Black Shadow | Souei

Chapter 10: The Orc Lord

For the first time ever, Kumiko used her [Presence Obscure] from the entire village. Of the current 500+ residents of this village, only one could see her, and that was Rimuru. Though, if it were up to her, she'd want to hide from Rimuru as well at the moment. She really hated how much of a coward she was, but she couldn't bring herself to face the ogres, much less Rimuru. The ogres were one thing, but the more she brooded in her own room, the more she feared Rimuru's reaction. Rimuru was benevolent as their ruler, but there had to be repercussions for her actions. First and foremost, she should've knocked out that blue ogre since he posed a risk to Rimuru had he escaped from the shadowy restraints. Second, she should've fought the ogres to protect Rimuru and pushed past her reservations in fighting ogres. Kumiko was lucky that things turned out the way they did because had they gone sour, she wouldn't have been able to help Rimuru. So in short, she felt horrible about leaving Rimuru at risk.

As night fell, a couple goblins, including Rigurd, knocked on the door of her hut, only to leave in confusion when the door swung open to an empty room. In reality, she was sitting in the same position all afternoon since she had returned. Kumiko had sat there, thinking, brooding, apologizing and panicking. The Kumiko who could keep her emotions in check and remain straight-faced had gone out the door when she engaged in combat with those ogres. Her mind was a mess.

At one point, Ranga came to her door, calling out for her. She held her breath until he left. If Ranga came looking for her here, it wouldn't be too long until Rimuru came looking for her as well. She wasn't ready to face him yet. Only Rimuru could see past her [Presence Obscure] at the moment, so she had to stay one step ahead of him and hide.

At the current moment, Rimuru probably scared her more than the ogres, though the ogres still scared her plenty. If Rimuru could convince the six ogres to stay, what would he do with an outcast like her? Not only that, but she had failed to protect him because she was mentally weak. She would be abandoned, thrown aside like a rag. And so, without consulting her [Unrivaled Strategy], she thought she found the best place to hide: right in plain sight. She would go hide nearby the ogres. Rimuru would never expect her to be near them because of how she reacted earlier.

Kumiko quietly exited her hut, making sure no one was around to see the door to an 'empty' room swing open during a breeze-less night. Not wanting to risk getting caught, she used her [Shadow Movement] to take her directly to Rigur. She figured Rigur would be somewhat nearby the ogre guests. What she didn't account for was him sitting and talking with them. As she emerged from the shadow, she flinched and was immediately glad it was dark. Had it been day, they surely would've seen Rigur's shadow change ever so slightly to accommodate for her movement.

Rigur, who was used to being used as a shadow portal for Kumiko, felt the familiar feeling of her abilities on his shadow. He couldn't explain it but it sent shivers down his spine. Yet, he was glad for the feeling since Kumiko had completely disappeared since she left ahead of the group back to the village earlier that afternoon.

"Kumiko-dono! You're - " He turned around to meet empty space. "- here?" Rigur spun around a bit and reached a hand out into the space. Kumiko panicked, again. She was doing a lot of that recently. She may have hidden her presence completely, but she still had a solid figure. If he touched her, he would automatically know she was there. In fear, she scurried up a tree, trying her best to not rustle the leaves.

"Huh? I swear, I felt Kumiko-dono..." Rigur said, confused when his hands only felt open air.

The blue ogre had stayed in the shadow as the red ogre chatted with the goblins and dwarves. As Kumiko moved about the tree, she pushed a few leaves around, though she remained silent as a mouse. Unfortunately for her, the blue ogre who was hyper-aware of these things caught the movement. His eyes narrowed at the leaves, not quite sure what to make of moving leaves when there was no wind blowing. Yet, surely if someone was there he'd have seen them.