'I look forward to seeing your form after evolution, Rimuru.'
Rin thought this, then gestured to Shizue and continued deeper into the Sealed Cave.
"Hoo~"
"Finally free."
Velzard watched the completely dissipated Infinite Prison, secretly letting out a sigh of relief.
"Wahahaha!"
"I, the Storm Dragon, am finally out!!!"
"Haaah!!!"
Rumble~
As soon as Veldora was released, he let out his magicules without restraint, immediately causing the interior of the Sealed Cave to shake violently.
"Idiot, don't just release magicules randomly. Do you want to bring down the entire cave?"
Velzard looked displeased at Veldora, who was acting like a husky, rolling around and throwing a tantrum. She was completely embarrassed.
She really shouldn't have let him out.
Velzard started to worry about how much trouble this newly freed Storm Dragon would cause once he was truly out in the world.
"Oh, oh, my bad."
Veldora scratched his head with a claw and said awkwardly, "I was just too excited to be free, so..."
"Don't apologize, just hurry up and recover your magicules."
"Don't drag me down later, you idiot brother!"
After being sealed for 300 years, Veldora had been unable to absorb magicules from the outside world, which left him in a severely weakened state.
Velzard didn't care about Veldora's actual combat power.
Without an Ultimate Skill, he was at best a meat shield and a punching bag. He couldn't pose a threat to Rin.
However, Veldora's magicules reserves were undeniably huge.
In Velzard's plan, he was simply her backup power source, a way to bridge the gap in magicules between her and Rin.
"Still, that strongest hero in history was really something."
Thinking back to the process of breaking the Infinite Prison, Velzard seemed to reevaluate that hero.
It was clearly just a Unique Skill, yet even so, breaking it had cost Velzard quite a bit of effort.
Of course, had she wanted to brute force it, she could've crushed it easily.
But if she had done that, Veldora inside would probably have been beaten half to death by the backlash.
Left with no choice, Velzard could only analyze it little by little.
Only just now did she completely break it apart.
"Big sister, do we really have to fight our little brother?"
Veldora's magicules recovered very quickly, almost instantly returning to forty or fifty percent of his peak.
"Huh?"
Velzard shot a glare at Veldora, clearly annoyed. "You promised before I let you out. If you go back on your word, do you believe I won't break your legs?!"
"Uh..."
Seeing that Velzard was serious, Veldora quickly shrank back. "I, I wasn't going to go back on my word."
"It's just, if we do this, doesn't it seem kind of... bad?"
From a Dragon Kind's perspective, fighting wasn't a big deal.
But two older siblings ganging up on a freshly awakened younger brother? That was kind of pathetic.
If word got out, where would Veldora put his pride?
If he won, people would say it wasn't fair.
If he lost, it would be even more humiliating.
Even with Veldora's brain, he knew Velzard had made a terrible move.
"Hmph!"
"You think I don't know that?!"
Velzard was exasperated. "Anyway, stop whining. Just watch my eyes and follow my lead!"
After sensing Rin's magicules fluctuations, she was already starting to regret her decision.
Now, she could only hope that Rin hadn't awakened some ridiculous Ultimate Skill.
Otherwise, she might not even get the chance to fight.
"I, I got it..."
Veldora lowered his head, completely cowed by his sister's dominance.
"Heh..."
Suddenly, a voice rang out in the ears of the siblings.
"Nice to meet you, Frost Dragon and Storm Dragon."
"!!!"
One person and one dragon turned their heads at the same time.
Then, Rin and Shizue stepped out from the shadows of the cave.
"Yo."
Rin raised his hand and greeted them with a smile. "Just to be clear, I wasn't eavesdropping on purpose. It's just that your magicules, Storm Dragon, were too flashy."
With Velzard's perception, there was no way she wouldn't have noticed Rin's presence.
The problem was that Veldora had released his Dragon's Might at random, flooding the area with magicules.
Because of that, Velzard didn't notice Rin's arrival right away.
"You idiot!!"
Velzard kicked Veldora's claw in frustration.
Thankfully, she didn't use much force, or Veldora would be rolling on the ground clutching his foot like Tom.
"Haha, I've always been bad at controlling magicules."
Veldora said, then lowered his head to look at Rin, laughing heartily. "You're our new little brother, the one who inherited Big Brother's power, right?"
"From a bloodline standpoint, we are indeed brothers."
Rin didn't deny it. A portion of his power came from the Star King Dragon and the Cardinal World.
To receive someone's favor was to inherit their karma.
At the very least, Rin didn't intend to ignore the kindness of the Star King Dragon.
Of course, calling Veldora "big brother" was out of the question.
At most, they were buddies.
As for the Velzard…
"Two against one. Is this what Dragon Kinds do?"
Rin said with a sarcastic tone. "As expected of Velzard-san. How majestic."
"Call me big sister!!!"
Velzard was visibly irritated by Rin's attitude.
"What's this two against one or three against one? Didn't you bring people too?"
"And two of them at that!"
Velzard added proudly, "So it's not two against one, it's two against three! You have the numbers!"
"...."
Rin and Veldora both turned to look at Velzard. They said nothing, but their silence spoke volumes.
"Wait, wait, wait!"
"Just a second!"
Shizue had been in complete shock from the moment she saw Veldora.
But what followed made her mind go totally blank.
What did she just hear?
Rin was Veldora's brother?
That silver-haired girl was also a Dragon Kind?
And then, she wanted Rin to call her big sister...
'This, this, this…'
Shizue's brain was frozen.
By the way, was this kind of conversation something a low-tier like her was even allowed to listen to?
Also!
Three against two?
What did that mean?
Enemy: Storm Dragon, Frost Dragon.
Our side: Rin, Rimuru... and then her.
Shizue: What, I'm fighting a Dragon Kind? Are you kidding me?!
"Big sister, about that..."
Veldora glanced at Shizue, then turned his head and lowered his voice to the Velzard.
"Isn't this going a bit too far?"
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)