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Consequences

Iruma POV

I sit there, still not fully understanding what just happened.

Rimuru…fainted?!

Why in the world did Rimuru just pass out? Was it Shion's dessert? Is that why Rimuru knocked the fork out of my hand and told me not to eat it? How could eating something cause you to immediately faint like that?! Especially someone like Rimuru, it's hard to imagine that much can hurt someone like her badly enough to knock her out almost instantly.

Wh-what would've happened to me if I ate that stuff?!

Nope…nope…I don't want to think about it. That's a scary line of thinking to go down, so I think I'll just avoid it. I worry enough as is without dwelling on 'what if?'s like that.

Looking around the room, I see that I'm not the only person petrified with shock. It's as if the whole room is frozen, everyone had stopped in their tracks, staring at the currently inanimate light-blue blob on the floor next to me. The air is thick with tension and fear as everyone in the room tries to comprehend what just happened.

Then, as if someone flipped a switch, the dead silence snaps, turning into a complete panic. Screaming, shouting, the sounds of dishes shattering from being dropped, a mess of sounds fills the room all at once. Shion, still standing behind me and the chair Rimuru was in before passing out, begins bawling her eyes out loudly, rapidly sputtering out a slew of words, most of them coming out as unintelligible babbling. The ones I do make out are things like 'sorry', and 'I didn't mean to', among other apologies. She clearly didn't mean for this to happen.

Shuna almost immediately sprung into action, rushing over and gingerly scooping Rimuru off the floor, cradling the blob concernedly in her arms.

"Lord Rimuru…Lord Rimuru!" she repeats multiple times, gently patting the slime vigorously, trying to rouse them from their unconscious state. She's panicking too, even if she's hiding it quite well compared to most of the people in the room.

Many onlookers rush over and crowd around their unconscious leader, looking on with faces full of panic and worry.

Still frozen in my seat from a lack of not knowing what to do in a crazy situation like this, I watch Shuna expectantly. When she realizes that her efforts to wake Rimuru aren't working, she stops her frantic patting. Then, I notice her pink eyes glow for a moment as she stares intensely at the slime still in her arms. Relief quickly washes across her face and she sighs.

"Oh thank goodness…" Shuna says, clutching her chest with one hand while still holding Rimuru in her other.

"What? Will Rimuru be alright?" I ask quickly, hoping desperately Rimuru will be okay.

"Yes…thankfully. Lord Rimuru is simply sleeping, probably to recover from what he ate. It won't be long before he will regain consciousness. Maybe an hour or so at most, according to my analysis." She says to me before raising her voice and directing it toward everyone in the room. "Lord Rimuru will be just fine, everyone. Please don't continue to worry."

The pandemonium lessens somewhat, but I can tell everyone is still feeling nervous about Rimuru's condition. Shuna's words definitely helped the situation, though.

I smile, also very relieved that my friend will be perfectly fine. Though, the calm that filled me is quickly interrupted by someone arguing nearby.

"How could you do such a thing to Our Lord and Master?! As his first secretary, you should know better! No wonder Lord Rimuru brought me with him on his vacation and left you behind!" Diablo says tauntingly to a still crying Shion. Her sadness is quickly overwhelmed by her anger at the demon's words, her purple eyes now burning with fury.

"I just wanted to make Lord Rimuru a nice dessert! Benimaru said I was getting better and that I should try making something without my skill! He said that Lord Rimuru would appreciate it more that way! How was I supposed to know this would happen?!"

I notice Benimaru stiffen as she says this since it seems his involvement has been revealed. The nervous smile on his face makes me think he wants to desperately escape this situation.

"Oh, so now you are trying to blame another for your failure? How pathetic. I thought you a better secretary than that, Ms. Shion, being my senior and all."

"Diablo, you are making things worse," Benimaru interjects, appearing to be trying to hide his nerves.

"You have nowhere to talk, Sir Benimaru. If what Ms. Shion says is true, you are just as guilty as she is. Poisoning Lord Rimuru…such a grievous crime. Maybe I should take your punishment into my own hands?" Diablo says devilishly, long, black claws forming from the fingers of one of his hands.

"Come on, Diablo, I don't think you need to do that…it was just an accident! If I knew this would happen I would've never…" Benimaru says nervously, backing away slowly from Diablo.

Most of the people in the room swiftly leave, not wanting to see what Diablo is about to do with those claws. I don't want to either, but I stay in my seat since I have no idea where I'd even go if I did escape.

"Lord Rimuru would be very upset if you did such a thing." Shuna interrupts, still carefully holding Rimuru's unconscious body in her arms.

"Yes, my old friend. I don't think it's wise to be so rash in a situation like this. I do not believe that anyone involved wanted this to happen." Grandpa says, laying one hand on Diablo's shoulder to stop him. "I am also upset that Rimuru was hurt, but that doesn't mean someone else needs to join them. Be patient; I'm sure Rimuru will tell you if they want you to do anything once they're awake." He continues, remaining surprisingly calm.

Diablo stops, retracting those terrifying claws that I had no idea he possessed, causing everyone left in the room to sigh with relief.

#Wow…Diablo actually listened to that man…# I hear Shuna mutter to herself.

"I will leave the judgment of your sins to Lord Rimuru, but until the time of that, refrain from causing him any more trouble than you already have," Diablo says aloofly.

Isn't Diablo the one causing the most trouble right now, though? Things were calming down until he started chewing out poor Shion…

"Diablo, why don't you show me my room for tonight? I wore myself out earlier and would like to turn in for the night now that I know Rimuru will be okay." Grandpa says, probably trying to get Diablo away from the others to prevent more conflict.

"Certainly. I do not mind." Diablo says.

"You should also go to bed, my precious grandson. It is getting quite late."

"I think I want to stay up a little longer if that's okay."

Grandpa smiles at me and nods.

"I'm fine with that, but make sure not to stay up too much longer."

"I will make sure he is in his room at a reasonable time," Shuna says reassuringly.

Grandpa then leaves with Diablo, looking a little worn out. I can't tell if that's from his 'exercise' from earlier or the tense situation he just resolved a moment ago though. Benimaru also leaves after waiting a moment so there's some distance between him and Diablo.

Shuna sits down in the chair Rimuru was in before and affectionately strokes them. I sit next to her, not sure where to go and wanting to stay nearby in anticipation of Rimuru waking up.

Soon, Shion sheepishly approaches Shuna and Rimuru from the corner she was sulking in, looking very guilty.

"Can I please help take care of Lord Rimuru while he's asleep? I want to make up for my mistake…"

"I think you have done enough for today, Shion. Let me handle this." Shuna says sternly.

I see tears well up in Shion's eyes again and, surprisingly, she backs off. It's nothing like earlier when the two women fought over Rimuru. Shion must feel horrible.

I decided I should say something to comfort her since the pitiful look on her face makes it hard not to feel bad for her. So, I stand up and walk over to her.

#I'm a sad excuse for a secretary…Diablo said so…# Shion mumbles, tears streaming down her face.

"Please don't cry!" I say comfortingly.

She looks up at me, surprised.

"B-but…"

"I'm sure Rimuru will forgive you, so don't be upset."

"Are…you sure?"

"Of course! I know Rimuru cares about you so I'm sure he'll forgive you! Just try not to make the same mistake again, okay?"

Shion smiles, wiping her tears away. Well, that didn't take much. This woman seems to swing between emotions very quickly. That's okay with me, though, since it means I can make her feel better with just a few comforting words.

"You're right! I will just have to try harder and make a better cake next time!" Shion says with determination.

I'm not sure if that's the best message to take from my words. I get the feeling that the same thing might happen again if she does that.

"I don't think you sh-" I try to say, but Shion stands up, having stopped listening and with newfound confidence, she leaves.

I return to my seat again, still worried about what Shion might cook for Rimuru in the near future, but I decided that it's not really my fault. All I did was calm her down, not tell her to try baking something again.

It really is strange seeing Rimuru like this; she pretty much never uses her true form around me. Also, having her sit there so still, and quiet too is offputting, to say the least. Rimuru is rarely quiet, always having something to say in most situations, whether it be a joke or funny quip or something more serious. It just feels weird for me to be near her while she's motionless and silent. Lifeless, almost, but I know that's not the case.

I yawn, starting to feel sleepy. I've had a very busy day and it's starting to catch up to me. I guess I'm getting a bit of a food coma from all that stuff I ate earlier too.

Shuna gives me an almost motherly look of concern.

"You should get some rest."

"But what about-"

"Lord Rimuru will be just fine, you don't need to force yourself to stay up for his sake. It won't do either of you any good."

Shuna's right; I have to admit. She seems to have everything under control so there's no use in me staying at Rimuru's side until they wake up. Still, I can't get rid of the feeling that I should stay up anyway, even if it's pointless. I'd feel like I abandoned my friend otherwise, which is something I don't want.

Just as I'm about to protest leaving, the slime stirs in Shuna's lap, the light of life returning to them.

"Uuuuugh…" I hear Rimuru groan as she wakes up. "My head hurts…"

But…you don't have a head right now, Rimuru…

Can you have a headache when you don't have a head? I don't think so. But that doesn't matter much right now, the important thing being that Rimuru finally woke up!

"Lord Rimuru!" Shuna says with surprise.

"Huh?...Shuna?...What happened?…oh, yeah, that…I remember now…"

"Are you okay Rimuru?" I ask.

"Uh…yeah, Iruma…I'm fine…I just have a bit of a hangover right now…hehe…" Rimuru says with a tired-sounding chuckle as if trying to hide how crappy she feels right now.

Rimuru then jumps out of Shuna's lap, reforming into human shape midair. She wobbled a little on her feet at first and winced, holding her forehead with her hand, looking like she's in pain.

"Ugh…damn this hurts…" Rimuru grumbles, still clutching her head painfully. She then opens her eyes and sees the worried looks on both mine and Shuna's faces.

"It looks like I scared both of you…I'm sorry…"

"You must be more careful, My Lord. Your loss of consciousness is partly due to your drinking, is it not?" Shuna asks, looking like she's trying to hide how happy she is that Rimuru is awake. She's to scold Rimuru, it seems, so putting on a stern face and tone is necessary. I can tell it's an act right now, though, because I've seen when she's actually angry or irritated and it's not the same right now.

"Heh, yeah it is…I hope everyone didn't freak out…"

"They did…" I admit.

"Figures…" Rimuru says defeatedly. "I'll have to apologize to them too, it seems."

"I recommend talking with Sir Diablo first, Lord Rimuru. He nearly…took matters into his own hands. Your other guest thankfully put a stop to it but I imagine that only delayed the inevitable."

Rimuru clutches her head again, this time in irritation instead of pain.

"I'll do that…I should make sure to talk to Shion tonight too, I bet she's distraught."

"Yeah, she was bawling her eyes out earlier. It was hard to watch…" I add.

"I'll make sure to comfort her some…along with revoking her kitchen priveledges for a whole month. I also need to figure out who told her about 'all-natural baking'."

"That would be my brother, Lord Rimuru," Shuna admits with some hesitation, the volume of her voice dropping.

"Benimaru? Well, I'm not surprised there. I'll have to have a word with him too; in the morning though. I need to get rid of this horrible headache first…" Rimuru pauses before glancing out a nearby window. "Wow, it's gotten pretty late, hasn't it?"

Rimuru then turns her eyes to me and frowns slightly.

"Wait…shouldn't you be asleep? It's late!" She scolds, sounding concerned about me despite her being the one that doesn't feel well right now.

"I wanted to wait for you to wake up first," I say in my defense. It's not even that late, anyway!

*sigh* "Of course you did…well, I'm awake now so you should go get some rest. I can tell you're sleepy so don't try to deny it, kid!"

"I thought I asked you to stop calling me that…"

"Hah, sorry…I'm not thinking too clearly right now…well, my point still stands. I think it's about time I show you the guest room I had prepared for you."

"I will take care of bringing Iruma to his room," Shuna says calmly.

"No, Shuna I will take care of that. You already wasted enough time watching over me while I was out like a light, so I don't want to ask you for anything else today." Rimuru says, seeming like she feels guilty about what happened earlier.

"But, Lord Rimuru…" Shuna says hesitantly before seeing the look on Rimuru's face. She gives a small sigh before continuing. "If you wish, My Lord." She says with a bow.

"Thank you, Shuna."

Using one more round of teleportation, I'm brought to my room for the night. It's quite nice if a little smaller than my bedroom in the Netherworld. That thing is too big anyway, so I don't mind at all. As soon as I step inside, I make a beeline for the bed and flop onto it.

"Well, I'll give you some privacy. See you in the morning; make sure you're well-rested since I'm sure that you'll have another busy day before we return to the Netherworld."

"Okay, goodnight Rimuru," I say, my voice slightly muffled by the pillow my face is half-buried in.

Rimuru then leaves, wearing a soft smile as she closes the door.

I quickly realize that I should probably change out of what I'm wearing, even though I'm already sleepy from the few seconds I spent on the soft bed. So, I reluctantly get up again and walk over to my suitcase that was brought to this room earlier and pull out a set of pajamas and change into them. After putting on something more appropriate for sleeping, I lay on the bed and nestle into the blankets before quickly falling asleep without another thought even crossing my mind.

**The Next Morning**

I'm having breakfast with Rimuru in their office, the one we first arrived in since she said it'd be easier if we ate privately.

"Things got pretty crazy after you passed out last night. With how important you are here, isn't it bad that that happened?"

"Don't worry, word of that little 'accident' never left the room, I made sure of that," Rimuru replies confidently.

Made sure of that? How? People love to gossip even if you tell them not to!

I can't help but feel like they were threatened or something, based on how assured Rimuru seems about their silence.

"Uhhh…"

Seeing my worried expression Rimuru immediately responds.

"No, nothing like what you're thinking, Iruma! If I tell my people to stay quiet, they stay quiet; it's that simple. It's just a monster thing, them obeying beings stronger than themselves. You've seen how they all treat me, right?"

"Yeah, I have…sorry…"

"No, it's fine. Monsters just tend to be more loyal than humans, at least in general. It's an instinctual thing, I think."

"I think it's more than that…"

"Huh?"

"It's not just because you're stronger, it's also because you've done a lot for the people here."

"Heh, I bet my people all rambled about how great I am to you yesterday, didn't they?"

"Yeah, they did."

"I'm not perfect if that's what they told you. I'm a person; a flawed person, just like everyone else. I've told you a little about the mistakes I've made, so I guess you probably already know that."

I remember some of the more concerning things that I was told about Rimuru yesterday, about her patience being limited and people paying the price for their actions. I want to ask Rimuru but the thought of doing so makes me very anxious.

"They also…they said that…um…"

"What? What did they tell you?" Rimuru asks, almost demanding.

"About…uh…wars and…Clayman and…um…" I say nervously, feeling awkward about bringing this up.

When I said the name Clayman, Rimuru stops and her expression darkens for a moment. After a pause that felt painfully long, Rimuru suddenly speaks up.

"Oh, look how late it is!" She exclaims, sounding cheerful but it seems fake.

"Huh?" I ask, startled by Rimuru's sudden shift in demeanor.

She changed the subject on purpose to stop me from asking about that…

"I made some arrangements so we need to get going soon."

"Arrangements? What do you mean by that?"

"I thought you might want to attend a class; Hinata's to be specific."

"The scary lady that almost stabbed you in the neck with her sword?"

"Don't describe her like that to her face, but yes, that woman."

I can picture how Hinata would be as a teacher and I'm not liking what I'm seeing.

"I'm not sure…"

"What? Are you scared of her?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"True…even I'm a little scared of her sometimes…hmmm…I don't think she'll do anything like that to you, so you don't have to worry. I said she likes kids, remember? Plus, you have good manners and are a pretty quiet kid so I don't think she'll take any issue with you."

"As long as I don't have that sword pointed at me…"

"I don't think she does anything like that to her students, outside of combat training at least, so there's no need to worry about that."

"Alright, Rimuru, I'll go…are you coming with me?"

"I can't…I'm banned from her classroom…" Rimuru says, smiling awkwardly.

"What did you do to deserve that?"

"Nothing! I just know she'll kick me out if I try to sit in on one of her classes. She uses the excuse that having the ruler of this country in the room is too distracting for her students, but I don't see the problem if I'm discrete about it."

Knowing how Rimuru can be, I wouldn't be surprised if one of her pranks is what actually got her banned. Rimuru quickly notices the doubtful expression that I failed to hide and frowns.

"I swear I didn't do anything to deserve getting banned, so don't look at me like that." Rimuru insists sternly.

"Okay, sorry."

"So are you okay with it? I don't wanna force you."

"Sure, I'll go."

"Good, good…oh yeah, you said you wanted to meet Chloe, didn't you?"

"Yeah!" I exclaim.

She's one of Rimuru's former students, and someone I'm curious about. I heard a lot of people's perspectives on Rimuru yesterday, but they are all people who serve under her. Chloe is different, I think, being a former student instead. I'd like to know what kind of experiences she's had with Rimuru and possibly learn about how her life was saved by them. Me being someone under Rimuru's protection, I feel like I might be in a similar situation to the one she was.

"I'll have to find her since I heard she's visiting an old friend at the moment and is out of the country. It's not a big deal, but I'll have to leave you again for a while. Good thing you're gonna attend school today since that covers the problem of who you'll stay with while I'm gone for a bit."

"So when is this class?"

"Soon. I better get you there quick, or Hinata will be upset, and we don't want that!"

"Yeah, no angry Hinata please, it was bad enough when she was mad at you. I don't want to be late and have that pointed at me!"

"I don't either; let's get going. I'll drop you off before I leave to get Chloe."

A class with Hinata…I wonder what that'll be like…

I also can't get how Rimuru dodged my question out of my head, it's really bugging me. I'll have to be a little more forceful later, as hard as that is for me to do.