Code S.L.I.M.E.

Chapter 19: Slime Princess

NEW CHAPTER, JOIN DISCORDS! Chapter 20 was completed several days ago!

Kokobu's POV

I'd felt Aoki's anger through our connection the entire time since Rimuru had left, and it was intense. It had completely blindsided me, and I hadn't even realized how much time had passed on the balcony until the sun had set.

Now Aoki was leading me through the streets of Rimuru City, on a mission I didn't even understand. I only got the vague feeling she was trying to slight Rimuru in return for leaving her up there. I could do nothing but follow her, unfortunately.

I still struggled to tell the Princess no, despite Rimuru's order. She was a powerful monster, and while I have certainly gained a part of her strength, I still don't compare.

Really, I'm not saying I'm scared of Aoki. What I'm saying is that she had a certain sway over me I can't shake, even if she isn't trying to influence me.

When lost in thought I finally realized where we were going. Aoki was returning to the path she used to get from the palace to the entrance of the labyrinth.

She stopped at one of her regular stops, the place she stood while staring at the group of neighborhood children. "Where are they?"

"They are probably back at home, Aoki. It's late and children aren't usually out and about at this time." I explained it to her, but I couldn't figure out her exact intention in coming here. "Can we go home now? If you want to play with the other children, I'm sure they'll be here tomorrow after school closes."

"The Ogre Child that always won was called Akaru. Where does Akaru stay at night?" I didn't know the answer to that, and I didn't want Aoki trying to figure it out. "There was also a human child called Gabe."

I decided I needed to put my foot down, at this point. I couldn't allow the princess to break and enter the homes of civilians. "Aoki, no. I don't know the answer. We need to return home."

"Then we will return tomorrow." She was adamant, and I could feel it in her aura. She was always driven, but this was more than normal. It felt like something she had to do.

After that Aoki finally began walking back to the palace, closely inspecting every building we walked past with Magic Sense.

I was really beginning to worry about the princess, and I did not know how to deal with this situation. So I decided I'd contact Lord Rimuru about it the next morning.

Aoki's POV

I did not sleep that night, I was not ready to begin sleeping again, even if I would have preferred to pass the time in a different way. I sat on my bed silently, in slime form.

I worked on spells all night, the new device Mjollmile had given me was in an isolated part of my Aoki Space, and I was working on pressing each and every button, manipulating the device in different ways to find every single thing it could do.

By the morning, I'd activated every single function on the device's primary panel. As a result I'd gained a few spells I could use by just copying what the device did, even if they were not 'powerful magic.'

It did not take me long to improve some of these spells, using the device as a guide and creating an isolated part of my Aoki Space specifically for simulating different environments for spells.

I also created a new parallel process, Spell Aoki. She would spend all her time creating new spells for me, unfortunately she was as intelligent as I was. So betrayal was a concern.

I found a good way to deal with that. I modified her by removing all of Spell Aoki's emotions, and having her review my memories to look for inspiration for spells.