"Is that Mr. Draco? Thank you..."
Shizu-san forced a faint smile.
"Don't mention it."
Draco turned around and looked at Rimuru. "So, Third Brother, did you call me here because you wanted me to save someone?"
"Didn't you say you could settle anything?"
"You must have a way!"
Rimuru asked nervously.
"Theoretically, it's possible, but..."
Draco shrugged. "Whether to save her or not isn't for you to decide; Miss Shizu needs to make that choice herself."
"But..."
Draco interrupted Rimuru.
"Don't say anything like 'it's for her own good.'"
"Imposing one's own will on others, no matter who it is, such behavior is shameless."
"I understand..."
Rimuru nodded bitterly, but his eyes remained fixed on Shizu-san.
He seemed to be waiting for Shizu-san to make her decision.
"Thank you... Mr. Draco..."
"Rimuru-san, I'm tired... I don't want to stay in this world..."
"Please let me... sleep within your body..."
Rimuru lowered his head.
The answer had already been decided.
He let out a long sigh.
"That's fine. I will inherit everything of yours. Also, what was that man's name?"
A single warm tear slowly fell from Shizu's eyes.
"One of the strongest Demon Lords, Leon Cromwell."
"What do you want to say to him?"
"Perhaps... I just want him to acknowledge me as a person..."
"And... if possible... those children... save..."
"Then, it's a promise!"
"I swear in the name of Rimuru Tempest!"
"I will definitely make Demon Lord Leon Cromwell thoroughly understand your thoughts!"
"Than..."
As she spoke, Shizu slowly closed her eyes and stopped breathing... "Just sleep peacefully within my body!"
Rimuru prayed silently, "May she have good dreams within me."
[Do you wish to use the unique skill 'Predator'?]
"Yes!"
...*Tap tap tap...*
The young girl ran incessantly through a void.
Ahead was a figure she had been searching for a long time.
"So you were here! Don't leave me behind again!"
The masked figure shook its head and pointed in another direction.
There was... "Mama!!"
A sun-like smile overflowed on the girl's youthful face once more as she ran toward her mother with a heart full of joy.
The masked figure seemed to have completed its task and slowly dissipated from the girl's world.
Just like that.
The moment the girl reunited with her mother signaled that her journey had reached its end... In the room, Draco silently watched as Rimuru devoured Shizu's final existence.
He understood Shizu's thoughts perfectly and respected her will.
Even now, if Draco wanted to resurrect Shizu, it would be difficult, but he could still do it.
In this world, all living beings are composed of three parts.
The outermost layer is the physical body, further in is the spiritual body, and the core is the star soul body.
The star soul body encloses memory particles; as long as the star soul body remains, Draco has a way to resurrect them.
At this moment, Shizu's physical and spiritual bodies had withered away, and even her star soul body had shattered.
However, Shizu's memory particles had entered Rimuru's stomach.
If all the particles were collected, Shizu's body could be reconstructed and she could be resurrected.
But Draco didn't want to do that.
In a certain future, Rimuru had once resurrected Shizu, but she still chose to remain in slumber.
This world was not a world she liked.
Here, there was no mother she loved most, nor was it her hometown; everything here was too alien.
So she chose to sleep forever.
Draco shook his head, casting aside the somewhat agitated thoughts in his mind.
Inside the room, following a period of wriggling from Rimuru.
A thirteen or fourteen-year-old loli slowly emerged, with a cute girlish face and bluish-silver hair, completely naked.
"Oh~~ As expected, there's nothing there at all?"
Draco stroked his chin, carefully examining the transformed Rimuru.
"?"
Rimuru seemed to still be in a state of confusion; he blinked his eyes and then looked at his own body.
"Eh—!!"
The loud exclamation startled Rigurd, Eren, and the others nearby.
"What happened?"
Several people rushed into the room.
"Uh..." xN
"Eh—!?" xN
Looking at the naked and somewhat embarrassed Rimuru, Draco kindly tossed him a JK uniform from his spatial storage.
"Here, put this on first."
In his haste, Rimuru didn't pay much attention and directly put on the clothes and skirt.
Wait... a skirt?
"Draco—!!"
An angry, feminine shout rang through the entire room.
"I still have things to do, I'll come see you another day..."
*Whoosh!*
He left the place with a Spatial Transfer.
Meanwhile, Rimuru clenched his fists and shouted through gritted teeth.
"Bastard!!"
"Damn it!!"
With Draco's disruption, much of the original sorrowful mood had dissipated... Draco returned to the Dwarf Kingdom, as the previous matters hadn't been resolved yet.
Inside a certain study in the kingdom.
"Sorry, His Majesty Gazel, I had some urgent business and had to leave for a moment."
"Haha, no matter. Who was that Slime gentleman just now?"
"Indeed, we'll talk about that later. Let's continue with the business at hand."
Draco picked up the magic core on the table.
"Years ago, the Magic Armor Soldier Project between your country and the Elf Kingdom failed, didn't it? The key issue was the energy furnace supply."
"But with this, the problem will be easily solved."
This item was something Pandora had accidentally tinkered with; once the energy inside is used up, it can be reused just by refilling it.
It's just that manufacturing it is a bit troublesome, as it takes three days to make one.
Hearing this, a glint immediately flashed in King Gazel's eyes.
But then his expression slumped again.
"Kagali and Beta, who were in charge of the Magic Armor Soldier Project before, have been dismissed for certain reasons."
"There aren't many craftsmen left who are competent enough now."
King Gazel's face was full of bitterness.
Years ago, the master blacksmith Kagali was the commander of the engineering corps among the kingdom's seven units.
Now he's gone back to the village with Rimuru to forge iron.
At that time, Beta was his adjutant.
Beta had excellent magical talent, the kind that was top-tier even on a global scale.
But this guy was from a Marquis family, and people often accused him of buying his position with money.
His and Kagali's skills could be said to be evenly matched, each with their own merits.
However, Kagali was of commoner origin, and countless honors and praises always found their way to him.
An imbalance gradually began to grow in Beta's heart, or rather, jealousy.
Just then, an incident occurred.
The Demon Armor Soldier Incident.
At that time, their unit's status among the seven units was declining due to a long period without developing new technologies.
The faction led by Beta believed that they needed to innovate new technologies and not remain stagnant.
However, Kagali's faction thought that it was safest to conduct research steadily, building upon existing technology.
Their discussion became heated, and no conclusion could be reached at the meeting.
Afterward, Beta disregarded Kagali's dissuasion and directly initiated the "Magic Armor Soldier Project" with technicians from the Elf Kingdom.
As a result, due to his arbitrary actions, the "Elf Magic Core" went berserk, bringing the project to an end in its initial stages.
Even though it combined the highest-level technologies of both nations, it ended in failure.
Ultimately, Kagali took responsibility for everything and resigned from his position as commander.
Subsequently, Kagali opened a weapon shop in the Dwarf Kingdom to make a living.
The resentment between the two did not end there; Beta always found ways to pick a fight.
More than a month ago, Beta, as usual, was causing trouble at the Fairy Tavern.
Because Beta poured wine on Rimuru's head, Kagali became angry for the first time and beat Beta up.
The final outcome was...
Kagali, who should have been executed for assaulting a state minister, was exiled by his enlightened ruler, King Gazel, while Beta was dismissed for bribing the judges.
Thus, the two geniuses of the Dwarf Kingdom met their end... "What a terrible story..."
Lord Lionel sighed.
"Ah, I'm also troubled by it," King Gazeru said with a worried expression.
"Why don't you just exile Beta to my brother? Then our three parties can just share technology."
"You want a great nation like mine to share technology with a small village?"
"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"
Rimuru, Milim
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