However, when Nahida reached level 10, he received no bonuses from the system. He had expected to receive a new skill, but that didn't happen. He sat down with Rimuru and sighed.

"So you didn't receive any bonuses or skills?"

"No. Also, I can't feel magical power. Maybe I can't use magic since I'm not from this world."

"No, that's not the case. Many summoned people in this world can use magic. The summoned people are stronger than the people of this world. Not all of them, of course."

Nahida knew that there were many absurdly powerful people in the world of Rimuru.

"Well. I should head back now?"

"But you've only been here a day. Didn't you say you'd be here for a few days?"

"I don't have received a skill or be able to utilize magic, so I'd better go back. I'm worried about my hotel."

"Do you want me to ask Souei to come there and take a look?"

"That would be good."

Rimuru called for Souei, and he appeared to be hiding nearby. And upon hearing Rimuru's request, he quickly went to Nahida's hotel.

When Souei opened the door, he found Nazuna sitting behind the counter. She had a smile on her face. "Souei?" Nazuna was surprised. Souei was silent for a few seconds as he looked around.

It was the first time he entered Nahida's hotel; it was very clean and beautiful. It was very different from all the buildings in Tempest.

"I came here at Rimuru-sama's request to check if everything is fine with this hotel."

"Oh, about that, there is no problem. Speaking of which, all rooms are occupied. Shirou told me that it was the first time this had happened..."

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Shirou?"

"Exactly. He'll be arriving for work in a bit. He's very nice, and he's also very good at cleaning. The hotel is only this clean, thanks to him."

"I see. I'll report all this to Rimuru-sama."

"Ah, before you go, could you take this to Nahida?" Nazuna handed a piece of paper to Souei to give to Nahida. "It's a note that a girl left for Nahida; it was a pretty girl with blue hair."

"I see. I'll tell him that."

Souei left the hotel and reached Rimuru's house in an instant. As soon as he entered, he reported everything to Rimuru and Nahida.

"I see, so the hotel is full. This is the first time this has happened; it's surprising. I wonder what happened?" Nahida remembered asking Rias to talk about his hotel with people.

Maybe it had an effect.

"And Nazuna asked me to give this to you. It's a note a girl left for you. It's a pretty girl with blue hair... Nazuna didn't give me much other information."

"Bulma?"

"..." Souei remained silent.

Unlike him, Rimuru shouted. "Did you say Bulma?!" He approached Nahida and grabbed his shoulders. "You're kidding, right?" Nahida noticed that Rimuru's hands were shaking. Souei couldn't understand what was going on.

"Yes, Bulma. I'd better explain everything to you, hadn't I? That I'm living inside one fanfic."

"Fanfic?"

"Exactly."

Rimuru asked Souei to leave so they could talk. Then, Nahida began to explain to Rimuru what was going on. After Nahida explained that all those people in his hotel came from anime worlds, Rimuru concluded something:

"So I'm part of an anime too?..." He read a lot of novels and manga in his old life and knew about Isekais stories. But he did not imagine that he was even part of a story that was being published in Japan. It was a bizarre reality for him to face.

Was he even real? Rimuru began to wonder that.

####

Some time passed, and Rimuru had partially recovered from his shock.

"That's why I didn't want to talk to you about it," Nahida told him.

"I'm fine now; it was just a momentary shock. It's just that it's hard to believe that I'm part of an anime and my life is a lie."'

"Your life is not a lie. You remember everything you've been through, don't you? Even your old life. You are a person; you exist."

"..."

"Do you remember your childhood? Do you have those memories?"

"..." Rimuru remained silent and did not answer Nahida. Nahida stared at him for a few seconds and cleared his throat.

"What matters is that you are alive; you are real. Don't overthink it t, right? It'll just get in your way if you keep thinking about it. You need to be focused." In a world like that, he needed focus.

He couldn't go into an existential crisis that disrupted his life.

"I see."

"Speaking of which, have you ever been in a war before? Since Tempest is practically a country now."

"No, not yet. But there are a lot of people who hate us; that's obvious. Monsters are hated in this world."

"Isn't that normal? I know the monsters in your town wouldn't do anything against humans without a good reason, but humans who don't know them are afraid."

"They also hate us because of religion. It's hard to explain everything to you."

"Oh, I know very well about the church, don't worry."

"You were reading my story, weren't you?"

"I have to be honest... I was reading it. I should have read more, though; I only remember a few important events. Do you want to know about some events that will happen?"

"No. People say it's bad to have spoilers about your life. Something bad might happen."

"Who said that?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure someone has said that before."

"Hahaha. So what should we do now? Just keep going up my level?"

"No, let's stay home and play something on my Nintendo Switch. Now that I can charge it, we can spend more time playing."

"If it's to spend time playing, I'd rather return to my hotel."

"Right, right, let's go out and level up."

"And one more thing: I'm only going to level up to level 20. If I don't get any skills or learn how to use magic by then, I'll give up."

"Right."