Author's Note: Hey, readers! This is my version of a holiday special, mostly written by a few of my "Plot Tots" (essentially my assistant writers on Discord). It doesn't take place at the same time that the rest of the story does, but instead 5 years prior. I hope you enjoy this extra chapter as a Christmas present to you all!

Tempest Christmas Tales

Rimuru POV

I've been waiting all day for this and now, it's dark out, the moon is high in the sky, and my 12 patrons have gathered in a remote clearing in the forest on a hill. A lot of setup has gone into this, despite what is planned to be a very simple activity.

Taking a seat between Diablo and Shion, I turn to Zegion who is seated between Benimaru and Geld, and give him the command he has been awaiting. "Alright, Zegion, do it."

Zegion gives me a silent nod and after a momentary pause speaks "It is done, Lord Rimuru."

I should explain. I had Zegion use his Ultimate Skill: Illusion King Mephisto, to create an illusory domain around us that makes it impossible to locate our gathering without an ultimate skill to counter the effects of Zegion's illusory domain; anyone without one who enters it will simply wander right back out from where they came, no matter how many times they try.

"I'm sure you all are wondering, what important matter it was that I told you required you all gather here for. Well, the truth is, it's not entirely important except to me personally."

I look towards my gathered subordinates' faces for any signs of discontent but, Diablo reassures me, "If a matter is important to you, it is important to us all." All the patrons nod to this statement affirming that what Diablo has said is something they can agree on.

"As I'm sure you all know, I wasn't originally from this world. As an otherworlder with my memories of my previous life in another world, there are things I used to do there that I enjoyed and wish to do here, that's why I have introduced many of them to Tempest. When I was stabbed in my previous life saving a friend and slowly dying of blood loss, my only thoughts were of the pain I was in and how I wish I had lived my life."

I hear something snap, which distracts me from my speech. Looking over to the source of the sound, Testarossa, Ultima and Carrera have scary expressions on their faces and the culprit behind the sound was an improvised baton. It's something that Ultima had been carrying around after seeing it in a manga held by law enforcers. But now, it's completely shattered, leaving nothing but pieces and splinters of it in Ultima's hands.

Are they angry at me? Did I say something they are unhappy with me for?

[[No hostility detected from them is directed at you.]]

So I'm not who they are mad at huh? That's a relief. Maybe they were upset by my death story being brought up.

The silence is broken by Diablo scolding Ultima for the disruptive sound.

"I understand your anger, however, do not disrupt Lord Rimuru while he is speaking again."

Ultima starts apologizing to me repeatedly and I had to reassure her that it was fine.

Clearing my throat, I continue where I left off before the disturbance.

"As I was saying, there are things I used to enjoy from my past life, but I cannot enjoy all of those things. As a Demon Lord, and as the ruler of a country, I can never be allowed to show any sign of weakness or be anything less than a ruler. It's hard to enjoy simple pleasures when you have to keep up appearances. It's for that reason I needed to make this sound like an important meeting and why I made sure to invite all of you, the 12 patrons. Rumors no doubt have gotten around about what this meeting is likely for, though none can come close to how simple it really is."

Piling some firewood in the center between us all and placing rocks around it, I have Benimaru light the wood and then pull out of my imaginary space, the most important items for this gathering. A few bags of marshmallows and a barrel of eggnog I had Ciel make, though she insisted it was a waste of her abilities, I placed them in front of me and announced the purpose of the meeting.

"I want to be able to sit together with people I cherish and roast marshmallows over a fire while drinking eggnog together, sharing stories and secrets, and just having fun."

In order to get the full experience, I had Ciel disable my Temperature Fluctuation Resistance so that I can enjoy the chill of the air and warmth of the campfire.

The first to speak in response was Kumara, known as the Chimera Lord.

"It is greatly pleasing to know you think of me among those you cherish and I would be overjoyed to help you enjoy an experience you crave~." Kumara stated almost seductively.

"Indeed. If The Great Lord Rimuru desires something that is within our power to grant, it shall be done, if it is not, then we will train ourselves so that it can be done." Even in a situation intended to be relaxed, Zegion speaks like a soldier.

"Kufufu, it shall be most intriguing an experience to learn of ways our master once entertained himself." Diablo's response worries me a bit, to humans, it can be fun, but would demons really find stuff like this interesting?

Gabiru asks the question that I think no one wanted to be the one to ask as it would mean admitting to me they don't understand what I want to do.

"So…what exactly is it we have to do?"

Picking up a stick, I start to demonstrate while giving instructions step by step.

"First, you need to find a stick and attach a marshmallow to one end, a stick with a sharp end is better for this."

I drop a pile of gathered sticks from my imaginary space down and watch as everyone starts picking one up and deciding which end to attach the marshmallow to. I notice Diablo is using his claws to sharpen his stick while the demonesses crushed one end with their fists to leave behind a sharp point.

"Once your marshmallow is attached, you hold it over an open flame until it's heated to your preferred state; the sticks are so we can do this without burning ourselves but also for another reason."

[[Master, nobody here would be burnt by a normal fire to any discernable degree, meaning the sticks are technically unnecessary given your reasoning.]]

Oh, shush Ciel, it's all part of the experience!

A gathering of 12 marshmallows is now hovering above the flame and skewered by the sticks, followed late by a final, 13th marshmallow on a stick belonging to Ranga. I forgot he is the only one here who doesn't have a humanoid form to use so is holding the stick in his mouth.

"I personally like to wait until the marshmallow melts onto the stick and then pull it off with my teeth to chew that gooey treat," I explain.

Demonstrating, I stuff the stick into my mouth and then tug off the sweet snack, pulling the stick back out to reveal like a magic trick that the marshmallow has disappeared. I then pour some eggnog into a wooden cup and drink from it, washing the marshmallow down.

With my demonstration finished, everyone else starts replicating what they witnessed in their own way, especially Ranga who I see holding the stick between his front paws like it's a bone and gnawing the top of the stick. "Hey, Ranga it might be easier if you just use spatial manipulation to hold the stick."

"No need, Master! I can do this!" Ranga barks out.

"Well…if you're sure, alright then."

Remembering Adalman is undead, I turn to him to make sure there is no issue, but he has cast a spell on himself to temporarily give himself his human form, though a sudden SNAP* draws my attention, and turning to the source is Ranga with his stick now in two pieces after being chewed on too hard. Though Benimaru picks up a fresh stick and passes it to Rangathen pours some of the eggnog into a bowl for him to drink out of.

"Now that we all know what to do, I'm going to share with you some interesting stories of what happened today. Let's start with the earliest of the events, I saw it all happen through the ARGOS system and heard some details from Hinata's perspective too. I call this story…"

School & Santa

3rd Person POV

Chatter fills the air as children of all races; human, elf, dwarf, lizardman, orc, and many others, most of them are otherworlders who Rimuru summoned spirits to inhabit their bodies to stabilize their magic, just as he did before long ago for a class of his. Everyone is eager to talk with their friends about what they did on the weekend but a commanding tone cuts through the varying voices and silences everyone demanding their attention on her, that voice of course belongs to Hinata Sakaguchi. A stern woman who despite the expression she shows, cares greatly about the kids and is truly happy to see them smiling and talking to one another without discrimination.

"I know you just returned from the weekend break but there will be time to chat during break and lunch, for now, I want you to focus on the lesson we will be studying today. First, let's see if you remember what we studied last week."

The kids who were standing up at various tables talking to each other quietly took their seats and pulled out school supplies.

"Who can tell me how many lesser spirit types exist?"

An elf child raises their hand and Hinata points to them, signaling they may speak.

"Are you asking about the elements or their rankings, teacher?" the young elf queried

"The elements, thank you for asking that Layshot, it shows you are willing to tell me when you don't understand the question."

The elf child smiles and then responds eagerly "Five!"

Hinata gives a stoic smile and nods "Correct, Angels, Demons, and Spirits all rank their strength by age and evolution, but only spirits are of varying elements, this is a core difference between them compared to angels and demons who all originate from a single, very old angel or demon of their lineage and their power is singularly holy or demonic. Now, can someone tell me what the elements are that those spirits can be?"

Hinata calls on a young ogre child who raises their hand "Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, and Holy."

To this answer, Hinata simply shakes her head "Incorrect, one of those was wrong, I expect you to revise and take notes, but good effort."

The Young ogre looks a little down at first but then cheers up, pulls out their pencil and paper, and gets ready to write.

Hinata writes the answer the ogre child gave then looks around the room "Can anyone tell me which was wrong and the correct element to replace the answer?"

A human child raises their hand desperately waving their arm trying to get noticed.

"Yes? Ventimiglia, can you tell me which of these elements is wrong and what the right one is?"

"Holy is wrong, Teacher! It's Space! I remember because Lord Rimuru told me a space element spirit answered when we went to get our magic stable."

Giving a nod, Hinata turns around, rubbing out 'holy' from the board and writing down 'space'. "That's right, lesser spirits have elemental types, on rare occasions, they may possess two elements at the same time though. Greater Spirits can possess the rarer elements of Light, Dark, and the rarest Time."

"The element of time is both the most powerful and rarest of the elements and only one person in the world is known to possess the aid of a spirit of the element of time."

A young boy yells out: "Chloe!"

"Please do not shout out, but yes, Chloe Aubert is the name of the only known user of a time spirit in the entire world."

Hinata walks around to each child, handing out identical books while speaking. "Today we will be covering the differences and similarities between angels and demons. Please make sure to take notes as you will be taking a test on the material we covered last week and this week in a few days."

A few kids groan at the idea of a test, but everyone begins writing notes while listening to Hinata's lecture and reading from the book in front of them.

"When it comes to a fight between an angel and a demon, the advantage is with demons as in a 3-way matchup, Demons are strong against Angels, though Angels are strong against Spirits and Spirits favor fights against Demons. However, a favorable matchup isn't everything, which is where age comes in. Demons, angels, and spirits all share in common that they are ageless immortal beings, even if destroyed they will eventually come back. The older they are, the more experienced they are in battling and using their magic, the oldest among them can use magic with the highest of efficiency."

Hinata pauses her lecture when she sees a child with their hand up.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Is it true there are demons in Tempest? My daddy says he works for a demon."

Before Hinata can answer, another young voice pipes up. "Don't be silly, demons are evil, why would any be here in Tempest? Maybe your daddy just doesn't like his boss!"

The whole class is now talking back and forth, but the general consensus seems to be that, if there were demons in Tempest, they would be obvious and easy to recognize.

Suddenly, one of the kids who had been silent before cuts in with a new line of thinking that gets the class rethinking. "But isn't Lord Rimuru a Demon Lord? It would be normal if he had demons under his command."

"That's enough, let's get back on topic!" Hinata's voice rings out and all the kids murmuring stops instantly.

"I heard you say a concerning statement just now that needs correcting. 'Demons are evil and angels are good'. The truth is, angels and demons are monsters that live by the rule, the strong obey the weak, a way of life that has been abandoned by monsters living under the rule of Demon Lord Rimuru Tempest."

A human child raises their hand looking perplexed.

"What is it?" Hinata asks in an expressionless tone

"You said angels are monsters but, does that mean angels could be evil, why would an angel be evil aren't they made by God?"

Hinata pauses for a moment then speaks "Have any of you heard of, The Great Tenma War, or the War to End All Wars?"

The whole class is silent, Hinata nods having received her answer.

"This will be covered in your history lessons eventually, so no harm telling you now. The Great Tenma War was as the name suggests, a war, not between countries but of the whole world against the heavens. Angels had come down to attack countries across the world, as this would happen every few centuries, but this time was different, as the angels had come to destroy the world. The most popular theory is that they believed by destroying the world, Veldanava, the god who created this world, would return."

The whole class starts whispering to one another, bewildered at this new knowledge.

"During the war, demons and the demon lords fought alongside humans and other races of this world against the angels, and eventually went to the heavens where they won the war."

Silence fills the room after Hinata finishes speaking. All the children process this information. Deciding to get the kids' minds back to focus on the lesson, Hinata starts speaking again.

"With that history aside, let's resume where we left off, demons are evil, yes, are they willing to side with humans? Yes. However that does not mean you should summon them carelessly either, it is still very dangerous to do so, they are monsters who, unless they recognize you as truly superior to them, will do as they want. Now let's move on to magic, the three core varieties of magic are holy magic, demon magic, and sorcery."

Turning around and writing the three words on the board, she continues speaking with her back to the class. This is Hinata's way of silently telling the class they must listen and make notes and questions can be asked when she has finished speaking.

"You likely are familiar with sorcery, we just call it magic usually when casting spells. It is the most widespread, with holy and demonic magic being more specialized. Demonic magic in particular is very difficult for humans to use though not impossible, this applies in reverse for monsters who have little issue with using demonic magic but struggle with holy magic."

Turning around finally, Hinata begins to explain why a struggle would exist.

"For monsterkind, magicules with holy alignment are like poison, as it weakens them and interferes with their power. As someone who used to work for the Holy Church of Ruberios as a holy knight, I can speak with experience that this was used to our advantage often when we had to deal with monsters. Powerful human users of holy magic can eventually become saints, increasing their lifespan and can eventually further grow awakening into heroes and becoming ageless."

Hinata pauses to let the kids finish writing notes then continues.

"It should be obvious then that for humans, demonic aligned magicules are poisonous and as such magicules are radiated by demonic monsters, due to this, for the longest time humans and monsters could not live together and saw each other as enemies often. As I'm sure you can guess, Demon Lord Rimuru, who wishes for coexistence between all races had devices made that changed things. Magicule filters which capture magicules in the air and store them for use in magic being used commercially by large devices made it possible for humans to tolerate the heavy monster presence of Tempest while also not reducing the magicules so much that it became harmful to monsters."

While the children in the class are writing notes down, a knock at the door is heard, Hinata turns and sees someone she had been expecting to arrive.

Hinata ushers in Ultima and then turns to the class "As someone who worked as a holy knight, I can easily explain holy magic in depth to you but demonic magic is not my expertise, therefore we have a guest who will be able to help with that. This is Ultima, please say hello everyone."

The class all starts waving their hands and calling out "Hi, Ms. Ultima"

"As Hinata has said, I'm an expert at demonic magic, so you will be taught about it by me."

One of the human kids pipes up "Ms. Ultima, is it true that demonic magic is really hard for humans to learn? How did you learn it?"

Ultima seems amused and then smiles, answering "Yes, it is very hard for humans to learn, which is why I'm here to educate you all about it."

The moment Ultima finished speaking, the kids started firing questions off one after another. The idea of what appears to be a human to them, able to learn such magic, has got them all in awe of the demoness. The child of two adventurers living in Tempest calls out: "You must be some kind of genius Ms. Ultima!" Another child asks "Could you beat a demon in a fight with your demonic magic Ms. Ultima?" To this question, Ultima smiles smugly replying "Easily". Once the initial excitement questions phase passes, the class becomes more orderly, patiently raising their hands to ask questions or make statements.

Hinata apologizes to Ultima for the children's initial behavior, though Ultima reassures Hinata it doesn't bother her, after all, Lord Rimuru said he believed she was more reliable than Carrera for this task.

**Flashback Start**

Ultima POV

I'm standing outside of my lord's office after he called for me. I, naturally, rushed over. Wasting no time, I knocked on the door to announce my arrival to him.

*Knock Knock*

A voice calls out from the room in response. "You can come in"

Entering, I find Lord Rimuru at his desk, and standing beside him are Shion and Diablo.

"Ultima, thanks for showing up so quickly." Lord Rimuru praised me for my swift arrival.

"There isn't a fool in the Black Numbers who would keep you waiting when you call"

If there is, I would like to know so I can correct that.

"I'm sure the job I have assigned you keeps you busy, but do you have time today for a task I need to be done? Lord Rimuru asks me.

"There is nothing too urgent, what do you require, Lord Rimuru?"

Anything Lord Rimuru personally asks for, is a far higher priority than any other task.

"The school where we teach otherworlders and children growing up here in the city needs a guest speaker to give a lecture about demonic magic. I could have asked any demon working for me to teach about it, but I want those kids to get the best possible education, so I want the lecturer to be someone who is the best possible user of demonic magic. Which brings me to why I called you here."

Lord Rimuru thinks of me as the best user of demonic magic? Wait until Carrera hears this!

"The best users of demon magic would have to be the primordials, the oldest of demons, but Testarossa has to handle matters at the Western Council because of Guy stirring up panic due to his annual Walpurgis, so she is ruled out. Diablo, we both know what he is like, I don't think it needs explaining why he is ruled out which means it's either you or Carrera."

Lord Rimuru pauses briefly, then resumes speaking.

"I'm sure you both could perform the task, but, considering the circumstances, I feel it would be ideal to rely on you for this…"

I become lost in my thoughts momentarily, drowning out some of what my lord said.
Lord Rimuru thinks I'm more reliable than Carrera, I'm ahead of Carrera!

"…With that in mind, can you handle this for me Ultima?"

"Absolutely, leave it to me, Lord Rimuru!"

With that said, a gateway to Walpurgis appears in the room, and Vert, or rather Mizeri steps out to collect my lord.

I excuse myself and then quickly hurry out, heading off to the school in Tempest, those precious words echoing in my head.

You are more reliable than Carrera.

**Flashback End**

3rd Person POV

Hinata claps her hands together and starts speaking "Now, first, I will explain a bit about how holy magic functions, and then Ultima here will explain how demonic magic is compared. Make sure to take notes…"

Hinata is cut off as footsteps are heard and one of the kids looking to the source of the noise sees someone in a red and white wooly costume walking towards the doorway of the class down the corridor, recognizing the figure to be only one possible individual.

"SANTA! IT'S SANTA CLAUS!" the kid screams out and suddenly all the kids are moving to his table to see and get excited.

Hinata sighs, knowing full well that Rimuru is responsible for this intrusion, but not wanting to sour the mood, she keeps this to herself.

Geld who can see and hear this while approaching, chuckles to himself, he is carrying a large sack filled with presents and is being followed by two goblinas dressed in green Santa's elves costumes.

Stepping inside the classroom, the kids unable to contain their excitement all run over surrounding him which makes him guffaw. "Merry Christmas everyone! Have you all been good boys and girls?"

All the kids present are nodding and hastily replying with variations of 'yes', Geld then turns to Hinata and asks her "Is this true, have they all been good boys and girls?" In response to this, all the children look at her with puppy dog eyes, Hinata covers her face with her hand and just lets out a short answer "I cannot say I have any issues with their behavior."

Geld roars with laughter and then drops the sack onto the ground, opening it to reveal a trove of many different colored wrapped boxes, various patterns, and colors on the wrapping paper can be seen, and he begins fishing them out along with his two assistants who start handing the presents out to the kids. "Of course, you have been all good, you are all on my nice list! I have presents here for you all."

Geld is filled with joy, watching all the kids' excitement and smiles as they hug him, climb on him and hug the two goblinas with him when they receive their gifts, some having already opened them and showing each other what they got. The contents of the presents are almost all the same though only the toy inside each one differs. Each present contains; some candy, a toy, and a manga suitable for children.

It takes a while, but eventually, Hinata wrestles control of the class again, returning them to their seats with their presents while they wave goodbye to Geld and the goblinas as they leave.

"There will be time during your lunch break to play with your gifts, let's not keep our guest speaker waiting, she is spending her time with us to talk to you after all."

With that, the lesson resumes, notes are taken, and a class full of children whose hearts are full of joy.

**Back at the Campfire**

Rimuru POV

A multitude of sounds fill the air as I finish telling everyone about what happened at the start of this long day, during school hours. The crackling of the burning wood, the snapping of yet another one of Ranga's sticks, and Ultima and Carrera bickering among themselves. I think they would have started immediately after hearing what Ultima had said at the school, but after Diablo's scolding for the earlier interruption, I guess they held it in until I finished speaking.

Turning to Geld, I decided to tell him more about what happened after he left, which I heard from Hinata. "Geld, the kids couldn't stop smiling after you left, and Hinata said she had a real struggle getting them to focus on their school work after their break because of how happy they were with their gifts."

"I will apologize to Hinata for the inconvenience I caused." Geld says apologetically.

That's Geld for you, always thinks of others before himself. What I told him was meant to make him happy knowing how the kids loved the experience he gave them but he focused only on the bother he created for Hinata.

"There is no need, sometimes inconveniences can be happy ones. Trust me, it didn't bother her at all."

Deciding to change the subject and try to distract Carrera and Ultima from their growing heated exchange, I loudly declare there is a planned game that we can all take part in, the effect was immediate even though it didn't stop the two from already competing before they heard anything.

"Ready to lose to me again, Carrera? I'll easily do better than you in Lord Rimuru's game!" Ultima taunts.

"I already won in becoming stronger than you and you were clearly only chosen for Lord Rimuru's task because the work he gave me was too important." Carrera snaps back.

"Why don't we listen to what this game is first, personally my goal is to win against Diablo, after all, if it's not a game of strength or magic, it may be possible." Testarossa cuts in, ending the argument"

"Kufufufu, I'm sure as one who observes Rimuru's actions daily and most frequently, I will have an edge in this game." Diablo confidently proclaims.

Before anyone else can add further comments, I quickly give a loud "Ahem", bringing all eyes on me as I summon an empty bottle of alcohol and set it down on its side.

"This game has a lot of different ways it can be played and different rules, it's all up to the people playing to decide, it's called 'Spin the Bottle'. The rules I used to play by are simple. As the name suggests, you spin the bottle, and whoever the bottleneck is pointing at has to share a secret; however, it has to be a secret that someone present can confirm or deny if it's truthful. The goal is to guess if the secret is a lie or not, you score points by guessing correctly if a secret is the truth or not and if someone fails to guess correctly about your own secrets. The winner is the one with the most points at the end of the game.

Deciding to start us off, I lean forward and give the bottle a spin. After several more loops than I expected, it slows down and stops, pointing to Diablo.

"Alright Diablo, declare who here can confirm the secret's accuracy you are about to share."

"For the secret I will share with you all, Zegion can verify if my secret is true or not."

Diablo then stands up and proudly proclaims "I commissioned an art piece of Lord Rimuru that I take with me whenever visiting the demon realm, to show off the magnificence of our beloved master to all the fools who don't yet know how amazing Lord Rimuru is."

Ciel goes to offer me help with guessing if it's true or not, but that would be cheating so I decline, more importantly though. Did Diablo just admit to having art of me, despite it being contraband that was confiscated in Tempest? It feels really creepy having him show off any art of me to people I have never met, especially as I have no idea what things are saying.

The first to actually say what I'm thinking is Carrera.

"Hey, isn't it illegal in Tempest to have that!? Why would you break Lord Rimuru's laws?"

"I do not keep it in Tempest, therefore it should be legal."

After a few complaints from Carrera, Ultima, and Testarossa, we unanimously agreed, this sounded exactly like something Diablo would do which Zegion then confirmed is correct.

"Alright, Diablo, since you shared a secret you get to spin the bottle."

Diablo reaches forward, spinning the bottle as hard as he could. It turned countless times before finally halting, pointing at Testarossa who smiles almost tauntingly at Diablo as she stands.

"My secret's accuracy can be vouched for by Lord Rimuru"

A secret of hers, that I know the truth about? What could she be referring to?

The smile on her face never leaves as she then reveals what she evidently wanted Diablo to hear.

"My secret is that my gift received from Rimuru for this holiday was a voucher that I can redeem in order to serve as his secretary in Diablo's place for a week, carrying out the duties of observing Rimuru and assisting him as needed while Diablo for that week takes on my duties with the Western Council."

"ABSOLUTELY FALSE, THERE IS NO WAY THAT IS TRUE!"

Diablo immediately starts shouting, almost enraged which quickly turns to pleading and looking at me hoping for me to deny what Testarossa has said.

I wait until everyone has cast their votes with a majority thinking it was not true and just Testarossa trying to mess with Diablo. I then answer for everyone if it was the truth or not.

"What Testarossa has stated…Sorry Diablo, it's true, all of it."

Diablo is visibly crushed, Testarossa has a weapon he has no resistance to and she can unleash it at any time she so wishes.

While waiting for Diablo to recover, everyone starts discussing the gifts I got for them.

Ultima pulls out the mythril chains I made for her, which when combined with her Poison King Samael, become like venomous snakes that can coil her enemies and form barb-like fangs from any of the chains to inject her deadly poison with.

Carrera then shows off the Adamantine Judge Gavel that I gave to her, telling how she named it 'Verdict' though she and Ultima despite having weapons given to them, still seem highly jealous of Testarossa who I gave the voucher after asking her what type of gift she would value the most as I wasn't sure how she would feel about a huge scythe.

After a while, it's finally Diablo's turn to share what gift he received upon being asked about it, he suddenly lights up.

"Lord Rimuru gave me the most wonderful gift of a new artificial body to make my host, personally crafted by his hand."

Shion then brings up the gifts she saw at Walpurgis, which seems to get everyone interested.

"Well, if you are all so interested, I guess I can tell you about how I pranked Guy and he doesn't even know it."

Though last year's Walpurgis was much more eventful and could only be described as a…:

Walpurgis Winter War

A familiar gate appears in my office, and out from it steps Mizeri who has come to collect me. Stepping forward followed by Shion and Diablo, I am led to a space with a moderate-sized room with several similar gates lining the walls around us, a circular table in the center with 7 seats prepared, each to be filled by those of us gathering, The Heptagram, and the host is already seated and waiting for us at our annual Walpurgis, Guy Crimson.

5 Years ago, Guy learned what Christmas is about in the world I came from, a time of joy where differences are put aside for this one day. A time for peace, not war. Ever since then, we have had Walpurgis every year as mandatory attendance on Christmas Day, he says it so we can make sure we are all up to date on what's been happening and how we intend to go forward, but Ciel has predicted it's really just so he can make humans think of Christmas as a day of fear because the gathering of Demon Lords always happens on Christmas day, though this year, what to do with the restored Barren Lands neighboring Luminous's territory, Ruberios, has been set as a topic of discussion so it looks like Guy isn't going to wait any longer for a new demon lord, to awaken that doesn't get purged immediately, to take up control of those lands.

I could complain to Guy about what he really hosts Walpurgis for at this time of the year, but then he would be all smug and count it as a win of one of his many pranks against me. Instead, I've been pranking him back to try to get him to give up Walpurgis yearly, every year I get a prank gift for him, and he always opens them too, probably out of curiosity about what prank it is this time. Last year, I hid a mirror inside the box and put a note on the lid saying 'World's Ugliest Creature'. As soon as Guy opened the box I pulled a snowball out of my imaginary space and threw it at his face. Things got out of hand really quickly from there.

**Flashback Section Start**

The 7 Star Demon Lord Snow War

I could lie and say how the room went really quiet and Guy was sitting there with snow on his face for the longest time, but all of us attending are True Demon Lords with thought acceleration. The moment that snowball hit Guy, Ramiris burst out laughing pointing at Guy.

"Hahahahaha! Rimuru sure got you, Guy!" Ramiris cackles and flits about in front of Guy who is silently wiping the snow off his face.

"Yes, Rimuru did get a sneaky hit in on me, now I can't let that go unsettled can I?"

I don't want to fight Guy if I can avoid it, so I quickly begin trying to dissuade him from anything crazy. "It was just a silly prank. Only a bit of snow! Don't go too crazy now over a snowball."

"Just a snowball hmm? Are you saying that I should just throw one right back at you?"

"Guy, I didn't make that with magic, you would need snow for that and there isn't any in here!"

A smirk forms on Guy's face as the last words leave my mouth "No snow in here you say? Such a trivial thing can be corrected."

Suddenly the room was expanding like when I was first here and fought Clayman, Velzard suddenly shows up too without warning, and releases her aura creating a blizzard inside Walpurgis. The room fills with a decent amount of snow within seconds before the blizzard comes to a stop.

Why would Velzard suddenly show up here?

[[There is a high likelihood that Guy spoke to her with telepathy.]]

That makes sense.

I'm disturbed by my thoughts when suddenly something hits me in the face, due to my Heat Fluctuation resistance skill, I didn't immediately realize it was snow, but then I see Guy, grinning with a patch of snow missing from the table.

"Oh, it's on now Guy!"

Using Void God Azathoth, the snow around me is quickly pulled into my imaginary space and then I use my copy skill and Ciel's capable analysis to create hundreds of perfect snowballs ready to use.

[[This is a wasted use of my abilities.]] Ciel clearly sounds exasperated with my actions.

No! This is a perfectly good use of your abilities!

Throwing another snowball right back Guy's way started a chain reaction after that. The room expanded even more so than before and Velzard unleashed her blizzard again. Snowballs began to fly back and forth between me and Guy, some of them hitting the walls which cracked and repaired themselves. Suddenly a huge wave of snow hits me from the side, I turn and see Milim laughing proudly and then scooping her arms into the snow gathering on the floor and tossing more snow, this time towards where Guy was like she was splashing water about. Ramiris, deciding she didn't want to be left out, ordered Beretta to start throwing snowballs for her too.

"This couldn't wait until after Walpurgis was over?" Luminous complains with her arms folded, seemingly annoyed by the disruption. Nobody responds to her, though, since we're all too busy chucking snowballs at each other.

The blizzard is starting to make it hard to make out who is who, so we are just aiming for silhouettes, so it was inevitable we would eventually hit non-combatants though we only learned about this afterward. Raine was the first to be caught in the snowball fight, she remained composed and wiped the snow off herself and the speed of the snowballs being thrown sped up, subordinates are being hit left and right, but then Luminous lets out a yell and it quickly becomes obvious what happened.

"I don't know which one of you threw that at me, I wasn't in your silly snow fight, but I'm not going to let whoever threw that get away with it!"

Scooping up some snow, she launches a retaliation attack in my direction, but I'm not the one who gets hit. Leon, who had been on his way out, walking past me, is pelted in the back of the head by the snowball.

Leon groans, whipping around to Luminous as his two knights join the battle, chucking snowballs with him at the vampire.

"Why do you guys seem to find this so entertaining? It's just snow." Dino tiredly yawns, picking up some snow and lazily throwing it around at first. Suddenly, he cracks a smile, and his slouching stops.

"You know what, I understand now, this is way more interesting than talking about boring politics."

The snowball fight only continues to escalate now that the entirety of the Heptagram is involved, subordinates following suit after it was noticed Leon's knights had joined the fray, of course, if something can go terribly wrong, in this world it usually does.

An obnoxious, familiar voice booms out from behind me.

"Rimuru! My sworn brother, I came to show you something I made!"

"Not right now, Veldora, a little busy!" I duck and leap around, dodging snowballs while talking to Veldora, who ends up getting hit by a snowball thrown by Milim.

"Hey what the? Why does everyone hit me in the back of the head when I come to see you, Rimuru?!" he whines at me.

Veldora picks up some snow and starts preparing a snowball that he is using wind magic on so it won't lose speed when thrown, then he combines the use of his probability manipulation from his ultimate skill with his raw strength and pelts the retaliation snowball towards a silhouette of someone approaching scoring a direct hit to the face.

Veldora visibly pales whiter than the snow when he hears the voice of who that snowball hit.

"Oh? Does my troublemaking brother want to play with me?" The voice to whom that belongs becomes clear as the approaching silhouette darkens and eventually features become visible, as Velzard steps forward, wiping snow off her face and Veldora is trying to find a way out in the blizzard.

I will leave it to your imagination what happened that day.

**Flashback Section End**

This year I brought a gift for everyone, because Milim got jealous of Guy always getting gifts and doesn't seem to realize I was pranking Guy, who then taunted me about not bringing gifts for everyone, so now I'm bringing 7 presents with me, Guy's gift is, of course, a prank again but this time it's nothing quite like anything he will expect.

I start walking around the table, setting gifts in front of seats with names on the top of the presents so they cannot be mistaken who they are for, finally, the last present is for Guy.

The moment the gift box is placed in front of Guy, he is already skeptical and pulling faces at me.

"It's a real gift this time Guy, I've run out of ideas on how to get you by surprise."

"Do you really expect me to believe that? Have you hidden another spell in this one to fire at me when I open this?"

"No! You would see that coming, like I said, no more ideas, but you told me to bring gifts for everyone, so that's what I did."

A wicked smile forms on Guy's face as he picks up the large box approaching Velzard.

"Then I'm sure there is no issue if your big sister Velzard opened it for me, is there?"

"Nope, no problem at all! Oh, that reminds me, I have a gift for Velzard too." I smirk at Guy, who has handed the wrapped box to Velzard while she accepts my present for her and is watching me. Judging? Plotting? I can't quite figure out what might be going through his head, but the silence is pierced by the sound of Velzard, who has finally got the gift open, calling Guy over.

"Look at these lovely clothes, Rimuru got for you, Guy!" Velzard's voice almost sounded like she was speaking to a pet or a baby.

Reaching into the box, Guy pulls out the clothes that were his gift, a Hawaiian shirt, and some khaki pants. Holding them up, his eyes visibly shift from me to the clothes and then back to me again multiple times before he finally speaks.

"Do you really think I need new clothes?" Guy seems to be somewhere between trying not to laugh and trying not to show his confusion at the same time.

"They are clothes for holidays and vacations! In the world I was reincarnated from, those are fashionable to wear when visiting another country or spending time relaxing somewhere away from home."

"Do you really expect me to wear these? You wasted your time if you think it will happen."

"Now, Guy, my baby brother kindly got you those, the least you can do is try wearing them at some point."

"There is no point in me wearing these, it isn't going to happen."

At the same moment those words left Guy's lips, a dark aura formed around Velzard, completely invisible, but we both felt it. She reached out a hand on Guy's shoulder, a smile on her face that didn't reach her tone as the next words were spoken.

"They are lovely clothes, and Guy will be trying them on sometime."

Velzard was not taking any other answer regarding this, and Guy finally relented.

"Fine, the next time I'm going out, I'll wear them."

That statement may have satisfied Velzard, but knowing Guy, he will wait years, hoping she has forgotten what he agreed to.

With the discussion over, I finally take a seat and watch as everyone else begins to arrive, taking notice of the gift boxes in front of their seats with reactions ranging from Ramiris' excited squeals to Leon's expressionless voice telling me he is sure Chloe would appreciate the gift.

What followed was a rather uneventful time by Walpurgis standards, however, it was decided that Dagruel's lands would be split between any Demon Lord who wished to expand into the territory given a good reason. The two contenders were me and Luminous though since no one else was interested and Guy was already in a sour mood, he told us to 'sort it out amongst ourselves' and with that called Walpurgis to an end.

**Back at the Campfire**

Ultima and Carrera simultaneously let out a yell of "No fair!" which seemed to be directed at Diablo.

"You got to watch Lord Rimuru fighting Rouge and getting one up on him and we didn't?!" Carrera screamed in dismay.

"Kufufufu, it was truly a magnificent sight that I got to be part of as Rimuru's secretary." Diablo gloated at both girls.

Deciding to cut them off before any further fighting occurs I suggest we continue the game, Testarossa immediately gives the bottle a light spin with the bottle pointing at…me.

"My secret can be vouched by…Diablo!" I declare.

"Keeping more secrets about our Lord from us Diablo?" Ultima whines.

"I served him longer than you, it's only natural I would know more about our Lord." Diablo brags.

"Ahem. True or False, my body even while my mind is unconscious can activate skills and move freely in human form. "

Everyone starts thinking to themselves, a mix of "Is that actually possible?" and "If it is, Lord Rimuru they probably can." as well as "Is this a test of our knowledge about slimes?"

Eventually, given the last two secrets so far were truthful, many with a few exceptions all agreed this was simply me testing their knowledge about slimes and that it simply wasn't true.

The exceptions were Benimaru and Zegion. Gabiru took notice of this and before I could answer if it was the truth or not began asking Zegion why he voted it was the truth.

"Hey, Zegion, I know Lord Rimuru can do some pretty amazing things but controlling his body while he himself is unconscious seems a bit of a stretch."

"My Lord chose his words very specifically, he did not state that he could control his body while unconscious but that his body can do these things, I believe he has something akin to moving on instinct when his mind is asleep."

Benimaru chimes in after Zegion and adds his own reasons for voting truth.

"When Lord Rimuru returned with Ranga from the attack against Falmuth's army, during the time he was evolving into a Demon Lord, something odd happened during the Harvest Festival. He was unconscious in his slime form but then it seemed to move, taking a human form that spoke differently from how Rimuru usually does with us."

Benimaru then turned to Diablo and asked the question everyone was waiting for.

"Diablo, our Lord believes you to be able to verify if what he is saying is true or not with certainty, can you tell us then? Was it true, or false?"

Diablo gives a smirk which then turns into a face of adoration or admiration as he answers.

"It is entirely true; it is as Benimaru has described, even while unconscious during his evolution to a Demon Lord, where he would be asleep, his body began to move by itself and even spoke giving orders. The cold glare it gave me was chilling, I have to say."

Ranga wags his tail excitedly, causing a huge gust to blow in the area, though Benimaru kept the campfire flame alive by controlling its heat using his ultimate skill. Several voices rang out after the initial shock of the news Diablo dropped wore off.

"Amazing my Lord!"

"That's our Lord Rimuru for you!"

"Incredible!"

I didn't want to find myself talking too much and the praise was getting a bit much so I quickly spun the bottle again resuming the game, through which we began to learn a lot of things about each other and more things Diablo has done in his obsession with me.

After some time we ran out of secrets to share that someone else could verify so the game came to an end, but we still had plenty of marshmallows and eggnog to go through.

This area is a nice spot to see some of the city, making for a stunning view. While quietly roasting a marshmallow and looking over Tempest, I comment to Benimaru about something I saw.

"We can see your house from here! Hey, I noticed the snowmen lost their noses. Albis wasn't accepting your excuse to get out of eating the carrots, was she?"

Benimaru flinches when I bring that up though I wonder what excuse he would have tried if I hadn't cast that spell earlier, everything that happened, it truly was…"

Festive Fun

"This is perfect, Dryads are amazing! Being able to grow a tree this big. No wait, actually, being able to grow one at all, really saves us a lot of time preparing a Christmas tree!"

Treyni and her sisters using magic were able to provide us with a towering tall tree that sort of resembles a pine tree though not exactly the same. Originally I was going to search the forest for one of the perfect size and height, but I had been kept busy with paperwork and then there was Walpurgis, which caused this to be behind schedule. So I asked Treyni if she had any ideas where we could find an ideal one, but this is much better than I could have hoped.

"You flatter us with your praise, Lord Rimuru." Treyni, speaking for her sisters, responds to what I had said. Personally, I think she is being really modest about how amazing her skill is. Growing a tree at will has so many possible uses! Then again, I'm thinking about this from the view of someone who is always expanding their usable land and needs endless raw materials for construction far more often than one may think.

"Alright guys, let's decorate the tree!"

With my call to arms, everyone gathered and brought out various ornaments made of glass or paper. Children climbed on the high orcs' shoulders to attach paper dragons, angels, stars, and even faces onto the tree…wait… those aren't faces, that's me! The kids made paper versions of my slime form to put on the tree.

Dragonnewts began carrying the glass pieces to higher areas of the tree, hanging them up at random. Each of the glass objects contained a different colored flame to light them up. I'd asked Vesta's research team to work on figuring out a way we could make this possible by researching many substances and materials based on my knowledge from my past life to find those that burned in different colors.

The last items to be added to the tree were stockings, in which people placed their wishes for the future. The wish in stockings was my idea, so I could learn what the people in Tempest are hoping for without asking it directly.

Once the decorating stops, I take a few steps back to get a good view of the tree and then start circling it, checking it out from all angles from the ground.

"Hmmm, something feels missing…" I mutter out loud.

It was only a second or two in reality, but using thought acceleration I was pondering the very question of what is missing from the tree and then it occurred to me. The issue wasn't something not on the tree but what isn't around the tree, Snow! The skies right now are clear as day, not a cloud to be seen, but with Ciel's help, I can correct that.

"Summon weather: Blizzard!"

It starts out at first as a snowflake or two falling to the ground or on my face, then the clouds gather more and snow begins to blanket the roofs of houses and the ground in white, rapidly freezing surfaces.

"Perfect! A Christmas Tree with snow falling around it, a white Christmas!"

Suddenly, I notice Veldora looking panicked and rushing for the labyrinth. "Has he done something? Suppose I'll find out later" Ciel then answers me with something I hadn't considered.

[[It is possible, due to the sudden accumulation of snowfall, that the individual known as Veldora believes Velzard is nearby.]]

Ah…yeah, I forgot he still hasn't fully gotten over what happened last year at Walpurgis…

I decide to make my way to the labyrinth to let him know what's happening though on the way, I found Ultima and Carrera making an arrest, I'm curious so I decided to stop by and watch how they handle arrests.

"You are being taken into custody, for breaking the laws of Lord Rimuru, you will be held in jail until your trial." Carrera states a rehearsed speech and then sees me along with Ultima who both run over, ignoring the man they have tied up and now just let drop to the ground.

"I was just on my way to speak to Veldora and decided to watch how you handle arrests, mind filling me in on what happened here?" I ask the two demonesses to which Ultima answers.

"The man being arrested is a would-be thief who attempted to steal the coin pouch of the owner of this stall, he didn't get far though as a sudden snowstorm appeared right as he tried to run causing him to slip and fall."

"Ah…that snowstorm was me, it's why I was on my way to see Veldora. I'm pretty sure he thinks our older sister Velzard is somewhere nearby."

As soon as I informed the two primordials of my involvement with the sudden weather shift they both simultaneously let out an "Amazing, my Lord!"

Carrera then started suggesting things that simply aren't the case like 'I knew what the thief was going to do and made the ground icy to trip them' and saying I've done something like this before when I assigned Testarossa to the Western Council as Tempest's representative.

What does Testarossa being made our military attache have to do with knowing the future?

Brushing off their inflated view of me, I leave Ultima and Carrera to handle the thief and then travel to the labyrinth, teleporting my way to the control room where I find Veldora. Convincing him that Velzard was not in the area took a while and by the time I had left, children were making snowmen in the streets. I also saw Benimaru had built several snowmen outside his home which all had carrot noses. A suspiciously large number of snowmen…and then it hits me. He's using them as a way to get out of eating carrots!

Well, Albis will probably make him eat them anyway.

**Back at the Campfire**

"Guess I was right, huh Benimaru?"

Deciding not to speak he just gives a small nod, not even meeting my eye.

This experience, getting to relive doing fun things like this, I want to be able to do this more, but there is one last thing we haven't done yet.

"Eating food off a stick after cooking it in the fire isn't the only way to enjoy this activity!" I proclaim boldly, I then hold the heated marshmallow towards Benimaru. "Eating food in fun ways is great, doing so with friends is even better but the best way to enjoy food is by sharing it with friends!"

This action resulted in me being swarmed by everyone trying to share with me and I had to make an effort to get some people to share with each other and not exclusively me; especially Diablo. He eventually settled for sharing with Zegion and Benimaru since he sees them as worthy rivals who share the title of my 3 Strongest Subordinates with him.

We stayed here until the early hours of the morning when the sun began to rise, only then did we remember how long we had been out here and finally decided to call it a night even though we don't actually need sleep.

I wonder what kind of stuff I will be doing in 5 years. With how many surprises have been thrown my way, I wouldn't be surprised if I was going to school! But that would never happen surely.