TTIGRAAS: Predator

Chapter 7

As the sun rose, it lit up my new house and I rolled out of bed. It felt very nice finally having something soft to lie on, even if it wasn't possible for me to get sore from resting on the ground. My soft body combined with the cushy bed made for an amazingly relaxing sensation that was much better than anything I'd ever experienced as a human.

"Sir Rimuru, are you awake?" I heard a voice ask from the other side of the door, accompanied by a polite knock.

"Yeah, I'm awake."

It's not like I could sleep, even if I wanted to...

"May I come in?"

"Sure."

The door swung open and revealed the person I expected; the pink-haired ogre Princess, cutely hiding her face behind her sleeve again. It's a little mannerism I've seen her do a lot now.

"Uh...Sir Rimuru?" She asked, sounding puzzled as she swept her eyes across the room before affixing them to me.

"Yeah?" I asked, wondering why she didn't see me when I was right in the middle of the room.

Her pink eyes went wide as I spoke for some reason.

"Uh..." She muttered, still staring.

Then it hit me; she's never seen me as a slime!

In a panic, I changed form, but as soon as I did, I noticed something was wrong. My arm is through the head-hole of my shirt and my head is through the arm-hole.

"Sorry, give me a sec."

I dropped the mimicry in those parts of my body and reformed them through the right parts of my clothes, breathing an internal sigh of relief.

[[Report. Mimicry of the unique skill [Predator], combined with [Synthesis] and [Separation] skills of the unique skill [Degenerate] has earned you the extra skill [Universal Shapeshift].]]

Wha...? Did I seriously just get a skill by screwing up my clothes, and fixing it by melting my head? And here I thought skills were supposed to be something hard to gain...

"Was that your...true form, Sir Rimuru?"

The Princess's voice snapped me out of my internal consternation about my stupid skill acquisition.

"Oh, yes, it was. I'm actually a slime, but I can take other forms like this one. Sorry I hadn't mentioned that to you yet."

I hadn't really thought it was relevant, so I didn't think to tell the ogres that this isn't my body, but a mimic. It's not like it was something I was trying to hide from them.

"No, no, it is fine, Sir Rimuru, I just had no idea... if you wish, you can go back into that other form. There's no need for you to inconvenience yourself by taking a human shape."

"Really?"

I pondered the offer for a moment, thinking it might be more comfortable than human form, but then I'd have everyone literally looking down on me even more than they already do.

"Yes, nobody would mind it if you prefer that form over the one you take now." She continued.

Knowing that hopping around as a slime will just cause more confusion from everyone in the village, I decided to not go back to my natural shape.

"I'll just stick with human form for now, thanks. I'm guessing that it's easier for you ogres to talk with me like this rather than a blob." I said with an awkward laugh, scratching the side of my head; which reminds me...I pull Shizu's mask out of my stomach and put it on again.