Rimuru POV

I entered the competition, just like the rest of the students here, although without much urgency. This thing doesn't mean a lot to me, so why should I bother scrambling inside like all these kids are?

It doesn't take long before everyone's left me in the dust.

Now… to implement my plan.

I may not care about points or winning or whatever, but I do have an objective here. The whole point of this Harvest Festival is to gather ingredients and turn them in at the end for a score, and I intend to at least follow the first step.

Points, schmoints; I'm more interested in the unique flavors around this place! Yeah, I might give them any extras that I don't need just to get a passable score, but nothing more.

I could rush around like a crazy person and scoop up as many different things as I can, but why just leave that responsibility to little old me and nobody else? I can just make a mess of clone bodies and send them out to do all the dirty work! Nobody would bat an eye at that either, at least the people that matter, since I've made it somewhat public that I can do stuff like that.

I release a cloud of smoke to conceal what I'm doing, then split into multiple copies of myself, the smoke clearing once I've done with me now visibly smaller.

"Here's the mission everybody, you choose an entry into that forest and gather as many tasty snacks as possible that are attached to monsters." One of the clones then looks at me quizzically "The monsters aren't food?"

"Well, some of them are, kind of, but we're focusing on what's considered edible to everyone."

A choir of "ooooooh"s fills the air.

"Just don't break the rules and get us all kicked out, alright? Or we'll have to cut this short." This is the main thing I'm worried about since it will ruin the whole plan if even one of these clones breaks the rules. I suspect that me and the rest of them would also be considered responsible.

"And last, don't get in Iruma's way and let him do his own thing. He doesn't want our help at all, remember?"

"What if I find him and wanna say hi?"

"That's fine, just don't hurt or help his chances in this unless it's an emergency. Now, GO!"

With a wave of my arm, the 14 tiny clones of me scatter in all directions before disappearing into the brush. Not from my senses, of course, just what would be normal vision.

I wasn't expecting to end up quite this small… I internally grumble to myself as I look at how puny my form currently is.

[[To stay consistent with the current portrayal of your abilities, Master, this was necessary.]]

I understand that well enough, but that doesn't mean I don't find it mildly annoying.

Having come to terms with the conditions of making this many clones in this world, I start leisurely walking into the forest myself, a few seconds after the last of the clones had sprinted in.

Wait, is this considered child labor? I ponder for a moment but quickly decide it's not. I mean, these clones are 'me', in a sense, so telling them to do work is the same as them doing it of their own free will. Plus, they seem eager enough to do the job anyway, so there's no harm in it.

Lazily, for a day or so, I've been searching the surrounding area for concentrations of magic, looking for some of the stronger and hopefully tastier targets in this forest.

I've already sampled quite a few different things that crossed my path, but nothing was that good.

There's some seriously dangerous stuff, by demon student standards at least, romping around. I've already had to rescue a few students along the way that I just so happened to stumble across. It makes me a little worried for Iruma, but at the same time, I'm confident that the kid is smart enough to keep himself somewhat safe. I'll be alerted if he's in any real life-threatening danger anyway, so there's nothing to stew on.

But back to the subject of those I saved from either death or disqualification (there are teachers hanging around to intervene if things get too hairy, but if you need and get their help, you're out of the game), I didn't help them out of the goodness of my slimy heart.

Well… not completely. I won't just stand around and watch a kid die when helping them is a simple thing for me to do. But, that doesn't mean I'll let them get off scot-free.

50% of whatever ingredients they had on them made its way into my pockets; a 'rescue tax', you can call it. It's too bad that what they did gather before nearly being eaten by a carnivorous plant, or narrowly avoiding the bite of a tiger-like thing with whiskers that look (and taste) like candy canes, was pathetic at best. Still, it was better than nothing, so I demanded a little compensation for my kindness. None of them gave me a hard time about that either, so they probably thought it was a fair trade too.

"Oh look, there's another one."

Hanging upside-down by his ankles and making a noise that's a combo of screaming and crying, a demon kid is casting spells and struggling to get away.

I roll my eyes, pop out my wings, fly up, and slice the vine with my sword.

The kid starts falling head-first, his wings fruitlessly flapping the hardest they could, but I catch his upper body right before he hits the ground and then let him go.

He seems uninjured, although exhausted.

After a few heaving breaths while sitting in the dirt, he finally says something to me.

"You're a real lifesaver Tempest, a true hero!"

He recognizes me, probably because the Misfit Class has become sorta celebrities. I'm kinda impressed he figured it out even when I look like a preschooler.

But at the same time, what he said pisses me off. I mean, a True Hero?! Was he trying to tempt fate?!

I'm feeling the strong urge to either slap him or throw him back into the clutches of that plant for some teacher to find later.

"Don't call me that," I bluntly scold him.

He doesn't seem to understand why I'm mad, letting out a confused "Huh?"

"I helped you for your points." I lie, "Give me half of what you have."

"But… I don't… someone already took my stuff while I was hanging up there, so I have nothing to give you."

He's telling the truth too, I can tell as much.

Now I'm starting to feel a little bad for him, but I haven't forgotten that 'True Hero' comment.

"How about this, I'll tell you something to help you avoid some trouble!" He frantically says, looking more nervous by the second, "There was a bunch of magic beasts gathered in one area, some were really high point ones too which makes it more dangerous, off that'a way." he then gestures off in another direction of the forest.

The boy is clearly warning me about the 'danger' up ahead, probably picking up on my anger about the True Hero nonsense he spewed. Does he think I'm gonna hurt him if he doesn't give me anything? I guess I did try to shake him down for half of his stuff.

"Thanks," is all I say before walking off right in the direction he pointed.

After turning my attention to it, I can definitely see that there's a large group of monsters ahead, just like he said. I don't look at it closely enough to get spoiled on the surprise, but I still got a good feeling of the sheer amount of magic-based creatures that are gathered.

Iruma POV

"What? You made breakfast?" Lead asks, just waking up this morning.

Yeah, I went around and collected a few more things and combined them with what was stored in my magic bag so that we can have a nice meal to start the day with. I guess the smell of it woke Lead up.

"Uh-huh. We need to eat, right?"

"Yeah, but what about points? Did'ja leave anything for us to turn in?"

Shoot… I was so focused on my growling stomach that I didn't even think about that!

My stomach did the thinking and it made a mistake.

"Um… no…" I reluctantly admit.

Lead stares at me blankly for a moment before his eyes suddenly light up.

"Ah! I see what you're doin', you want to go after the big targets, don't you? Eating the small stuff to keep our stamina up is more efficient, right?" he asks, snapping his fingers.

Maybe my stomach is smarter than I thought? What Lead just said makes perfect sense!

"Sure… yeah! Yeah, let's go for something worth more points!"

"Sooo… if we're gonna dream big, let's go after the Legendary Leaf! The thing is worth 100,000 points!" Lead shouts with stars in his eyes.

"Wooooow!"

I had no idea there was something worth that many points somewhere in this place. I think we should go for it!

"Awesome, right!? Sounds like it'll be a bunch of fun to hunt down too! Nobody even knows what it looks like or where it is, but it's out there! With the two of us putting our heads together, I bet we can find it!"

Lead's enthusiasm is infectious and I start getting really excited about this idea.

"We need to go find clues! Maybe we should ask around?"

"Yup! But I don't think any of the other students would know anything."

Hmm… who would know about something mythical like that? Who knows this forest the best?

Then an idea hits me, "Maybe the beasts in the forest know? It's too bad we can't ask them…"

"Now hang on a sec… we could ask the one person here that can!"

"Camui!" both of us shout in unison.

"If we can find him I bet he can ask the monsters where it is!"

"I'll find him with my 'Controller" and point us in the right direction!"

"What if he says no to helping?" There's always a chance of that since this is a competition and all.

"Then promise him a date with your sister or somethin', I dunno." Lead shrugs, probably not even thinking much about his idea.

"I don't think I should do that…" I reply, thinking about what would happen if I tried that.

Rimuru would never forgive me!

"Didn't you say Rimuru wants you to win more than she does herself? I swear you told me that yesterday."

I did mention something like that before, but that doesn't mean that Rimuru would ever be okay with me doing something like Lead is suggesting.

"Yeah, but-" I start to say, but get cut off.

"Well, then it can't be that bad an idea, right?"

"Rimuru would kill me! Or you!"

"Hm… I didn't consider that. She is pretty scary…" Lead pales at the thought of a genuinely violent Rimuru.

"We'll just have to hope Camui agrees."

"I guess it's worth a shot."

Rimuru POV

"Hm… well isn't that interesting."

Well, I found the collection of monsters. An organized, yet bustling swarm of activity, seemingly building a base for whoever is commanding them.

And who's making all this happen?

Keroli and Camui, strangely enough. They're right at the center of it all.

I guess they did train together for this event, so it makes sense that they're working together here, but I didn't know that even with both of them working at it that they could order around this many beasts at once.

They've built a sort of shrine with a throne that Keroli is sitting on, while Camui is at her side pretending to be a loyal attendant. Maybe she somehow tamed him alongside all these other beasts obediently following what I expect are Keroli's orders.

Why does he have a monocle and a suit jacket? Seems like something that you wouldn't even think of bringing to a competition like this.

Keroli is even more extravagantly dressed, or I guess I should say elegantly. She's wearing a luxurious, fur-lined dress that I have to say looks nice on her, but again isn't really fitting for the setting around here.

I, at least, see what's going on here; her tutor obviously taught her some lessons on how to behave like a ruler. She's wiped all expression and emotion from her face, giving away none of her intentions. This is just basic 'how to act like a king' stuff that Gazel drilled into me years ago, so I can easily recognize it.

This act is probably helping these two maintain control over all of these relatively powerful creatures. There are some higher-tier ones here too, by Netherworld standards, but I imagine that most of them are quite unintelligent to fall under Keroli's control; this situation would make no sense otherwise.

Well, this looks like as good a place as I can find to just take it easy and let my copies do the heavy lifting. Camui being here isn't ideal, but he seems to be behaving himself for the moment.

So, I leave my spot sitting in a nearby tree, fly above the area, and plop down right in front of her fancy chair.

"Heyo," I casually wave.

Keroli, who clearly wasn't expecting me to just appear, lets out a squeak of surprise and jumps up onto her feet. I definitely made her break character.

"R-rimuru! What are you doing here?!" she asks me, her face red. Is she embarrassed or angry? I can't quite tell.

"I was impressed by what I was seeing so I thought I'd just hang out here a little. That fine with you?"

Keroli clears her throat, sits down, and composes herself the best she can, but her still-red face gives away her true emotions.

"No. Leave now."

"The Ice Queen has spoken!" Camui's shrill voice shrieks.

Ice Queen? He probably means Keroli.

Camui looks around at all the monsters hanging around like he's expecting something from them, but all stay frozen in place, some even shivering a little.

"Escort the intruder away at once!" Camui adds, his voice a little more frantic.

Still, not a single one of the creatures under their collective command moves a muscle.

Keroli's face turns visibly red as she struggles to keep her composure again.

"Rimuru, just leave. You are ruining everything!" Keroli says, being surprisingly forceful. She's usually pretty softspoken, but maybe she's learned some more confidence in her training. I know she's capable of it since she's able to act all charismatic and open when being Kuromu.

And it's not like I'm trying to threaten her authority or anything, but I bet that's how she's taking it. I superseded her control over all these beasts with just sheer presence alone. It's not that hard after all the years of practice I've had putting on airs for various reasons back home.

"Can't I just stay here for a bit? I've been trying to find somewhere nice to relax and wait out the competition." I have all my clones doing the work so just sitting back and relaxing is a perfectly fine strategy for me to take.

I'm also curious about what's going on around here, and what might happen. Obviously, Keroli's grabbing the attention of the other competitors so it's only a matter of time before someone else starts interfering with her. That's what happens when you build a large force under your command, you grab attention very quickly, and it's not usually the good sort.

"If you wish to stay, you must serve me like the others," Keroli says, putting on a commanding tone again.

Serve you? Not in a million years, kid.

"Nah, I'd rather not. But! If someone attacks this place, I'll help you out on my own terms."

That's generous enough, I think. If Keroli refuses, I'll just move on.

"Nobody would dare try such a thing against the Ice Queen!" Camui says in his usual shrill tone.

The familiars bark out some agreements, and the few demons that seem to be her followers also salute and shout alongside them.

"Shut up, Camui. This has nothing to do with you."

"Yes, let me handle the negotiation," Keroli says, finally shutting him up. Then she waves her hand and disperses the crowd of beasts serving her, sending most of them back to their tasks. Camui bows his way away as well, knowing he needs to stay out of this conversation.

Now it's just me and Keroli on the scene and we can talk without interruptions or eavesdroppers.

"Are you going to demand a portion of our points?" Keroli asks me with her eyes squinting with suspicion.

"I'm not here for points, just somewhere to sit around and rest. I have over a dozen clones all over the entire forest gathering stuff independently, but you can imagine that's exhausting for me."

"So that's why you look like that."

I nod at that, "Yup. In a way, I'm taking a similar strategy to you, sending out a force to do the dirty work while relaxing in a safer area."

Keroli looks troubled and pauses for a moment before saying anything else, "What did you do to make my familiars stop listening?"

"The same thing you did to command them. I'm just better at it."

"And I thought you used a spell on yourself, possibly… how embarrassing… and I thought my beauty was overwhelming!"

I guess she thinks suppressing her more cutesy, bubbly side makes her more 'beautiful'? Keroli is mistakenly thinking that's the quality she's using to effectively command that force of magical beasts. It's not just how pretty she looks, but how she's carrying herself. Yes, good looks help, but in this case, that's not the main reason people and beasts are listening to her.

"Beauty isn't everything."

"Mmmh… yes, I suppose…" Keroli says, then pauses again. "Rimuru."

"Yes?"

Keroli raises one finger in the air.

"I'll let you stay here on one more condition on top of that defense assistance you mentioned."

"Okay. State it."

Keroli's confident tone is immediately dropped and she's back to her usual, overly-nervous self. "I… um… I-I just…" Keroli hesitates, "I've been so incredibly stressed! First my training which was on top of my dem-dol work, and now this intense competition. Then you showed up and complicated everything! I can't take much more of this! I need some stress relief or I'm going to lose myself, I can just feel it!"

The girl is nearly tearing her hair out and crying, which makes me feel just a little bad for coming by just to mess with her. She really is at her limit and completely overwhelmed.

I just stare at her, at a loss. Is she expecting something from me here?

"C-come here." she nervously mutters.

"Uh…?"

"You're already cute in your usual size, but right now…"

Oh, I see where this is going now.

"What do you want? To pick me up? Hug me? Pinch my cheeks? Pet my head?" I snidely ask. I have the vague sense that something similar has been done to one of my clones already, but I haven't actually checked. "That's incredibly embarrassing, y'know. For both of us."

Well… I guess I'm fine with this.

Just sitting next to Keroli on her throne thing, her resting her hand on top of my head and occasionally giving me a little pet was fine by me. Yes, it's slightly humiliating, but it's not anything extreme. Keroli is still trying to keep up her queen act, after all, so it's not like she's gonna go overboard.

This way, I just get to sit back and watch stuff happen, pretending to be tired since I've got clones all over the place doing my job for me.

Iruma POV

"They should be right up ahead." Lead says, "You've got your talking points primed, right?"

"Uh-huh. I'm ready."

Camui, despite how odd he can act, is still not someone I find hard to talk with. He should listen if I ask him nicely for some information.

Not too worried, Lead and I keep pushing our way through the brush in the direction of where Camui should be. But, I hear a sudden rustling to the side of us and hold out my arm to stop the other boy.

"Shh." I shush him very quietly and listen closer. I know I just heard something move, but I can't see what, at least with my eyes.

I should use that magic field thing to make it easier to see what's over there.

Lead stares at me expectantly and I turn the skill on, close my eyes, and focus.

Oh no…

"We're surrounded," I say quietly.

"What?"

As soon as that question escapes Lead's mouth, it's answered. Dozens of magic beasts show themselves, emerging from the bushes and trees from all directions and completely surrounding us.

Lead lets out a girlish scream and throws his hands into the air and I do the same.

"What do we do!?" He screams.

"I don't know!" I shout back, just as lost.

Should I summon my bow? No, I can't shoot all of these at once and I'm shaking too much to aim well anyway!

There are just way too many to fight them, and since they're all around us, we can't escape either. We're truly trapped.

One of the larger monsters steps forward and I gulp nervously as it approaches.

I mentally prepare myself to dodge a bite from this thing.

But, once it's close enough, it just nudges me roughly with its snout, causing me to stumble a little but nothing else.

"Huh?"

Now it's just staring at me, not attacking or trying to bite, strangely. I stare back, confused.

Then it gives me another insistent nudge.

"I-I think it's t-trying to take us somewhere."

As if it understood my words, the beast nods.

I look at Lead to see if he agrees.

"Guess we don't have a choice…"

Keeping our hands in the air, the encirclement of monsters takes us in the same direction we were already walking and we end up stepping through a gate of some sort into a small clearing. That's when I spot a couple of familiar faces.

Keroli and Camui!

Keroli's sitting up on some fancy throne and Camui is standing nearby. I guess all these beasts belong to them? Still, looking at both of them…

They look so scary! Way scarier than usual. They almost seem like different people!

The way Keroli is looking at me, it's like she sees me as nothing more than a bug to step on or flick away. And Camui, he's also staring at both of us with suspicion, standing ready with his wing-arms tucked behind his back.

Lead seems just as freaked out as I am, staring at our two classmates too.

"Intruders! State your business before Her Majesty, The Ice Queen!" Camui commands in a shrill voice.

'Ice Queen'? I guess he must mean Keroli.

"We want info! About the Legendary Leaf!" Lead spits out.

"W-we thought you could help us, Camui! Since you can talk with the magical beasts in this forest," I add.

"Why would we help someone else win? Especially if it does not serve the goals of our Queen." Camui was a bit too snide in saying that. It hurt. However, we are technically opponents, so it makes sense.

Keroli, meanwhile, stares at me and seems to think it over for a moment. "What could you offer me if I actually decided to help you?"

"Uh… well, ya could just do it as a favor, Misfit to Misfit. We all need to reach Dalet to stay in the Royal One, remember?"

"Yeah, you like it a lot better than our old classroom, right Keroli? You too, Camui."

"That is not enough." Keroli snaps her fingers and Camui rushes over and grabs something. He then stuffs something in each of our hands; some kind of clothing.

I hold it out in front of me and see it's a dress.

"Put those on and dance. Entertain me and I'll entertain a sharing of information," Keroli lightly grins as she looks down at us from her throne-like chair.

"Uh…"

I hesitate, considering whether this is worth it or not.

"No! No way!" Lead screams. "Dance!? I can't dance!"

"But if we want the info, I guess we can…"

"Are ya kiddin' me, Iruma!? There's no way I'm puttin' this thing on and dancing!"

"Hey, Keroli! I know you get sick kicks outta putting boys in dresses, but isn't this a bit too far?" Rimuru asks, poking her head out of the furry mane of one of the larger beasts standing near Keroli.

"I thought I said you needed to stay hidden!" Keroli raises her voice as she stands up and whips around to look at Rimuru.

"And I thought you knew that I wouldn't follow orders from you."

Rimuru hops out of the fur and walks right up to Keroli, whose face is now red with frustration.

"Iruma, your sis is literally everywhere. It's kinda freaky!" Lead harshly whispers to me.

"But Rimuru's helping us right now."

"That doesn't matter! She's appeared in like… Six places! She's also scary! I bet Rimuru could still throw me out a window even when she's small like that…"

"Probably." I say with a shrug.

"Well, they need to give us something in exchange!" Keroli yells, interrupting our talking. She seems to be arguing with Rimuru now.

"Just tell 'em, it won't hurt either of you. Didn't you say you were gonna target that castle thing, not the Legendary Leaf?"

"Well… yeah!" Keroli sputters, sounding flustered.

"So stop wasting their time and give them the info! Iruma and Lead already trekked all the way over here for it, so just help them out a little."

"Fine, instead I will waste your time since you're not doing anything anyway."

Keroli stands up, walks over to Rimuru, picks her up, and sits back down with Rimuru on her lap.

"Hey! Don't just pick me up! I'm not your doll!" Rimuru protests but doesn't really struggle.

Keroli doesn't respond and just hugs Rimuru tighter and Rimuru just sorta stops arguing, sighing defeatedly before seeming to relax.

"Camui. Tell them. I'm in a good enough mood to be generous now."

Camui scrambles to write something on a piece of paper and then hands it to me.

"All that is known about the Legendary Leaf is in this song."

To grow the mystic flower, this is what you need:

Follow this song to get its pot and its seed

Walk one hundred steps with the runaway bride

There's the mother-in-law, behind her you hide

You look down carefully and then you dive deep

See the maw awaiting with razor-sharp teeth

Deep past the jaws you will find your prize

The seed of beginning inside the womb of lies

"Thanks, Camui. Damn, that's pretty cryptic, though…" Lead says, peeking at the sheet in my hands.

"Yeah, thank you so much! All of you!"

After that, some of the beasts escort us away right back to the spot where we first encountered them.

Rimuru POV

"Okay… can you let me go now? You said you needed to prepare stuff for that attack you're planning."

"I am preparing. Mentally." Keroli answers and hugs me even closer, "You are very huggable when you're like this. It's helping keep my mind clear and calm."

This is what I get for being a slime…

Slimes are pretty much the most huggable creatures out there, and even in human form like I am now, I'm still just as soft as I am in my natural form when I'm relaxed. I guess I can't blame this girl for enjoying it when I know so many others love to hug and hold me too.

I said I was just gonna chill, so I'll just chill. On Keroli's lap or not, it doesn't matter.

I can feel that Ciel disagrees with me on this, but she isn't saying anything.

At some point, Camui had organized all the beasts to gather information before Keroli, like an army waiting on orders.

Keroli climbs on top of a purple-furred wolf beast, not unlike how I ride on Ranga's back while clinging on to me tightly like a stuffed teddy bear.

She actually had tried to get me to summon Ranga to help them out earlier, but I refused under the premise that I was too exhausted to summon him since familiars in this world normally take mana to bring out. Keroli seemed to buy it, at least, which got her off my back about it.

Camui then starts shrieking to the mass of beasts about 'claiming victory' and 'a castle worthy of the Ice Queen'. Once the target of their attack was in view, it was a pretty impressive sight, defensive-wise, considering that it was made very fast, so I asked Keroli about her plan to take it.

"You sure you will be able to secure that castle with this army alone? You don't have any flying troops to get over the walls and it looks like it could hold out well against attacks from the ground." I felt the need to point that out. I know enough about military strategy to spot that much at a glance.

"Even if we can't get in by force, they will need to eventually come out for resources and besides, we have you don't we?"

So she wants to lay siege to it? I guess that works. But…

"I never agreed to help you with this!"

She just sorta scooped me up and took me along for the ride, but I have no intention on helping with her battle.

"You owe me a favor for ruining my negotiations with your brother! Besides, you said you wanted to relax while your clones did all the work and wouldn't you like to relax in a castle too?"

"Castles are barely more comfy than a normal house, I know from experience." Any person carrying me would be comfier too.

Keroli gives me a strange look as if asking how, but then just lightly shakes her head instead of saying anything.

"Well, either way, claiming that castle will earn us all of what the demons that made it have stored inside. It's the perfect route to winning."

"If they can store a lot inside, then it's a shitty castle." I grumble under my breath.

Storage isn't what a castle is built for. Having large, open spaces inside would just make the whole structure more fragile.

But, I guess that will make Keroli's job all the more easy. I'll just sit back and watch, I guess. I don't think Keroli will let me go at the moment anyway.

Yeah, I can get away, but there's no point in it. And I'm curious about how this little war this girl wants to wage will go.

Keroli just ignores my whispered comment and continues looking at the castle in the distance, determination in her expression.

Jazz POV

Yes! This is perfect!

My and Allocer's plan has been going well and we've gathered a lot of ingredients. Creating a fake turn-in booth to fool fools into giving me their stuff is such a great strategy!

Our mentor gave me the perfect weapon to make it possible, a magical mask that lets me disguise myself perfectly so I can pretend to be someone I'm not. In this case, one of the demons that are responsible for accepting ingredients and updating competitors' scores.

Allocer has been leading people right to me, while I sit here and do my job.

I've even snagged a few demons that just happened to walk by and spot me, taking all their stuff with them being none the wiser. This is all just too perfect and easy!

*SLAM*

I jump from the loud noise of something suddenly slamming into the ground right in front of my little set-up. Readying myself to possibly fight some crazy beast, I stare at the cloud of dirt whatever the hell it is just kicked up with its impact.

As the dust clears, I finally spot what crazy thing just showed up outta nowhere.

Damn, that's a Licorice-whip Bear! That's worth 1,500 points!

And, standing on top of the thing's neck is a blue-haired little kid.

Wait, that's Rimuru…

Or one of her small clone things, I think. I know she can make those, but they weren't this small the last time I saw one. This clone-Rimuru is tiny yet still a menace. That's even more terrifying…

She looks at me with her golden eyes, still standing on top of the defeated monster, and takes a bite out of one of the whip-like tentacles coming out of its back.

I just need to play it cool and she'll hand it over… you can do this, Jazz!

Rimuru can be scary, but I'm perfectly disguised, so there's no way I can fail! I've fooled dozens of others already, so some kid version of my classmate should be no problem!

"Hello there! You should turn that in for some points before someone tries to take it from you. I can help you with that right here!" I call out to Rimuru, keeping my voice calm and cheery even though I'm jittering with excitement and a bit of nervousness.

If I fail here, Rimuru won't let me get away with it, I know that. Not during this competition, but after; I'll pay the price. Hell, I might get an earful from her either way when she figures out that I won while playing the deception game with one of her copies, but a strategy like this is fair game in the Harvest Festival.

Rimuru looks me up and down and takes another bite out of the licorice in her little hand.

"What're you trying to pull, Jazz?" she gruffly asks in her high-pitched voice.

Wh-what!? She can tell who I am!?

My stomach sinks with dread, but I'm not giving up!

"U-uh… I'm not trying to pull anything, I'm just doing my job and accepting ingredients from competitors. And who is this 'Jazz' you're talking about?"

"Your eyes are the wrong color. Nice try, though." Rimuru points out with a little giggle.

"My… eyes?" Does this stupid mask not change my eye color? Why didn't Allocer let me know!?

He's been my partner in this scheme, so he should've noticed! Now I look like a total idiot!

But, at the same time, I've managed to fool a ton of other demons. I'm smarter than them, just not Rimuru. Even when it's just a little clone of her, she out-clevers me, I guess.

Then, while I'm still left surprised, Rimuru casually yanks off the rest of the tentacles, rolls them up in her hands, and starts walking away, having already lost interest in me.

"Oh… and everybody should know who you are. Our class is famous now, remember? Pretending not to know who one of us is just makes you seem more suspicious." Rimuru comments, briefly looking over her shoulder at me.

"Th-thanks…"