"...Whew."
Once his conversation with [Great Sage] ended, Adelio opened his eyes again.
[Report. [Thought Acceleration] has been deactivated.]
At once, the black-and-white stillness filling his vision gradually regained its original color.
With Odin's notice, the sight that had been frozen under [Thought Acceleration] began to move again with the flow of time.
And as that happened, the people around him started moving once more as well, including—
"...Um, no, I—"
—Rimuru.
"—Adelio."
After keeping silent for a while, she finally spoke again.
With an expression so calm it almost felt excessive.
"...Huh?"
Seeing that look on Rimuru's face, Adelio felt that something about it was unnatural, but the thought never made it out of his mouth because of what she said next.
"A little earlier... I got distracted for a second and couldn't say it, but there are some people here I wanted to show you. Come on, follow me!"
Boing.
Rimuru continued the words she'd hesitated over only moments ago, smiling as if the flustered confusion and unconscious jealousy from before had all been fake.
Maybe because she was in the form of a tiny slime, the way she said it like it was nothing made her look so innocent that it was hard to even think of her as a monster.
Of course—
"......"
—the moment she turned her head atop Ranga's back, that composed expression vanished instantly into something cold.
......
"......"
[Report. Your emotions are in an extreme state of agitation. It is recommended that you calmly empty your mind.]
"...I know."
[Suggestion. By utilizing the vast quantity of magicules absorbed from individual name: Veldora Tempest, your mental state—]
"No. This much, I can handle on my own."
[...Understood.]
At the moment, Rimuru was nothing more than a slime through and through, but the methods she'd learned in her previous life as a nurse for staying composed and levelheaded still remained in her mind.
For her, a silence of a little over ten seconds was more than enough time to put on a surface-level calm.
"...If Adelio and I were alone, that'd be one thing, but I can't just use [Skills] recklessly in front of other people."
Before long, the narrow slit-like eyes unique to a slime shifted sideways toward the others quietly watching from behind Adelio—in other words, Eryun's group.
"Those people... they really are the same ones I saw when I came out of the cave."
The sort commonly called adventurers in this world.
If she wanted harmony between humans and monsters, they were one of the groups she absolutely had to cooperate with.
"......And on top of that, those two women next to Adelio..."
Unlike the adventurers, there were two beauties with white hair and black hair clinging close to the man's side.
In particular, unlike Adelio, who only gave off an East Asian sort of vibe, the black-haired woman looked like a genuine East Asian.
"...I didn't notice at first, but... she can't actually be an [otherworlder], can she?"
Rimuru's eyes trembled faintly as she looked at Shizue.
She had found an unexpected rival in the last place she'd imagined.
"......"
If that woman really was an [otherworlder], then just like herself, she might be close to Adelio. Rimuru instinctively grew wary.
"...This is bothering me..."
Unable to resist the curiosity that had swelled in an instant into a massive inferno inside her, she ultimately gave in to it.
......
"Adelio... this has been bothering me a little, so... the woman on your left, is she... an [otherworlder]?"
From atop Ranga's head, where she had been facing forward while moving at his pace, Rimuru turned toward Adelio.
Naturally, that cold expression from before was already gone.
It hadn't been all that frightening to begin with, but there was no reason to show that kind of face to the man who had saved her.
"I figured you'd ask eventually. You suddenly told me to come along, so I was going to explain later, but this works out well."
At Rimuru's question, Adelio gave a small smile as if he'd expected it, then looked at Shizue and gave a slight nod.
"She's from Japan too, just like us. Her name is Izawa Shizue. She's a hero who used to work with the [Hero Party], and one of my disciples."
"...Ah... uh, um... I-I see...?!"
It was a voice of obvious shock, with not even a grain of the calm she'd dressed herself in.
Anyone who wasn't a child would have recognized that flustered tone immediately.
"Ah... i-it's just that this is my first time seeing a real [otherworlder], so I got a little surprised... haha..."
Perhaps even Rimuru herself realized she'd reacted strangely, because she formed a blue hand out of liquid and scratched at her head in a pantomime of embarrassment.
Adelio felt the faintest sense of dissonance at the sight, but remembering how unusually dramatic she had been in the novel, he simply thought, That does sound like something Rimuru would do, and continued speaking.
After all, he didn't think there was any need to worry, since she didn't seem wary of him.
However, the only person she wasn't wary of was Adelio.
And the next words out of his mouth—
"And this is Ria, my lover."
—ripped out what little hope Rimuru had left, roots and all.
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