JOIN OUR DISCORDS! mu1622
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Aoki's POV
Today I had to do a few things. I'd experimented more with the Parallel Processing skill to create another tiny mind that could remember these things for me so I did not need to concern myself with it.
They would just keep track of the time, and inform me when the time for a task is reached... I felt like I was forgetting something, since I only had two things to do that day, but I ignored it.
First, I had to attend 'etiquette' lessons with Shuna, from 8 to 10 AM, then I had to go to combat training with Hinata from 10 AM to 1 PM. This extra mind made managing such things much easier, so I would not need to rely on anyone to tell me things again... I'd just need to ask when it would happen.
This little mind was much more efficient than my other parallel mind, so it didn't have any noticeable effect on the rate I lost magicules.
I still wanted to find out how Mother never seemed to lose magicules over time, but I had some idea that it was a secret.
I was awake well in advance, to spend time practicing magic. I was attempting to learn how all the different affinities worked, and if there was a way I could convert between them with my skills.
I took one of each of the stones into Aoki Space for this. Then, I sat on the 'desk' in slime form, to do this 'work.' Mother did this when doing important tasks, so I wanted to figure out if it actually had an effect.
It did not.
As a result, I pulled the desk into my Aoki Space. I concluded that the subject of work needed to be on top of the desk for the effect to work.
I didn't have time to test this since Shuna entered my room while I was focused on my experiment. I would need to fix that. Another extra mind would be able to keep watch for me, but I'd create that later.
"Aoki, where is your desk?"
"I ate it."
"Well, put it back. Desks are not food."
I did as she said and put the desk back in its place. I could just eat it again later when I needed it.
"I did not eat it for food. I know my desk isn't food, Shuna."
"Miss Shuna, Aoki. We talked about this during your last lesson."
"But Shuna is your name."
"You will call me Miss Shuna or I will stop calling you Aoki and just refer to you as Princess."
"My name is Aoki. Call me Aoki!"
It was bad enough that my Goblinkin never just called me by name and I didn't want Shuna to start doing it too.
Shuna stared at me like she wanted something.
"... Miss Shuna."
"Thank you, Aoki. Now come with me, it is time for your lesson." Miss Shuna began quickly walking to another room, and I had to catch up... But I knew this trick. I was not allowed to run while catching up. I'd need to walk.
I went into human form and tried to catch up without running. Shuna didn't stop to correct me, so I must have done it correctly.
When I reached the room Shuna normally used for this, I noticed that there was another person in there, with white hair. Upon attempting analysis, it failed immediately.
Shuna sighed and then smiled at me, "I suppose we should address that problem first. Don't you think so, Testarossa?"
"I agree. It was an admirable attempt, I must say. I haven't seen a unique-level analysis skill of that potency before." The woman giggled softly. "Before you attempt it again, I am one of Lord Rimuru's direct subordinates and a demon."
"I knew you were a demon." It was obvious from the small amount of aura she was releasing.
"Well, at least you knew the first thing I'd suggest already." The white-haired demon stood up and gestured toward me. "Princess Aoki, when did you last acquire a skill?"
I considered the last time I'd gotten a skill for a moment, and it was when I was watching a 'movie' with Mother the night before, one of the characters reminded me of the lightning attack I saw from the old man in 'Star Wars' before with Mother and 'Uncle Uki'.
So I tried to copy it by analyzing my skills and managed to create [Tempest Lightning], which I then added to my other skills with Combinator. "I saw a skill last night. I wanted it, so I made it."
The demon raised an eyebrow. "You made it?"
"With my skill."
"Can you tell me what–?"
"That is enough," Shuna suddenly interrupted her, but Testarossa just smiled.
"Lord Rimuru is truly an amazing being..." The demon in front of me looked away for a moment, and almost looked like she was looking at Mother's office.
"Whose skills you shouldn't be prying into, especially not through his daughter," Shuna responded.
The demon did something I think is called huffing, then she finally focused back on me another moment later. "Princess... You told me a lot more than you needed to."
"What do you mean?" I was simply answering the question honestly, as Mother would have told me to.
"Well. You told me about your skills, and about Lord Rimuru's by proxy. That is a dangerous thing to do, so you need to avoid it." The demon then took a more serious expression. "You have something to learn from it, though."
The way she was speaking was beginning to catch my interest, as what she was saying appeared to be some strategy.
"What I was doing is called asking a pointed question, one which targets a specific response. I was trying to get you to give me information about your skills by asking something related to them."
I nodded softly. All of that made sense, even if I hadn't considered it. Trying to use words to get information other than what you directly asked... It had many uses.
"You seem like you are thinking about ways to use it for yourself, which is the point of this lesson." The demon paused for a second, then said took on a 'concerned' tone. "A word of advice though, you should always assume others are doing this as well. So answer dangerous questions carefully."
"Even with Mother?" If everyone did it, that would include Mother. As a result... I would need to be cautious of what I say to Mother.
"I–"
"Don't." Shuna was quick to cut the demon off, even if I wanted an answer.
So I sent her a 'glare.'
"Honesty is something Lord Rimuru values, so it wouldn't be courteous to be dishonest. He is your parent."
What she said felt true, but I kept in mind that there could be things I should answer carefully.
"This lesson is intended for your interactions with others outside of Lord Rimuru's closest subordinates, and Lord Rimuru himself."
"Ok." I employed this 'careful answering' to get Shuna to let the demon talk more.
"Moving on. Princess." The white haired woman waited until I turned to her. "Instead of attempting to Analyze me, instead, you should ask me a question. I'll answer it carelessly for you."
I engaged Thought Acceleration to figure out what I wanted to know about the demon, and what I was most curious about was the name of her skills. So, I had to construct a question that could get her to give me one of them.
I spent several seconds thinking, which felt like a much longer amount of time. "...Miss Testarossa, how would you go about fighting... Miss Hinata."
I didn't want to use the 'polite words,' but Shuna was listening.
"Hm..." The demon paused for several moments, it seemed almost like she put more thought into her words than I did, despite saying she would answer carelessly. "If fighting Lady Hinata, I would employ Spiritron Domination, and I would attempt to give her doubts about her relationship with Lord Rimuru."
Shuna gasped. "Testarossa, that last point was inappropriate."
I took note of one of the odd words in the demon's answer. "Relationship? With Mother?" It seemed she did release some information that I wasn't looking for. Even if I did hear the name of what sounded like a skill too, [Spiritron Domination].
"They are allies, and going against me is going against Lord Rimuru and his wishes, is it not? I do not see that as inappropriate." The demon smiled deeply.
Shuna sent a glare at the demon again. "You know exactly why I said that."
Despite that, the words used still left this hard to understand. "I am confused."
Shuna finally explained it some more. "Lord Rimuru is friends with Lady Hinata and wouldn't like any of his people fighting with her, Aoki. That is all."
The demon added to it shortly after. "Bringing up the subject may make Lady Hinata hesitate, and I'm certain you see the benefit in that, Princess."
"I do." I considered how I could use this information for training later.
"Now. Is there anything you'd like more examples of, Princess? I know you lack much of the context for these things, so it may be wise to instruct you on specific topics as well." The demon stood up and seemed to grin for some reason as she made a whiteboard on a metal stand appear.
It was obviously her doing because her aura was ever so slightly released when she did it. Additionally, her magicules lingered on the object.
"It may not be wise to ask-"
"I want to know how to use this to make people teach me powerful magic." I realized somewhat earlier that it may have been asking overtly that got me denied so often.
"I believe Lord Rimuru will teach you powerful magic when he sees fit." The demon said something I'd already been told unfortunately. But Mother had taken a long time.
"Instead, let's discuss sensitive topics that you should try to keep to yourself when someone brings them up, hm?" Shuna intervened and got the talking to the point at which it stayed for some time.
"Fine." The demon made a long wooden stick appear and slapped it against the board. "Let's begin with personal matters. If anyone attempts to ask you about a betrothal, do not answer. As for what that means, I'll explain what you can know for now..."
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After that, Shuna and Testarossa explained many topics which I either had to refuse to speak on, or be what Testarossa called 'tactful'. I didn't understand, but they said I should never talk about marriage, betrothal, dating, special partners, or boyfriends. Those are the ones that all seemed to have the same meaning at least, but there were more like war, battles, armies... and a bunch of things labeled as technology.
As far as things I had to be 'tactful' about, it was things like friendships, alliances, deals, or anything about magic. Though some magic was in the 'don't talk about it' category, such as any of my skills.
I couldn't be sure if there were more problems though, and I did not wish to make Mother upset. So I decided I would not talk about any of these sensitive topics, or anything that seemed related to them.
This way I could avoid any of those problems.
Now I was walking to the labyrinth entrance from the palace. It was only the second time I had done it alone, but I wasn't allowed to do anything but take the direct path straight there.
I was wearing a big yellow 'coat' that was enchanted by Mother to do three things, it disguised my presence, aura, and appearance.
Mother was oddly enthusiastic about me walking to the labyrinth on my own when I said I wanted to look at things on the way there, but that Hinata never gave me time to do that.
It seemed like Mother thought I was interested in the people or something about them. I was not. I was interested in the magic items I could see them carrying.
That day though, I did see something that interested me, about people too. Small people doing something that made no sense at all.
They were running toward each-other before hitting their heads together, then whoever pushed the other out of a circle first was really happy at the end.
I did not understand this. Why were they smiling and happy? All they had done was move a person. I watched them from the other side of the street.
A small orc spoke. "Are you sure you want to go again, Gabe? I don't think Akaru will be merciful again."
The person this orc was speaking to was a small human. The small human placed his hands on his hips and spoke loudly, yelling I think. "Well, let's see that ogre stop me from taking my turn! I don't care if he's won most rounds!"
It seemed the one they were talking about was a slightly taller, but still small person. They were actually an ogre, with red skin and what seemed like yellow eyes. "Gabe, c'mon... I don't wanna hurt you. My mom would get really upset if the guards end up taking you home again."
The rest of the small people were simply staring, some appearing to smile while others appeared to be frowning.
There was a mix of ogres, orcs, a goblin, and then that human. Gabe. He had two red spots on his forehead, by far looking the most damaged.
The goblin was the second most damaged.
Perhaps they did not know how to heal?
Unfortunately, after my prolonged watching them, it seems one of them noticed me. The orc person who had spoken first, they were looking at me now.
They yelled as well but at me. "Hey! You've been staring for a while, do you wanna play? Maybe you could save this soft-skin some hurt."
Then the ogre looked at me. "Holt. That's way worse, I don't wanna play hammerhorns with a little girl!"
I was unsure why he would not want to play with me. Regardless, I could not. "No. I have somewhere to go."
After that, I finished my walk back to the labyrinth.
...
"Hinata. I saw small people that were from races I thought were bigger. What are those?"
"Small... people?" Hinata stared at me blankly for a few seconds. "Do you mean children?"
"But that's what everyone calls me. They can't be that. That's the word for me."
"You aren't the only child in Tempest, Aoki. Those must have been children, just like you."
"But how can the same word be used for them and me? They were doing things that made no sense. They aren't like me."
"You're very special... but you're still the same as them in some ways." Hinata paused and did a small smile. "After all, you are small, and still growing. You aren't as strong as most of Rimuru's subordinates yet. That's what being a child means."
"I am not weak." I felt the urge to hurt Hinata, even though I could not. It was anger. Why would this make me angry though? It was true.
"I never said you were," Hinata said, still smiling.
Somehow that made it worse. I was more angry. She was telling a false!
After that anger that I was never able to get rid of, we made it to the training room.
Something was unusual though, the room's light was turned off, and on the other side was the silhouette of a large person-creature. It was too spiky.
"Princess." The creature spoke, and the voice reminded me of an encounter I had after being named. Yes, he was there. "I'm here to assist you in self defense training."
"What are you doing here? I didn't invite you." Hinata moved to stand in front of me, seeming to think he might hurt me.
Why was she being so cautious with this person? Hinata isn't usually like this when training me.
"I invited myself. I would like to see what the successor is capable of. I'm certain it will be more than I was at a similar age."
Hinata seemed to look him up and down before nodding her head, "I will allow it, but keep in mind that Rimuru is very fond of Aoki. If she ends up injured or harmed in any way, I'm sure he would be displeased with you."
"I can assure you... I would not bring this one harm. Lord Rimuru's lack of an heir.... However much I respect our lord, I find it disheartening. The worst of situations would require one. So I was pleasantly surprised by the news."
The worst of situations... The creature couldn't mean anything but something very bad happening to Mother. I didn't want to think about that. Ever.
But what the spiky monster said made it clear that he is loyal to Mother. That made me question even more why Hinata seemed so nervous about him. Perhaps while he was loyal... He was dangerous.
"The worst situations, huh? I can't imagine anything really killing Rimuru, but since you seem to think he might somehow leave. I guess it's fine." Hinata sighed and pinched the place above the nose. "Just be careful, she's still a kid, even if she doesn't fight like one. I know how you fight in training and Aoki is not ready to handle that."
"I apologize that we never had time for a rematch. I believe you said, "I'm sure you would have won if you hadn't fought those useless gnats first."" The bug man chuckled softly. "Idle chatter is getting tiring, though."
The two seemed to have a history together that I couldn't piece together. I needed more information.
Hinata smiled while looking down slightly. I could also see one of those weird vessels on the heads of humans bulge slightly. "I don't think we should be talking about anything from more than three decades ago. So, go ahead." After that Hinata stepped back, leaving me alone in the doorway.
I strained my magic sense... Yet it was ineffective. Whatever this darkness effect being used was, my magic sense could not see through it. I could only see the bug man with my eyes, due to the faint light he gave off.
Until he disappeared from sight altogether.
I looked around and tried to sharpen my vision by modifying my eyes in various ways, but even with thought acceleration I was not fast enough. I only managed to see the bug man when he was right next to me.
I felt it again, that emotion that makes you want to run... Fear. So I attempted to move out of the way as fast as I could, only barely managing to avoid a swipe from the creature's arm.
I didn't understand why Magic Sense did not work, it was not the same as when Hinata blocked it... That just made it very short range and fuzzy. It was more like there was a wall wherever I tried to look that I could not see through.
Now that the bug man was in sight though, I attempted to charge a ball of magicules and fire them at him.
Yet, as the ball got close to him, his form turned into a puff of smoke and disappeared altogether. I did not think that attack could have killed him, so it was more alarming.
That's when I was suddenly picked up by the back part of my clothes on my neck and the darkness disappeared.
The bug man was holding me up and staring at me. Something about the way he was looking made it seem 'careful', as if he was avoiding looking at certain things like my skills and my soul.
"You certainly are far beyond my own former self." After that, the bug man set me down.
I was still stunned by what had happened. It was all so quick. Even with my thought acceleration, I couldn't even come close to keeping up with this person.
"How?" I asked while staring up at the monster that had beaten me.
Hinata answered for him, "Zegion is one of Rimuru's strongest subordinates, and one of the few capable of spatial isolation. I'm gonna guess your magic sense stopped working?"
"Yes... it was... startling."
"I apologize. The lesson would not have been as effective if you were aware." Zegion spoke once again. "Would you like to attempt that one more time?"
"No." I knew that would be useless until I found a way to resist his spatial isolation. "Not now."
"Very well. Lady Hinata, what kind of progress has the princess made in all her ventures?" I didn't understand the big words the bug man was using.
"Other than this, I believe she had some kind of etiquette lesson plan with Shuna and that white demon. I think she also has had interactions with the true dragons... As for skills training, I've tried but she does not take well to other people testing her skills. Yet she also has no restraint using them. It is frustrating." Hinata did something she informed me was called 'huffing' after I asked many times before she sat cross-legged on the floor.
"Mother told me that my skills are my secrets and I'm supposed to keep them to myself."
"Of course he told you that... Rimuru is extremely secretive about his skills so I should've known..."
"It is reasonable. However, I can understand a teacher's frustration with such a thing. Lady Hinata must understand, Our Lord's skills could be taken advantage of, and the same likely applies to the princess." I immediately felt uncomfortable with the bug man saying that to Hinata. It felt like something I should keep to myself was shared, and it made me itchy all over.
Hinata stared at me closely as I reacted. "Aoki, are you alright?" She approached me and placed a hand on my head, which stopped the small shaking motion I was doing. It was unusually calming.
"Can we talk about etiquette instead?" I employed what I'd learned earlier from Testarossa about suggesting a different topic when the one of discussion becomes dangerous.
"I suppose we can. How comfortable have you been with what has been taught?"
"It makes no sense but I can follow the rules of it."
Zegion stood up. "I see. My colleagues need assistance. Can you give me an example of a topic you do not understand?"
I looked at the floor, feeling frustration build. "I do not understand why I need to shake their hands, or be careful with how I eat, or why I need to smile, or why I can't threaten them, or need to hide how I am feeling."
Hinata loudly and slowly sighed. "Of course you're more unusual than your Father."
"I believe I understand now. My colleagues truly do need my assistance." Zegion then focused on one of the topics I mentioned. "As for why you should be careful how you eat, you do not need to eat, but humans do need to eat. Therefore, it is best for you to restrain yourself to allow them to get what they need. This especially applies to large groups of humans."
"Rimuru is Mother." I glared at Hinata. However I did consider what Zegion had said while doing so. It was true that I did not need food, but I did enjoy it. So why did it matter what humans needed?
"Exactly as I said." Hinata huffed and looked away.
We continued talking until we got to the end of the training period. Though it was obvious the two were trying to get information on my skills. So I had to be careful to share as little as possible.
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