Standing at the heart of the storm, the group watched as the massive multicolored swarm of lesser spirits began moving around as Ariana got up. "Huh. You look kinda like…nah, too pathetic looking."
Summoning a staff out of thin air, the oni stood up. "Definitely related, though." She muttered.
Shuna watched as her ancestor silently muttered something about the flow of destiny to herself. Then she cursed Veldanava. "Eh. Great grandmother?"
"Hah?" She turned to the pink haired kijin. With an aged smile, she reassured her. "Oh, it's nothing you need to worry about sweetie." Sighing to herself, she began walking over to the group. Everyone could only look on in confusion as she stopped in front of Rimuru. "Yellow eyes. So it's not time yet." She began pulling at Rimuru's cheeks. "Weak."
Rimuru awkwardly looked over to Shizue. It seemed she was just as confused as him. Then the oni poked at Rimuru's chest. "Wha!" He jumped back, covering himself. "W-What are you doing!?"
Acting as if she hadn't just somehow managed to molest a genderless being, she clicked her tongue. "Annoying." She turned away from Rimuru.
"H-hey! You can't just act like nothing happened!"
"Hah!?" She turned to the slime with a glare. Her blue eyes shined bright as the spirits grew noticeably agitated. "Ya got something to say to me!?"
"Uh…" Rimuru looked down. "No. Sorry."
"Like I thought." She turned towards Shizue. "The hell do you want, half breed? Speak up!"
Benimaru and Shuna could only look on in embarrassment. Trying her best to ignore whatever that was, she asked, "I-I want to ask a question about your master. I would be honored if you…"
The pink haired oni gave Shizue her palm. "Cut the formalities. You want to know something about the Spirit Queen, right? Is this about those students?" She watched as Shizue grew a little uncomfortable. "I think I understand. You figured out that binding those brats to spirits will stabilize them, yeah?"
Shizue looked shocked, "Y-you knew."
"Course I knew. Ya think the student of that hag won't know something as basic as that?"
"N-no. That's not what I meant." Shizue muttered.
"What do you mean then?" Ariana asked.
"You knew about my students. I didn't think you would know what I was doing nowadays."
The oni growled, "Don't get the wrong idea! I only know because Alex told me about it, half breed!"
Shizue smiled, "I see. I understand."
The oni grew annoyed. "Clearly you don't."
She waved her staff around, gathering a collection of her magicules in a point in the air. It wasn't long before the light show drew in a particularly bright light from the swarm. Not long after, the light grew in brightness before shifting into a new form.
{Notice- Subject Ariana has named a lesser spirit. Lesser spirit has evolved into a greater spirit}
Greater spirit. It was a term Rimuru only vaguely knew from manga and anime, but had he known more, he would have been baffled. In one fell swoop the oni before them had made a lesser spirit climb two stages on its evolution. A feat even some of the strongest in the world would have trouble with.
Starting from a ball of light, the being quickly began to take shape. First developing a basic humanoid body it developed long silky blonde hair, a simple white dress, elf-like ears and see through wings. On its body, Rimuru noticed bright blue markings he couldn't help but compare to tattoos.
The oni turned to the group. "This one should help you. I can't say whether the hag will say yes. That much will depend on how she judges the character of your brats but if you bring this light spirit with you she might be more willing to hear you out." She waved the spirit over to Shizue. "Just so you know, greater light spirits have a special role in this world. It'll be up to you to find its destined hero. It's only going to help you for as long as you promise that."
Shizue watched as the light spirit hovered over. With a serene look on its face, the spirit spoke aloud. "Greetings, Conqueror of Flames. My name is Laira. I hope our relationship proves fruitful for us."
"I-I see. So you've given me an endorser?"
"That's the best I can do. Just tell her that it was her old student that handed that spirit to you." She started walking away, "I trust you'll know how to find the dwelling. Bring your brats there and ask the queen for help. She'll know what to do from there." Everyone watched as the spirit floated down, touched foreheads with Shizue, then disappeared. Ariana sat down, "Don't forget what I told you about the light spirit. It'll be my ass on the line if that spirit doesn't get to fulfill its role. You better not fail."
Shizue smiled warmly. "I understand."
The oni looked at her one last time before lying down. "Yeah, yeah. Now get the fuck out of here."
Shizue stood still for a moment before silently turning away. "Let's go." The two oni siblings silently followed as Shizue started walking away.
Rimuru looked between Shizue and Ariana. They seemed to have some interesting history. Before following, Rimuru looked back at Ariana. She was already snoring on the bed. What an odd person.
As the group walked out of the cave, Rimuru said, "Shizu, that was a greater light spirit, right? I think I understand most of that but, why did she give you a spirit? Do you need it to speak to that queen?"
"Eh?" She looked at Rimuru, "Oh, I suppose you wouldn't understand yet." She thought for a second, "I don't understand the specifics myself but I would assume having a light spirit to vouch for us will be a strong sign that we're trustworthy. She mentioned part of it back there but light spirits are special."
"How so?" He asked with a look of interest.
"Hm, that would be hard to explain." She smiled to herself, "I guess the best way to summarize it would be that the light spirits are connected to the fate of this world. You heard what she said at the end, right? When she told me to ensure it fulfills its role?"
Rimuru thought back. "Yeah, is it important?"
"Yes." Her voice grew serious. "Light spirits possess a special quality. To form a contract with a light spirit signifies potential to become a hero. In this world, that title isn't something to be taken lightly. What we call true heroes are special existences that decide the fate of the world. They are the human answer to the demon lords." She looked up to the sky, "Or at least that's how my master explained it."
She touched her chest, feeling the light spirit sitting inside her. "By having a light spirit vouch for a meeting with the spirit queen, I can guarantee she at least hears me out. That is why she gave me this spirit. However, that comes with the price that I will have to search for the hero this spirit is destined for. To fail at that would be a breach of contract."
"Will something bad happen if you fail?"
Shizue looked at Rimuru with a serious glare. It was something that made him gulp…"No."
"Eh? D-don't look at me like that! I thought you would say you would die or something like that!"
Shizue chuckled. "Well, it's not entirely true that nothing bad will happen. Ariana will get in trouble with the spirit queen. It's not healthy for the fate of the world to strengthen a light spirit so haphazardly."
Shuna suddenly spoke up, explaining, "For great grandmother to have entrusted Miss Shizu with a task like that, she must have been certain she could do it. It is a sign of the trust she has in her."
"I-I see." Rimuru muttered aloud. [Great Sage], can you explain what heroes are in more detail?
{Notice- True Heroes are the human and demi-human equivalent to the monster's Demon Lord. It is the highest known achievable state of evolution, only achievable through the attaining of strength beyond that of a saint, the obtaining of the blessing of a greater elemental of darkness or light and the manifestation of a pure wish. As of the current day, it is a level of power that has been achieved under 20 times, although those with the potential to achieve such a power have appeared commonly throughout history}
Rimuru blinked. "Woah. It really is a big deal."
"Did you ask that skill of yours?" Shizue asked.
"Eh? Oh, yup." Rimuru paused. "Wait, how did you know [Great Sage] could answer like that?" He'd shown her a bit of what [Great Sage] could do but he hadn't actually fully explained that feature yet.
"Mikaeru told me." She thought back to a short talk she had with him. "He said it was a repayment for my help controlling your transformation."
The two nearby kijin could only watch as the two talked about the village. Shuna smiled as she watched them. Shizu was someone that came to visit often when she was younger. It had been around the time that she had taken it upon herself to teach the ones named Yuuki and Hinata. She had always been good at judging people's true feelings.
The image of a past Shizue overlapped Shizue. Shuna could tell. At the time that Shizu had come to Ogra, she was serious about ensuring her students became strong. She would become passionate whenever she consulted Byakuya for pointers. However, outside of that, she was nothing like that. Her gaze was dark. As if she had no attachments to the world around her beyond her students.
She seemed better now. The kijin wondered if it had something to do with her new ally. Benimaru watched his sister ponder to herself as they entered Ogran territory. He could only wonder what thoughts the young miko had occupied in her mind.
Making their way through the pathway, Rimuru turned to look into the forest. He wondered what Mikaeru was up to. He figured it likely wasn't much.
As he looked on, the little light that he could recognize as Mikaeru from a distance suddenly disappeared. He raised a brow. "Huh?" Mikaeru had told him that light was a result of his [Soul Link] bond with Rimuru. The two could see each other from even extremely far distances. Yet now…what happened? "What are you doing, Mikaeru?"
"Ah." The light came back. So strange.
Southwest of Ogra, Mikaeru sat down as he dropped a collection of items from his [Stomach]. With Rimuru gone, he figured it was about time he got to work on something he had set his sights on since his time in the cave. Back on Earth, he worked as an engineer. He would make use of that here.
Although, "Of course I can't get too ambitious just yet." Speeding up the decision of the powers that be to set off a Tenma War before the time was right was not ideal. Thus, "I'll have to keep my creations a secret." [Great Sage], is there a way to keep a set area from being spied on, especially with magic?
{Notice- Construction of a magic array capable of blocking magical manners of sight is possible}
I see. Can you set up one around my immediate surroundings? They had to keep his acts secret.
{Notice- Creating stealth magical array}
He watched as a dim magic circle spun around him, blocking off the outside. Immediately he felt a change. Sound from the outside. "It's muffled."
Mikaeru smirked. "This should do nicely." Moving back to his work, he looked at a collection of metallic parts he had molded within his [Stomach]. Melting his hands back into slime, he carefully put the pieces together externally, welding them together by physically breaking down and rebuilding the device's molecular bonds. When he was done, he reshaped his hands and held up the device to his eyes.
The device was small, about the size of a marble, yet it was by no means something weak. Turning it on with a small switch on its side and locking it, the tiny device immediately vanished from his [Magic Sense]. A magicule concealing device.
As it turned out, creating a design for it wasn't too hard after getting more information on the nature of infons, so he figured he might as well test one.
"It worked." Placing it on himself with its tiny grasping feet, he felt as his magicule signature went from concealed to completely gone. "Hehe."
After a few seconds, he felt it start to heat up and plucked it off. The design was by no means perfect. In its current state, the device would get very hot, very fast, to the point where it could easily burn his clothing if he wasn't careful. Not to mention any heat above 120 degrees Celsius was too much for it. "I still have a lot of work ahead of me, don't I?"
Dropping the curtain around himself, he ate the device and made his way outside. When he did, he froze with a deadpanned expression. "The hell?"
It was Gobta. For some reason he doubted even Veldanava would know, he was completely naked, running away from a murderously angry Ransei. "Should I…nah." He walked off to get some lunch. His eyes darkened. "If he dies, he dies."
"Help me!" He heard echo through the village.
Back in the ogre territory, Rimuru, Shizue and the kijin royal siblings came back to a rather interesting sight. It seemed like the town had entered a rather active state in the time since they left. There was a commotion of people murmuring amongst each other. Although even then, they didn't know what.
"Eh? Master Araki?" The middle aged looking swordsman silently watched as they approached. Seeing the commotion, Benimaru ran ahead.
"Master Araki. Is something the matter?" Benimaru asked. "Is there some kind of threat?"
The sword master waited for the rest to catch up before explaining, "There is no threat at this moment. There was just another unexpected visit today."
Shuna asked, "A visit? May I inquire as to whom?"
"A guardian dryad by the name of Treyni wished to meet with my lord, it seems. She came here not too long ago with her younger sisters in tow."
"Treyni came here?" Shizue asked in confusion.
Guardian? "You know them?" Asked Rimuru.
"Yes. The dryad population in this forest act as its protectors. I have met with a few of them on quests before. Treyni is their protector and leader so she's one of the active ones." She turned to Byakuya. "Would it be permitted for us to speak with her?"
Byakuya nodded, "I shall see if I can grant you a meeting with her after her talk with my lord."
"Thank you." Shizue bowed to the man.
"Please. There is no need to show such respect to me." He turned to the siblings. "Lord Benimaru. Lady Shuna. May you come with me? My lord requested I take you back to the main audience chambers upon your return. I suspect he has a request for you."
"Of course." Benimaru replied, determined.
"It was nice seeing you again, Miss Shizu. And a pleasure to meet with you as well, Lord Rimuru." Shuna waved them off as she followed.
Rimuru sighed. "Why do I get the feeling we're going to get dragged into something big?"
Shizue smiled warmly, "It would be best if we take it in stride. This might be a blessing in disguise."
"Yeah…sure." Rimuru said in a tired voice.