by Fuse
I think, therefore I am…
It was a thesis that Raphael would find himself constantly thinking about, going forward—and never finding an answer.
Regardless of his internal conflicts, Raphael continued with his incomparably accurate work. He analyzed and assessed nearly a hundred monsters at the same time, repairing their bodies, regenerating their souls, and finally resurrecting them. It was a seamless flow, not a single extraneous motion involved, and everything was handled at the right place and time. Before the monsters in town realized it, the miracle had secretly completed itself.
Only three people knew this: Mjurran, Gruecith, and the demon.
Mjurran was rendered beyond speechless as she watched the ceremony intently, face turned pale as a sheet. She had a front-row seat to the ultimate in secret arts, the exact thing she had been pursuing for so long. A chasm of deep, dark magic of which Rimuru’s presence as a demon lord allowed her an all-too-brief glimpse.
A high-level magic-born like Mjurran would never have a chance. Even the demon lord Clayman’s power seemed like a rude blur compared to this.
She gave thanks for the great fortune of obtaining this insight, even as she swore to herself never to let Yohm become Rimuru’s enemy. If he did, it’d ruin the both of them. That’s why she knew now that he needed her guidance and protection. He knew too little about all of this for any other alternative to work.
Gruecith’s eyes were dazzled by the miracle that took place before him. He didn’t have much in the way of magic knowledge, but he could see well enough that this secret art was like nothing else. It made him tremble in awe at how easy Rimuru made it look.
Damn it, what kind of magic force is this?! This massive, seemingly endless magicule supply, all being controlled with utter perfection. Is this really a newborn demon lord? It can’t be! Lord Carillon couldn’t even do this…
Awe and fear swirled in equal measures.
…And those eyes. Those eyes look like they’re beholding something totally worthless. They treat raising the dead as nothing more complex than repairing a useful tool… Did he think he could just make a new one if he messed up? What the hell is going on here…? He’s usually so warm and kind to other people; was all that just an act? Is this the real him…?!
What Gruecith was watching now was both Rimuru and not Rimuru. Unaware of this, all he could see was a demon lord working beyond the realm of mortal intelligence. And from that point forward, he swore to admonish both himself and the other lycanthropes from ever daring to defy Rimuru.
Unlike the two of them, the demon was filled with utter joy, gazing at Rimuru in sheer, silent awe.
Then a question to consider appeared in his mind: The person who just spoke to me… Was that not my master at all? But he dismissed the thought at once as overthinking matters. In all the many years this demon had lived, he had never heard of anything quite like that. The idea of a skill becoming sentient was too ridiculous to even consider. Working independently to fulfill the requests of its master…
…or maybe it took a demon like this, living in the deepest depths of the world, to even have the possibility occur in his mind. Regardless, the demon didn’t buy it. Besides, there were more important matters to consider.
Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh. No matter what happens, I have to gain at least the lowest seat at the table for myself…
His mind resolved anew, he began to consider other ways he could stand out for his master.
Thus, the hope was fulfilled.
When Rimuru—or Raphael, Lord of Wisdom—completed his work, he returned once again into sleep mode, his magicule stores exhausted. The demon lovingly picked him up—an easy task, since he was back in slime form—and, following Mjurran’s instructions, gently placed him on the throne prepared for his rest.
Both Mjurran and the demon agreed that Rimuru was simply out of energy and would likely awaken in a few days. But what kind of “person” would he be like once he opened his eyes? Only the gods could know.
As the three eyewitnesses each pondered internally how to deal with this, they heard several sets of footsteps running toward them. Then they realized that the pressure exerted against Elen’s barrier was gone, reducing the magicule count in the air to practically zero. Yohm, Kabal, and the others immediately ran over to investigate, only to find row after row of sleeping monsters.
“Mjurran! Gruecith! Are you two all right? Where’s Rimuru…?”
“Whoa, whoa,” observed Kabal, “they’re all sleeping? What happened?”
“Did Shion get resurrected and all that?”
Mjurran took a moment to think before responding. Gruecith didn’t appear to have any idea what happened, and the demon seemed too enamored with himself and Rimuru to bother explaining matters to anyone else. Everyone’s gazes naturally began to focus on Mjurran, making her sigh dejectedly.
“Sir Rimuru has successfully completed the demon lord–evolution process. All the other monsters shared in this, too, so they’re all sleeping during their own evolves. And Shion and the other dead… They’ve all been safely resurrected using a secret ritual conducted by Sir Rimuru when he was awake. The ritual sapped all his magical energy away, and he is back asleep now.”
Everyone on-site breathed a hefty sigh of relief.
“Yeah, there’s the boss for ya! I knew I shouldn’t have worried.”
“I wouldn’t relax quite yet,” Mjurran replied to Kaijin. “Their souls might have been revived, but they all definitely died once before, so there’s no guarantee they’ve retained any of their memories.
“Although it’ll probably be fine,” she then just barely whispered to herself. She wanted to keep everyone on high alert just in case, but as far as she was concerned, there was no real danger left to consider.
But her words had the effect of instantly silencing everyone else. Now they realized it was still too early to celebrate.
“Well, outside of that,” Elen breathed, “how about we get a roof over all these sleepyheads for now, huh? There are mats laid out in the great meeting hall—I guess they figured something like this would happen.”
“Fine by me, but every single monster in town? That’s kind of a big project.”
“Yeah,” Gido chimed in, “we’re talking over a thousand of ’em in the plaza alone…”
“All right,” Kaijin said. “In that case, we’ll just take responsibility for bringing Lady Shuna into her bedchamber, all right?”
Kabal erupted into action. “Whoa there, you! I don’t care if you’re Kaijin or not—I’m not letting you get away with that!”
“Yeah, man! That’s far too delicate a job to leave to someone besides us!”
Elen’s suggestion had triggered a war of words between the dwarves, led by Kaijin, and Kabal and his right-hand man, Gido. It went on for several more seconds before Elen finally yelled at them to knock it off.
But the conflict wasn’t necessary from the beginning—because as they bickered, the residents of town began to wake up by themselves.
It was a neat sequence of emotions for them all as they did. First, panic over the vanished barrier and missing magicules in the air. Then, massive outbursts of joy as they realized Shion and the other victims were resurrected. To them, it was a miracle—but only the three witnesses on hand knew what it really was.
In effect, it was just the power of Raphael at work. And nobody on hand realized, in the shadow of all that joy, that Raphael—a simple skill, nothing more—had somehow grown a sense of self-awareness.
Rise and shine!
It was a trite old phrase, but it was the first one my mind came up with.
I hadn’t enjoyed waking up like this in ages. Unlike my previous experiments with forcing myself into a nap-like state, I felt refreshed, satisfied. It goes without saying that I had never experienced anything like it before in this world. But as I got up and took a look, I realized that things had gotten pretty hectic around me. More problems to deal with, I guess. Give me a break.
/>
I could feel this sort of pulsing energy from the monsters. I did a quick Analyze and Assess on them, only to find they bore more magicules than before. They were stronger now, in other words, so I guess my evolution must’ve turned out okay.
Correct. The Harvest Festival has successfully completed. Gifts were distributed to all creatures within your genealogy, leading to further evolution among individuals.
Aha. So becoming a demon lord made everyone under me evolve, huh? And is it my imagination, or is the Great Sage being a lot more talkative than it used to be?
No. It is your imagination.
Oh, all right…
Hey, wait a second!
But as much as I wanted to poke at the Sage about it, it offered no further response. Was it really my imagination? Ahh, I can’t think about this right now. How’s Shion doing? Not to mention everyone else? What’s happening right now? I had an endless wellspring of questions. And as if to answer them all at once:
“Ah! Sir Rimuru! You are awake!”
I heard a familiar voice—and felt a familiar sensation behind my back. A pair of hilly peaks, pliant and warmly surrounding me.
My evolution was complete, but there was no huge difference in my slime form. The only real change was that I’d sometimes turn more of a yellowish color. Was I one of those gold slimes now or something? Like, zooming along at the speed of light? I didn’t actually have that power, but I sort of felt more…elegant. Like I was on top of the food chain when it came to slimes. Not that I looked any stronger, still…
More to the point, this sensation, this familiar lap I found myself in, the way my cheeks were getting rubbed…
“You came back to life!”
It was Shion.
Mm. This feels really great. Just like before. Nothing changed.
“Yes, Sir Rimuru! All of us have come completely back to life!”
Hearing this, I realized that I had a hundred kneeling monsters surrounding us. Then, all at once, they greeted me, excited beyond description for me to wake up.
“““We have all been revived, without a single person missing!!”””
Great. That’s really great. And who’s that I see in the front row? Of course it’s got to be that doofus Gobzo.
Just as I anticipated, the effects of the evolution brought everyone back to life. I guess it was worth becoming a demon lord after all. The resemblance of my chances to the number π was a worry, but if it worked on everyone, I couldn’t be happier. Hell, even the Sage makes mistakes sometimes. I’ll always welcome a pleasant mistake like this.
Smiling to myself at Shion’s return, I spent a moment to enjoy my position underneath her breasts for the first time in a while. Truly an elegant way to pass the time. But the bliss didn’t last long.
“…Sir Rimuru,” Benimaru said, “you’re awake? Wonderful. We have a variety of issues to— Ah, but before that, I cannot proceed until I confirm you have retained your sanity. You remember the question and answer we discussed in our conference, yes? Let’s go, then: ‘What do you think of Shion’s cooking?’ Give me your answer!”
He gave me a sarcastic grin. Yeah, I sure remember. It’s shitty, right? Man, he worries way too much sometimes.
But just as I was about to give the correct reply, I realized something horrifying. Ummmm… I’m kind of being hugged by Shion right now, aren’t I? If I use the S word to describe her kitchen work…what will happen then?
An image of hell ran across my mind. Oh crap!! If I don’t think of something, Shion’s gonna crush me into jelly with those arms of hers! I can’t believe I let myself fall right into this trap! How utterly devious of him! What’ll I do? Is there some way out of this?
…I got it! Time to have the Great Sage come to the rescue. I’m sure it’ll have the most wonderful solution to all of this…
…and then, upon trying to summon it, I realized it was gone. Um…what? Great, uh, Great Sage?!
…And, wait a second, who had been answering me just a moment ago…?
Report. The unique skill Great Sage has evolved into the ultimate skill Raphael, Lord of Wisdom. As a result, it has disappeared and cannot be accessed.
Whoa. Skills can evolve, too? And, uh, Raphael? Named after the angel and everything? Sounds pretty neat…
But I can explore this later. I still have an unprecedented crisis to deal with right now. All right, Raphael, if you’re the Lord of Wisdom, find the best way possible for me to deceive Shion!
Understood. My calculations did not find any relevant results.
You piece of crap!!!
The Sage was never all that useful for things like this, either, and I guess Raphael inherited that same quirk. He said something about “calculations,” but I doubt he gave the question any serious thought at all. Probably just trying to humor me. The more things change the more they stay the same. Maybe he hasn’t really evolved much at all, apart from the fancy-pants name he grew.
This whole exchange took less than a second to unfold in my mind.
“Hmm? What about my cooking?”
“Ah, um, well, I’m sure Sir Rimuru misses it terribly, no? He can’t wait to see what you’ve been working on, I’m sure.”
Someone needed to stop Benimaru before this got any worse. Damn it. That bastard wanted this to happen from the start! And he even made damn sure in advance that he didn’t get caught up in it. What an asshole! This great sleep session I had, and he’s threatening to have Shion put me in the kind of sleep you never wake up from!
“Ah, I see! He wants me to cook a meal, then, is it? How thoughtful of you, Sir Benimaru.”
Shion smiled triumphantly at the suggestion as I was seized by a turbulent sense of foreboding.
“So you see now?” Benimaru said. “I know this goes without saying, but I—”
…Let me provide a suggestion, then. I recommend replying with, “The answer Benimaru suggested I make was ‘It’s shitty,’ wasn’t it? I do remember that well.”
Wha—?!
The Great Sage—I mean, the Lord of Wisdom—just came up with the most brilliant answer in the universe. Man, I’m sorry I accused him of not evolving too much. You rock, Raphael!
“Hang on, Benimaru! We had a question and answer planned out in advance, right?”
“…Um?”
“Oh, don’t worry—I remember the whole process. The answer that you decided was correct for this was ‘It’s shitty,’ was it not? I remember it perfectly!”
Shion’s smile froze in place as several beads of sweat began running down Benimaru’s face in tandem.
“Sh-Shion, wait! Sir Rimuru has only just awoken! I fear his brain might still be in a state of confusion!”
I took this moment to nimbly evacuate myself away from Shion’s chest, keeping an eye on the panicked Benimaru as I did.
“Very well,” Shion flatly replied. “Sir Benimaru… No, just Benimaru. I serve Sir Rimuru directly; I have no need to use noble titles to refer to you. But if you had wanted to try my cuisine that badly, you should have said so. I will gladly feed it to you until you’re ready to burst!”
She stormed off, smile still frozen on her face. That was pretty scary. Really scary actually.
“Wh-what did you do that for?!”
“Ha-ha-ha! I’m not sure what you mean, Benimaru. Have fun trying to survive the next meal, I guess.”
“This isn’t funny, my lord! I have been testing her new creations so long that I’ve developed Resist Poison recently, too…”
Benimaru could see doom lying ahead. If Shion was that enthusiastic to start cooking, this could be the end for him. Poison resistance, though? Really? That’s pretty much saying that Shion’s food is poison, isn’t it?
“Yeah, well, as they say, you reap what you sow…”
Benimaru gave my assessment a dejected shake of the head. I had no words to console him with. One misstep, after all, and it could’ve been me facing that maelstrom. Better, I thought, to let the original perpetrator face her
wrath instead.
After Shion left, the newly resurrected survivors clamored to greet me, as if they’d been waiting their turn this whole time. Everyone had the same knowledge and personality as before (although the atmosphere was maybe slightly different with some), which was a great relief. No memory loss, no nothing—and their souls were all fully intact.
That wouldn’t have been possible if I didn’t obtain the Complete Memory extra skill—glad to see all that evolution effort didn’t go to waste. As one of the crowd put it, “Now I can keep coming back to life no matter how many times I die!”—and I wasn’t entirely sure he was joking.
Complete Memory allowed you to directly tap into the target’s soul. Normally the power could be possessed only by spirit-type life-forms, but somehow I had stumbled upon it, too. They said something about souls that shared the same “genealogy” with me and all that, so I guess it technically applied to me. That’s what the “gift” thing was, probably—it got everyone back, and I couldn’t be happier with it.
After we wrapped up our reunion, everyone went right back to work. The rest of the townspeople also received some kind of gift, I think, but there was no time to examine them all in detail. Benimaru mentioned a “variety of issues,” and I had to address them quickly.
So the moment we overcome one crisis, a new one comes right down the pike, huh…?
“Ah, before we discuss Shion’s cooking, I have something important to tell you.”
Benimaru gave a signal, and on cue, the Three Lycanthropeers from the demon lord Carillon’s domain appeared. Ohhh, right, Milim was fighting him, wasn’t she? I forgot.
“First, let me congratulate you on your evolution!” Alvis the Golden Snakehorn declared as he fell to one knee.
“Yes, yes, but what’s going on?”
Benimaru was the first to open his mouth. As he put it, evacuees from the Beast Kingdom of Eurazania had arrived just a few moments ago. Remarkably, I had been fast asleep for three whole days—which meant that, um, the conflict between demon lords was over and done?