Veldora

The rusty metal door screamed at me as I pushed it open. For the first time in 300 years, fresh air rushed into the damp and moldy underground cave system.

"Sheesh! This place is too rotten for your majestic eyes lord Rimuru! I suggest we return to the palace. If it's entertainment you are wishing for, perhaps I can keep you company in bed?" Shalltear stated as we walked inside.

"Like Rimuru-sama would want to spend time with a false-advertising board like you" Aura replied as we began looking around.

"Ugh!?!" Shalltear shook as she took critical damage. "You have nothing yourself, so your one to talk!"

"I'm only 12 years old! I still have time to grow, unlike you!" Aura continued. Yup, since dark elves, dragons, and other non-human races age at the same rate here as humans do, I had to just the age of Aura and Mare.

On a side-note, I left Mare as a trap, mostly because when Bukubukuchagama paid a visit to my guild base, she started guilt-tripping me into returning the true gender of her 'child'. The funny thing is though, none of the Nazzarick NPCs who are with me have any recollection of their time in Nazzarick. I even asked if they remembered their creators and they all responded saying that it was me.

"Enough you two! You are in the presence of master Rimuru! This isn't time for your squabbles." Artoria said as a wave of blue light emanated from her and she donned her armor and Excalibre.

"Well, it's fine. I would rather it be lively than too formal after all. If I wanted nothing more than obedient drones who only follow orders, I would have made you all Automata." I say patting her on her head. I even play around with her Ahoge for a moment while looking at the map that my [Explorer] skill gives me.

Rimuru in the original must have not had the mental map feature of [Great Sage] active when he was trying to get out of the caves, because even though there are a ton of winding and twisting corridors, it shouldn't take more than an hour or so to walk directly to where Veldora is.

I remove my hand from the rose-red Artoria and continue on, ignoring the arguments of Shalltear and Aura who are complaining to Artoria about receiving my affection.

'[Athena], when I inevitably absorb Veldora, I want you to corden off my memories from the time before Yggdrasil and keep him out of any of the manga, anime, or fanfics from my memories that are relevant to this world. I want him to mellow out by becoming an otaku like canon, but I don't want him getting into anything that could cause problems later on.'

[Affrimative]

...

We continue walking for an hour or so before we encounter our first monster. Its a Giant Bat that swoops down and tries to grab Artoria.

"HEEE!!!!" Shalltear yelps as she throws a holy lance at the creature which scared her.

*Splat*

The 10-meter wide bat immediately becomes a gooey paste on the wall.

"Hee! I hate bats! They're gross and they smell horrible!" She screams.

Artoria and I look at her and raise our brows. It's a little funny thinking that a vampire would be scared of bats, though I guess I was scared of spiders before, so I can't judge.

"HAHAHAHA! The Vampire is scare of bats!" Aura laughs as she falls to her side.

I simply shrug to myself before using [Carnivore] to consume the creature's remains. It's a good thing I can't taste anything with [Carnivore] since I'm sure bat tastes awful, though magicules seem to make meats more delicious if the fish I made for the Tempest Palace Lake are any indication.

...

The second enemy we encounter sends Aura scrabbling behind me for cover as the Black Snake strikes towards her from the shadows.

"Not so fast!" Artoria shouts as she dashes towards the beast and slices its head off before it could even blink. The severed headlands a few feet in front of me, while the rest of the body spasms wildly a few dozen meters away.

"Good job, but please try not to get dirty," I say as I cast some cleaning magecraft that Da Vinci taught me.

Funny thing is, the super-majority of magecraft is used for improving the daily lives of a magus. Spells that clean a magus' clothes, autocorrect grammar in papers, clean the body, etc make up the majority of spells. According to Da Vinci, this is so that a magus can spend more time experimenting rather than taking care of menial tasks like the laundry or correcting the spelling in their research notes.

Something tells me the authors don't tell you these things since everyone just wants to see Saber Alter blasting way mountains to kill off Berzerker.

"Rimuru-sama! You shouldn't have to waste your precious MP on cleaning your servants! I shall do it for you from now on!" Aura states as she comes out from behind me.

"Then I'll be counting on you Aura"

"Mmm!" She blushes as she nods her head fiercely.

I turn back towards the still-spasming corpse of the Black Snake and devour it with [Carnivore] like the Bat.

...

After several more encounters, all of which end up with us one-shoting all the monsters we come across, and me devouring them to gain their skills, not that I need them since I can just recreate them later, but there is a certain novelty to using this method. We finally make our way towards Veldora's Sealing place. I can see Aura, Shalltear, and Artoria become tense as they approach.

There is no more teasing, no more in-fighting. This is dangerous business. A Dragon is directly beneath the home of their Lord and Master. If they don't deal with this correctly, it could cause major damage to their sanctuary.

"Interesting!" A deep and manly voice speaks out into the minds of everyone. "It seems some impressive beings have cropped up in the time since I was sealed away!"

"Who are you!? What are you doing in a place like this?" Aura shouts back, readying her whip.

"There is no need to worry yourself, little one! I am simply sealed here. I am Veldora, one of the 4 remaining True Dragons in this world!" Veldora shouts and poses with his wings spread as far as the cage will allow. Long serpentine neck arced back with his claw-like hands and arms spread wide as if to invite us to attack him immediately.

"I see. I thought I sensed a powerful aura for some days now, it seems you have finally come to me, white one!" Veldora says once more as he narrows his eyes and looks at me.

"Indeed. You too have been bothering my senses for quite some time. Tell me, why are you sealed here?" I say, feigning ignorance. I already know why, but the others will need to be caught up to speed.

"I'm glad you asked!" Veldora says, genuinely happy to be having his first real conversation since he was sealed centuries ago.

"I may have accidentally burned a country to the ground a while back and a hero came to slay me..." He began. "It's true that I may have underestimated my opponent, and by the time I started putting my full power into it I had already lost!" Veldora began exposing dialogue while talking smugly.

'Like getting your ass kicked is something to brag about' I thought but allowed him to continue.

"That hero had some troublesome Unique Skills; [Absolute Severance] could cut me with space-time base attacks, so I couldn't heal or regenerate and [Infinite Imprisionment] was unable to be overcome with raw power, so ever since then, I have been sealed here."

"Quick question, Veldora-san, but were you sealed somewhere else and then moved here, or were you sealed somewhere else?" Artoria chimed in.

"I was sealed in an ancient Vampire Country long ago, but the Hero used some type of Relocation Magic or Skill to move me into this cave. She said she found it by accident while flying over the Jura Forest, so it would be the perfect place for me.

From here, I can extend my Magicules so that no normal human can survive in the forest without some kind of protection or being strong enough, while the monsters here will multiply at a much faster rate." Veldora says as he crosses his arms.

"But doesn't that waste Magicules? To be honest, Artoria here has more MAgiules than you right now, so you must have lost quite a bit." I say, drawing a quick frown from the dragon.

"It is exactly as you say. I have been losing more and more magicules as time goes on, I'm only at one-fourth strength."

"Hmmm. Say, True Dragon. How about we make a deal." I say taking a step closer to the Dragon.

"WHAT!?! A MERE HUMAN DARES TO BARGEN WITH THE TRUE DRAGON OF STORMS VELDORA!?!" He screams.

"Well if you don't want to then we'll leave and never bother you again..." I start but Veldora's tsundere mode kicks in. Aura and Shalltear are fuming while Artoria is wearing a heavy frown on her face.

"W-well, I suppose I can consider your offer?" Veldora says, acting tsundere.

"Yup, you should consider it, since if you don't then we are through!" I say pouting a bit.

"Well all right then! We shall bargain then!" Veldora says desperately.

' ' 'Tsundere?' ' ' All of the women think at once.

"Good. You see, Mr. Veldora, I have set up shop inside your lovely forest here and I plan to build my nation here. Since you are indisposed of for the moment, there really isn't any reason for us to help you, but if you were to say, become my friend and partner, then I very well couldn't allow my friend to continue to be in this weakened and lonely state and more."

"A-are you proposing friendship between a human and the Storm Dragon!?" Veldora asks, this time a little less shocked.

"No. I'm proposing friendship between a Celestial and the Storm Dragon," I say as I put my hand forward in the same manner as one would shake their hand.

"W-well I guess since I'm so generous after all, I don't mind helping you out as my friend..." Veldora said as he turned his head to the side with an ever-so-small blush on this face.

' ' 'Tsundere' ' ' All of the women confirm their thinking at once.

Well then, I guess that's that then, I say as Veldora puts forward his claw as if to shake my hand in agreement. A bright yellow light emanates from the point in which we make contact.

"Well then, I'll be at least two years before I can finish analyzing such a complex Unique Skill, so I'll have to have you wait it out in my stomach.

"..."

"Not like that... the stomach of my Unique Skill [Carnivore]. Once inside, I can begin analyzing the skill from the inside and out, all while keeping you from losing any more magicules while you are inside. Your other option is to stay here and I will come to talk to you every few weeks of whenever I have time." I say. None of what I say is technically untrue, since it will take two years to analyze if I don't use [Thought Acceleration] and I would genuinely visit Veldora every now and then if for no other reason than it is a nice distraction away from all the formal politics in the Palace.

"..." Veldora seems to be thinking this through heavily.

"I'll even help you restore your lost Magicules..." I say, further enticing him.

"W-well I suppose it's only fair if I go with the option of being with my friend at all times! It's not like I'd be lonely without you here!?!" He says, trying to keep his character from breaking down.

"Alright then. From this day forward, you and I will be as if brothers. I shall grant you my name as well. Veldora Tempest!" I say.

"TEMPEST YOU SAY!?!" Veldora shouts at the top of his lungs, causing little bits of fire to spew from his mouth and the cave to shake. "THAT SOUNDS FANTASTIC! Very well! I shall accept this name of yours, and from this day forward, I shall be named Veldora Tempest!"

*BOOOMMMM!*

In an instant, an unparalleled burst of magicules explodes from Veldora, unseen since the days of Veldanava. Veldora begins to glow a golden color as the name 'Veldora Tempest' is engraved upon his soul forever.

After a few moments, the light fades and Veldora is left standing there in all his glory. He now stands 4 times larger than previously, though his power has more than doubled since his prime. He was no longer the weakest of the True Dragons, now he was the equal of his sisters, with two brand new Ultimate Skills to boot. [Faust: King of Investigation] and [Typhoon: King of the Storm].

"This power... who are you? To be able to name a True Dragon and empower him to such an extent!" Veldora Tempest looks at me in amazement.

"I am Rimuru Tempest, Celestial, master of the Waterfall Palace, the strongest being in existence, seeker of the throne of the world, and friend of the True Dragon of the Storm, Veldora Tempest!" I say with confidence. I can feel the power rolling off Veldora at this time. It's even making it difficult for Aura and Shalltear to stand, though as Ultimate Skill wielders ourselves, both myself and Artoria are completely fine, even if Artoria is sweating a bit due to sensing the raw power given off by the godly being before us.

"Excellent! I would not have my friend be someone of a lower caliber! I shall entrust my body to you completely! Hurry it up already my friend! I can't wait to get out of this [Infinite Imprisonment] and test out my new abilities!" Veldora says, clearly getting excited.

"Right!" I say as I extend my hand forward and release [Carnivor] to consume Veldora whole in less than a second.

Silence.

"L-leave it to Rimuru-sama to befriend and empower a monster like that" Aura said shakily.

"I-Indeed. That creature was unlike anything from Yggdrasil" Shalltear continued.

After a second, Artoria smiled smugly. "Of course. As expected from the person who is my master!" She said with confidence, though the cold sweat on her face gave away just how pressured she was feeling after sensing Veldora's power-up.

"Haaahhhhh..." I sigh to myself before turning to my entourage. "Well we seem to all be sweating, why don't we take a bath in that lake there?" I say as we gesture over to the pool.

I walk over and place a single finger into it and create the skill [Temperature Manipulation] to heat the pool to the perfect temperature for bathing. I then use [Hephestus] to create extremely high-quality soap, shampoo, wooden chairs, a bucket, and white towels from magicules and take my shirt off.

"So, who wants to wash my back?" I say, looking at the three girls with red faces and bloody noses.

Poor Veldora. After all that epic hype, the first thing he's going to experience seeing from my stomach isn't going to be some epic adventure, it's going to be the hot spring episode.

Wait, isn't that a good thing?