"Since you already know, why don't you hurry up and let go of me—especially you, woman!"
The crisp voice echoed in everyone's ears, those last few words laced with a distinct iciness.
However, coming from such a small body, the words didn't seem threatening at all—instead, they struck a strange balance between adorable and comical.
"Oh my, this little elf can actually talk?"
A surprised voice rang out.
"Yeah, and how come it sounds even more arrogant than yours truly?"
Kaval chimed in from the other side.
The masked woman could only sigh at their reactions.
Shouldn't they be more concerned about why an elf suddenly appeared here?
Bang!
A loud crash shook the tree, sending tremors through the ground. The color instantly drained from everyone's faces, horror spreading across their features.
It's over… we're going to die here—buried with this adorable little elf!
Instinctively, Elyun hugged the elf tightly, squeezing it into her chest as she shut her eyes.
The elf rolled its eyes in frustration, nearly suffocating from the intense embrace.
Peeking down, it finally saw the cause of the commotion—a swarm of C-ranked Flame Ants.
Seriously? You're all this scared of those?
Oh wait… It's the chicken trio.
Never mind then.
The elf was ready to act, but someone else beat it to the punch.
The masked woman moved like a flash, soaring through the air with birdlike grace before landing solidly on the ground. Her sword ignited instantly with blazing energy, transforming into a fearsome Flame Sword.
Without hesitation, she swung her blade, releasing a wave of fire that engulfed the swarm.
In an instant, the Flame Ants were annihilated.
Despite her decisive movements, the masked woman clearly hesitated internally. She preferred not to use her abilities too freely, especially in her current unstable condition.
But with everyone in danger, she couldn't stand idly by.
She'd made her choice.
The little elf, still cradled in Elyun's arms, blinked in surprise upon seeing her.
She's here too?!
With the masked woman around, it figured there was no need to intervene anymore.
Might as well sit back and enjoy the show. Who knows—they might even take me back to the village.
"Wow, Miss Shizu is amazing! We're saved again!"
Elyun exhaled with relief, her eyes full of admiration.
"Yeah, we really owe Miss Shizu our lives this time. Thank you!"
The others echoed her gratitude, their voices sincere.
The rest of the group expressed their thanks too, but behind the mask, it was hard to tell what Shizu felt.
She merely stood still for a moment, silent and unreadable, before turning back to finish off the last few lingering Flame Ants.
Meanwhile, the elf in Elyun's arms glanced at the group with a smug expression.
Tsk, tsk, tsk... looks like they've run into a lot of messes like this before.
Later, they settled down to rest and gently placed the elf on the ground. The four of them sat in a circle, their gazes locked on it—eight curious eyes, unblinking.
Feeling awkward under the scrutiny, the elf finally snapped,
"What are you staring at?! Haven't you seen a handsome elf before?"
In truth, this little creature was a chibi version of Granstar.
Bored after days of training goblins and frost wolves—and wary of being nagged by Rimuru—it had snuck out to slack off.
It didn't expect to run into these three buffoons… and a certain masked woman.
"He really is a elf. That's so weird," one of them said, reaching out a hand to touch it.
Slap!
Granstar smacked the hand away, hard.
"Ow! So fierce!"
Kaval recoiled, eyes wide with surprise.
"You better not touch me again," Granstar growled. "Or don't blame me for getting impolite."
Elyun, however, was completely enamored.
"Too cute…" she whispered as she scooped him up again into a soft hug.
Granstar initially wanted to resist—but then saw that it was a cute girl.
Eh… this isn't too bad.
"Hey!" the captain whined. "Why is it okay for her to touch you, but not me?"
"Hmph. No wonder the elf hates you. You're ugly," someone muttered under their breath.
"You... you—!" the captain stammered, speechless.
The others silently turned their heads away, but their shaking shoulders betrayed their expressions.
"Have you guys still not found that Granstar guy yet?"
Rimuru sat atop Ranga's head, looking down at the goblins and frost wolves below with a troubled expression.
"Lord Rimuru, we've searched the entire village, but we can't find him anywhere!"
Gobta stood up with a face full of grievance.
In truth, he wanted to say: If Lord Granstar is serious about hiding and slacking off, even searching the entire world wouldn't be enough to find him!
But of course, he didn't dare say that in front of Rimuru.
"Hmph! That Granstar really knows how to run away!"
Rimuru was clearly frustrated. He had just given Granstar—who was infamous for slacking off—a coaching job. And after only a few days of actual progress, Granstar had pawned the responsibility off to Rigur and disappeared.
He ran off to slack again!
The more Rimuru thought about it, the angrier he got. But recalling that Granstar often wandered off to hunt monsters, he issued a few quick orders.
"Team up with the frost wolves and search the forest. You must bring that cunning guy back."
He could already imagine the mountain of tasks he'd dump on Granstar the moment they caught him.
"Yes, sir!"
Gobta immediately stood at attention and gave a proper military salute—one of the few things Granstar had drilled into them during training.
With the order given, Rimuru turned to leave. There was still a pile of materials waiting for him—this tireless tool of a slime—to craft and sort.
In the Forest
Meanwhile, deep in the forest, a trio had gathered in secret, discussing something in hushed tones.
"Oh my god, we can't go forward—something huge just happened! Guess what I saw?"
The scout, who had just returned from ahead, was panting and sweating, clearly shaken.
"What did you see?"
The other two—no, make that two people and a elf—stared at him with confused expressions.
The scout took a moment to catch his breath, struggling to form coherent words.
"I remember when we passed through here before, there was nothing but a rundown goblin village ahead. But just now—what I saw—"
The others exchanged glances. They had seen a goblin village near the Storm Dragon's cave before. What was so strange about that?
"Hurry up and tell us already!" one of them urged.
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