After Christmas, Tony Stark came to say "goodbye" to Rimuru.
The reason was that he had finally decided to undergo surgery to remove the shrapnel still lodged inside him.
Rimuru showed no concern at all. Instead, he gave Tony a shot of confidence. "I saw it, Tony. The surgery was a success."
"...Oh, well, thanks for the good omen." Not seeing any worried expression on the little guy's face, Tony suddenly felt a little awkward.
Three months later, Tony's surgery was indeed a success. After the Extremis Virus incident, Tony Stark had completely become Iron Man; the two had merged into one, and he had truly matured. During that time, Like a Dream and Ling Ling had both come to see Rimuru several times. It seemed S.H.I.E.L.D. had been making quite a few moves lately, and the legendary Project Insight had likely begun operating.
Project Insight was an internal S.H.I.E.L.D. conflict, as well as the first direct confrontation between S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra in modern times. It was also after this incident that Captain America recognized the government could not be trusted, awakened his self-awareness, and fully embarked on the path of a true hero.
Well, the Marvel world really was plagued by disasters, wasn't it?
Rimuru shrugged indifferently, but he truly had little interest in such matters.
Honestly, his relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D. could not be called close. Apart from Tony serving as the link between them, it was actually rather distant.
And Tony Stark did not participate in this operation. Well... he had just finished surgery and planned to go on vacation... he had even invited Rimuru and the others.
The main person behind this operation was Captain America, while Ling Ling and the others were actually more familiar with him—
Of course, the first reason Rimuru did not intend