Rigged Trial and then back home.
Ahhhh it seems that it is morning, I should probably sneak out before the guards come.
'Rimuru, I'm heading out. Don't worry though, you'll definitely see me at the trial.' I say with a wink and knowing smile. Rimuru started sweating after hearing me say that.
'Uh yes, just don't cause any trouble. Heheh.' Rimuru
'Haha, that coming from the guy who's gotten arrested twice now in one day.' I say before activating "Fade to Black".
Time to find the person that's supposed to represent Rimuru and the Dwarves. Arriving in a room beside the courtroom, I see the little weasel walking in with a bright smile on his face. Hmmm, I could kill him and hide the body, but I don't know if he has any good skills. Decisions, decisions. Hmph might as well, Gazel ends up killing him or something after the trial anyways, so no harm done.
Phasing through the wall I see that he's alone, I quickly grab him and start running out of the city with him in tow. I pierce his heart with a quick jab and look over the skills he has.
[Notice: Choose a skill to acquire.
"Public Speaking"
"Deception"
"Silver Tongue"]
Hmmm. Great Sage, will deception allow me to change appearances?
[Understood, if host acquired "Deception" it would be combined to "Fade to Black" allowing user to take the appearance of an individual of similar stature for a period of time. However it will not be as powerful as "Fade to Black" and if put under scrutiny the disguise will fail."]
I understand, I select "Deception".
[Understood. Acquiring "Deception" and combining it with "Fade to Black".
.
.
.
Combination complete.]
I really shouldn't have pierced his chest now that I think about it. Hmmm surely any good lawyer would come prepared with a change of clothes, if not I should still have time to run a grab an undersuit, since the jacket is still clean.
Arriving back in side the small room, I find that he did indeed have an extra full suit, so I quickly put it on having Great Sage assist me in the finer details. With that I hear people starting to fill the courtroom, so I activate the deception aspect of my skill turning into the proxy.
I enter the hall and stand next to Rimuru and give him a sneaky wink.
'Don't worry oh great Lord Rimuru, I am here to give you a fair trial.' Kurai
Rimuru seemed to immediately start panicking again.
'Kurai! Are you crazy you're going to get us killed!' Rimuru shouted over our thought communication.
'Now now Rimuru, if you worry so much you'll get wrinkles before you're 40.' I send the mental image of a wrinkly slime to him.
'This is not the time for games Kurai. Where is the real Proxy?!' Rimuru
'Don't worry Rimuru, I just put him to sleep. Besides he was bribed and was going to testify falsely on Vesta's behalf. Just watch Vesta's expression when I start.' Kurai
'Ohhhh, alright Kurai, but if we get killed I'm reincarnating and killing you again!' Rimuru
'Haha, I wouldn't have it any other way friend.' Kurai
With that the wizardy looking guy sitting under the king called for me to come forward and testify on our behalf.
"Certainly." Ewww just copying his voice makes me itch all over. "On the previous night, the party consisting of Kaijin, Garm, Dord, Myrd and a slime monster named Rimuru were being served at a local nightclub called "Butterflies of the Night". It was then that Minister Vesta walked in and asked Kaijin if he really had the time to be drinking when all 20 swords are due 5 days from now." If you looked over at Vesta you could see his face twist in confusion, looking back and forth between me and the king. He was also pale in fright and wondering why the proxy he had payed off was betraying him.
"However Kaijin had already finished the 20 swords thanks to Rimuru providing him with some Magisteel in return for him sending artisans and smiths to Rimuru's fledgling village. Once Minister Vesta could no longer taunt Kaijin for the swords he changed his aim to Rimuru. Calling him a disgusting slime monster before pouring a mug of alcohol he had just received from the waitress all over Rimuru's head." I paused to look at Kaijin before continuing.
"After that, Kaijin in defense of his new friend, punched the minister in the face. That is all that happened before the party was arrested shortly after. I do not know where the good Minister injured his arm, but I'm sure it was after the altercation and before these proceedings. I'm sure good Minister Vesta, would not feign injuries in hopes of a heavier sentence on his old superior." Kurai
"And everything you say is true?" The old wizardy guy ask me.
"Yes. Beyond a shadow of a doubt." Kurai
"King Gazel! This is simply untrue! I would nev" Vesta
"Silence, I have heard enough." Gazel
"But you maj-" Vesta begins to plead again.
"I said silence Vesta, or do you intend to defy me?" Gazel
"No, I'm sorry your majesty." Vesta breathes out defeatedly.
"Now, for punching a Minister even if provoked, I hereby revoke Kaijin, Garm, Dord, and Myrd's right to blacksmith inside Dwargon. As for the slime monster Rimuru." He narrows his eyes at Rimuru before quickly flicking them over me. Seems he might have noticed, or already knew the Proxy had been bought. "Since you were disrespected by a citizen of Dwargon, a minister no less, I offer you an apology and I hope you bear no ill intentions to Dwargon." He finishes with a slight bow, though more of a head tilt. I guess as king you can't go around bowing to people. Especially to something that looks like a typical slime monster to most people, but I know that he knows how strong Rimuru is.
"None your majesty, I hope that you'll allow us to come back and trade with you in the future." Rimuru says stoically.
With another nod Gazel calls for the court to be cleared, except for me and minister Vesta. Oops seems I wasn't able to fool him with this weak deception skill. I wonder what kind of skills you have oh "Hero King Gazel" heheheh.
"You, reveal yourself." Gazel commands as he points to me.
With a wide grin I drop my disguise and revert back to my normal young kid face and long shaggy black hair. I stared up at the king confidently before looking over to Vesta with a big smile and a wave.
"Who are you, and what is a human doing defending dwarves and slime." Gazel
"You wound me your majesty, is it not the duty of the strong to seek justice for the weak and mistreated? Not to mention not noticing that I'm not some weak human.? I ask with a slight tilt of my head to the side and an innocent expression on my face.
"You are in front of the king, show some respect!" Vesta
"Hmm that's interesting coming from you. Aren't you the one that intended to deceive your king just to get back at your old superior? I would stay quiet and keep my mouth shut if I were you." I spat back
"Quiet, both of you. What is this about you not being human? What are you then, I see nothing that tells your race unless your hiding pointed ears under that hair?" Gazel
"Haha, yes I suppose my hair could hide some long ears, and a little more." I say knowingly before allowing my Dragonewt characteristics to come out. I grew sleek and slender black horns that started just behind my temple before extending back and slightly up. My finger nails grew to 2 inch long talons and my fangs grew as well, my hair extended from my shoulders to now down to my waist and my face became even more animalistic. Last but not least I grew a pair of black wings that were only slightly shorter than myself if they touched ground, but with a wingspan one and half times longer than my own.
"Ahh this actually my first time seeing myself in this form. I must say I strike a rather imposing figure, so King Gazel do you know what I am now?" I said with a bit of feral was to my voice.
"Yes, you seem to be Dragonewt. A particular strong one at that, though I still can't see how strong. You must be named, tell me it." Gazel
"Tsk tsk Gazel, it's not nice to ask for someone's name without giving your own. However since I know yours already I'll tell you anyways. My name is Kurai and friend of Rimuru the slime." Kurai
Vesta's face contorted in anger at my disrespect to Gazel, but since the king didn't say anything he didn't either.
"I see, I will commit that name to memory, though if you're friends with that slime, Rimuru, then I hope to remain friendly with you." Gazel
"But of course your majesty. However I do have a question, and I hope you'll answer it since I've been so generous in answering yours." Kurai
"Ask." Gazel
"How did you know I wasn't the real Proxy?" Kurai
"Because I knew the Proxy had been bought." Gazel intones while looking at Vesta.
"Hmph. You're not lying, but it also feels like you're not telling the whole truth. I'll let it go for now, but I hope you'll tell me in the future. I see our little village growing to great city in the near future, especially with Rimuru leading us." Kurai
"Is he your leader as well?" Gazel
"Hmmm, I suppose you could say that, but I'm sure you agree that leaders shouldn't get their hands dirty with the "darker" side of running village or even a Kingdom." I grin knowingly up at Gazel, who has a bit of realization spark in his eyes before quickly getting rid of it.
"I see, you're a free to go. Vesta you stay." Gazel
"See ya next time!" I say as I turn and deactivate my dragon features while walking out of the courtroom and then to the city exit where I should find Rimuru and crew. Not much changed in the long run of things, but short term it wouldn't be a stigma for Gazel to start immediately trading with us. Which should give us plenty of materials and necessities in the start of the village. Oop seems I've arrived at the gate.
"Hey guys, don't worry I'm here." I wave to Rimuru and the Dwarves.
"Kurai! Oh man I thought you were a goner for sure!" Rimuru exclaims
"Gah! You thought I was gonna die and didn't come to rescue me? So cold Rimuru." I say sadly while slumped over still walking toward them.
"I-I-I- I mean I was just getting ready to bust in there and save you if things went bad!" Rimuru hurriedly corrects himself.
"No no I understand Rimuru. I'm not a pretty damsel in distress, but I thought surely our status as friends was approaching best friend status. Seems I was wrong." I now crouch down to the ground, drawing circles in the sand.
"Wait! We are friends! Best friends even! C'mon Kurai! You think I could do this without you? Whaddya say I get Kaijin to make you a weapon?"
"2" I whisper out
"Huh?" Rimuru
"2 daggers and I get a week off of village leader duties." I look up with puppy dog eyes which is enhanced by my cute face.
"O-of course! 2 daggers and week off!" Rimuru
"Oh thanks Rimuru, you're the best best friend a Dragonewt could ask for!" I say while spinning around with Rimuru in my arms.
"Why do I feel like he planned this?" I hear Rimuru mumble out, as well as the surrounding party slightly laughing at our antics. Setting Rimuru down I look at everyone and say.
"Well we better get moving, so that we can makes some ground before night time." After saying that I turn and start walking to where we left our travel companions. I also noticed somebody seems to be tailing us, I wonder if it's an effect of "Investigator" that allowed me to sense them.
[Affirmative]
Seems I was right, thanks Great Sage. Say, do you know how the King noticed me?
[Understood. The possibility with the highest chance of being true is that the King has a skill on par or stronger than the newly acquired "Deception"]
Shouldn't it have gotten a boost or something from being combined with "Fade to Black"?
[ It did. The skill "Deception" was upgraded from a common skill to an extra skill, and has the possibility to upgrade as the Host gets stronger. It is likely the Dwarf King had at least a Unique skill that allows him to see through lower ranked skills.]
I see, thank you Great Sage. I need to be careful around him in the future, my "Fade to Black" is a Unique skill as well, but I don't know if it works against other unique skills. Especially ones that specifically target abilities of that kind. Oh well, not much I can do about it now. For now I'll just get my daggers and my 1 week break and be happy. Life is good when traveling with an overpowered slime.
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Author's Note: phew I did a lot of dialogue for this chapter, hopefully it went well. I have a bad problem with thinking things are cringey, so sometimes I just write them anyways just to get it over with. I know we haven't really shown much 1 on 1 interaction with Rimuru and Kurai yet, but don't worry that will happen soon and hopefully deepen/ add genuineness to their friendship.
I'm so excited to be getting to the Ogres, and I'm also going to have Kurai send a message back with the spy that's tracking them. Not sure what the message will be yet. Maybe a warning or just to show Gazel that his agents can't sneak around Kurai. They never said anything about them in the show, so I assume Souei wasn't powerful enough to sense them yet.
Also I can't remember if I said it or not, but "Fade to Black " has a permanent passive effect of blocking people from seeing his magicules. This is why it's possible Gazel doesn't have a Unique or at least not one that targets that stuff. Because he would have been able to see that Kurai has a magicules count not too far from Rimuru's. It's hard to really quantify how many he has, but you have to remember for the first 90 days! He was in a meditative sleep state absorbing Veldora's leaking magicules directly with about the same efficiency as his "Sticky Fingers" meaning for every 100 magicules Veldora released he was able to acquire about 80 of them. And now you see why he would have so many.
It should be said this is not something everyone can do, he's not going to be able to super power his named juniors by having them do this, unless they somehow get some variation of his Sticky Fingers skill. (Which could happen ;) ) I'm not sure though, most likely Souei if anyone for obvious reasons.
I'll need to update his skills page eventually, but I'm just so lazy lol.
Also you guys got to read how his dragon form looks. This isn't an edgy thing ( I mean kind of) but it's a thing that Dragonewts can actually do. Soka and the other newts under Souei actually just suppress their Dragonewt characteristics according to some stuff I've read. Either way I tried to not go too over the top, but he needed to be dragonish. And yes he does gain a significant boost in strength in the dragon state.
I would say that currently Kurai is about as strong as Gazel purely in strength. With Gazel having more skills geared toward attacking and gears of actual combat experience I think he would eventually kill Kurai in a straight up fight. Kurai would win if he used "Fade to Black" though because Gazel can't sense him in that state and he doesn't have any skills that I know of off the top of my head that could hit him in that state. Milim would still thrash Kurai. Her eye would let her see through his skill, and she has plenty of attacks that could hit him in his "Fade to Black" state. She's truly OP, but one day we will too. In the somewhat distant future. Probably Harvest festival ( for the people that know about that) is when we will see our first true step of being OP, I think he'll be rivaling Rimuru by that point in terms of magicules and strength.
I've talked long enough about future things.
Thanks for reading
-TaediumVitae
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