Mikami Satoru, a businessman, is stabbed by a criminal on the street and killed. When he regains consciousness in the darkness, he finds that he's been reincarnated as a slime! With nothing better to do, he spends his time devouring all the rare herbs and precious ores he comes across. As he does, he encounters the Storm Dragon Veldora, who was sealed in this cave 300 years ago by a hero's "Unlimited Imprisonment" skill. He's frightened at first, but as they talk, he becomes friends with the long-isolated Veldora.

The slime Mikami and the Storm Dragon Veldora decide to give each other names. Veldora gives the slime Mikami the name "Rimuru," and Rimuru comes up with a family name for both of them: "Tempest." Then Rimuru uses his Predator skill to take Veldora into his body and analyze the "Unlimited Imprisonment" seal in hopes of breaking it... but this action sends a shock through the nations surrounding the Great Forest of Jura. With Veldora gone, there's a chance that the larger nations could become bold and invade the smaller provinces. With no knowledge of this, Rimuru leaves the cave and meets some Goblins.

After leaving the cave, Rimuru encounters a village of Goblins under attack by a clan of Direwolves. Caught in the heat of the moment, Rimuru agrees to help the Goblins in their battle. That night, the Direwolves arrive to try to take over as the new rulers of the Great Forest of Jura!

Rimuru and his companions visit the Dwarven Kingdom, the Armed Nation of Dwargon, in search of some artisans to help the Goblins learn to supply their own food, shelter, and clothing. However, a skirmish just outside the city gate lands Rimuru and Gobta in a prison cell. Then there's a report of an Armorsaurus in the nearby mines!

Thanks to Rimuru's skill, Kaijin was able to finish all the longswords and deliver them to the king, so the two of them celebrate by heading to a bar staffed by lots of elf girls. One of them reads Rimuru's fortune for fun, and sees an image in her crystal ball of someone she believes Rimuru is destined to be with. As everyone wonders who this person could be, Vesta shows up and starts to hassle Rimuru...

One day, in the midst of the improvements on the Goblin Village with the help of Kaijin and the dwarves, Rimuru meets a trio of adventurers from the Guild who've been temporarily joined by a masked woman named Shizu. Shizu turns out to be the person Rimuru is destined to be with, as his fortune said. Shizu also came to this world from Japan, but unlike him, she was summoned here many years ago. So Rimuru uses his Thought Communication skill to show Shizu what Japan looks like today.