I was glad to be able to spend more time as a slime now that the kids were aware of my species. Up until this point, I had to make do with hopping around during the night.
I even went around the school when nobody was around, taking advantage of the darkness. The smooth tiles in the hallways always felt nice on my body; that's why I ventured out of my room despite possible risks.
It definitely wasn't to freak out the skittish Vice Chairman who has a comedically high-pitched shriek for a man his size. I'm too sneaky to get caught so carelessly, I swear!
Now if I did happen to get caught, I suppose someone might have taken me for a ghost since I'm sorta transparent as a slime. Yeah, let's go with that.
Said supposed 'ghost' sighting, by the way, definitely didn't spawn a school-wide phenomenon akin to the sighting of a cryptid. Not at all.
Either way, I'd been avoiding the school on my nighttime jaunts after that fiasco. That definitely didn't happen by the way… though if it did, it may have been why I was using a mix of [Ranged Barrier] and [Formhide] to turn myself invisible and sneak around the city, nabbing alcohol from various bars.
It's not like they would sell it to me if I tried to pay, in either of my forms.
Currently, I was hanging out in a back alley behind my favorite location, a bar-restaurant owned by a wealthy businessman. I couldn't get drunk due to [Poison Resistance], which meant it was only that taste that I could enjoy, and this place had the best-tasting alcohol.
Watching the inside with [Magic Sense], at the perfect moment I shadow-motioned inside and immediately started reaching for the cabinet they used to keep the good stuff.
Dangit, they changed the locks on it again. It's so much trickier than last time! That didn't matter though. With a slime-ified finger and a few minutes of hard work and effort, I was in.
I had to stand on the counter to reach, but I grabbed a couple bottles off the top shelf. As soon as they came in contact with me they were covered by the same stuff hiding me, and I absorbed them into my hand.
"Oh nooo!" A voice suddenly said behind me, "not again!"
I froze, wondering if I'd been caught. My skills were probably still enough to keep me hidden, but I didn't want to risk moving on the crowded counter and giving away my location.
Please go away, please go away, I pleaded.
"What is it?" A new voice said as a pudgy man in expensive-looking furs walked in. He was a lot more well-groomed than most people in this city, though it didn't do much to help his rat-like face. This guy could run the yakuza and he wouldn't look out of place.
"Mr. Mjollmile!" The cook said, "this is what I've been talking about! It's the Spirit-stealing Spirit!" He gestured to the open cabinet, which I was still in front of, completely invisible.
Huh. I have a new nickname, it seems. The pudgy man, Mjol–mole… Mollie stroked his chin. "Don't they usually leave behind coins?" He said.
Right. They'd caught me midway through the act, so I hadn't left my payment yet. Honestly, I didn't know why this guy was complaining, I always paid, over-paid, even. Maybe it was the existential dread of knowing they could never stop me.
"Th-they must still be here!" The cook exclaimed, "I'll lock down the building, we'll catch them this time!"
If I was a spirit, did you really think locking the doors to this place would stop me?! Ifrit would just burn it's way out of this place within seconds!
"No, no need." Mjollmile waved a hand. "When communing with spirits, diplomacy is key."
It was a good thing I didn't need to breathe, because this guy was making me nervous as he walked closer to me, aiming for the cabinet on my right.
"You keep them here, yes?" Mollie hummed, opening the door and plucking something out. "Tell you what, spirit," he said into the room, "there's no need to steal. Come by next week and we'll have some set aside for you, provided you pay. If we have a deal, you can have this." He held out his palm with a bottle opener resting on it.
Heck yes, I'll take this. No more sneaking around for me! I snatched the bottle opener from the man's palm, depositing a handful of gold coins in its place, including a tip.
"Good doing business with you," Mollie grinned. I, meanwhile, booked it out of there as fast as possible with [Shadow Motion].
It seemed I had a new trading partner.
"You know, I dunno how you made these deviled eggs, but maybe we should call them something else? People don't really like demons." Yuuki wheezed lightly while patting me on the back, before stealing another deviled egg from the tray.
"Don't take any more of them! I don't have enough ingredients to make another batch!" I grumbled and packed them back into the basket.
Chloe patted my side to get my attention. "Rimuru, we can't stop fighting for long enough to lay out the blankets." She had been getting a lot more bold recently, speaking to me more casually and often. I wasn't sure for the reason, but seeing her come out of her shell around me more felt nice.
I glanced over to see Kenya and Alice trying to yank the large blanket out of each other's hands.
"No! The ground is lumpy over there! I refuse to sit on lumps!" Alice shouted.
"But it's in the shade! I don't wanna eat in the sun!" protested Kenya.
"Why don't you just go over to another tree." Gale bonked them both on the head while speaking flatly.
"But I like this tre-" Ryota tried to speak.
I quickly stepped over to him and covered his mouth. "You'll start another fight, don't."
They settled down and went with Gale's option, thankfully, but when I turned back around to get the food out, I found Yuuki digging around in the picnic basket, stealing more eggs. I even caught him with one hanging out of his mouth.
"But dey tashte sho good!" he mumbled through his food.
It's like I have a sixth kid sometimes…
I grabbed the baskets from him and actually properly set out the food as the kids stared at it, visibly drooling.
(Was Yuuki included in the drool crew? I'll leave that up to your imagination.)
I looked around the place the kids chose, taking in the nice golden fields, and small groups of trees all over the place. After that I checked the weather to make sure everything was alright.
All I found was a single dark cloud nearby, but it didn't seem like it'd come our direction any time soon.
Plus, rain would do these fields good. Summer always makes places like this too dry.
"Alright, you two finally got the blanket down? Make sure to pin it with some rocks in case it gets windy." I glanced back at my students.
It seemed they had taken my instructions too seriously though, as they had pinned the blankets down with a few small boulders made by Gale's spirit. At least they were done fighting though.
"Yeah! Get over here, Teacher! I wanna see slime you again." Alice patted the blanket in front of her.
That got a sigh out of me. They'd asked to see my slime form a few times since they first saw it. Pretty much whenever we were in private.
They liked playing with me, I guess. Just like the ogre children did.
They were so disappointed when I left… I'll have to make sure to bring back some nice toys and snacks when I visit them again.
But those were thoughts for later. I was certain I could go see the ogres soon now that my students were safe and sound with spirits inside them.
Anyway… I didn't mind going into my natural form when any of them requested, as long as it was when there weren't any strangers to witness it. It also had helped make Alice less angry with me, since she still wasn't happy about how long I had kept it a secret from her and the others.
"Chloe, can you make a pond next to the picnic blanket so we can wash off the dishes when we are done?" It was an oddly easy way to make a makeshift sink, since water made with magic was always sterile. I read about it in an adventuring book.
Chloe nodded, before raising her hand and using a water attack to make a hole in the ground, and then fill the hole with water.
"Let's all sit down and start eating. I'm sure we're all very hungry."
The kids all listened and eagerly plopped down on the blanket nearby and started loading their plates with food. Alice rested her plate on top of me while I continued to sit on her lap.
"Alice, I would like to eat too so can you please stop using me as a table?"
"Here. You can have some, I'll even feed you. But… where? You don't have a mouth, Professor."
"First, I don't need you to feed me, and second, don't waste the food by giving it to me when I'm like this. I can't taste a single thing as a slime so I wouldn't be able to enjoy it."
"Can't you freely transform your body? Making it so you can taste things when you're like this should be easy for you."
"The main issue with that is I would end up tasting anything I touch, and blanket doesn't sound like a very appetizing flavor to me."
"Does that mean you would eat the blanket, Teacher?"
"No, just taste it. I don't just eat whatever I touch without trying."
"Well, I knew that much already or I wouldn't hold you like this."
Yuuki starts snickering to himself after Alice said that, and I know exactly why. I won't say anything for the sake of these kids' innocent minds, though.
I sensed a sudden surge of magicules in the distance, like a large monster had suddenly just appeared nearby. I wasn't close enough to suss out what it was specifically, but it kinda felt like that demon from before.
I squirmed out of Alice's lap and went into my human form. Everyone there looked tense, able to tell that something was happening. I bet the kids' spirits were able to feel the same aura I was sensing.
"Are you gonna go take care of that?" Yuuki asked, still talking in his usual casual tone but staring in the same direction I was, squinting his eyes to see if he could spot anything.
"It'll kill a bunch of the gate guards if I don't, maybe worse. It's at least a B-rank, and that's low-balling it."
"Any clue what kind of monster it is?"
"I can't tell from here. I'm just barely able to sense it."
"Teacher, what's going on? My spirit said there's something dangerous nearby."
"Just a rampaging monster. Don't worry, your teacher will take care of it. I won't let it ruin our picnic."
I set down Shizu's mask on the blanket. I didn't want it restricting me at all for this fight since the presence has been growing stronger and stronger by the second. My initial guess of B-rank was already proven wrong, this thing was definitely an A, according to the Sage. "Keep that safe for me."
After that, I immediately used [Spatial Motion] to get over to the place I thought there would be a massive monster. Instead though, I was confronted by a giant magic circle the size of a small house.
It seemed to be some form of demon summoning magic.
Didn't have long to examine it though, because soon after it fully formed, it let out another massive wave of energy as it opened a portal into an inky black void which a giant beetle-like thing crawled out of, and then anot- No. That was another part of its own body.
It was like a chain of beetles all attached together by the middle-body segment being linked to the back one, with one small head at the front. Yet it somehow still managed to roar loudly.
Eventually at least a hundred of those segments crawled out, with thousands of legs at least, and as long as a small street.
Wherever its feet touched, the grass there would nearly instantly turn to stone. That was quite an interesting skill, and I kinda wanted it. A petrification ability seemed useful, especially if there was some way to undo it.
This is a thousand times worse than the noodle-dogs! Mostly because it's a thousand times longer! And even more buggy!
"Come on!" I yelled loudly as the thing set its gaze on me. I felt its aura fight against mine immediately.
I responded instinctually by flaring out a lot of my own magicules, though I wasn't exactly sure how.
Suddenly, the thing looked… Scared? Its face couldn't express anything, but its thousands of legs recoiled back and it turned away before trying to slithe- crawl? It started running away at a clip I wasn't sure how it managed.
I tried to run after it! The thing was running! I wanted that petrification skill though, so I couldn't let it get away!
Wait, I can't eat this in front of the kids… Maybe I can take it somewhere else with spatial motion?
However, as it started getting some distance from me, I noticed something weird. It reared up in fear one more time, before it seemed to stiffen up. Nearly instantly after that it roared in pain and slowly began to petrify.
"Hey! You can't do that! I need those skills!"
I couldn't really argue against it though, because the entire aura disappeared and I couldn't even sense the spirit of the monster any longer as all the magicules in the area were sucked back into the portal, and it closed up.
"Damnit!" My aura flared up again involuntarily, before I went back to the picnic in annoyance. Though I did make sure to take the monster with me, since it was more or less just an obnoxious statue now.
"Hey! Did a demon steal your lunch? You don't look too happy right now."
"Looking at what you left for me, I'd say so…"
Pretty much all the food was gone. So, not only was I unable to consume that beetle abomination for its skills, but my delicious meal was pilfered.
"Heh, sorry. You took a while. Plus, you had another meal to eat, right? Don't big slimes go around eating whatever monsters they come across?"
He knows full well that I'm not 'big' yet he sardonically calls me that anyway!
"Mister Yuuki, are you saying Teacher was gonna eat whatever that scary thing was?!"
"I dunno, you tell them, Rimuru."
"...kinda… 'absorb' would be a better word." I muttered, trying to hide my embarrassment. I still found admitting to that particular hobby difficult. "But I didn't even get the chance to do that this time since it turned into a rock before I even touched it!"
"You turned it… into a rock?"
"Sensei is powerful…"
"No, it just did that on its own! I think it had a petrification skill and lost control of it or somethin'... I still don't know what actually happened. One second, I was getting ready to fight it, and then the next it turned to run and suddenly turned to stone!"
"HAHA, Rimuru. I wasn't kidding when I said a demon stole your lunch, that thing was probably in contract with one. Those demons from the north send things like that every once in a while." He continued snickering. "If you said it tried to run away from you, I bet that broke its contract."
The ever-knowlegeable Grandmaster strikes again.
"Just a guess, though," Yuuki made sure to add at the last second. Based on his tone though, it didn't seem like much of a guess to me.
The amount of things Yuuki seemed to know about this world always felt a bit disconcerting to me, but it was just something I had to accept. I mean, with his extra decade of experience here, there was bound to be many things he knew about and understood that I didn't. I was sure his political position and connections also played a role in that.
"Well, you can have the thing. It's just a useless statue now."
I pulled out the beetle thing from my stomach, now in a much more manageable size. I was able to compress it down to something the size of your average desk lamp, the rough stone texture now a smooth, darker, obsidian-like substance. Something this gross-looking didn't deserve such a pretty material, but it made it easier to carry around, so I couldn't complain.
"You can add it to your collection."
Yuuki stared at the thing in his hands, hints of disgust leaking out through his well-practiced expression. "No, you were the one that won that fight, you should keep it." he tried to hand it back to me with a large smile, but I just held my hands up in refusal.
"Well, I thought you'd want it for another reason too. Don't you like dressing up monsters? That's your thing, isn't it? You can put something on it, like you would with a doll." I got a chance to chuckle.
"Not monsters like that! I like dressing up monster gir-"
I cut him off a death glare. He'd more than once tried to put me in a dress so I knew he considered me under that umbrella despite that not being reality.
"Ugh. Fine." Yuuki lifted the thing up to look at it in the sunlight.
My students ran back over to me after that. "Sensei! Put your mask on." Chloe shoved it into my hands.
"Hm? Alright. Sure." I slipped the mask back onto the side of my head.
"Hey! Mister Yuuki! Since you don't want it, can I have that?" Kenya ran up to Yuuki and began pleading.
"Uh, sure. If you can pick it up." Yuuki set it on the ground, and I knew precisely why.
"Ha! Doesn't look that heavy." Kenya confidently placed his hands on the underside of the monster and used all his strength.
But the statue didn't care about Kenya's confidence and refused to budge from its place on the ground no matter how much the boy strained to try to lift it.
"Wha! Why can't I lift it? It's so heavy!" Kenya started complaining.
"Yeah, that's what I was expecting. Can't give it to ya if I need to come and help you move it whenever you want it somewhere else. So…" Yuuki picked the statue back up. "I'll keep it in my office, but I'll give it to you when you can carry it."
Kenya looked frustrated, but nodded. "Alright, Mister Yuuki."
"Good kid, I'm sure you'll be strong enough when you're older." After that, Yuuki turned back to me. "Huh, ya know. I recognize this thing. Normally they're a bit over A."
"What about it?" I made sure I hadn't messed up my clothes in the hurry to transform. I did take note of what being 'Over A' meant though, I'd read about monster ranks in a book in the library.
"Well, that means you must be pretty far over A yourself, right? To scare it off that easily, I mean." Yuuki gestured to the statue in his hands.
"Ah… Yeah I guess so." I got a bit uncomfortable about him bringing it up.
"Teacher is really strong, huh." Gale mused from the side.
"The strongest!" Ryota yelled in assurance.
"That's enough, let's get back everyone. I'm sure you all want some dessert in town, right?" I bribed them with sweets, but really I also wanted to pick up dinner myself.
"Psst… Rimuru. Lemme handle this. That man is difficult to deal with, so just stay quiet for the most part, 'kay?" Yuuki whispered to me as we approached the gates, eyeing a particular man in shiny full-plate armor.
I wasn't sure what he meant by that exactly, but if it would help me avoid trouble, I was willing to let Yuuki do the talking here. So, I responded with a subtle nod and kept walking with him, my kids following behind us both.
"Ah, Captain Reiner!" Yuuki called out to the man from the gates once we were a little closer, "Sorry about taking long enough for the alarms to go off. Just a demon's summon, no big deal."
"Knew that already. Looked like a Greater Demon Beetle through the telescope." The guard captain grumbled. "I was hoping to put the head up in the new barracks."
"Hehe, I'm sure you were. It was a pretty big one. Well, the threat has been taken care of, so you can relax now. There's no need to still be on high alert."
"Taken care of by whom? I'd like to know what exactly happened, Grandmaster. It was hard to see what happened from here and it all went so quick."
Yuuki sighed reluctantly, clearly not wanting to explain the situation; and for good reason. Full transparency here would lead to me being revealed as a slime, and neither of us wanted that.
"I need to get these kids home first. This'll take a while to explain." Yuuki glanced back at my students standing oddly quiet behind us. They must know the seriousness of this situation.
"I understand. Some of my men can watch them while we talk, and if this goes long enough, even escort them back to the academy. Does that sound reasonable enough?"
"That works for me."
Reiner nods to one of the guards standing nearby listening and he comes over to usher the kids away.
I hope they'll behave themselves… We'd need to be separated for a bit while Yuuki and I deal with this situation. I wasn't too worried, though, since they've honestly been excellent recently.
Someone places a hand on my shoulder gently, "Come now, the Grandmaster needs to speak with the Captain."
Yuuki looked at me with an amused glint in his eyes, and if he wasn't already putting on a flawless mask of professionalism right now, I was sure he'd be snickering.
"Haha, no, Rimuru needs to stay for this," Yuuki said to the man, his tone light.
"Yeah, please don't lump me in with my students," I added.
"Well, to be fair, Mr. Rimuru, ya do look quite a bit like a child," another guard butted in, one I'd actually met before. "Let 'im go, Ronaldo, this one's no kid."
A few weeks ago, this guard had the same misunderstanding when I needed to pass through the gate. He's a kind older man that showed me respect immediately after that was all cleared up, unlike a certain someone standing next to me that continues to tease me about my childlike appearance.
"My apologies," the first guard released my shoulder, looking quite flustered after being advised by his more experienced coworker, "I-I just assumed-"
"No worries," I cut him off before he got too worked up, "Just take good care of my kids while I'm busy."
The two guardsmen took my five students out of the room while Reiner stared at me with skepticism. "Rimuru, huh? I think one of my employees has mentioned you, once or twice."
"I guess I'm popular." I awkwardly scratched my head, getting a little embarrassed by the idea.
"Hm. That a bad thing?"
"Oh… Uh, I guess not."
"Mhm… Well let's get inside. I'll need to have a conversation with you both, then you can be on your way." After that Reiner led us into the tower, and from there into a small office on the top floor with a window on each side. One out onto the city, and the other out onto the countryside.
The whole room was quite fancy, probably a lot more expensive than it needed to be.
Reiner motioned to the two chairs facing the desk in the center of the room. Yuuki sat in the left one and I hopped up onto the right. After, Reiner finally sat in his much more comfortable-looking seat behind the desk and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the surface in front of him.
"Well, what do you need to know then, Reiner?" Yuuki stared at the man blankly. "I'm guessing this one was responsible for slaying that beetle?"
Yuuki nodded in agreement and Reiner's brows furrowed in thought for a few seconds before he continued.
"I wanna know how a kid could beat a monster like that, really. It just doesn't seem to be possible." The man clasped his hands together.
"They told ya before, Rimuru isn't a kid. He is a B-ranked adventurer." Yuuki motioned toward me again. "Shouldn't your men have told ya that?"
"Maybe they did, I just couldn't believe it. However, if you say it now that tells me something else." He turned his scrutinizing eyes in my direction and fell silent.
The pause made me nervous. It seemed he was onto something and I was worried I'd been outed as a monster, somehow.
I glanced over at Yuuki. He was still the picture of calm as he watched the other man still watching me. I may have been worried, but Yuuki didn't seem to share in that.
"They're a majin, aren't they? Masquerading as a B-ranker. Ain't that uncommon." The man began constructing a story. "Especially since a little girl wouldn't exactly have an easy time beating an over-A monster, even if they are a B-ranked adventurer, or even an otherworlder."
I'm not a little girl… How many times do you gotta hear that, man? Yuuki had already called me a 'he' to this man's face, but that didn't seem to be enough for him to understand just yet.
"Haha. Well, yeah. Rimuru is a majin. His appearance should have tipped you off to that." Yuuki giggled it off under his breath. "You aren't stupid enough to think I'd let a normal kid become a B-ranker, are you?"
Yuuki reaches over and pats the top of my head.
NOT YOU TOO!
Reiner seemed to get a little mad at Yuuki's insult, indicated by his face turning red. "I guess that explains that then. Let me see your license… Rimuru, I want you to get credit for this."
"I don't really want credit, though." I spoke under my breath.
Reiner nodded. "Yeah, I was expecting that. You street-majin that Yuuki 'adopts' tend to not like attention. Really, I just need to make sure our guards know they can call ya for this kinda thing in the future. Of course, don't get too cocky. I'm sure you'd have a hard time against any of the other stuff I've fended off before." He smiled kinda nastily, his words dripping with arrogance.
"I'm a busy man, but I'm willing to help with emergencies when I'm in the area." I gave him that much, at least. I needed to play nice with someone with as much authority as Reiner had.
"That's good enough for me," nodding first, Reiner turned his eyes to Yuuki, "Keep this one in check, eh, Grandmaster? Although they would not be any trouble for someone like me to handle, you have a strong little one in your hands this time."
Internally fuming at the way I was being treated, I left the room with Yuuki, keeping my mouth shut. I knew telling off the Captain of Englesia's guards would cause nothing but trouble for both Yuuki and I.
"I can't believe you told him… that… without asking me first. I almost wanted to slap you when I heard that come out of your mouth."
"He'd figured it out the moment he saw you, Rimuru. If I lied to Reiner about it, it would've just worsened my position."
"Observant guy…"
"Heh, not exactly, but in this case, yes." Yuuki patted me on the back. "Personally, though, you were a bit too obvious. You can't just go off fighting Over-A monsters when that contradicts every part of your story. However, on top of that, you do look like a child, so seeing you behave the way you do at all gives it away."
"I can't help that."
"Sure, but it still makes it obvious. Happens to tons of adventurers though, and many do end up looking a lot younger than they are. So I'd suggest just accepting it. Some people will be afraid of you, but it does make your charade a bit more air-tight."
"Mmmmm… So what was with that adoption joke, you've done this before?"
"Huh? Yeah, I've taken in a few majin before. They need a bit more protection than normal adventurers. You are a bit unique, but not that special, really." Yuuki brushed it off like it was nothing.
"I may be working at the school you run, but that doesn't mean I consider myself 'adopted' by you. You're like 10 years younger than me if I count my time in Japan. That'd just be weird, so don't get the wrong idea about it."
"I won't. Though, the word adoption is fitting with how you look." Yuuki paused. "When I think about it, majin make good secretaries. They've got lots of skills to handle all the stuff I don't wanna do."
That idea disturbed me, knowing Yuuki's tastes. "I am not changing my position!"
"You aren't the person I had in mind." Yuuki laughed, but it still left me unsure. "Maybe you'd make a good one too, though."
"I won't be a secretary, ever!"
"Haha!"