Code S.L.I.M.E.

Chapter 12: Aftermath

For just a moment when she said it, I completely forgot to restrain my aura. So the table was sent careening toward the door, however...

Kokobu caught it with her own aura. It told me at least one of the skills she'd gotten from the new skill... I wanted to see more, but at that moment I just wanted my gifts. In particular, I wanted the magic book and the round stones...

I also considered eating one of the 'knives' as Kokobu referred to them, as they had an enchantment I hadn't seen before.

First though, I had to restrain my aura again... Mother had a better way of doing it, but I still hadn't figured it out.

So I invoked [Integrator] once more to consume my aura, or at least as much as I could.

"Please be more careful, Princess."

"Don't ever tell anyone that happened. It won't again." I was quick to come up with a solution, analyzing all my skills to find the perfect one for the job.

Once I was done, I created another chain of thoughts with Parallel Processing. It was a simple existence that would only focus on controlling my aura... It was acceptable for now, but I felt that lesser mind needed to be improved later.

I'd go back to that another time.

The worst part was the added drain of my magicules... I didn't like losing even a small amount every moment. It reduced the amount of time I could be apart from Rimuru from over six hundred years as it was before this extra mind, to just over five hundred.

"As you wish," Kokobu answered, then reached into the pouch strapped to her hip.

She chose to give me the book first.

"I know it may not be as useful to you as it is for other children, but I still think you will enjoy reading this. Or, if you want me to, I could read it to you."

"Why? I can read."

"It's just something that adults do for children. You might like it. But if you are going to read on your own, I believe having hands would make it easier. Lord Rimuru has complained about his natural form not being ideal for grabbing papers and other objects."

"Why not just analyze the contents after absorbing it?"

"Well... This book is the first gift you've received, isn't it? Does that have no value?"

"I would not destroy it in the process."

Kokobu let out a loud breath for some reason. She seemed upset, and with me too. I didn't do anything wrong, so this made no sense. The feeling was painful through our connection. I disliked it.

"Books aren't just for gaining knowledge. The process of reading is supposed to be fun."

"That doesn't make sense."

"It can be a way to spend time with and relate to others. Some books aren't even for learning. They are for... Communicating." Kokobu paused for a moment, "You should ask Lord Rimuru to read you a book when he isn't busy. I'm sure he would be happy to do that with you, Princess."

"I will ask." I was unsure if Mother would see value in such a thing, but if he did, perhaps it was valuable.

"Now," Kokobu stopped as she laid out the next gift, "You cannot use these to harm other people. I'm giving them to you so you can study the enchantment on them. In the past, the anti-magic effect was hard for even Lord Rimuru to learn. It wasn't until right before he became a Demon Lord that he gained and shared an understanding of it with everyone."

It was the set of knives that Kokobu chose to show me now, and I thought they looked 'nice' as they were as shiny as the metals I'd requested for my room.