"Great Sage! Why did A Chen and the other person suddenly stop moving?"
Rimuru asked the Great Sage, confused, looking at the two people who had suddenly frozen.
"Notification! Lord Zhong Chen is currently communicating with the Spirit of Fire within the mental space of the individual Shizue Izawa!"
"Oh! So A Chen was trying to properly persuade that Spirit of Fire!"
Ifrit: Yes, yes, yes, it was indeed persuasion, the kind where if you don't listen, you die.
Zhong Chen, whose consciousness had returned, looked at Shizu, who was slowly opening her eyes, and asked with concern:
"Miss Shizu, how do you feel now?"
Shizu reached out and touched her chest, feeling her heart beating strongly. With a joyful expression, she said to Zhong Chen:
"Thank you very much, Mr. Zhong Chen! I feel lighter than ever before, and Ifrit no longer fights me for control of my body!"
"Is that so! That's good then, it wasn't a waste of my and Ifrit's breath!"
At this moment, Ifrit, inside Shizu, heard this and felt like he had truly been played. He thought, 'You call that a waste of breath?'
"Mr. Zhong Chen, just call me Shizu!"
Zhong Chen heard this and immediately replied with a smile:
"Alright, then I'll call you Shizu from now on!"
"Mm!"
Rimuru, Ellen, and the others rushed over to ask once the two resumed their conversation:
"A Chen! Is Miss Shizu alright?"
"Is Jing Jiejie really better?"
"Miss Shizu really looks fine!"
Listening to their jumbled words, Zhong Chen directly interrupted:
"Stop! Shizu is fine now, you can all rest assured!"
Upon receiving the affirmative answer, everyone immediately became overjoyed, clamoring to go celebrate. Zhong Chen didn't object, but still reminded them:
"Aren't you planning to visit Mrs. Kamado?"
"Uh... I almost forgot we were going to see Sister Kuie. Jing Jiejie, how about we visit Sister Kuie first, and then go celebrate?"
Looking at Ellen, who was hugging his arm and swaying, pouting playfully, Shizu said gently:
"Alright! Whatever Ellen says!"
"Yay! Jing Jiejie is the best!"
"Then let's go!"
As everyone went to visit Mrs. Kamado's house, Mrs. Kamado was very happy about their arrival.
She even asked Nezuko to call Kamado Tanjirou, who was training with the Garrison, back home. They all enjoyed the meal until night fell, and then everyone dispersed.
Three days later · Zhong Chen's house · Morning
Zhong Chen and Rimuru's house was not actually in the town hall.
Instead, they had built a three-story European-style house by a small lake. It was only a 20-minute walk from there to the town hall.
At this moment, in Zhong Chen's bedroom, the curtains were tightly drawn, preventing any sunlight from entering. Zhong Chen, sleeping soundly on the bed, felt no sense of impending danger.
"Rip..."
As the curtains were pulled open, the dazzling morning sun streamed into the room and shone on the bed. The caterpillar completely wrapped in the quilt slowly opened its eyes:
"Ahhh! So dazzling, it's the sun, I'm going to die, I'm going to die!"
"Lord Zhong Chen! It's already morning, you should get up!"
Sakuya said helplessly to Zhong Chen, who had closed his eyes and burrowed his head back into the quilt, refusing to get out of bed.
"I don't want to get up! I have a disease where I'll die if I leave the quilt!"
Zhong Chen's muffled rebuttal came from within the quilt.
"There's no such disease! You should get up quickly! Otherwise, breakfast will get cold!"
"Hmph hmph hmph..."
Sakuya was met with a series of snores. Unable to bear it any longer, Sakuya reached out, grabbed a corner of the quilt, and flipped it up.
Hmm... it didn't budge. Zhong Chen was holding the quilt tightly from the inside. Sakuya looked at the caterpillar in front of her, feeling helpless.
She could only take out a flying knife and cut the quilt directly from top to bottom, revealing Zhong Chen curled up inside.
Looking at Zhong Chen, who was wearing dinosaur-themed pajamas, Sakuya continued:
"Are you still going to lie in bed?"
Feeling waves of coolness on his body, Zhong Chen, who had been feigning sleep, finally couldn't stay in bed any longer and could only say helplessly:
"Sakuya! There's nothing important today! Can't you let me sleep a little longer?"
"It's not that there's nothing! Several Ogres arrived in town today, and Lord Rimuru has already gone to meet them!"
Hearing that Ogres had arrived, Zhong Chen instantly woke up, sat up, and asked Sakuya in surprise:
"What! Ogres have arrived!"
"Could it be Benimaru and the others? No, I have to go see!"
"Yes, do you want to go see?"
"Hmm, I'll go meet them too."
Having said that, Zhong Chen prepared to get out of bed, while Sakuya stood by, serving him as he dressed and washed.
System: How enviable... Damn it!
After finishing his meal, Zhong Chen had just arrived outside the town hall's meeting room when he heard the discussion inside:
"Lord Rimuru, thank you very much for temporarily taking us in!"
"It's alright! You can stay here for now. I'll send people to investigate who destroyed your village!"
"Thank you very much for your help!" * 6
Hearing this, Zhong Chen already confirmed the arrivals were Benimaru and the other Ogres, who would become important combat forces under Rimuru later. He directly pushed the door open and entered.
"Creak..."
Hearing the meeting room door open, everyone looked towards the newcomer. A beautiful young girl with blue hair and golden eyes excitedly waved at the newcomer and said:
"A Chen, you're here! Come quickly, I have some people to introduce to you!"
That's right, the blue-haired girl was Rimuru. As for why she suddenly had a humanoid form, it was actually very simple: Rimuru had used the Great Sage to analyze Shizu's body, thereby gaining a humanoid mimicry.
After all, the original Rimuru looked like this, and if she took on someone else's appearance, Zhong Chen would feel a bit awkward. So he discussed it with Shizu, and Shizu agreed without hesitation.
The first time Ellen saw Rimuru in this form, she initially mistook Rimuru for Shizu, until she saw the real Shizu and realized her mistake.
The Ogres stood up immediately when they saw Zhong Chen enter.
They knew that the only other leader Lord Rimuru would refer to in such a way must be Lord Zhong Chen.
Zhong Chen looked at the standing Ogres, seeing the tension on their faces, and said with a slight smile:
"No need to be so nervous, sit! I heard Ogres had arrived, so I was just curious to come and see!"
"Rimuru! What have you been discussing with them? I seemed to hear something about taking them in, and their village being destroyed, what exactly happened?"
"A Chen, it's actually like this..."
Listening to Rimuru's narration, Zhong Chen understood that the Ogre village was still destroyed by the Orcs, just like in the original story. The difference was that this time, Benimaru and the others did not clash with Rimuru when they arrived.
After all, when they arrived this time, this was no longer the village from the original story, but a prosperous small town.
There were also many humans living there, so this time Benimaru and the others had visited proactively.
"So that's how it is! Then you all should rest up well here for now. Oh, by the way, what are your names?"
"Lord Zhong Chen, we don't have names!"
"I see, it's very inconvenient to communicate without names! Rimuru, why don't you give them names!"
Zhong Chen looked at the Ogres, slowly guiding them. As long as they accepted Rimuru's naming, then they wouldn't be able to escape.
"Benimaru and the others are mine! Not even Jesus can save them, I said so!"
"Huh!!! Are you really going to give us names?"
"Lord Rimuru! Is this true?"
Looking at Zhong Chen, who nodded gently to him, Rimuru understood and said to the Ogres with a wide smile:
"Of course! Let me think, what names should I give you?"
After thinking for a while, Rimuru suddenly seemed to have an idea and pointed at the Red Hair Ogre, saying:
"You shall be named..."