TTIGRAAS: Predator

Chapter 4

A few days after the agreement to help them out, I was sitting on a log, watching as Eren and the two guys cleaned up camp. I wanted to help but my slime body wasn't very good at grabbing things... at least, things I didn't intend to eat. So I just sat there and watched.

It was boring.

"Hey!" I hopped up to Eren. "I'm gonna see where Shizu is. I'll be back, alright?"

"Huh?" Eren looked down at me. "Oh, sure! Have fun!" And with that, I was off.

I hopped up a hill that I'd seen Shizu-san climb earlier with [Magic Sense]. I hope she's alright, she didn't even stop to eat.

The trees gradually thinned as I climbed, until I was in a grassy clearing atop a steep slope, with one single tree on the edge. Shizu was under it, looking over the horizon.

"Slime-san," she said before I could even speak, "are you an otherworlder?"

"Oh–!" I jumped in the air, I was so surprised. "U-um... yes."

"What's your real name, then?" She asked softly, still not looking at me. I couldn't help manifesting a little question mark–where was she going with this?

"Um... Satoru. Mikami Satoru." I answered, and for some reason, the name felt strange to say. It hadn't been that long since I was human, right?

"...so it's true." Shizu turned around and removed her mask, smiling. "That line from when we met, it's from a game, isn't it? You're Japanese as well."

"What!?" I shouted gleefully, bounding over to her. "You're Japanese?!" I asked excitedly as I looked up from her feet. "I mean, I wondered, 'cause the name–and now that I've seen your face, you look Japanese...!"

"Hehee," Shizu giggled, and her laugh was melodic. "Yes. I'm what's called a 'summon.' I was brought to this world a long time ago." She bent down and scooped me up, patting my slime body. It irked me to admit, but... I didn't mind the pets.

I'm not a cat. I told myself, but if Shizu was doing it...

Back to reality.

"Summon?" I questioned as I tilted my body a bit. "What's that?"

Shizu's smile darkened, her eyes looking downcast. "In this world," she said, "otherworlders are powerful weapons for kingdoms or countries. It takes more than thirty mages performing a ritual to bring someone from another world... and when they arrive, they're enslaved."

"What!?" I shouted, jiggling furiously in her arms. "That's horrible!" I said, "doesn't anyone stop them!?"

She smiled sadly. "Technically speaking, it's illegal in most places." She sighed, "but that won't stop them."

"...so you're a summon..." I reiterated after a moment of silence. "Did some kingdom bring you here?"

"No, slime-sa... Satoru-san." Shizu took a seat under the tree with me in her lap, and I was ready to hear her story. "I was summoned by one of the pillars of this world, a powerful being called a Demon Lord."

"Demon Lord!?" I was going to be shouting a lot today, it seemed. "What I've seen of this world is pretty fantastical, but they have those too?"

"They know about Demon Lords in Japan now?" Shizu asked in confusion.

"...kind of," I said. "They're fictional, like in stories."

"Oh," she hummed. "That is quite funny, but a little sad."

I'd never really thought of it that way, but from her perspective it was. "S-sorry..."

"It is alright, Satoru-san." She held me a bit closer. "Now, the Demon Lord who summoned me used to be a hero. The Platinum Saber, Leon Cromwell. He fell into becoming a Demon Lord for some reason none can understand. So he became the Platinum Devil."