Code S.L.I.M.E.

Chapter 6: Cold Shoulder

"You won't make it cold again... Will you?" I think I realized what they meant immediately, as on the night I had found out about them, I had gotten quite upset. My aura had created a snow storm over Tempest. That must have been quite taxing for them at that time.

"I won't, if that would make you uncomfortable." I looked at Aoki for a few moments with Dragon Eye to sate my curiosity, and to confirm what I was sure was the case now that they'd been named. "Although, even if I did, you'd have nothing to worry about now. You have an immunity to such things."

Despite my words, my thinking was focusing on another thing. The child had skills I couldn't name, which meant I'd never seen them before. I'd need to know more about how they worked to read the inscribed name with All of Creation. I couldn't make clear guesses at that moment, though.

I had noticed them days prior, but they were still forming. Now the magic circuits were more clearly developed and stable. If I had seen them before, I could have heard the Voice of The World authorize them.

Aoki finally responded to my earlier statement, I had been lost in my thoughts again.

"Father told me the same thing..." The child seemed to get a bit more comfortable, as they finally let themself lean forward and rested on my head.

"I can make up for the first time though, would you like a small portion of my magicules? You look incredibly hungry." I could clearly see they still weren't back up to capacity, so it seemed like the perfect way to make up for harming them before.

"Are you sure...?" Aoki seemed uneasy at the idea, I had to assume they had not had a major dose of magicules from any but Rimuru.

"Yes. It will be fine. While I may not have as much capacity as Rimuru, it still over-shadows yours many times over." Honesty is a virtue.

"O-okay..." The slime was shaky now, but clearly excited in a cute way.

I ever so lightly opened the barrier containing my aura, and allowed a small portion of my magicules to form into a crystal in the child's palm. In this way they'd still exist in a pure form, but would not be a danger to any of my baby brother's citizens.

"This is... A lot." The slime held the crystal above my head, clearly examining it closely with Magic Sense. I could tell they were analyzing it as well, however difficult it was for them at that density. Eventually though, they allowed their palm to return to its true form so that they could pull the crystal into their body.

I knew they had a personal space of some kind, but they were taking a large degree of caution in absorbing such a large dose at once.

It seemed to confirm my suspicion that the child had an intrinsic intelligence of magic, which exceeded that of any human.

"Little Aoki, would you like to have lunch? We are going to eat lunch in town, but for dinner we are gonna go back to the palace to cook a meal of our own." I knew Rimuru loved food, and I wasn't sure if it'd extend to his child, but I had already made reservations.

"Yes. Fire Auntie took me to dinner, and the food was good. I hadn't eaten food before that." It seemed Velgrynd was useful for something, at least.

"Ah! Perfect. I want you to try something a bit different then, since you haven't eaten anything like this before." I let my excitement slip for a moment before composing myself.

"What kind of thing?" The small slime wouldn't think much of it, but it was quite important.

"Something very simple, actually. Some foods are only edible while still alive, so one thing which is prepared here in Tempest is miniature black spiders. Some monsters also keep them as pets, I believe." It was unusual to keep something as a pet and a creature for slaughter, but I supposed it was not all that different from Luminous' treatment of humanity.