Shizue Izawa

Shizue Izawa

"Tempest!? What a resounding name. From this day forth, I am Veldora Tempest!"

"As for you, I shall bestow upon you the name [Rimuru]. From now on, you are Rimuru Tempest!"

The instant he received his name, Xia Qiu felt the difference. An incredible transformation took place, from his soul to his body.

Especially the name Rimuru Tempest—it had been branded into his soul.

Was this an evolution in the very rank of life? It was truly incredible!

Then, Xia Qiu—no, Rimuru—activated his Unique Skill [Predator] and stored Storm Dragon Veldora in his Stomach.

Analyze Infinite Prison? Yes/No?

Great Sage's voice rang out in his mind, and Rimuru chose "Yes" without hesitation.

Looking at the empty cave, Rimuru could not help feeling lonely and hollow.

Though he was a tsundere dragon rather than a human, he had been the first—and only—creature Rimuru had spoken with since his reincarnation.

It was time to leave the Sealed Cave!

He had to admit, the cave was truly enormous. He had bounced around for nearly five days without finding his way out.

Because the tsundere dragon had been stored in his Stomach, the Storm Dragon's intimidation had vanished, and some monsters began stirring restlessly.

He ate and evolved as he went, gaining [Heat Source Detection] and [Poison Mist Breath] from Black Serpents, [Body Armor] from Armored Lizards, [Paralysis Breath] from Evil Centipedes, [Sticky Thread] and [Steel Wire] from Black Spiders, and [Vampirism] and [Ultrasound] from Giant Bats.

Giant Bat Ultrasound in particular allowed Rimuru to gain the ability to speak, and he was thrilled beyond words.

He kept saying all sorts of meaningless things and singing monotonous, childish songs, simply to experience what it felt like to speak.

Two more days later, just when Rimuru felt like he was about to get completely turned around, he unexpectedly saw someone he absolutely should not have seen.

Familiar clothes, a familiar mask... Shizue Izawa. Why was she here?

According to the original plot, Shizue should never have appeared in this cave.

What exactly was going on?

What felt even more unbelievable was that flames burned all around Shizue as she struggled to suppress Flame Spirit Ifrit's rampage.

This...

Had his interference as a little butterfly caused history to undergo a drastic change, creating a new Parallel Universe?

Rimuru did not know!

At that moment, there was nothing he could do. He could only quietly wait for Shizue to slowly suppress the Flame Spirit's rampage through sheer Perseverance.

Half an hour later, Shizue successfully brought the Flame Spirit's rampage under control.

However, suppressing it had drained far too much of her strength. Her body went limp, and she fell straight toward the ground.

Seeing this, Rimuru leaped to Shizue's side and acted as a soft cushion, cushioning the force of her fall.

Smack!

Rimuru slapped a Recovery Potion onto Shizue's delicate body. A few seconds later, her condition had indeed improved considerably.

Shizue removed her mask, revealing an almost unfairly adorable face. She smiled faintly. "Thank you, Slime-san!"

Watching it in an anime was one thing; facing it in reality was another.

Since they were so close, and Shizue had thanked him from such close range, Rimuru could not help blushing.

"Ahem." Rimuru changed the subject. "Aren't you afraid of me?"

To avoid disrupting the plot, he had not concealed his immense magical aura at all. With Shizue's abilities, she naturally knew just how powerful he was.

Though Shizue still wore her mask, he could sense her smile. "If you meant me harm, why would you have waited until now?"

Emmmm... Rimuru felt that he had asked a stupid question.

"That's true. I'm not a bad Slime, after all!"

"Pfft!"

Hearing Rimuru's words, Shizue immediately burst out laughing.

"I'm not a bad Slime" was a classic line from the Japanese national RPG game "Dragon Quest."

Although Shizue had never played it, she had heard many fellow visitors from another world mention it.

Shizue asked curiously, testing the waters, "Slime-san, were you reincarnated here from Japan in another world too?"

Rimuru replied, "I did come here from another world, but not Japan. I came from China."

Sure enough, once she learned that he too had come from Earth, Shizue's attitude toward him immediately became much warmer.

She asked many questions about Earth, and Rimuru did not hide anything. He told her in detail about everything from World War II to the new century.

Shizue was immensely grateful. In return, she held nothing back and told him every little detail of her life.

Rimuru listened attentively, because he knew that Shizue's wholehearted telling of her story was actually her way of leaving proof that she had once existed in this world.

A day later.

The Flame Spirit Ifrit within Shizue went into a massive rampage. Shizue could no longer suppress him, and in the end, Rimuru used a trick to swallow him into his Stomach, successfully turning him into the tsundere dragon's chess partner and resolving the matter completely.

However, after losing the Flame Spirit, Shizue's lifespan inevitably reached its final moments.

Inside the cave, Rimuru accompanied Shizue through the last stretch of her life, and she was deeply grateful for it.

She had originally intended to make this cave her final resting place, but now she had a new choice.

Just as in the original story, Shizue's final request was to use his Stomach as her final resting place.

Though that was how it happened in the original story, seeing it happen for real still filled him with profound sorrow.

Shizue's life, from beginning to end, had truly been full of tragedy.

Whenever she found a brief moment of happiness, a fresh wave of misfortune would follow. Just as she had said, "She hated this world, but could not bring herself to hate it."

In the end, Shizue was only a little girl who wanted the recognition of a Demon Lord or a Hero.

Yet even such a small wish was something she could never fulfill.

"May beautiful dreams accompany you, and may you find eternal rest."

After saying that, Rimuru activated the Predator skill.

After devouring Shizue's remains, Rimuru successfully inherited Shizue's appearance and the Unique Skill [Transmuter].

Though, just as in the original story, he had successfully gained a human body, he could not feel happy about it at all.

However, before he had time to think any further, the entire cave began to collapse as if the sky were falling and the earth splitting apart, like the end of the world.

Rimuru was startled. What the hell was this cave collapse about?

Hadn't they said that as long as he followed the plot, he could steadily reach the pinnacle of life?

Unable to spare any more time for melancholy, Rimuru used Mimicry to turn into a Giant Bat and flew straight toward the cave exit.

Thankfully, he was not far from the entrance. Before long, he reached it.

Several water blades shot out, and the gate instantly crumbled apart. Without a second thought, Rimuru plunged straight through.

But to Rimuru's surprise, after passing through the gate, he did not emerge onto a sunlit surface. Instead, he arrived in another new cave.

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