"Hey, Yuuki, can I take my class outside school grounds later today?" I asked him casually.

He had begged me to share more manga with him, so I was in his office at the school, rereading some myself while Yuuki did the same. Turning a page first and without looking up, he answered me after a few more seconds.

"As long as it's within the city's limits. That's the rule." he explained, still not really focusing much on our conversation. "But, with how new you are, as a gesture of trust I'm gonna have you run an errand for me while you're out. I'm a very busy man, y'know." Yuuki looks up and cheesily grins at me.

Yeah, a 'very busy' man that has the time to read manga with me for a few hours.

I sighed, mildly annoyed by Yuuki's shamelessness yet again, forcing some 'errand' on me. I could only hope it's nothing too troublesome.

"Don't you have employees or servants for that, being the Grandmaster of the Guild?"

"They are also very busy."

Another sigh escapes my lips.

"Fine. What is it?"

Please don't be another costume… please don't be another costume!

"I ordered something from a local cafe; I'd like you to pick up said order and bring it back with you."

"That's it?"

"Yup. It's not that far from here either, so it shouldn't be a problem for a B-ranked adventurer, right, Rimuru?"

"I don't see what my rank has to do with your little 'fetch quest' Yuuki, but I don't have any problem doing that for you, I guess."

A cafe though… that might be somewhere I can take the kids as their 'prize'.

I was initially planning on scoping out someplace to take them out to lunch, but now I might not have to do that.

"Is this cafe a nice place?"

"Of course. It's run by an otherworlder called Yoshida. He makes the best creampuffs."

"Creampuffs? Is that what you're having me pick up?"

Yuuki nods, but then turned his focus back to the manga in front of him, "Shush, I'm gettin' to a good part!"

I found my five kids out in the school courtyard, Kenya and Ryota facing off right in the middle.

"C'mon, Ryota! Don't go easy on me!"

"But Ken… I don't wanna hurt you…"

"I'll be fine!"

Ryota's ability activated and he charged at Kenya and they started grappling with each other.

"Be careful, you two! If you get hurt, Professor Rimuru will yell at you!" Gale warned the other two boys from the sidelines.

"Don't try to act like my dad, Gale! Just because you're the oldest doesn't mean you can boss m- ugh!" Kenya shouted, just to have Ryota spring on him and knock him flat onto his back.

Gale shook his head a little and continued watching them tussle.

"Pshht… Stupid boys; all they think about is swords and punches! My method of fighting is much more elegant!" Alice said with her chin raised high and her arms folded in disapproval.

"Swords can be elegant too," Chloe replied to the girl standing next to her.

"Yeah, but those boys sure aren't elegant! Just look at them!"

I'd seen enough; things were starting to get out of hand, so I decided to intervene.

"Okay, break it up, you two!" I shouted across the courtyard in a commanding tone.

Kenya threw the other boy off of him and retrieved his dropped practice sword, brushing the dirt and grass off of himself. Ryota seemed to snap out of his frenzy and wiped his mouth with his arm.

"What did I tell you about fighting when I'm not around?"

"Don't fight at school without permission." Kenya recited with a small roll of his eyes, "But we're outside the school, so it's fine!"

"We're on school grounds, so it's not."

"Don't worry, Professor, I was keeping an eye on them." Gale stepped in.

"We were just practicin'... I don't see why that's bad…" Kenya grumbled.

"He just wanted to come up with a 'secret technique' to beat you, Professor," Alice interjected, pointing a finger at Kenya.

"Hey! Don't go saying that to him!" Kenya shouted at the girl, stomping his foot.

"Calm down, everyone. If you keep this up, you won't get that prize, remember?"

Immediate silence all around.

"Are you going to tell us what it is, Professor Rimuru?" Chloe quietly asked me.

"Show more than tell. I have permission to take you kids out into the city and we're gonna go somewhere special." I explained, "But, I need all five of you to be on your best behavior; we can't have you making a scene out in public."

They all seemed to agree to the terms, so I sent them off to get ready to leave. It was already close to lunchtime, so just about perfect for this.

"Stick close to me, don't talk to any strangers, and no matter what you do, don't start any fights." I warned my students, with varying amounts of success.

We were just about to leave the school grounds, so I found it prudent to lay out a few ground rules first.

Then, Chloe walked up to me and suddenly grabbed my hand.

"Uh…"

"You said you wanted us to stick close… right, Professor?" Chloe asked innocently.

This probably feels safer for her. The city streets are usually pretty crowded, after all.

Since soon after we'd met, she'd always been sort of clingy with me, which was a bit worrying, but not exactly a problem. If I were to take a wild guess as to why Chloe was like this with me specifically, I'd say I probably reminded her of Shizu.

"Sure. Yeah, I guess you can hold my hand." I said, "Actually, why don't we all buddy up so nobody accidentally wanders off."

"Ryota's with me," Kenya immediately insisted, pulling his friend slightly closer by his sleeve.

"Uh-huh." Ryota nodded.

"I guess I'm with Alice, then?" Gale asked.

"Don't expect me to hold your hand!' Alice said to Gale.

"Yeah, sure." Gale accepted, not seeming too bothered by Alice's rudeness.

So, we walked our way out onto the busy streets of Rura, and it didn't take long to reach a spot I'd agreed to meet up at.

"Ah, there you three are!" I exclaimed despite already sensing them a bit earlier. It was my three friends, waiting right where I'd asked them to.

I gave them a friendly wave with my available hand.

"Hi Eren, Gido, Kaval! How've things been since we split?"

"Great, actually!" Eren smiled.

"But we still missed ya," Kaval added.

"So these are your students?" Gido asked.

"Yup." I quickly introduced the five to the three and vice versa.

"Who're they, though?" Kenya asked a bit defensively.

"My friends; I traveled with them for a while before coming here. They'll be joining us today."

The trio started talking about how they were adventurers and about the times they spent with me as we started walking toward the cafe. It wasn't a far walk or anything, so not much was really said during that time.

The cafe, from the outside, looked very nice. It didn't even take us ten minutes to get there. I'd probably passed it a few times while here in the city, but it wasn't somewhere I'd actually gone before now.

We stepped inside and found a few tables to sit at; our group of 9 was definitely too big for a single table in a place like this.

Kaval and Gido sat with the three boys while I sat with the girls, at Eren's request. Chloe's seeming refusal to release my left hand also contributed to that choice.

Realizing that this might be a problem when it comes time to eat, I decided to do something about it.

"Chloe." I said, pulling to have my hand released, "You're safe to let go now that we're inside."

She nodded and finally let go, apparently satisfied enough just sitting next to me.

The air inside the establishment was filled with sweet, pleasant, appetizing aromas.

If I still had a stomach, I'm sure it'd be growling like mad right now!

[[Notice: the individual, Rimuru Tempest, possesses the [Stomach] subskill of the Unique Skill: [Predator]. So, it can be said that the individual, Rimuru Tempest, does have a stomach.]]

[Great Sage] chimed in without me asking, and to disprove my thoughts, even.

Where did you even get that sassiness?

[[Question incomprehensible, answer unable to be constructed or obtained.]]

Ignoring the potential character development of my Unique Skill, I turn my attention to the menu laid out on the table.

"Can we get whatever we want?" Gale asked cautiously.

"Yeah, just try to keep it reasonable," I answered.

When we were waited on, all of us ordered what we wanted and I pulled out the small note that Yuuki had given me and handed it to the server.

"There's also this. I won't need it until we're done eating, though, so it's no rush."

"What was that, Rimuru?"

"Oh, just a little favor I'm doing for someone."

"A secret mission?" Eren asked with interest.

"Uh…not really."

It's literally just Yuuki making me act as his delivery boy.

Our food was then brought out and I started digging into the small shortcake in front of me.

It's soooooo good!

It was so good that I almost melted on the spot! I didn't think I'd ever had a dessert this amazing in my entire slime life!

The mix of flavors, the sweetness, the delicate fluffiness of the cake mixed with the creaminess of the frosting and the fresh sharpness of the strawberries topping it; the shortcake was seriously amazing in every way!

I continued eating, savoring every bite when-

"Rimuru!" Eren playfully shouted, snapping me out of it.

That's when I noticed that she, Chloe, and Alice were all staring at me.

Eren might've been trying to talk to me for a minute or two before, but I was so wrapped up in my snack that I hadn't really noticed until I thought about it.

"I think Professor Rimuru likes his cake." Chloe giggled alongside Eren.

"I'd say so! He's never, ever, made a face like that before!" Alice said, looking a bit shocked.

"Haha, trust me, he has, he just hides it most of the time." Eren giggled some more and patted the top of my head just like she has countless times.

"I see…" Chloe muttered, nodding to herself and looking like she was taking a mental note of what Eren said.

There goes any dignity I might've built up in the eyes of these kids over the last week…

"Sorry, I zoned out a bit. Are you girls enjoying your food too?"

Both Chloe and Alice nodded enthusiastically.

Then, with my attention restored, I overheard a story Kaval was telling the boys.

"So then I tell Rimuru, 'don't stick your hand in there, that's a monster nest!' But what does he do? He takes out his sword and whacks the thing, waking up all these giant bugs that immediately swarmed us!"

Excuse me!? That was YOU that did that, not me!

"Hey, Kaval!" I shouted at him, maybe not as loud as I could have since we were in a public restaurant. "Do you wanna keep telling them lies about me, or do you want me to tell them about the 'Noodle Incident'?"

Kaval practically jumped out of his seat after I said that, a panicked look on his face, "Wait, no, anything but that!"

"Then why don't you start that story over and tell my students the truth."

"Uh, sure thing, bud…"

"Bah!" Kenya snickered, "I bet Professor Rimuru's just trying to make himself look cool! It's too late, we already know the truth!"

"Ooooooooh!" All four other kids, and Eren, looked at me devilishly.

My face was beet red, I could tell with [Magic Sense]. Was this from embarrassment or anger? The world may never know.

Standing up, I walked over to Kenya's seat and confiscated the few bites that were left of his chocolate cake.

"Heyyy!" He squealed, "that's mine!"

"Considering I'm the one paying, I beg to differ." I turn my nose up at him a bit, taking the treat back to my seat. "That's your punishment for disrespecting your teacher."

"Aw, no, Professor! I didn't mean it!" He whined, but it was too late. I finished his delicious cake in two bites.

Gido leaned over to Kaval and whispered, "this is the sorta thing I was worried about when Rimuru said he'd become a teacher." Kaval nodded in agreement, and I shot a glare at them.

"I heard that, you two."

"Eep!" Kaval jolted.

"Sorry," Gido chuckled, looking at Kaval with amusement.

"I miss braiding your hair, Rimuru," Eren sighed plaintively as she picked at a tart made with some fruit native to this world. It was a bizarre magenta color I had never seen, and I could tell it even had slight (very slight) magic properties.

I need to find out where that fruit grows so I can try some.

"I'll let you braid it now if you give me a bite of that tart," I offer, wanting to analyze it so I'll know the fruit when I come across it.

"Ohhh…" Alice and Chloe, silent so far, stared at Eren in awe as she passed me the tart and switched to a seat next to me. Pulling flowers out of her magic bag, she started to weave them into my hair.

I said you could braid it, not put flowers in it… whatever, I guess. I wanted to eat this tart and had fought Eren enough times to know when it wasn't worth it.

"He lets her do that!?" Alice leaned over and whispered to Chloe.

"Professor Rimuru's never agreed to anything we ask him," she whispered back.

They exchanged a meaningful look and nodded in sync.

I don't understand kids. Whatever that was about, though, wasn't my business. I took a bite of the tart and immediately stifled a squeal of delight.

It's so good! The strawberry shortcake I'd gotten was good, but this was above and beyond! It was tart and sweet and kind of buzzed on the tongue. I could even feel some of my weariness from handling these kids fade away.

[[Notice. Analysis complete. Confirmation of above-average magicule content and chemical composition ideal for restoring the energy of magic-based beings and stimulating recovery from illness or injury.]]

That's probably why I like it so much, I realized. Shortcake was one of my favorite desserts, but I found myself actually preferring this tart. Maybe it's an instinctual thing.

I wonder how it would taste if I topped a shortcake with this instead of strawberries. Something to experiment with later.

"Sooo, how'd it go? Looks like you had fun!" Yuuki cheerfully greeted me when I got back from a long day out on the town with my five kids.

"Yeah, it went well."

Why's he looking at me like that?

"Sheesh, and I thought you were against wearing that sort of thing. I guess I'll just have to try harder!"

"Wh-what?!"

Yuuki pointed to my head and I realized in horror that I forgot to take the flowers out of it from earlier!

Thanks, Eren!

"I only allow this sort of thing with people I like."

"Ouch. Those are some harsh words from such a cute face!"

"Do you want me to slap you?"

Yuuki just laughed and walked away, leaving me in a worse mood than before.

As the sun set beyond the city walls I opened one of the big wooden doors to the academy library. As I walked past the empty front desk, a young woman rushed out of a nearby office to greet me.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting anyone to come here this late! What do you need? We close in half an hour."

"That's fine," I reassured her, "I'm just looking. Although," glancing at the labyrinth of bookshelves, I smiled sheepishly, "could you point me to the material on the control of magic? Not spells, the magicules directly."

"Hmm…" She pondered a moment, "that's an unusual request, but there have been some studies on it. Right this way!"

She led me through a complicated path of turns before stopping by a shelf much more sparse than the rest.

"Here we are, I'm sorry we don't have much but I hope it helps!" She bowed to me, gesturing to the shelf.

"No worries! Thank you," I waved her off and she quickly returned the way we came. Taking a hard look at the twenty or so books that were on the massive shelf, I sighed.

Yuuki once bragged that the Free Academy's library had all the knowledge of humanity, except for a restricted library only A-rank adventurers, nobles, and royalty had access to.

What a pitiful selection… I hope that restricted library has more than this, because otherwise that's just sad. Maybe it was because I was a monster, but I had assumed that magicule control was just common knowledge in this world. It was tricky, sure–I often had [Great Sage] help me–but it could be done with a little effort.

Besides–for all they had a couple years or so still, those kids didn't have much time. I needed as much knowledge as possible, soon.

I picked up the first book and began flipping through it after checking the table of contents. This is gonna take forever… I looked up at the massive library, [Magic Sense] giving me a clear view of the hundreds of thousands of books lining its shelves.

[[Notice. Information contained in writing can be scanned through physical contact. Begin scanning? Yes/No]]

Uh, YES! By all means!

So instead of poring over books as I'd planned, I spent the half hour before the library closed running my hand along all the books on every shelf. For the high ones I took a bit of a risk, using [Universal Shapeshift] to mimic wings and fly when I was sure no one was looking. The only other person here was the librarian, so that made it easier.

"Thanks a bunch!" I waved as I left through the door, leaving the librarian confused and a little freaked out as they'd observed me scan the last few shelves. That wasn't my concern though–I had a long night of studying ahead.

Back in my dorm, I settled down on the pillow in slime form (though not before pulling the covers over me.) Cocooned in a comfy, soft, dark little blanket-cave, I went over the volumes I'd scanned in my head while [Great Sage] did its thing.

The results: Nada. Zilch. Nothin'.

There's literally nothing useful in here! I griped after finishing the last book with [Though Acceleration].

[[Affirmative. There is no information about magic control that you had not previously obtained elsewhere.]]

And your analysis didn't turn anything up, either, I pouted. That's so useless.

[[...]]

The sage might have had something to say to that, but it was probably my imagination.

But the sun was rising–I could tell because of the birds chirping outside. It was time to go see Class S.

"Okay, so when doing multiplication, you take the number on top and add it to itself as many times as the number on the bottom says. With multiple digits it gets a bit trickier, but we'll start with this." I had to stretch way above my head to do it, but I wrote out a simple equation on the chalkboard, then turned around to the class. "Over time you'll notice patterns each number has that can help you figure out the answer, for example the number five. But for now–HEY!"

I caught the eraser that was just flying at my head in one hand, glaring at the perpetrator.

[[Notice. Speed of projectile measured at 95 miles per hour.]]

What!? That kid is insane!

"Alice," I held the eraser up in example as I prepared to scold her. "You could hurt someone doing that. Go to the corner and think about your choices."

"Aw, but it was just a prank, Rimuru!" She whined.

I fumed a bit at the lack of respect in addressing me but decided to focus on the bigger issue. "No, that was not just a prank, that was dangerous. Go sit in the corner."

Another eraser was hurled at me, and I caught it with my other hand, even having time to put the chalk down where it belongs first. Man, I love having [Thought Acceleration].

"Let's see," I made a show of pondering deeply. "You're seven years old, times two erasers… seven times two is fourteen minutes in the corner. Now go sit down."

"Hah, you couldn't even get him, Alice!" Kenya laughed tauntingly. "That's so lame!"

A third eraser smacked Kenya's face, glancing off his cheek, then making a physics-defying beeline for me. I slammed the two erasers I was holding together, catching the third between them. Where is she getting all these?!

"Three erasers is twenty-one minutes, plus hitting a classmate makes twenty-eight. I may as well round up to thirty though. Alice," I set the erasers down on the desk with a warning thud, "this is your last chance before all of us go outside and run twenty laps around the school. Go sit in the corner." They knew I would follow through on this, too–I had already done it once before.

"Wauuuuugh!" Alice flees to the corner of the room, flopping dramatically on the floor. "You're so mean! It wasn't even that bad!"

"Serves you right," Kenya snickered.

"Kenya," I added sternly, "eight minutes in the other corner for mocking Alice. I'll forgive that second taunt since I didn't warn you sooner."

"Hey!" Kenya jumped up and stomped on the ground in a fit, "I didn't even do anything!"

"Fine, sixteen minutes in the corner."

Kenya's face turned as red as his hair, but he'd already seen what happened when Alice tried to fight back. Shooting me a murderous look, he stomped over to the corner as loudly and slowly as possible.

"Excellent." Smiling in satisfaction, I turn to the remainder of the class. "Now, anyone not in a corner, can you tell me what the first step to solving this problem is?"

"Professor Rimuru is scary when he's mad," Ryota leaned over and whispered quietly to Gale, who nodded in agreement. Chloe's eyes were sparkling for some reason.

"Ryota! Since you're feeling talkative, why don't you tell me?"

"Eeep!" He sat ramrod straight in his chair, cringing shyly. "U-uhm… I don't know… Professor?" He squeaked pitifully.

"That's fine!" I smiled reassuringly, "we're here to learn, after all! Now, remember what I said about the number on the bottom?" Pointing with a baton I had recently made to accommodate for my height, I said, "which of you can tell me the answer to seven added three times?"

As I was going to meet with the kids for breakfast Yuuki ambushed me, saying he had "something important" to discuss in his office. I saw through him immediately but grudgingly obliged, thinking maybe he'd have something actually important.

He did not, and I missed breakfast (I'd make him pay for that later.)

Class S had a class with Professor Tiss today, but I still accompany them when they go to classes with other teachers, so I caught up to them at first period.

But today, one of my five is missing.

"Hey, where's Kenya?" I asked my group already seated.

"I dunno… he didn't show up for breakfast…" Ryota muttered.

"I bet that idiot overslept; it wouldn't be the first time!" Alice chided.

"But it's not like him to skip classes." Gale interjected.

"Agreed. I'm going to go find him."

He's my responsibility; doing anything less would be shirking my duties as their teacher and advisor.

"Professor Tiss, I'm sorry but I need to go look for one of my students." I said, with the implied request for her to keep an eye on my class for me. They've been great, though, so I have no worries about them acting up.

She appeared like she was about to start class, and here I go interrupting that almost immediately. Not only that, but leaving four kids who are considered dangerous troublemakers with the mild-mannered Tiss wasn't exactly ideal; there's a reason they kept hiring in advisors to stay with them at all times.

"No worries." Tiss smiled, unbothered.

I gave my students a glance that screamed 'behave yourself or there will be consequences' before departing the scene, satisfied that I have nothing to worry about for the few minutes it should take me to find Kenya.

You better not be playing hooky, Kenya… I'd rather not yell at you first thing in the morning.

"Losing one of his students; guess you can't expect much from a weirdo like that."

"It takes a weirdo to teach weirdos."

It didn't even take 2 minutes for the other class's students to start making fun of us after Professor Rimuru left the room. I could handle being picked on, but hearing them calling my friends and Professor Rimuru 'weirdos' was unacceptable.

Gale, also fed up, stood from his seat and approached the small group whispering about us. The other kids did the same, and they stared each other down.

"If you have something to say about us, say it out loud." Gale calmly ordered the boy who was closest to him. He looked a few years older than Gale, but since Gale is so tall he was still eye-to-eye with him.

"Fine. You're a bunch of weirdos, and so is that joke of a teacher you got."

"I bet they didn't even realize; the 'S' in S Class stands for 'stupid', y'know!"

"Heh, good one! And 'Professor pipsqueak' is even stupider than his students!"

"If you don't stop, we'll tell our teacher what you said and he'll yell at you!" Gale warned.

"Pfft… so what? He's about as scary as a kitten!" The boy shot back.

"They have no idea…" Ryota muttered, probably remembering the few times we've gotten Professor Rimuru angry. He's a lot scarier than a kitten, even with his kind face.

"Why did you wait until he left to talk about him then?" I pointed out, setting down my picture book and joining Gale.

"Huh?"

"If Professor Rimuru isn't scary, then why are you being mean to us only when he's out of the room?"

"Yeah! You're cowards for talking like that behind his back!" Alice joined me, but a lot louder than I was being, "Maybe we shouldn't tell our teacher and instead teach you a lesson ourselves!"

"Alice, you know that's a bad idea." Gale advised her.

"Not if we're sneaky about it." I muttered, Alice agreeing with me, based on her smile after I said that.

Gale gave me an exasperated look, but I didn't care. I was getting very upset with these jerks!

Professor Tiss finally seemed to notice something was going on near the back of her classroom and marched over.

"Sit down please. Class is about to start."

I didn't think she heard everything that was said based on how she reacted, but she still stopped what was going on anyway.

Everyone quieted down and took their seats.

Professor Rimuru is taking a while… if Kenya just overslept, both of them would be back by now, I think.

"Kenya! This is Professor Rimuru!" I knock on his dorm's door, but get no response, "Kenya Misaki, you're late for class, and if you don't answer you're gonna be in big trouble!"

I can tell he's inside with [Magic Sense], so I'm not going to let up with my knocking.

After a few long seconds, I hear a weak groan, or more of a whimper. It didn't sound right at all, so I made the executive decision to let myself in.

I could have had someone with a master key open the door, but the sinking feeling I was getting in the pit of my stomach was telling me that I shouldn't take the time to do that.

First looking down the hallway in both directions to make sure nobody was watching, I slime-ified my right index finger and squeezed it into the locking mechanism, using my amorphous dexterity to pick it.

"Kenya, I'm coming in," I warn the boy before slowly swinging the door open.

I was hit with a familiar feeling; the room was filled with a higher concentration of magicules than the rest of the school building, reminding me of Jura. But, unlike the forest, the sight in front of me was anything but inviting or pleasant.

Kenya was lying in his bed, his face bright red with fever and shiny with sweat. His eyes were bleary and unfocused as he looked over at me, weakly and slowly turning his head to do so. I could visibly see the raging magicules that had spread throughout the room and were leaking from his body, almost like the aura of a monster.

"P-pro…fessor…" He mumbled near-incoherently, clearly very ill.

I felt horrible for threatening him with punishment after seeing him in this state.

Extremely concerned, I immediately rushed over to his bedside.

Great Sage, can you tell me what's wrong with him, exactly?

[[Alert: symptoms have been caused by an uncontrolled surge of magicules from the soul of the individual, Kenya Misaki. Magicule poisoning within the physical body has resulted. Treatment of symptoms is advised.]]

Is there a way to remove the magicules directly now that they're inside his body rather than his soul?

[[Answer: yes.]]

Let's do it then!

[[Question: use the unique skill, [Predator], to move the individual, Kenya Misaki, into [Stomach] for magicule removal? As it has been previously recorded, the individual Rimuru Tempest is preferential to the nature of processes. This process would require the disassembly and reassembly of the individual, Kenya Misaki's body to be completed. Yes/No.]]

No, no, nevermind! I can't eat and take apart my student!

Then a horrifying thought popped into my mind.

Wait, is that what I did to Shizu-san?! I know I ate her and analyzed her, but-

[[Answer: that is correct.]]

WHY WOULD YOU TELL ME THAT!?

[[Answer: when prompted, answers will be provided. It has been determined that the individual, Rimuru Tempest, values honesty, thus accurate answers are favorable when responding to questions from said individual.]]

"It…h-hurts…"

I was snapped out of my internal freak-out by Kenya's soft cry.

Is there anything different I can do to help him?

[[Notice: It would be possible to extract magicules with the help of the user, if they were to assist. However, this would be limited, and would only reduce symptoms. Long term effects would be minimal.]]

Hmmm… but the kid has no idea how to do that.

I decided to at least absorb the magicules in the air of the room since I was fairly certain they were reaching a concentration that might be dangerous to the average person. Doing this was no problem at all for me since it's something my body does naturally all the time, I just put a bit of attention toward it to speed up the process.

It seemed to help with Kenya's breathing a little too, which was somewhat labored up until a moment ago.

"Hey, just rest, I'll take care of you," I said kindly to the boy as I stroked his head. Kenya relaxed back on his bed, sighing with relief.

Poor kid, I wonder if anyone's got on his case for missing class because of this before…

Kenya seemed too out of it to really notice anything, so I popped a cooking pot and a rag received from the trio out of my [Stomach]. I filled the pot with some stomach-water, (eww, it was clean, but still), doing the bare minimum to hide the waterfall pouring out of my hand. I was confident that Kenya was out of it enough not to notice what exactly I was doing.

I soaked the cloth and wrung it, placing the wet towel on Kenya's forehead. He sighed, some of the tension leaving his face, and I felt my non-existent heart squeeze.

"Do you want a snack?" I asked, a little anxiously, knowing that he hadn't had breakfast.

"Ngghhh…" He tried to mumble a response, though it came out incomprehensible.

That was definitely a "no," though.

"Alright," I said reassuringly. "Get some sleep."

"Th…" Kenya wheezed, "thanks, Prof…"

"Sleep," I ordered more sternly.

I stroked Kenya's head for a bit, at a loss of what to do. I definitely couldn't leave him like this–he was way too sick to be unsupervised (what was the mortality rate for a world like this?), not to mention I had to be present to passively predate the magicules he was filling the room with.

I would definitely have to inform my class they were going to school without us today, not to mention find another professor to watch them. That would be a pain.

Do I really need to find another professor? I mused, feeling a bit lazy. I didn't want to traipse all over campus just to find someone available, nor leave Kenya that long.

As I was contemplating, Kenya suddenly heaved, throwing himself on his side.

"Kenya!?" I jumped up, "what's wrong?"

"BLEAAUUUUUGH!"

Oh. Oh, gross. Kenya threw up in the pot full of my stomach-water. So that's what was wrong.

Well, I was not eating that crap. I was planning on just reabsorbing the excess, but that was out of the question now.

"Shh, shh," I comforted him as he tried to sputter apologies, barf-spit flying. "It's okay. You're alright. Just relax." I rubbed circles on his back until he calmed down.

Taking the cloth off his head, I wiped off his mouth and nose, feeling a bit like I was taking care of an infant. Draping it on the edge of the pot, I drew the covers up as he laid back down.

"I'll be right back," I promised, "I just need to take care of some things. I'll be ten minutes, max."

"Kehhh…" I took Kenya's half-sighed acknowledgement and picked up the pot of vomit, quietly leaving the room.

I was disposing of this pot o' nastiness the old-fashioned way.

After leaving the contaminated items, pot and all, in the campus trash–there was no way I'd use that pot to cook ever again–and sliding behind the giant dumpster-like container to hide, I shadow-motioned across campus to where Class S would be.

Coming out in a private little nook I had discovered previously, a hollow created by dead branches between two pines, I jogged over to Professor Tiss's classroom.

"Professor Rimuru!" My other four students crowded around me as soon as I stepped through the door, completely interrupting class. I was tempted to scold them since it seemed Tiss already started teaching, but more pressing matters were already distracting me.

"Hey, guys," I replied amidst the babble of "is Kenya okay?" and "where were you for so long?"

"Kenya's fine," I reassured them, "he's just sick. I'll have to spend the day with him, so I need you guys to go to your classes without me, alright?"

The grudging silence of these kids was all the confirmation I needed. They didn't like me leaving, I guess. It kind of touched me.

"Behave, guys, alright?" I warned, "as soon as Kenya's better I'll bring in some cream puffs from Yoshida's, okay?"

The carrot and stick. It never failed me.

"We will, Professor," Gale promised, and with his acknowledgement I knew the other three would listen. Frankly, Kenya was usually the one causing trouble to start with.

"Alright. Ask your other teachers if you need anything, they can get in touch with me."

"Yes, Professor!" They chorused.

I glanced at Tiss, who didn't even seem upset that class was interrupted. "I'll check in on them whenever I'm free," she smiled warmly, and I gave a grateful nod.

I turned to leave, but Ryota caught the edge of my sleeve. "Will Ken be okay?" He asked, turning little puppy eyes up at me.

Come to think of it, they probably all knew exactly what kind of state Kenya was in. This had probably happened before.

"He'll be fine," I patted his shoulder. "I'll make sure of it."

Yeah, I definitely need to go make sure the kid hasn't died in the last ten minutes. I shouldn't be joking with myself, but I kind of needed the pick-me-up. [Great Sage] said he would be fine, but still.

"Bye, Professor!" Chloe chirped, and I waved as I left the room.

"Kenya?" I asked softly as I opened the door to his room, "you awake?"

"Guh…" I found Kenya face-down on the floor, looking like he'd tried to get dressed as a mess of clothes were strewn on the floor around him. He was still in his pajamas.

"You idiot!" I rushed over, turning him on his back. "I told you to wait for me," I scolded.

"'M fine," he grumbled deliriously. "I jus' gotta… go potty… n'then… I c'n… class…"

"No, stupid," I gently picked him up. "You need to sleep when you're like this." I tried to place him back in the bed, but he struggled.

"Need'ta pee," Kenya whined.

…what did I get myself into? I remembered my brother complaining to me about how messy kids were when my nieces were still little… I guess this was my comeuppance for teasing him.

"Alright," I sighed. "Then you're going back to bed, got it?" Once I got a tired nod, I hoisted him up bridal-style and walked to the bathroom down the hall.

All the kids were in their classes, thankfully, but I did pass a janitor who gave me a weird stare as we passed. Yeah, I'm like, 3 feet tall. I get it. We were definitely an amusing sight, my child-sized self carrying a kid around the same size with ease.

I waited for him outside, actively trying not to pay attention while Kenya did his business. I wasn't worried for him, if he face-planted in the toilet I'd probably hear it anyway.

After about five minutes longer than it should've taken Kenya stumbled out.

"Want me to carry you again?" I offered.

"Noooo…" he groaned, "lemme walk."

"You don't have to be embarrassed."

"I am… though…"

"If you say so."

About three steps down the hall he collapsed on me anyway, and I supported him as he stumbled back to his room.

So. I had a near-deathly-ill eight-year-old alone in a dorm that had already proven he absolutely had to be supervised. There was no way I was leaving today.

Kenya had passed out the moment he managed to climb into bed, exhausted by the effort. I arranged the blankets around him as he snored so loudly I was surprised I wasn't feeling my [Multilayer Barrier] fend it off as a sonic-based attack.

Stepping back to look at my handiwork, I frowned slightly, and pulled the covers off him again. I rolled Kenya up burrito-style, so he couldn't throw himself out of bed again without my permission.

There we go. Finally satisfied, I sat down at his desk and pulled out the class materials I always kept in my [Stomach]. I didn't need light to see with [Magic Sense], so I worked in darkness.

I am one with the night… I mused as I scribbled notes in Japanese.

[[Correction: You are not.]]

Hey, I argued, I know it's not that dark, but it's still darker than anyone would want to read in!

[[Notice: Nightfall will occur in 11 hours.]]

You're no fun, I pouted, going back to my work.