"Um... so that means you're the [Hero] Rimuru told us about...?"
It was Rigru asking.
At first, he had mistaken Adelio for an enemy and trembled in fear, but the moment Adelio gave his name, the story Rimuru had told him came back to mind, and little by little, he regained his composure.
"A little later, a [Hero] named Adelio might come looking for me. So if he does, don't be hostile—just send him to where I am first, okay? You'll recognize him right away. He'll look ridiculously strong at a glance!"
If the man standing before him really was the [Hero] Rimuru had spoken of, then strength like this wouldn't be strange at all.
"Yeah, I'm that [Hero]. Did Rimuru say anything else about me?"
As Adelio said that and held out a hand, Rigru took it and rose to his feet. Once he had steadied himself, he carefully relayed Rimuru's message.
"R-Rimuru told me. If a [Hero] calling himself Adelio came later... we were supposed to send him to where she is..."
Grrr...
As soon as Rigru finished, the [Tempest Wolf] beside him—Ranga—let out a low growl while swishing its slender tail.
It seemed to be agreeing that Rigru was right.
"If it's all right with you, would you like us to guide you to where Rimuru is?"
Rrrf!
Perhaps because Rimuru had asked them to, Rigru and the [Tempest Wolf], Ranga, both made it clear that they were willing to escort Adelio personally.
Adelio looked at the two of them and gave a small nod.
"Then I'll take you up on that."
*
After asking Rigru to guide them, Adelio gathered Ria, Shizue, and Eryun's group, who had been resting a short distance away from the monster corpses, and headed deeper into the great forest.
Since they were moving closer to the Sealed Cave, the deeper they went, the more strongly they could feel the magicules of powerful monsters. But perhaps because Rimuru was nearby, none of those monsters showed themselves.
At the very least, this stretch of land was already all but part of Rimuru's territory.
'That said, I should be seeing her any time now—'
As Adelio looked around, sensing the growing number of [Hobgoblin]s and [Tempest Wolf]s, he suddenly felt a mass of magicules surging toward him like a storm.
It concealed the vast magicules of a [True Dragon], while pretending to be nothing more than the faintest breeze—
"Adelio!"
—a blue Tempest.
He had spotted a massive [Tempest Wolf], Ranga, charging straight toward him, with a blue slime sitting atop its head.
......
Splat!
Closing the distance in an instant, Rimuru sprang off Ranga's head and landed right in front of Adelio.
"Adelio, you got here faster than I expected! You said you were stopping by another country first—did that work out okay?"
"Yeah. Well, it was almost forced on me... but I managed to sort it out somehow before coming here."
"Then that's a relief! Just in time, too—..."
Rimuru had been chattering happily at the sight of Adelio, but then she abruptly stopped. Her gaze shifted to the people around him—especially Ria and Shizue, who had taken up positions at either side of him—and her body visibly stiffened.
"......"
No, it might be more accurate to say it looked as if someone had forcibly frozen her in place.
Just a few seconds earlier, she had been radiating the joy of a child receiving a surprise gift, and now that mood had vanished so completely that silence dropped all at once.
"S-so... um, that... uh... eh...?"
"...?"
If one had to sum it up in a single phrase, Rimuru had broken.
And in a very strange direction, at that.
*
She—Rimuru—didn't know.
She didn't know what kind of human Adelio really was... no, what kind of demon he really was.
'...The people... beside him...'
And she didn't know, either.
She didn't know what the destined partner foretold in Dwargo had truly meant.
'...No way... are they... lovers...?'
She had taken the phrase destined partner at face value, but the truth was different.
Originally, when the [Elf]s divined someone's destined partner, it didn't show the person who would become their mate. It showed the person whose fate was most deeply entangled with their own.
But Rimuru didn't know that.
And just like the queens of hell had, she had unconsciously begun to feel drawn to him.
He had saved her when she was nearly hit by a drunk, helped her in that trial tangled up with swindlers, and promised to work together with her. He was the first person from her homeland she had met in this world.
She had more than enough reason to feel a human fondness for Adelio.
'...W-well... he's supposed to be a ridiculously famous hero... so I guess... it wouldn't be weird... if he had a lover...'
Rimuru had only met Adelio three times so far, and she tried to calm herself with that thought... but the human heart still left inside her wasn't strong enough to endure it so easily.
'...B-but... I was the one chosen as his destined partner... wasn't I...?'
Since Rimuru still didn't know the true meaning of the divination, she couldn't help feeling as though Adelio were being stolen away from her.
After reincarnating into this world, with more and more companions now depending on her, Adelio was the only person with whom she could reveal her previous life and speak as an equal.
The only one she could treat casually, without caring about this otherworld's hierarchies or the rules that bound monsters.
'...We're both [reincarnator]s... so being with me should feel more natural for him...'
Crack...
A splintering sound no one else could possibly hear rang quietly inside her.
As if marking a new branch in his fate.
Or perhaps announcing a new change in hers.
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