Complications of the Heart

It took a while for Rimuru to calm down as the others left her and Benimaru alone, leaving him to take care of her while they took care of the corpses, doing what they can to treat the bodies right at least. Their strength is restored and the weakening effects are gone. Their lady did something but unable to dissipate the others.

So once Rimuru calmed down...she told them that Myuran was a Plant by an unknown enemy who watches her actions. The Anti-Magic Barrier was her doing which was why Shuna failed to counteract the enemy magic. It was created at the exact same time as the Prison Field so Shuna and Rommel failed to detect it, so Rimuru arrested Myuran with Rommel as her warden as due to conflict of interests, she can't trust Youm and Grucius who have deep trust in Myuran thus were on denial stage.

It was by sheer dumb luck Rimuru found that out because she cast a barrier to separate them from the prison field to lift the weakening effects on them, and she detected an unknown magic trace linking to Myuran.

She came to save who she could, before dealing with Myuran herself.

Government Building...

'Brother!' Shuna cried, sobbing as she grabbed onto Benimaru. 'I'm so glad you're alive!' she sniffled.

'I barely made it...Rimuru-sama saved us in time...but so many dead.' said Benimaru somberly. 'Including Souei, Hakurou, Shion and Gabiru...' Shuna shook in horror at his words. '...but we managed to kill the otherworlders at least. We granted them their wish, is all.'

'We'll talk to Myuran while we still have time.' said Rimuru. 'She will soon die because of who's controlling her actions. We need to know the mastermind from her.'

So they ran to the holding cells and a glum-looking Rommel sat on a crate in front of Myuran's cell while Youm and Grucius are tied up not far from him.

'Perhaps that Prison Field was useful, it's screwing with the signal as you're still alive.'

Rimuru commented as she was actually amazed Myuran was still alive.

'...I'm amazed by that too.' said Myuran with a sad laugh. 'I thought I would die minutes after I promised to tell all I know, yet I'm miraculously not killed, nor was my body controlled to murder Shuna and the others as soon as you're gone. I'm grateful for that though.'

'Then start talking.' Rimuru ordered. 'My people would have lived through Shuna's magic if not for your interference. You owe the deceased that much. They shouldn't have died today. The plans we made are fool-proof and yet...'

'Alright.' Myuran took a deep breath. 'I am one of the Five Fingers of the Demon Lord Clayman. The Ring Finger.' she began.

Milim once said that while yeah, he's a Demon Lord but he doesn't leave a good impression on others. Dino would say he acts way above his station, but unless the others agree that he's dead, not even he can do squat as the guy proved himself years ago, but remains the weakest.

'My mission was to secretly investigate Tempest.' said Myuran. 'To that end, when Clayman found out about Youm's group through Pirone the Little Finger, he had me go to Blumund and become an Adventurer...and as he expected, Youm took me in because I claimed I specialized in support. He took me into his party so Rommel can be a Combat Mage as healing and support wasn't his forte.'

'Then was there any contact since?'

'We're within an Anti-Magic Field.' said Myuran. 'Like you, as a Magician, no magic will work even for me. And also, thanks to your further efforts, what I dreaded cannot happen so I can actually talk truthfully and live long enough for that.' she said. 'Clayman is infamous for manipulating his subordinates. He proudly proclaims himself as Marionette Master.' she continued. 'For him, subordinates are simply tools. Once they are broken or no longer useful, he throws them away.'

'So you classify yourself as 'thrown away'.'

'Well...life wasn't easy.' said Myuran. 'If only I didn't make the dumbest mistake of my life at my desperation those centuries ago...I was a witch persecuted by humans seven centuries ago. I cooped myself up in the forest and devoted myself to my magical research. Then when old age finally reached me as my magic can no longer sustain me, I waited for my end. At least I thought its in a peaceful sleep, not through torture.' she chuckled bitterly. 'Then he appeared. I don't know how he found out about me, I made sure to live alone and far away. My mind was clouded by old age and about my unfinished projects. I was laughably easy prey.'

'He offered me an obscure craft called Marionette Heart...a temporary heart used as a medium to turn the subject into a Majin. Sure enough I regained my youthfui body and appearance. My true heart is since in his possession.' she said softly. 'In exchange for more time to fulfill my dream as a witch...I lost my freedom in turn. I was forced to approach and betray people that suited Clayman's goals and his benefit like now. The first time was horrifying enough as I was alone for so long I have had my first taste of companionship...the cycle never ends I just died inside.'

'I see. My people are damned by a doll walking. Your job is basically a Honey Trap.' Rimuru wasn't too happy with this.

'Is that what my situation is called?' Myuran asked with a pained smile.

'Yes. Beautiful Women like you, whether willing to suck others dry or enslaved by abusers like you, exploited for their 'potential' and trained for this. Approach this person for benefits and build a relationship with them, and when usefulness is outlived, either they're abandoned or killed. Women like that are called Honey Traps.'

Several eyes are wide at her description.

No two-year old would have such knowledge, even with her skill. This confirms what those Otherworlders talked about, the siblings and boys thought.

'And? What's Clayman's deal for provoking me?' Rimuru continued.

'I don't believe he'd send a subordinate to deal with the aftermath.' said Myuran. 'Clayman hardly tells us fingers anything beyond our orders. He has guests whom he actually talks to.'

'What do those guests look like?'

'They wore masks in pink-striped...pajamas, I think?' Rimuru and the Kijin siblings stiffened as few people fit the bill.

'THOSE GUYS/DAMN CLOWNS?!' Myuran meeped at their outburst.

'Not them again!' Benimaru growled at being reminded of them.

'Er...?' she squeaked, wide-eyed doing a double-take. They know those people somehow?

'Continue!' Myuran sweatdropped. 'They get good treatment from him, even joking and bantering around when I asked Nine, the thumb finger since she could hear being a fox monster. We wanted to hear more but our legs, well...we can't stop walking away whenever they're here.' she said gloomily. 'We don't own our bodies that life under Clayman is miserable. But in a twist, our situation is a lot better than his military, they're all soulless dolls.' she shivered.

'Clayman believes he can destroy the Kingdom of Falmuth.' Myuran continued. 'However, I believe that the Anti-Magic he ordered me put up is part of a plan that anticipated an uprising from them.'

'To create massive casualties...for what?'

'More than that, I think it was to prevent external contact and block reinforcement requests from allied countries.' Myuran continued. 'If Dwargon and Blumund gave reinforcements to Tempest, it will be a check against Falmuth. That way, no war would happen...there must be something he'll get out of this war, but I don't know what. These deaths are what he wants.'

'I see...' Rimuru then stood up, having come up with a plan in secret, but it has to be as realistic as possible. 'Then Myuran...time for you to die.' Youm and Grucius choked at her words. Her tone, was dead serious and it horrified them.

'P-please wait, boss!' Youm cried panickingly. 'Myuran's not a bad person! You heard it, she's innocent!'

'Please don't do it!' Grucius begged. 'Rommel remove this dang spell now!' he demanded of Rommel. 'She can't!'

'I can't.' said Rommel, conflicted between loyalty to Youm and Tempest. 'Even I would do what she would have done if our group was betrayed.' he croaked out. 'We all lived in miserable poverty with no future until Rimuru-sama took us in. I can't lose that.' he would gladly give up one person for one whole group.

'Boss! I'll do anything! I'll atone on her behalf for the rest of my life! Please don't do it!' Youm howled in his begging as he struggled in his magical binds, desperately wanting Rimuru to spare Myulan who had become special to his heart.

He felt that in those times together, Myuran was for real, not faking it! She's no Honey Trap dammit!

'Thank you, Youm.' Myuran spoke from her cell. 'You were...the only one out of so many people Clayman had me approach to do me right. Don't get tricked by women like me next time, OK?'

Are those seriously parting words?!

'Don't! No!' the two men howled as Rommel plugged his ears with his fingers to drown out Youm and Grucius' howls as Rimuru stabbed Myuran in the heart with her own hand and pulled out her heart.

Silence that got both men stunned with her death. She was a victim like all of them...

'Hm, it seems to work well.'

'Eh? Why am I still alive?'

Huh?

'I created a replacement heart which I switched with the Marionette Heart.' Rimuru told her. 'Because as long as it's inside you, Clayman can still keep track of you, he just can't kill you thanks to the barriers and binding spell I used on you. But if you're technically dead for a few seconds, the chains are severed and the wiretapping ends.'

'Wiretapped?!' it was clearly how Myuran's actions were monitored.

'When I created my barrier, I detected a foreign encoded signal...leading to your heart along with the magical trace to your Anti-Magic Field.' Rimuru continued. 'In those few seconds, you're dead to Clayman while you're alive over here as I had to make that scenario of execution real to him.' that got them choking. She had done all that to deceive a Demon Lord!

'This heart,' she raised the magisteel crystal shaped like a teardrop, '-lost its power source, it's host. It shut down as soon as I took it out of you, as being a heart, it died instantly and so did your real heart in Clayman's possession.' and she destroyed it with her own hand, crushing it. 'You're still a majin since you're transformed for so long. And just to seal the deal as extra insurance, I'll use Gluttony to devour all remaining traces of Clayman's sorcery on your body as old habits die hard. In your case, it may manifest the worst way possible.'

'Er, the barrier?'

'Skills work, magic does not.' and Rimuru used Gluttony on Myuran, head to toe and even her spirit and magicules. '...finished. You're clean.'

Myuran shook, her eyes welling up in tears.

'I'm...free...?'

'That doesn't mean your freedom comes cheap either.' said Rimuru reminded her. 'You'll have to atone for the lives lost today. They'll weigh on your shoulders. I'm not gonna let Youm atone on your behalf either.'

'I know.' said Myuran softly, sinking on her knees. 'Shuna could have prevented all that but because of my field...I as good as killed them myself, just like many more before them.' it's a clean slate for her but she must atone for the good people of this town she killed today.

'Rommel, free the boys now.' Rimuru instructed Rommel who removed the bindings. Youm and Grucius rushed into the cell as if seeing for themselves if Myuran was really alive.

'Boss, you coulda told me in advance!' Youm gasped out in relief.

'No can do. It has to be convincing.' Rimuru told him flatly. 'Manipulator-types know genuine feelings from acting like the sickos they are. And you're a hostage against Myuran as he sees through her, and used you against her. Even then she's still a dead man walking, so I had to act first before he does, to save her.'

'Ah...I'm a..hostage?' Youm gaped at Rimuru, then at Myuran.

'...I never did answer to you back then...but at least, just this once before I die, I want to protect what's important to me before I go.' Myuran told him softly. 'Although I regained my freedom...I wouldn't mind being tied down for a short human period...'

Awkward silence.

'Er...my mind just crashed...care to repeat that?' Youm choked, going pink.

'...moron...'

'...its as plain as day. Oh boy.' Rimuru shook her head in bemusement as she can see what's going on as the boys fussed over her when she wasn't really killed, but she answered Youm. 'She'll have a different kind of hard time soon.'

Indeed, it's as plain as day for everyone else.

Too bad for Grucius. Benimaru lampshaded it by patting his shoulder, making the werewolf sputter, 'I don't need your pity!' he yelled indignantly before looking confidently macho. 'That's OK, after all Youm's a human, at most it's only a century...after that, it'll be my turn!' he said a little too jovially, causing Youm to sputter.

'Excuse you?!' and the two began bickering.

'Well...at least this is one Love Triangle that didn't end in a drama. I guess we monsters have it happy and good while to humans, Love Triangles never end happy.' Rimuru sweatdropped. 'What say you, Myuran? You got two husbands who are both childish, but reliable idiots...it'll be hard managing them.'

'Ehehehe...' Myuran can only laugh feebly. 'I'll...try my best...'

'And now, I will overwrite you since I'm being paranoid.' Rimuru got ready for the Naming. 'I give you the name Myuran!' she recreated Myuran as one of her subordinates, and gifting her the same power as the others, as well as improved beauty, given Rimuru's tendencies.

'Eep...' one thing Myuran noticed first, was a size increase and losing fat in the right places. She definitely did not have that before!

Rimuru then removed the Anti-Magic Field, keeping her own to protect everyone from the Prison Field. Thus she can send Thought Communications.

Its not yet safe to come back. But I removed the Anti-Magic Field and put a barrier to protect the town from the Prison Field. The casualty are as follows...

Rimuru listed down who died today as in the Evacuation Centers, the civilians were shaken by all the deaths.

Remain in the Evacuation Site until further notice. The rest of us will counterattack the humans. Do not come out until I say so. We will make a decisive final fight. Adventurers, please help in keeping enemies away from the Evacuation Site. If anyone comes, show no mercy.

xxx

That night, the main streets...

'Rimuru-sama, you've been here for quite a while now.' Benimaru approached Rimuru. 'You should rest or something.'

'Even if I want to, I can't. I'm finding a way out of this while they're still freshly-dead.' Rimuru told him firmly, her fists clenching hard on her lap. 'I can't accept all this.' she told him softly. 'Clayman cost us so much. I want to believe that with magic...anything can be done. I can't doubt. I'm exploring all my avenues right now. What's the use of my power if I can't even save our town? That bastard...what is he after by killing us off? There has to be something...anything...'

'The way you are now, you can't think properly.' Benimaru reasoned. 'At least, if only for one hour...you ran all the way home and confronted all this that shocked you. Your mind is all over the place.' he pointed out. 'You'll have ideas when you at least had a short break and calmed down enough.' he advised.

Rimuru thought about his words.

She hasn't rested and it's near dinnertime now.

'Alright...' she relented eventually.

'Shuna made dinner. Come on.' and Benimaru took Rimuru away. By hand. He felt it was good he's walking ahead of her that he could hide how pink-faced he was.

"...his hand is big, but...soft..." she thought with a slight blush.

Can she allow that to happen? She who no man once looked at before and snubbed for being plain-faced? And should Benimaru like her that way...is it for how pretty she is now, or her as a person like what happened with her parents?

"I'm a monster, not human...monsters have different values to humans." she thought, feeling hope in her heart after a lonely maidenhood and adulthood that never once experienced small, but significant gestures like this. Humans have shallow strike-zones thus unnecessary heartbreak ensued back in Earth. And seeing Myuran about Youm and Grucius gave her hope for herself as well.

If humans and monsters can be together...overcoming looks, lifespan, social status and financial status...why not for her too...right?

xxx

At the siblings' house...

Dinner was solemn and silent.

'Rimuru-sama...' Shuna began. 'Are you OK?'

'I'll try. This big lug took my hand and took me home just so I'd take a break.' said Rimuru, giving Benimaru a gentle smile causing the redhead to flush. Shuna...caught something and she began suspecting... 'He's right though...my mind's a mess right now, thinking a way to save everyone's impossible. I'll take a break after dinner. And the children are worried in the evacuation center too...I'll see them later after dinner.'

'That would be for the best.' Shuna agreed softly.

In fact, Rimuru quickly left after dinner.

'Oniisama.' Shuna asked Benimaru who looked up while she picked the empty dishes.

'What is it?' he asked while sipping what was left of his tea.

'Do you...like Rimuru-sama? Like Youm-san on Myuran-san?'

The drink went down the wrong pipe and he had to hack.

xxx

The Evacuation Site: Veldora's Cave...

'How is everyone?' Rimuru asked the civilians.

'Somewhat OK...but there sure is a lot of Hipokute here.' said an adventurer.

'That's export wares, so don't get too much alright?' Rimuru jokingly reminded him. 'And did anyone encounter Magicule-Spawn in here?'

'We didn't dare explore the caves, we remained here and areas with wooden signposts that are deemed safe.' said another.

'Just to be sure, we took the Optional Quest anyway to keep everyone safe as well as having some meat at these tough times.' a third adventurer pointed at the signboard that read:

Optional Quest for Visitors:

1. Pest Control

We have occasional pest appearances in the form of B-C-Class Monsters,
you're free to hunt them if you visit Veldora's Cave as part of Tempest's
Cultural Heritage Site.

Bounty for each Monster Slain is 10 gold coins, provide proof of kill to be paid.
NO Kill-Stealing to avoid Conflict or it will be rendered INVALID. We have a
spell to determine that.

2. Hipokute Gathering

You are welcome to gather Hipokute as long as you bring the Quest Form from
the Client. Pick only what is needed, no overharvesting! Show Quest Proof to
Hobgoblin Chief Rigurd and he will apply his stamp on your quest form.

- Rimuru Tempest
Guardian of Tempest City

'Yes yes, show your proof of kill, line up people.' Rimuru called out to the adventurers who showed parts of monsters they killed in the form of small carapaces as the rest, went to extra provisions.

'Sensei, will we be OK soon?' Ryota asked Rimuru as the kids noticeably have their spirits out and they look ready to fight.

'We'll be making plans tomorrow.' said Rimuru. 'My order still stands...remain till I say so.' she said. 'Once this ordeal is over, you guys can have an anime marathon with your uncle OK?'

The kids sweatdropped.

Because her current form is a Magicule Spawn off of Veldora's Magicules in the cave, they see each other as father-daughter but she was the only 'spawn' Veldora acknowledged since she's not problematic. The dragon enjoys watching anime and movies in her memories.

And since she's adopting them, they have one hell of a connection now...

They weren't sure what to feel about that, actually...even if Veldora was a swell guy.