Chapter Text
<Come on Ciel! It is just paperwork! You don't have to be so mad!>
The slime, the demon lord, the high chancellor or supreme deity, really, choose your label, begged her partner. However, the Manas was having none of it.
>Hmph<
<You know I have to go to the party! Myourmiles invited me personally and it is business related!>
It would be fine if it was just this once, but the Chancellor had pushed paperwork over to her for a decade at this point, always going on adventures with his brother and niece along with having parties with Hinata and Masayuki. Not even counting all the times he threw a 'Festival' whenever he got too much work.
As he was begging, a duplicate of Rimuru's body manifested in front of him. Floating slightly above ground as the regular golden eyes turned blood red. The air around the clone shifted as it landed down. The Manas, standing in front of her partner so it can point while accusing was not amused by his actions.
"If you like vacation that much Master, I will arrange a quiet and slow-paced one just for you."
The Manas talked as she pushed forward. The Chancellor slightly backed away, hitting the desk behind him. There was no room to escape, he was trapped. Shuna was probably in the cave with Vesta and Gabiru right now, Benimaru was training his troops in the mountains with Hakuro and Souei, Diablo was on a mission in the underworld, and Shion was god knew where. Truly no saving grace this time.
"C-Come on Ciel... I promise I will do today's paperwork! Just let me go this once... Elmesia will be there too along with Gazel! What would they think if I didn't go!?"
However, the slime suddenly felt a large amount of magicules leave his body. The amount was exceptional, large enough to traverse beyond their multiverse. After only a moment, a blue portal opened behind Rimuru as Ciel smiled, the smile sending a shiver down Rimuru's spine.
"Don't worry Master, I will be attending the party AND doing the paperwork in your stand. Have a wonderful trip. Oh, by the way, Master. I have locked away all Space-Time-related spells and abilities of Azathoth along with locking all communication-related abilities. I will come to pick you up after a month. Have fun."
As all hope left the slime's eyes, the Manas slightly nudged him. The slime passed through the portal, teleporting as it closed right afterward. The ground disappeared beneath him as he started falling down.
Rimuru sighed as he pulled himself into a sitting position while falling, nonchalantly watching his surroundings. Ciel would never send him anywhere dangerous anyway, hell, he didn't know of any place that COULD pose him a threat, so might as well just enjoy the drop. How far was this hole anywa-
*BOOM*
With a loud boom, the slime crashed to the bottom of the hole and right next to a bunch of yellow flowers? Well, at least he didn't fall on top of the flowers and ruin them. By the looks of it, someone was taking care of them, how else would they sprout in such a shape so far underground?
He would be staying here for a month, the cave wasn't very dark either. He stood up and brushed the dirt off his clothes.
Rimuru was currently wearing his draconic gear, a black top, and some jeans below. It was simple and comfortable, ignoring the golden decorations and cape (NO CAPES! -Edna) of course.
Why did Ciel send him to a cave again? This was clearly a terrestrial planet with intelligent life, going from the light that came from above and mid-warm temperature, the outside was clearly habitable.
Deciding not to spoil himself (And so he doesn't resolve the entire plot within seconds because he is practically god), Rimuru limited his perception to only include the current room he was in.
Maybe there were some people she wanted him to meet down here? After a few seconds of walking, he came across an old stone gate. The slime entered the room and he saw a small patch of grass with a single yellow flower in the middle.
As soon as the flower saw him, it turned its head? petals? as it started speaking. Wow, he had seen a few plant-type monsters before but never one with a... face... weird.
"Howdy!"
The flower exclaimed as it smiled.
"I'm FLOWEY! FLOWEY the FLOWER!"
Rimuru looked at the flower. It seemed way too happy to meet a stranger. Should he just activate Thought Domination or Analysis? Nah, this is a 'vacation' as Ciel called it. No need to use any skills, just enjoying his stay would be fine. Maybe Ciel would let him attend the next celebration if he didn't do anything crazy? One could only hope...
"Uh, hi? Name's Rimuru Tempest."
The slime responded after the flower's introduction. It was rude not to introduce yourself after someone else after all. And hell, he would entertain the tiny flower, it seemed fun.
"Hmmm... You're new to the UNDERGROUND, aren't cha?"
The flower spoke in a cute voice.
"Well, you could say th-"
The Flower suddenly cut him off as it continued.
"Golly, you must be so confused. Someone ought to teach you how things work around here!"
"Well, yeah a tour would be ni-"
"I guess little old me will have to do."
What was the flower's deal!? What was with the constant cutting off!?
"Ready? Here we go!"
In the next moment, Rimuru felt a tiny pull around his soul. Hm? Was the flower trying to force suck his soul? No, that wasn't it. It was as if a force of the world itself was at play here. Though the laws of this world were way too weak. There was no way the soul of a digital being never mind a true dragon could simply be 'sucked out'.
"Ugh, pall? You gotta take your soul out for a battl- friendly exchange! Yeah! How else am I gonna murd- give friendliness pellets to you?"
Yeah, no. Rimuru sighed as he looked at the tiny flower monster. Did it need souls to survive or something? Didn't seem like it. Well, his soul was practically his body anyway. All True Dragons are spiritual by nature.
Thinking this, Rimuru simply took a step forward. His entire body was slightly glowing in a faint light blue color. The laws of this world seemed to assume his entire body was a soul, neat.
"What the? Is your entire body your soul or something?"
The flower seemed just as confused as him. Well, maybe even more confused. Rimuru simply shrugged. He wasn't the one who designed the laws, how would he know?
"I guess?" he responded with a gesture.
"Huh... W-well, your soul is uhm... the culmination of your being. It... starts off weak but can grow stronger if you gain a lot of LV. What does LV stand for? LOVE of course. You want some LOVE don't you?"
Ciel? What did you send me into? Rimuru sighed. Somehow, he doubted that LV really meant 'love' as the flower said. Someone clearly created that acronym to fool people. Yeah, it definitely stood for Level... What was this some RPG-based world system? Which god was responsible for creating this world again? He would have to ask them himself after his vacation.
"Don't worry, I will share some witcha. Down here, LV is shared with little white... friendliness pellets! Are you ready? Move around get as many as you can!"
The flower summoned(?) a bunch of tiny white pellets. They seemed to be made out of solidified energy. Huh. Like magicules but different. These seemed less... dense and more unstable. The pellets slowly moved toward Rimuru as he simply stood there.
The pellets, coming from multiple directions touched his glowing body as they sizzled away. Simply disintegrating upon impact. Tiny specs of energy wouldn't even affect a Supreme Spirit.
"Huh!? Hey... Uhm, buddy. What did you just do? Is this a joke!?"
The flower seemed a bit annoyed but Rimuru ignored it. Yeah, that's what it got for cutting him off earlier.
"Dunno. Your energy balls got sucked in when they touched my magicules is my best guess."
"Your Magi-what?"
"Magicules. The physical form of mana, tiny specs of magic that make spells, monsters, etc possible. The fundamental building blocks of magic in general."
The flower seemed even more confused than before and somewhat frustrated. His face distorted slightly as he looked back at the slime. Clearly not having any of his bs.
"Look here, pal. Let's try a different approach shall we?"
The flower's expression darkened as he summoned hundreds of those energy pellets. All fired at the slime from different directions. Rimuru simply stood still as the bullets fizzled with touch. It was actually a little ticklish. Almost like playing around with a sprinkler.
As the flower continued its assault, the slime sensed another being enter the room. A bright fireball flew toward the flower and hit, but the flower hastily backed underground?
The one who threw the ball was the newcomer. No kidding, a 2-meter-tall humanoid goat(?) wearing what appeared to be a royal-looking robe and walking on two feet. Well, he had seen weirder definitely so he shouldn't judge as a literal slime-dragon.
"What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor innocent youth..."
"..."
Rimuru started at the goat. Did she think he was a child? Well, that was debatable at best, he certainly looked closer to a teenager. Then again, teens were kids...
"Actually, ma'am. I am an adult... And the flower wasn't tormenting me, well, I guess it was trying to but I doubt those tiny pellets could hurt anyone..."
The goat looked over him, a bit surprised and a bit judgemental. Probably comparing his height to the other(?) children who fell down. After a few seconds, she probably finished 'analyzing' and concluded that he was probably not a child.
"Oh my, it isn't very often we see a non-child-human fall down. I am sorry for the assumption. I am Toriel. The caretaker of the Ruins. I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down. Would you like to come? I can guide you through the catacombs."
The part about only seeing children fall down seemed concerning but the slime just assumed it was because kids were generally clumsier.
"Thanks for the offer, Miss Toriel. I will gladly take you up on it."
The slime and the goat walked alongside each other as they passed the purple stone gate. The other side was also purple in color. Red leaves covered the area between two arching marble stairs. What Rimuru found the most interesting was a glowing yellow star in between the stairs.
Upon further inspection, it appeared to be some kind of spell rune. Or a precast spell that allowed to mark a Space-Time coordinate. How curious. However, the star was incredibly flawed at its core, needing the user's soul energy and will to function. Most if not all creatures the slime sensed around the place lacked either the energy or the will to execute the rune.
Upon touching the star, a quiet whisper echoed in his ear.
"(The shadow of the ruins looms above, filling you with determination.)"
Though no one could see them or the star-rune, the slime sensed a ghost near him. Well, he was a spiritual being himself, so having another spirit follow him out of curiosity didn't bother him. They have been following him since he fell down. Were they too shy to speak directly perhaps?
Of course, all of this discussion ended in a moment using Tough Acceleration as Rimuru continued following Toriel. The goat stepped on a few pressure plates as the door opened. Was this place some kind of puzzle dungeon?
"Oh, don't mind these. The RUINS are full of puzzles. Ancient fusions between diversions and door keys. One must solve them to move from room to room. Well, they aren't much necessary now but they were made to stop any intruders as a final defense."
Final defense huh. The slime wondered. The ruins itself looked at least a hundred years old, so there was probably a great war or something at one point.
The goat walked to the next room with the slime as she continued.
"Can you flip those levers on the wall Miss?"
Ignoring the gender assumption, Rimuru pulled the levers on the wall as the spikes on the ground seized. Rimuru didn't fully get why they had to disarm those tiny spikes as one of them was a two-meter goat woman and hell, even a human his size could probably skip over them easily.
After going to the next room, Rimuru saw a dummy, but they passed it all too quickly for him to ask any questions.
Rimuru and Toriel left the room and passed the next... and the next... Who designed this area? It made no sense. Rimuru saw a few monsters, frogs, and little fairies around the corners but they seemed to nudge to the side when they saw him. They were starting to give off this weird scared vibe, his aura was completely erased though, what were they scared of?
After passing the unnecessarily long corridor, Toriel pulled out a phone and shoved it into Rimuru's hands. The slime was taken back by the sudden action as the goat ran off to god knows where.
"Wait, where are you- And she is gone..."
The slime pocketed the phone as he stepped to the next room on his own. In the next moment, the phone rang.
"Hello? This is Toriel."
"Oh, hi-"
Rimuru tried to answer but was yet again, cut off.
"You have not left the room, have you?"
"Well, you just le-"
"There are a few puzzles ahead that I have yet to explain. I will come back after a few minutes, just stay put."
The phone hung up. Now, Rimuru pondered. He could do that. Or... he could explore the area himself. The rude goat lady certainly wasn't gonna force him and doubt she 'just gotta go for a few minutes'.
Right at the entrance of this new room, the slime saw a frog monster. However, just before he could ask it a few questions, the frog monster ran away. After checking if his aura was leaking multiple times, the slime went near the energy orb thingy. This new room had one as well. Who was it that placed these Space-Time orbs? He could not answer. Well, Ciel probably could but she wasn't gonna at the current time.
As soon as he touched it, Rimuru heard the same ghost from before.
"(Playfully crinkling through the leaves fills you with determination. )"
The slime increased his senses as the silhouette of a child(?) became visible in his senses. They were the ghost that whispered whenever he touched a Space-Time orb that had been following him since he fell. What were they trying to do? Get his attention? Ask for help? Or something else? Rimuru suddenly stopped on his track as he talked.
"Hey, Ghost child. You don't have to whisper to my ear to get my attention you know..."
As soon as he said that, the silhouette became even more transparent as the ghost flew around frantically. Was it scared? It certainly seemed to be in panic. Guess it wasn't ready to speak just yet.
Rimuru walked forward, ignoring the panicking ghost. He skipped over the obviously unstable flooring as Toriel called him over the phone.
"Hello? This is Toriel. For no reason in particular... Which do you prefer? Cinnamon or butterscotch?"
Now she was asking him? After rudely hanging up the phone? Rimuru sighed as he answered.
"Cinnamon would be fine."
"Well, you don't dislike butterscotch, right?"
"No, I don-"
"Wonderful. Thank you for being patient by the way."
That is that huh? Everyone here is just beyond rude, Rimuru sighed. Next was a room with a maze-like unstable flooring, Rimuru simply flew over it. As well as tiny spikes he jumped over. There was no need to do her 'puzzles' if she was this rude.
However, next was another Space-Time orb. Rimuru touched it and...
"*cough cough* Knowing one day the mouse may come out to eat the cheese, fills you with determination."
The ghost seemed more composed now. Using a more announcement-like voice. Rimuru liked their confidence. At least they weren't rude to him yet, unlike everyone else.
Rimuru walked to the next room with the ghost child behind him as he saw... another ghost. One lying on the floor. It appeared to be sleeping? Or at least pretend to sleep. Rimuru decided not to disturb the ghost, jumping over its body to move to the next room. He heard a soft mumble from the ghost but ignored it.
In the next narrow room, there were two large spider webs with a sign? How bizarre. Rimuru read the sign.
'Spider Bake Sale
All proceeds go to real spiders.'
The ghost behind him slightly chuckled, presumably to the funny sign. Rimuru smiled as he ultimately decided to honor the sign. He pulled out a large gold coin as he dropped it next to the smaller cobweb.
In the next moment, a small spider crept toward the gold coin while carrying a donut(?). Rimuru picked the donut from the spider. The donut was surprisingly fine...
The next room had a sign asking if he missed anything, he was pretty sure he didn't. After a few seconds of walking, Toriel decided to call him.
"Hello? I just realized that it has been a while since I have cleaned up. I was not expecting to have company so soon. There are probably a lot of things lying about. You can pick them up, but do not carry more-"
*click*
Rimuru hung up the phone. Yeah, that's what she got for cutting him off all the time. Rimuru pocketed the phone as he walked to the next room. Another unnecessary puzzle that he just jumped over and another and another... and another... And finally, he was in a room with a strange black tree?
Immediately, he spotted Toriel right behind the tree, next to her house as he approached her. Toriel turned back as she saw Rimuru, her face turning to a shocked expression.
"H-how did you get here? I-I mean, I should not have left you there for that long Miss. I am truly sorry. Well, I suppose I can not hide it any longer. Come with me."
Toriel stormed off into her house, leaving Rimuru behind. Rimuru was going to follow, but the golden star of concentrated energy was much more appealing.
"(Seeing such a cute, tidy house in the RUINS gives you determination.)"
The ghost child spoke again while standing in front of the house, presumably waiting for him to enter inside. Toriel was, of course, standing right beside the doorway.
"Do you smell that? Surprise! It's-"
"butterscotch-cinnamon pie, yeah I can smell it, it does have a very distinct aroma. Quite easy to distinguish." Rimuru cut her off. Two could play that game. The goat seemed annoyed but it just made Rimuru more satisfied.
"I-I thought we might celebrate your arrival. I want you to have a nice time living here."
Toriel pulled on Rimuru's arm, forcing him to move as they walked to the next room and stood in front of a door.
"Here it is! R room of your own. I hope you like it!"
Rimuru stared at the goat.
"Wait, I can stay here for free? Isn't this your house though?"
"It's no problem. I get lonely quite a lot you see... It will be nice to have some company. Wait, is something burni- OH MY GOSH-"
And she is off. Well, better check the room Rimuru guessed as he opened the door. The room seemed to be made for a child at first glance. Well, she did say generally only children fell down here, so it made sense. Guess the child that lived here previously left or died? Better not ask that.
Rimuru closed the door back as she started touring the house. The next room was Toriel's bedroom with a king-sized bed and several accessories. The next room was under construction as labeled by a sign.
Rimuru returned to the living room where Toriel was reading a book as he smelled the great smell of cinnamon and butterscotch from the kitchen. A freshly baked pie stood there, Rimuru cut a large peace as he returned to the living room.
"Gosh, the pie hadn't cooled yet miss..."
"It's fine, I don't mind." Rimuru replied to the goat as he ate a large piece.
Rimuru finished his pie as he decided to check the downstairs.
However, as soon as he stepped onto the purple marble flooring of the basement, the goat lady came running down as she stood in front of the stone door with those same symbols from the first door.
"I-I am sorry miss, beyond this point is not safe... even if you aren't a child, I can't let you leave."
Rimuru looked at the goat, to the gate, and back at the stairs as he sighed. He could feel the incoming headache of trying to explain to the goat that yes, he would be fine, yes he is more than strong enough to survive on his own and there probably isn't a single creature, entity, or such that could even harm him in this entire cave/dungeon.
"*Sigh* Look, Toriel. I know you want to protect the humans who fall down or whatever-"
"Stay back! I am going to destroy the gate so no more harm can be done!"
Rimuru deadpanned at the goat. Ok, back up.
First of all, how? The goat seemed as strong as what, a D-rank adventurer at best how was she going to destroy the gate? Magic? No chance, he had seen her use magic and only sensed fire magic from her, news flash, fire doesn't affect marble or well low temperatures don't.
Secondly, why? If she let heck at least two human children leave through the gate and did not think to break it, why was she trying to break it now?
Finally, what the hell!? Also, he could just teleport to the other side so breaking the gate wouldn't even do anything... Should he tell her? Nah.
The goat backed away as she readied her fire magic. Blazing sparks came from her paws as energy-filled balls of flame rushed toward the rustic marble door.
*BOOM*
A large explosion was heard as the fireballs made contact with the door. Dust and smoke filled the room only to settle after a few seconds.
What stood before was surprise surprise, the marble door that was maybe slightly cracked. Yeah, launch that attack like 200 more times and you might actually do it.
*BOOM*
And another large fireball hit the wall. This was gonna take a while.
Rimuru rolled his eyes, the goat lady was already panting from exhaustion after using that one attack multiple times, Rimuru almost wanted to go back and calm down the goat, almost.
"Hey, if you are done, can I leave? I am kinda forced to stay here for a month anyway so I'm sure we will meet again. I just want to explore the entire cave/dungeon first. You mind?"
Rimuru finished as the exhausted goat looked at him. Clearly not in shape to stop him or anyone at that.
"..."
Of course, instead, the goat opened her arms and stood before the cracked gate.
"I-I am s-sorry my c-child. I c-can't let you l-leave!" she basically breathed out as Rimuru stared at the tall goat lady's face.
She was clearly in no shape to fight. Sweat was dripping from her face and her legs were shaking.
This was clearly some delusional shinenigance. She again called him 'my child'. And after he told her he was an adult...
This was going on for too long. The goat lady tried to form a few fire spells as she threw them at the slime. Of course, none of them even came close to hitting as they were thrown with such tiredness.
Finally, after the third fire spell, the goat lady fell to her knees as she looked at the slime. Her eyes begged him to stay as the slime ignored all of her antics and spoke.
"So... I'm just gonna..."
Rimuru stepped to the side as he walked passed the collapsed goat lady and forward toward the purple stoney opening.
...
The slime passed the opening as he arrived at a gray stone cave again. And... There was a small patch of grass with a familiar-looking flower on it.
Great. Not only did it stalk him the entire way. Probably thought he wouldn't notice, it wanted to show up now?
As soon as the flower saw him, its face turned into a smug grin.
"clever, veeeeeeeeery clever. You think you're really smart don'tcha?"
"..."
"In this world, it's kill or be killed. So you were able to play by your own rules. You spared the life of a single person. heh heh heh. I be- HEY! I'm not done talking!"
Rimuru walked past the flower as he ignored its antics. Wow, it must be tiring being this annoying all the time. At least Shion or Diablo did it in moderation...
He walked into the old stoney gate as pure darkness hit him. Of course, it wasn't difficult to navigate using Universal Sense, but still, the darkness was annoying.
...