"...It's already night."
Adelio, who had been nursing a headache over the matter of [Sarion] in the guest chamber Gazel had provided, muttered that as he noticed the sun had already set.
To him, it felt like only about an hour had passed at most, but in reality, nearly half a day had gone by.
'...I should go before it gets too late.'
There was still something he needed to confirm in [Dwargo], so he shoved the issue of [Sarion] into the back of his mind for the moment.
Because tonight, the incident that would first make Rimuru aware of Shizu's existence—and lead into the trial—was going to happen.
'That tavern's name was... [Selling Snake Oil], right?'
Calling it a tavern was one thing, but in truth it was closer to an adult entertainment establishment.
Maybe because [Dwargo] had a relatively good environment for that sort of business, the place managed to stay just barely on the respectable side of the line, and it was one of the few establishments where you could see [Elf]s personally serving customers.
"..."
'...Good thing I came alone. If I'd brought Ria and Shizu with me...'
Thinking of Ria and Shizu, who were likely sightseeing in the Kingdom of [Blumund], Adelio abruptly stopped before his imagination could go any further into the worst-case scenario.
Just imagining it had sent a chill over his entire body, so instinctively, he cut the thought off.
'...I'll just confirm it quickly and leave...'
Even a [Hero] called the strongest of humanity was nothing more than a helpless demon in front of his lover and his disciple.
**
The vast entertainment district clustered at the center of Central, the capital of [Dwargo].
It wasn't quite on the level of [Ingrassia]'s pleasure quarter, but Central's nightlife district was more than flashy enough to count as a major downtown area. Fitting for a nation of [Dwarf]s, it was filled with decorations made from magisteel ore.
'There's a lot of magisteel ore, and I can see quite a few races besides [Dwarf]s, but there don't seem to be many [Elf]s.'
Wearing the adventurer's outfit he had once traveled in with Chronoa, Adelio entered the district and easily located [Selling Snake Oil] by detecting the distinctive magic unique to [Elf]s.
'...There.'
As he slowly opened the door of the establishment, decorated with low-grade magisteel ore too weak to be used in forging equipment—
Ding
"Welcome~!"
—the clear ring of a doorbell echoed out, and women in dresses of every color smiled and bowed their heads.
They were all [Elf]s, of course, and as if to prove that [Elf]s weren't called the race of beauties for nothing, every last one of them was stunning.
"..."
It was the sort of sight an ordinary man would struggle to tear his eyes away from, but Adelio merely gave a small nod and walked straight toward a table.
After all, he had long since grown used to seeing people of devastating beauty up close—Ria, Rain, Misery, Chronoa, Luminous, Velzard, Velgrynd, Shizu, [Jonne], [Viole], and others like them.
To him, it was no more than a mildly interesting sight.
In the first place, he had seen Ermesia and Sylvia—[High Elf]s said to surpass even [Elf]s in appearance—with his own eyes dozens of times across repeated lives. At that point, it couldn't be helped.
'Rimuru is... over there.'
At last, Adelio spotted the blue slime surrounded by four [Dwarf]s and the [Elf]s of the establishment, and his faintly glowing blue eyes sharpened.
'Looks like he still likes [Elf]s just like in the novel—'
Recalling the novel he had read in his previous life, Adelio quietly watched the slime nestled against an [Elf]—and then felt a strange sense of dissonance.
"...?"
'...He's embarrassed?'
Using the ability to sense souls that he had possessed since his time as a [Divine Demon], he checked Rimuru's soul.
And he saw through the way Rimuru's soul was wavering like that of someone caught off guard.
At first, he thought Rimuru might simply be embarrassed because the [Elf]s were showing interest in him, but it felt a little different from that kind of embarrassment.
If he really liked [Elf]s that much, his soul should have been shaking even more. Instead, it was only wavering to the extent of someone dealing with an unexpected situation.
"Um~ aren't you going to order anything~?"
Just as Adelio was wondering whether he should check Rimuru's soul again, a bartender in a purple dress asked with a bright smile.
She was the [Elf] known as the madam of [Selling Snake Oil].
"Ah... Blood Wine, please."
"Certainly~"
Without thinking, Adelio ordered the drink Luminous usually favored, and once the bartender stepped away, he turned his gaze back to Rimuru.
As an aside, Blood Wine was so expensive that even nobles hesitated to drink it lightly, but Adelio had no mental room to care about that right now.
'...Even checking again, it's the same...'
Whether Rimuru liked [Elf]s or not wasn't especially important by itself, but if he differed from the one in the novel, that was a very serious problem.
It might mean he would have to scrap several plans he had been preparing for a very long time.
'...For now, I need to keep watching.'
Carefully spreading his senses only enough not to draw suspicion, Adelio then quietly listened in on the conversation between Rimuru and an [Elf] who looked like a fortune-teller.
"Are the preparations done?"
"Yeah, but what are you going to divine?"
"Hmm~ who knows? Is there something you want your fortune told about?"
When the fortune-teller [Elf] asked back, saying anything was fine, the green-eyed [Elf] hugging Rimuru said with a smile,
"How about Mr. Slime's 'fated match'?"
"...Huh?"
Rimuru tilted in confusion, as if he didn't understand what she meant, but—
"Oh, that sounds good!"
The fortune-teller [Elf] smiled as though it were a wonderful idea and spread both hands over the orb resting on her lap.
"Then I'll divine it for you~"
......
At that moment, Adelio didn't know.
That his... no, her fate was different from the fate he knew—
—and that before he ever noticed, her fate had already been continuing since long, long ago.
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