11 Surprising Discovery

Rimuru woke up the next morning feeling very refreshed. To his right was Testa, who was nestled in between the crook of his neck and shoulder, and Ciel, who had now moved her face next to his. Looking to his left, he saw Ciel open her eyes, and he smiled and just stared into them. This form of intimacy was something that he deeply enjoyed with members of his harem, and usually after a night of passion, would just stare deep into each other's eyes for the better part of an hour.

Looking into his eyes for the better part of a couple minutes, she broke both eye contact and the silence by looking over at the sleeping Testa.

<<She will be a fine one to break in.>>

Rimuru rolled his eyes at the comment from his eternal companion that was acting more and more like a licentious old man. He'd wanted to continue the intimate moment, but it seemed she had other plans.

"I'm not 'breaking' in anyone. I just wanted to pleasure her and went a little overboard."

<<It's adorable that you think you can trick me, master. I know how much you loved reading those hentai where the man makes the woman a slave to pleasure.>>

Rimuru cringed at the comment. It was yet more information that he naively thought was true about sex and was proven wrong about. In fact, bringing such a sublime amount of pleasure to a woman was one of the things that led to his experimentation with the qualities of his body. Though looking his latest sexual escapade, it was hard to say that he hadn't achieved that.

No, definitely not a slave to pleasure. More like a... strong... desire... wait what the hell am I saying?

<<Fufu. Speaking of breaking someone, you should absorb your other self and get the memories of last night between me and Hinata.>>

He was kind of dreading gaining those memories so early in the day. Linking up with his other self, he found him sleeping comfortably in Hinata's bosom. Though the occasional involuntary twitch his legs did worry him a bit.

"...Ciel... how long?"

She sighed a bit. <<We were only able to do it for five and a half hours before Hinata wanted to get some sleep.>>

"...How many-"

<<Six times. I think you will enjoy the memories of the last couple ones.>>

He faced the manas with a look of reluctant acceptance. Ciel, sensing that he would enter into a funky mood, quickly put a stop to it.

Cradling his face with her hands, she smiled and said in a soft, resolved voice, <<I acted in the way I thought best. I love you eternally and promise to never->>

Rimuru brought his hand up to stop her. "Ciel, I trust you with my everything. Even though it may have been a bit excessive, I have no doubt you know what's best for me. Never apologize for taking action on that behalf."

When he said that, the intimate mood immediately came back, and he realized that this was probably what she was aiming for.

"You really do know everything about me."

Ciel responded with a loving smile and a kiss before informing him that the sun had just peeked over the horizon. Losing the warmth of her body in favor of her returning into him, he took a few seconds to look at the ceiling with a silly smile on his face before turning to look at the remaining beauty next to him. He took one last good look at Testa's sleeping face before he kissed her awake.

After a couple of kisses from him, she lightly groaned awake and opened her eyes to see her lord and now lover smiling back at her. In response, she put her head back into his neck and hugged him tighter with the strength she could manage. When it was clear that she wasn't going to let him go, he finally said, "C'mon. The sun is rising. We should be getting up now."

She groaned in response. Why did they have to get up? Can't the kingdom actually be useful for once and solve their own damn problems? Besides, didn't Rimuru say that she could be selfish?

Rimuru started to lightly shake her, and she groaned louder in response.

"C'mon. Get up."

"Noooooooooooooo..."

She really didn't want to get up from the comfort of the bed. It was currently the most daunting task ahead of her.

A primordial being who has fought countless beings, hell, even fought a true dragon, was currently having her most difficult challenge in the form of simply getting out of bed. The reason for this was simple.

Warm bed=good. Cold=bad.

She would if she was ordered to. If her lord was heartless enough to issue such an order, she would. She definitely wouldn't be angry about it. Not at all.

Hoping to get the clingy demon off him without resorting to anything drastic, he started poking her sides.

Testa smiled and twitched in response and immediately noticed the soreness that came from moving her leg and stomach muscles. Though she wanted to use this as an excuse to stay in bed longer, she also wanted to know why she was so sore. After all, they only had sex for thirty minutes tops, at least from what she could remember. It should be nowhere near as physically exerting as some of the fights she has previously been in.

Remembering that all her nullifications were completely dormant, she finally released him from her arms, albeit very reluctantly, and, with sheer determination and willpower, she moved to a seated position. Even that action was sore.

Before she healed herself and removed any of the evidence of last night, she briefly examined herself and her eyes widened at what she saw. Bite marks on her breasts, plenty of hickeys all around her chest and upper back that left bruises, and the thing that took the cake was a much fiercer bite mark right between her neck and right ear. Looking behind her at the pillow, she saw that it must have drawn blood as there was a bloodstain left there.

She looked at Rimuru, who looked back at her with a smile and a look of concern in his eyes. *Really, such a worrywart.*

Proving that her words last night weren't just for show, she got out of bed on shaky legs, and got some decent underwear that she could use in lieu of created ones. Now that she saw the 'damage' from last night, she was going to let her body heal itself naturally rather than using skills unless ordered to. Especially since she was marked.

The more she moved around and got her clothes on, making sure to let Rimuru enjoy each action by putting them on slowly, the more the oddly pleasant soreness permeated her body and the giddier she got with every movement.

Finally finished dressing herself, she looked back at him and asked, "Enjoy the show?"

"Almost too much. You okay showing that mark off?"

Testa had gathered all her hair and used a hair tie at the end of it, showing off the bite mark on her neck.

She looked at him with slightly pleading eyes. "Do you not want me to?"

Rimuru replied by snaking his arms around her waist and giving her a deep kiss.

"Let's go. We don't want to keep the others waiting too long."

Leaving the room, they walked hand-in-hand to Hinata's room to pick her up. When they got there, they found her dressed and ready along with another Rimuru in his slime form. They greeted each other and Hinata gave Testa a knowing smirk when she saw the mark on her.

"Here you go, dear. Your gift, fully prepared and ready for you. We worked extra hard to make sure you'd enjoy it."

Both Rimurus mentally sighed at this with human Rimuru steeling himself and absorbing his slime self. Both girls saw him clench his muscles for a couple seconds before relaxing and turning back to them.

"Once there's a lull, I'm getting you back."

Hinata grinned. "Oh, I look forward to it."

Hinata was the type of woman who enjoyed the so-called 'battle' for domination. She would of course enjoy the more intimate parts of sex when it came up in their life, but when it came to the more carnal aspects of it, she wouldn't go down without a fight. Though she would always end up on the receiving end, to her it just made things that much more pleasurable.

Giving a quick peck on the lips to her, he grabbed Testa's hand again and set off for the stables with Hinata following behind, much how a guard should. The castle was still waking up for the morning, but for the few maids that were up, the woman that was quietly being regarded as the ice queen had that image shattered by a very bubbly looking woman holding hands with the other summoned one. What was more, seeing the clear mark on her neck, while extremely bold, was enough to signify that she already belonged to someone. Every maid they walked by had the same thought.

*She's lucky...*

Before Souma took the throne, all castle maids were almost immediately dismissed once it was found out that they were pregnant. If they wanted to have a baby, they would have to leave the castle to give birth and then begin the whole process of trying to get a job as a maid again. One of the first things Souma did when he came to office was to introduce the concept of maternity leave for the maids to allow them to be able to both raise a family and serve the castle. As such, many of the maids were starting to pursue love interests with those in the castle, primarily the butlers, guards, and the soldiers, along with the occasional minister.

When they got there, Aisha was already waiting for them and was preparing the horses.

When she looked at the trio, she saw the two summoned ones holding hands and was about to greet them before noticing the clear bite mark on Testa's neck. Though she had a guess as to what they were up to last night, she knew better than to ask, even as her thoughts went to the direction of her own relationships.

*I wonder when his highness will take me like that.*

Greeting the three she was going to take three horses before Testa requested to only take two, as she would ride with Hinata. As soon as the horses were prepared, Rimuru helped Testa on the one with Hinata and Aisha got on her own.

"Are you sure you'll be okay riding?"

She hugged Hinata slightly stronger in response and focused on her breathing. "No, but I'll manage."

With that out of the way, Hinata gave the signal to Aisha that they were ready, and they were on their way to the forest with Rimuru seeing them off.

After waiting for about half a minute, he then walked back to the castle and asked one of the maids to lead him to where Ludwin was. When he arrived at the barracks, he saw a crew of around fifty or so soldiers along with Ludwin all wearing light armor over normal clothes and an unknown foxlike girl wearing an outfit he can only describe as a mage's outfit.

She had short golden hair down to her shoulders, light orange eyes, kitsune ears and a golden tail, and was wearing a green high-class military outfit adorned with medals, signifying a high position in the army.

"Ah, Rimuru, I'm glad you are up so early. We were just doing some light exercises."

"I can see that. By the way," he said, addressing the unknown woman, "are you joining us? We are going into the catacombs so that might not be the best attire."

The woman looked at him and bowed. "Hello, Sir Rimuru, it's a pleasure to meet you. I am Kaede Foxia, the royal army's best earth mage. I am here to ensure easier passage with my magic. As for my attire, I wear this as my pride as long as I am working."

Such a serious girl. So even the name is Japanese too, huh.

"Hello Kaede. You can drop the honorifics with me. I'm glad to have your help with this. By the way, where exactly is the entrance to the catacombs?"

Ludwin answered his query. "There are multiple entrances. The one we will be using is about 3km from here as it's closest to the river. I will warn you, however, that there might be monsters."

"Hmm. I may not look it, but I can take care of myself. Are we leaving anytime soon?"

"Well, we were planning a little later to give you some time to rest, but since you are up, we can leave now. Does that work for you?"

Rimuru nodded in affirmation, and they set off. As they were walking to the entrance, he talked a little more to Kaede.

"Where are you from? The name Kaede is a familiar name where I used to live."

She gave a wry smile at his last words, but answered, "My family are descendants from the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago. As we are a member of the mystic-fox race, the humans drove us away, but when the hero-king united Elfrieden together and promoted racial hegemony, our ancestors migrated back to the kingdom."

Rimuru hummed in interest before a great idea popped in his head. It was a longshot, but there was no harm in asking. "Kaede, are you familiar with a katana?"

She was slightly taken aback by the enthusiasm of the man, and she couldn't help but let out a faint blush when she saw the stars in his eyes.

"You mean the ones with the curved blades? Yes, I'm familiar with them... Wah?!"

He suddenly grabbed her hands. "Can you get one for me?!"

This was extremely important to him in order to fight.

Ok, not really, but since he wanted to partake in a couple of spars and the upcoming war, he would need a weapon, and better one that he was familiar with than one that didn't feel right. He could certainly use it well enough, but it didn't feel the same. On top of that, even the weakest katanas he could make through his skill was far stronger than the best of weapons this world had to offer.

The unfortunate thing was that Elfrieden seemed to match Middle-age Europe in most things, and this also included weaponry. While this suited Hinata quite well, it wouldn't work for him. Though there were some katanas that made their way to the kingdom from the Archipelago, they were both very uncommon and incredibly expensive, and Souma wouldn't budge when he asked to spend money on it.

In fact, he distinctly remembered him saying something like, 'Go ask one of the nobles for it. I'm sure you could charm one of them and have them get you one.'

Cheeky little shit was growing some backbone against him.

Unfortunately, his hopes were soon dashed when Kaede responded. "Unfortunately, I cannot."

She saw him look like he lost his soulmate, and she suddenly felt extremely guilty.

"B-but wait! If you know how to make one, the blacksmiths would be more than willing to work with you! They are always looking for a challenge..."

Seeing Rimuru light back up again as if the previous expression was just a dream, she looked away to save herself from another blush, already being put through an emotional rollercoaster that she didn't think was possible just from a few interactions with someone who was practically a stranger.

Thankfully, he let go of her hands, probably due to Ludwin patting his arm, and continued to walk forward. It seemed that Rimuru, for his part, didn't seem at all phased from some of the glares he got from the other soldiers. Being one of the few women in the army, along with being the only one with foxlike traits, she garnered a lot of attention for herself as someone to both admire and pine for in the afterhours. Unfortunately for them, she had her heart set for another.

As they got to the sight, Ludwin took command while Rimuru advised him where best to put the passageways for the aqueducts and the sewers. The treatment for the sewage water was set to be away from both the river and the citizens, so that would come first. Not even fifteen minutes after they started digging, they heard another sound in the catacombs.

The soldiers were getting their battle gear ready as it seemed like they were going to fight. What came up was a lizardman who saw them before running directly in the other direction seeing the people primed to kill it. Lizardfolk, unlike in Tempest, were mindless creatures who were seen as monsters due to their desire to eat anything, including sentient beings.

"We shouldn't let that thing get away." One of the soldiers said.

Nocking an arrow, one of the soldiers let it loose and killed the fleeing Lizardman with a shot to the head. Disposing the corpse with fire magic to prevent infestation, they continued along with their job, killing the occasional monster and making headway. A couple hours in they saw something that was an archeologist's wet dream.

In the site was a plethora of monster bones and dragon bones that seemed undiscovered if not for the head of one of the dragons missing. Everyone was looking at the gigantic skeletons with awe.

"I wonder how long these have been here." Kaede muttered.

"I would guess a few thousand years."

She looked at Rimuru like he was insane.

"So, you mean to tell me that dragons and monstrous beasts were just sitting underground for all this time?! How many more are there?!"

He laughed and explained the process of how erosion works and how fossils often find their way deep within the earth.

"These things were roaming the planet at one point?"

"Most likely. Though I would guess you probably don't have to worry about them anymore. At least not outside of the country of dragon riders."

She knew what Rimuru was referring to.

A place to the northwest of Elfrieden was called the Star Dragon Mountain Range and had a population of only dragons. All of these dragons were of the sentient kind and could therefore be reasoned with, and the country next to it took advantage of this and made contracts with these dragons. Normally, dragons would not allow any to ride it, but if it was the person they made a pact with, they would allow it. This gave the country, called Nothung Dragon Knight Kingdom, immense war power as air superiority mattered above all else, and dragons were the king of the sky.

To prevent the people and the dragons from completely taking over the world, there was an exponentially more powerful dragon, called Mother Dragon to the natives, Tiamat to those outside of the Range, who oversaw what the dragons were doing. If they were too far out of line, she would initially give a warning, and if the behavior continued, she would forcefully cancel the pact and imprison the offending dragon for a long period of time. However, she would only act when it concerned her dragons. Any other conflict within the world of Io, regardless of what it was, she would not interfere in.

"Well in any case, we should tell his majesty about this. Ludwin..."

She turned to look at Ludwin who was looking at the only skeleton missing a head and giving an exasperated sigh. Neither of them knew what the man was thinking, but they could guess that he knew something regarding the dragon's missing head.

"Right. I will send one of the soldiers to tell his majesty after we are done here. For now, let's continue our work."

As they pressed on, another group of women was taking their first break.

Since they prioritized time over leisure and wanted to make a round trip in four days, the horses were going at a gallop. Not incredibly fast, but enough to go plenty of distance in a few hours. Currently, they were letting their horses drink water while Aisha was feeding them from her knapsack. This would at least be enough until she was able to restock at the next inn, which she knew was about 100km away. At the pace they were going, they would be able to reach it by nightfall.

Though they hadn't talked much, Aisha wanted to get to know the two women better.

"Madam Hinata, may I ask why you did not choose to go into the military?"

"You can drop the honorifics when talking to me. The only reason why is because the princess told me that I would be spending most of my time cleaning, maintaining, and sparring. At least as a bodyguard under the two summoned heroes, I won't be doing that."

"I see. I have another question but feel free not to answer it."

"Go for it."

"Why did you choose to come to Elfrieden and not stay within one of the Eastern Nations? You would have fought far more demons there than here, right?"

Hinata sighed at this, buying time to think up a good excuse.

"When I saw my parents die, I was completely lost. I did throw myself into killing as many monsters as I could, but it felt literally endless. I stayed in the Duchy of Chima for a little while which borders the domain, but all I was doing was just defending, not attacking. Since no one wanted to spearhead another expedition, I decided to go south in the hopes of finding someone that will."

Looking up at the sky, she continued. "I was originally planning on only staying here for a couple of months, especially with the food shortage going on, but then I heard about the summoned hero and the King's Summon for Talent. I showed up with the hopes that he could grant my wish of spearheading an attack on the domain. Though the more I stay in this country, the more I enjoy it."

She looked back at Aisha. "I'm sure Souma will eventually go into the domain, but as of right now, I oddly feel no rush to go plunging back into it."

Aisha took in every word and thanked the heavens that she lives in Elfrieden. They simply didn't have to worry about any sort of attack from the domain. It almost felt wrong to complain about her situation when hearing about Hinata's.

Trying to brighten up the mood a little, Aisha was about to ask for a spar before she heard a sound from one of the surrounding shrubberies. Once she saw both Testa and Hinata on their guard, she looked over at where the sound was and loudly proclaimed, "We know you are there! Show yourselves!"

"Tch. Guess we got found out." Out from the trees, eight men came into view and started fanning out towards them, seemingly blocking their escape. They were each carrying weapons and, while their gear was decent enough, the three of them could see that it was stolen judging by how it wasn't completely fitted. That, along with the malicious smiles they were giving, clearly indicated that they were up to no good.

"State your business."

Hinata rolled her eyes. "What do you think their business is? They're here to rob and rape us."

"Woah, woah, woah! Don't be putting words in our mouths, little missus! We only want your money and your horses. Though," he smirked, "We'll let you keep the horses if you pay with your bodies."

The gave a chuckle at this

Aisha looked at him with disgust, while both Hinata and Testa, oddly enough, started sporting sadistic smiles.

The man took note of this and thought that they were just bluffing. "Tell you what. Since there are two horses, you ladies can pick and choose which two of you pay."

"Do you have any idea who we are?! This is-?!"

She was interrupted by both Hinata and Testa using magic. Hinata quickly electrified four of them while Testa used magic to send blades of ice and chop off the feet of the other four. Hinata's victims simply passed out while Testa's victims screamed in pain.

Aisha was shocked at this. Not because of Hinata's actions, but rather Testa's actions. She didn't think that a summoned hero would be able to be so ruthless! But the biggest reason...

*I wanted to fight too...*

Snapping herself out of her thoughts, she was about to thank the two of them for incapacitating them before she saw Hinata walk towards them, raising her blade.

"Wait! We need to find out who they are with!"

Hinata sighed and looked at her. "They're bandits. Unless you think you can get the location of the bandit lord out of them, they're useless to us. Besides, even if we have that, we can't afford to make a detour."

"But killing them?! They already don't pose a threat!"

"Well, I mean, four of them are going to bleed out anyway. Might as well put them out of their misery."

Aisha looked conflicted at this but couldn't come up with a better alternative to the cold logic Hinata gave. She wasn't a stranger to bandit attacks, but each and every time, she tried her best not to kill them as she believed that they always had a reason to attack.

As for these people, even if they carried them to an apothecary, they would most likely bleed out on the way, even with a proper tourniquet. And that was assuming they agreed to be helped.

With no better options, Hinata took out her blade again and mechanically stabbed them through their hearts despite their cries, and one by one, silence slowly returned to the area.

The horses finished drinking water around this time, somehow unaffected by the surrounding skirmish, and were ready to continue. They wordlessly got on their horses and kept moving forward.

"You overdid it."

"Ara, Hinata, but their souls taste so delicious."

"I thought demons liked pure souls."

"In~cor~rect. While we do like all kinds, the most delicious kinds are the ones laden with sin."

"Whatever. Just make sure you don't kill anyone else unless it's necessary." She looked over at Aisha. "She already is thinking that something is wrong with us for how easy it was to take their lives, and the last thing we need is negative attention, especially directed towards Rimuru."

Testa seemed to have sobered up from the killing. "Yes, of course. Forgive me. It's just that, there didn't seem to be a good reason to let them live."

Hinata nodded at this, and they continued forward in relative silence. Perhaps if the bandits didn't look the way they did, Testa would have settled with incapacitating them. After all, Rimuru had told her to consider the other's side, but the bandits looked like the word 'famine' was foreign to them, especially with how built they looked, which was a stark contrast to the people around the area who all looked at least slightly malnourished.

She judged that killing the bandits would net the most possible good. Surprisingly, that was the primary reason she killed them. Unless words were said to slander her lord or occasionally herself, she paid no mind to them when they were said by people clearly weaker than her. She simply saw the action as a net positive for her and for the surrounding society.

Eventually, after several hours' worth more of riding and taking short breaks, they reached their destination and checked into the inn.