He let out a sigh. A long, long sigh. "[sarcastic]Even as a slime, and I'm still drowning in paperwork……" He wasn't talking to anyone. Just thinking out loud. But he couldn't help saying it. The third floor of Veldanava Castle. Rimuru's office. Morning light streamed through the narrow windows, casting sharp shadows across the mountain of documents piled on his desk. At a glance, there had to be over a hundred sheets. Rimuru picked up his feather pen again. To look at, he was just an ordinary twenty-year-old man. Short black hair, deep brown eyes. White shirt, black slacks—something vaguely office-worker about the whole getup. Slender build, with a soft, rounded quality to his features. But his true form was a slime. A translucent sky-blue body. He was wearing a human shape now, but normally he was just a gelatinous sphere. In his old world, he'd never imagined mornings like this. Rimuru glanced out the window. Stone-paved streets stretched along the flow of the Amurda River. The sound of the morning market drifted from a distance. Fish vendors calling out, the smell of fresh-baked bread. The rhythmic clang of goblin smithies—*tong, tong*—and the laughter of draconic children running through the streets. Humans. Monsters. Demi-humans with dragon blood. All of them living together, naturally. *(In my old world, something like this would never have happened.)* Back when Rimuru wasn't "Rimuru" in Japan, he'd spent every day in that cramped office building processing the same documents, working overtime until late at night, eating a bento alone at a convenience store on the way home. The same routine, over and over. He could probably count on one hand the people he'd called friends. Now he was the lord of a nation of 150,000. "[serious]Haa……" He sighed again. This time it wasn't exhaustion—there was a hint of gratitude mixed in. He moved the pen. Ink flowed smoothly across the page. The mountain of documents shrank, bit by bit. Just a little at a time. By late morning, he'd managed to clear it all. --- "[excited]When I first made this thing, I seriously thought I was a genius" Rimuru walked down the corridor, grinning to himself. Veldanava Castle had five floors above ground and two below. It was massive. Ridiculously massive. Even walking around every day, he still wasn't used to it. From the corner of the hallway, where the wall met the floor, thin particles of blue light drifted upward. Tidia. A skill Rimuru had created himself. An automatic cleaning skill that ran constantly throughout the castle. It used minute amounts of magical essence to lift dust and dirt, carrying them away to the disposal area in the basement. Once activated, it ran on its own. Completely automatic. The light particles moved gently, absorbing the small footprints on the floor. Quiet, clean, like falling snow. Rimuru stopped and watched for a moment. *(There's something satisfying about that kind of movement.)* Though there had been one failure. When the magical essence supply got disrupted, it had lifted every sword stored in the armory. He remembered the executives scrambling to collect them all, and Benimaru turning pale, crying out "My blade……!" "[sarcastic]That was definitely a close call……but it's stable now, so it should be fine" If someone told him he was being too optimistic, he wouldn't have a comeback. Rimuru continued down the corridor. The light particles faded slowly behind him. --- At lunch, Rimuru passed through the castle gates. Kaede Street Shopping District. The main thoroughfare of the lower city. Stone pavement stretched straight south, lined with about sixty shops on either side. It was bustling with the midday crowd. Human merchants had their wares laid out on stalls. Three goblin children ran past, chasing each other. Two lizardman guards stood talking seriously. An oni blacksmith worked on armor repairs while teaching an apprentice. All of them on the same street. No one thought it strange. It was just an ordinary sight. The smell of grilled meat drifted from the Great Dining Hall "Gobta's Belly." Mixed with the scent of seafood broth. The menu had dozens of options for multiple races. Rimuru had tried counting them once and given up halfway through. A line of people waited outside the Tempest Public Bath "Mizuha." Humans and orcs stood in line together, naturally. "[excited]Lord Rimuru!" An old goblin vegetable vendor waved at him. "[gentle]Ah, lively as always today" He waved back casually. A human woman from the woodcraft shop next door bowed. "Thank you so much for maintaining the roads." Rimuru answered a bit sheepishly, "No, it's thanks to everyone." Three years had passed since the founding. The population had reached 150,000. *(I never imagined the world would become like this.)* Rimuru walked on, lost in thought. In his old world, stopping at a convenience store alone after work was his only pleasure. People rarely waved at him, rarely thanked him. Almost never. Now someone called out to him every day. It was a little ticklish. Happy, but he couldn't quite get used to it. Probably never would. At the edge of the street, a small goblin child fell. Scraped knees, face on the verge of tears. An oni woman nearby immediately crouched down to check the wound. No need for the Tempest Coexistence Doctrine—it was just natural. Rimuru stopped and watched. *(……I'm really glad about this.)* He didn't say anything, just started walking again. --- On the way back to his office in the evening. A faint vibration ran through the soles of his feet. Hmm? Rimuru stopped. Through the stone floor, something was transmitting from below. Not regular. Not like a heartbeat—*thump, thump*—but irregular, like *buzz, buzz*. *(……The basement?)* He immediately knew what it was. The core of Tidia was kept on the second basement level. A fist-sized crystal sphere. The center of the skill. "[serious]I should check on it" He descended the stairs. First floor, basement one, basement two. The second basement was dim. Magical lamps lined the walls at intervals, but the light was subdued. His footsteps echoed off the stone. There it was, in the center of the room. A crystal sphere on a pedestal. It usually gave off a soft blue glow. He'd always thought it looked stable. Not now. Red. Green. Red again. Flashing erratically, chaotically. Like it was suffering. "[surprised]What the……" Rimuru leaned in closer. The surface of the crystal sphere seemed to ripple slightly. He reached out his hand. Just a little closer, and he'd be able to touch it—— *Crack.* "[scared]——!" A violent repulsion hit him. His body flew backward, slamming into the wall. The thick stone wall the dwarves had built. Hard. Incredibly hard. "[angry]Ow……!" He collapsed to the floor, sitting down hard. His back throbbed. He couldn't move for a while. *(Getting knocked back by my own skill……what the hell……)* Pathetic. The nation's lord, alone in a basement, crashing into a wall. A sight he'd never want anyone to see. He dragged himself up and looked at the crystal sphere again. He didn't get close. Just watched from a distance. The crystal sphere was trembling. The light flashed red and green chaotically, and the surface quivered faintly. Like a living thing. He'd never seen a skill's core move like this. He strained to listen. ……He heard something. A faint voice. So faint he wasn't sure. But he definitely heard something. ——Lonely. "[surprised]……Huh?" Rimuru froze. A skill spoke? A skill having emotions—he'd never heard of such a thing. A skill was just a skill. Just a mass of energy. A tool that followed orders, without will or consciousness. That's what it was supposed to be. "[whispers]……Did I mishear?" He listened again. ——Nothing. The crystal sphere's flashing had stopped. The soft blue light had returned, as if the commotion had never happened, and silence reigned once more. Rimuru sat alone in the basement, staring at the crystal sphere for a long time. *(That wasn't my imagination.)* But he didn't know what to do about it. He'd investigate more carefully tomorrow. Probably figure it out eventually. Yeah, that's what he'd do. Rimuru stood up and left the basement. --- Back in his third-floor office, the window outside was dyed in sunset colors. The Jura Great Forest stretched out. Ancient Kodama cedars, some over a thousand years old, stood in rows, illuminated by the evening sun and glowing orange. It was usually a calming sight. Rimuru stood by the window, watching. Something felt off. The treetops were rustling. There was no wind—the evening air was completely still. Yet the distant trees swayed unnaturally, as if something were approaching. Rimuru narrowed his eyes. Beyond the great forest, at the edge of the distant sky, a black shadow——flickered for just an instant. Gone. "[serious]……Probably just my imagination" He murmured it, but the small unease in his chest didn't fade. It smoldered. Wouldn't go away. Well, it's probably fine. He'd investigate tomorrow. He was tired today. He tried to convince himself. But the voice saying *lonely* wouldn't leave his head. Neither would the trembling of that crystal sphere. Rimuru kept staring out the window for a while longer. The treetops had stopped swaying. The great forest had returned to its usual stillness. The black shadow was nowhere to be seen. The sunset slowly darkened. --- That night, Rimuru couldn't sleep. He lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. The magical lamp was off. Darkness. *(Can a skill really have emotions?)* The more he thought about it, the less sense it made. Tidia was just a cleaning skill. He'd made it himself. He understood how it worked. It couldn't possibly have emotions. But that voice. That trembling. Rimuru lay staring at the ceiling. No answer came. Only the voice saying *lonely* remained, lingering in the corner of his mind.