Yearning for Love in a Song

After that?

Rimuru fulfilled the two conditions Ramiris demanded.

A Comedy Anime this time, and giving her a new golem.

The golem is faster to make at any rate.

With that giant, she was able to make a 5'4 sturdy, but powerful marionette straight out of Saber Marionette anime and created a likeness of Cherry. Complete with functional organs and a digestive system. Then there's the clothes...

'IS THAT WHO WE THINK IT IS?!' the children yelped, wide-eyed, recognizing the character. Some anime are popular east and west, Saber Marionette is one of them.

'Bing-bong~' and after sending the children out due to a Summoning Ritual, Rimuru then performed a Summoning Spell. To Ramiris' disbelief, Rimuru summoned a black-colored Greater Demon. 'Arise!' the being knelt before Rimuru respectfully.

'I have come at your request, Master.' it spoke.

'Well for the time being I am not your master.' said Rimuru and it got the newcomer wondering. 'I summoned you for a friend of mine and you are to serve her.' she told the summoned. 'She may look like this, but Ramiris is still a Demon Lord.' said Rimuru, glancing at Ramiris while ignoring her indignant sputter, 'Whaddya mean 'like this'?!'

The demon eyed the one his summoner wants him to serve. He recognized her as one of the Demon Lords, Fairy Queen Ramiris. He is to serve such a high-profile person on the request of his true master who is just as worthy?! This is a rare chance almost none of his kind ever gets! Not even his progenitor gets such a deal!

(In the spirit world, the ancestor sneezed, while keeping his eye on Rimuru herself and hoping to be summoned by her so he waits)

'The Contract Period will be exactly one century starting from today.' Rimuru continued. 'The trade-off is my magicules since I also have to give you a name, and this cute body right here.' Rimuru showed the demon the body. The demon was amazed with how well-made its vessel was with such great detail and craftsmanship. It even already has clothes! It's also made of magisteel so it can definitely bear the weight of its power by evolving to suit its needs. 'Once the period is over, you're free and keep this body as long as you like. It's high-grade magisteel so it'll evolve to accommodate your needs, you can even tinker with it.'

'That's probably the best thing I could ask for.' it said, rather happy with the offering alongside his terms.

'And now...I give you the name Beretta.' and the newly-named Beretta fused with his new body. Though as a demon, he can change gender at will and adapt, since his summoner made him a female body. And again, Rimuru was generous. She calculated the magicules needed to evolve a Greater Demon into an Archdemon or in this case, Archdoll. It's the same anyways...but the supposedly purple hair and eyes of the character Cherry turned black. She wondered why but it must be Beretta's preference so she didn't comment on it.

'I am now Beretta.' said Beretta, hand over her chest, still bowing like a male butler. 'As Queen Ramiris' servant, I shall serve her to the best of my ability.' she swore in her now female young voice befitting her current looks.

'She's a handful, so do your best.' Rimuru joked.

'Rimuru you're seriously teasing me aren't you?!'

'You're making it too easy...' Rimuru snorted.

'By the way, what does Veldora like to watch in your memories?' Ramiris wondered aloud.

'He likes detective shows.' said Rimuru. 'To help him and Great Sage dismantle Unlimited Imprisonment through his Skill Investigator. Oh, and how our world sees monsters.'

'Heee...I'll shift to that instead.' Ramiris mused. 'How does your world see monsters exactly?'

'Based on Legends and Myths of course, but also, some are based on evil spirits and the like...come to think of it, Chloe likes a particular show...we can go with that. It's also funny anyways...'

Cue Ghost Sweeper Marathon...and Alice complained she also wants a Sailormoon Marathon afterward...

'Yare yare, how'd it lead to this?' Ifrit scratched his head.

'Maa maa, let kids be kids.' said Rimuru with a handwave. 'After fearing for their lives since coming to this world, their Death Sentence by Summoning is revoked and they can be kids again.' she sighed wistfully. 'Once the adoption's set, we can all go home to Tempest.'

'Adoption eh? You can get married thanks to your Unique Skill you know.' Veldora reminded her.

'I'll get married at adulthood and when I'm sure Tempest is secure.'

'You're 39 years old you're way adult.' Veldora reminded her, making Rimuru annoyed.

'DON'T REMIND A LADY HER AGE, Y'OL GEEZER!' Rimuru howled. 'Ladies don't like being reminded how old they are!'

'Is this...normal?' Ramiris asked Ifrit shakily, wide-eyed in disbelief.

'It is. You get used to them after a long time.' said Ifrit, scratching his cheek.

'What a pair they make,' said Alice blandly.

'Yeeeeah...' they all agreed, sweatdropping.

xxx

'That was fun~' the girls were happy to have a marathon that lasted several hours.

'I have no idea Sailormoon changed while we were gone...' Alice was stunned when she watched a very, different Sailormoon. And its because animators decided to animate the REAL one straight off manga as the Sailormoon the kids know, are 'watered down' to be child-friendly!

'Oi! Back in school it's OUR turn to watch, OK?!' the boys annoyed, demanded of the girls.

'Yeah yeah, we got what we want!' said Alice cheerfully.

'Well, as long as you kids do well in school we can have anime nights, but if your grades start to fail I'll revoke anime privileges!' Rimuru reminded the children who turned into cracked rock of shock. 'For now we rest at camp outside the Labyrinth, it's way late at night...Ranga!' she summoned her wolf again after drafting a letter to send home.

xxx

'She succeeded in helping the children out. All of them now have stabilized magicules upon fusing with their spirits.' said Benimaru as he got the latest letter from Ranga during an executive meeting. 'Although until adoption process passes through, she'll be in Ingrassia functioning as the children's teacher.'

'But still, Rimuru-sama adopting human children...will they even fit in here?' Gabiru wondered. 'Will they even like us?'

'Rimuru-sama made a promise to the human adventurer Shizu.' said Rigurd. 'So she will fulfill those promises.'

'But did that have to include punching a Demon Lord in the face? I'd sooner see the King of Falmuth become a good king which means, highly unlikely.' Youm deadpanned. 'For starters where do you find the guy?'

'Beats us.' said Rigur. 'But still, Rimuru-sama's amazing...who else can claim they befriended four Demon Lords and live to tell the tale, right?' he piped up, amazed.

'Milim-sama, Dino-sama, Karion-sama and now Ramiris-sama...its easy for Rimuru-sama being the way she is.' said Shion, drinking her Moomoo Milk.

'Yeah, she cares more for personality and get-along level than one's social status and stuff.' said Garm. 'For her as long as you're a good, likable person, it's cool. She just doesn't like jerks. She would never spare time to deal with a jerk as we all know.'

'Right? She'd usually blow them up or make them go through pranks enough to drive them out of town!' Shion laughed before sobering up. 'Buuut we got a problem...'

'Yeah, that.' said Benimaru. 'Without her we can't allow that to happen. No permission, no go.' he shook his head firmly before looking at Ranga. 'Ranga, I know you just got back, but can you tell Rimuru-sama our problem before she leaves Ulgrassia?' Benimaru asked Ranga. 'This really needs to be dealt with first as soon as possible.'

'That's no problem. As long as they're still near here I can catch up.' and Ranga vanished into shadow.

'Er, will she even allow it? I mean, you just finished building, shouldn't that warrant some vacation?' Youm pointed out. 'Even humans take at least a few weeks off before working again.'

'We've gotten so many petitions its impossible to turn it down now.' said Geld. 'Before we Orcs came, Rimuru-sama told them to wait ten years as labor force at the time is 577 people so that time estimate was reasonable by standards.' he told him. 'But now that with all of us working, the town we all want is finished in months. They all saw that, and wish for the same security we now enjoy.'

'Well, they were morons for turning down the offer the first time.' said Regurdo with a harrumph. 'Had they joined us at the beginning, they wouldn't live in fear like we used to, living in flimsy straw dwellings with little food to get by a day.'

'That's right. Before we joined this village we took a risk and it paid off. That was before the Kijin came.' said Ririna. 'In life we take risks to get what we want but we should choose what risk to go over to have it better. We from other tribes took that risk and now we're better off for it.'

'And should Rimuru-sama agree, where to put them?' Hakurou pointed out. 'That empty land within the town was planned to be an extra farm field to keep food in surplus so we can trade. If she has no choice due to petitions, that farmland will disappear. We'll have to clear a new area again.'

'Haaaa...' they all sighed.

'Here we go again.' Rigurd sighed.

'Maa, we can't deny others what we have. It'll just create resentment we didn't wish for.' said Hakurou. 'Rimuru-sama hates trouble the most. It goes against what she wishes for for this town and all who live in it. Rimuru-sama will have to make a decision.'

xxx

Ranga told Rimuru what was going on lately, causing her to sigh.

'Looks like we can't put this off any longer.' Rimuru sighed. 'Let's go home for a little bit.'

'To Tempest?' Chloe asked. 'The Town of Monsters you built?'

'Yup.' said Rimuru with a grin, after giving Ranga a slab of Great Leg Meat. 'We leave after Ranga has food.'

And so, sometime later...

The kids nervously looked around the town of monsters.

Rimuru told them that while its a town of monsters, only few races live in it. Six Kijin, thousands of orcs, dragonewts and a couple hundred hobgoblins.

'It would have, if the executives didn't get a petition from the remaining goblin tribes.' Rimuru sweatdropped. 'And now that spare farmland we just opened has to be built over as a town. Looks like we'll have to open another field...sheesh.'

'You know you can turn down, right?' Kenya pointed out.

'I want to but I can't.' Rimuru deadpanned. 'If I were to turn them down, it'll create trouble in the future we don't even want. Such as selling us to enemies out of spite or something.' the kids balked at the idea. 'Soooo nope. Not happening.' she then took them to the government building in a roundabout way not to be seen through invisibility magic while following Ranga, and using Thought Communication to assemble the executives.

'We're back!' Rimuru chimed and the kids saw six kijin, three dwarves, a few hobgoblins, one dragonewt and one orc.

'Welcome back Rimuru-sama!'

'So those are Shizu-dono's students?'

'We made it in time.' said Rimuru. 'We just have one last hurdle and we can go back home for real.'

'Yes. We have a rather...long list.' Hakurou took out a large scroll, held it by the tip and pieces of paper are clearly taped up just to extend it as he let the scroll roll down...and it's at least, eight meters long. Rimuru's group stared wide-eyed at the list. From Goblins to races Rimuru heard of thanks to Treyni...

'...suppose I allow all these guys in, do the Dryads know how much logging we have to do to make this possible?' Rimuru pinched her nose hard.

'We already notified them.' said Shuna. 'They're OK as long as it's necessary and not wasteful.' she reassured Rimuru. 'Besides, should they leave their villages, they would overtake the land they abandoned with trees, restoring the forest in their own way.'

'Well, I'll meet the representatives of these groups.' said Rimuru. 'Bring them to me and Shuna, take the kids to the clothing department and after that, hot springs, then my house. The kids have a long day at the road they should go to sleep. We already had dinner in the carriage, we'll be fine.'

'Hai.'

xxx

Little did Rimuru know that there's consequences in letting Ramiris know about some of her secrets...

As soon as Rimuru left, Ramiris was gabbing with someone in her crystal by the time Beretta got back with tea and cake.

/Heee, that's interesting~ to think he's not really gone but inside somewhere through her Unique Skill?/ a jovial man spoke and Beretta shuddered at WHO was at the crystal. Is that who she thinks it is?! And Ramiris-sama is friends with this guy?!

'Yeah but it'll take time though.' said Ramiris. 'And that's because Veldora finds it more fun to watch her stash of entertainment in her memories so he's taking his time, not really in a rush to break free. I've seen Earth Entertainment and its actually quite fun!'

/Heee...if she gets wind of this, your friend should get a visit from her./

'Even if she'll be in Ingrassia for a while due to adoption process?'

/We can wait. We have all time in the world and we have our way of getting information after all~/ the guy laughed. /Us showing up in a human nation will cause quite a stir. As far as holding back our power can go, we'd still register too powerful. But I'll hold back info until she's out of there or she'll get too excited./

'Got it. Sooo when's the next Walpurgis?'

/Nobody's proposing one be hold yet, so no clue. But suspicious activity is underfoot and I'm keeping my eye. I just sent agents to Tempest to check the place out. To think it has an Angel's Seal of Approval as those guys hate too much development. Well, the next one is soon, we'll see how the world fares this time./

xxx

Tempest...

Rimuru met with about ten goblin chiefs, three err...mouse people chiefs, and four scrawny beastfolk that looks like something out of GATE.

She talked with them all and decided on her terms.

The goblins will obey the resident Goblin Chief and Four Goblin Lords. The mouse people will help in the farms, and the beastfolk will join the orcs in their duties. That's AFTER helping Tempest open up new farmlands to accommodate them all to avoid food shortage, that is!

'Not to mention we're all vegetarian and only eat meat and shellfish in winter unless we have VIPs visiting.' said Rimuru. 'It will be a lifestyle change. It will be jarring at first, but it's a necessity for ten years. Our prey must be allowed to restore their numbers first as if they're hunted to extinction, we'll lose our meat supply forever. Its impossible to farm livestock in this forest as this forest with too much magicules...we're trying our shot at domesticating some...?' Rimuru looked at Gabiru. 'About that? What happened to our project while I'm out on business?'

'Yes...when we tried domesticating the Barag as chicks, the problem is the food...it refuses to eat grains, dried fruit, we tried everything, even beer as a joke...' Rimuru and the representatives face-faulted. '-we found some bugs and its all they'll ever eat.' said Gabiru. 'But finding those creepy-looking bugs that look like intestines or the twisted love child between a leech and earthworm is too much work, not to mention they're D-Class Monsters for bird food. We're better off hunting come winter and raising them is too much trouble. The project is a failure due to dietary issues.' he reported.

'Yikes.' Rimuru sweatdropped. 'So yes, we're vegetarians till winter.' she told the reps firmly. 'Just bread, fruits and vegetables for the next ten or twenty years until prey is steady in supply. If you agree sign on this paper, and I will have to name you all to become official citizens of Tempest. I want you to go home and talk to your people about this first, before you sign these papers and give it back to me.' she said, giving them copies of the document. 'Only those who agree to the terms, may come to live in Tempest as troublemakers, complainers and other types of bad attitudes are not welcome here. We boot them out.' she told them firmly. 'I'm sure my executives told you how we do things here?'

xxx

'I'm home...' said Rimuru tiredly as she returned home. 'Shuna, how are the kids?'

'They all fell asleep.' said Shuna. 'They must have had quite the time in Ulgrasia...'

'Ahahaha...well, they're OK now so I'm taking a secret to my grave for their own sakes.' said Rimuru with a sigh. 'Before they all become Majins through Spirit Infusion, they should have their stolen childhood back. Its why I'm adopting them.' she said. 'I'm not their real mother, but they miss their real moms, and they were all abandoned after their summoning.'

'I see...it will be hard. Its not easy being a parent.' said Shuna as Rimuru wisely did not comment on it as days back when their town is still building, she began mothering Benimaru. And it was hard training the guy to like vegetables.

For one who's a serious person in all his jobs and duties, he has his cute sides. Like hating vegetables and loving sweets.

'Well, there's no 'motherhood for dummies' manual, but in the end, it all comes to 'we should do the right thing'.' said Rimuru. 'Just one look at who you care for, is enough to know what to do.'

'Yeah...say Rimuru-sama?'

'Hum?'

'Do you...know a Japanese song?'

'What brought that all of a sudden?'

'Well, there's so much heritage lost for our people.' said Shuna. 'Byakuya-sama knows little about how women work as he's often on duty as a samurai warrior before he ended up in our world. Music isn't his strong suit, but he remembers his mother sing to him as a child. We couldn't make songs. We don't even know where and how to start. Shion's can make music but song...uh...'

'Songs are poems...poems that are made of a person's feelings.' said Rimuru. 'Then you express it in music in how you want it to sound as you recite it. That, is a song.'

She chose a song that's easily sung with drums and chimes as music here...isn't advanced. 'I'll sing together with my Skill OK? He'll provide the male voice.'

'Ah, your Great Sage? Sure...' Shuna smiled as Rimuru conjured drums and chimes.

Flying through a thousand dawns
Flying through even eternity

Rimuru's right eye glows red when it's the skill's turn, and meshes together with Rimuru's voice as if sharing a throat, Shuna thought, as she showed the lyrics with magic.

When I did a divination, a single truth emitted light from beyond the mirror
At the end of the sky, frozen blade in hand, even the curtains of the night are torn in shreds.

Like the ceaseless roaring of the sea, the clamor in my chest
became a wind indicating of spring, and overtook us

Thousands of eternities repeating in the darkness of limitless solitude

I searched for you,
I was always searching for you,
still guided by our attraction

As if untying a tangled red thread, I will ride a shooting star to see you

Far beyond time,
filled by fate,
the two of us now, are together at this moment

'Uwaaa...' Shuna was amazed. 'A man and a woman can sing together too?!'

'That, is called a Duet Song.' Rimuru lectured. 'Love songs are often like that~' she chirped. 'Only a loving couple so close and can relate can sing such songs. They create and write it together. Some couples can relate thus sing the same song, until they can write their own duet song that represents them.'

'Heee...and that song is about?'

'A couple who are in love yet their duties keep them apart, but long to see each other no matter how much time passes by. Well-suited for long-lived people like us with troublesome jobs.'

'Ahahaha, I'd rather we keep the men we love close by, I don't think I can handle that.' Shuna stated with a shudder.

'Yeah, I can't handle that too...but we live long because of our power.' said Rimuru. 'One day, we will meet the man just for us. We shouldn't rush, otherwise, we won't meet the right person we'd happily spend centuries with.'

'That's true...it's a long lonely wait I guess.'

'Haaaa...' both sighed gloomily.

'How do we find the right man anyway?' Shuna wondered aloud.

'Beats me. No book for this to teach us that. Guess we just let fate happen.' said Rimuru in resignation. 'But it would be nice to have a good husband at some point...'

xxx

From afar in the trees when he went to check on Shuna who's looking after the children for Rimuru until she got home, Benimaru was HORRIFIED.

"Shuna wants to get married soon?!" he choked in horror. "S-she's only 92 years old! Too young! Not happening! Not until she's a bit more adult!" he swore overprotectively. "And there's Rimuru-sama, she's less than two years old! Even worse!" he shivered. "It's like marrying an infant! Too disgusting! No creep will go near Rimuru-sama, I'll kill them!"

At his house, Souei twitched as he watched through his clone while he was at his baths. Shuna-hime and Rimuru-sama hopes for a husband?! Who would even be the right man for that?

Benimaru will not let a guy go anywhere near his sister, and Rimuru-sama's status is too high for some chump! NOT happening, not on their watch!

Unknown to these pair of idiots, they're simply...troubled, and denying reality.

xxx

'Heee...this is interesting...wish we actually had entertainment like this.'

Guy Crimson watched using a crystal through a spying subordinate just to see what kind of person a future Demon Lord Candidate is and heard her sing while playing two instruments, and having a duet with her Great Sage.

Milim said she was too...domestic with little interest about gaining power, more set on ensuring prosperity for her town of subordinates, even teaching Milim how to cook. Well, it'll take one event just to make this girl make the choice to choose to evolve. For now she seems to want to get married first. Then again, she's 39 years old as a soul...however, out of everyone, only Veldora, Ifrit, Ramiris, and the Freedom Guild Chairman as well as the children know that Rimuru is an otherworlder Reincarnator.

But the Chairman does not know Rimuru's skills. The others do.

To reincarnate here with memories intact, her soul must be that powerful. Powerful souls tend to achieve greater heights in power, if motivated or provoked into doing it.

Ramiris dropped quite the bomb on him, giving more clue about the slime's character. Considering she was a former earthling, she resents the humans of this world for what they've done to the children of her former world. Welp, maternal instincts are kicking in and so is the desire to get married. And she keeps her skills secret even from her fellows to avoid trouble. But since Ramiris made Rimuru promise to make her a new golem bodyguard, Rimuru revealed her Great Sage and her Creator ability to create Beretta, a greater demon promoted upon summoning to Archdemon as a doll, thus Archdoll.

However, he has this to consider.

One of the children time-traveled back here as a powerful entity. For breaking the balance, Ramiris wanted that future soul dead but at her state, she was too weak against it.

Rimuru implied 'a bad future happened' given how the spirit latched onto her in despair as a warning, hinting of the bad future before joining with her younger self before she dissipates, being a soul. The question now being, what caused said bad future to happen?

Given Future Chloe's appearance, she was a young adult, so they have a decade left to prepare or less.

That child must be watched over incase of any hints and the two women knew it. Since Rimuru would adopt the kids, that would be her job.