That Time I Got Isekai’d Again and Befriended a Slime

Noonish

Free Guild Headquarters

Kingdom of Ingrassia

Yeah, alright. Mary sighed, standing off to the side.

Around her, the Free Guild's incredibly modern lobby sprawled. A long, deep blue carpet spanned the distance from the large glass doors to the incredibly, probably unnecessarily wide front desk. Two columns rose up on either side, clearly more for aesthetics than anything else.

This place was all about that sort of mindset, it seemed.

"Huh? That girl gets to meet with the Grandmaster?"

"Seriously?"

"Even high ranked adventurers don't get in that quickly."

On either side of this carpet, small lounge area sat. L-shaped couches, loveseats, and armchairs sat in an orderly rectangular arrangement around a glass coffee table. Adventurers of all sorts lingered and mingled in these areas, though a group of these individuals had elected to stand near Rimuru's group for one reason.

"Rimuru's not just any ordinary adventurer, you know!" Kabal boasted, crossing his arms with a smug look on his face.

Gido copied him, nodding. "They're a special sort, you know!"

The small crowd of adventurers before them murmured and conversed, otherwise making a bit of a racket of the Guild's HQ's right-side lounge area.

Again, off to the side – meaning, backed away and leaning against the wall, and now you know why – Mary pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Fantastic." She muttered.

The point is to not draw attention. She thought this, then paused, pulling her hand back slightly. I'm even copying her mannerisms now.

Abruptly, she let her hand fall away.

"Kabal, Gido, Eren." The three paused in their posturing, looking her way. A few of the adventurers in front of them noticed and turned as well. Mary tried to suppress an annoyed frown, and didn't quite succeed, "I'm going out to explore a bit. I'll probably be back here later. Or like, come find me or something."

Mary made for the exit without waiting for a response. Preemptively, her hand reached up as she neared the door, the thought of pushing it open in motion despite knowing it was unnecessary. Even expecting it, she still jumped the slightest bit as the glass doors slid open automatically, her fingertips just barely missing the cool surface and meeting open air instead.

Aren't doors like this a safety concern? She shoved her hands in her jacket pockets and kept moving. They won't stop anything.

It was a bit warm out for the ordinary person. Probably not jacket weather even for her, honestly. It didn't really bother her at the moment, but it was fairly obvious that she'd have to go without it in about a week or so. Unlike Rimuru, she didn't have various temperature immunities.

"Ah, wait a moment, Mary!" The door slid open and shut once more, a set of footsteps hurrying her way.

Mary hesitated a moment, glancing back. A light breeze brushed by, ruffling her bangs and the tail of her jacket. She had no idea, but right now she looked, like, really cool.

At least, that's what Eren thought as she caught up and fell in step next to her.

"You might get lost." Was all Eren offered as an explanation, falling into step with Mary as she started down the street once more.

Mary accepted this without complaint. That was true. She might get lost.

There was probably another reason, too. Mary might not have been the most perceptive in the world, but even she could tell. Eren had that sort of energy around her. Like she had a question she wanted to ask but wasn't quite comfortable asking just yet.

Well, I'm not going to say anything, so…

They walked in silence.

The city rose around them, impressive and towering. Rising brick-fronted stores mingled with oak-outlined apartments. Depending on the street, offices could be seen with the window-strewn walls, or there were yet more storefronts and open foyer buildings.

The streets were clean, the sidewalks and sides lined with stalls and concession stands. Down the main road they'd traveled earlier, people flooded the area, a cheerful, if somewhat muted, cacophony of noise accompanied the hustle and bustle of a populated human city.

Mary couldn't hide her frown, turning down a side street.

Yet, it just wasn't right. It was just humans. And the atmosphere, while natural and as upbeat as you'd expect from a prospering place, had an odd tinge to it. Was she imagining it?

She shook her head internally; this wasn't her area of expertise at all. Tanya could probably-

"Oh, I can't stand it!"

Mary's thoughts stuttered to a halt. "Eren?"

She turned, noting Eren's pout.

Eren raised a hand, pointing dangerously close to one of Mary's eyes.

"Mary, I have to know."

Mary leans back slightly. "Know what?"

"What's going on between you, Tanya, and Shuna?!"

The city's noise continued to flow all around them, muted somewhat by the side street's relative disconnect from it all.

Mary stared at her.

"I'm sorry?"

"Yeah, you should be!" Eren crossed her arms, "We've been traveling together for two weeks now, and you haven't even mentioned it. Rimuru doesn't do girl talk usually, so I thought we could connect better. But you never even tried! I want to do girl talk, Mary, so talk. What's happening between you three?"

Girl talk? Bibi mentioned that before, I think?

"…Nothing?" Mary was utterly lost. "What are you talking about?"

"Dating, Mary. It's a simple question: are you dating anyone? Particularly Tanya and Shuna?"

"Oh, dating- hah?! D-dating?!"

"Yes." Eren nodded, entirely serious. Mary felt a little bit inside her die at this realization that this would be a whole thing.

"I- why would you- no. No, they don't- we aren't. Are not. Dating." Mary stumbled for the right words to express exactly how wrong Eren was in her assumptions, "And besides, we couldn't even- you know, more than two people can't, like, date. That's not how it works. It's two people, man and woman, man and man, or woman and woman. Or, um, agender person like Rimuru with- or- you get the point. That's right."

"You're cute when you ramble, you know. I bet Tanya thinks so. Shuna too." Eren shook her head. "But also, you're wrong? Or maybe you just don't know. Polyamorous relationships aren't uncommon; I think everyone who knows Rimuru is just waiting for them to start one. I know Shion wants to jump those slime bones as soon as possible."

Good luck to her in that.

"Well, that's-" An entirely new can of worms that had just been opened. Mary focused on something else. "I didn't know. And we're not dating. I've never dated anyone."

"You aren't?" Why did Eren sound sad about that. "But those two are, right?"

"Tanya and Shuna are together, yes. I'm not involved." Mary clarified. Then, she elected to put her foot in her mouth, for some reason, "They wouldn't want me involved."

"Oh, Mary…" Now Eren looked sad too, rather than just sounding it.

"What- don't say Oh Mary like that. I'm fine with it! I don't even want to- you know, be with either of them like that. That's just- like, can you imagine? Why would I ever want to date, like, Tanya of all people."

"Because she's super handsome and really cool?" Eren fairly pointed out, "And because you have a crush on her?"

"I don't." Mary denied, making a passing attempt a seriousness expression.

"Your cheeks are red. Also, you specifically mentioned Tanya, there. That's a sign."

"I'm red because I'm very angry with this conversation." Mary turned, resuming her walk down the side street. Her boots were heavier against the pavement than normal. She did not acknowledge any other points of contention, a fact which Eren noted.

"Why?" Eren ran forward and kept just inside her view, still staring and speaking insistently.

"Because this conversation is pointless. You're just asking questions to be annoying. I'm annoyed with you."

"You're sure you don't want to date her? To kiss her? Are you really sure? Have you even thought about it?"

Mary's mind flashed back to Xerxes.

"No." She lied. "Not even once. And you're assuming I even, you know, like women."

"Do you?"

"I mean, yeah."

"Then why would you even-" Eren huffed, "Never mind. That's not the point, Mary! If you're worried about it, just don't be! Kissing isn't that hard."

"Incredible advice. That I don't need. And I think you're finding a different issue just to keep going. Stop it."

Eren ignored this. "If you want, I can help you."

"I said-" Mary blinked, the two stepping from the side street and back onto one of the main ones. Help her? "…what? What specifically are you referring to-?"

"Hey there, little birdies!"

Mary and Eren's expressions flattened simultaneously, with no input from the other.

It was the sort of voice one immediately feels irritation at. There was a level of unfounded, arrogant-based confidence to the voice's tone that had anyone with a marginal level of self-awareness preemptively groaning. Within the safety of their own head, because responding in such a manner, openly nonetheless, to such an irate-inducing personality was bound to fester the situation into more trouble than it was worth.

It was debatable whether or not the situation was more trouble than it was worth merely by existing.

The man, an adventurer of some sort based on his somewhat generic – though obviously pricey – garb and gear. He had a sword on his hip and a swagger to his step, and he looked at the two of them as one might look at something particularly tasty.

Behind him, two similarly clad buddies, somewhat faceless and generic in physical description, walked in tow. One had a bow and arrows strung over his back and at his waist respectively, and the other had two daggers on his hips and a jagged scar scrawling down the side of his neck. The two of them seemed significantly less like assholes than the guy in front of them, which was barely a point to their favor. Being unimportant seemed to be their curse, just as being a dick seemed to be their friend's.

The front man – the dick in question – strolled towards the two of them, a cocky grin splitting his face. Eren's hands flexed, as if resisting the urge to clock him.

"Hey there, little birdies." He repeated, as if making sure they were fully aware of who he was addressing. As if the direction of his arrogance didn't tell them that already.

He stopped on Mary's right, just a step or so away.

This is new. Mary glanced at Eren, noticing the look of utter deadpan disgust and irritation flooding her features, New to me, at least. What exactly is happening here?

"Name's Jace. B-Rank."

This isn't, what do they call it, hazing?

"Okay." Mary said.

Apparently, Jace was expecting something else. His expression fell for just a moment, before resetting. He cleared his throat.

"B-rank." Jace repeated, more insistently.

There was a part of Mary that wanted to say her own rank in response, but some odd feeling kept her from it.

For about half a second.

"A-Rank." Technically she had only completed the B-Rank exam, but Fuze had upgraded both her and Rimuru before they'd left.

"What?"

"I said, A-Rank."

"You're-" Jace sputtered, "That's- a good one! That's a good joke, birdie."

"I… wasn't joking."

"Are you done postering?" Eren butt in irritably. "We have places to be."

"Postering? Whoa there, calm down little birdie. I'm just making conversation, no need to be so…" His eyes traced her. "…tense."

Oh, I don't think this is hazing. Mary frowned, a bit disturbed by the man standing far too close for her own comfort. Right, gross guy. Flirting? No, flirting is supposed to be fun, right? This is harassment, then.

"Call me birdie one more time and I'll-"

"I said calm down." He cut her off, making an attempt at an authoritative voice. "I'm just talking. We're just talking, isn't that right?"

He leaned closer, his hand coming up to rest on Mary's shoulder.

!!!

That was his main fuck up, beyond being a misogynistic piece of shit.

For you see, were he dealing with someone like, say, Tanya or Rimuru, they probably could have deescalated the situation with words alone. Or, they would have just walked away with little more than a fading irritation at the meeting.

Mary wasn't nearly as good at either of those. Conflict resolution... or control. She was working on it. Kind of. Just, not right now.

Mary, eyes wide, pressed a hand against his chest, shoving him back half a step.

Then, her booted foot skyrocketed up, absolutely slamming this man in his testicles.

Really, really hard. Like, holy shit. It was definitely her imagination, but there was almost a sort of ding noise ringing out simultaneously with the impact. Along with a slight give to something, in a way that probably wasn't healthy.

It was easy to forget sometimes that her baseline strength now was well above human. 

The dude had probably just been reintroduced to his ancestors, for God's sake.

Immediately upon impact, Jace's eyes bulged comically. His face twisted up in a violent strain, veins visible along his neck and forehead. Behind him, his – friends, lackeys? – current companions winced.

One of them, the bow guy, whispered to the other, as Jace collapsed to his knees with tears in bloodshot eyes and vomit on his lips: "Did his feet just leave the ground?"

Dagger guy nodded. "They definitely did. Holy shit."

Mary lowered her leg.

I could be relaxing right now, practicing my forms or learning kanji on our front porch. Instead, I get to deal with this. I have to deal with… this. You're laughing right now, aren't you Tanya?

-=-=-=-

Early Afternoon

Tanya's Office, Assembly Hall

Tempest, Jura Tempest Federation

One finds themselves on a beach.

The world is dim. Greyscale, and dull, muted blue. The sky is filled with clouds, a constant cumulonimbus blanket, undercut by countless rolling, mutinous puffs of tidal aerosol. Below, more clouds line the horizon. Dark, rolling wreckage. Shattered mountains of storm.

There is something dreadfully off about this place, this darkness.

They stand on the shore. Waves roll back and forth, pale froth and black torrents crashing against the surf. It fills the air. The sound, crashing, turning, rolling back and forth. It fills all.

No one should be in this place. A great weight could be felt. No one is in this place.

There's salt in the air. It clings to the senses, wet and sharp. Ozone lingers, mist and shadow as lovers on the sand. The ocean continues to churn. The world, too, dull roar just below perception, clinging to the psyche. A rumble from above, almost of thunder. The clouds scrape one another, tinged eerily in an unfathomable hue.

No one? Nothing? No.

The storm grows. A flash, a momentary jolt. Thunder, rumbling. Lightning… not lightning.

There is no life here. No other sound exists beyond that which you see. No other sight can be heard just above or below. To the touch is the cool air, a breeze caressing the skin like a lover. A familiar touch, a kiss of-

You have to make a-

"-ya!"

…Is this…?

"-anya!"

-=-

Tanya's eyes slip open. She startles, for a moment, until a warm weight pressing atop her brings her back to the here and now.

"Tanya!"

"Souei?" Tanya stared blankly at the ceiling, absentmindedly running the fingers of a hand through the hair of the still napping Shuna. "I'm awake now. What is it?"

"You need to get out here right away. Point Alpha is… I don't know how to describe it. It's going berserk."

"What?" Tanya blinked, letting that sink in for a moment. Her eyes widened minutely, "Cordon off the area, immediately! I'll be there in less than 5."

"Already done. I await your arrival. Souei, out."

Tanya sprang into action immediately.

Well, no she didn't. Shuna was still on top of her.

Tanya shuffled awkwardly, managing a sort of slow push and pull with her shoulders and elbows, shifting hers and Shuna's weight until they were laying on their sides, rather than one laying atop the other. Ever so carefully, Tanya extracted herself from Shuna's arms, sliding off the couch and – cheating just the slightest bit with a flight formula – ending in a crouch wedged between the coffee table and couch.

There we go.

Tanya stood, a tinge of amusement coloring her expression as she watched Shuna's sleeping face frown from the loss of warmth. She leant down, brushing back a few strands of Shuna's bangs and tucking them behind her ear, her fingers lingering for a moment.

Something odd flooded her chest, then. A warmth she was almost afraid to admit.

She shook her head, straightening up and quietly – yet quickly – padding over to her boots. She sat on the coffee table, slipping her boots on with military-grade swiftness. Then, she rose once more, making her way behind the desk at the room's head to grab her usual dark green jacket, repaired and upgraded in material compared to Xerxes.

Tossing it over her shoulder, she made for the door, sparing one last glance at Shuna as her hand fell on the doorknob.

She paused.

One second ticked past, then another.

Careful footsteps.

Objectively, her jacket was an important asset. It provided full torso and neck coverage when fully zipped, and the material itself, beyond being remarkably durable, made warming spells at higher altitudes much less necessary.

Three seconds, four…

The flutter of fabric. The door opened, then shut.

Shuna sighed in her sleep, her hands unconsciously tugging the warm, green fabric closer to her chest.

-=-

She didn't even need to look to know something was wrong. It was a chill along the back of her neck, a shiver in her bone marrow, a nervous shimmer scraping tentatively, questioningly along the magic roaring through her blood, flesh, and bone.

"Souei." Her voice came out in a whisper, her expression blank, "What am I looking at here?"

"I'm hoping you can answer that." Souei crouched, his palm pressed flat against the trunk of a nearby tree. Just barely in and out of sight, wires glinted along his fingers, a network of similar glints shining along the tree line surrounding the clearing before them.

He'd cordoned off the area, alright. No one could get in or out without his permission, with the obvious reflection of wires just in front of them making it clear they too were included in that.

"Your sensitivity to magic is greater than mine." He continued, sparing a quick glance her way, "Use your Magic Sense, if you would. To me, it's not much more than a writhing mess. But you might be able to parse it differently."

Wasn't that the truth?

Ever since Xerxes, her magical attunement had shot through the roof. Tetra Breaker was likely responsible for that, though some part of her felt that wasn't entirely correct. Or at least, it wasn't the whole of it.

Regardless, Souei was right.

Tanya inhaled, then held it for a moment, two, three… she exhaled, slowly, Magic Sense coming alive, layering itself over her sight and mind.

Of course, her attunement to magic meant she was also more susceptible to being overwhelmed under the right circumstances. The difference between magic resonating with one sense and magic resonating across most or all of the senses – as often was the case for her, now – was not an effect that could be overstated.

It was uniquely aggressive, as one might describe the feeling.

She grimaced.

"Tanya?"

"A writhing mess. You were right." Tanya braced herself against a tree and leaned forward, ignoring the faint, freezing-hot pang of something along her senses, "That's just the outside of it. It's all very disorderly, if that's all you can see."

If one were to look at the clearing without Magic Sense at all, they wouldn't actually see anything. But underneath ordinary perception was entire world waiting to be seen. Peel back the curtain, look beyond the veil, and you don't just see. You feel.

The clearing was beyond ordinary. A somewhat circular open patch in the Great Forest of Jura, a shallow odd-shaped crater in the center with open grass leading to trees several meters away and rotating all around. A familiar space. The first place she'd ever laid eyes on in this world.

It appeared normal to the eyes, but the eyes lied. Under Magic Sense, there was a maelstrom at work. Across the grass, rabid tendrils of magicules ran the air ragged. They spun, and snapped, and clashed. A rolling beast of an existence. It was no better than a hurricane of magic, barely self-contained within this space. Staring into it was akin to staring into a high Category gale, the feeling pressing against her and threatening to send her flying.

No wonder Souei couldn't make anything out. To anyone not her and perhaps a select few others in this world, that's all it would be: a violent swelling of something most were too afraid to attempt to comprehend.

"But it's not just lashing out. It looks random, but it's not. It's more cyclone than windstorm."

Souei looked at her, raising an eyebrow.

"A typhoon." Tanya deadpanned

His eyebrow lowered. Tanya resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

17 years in Germania and no one understands you.

"In the center of the clearing is a steady sphere of sorts. The core of the anomaly itself, which as a whole was stable when Mary and I checked it last."

"Is it causing this frenzy?" Souei said, eyes narrowing, "It's still too dense for me to recognize anything. How is the anomaly affecting this storm?"

"It's more so that the anomaly is the storm itself, rather than the anomaly being the core influencing all around itself. Almost like it's been expanded or pushed out to some end." Tanya pushed off from the tree, stepping forward. "There must have been a change recently. Who or what kickstarted this, we can worry about later. For now, we'll do damage control. Let me through."

Souei nodded, trusting her without question. His hand flexed, the wires in front of them loosening and drooping such that a human-sized gap was expanded.

Tanya ducked and stepped through, rolling up her sleeves quickly as she went. Souei moved to step through as well, following behind her.

"Stay back." She spoke. His step paused. "I'm not quite sure how this would affect you. Just to be safe."

He nodded, though she couldn't see it, and stepped back to his previous place.

Tanya held her breath a moment, then exhaled. She held out her arm, palm flat and parallel to the ground.

The anomaly pulsed, as if in anticipation. The frenzy increased.

She clenched her hand into a fist and spoke her will into existence.

Tetra Breaker: Extension.

"Form."

A pulse.

The rumble of blood in the ears, the heart pounding in the chest. Primordial flow, beats.

In lieu of a proper sensation, heat and cold rushes over the body as one, filling every crack and crevasse of flesh and bone to the brim. It was a beautiful, horrible thing, magic.

The anomaly's tendrils thrashed, the magic resisting her will. Desiring disorder.

Useless. There is no willpower behind this formless thing.

Her power rushes over the clearing, her magic pausing not even once in its torrential tide. A wave, a strong wind, a network. It is a lattice of energy that spreads across the space before them, a three-dimensional grid intersecting along all planes physical, mental, spiritual.

It was a framework of magical existence, linking and structuring the unorderly. A unique extension of the formulaic form of casting, a net of imaginary numericals grasping beyond the natural plane.

The irrationality that was magical power, rendered according to her own rational Will. This was one such strength of the Unique Skill: Tetra Breaker.

The storm calmed. The power retracted inward, coalescing in one place.

Tanya lowered her hand.

"It's over now. Come on."

She stepped fully beyond the tree line, her boots leaving indents in the lush grass. Souei moved as well, quickly falling into step just past her shoulder.

The air was still, almost unnaturally so. Sound was muted, in a way. Odd. Unnerving, some might say. But there was nothing abnormal about the clearing itself now. Rather, it was the sudden absence of maelstrom that made the subsequent calmness feel nothing short of strange. Strange, in such a way that is prickled along the subconscious, fearing a predator just out of sight.

Neither deactivated Magic Sense, observing the newfound the calmness reflected in the flow of magicules. Neither believed the situation resolved.

"Here. The core of anomaly." Tanya stopped a few steps away, "Or rather, just the anomaly."

"It's… smooth." Souei observed, stopping next to her, "Though, these wisps. I imagine these are those tendrils from before. What did you do?"

"Some of them, most likely. I compressed the magical space itself, overwriting the anomaly's will to expand and forcing it back into one point. This is about how it appeared before, a few months ago. Although…"

They both frowned.

There was an odd vertigo in standing here. Like standing on a glass bridge above an endless abyss. Steps away from a precipice.

Something drifted along the air. A trickle coming from within the wispy emanations. A whisper. Words, in an impossible language. A shiver down the spine given a sound.

"Do you recognize that?" Tanya asked.

"No. I don't."

"Neither do I."

They continued to listen.

The whisper ended; the wisp retracted.

Another whisper, then. Different.

____Mermanglich,sosemeldießtgenüberalihnTürhüterMa. Vorabertürhütenn, offenstehtigewähr Türhütenster:Ichnickdaßeintrotztsagt ___

Souei stepped back, shaking his head.

"And that one? These are just gibberish; they have to be."

There was an odd feeling in his ears, as if light scrape was being drawn along the back of his brain. It was incomprehensible. He looked over.

"…Tanya?"

"Souei." Tanya had an unreadable look on her face. She shook her head. "Right, just gibberish. But I don't like this. Find Treyni, or one of her sisters, and bring them here." She turned to him, a steely glint in her eye, "As of this moment, this clearing is off limits for everyone not you, me, or a dryad. Permanently."

-=-=-=-=-=-

Known Skills List

Tanya:

Common Skill: Thought Communication

Extra Skill: Flames of Babylon

Extra Skill: Magic Sense

Extra Skill: Magic Aura

Extra Skill: Voice of the World Communication

Unique Skill: Tetra Breaker

Mary:

Extra Skill: Magic Sense

Extra Skill: Magic Aura

Extra/Intrinsic Skill: Physical Enhancement

Unique Skill: Ability Severance