Veldora, Ramiris, and Milim are on Rimuru's Naughty List and try to earn their way off it.

Happy Holidays everyone-I hope everyone has a peaceful holiday season, especially with how bad things are. I'm sorry I haven't been posting that much but hopefully this upcoming year I'll be able to write more.

The slime pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes tight before he looked at the destroyed buildings around him "Okay," he took a deep breath "Does anyone want to tell me what happened?"

The trio kneeling in front of him looked down and he could feel his eye twitch, especially when a peculiar duo came around the corner and just stared at the devastation. Dino's jaw dropped and Treyni looked like she was about to congratulate Ramiris until she saw the sweat dripping from the fairy's brow.

"Hmm? Anyone?" Rimuru repeated causing the group to sweat more. Turning to his last resort, the slime asked "Beretta?"

The doll looked conflicted for a moment before sighing "Lady Ramiris was looking for a scientific discovery. For the prize money, of course."

"Of course…" Rimuru parroted. Internally, he grumbled that adding a reward for new discoveries should have brought new ideas pouring in not… this!

Beretta continued "And she decided to push the real limits of the magitrain batteries instead of abiding by the theoretical ones. She promised to split the money with Lord Veldora and Lady Milim decided it would be 'fun.' They were able to bring the overcharged batteries this far before they…detonated."

It was saying a lot that instead of glaring at Beretta, the trio just kept their heads down.

Rimuru made his decision "Alright. You three are on the Naughty List."

Alice, poking her head out from behind a nearby building, gasped "The naughty list means no Christmas presents!"

It was only now, that the troublesome trio realized the extent of their mistake and protests came pouring out as they tried to talk over each other- "What do you mean no presents?!" "Rimuru, I promise this is just a misunderstanding! Yeah, j-just a misunderstanding!" "C'mon! You don't have to go that far!" "I promise I'll be good! No more trouble, nope, none at all!"

With a slashing gesture Rimuru silenced them before holding up his index finger "It's one month until Christmas. You have one month to get off my naughty list. 30 days. If you can't, I'll lock you in Floor 100's control room until the end of the party. If you want to watch others have fun you can but that's all you'll get out of it!"

At this point, the dragon, the dragonoid, the pixie, the dryad, the fallen, and the kids were staring at him mouth agape. Dino's muttered "Now that's just cruel" was far louder than he meant it and he immediately slapped his hand over his mouth.

Turning his back on the distraught trio, Rimuru spoke to the others "Alright, kids, sorry to cut our outing short but I need you to go back for right now, just until we get this mess cleaned up, and Dino, come with me."

The fallen's face showed his fear "But I didn't do anything!"

Rimuru gave a puzzled look "I know. I need you for something else."

Relief flooded Dino's entire posture "Oh, okay."

As Dino led the kids back to their quarters, Rimuru tossed a few words over his shoulder to the troublemakers "Oh, and you're not allowed to tell anyone you're on the naughty list."

There were a few sobs that he took as an answer before following the little gaggle of otherworlders. After dropping the kids off, Dino finally got the courage to ask "So what do you need me for?"

Rimuru's answer was "This" as he held up an envelope.

"Uh…boss, this being…what?"

"It's an invitation for Guy to come to the Christmas party. I want you to take it to him-more like deliver it to him however you send him your spy info." It was half awkward to talk about Dino as a spy but everyone else was just so open with it that it just happened.

"Wait, wait." Dino's response was the most energetic the slime had ever seen the Fallen "You want me to pass along an invitation? To Guy? To come here? For the Christmas Party? With tons of visitors all over the place?"

Rimuru nodded with an indulgent smile at every question "Yes Dino, that's why I asked."

"Oh…um, can I ask why?"

Only now did the smile fall and Dino could see a little bit into the mind behind it "Guy isn't so much an ally as a non-aggressive entity. I figure that bringing him here would show him what we have to offer. As for when everyone is here, well, there's a few answers to that: one, I want him to see us in full swing, two, I think it will help him blend in a bit, three, it might discourage some action from him and the other demons, and four…it might discourage some assassins. If they try to attack Guy, he's going to retaliate and probably damage a few buildings in the process."

The cogs in Dino's head were turning "What do you mean it might discourage some assassins? Wouldn't him being in the open, like, make him a target?"

"Dino, we both know people can be stupid, but how stupid would they need to be to attack someone with every primordial demon here, almost all the Octogram, and True Dragons?"

After opening his mouth to answer and pausing for nearly a full minute, Dino slowly nodded as he closed his mouth "Yeah, I guess you're right. They probably wouldn't survive."

Now it was Rimuru's turn to counter with a devious look "No. They would survive. They'd be captured probably pretty easily with all the power flying around."

"Uh…yeah. I'll, uh, send this to him right now." Rimuru allowed Dino to beat his hasty retreat with some dignity before mentally shifting gears to deal with his latest problem.

He did the most in character thing he could have "Eh, I'll deal with it tomorrow."

Although Mollie would pass the message out to all the businesses in Tempest, the major players of Tempest's economy as well as several of the highest-ranking members sat in a large room waiting for Rimuru's important announcement, one he said they needed to hear ASAP.

When he did enter the room, something became very apparent to the audience-he was fed up with someone, he turned back to the door after shifting from his slime from into his human one and pointed through the opening and ordered "No. We are not discussing this. You made your problem, now you get to fix it."

After a moment, Rimuru closed the door with a sigh and his other hand coming up to rub his eyes. One of the merchants was brave enough to ask "Sir Rimuru…are you okay?"

It took a reassuring smile for the merchants to feel better "I'm alright Koby, I'll explain everything in a second." Moving to the front of the room, the leader of the country started "Alright, to keep things short and simple, the explosion yesterday was the fault of Veldora, Ramiris, and Milim. The destruction has already been repaired and any damaged goods have been repaired or replaced. But the problem is that this can't go on. So, a month before Christmas, I've put them on the naughty list."

There were gasps around the room as they realized how serious he was which began building into a roaring mass. At least until Shuna clapped her hands with a gentle but unquestionable authority "Please calm yourselves, Lord Rimuru was not finished."

"Thanks Shuna. Anyways, here's why I wanted to talk to everyone. I'm giving them a chance to work their way off the naughty list, they'll have to do good deeds and work with the people of Tempest. But there are two catches." he held up two fingers "First is that you can't approach them, they have to come to you."

The majority who were thinking of using a connection to the trio as a way to get closer to Rimuru were shut down by that, the rest quickly followed as he gave the second catch "And unlike every other time, any damage they cause will not be covered by Tempest Insurance. Business with them will be considered 'at your own risk.' So, keep that in mind before you say yes to them. With that being said, any questions?"

The room was dead silent as almost everyone wondered the same thing-would they get off the naughty list in time? With these odds stacked against them? Shuna looked around the room before adding "I understand that this weighs heavily on some of you, but this is for their own growth as much as it is for our benefit. Please keep that in mind."

Rimuru nodded "Right, and I don't want anyone to tell the three of them what we talked about. I'll talk to them about it myself." With the business over, it was only a few minutes before the merchants went back to their work, but for a lot of them, the situation was impossible to ignore.

In fact, it became the talk of almost every tavern within a few hours.

An elf merchant sat across from his goblin counterpart and shivered "I was thinking that I might take on one of them if they asked but…not having that insurance…for the amount of destruction they cause…"

The goblin shrugged her slight shoulders as she lifted her mug to drink "I forget that you weren't here when Tempest was founded. That was a lot more chaotic than this."

The elf shivered "I…don't like the idea of that."

Catching the last drops of beer on her tongue, the goblin snorted "That's what it was. Now, that isn't to say that I don't like that things have calmed down, I do, but I remember what happened."

The elf stared at her "I…don't particularly like how calm you are with this."

The goblin laughed before leaning over and putting her hand over her boyfriend's "One thing you learn about Lord Rimuru is that it might not be pretty, it might be a bit rough, but he takes care of us."

However, as wonderful as the blossoming relationship between the two merchants of different races was, there were problems to be dealt with.

Rimuru sat on the couch and stared at Veldora, Ramiris, and Milim kneeling on the floor with a steady gaze "After this morning's…fiasco," referring to Ramiris trying to get off the list by handing out a lot of treasures in the dungeon "I've decided that nothing in the dungeon counts."

There was a long uncomfortable silence as the trio stared at the ground that was only broken by a knock on the door, but with Rimuru already having told his staff that this was an important meeting…

Against his better judgement, Rimuru spoke "Come in.

Shuna inclined her head as she stepped into the room "Forgive me Lord Rimuru, but Lady Frey is here asking for Lady Milim…" her tone was apologetic and told the slime that the harpy wasn't letting this go.

Holding back a sigh, Rimuru nodded and the harpy walked into the room with a proud stride "I'm here to take Milim back, she's been skipping out on too many of her lessons."

She had barely taken a step to get her charge/master when she heard the simple "No."

She turned to see the usually jovial slime watching at her blandly "Excuse me?"

"I said 'no.' Before I let her go, she needs to repay the damages she caused this time. If I let her go, then she can weasel her way into the Christmas party with no repercussions. She needs to work her way off the naughty list first."

Frey's reason took a minor leave of absence. It was the simple fact that a male was talking to her like that, one she felt to be Milim's equal-Frey's student's equal. It was this false parallel that made her anger flare and unleash her power. It was a flare that made the kneeling trio flinch, it always made Carrilion fold.

To the Chaos Bringer, it was nothing. The only sign that Rimuru even noticed was him lifting a brow making his face the picture of "Really?"

After a moment, Frey reigned herself in with several calming breaths-that and remembering that the slime in front of her could eat her and be done with it. Being calmer allowed Frey to notice some things, like Milim peeking under her bangs to stare at Frey, practically pleading for Frey to get her off the hook. As much as the harpy wanted to just ignore the slime…she realized she needed to hear him out.

The group looked at her as she addressed Rimuru "Alright," she started "What would let me take her back?"

His answer was immediate "Her getting off the Naughty List."

Frey tried again "What would get her off the Naughty List now?"

He had another immediate answer "Her paying her share of the Tempest Insurance."

Feeling a bit hopeful, the Harpy Queen asked "And that would be…?"

The slime leaned back in his chair and the look on his face told Frey that the out she had seen wasn't going to happen. He started "Let's divide the entirely of the Tempest Insurance spending into six." Pointing at Veldora and Ramiris, Rimuru tallied "Together they make about a sixth of spending." He added two more fingers "General accidents, fights, whatever random destruction that happens when you get a town full of monsters is another two parts." He pointed straight to Milim "She is the other half. Ramiris and Veldora's antics are usually limited to the labyrinth but her's aren't."

Frey offered "So what is the price for half of the Tempest Insurance fund?"

She was thankful she hadn't been served any tea because she would have spit it out "Two Stellars a month."

Agog at the answer Frey barely parroted "Two Stellar coins…a month?"

Rimuru nodded "Yes, which is exactly why you can see us getting a bit testy."

Milim finally spoke up, almost cheerfully "I have a bunch of those, don't I Frey?"

This time the harpy was on the slime's side "At two a month, you'll be out very quickly, especially if the fund has to expand." Taking another breath, Frey bit the bullet "You're going to have to work your way off this 'Naughty List' yourself, or else you won't be able to afford coming to play."

The wail of anguish reverberated through the city like the haunting cries of a banshee.

With Milim's attempt to skip the Naughty List, Rimuru had taken the time to remind them that they were on the list because of their stunts…which had been embarrassing but also (finally) a bit reflective for the trio. But that led back to their original problem-who would let them work their way off the list?

Veldora had quickly burned through a lot of good will trying to help the security divisions…and blowing up multiple buildings, even though that's what got him in trouble in the first place. Ramiris had been partially successful in helping the scientist living within the labyrinth…until Rimuru pointed out that a) this was partially in the dungeon and b) that this was part of her self-assigned duties. Milim had been the least successful with everyone she approached very politely (and fearfully) declining her services.

The trio was currently commiserating in Veldora's room with the owner of said room sitting on the couch slumped over "I tried to hold myself back but the thief started running! It's not my fault he needed a potion after I punched him."

Ramiris let out a "Yeah!" with a punch in the air before crumpling a bit "Well, I, uh, still haven't thought of anything."

The door opened and their slime friend entered with Benimaru on his heels. Immediately, Veldora whined "Rimuru! The Naughty List is too cruel!"

Milim's pigtails bounced as she nodded as fast as she could "Yeah! You gotta take us off!"

Rimuru looked at Ramiris, but the pixie was fluttering around and sputtering but getting nothing out. He let them continue for a minute until he asked "Even if I put in extra work to help you guys get off yourselves?"

There was chorus of 'huh?' before the slime continued "I'll have my hands full working keeping Guy out of trouble so I can't be the one to help you but I've worked extra hard to pull someone to be a coordinator. Their job is going to be to help you guys get the jobs to get off the Naughty List. Now, fair warning, this is the only thing I'll be doing for you guys and you only get one shot at this so give this a real try." Benimaru looked down to hide his smile-he knew that Rimuru would do and had done a lot more for them but it was a white lie to get them to try to figure things out on their own.

Ramiris was, surprisingly, the first to recover. She took a deep breath before nodding "Alright."

Milim gave a strong nod with her uncle following her lead before he asked "So…why is Benimaru here?"

Now it was Rimuru's turn to be curious-or rather, suspicious. He gave a side-eye glance to the oni "I'm not quite sure but he really was adamant about coming down with me."

The general defended himself with a shrug "I wanted to see how you were doing-with the destruction that you've caused we've had to tap plenty of my own men into repairs."

Coming from someone that he respected other than his sworn brother, the dragon shrunk a bit "Ah," he started awkwardly "yes…about that…" as he stumbled for an excuse he ended lamely "I've got nothing."

Rimuru turned to his general and shrugged "Alright, I'm going back."

As soon as the slime disappeared, Benimaru's demeanor turned to panic and he rushed the trio to throw his hands down onto the table. They jerked away at the utter fear in his eyes "Listen to me!" he whispered frantically "You have to listen to whatever she tells you to do, if you don't-"

He was cut off by the door opening again and the coordinator casting a long shadow that fell over the quartet. The soft voice fluttered around the hand in front of her mouth but there was no mistaking the power behind that voice. And the anger.

"Dear brother, what are you doing down here?"

Benimaru swallowed thickly "Ah, I was just checking on them. I, uh, wanted to let them know that their antics had me pulling men away from guarding the city."

Shuna let out a 'hmm' that told everyone that she didn't believe him and he retreated to the side of the room. The ogre princess stepped forward and her usually smiling eyes were filled with ice "Let me be clear, Sir Rimuru has overworked himself very hard in order to free up my schedule so I could work with you on this endeavor." Her eyes snapped to the side as Benimaru tried to make a sneaky rush out the door. She ignored him in favor of continuing to terrorize the trio in front of her "I am giving up my valuable time-valuable time with Sir Rimuru, in order to help you out of problems of your own making. In case this was not clear, I am not amused. I will take this seriously but I will do nothing outside of what was asked and if you still fail to escape the Naughty List then you will bear the punishment. Do you understand?"

The first to break through their paralysis and answer was Veldora with a pitiful squeak "Y-Yes ma'am." Shuna stared at the other two who followed suit with their answer.

Their new coordinator nodded "Very well. Tomorrow we will start. I expect you to follow my instructions to the letter, am I clear?"

There was another squeaked 'yes ma'am' before Shuna spun on her heel and left.

As soon as she left the room, Ramiris whispered "Holy crap! That was terrifying!"

Veldora nodded frantically while Milim muttered "Didn't know she could get that angry…"

The three of them fell into silence before Ramiris spoke up with the plainest but most powerful statement of their situation "Guys, I think we messed up."

And as scared as they were of Shuna in that moment, they were more scared about what would happen if they didn't show up on time…whenever that was.

Waiting for the princess in front of Rimuru's office was nerve wracking but when Shuna did show up, she seemed to be in a better mood, something they were thankful for and not going to comment on. "I have a list of all your past attempts," she started "and it is clear that you have burned through a lot of goodwill during this. Today I will introduce you and allow your supervisors to teach you what you will be doing so you can start tomorrow. Follow me."

And with that brisk introduction, the dragon, dragon-hybrid, and spirit queen followed Shuna, first quite a way out of town before they found a group of high orcs working on laying the stones for a road. One of them called out "Boss! Lady Shuna's here!"

One of the orcs stood up with a disappointed frown on his face before he walked over to the group and bowed his head slightly. Shuna turned to the dragon "You will be working here under this manager. His name is Toffrey and he was named by Lord Carrillion some time ago before he moved here."

Veldora puffed his chest "You have the mighty storm dragon here! What shall I be doing? Clearing the way with my magic? Protecting you from beasts and thieves?"

Toffrey snorted "Laying stone."

Veldora instantly wilted "Huh?"

"Laying stone. We're building a road. Levelers already came through. We lay stone." He spoke slowly, simply, and briefly like he was trying to explain what they were doing to a small child.

Whatever Veldora said after that was lost as Shuna lead Milim and Ramiris back to town, their fear of Shuna rapidly growing along with their fear of what jobs she had chosen for them.

As she led them to the research levels of the labyrinth, Shuna explained "I have received permission from Lord Rimuru to negate the no labyrinth activity clause-and have found an activity for you, Lady Milim."

Milim let out a nervous laugh "Heh, um, and what would that be?"

Instead of answering, Shuna opened a door leading to a room full of overcomers-those strange vampires who had conquered the sun, and their…eclectic leader. Said leader surged forward and grabbed Milim's hand and shook it vigorously "Oh Lady Milim! Thank you so much for helping us! You have no idea how hard it was to find something on this level!"

With a broken smile full of dread, she asked "And…and what am I doing for you?"

The vampire's smile was too large and only served to make him look manic "Running, of course!" he moved to a large sheet and pulled it off dramatically to reveal the device. Even Ramiris couldn't tease Milim over the dead look on her face at the sight of the giant hamster wheel.

When Shuna took over the explanation, Milim felt a chill run down her spine at the utter…cheer that was in her smile "Lady Milim. You started something very interesting." That phrase alone made Milim very, very afraid "You see, the destruction you caused with the battery was far beyond what was expected, meaning that the battery in question held more power than we thought. So, you will run to charge the batteries, they will either reach full charge or explode, new batteries will be attached, and the cycle will repeat."

Ramiris, the last of the unfortunate trio, was hauled off just as Milim's shriek of being manhandled into the wheel echoed through the halls of the labyrinth. Fear gripped the Spirit Queen's heart as she was put squarely into the Oni's focus and forced into her bitter mercies. "Uh…" Ramiris took a breath "I don't like to admit this but you got me good and scared."

For the first time since she had been announced as their coordinator, Shuna showed a bit of softness to one of the trio "I also would not like to admit it, but fear is effective for the others." She hardened "But do not take that to mean that I will be any more lenient with you."

The usually headstrong Ramiris sighed and slumped "I don't expect you to be."

Shuna gave some assurance "I do have a different task for you. While it is not as…invasive as the others, you will be required to work for it, rather than rely on your innate abilities." Stopping at a small street stall, Shuna continued "During your activities, you will not be allowed to go by your name, rather, you will be called 'Iris' in order to minimize confusion."

Accepting the terms as stoically as the spirit queen could, she nodded "Alright. What next?"

Holding up a dango skewer, Shuna replied easily "A treat."

"Oh…okay." Not questioning the good fortune, Ramiris took the offered treat and stuffed her face. She had no clue they were waiting for her task until a young goblin ran up to Shuna to deliver a message.

Shuna turned to her companion and nodded "Alright, finish up and we'll be on our way."

Barely managing to get legible words through the food crammed into her mouth, Ramiris asked "Can you tell me what's going on?"

Threading through the crowded streets was easy for the two residents of Tempest's biggest city "Lord Rimuru is always looking for helpful crafts to bring to the city, the latest one is net weaving-something we as forest residents have not developed heavily. However, your charge is to escort and assist a master weaver for a period of time." Shuna stopped and made pointed eye contact with the fairy "This master weaver is a personal guest of Lord Rimuru. Do not disrespect his name." Failing to fight back shivers, the fairy nodded "Lady Hemma is also blind, which is part of the reason why she is being given so much extra assistance. The other part is she resided in Lady Valentine's territory and, therefore, unaccustomed to monsters. You are to help smooth over any complications that arise."

It was clear that Shuna had her concerns over the sudden unavoidable contact with monster, especially someone raised in the old doctrine of the Church. Ramiris couldn't blame her, especially after hearing stories of the outbreak of Clayman's war.

However, Shuna's worries were unfounded as when the duo approached where Hemma was waiting, they saw something very curious that boded very well for the master weaver.

Hemma's entourage was purely human and they were unmistakably nervous as they waited in the monster city-all were nervous except Hemma herself who sat on a box and listened to the bustling city around them.

Then a monster approached. Geld had noticed the group waiting and made his way over. The guards were on edge as they stared up at the Barrier Lord and realized if he wanted to do something, there was nothing they could do to stop it. The citizens of the city were anxious because if the guards did something, there was little they could do without damaging the reputation they had built up among the human communities.

Geld knelt in front of Hemma and took in her appearance, she was very thin, very small, and markedly older than he expected-most likely in her late 70's. He spoke softly "I'm sorry to bother you miss, but I noticed you've been here awhile. Is there something I could do to help? Maybe somewhere I could help you find?"

Giving a bright smile, Hemma giggled girlishly "My aren't you kind!" she said emphatically "Thank you for the offer but I've been asked to wait here by my host Mister…?" she held out her hand.

Taking the offer, Geld very gently shook her hand "Geld. Just Geld."

Hemma nodded "Well then Mr. Geld, could I please keep your hand for a moment?"

Now curious as to what she meant; Geld replied "Of course."

Hemma turned his hand palm up, a palm so much bigger than hers that both her hands could fit in it, and ran her fingers lightly over his skin "Hmm…very calloused, very tough. Very difficult and demanding work. But a very soft grip. If I was to wager a guess…a very hard-working builder but also very kind."

One of the high orcs that was with Geld nodded "The hardest worker and the kindest!" Cheers of agreement went up from almost everyone watching the scene.

Quietly, Hemma asked underneath the cheers "I've been told that 'Geld' is the name of the leader of the High Orcs and one of the Demon Lord's closest confidants, would that be you?"

There was a faint blush across his cheeks as he answered "You make me sound far more important than I am, Miss."

Hemma giggled "Nonsense! But thank you for looking out for me."

Geld nodded "May I ask who are you waiting for?"

Shuna stepped in "That would be us. Forgive me for the wait, we didn't want to interrupt." Offering a quick bow to Geld, she continued "Thank you for waiting Lady Hemma. I would like to introduce you to your helper while you adjust to the city."

There was an uncomfortable silence until Shuna lightly elbowed Ramiris "Oh! Hi there, I'm Iris and I'll be helping ya'! I may be a pixie but I get stuff done!" she flexed her non-existent muscles making the group giggle.

Hemma inclined her head "Alright then Miss Iris, I'm looking for where I'll be staying."

That prompted Shuna to hand Ramiris a piece of paper "This note should have all the addresses that Lady Hemma should need, if you need anything else, come to Lord Rimuru's office. One final thing, when you finish for the day, come report to me before returning home."

Ramiris didn't need to see the look in Shuna's eyes to understand that this was important and answered with the same gravity "I will." Shuna searched the pixie for a moment before nodding and returning to her duties.

Deep in the labyrinth three dead people sat around the table, two with their heads flat against the surface and the other entirely sprawled across the wood. Veldora groaned "We laid miles of stone. Miles…"

Ramiris grunted "I didn't think taking care of someone could be so tough…" she added "I like her but ugh."

Milim didn't lift her head from the table "Af leaf yeh dnn efflode."

Her uncle stared at her "What?"

Milim's head snapped up causing the others to jump at the soot staining her face "At least you didn't explode." Her eyes watered "They made me run until 14 batteries exploded! I was at the center every time!"

Floating sluggishly, Ramiris patted Milim's back "Alright, let's get cleaned up. We're back to it tomorrow." There were noises of dread as they shuffled to the hot springs with the realization that those pools of water were going to be their best friends for a couple of days…

They were only half right. The hot springs did help. But they also hurt. A lot.

The next morning, they stood in front of Rimuru's office waiting for Shuna who appeared almost majestically before nodding-her sign for allowing them to continue their attempts to work their way off the Naughty List. Then, without a word, they broke. Veldora back to the crew, Milim back to the lab, and Ramiris to the master weaver's home.

As his non-official secretary returned to the office, Rimuru looked up from the paperwork "They seem to be doing well."

Shuna nodded "I spoke to all three of their supervisors yesterday evening and it appears that they are doing better than expected." There was a slight hesitation "I must admit that I was a bit leery of the placements but they do seem to be working out."

The slime nodded "I hope it does." He continued writing for a moment before asking "You're nervous. Is everything okay?"

Taking a deep breath, Shuna asked "Why did you ask for those specific placements?"

Rimuru sat back in his chair and responded with his own question "What would you say if I told you it was their…'sin', not the best term but close enough?"

"…I cannot say I would understand."

Gracing his friend with a soft smile, he explained "For this to work I needed certain things-Veldora needed someone that didn't bow to him (or take advantage of him, or hate him, or beat him up like his sisters). Milim needed something that had direct repercussions from her actions."

Shuna interrupted lightly "What about Lady Ramiris?"

"That one was difficult," Rimuru admitted "But I think hers is that she needs to prove herself. I wanted to see if it was tied to being the Spirit Queen/demon lord or just being, well, herself."

"And this is a chance to test that…how?"

"If Ramiris keeps it to a minimum then it's probably about her insecurities-she knows she doesn't have a lot of power on her own right now, but if she still acts the same then it's more than that and I'll have to use more…extreme measures."

Across town a certain pixie shuddered in fear.

"I see the logic in such placements, although I do feel that this could turn out…less than ideally."

Rimuru burst out laughing "Of course it could turn out bad! We're talking about three superpowered children running around that we've just told to behave! And I can't even be the one watching them since I'm trying to keep Guy and his entourage from tearing everything up in their curiosity!" While Rimuru continued laughing Shuna felt a slight trickle of fear at the mental state of her resident demon lord.

That night saw the trio again face down on the wooden table. The scenario was the same but the problems were different…well, there were new problems on top of the old ones. This one started a bit differently with Ramiris sighing heavily into the wood grain "I can't believe how many people tried to take advantage of a blind lady! Like what the heck!"

That got Veldora to sit up and blink "Really?"

Ramiris had a very uncharacteristic snarl on her face "Yeah! Like they were telling her supplies were really expensive! If I wasn't there things could have been bad!"

The two dragons looked at each other with slight concern-there was no bragging in that statement, only fact, which was uncharacteristic for the littlest demon lord. But that got Veldora to see Milim's face and he made the semi-astute observation "Hey, you don't have as much soot on your face."

Milim snorted "No because their machine blew up! If it hadn't, I'd still be on that wheel!" whatever joy she was feeling quickly tanked as she continued "But they're rebuilding it so I'm back to it tomorrow…"

Ramiris finally asked "Master, what about you?"

The Storm Dragon sighed and let his head fall back to the wood "It's just been putting stone slabs down, one at a time for miles and miles…it's boring and repetitive." He snorted "At least I don't get tired like the rest of the crew."

There was a companionable silence before Milim asked "Are we getting rewarded for good behavior yet?"

Strangely, Ramiris was the responsible one "No, because we're still getting punished for bad behavior."

The third evening had the group in front of Rimuru's office with Shuna as she announced "I have some information." Milim swallowed audibly in fear "As of today, with two weeks remaining in the period before Christmas, all of you have made strides to work your way off the list."

The trio nearly cheered before Shuna continued "But, none of you are off the list yet. And we will be less and less lenient towards your actions from here on out. Now, are there any questions?" the troublemakers were silent-not because they had no questions but because they were frozen at the news. Shuna finished "Then you have the rest of the day for yourselves."

It was a few hours later when Benimaru somehow found himself sitting in Veldora's room with said dragon, his niece, and the Spirit Queen. The general looked down at the cup of tea in his hand and asked his question out loud "How…how did I get here? I remember seeing Shuna walking away from you three, going back into the office…coming out and the three of you were still there…then Beretta inviting me for tea. How…?" he trailed off.

He was promptly ignored. Milim's voice was just shy of yelling "How do you live with her? She scares me more than Frey!"

Benimaru blinked "My sister?"

Pink pigtails cracked like whips as Milim's head bounced around in a near hyper-speed nod "Yeah!"

The general stared into his tea for a minute before starting "Well, the first thing is don't make her mad. The second thing is figure out what projects she's working on so you can stay out of her way…so you don't make her mad. Uh, third would be listen to her." He gave an apologetic shrug "That's really all I can think of. As long as she isn't mad at you, she's pretty easygoing. But get her mad and it's rough."

Veldora's bland "We've noticed" did nothing to deter Benimaru.

"And to be fair, you really did walk into things."

Ramiris took her tiny tea cup from Beretta and asked "Whadda mean by that?"

He scratched his head, carefully avoiding his horns "Well, the three of you do have a habit of destroying things. I'm not sure why you didn't think it would escalate, especially with Sir Rimuru growing more and more strict about it. And eventually it started eating into her already limited time with him-after all, the stuff with Guy is running him pretty hard. And that made her mad, simple as that."

Veldora said sheepishly "When you say it like that…"

Benimaru shrugged "From the outside, at least, that's what it looks like."

Ramiris asked "So what do we do to get back on her good side?"

"I think…your best bet is to just do what she asks and get off the Naughty List. It proves that she wasn't wasting her time…which would piss her off even more." The general said hesitantly.

Milim's eye started twitching and she slammed her head back onto the table. Even muffled by the wood, her words were pretty clear "Should have just paid the coins…"

Sympathy was in short supply, unfortunately.

As Beretta served more tea, he spoke "I believe that Sir Benimaru is right, Lady Shuna likes so have tangible signs of her work and by getting off the list of your own merit, minus her assistance, will probably improve her mood and view of you."

"I…I didn't think about it like that," Veldora admitted.

Taking a sip, Benimaru summed up the talk "You have your path."

Not one to let such an insult go, Veldora teased "So is that what you said to your wives?"

It was worth the tea shower, even if it did come out of his nose.

Things took an interesting turn a few days later. Veldora was working with the crew laying more slabs than he ever thought existed when the forest around them exploded into a frenzy of activity. Suddenly the crew found themselves surrounded by thieves. The sheer 'are-you-kidding-me-do-you-even-know-what-you're-doing' that the crew managed to exude should have been applauded but the thieves were too busy patting themselves on the back for what they viewed as a successful plan.

Toffrey turned around and looked at his crew with a silent 'you know what's going on?'

The high orcs shrugged in response with the unspoken 'hell if I know' being the collective response.

Then Toffrey turned to Veldora and jerked his thumb over his shoulder in the universal 'you know these clowns?'

The dragon spread his hands with a shrug that replied 'no clue'.

The human thief grinned as he waved a short knife in the air "You're surrounded! Now give us all your stuff!"

Toffrey snorted "I seen some strong humans…you ain't them. You also picked the wrong damn group t' try to steal from-this crew here's punishment for 'excessive violence'."

The human, still smirking feigned fear "Oh no, what will we do! Pigs standing up to us!" his ragtag band of ill-equipped bandits started laughing.

In a move very mature of him, Veldora groaned and stepped forward to barely bop the leader on the head-a move that knocked him unconscious before he asked in a voice that conveyed just how annoyed he was "Anyone else? I really don't have time to deal with this but let's get it over with…"

Before anyone could respond, the security force used the distraction to surround the bandits and while the high orcs didn't intimidate the bandits, the starwolves did, it helped that the bandits' eyes were level with the bottom jaw of the wolves which gave them a very good view of the many large teeth the wolves had.

With near mechanical precision, Toffrey immediately called out "Alright boys! Group one and two get the gear packed up, group three and four, help the security boys disarm the prisoners! We're moving out in ten!" Veldora stepped to the side as orcs darted around him before he moved to his duty as part of group four.

Veldora's debriefing was quick, partly because there wasn't a lot for him to say, and partly because Toffrey had given them the rest of the day off and the dragon wanted to get back to lounging. Shuna, however, was taking her time gathering information before reporting back "Sir Rimuru…may I make a suggestion?"

The slime's bouncy body bobbed in his chair "Of course, what's up?"

Although she didn't look too sure of what she was asking, Shuna pressed forward "I believe they have earned their way off the Naughty List-all of them. Between Sir Veldora defending the crew, Lady Ramiris protecting and guiding her charge, and Lady Milim going through with her punishment, they all have done what we have asked."

Shifting to his human form, Rimuru nodded "Yup, I've been keeping an eye on them myself and I agree…" there was a mischievous smirk on his face "buuuut I'd rather wait to let them know-just to keep them out of trouble. I'll give them the good news before the party."

Shuna giggled into her hand "That is a…respectable idea."

The day before Christmas Eve was a working day for the trio. They were exhausted, a bit scared that they wouldn't make it off the List, and heading to what they felt was an execution. Rimuru stepped into Veldora's room and stared at the trio "Okay, you all look ragged."

Veldora's voice was muffled by the muffin in his mouth "Those orcs push hard."

Chuckling, Rimuru agreed "Oh yeah, they're trying to work like Geld after all."

Milim grabbed the towel around her neck and wiped her face with it to get rid of any soot that survived her bath, imaginary or not "So if you're here does that mean…?"

"I've come to a decision."

Suddenly the trio almost didn't want to know his answer, but Ramiris pushed on "Okay, and?"

"First, I wanted to tell you guys what's going to happen after Christmas. Veldora, I won't force you back to the crew, they said they didn't need anybody to replace you but would be more than happy if you wanted to join them at the bar. Milim, the experiment you were in is over, you don't have to go back-probably the news you wanted to hear was they tore apart the wheel." Milim let out a cheer and leapt into the air with joy. "Ramiris, Hemma's daughters are coming here so they'll be helping her instead. You're free to go back to the dungeon full time."

Before they got a chance to relax, Rimuru continued "Judgement…you pass."

Milim froze "All of us?"

"All of you," the slime nodded.

There was an earsplitting cheer from the group as Rimuru walked over to hand them their tickets for the party before he warned "Don't lose those or they won't let you in." his smile faded as he gave a second warning "And now that you've been through your little…punishment, keep yourselves in check or I'll give Shuna more control than I did this time."

The gleeful dancing of the trio stopped and Veldora asked "Y-you're joking…right?"

Rimuru started whistling as he turned and walked out of the room. Totally ignoring the nearly crying dragon behind him "Rimuru, you're joking right? Right? Right?!"