Talking With Leon/Gobta's 2nd Chance

Rimuru POV

Now it's just me and Leon, and I think I've annoyed him enough to squeeze some information out of him. He's always acting all stone-cold with everyone short of Chloe, so shattering that icy exterior is a must if you want to get anything useful out of him.

I've got a serious objective here; get some intel on this candidate before I have to face him at Walpurgis. I don't like going in blind. Well, I'm not blind at this point. I had Souei and his team look into this person some, but they surprisingly didn't turn up much. Got a few small details about his actions, but nothing more.

"Soooo…what can you tell me about this new guy? Guy didn't seem too thrilled about him from the little that he shared with me when I was informed about the upcoming Walpurgis." I ask Leon now that we're alone.

"I haven't met the man myself, but yes, he's a piece of work from what I've been told. Guy, especially, has had to deal with his nonsense the most. He seems to think he can lay claim to the entire ocean as his domain. Ridiculous." He replies, a twinge of annoyance in his expression.

"Ocean? Why the ocean?"

"He's some type of water-dwelling majin of sorts." Leon clarifies. "His name is Beluran."

Beluran, huh? Well, the 'ocean-dwelling' part explains why Souei didn't get me much intel. If the dude lives underwater, that's kinda out of his scope. I'm sure he could manage if I told him about that detail, though. He just wouldn't think to look there; I mean, I sure didn't.

This also complicates things since Argos, my surveillance system, can't easily penetrate the surface of the water. I could watch the ocean and anything that pops out of it, but if someone is moving purely underwater, monitoring them with it wouldn't really work too well.

"Huh, that's unique. So no land in his territory then?" I ask.

"Well, apparently he does want that uninhabited island south of Guy's domain, but that's not the problem. Having possession of the entire ocean would make his domain larger than any of the other Demon Lords. He is only at the 'seed' level too." Leon continues.

"A 'seed-level' wanting to have that much territory? He must be pretty arrogant to even request that!" I exclaim.

"Exactly. That is why I expect that his personality will be…troublesome. Apparently, he's been quite demanding, saying he deserves this and that. Guy is mightily annoyed and has been using me as 'stress relief'." Leon says in a defeated tone.

"He's back to harassing you? Sorry man, I know how that feels." I say comfortingly.

I'm not lying; Guy, over the years, has turned a lot of the 'attention' he used to give Leon more toward me. He knows I won't start a war or even fight him over it or anything, so he takes every opportunity he can get to be all 'touchy feely' with me. Calls it 'payment' for upsetting the world's balance or whatever; I hate it.

Leon sneers at me, not accepting my sympathy.

"It is your fault you know! You leaving along with that rule not letting him take out his temper on the 'newcomer' is what caused it. Guy actually managed to kiss me last time he visited." Leon says with a small shudder, probably reliving that unpleasant experience.

"Oof, I'm sorry Leon. I'm sure I'll have to deal with some of…that…at Walpurgis too."

#I hope so…# Leon mutters under his breath.

I glare at him, not too happy that he's wishing that hellish experience on me, but I decide to let that little comment slide.

"So, back to the matter at hand. How upset is Guy right now? He didn't sound happy when we talked."

"He's not happy at all. I haven't seen him so upset since he found out you recruited four of the primordials. Although, my sample size is the smallest out of all of us if we don't count you."

"That's...that's really bad," I reply, a little shocked by how pissed off Guy is by this person.

I've never had much interest in the ocean surrounding the continent. Tempest is pretty much landlocked for one, and the thing is full of A-ranked monsters. It's flat-out not worth it to travel by ship in this world, at least in the ocean. We have airship tech that I…um…'borrowed' from the empire, so why travel by water? This makes this newcomer taking all that territory not very consequential to me or my country, but the implications of his character based on him wanting such a thing is what worries me.

I can get why Guy is pissed too since his territory is surrounded by the ocean. The same applies to Leon, although he probably doesn't care. Leon doesn't care about much outside of Chloe; and his country, El Dorado, is mostly self-sufficient. Leon also tends to keep his nose out of politics unless they directly affect him, so if this new Demon Lord is a reasonable person, I can't see him objecting to them joining. He sure didn't care when I took Clayman's seat, saying he didn't care about any new Demon Lords.

But based on what's been said, I don't think Leon will be as uncaring about this dude joining the Heptagram. I was one thing; I may have acted a little arrogant to hide how nervous I was at my first Walpurgis, but I wasn't demanding rights to territory and harassing the seated Demon Lords there (except for when I threatened to punch Leon in the face *cough cough*). Well…I had already claimed part of the Jura Forest, but that was with the permission of the dryads. I didn't demand it to Guy's face; hell he gave it to me. I didn't even need to ask!

"Have you talked with any of the others about what they think of this newcomer?" I ask.

"No, I haven't bothered. I can already tell this one will be purged." Leon states as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"Heh, so you're that certain that he won't be allowed to join? For all we know, he might've made some deals with the others to gain their favor."

"Not everyone bribes the others like you do Rimuru. I doubt someone as prideful as he seems would bother to do that. If I were to guess, this one wants to challenge a seated Demon Lord rather than convince the majority of their worth." Leon responds casually, acting like he didn't just accuse me of bribery!

"Just because I like giving people gifts doesn't mean I'm bribing them, Leon." I retort, keeping my tone level to hide my annoyance.

"Call it what you want."

"Ugh…back to the subject of them challenging us, I hope it doesn't come to that again. What would this be…the fourth time we've had someone try that since the purging rule was implemented? It's never worked out for them; we all know a 'seed' can't survive against any of us in serious combat."

"That's a certainty. But if they aren't smart enough to realize that, I don't care if they die of the result of their foolishness." Leon responds in his normal, cool tone.

I nod my head in agreement.

As cold as it sounds, Leon is right here. I don't like seeing people die without reason, but if someone is idiotic enough to challenge an awakened Demon Lord without the power necessary to do so, even after being given the chance to join us peacefully, they're asking to die in my opinion. I'd like to gain a few more members to the Heptagram, maybe get us back up to an even ten? But, with the poor quality of the candidates over the last couple of decades, that hasn't been possible.

In my eyes, it's not as much a matter of power but a matter of character. If you don't necessarily have tons of raw power but a good head on your shoulders, I'll vote for you to join. A candidate of course has to have reached Demon Lord Seed level to even be eligible, so they're bound to be relatively strong by the standards of the everyday person. That's enough for me to be cool with them becoming a member.

Leon and I continue to talk for a while longer about various things; nothing too important. After our casual conversation is finished, I decided that it's about time to get back to Iruma. I'm sure he's had enough time to talk with Chloe. Leon's itching to be reunited with her too, so dragging this out any longer will just piss him off, and I've done enough of that already today. Pushing Leon's buttons is fun, but there's such a thing as 'too far'.

The two of us track down the others easily and I take Iruma back to Tempest with me using spatial domination. I asked Chloe if she wanted to come too, but she said that she still had some stuff she promised to do with Leon. Chloe looked a little torn when she told me that, but I assured her that I would be visiting again in just one week since I have a Walpurgis to attend.

Iruma POV

Once Rimuru and I teleported back to Tempest, she tracked down Gobta once again since she has more business to attend to that she doesn't think I need to participate in. When I asked why she was leaving me with him again after the whole 'spending her money without permission' stuff, she said.

"I'm giving him another chance to behave himself. If Gobta avoids doing shit like that today, I'll lessen the punishment I have planned for him. If he does get in trouble again, I'll do the opposite."

Gobta has no clue he's already been caught, and Rimuru told me not to tell him she found out already. This is a test for him, in a sense; I just hope he passes it. I like Gobta, he seems like a very fun person to be around. The last thing I want is for him to get some kind of harsh punishment for being a little impulsive. Well, whatever, it's not really my problem. Rimuru hinted that I shouldn't intervene if Gobta tries to do something stupid with me again, as long as it isn't something that'd put me in danger. She's testing him, so if I intervened, that would be helping Gobta cheat in a sense.

Gobta decided to show me around some more, this time in an area of town we didn't get to explore yesterday. This place is impressively large so there's no way he could show me everything in one day. He seems to know all the good places though.

"I've seen this place grow from the ground up, so of course, I know all the hot spots in Tempest!" he exclaimed proudly when I brought that up.

He always seems to act like he's trying to impress me…or is he just bragging? I'm not sure honestly. Maybe it has to do with the fact I'm Rimuru's guest here so getting on my good side would earn their favor or something? That kinda contradicts his choice to do something he shouldn't by spending Rimuru's money yesterday.

Yesterday it almost felt like he was trying to spoil me, taking me around town to all the best places selling snacks and stuff. It didn't take long for him to figure out how much I love to eat, and Gobta sure took advantage of that if he was trying to get on my good side, and he succeeded. Despite not knowing him for long, I feel like we're already friends. It's not just because he bribed me with food though!

This time he brought me to an ice cream shop. He bought me a large four-scoop cone and picked the flavor out for me since he said he knew what one was the best; I didn't mind. Gobta said it was called 'Tempest Blue' and is a favorite around here. It's similar in color to Rimuru's slime-form's color. That's something I noticed around here, there are a lot of things that seem to be themed around her and her slime body in particular. Rimuru's almost like a mascot it seems, it's a little weird but also kinda endearing.

When Gobta went to pay, I didn't catch whether he made the same mistake as he did yesterday because I got distracted by something odder than Tempest's strange obsession with Rimuru. A small, blonde-haired fairy excitedly plunging her entire head into a normal-sized ice cream cone being held by…wait, isn't that Veldora?

"It'sh sshhhhooo gooood!" the fairy squeals delightedly through a mouth still filled with ice cream before plunging her face inside again.

Veldora then notices my presence.

"Oh, if it isn't Iruma! How're you liking my little brother's country so far? Pretty great place, right?" Veldora asks, followed by his usual loud laughing and him taking a bite of the other ice cream in his second hand.

"I thought Rimuru said you had work to do in the Labyrinth…what are you doing in an ice cream shop Veldora?" I ask, worried that Rimuru might get mad at him for skipping out on his job.

The ice cream-covered fairy then flits over so she's positioned a foot or so in front of my face.

"That's not a problem since I'm here with him!" she says confidently, grinning widely and posing mid-air with her hands on her hips.

"Huh?" I make a confused sound, wondering who the heck she is.

"I'm Demon Lord Ramiris of the Labyrinth! Member of the Heptagram and creator and master of Tempest's Labyrinth! If I say he can take a break from his job, he can!" she announces. Ramiris is still absolutely covered in ice cream, but that doesn't seem to stop her from flaunting her title and acting confident.

Suddenly, I feel something cold drip onto my hand and realize that my ice cream is melting. I feel stupid that I let it make a mess all over me while I was gawking. I quickly take a lick of it to stop it from dripping more. I can't quite make out what the flavor is supposed to be, but whatever it is it's tasty. Once that little crisis is averted, I finally process what this fairy just said…

She's…a Demon Lord?! She sure doesn't look like one…wait, neither does Rimuru most of the time…I really need to stop being surprised by stuff like this.

"Oh, you're here too, Lord Veldora and Lady Ramiris?" Gobta asks as he takes a lick of his own cone.

"Ah, Gobta! Is Rimuru making you show this boy around?" Veldora asks Gobta.

Gobta nods and takes another lick.

"So you're a Demon Lord, just like Rimuru is?" I ask Ramiris.

"That's right! Who're you anyway? I don't think I've seen you around before…"

"This is Rimuru's friend, Ramiris! He's the kid Rimuru's been hanging out with while on vacation!" Veldora explains in his usual boisterous manner.

"This kid? Why though…he just looks like a normal human to me, why would Rimuru be interested in him?" Ramiris asks Veldora quizically.

That's a little rude but I can't say she's wrong…I still don't completely understand why Rimuru seems to like me so much, even though she's tried to explain a couple of times.

"You know how my little brother is, Rimuru's got some weird tastes and ideas in that slimy little head of his," Veldora responds to Ramiris.

"That's true…well whatever; have you visited my Labyrinth yet? It's one of Tempest's biggest attractions!" Ramiris says, returning her attention to me.

"No, I've definitely heard about it though…what's it for anyway? I've been curious about it for a while…"

"Wait, nobody told you?" Gobta asks. "It's got a lot of purposes, actually. Great place to train since you can't die in there…well you can, but only if you're stupid enough to go in without a resurrection bracelet."

"Yeah, we have had some of those in the past…I try not to let that happen though." Ramiris says, looking off to the side as if recalling something. "So…do you wanna check it out? It's a lotta fun!"

"Lord Rimuru said nothing dangerous, so I don't think the Labyrinth's the best place to take Iruma. Especially the public part; that's not something he'd be able to handle." Gobta responds.

"It's not dangerous!" Ramiris insists.

"Yeah, but I get the feeling that he doesn't know how to fight monsters," Gobta responds.

"You're right Gobta, I don't know how…" I say a little shamefully.

"See? He'd probably freak out when his arm gets chopped off or something. Even if Iruma would be alright in the end, I don't want him traumatized. Lord Rimuru wouldn't be happy if that happened." Gobta says casually.

"Arm…chopped off!?" I ask, completely shocked.

If it involves stuff like that, I want nothing to do with it!

"Uh-huh…anything can happen in there. You're perfectly fine when you leave and pain's suppressed so you don't feel injuries as much, but I don't think you wanna watch that happen to your body, do you?" Gobta asks, still talking as if this stuff is normal.

I shake my head 'no' vigorously.

"His body doesn't seem very strong either…" Ramiris says as she flies around me in circles, looking at me from every angle.

#Maybe we could have him use an avatar core then…hmmm…# Veldora mutters to himself.

"You'll have to ask Rimuru about that, not me. You know I can't make those easily without his help." Ramiris says.

"Yeah, yeah…" Veldora says, still seemingly lost in thought.

"It's alright; I have some other stuff planned today for him so maybe another time he can go there," Gobta says.

I finish off my ice cream cone with a crunch and Gobta does the same and stands up.

"We should probably get going. I'm not sure when Lord Rimuru will be around to pick you up so we should hurry." Gobta says, glancing out the window of the shop.

Half the day has already passed, so I agree; we need to leave if Gobta has something planned. I'm surprised he's thinking that far ahead; he doesn't seem like the planning type to me. We go back outside, leaving Veldora and Ramiris to finish their ice cream without us. I'm not sure how Ramiris will finish hers since it's larger than she is, but whatever. She's a Demon Lord so anything's possible.

We start walking along down the street when suddenly Gobta stops. He starts sweating and his eyes dart around at our surroundings desperately before focusing on a nearby alley.

"Oh no…" he says before grabbing my arm and dragging me into the alley he's spotted. He pins himself against the wall and starts breathing heavily with a terrified look on his face. Not knowing what kind of danger we're in, I mimic his actions.

#Wh-what's wrong..?# I whisper as quietly as possible.

But before Gobta can even open his mouth to respond, someone appears right in front of us.

"So you have decided to skip out on drills two days in a row then." an old man with two small, white horns says ominously while staring down Gobta.

Gobta smiles nervously before responding.

"M-master Hakurou! I-I'm following Lord Rimuru's orders right now…he told me to show this guy around Tempest! He's a special guest!" Gobta explains, pointing to me.

So much for being ignored…

I give him a nervous smile and wave.

"Is that so? Hmmm…even so, I distinctly remember hearing that you were napping during the drills yesterday before leaving with Lord Rimuru and I doubt he would order you to do that as well." the man says as he seems to ponder what Gobta said, but I get the feeling he's not gonna let Gobta escape. "It seems you may need a…private lesson." The man says in a way that makes me think this 'private lesson' is some kind of punishment.

Gobta gulps nervously while matching the man's gaze.

"I-if you have s-something else you need to do, I can just t-tag along with y-you Gobta…" I say nervously, trying to avoid having this scary old dude get mad at me too.

Gobta gives me a horrified look as if I just betrayed him.

Sorry Gobta, but you were slacking off yesterday; he isn't wrong.

"Oho, so you want to observe? Or do you want to join my pupil here in his training?" Hakurou asks hints of surprise on his face.

"What kind of training?" I ask.

"In the art of the sword, of course!" Hakurou says with a smile.

"Sword?" I ask excitedly.

"Master! This kid has no combat experience! I don't think he sho-"

Gobta isn't able to finish since Hakurou quickly interrupts him.

"Yes, I can tell that just by looking at the way he carries himself. I am sure I can find him a spot in the beginners' class while we are busy."

I've watched Rimuru fight with a sword a few times and I've always thought it was cool. I wouldn't mind giving it a try as long as it's just a beginner's course.

"Uhh…sure. Why not?" I say with a nod, getting a little excited to try something like that.

Hakuro grins at my answer and Gobta looks down at his feet defeatedly.