TTIGRAAS: Predator

Chapter 48

Lord Rimuru is something beyond mortal comprehension, seeing him before already told you he was abnormal... But seeing him now told you that only certain death awaited the smallest slight.

Clearly, the humans standing before him were too conceitful to see their own folly.

I could feel sympathy for the elf, she was truly in a situation no being should have to experience, owned and abused. Even many animals get better treatment.

Lord Rimuru wouldn't stand for it. Those elves live in Jura, his domain, meaning they belong to him, not these humans.

Yet, Lord Rimuru allowed these humans to think he was humoring them... They were making a terrible mistake. His anger only grew with each passing moment, and everyone here could feel it.

My Father had wore a stony expression as he watched alongside everyone, while I could tell my brother Gabiru was practically boiling over with anger. He had gained something of a fascination with Rimuru, and had not stopped speaking of our Guardian since they first met. It almost seemed like he was in love.

Though he wasn't that stupid, I knew that at least.

We have been half-expecting him to run off any day to directly serve our new Demon Lord ever since he left us after defeating the orcs. With Father's regained strength after his Naming, Gabiru's position as heir was no longer as urgently needed. I knew Father would be fine with Gabiru leaving to pursue that newfound interest in our Lord if he chose to.

But back to the matter at hand, I knew I had to hold back my brother; I could tell he was about to spring into action and take care of the humans for Lord Rimuru, which would be the ultimate show of disrespect.

It would be to consider Lord Rimuru weak, unless it was his direct order. A Demon Lord is a being that should never require assistance.

I grabbed Gabiru's arm before he could do anything stupid. He glared at me, but I ignored it; this was for his own good.

He should not get involved with something like this, he would surely die. It did not matter if he saw himself as a friend of the Demon Lord before us. We'd met Lord Rimuru only a handful of times, and surely he only barely remembered us.

I didn't release my brother until he accepted the situation, or at least seemed to accept the situation, even if he was forcing himself to.

But while we were squabbling, something had changed. Lord Rimuru had started laughing; loudly. I felt an imminent sense of danger in his aura and had to stop myself from shivering because of it.

"You know what? Slimes are opportunists. We are feisty little creatures when we need to be. Little predators. I'll give you a demonstration."

He then released the slime on them, and I suddenly felt pity for the humans. Slimes' methods of hunting were notoriously brutal, even if the ones in Jura are typically docile.

"What could a single slime do?" One of the humans questioned, pulling out his blade that I knew would prove useless against his executioner.

Then I realized that the elf was still among the humans, surely Lord Rimuru wouldn't...?

"Single?"

At that prompting, a massive purple slime emerged from the ground and began to engulf the group of humans. The elf woman was in the middle of it all screamed in terror at what was happening. She didn't deserve this, she was just a victim; I couldn't let her meet the same fate as her captors.

I launched myself forward, grabbed the elf, and carried her to safety. Nobody tried to stop me.

It was only after the fact that I realized, by interfering, I had just insulted my Demon Lord.