"You're a person from Earth too? But you're a Dragon!" He exclaimed
I deadpanned at the slime. "You're a slime"
"Point taken," He replied.
"Well, if it's any consultation, I am Veldroa. I merged souls with a True Dragon a while ago and now I'm here." I introduced myself.
"Well, I'm Satoru, Mikami Satoru, and I'm a slime who was stabbed to death and reincarnated a few weeks ago." He explained.
Thoughts and memories crossed my mind as he said this and I recalled the rules of the world from reading the wiki and the light novel, as well as scenes from the anime.
"You typically lose your name when you reincarnate and need to receive a new one, like how mine's 'Veldora' now," I explained.
"Ehh? Why can't I just be 'Satoru' or something?" he asked.
"I don't make up the rules, I just break 'em," I said with a shrug.
"That's not how that line is supposed to go... but a new name for myself, huh?" The slime began to think.
"I can name you if you want," I stated.
"Why would you name me?" He asked.
"Well, technically it was my leaking magicules that created the conditions for you to be reincarnated here as a slime, so technically you're my kid, plus if I name you, you'll get the Divine Protection of the Storm Dragon, which will gift you a whole bunch of stuff," I explained.
"I guess that makes sense, but don't expect me to start calling you 'daddy' or something," the slime explained.
"If you did, I'd leave to go get milk," I shot back.
"Ha-ha!" the slime laughed dryly.
I ignored him, though. "Still, having a cute daughter wouldn't be so bad," I explained.
"I'm a guy" Rimuru explained
"Eh? I thought you were a girl. Isn't Mikimi a girl's name?" I asked as though I were confused. I had secretly hoped this world was one of those 'reverse gender fanfics,' but I guess not.
"No! What's with your Japanese!?!" He declared defiantly
"I'm American, but ok," I shot back
"Oh..."
There was an awkward silence.
"Enough about that, I'll give you a name!" I said before pausing as though I was thinking.
I almost wanted to name him 'Emils', which is just Slime backward, using the old Dracula/Alucard thing, just to be funny but decided against it. No need to tempt fate.
"How about the name 'Rimuru'?" I asked.
"Rimuru? That... that sounds fine. Rimuru, huh?" The slime stated as he mulled over his own name for a moment.
"That sounds great! From now on, I'll be Rimuru!" Rimuru declared before his Slime body hopped up into the air and began to swirl around itself like water in a washing machine for a few moments. Interestingly, his silvery blue slime form now had a golden yellow shine to it that wasn't there before. I hadn't named Rimuru as a subordinate, so I knew his potential wasn't capped, but I guess my naming still affected him somehow.
After his transformation was completed and he calmed down, Rimuru called back out to me. "Thanks for the name, Veldora!"
"No problem, Rimuru... say. I was about to head out of here. Did you want to come with me? I'll let you ride on my head." I said, eager to leave this place with my new slime buddy. Now that I had him with me, I truly had no reason to stay here.
"Huh, uh, sure. I don't know about the 'being on your head bit, though." He said.
I raised an eyebrow. "Why? Can't resist trying to eat me again or something?" I asked.
"No, it's not that, it's just that I can't see anything," Rimuru replied, rather shyly.
I shook my head. I'd forgotten about that part. "Let me teach you a Skill called [Universal Detect]. It should help you out a lot. I insisted as I poked Rimuru's slimy body and began to transfer the information to his mind.
"So, did you get it?" I asked after a couple of seconds.
"Not quite, [Great Sage] is analyzing it," Rimuru stated.
"[Great Sage] is that your Unique Skill?" I asked, pretending to be curious.
"Yeah, it's a great skill! I think it's almost too amazing for a slime to have." Rimuru replied.
"Well, I had a similar Skill, so I get it. It's nice how the information is just injected into your head, right? However, in the future, make sure to keep knowledge of such things to yourself. Just knowing that you have that Skill makes it easier for me to defeat you if we ever come to blows! However, since you have that Skill, you should spend your time while you can researching magic and Skills, it'll really help you out in the long run." I tried giving Rimuru a lecture, but failed to notice he wasn't paying attention.
"Oh! I can get it!" He shouted.
"H-Hey, were you list-" I tried, but was cut off.
"Whoa! I never thought I'd be able to see this good and- AAAAHHHHH!!!! DRAGON!!!!!!!" Rimuru exclaimed in fright as he looked at me.
'No, I told you I was a dragon, though,' I thought to myself as Rimuru freaked out.
…
It's been a few weeks since I named Rimuru, and we are now on our trek out of the cave and into the greater world at large. I could have gotten out of this cave a lot earlier, but I decided I was in no rush. I made sure to suppress my aura perfectly, which should allow for the events of canon to start thanks to my 'disappearance', though to be frank, I had no idea if I'd have gotten the timing right or not. It's possible I encountered Rimuru earlier or later than in canon and now butterflied away things like the Goblin Village attack, but I just had to hope and pray it turned out all right.
The entire time I've been explaining to Rimuru about the world and its systems, teaching him various forms of Magic and some lesser Skills that I think will be useful to him. I mostly did this out of boredom, as there wasn't much to do in this cave, and it is kilometers deep underground and tens of kilometers long.
Of course, that's only partially the reason it's taken so long. We've also been stopping now and again to allow Rimuru to eat up all of the Magic Ore and Hipokute Grass on our way out, as the stuff is highly valuable and essential to the stuff that comes next.
I made sure Rimuru saved me a chunk of the magic ore haul so that I can make myself a sword out of it later.
Then there is the secondary reason why we keep stopping, and that's to have Rimuru fight the monsters here and eat them. Even though I knew he had the Skill beforehand, seeing [Predator] in action was truly a sight to behold. I was orders of magnitude stronger than him right now, but just this one Skill would eventually evolve into one that could consume True Dragons whole and allow him to become one himself.
Of course, if anyone else had the skill, I would immediately kill them, as it was far too dangerous for regular people to have access to, but Rimuru was chill, so I didn't need to worry too much. The whole situation, though, did give me an odd feeling. It was almost like I was the old mentor character who dies in the story to give the protagonist motivation, although I guess it was better than in canon, where the OG Veldora accidentally turns himself into Kurama from Naruto by being an OP battery for Rimuru.
I shook my head and buried the thought.
Anyway, in thanks for teaching me all of the info on magic, Rimuru shared some of his memories with me about manga and anime, which I was grateful for. There are a ton of anime and manga I've always wanted to read, but since they weren't translated, I never got around to it. Rimuru solved that issue by auto-translating it to me, and I learned something profound.
Anime Shonen Characters yelling out the names of their attacks in Japanese is just as cringy as when the dubs do it in English.
Also, Rimuru reincarnated in the very early 2010s, before the isekai genre began to overrun the market, so while I got practically ALL of the classics, I didn't get the modern stuff. In turn, I shared some of the more modern anime I knew with Rimuru, though I made sure not to include anything from 'Tensura' in that list.
He was a bit shocked that I was 'from the future', but I told him it was probably just the quirks of reincarnating, which he accepted without issue.
Eventually, finally, we reached the end of the cave and were standing in front of two large metal doors. They were heavily rusted and decayed from centuries of neglect, and I could tell that the magic used to keep them sealed had long since faded away.
"So... how do we get through there?" Rimuru asked, seemingly stumped.
"Really?" I asked incredulously.
"No, I'm messing with you! [Water Blade]!" He yelled as he jumped into the air and a blade of water shot out from his mouth and cut through the steel like it wasn't even there.
I smiled wryly and shook my head. "You should try to infuse your Skill with your Aura for more power." I lightly scolded as I walked through the hole in the door.
"Why do I need more power? I just want to live a comfortable life with my friends and maybe travel the world for other Japanese who may be here." He commented, jumping back into my arms.
"I'm hurt. Do you not want another American to talk to?" I asked as we walked into the forest right past a group of adventurers, not even hiding our presence.
"Do I look like I need another one of you!?!" Rimuru shot back. As we continued to walk, I smirked as I heard the girl in their party, an elf pretending to be a human, exclaim in shock about 'That Guy with the Talking Slime'.
"What a funny bunch," I commented.
"Were they?" Rimuru asked. He'd seen them too, but didn't acknowledge them at all.
"Yeah, the guys were pretty strong for humans but were nerfing themselves, and the chick's an elf," I mentioned.
"Eh!?! Elf!?! They have those here!?!" Rimuru said, a bit too excited.
I smirked smugly, causing Rimuru to cringe and curse himself for opening himself up to what came next. "Oh? What's this? Does my friend have a fetish?" I said, mockingly in a tone that dripped with sarcasm.
"Buzz off!" Rimuru shot back in embarrassment.
I felt the presence of weak monsters approaching us rapidly, most likely the goblins from canon and decided to wrap up the conversation.
"Well, to each their own. I personally prefer Vampires and succubi, but everyone's got their own tastes." I admitted, thinking of a certain silver-haired heterochromatic waifu I'd be targeting.
Rimuru looked back at me incredulously. I could tell he was shocked, as I never gave up on the chance to tease him, so there must be a reason why. It didn't take him long to figure out the reason, though.
"S-Strong ones, why have you come here?" One of the Goblins asked hesitantly.
I looked over the Goblins for a moment and almost felt sorry for them. They were so pitiful. Scrawny bodies, beat-up, rusted weapons, and clothes that were made of more patches than actual fabric. I couldn't believe these guys were the future citizens of Tempest.
"We are simply traveling. We mean you no harm." I said, trying to be diplomatic.
Rimuru looked at them and jumped out of my arms, and towards the goblins. "Is there something you need from us?" He asked, though I knew he was ready to attack and probably devour them with his Skill.
The Goblin who appeared to be their leader looked at the others in his group, silently communicating with themselves. "Strong ones, we have sensed your approach, and we can feel your power. We wish to ask you a favor."
"They sensed us?" Rimuru looked at me.
"Hey, I've been perfectly suppressing my aura. I thought you were letting yours out on purpose," I stated with a shrug. I was trying to pretend I knew nothing, but the smile on my face probably exposed my teasing.
"Eh?" Rimuru asked, pausing for a moment before beginning to sweat bullets. I knew instantly that he'd asked [Great Sage] to change his perspective like in the anime, at that moment.
"A-Ahahahahaha! You did well in noticing!" Rimuru began to boast to try to hide his embarrassment, as I snickered away in the background.