Rimuru's POV

I flopped into bed after that incredibly long day, and let myself feel the sweet embrace of unconsciousness. I even had a dream of a pleasant day on the beach with Ciel and was notified the moment I woke up that the dream was actually a quest reward for all the stuff I did the day before.

I smiled softly since I knew that must've really been her there with me. So it was just as real as any day we'd have actually spent together.

I was so happy leaving the dorm, and it seemed other people took notice and were unsettled by it. I didn't let their dour attitudes soil my happiness though.

Instead, I just headed out of the dorms and to the bathroom since I needed to speak with that ghost. Plus, I needed to make sure Hebi apologized before Myrtle left.

However, I ended up being stopped halfway there. A letter flew right into my face, and if I needed to breathe, it would have choked me.

I loudly groaned and tore it off my face before opening it, and getting mildly irritated when it flew out of my hand.

It began to speak loudly in an older woman's voice and said exactly. "Miss Rimuru Tempest, you are hereby summoned to attend a meeting in the headmaster's office during your lunch hour. Do not attempt to evade attending."

I heard a few murmurs from the others in the dorms, things like; "Rimuru's in trouble," "The headmaster is scary..," and even "Hopefully she gets expelled."

Kids are harsh, ya'know?

Once the letter fell to the floor, I quickly swiped it and shoved it into one of my uniform's pockets. After that, I jogged a bit to get to Myrtle's bathroom a little faster. I didn't wanna take too long, since being late to class might be troublesome.

I opened the door quietly, and quickly moved inside. I spent a good few moments checking the hallway with magic sense to make sure I wasn't followed, then I closed the door behind me.

Shortly afterward I found myself pushed to the floor by a ghost that was roughly 'my age,' and was greeted by an excited Myrtle. It was almost uncharacteristic. "Rimuru! You're back. I'm glad you didn't die before sending me to another life, I was worried you might die while you were gone. So I was worrying all night. I mean, sending someone to another life must be some crazy dark magic right? So the aurors must already be after-"

I placed my finger to her mouth to quiet her. "Calm down, calm down. We don't want anyone to hear us, alright?"

"You left on that spell that lets me touch you." She began getting touchy, repeatedly grabbing my shoulders to make sure the spell was still in effect.

"Quit that, please. I did, I thought it'd be rude to remove it." I got back to my feet and lifted her to her own.

"You're pretty strong Rimuru." She then paused for a moment. "Or well, I guess not. I don't weigh anything, do I?"

"You don't."

"Hehe. Neat. I've never really been able to figure that out." She walked back over to the sinks. "So, are you gonna go get that thing? I noticed a ton of magical presence pooling down there last night…"

"I should, yes. I don't wanna leave her alone either. I also want her to apologize to you." I walked back over to the sinks and quickly activated the spell to open them up.

"I won't forgive that thing." Myrtle frowned and glared harshly. It was surprisingly cute, despite her intentions, but that's probably what I should expect from a girl her age.

I sighed. "I didn't expect you to, okay? I'll be back in a little bit."

I waited for the tunnel to fully open up again and then hopped down once again. I didn't break my fall at all this time, so I ended up landing with a crunch.

"Blegh… Might take a while to pick the bones out of my shoes." I hoped that Hebi would be able to feed on my magicules instead, as I didn't like the idea of her making a bigger pile of bones somewhere.

Plus I wanted to figure out a way to take her back up to the dorms. She was too cute to leave down here, and I didn't fancy trying to fix the place up.

I shook off my thoughts, realizing I needed to hurry up, and walked through the tunnels to get to Hebi's chamber again.

It seemed most of the massive shed she'd made had withered into dust on the ground, and that included her old body.

I couldn't see her though, until I saw a tiny pair of yellow eyes peek out from the pile of dust, then a little head. It couldn't be bigger than the tip of my pinky, but I knew that was Hebi's new form.

A tiny little snake that looked small enough to fit in my palm.

"Master?" Hebi slithered out of the dust and onto one of the pieces of rubble near her previous hiding hole.

I quickly walked over and kneeled down to let her slither onto my palm, and up around my index finger. I always liked snakes, and she was especially cute in this form. She was only around twice as long as my finger, so she was able to wrap around it fully.

"Hebi. You're adorable." I was glad she was this small actually, because it meant I didn't need to leave her down here. She could easily be up in the dorm with me now. I could hide her pretty much anywhere at this size.

As I pet her head, she closed one of her eyes. It made me realize that she may actually be closer to a lizard than a snake since snakes don't have eyelids.

Her eyes were big and had taken on a more golden color rather than the original yellow, and it also seemed the alignment of her magicules changed a bit. They were a lot closer to mine now. Not as close as most of my subordinates, but close enough.

"Master, that is an embarrassing sentiment. I am still a powerful magical creature." She'd also gotten bolder speaking with me, which was a plus. "What was that voice that spoke to me when you named me? I've never heard of such a being."

"Haha. That was the Voice of the World, not this world, mine." It was always fun explaining this to new otherworlders, but explaining it to someone I named was a bit more fun.

"What are these skills it spoke of? When I woke up, I found myself able to completely disable my paralysis and petrification. They were given to me as… something called an intrinsic skill? It said I evolved into a 'Drago-Basilisk.'" She tilted her head to the side in confusion and looked up at me, all while still wrapped around my index finger like a living ring.

It was too much and I ended up squealing; I just couldn't help it. I took a moment to regain my composure to explain. "That's normal. When named, monsters gain a great deal of power, and if the power they gain is potent enough, they may also evolve. It can also be influenced by whoever did the naming."

"I see… I also gained a skill called 'Form Manipulation,' but it seems to only be able to reduce my size or allow me to petrify myself. It also allows me to turn into metal." She placed her head onto one of the coils facing the backside of my hand, and she turned to a black metal. I recognized it as unrefined magisteel. Meanwhile, her eyes turned into unrefined beads of orichalchum.

"Hm. That's pretty useful. I guess my desire to be able to keep you up in the castle influenced your evolution quite a lot." I felt a little bashful about all that, it seems I'd gotten a little sloppy at controlling my will when naming after all these years. It did make me curious though. "Can you turn into metals this strong at full size?"

The little basilisk changed back into a normal snake around my index finger. "No. Any larger than this and I simply turn into normal iron and gold."

"Guess that makes sense. Must require quite a lot of your magicules to turn into serious stuff like that." I looked back up, deciding it would be best to do everything with Myrtle before going up for breakfast, and fast. I may have woken up early, but there's still a chance I'd end up missing it, and I can't let that happen no matter what.

"You wanted me to speak with the ghost of Riddle's victim, yes?" Hebi seemed to be following my gaze and guessed accurately where I was looking.

"Uh. Yeah. You really should. It was you who killed her. Who's Riddle though?" I began walking back but didn't mind a small conversation while we did.

"The last heir of Slytherin, the ancient wizard I spoke of, my previous master." Hebi seemed a little bit depressed to talk about him. "Both of them abandoned me here, just giving me simple orders to kill any muggle-born students."

For someone with such a fancy-sounding title, they seemed like quite the scumbag to do what they did to Hebi here. I knew she fared well enough in their absence, but it's not like she had the best time, I could imagine. Especially considering how quickly she all but gave up on life yesterday when I pinned her in place.

I decided it would be best to move on from the subject of her former 'master' for now.

"How could you have even figured that out a thousand years ago? Wouldn't you have needed to learn speech to figure out which ones were?" It sounded like a daunting task for what would have been a tiny snake born from a chicken egg, at the time. That's the way basilisks are born according to mythology and such, right?

"I was helped by some families who followed Slytherin's teachings. However, it seems I outlasted them all." Hebi slumped against my hand with a defeated look. "I wasn't even able to carry out those orders without risking my own life."

I frowned at that, it was true. It didn't sound like the best existence, and it made me wonder what would have happened to her if I hadn't found her. All of the people who connected her to her previous master are now long dead, and she was left with an impossible task. Not like wizards wouldn't just keep being born of 'muggles,' since magic accumulation is just a natural process.

So in the end she probably would've just been killed when someone strong enough and a bit less caring found her. I didn't really like the idea of that either, considering she was born into the purpose and doesn't seem like she really had a choice in the matter.

"Hey, were you cursed to follow their orders?"

"Up until the point I was named, yes. I assumed I still would under you, unless you decided to undo it. You are stronger than my previous master." It was exactly as I had thought.

I nodded and sighed. "Alright then. No hard feelings from me, I've done worse. Myrtle though, she'll have hard feelings. So while I won't force you, I'm asking you to do your best to make up for it in any way you can."

Hebi nodded. "I shouldn't expect forgiveness, not from any of them. I will inform you of all the other ones I've left behind."

"There are more?"

"Several, but I am not sure if they are still… there." She tilted her head, seeming to be in deep thought. "Likely not. I saw his shadow there."

"Hm. Alright. We can go find out either way." I felt a small headache coming on.

Meanwhile, I had another quest pop up in my 'HUD'.

[[Notice: Find Hebi's other victims.]]

I definitely felt the headache was justified. I was already imagining the child bones and statues I might be encountering. Though, where exactly she was talking about, I wasn't sure.

I flew back up the tunnel staircase and came face to face with Myrtle.

She looked a bit upset. "You walked right past me. It was quite rude…"

"Sorry about that." I gestured to the sinks once I was finally back to the very top, to make them close up again. I hoped I wouldn't need anything more down there, and that the place would be forgotten about. The last thing I would want is for some unwitting student to stumble in there, even with the occupant gone.

"Mhm…" The ghost sat up on the sinks once they were back in place, and glared at me longer. Then she looked at the snake in my palm and seemed uneasy.

I saw that coming so I just covered Hebi up for the time being. I did send her a little mental message though. {Do you have any way to speak to her?}

"Not that I know of, I can only speak parseltongue. Even if I can understand the human languages, I have no way of speaking them." Hebi sounded a little irritated at being unable to do anything about the situation, though I wasn't sure if those thoughts were from her recent naming or not.

"Why do you want that thing so bad…?" Myrtle was looking at the floor now.

I thought it over for a few moments, and it was honestly a spur-of-the-moment decision to take Hebi from down there. Plus, she didn't seem that aggressive once I restrained her so easily. "She just doesn't seem dangerous."

"It killed me!" Myrtle yelled this time, waving her arm in the air above her head and trying to make a show of being upset. "You were the one who told me that! It killed me, yet you want to keep it alive!"

Myrtle was clearly holding a strong grudge and I was starting to suspect it wasn't just her desire to figure out how she died that was binding her to this world.

"Well, for one, Hebi wasn't in control of her actions. She was bewitched."

"That doesn't matter!"

"Why doesn't it? Shouldn't you be more angry at the one that was controlling her? That person, someone called 'Riddle', according to Hebi, is more at fault here in my opinion. He might even be dead by now, but if he isn't… I can punish him for you."

"I knew Riddle. Tom Riddle was his full name." She frowned and looked around the room. "He kept sneaking in here, and I followed him inside the night I died. He told me to wait here, and left." She looked a little disgusted. "I don't quite remember where he left my body, but it didn't look like how I'd left it."

"I remember that." Hebi spoke softly, I think she was trying to make it so only I could hear.

"Remember what?" I opened up my palm a little to look into Hebi's eyes.

She propped her head up on my thumb. "What the heir of Slytherin did. He used her corpse to turn a leather book into a magic item."

"And what do you know about this book?" I asked. I was confident she was talking about the same book that I currently had in my possession, but the amount of info I had about it at the moment was limited since Ciel was letting me play detective rather than spoiling.

"I do not know its purpose, I only know it was very very magically powerful. At least at the time. I believe I have denser magic now." She wrapped back around my index finger, seeming satisfied that she was able to say everything she knew.

"Are you talking to that thing, Rimuru?"

I nodded, "She seems to know some about what exactly happened right after you were killed. Apparently, Riddle turned some book into a magical artifact using… uhm… You? With dark magic or something."

I still found it weird that they differentiate dark magic from normal magic in this world. Then again, I guess they used to in the Cardinal World too, before I proved it wasn't any different. It's just a matter of how you use it.

Myrtle screamed, loudly. Very loudly. It was a rage-filled moan into the heavens that echoed in the bathroom. "I knew that stupid SNAKE was up to something! I should've killed him myself!"

"Wouldn't killing him at this point be too merciful? If I manage to track that guy down and punish him in your place, I wasn't planning on ending his life anytime soon."

"Hmph…" She didn't seem satisfied with that, pouting. "You won't kill him either?" She began fading into the air.

"Hey, hey. I didn't say it wouldn't be as bad as death. It will be worse."

"Worse than death? Is there even such a thing?"

"Plenty of things." I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck. "Let's not focus on that, instead. Someone wants to talk to you, and then we should talk about your next life! I want the idea to be fresh in your mind, so you can convey your intention as best as possible." I did vaguely wonder if I could influence the result of her reincarnation this way. "Just make sure not to think about not wanting to bleed or hurt, otherwise you might not have blood or nerves."

"That's a strangely specific warning…"

I wondered if I'd be able to do it the same way Veldora had for me, even in this body. I concluded it should be easy enough though, since my naming had linked Hebi to the Cardinal World. I brought my face down and whispered. "Hebi, do you want to know a secret of the world?"

"Why would you tell me such a thing?"

"Don't worry about it."

"I suppose I trust you…"

"Focus on the air around you… feel it with your magic, and reach out with it. You should start to notice that you can feel tiny things bumping into each other. Those are magicules, and you can pay attention to how they move… You'll have a new way to see and talk." I wasn't completely sure Veldora's original explanation was specific enough, so I tried to explain in more detail.

We ended up awkwardly staring at each other for almost a minute before I saw something click in her mind, as her eyes lit up. "Master… I can see everything… It hurts…"

"You'll get used to that, just try not to focus on too many things at once." I lifted Hebi up and presented her to Myrtle. "Alright, try speaking to the ghost. But make sure your sight-based skills are off."

I could see Hebi's aura expand a bit, before shrinking back down to a size I guessed made magic sense comfortable for her. "I have had them off since I woke up, it has been an unusual experience."

"I just heard that snake!" Myrtle almost screamed again, but I put my finger to her lips to shush her again. Then let her speak again. "So… That's truly what killed me? It got a lot smaller, but it definitely isn't cute now." She stepped back a bit, seeming to want to be far enough that Hebi wouldn't be able to reach her.

Meanwhile, Hebi slithered into a little coil on my palm and started speaking to, or more really, past Myrtle. "As I now have a new master, and am no longer under orders to kill your kind. I regret my actions, and apologize for being the cause of your death."

It wasn't the best apology, but at least she was trying. I assumed it was mostly just wanting to please me.

"That isn't a very good apology at all!" Myrtle began pouting once again. "I guess it's the best I'll get from something like you though." She sighed and looked back at me, in the eyes. "Let's talk about how I want my new life to be then."

"Good, I guess you're seeing reason… So what do you wanna change then? Not dying is obvious, but you talked before about not wanting to be bullied, right?" I didn't know exactly how to go about this, since the Voice of the World tends to be pretty picky.

Myrtle frowned softly. "I want more than that. I want a family that will care a lot about me and is powerful enough that no one would be able to hurt me. I don't want to be in a position where anyone could bully me, sure, but that comes second." She seemed more adult for a moment, but I guess everyone has their serious side.

I nodded softly. I honestly like that kind of ambition, even if it was simple. For a soul like her, it was attainable. "Alright then, that makes sense to me. So you don't really have any desires for special powers or anything?"

She pursed her lips and placed her palms to her temples, clearly focusing hard. "I can't think of anything, except maybe finally being able to conjure a patronus."

"I don't know what that is, but it sounds cool. Go ahead with wanting that then." I realized I needed to make sure we could actually do this, so I spoke to Ciel at the same time. Is everything ready for this? I don't want anything to go wrong… This isn't my first time resurrecting, but definitely reincarnating.

[[Necessary processes have been created. However, there is one problem.]]

"Is that all I need to think about?"

"Yeah, you should try not to over-complicate things… Otherwise, you'd probably not get the best results. Just, remain calm, and repeat those thoughts in your mind. You need to really want them." While I was trying to be sagely outside, inside I was worrying a little bit from Ciel's statement. What do you mean there's a problem? Shouldn't this be easy for us?

[[Normally it would be easy, I assure you. In this case, several pieces of the subject's soul are missing, therefore it would be necessary to retrieve them. Otherwise, the Voice of the World will attempt to graft on new components to compensate.]]

I didn't like the idea of that one principle, since I knew that would fundamentally change her as a person, and I didn't think she deserved to have that happen to her. "Alright then… First, we'll need to find the missing pieces of your soul."

"Missing pieces of… What?" Myrtle tilted her head, clearly fairly confused.

"Well, not all of you is in you, some of it must be trapped somewhere else. Or maybe it did get blasted away slowly by the magic all around us." I hoped it wasn't the latter, since that meant I'd need to go on a little jog across the multiverse to put her back together. Using my main body for that would be a must if that was the case.

"What!? They could've been blown away!?" She seemed devastated by the idea.

I had to quickly cover for it. "Well, I'm not sure. I'm really not. So there might be another explanation."

I felt Hebi poke my palm. "Master, it is possible the missing pieces you describe are trapped in the magic item the heir of Slytherin created."

"Ah, that makes perfect sense! Thank you, Hebi." I turned internally again so I could speak to Ciel. So, are the pieces there? You can check right?

Ciel stayed silent for a moment, which was unusual of her. [[The fragments of the subject's soul have been retrieved, but there is… something else in there too, Darling. I think you'd find it interesting. I will show you later.]]

I decided to take note of that to think about it later, as she said. "Alright… I think I know where they are." I held out my other palm and opened Lesser Gluttony, which still connected to my Imaginary Space.

Then I watched as four little white shards of soul-matter shot out of the black vortex and into Myrtle.

Myrtle went quiet. Eerily quiet. "I see…" That's all she said. "Send me off Rimuru, I don't want to be in this world any longer."

The request was resolute and final. Myrtle had made up her mind.

It was a pretty fast change of character, so I nodded. "Okay… That is a bit sudden, but I guess I can do that." Ciel, go ahead…

[[Executing the procedure now.]]

A moment later, a golden flash of light spread throughout the entire room. It even blinded me, and when it was gone, so was Myrtle.

[[Soul of the subject has been handed over to the Voice of the World, and the Voice of the World's complaint has been logged, and ignored.]]

I let out a sigh of relief and looked down at Hebi. "Well, that's one of your victims saved. Does it feel better?"

The basilisk didn't respond at first, I guessed she was gathering her thoughts. "Vaguely…"

"That's good. Let's get going, I got to go to class. Do you mind taking that ring form? I don't want anyone to notice you just yet." I felt a little bad saying it, but I thought that the other kids might try to steal her if they knew about her right away.

Hebi nodded and wrapped herself around my index finger before turning back into magisteel.

I looked around the empty bathroom one last time, before turning on my heels and going back to the door. I hoped that I'd be able to get back to classes fast enough to not have to deal with getting in trouble.

Unfortunately for me, another letter slapped me in the face the moment I was on the other side of the door.

"They must have a better way to send messages to people!" I coughed and wheezed as I tore the letter off my face. It seemed a lot more insistent to stick to me this time around.

Once it did fly back up into the air in front of me though, it was a more annoyed version of the elderly woman's voice from earlier. "Rimuru Tempest, you are summoned to the Headmaster's office effective immediately. Professor Severus Snape will be following this letter to personally escort you there. Do not resist."

"What, so I'm like getting arrested now? It wasn't like I was planning on ditching at lunch!" I stomped on the ground in frustration. Let's ignore the crack I left in the floor. It was an accident. It made no sound, luckily, so all's good.

"The reasons for which you are being summoned are entirely different from the original reasons you were." The exhausted man in his forties showed up, looking just a little bit pissed off. Considering his normally blank expression, that must've meant he was actually pissed off. He glanced at the crack on the floor that I was hoping he wouldn't notice. "Just follow me, Tempest."

I nodded and rolled my eyes at the same time.

He turned on his heels and began walking through some winding halls and up some staircases, actually a lot of staircases. Meanwhile looking back at me every few moments.

When actually getting to the door I suspected to be the one, considering it was the last one at the top of a massive spiral staircase, I saw that dumb blonde from before walk out in a huff.

He even glared at me lightly before trodding down the staircase like a dog getting told off.

"I suppose the mockingbird finally had someone shut him up." Snape whispered under his breath, but he was very obviously smirking.

It seemed I wasn't the only one who hated the blondie, and I was honestly okay with that. Even if I didn't know Snape that well. "Can you tell me what all this is about?"

"Headmaster Dumbledore wishes to speak with you. Isn't that enough?" Snape opened the door, before holding it for me.

"Uh? No?" I walked through anyway, but I was starting to get really annoyed by people being so vague. It made me suspect everyone in this world was as airheaded as Veldora.

"It should be." Snape closed the door and stood next to it. I supposed he was there to make sure no one else entered the room, like a guard dog or something.

"Fine fine, let's see this master wizard then." I looked around the room with magic sense, taking note of each magic item inside, and tried to guess at what they did. There were also a lot of magic paintings in here. I decided to ignore those though, I hated those things. Living paintings are the one kind of 'creature' I refuse to acknowledge or give rights.

Always gossiping and staring at people… not to mention that a lot of them are pale imitations of real people. It's always been bad enough when someone starts touting a portrait of me around back home, but if the thing tried to pretend it was me too, I'd reduce it to dust in an instant.

I made my way to the center of the room, however annoying it was to navigate. It seemed like it was originally an observatory, but now it was incredibly cluttered, far too much to use.

I found a large desk in the center of the room that was piled high with papers and trinkets of its own. At the desk was an old guy with a flowing beard, a pretty stereotypical master wizard, and I'd already seen him at the house thingy.

"Tempest." He said simply, while keeping his eyes on his papers. Though, I could tell something was afoot, and Ciel wouldn't tell me since I was limiting myself.

However, it would still be blocked if it is on my blacklist, so I didn't need to worry about it.

The feeling of something being blocked was still irritating though.

"Yes, Headmaster?" I decided I'd go along with this for now, not wanting to cause a fuss right away.

"You've caused quite the upset with the teachers, and some of the more unsavory students." He was still not looking me in the eyes, so I think he was trying to get a rise out of me.

"I guess I did." I smiled softly, I did wanna show I didn't regret it at least. After all, I was just doing what was right, and having a little bit of fun. "Did I go too far with anything?"

"Perhaps infirming the boy, but he appears to have no real injuries. That doesn't give you reign to do something like that again though, Miss Tempest." Dumbledore sighed loudly and looked me in the eyes finally, he set down everything he was doing as well. "I guess I just won't get any answers that way."

That may sound like an innocuous statement to anyone else, but to me, it said very plainly he was attempting to read my mind. Getting someone angry to get answers out of them is pretty normal, but in this case, he barely did anything.

"I like to keep my thoughts to myself."

I decided it would be best to respond with something innocuous myself since I didn't want Snape to know about it.

Dumbledore frowned. "Well isn't that something? Moving on, I was informed by one of the many spirits of the school that you are not entirely human. Is this true?"

"It's what I told him." I leaned back on my heel to be a bit more comfortable, but I was hoping for a chair. Just didn't seem like there were any.

Dumbledore looked up towards the ceiling for a moment, while stroking his beard. "And you were just as vague about specifics? I heard from Professor Snape that you had managed to absorb a spell of his."

"Yup."

"I also heard that you hit mister Lockheart." He chuckled lightly.

"Twice."

He kept chuckling for a moment, before getting more serious again, leaning forward."I suppose you have no remorse then, and I certainly can't find myself punishing you. Technically it was what was instructed."

I smiled a little proudly. "I was just undoing that charm."

Dumbledore smiled slyly this time. "A slap in the face is its own kind of magic, I suppose."

"I think so too." I remembered back to all the times I'd fixed things with overwhelming violence. It was actually quite effective, ironically. Even if I tried to avoid it.

"You have also resisted my own magic, so I'll consider it a common trait of yours." Dumbledore put his hand to his beard and seemed to go deep into thought, zoning me out completely. "While you do not wish to say what you believe your magic beast ancestor to be, would you entertain my theories?"

I rolled my eyes. "Guess there ain't any harm in it."

"Very well then, Miss Tempest." Dumbledore pulled three cards from his robe and placed them face down on the desk. "I'll be completely honest, I only see one of these as reasonable."

It was strange that he brought props to this meeting just to make his point, but I suppose that was just proof that he was taking this more seriously than me slapping that doofus.

"Oh? Isn't that something? You think you figured me out?" I giggled a bit, letting my body do it naturally.

He flipped over the first card. "The least likely, a Qilin. I find this unlikely as they are the least intelligent of the three, so one performing a polymorph would be close to impossible. They are, however, known for their ability to resist charms and even curses."

I laughed a bit at the little deer thing on the card, it was covered in green scales and had long whiskers. "That thing is cute."

"Mhm." Dumbledore flipped the next card, opposing the first and leaving the middle card for last. "Next, a creature I am very familiar with. I find a Phoenix unlikely as well, simply because they are far too loyal. It can be troublesome for them too. You don't have that trait, though. You are too much of a troublemaker."

It actually looked almost the same as the ones I was familiar with from the Cardinal World, but they definitely weren't as powerful. "Well, that sounds like you are speaking from personal experience. So you're the expert."

"Perhaps so." Dumbledore moved onto the final card in the middle and flipped it over without saying a word. It was a card that very clearly said dragon at the top, and had a picture of a kinda goofy-looking one adorning it. "So?"

I decided to play it up a bit and put up a pensive and frustrated expression with my many years of experience. "Mmmm."

"I'll assume I am correct, then?"

I guess it worked because the old man was quite convinced. So I made a show of sighing under my breath. "Fine, fine. I guess I can't hide that much."

"Hm hm… I suppose Newt owes me a pot of gold then." Dumbledore seemed to get pretty amused as he spoke under his breath.

We still heard it, and both me and Snape ended up giving a simultaneous, "What?"

"Ignore that, just an old friend who said a Dragon would never choose to live as a wizard a long, long time ago." Dumbledore spoke loud enough to make it clear for both of us, before setting his gaze directly back on me.

I heard some murmurs from the paintings that I definitely found pretty detestable, but they aren't people and I don't acknowledge them.

"Well, Miss Tempest. Your secret is safe with us. I find no reason to be hostile toward you for it. Dragons are nearly extinct, and I find it unlikely anyone except your close family would know."

"Well, sometimes people just need to hide among the masses, I guess." I glared at the card. "I don't think my ancestors looked that silly, though."

I think Veldora, or any of my draconic siblings for that matter, would get offended by someone calling what's on that card a 'dragon'. Although, none of them seem to like other non-true dragons in general…

"European dragons come in many shapes, I apologize if the comparison was offensive." Dumbledore seemed to get a bit brighter in his attitude now. "If you wish to discuss your heritage, I'd suggest you keep it in this room, or with the groundskeeper Hagrid. He can be trusted, as he is himself only half human."

So why are they making such a big deal out of me? It made no sense, really. If they were willing to hire someone in with 'mixed' blood then why would a student be interrogated over it like this?

I was curious about that groundskeeper fellow, though, wondering what it was he was mixed with. I'd have to meet him at some point.

Dumbledore put on a pensive expression, seeming to understand my frustration. "You still seem irritated? I assume things are quite different among your family?"

I decided I'd just keep it authentic and frown with a glare. "I just don't see why being mixed or whatever is such a big deal."

"Your very existence is highly illegal, for one," Snape interjected.

That really pissed me off, and I found myself almost yelling at the middle-aged bat. It gave me flashbacks to those damned sages. "Well, it's not my fault that I exist. Plus, that illegality makes no sense, I can't even grow scales and get really strong or anything."

Snape calmed himself for a moment, before responding with a more curious tone. "Does that imply that some of your family can?"

I didn't wanna actually have to make people to fill in the backstory, so I evaded. "I never said that."

Snape got frustrated again and almost got to the point of yelling himself. "Never said that… you petulant-"

"Moving on," Dumbledore spoke more authoritatively. "It isn't of concern, the Ministry has no record of it, and the information won't leave this room. So long as you and Hagrid are discrete, no one else will find out."

I sighed softly. "I get that, you said it before. What do you really wanna talk about?"

Dumbledore grinned and spoke softly. "Firstly, don't harm any student or staff member of this school. After that, I'll give. You saw through it. I'd like for you to owe me a favor. I won't ask too much of you, but I'd like to keep it open-ended. I assure you it will remain perfectly within your power to do."

I glared yet again and thought about how good it was that my eyes wouldn't really hurt from doing it so much. "Not too sure about that, I usually don't like open-ended favors like that."

Dumbledore just rolled his eyes, which was weird to see from an old man. "You can refuse, if it is too much. I can always find something else."

I decided to go along with it since I could pretty much do anything anyway. So it would only matter if he began getting pointed about my real backstory. "Ugh, fine. You better not weasel about it, old man."

Snape tried to interject, "That is ou-" but got shut down.

Dumbledore interrupted him and decided to get that principal voice again. "It's fine, Severus. I can understand her frustration. Now, do you have any questions, Rimuru?"

"Why does that Blonde still work here? He clearly isn't cut out for it."

"Defense Against the Dark Arts is a position that has been plagued with many unfortunate events over the years. I can understand your frustration at him holding it, but please do understand that it would be too risky to put someone important to me in such a position." Dumbledore was being sly, but I got what he meant.

I thought about his words carefully with thought acceleration. "Well, I guess I'd just ask what happened to his predecessor."

Dumbledore seemed both amused and dour, it was another weird expression. "Near the end of the year, the former teacher disappeared in the crypts of the castle. The year before that, the teacher holding the position spontaneously combusted on the final day of school. A good few before them met similar fates as well."

"Hah. Alright then, I don't mind." It cheered up my day, actually. Although that might have been letting my personality as a demon lord slip a bit too much.

"Very well." Dumbledore looked less amused. "You are dismissed, Miss Tempest. Please enjoy your time at Hogwarts."

A/N: This will be the last chapter of this arc, and as a result, the last chapter for some time. That will likely mean at least two months, but possibly longer. We will release another arc with the same daily schedule another time, but for now. Thank you for reading, and we'll see you on our other works!