"Ah~, Why did you use Fixation? I wanted to see what he was up to, next."
"Hmph~!"
"But don't kill him yet, Veldora is still with him, and from what we saw earlier, he doesn't seem to be as bad as he was. Maybe we can convince him to join our side, who knows"
"If he doesn't, I'll just kill him again"
"If he is as rational as we saw, then we could have a proper conversation. Moreover, isn't this slime interesting?"
". . . I can't read his memories."
"He knows something so important that Veldora decided to cover them up, even from us, specifically you."
"Damn Brat!"
"Well, we have to hurry though. Your sister will be coming soon"
". . ."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the Stomach of Rimuru, a very interesting looking scene is taking place. A dragon is trapped in an invisible spherical structure. It is squatting on its hind legs, sitting upright and folding its hands looking to the front.
In front of it is a person kneeling with his head hung down. The atmosphere is quite strange, with both of them just staying in silence.
". . ."
". . ."
". . . You don't have anything to say?"
". . . I'm very Sorry"
"I warned you, again and again, that someone might be looking for us, or rather me, based on what we did. But you just didn't care."
". . . I'm very Sorry"
"And not only did you nat care, you even met with the very people we should be trying to avoid, and even kissed one of them"
"In my defense, She was Hot"
"That's the one who doesn't give a shit about your life. My sister at least will consider leaving you alive if I ask her. The only reason you are still here is because she wanted you to talk to me. She truly is a monster, her control over skills and magic is probably second only to Guy.
". . . She was hot"
". . ."
"And your sister would have killed me either way. She didn't kill me now because you were in my Stomach, and based on how you were in the past, she would kill you too"
". . ."
"And she was HOT. Even your sister was. I wouldn't hit on her because of you if I knew, but thankfully, I didn't either way"
". . ."
"What? Cat got your tongue? Did what I spoke now striked you too hard and left you stunned? Man, I knew I was a genius but still, I didn't know I was so good at dissing others"
". . ."
"Don't worry, Veldora! I will teach you how to talk down to others, I did promise you already, right?"
"He was looking at us"
Rimuru turned towards the direction where he heard that voice. He was shocked to find both Guy and Velzard standing in the air looking at him with an interested expression.
Shit!! How did they get in?!
Guy looked at Rimuru's expression which was clearly portraying his thoughts so well that even a Kid could get a read. She wanted to tease him a bit, so she said,
"Now you are probably wondering why we are able to enter your Stomach space"
"How did you know?!" Rimuru was flabbergasted. He didn't know how they could read his mind.
"No, you said probably, which means, you only read half my mind!! Kuahahaha, and here I was worried whether my Intellect fell to the level of Veldora"
". . ."
There was Silence in the separate space. Guy looked at the kid in front of him and wondered how someone so strong could be so stupid. Velzard looked at Rimuru with a neutral gaze, she started to question whether to waste her time for killing him.
Veldora looked at the expressions of all two of them and just thought, As expected of you Rimuru, I am so proud of you. I think I'll pass scolding you for dissing me
Guy took a moment to understand why Rimuru said that, and she was shocked at herself. She could not believe that she, the strongest of the Deamons whose speciality is copying others to enrich herself, an ancient being with vast reserves of knowledge, actually took time to realize something so simple.
She then snapped back and spoke to Rimuru, "You are a different kind of Idiot, aren't you?"
". . . Well, at least I got some rizz, right? I mean, I did kiss you."
". . ."
This was followed by another round of Silence. Guy now is very impressed with Rimuru. She knows that he is already aware of their Identities from the conversation they overheard, and judging by his reaction, also knows about her relationship with Velzard, yet he spoke such words. And sure enough she is not happy about it.
"You were very close to not dying, VERY close."
". . . Did you add a 'not' by mistake?"
"It wasn't a mistake"
". . . I see, so it seems, since I will be dying soon, do you mind fulfilling my last wish?"
"Speak"
"Can I kiss you before I die?"
". . . What?"
*I'm gonna keep referring to Guy As Guy in his male form and As Crimson in Female form. I thought of letting it be as it was, but I just couldn't bring myself to write the next sentence in that way*
"Well, you see, I kissed Crimson just a moment ago right? After you kill me and go back, you might feel jealous of Crimson since she got a kiss but you didn't, and you might feel sad. . . Man, I'm too kind for this world."
". . ."
This was followed by a third round of Silence. Veldora is amazed by his sworn brother, to say the least. He couldn't understand how Rimuru has got the sheer audacity to speak such b**lsh*t while praising himself in the process.
Crimson just had a thoughtful look on her face. Velzard on the other hand is frozen, figuratively. Her face slowly changed to an indifferent expression. She felt surprise, followed by pure rage. It has been a long time since someone spoke in such a way to her.
As the oldest of the true dragons and the companion of Guy Crimson, she has never seen someone who dared to talk to her in such a way. After the fact that she had been teased was set in, she began attacking Rimuru, and only used non lethal magic. Now she wants to kill him even if she kills her brother along with him.
Crimson is surprised by her outburst, because Velzard was the type of person who wouldn't show her emotions. He then stopped her from attacking and sent a thought communication to her.
Crimson now understands the reason after analyzing everything Rimuru has shown. Rimuru has a damaged soul, which is the prime cause of everything he spoke. He sometimes snaps to being stupid, and a very capable one at that.
And the most important thing is that Rimuru looks like a Human, and she cannot see the fact that he is originally a slime, which is impossible, because of the difference in their strength.
There are two possibilities for this. One being that Rimuru is a holder of Ultimate Skill. And other being that he is a slime with the characteristics of a human. And these are impossible too, since no one could be capable of acquiring an Ultimate Skill less than 4 months after birth, and slimes do not reproduce sexually.
After clarifying everything she knows to Velzard, she turns towards Rimuru and asks, "Are you a Reincarnated being?"
"Ah~, yes . . ."
"And I think you faced some sort of complications when Reincarnating, right?"
". . . True"
"I see"
After the short conversation, both of them stopped paying attention to Rimuru. Crimson is very interested in Rimuru. He has a lot of factors in him that makes him too Unique. A damaged soul in Reincarnation, broken skills, a mutated species that is basically impossible, and more importantly, his stupidity.
Rimuru is the only one stupid enough to talk in such a way against both her and Velzard. She is very interested in Rimuru, the first one in a long time, and someone who doesn't even have an Ultimate Skill.
Veldora, who is watching all of this has a Wtf? expression on his face.
He couldn't understand why Velzard stopped killing Rimuru. Honestly, he was ready to get killed again, but all of a sudden, they stopped attacking, and started looking at him.
Velzard looked at her useless brother and spoke, "You know, I thought you escaped from your prison. It seems I misunderstood"
Rimuru who was listening on the side couldn't hold back his curiosity and asked, "How did you even think that I had Veldora, though?"
Crimson spoke at this time since she was sure Velzard is currently trying her best not to kill Rimuru. "Do you not know? Although you stored Veldora here and we couldn't find him this way, we thought that Veldora might have escaped since he released his True Dragon Haki, so we came to check up on him"
"Well, that doesn't explain why you found me specifically"
"It's because that Haki passed through you to reach the outside, contaminating you in the process."
"I see"
'You should have reminded me Veldora'
'I did try to remind you, You Idiot!! But someone was too busy talking to their 'most probably' or something wife'
'Ah . . . '
"You seem rather capable of controlling yourself now, Veldora. It seems to be a right decision to leave you in this prison after all"
"I would love to be back outside though, thank you for your concern"
". . . And you even got better at speaking too. You're making me more and more convinced that I should probably leave you like this"
"That would be a terrible decision, sister. I think I would be of much more of use after being outside, though I want to get out of here without your help"
"Oh~? And why is that?"
"I think Rimuru here has the excellent capabilities to be a powerful Demon Lord, and I'll get out with his help"
"Hmm~! Hmm~! Hmm~!"
"So now, you intend to train this . . This. . Buffoon?"
"Aw~. . . That's not a good title"
"Shut it!!"
"So, if you have something, please say it, Sister"
"Well, I want you to join Guy's side in a Game of his against someone"
". . . I will remain neutral for now"
". . . I see. One last thing, why are you hiding this Buffoon's memory from us?"
After Velzard asked that question, both Velzard and Crimson looked deeply at Rimuru for a moment, and then stared at Veldora. This was bugging their curiosity from the moment they lay eyes on Rimuru. They are not the kind to look into other's memories without a reason, but the fact that Veldora shielded them the moment he noticed them makes it an exception.
Rimuru also looked at Veldora. As stupid as he is currently, he can still feel that Veldora is under a lot of pressure.
Veldora calmly looked at them and slowly spoke, "His memories do contain something very important, so important that it is better not knowing, even you sister"
Veldora is sure. Because he was not very rational at the beginning when he met Rimuru, he took the fact that he is 'not real' as a joke even with all the evidence, and now he got used to it.
But these two are different. If it's just the fact that they themselves are 'not real' will not trigger them much, but these memories also show that his brother, Veldanava to also not be 'real'. They will never accept it with their admiration towards him.
After Veldora spoke, they just stared at each other. As the tensions were rising, Rimuru spoke "Are you guys having a staring competition? Man, I lost my competition with Shizu because Veldora disturbed me. Damn him."
His words broke the tense atmosphere in a very unnatural way. This was followed by a very loud laugh.
"Ahahahaha~! Never have I ever in my Entire Life been so interested in sheer stupidity possible by any conscious being as of today, Rimuru"
Rimuru looked at Crimson who was laughing very loudly, which was followed by soft chuckling from Velzard beside her and finally Veldora's Speechlessness.
"Uhh~, congratulations, I guess"
"No, truly~. I can see that it has very amazing effects. I have never seen Velzard so emotionally unstable, even compared to when we first met"
Crimson spoke and she received a glare from Velzard, but no Refute.
Velzard looked at Veldora then for a while and spoke, "You have grown up, Veldora."
"Well, I had a very 'unique' individual to take care of for the past couple of months"
After Velzard heard that, she looked at Rimuru and then turned back to Veldora, "Hmm, it would be quite hard even for me"
"Ooh no~, he was much, much worse"
Veldora started to pour out his grievances for the past 3-4 months, though he only managed to speak out about their meeting before he couldn't continue anymore, since he doesn't want to poke those scars.
Velzard looked at her brother with disbelief, this was someone who would burn a forest just because he was disturbed. She then sighed softly and said, "You have suffered a lot brother"
And while all this was happening, the sole perpetrator of this was looking at the two of them thinking to himself, Man, I am really kind, aren't I? I helped bonding between these poor siblings. This should have bridged the gaps, right?
"Let's talk normally then, shall we?"
Crimson said these words and received unanimous approval for it. Crimson and Velzard exited the space, but Rimuru just looked at Veldora.
'Veldora, let's escape'
'. . . Why? Sure, they were not friendly when we first met, but they are genuinely not angry right now'
'You never know, Veldora. Your sister might ambush me as soon as i go outside and release you'
'I don't think they want you to release me. And most importantly, although my sister is similar to me, she considers the broader picture when dealing with things'
'You've changed Veldora. You used to listen to me, now you are just a lackey of your sister'
'Haa~, are you done? You look like you are not out of your phase yet. Why don't we wait for a while?'
'We're leaving! Period!'
'Are you sure?'
'Absolutely'
'Hah~! Fine!! After the Fixation is lifted, tell my sister that I want to talk to her for a second.'
'Ok'
Rimuru soon took control of his body after Velzard canceled her Skill Effect. He looked at Velzard with Vigilance and said, "Veldora wants to talk with you"
Velzard is puzzled by the hostility, but she doesn't care much about this Buffoon, she went into the space again and looked at Veldora
"What happened? Do you still have something left to tell me, in secret? Do you not want the Buffoon and Guy not to listen? But that Buffoon will be able to listen, unless~"
'That 'Buffoon' is not out of his phase yet. He doesn't trust you and wants to escape. I just have a request, though. Keep an eye on him, but don't stop him from leaving. He'll probably use the teleportation spell hoping to surprise you guys. Let the girl companion of his free. I know you guys must already have an insurance ready'
'. . . You matured a lot more than I thought. Fine, I'll take a look at his Cherrade'
'Ok'
Veldora and Velzard just exchanged glances before Velzard left. Rimuru then checked in on Veldora since he couldn't listen to their conversation
'What happened? What did you guys talk about, you even kept it a secret from me?'
'Oh, nothing. I just told her not to disturb Shizu when you escape'
'Thank you, Veldora!! You are a real lifesaver. I almost forgot about it.'
'I really, really hate your Phase, but I also really, really enjoy it.'
Rimuru looked at the two in front of him. Velzard had a thought communication with Crimson, as her expression turned to one of intrigue, maybe not expecting his demands.
He quickly put his hands towards his face, fingers spread, palms facing him, hands not blocking his face, and shouted,
"Solar Flare!!"
Veldora just looked at his antiques and thought, Did he really just try to blind them? Did he forget about [Magic Sense] ? Even so, he used it as a distraction on two beings who have Digital Nature?
Rimuru, meanwhile, successfully used teleportation. He also used his research on another Dragon Ball Technique 'Instant Transmission' to send himself to the nearest, strongest person. Even though he could've used it directly, he doesn't want Guy to copy it.
Rimuru appeared close by, near the spot where he battled Shizu. However, because of modifying the magic slightly, he appeared in air rather than on land. He wanted to use wind or space magic to float, but spotted a beauty below him, so he just screamed while he fell.
The beauty below looked at the 'thing' that appeared suddenly and felt something, decided to catch it. Rimuru fell into soft arms and couldn't extricate himself.
He looked at the blue haired beauty who looked a little familiar and said, "Thank you for saving me. I am really grateful for that. And by the way, you are HOT."
The beauty looked at him and smiled. She softly said, "Thanks for the compliment. You are HOT too."
'Kyaa~, Score!!! Veldora, it's a SCORE!!!'
'I think she meant literally'
'Ah~?'
"Ahh!! Hot! HOT!!"
Rimuru jumped out of her arms and quickly used water magic on himself.
"You Mad Woman!! Do you have any common Sense?! Do you want to burn everything you see?! Did you burn your husband to death too?! Have some manners!!! If you- Hmm~, It's getting hotter here"
Velgrynd almost burst into rage, but considering the importance of Veldora to Rudra, she managed to calm down. Rimuru doesn't know that he escaped death again, but he heard Veldora say,
'I can't even count the number of times I saved your life, Rimuru'
'Thanks man. Although I don't know why'
"You are late, Velgrynd. I have already recruited him"
Velzard suddenly appeared behind Rimuru, although she put a Bit~ of distance from him. Rimuru looked at her shocked, and his expression soon turned to numbness realizing why Veldora said those words.
"Did you?, Really?"
Velgrynd was slightly stunned. She knows she was late in meeting Rimuru, in extension Veldora, because she sensed Velzard's magic on Rimuru. She just didn't expect that she could recruit someone by attacking them. She turns to look at Rimuru and is relieved to find a confused expression on his face.
"You Buffoon!!"
Velzard was angry yet again. She doesn't know why she keeps getting angry looking at that face. Crimson soon appeared beside her, looking at all of this with interest. Rimuru realized his gaffe and started contemplating what to do.
He doesn't want to pick any side in the conflict yet. Of course, considering that Rudra had already died, he didn't think he would favor the Eastern Empire even if given time.
He looked toward Velgrynd and spoke, "Although you are beautiful, you are also like a mad dog. I think my choice here is pretty obvious. It's a 2v1 scenario, one side with two beauties and other with only one. Moreover, I also promised to give Velzard a kiss, and I can't break it. So, sorry"
Velgrynd was so dumbfolded by the last sentences that she forgot to get angry for the first one. She is however soon relieved looking at the growing frost around Velzard.
She doesn't think their cooperation is so strong. There is still a chance for her. If it's for Rudra, she can forgive this 'Buffoon's' insolence once. So, she looked at Rimuru and spoke,
"If you are to follow me, not only will I forgive your insolence, I will also give you the greatest resources available to my authority. I can also help you to awaken as a True Demon Lord, as long as you can convince Veldora to support me."
"MOMMY!!!"
". . . ?"