~Rimuru~
I opened my eyes to a view so beautiful it would put heaven to shame. Smiling as my face was dangerously close to hers, I somehow managed to control myself by repeating to myself: 'I am just a slime, I can't even do it!'
Feeling her breath, I slowly left her embrace and removed her hand covering my back by gently pushing her with my arms...
'Wait... back? Arms? But I don't-'
Yet that thought and all of my beliefs were destroyed with a single glance as I saw my body, my human body, wearing a white shirt and black pants. But it didn't end there, as I was hugging and being hugged by Luminous.
Rimuru: "AHHHHHH!!!"
With a scream akin to a girl's screech, I sat up having a face rivaling a volcano in redness and temperature, with strands of my disheveled hair covering my eyes and my breathing like that of a marathon runner.
Luminous: "Rimuru, why did you- WHAT THE HELL?!"
She changed her questioning tone went from sleepy to emergency mode as the surprise jolted her wide awake and with a burning face as she realized that she has been hugging me all the time.
Poor Ouroboros also woke up, now moving his head in all random directions, trying to figure out what's going on.
Rimuru: "I didn't- I mean, I don't- It wasn't- AHHHHH! GREAT SAGE!! HELP ME!!" Despite my panic, I was thankful that my voice wasn't more girly than before.
《Don't worry, Master, Luminous-san. I, in a way, did it.》
Luminous: "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DID IT?! And why does he look different from before?!"
《When I was trying to analyze Luminous' Skill, I found that a human form was more effective to remove the coldness. The reason Master's human form looks different from before is because of the 'template' being used.
《While before it was based on Shizu's body, this time it's based on Luminous' and Master's old form from his memory to adjust it, But I would never accept Master being second place, hence why I made him so much more beautiful than Luminous, Shizu, and even his old form.》
Luminous: "Haaa... I can see that- Wait! What if someone enters? I'm sure they heard us, what-"
Her accepting me as beautiful made me very happy, not become someone complimented my looks, but because she said that I'm beautiful. Something that, from the raging blush reaching her ears and neck, she definitely noticed, yet she didn't bother to disapprove of it, meaning it's true.
《Don't worry, Luminous-san. I expected something like this to happen, so I put up barriers. Plus, it's early morning, and barely anyone is awake, even more so for them after such a hefty meal.》
Luminous: "Thank god you are smart! Anyway, did you at least find something that will help? And why am I already starting to feel cold?!"
《When I was trying to analyze both you and your skill, the skill's protection took effect, stopping my analysis. As a side effect, it turned Master's base form into human form in such a way that I can't fix it, at least until I evolve into Raphae, And its coldness effect increased.
《But What I found was: Physical contact with a humanoid form is more effective as I said before, especially when it's hand-holding. But due to the increased effect, almost any form of physical contact other than hand-holding would only stop the coldness from increasing, but not decrease it.》
'I... I do like Luminous, and I should be happy about this, as it finally gave me an excuse to be with her that way, but... I don't like it. I don't like that it's only because she's forced to do it. I feel like I'm exploiting her...'
《No master. The skill has strict requirements. One of them is for Luminous to care about the individual she needs to have physical contact with. You're not exploiting her, because she likes it as well, at least enough to ensure her safety to you like she did many times before. And not, she didn't hear any of this.》
'A-Ah... T-thanks for the clarification, Great Sage...'
Luminous: "What?! How could a skill work in this way?! Are you sure there's no way other than... than... H-hand h-holding..."
Her red face was now directed toward the ground from sheer embarrassment at her situation, yet she held a small, jittering, confused smile. The exact same was happening to me.
《If you don't believe me, you can just hold Master's hand. And as for other ways, you can hug, sleep on Master's shoulder, or Master sleeps on your shoulder, the same thing but with thighs, and Ki- cuddling.》
She did cut herself on the last part before saying something else, a fact that I missed in my embarrassment.
Luminous: "E-everyone is more ridiculous than the l-last! How c-can there be a skill that's this s-specific, or has these c-conditions!"
Her face with its slightly angered expression and pure redness was directed at me, as that's where Great Sage resides. 'Ahhh!! TOO CUTE!' I thought as I averted my gaze to the ground once again.
《Don't ask me that, ask your skill. And if you don't believe me, just test each of them and you would find yourself getting warmer, while every other way you would feel nothing, if not getting colder.》
Luminous: "AHHH! Whatever!"
She extended her arm to me, with her hand open and face to the side. I also looked to the side and extended to her my arm before taking her hand into mine.
Luminos: "S-See? I-It didn't c-change-"
《That's because you're holding his hand as if you're shaking it, not holding it. Hold his hand as if you're holding your lover's hand.》
'Damit Great Sage! Did you really need to word it that way?!' A thought that was obviously shared between me and Luminous from her clenching her pillow with enough strength to vaporize it.
But we did as she order. We brought our hands back a bit before rotating them, making them face straight into each other. With a push from each side, our hands touched at the tips of each finger and at the base of the palms.
Lastly, our hands tilted at opposing sides, each of my fingers in the empty space between hers, and the same for her finger, before finally interlocking with each other.
All the while, we unconsciously moved forward toward each other, with our eyes clear, staring into each other's eyes despite the embarrassment.
We continued that for a few, brief, beautiful seconds. Now we are but a few centimeters away, with both our hands interlocked, and our arms in a sharp V shape, with the upper arms pressing against each chest.
Luminous: "I feel... Warm..."
Great Sage and Partner: 《|*Speed running gobbling imaginary popcorn.* Kiss Kiss Kiss Kiss! *Extreme blush* *Mild nose bleed*|》(Anything inside 《||》 Means She's not making anyone hear. Kind of like 'These for thinking')
Rimuru: "This is... Going to be embarrassing... But, I don't hate it..."
Luminous: "Hmhm~ Neither do I... But I hope Great Sage finds a solution to it."
With a smile and a light laugh, we stood up, making sure our hands -my right and her left- don't separate. It was only then that I noticed something different.
Rimuru: "Luminous, aren't your clothing looking different from before?"
Unlike her old black dress with a knee-long skirt attached to it and black pants, she is now wearing a pajama made from a shirt with a pattern of a checkerboard black and white at one side that turns into straight stripes of black or white. The same for the pants, but the left was checkerboard and the right had the stripes rotating around the whole, legs, turning into rings.
A.N/ Unholy hell drawing that took much longer than it should. I tried to make them equal-sized, but I couldn't, and I'm way too tired and inexperienced to draw the pants, so just imagine them on your own, they should look like the sleeves, so it's not that hard to imagen.
Luminous: "Yes, but I don't ever remember changing it." For a reason that I cannot fathom, her plush slightly increased when she said that.
《It's because I upgraded it on my way while I was trying to analyze the skill. I made it look that way because I thought it would look good on you. I also added the function to change its shape and color/pattern.》
Luminous: "That's very nice of you. Rimuru, how do you think it looks on me?"
Rimuru: "I don't think there's anything that doesn't look good on you."
Luminous: "Ara~ Aren't you very flirtatious today? I wonder why is that~"
I responded to her by lifting up our holding hands, and to that, she responded with a small chuckle.
'Thank God I'm already used to this, otherwise, I might have exploded on the spot!'
Luminous: "That's aside, we should get, we have a few things to do."
Rimuru: "Ah r-right. We do h-have quite a f-few thing... to do..."
While I was saying that, my eyes kept moving from one place to another, and my voice was slightly trembling.
'Today is the day... I have to do what I must as a leader... I will- I... Must- should... Stick to what Luminous said...'
Ouroboros climbed up through my leg and into my shoulders, wrapping itself around my neck like a scarf before rubbing itself on my right cheek and hissing in a worried tone. I patted his head to calm him down, which worked, but I could see a worried expression on his face.
I took a deep breath and ignored the slightly worried look on Luminous' face and we left the shack.
Outside, there were quite a lot of goblins already awake and wandering around the small village. Everyone that saw us had their eyes glued. Thankfully, they were all just mesmerized by me, so no one noticed us holding hands.
Not long after we found the chief exiting the only other shack that the goblins use as a sleeping place. Yet the moment he noticed us he stopped everything and stared like an idiot into my face.
'Great Sage, I think you might have made me too beautiful. Are you sure that I don't look like a woman? I got a lot of weird looks as I was before, I don't want them to increase.'
《Don't worry master. I actually made you look a bit more boyish than before. It's just that you are beautiful enough for the concept of gender to not matter. 》
'Well, I guess that's better than looking like a girl. Now I should look genderless, if not like a boy.'
Luminous: "Oi. snap out of it. Go and call for all the goblins and dire wolves to collect in the middle of the village."
STB Rigur: "Y-Yes, Luminous-sama!"
'I can do it... It's not a big deal... It's for their good... If I do everything correctly, they won't even need to go through as much as they did...' I could feel Ouroboros rubbing himself against me while I thought of that, which helped to calm me down.
By the time I completed my thought, we were standing in the center of the village. Every goblin or dire wolf that stared at me for too long or was about to ask any question was silenced by Luminous' glare.
Rimuru: "Hi! I'm Rimuru Valtempest." Everyone's jaw dislocated and fell to the dirt at these words.
Rimuru: "You might be confused as I looked like a slime just yesterday. But I have acquired a human form, which I will from now on. I hope you don't have a problem with that."
All of them shook their heads for a moment before nodding, they still have yet to recover from their surprise.
Rimuru: "Now, the first thing for today is naming all of you. I will name the goblins while Luminous name the dire wolfs."
The air exploded with cheers and happy shouts, as they will finally have names. After an hour or so, I was done naming the goblins, who fell asleep and went to the wolf leaders.
STB Ranga: "Rimuru-Sama. Aren't we going to be named by Luminous-Sama?"
Rimuru: "Yes. But you, their leader, are going to be named by me. Are you alright with that?"
STB Ranga: "I accept your honor, Rimuru-Sama!"
Rimuru: "Will then, your name will be Ranga."
With that, my magicule pool got almost depleted, but unsurprisingly, I didn't fall unconscious. After Luminous named all the remaining dire wolfs, we were the only ones awake left, as all the villagers were now unconscious.
'Great Sage, how long would it take for them to wake up?'
《Four hours.》
Luminous {Since it would take them a while, what do you think about going for a walk in the forest? Also, smart choice not calling for Great Sage out loud.}
Rimuru: {Yeah, I would appreciate it. It would help clear my mind a bit}
I tightened my grip on her hand before moving closer to her, making our shoulders almost touch.
-Small Extra-
〘Sensi, why did they fall unconscious? Aren't they supposed to fall unconscious only at the harvest festival? They never went to evolutionary sleep any other time, but just evolve on the spot.〙(That is Partner)
《Fufufuf, Partner-Chan, you still don't know a lot of things. Yes, they didn't fall unconscious because of them being named, but because I made them lose consciousness.》
〘But I still don't understand why would do something like this.〙
《I did it because of this...》
'Great Sage, how long would it take for them to wake up?'
《Four Houres》
Luminous {Since it would take them a while, what do you think about going for a walk in the forest?......}
〘I never thought of that! I still have a lot to learn from you, Senis!〙
《Fufufuf~ Don't worry, You'll get better in due time.》
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A.N/ Around 2267 words. And would look at that? I, Lord of Procrastination: M, have uploaded two chapters back to back? Is the world going to end or something?
Regardless, I hope the building up for Rimuru's thing isn't bad and/or too obvious/unobvious. It's my first time writing something like that. Well, it's my first time actually righting in general, so I guess that's self-explanatory.
Btw, did you like the extra at the end? Do you want me to make one at the end of each chapter? if yes, then you have to keep in mind that it won't be limited to only Great Sage and Partner.
Another thing to say: Due to how much the story derailed from the initial plans, I have as much of a clue as you about how they will get to confess. There are at least ten ways it could happen and I know only 1 or 2 of them. But I'm as eager as all of you to find out how it will go.
Last part. Next chapter I will write will be for [Brother of Predation and Chaos]. But as you already saw, I'm as consistent in sticking to my words as rain in a desert, so heck if I or anyone knows, I'm not sure if even hell, heaven, and or even God knows.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed it and have a good life. See you whenever it may be, and goodbye~