Upon closer observation, the ominous scales covering his entire body actually radiated a dark purplish light—a mixture, perhaps, of their natural color and the unearthly force that made its way through the surface. There was something strangely beautiful about his vast shape, the picture of majestic dignity. I began regretting being so rude back when I couldn't take it all in, but that was all water under the bridge.
Turned out, by the way, that I was indeed oval shaped. Like a little bun. Kind of a…light turquoise, maybe? Lighter than the daylight sky, but not by a lot. A rather elegant color, I thought. Shame about the whole being-a-slime thing.
You do remember your promise, yes? And considering your previous complaints, you learned rather quickly, no?
Oh, of course! I was just joking a little, is all. I can see just fine, and plus I can hear now, too. I really appreciate this!
Hmph. You could have taken your time…
So he was fine after all. A little scary looking, but he was awfully kind to me, for no good reason. He really was lonely, I imagined. It was unfortunate that he looked the way he did. Kind of like that little story about the poor red demon who wanted to befriend the humans.
So what do you intend to do next?
Well, for starters, I figure I might as well look for some otherworlders from my home country. Not that I care too much if I don't, but…you know.
Finding some would be better, but it's not as if we're guaranteed to become fast friends. Plus, with my brand-new eyesight, scoping out the world could do wonders for me. Harvesting the light and sound around me had just expanded my world a thousandfold. Now, finally, I could say good-bye to my days of literally chewing the cud in my tiny cave or whatever.
That dragon, though.
The more I stared at him, the more sinister and terrifying he seemed. And yet he didn't move a single inch. He mentioned a three-hundred-year-old seal, right?
By the way, Veldora, you said something about being…sealed away?
Mm? Ah. Yes, I perhaps underestimated my opponent slightly. I eventually began fighting with, shall we say, more urgency, but…well, it was rather too late by then!
The dragon sounded almost proud of his losing performance. Magic was one thing, but I doubted there was a sword or lance in this or any other world that could scratch him. It wasn't as if I knew that much of this world yet—maybe it was crawling with horrifying monsters even more powerful than him, or something?
Was your opponent that tough?
She was…quite strong. She was what the humans call a "hero," one blessed with so-called divine protection.
A hero? My days in front of a game console had made me well familiar with that term. Simply doing hero stuff didn't make you dragon-slaying material, though. A lot of recent games had turned their so-called "heroes" into foils or parodies of themselves, besides. Maybe things were still a bit more traditional around here.
Now that I recall, Veldora continued, the hero also said she was "summoned." Perhaps she hails from the same area as you.
Oh? I dunno… Where I come from, nobody's that strong, you know?
Perhaps, but many otherworlders come here bearing special powers. Powers that are chiseled into their souls in the midst of their journey. The summoned will always bear one such skill—a unique skill, one exclusive to them and them alone. Unlike the otherworlders who come here by sheer accident, these people bear a soul strong enough to withstand the stress of the summoning process. The fact that said summoning process so rarely succeeds in this world otherwise proves as much.
When you say "summoning process," do you mean…magic, or whatever?
Precisely. A process requiring at least thirty magicians conducting a ceremony that takes place over three days. It is rarely successful, but it is seen as a powerful weapon to have in one's arsenal, should the need arise.
A weapon?
Mm. Those summoned in such a manner are bound by a magical curse upon their soul, unable to resist the orders of their masters.
Whoa, really? No human rights or anything?
Human rights? What rights would one possibly expect in this, of all worlds? Do not entertain such fantasies in this realm, little one. The only law that reigns here is survival of the fittest. Might, as they say, makes right.
Well, huh. If you got summoned to this world, no point hoping that your old values applied over here, I guessed. Bit hard to accept that.
So are you saying that otherworlders pretty much get treated like slaves here?
No. It depends. There is no Domination Stamp applied to them. If society accepts them, they are free to live their lives as they please. They can become adventurers or the like. Many otherworlder adventurers have sought my head… They learned the error of their ways soon enough! Hyaaa-ha-ha-ha-ha!!
So you're only forced into servitude if you were summoned here, huh…?
Not "servitude," exactly, but I suppose so, yes. I like to believe I know a great deal about the humans, but "a great deal" is not everything.
No… You're a dragon, besides.
In way, he knew almost too much as a dragon. At least conversing together put me on his good side—enough that he answered all my questions. So we kept talking—Veldora and I, dragon and slime, about all sorts of things.
How had the fight gone with this hero?
How strong was she?
Her skin was pale in color, the dragon told me; her lips were bright red and small. Her long hair was a dark shade of silver, kept back in a single ponytail. She was slim, not that tall, rather small for a human.
Her face was apparently covered by a mask, but there was no doubting her beauty. I asked him whether this beauty was enough to distract him, whether he was too enrapt to defend himself properly. Enough of your nonsense! he bellowed back at me.
Apparently she carried a long, curved sword. A "katana," it was called. She didn't bother with a shield. Taking advantage of two unique skills—Absolute Severance and Unlimited Imprisonment—and a wealth of other magic, she, as Veldora put it, "overwhelmed" him. There was more than a trace of nostalgic contentment in his voice, or so it seemed to me.
Something I picked up on as we spoke was that this dragon… I think he really liked humans. He kept calling them "wimps" and "garbage" and such, but from the way he put it, he never deliberately killed anyone who attacked him. Not unless they went out of their way to rile him. One time, three centuries ago—just one time, he emphasized—a certain chain of events made him reduce an entire city to embers. That was what made the people send a hero his way, and now—thanks to that hero's Unlimited Imprisonment—he was in his current predicament.
I had trouble enough figuring out my own feelings about a lot of things. Other people's, I could only guess at. But I was starting to get the impression that, well, maybe this wasn't such a bad dragon at all. I mean, I liked him. And he wasn't anywhere near as scary as before.
All right! Well, um… What do you think? Friends, then?
It was kind of…no, really embarrassing to put it like that. I'd have been blushing right then, if I could.
Wh-what? A mere slime, daring to seek the friendship of the mighty beast feared worldwide as Veldora the Storm Dragon?!
Oh, um, you don't have to if you don't want, but…
You fool! You foolish fool!! Who said anything about not wishing it?!
Oh, no? Okay, so, um…now what?
—Mmm, indeed… If you insist…I suppose I could consider it…
I could feel him sneaking furtive glances at me. It would have been one thing if it had been a cute girl sitting next to me at the movie theater, but it was quite another when it was a death-dealing mythical beast. Not fun. Pretty funny, though.
Yep. I insist. It's settled! And if you don't like it, then watch out, 'cause I'll never come back!
No!—Ah, so be it. I will become your…friend. I do hope you appreciate the gesture!
Heh. I wondered whether I could manipulate the other three dragons he mentioned like this. I was made to exploit people, and he was made to be exploited. A perfect match.
Well, to future times, then!
Indeed! To future times! …Ah, yes, allow me to give you a name. In exchange, you will give one to us both.
Huh? Why? Where'd that come from?
It shall chisel into our souls the fact that we are of the same rank. Something similar to the family names the humans use—except my name, for you, will also provide a kind of divine blessing. You are still nameless now, but through this, you will become a full-fledged named monster.
Mmmm.
So he wanted me to come up with a common name for us to share? And in exchange, I'd get my own name and all the benefits of named-monster status? Better think up something good. I'm terrible at this stuff…
Well, you said you were a storm dragon, so… I dunno, "Tempest" or something?
Ugh. Kind of on the nose, I know, but it sounded cool to me, so—
Perfect! So be it! A wonderful timbre to that title, yes.
He liked it?!
From this day forward, they will call me Veldora Tempest! And you… You will be called Rimuru. Proclaim to the world that your name is Rimuru Tempest!
Thus the name was carved into my soul. Not that it did too much to me. Or my abilities. But somewhere, deep inside my soul, something did change a bit. I suppose the same could be said of Veldora. And that's how we became friends.
Well, it was time to get going, I supposed. But before that:
Hey, so I had something I wanted to ask before I left, but…can't you do anything about that seal on you?
Not with my powers, no. Someone with a unique skill on the same level as the hero's would be necessary for there to be even a chance.
You don't have any, Veldora?
I do, but now that I am sealed off, I can access none of them. Telepathy is about all I can manage at the moment.
The hero's Unlimited Imprisonment could hold its target captive in an infinite number of imaginary spaces for all of time. It wasn't some weak barrier that would allow casual interference with the real world. Looking back, it should have struck me as strange that Telepathy was possible, even. It wasn't the sort of thing that would break down over time—but given that he could have any contact with the real world, and even exchange messages, perhaps it said more about Veldora. Neither of us noticed this at the time, though.
Well, here, lemme try something…
I rolled over to Veldora and tapped my body against him.
Invoking unique skill Predator to consume unique skill Unlimited Imprisonment… Failed.
I figured as much, but no, I certainly wasn't hero caliber. With a dazzling light, my unique skill tried to do its work but weakly bounced off without any further comment. I thought it might have made a small rip, but that was all. The barrier would repair itself shortly, no doubt. I was hoping that unique skill on unique skill would result in something, but it didn't.
Was there anything I could do, though? Something…
Received. Partial Analysis of unique skill Unlimited Imprisonment complete. Reporting a potential escape route.
Any escape involving a physical body is not possible. The chance of destroying the prison by physically damaging it is zero. Cannot analyze an escape route involving the annulment of imaginary space. One would need to be caught within the same Unlimited Imprisonment situation in order to analyze it from the inside. This is currently impossible.
The chance of escaping in spiritual form is one percent.
If a spiritual receptacle is prepared for the target on the outside to aid in the transition, the success rate is three percent. This process is equivalent to transmigration. If the target is poorly compatible with the receptacle, he will lose all memories and abilities.
This concludes the report on potential escape routes.
—Hmm. Kind of low numbers, it sounds like. Unlimited Imprisonment looked like nothing more than a transparent membrane from my perspective…but physical damage did nothing against it? Maybe it had some kind of insurmountable defense attached to it, for all I knew.
Hey, did you lay any damage on this hero at all? Or vice versa?
Ah, I am glad you asked! Most of my attacks were evaded, but I did land several direct hits…which, I regret, had no effect on her. Death-Calling Wind, Dark Lightning, even Storm of Destruction had no effect, despite being completely unavoidable. A total loss… All I could do was laugh!
Veldora then accentuated the point with a loud, hearty guffaw.
It sounded as though you could also use this Unlimited Imprisonment skill to cover your own body, making a shield to protect from external attack. Pretty handy thing to have around. This hero was starting to sound downright omnipotent. Between that and Absolute Severance, she was all but invincible, wasn't she? I really wouldn't want to run into her…but then, I wouldn't have to. I would have liked to assume she had died in the ensuing three hundred years, at least. Either way, she was one tough character.