บท 9: For an Evil Dragon's Friend

"So, you're investigating the disappearance of the Storm Dragon then?" I asked the group of adventurers.

"Yes. We need to ascertain its location as soon as possible!" Eren replied.

"Indeed. Humanity needs to be prepared if that Evil Dragon has gotten loose!" Gido responded.

I felt my eyelid twitch.

"If that Evil Dragon comes back, then there is not much humanity can do anyway, is there?" Kaval asked into the room.

Another twitch

Eren shook her head. "No, there is nothing. That Evil Dragon is totally unreasonable and shouldn't exist!" She declared in confidence.

Rimuru, turning to look at me in his slime form, suddenly smirked. I don't know how a slime can look so smug, but he was looking exceptionally smug.

'*Don't you dar-*' I started but was too late.

Rimuru turned back to the group and with a voice positively dripping with irony, decided to add to my public humiliation. "Well, it's true that the Evil Dragon Veldora is a problem for humanity. Surely it would be an issue if he were to rampage. He is so unreasonable after all!" RImuru laughed to which the others began to follow, though they didn't realize what was so funny.

Now a tickmark appeared on my forehead and I was fuming. 'I'll get you for this, you little shit!' I vowed.

I looked over at the girl in the mask who introduced herself as Shizu, only to see her facepalming and shaking her head in exasperation. We hadn't even met before today, and I had a feeling that this woman already understood me well enough that she knew what I was about to do.

I decided that I liked this woman.

"Oy!" I said in a deeper-than-normal voice, cutting off the group's laughing with a small flare of my aura.

"Eep!" Eren yelled as Gido and Kaval were suddenly tense with fear.

"You've gotta lot of nerve to call me an Evil Dragon right to my face!" I declared, changing my eyes to look more draconic and gaining a few inches in height. Scales grew out of my arms and legs while also framing my face white 2 draconic horns grew out of my head. I exhaled a small amount of steam and gleamed my eyes, enough to add to the terror.

These were all cosmetic changes I brought about using [Universal Shapeshift], however, as I wasn't like my niece who had a Battle Mode to swap into, but this was enough to freak out a bunch of weaklings when I added my [Dragon Spirit Haki] to the mix.

"Hi-Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" Eren fainted while Gido and Kaval swapped into their more serious forms, as Kaval moved in front of the unconscious Eren and released an |Aura Shield| as if it would somehow protect her against me. At the same time, Gido caught Eren and put his body in front of hers, never letting his eyes leave me, obviously preparing to flee if I gave him an opportunity.

The air in the building grew tense for a few seconds as even Rimuru looked around in a panic. I won't lie, seeing them afraid felt right. Like it was the natural order of things for them to be afraid of me. Maybe this was part of the original Veldora's soul creeping into my personality, as I was never this domineering in my past life, but I didn't dwell on it too hard.

"Eh! V-Veldora! It's ok, we were only joking, right!?!" Rimuru panicked and pleaded with me.

I raised an eyebrow. "Ho-? What made you think you could negotiate with someone so 'unreasonable' then?" I asked, throwing Rimuru's comment back at him, irony dripping from my voice.

Rimuru, despite being a slime, looked exasperated for a few seconds before Shizu raised her hands in the air and clapped them together, calling us all to attention. "I think that's quite enough, Lord Veldora, they have been sufficiently terrified. They won't call you an 'Evil Dragon' again so, can we please just leave it at that?" She asked in an exasperated, yet authoritative tone.

I kept my gaze on her for a few moments before relenting, withdrawing my Aura and transformation with a sigh. "You're no fun. I wanted to see them squirm for a bit longer." I pouted.

I could tell Shizu smiled amusedly. "I'm sure your wife would prefer her husband to be more forgiving with guests."

I raised my eyebrow. "Wife?" I asked.

Shizu jumped slightly when she heard me say that. "Oh, well I,... uhh... never mind!" Shizu suddenly a bit flustered.

"Well, now I'm curious~!" I teased on the outside while being deeply confused on the inside.

'Wife? Who is she talking about?' I thought to myself.

From all of Veldora's Memories, never before had I been married in this life or the previous. As a matter of fact, with the exception of trying to show off to that Vampire Princess all those years ago, I can't remember Veldora showing any intention to have companionship with another being. Even the Hero, who was hot as hell, wasn't a 'target' for Veldora previously. Maybe she was referring to something in one of my erased memories from when Velzard and Velgrynd killed me in the past?

I delved into [Faust]'s [Truth of Creation], allowing me to scan the records of my entire lifetime in this world. Nothing came up. The entire search took less than a second of real time thanks to [Thought Acceleration]. 'She must have misspoken' I thought, dropping the comment.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I no longer felt the need to tease these guys anymore. "Whatever. I'm going to go train my daughter. Need anything else?" I asked Rimuru.

"N-No! I'm good, pops!" Rimuru said, still shaking slightly.

I smirked smugly. Rimuru only referred to me as his 'pops' or 'father' when he wanted to get on my good side. I guess I spooked him a bit much, but that was payback for his 'Evil Dragon' nonsense. I stood from my position, watching Kaval's party flinch as I did so, and gave Eren, who had briefly recovered, a wink, which caused her to shiver and pass out again.

"Kuahahahahah!" I laughed aloud as I walked out of the room, finding their fear a bit funny.

"Does father like to scare people?" As I exited the building and the door closed behind me, I was ambushed by my daughter Scylla, who was standing outside.

I clammed up instantly. She had probably seen my earlier bullying and was confused. I didn't want that! I wanted to be the cool-looking father who is respected by their daughter, not the lame one who their daughter avoids!

"Wh- ah! No that's-" I stumbled over my words, trying to find a way to make myself not look like a petty child in front of my daughter.

"Hmm! Father is an Evil Dragon after all," Scylla nodded to herself not waiting for me to come up with an excuse and running off.

An invisible arrow pierced my chest and I collapsed to the floor with tears in my eyes. I had failed! My daughter will hate me soon! I lamented.

Over the next few days, the children of the village would always point at me and say, 'Here comes the Evil Dragon!' before running away laughing as I half-heartedly yelled at them and chased them down. I knew it was all fun and games for the children, but couldn't they call me something else?

...

It had been a few days since Kaval's party arrived and they were preparing to depart from the village and return to the country of Blumund nearby.

Rimuru and Shizu have spent these few days being remarkably close to one another and forming a deep-seated friendship based on their shared heritage as Japanese people in this world. Maybe its because I am American and don't have any special attachment to my country in terms of ethnicity, but I never really understood why Rimuru seemed so dead-set on finding other Japanese people until then. It seems like he can relax and be his true self with Shizu, whereas with me, while he can still relax, he isn't as vulnerable.

I'm not going to lie, it kinda hurt to know my friend was closer to someone else than me simply due to their race, but I didn't dwell on it for too long. I wasn't jealous or anything and it was a good thing that Rimuru was able to relax and have fun with people who weren't me or our adoring but kinda creepily devoted subordinates. It was for that reason that I approached Shizu alone on the morning of their departure.

*Knock Knock*

"Hey..." I called out from the outside of her temporary room.

"Yes? Lord Veldora, is that you?" Shizu responded a second later.

"Mind if I come in for a bit? I need to talk to you about something." I asked.

There was silence for a few moments as Shizu walked over to the wooden door and slowly opened it up. She was still wearing her mask, even this early into the morning and was seemingly struggling with something.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

Shizu, seemingly gritting her teeth, shook for another moment before stopping, and taking a deep breath. "I am fine, thank you." She stated having calmed herself down before stepping aside and gesturing for me to come in.

I knew she was lying, but didn't pry any further as I graciously followed after her. Once we arrived in the small dining area, I took a seat at Shizu's behest as she sat opposite me. "I must say, I wasn't expecting you to visit, especially on our last day in your village."

I simply nodded my head. "Normally I wouldn't care but... well, I guess I should just bite the bullet. Do you want to live here?" I asked, slightly awkwardly.

Despite wearing her mask, I could tell her eyes had gone wide at my suggestion. She paused for a few moments, trying to process what I'd said before sighing slightly and shaking her head.

"Under normal circumstances, maybe I would have agreed, but I have too many responsibilities right now," Shizu responded sounding slightly down about it.

"I see." I replied. "And if I can help alleviate some of those... responsibilities?"

Shizu once again looked shocked before recovering faster this time and shaking her head. "Even if you could, Lord Veldora, I doubt you'd know how to do so. Only Demon Lord Leon Cromwell... no, rather, maybe not even him..." Shizu muttered.

I sighed. "Shizu. I am one of only 4 True Dragons in existence. The number of individuals who can rival or possibly defeat me can be counted on one hand and my magic knowledge is superior to even the Primordials. If there is something that you believe I can't do but a mid-tier Demon Lord like Leon can, then you are mistaken." I explained.

Shizu was taken aback by my blunt approach. "L-Lord Veldora, you are oddly insistent today, aren't you?" Shizu asked, slightly confused and flustered.

I closed my eyes and crossed my arms as I sat back in my chair. "Rimuru would be happier if you stayed." I admitted.

Once again, I don't know HOW, but I saw Shizu's eyes go wide despite her eyes being hidden behind her mask.

"Rimuru, huh... Mister Satoru" Shizu said, with a slight... was that shyness in her voice just now?

Shizu clenched her fist, obviously struggling with the decision, though before she could say anything, another knock came fro the door.

"Miss Shizu! I came to get you!" Rimuru said happily from the other side of the door.

I sighed and smirked as I got up and went to the door, followed by Shizu. As I opened the door, I saw Rimuru jump slightly in shock. "Veldora? Why are you here!?!" Rimuru asked confused.

I smiled evilly. "Oh, I was here to NTR you and steal away Shizu from you! No big deal!" I teased.

"Oy! You can't do that! Shizu is mine!- I mean, Shizu... ugh..." Rimuru seemed a bit confused as to what to say.

My smirk grew wider as I noticed how embarrassed Rimuru was before I felt a smack on my head from Shizu's sheathed sword. She had used it as a club to smack me upside the head with.

"Really? Lord Veldora. You need to stop teasing Mister Rimuru!" Sihzu said, scolding me as a teacher would to her troublemaking student.

Shizu then walked past me and picked up Rimuru, bringing him up and under her chest. "Lord Veldora was here to ask me to stay as a citizen," Shizu explained to the confused Rimuru.

A small question mark formed out of the slime on his slime body in confusion. Seeing this, Shizu moved the mask to the side of her head and smiled at Rimuru gently. "He was worried you'd feel lonely without me."

"Oy, don't tell him that. It makes me look a lot less cool!" I complained.

Rimuru looked at me in stunned silence for a moment which got my face to flush in embarrassment. "Enough of this mushy stuff! Veldanava knows I'd rather fight my sister than be here right now!" I said as I turned away. (A/N: He replaced, the word 'God' with 'Veldanava' here)

"Veldora..." Rimuru said.

"Hmm?" I looked back to him.

"You're a good friend," Rimuru said.

I took a deep breath after hearing him say that. "Damn it. This whole thing reaks of a cringy anime scene where the characters spill their guts to one another." I muttered.

Rimuru laughed "Hahaha! It does, doesn't it! Hahaha!

"Why are friends disemboweling each other in anime?" Shizu asked, innocently.

I facepalmed and sighed loudly while Rimuru continued to laugh.