That Time I Got Reencarnated as a Demon Lord (English)

Side Story - The Flame Mistress and the Divine Beast 1/3

Shizu left Tempest.

For some reason, with every step she took away from Tempest, the more her heart sank with the feeling that she was making the wrong choice. She wanted to go back, and she wanted to apologize to Rimuru even if it was for the thousandth time, but she didn't and instead, she went further into the forest.

Rimuru had promised her that he would make the city one she could like. It wouldn't be now, but one day, Rimuru would allow her to come back.

She needed to be patient. Tempest wouldn't run away, so she must wait for Tempest. Wait for Rimuru's forgiveness.

And in the meantime, of course, she would continue on with her journey.

Now that she no longer suffered from the possibility of dying so soon and her strength had returned to its peak, if not surpassed its peak, there were few things she couldn't face. The forest was dangerous, normal humans wouldn't survive in the Jura Forest, it just wasn't normal.

Exactly because of that, Shizu could easily use her nearly seventy years of experience to defeat her enemies and clear her way to the other side of the forest.

Stopping walking for a moment, Shizu stopped to think about her two most successful disciples for a moment. She had trained them while she was weakened, so she couldn't say that she had taught them all she could, but they both had far more potential than she had in her prime. Even with just a few months of her training, both of them had become stronger than she was in her prime.

To tell the truth, Shizu had always been unable to understand where all the appreciation and regard her talented disciples had for her came from.

Still, what would happen if the current her, who was at the peak of her abilities, fought her two talented disciples. Both of them might be better than her, but it was a fact that she had more experience than both of them, and her power had increased far beyond what it had once been.

In the end, she could see a way to defeat Yuuki, knowing every detail of the boy's abilities, but she really couldn't see herself defeating Hinata with all the skills she acquired after joining the church and learning from the Seven Luminaries.

As she thought about that, a presence appeared in front of her, a dense and familiar aura, which didn't show any hostility towards her.

Shizu would normally raise her guard against an opponent like that, even if he didn't display any hostility towards her, but she didn't. After all, she would recognize the aura of her savior, and the person she was most ashamed to meet, anywhere.

"So... you came to say goodbye to me after all?"

Shizu asked, a little awkwardly, as she looked in another direction. For some reason her face got hot when she looked at Rimuru, so she preferred to keep her eyes away from him while talking to him. All she wanted was an opportunity for her to apologize properly one last time, and for him to say goodbye to her.

But the expression he made for a second, even though she only saw it out of the corner of her vision, was enough for her to understand that this was far from the case.

"I still don't want to talk to you...but I figured that if I don't help you it will probably take you a month or two to get out of this forest. Besides, it's not like you know a method to control your skills or fly yet, isn't it?"

Rimuru said this, turning in the opposite direction Shizu was, looking in the direction she was originally going. Modifying her body form, much to Shizu's surprise, Rimuru changed into a human form... into her human form. Her hair was blue and her eyes were golden, but without a doubt that was a younger form of her.

And it was Rimuru who had assumed that form.

"Like it? I thought I'd keep that shape for myself. I hope you don't mind. Of course, with a twist."

When he said that, three horns appeared on top of Rimuru's head. What once looked like just a younger version of herself had now turned into a monster form of her. Shizu felt her hands clench and her teeth grind at the sight of it, but at the same time, she had tried to understand.

She herself was no longer human, and Rimuru wouldn't be a human even if he imitated her appearance. Besides, she had to admit that Rimuru didn't look too bad in that form. If he was a little older, maybe fifteen, she might-

"Stop thinking about those things, Shizu!!!"

Shizu shouted this to herself and slapped each cheek, trying to get it out of her thoughts. His fully red face luckily seemed to go unnoticed by Rimuru, who just turned in the opposite direction while shaking his head from side to side.

Rimuru just ignored her and threw himself onto the ground, getting on his hands and feet. Shizu, upon seeing this, was snapped out of her dazed state and, paying attention to Rimuru, she watched as Rimuru changed shape again... this time taking on the form of a monster.

"I've decided that I'm going to help you cross the forest. We should be able to do that in just a week. Until you learn to fly, we'll travel together."

Shizu was reluctant. Accepting help from someone she was already indebted to was not something she wanted. Even so, she had to agree that it would take her a long time to leave the forest on her own and she had no idea how to learn to fly.

In the end, Shizu accepted the help and mounted the Divine Beast.