Chapter 2

Walking around the forest there is one thing I notice. I haven't met or seen a single living thing. No animal, creature, beast, or any semblance of intelligent life. I made sure it wasn't my aura, like when Rimuru let all his aura out, which made everything run away from him. I made sure to reduce my aura to increase my chances of finding something and not end up scaring it. 

'Maybe it isn't my aura, but the natural presence and respect I command, just being near me. I am part divine spirit and dragon, so all the living beings probably just sense that naturally and want to leave me alone, but wouldn't they want to meet me and try to gain favor?' I thought to myself, cause all the monsters in the forest tend to respect and kneel to those stronger than them. It's a literal "Rule of the Jungle" here. 

I keep walking testing out my abilities. I try sensing my surroundings with Universal Sense, but it comes up empty. I just feel trees, vegetation, and more trees. 

'I don't know how long it's been, but I would like contact with something, even a rabbit would make me happy at this point. I should try to find the cave Veldora is sealed in. That would give me a good chance to know around what time I'm in. If he's still trapped, then Rimuru hasn't eaten him up yet. If not, then he either hasn't been sealed yet or Rimuru has already started his journey.' I'm trying to talk to myself here to keep me occupied at this point. I still have my sense up to check for any life around. I don't worry about defense, since nothing in this forest can get past my passive defenses. So, I try to just make my way to Veldora's cave by following where the magicules are most dense and abundant.

'I should be getting closer to the cave. It's a little far, but I'll get th-' My thoughts are interrupted as I feel a presence start to manifest itself in front of me. I saw a green swirl of air with leaves mixed into it and what appeared was a beautiful young woman with green hair, blue eyes, and soft facial features She looked a little transparent, but it was negligible. She was wearing a white dress, that got more blue-green or aqua colored as it went down, and was surrounded by vines. 

'Ah, it's Treyni! I don't want to sound mean but about time she showed up. She was one of the people I was expecting to show up first to meet me.' I was so caught up in my excitement of seeing and meeting Treyni that I didn't notice that she was kneeling before me. It was like she was waiting for me to say something first.

I turn on Thought Acceleration and start thinking to myself. 'What should I say to her first? Considering the fact that she's kneeling, I have the advantage here. Should I present myself as 'myself' or more of an 'authority' figure? Considering that I am part divine spirit, I am probably on the doorstep to becoming a goddess, so that means I am very high ranked for spirits if not close to or higher than Ramiris, for now at least.'

I walk towards Treyni, who is still kneeling and I notice that she seems to get more nervous as I walk towards her. I stop a few feet away from her and look down at her.

"What is your name Dryad?"

/\/\/\/\/\

(A few minutes before Treyni appeared)

Treyni was currently a wreck. She was anxious, nervous, and panicking, but she also felt some happiness and excitement. The reason was the woman currently strolling through the Great Jura Forest. She may be hiding and controlling her aura, but Treyni knew better. She didn't need any aura to let others know how strong she was. Treyni felt it, even more since she was a Dryad and a spirit, she could feel that she was a divine spirit.

Even just observing her through the trees and vegetation and forest, Treyni knew this was something above her, even though she was the manager of the forest and it was her role to keep an eye out for any kind of danger that would threaten the forest, she hesitated to meet them. 

Treyni was trying to get herself together and ready to meet the divine spirit, she had to. No other living thing would even get near her and as the manager of the forest, she had to be the "sacrafice".

She got ready and finally, she appeared in front of her and immediately Treyni felt it. She immediately kneeled in front of her to convey respect, not only of her own volition but also from an instinctual feeling coming from being a spirit. She had a sense of it when observing her, but now that she was face to face with her, it was an entirely different experience. 

Treyni felt that not only was the one in front of her a divine spirit but also part dragon. She would like to hear the story behind that, but there are more important things to focus on.

Treyni looked at the part divine spirit and part dragon. She had on blue and silver armor with beige-colored fur coming out on some parts. Her helmet was shaped to resemble a lion with a large mane that reached down to her back. She couldn't see what she looked like behind the helmet, but she wouldn't ask her to take it off out of respect. She exuded a royal and noble aura that just commanded someone to listen to her and give all their attention. 

Treyni also noticed her equipment. Her sword, lance, and armor were so exquisite and high quality that they would bring even the best blacksmiths to their knees in sheer awe of the craftsmanship. They would do anything if it meant being able to touch it and examine it even if only for a few seconds. But, the equipment that gave her chills and the most shock was the sheath the sword was in. For Treyni there were no words to properly describe it. The sheath seemed to be as if it came from stories of myths and legends.

Treynis panic only got worse after analyzing to the best of her ability the being in front of her. She may be the manager of the forest, but she knew that this was way out of her league. She felt she wasn't qualified to interact with a being like the one in front of her, but she was going to do her best.

Treyni noticed that they were walking towards her before stopping and looking down at her. 

"What is your name Dryad?"

Treyni heard the voice of the person in front of her. She tried to think about what to say, but her mouth moved on its own to speak for her as if she couldn't control herself. 

/\/\/\/\/\

Treyni was still kneeling before giving her response. "My name is Treyni and I am the manager of the Great Jura Forest. Can I know your name divine spirit?"

'Name huh? Well, I guess my old name doesn't matter here anymore. Since my name was changed to Artoria Pendragon, I might as well use it.' 

"My name is Artoria Pendragon."

Treyni was thinking as fast as she could after hearing Artoria's name. Treyni had never heard that name before and it was surprising since this was someone powerful in front of her. Surely someone this strong would have made some kind of impact in the world and have their name echoed throughout the world.

"Calm down Treyni. I can see you're thinking about me a lot, and normally I would be happy if someone like you were thinking about me, but you don't need to be so anxious and be nervous around me. I appreciate you wanting to be respectful, but you can talk to me normally like a friend or something." Artoria responded to Treyni in a friendly manner showcasing that there wasn't a need to be so formal since they were not in a proper setting that encouraged that kind of behavior. 

Treyni stands up and looks face to face with Artoria. "Why haven't I heard of someone like you?"

"Well, I'm relatively new to this place and I haven't cared for getting involved in things." Artoria decided to go with this kind of story. Was it convincing or kind of believable? Not really, but she didn't care, there was no one who could do a sort of background check or anything since she basically didn't exist until a few hours ago. 

Tryeni wasn't really convinced, but she left it alone assuming that Artoria had some kind of secret that she didn't want to tell. "Can I ask why you are here in the forest?" Treyni asked to try to ascertain the danger of Artoria, but it was more of a formality since she felt she would have already done something with her strength and power. 

"You don't have to worry about me doing something bad to the forest. I'm only here just going for a stroll. I guess you could say that I'm appreciating the beauty of the forest."

"Is that really all? I highly doubt someone of your strength would just 'go for a stroll'." 

"You're overthinking things. Not everything has a profound or deep meaning. Sometimes it's the most simple explanation that ends up being the answer to many problems and questions."

"Wow, what you just said was kind of wise and has that 'profound' meaning you were talking about." Treyni said to Artoria sort of calling her out on what she just said.

"What? Well, that was probably just one of the times someone does something great by accident. I'm not normally dropping wisdom on people like a sage or something." Artoria clarified quickly to Treyni unless she wanted to be viewed as a 'wise woman' or something forcing her to act a certain way she didn't want to. 

"So I can trust you to not do anything that will endanger the forest?"

"Yes, but if something does happen don't immediately come to me blaming me for whatever the problem is. You're the manager of the forest, so I'll trust your judgment for whatever problems you encounter. If I'm still around I might help you if the situation calls for it."

"Thank you for your help. I'll leave you be then." Treyni then left the same way she arrived. In a green swirl of air with leaves mixed in.

Artoria stood there watching Treyni leave. 'I guess Veldora hasn't been eaten by Rimuru yet. And since Treyni is the manager it means that Veldora is already sealed. So I am in between Veldora being sealed and Rimuru eating him. I'll go visit him at his cave and talk to him.'

Artoria started walking again in the direction where she sensed the densest magicules. 

/\/\/\/\/\

'Alright, I'm getting kind of bored of just walking around. I haven't met a settlement or anything like that. Hold on a minute…Veldora is still here! How could I forget?! When he disappears that's when all the territories of the inhabitants get all messed up, because they try to replace Veldora as leader of the forest. So everything is still relatively calm for now. I'll just have to wait for Rimuru to eat him, leave the cave and then locate his aura since he won't know to control it.' 

I keep walking towards what I assume is the cave if the magicules I sense tell me anything. I keep walking and then I just stop in my tracks. The magicules I was sensing suddenly disappeared, but it was replaced by a smaller, but noticeable amount. A small smile appeared on my face knowing what this meant.

"Looks like Rimuru finally ate Veldora. Finally, it won't be so boring just walking around this forest. I'll just wait for him to get away from the cave and meet him before the goblins do. In the mean time, I'll just fight whatever comes my way and get used to my abilities."