Day Seventeen Since Reincarnation as Rimuru

“Waaah, Morax, save me!”

From a distance, seeing the white-robed demon god appear at the entrance of the spiritual realm, Rimuru loudly called out for help.

Tears welling in his eyes, he leapt toward the man’s chest like a cannonball trailing a long tail of vapor. With a heavy thud, the slime firmly landed in Morax’s arms.

“Hm?”

The god of earth barely furrowed his brows at the weighty impact of the slime, only feeling a bit puzzled. “What’s going on?”

The master, whose tail hair had just been plucked in his own mouth, lowered his head anxiously to look at him. Rimuru felt guilty and stammered, “It’s just… there was a bunch of fluffy creatures chasing me from behind, QAQ.”

Even if it was his fault, he couldn’t be let off the hook! Got it?

The slime’s cool texture still lingered beneath his palm, but the slight trembling stirred the man’s expression into a slow hardening.

What kind of fluffy beings dared to chase Rimuru on his own territory?

Just then, a few angry sounds echoed nearby. Morax raised his gaze instantly, and as he focused, the slight irritation on his face faded, replaced by a flicker of surprise in his stone-colored eyes.

“Xianyun?”

How could the fluffy creatures chasing the slime possibly be them?

“Lord Morax?!!”

A celestial crane clad in blue and white feathers flew headlong toward them. Five meters away from Morax, she flapped her wings in disbelief and came to a sudden halt.

As Xianyun called out his name, Morax clearly felt the slime in his arms stiffen, even nestling deeper into his embrace, hiding more securely.

Rimuru and Xianyun’s reactions left the man utterly puzzled. What on earth happened to make Rimuru so afraid of Xianyun and the others?

“Sir, have you seen a water-blue slime that can speak human language?”

The elegant crane steadied her posture, doing her best to mask the anger in her eyes. But Xianyun was notoriously bad at hiding things, especially with a slime of the same kind she and her companions were pursuing right in Morax’s arms. Knowing Rimuru’s penchant for causing trouble, Morax instantly understood everything.

Rimuru shrinking into him was not out of fear, but guilt.

“So, could it be that Rimuru accidentally provoked you all?”

“?”

Having nearly been rude before Morax, Xianyun’s nervous pacing froze. The crane’s slender, graceful beak parted slightly, her birdlike face full of confusion.

“Who is Rimuru?”

Morax said nothing. He slowly released his grip, revealing the slime hidden in his arms. Then, kindly, he even turned the slime around so it could meet Xianyun’s gaze.

The slime, exposed willingly in front of Xianyun, the Wind-True Sovereign: “???”

Where was the promised protection?

Morax, is this how you protect me?!

Bad review. He was going to leave a bad review!!

Seeing the crane staring blankly at him, sweat dripping down his face, Rimuru thought in despair: Morax, I hate you.

Calming down, Xianyun observed Morax’s actions with growing astonishment. It was truly one thing not to notice, and another to be shocked once you did.

Good heavens, the lord was literally holding the very slime she and her companions had been chasing!

---

The slime and Xianyun exchanged bewildered glances. While Xianyun was lost in her cosmic cat-like contemplation, the other two immortals gradually arrived.

“Lord Morax!”

“Have you seen a slime… hmm?”

Seeing Morax present, Moon-Slicing Sun and Water-Merging Mountain paused, then followed Xianyun’s gaze to meet the eyes of a slime that wanted nothing more than to disappear on the spot.

Wait, the slime that dared to pluck the lord’s tail hair was cradled in Morax’s arms?!

Deer and crane froze instantly, their three fuzzy faces clearly expressing: “This can’t be real. I must be dreaming.”

The slime and the three fluffy immortals stared silently at each other. Rimuru awkwardly rubbed his hands and took the initiative to greet them, “Ahaha, we meet again. What a coincidence…”

The three celestial beasts seemed not to have fully processed it and mechanically nodded in response.

Watching this scene, Morax suddenly grabbed Rimuru’s hands, which were nervously fidgeting, and demanded, “So, what exactly did you do to Xianyun and the others?”

“I didn’t do anything!”

Rimuru protested loudly but quickly realized Morax wasn’t wrong to be suspicious. He hurriedly tried to patch things up, “At most, I just said some nonsense when I was angry…”

“Nonsense?” Morax asked with interest, “I see… So Rimuru, what exactly did you say?”

“I-I said… ah, just some things, that’s all!”

Rimuru dodged the question, unwilling to answer directly.

Not only was he afraid to say those words in front of Morax, but now he didn’t even dare to look at him for fear of being punished by the stern earth dragon.

Otherwise, he’d go from a round, adorable slime to a tattered, spiky hedgehog slime.

No, that absolutely wouldn’t do!

Rimuru’s vivid imagination scared him half to death. At this moment, Xianyun and the others had also settled their inner turmoil and looked at Rimuru and the earth god holding him with complicated expressions.

“Lord Morax, is this slime your new pet?”

Xianyun cast a disdainful glance at Rimuru and then began to reason with him earnestly, “Although a speaking slime is rare, it is still a monster at its core. Since you have chosen to protect humans, you should consider the safety of these mortals.”

Rimuru frowned, a vexed symbol appearing above his head. “Don’t look at me with such narrow eyes. Sure, I’m a slime, but I don’t harm humans! I have a brain, okay? And… who’s the pet here? I’m clearly Morax’s friend!”

Moon-Slicing Sun expressed complete disbelief, “You were able to say such insulting things about Lord Morax before. How can we trust you now?”

Insulting him?

Morax grew curious, “Rimuru, what exactly did you say?”

Caught between saying and not saying, the slime deflated like a punctured balloon, giving up: “Alright, alright, I just said I’d strip them all naked like plucking every hair from Morax’s tail, but I was just angry because he wanted me to work. It was just hot air… I didn’t really want to pluck his tail hair. Besides, they attacked me first!”

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have said that threat.

“But I must admit, the thought of touching the tail has been on my mind for a long time,” Rimuru muttered softly about the cherished Xianyun’s tail, unable to resist whispering.

With immortal hearing, this was obviously overheard.

The slight guilt Xianyun and the others had felt for initiating the fight vanished instantly.

The celestial beasts glared at Rimuru in unison, scolding, “Bold slime! Do you think you can touch the lord’s tail whenever you want?”

---

Rimuru shrank his neck from their shouting, feeling wronged. “You’re really unreasonable! Look, Morax is still touching me. I just wanted to touch his tail too, how is that being bold?!”

“You—you're simply making no sense!” The immortals were at a loss for words, clearly overwhelmed by the shameless slime.

Morax laughed heartily, eyes curved with amusement. “I didn’t expect you all to get so angry over this. As for the concerns you have, there’s no need to worry. Rimuru has signed a contract with me; he won’t harm my subjects.”

This was the first time Morax had seen the usually calm and composed immortals so riled up. It seemed Rimuru was quite skilled at irritating others.

“This conflict clearly arose from a misunderstanding. Since that’s the case, let’s call it a day.”

Not wanting the tension between Rimuru and the immortals to escalate, Morax quickly made a decisive ruling.

The three immortals, seeing Morax’s verdict, even if displeased, wouldn’t object.

Just as they were about to respond, Rimuru’s loud protests interrupted them.

“They attacked me first! Although I was wrong too, can’t you help me out here?!”

Rimuru hoped to gain some benefits from the situation, like getting to touch Xianyun’s tail.

“No.”

Morax’s tone was cold and ruthless. “So, Rimuru, you should now know—I usually side with reason, not affection.”

—KO.

The plan to gain benefits failed; the slime collapsed helplessly.

Watching the slime in his arms wilt into an indistinct puddle, Morax’s eyes twinkled with amusement.

“Alright, Rimuru, stop trying to shirk responsibility. Didn’t you always want me to sign a contract with the immortals to protect our people together? Now that they’re here, why are you causing trouble?”

Rimuru did a sit-up from Morax’s arms, his chubby body flushing with unnatural red patches.

“I’m not causing trouble. Don’t make things up!”

The constant bickering between a slime and a demon god left the three immortals dumbfounded.

Is this still their usually reserved and silent Lord Morax?

Xianyun’s birdlike face clearly couldn’t bear to watch. She regretted coming to Tianheng today; otherwise, she wouldn’t have witnessed such a shattering of her lord’s dignified image!

Wait… then why were they here in the first place?

The blue-and-white crane tilted her head toward her companions. Moon-Slicing Sun wore the same puzzled expression. Indeed, why were they even in Tianheng?

Only Water-Merging Mountain, still focused on the matter at hand, sighed silently, raising a wing to cover his face.

“We came because the Yaksha clan has a missing cub suspected to have been abducted. Have you forgotten?”

Those two were really unreliable.

Oh, right, the Yaksha clan, a group of celestial beasts, had come to Jueyun Valley seeking their help. Finding themselves at a loss, they came to Tianheng to ask Morax for assistance.

Only then did Xianyun and Moon-Slicing remember their true purpose.

They came to Tianheng on official business!

Not to watch the lord and the slime quarrel!

If they wasted time because of this, and something happened to the Yaksha cub, that would be terrible!

Thinking of this, Xianyun panicked, flapping her wings anxiously to get the attention of the demon god arguing with the slime.

“Lo-Lord Morax, the Yaksha clan has an urgent matter and seeks your help!”