(3rd Person's Perspective)
The position is dee~p inside the forest that houses Tempest. In such a forest, most specifically on a part where the sun lacks due to the excess of trees in the area, there are two people resting against one of the countless trees.
Although, 'resting' would be the wrong word to describe such an event.
"Waaaaa! Uncle Velora died..."
"..."
Indeed, more than 'resting' against the tree, it would be more correct to refer to this event as something akin to a funeral. As such, there was a little girl with bright red hair who was mourning the death of the other person, who rested limply against the tree-showing no response whatsoever. She was Rimuru Tempest's beloved daughter-Reili Tempest.
That said, that person isn't truly dead-he is simply faint-but that didn't change the fact that it indeed looked as if he was. And so, the little girl couldn't hold back her tears; although... could it be that they were simply tears of pity...
"Okay~" The little girl cleared her eyes and stood up from where she was kneeling on the ground. She looked completely refreshed; it was hard to believe she was crying mere seconds ago. Reili closed the already short distance between herself and the other person...
*pachi* *pachi* *pachi* and began slapping him in the face. Talk about having no respect for the deceased...
"Uncle Veloraaaa! Wakey wakeyyyyyy!" she exclaimed as she increased the speed of her slaps. *pachi* *pachi* *pachi*... right cheek...
*pachi* *pachi* *pachi*.... left cheek...
*pachi* *pachi* *pachi*.... both cheeks...
"..."
"..." Reili pouted as she saw her hard work wasn't paying off at all. The blond man was still lying limplessly against the tree. The only difference would be that now he had both of his cheeks red as a tomato.
Reili shrugged her shoulders as if to say, "Well, it can't be helped," as she readied herself for her next strategy. She bent her knees, lowered her hips and her arms, and...
"AAAAAAAAA!"
"BUFOOOOA?!"
...she gave the blond man a tornado spin directly into his stomach. It was seriously outstanding. The height of the jump, the speed of the on-air rotations, the point of impact, the amount of air she knocked out... Everything was simply perfect, as if it was did by someone with years of experience and hard work-*cough *cough*. Now's not the time for that.
Reili redirected her jump backwards using the man's abdomen as a stepping stone. She did a backflip in the air, gracefully landed a few steps away, and struck a pose identical to that of Ciel-mama-with a peace sign over her right eye and her other hand in her hip-when she landed! As expected of Magical ☆ Reili-chan! Her performance is on a whole other level.
"*cough* *cough* W-Whyyyy?!" The blond man who had just woken up in such a peaceful (?) way jumped for a bit before falling on all fours while clutching his stomach. The Storm Dragon, Veldora-sama, truly had a regrettable actitude unfitting of his position as a True Dragon.
"What a regrettable dragon..."
"Reili?!" Veldora couldn't help but be surprised at Reili's statement which was shockingly similar to those of a certain silver haired woman with evil, red eyes...
"Ah! You're thinking something rude about Mama!" Reili made a posture like that of an attorney when declaring, 'Guilty!' while pointing toward Veldora.
"H-How?!" As expected (?) Reili is as sharp as her mother. No, not only that, but rather Ciel is too big an influence for her-it is yet to be decided if that's a good or bad thing. N-No... I don't think this world needs another Ciel... Veldora-sama shrank back in fear as he imagined a scenario in which he was bullied by a certain pair of mother and child in the future...
"What a regrettable dragon..." Reili looked at Veldora with pity. She wasn't wrong, though. It shouldn't be a normal thing for a dragon to imagine himself being bullied... truly, what a regrettable dragon.
That said, Veldora couldn't even imagine that Reili was already undergoing Ciel's motherly training. That spin-kick she made earlier was one of Ciel's "155 Dragon-kicking tricks to surprise all your friends," as a matter of fact. The name of those techniques... Well, it's pretty obvious the purpose the creator had in mind when creating them. And to think the dragon in question knew nothing about them...
"...How regrettable..."
"What is?!"
"Okay! Uncle Velora! Stop with the straight man comedy! We have to go! It is a special mission from Papa, so let's go!"
"Ughh... go ahead and leave this place to me..." Veldora-sama extended his arm forward whilst still on his knees.
"Erm... No... Uncle Velora, even if you talk like a hero..."
"I'll hold them back! Go ahead, I'll meet with you later!" Veldora gaved his back to Reili and started to look deeper into the forest.
"Who are you holding back?! Also, Uncle Velora! Don't raise any death flags!" Reili appeared to be near the point of snapping, as she raised her voice even further.
"Ughh... it seems they got me... I can hear a voice calling me far, far away..." Veldroa started talking like he was on the verge of death as he broke his kneeling posture and completely laid himself on the ground.
*Snap* There was such a sound. Veldora raised his face and...broke into a cold sweat.
Smile.
"He...he...he... Mama was right..." Reili-chan had a bi~g smile on her face as she spoke in her cute voice. Fun fact: her eyes weren't smiling. Even funier fact: It was a smile similar to that of her mother when she is mad. It wasn't as sca~ry as Ciel's, but when combined with her cute voice, it gained a sense of wickedness. As they say, like mother like daughter.
"R-R-Reili?"
"Uncle Velora is very funny sometimes, he...he...he..." N-No, you don't appear to be having fun at all, Veldora wanted to retort, but Reili-chan's pressure was over 9,000!
However, Reili seemed to have more composure than her mother when mad, as she took a deep breath to heal herself from Veldora's annoyance. Perhaps she inherited a bit of Rimuru's more carefree and easy going nature.
"Uncle Velora, let's go..." Reili-chan's pressure seemed to relax a bit, and her smile regained a bit of her former brightness. Veldora sighed in relief as he noticed she had regained a bit of her sanity, and so he was about to go into offensive formation to defend his liberty of doing nothing... but Reili-sama was merciless!
"...Or I will tell Mama." she decided to pull out her trump card!
"Let's go~" Veldora stood up and began walking. An instantaneous change in attitude! As expected of Ciel-sama! She is able to bring the Storm Dragon into submission by the sole mention of her name! Or rather, what a strong trump card to have! Reili-chan knows no limits!
"Yes~!" Reili returned to usual and began walking happily following behind the now drooping Veldora, who was muttering, "I-I just wanted to read some manga..."
They continued walking through the forest at a leisure pace; Reili had been singing and whistling songs taught to her by her dear Mama while the weeb dragon slo~wly regained his composure. It had been about one and a half hours later that any of them noticed that something was amiss.
"*Whistling*-Hmmm?" The first who noticed was Reili, who stopped in her tracks and halted her whistling.
"Waaaah! Reili, my dearest niece! Don't stop during the best part of the song!" Veldora, who had apparently been paying close attention to her melody, stopped as well as he stared at Reili, who was still facing to the front.
"Uncle Velora... what's that?" Reili completely ignored Veldora's comments and instead pointed to the front, most specifically to a curious, cube-shaped rock. Well, of course it wasn't a perfect cube, but, the point is, that it's a stone that stands out among the others. Yeah, perfect to use as a landmark.
"Kuahahaha! You don't know what that is? Don't worry, Uncle Velora will tell you!" Reili looked at him with eyes that had a hint of irritation in them. She let him continue, though.
"Of course, that is the same rock, we... saw......earlier..." Veldora seemed to notice something as his voice started to trail off near the end of his sentence. "Erm... Reili, my dearest niece, where are we?"
"That's a great question, Uncle Velora!"
"Well of course! As expected of this Storm Dragon! Kuahah-Wait, no! Now's not the time for that! Instead, tell me the answer to that question!"
"Hmmm? I dunno."
"..."
"I said it was a good question because I don't know the answer! If I knew it, then it would be a bad question, because it would be easy to answer!" Reili began innocently explaining her reasoning to Veldora, but the guy seemed to not understand a thing.
"Don't you know how to get to the Ogre Village?!"
"Hmm? Nope~☆!"
"Why?!"
"Well, Uncle Velora, you see... I am still less than two months old, you know? And I wasn't planning to come here with you, so I wasn't prepared." Veldora seemed perplexed, as if he had heard something incredible. No, that's not the correct interpretation. More like, he looked like someone who had suddenly remembered something very important. 'That's right, isn't it...' he muttered.
"There's no way I know how to move alone through this forest either. When I go out, I always go with Papa or Mama, but they are always the ones who know where to go."
"Fair enough." Veldora quickly acknowledged what she said, as if to switch the topic away from the fact he had forgotten all of that.
"Well, but don't worry, Reili, my dearest niece! Let's fly up to the sky to get a view of where we are, okay?" As expected of the Storm Dragon, he isn't as brainless as he appears to be. But...
"No~☆!" ... he was mercilessly shut down by a smile as bright as the sun!
"Why?!" Veldora's eyes widened in shock. R-Rebellious phase?! He thought the same thing as a certain slime not too long ago.
"Mama said flying with Uncle Velora is a no-no!" Reili extended out her right arm and started moving her index finger from left to right.
"Why?!" Veldora-kun had a shocked face.
"Because, Mama said, 'That winged lizard when flying is the equivalent of a bad driver back in your Papa's hometown; he is irresponsible, reckless, annoying, without a sense of security, idiotic, irrespo-'"
"S-Stoppp! Stoooooooppp!!!!" Veldora-sama was sent to his knees from the cruel attack Reili didn't even notice she was making!
"Hmm? But well, that's why~." Reili smiled brightly as she concluded her explanation, not caring at all about the Storm Dragon who was on his knees from the damage he received.
"I-It hurts..." he muttered painfully. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his head. He looked up and saw Reili's face. She was slo~wly patting his head while going, 'There, there..." It was a heartwarming sight. Or well, it would be, if not for the hu~ge amount of, not kindness, but pity that could be seen in Reili's eyes.
"A-Am I really that pitiful..." Of course, Veldora noticed that as well.
"Yup~. But don't worry, Uncle Velora! Reili is sure that if you work hard enough, you can stop being a regrettable lizard someday!"
"Are you trying to encourage me, or are you kicking me while I'm down?!" Veldora retorted, but Reili-sama used the supreme ability of anime protagonists-feigning deafness!
"Anyway~. What do we do now, Uncle Velora?"
"*Sniff* I... I don't know anymore... *sniff* I just want to go home..." Veldora-kun quietly sobbed on the ground.
"Mmmm... Ah!" Reili smashed her fist into her other hand's palm as if she had realized something. "If these trees don't let us see where we are going, then I just need to make them disappear! It's common sense! Let's go, [Purudat-ouch?!"
"WHAT ARE YOU DOINGGGG?!" Veldora, sensing the imminent danger to his forest, appeared to regain his composure as he gave Reili a karate chop to the head.
"HOW IN THE WORLD IS THAT COMMON SENSE?! YOU CAN'T DO THINGS LIKE THAT, YOU HEAR ME?! I AM AN IDIOT, AND EVEN I KNOW THAT!" Veldora-sama appeared to be really mad this time, as he began scolding Reili-chan without even noticing he was badmouthing himself in the process.
"*Sniff* I am sorry, uncle Velora..." Reili-chan's eyes began to fill with tears as she placed her hands together and apologized to Veldora. She turned to look at him with the eyes of a dejected puppy.
"Ugh... such destructive power..." Veldora-sama had to avert his gaze before the menace of the puppy eyes! It carried such a massive destructive power that rivaled a certain air-headed Demon Lord's Drago-nova!
"Haaaah." Veldora sighed heavily. "It's okay, don't worry about it. I know you meant no ill, but even so, it is not okay to cause destruction just because you feel like it, okay?"
"Oooooh. Nn!" Reili nodded with a surprised face. Of course, the surprise was not about the lecture's content, but rather about Veldora himself.
"How cool! Uncle Velora can stop being regrettable if he wants to!" Her eyes were sparkling.
Meanwhile, Veldora was wearing a troubled smile. Do I take that for a compliment?...Yeah let's go with that. He decided internally. It was the right choice; his mental health points would have completely dropped to zero if that wasn't the case!
"Of course! I am amazing, right?! Anyway, let's get going! Even if we don't know where we are, I am sure we will eventually reach the ogre village somehow, kuahahaha!" Veldora returned to his no-good-I mean, to his usual-personality and began walking forward.
Behind him, Reili nodded, 'Sir, yes, sir!' for some reason and began marching behind him as a foot soldier, with her arms and legs swinging back and forth while being perfectly parallel with each other.
◇◇◇
After about two or so hours of wandering through the forest, they finally arrived at their destination.
They now stood in front of a long fence that could be guessed to go around the whole perimeter of the village. Reili was currently on top of Veldora's head on her slime form, as she got-mentally-tired of watching so many trees and going in circles that she decided to trust the task to Veldora and went into sleep mode. Of course, Veldora was not too happy with having to do all the work, but he had no way to refuse the exhausted Reili.
From where they stood, several houses could be seen, all of them sharing similarities with those that appear in the manga Rimuru gave to Veldora-in other words, they all looked similar to Japanese traditional houses. Veldora looked at the houses with sparkling eyes as his weeb soul deeply resounded inside him.
However, he couldn't enter yet, as he was on a part of the fence that wasn't the entrance to the village. He walked around the perimeter for a couple minutes, and he eventually arrived at something that appeared to have the same use as a door. Basically, it was a piece of fence that could be pulled forward and backward at will to allow the passage of people. And in front of such a door, there was someone standing.
A/N: This is all how I imagine the Ogre village, okay? I have no idea if it is supposed to be like that in the actual story.
Black hair, extremely marked muscles, and a large japanese-style sword hanging from a belt on his hip. With two black horns on his forehead, he was clearly a member of the ogre race. Furthermore, he appeared to be on guard against the surroundings, so it was pretty easy to guess he was supposed to be the gatekeeper of this village.
"Hey! You over there! Who are you?!" As soon as Veldora came into the ogre's line of sight, the ogre placed a hand on his sword and entered a battle stance.
"Hold up, hold up! We come in peace!" Veldora, even with his troubling personality, seemed to notice that playing around as he usually did would do no good-even more when considering that Rimuru wasn't around to help if he messed up. He raised both his hands in the air to show he had no ill intentions...
"I won't ask you again. Who are you?" ...yet, the ogre guard didn't lower his guard.
I could tell him my real identity... but wouldn't that be even more troublesome? If I tell them I am the Storm Dragon, they will either not believe me, or prompt me to prove it, and it's troubling either way... Even though he looked like a fool, Veldora wasn't a complete idiot. He could think if the situation required it.
"I am... a messenger." He settled for that answer.
"A messenger?"
"Indeed, I am a messenger from another village that exists in this forest, and our leader would like to form an alliance with you." That last part wasn't told to him by Rimuru, but he kind of deduced the objective of this mission was something like that, considering Rimuru's personality. He had no idea it was to prevent the near-extinction of the ogre race in the hands of buffed orcs...
"... I see... who's your leader?" Still, the guard's wariness didn't seem to decrease.
"Our leader is Rimuru Tempest, my dearest brother and the strongest man I know! Kuahahahaha!" It seems Veldora has reversed back to his usual character.
"Rimuru Tempest huh... I have never heard of him."
"Well, our village is quite new, you see..." Veldora seemed to be running out of things to say. He might not be a fool to the core, but that didn't grant him neverending intelligence either. At that moment, as if to save Veldora, the thing-or rather, person-on his head twitched a bit.
"Hey! What the hell is that on your head?!" The guard obviously noticed the twitch; he had his attention completely on Veldora since a few seconds prior, so even such a slight movement wouldn't go unnoticed.
"Hmmm? Ah, she's my niece."
"?!" The guard jumped on the spot as his eyes threatened to come out of their sockets. He tilted his head curiously as she examined Reili. "That... goo (?) is your niece?"
"Hey! Who are you calling goo, you horned idiot?!" A voice called out to the ogre. That said, it wasn't Veldora's.
"...Hmmm? Where did..." that come from, is what the ogre was about to say, but the voice beated him.
"Up here! Or are you even dumber than Uncle Velora?!"
"Hiiiiiigh?! It talked?! The goo talked?!"
"I AM NOT GOO!" An angry Reili responded from above Veldora's head. Meanwhile, Veldora, who had been caught in between Reili's anger, was now drooping while muttering, '[even dumber than Uncle Velora]... is that how you see me, Reili...' Anyway, leaving the dejected dragon behind, Reili hopped out of his head and transformed into her human form.
Bright red hair, purple eyes that looked like precious jewels, and wearing a single-piece yellow dress with a red jacket on top, an angry Reili made her appearance! She had a pouting face and had her arms crossed while staring directly into the ogre's eyes.
The guard stood there completely in a daze, staring with surprised eyes at Reili who had finished her transformation. She was truly a cute girl, it wasn't weird for anyone to be distracted by her, but still...
" "Lolicon." " Reili and Veldora responded completely in sync. Those two were much closer and alike than what appeared at simple view.
"Y-You're wrongg!" Instant denial by part of the ogre!
*Jiiiiii* But Reili and Veldora were staring directly at him, as if to say, 'That's quite suspicious, isn't it...'
"*Cough* *cough* I-I see, so that goo was actually your niece..." The ogre tried to change the topic, but he chose the wrong words to do so.
"...'goo'..." Reili's already pouting face twitched!
Sometimes, pouting makes the person in question look cute, and it is not any different this time, but leaving aside her pouting face, she herself was now emitting a dangerous aura. She wasn't literally doing anything, but rather, what Veldora and the ogre could feel was that same feeling that a small animal experiences when in front of a being at the top of the food chain.
Earlier that day, Veldora had been targeted by that same pressure, but that was nothing compared to this time around. It was only now that Veldora considered that perhaps before she wasn't as angry as he thought she was-and that's correct. Reili likes to tease him by telling him things like that he is regrettable and the like, but that is just because she likes to spend time with him.
If she ever goes too far, she always apologizes immediately without making any excuses-like earlier with the matter of turning the forest into a wasteland. That is just how she is, and that time she assumed a Ciel-like attitude with Veldora, she was simply messing around with him, she wasn't actually that mad. This time, though...
Damn, she's pissed... Veldora thought to himself. Unlike last time when he was messing around, right now, one of Reili's cute little eyebrows was twitching, a pair of veins throbbed in her forehead, and her face was bright red as a tomato-not from shame, let me add. Veldora honestly started feeling pity for the ogre who was being directly targeted by Reili's anger.
The fact that this situation was similar to how Ciel bullies him never crossed Veldora's mind...
The poor ogre was trembling all over, and even though he still had his hand on his sword's handle, he didn't seem to be able to get a firm grip on it. Furthermore, his face had gone past pale, and he began to look like a corpse.
Reili paid no attention to that, though, and began walking toward him.
"...R..." She muttered as she clenched her fists and continued walking. Each step sounded like a countdown to death, but the ogre was so afraid that he couldn't move an inch.
"...R-R?..." Even so, he managed to speak those words out.
"...Re..." Reili was now right in front of him, with her face looking downward-completely hiding her expression.
"...*gulp*...R-R-Re?..." The guard was getting even more nervous; he had an ominous feeling that told him this wasn't going to end well for him. Reili moved her right hand backward, and then...
"REILI, PUNNNNNNNNNCH!" ... she slammed it into the ogre's stomach.
"Eh?" The ogre was sent flying-not. He just stood there, completely unharmed.
"AAAAAAAAGH?!" The one who wasn't as unharmed-and the owner of the scream-was little Reili-sama, who was now holding her hand close to her body while jumping around in pain. It seemed the ogre was much tougher than what she had thought. Ciel had given her [Nullify Pain], though, so she shouldn't feel any pain...
"What a regrettable performance..." Veldora couldn help but mutter such a thing.
"I don't want to hear that coming from you!" Reili retorted while glaring at him; she was still writhing in pain with her eyes on the brink of tears, though.
"..." Meanwhile, the ogre guard just stood there, dazzled. He thought he was going to go through some serious pain a second ago, but-in fact-he barely even felt the punch. She's... weak, very weak... Seeing that, the ogre finally began to lower his guard a bit, never expecting that...
"There! An opening! REILI PUNCH RELOADEDDD!" Reili immediately stopped writhing in pain as if nothing had ever happened, and drove another punch at the ogre's stomach.
"BUFOOOGH?!" This time, though, he was sent flying; he collisioned with the fence wall, breaking it apart and breaking into the village.
Ciel's '155 Dragon-kicking tricks to surprise all your friends' move n. 121-
'Openinnnnngggggg!'
It was a move that specialized in creating openings on the enemy. Right now, Reili orchested a fake attack in which she was 'weak' in order to lower the ogre's guard. After the ogre lowered his guard, Reili took that opening and hit him for real this time.
To think she could plan that far ahead on the battlefield... Not only is she cute, but she is also deathly! As expected of Ciel-sama's daughter! *Cough* *cough* Now's not the time for that.
"You deserved it!" Reili approached the fallen ogre and stuck out her tongue as she started ridiculing him. "That's what you get for calling me goo!" Hmmph! Reili turned around on the spot and began walking back to Veldora, who was still behind the village's fence.
"Uncle Veloraaaa~" She approached Veldora and stopped right in front of him. She looked to be expecting something.
"Reili did a good job." Reili said such a thing to Veldora, who stood there in a daze.
"Yeah?..." Veldora didn't know what to answer other than that. She did defend herself, but... the other party was a member of the tribe that Rimuru probably wanted to be allies with, so...
"Reili did a good job." Reili-sama was incredibly persistent.
"Y-Yeah?..."
"Reili wants a head pat."
"I-I see..." Veldora had no choice other than to comply. It was pretty clear that Reili was not going to back down no matter what.
"Hehehe..." Reili narrowed her eyes in joy as she received the head pat. "Okay, Uncle Velora! Let's go back with Papa!" Reili began walking leisurely back into the forest.
"Hold up." Veldora sounded serious for once.
"?!" Reili, perhaps sensing Veldora's uncommon seriousness, flinched and turned back to face him.
"We can't go yet. Your Papa told us our mission was to get them to send a messenger over, right?"
"..." Reili turned to look at the place where the ogre guard had been sent flying to. There, of course, was the ogre guard still lying on the floor and the fragments of the fence. However, that wasn't all. Now, there were countless viewers who were staring at Veldora and Reili with not so friendly eyes. Reili broke into a cold sweat as she understood what she had just done.
"U-U-U-Uncle Velora..." Reili began fidgeting nervously on her spot.
"Yeah?"
"Reili is sorry..."
"Yeah, you better be." Veldora sighed as he placed his hand on Reili's head. He wasn't mad, but it was a matter of fact that things were going to turn even more complicated because of this. I want to read my manga! I don't have any time to spend dealing with ogres! That was what he was thinking.
"Well, for now, let's go apologize, kuahahaha!" Veldora started walking toward the ogre village with Reili in tow, but when they were about to approach, someone called out to them.
"Don't take another step." It was an ogre with red hair just like Reili's, two black horns pointing out his head. He was tall, and he looked imposing; the ogre guard from before couldn't even compare.
"...or I will have to cut you down." The yet unnamed Benimaru stood in the way.
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Greetings, author here!
So this was the first Reili/Veldora focused chapter, how was it? I at least had a lot of fun writing it.
Anyway, what would you like the next chapter to be about? The continuation to the main story? Or the continuation to this Reili/Veldora chapter?
Also, thank you so much for the 8k reads! I really appreciate it.
That's all for this afterword, I hope we'll meet again in the next chapter.