Three months had passed since the subjugation of the [Orc Lord], and the Jura Great Forest, once warmed by the spring sun, was now filled with the heavy heat of summer.
"It's gotten pretty hot already."
Murmuring that as he looked up at the sun blazing overhead—not quite as harsh as Earth's, but still fierce enough—Adelio soon lowered his gaze.
Below him stood a village that had expanded to a remarkable size in just three short months.
The [Kijin], who had been named by Rimuru and relocated from the [Ogre] village, along with the [Orc]s of Dondu who had evolved into High Orcs, had learned craftsmanship from Kaijin and the [Dwarf] brothers, and thanks to that, the village's development had accelerated at an astonishing pace.
Clothes and all sorts of tools, of course, but also waterworks with plumbing and sewage, flush toilets, and even bathhouses and roads that Rimuru had actively pushed for.
Progress that should have taken decades at the very least was being completed dozens of times faster than normal.
'Maybe because the [Ogre] village survived instead of being destroyed, things are moving even faster than I expected.'
It wasn't a bad change.
They were following Rimuru's orders even better than expected, and there were plenty of unexpected benefits cropping up in all sorts of places. Naturally, that made it a good change.
'If only things could stay peaceful like this for a while—'
Rustle...
"......"
A faint sound of grass stirring suddenly came from behind him.
It was quiet enough that he would have missed it entirely if he hadn't had his senses open, but Adelio, with the sharp perception of a [Deva Lord], caught it at once. He paused his thoughts and let out a long sigh inwardly.
Because he was already half certain who had appeared behind him.
'She's been doing this nonstop for three months now... Was there some kind of poison inside the [Orc Disaster]?'
The person Adelio had correctly guessed was sneaking up behind him was—
[Report. Confirmed the magicules of the individual Rimuru Tempest.]
—Rimuru, the slime who had become this land's new leader and was currently running away from her duties.
'...At this hour, there should still be that meeting about the [Lizardmen]'s supply procurement...'
Unable to understand why she kept secretly watching him even during work hours, Adelio released a weakened [Heroic Aura], instantly wrapping it around Rimuru.
"Eek?!"
"...What exactly are you doing here, Rimuru? As far as I know, you still have meetings left today."
While Rimuru was still flustered, Adelio stepped right up to her and pressed a finger lightly against her forehead as he spoke in a teasing tone.
"Like I told you last time, if there's something you want to ask me, you can just ask. As long as it's not too deeply tied to my previous life, I'll answer as much as I can."
For the past three months, she had kept acting like she wanted to ask him something, only to insist it was nothing whenever Adelio asked directly. Then, when he caught her hiding and watching him again, she would just apologize and leave it at that. From Adelio's point of view, it was honestly pretty troublesome.
It wasn't enough to call it stalking... but it bothered him more than he had expected, and that was the problem.
"Ugh... w-well, that's..."
But Rimuru had her own reasons too.
**
'A demon...'
Three months earlier, when she had devoured the [Orc Disaster], Rimuru had been the closest witness to the conversation between Adelio—who had entered [Predator] at Great Sage's help—and the [Orc Disaster]'s core. Back then, she had faintly heard his voice echoing through it.
The voice that had introduced itself as a demon.
'...Could Adelio maybe be... some kind of half-human, half-monster...?'
Rimuru didn't actually think it was a problem if Adelio really was a demon.
She herself had already been reincarnated as a slime, so whether Adelio was a demon or not didn't make much difference to her.
If anything, she thought she might even like that.
If Adelio truly was a monster and at the same time a [Hero] who wished for harmony with humans, then he could become the center of all kinds of new possibilities.
On top of that, considering that he had spent three hundred long years as a [Hero], doing good all that time, there was more than enough reason to trust him.
But what Rimuru saw as the real issue wasn't Adelio's position or personality.
'...If... Adelio has some other reason for not telling us he's a demon...'
What worried Rimuru was the possibility that Adelio had a reason he wasn't revealing—or couldn't reveal—his true identity to them.
From everything she had seen so far, Adelio was absolutely not the kind of person who would betray them.
If he had kept his identity secret because of some special circumstance, then even asking him about it directly might come across the wrong way.
She had only learned that Adelio might be a demon by pure accident, but from Adelio's perspective, there was every chance he might think Rimuru was suspicious of him.
'...At this point... I guess I have no choice but to confirm it myself.'
And so, the solution Rimuru had chosen was to uncover Adelio's identity on her own.
She wanted to know who he really was, but she had no way to ask him directly, so this felt like the best option she had.
...Of course,
'...There's seriously no opening at all...'
Compared to Adelio, her attempts were little more than a child's challenge—and up to today, every single one of them had ended in failure.
**
"...S-so, um... that is..."
Even after copying [Arc Vanishing], the advanced stealth art Shizue had used, Rimuru had still been caught by Adelio instantly. Now she desperately racked her brain, trying to come up with some kind of excuse.
'...W-what am I supposed to say this time?! I've already used up almost every excuse I can think of...'
For three months she had burned through excuse after excuse, and now her mind had gone completely blank. Just as Rimuru stood there opening and closing her mouth uselessly—
[Report. A large number of magicule reactions are approaching from the sky.]
As if straight out of a fairy tale, a lifeline descended from the heavens to save her.
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