113. Otherworldly Nonsense

Venti had never seen a slime that didn't belong to one of the seven elements. On top of that, the slime looks so intelligent judging from its behavior.

"Hello, little slime." Venti waved his hand.

"Hello!"

Rimuru's reply stunned Venti instantly. He knew some creatures might gain intelligence. But for a slime, this was the first. Moreover, Rimuru could talk clearly.

"Hey, hey, Ryūhei, where did you find this slime?"

"Below heaven, above the earth."

"Oh, come on! Can you just tell me?" Venti asked with puppy eyes. But, Ryūhei didn't budge at all. Ryūhei might be at a loss for words if it was Klee. But Venti is a dude.

"Then, give me something useful and I'll consider it." Ryūhei said as he reached out his hand and showed his palm, implying that he wanted something equal.

"You didn't give me your manga. And now you don't want to tell me about its origin?"

"Every transaction must be equal, including new knowledge or intel. Oh, right. Someone from the Knights of Favonius just bought recently published mangas. You might try to read them there."

"Oh, really? That's a relief then… Hey, don't change the subject!"

"If you want my manga. Earn some money somewhere else. Be a street performer or something!" But then, he lowered his head. "I'm sorry if I've gone too far, but if you agree to cooperate with me, I can let you read all of my mangas, and novels, and get my games for free. Of course, you can only get one per volume. In addition, I can help you to cough up some wine from Morax."

"Deal!"

"Oh, you didn't even consider something?"

"As long as I can get some wine from that brute, nothing else matters."

Ryūhei twitched when he heard that.

'You damn drunkard! Just wait for me when I steal your Dandelion wine.' Ryūhei scolded inwardly.

"Oh right, does anyone from the Knights of Favonius already know your identity?"

"Perhaps the Acting Grandmaster already knew that when we talked last night. The others are the traveler, and the owner of the Angel's Share."

"Angel's Share? The tavern near this place?" Ryūhei said while pointing in a certain direction. His inn is located behind the Goth Grand Hotel and just above the market district. The Angel's Share is located on the northern side of the market district. It's indeed that the inn is not far from that tavern.

"Yep, that place."

"I see. Alright. Let's do this…" Ryūhei started to explain his plan. In summary, Ryūhei would help the dragon for Venti since that dragon was infected by poisonous blood from the Abyss. In exchange, Venti would help him to pester, persuade, or like, so Jean would give him a free building to open a new branch.

"I'm not against that term, but the traveler can cleanse the poison since he showed it to me before."

It seemed his spot was already stolen. Then, the only choice left was to fight the dragon. Ayaka seemed inexperienced in a real fight. So, this might be a good chance to train her since she said she wanted to get stronger.

"In that case, just bring me along to find that dragon. I can fight it for you."

"Well, you're strong. So your help is indeed valuable."

"Oh, there's another, I want to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"Which is harder, removing that poisonous blood, or removing negative thoughts of someone affected by Erosion?"

"You know the Erosion?" Venti seemed surprised by this. And Ryūhei just replied shortly.

"I've had a certain encounter."

Venti contemplated for a while. Then, he raised his head.

"Erm, both of them might be a little bit similar. But I think removing the Abyss blood is easier."

After all, even a god couldn't escape Erosion. Venti didn't even know what to do if someone was affected by it. Then, he saw something shining right in front of him. Apparently, it was a contract form created by Ryūhei's technique.

"Tsk. You even imitate him by forming a contract with me."

"Is it not allowed? Is it because Mondstadt is a nation of freedom?"

"It's fine, it's fine. It's just a contract anyway."

Eventually, Venti decided to form a contract. With this, Ryūhei might have a chance to get another hidden achievement.

And then, they chatted for a bit, talking about everything like the festivals, what Mondstadt looked like in the past, etc. Too bad, Venti couldn't understand how Ryūhei found an intelligent slime because Ryūhei just said, "Oh, it was born because of Veldora. In short, Veldora is Rimuru's father."

In the end, Venti gave up and decided to find out by himself.

Well, ganbatte!

After that, Venti left while telling him to go to the Dawn Winery tomorrow morning.

After Venti's presence disappeared, Ryūhei turned to the others.

"Are you guys coming? And of course, Ayaka must go since this is your chance to gain experience in fighting a dragon."

Ayaka nodded while clenching her fists.

Veldora nodded as well as he spoke,

"Umu. I want to see a dragon in this world. If that dragon suits my preference, I'll take him as a disciple."

"..."

"..."

Ryūhei and Ayaka were speechless. Perhaps, Veldora wanted to do that out of boredom. Rimuru also decided to join the fun. But then, Veldora suddenly asked Ryūhei.

"By the way. Are you not a person from another world, Ryūhei?"

Ryūhei already predicted this question, so it didn't falter him. He shook his head.

"No. Why do you think so?"

Veldora closed the manga and got out of bed. Glancing at Ryūhei, he said.

"I already asked Rimuru when you went outside. Rimuru said that you drew the Tensura manga based on Rimuru's experience. I can understand that. But, you drew Dragon Ball and One Piece manga before you summoned him. And some of these mangas and games were from anime in Rimuru's previous life before reincarnated into a slime in my world."

Ryūhei held his chin while nodding. Then, he replied,

"I see. So you're suspicious based on that huh? Then, let me make it clear. I have a sort of skill to summon spirits, monsters, and demons from another world. Coincidentally, the first one I summoned was the spirit of a dead otaku guy from Earth. Or should I say parallel earth since that guy had knowledge of the Tensura novel in his world?"

"Wha—" Rimuru was shocked. What shocked him was the fact that he was just a fiction in another world.

"You're saying that I and Rimuru's world was just a fiction?" Veldora asked.

"Probably so. But, probably not." Ryūhei didn't deny or confirm. He turned to Rimuru. "Was there a Marvel Cinematic Universe in your old world?"

"What was that?"

"Superhero movies. There is a Spiderman, Ironman, etc, but those superheroes are in the same movies."

In fact, Ryūhei didn't really remember that. Ryūhei watched some superhero movies in the past since his streamer friend downloaded those movies and asked him to watch them together for the Twitch TV content. And the content was to review those movies. So, he knew there was something called a parallel universe in those movies.

Rimuru pondered, trying to recall his knowledge of his past life.

"Erm, there are some superhero movies indeed. Batman, Robin, Joker, Superman, Fantastic Four, or X-Men. But, every hero has their own movie."

"Then, let me tell you something. Although this might look like fiction. It might be a real deal as well. In that world, there's a parallel world or universe concept. In one world, Peter Parker got bitten by a spider, transforming his genetics similar to a spider and becoming a Spiderman. However, in the parallel world, Spiderman got his power from a spider goddess. The same goes with you and the spirit I summoned as well. Both of you might have come from Earth. In truth, you two were from different universes. This is the knowledge I've got from him."

Both Veldora and Rimuru contemplated for a while. As for Ayaka, she didn't really get their conversation. A Spiderman? A Batman? Is there any animal kingdom-man other than those?

After a while, Veldora asked.

"Then, where's the spirit you summoned?"

"I absorbed his knowledge. That poor dude wanted to live in this world since it was a dream for otaku like him. But, he's just a spirit and I can't bring him back to life as a human. So, I offered something to him. I asked him to give me his otaku knowledge, then I would send him somewhere else since there might be a chance for him to reincarnate in another world. That dude agreed and I got the knowledge. Well, I digested that knowledge little by little, especially the knowledge about mangas or novels. In fact, I summoned more than once and absorbed their knowledge. So, I might understand a little bit about Earth."

"So, it was just a coincidence?"

"Yeah. There's a condition before my summon can be successful. I must have full knowledge of what I am about to summon. If not, 99% would end up in failure. When I summoned Rimuru, I used the Tensura novel from that dude's knowledge. And I didn't expect Rimuru to exist in another world. Because of that, I'm sure you and the others in your world are real too. Thus, I could summon you quite easily. As for the others, I couldn't summon those who had traits close to humans. For example, Benimaru, Milim, Diablo, Luminous Valentine, etc. As for why I asked Rimuru about his life experience. I needed to confirm the similarities between the novel and his life. And the result was…the same." Ryūhei explained to them.

When Ryūhei created a slime for the first time, it was an emotionless killing machine in the form of a slime. But, after he recreated the slime again with Rimuru as a base from the Tensura novel, the real Rimuru seemed to be born.

Ryūhei himself was actually wondering how come they started to ask something like that as if they had the real spirits and souls of Veldora and Rimuru. Perhaps, he should've consulted Yae Miko regarding this.