Jura Forest
After Sunset
Rimuru's POV
I've managed to defeat the Fire Lord, and currently it is inside my Stomach.
I've activated Pararell Processing inside my Stomach, analysing the Spirit Lord whilst I head towards the Goblin village.
Hoku came running towards me, a worried look covering his face.
Was he worried for me?
Didn't I kill his father? I'm surprised he's actually worried for me.
Hoku: Rimuru-Sama, are you okay?!
He immediately starts circling around me, as if looking for some damage that needs to be tended towards.
Didn't he notice im a slime? Well, it's alright I suppose.
Rimuru: I'm fine, he wasn't too much trouble.
I relieve his worries with a monotone expression, my previous self when facing that thing long gone.
He immediately stops circling around me and looks towards me with glistening eyes, as if amazed by me.
What was so amazing about that back there...
Well, I suppose the fact I defeated a being even I was skeptical against does stand out.
Well, doesn't matter, I just want to see how the evolutions went.
Moreover, I'm getting memories that don't belong to me or Veldora. I need to check up on what's happening inside the Stomach.
Not to mention, these memories don't belong to the titan but apparently, these memories belong to some woman.
All I see, is some children and two teenagers who appear japanese...
I'll pry further to see what's happening here, but for now I want to know what the evolutions are like.
Rimuru: How are the evolutions going?
I ask Hoku, who's wagging his tail right besides me.
For your information, I was actually petting him unconsciously because I felt like it.
His fur is actually pretty soft for something that looked so rough, and it felt quite good to pet it with my hand.
Hoku: The evolutions are going fine, Rimuru-Sama.
I believe that answer was a bit half hearted, considering he is enjoying the pets too much.
But, based on what I'm seeing inside the huts, their evolutions are just fine so it's alright.
Anyways, I stopped petting Hoku and began heading towards a new tent. Hoku intended to follow me, but I simply sent him a stare that conveyed my message. "Leave me alone for a while"
He immediately complied and began heading somewhere else...
I immediately make way into the forest, hiding myself and my aura from the other wolves so they don't follow me.
Once I make sure no one is around me, I extend my hand in the air and use {Gluttony} on myself and teleport into the Stomach of my skill.
I've been feeling a huge disturbance in the sub space, I suppose it's that titan.
...
Gluttonie's Stomach
Apparently, this is just an alternate dimension where nothing escapes once it enters.
It's a complete pitch black space which gives off the feeling of an endless illusion wherever you look. Ofcourse, the noise of the titan hitting the "walls" of the subspace are heard in here, must be some intense clashing.
Rimuru: It's useless, your trapped in here until I say that your allowed to leave.
I speak towards the fire titan, who looks and glares at me whilst growling like a feral animal.
He attempts to fire some flames at me, but I simply decide to steal away most of his magicules.
Inside this sub space, I hold absolute authority over everything. This space bends and works to my will, and will obey any order I give to it.
Rimuru: Now, tell me about that woman inside of you.
That was the part that was bugging me immensely.
Why was there a woman inside the fire titan?
She appears to be an early adult based on her looks, but it is clear she is way over that age based on the fact this titan has existed for a century.
Elemental Lord: Find out yourself.
That was the only reply I received.
It appears he isn't going to answer me anytime soon...
In that case, the hard way it is.
Elemental Lord: URK!
He grunts and begins convulsing on the floor, as if a seering pain has extended to all parts of his body.
I immediately seperated the woman from the titan using the sub spaces ability to separate, so you may be wondering why it is convulsing in pain.
No need to worry, I'm tearing him apart by using corrosion on his very soul. It will be enough to get him under my command.
And yes, I want to subordinate him.
Now for the woman...
I create a random bed in the sub space, do not ask me how it's for the plot.
Author: HEY HEY, FOURTH WALL!
Time Skip of Author fixing the Fourth Wall brought to you by:
Third Person.
For Rimuru, this woman meant absolutely nothing to him at all.
He didn't care whether she appeared to be a fellow japanese person, he only needed answers from her regarding something.
Time was irrelevant in the sub space, nothing aged in here even as time passed in the real world.
For Rimuru, he had all the time in the world once inside this subspace. All the time he needed to question her.
The problem was, she was taking too long to wake up in his opinion.
Until then, he had healed her inner organs which had aged using the healing potions he stored up in this space.
It appeared she had refused the full merging with the fire titan, causing her to be an incomplete Majin that still aged like a regular human being. As such, she aged and became more and more weaker as her internal organs became worser and worser.
Now, all he had to do was wait for her to wake up...
So he just sat there, waiting for her to wake up so that he could satiate his curiousity.
Although he did wonder what the Direwolves and Goblins were doing at the moment, but he'll know when he comes out of the space.
And besides, this woman finally opened her eyes after a long time of waiting.
Rimuru: Your finally awake.
He spoke to her in a monotone voice, looking at her emotionlessly as she scanned her surroundings.
She appeared to be weakened in the inside, and her eyes displayed that feeling. She appeared to have had just enough of everything, as if she didn't want to stay here anymore.
She looked everywhere in the sub space, before her eyes fell on Rimuru who was sitting on the side of the small bed.
Rimuru: You appeared to be serving as a vessel for that Spirit Lord. I have a few questions if you don't mind.
He gave a straight answer to her, that she was free from the Spirit Lord's control at this point. She let out a sigh of relief, although her expression of pain quickly returned.
Rimuru was straight with his purpose, he merely wished to know something and he hoped she would answer it.
For a person who had been controlled her entire life, this may be an unreasonable demand as getting caught on with everything that has happened would be hard...
But at this rate, she had nothing to lose, she might aswell help him.
Shizue: Ask.
Her voice was filled with pain and regret, as if she didn't care what happened anymore and was pondering over whatever has happened.
Perhaps she was going through what ifs? Rimuru thought she might be thinking that, but he honestly didn't see any point in it.
Why think over what ifs of something that has already happened? It made no sense, just accept the fact that it has happened and cannot be changed. You cannot change the past, no matter what.
Rimuru: Are you japanese?
That was the first question.
It honestly was unexpected for Shizue, but she did see his face was Japanese so perhaps he was a Japanese too?
Either way, it was rather pleasant to know that there was another Otherworlder from the same country like her.
Shizue: Yes, are you?
She confirmed his question, and in return asked one too. He nodded to her question, confirming he is also a Japanese like her.
A bit of awkward silence developed between the two, she waited for the next question and he was actually wondering which question to ask next...
Rimuru: Are there perhaps other people from different countries in this world?
If Japanese people from his world exist in here, then do people from other countries also exist here? That's the question that ran in Rimuru's mind.
Shizue wondered if this guy was a human or a Majin, because clearly she hadn't seen such level of power before. The only person she thought who could defeat the fire titan on her... Was the one who summoned her.
Either way, it was clear to her that this was no ordinary otherworlder.
Shizue: There are many Otherworlders...
That small answer confirmed Rimuru's question, there are other people from other countries in this world.
Shizue, meanwhile, was wondering how long this person has been in this world if he didn't know about this information.
Otherworlder summonings were a pretty uncommon topic in this world, but was a forbidden practice that was by no means allowed at all.
The Western Council would purge and destroy any country who was found doing this practice, and their title aswell as their history would be stripped from any sort of record.
Not to mention with how powerful this otherworlder was, she thought that perhaps he has lived for even longer then she has... Yet, it appears he is quite young...
Rimuru: Well, for my last question, it may be a little personal.
Indeed, it was personal.
But honestly, Shizue couldn't care much about it at all.
Her life has practically been destroyed, and she doesn't exactly care about happens to her at all.
The children whom she failed to rescue had died Infront of her, and her teenager children had long abandoned her...
Rimuru: What will you do from now on?
He stood up and questioned her, wondering what her next motive will be.
Truth be told, he expected her to be suicidal and just not want to live anymore.
Based on her memories, she seemed to have failed to achieve her two main goals.
1) One was to apparently save give children from exploding due to over magicule accumulation.
2) Two was to somehow get the Ifrit of that time under control, so lives wouldn't be lost.
She failed to do both, and currently became the cause of the death of potentially thousands.
Shizue: I... Don't know.
However, over the years she grew dull on her emotions. Whenever she watched the fire lord commit a genocide, she could only watch from it's eyes as it did so.
Worse, the countries outside didn't even bother attempting to defeat this enemy as they considered it a "waste of time".
So, in this moment, she was pondering what to do.
Did she want to live, or did she want to die...
Ofcourse, Rimuru wasn't going to sit here and listen to her about instant murmuring and decision making. He had things to do, and it'd be best if he didn't waste time in here.
Rimuru: Time in here is irrelevant, you may take as much time as you need.
He merely got up, and decided to leave the tortured Flame titan and the Conflicted flame champion to there things.
Shizue: Okay...
A portal opened right next to Rimuru, and he stepped out of it into the real world.
Not before sending a glance towards Shizue.
_____________________________________________
Yes, Shizue is alive.
This time, she's in a similar case as Rimuru.
She's slightly like him in personality, and she is largely conflicted on what to do next.