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Just InCommunityForumMoreRegrets and Wishes: One More Chance by jnscrtm Anime » Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken/転生したらスライムだった件 Rated: T, English, Hurt/Comfort & Romance, [Rimuru T., Ciel], Words: 104k+, Favs: 190, Follows: 196, Published: May 20, 2022 Updated: Jun 13, 202221Chapter 3: 2 - A New Hope

CHAPTER 2 - A NEW HOPE

(Ciel's Perspective)

I had managed to calm Master down. It came as a surprise for me, since I hadn't even understood the real nature of the so-called "emotion".

He had been so devastated. I didn't know why and how could I tell it. I just felt like he had been so. He had fallen into despair when we were abolished to the End of Time and Space.

Knowing that he could just travel back into a point in the space-time he wanted, he then pinned his hopes up high, just to be shattered immediately when we ended up here. And even more so when he knew that something had interfered and prevented us from re-activating [Space-Time Warp].

It was true that Master's wishes might've affected our [Space-Time Warp]. But something was a little bit off. What did not quite make sense, even for me, was that we could not re-activate it. I have been trying to reactivate it even now, yet nothing happens at all.

Skills and abilities should be innately reusable, even if the cooldown could vary from one to another. If it was just about the matter of "will" and "desire", then if the user changed what outcome would he desire, they should've responded to that change. It was like our [Space-Time Warp] ability was completely sealed off the moment we got here.

But forget it. It was not the main problem right now.

Falling into anguish even deeper than before, as though reaching the depth of abyss, Master started blaming everything onto himself. My voice alone was not enough, because he refused to listen.

I cannot let my master to fall any deeper.

I have to somehow pull him out quickly.

I don't want my master to fall into an abyss where he cannot escape anymore.

When I recalled what Master had gone through, I realized just how much he treasured every single friend and subordinate of his. When he almost lost one of his subordinates or when he almost lost his sworn brother, he succumbed into an unrivaled rage.

Losing all of them at once would truly be the worst thing he could ever experience. Right now, any kinds of wealth and power had completely no meaning to him. What he needed was just a friend. Nothing else.

It had been his first wish after he had first been reincarnated in this Cardinal World: a friend, a partner who would cure his solitude and support him regardless of the circumstances. And at this moment, at this very exact moment when none of his friends was here for him to support him, the only one who could do it was me myself. That was what I was born for, what I lived up to, and the sole purpose of my existence.

I decided to create a [Multiple Parallel Existence] and focus my own consciousness to it, taking control over its body.

I had used one of Master's abilities without Master's permission for the first time. But I concluded that it was a necessary thing to do. If my voice alone wasn't enough to reach him out, I thought that I had to reach him with my entire being.

When I saw my ever-cheerful, carefree master sobbing uncontrollably, I felt an inexplicable pain within my "chest". Without a consent of my mind, my hand reached the back of his head and brought it onto my shoulder.

When I realized, I already put Master in my embrace. A complex sensation began to spread from where my skin touched Master's skin and clothes to my whole body.

Oh, right... This is the first time I feel a direct physical interaction.

However, just by doing so, I got relieved inside my heart. I let go of my embrace, now firmly gripping his shoulders. I kept trying to console him, despite not knowing what sadness really felt like. I talked about the way how I saw him, in hope that he would regain his self-esteem. I reassured him, stating every fact needed for him to actually believe that he hadn't lost yet.

Looking again at Master's face, a mysterious, strange feeling started to overwhelm me; it started to take control over my action and even the words coming out of my mouth. I embrace him once again, this time bringing his head onto my chest.

Considering how easy it was to move Master's body right now, he must be feeling mentally tired. After all, he had been in constant state of alertness and battling, hence not having got even a second of rest since the war had been started.

I knew that if I outright asked him to get a rest, he would immediately refuse. Thus, with the references I got from Master's past memories, I tried to use the softest voice I could make to induce him to sleep.

It went smoothly. Master didn't even try to resist at all when I activated [Sleep] for him.

...

One night has passed since then.

I have been here sitting on my knees quietly so as not to accidentally wake up Master who is currently sleeping with his head resting on my lap, although I know that he will not be woken up by anything whatsoever until a certain condition is met.

It should not be long before the time interval I set for his [Sleep] runs out. I look at Master's peaceful face. A faint smile blooms on my face as I caress his soft cheek and forehead.

⁂

(Rimuru's Perspective)

I feel a warm hand softly, compassionately caressing my cheek and forehead.

I gradually open my eyes. When my sight has completely been focused, I realize that I've been sleeping with my head resting on someone's lap.

"Oh, have you woken up, Master?" asks a familiar gentle voice.

I turn my head, looking at who the heck is this person. This person has the same appearance as me with her red eyes being the only difference.

"Ah, Ciel-san..." I mutter.

"Good morning, Master," she greets with a broad smile and squinted eyes.

She looks so beautiful with that smile—AAHHHH, what am I thinking?!

HOW?! I thought slime body has no feature like this? How in the world does my cheeks feel so hot right now?!

I use my hand as a support to get myself up, averting my gaze while trying to calm myself down. I look at her again after I feel that my cheeks have cooled down. I cough to clear my voice. "By the way, were you always in that position while I was sleeping?"

"It is an obligation for me to keep My Master comfortable in his rest," she answers, still smiling.

Ah, Ciel-san... Why would you do so much just for me? Is it because I am your master?

Then, I am so lucky to have you...to have you as my partner.

I let out a shallow sigh then smile as widely as I can.

"Thank you, Ciel-san." I take her right hand and wrap it with my both hands. "I am so happy that I have you as my partner. Will you keep accompanying me from now on?"

"Hmm?" She tilts her head. "Am I not always accompanying you?"

"No, b-by accompanying...I-I mean..." Suddenly, it becomes very hard for me to say the next words. My entire face feels burning. But I'm still forcing myself to look at her. "A-accompanying me...here...by m-my side."

She widens her eyes, mouth agape. Now, our eyes are locked at each other. An awkward silence surrounds us for a moment.

Shortly afterwards, she raises the corners of her lips, revealing a beautiful smile. Her snow-white cheeks slightly redden. She puts her left hand on my right hand. Now, both of us are wrapping each other's hands.

"If it is what Master wishes for," she says, "then I will gladly fulfil it."

"Thank you very much, Ciel-san, for always fulfilling my selfish wishes. I am so grateful to have you as my partner."

"I am grateful, too, to have Rimuru-sama as my master. I will accompany you, going through any journeys that might be waiting for us."

Looking at her, my smile broadens.

We continue wrapping each other's hands for a while, enjoying the warmth it gives us, treasuring every and each second which passes.

...

I let go of her hands, changing the mood into a serious one. "So, Ciel-san, I want to make sure that you can access our full power."

"Because this body was created with Master's [Multiple Parallel Existence], there is no problem."

Ciel-san and I share the same soul despite having separate wills and egos. It's natural that she can use every single one of my skills and abilities.

[Enhanced Clone] can also be used, of course. She'll still be powerful. That being said, [Enhanced Clone] is no more than just a stronger version of [Clone]. The effectiveness varies depending on how much magicules are endowed to the created clone and how far is it from the main body. And for Ciel-san, it would be a major downgrade.

A [Multiple Parallel Existence] has no such weaknesses. Although the energy furnace (source which produces/recovers energy) is still only one—which means the division of energy is still unavoidable—it allows the creation of an almost-exact copy of myself which has the same level of authority as the "original" me. Even all of my Ultimate Skills are usable in their fullest potential.

She sure knew what she was doing when she was going to manifest herself: choosing the most effective choice of all.

"What might have happened to my past soul which should've been newly-reincarnated?" I continue asking.

"Because Master has transcended the End of Time and Space," she answers, "the paradox caused by time travel can neither destroy nor even twist Master's existence. Rather, it is Master's existence which twists and destroys Master's past existence, causing Master's past soul to disappear instead of Master's 'future' soul."

Welp, I thought there would be two of me.

My guess is that the Voice of the World still doesn't allow two existences of one same soul, except if one of both is sealed with a special technique. Veldanava had created many worlds. And none of those worlds has parallel worlds. Because of that, while time travels are still possible under some circumstances, paradoxes are inevitable.

But just as Ciel-san has said, since I have transcended even the End of Time and Space, it is logical that I wouldn't, or couldn't be affected by any space-time paradoxes. So, the Voice of the World erased my past soul instead.

"The memories of Veldora and those whom Master had named still remain inside Master's soul. What does Master wish to do with them?"

Ah—that's right. Because they and I were once connected through [Soul Corridor], their memories and experiences were collected inside my soul before finally that connection was cut off when the worlds had reached the End of Time and Space. But...

"I have no wish to use them," I state determinedly. "Take them out of my soul and seal them somewhere inside [Imaginary Space]."

I've decided that I will start everything all over again, including my friends and subordinates.

I don't want them to feel guilty and end up regretting and blaming themselves when they "remember" what had happened. Because, I have felt it myself, just how painful "regrets" can really be. I want to see myself how different would they be when I did something different, not overlapped by their "other memories".

"As you wish," she responds without questioning any further.

How long have been I here again? If I remember correctly...it's one night, isn't it?

Which means there are still eight-nine days before my supposed meeting with Veldora. "Ciel-san," I call.

"Yes, Master?"

"I have one more request. Will you accept it?"

"I will accept whatever it is."

"Would you mind to teach me some of your wisdom?"

She tilts her head cutely. "May I ask the reason?"

She maybe thinks that she and her wisdom alone are enough for me, since she'll always be with me anyway so I can just ask her to do anything I want.

Perhaps, if it were my past self, I would've thrown everything to her, letting her to do everything I wanted.

"If we meet that sworn brother of mine right now, everything will undergo sudden, drastic changes; too drastic even for us to handle it without any long, careful preparation. I, indeed, wish for a different outcome in this timeline. But at the same time, I don't wish to do any reckless actions which will cause our own failure.

"I will admit it, Ciel-san. I had done so many things without thinking further what risks and consequences they might bring. It is you who'd saved me most of the time, even when you were still [Great Sage]. If it weren't for you, I might've died far sooner. I want you to teach me some of your wisdom, so that I won't have to always rely on you after that."

But what had happened a night ago made me realize...just how naïve it is.

If I didn't change myself, the outcome wouldn't be that different from the previous one...or might be even worse.

Ciel-san is my partner, not a tool to get everything for my own personal gain. If I want a change in a better direction, then the very first one I have to change is my own self.

She looks at me profoundly in the eyes. "You know what, Master? It seems to me that Master has drastically changed from what I used to know." A faint smile is formed on her face. "Very well, I shall fulfil Master's request. But please know that this might not be easy. Does Master still wish to proceed?"

"I do and I am fully aware of what I am requesting."

Because one acquires wisdom from a profound understanding, not from lazing around.

"Very well. Then, please stand up"—she stands up, offering her right hand to me—"and take my hand."

I stand up and take her hand as she asked me to. The sight of cave in front of me is instantly gone, replaced with a sight of a huge mansion.

"This is..."

"A special place I've personally created in a corner of [Imaginary Space]. I call it the 'Mansion of Mastery'."

Huh? I don't really know that [Imaginary Space] can be used for this sort of thing...

But again, back then Veldora could read and enjoy so many manga and play shogi inside my [Stomach].

And I once stored a whole damn house inside it, too.

(A.N., referring to one of Tensura spin-off manga, TenSura: Mamono no Kuni no Arukikata [The Ways of the Monster Nation], chapter 38)

"Since [Imaginary Space] is a space which exists outside the plane of 'reality', it is not bound with the laws of time which govern the world. Consequently, the flow of time of a specified area in [Imaginary Space] can be controlled at will."

Ah, right. I almost forget about that. It means, while I have only around eighty-nine days before meeting Veldora in the "real" world, I can be here as long as the heck I want.

Well, let's start, shall we?

⁂

After a span worth of six months in the real world, I finally have finished my, well, training, sort of.

Let's summarize what I've been doing all this whole time.

First of all, I learned how to properly read, write, and speak with the language spoken universally by the humans in Cardinal World, which in any ways was just English but with a different writing system.

For listening, it wasn't even worth being paid attention to. I mean, the [Magic Perception] aspect of my [Universal Perception] had been translating everything I heard as long as it carried a meaning. And it was my intrinsic skill, no less, so it should always be active all the time.

Writing and reading weren't quite a problem, because I had been taught the alphabet by those "three adventurers" that time before I departed to Ingrassia.

But the real problem started when I tried to speak.

I had been one of those Japanese kids who'd sit in the back of the class, bitching all like: "Why do I need this? I'm never gonna live outside of Japan, anyway! Save it for somebody who will!"

I ended up always speaking using Japanese, because those around me would perceive it with their [Magic Perception] anyway, or [Great Sage] or [Raphael] at the time would translate it for me if I was talking to a relatively "normal" human.

English pronunciation was just...too hard.

It was maybe because of my native tongue pronunciation being quite different from English. So, it kind of affected my tongue's "flexibility".

I had totally forgotten that my slime-based body had no such thing as "tongue's flexibility" since my current tongue had no stiffness to begin with. So, I was a bit surprised that I could learn the correct pronunciation rather quickly and easily.

The only hindrance was that sometimes, there were some words that were pronounced differently even if they were spelled the same way—the heteronyms—like "lead" in "lead the way" and "lead" in "a lead pencil".

I learned various different things, to be frank.

Under Ciel-san's guide, I learned how to effectively use my own abilities and skills.

Because the rules that governed this Mansion of Mystery had been made as such so that it would allow the invocation of magic, I also learned some magic techniques which I never bothered to even try back then.

After enough skills and magic, I thought I should learn about how to effectively rule the people—or let's just say...some kind of politics.

If it was all possible, I actually wanted to also in turn teach some of my subordinates the knowledge I'd acquired. I wanted them to be able to be the leader of themselves, to able to decide things on their own without my intervention.

Because back then, when that damned kingdom was about to invade my country, they were unable to decide whether or not to fight back until I arrived and gave them my decision.

Well, it was my own fault to have made that naïve rule. But I thought they had known that I wasn't that kind of boss who would punish anyone unconditionally over violating one rule. I was still perplexed to this day that they'd been so adamant about holding themselves from attacking the humans to the end, even after they had been attacked and injured so badly.

So, it wasn't like I only wanted it so that I could completely get rid of those damn papers, y'all hear me, folks?!

Lastly, I also asked her to train me in sword techniques.

After agreeing to my request, the usually kind Ciel-san suddenly transformed into a dreadful instructor, like those who'd you see in some certain manga or anime.

In the training, any kinds of magic were prohibited; only pure arts were allowed. It seriously made me in a huge disadvantage. Apart from Ciel-san being literally the evolution of the "Lord of Wisdom", now the thing in which I was proficient the most was also forbidden.

She wouldn't hesitate to beat me up once I let my guard down and showed a tiny opening. Not that I felt angry about it, though. After all, it was me myself who said that I was aware of and ready for any risks and consequences that might come.

I was taught with, obviously, Oboro-style swordsmanship because it was the sword style which I was already familiar with and actually had been using for a while.

When the moves were done correctly, though, it actually gave off a breath-taking scenery. Of course, I was aware that sword techniques were intended for combat, but it didn't hurt to have some arts. Well, the main essence of swordsmanship itself was literally called "arts", so...yeah.

Every time we finished one session of training, Ciel-san would suddenly turn back into her usual self, as if what had happened earlier was all nothing but a mere dream.

Needless to say, from all of those kinds of studies and training, I was still having rest time. This "imaginary mansion" had an actual bedroom with a comfortable futon.

But I must say, Ciel-san really was the best teacher I could ever have. She always managed to find a way for me to understand, memorize, and implement what I'd studied more easily. It was really befitting for her name Ciel (Shieru), which I had given her that name because she always taught (oshieru) me various things.

Oops, enough flashback!

After I've told Ciel-san that I've had enough for now, we come back to the "plane of reality".

Eighty-nine days have passed in the "real world" since we entered [Imaginary Space]. It means it's already time to meet him—a lonesome dragon trapped inside a prison, wanting nothing but a friend to talk with.

"I've been ready," I say to her. "Are you ready, too, Ciel-san?"

"I have always been ready, Master."

"As the first milestone of our journey together, let's go and free 'him', shall we?"

"Yes, Master."

With a heart brimming with a newly-found hope, I hold Ciel-san's hand as I activate [Space-Time Domination].

~TO BE CONTINUED~

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