The king's hand leaves the prince's mouth after the deep slimes reach the gates.

“They don’t even care! Why should I show them respect!”

“Son, they are not our people, do not expect any special treatment. Their ways are different, their lives and abilities far stranger. Why do you think a sea monster hasn’t torn apart the kingdom yet? Deep slimes are vast and vicious as the seas themselves, please do not act so foolishly that it’ll get you killed.”

The king swims off in a rush to clear Gaulai. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

After putting up with that sort of nobility the only correct answer for Salis was to retire to the vents, announcing the shallow water hunting grounds had been opened early.

Perhaps they would teach Rimuru some more, the youngling was too sweet, so eager for any new morsel of information.

Salis’s pack of red slime greeted them, bursting from joy at the sight of them.

A tendril rubs the excited reds as the slimes tap and trill. As much as the reds were adorable, they only placed second to an eager to learn youngling, with all the charms of a hatchling and none of the mood of a young adult.

Rimuru was quick to learn, in no time the slime was translating old and modern common to deep slime. 

They set a tablet down to cool, partially proud with how they got their writing tendril to properly flick off this time, distracted by a brightly coloured fluffy slug they’ve seen crawling around the reef.

Rimuru goes to pat it only for the slug to eject a noxious cloud of stench that had young deep slime sprinting back to Salis as all the slimes in the vicinity swam away. Fluffy slug no friend.

Even after the incident that had the stench clinging to their membrane, the colony around them is still deathly curious, some approach them to simply say hello and ask a few questions, some ask what they can turn into, to which Rimuru happily responds by showing predominantly Jura’s fauna.

Any elder that comes to say hello shows their forms in return, giving Rimuru many more monster hunting goals. One just cuts to the chase and shows the young herder some of their liked forms, saying their name and nodding after Rimuru shows their favourites, leaving shortly after. Rimuru supposes that Elder T’nk’mú wasn’t the most social slime around, and that just touched the young herder more.

They start to understand what Salis meant, elders or having anyone to meet was so nice. No wonder they latched onto Veldora. Veldora!

They were so distracted learning the names of every elder and meeting every slime old enough to carry a conservation, gaining several new forms from the local vent-dwelling fauna, they’d forgotten to message Veldora.

As much as they do love attention, they don’t want to manage the aftermath of whatever ruckus their relation to Veldora would cause. It doesn’t take a genius to put it together; they were named by the storm dragon. 

{Salis, you know where I can go that’s private or others won’t talk.}

{Could you sound more suspicious? But I trust you’re not planning murder so hm… There’s the archives, no one goes there besides T’nk’mú. They like you, so just ask the old hermit to swear silence.}

{They like me? And you can come too, I don’t want to be alone.}

Salis keeps their coos to themselves as the pair start the swim over the ridge.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Having seen palaces and the potion making chambers, Rimuru was having trouble putting into perspective how big the archives are, the building and its domes appeared as endless as the fields of marine snow that laid beyond the colony’s grounds.

The young deep slime can’t believe that the effort-free food falling from above and ice crystals share a term, but slime supposes they can find out with the archives.

Even in their death dragon form, the archive’s closed entrance made the form seem small in comparison.

“Hey Elder T’nk’mú, it’s just me and Rimuru, can you open the gates?”

“Hn.”

Stone moves like liquid, revealing an entrance decorated by ominous text, the fabric of the countless barrier spells seamlessly allowing them in.

Rimuru understood why the archives were huge, beyond the endless stacks of stone tablets, T’nk’mú must be ancient.

The deep slime that made Salis look like a youngling settles back underneath the archives like a waning wave.

The stone tablets shimmer with magicules, some mostly magicrystal, others still the original gabbro, basalt or diamond they were when they were made.

The rows of tablets were seemingly endless, neatly organised by date, writing and subject. Out of curiosity Rimuru picks up a tablet from a row, finding a text titled The Natural History of Dwarves.

The author is listed, Elder Observer Dano’runa

Then the date recorded, circa: 5 millennia ago

Rimuru skims the text, Salis showing how to continue by pressing a depression on the side with a magicule-filled tendril. The tablet’s surface melts like the door, continuing from where the last sentence left off. While informative, Rimuru moves to other tablets.

Finding the date recorded has now changed to 6 millennia ago.

They swim down the vast space finding more shimming tablets, the date recorded becoming further and further from the present. They still wondered why the archives existed if deep slimes don’t have limited lifespans but Rimuru was not one to pass up on some reading.

From Records of Continental Drift: Updated being dated to a mere 10 Millennia ago, to text that dated back millions, like the first edition of A Guide on Dealing with The Spirit Queen . The second edition was likely one of the youngest texts, being younger than Salis at only two thousand years old.

Eventually when the tablet’s ages got into the high hundreds of millions, the tablets become just simple engraved magicrystal slabs, the little marks that notated whistles disappear, leaving Rimuru to infer what a word was from constants and context. Tablets become about the most basic things, like how to keep younglings safe in the deeper parts of the sea, how to keep light loving corals alive, or how to survive at all. 

The young deep slime wondered if these ancient authors were even deep slimes with how they described the sun, the deep sea and themselves. Rimuru swims back to the front, not wanting to think that far back, that they’ll live that long.

Rimuru enjoys the tablets on rocks, or geology as it’s called, reminded of their time with their colony. But the tablets on art, potion making and magic theorem that was really “mathematics in disguise,” as Salis teased, came extremely close.

They’ve never cast a spell in their short life but they want to now. But probably not in the archives.

{As sweet as it has been watching you read, are you going to do whatever you came here for? You have my swear of silence.}

Rimuru takes out a crystal ball from their stomach, holding it with a tendril.

{So, do I just ask?}

{How else?}

{Okaay.}

“Hi, Elder T’nk’mú, can I have your swear of silence?”

The ancient deep slime replies with a short click of yes, giving the youngling a warm pat with a tendril.

“Crystal ball, on link.”

The ball blinks, until the multicoloured shine of Ultimate Imprisonment, with Veldora’s dark scales behind it came into view.

“Hey bro, sorry I forgot to call until now but look I’m under the sea! And there's snow down here but it’s way better than ice, I have sooo much to tell you.”

They spin, showing Salis in view as the elder herder took their elven form to browse some tablets themselves.

“It has been a while dear little one, I am glad that you called. What would this marine snow even be made from if it’s not ice?”

“Detritus!”

“Yes, that sounds…Great, wonderful. Pray tell, how has your time in the ocean been? Despite my years I’ve never thought to venture down.”

“I haven’t been in shallow water much but the deep is great! So many minerals in the water, more than any river. The colony here is so cool too, they made a big deal out of me being weird earlier, which I understand but didn’t like, but they got over it and I did not know what I was missing out on, properly talking to colonymates for once is great!”

Rimuru moves the ball to catch Salis in view.

“This is Elder Herder Salis, one of Shizu’s friends, they’ve been showing me around. Salis, can you say hi to Veldora?”

The herder in elven form blinks. “So that’s where you went, hello Veldora. And Rimuru we’re friends too, right?”

“We are, we are. And really? Well you didn’t know about my stub I guess.”

“Nah, last time I heard about Jura was when the spirit queen moved out, Veldora’s never been a concern so we’ve never bothered keeping tabs besides curiosity. ”

“So when you were a youngling?” After scouring through the archives, relatively, it wasn’t so long ago.

“Yep.”

“Um Salis, can you make your original form small again?”

“Nope.”

“Aw, but can you hold your shifted forms longer?”

“Yeah, more mass means more magicules and energy, think on the upside Rimuru, with more mass you’ll have more stores and won't be so hungry all the time.”

The youngling lets out a whine. “But I won’t fit into Shizu’s arms for long at my rate.”

Salis pets the slime in their lap. “Sorry youngling, no offence to your layer and incubators, but this is why we have a “no roe under 100” rule. At least demonoids live as long as us, other species, not so much.” 

Salis lets a sigh escape, staring at the sections of the archives that have grown since they was a youngling. Hours may be slow, but the years go by too fast. What they’d give for the time to be too early to have acquired this form, still trying to make sense of the world above.

Oh Rimuru needs that tablet.

“It’s nice to meet you, Salis.”

“A pleasure to meet the one who named Rimuru, I would have preferred for the naming to be later in life, but I suppose you had no other way of protecting them. As a herder, I commend you greatly.”

The elder swims off as the dragon stutters out a reply.

Veldora looks to Rimuru, crystal balls can’t transfer scent after all.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“No, Salis jus- what’s that!”

A scent that makes Rimuru want to run and fight at the same time fills the water. For the first time pure terror occupies their mind with a searing anger that consumes Rimuru. They need to tear this something into pieces now.

A bellow that rattles the archive’s tablets travels through the water, the sea floor quaking in its wake. 

Rimuru returns the crystal ball to their stomach, rushing to the herder. “Salis, Salis what’s happening.”

Tablet in their arms they blink. “Fucking damned snake. Wh-” The elder herder receives a mental-link message. 

Salis lets out a breath, grabbing Rimuru. “Stay here, we’re under attack, we’re safe here. Dammit I’m too far to join the fight, for now. I’ll keep you safe, Shizu did entrust you to me.” 

Another roar makes its way through the walls as if there was nothing between them despite all the barriers.

“What is it? How far?”

Despite being only a little hungry, they strike at Salis again, the irritating scent urging them to hide with the closest herder that happens to be Salis yet attack all the same. 

“A leviathan, opposite edge of colony grounds to us.”

The young elder playfully hits back, triggering a playflight. Like the guards training at the edge, Salis seamlessly switches between forms, while still attacking mid transformation.

If you’re a formless piece of slime with an impossible to hold onto membrane, all a solid opponent can do is struggle and hope to get rid of enough mass to deter such tactics. 

But with how much an elder had, the best way out was to become formless. Sparring with Salis, Rimuru felt a little bad for their past prey, they had no meaningful defences, even something like that fluffy slug.

Fighting someone far more experienced than them was humbling, but beyond useful to finally have access to generations of knowledge on how to fight like a slime. 

But soon the small pang of hunger became something more painful, even if the leviathan’s scent told them to keep fighting till the bitter end.

“Salis wait. Too hungry, hurts.”

The young elder pauses mid attack, a spell fizzling out into raw magicules as they change back to their elven form. They grab Rimuru to settle on their lap, placing the sea snails out of reach from the youngling. Their tertiary bioluminescence lighting up the archives.

“Wait a sec, I’ll make you better food than just some mollusks.”

Rows of sea jewels are fed to the youngling like grapes.

“You better?”

“Yeah but the scent is so strong.”

“Better you smell that putrid serpent before anything serious happens.” The snails near Salis are quickly eaten, short of being shoved down the young elder’s throat if Salis didn’t enjoy the satisfying crunch of breaking the shells.

“Come, I’ll show you some fighting strategies for the beast.”

Salis was far too exhausted to entertain sparring since again they’ve managed to overdo it, feeding the endless pit that was Rimuru to satiation.

A fool's errand but they wanted the slime to be satisfied even for just a while, it seemed terribly uncomfortable to be hungry constantly, but Salis supposedes it’s just a consequence of a youngling already being five times the typical size for their age. Salis is surprised there aren’t more problems, some possibly behavioural but this was a baby raised by babies. 

“Where?”

Salis laughs, motioning at a group of tablet-filled rows. “We have this whole lil’ section here.”

Rimuru was pretty sure it was the size of a small nation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(-  -)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Salis can’t help but obsessively check the battle's progression as the tablets rattle with every strike of the leviathan, pressing themselves against the youngling and T’nk’mú, who’s joined the two as a qilin. The young elder counts the deaths of colonymates from the rapid fire reports.

As the herder mourns, the youngling in their lap is quick to catch on and help sooth them with T’nk’mú. 

Their very being urged them to fight, an endless chant playing at the back of the young elder’s mind. Yet they couldn’t move, even with their hatchlings so far Salis knew they were safe, but they couldn't leave a youngling unprotected. If Salis had to die fighting to let Rimuru live, then so be it.

At long last, the message Salis had been waiting to hear was announced.

{The leviathan was successfully slain. All able colonymates are cleared to commence clean up of severely damaged sectors M7, M8, M…}