Chapter 74: Chapter 72 - Upon Awakening

Birth of a Demon Lord

072. Upon Awakening

A new morning has come!

That nostalgic phrase appeared in my mind.

It's been a long time since I last felt the feeling of awakening.

I mean, since I don't need to sleep in this world, this is this body's first experience at sleeping.

I behold the scene before me, and see busy preparations occurring in every corner of the city.

Even a quick feel reveals pulsating strength emanating from their bodies.

That, I believe, is the effect of my evolution.

「Ah! Rimuru-sama, you have awakened!」

I hear a nostalgic voice.

And from behind me, I feel a nostalgic aura.

I was hugged from behind by two warm, soft hills.

Evolution hasn't changed my slime form very much.

If anything, my color became silver with streaks of gold.

So… I'm that, right? Gold Slime or something?

The one that can move at the speed of light.

Though that's probably impossible, I do feel a kind of "highest type of slime around" aura about me.

This me was sitting on top of Shion's lap, her cheek rubbing against mine.

Yup. It feels great.

But, thank goodness! As planned, she seems to have resurrected.

And I have become a demon lord.

Moreover, not just Shion, but every person felled by the Blood Shadows has successfully come back to life.

I had worried whether the success rate was affected by distance from me, so I'm glad everyone was able to resurrect.

Well, I guess even『Great Sage』makes mistakes. Though I don't mind if they make me happy.

While rejoicing at her rebirth, I also dutifully enjoyed the feel of her breasts.

A truly heavenly moment it was.

But as if intending to ruin this beautiful moment,

「Oh, Rimuru-sama, you have awakened?

But I must confirm whether you are fully yourself, or else we couldn't rest easy.

You should remember our code, don't you?

Now then, let me confirm.『How's Shion's cooking?』how will you respond!」

With an evil smile, Benimaru asks me.

Of course I remember,『It's horrible』right? Seriously, what a worrywart.

The moment I thought to respond, I noticed the peril I was in.

Hmm? Aren't I being held by Shion right now…?

If I say『It's horrible』… what will happen I wonder…

A terrifying image filled my mind.

Wouldn't she squash me out of anger?

Damn it! He got me!!! A classic Hiroaki styled trap.

What should I say? What would be a good response?

Right! Great Sage will certainly come up with a good answer.

I thought, and tried activating『Great Sage』but it did not respond.

What… does this mean…? Hey, Great Sage!!!

≪Announcement. Unique Skill『Great Sage』has evolved into Ultimate Skill『Raphael』

As a result, it has been erased and cannot be used.≫

Oh… so even my skills evolved.

But, Raphael, huh? Named after an angel; seems pretty amazing.

That aside, what's important is escaping this perilious situation.

Alright, Raphael, what's the best phrase to deceive Shion with?

≪Solution. After some calculations, an adequate phrase was not found≫

Useless~!!!

Great Sage was no good with these situations and Raphael is just as bad.

Honestly, so did the evolution affect the name without changing any parameters!

Of course, this exchange happened within a single second.

「Eh? What about my cooking?」

「Hmm? Oh, it's been so long that Rimuru-sama wants a taste, right?

That way you'll be able to show the results of your efforts.

Surely, he'll happily accept the meal?

And just a side note, I don't need any!」

Benimaru said such a wicked thing.

And to try to leave himself out of it… this bastard!

You know… just when I woke up in a good mood, to be sentenced to eternal sleep is…!

Shion happily accepted his proposal, and hastily ran off screaming "I have received his favor!"

I felt an unbelievable fear overtake me.

「Hey, what are you doing! No way I could respond『It's horrible』you know!

You purposefully trapped me, didn't you, Benimaru!」

「Hahaha, I have no idea what you're talking about. Well, shouldn't you have a taste after so long? Thanks to the constant taste testing that I do, I've recently acquired『Poison Resistance』…」

Benimaru said with a distant gaze.

A… are you kidding me.『Poison Resistance』…

Didn't you just equate her cooking to poison?!

What a tragedy. To find myself in it right after awakening.

Just after enduring one peril, to find myself in another?

The revived have come to greet me.

Though their aura has slightly changed, their personalities seem to be the same.

No lapses in memory, and their souls are properly attached to thier bodies.

However, each one has acquired the extra skill『Perfect Memory』

「This way, no matter how many times we die, we'll resurrect!」

They said as a joke… or not?

Extra skill「Perfect Memory」is a skill related to soul memory.

What is normally impossible, but they have now acquired a skill reserved for spiritual lifeforms only.

After each one offered their greeting, they all returned to work on the festival.

Whether to celebrate their new-found power or what, they decided to hold a festival.

But, when they started coming up with hilarious names for it, like『Maou's Birthday Party』or『Let's Worship Rimuru-sama Party』for example, I sincerely wanted to stop them.

Well, it's fine.

They can have all the fun they want today. After all, they are in very festive mood already.

For a festival-loving Japanese that I am, any reason is good enough.

Since coming up with some random reason to drink heavily is in every adult's nature.

I had offered to help, but with grand reverence they rejected my offer.

Well, I can't boast in my ability to prepare festivals anyways, so I'll rest up as requested.

Then, a person I have been seeing around here a lot ran up to me.

「Your awakening fills me with endless joy.

Allow me to congratulate you from the bottom of my heart for your rebirth as a demon lord」

He says, bowing deeply.

Who's that? Seems like a very high ranked demon, but I don't know…

「And please pardon the rudeness, but regarding my earlier request to become your humble servant…

How shall you respond? Have you made your decision?」

Becoming my servant… he says?

Umm, I do remember summoning one or two greater demons…

But no matter how I look at him, he's clearly beyond them?

I was sleepy back then and couldn't see very well, so could he be one of them…?

「Are you the one I summoned using the soldiers' corpses?」

「As you say. It was truly a delicious meal.

As a result, I was successfully able to materialize.」

「… Ah, is that so. Good for you」

What about the other two?

≪Solution. The〈Secret Revival Art〉was lacking the necessary energy.

Thus, and to fulfill their wish, they have been used and erased.≫

Wow.

Raphael is saying such terrifying things with such a happy tone.

It's even more heartless than Great Sage, and just showing off that wicked personality. And though I thought it useless a little bit ago, it has been supporting me from the shadows this whole time.

Sorry for thinking that you are useless.

However, to use up those demons that wanted only to be of use to me is just sad…

「Alright, got it. From now on you are one of my comrades.

What's your name?」

「Oh! You are too kind. But one such as I am a mere nameless demon.」

Hmm? A high ranked existence but nameless, huh.

Can't be helped. Let's give him a name.

But what name would be good?

Demons that I know of… There's the one that became humanity's ally.

There won't be any copyright violations if I use it, right? But, since this is a different world, I probably won't be sued…

Ah, whatever.

「Alright. In that case, you won't mind if I give you a name, will you?」

「Will you truly? 'Tis the greatest reward imaginable!!!」

His beautiful face curved in a delighted smile.

Yep, I really am predisposed to be loved by monsters.

Time to get serious.

This time, super car series.

Was it…

「Your name shall be Diablo.

Receive that name, and become my guardian deity!」

The moment I named him a considerable amount of energy escaped me.

I've really gotten used to feeling this. But hey, he took only half, at most.

I mean, I was worried that being a high demon and all he'll take all of it, but…

If I remember correctly, when I named the Greater Demon Beretta I was left with only a third of what I had; I guess a Greater Demon is also a high ranked existence.

≪Solution. Individual: Diablo was an Archdemon to begin with.

As the result of the evolution, Master's total magical energy amount has greatly increased.

Compared to the original amount, it is now ten times as large≫

Y-yeah.

Did Raphael just randomly decide to offer the advice… But, I seem to have said something inexcusable.

I mean, I'm happy that it is now ten times larger, but he took a half of that?!

This is… that, right? "Oops, I did it again" feeling?

Won't he become some absurdly powerful fiend.

The demon in front of me, kneeling, stopped moving. A black cocoon enveloped his body creating a perfect evolution posture.

Yep, I've done it again.

No cure for stupidity, so nothing I can do about this now.

Let's just hope that should it decide to rampage, that I'll be able to stop it.

Since the evolution did not look like it was going to end soon, I just left him there.

From now on: let's be careful about naming monsters!

I promised to myself but was confident that I wouldn't keep this promise.

Having completely forgotten about Diablo, I spent the time watching the festival preparations.

While everyone was merrily fulfilling their tasks, I was dreading the meal prepared by Shion.

And then, it came.

The feared, Shion's Cooking… also known as the most lethal weapon around.

With a bright, happy smile she brought me the meal(?).

Time to say my prayers. It's here.

Beholding the steaming dish,

「W-waaaaaait~! What is this? What the hell is this?」

That's not food.

I shall not permit anyone to recognize this as cooking.

A bunch of things flowing in the broth? Was she trying to make… Stew?

Listen girl, when someone questions your food, you've already lost.

「Hey, hey! Shion, wait. I have something I need to ask.

Have you ever heard the phrase "prepare the ingredients"?」

「Of course, Rimuru-sama! How does it look? Doesn't it look delicious?」

「You fool!

Why are carrots, potatoes, peppers, onions, and the other ingredients floating whole in there?!

So that you can tell them apart by looking or something?

You have to peel and cut them first!」

I screamed.

And when I saw Benimaru walking by,

「What's this all about? There's clearly been no improvement?」

Dodging my words like holy water, Benimaru shrugged,

「Nope, this is impossible for me.

I have hit a wall. A wall called reality.

I had never thought that something could be impossible, but this time I tasted defeat」

He said, scooting away.

What's with "a wall called reality" crap. Stop screwing with me.

I have to eat it, huh…?

No choice, opening my heart to the unknown like a monk, I decided to take the first step towards nirvana…

「Got it, I'll eat it.

But, next time, please at least prepare the ingredients…」

「Umm, about that. I did try, but I end up cutting the building…」

「Huh?」

「No, the "Hercules' Edge" is plenty sharp, but it's a little long…」

Pointing at the odachi on her back.

She was cooking, no.,.. trying to cook with that?!

When I looked at Benimaru, he held up his arms as if giving up.

What an undependable guy. My opinion of him is quickly falling.

「A sword is not a tool for cooking. You get it?

Surely there's a knife around or something?」

「No, I am one with "Hercules' Edge" so cheating on it is a bit…」

「Ah, is that so. I thought of giving you a knife as a present soon, but I guess there's no need for that now.」

「I was wrong! "Hercules' Edge" is perfectly fine with me cheating on it, it said!」

「I see… I'll give you knife some time soon, so please use that to cook」

What a good person.

That should do it. At least, the ingredients shouldn't come out like that anymore.

If I at this food… no, I refuse to recognize it as food!.. If I ate this thing, I should acquire『Poison Resistance』I guess.

It'll probably be useful from now on.

No choice, I have evolved into a demon lord. I won't die from eating some food.

I change into my human form, and commit myself to eating it.

Steeling myself, I "welcome" some unknown substance into my mouth.

Without chewing, I swallow… Huh? Something's wrong.

It's pretty damn delicious.

N-no way! Though it looks completely inedible.

I open my eyes, and, with utmost care, eat another spoonful.

Delicious…

Benimaru was looking at me, as if praying. His eyes were asking me whether I was alright.

Which means that when Benimaru tasted it, it was really bad.

Shion has a triumphant smile on her face.

That did annoy me a bit.

P 456

「Shion, what is this…

Why, unlike how it looks, it tastes great?」

Fufufu, the thing is…

She said, and began the explanation…

In short, in the middle of the evolution, when she needed to express her dearest wishes, she wished for her cooking to be delicious.

I bet only she made such a wish during my gift granting ceremony.

What was she thinking, seriously?

But, I guess that's just like her; no, this is just who Shion is.

「Ehehe. Thus, I obtained this skill.

The name, unique skill『Cook』!」

I'm so amazed I have nothing to say.

To obtain a unique skill in order to cook, just how persistent was she?

When I asked about it, apparently no matter what she uses, it turns out delicious.

When Shuna found out about this, her eyes were full of tears of despair and hatred. Well, for someone who strives hard to succeed, such a skill is unforgivable.

But Shion has completely went off course trying to improve.

Well, that is just like her, I guess.

The day was thus in preparations of the festival, and we partied deep into the night.

Completely erasing the air of tragedy of a few days ago, the city with filled with smiling faces.

Youmu and Ellen also participated in the festival, and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

There are a lot of loose ends to fix tomorrow, and we need to discuss the future.

But, not now.

Now, let's enjoy our lives to the fullest.

That's just our way of life.