A beautiful World

"I beg you, strong one! Help us," the leader goblin repeated.

"I already said no. I can already tell that getting involved with you would give me one big headache, and I don't need that at the moment. So, leave me alone."

"Stro-," as the leader was about to beg again, one of the goblins behind him tapped him slightly.

"Let's not anger him any more. Strong one already refused. If we try anymore, we might die," he whispered in the leader's eyes, making him finally remember who he was talking to.

Fearfully stealing glances at the slime, the leader goblin stuttered, "t-then we will do as the Strong one wants. Please be on your way."

"Alright, bye!"

After bidding farewell to the goblins, Rimuru walked away in the opposite direction. 'If I went to help them, I would have done a great deed, but humans would have also noticed things like that. I now know the power dynamics of this world thanks to Veldora, and humans probably have some intelligence organizations on the lookout for weird things. If a slime suddenly helps goblins with their problems, this info would quickly spread to humans. Although it is hard not seeing myself as a human, the truth is the truth. I am no longer a human being but a cute and lovely slime. I don't need humans on my trail. I've already been endangered thanks to those adventurers.'

As Rimuru walked away, he traversed the forest while enjoying the sunlight, "This really is a beautiful fantasy world. Everything looks breathtaking. If I went with those goblins, I wonder what would have happened to me. I might have even been tied to them and not able to leave due to a sense of responsibility. I know myself better than anyone, after all."

He spotted some exciting creatures, fiery horses, slimes, green-colored pigs, and some other weird animals looking around him. Comparing this sight to the cave or the part where he met the goblins, Rimuru knew that he must be in some odd part of the forest.

Due to the skill that he got from the spider in the cave, he could weave countless webs and swing his way around.

It had been five days since Rimuru left the cave and met the goblins. Since then, he hadn't stopped moving except for the few instances where he stopped briefly to talk to some magical creatures, and through one of these encounters, he was able to learn how to shut the ever leaking aura that the goblins used to find him.

Clank!

While still on the road, Rimuru heard the sound of metal clashing that stopped him. He peered his 'eyes' and senses at the place and found a brown-haired armor-equipped human fighting what seemed to be a large fox.

The fox had a large gash across its stomach and barely fended the human's attack with its long metallic claws. The human had a crazed-like look, reeking greed while looking at the fox and its miserable situation.

"DIE!!!" the man screamed, and following it, Rimuru felt a significant amount of magicules concentrate on the sword he wielded before slashing.

Rimuru felt bad seeing what was happening and subconsciously activated Pressurized Water Propulsion using the air as a medium. Due to finding that he can use this skill with lesser functionality and limited movement in his few weeks scouring the cave, Rimuru could use the skill on land.

The man's slash released sharp water particles from the tip that passed through the fox's wound, worsening it and clashing with the tree behind it.

The man felt something wrong when he saw how he missed and barely grazed the fox, which put him on edge. Looking at the side, the adventurer saw a blue-colored slime standing in front of the fox protectively.

"What do you think you are doing to this fox?" the slime 'uttered,' surprising the man and making him even more on guard.

"You can... talk? Never mind that! Give me my prey slime, and I will spare you."

'Does he think I am stupid or something because I am a slime?' Rimuru thought as he felt the man's greed.

The fox looked at the slime in front of it gratefully. Instead of looking down on it for being a slime, it only had good impressions from this weird small creature. But when it heard the man's words, it growled at him, baring its teeth.

"You think I'm stupid? Why would I let you take it after I saved it," Rimuru felt that he needed to show his stance here, or the man would take advantage of him.

This was his first time fighting another human being after reincarnation, as the attack in the cave didn't count. 'What will he attack me with? Sword Aura? Fireball? Some magic-swordsman thing?' the ideas kept popping and exciting him. Even though he was being attacked, it was a fantasy world, and all sorts of unimaginable things that he only saw on TV or the net could happen here.

Suddenly, the man with fast speed approached the two, but in Rimuru's eyes, he was as slow as a snail. 'Was he still underestimating me?'

The man had a twisted smile as he flailed his sword wildly, 'This slime is a unique thing. If I sell it with the Moon shadow fox, I will make a huge profit!' he thought as he activated a skill that accelerated his movement.

Rimuru didn't expect this, but his ample experience from fighting in the cave allowed him to barely dodge the sword.

'I almost died there...' when his thoughts reached that point, Rimuru activated a skill he got from a poisonous snake in the cave.

Acid left Rimuru's slime body and collided with the man's sword, the man used this as an opportunity to try and attack again, but before he could, he noticed that his sword had melted.

Looking at Rimuru with fearful eyes, the man who was sweating bullets by now threw the hilt, which was the only thing remaining from the sword, and ran away.

The fox looked at the slime with shining eyes, and its black fur glistened in the light of the setting sun. Yet its injuries had increased since then due to it not treating them, and blood soaked its body.

"Here, take this," Rimuru materialized a weird liquid and threw it at the fox, who couldn't even react due to tiredness.

The liquid's healing properties quickly mended the fix's wounds, but its stamina had already depleted, which made it pass out.

Meanwhile, Rimuru started questioning himself on the real reason he helped the fox. Other than because it was in a helpless and unfair situation, Rimuru felt connected with the fox. 'Is it because it felt like it would die the same way I did?' he started questioning himself as he waited for the fox to wake up.