Rimuru And Iruma's Adventures In The Netherworld

by Mu1622

A bored Rimuru Tempest accompanies Diablo when he goes to meet with an old friend in the Netherworld. What will happen when he meets an out-of-place human boy who piques his interest?

115. Hunters & Hunted

Iruma POV

"Did you have to burn the poster to ashes?"

"Yes," Rimuru indignantly answers as we stand outside the Royal One. "If Lead wants to hang a demdol poster up in his bedroom and stare at it for hours every day, that's his business, but I'm not gonna let that poster be of me! Or you, Iruma. It's just wrong."

I tried and failed to console Lead over the incineration of his 'Limited Edition' poster. I warned him too, before he even tried to get Rimuru to autograph it, but he just wouldn't listen.

"Is it just me, or is something else bothering you right now?"

"Bothering me? Nah."

I have a sneaking suspicion that Rimuru is lying, but I don't think she'll tell me even if I keep asking. So, I decide to just drop the subject before I upset her even more.

"It's just a harmless poster, and I don't think he'd stare at it for hours…" I try to assure her.

"No, it only starts with the posters, Iruma."

"Huh?"

Rimuru seems so serious about this…

"Then t-shirts, and…" Rimuru shudders, "Body pillows…"

There's a long pause with Rimuru looking lost in her thoughts.

I'm not entirely sure what a body pillow is or why the possibility of one existing of our demdol selves bothers Rimuru so much, but I can quickly check that on my phone.

"irumi mika body pil_"

With a gentle, distant look in her eyes, Rimuru lowers my phone and softly whispers, "Keep your innocence. We're best off not knowing."

We walk back inside, and Lead greets us with a huff of annoyance, crossing his arms and turning away.

"Oh well, it's the last day of the week, I'm sure he'll have forgotten all about this after the weekend," Rimuru mumbles as we take our seats.

**The Next Week**

"I'm still mad at you."

We only just got here, and that's the first thing Lead says… He must've been waiting all weekend to say that.

"Darn, really?" Rimuru doesn't sound particularly apologetic, "Then what if I got you Kuromu's autograph to make up for it?"

Keroli looks instantly offended, but she can't say a word, all she can do is give Rimuru a death-stare from the background.

"A-a K-Kuromu autograph!?" Lead sputters out, which Rimuru nods to.

"Yeah, I'm sure Kuromu loves having teenage boys drool over pictures of her," Rimuru says as she glances back at Keroli and winks.

"Rimuru… don't…" I whisper harshly.

"Can you really get a Kuromu autograph?" Lead asks suspiciously.

"What? You think I'm a liar?"

"I didn't say that!"

This is just more of the same. Rimuru has been in a bad mood all weekend too, and she won't tell me what's going on. I wonder if all the mean rumors are actually getting to her…?

"What are you staring at me like that for?" she practically growls the question at me.

"S-sorry…"

Rimuru's eyes widen a bit, "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

We sit down and Rimuru stays quiet. Then, Professor Kalego walks in and takes his place at the front of the classroom, as usual.

After roll call (which I've started to notice Soi's name in), he moves onto the announcements for the week.

"My main announcement of the day is this: Starting from tomorrow and continuing up to the Music Festival, your battler activities will be suspended so you can use your time after classes to prepare for your performance."

Everyone starts whispering to each other about that, and the whispers quickly turn into audible discussion. Surprisingly, Professor Kalego doesn't immediately tell everyone to quiet down.

Lead suddenly stands up from his seat and loudly clears his throat before talking.

"Our game plan is to focus on Elizabetta since she's Bet-ranked and deserves to be the center of attention anyway!" he cheerfully declares, though then mumbles to himself "Wait, though… what about the other guy…?"

"Yes, it is about time that is addressed. Rimuru," Professor Kalego looks, or more accurately, glares at her, "I've left it to you to reveal the existence of a certain student since you seemed to have your own plans, but you're dragging it out much too far. Get on with it already!"

"Fine! There!" Rimuru bitterly swishes her hand through the air, and in that very moment Soi becomes clearly visible to everyone in the room. "Ya happy?"

Azz, Clara, Lead, and Goemon have already seen him.

But for everyone else…

"What? Who's that?!"

"Huh?! There's a strange guy in our classroom!"

"Dammit, Lead!" Jazz snaps, " 'You suck at counting' my ass!"

"SILENCE!"

"Hey!" Lead shouts back, "I didn't know about him 'til a few days ago! Can ya blame me?!"

"You knew about him before now?!"

Our teacher's face starts turning an angry shade of purple as everyone keeps yelling at each other, before finally he summons Cerberobuth. This makes everyone stop talking.

Rimuru just glances at it with a bored look, then towards Soi whose always-neutral expression has been broken by the terror of his detection warding being completely suppressed.

Without warning, he bolts from his seat and makes a break for the door, just to get bound up in thread and toppling over before making it even ten steps. Rimuru walks over and picks him up by the collar of his uniform, putting him back in his seat but still leaving him bound in place.

"Anyway… this guy is Soi Purson. He's a Bet, so he needs to rank up a lot during this festival, 'kay? Work it out if you wanna keep this place."

"Let me go. I'm not supposed to be seen."

"Doesn't matter, get over it. 'Pixie'." Rimuru scolds uncaringly.

"He's the Pixie?! He'll get those two ranks easily then!" Sabnock enthusiastically remarks.

Soi sinks into his seat a bit, before Rimuru just yanks him back up straight again.

"We can have him co-star with Elizabetta in the performance," Jazz proposes. "That way, they can both reach Dalet at once."

"Are ya fine with that, Liz?"

Elizabetta nods in response to Lead's question. "I don't mind sharing the spotlight during the performance."

"But what should we perform, exactly?" I speak up.

"Demon King Musical!" Sabnock booms.

"With Soi as the Demon King?" Lead asks incredulously. "He has to be in the spotlight, remember? That means he'd have to play the Demon King."

The large grin on Sabnock's face immediately drops.

"Forget it!" he shouts even louder than before.

"How 'bout something like a rock band?" Lead proposes, "That'd be real cool."

"Can Soi sing? If he can play a trumpet that good, he has to be able to sing good too."

"Yeah! He and Liz can be the vocalists!"

"Can you sing, Soi? Would you like that better than playing your trumpet?"

But Soi just turns his face away from me and doesn't say a word.

"If Purson does not want to, Master Iruma could–"

"He can't be in the spotlight!" Lead shouts. "We talked about this yesterday!"

"Yeah, Azz," I agreed. "I can't steal the attention away from the people that still need to rank up."

"Iruma-chi is too sparkly!"

"Yes, we all know Iruma stands out way too much," Jazz says dismissively, "But Purson, we really need your help, man!"

"Please!" Lead pleads, "We need to get everyone here to Dalet! We'll support you, so let's do this!"

Everyone surrounds Soi and starts pleading for him to go through with the plan. It's a lot, and everyone is being so loud. Nobody else but me seems to even notice Rimuru whisper in Soi's ear before releasing the collar of his shirt that she's been holding this entire time.

Not even a second after that, Soi fades into invisibility and assumedly escapes the classroom.

" "HEY!" " All those that were begging shout in unison.

"Why'd you let him sneak away!?" Lead screams angrily. "We were just about to convince 'im!"

"No, you were just freaking him out."

"He didn't look freaked out to me!"

"Well he doesn't show it on his face! He just doesn't wanna be seen in general, you're all a buncha goofballs for thinking that the guy who's been hiding from you for months would take center-stage in front of the whole school."

"Uh, right, that makes sense… But he kinda has to take center-stage, doesn't he? I mean, how else is he gonna get to rank Dalet in time? Professor, you've given us a paradox!"

There's some scattered calls of agreement around the class.

"Yeah!"

"You big cheat!"

"You just want us out of here!"

"SILENCE!" Professor Kalego yells for the second time this class. "I won't stand for the lot of you whining about such a clear and straightforward task. If you need Purson to play a major role without standing out too much, all you need to do is stand out more than him; most of you have yet to reach Dalet yourselves, I'll remind you."

"So we need, like, a performance where everyone except Soi stands out?" I ask.

"Precisely. Well, besides you and your sister; your usual showing-off would be such a detriment to everyone reaching Dalet that you two'll be at your class's mercy to not get locked in a dungeon."

Concerningly, Keroli seems to get a flash of inspiration from that.

"Kinda reminds me of the Battler Party prep…" Rimuru recalls.

"Except instead of being locked in a dungeon you were just sick, right?" Jazz chuckles.

"Sick? Oh… right, that's what I said it was, hahaha!"

**The Next Day**

Baal POV

I don't get it. I don't get it at all.

I've been expecting a visit from Rimuru for some time, and yet now I'm struggling to find a way to contact her without exposing myself in the process.

She's interested in joining our side, right?! Any method I consult tells me that she eliminated Ocho as I ordered despite having refused my request just shortly before, and she even stopped her mother from ratting me out after we were accidentally caught together.

But it's been nigh-impossible to catch her alone since that day. I can't get her number either, and now that Kiriwo is no longer at Babyls, I don't have any contacts there I can trust enough to pass along a message. Only one oddball informant, who has no idea who we are yet, diligently sends reports "to assist his needful comrades in chaos".

Those reports are almost not worth reading.

"REPORTING TO MY COMRADES IN CHAOS:

Today, I believed there was an opportunity to make an example of a Vau-ranked Student Council member by having two of my low-ranking minions ambush her while she was in a weakened state, heroically demonstrating that the high-ranking protectors of order are not invincible.

Unfortunately, it turns out they really are invincible.

Either that or my new minions are useless. I will encourage my more seasoned minions to continue menacing them to improve their fortitude.

And you should build your own strength and sharpen your own fangs for the days of chaos at hand, comrade! It's clear that you'll need it!"

See? Utterly obnoxious.

Anyway, from the sacrificial pawns I've sent out to 'catch Rimuru', I hear that on most noons of recent schooldays, she's flown away from Babyls at great speed and each time returned less than an hour later from whatever direction she'd left in.

Of course I gave out the obvious instruction: Assume it'll happen again and set up an ambush on her return path.

But they whined it'd be like trying to catch a shooting star in the brief moment it streaks across the sky, except worded much more moronically than that.

So I said, "I've caught her before, strap rockets to your wings or something."

I'm a busy guy, so it's not like I can lie in wait for the girl myself. I've got more irons in the fire than Sabzan. A shame I can't focus on this, really, because if I can successfully recruit Rimuru I'll also have a better weapon than anything Sabzan's ever made.

By the time she reaches adulthood, I suspect even I'd have trouble taking her down. And in a game to decide the Netherworld's future, moving a single player of that strength from one side to the other could be enough to tip the balance. So I truly do hope we can be allies, or at least that I can make her choose chaos.

…

One fine noon, I get a report from Hyudarin, a gentlemanly though tiny fellow who hovers before me like some kind of fairy. A deceptively tough and strong fairy.

"Good news, Lord Baal. The team you sent to capture that girl says they've found a chance to intercept her, as she's returning from exactly the same direction she left in. They're waiting in the forest on her path, and claim 'she shall be delivered to you soon'."

That last part was spoken in a way dripping with so much sarcasm as to be downright soggy.

I wouldn't trust that team to capture even a regular Vau like Henri's daughter, let alone the monster we're after. Many of them are just expendable wimps who joined the back-to-basics movement after feeling 'cheated' by the ranking system when really they just suck.

No, their job isn't to capture her, but instead to keep her busy and entertained long enough for me to arrive on the scene. I don't allow expendables to know my identity anyway, so I'm counting on Rimuru to knock them all out before I show up, just like the first time I introduced myself.

I'll need to be quick though, they won't last long against her. So without further ado, I ask for the coordinates and take flight.

…

By the time I near the area, a battle is already underway, a cloud of flashing lights just above the horizon.

Even from a great distance, it's easy to tell Rimuru apart from the hired mooks, as they leave trails of fire and smoke as they fall while she leaves a brilliant trail of magic weaving in and out.

She arcs upward until she's flying vertically, her pursuers impressively managing to chase her up the steep climb thanks to the assistance of rockets.

Then she plummets, small explosions occurring as she takes out some of her pursuers on the way down. From the fire that spills out, it's clear she's targeting their rocket packs, and the bright streak of Rimuru begins to zig-zag while many other bright lights flash as spells are cast against her.

Good, she seems to be having fun. This should be just like before, giving her a bunch of fodder to toy with so she'll see how much more fun our ways are.

After a brief pause to observe, I fly towards the battle, intending to be there to talk once it's all over.

But then the unexpected happens: There's a large explosion in the air that knocks out all my remaining minions, the only demon still flying being Rimuru who's speeding away as though she used the blast to propel herself. Assuming she's continuing onwards to Babyls, I'm not faster than her by enough that I could catch up before she gets there.

"Damn that fuckin- … … -aughter of a stuck-up bitch!"

The more explicit part of my curse is drowned out by the belated shockwave which hits with a dull thud and a sharp crack.

There's no questioning what happened, she was having fun toying with her opponents only to quickly end the battle and flee the moment she sensed me approaching. I was detected from an enormous range too, despite trying to be fairly subtle. As long as she's this flighty, I can't imagine myself managing to make contact with her this way again.

…

I take a long drag from my cigarette with three of my loyal subordinates gathered before me: The meek Shiida, the bubbly Miki, and that dipshit Kiriwo.

"So, will someone tell me what the fuck is going on here? Two of you are girls and one of you is a teenager, together you should be able to piece together the thoughts of a teenage girl."

"Ehhh? Lord Baal, there's no mystery at all, why wouldn't a young noble-girl worry about a strange and dangerous man pursuing her to the ends of the Netherworld?" Miki giggles.

"Quiet, you. Rimuru was masochistic enough that she seemed to enjoy getting kidnapped and forced into unfair fights. What I wanna know is, why did she go radio-silent on me after our encounter in that music store, yet still act on a kill-order?"

My subordinates spend some time thinking on that question.

Shiida is the first to come up with anything. "Perhaps… she wanted to get out… be distanced from our movement."

"What, and she figured she could pay for her ticket out by making herself useful?" I scoff at the idea. "She'd have to be pretty stupid to come up with a self-contradictory idea like that."

"Maybe she just really hated Ocho's guts! That Rimuru can get real murdery~ when she's angry, and her dear brother got hurt 'cause of 'im!" Kiriwo suggests in breathy-voiced delight.

"Again, that would be stupid and self-contradictory, Ocho would have suffered far more if he had been allowed to live. That doesn't mean either of you are definitely wrong though, perhaps Rimuru is stupider than she looks."

We go back to quietly thinking of how to explain her antics.

Miki frowns. "I've never met this Rimuru, is she really all that? We've got two of the Six Fingers here on a trivial matter like trying to guess what her woes might be, so I hope she's not just some crush of you two guys."

I glance over towards Kiriwo. "I can't speak for his fear-boner for her, but I'll have you know that even as an unbroken first-year she'd do just fine in a Six Fingers training session. Maybe I'll give her to you as a Seventh Finger once I'm through with her, you could use her as someone who'll tear apart whoever you throw her at."

I have to give her parents some serious credit for birthing and raising a perfect living weapon like her. That Sullivan is a fool for giving most of his attention to his weakling grandson; it just opens the door for me to give his granddaughter a place where she'll be truly appreciated.

After a bit more fruitless discussion, Kiriwo gets a message on his phone, and he breaks out into merry laughter.

"Hahahaha! Our informant at Babyls just shared a very fun rumor that's spreading about Rimuru!"

He shows the phone to me, and the rumor is more bizarre than anything I could have possibly expected.

"What the hell?! Now I'm even more confused, is she returning to origins yet still being shy about joining us?!"

Iruma POV

As I'm waiting for Homeroom Class after lunch, I see two demons approach that were missing during our break.

"Azz, Clara!" I gleefully greet them. "I was wondering where you guys were, did something come up?"

"Something indeed. Apparently, a list was found of Babyls students that an agent of the back-to-basics movement was interested in recruiting, and I was on that list. So I was given a quick interview with Professor Murmur to make sure I'm not in any danger, and then on my way here I found this gremlin up to no good."

Azz sets down the "gremlin", who promptly starts to clamber up Mt. Sabnock.

"Ha! You were on the list too?" the mountain laughs, only sparing a brief glance at the girl hanging off of his shoulder. "I'm glad my strength is recognized, but a Netherworld that's only for the strong just sounds unpleasant, it needs cute and kind demons as well. I wouldn't join those fools even if they offered me the golden throne on a silver platter!"

"Obviously!" Azz agreed with him, "The throne would be worth squat if the Netherworld fell into anarchy. Anyway, I suppose I should let Rimuru know to expect to be called in by Professor Murmur since the two of us being on the list suggests she's on it as well. We're probably all lumped together as 'strong students with violent tendencies' in that agent's mind."

I'm a little unnerved hearing this conversation, which is bringing back some grim memories. "Back-to-basics? Aren't those the demons that destroyed Walter Park? They're going after Babyls now?"

"This isn't anything new, Master Iruma. Dangerous organizations live off of a steady stream of young recruits. What's new is the school finally getting ahead and finding out which students they need to focus on to stop that."

"Oh! So the current situation is… good then?"

"Yes! It's even the case that the battler that used to be full of the most violent and rebellious demons in Babyls has been brought under wonderful new management."

"Wow, which battler is that?"

"That would be our very own Magical Apparatus Battler."

"Wait, our battler was a place that dangerous?! … Ah, I think Kiriwo mentioned it at some point, but it's so easy to forget since it's become a place where we hang out…"

I wonder what Kiriwo is up to these days… Nothing bad, I hope, but that might be too much to hope for with him.

Looking for an excuse to change the subject, I address Sabnock's glum-looking hat. "So what were you up to, Clara?"

"People were saying bad things about Riri!" she yells and angrily puffs out her cheeks.

"That's awful… Though that's not anything new, is it? It's been like that ever since Professor Kalego said all those mean things about her."

"But this time it was like, really bad things! They said someone saw her covered in blood after eating a student! So I, um…"

What?!

"What you did to that hallway is frankly indescribable. It'd be easier for the staff to clean up if you had merely destroyed it," Azz sighs.

"Okay, but she didn't actually do that, right?" Lead asks, seeming to have decided our conversation is getting interesting. "How sure are we on a scale from 0 to 100%?"

"One-hundred-percent, obviously! She's not some crazed crook!" Azz yells, conjuring a threatening fireball on his palm.

"Gah! W-what about you, Iruma? You're her brother, you know her best."

"Uh… 95%? It's really hard to tell what goes through her head sometimes…"

I'm really not sure what to think. The rumor sounds ridiculous and not like Rimuru at all, yet I've seen her like that before. Drenched in blood after having just eaten someone.

"Eeeeh? You're less-than-certain your sister isn't crazy? Man, I've been there, my sister is nuts! Don't worry though, I'll teach you what to do if Rimuru starts to go completely off her rock– … WAAAAGH!" Lead nearly gets his soul scared straight out of him as someone suddenly slides into the room and right past him.

"Safe!" Rimuru declares, having run in so fast that she overcame friction and slid most of the way across the classroom before coming to a stop.

Lead quietly slinks away, but luckily it seems Rimuru didn't hear his comment or mine.

"Rimuru! I was worried you weren't gonna make it in time for class!" I greet her, taking a few steps closer. "Let me guess, you flew off to another fancy restaurant for lunch?"

"Eheheh…" she chuckles, "You've got me!"

"Must've really been savoring it to cut it this close with your time. The professor'll get real mad if you're not even in school when class begins, y'know?"

"Actually, I was held up a bit on the way back. I found a group of injured demons that had fallen into the forest, so I had to do the right thing and tell Buer where to find 'em."

"Oh no! Did they get attacked by some kind of flying beast?"

Rimuru grins and breezily replies with a "Something like that!"

"Maybe you should've left a clone there in case it comes back to eat its victims."

"My intuition tells me that the 'flying beast' has already eaten a very satisfying meal and has no reason to do that by now."

That intuition seems ridiculous, even for you!

Sensing a gap in the conversation, Azz decides to relay the news about Professor Murmur.

"Rimuru, there's something I must–"

"Riri! I've got bad news!"

… Only to be cut off by Clara.

"Yeah?" Rimuru responds to her, giving Azz a smile and a 'We'll talk later' gesture.

"The nasty, mean things people are saying about you are even meanier and nastier now!"

"Seriously? That's annoying. I would've thought they'd have let up a little over the weekend, not gotten worse! What are they saying now?"

"They're saying you gobbled someone up in the Art Battler!" she complains with a pout.

"For real?! Oh…" Rimuru sighs tiredly, "I think I know what that one's about."

"Wait, there was actually something to that rumor?" I exclaim.

Was 95% too optimistic?

"Yeah. Some boy confessed his love to me and when I rejected him, he ran off while making a huge mess of paint. Red paint," she huffs. "But paint doesn't look like blood, and it'd be easy to check that the 'victim' is still alive and well, so I don't get how that rumor is spreading that badly."

"Oh, for a moment I was worried it might be something worse…"

Rimuru gives me a sad glance. "Have a little more faith in me. I'm not as violence-prone as you seem to think."

"Sorry…"

"It's fine," Rimuru pats the top of my head reassuringly. "I know Orobas messed you up pretty bad."

I hear a grunt of pain, coming from Jazz whose head snaps around to us.

"Orobas got Iruma too?! Man, screw that guy!" he yells and frustratedly pounds a fist on his table.

Unfortunately, Orobas managed to get to Jazz with his illusions pretty early in the Harvest Festival, tricking him into attacking and getting disqualified. He told me all about it earlier.

Hearing that complaint seems to put Rimuru back in a good mood. "Right? Abilities that get into people's heads are just the worst. What did you see?"

"My shitty brother, being his usual shitty self. Can we trade? I want to trade."

"No way!" She protectively hugs me from behind. "I've got enough crazy family members already, I'm not giving you one of the good 'uns."

"You suuure you don't wanna live with a womanizing drunkard who steals all your stuff? I could lend 'im to you for a week, bet he'd come back a changed man."

"Haha! And what would you teach Iruma then?"

"Oh, there's not much I could teach someone as pure as him, it'd probably take all his effort just to tell a lie, and it'd be adorably obvious."

"Haha, yeah…" I mumble, bent awkwardly backwards from the way Rimuru's holding me.

Besides some very big lies I've been keeping up this whole time.

"But you don't have to lie to crack a safe and make off with a big payday. I could show your brother that it pays to be a little corrupt!" he continues with mirth, grinning.

I've already done that before though… I messed it up and got chased around for days, but I can crack a safe.

Not wanting to dwell on the past or confess to the crimes my parents talked me into committing, I point out something that's been bothering more and more.

"Where's Professor Kalego? I was worried Rimuru was gonna be late, but now he's late, and he's never late."

"Yeah! He should hurry here 'cuz I wanna give him a good telling-off!" Clara chimes in, not quite on my wavelength.

Azz looks at her with pity. "You wish to scold Kalego?" he asks, as though wondering 'How did she get so stupid?'.

"You're mad at him too, right?"

"I am, but–"

"We'll there's only one thing to do, isn't there?" Rimuru releases me and steps in front, raising her hand. "Hi-five!"

"Hi-five? Uh… yeah!" I smack her hand, not understanding this strange request that came out of nowhere.

Until I notice what's glowing on the back of my hand, something I activated by raising it.

How did a summoning sticker get there?!

A bird poofs into existence. A very angry bird.

"IRUMAAA!"

"I'm sorry!"

He literally glows with fury, causing everyone but Rimuru to flinch away. She just stares at him.

But Clara pushes through and grabs him, and Professor Kalego instantly quells his furious aura to avoid hurting her.

"Valac, let go of me this–!"

Clara silences him with a squeeze that looks like it'd snap a rib. "Eggie-sensei! The things you said about Riri were too mean and now people are being awful to her! Fix it!"

She squeezes even harder, still glaring at our teacher with burning anger just about matching Professor Kalego's in intensity. It's surprising, seeing Clara this fired up in this way.

Through a strained voice, Professor Kalego shouts, "Do you have any idea how busy I am?! I've been so busy putting out fires that I haven't had time to arrange a substitute!"

"The school is on fire?!"

"Not literally, you fool!" Professor Kalego scolds Clara. "Asmodeus, I'll need you to go over the notices, I'll have someone deliver them. And Rimuru, tell me… do you know anything about Zozo Pazuzu?"

Rimuru replies with a tilt of her head. "Pazuzu? Just the latest on the long list of guys who've asked me out. I tried to let him down easy since he was more polite than most, yet he wound up spilling paint all over me and crashing through a window."

"I see, so that's your testimony. The reason I'm asking is that he is currently missing."

"You mean he's absent from school? Or is he, like, missing-missing?"

"… We'll talk tomorrow. And Iruma, I was in the middle of an important conversation, so if you don't return me right this second I'll–"

"Waah! Okay, I'm returning you now!" I hastily say, undoing the summon.

Whew…

I'm getting some grumpy glares from Rimuru and Clara, who seemed like they had a lot more to say, but I feel like nothing good could have come from indulging them and angering Professor Kalego even more.

? POV

I wake up on the forest floor, surrounded by broken foliage that must have come down with me as I crashed through the canopy.

Tch… I should have realized sooner that this job was sketchy.

The bounty description was to capture a certain young student, with a number of conditions: Everyone interested would be teamed up, we had to contact our client when we were about to make our move, and she had to be alone and isolated when we attacked. And alive. We had to keep her alive, but we were given free reign to rough her up a bit to get the job done if we had to.

The 'alone and isolated' part of it was what I thought the main challenge of the bounty would be since it'd be purely a matter of time and luck to get a chance.

It'd be extremely tedious as far as bounties go, but the reward was set high enough that it'd still be worth it even if it took us a month and the money was split two dozen ways.

But then came what should have been the first warning sign: Spotting her alone wasn't a challenge, yet giving chase was hopeless as we'd only see her alone while she was casually cruising at the speed of sound. The greatest burst of speed the fastest of us could muster wouldn't have matched that.

Rather than just accepting that we were outclassed, we strapped rockets under our wings to give chase.

The last thing I remember is glimpsing her expression of pure thrill and excitement as she shot past… and then realizing that one of my rockets suddenly had a sword in it.

I'd kick our client's ass if they weren't anonymous! Hell, maybe she was our client and put a bounty on herself for a lark… No, that wouldn't make sense, otherwise she wouldn't have made herself so difficult to catch.

I examine my wings, grimacing at the exploded stump of rocket still dangling from the left one.

And yet the wing itself isn't a stump, or even damaged for that matter.

The explosion definitely knocked me out, so how–?

"Good, finally some of you are starting to wake up," a man's stern voice brings me to my senses.

I look up to see a face I haven't seen since I was a kid.

"Professor Buer!"

"Mmm?" His eyebrows raise in mild surprise. "… Ah, I remember you now. It's always a pleasant surprise to run into one of my past students, Mister Yeqon. Is this what you've been up to since graduating from Babyls?"

"Ha! You went to that posh old school?" one of my party members laughs.

"Shut it, you!" I yell at her and then address Buer with a much more polite tone. "Uh, yeah, we were just…"

I look around at the heavily-armed demons around us, our team undeniably equipped for pursuit and capture.

"… Hunting a flying beast."

It hurts a little to lie to the man who saw me off with a proud smile back in my more hopeful days, but it has to be done.

Sometimes life just doesn't work out, alright? You make some mistakes, try to pay off debts with dangerous work you're not even good at, and next thing you know you've sunk as low as ambushing a young girl and somehow losing!

The one small comfort is that there are people in this squad worse than me.

"And the beast struck you all out of the sky? You're extremely lucky that it left without killing anyone," Buer observes.

"Yeah, thanks for the heal, we must have been in pretty bad shape when you found us. How did you find us though?"

"A student told me of your location, and that you would need healing."

The one we hunted? Man, that's just humiliating…

It's then I realize that a number of the demons in our group are slowly rising to their feet and staring at Buer. Hungrily.

There are people in this squad far worse than I.

No, you idiots! What are you doing?!

One of them has his axe ready, closing in behind the professor with quiet footsteps.

The professor is unaware of the encroaching danger, but I doubt he'd lose if it came to a fight with us. Then it'd come out what we were doing and we'd all be sentenced to fifty years in prison.

I need to warn the professor, but I also need to make him think we weren't about to attack him.

"Hey man, you can put that down, I don't think it's coming back," I tell the demon with the axe.

Buer turns around, and the axe-wielding maniac behind him gives me an angry glare for ruining his sneak attack.

I glare back at him. Play along, you idiot. Don't screw us over like this!

"Yeah, that monster's probably not looking for a second round with us!" one of the saner members of our group chimes in.

"Well then. I have classes to attend to, so I'll be off," Buer announces, spreading his wings and lifting off into the sky, leaving us behind.

I sigh heavily as all the tension drops from my body. And the arguing begins almost immediately, between us bounty hunters and our accompanying idiots.

"We're lucky we got away with our skins intact."

"Against a kid?"

"Do ya really think that was just some kid? With a huge bounty on 'er head? Nah. She was somethin' else. Not a normal kid."

"Ya know what? You have a point! She was some high-ranked demon undercover as a student! She had to be!"

"That's the only thing that'd make sense with her beating us all senseless like that."

"I dunno… I've heard there's some very strong young demons around recently. Climbing the ranks crazy fast. It's been on the news."

"Pfft… you watch the news?!"

"Only sometimes!"

"Well, the news doesn't matter, that thing wasn't a schoolgirl."

"Yeah! I won't believe it either! She wasn't some young'un, she wasn't! Couldn't be!"

I'm surrounded by idiots…

All of them are in denial. All of them.

But I don't care. It's not like I know any of this crowd personally.

Less than half of this party are proper bounty hunters, the rest are folks who just like to hunt other demons and will go after whoever's listed as a target by a back-to-basics organization for the fun of it, even if there's no reward. The very reason the movement is so terrifying to oppose is because they can make these goons go after you and your family if they publicly name you an enemy of the freedoms of demonkind.

Maybe that's why the girl said nothing that would get us arrested and instead just sent us a healer, so she wouldn't be responsible for a mass arrest of demons that are potentially members of back-to-basics organizations. Any wise demon stays neutral in the conflict.

Even a crazy kid like that probably has some sense.

All I know is I won't take an easy-seeming job with a suspiciously high pay ever again.

**Later That Day**

Iruma POV

Why is there a cage in the nap room? That wasn't there before…

The Royal One has a room for just about any purpose, and as a class we've decided to appropriate it for music practice on account of just how well sound-dampened it is.

With classes for the day over, and Music Festival preparations taking the place of battler meetings, this will be…

"Bam! It's the first Misfit Meeting of Musical Mangling!" Clara announces, to all of us sitting in scattered rows on the floor.

"No! No one's getting mangled!" I immediately object, my attention now away from the out-of-place cage.

"Misfit Meeting of Musical Madness!"

"We're not a madhouse either! Or at least, I'm pretty sure we aren't…"

"Misfit Meeting of Musical Marmalade?"

"Uh, sure…"

Clara grins. "Now! Everyone give a big-big round of applesauce for Kerollypolly!"

There's some scattered and confused clapping as Keroli takes Clara's place at the front of the room, a dark and determined look in her eyes.

She adjusts her glasses. "Alright, our first item on the agenda…"

Why do I feel so nervous of a sudden?

Then I realize: It's the look she had in her eyes as the Ice Queen, when she ruled over the Harvest Festival like a tyrant!

Scary!

"Seize Iruma and everyone else above rank Gimmel! This is our chance to shine!" she commands, a hand outstretched.

My wrist is forcefully grabbed before I can react, and I look up to see Sabnock, who has Azz caught in his iron grip as well.

"Oi! Unhand Master Iruma, you brute!" Azz snarls, conjuring a fireball in his free hand.

"Hahaha! My apologies, it just sounded far too amusing to take part in this insurrection that Keroli had planned," Sabnock chuckles.

We're dragged to the cage at the back of the class, and Azz is tossed roughly inside headfirst, whereas I'm given just a firm push.

What's going on? Has everyone gone mad?! Maybe we actually are a madhouse!

Lead and Rimuru follow, having been caught by Elizabetta. The former led along by the hand, and the latter carried under her arm.

"I'm surprised you let yourself get caught too!" I comment to Rimuru as the cage door swings shut and locks behind her.

She looks almost embarrassed with herself about it. "When you get used to someone picking you up, you kinda just learn to go along with it out of habit…"

It's that simple to capture her?

I sigh in disbelief at how hopeless this Demon Lord can be sometimes. What happened to the unstoppable force that first walked into Babyls with me?

Perhaps the low-stakes world of school life blunted her survival instincts somewhat. I suppose I should take care not to get sloppy either, since ironically I've started to feel safer with these human-craving demons than I ever felt working for my parents.

"Liz! How could you be so cruel and callous?!" Lead wails, clutching at the bars.

Elizabetta pinches his cheek. "I'm sorry, but I think Keroli is the one to ask about that," she sweetly says.

"Keroli! How could you be so–"

"It's because you'll all just take the spotlight as usual if you're allowed to do as you please! Especially you two!" Keroli jabs a finger at me and Rimuru. "It'll be a disaster if we let you get too involved, and then we'll get kicked out of Royal One, so just sit there and pipe down!"

"You aren't thinking of cutting us out of performance entirely, are you?" Azz asks, eyes sharp with judgement.

"Not at all, just think of this as us 'low-ranks' making sure we don't get pushed into becoming a sideshow to you lot. Sheesh, and Gimmel is supposed to be an impressive rank for a first-year…"

"Yeah! We wanna show we can do this! But um, sorry!" Goemon cheerfully apologizes.

"All hail the Ice Queen! It's the beginning of a new age!" Camui caws.

"No hard feelings, Rimuru. Just think of it as a chance to learn lockpicking!" Jazz says with a grin.

"Hahaha… Hahahahaha!"

Rimuru laughs long and loud, everyone turning to look at her with disturbed expressions. She stands up in the cage, wearing a smug look, chuckling.

"Ah, us tyrants have been deposed by popular revolt, huh?" Rimuru asks snarkily. "Well, I'll politely assume then that we're hopelessly trapped, because I'm sure you put plenty of thought into this and got yourself a quality magisteel cage with anti-magic wards such that Azz can't melt it and Iruma can't cut the bars with threads. Right?"

The twinge in Keroli's expression is enough to know that she didn't.

But really, Rimuru reckons those threads can cut through metal?

Doubtfully, I give it a try, conjuring up the sharpest thread I can and looping it around a bar with Magic Field.

A single firm tug slices the bar like butter.

"My deposit!" Keroli screeches.

"Sorry!" I quickly apologize.

She stamps her foot. "Rrrrgh! All I wanted to do was get everyone who hasn't reached Dalet hyped-up to take the stage from you guys, but you're ruining it!"

Sabnock puts his large hand on her shoulder. "Sorry to say it, but it was always going to turn out this way. Our class is delineated between those of us who are and aren't members of the Netherworld's reigning families; if it were so easy for you to punch upwards, the hierarchy would not be as it is."

"Sure, but… they still should've just been nice and gone along with it…" Keroli mumbles with the look of a kicked puppy.

Her sad expression instantly shatters my heart.

Ack! I messed up! She just wanted to do something to get the class excited, and I failed to play along!

Trying to salvage this situation, I put on the best act I can muster as a damsel in distress.

"Oh nooo, I don't have enough mana left to cut my way out of this cage! If only I cut through the lock instead!" I bemoan, prying at the bars with my bare hands.

Azz looks at me in confusion, but then he suddenly seems to understand. "How can this be? Even the scorching flames of my bloodline can't melt this metal!" he gasps, tickling the bars with a fire that I know full well wouldn't even ignite my clothes.

"Uh, I'm legitimately stuck in here, just thought that I'd point that out…" Lead awkwardly mutters, looking very left out.

Keroli stares at us coldly. "It's too late for that lame act to convince anyone, just leave…"

"How dreadful! You've sealed away my powers! Where did you find the opportunity to poison me, fearsome Ice Queen Crocell?" Rimuru asks, acting way too dramatic.

"Leave that cage, now!" Keroli demands, throwing the cage door open and attempting to pry Rimuru out of there, motioning for the others to do the same.

"I can't, I'm so helplessly trapped!" Rimuru chuckles, seemingly smooshed against an invisible wall that Keroli is pulling her against. "Oh, what's this? You even made a one-way barrier that only affects us prisoners, how clever and devious of you!"

"This has turned into a total fiasco…" Picero grumbles from atop his cloud, hiding his head under a pillow.

Keroli gives up on Rimuru and goes to Sabnock. "Can I have an axe?"

**One Minute of Violent Cage Dismantling Later**

"I… I thought I was gonna die…" Lead gasps, clutching at his heart.

His words come out incredibly slowly, until my perception speeds up to normal as I finally snap out of survival mode.

"Right? It's a whole different kind of scary when you've got so little room to move!" I wholeheartedly agree, feeling like I'd have rather had Hinata chasing me around a room with a sword again.

Rimuru is entirely unfazed, of course. "Now that's the kind of thrill ride Walter Park should've had!" she horrifyingly suggests, with Sabnock nodding in agreement.

And Azz…

"I'm glad you came out of that unscathed, Master Iruma."

"Ah, Azz, I'm glad you're okay too– Wait, no you aren't!"

He looks down at the gash across his arm with a proud smile. "This is nothing, it was a privilege to have had the opportunity to protect you!"

"It's not nothing!"

…

"Misfit Meeting of Musical Mockery, take 2!" Clara announces to all of us now sat around small tables with tea and snacks.

The room was set up for this more relaxing scene very quickly, it seems that Rimuru and Clara got surprisingly efficient at using their magic in tandem at some point while Azz and I have become pretty decent butlers.

Well, technically I was trained as a maid, but I'm not sure what the difference is… Wait, when would Azz have trained as a butler? He has his own butler!

"Have you all calmed down now? Can I come out?" Soi asks, poking his head out of one of the room's many piles of fluffy pillows.

"It's the Soi-boi!" Clara cheers, and many others share in her excitement at this rare opportunity to see our classmate.

Keroli huffs. "We have made a truce with our classmates for the time being."

"Alright, but I'm leaving once this room becomes an active warzone again," Soi mutters as he sits down between Lead and Allocer.

"You mean if it does."

"Somehow I don't feel like it's an if…"

"Hey, we're not that bad once you get to know us!" Lead retorts as he shuffles a little closer. "As (one of the) Young Kings of Babyls, I suppose I'm kind of a class rep, so if you need someone to talk to I'm all-ears."

"I can say anything I want to you?"

"Yeah! Just go right ahead, I'm listening."

"In that case…"

Soi suddenly gains the air of a predator moving in for the kill.

"… You have no sense of personal space, you're always too close. You're always leaving a mess behind for others to clean up. You shouldn't be bringing indecent books to school. And you're always looking at Liz way too–"

"AGH! Stop!" Lead protests, clapping a hand over Soi's mouth, however, Soi just turns all smokey and shimmery and Lead flops right through him.

"Next, Allocer: I believe you went to a sabbath with girls from another school the other day. And then left with Professor Furcas's daughter."

"WHAT?!"

"How could you go behind our back like that? Look here, damn you!"

Lead and Jazz immediately start yelling at Allocer, who's trying not to make eye contact with them.

"Is a sabbath some kind of mixer?" Rimuru asks.

"Yes, it's for guys to meet girls and girls to meet guys," Soi explains.

"Woooo! Go get 'em, tiger!" she cheers for Allocer, embarrassing him and me.

Are you always like that with other people's relationships?!

"And you, Jazz, I heard you say — and I quote — 'I can steal anything, even a lady's heart'."

"Gaaaaaah!" Jazz wails, another victim mauled by this monster of exposés.

"It's not a criticism, but it wouldn't mean anything to point out your stealing habit, so I've turned to my father's teachings to wield any information one can as a weapon."

Sabnock seems to be enjoying all this. "Using your talents to establish dominance right off the bat! Mmm, I like it!"

"I simply thought there were some things I should point out. By the way, I know you sometimes stay overnight in Royal One without permission."

"Ah! I'm just… basking in the history, of course!"

"You…" Azz stares at Sabnock judgmentally, unwittingly lining himself up as Soi's next target.

"Asmodeus, you sometimes sneak pictures of the twins and Clara when they're not looking."

Both me and Azz make funny noises as we're caught off guard.

Eh?! Now I feel self-conscious about all the silly things Clara and I get up to! But I guess Azz must find it endearing…

"You should just say if you want pictures, Azz-Azz," Clara fondly tells him, not seeming bothered at all by the revelation.

"Um, yeah! You don't have to be sneaky about it, you're our friend," I agree.

Azz seems extremely embarrassed. "I-it's just candid photography! And it doesn't count as sneaking pictures if Rimuru sees me doing it, right? I know she must because she adjusts her expression and posture for the camera!"

"If I didn't look your way, I didn't notice," Rimuru says with a shrug. "Maybe I just have well-honed instincts for being photogenic, reacting to cameras like some kind of sixteenth-sense."

"Sixteenth?" Azz asks, but Rimuru just ignores his question.

"Alright, who's next on the chopping block?" Rimuru asks with a clap of her hands. " Since it seems like you're determined to point out all the problems in our class."

"My apologies, but it's your brother. Iruma, I know that you're a… big…" Soi stops and shudders. "… What was that ominous feeling?"

Rimuru jolts. "Uh… It was nuthin'. You're just paranoid. Sounded like you were gonna say something else for a moment there. Not that it has anything to do with it. You're crazy!"

Did she think he was about to blurt out that I'm a human? She sure is jumpy to expect something like that, it sounds like she even accidentally hit him with her aura.

"Right… Anyway, as I was saying…" Soi continues, locking eyes with me. "I know you're a big eater, but you ought to stop eating snacks in the middle of class."

"Urgh!" I blurt out, having been sure I was doing a good job disguising my snacking as intense studying by burying my face in a book.

Rimuru nods in agreement, even though she already knew my habit.

"He does make a point, food's far tastier if you let yourself get a little hungry first."

"Actually, I think Soi-boi was talking about this!" Clara jabs a finger into my stomach. "Squishy!"

"Gah! Clara! I'm not squishy!"

"Are too! You're gonna get even squishier than Riri! Who's squishier, you or Riri?"

"Huh?! Why am I the benchmark for squishy?" Rimuru whines.

Because you're a slime! Though, Clara doesn't know that.

"Uh… Alright, I'm squishier than her. Just a little," I lie, taking the fall.

Clara claps her hands on her cheeks, looking at me in amazement.

"Whoooooah…"

"Why is that so amazing?"

"No reason!"

"Speaking of putting on weight, Camui…" Soi's sharp gaze now turns to the owl. "… I heard you praying that the Harvest Festival would make Rimuru finally gain some curves."

Camui squawks in terror as he finds himself pinned by a deadly second pair of eyes.

"Oh? So you've chosen death then?" Rimuru half-chuckles through a venomous smile, swiftly approaching and grabbing him by the horns.

Then she grotesquely twists his head around a full half-turn.

" " "Camuiii!" " "

"I-I'm fine!" he gasps, and then I remember a certain factoid about owl necks and realize that we didn't hear a crack.

Rimuru backs away and chuckles at her morbid joke, alas, her moment in the spotlight has Soi turning to her as his next victim.

"As for you, Rimuru, it's real messed-up how you keep threatening people like that. I mean, it's creepy enough having you around when your hands are probably bloodstained past the elbows."

Her eyes go wide for a moment. "That's a low blow, man…" she mutters.

"Yeah, that's going too far! You were way less mean to me and everyone else," I agree.

"That's because I'm still a little mad about getting revealed against my will," Soi grumbles and turns his head away.

"But you can't just say she's creepy to have around! I mean, it's not like we've never fought or been in danger ourselves, it just doesn't seem to be something you can avoid in the Netherworld… So doesn't that make us super-lucky to have someone in our class who's amazingly strong and reliable when it comes to those things?"

"Iruma…" Rimuru mumbles, surprised at what she's hearing.

Even if Soi isn't wrong that it can be hard to look past how violent Rimuru is, I'm still kinda bothered by him talking like that, especially since so many nasty rumors have been going around about her lately.

And isn't he just going to make people dislike him if he pokes at everyone's flaws? Is it just me, or has not talking to anyone has given him terrible social skills?

I wish I could make him see the Misfit Class in the same way that I do, in that nobody's perfect, but they're still really amazing people that I have nothing but praise for.

"I never really thought about it, but there was totally a time when you were just running around stabbin' people, huh?" Jazz asks Rimuru, with a hint of a smile on his face.

"Hey! That's something only people on a vengeance-fuelled power trip do! I actually took a perfectly respectable role, thank you very much!" she complains.

"Hahaha! Yeah, Iruma's right, you're the only one of us who understands the Netherworld at its fiercest. It's really quite something."

"… Well! Someone finally gets it! I swear, there's way too many people in this school who see my strength as a bad thing, like our damn professor…" she trails off.

"See? We don't push each other down in this class, there's nothing to gain from it," I tell Soi.

"Alright, I'll try to be nicer…" Soi sighs with a slightly-guilty look on his usually expressionless face.

"Good! We're glad to have you in our class, Soi."

"Group hug!" Clara declares.

"Huh? Alright, yeah!"

" "Oh no…" " Rimuru and Soi both gasp in horror.

They're both completely smothered in the ensuing bundle of people, until Professor Robin suddenly bursts into the room.

"Miss Tempest! It's time for your thing with the therapist, since he just finished up with Miss Oni."

Rimuru quickly wriggles free of the crowd, her head popping out first. "Oh yeah, that. Not one for discretion, are you?"

"I don't know what that word means, but he told me to do that, so I hope I'm doing it right!"

Robin is served a dictionary to the head, gently by Rimuru's standards since it just bounces off and lands in his hands instead of exploding everywhere, although the resounding thwack reverberates throughout the room.

"I'll be back soon, everyone!" Rimuru declares as she walks off with the youthful professor who's rubbing his sore forehead.

We all watch quietly until she's gone.

"… Huh, I didn't know she was seeing a therapist. Good for her, I guess?" I shrug.

"Oh, poor Rimuru, she must have been more troubled by the things said about her than she was letting on…" Elizabetta puts a worried hand on her cheek.

"Nah, poor therapist, Rimuru's got at least a dozen flavors of crazy to work through!" Lead jokes, laughing until Azz picks him up by the scruff of his shirt, glaring. "Hahaha-woooah!"

"Lead, you are being far too rude!" Azz scolds harshly.

"H-hey, I'm just worried about our classmate and the troubles she's going through!"

"Maybe she didn't decide to go, and they dragged her in 'cause she binges on weird poisons just for fun?"

"Poisons too? Yeah, that'd make sense. Or maybe she feels herself lured by the excitement of the criminal underworld…" Lead continues, his voice taking on a mysterious tone.

"Maybe she ka-blammoed lots of demons into jam and feels bad about it?" Clara suggests.

"That's really dark! Though that has a good chance of being right too, it could be an 'all of the above' kinda situation."

I can think of a few things that might be bothering her myself, but I don't wanna trample on her privacy like that…

Azz pinches the bridge of his nose, setting Lead down. "All of you, I already explained this, Professor Murmur is just asking some of us some questions related to school security. He's the therapist Professor Robin was talking about."

" " "Ohhhhh…." " " we all chorus in realization.

"Should we pretend this conversation never happened and get on with the meeting?" Lead suggests.

Agreeing nods are shared all around.

"… Very well," Azz relents with a sigh. "Let's move on to trying to pick the subject of our performance."

Eiko POV

Professor Murmur is a surprisingly effeminate man, with his hair tied into two poofy tails and his office filled with lots of cute decorations.

With a tea set and a tray of biscuits between us, he's clearly made an effort to make this place welcoming and comfortable, being the school psychologist and all who probably handles everything from tantrums to wartime trauma.

But I still find my eyes wandering out of the awkwardness of being sat alone with one of the teachers and notice posters of both Kuromu and Gyari on a wall, which is funny given how fierce the rivalry is between those two.

So this is where my obsessions landed me, in front of the psychologist who will deem me crazy… Azz, I'm afraid you'll be on your own now.

As though noticing my inner turmoil, Professor Murmur's expression changes to one of surprise and he quickly starts explaining the situation.

"Miss Oni, I'm sure you're wondering why you've been called in for a discreet interview with the psychology professor, so I'll start by saying this isn't anything personal; rather, a problem has come up that affects a considerable number of students, yourself included."

"Oh! Um, may I ask what the problem is?" I relax a little upon hearing that this isn't because my interests convinced some people that I'm completely crazy.

"How familiar are you with the demons calling themselves the 'Back to Basics Movement'?"

"Those demons? My grandmother goes on… very long tirades about them. 'Young idiots who hate peace because they're lucky enough to know nothing else', she calls them."

"I must say, your grandmother's description certainly sounds apt. Not that I'm old enough to truly appreciate the meaning of it."

"Ah, she's lived quite the life, the stories she tells are every flavor of crazy, and still I believe them all. She's a little paranoid, but also very reliable, so we all treat her as the head of our family."

"I see. But about the back-to-basics movement and primal demons, has she given you a good understanding of them?"

"She's told us what kind of a Netherworld they want to create, and about all the awful things they won't hesitate to do. It really scared me to hear about that stuff as a little kid…"

"I'm sure it was just her way of protecting her fledglings, to make them wise to the dangers of the world. And it's good that you're already familiar with primal demons since their recent activities are what this conversation is about."

I gasp before I can stop myself, giving away how scared I feel.

"I understand, but please bear with me," Murmur continues with an uncomfortable smile, picking up a notebook from the table in front of him and flipping through it. "The problem is that these demons don't rely solely on fascination with their ideals for their movement to grow. If they see a way to make you one of them, and think you're strong enough for it to be worthwhile, they'll try turn you into a fellow agent of anarchy — and recently we managed to get our hands on this notebook that lists many such potential recruits, which is what this interview is about."

"Are you saying that I'm seen as a potential recruit?"

"Well, the back-to-basics movement isn't of one single mind, it's a many-branched zeitgeist, and the agent who wrote these notes likely wasn't able to share them with anyone before his capture. But someone did see you as worth recruiting, which means others might think the same. Here's what they had to say about you:"

"Eiko Oni — Absurdly strong girl that fights with a spear. Also good at sneaking around. Why is there such a strong demon from a no-name family? Her lack of status should make her an easy mark though. Will need to research deeper."

He sets the notebook back down. "Since you're not someone well-understood by the writer of these notes, there's no details on what actions they would have recommended to trick you into joining them. But would you allow me to say what they likely would have chosen?"

"Um, I… I guess I should know…" I answer, even though I really don't want to hear it.

"I'm glad you're being brave. Now, you're a seemingly gentle and good-natured young demon, so there's no sense in appealing to unsatisfied desires. You'd fall into the category of demons that are truly unwilling to turn primal, which means they'd have to force it. One method is to trick or blackmail you into committing a crime and keep doing that until you feel like you're in too deep to pull out. The other way is to kidnap and… 'break' you."

That one word, 'break', hangs heavy in the air with a vast scope of unexplored meaning. I shudder just trying to imagine it.

"… How do you know so much about this?" I ask in barely a whisper.

"If I was a terrorist recruiter, I'm sure I'd be extremely good at it. But I stand on the other side of that political divide, and I've heard all kinds of horror stories from patients trying to escape that kind of life."

And now my life could be about to turn into a horror story…

"Stupid Eiko… it's all my fault…" I mutter to myself, feeling on the verge of breaking down.

"Miss Oni, nothing here is your fault…"

"No, it is! If they came after me, they'd be after my strength, right? But it's not my strength, it's just a magic weapon that came to me when I wished to be a hero!"

Murmur looks a little more alert. "A magic weapon 'came to you'?"

"It was on that night with all the shooting stars! I made a dumb, childish wish, and one of the stars must have actually listened, because these came crashing down!"

I summon the spear into my hands and make the cloak appear on my body, the powerful transfigured items that got me second place in the Harvest Festival.

"Woah, what the heck?! The amount of mana in you just skyrocketed!"

"It's all these! If I didn't have these, I'd just be normal Eiko, worrying about normal problems like crushes and getting good test scores!"

"Shush!" Murmur hastily puts a finger to his lips, glancing around the room. In a quieter tone, he asks me, "Do you truly mean it, that these items fell from the sky and are almost solely responsible for you being able to fight on the level of a He-ranked student? It wasn't heaps of training or a hidden talent for fighting beasts?"

"Is… is that bad?"

"It's something that you shouldn't tell anyone unless you trust them completely. I'm just a psychology teacher, but my intuition says that you can't buy equipment that good, considering that there's families who spend money like water represented at this school, and yet I've never seen anything like those. To say nothing of the inexplicable way in which you acquired them."

"Really, all I did was wish to be a hero…"

"And I don't think you're lying to me. I'm just going to accept that you made bizarre, fairytale-esque artifacts drop from the sky, and I'm going to tell you that it's better if no one knows how much they're worth since that could only lead to chaos and even more attention on you."

"Can I just… get rid of them? Will that save me and my family from anything primal demons might do to us?"

"So you won't be a valuable pawn for the back-to-basics movement? I wouldn't gamble on disappointing a primal demon with helplessness to gain their mercy if one of them comes looking for the greatest beast-hunter of the Harvest Festival. No, you need to keep those items for your own protection, please. Better to have it and not need it than otherwise."

"Then what can I do?!"

"Use them less, hope your reputation fades. Move to the dorms so you don't have to fly a predictable route. And… you said you have a very reliable grandmother, correct? Where does she live?"

"Um… out in the boonies, kinda far away from here. I wouldn't worry about her safety, she knows how to protect herself."

"Then see if your family can move in with her for a while. I know such drastic arrangements are hard to make and might even call for a home expansion, but if costs are the issue, I'm sure the school could help. The Chairdemon would certainly consider it a small price to protect one of the most at-risk students from being blackmailed into doing terrible things, a cost he would probably shoulder in an instant if told about."

"I actually made quite a bit of money fighting in tournaments, so that might be enough to expand her house…"

"I'll ask the Chairdemon to arrange a meeting with your family and you can talk about the details there, alright?"

"R-right!"

"Well, then that concludes our little interview. And make sure you let a staff member know as soon as possible if you make contact with any suspicious demons , alright?"

"Yeah!"

That whole meeting had me so tense that I didn't even realize I never touched the tea and snacks until I'd left the room.

Rimuru POV

Damn, the psychologist sure knows how to make people comfortable, these are good biscuits!

"I see you appreciate my baking…"

"You made these? And yet you picked psychology as a profession? Waste of good talent, if you ask me."

"Haha! It was only later on that I learned to bake this well. I took an attendant's course after I started this job since there's actually a lot of complimentary skills, though sadly I never picked up the sense of neatness and elegance that real attendants have."

"Well, good on ya anyway, experience really gives you an appreciation for what attendants do. There's too many people who bully maids just 'cause they've got a bit of status, I'm sure they'd respect the profession a lot more if they spent time as maids themselves."

"Oh, for sure, but isn't it mostly men who give maids trouble?"

"So? They can still be maids too. I hear that didn't stop Bachiko when she was tutoring Iruma and Lead."

It's never stopped Luminous either, but no one respects my masculinity anyway…

Murmur silently giggles. "I think we've gotten a bit far off-topic, Miss Tempest. Now, where were we?"

"You explained to me that the guy I helped catch turned out to be carrying a notebook listing students who'd make for promising primal demons, and that it mentioned me."

"Ah yes, I suppose I should read you your entry:"

"Rimuru Tempest — Seems to be extremely food-motivated?! Those clones of her are so tiny, where are they putting it all? Seems to care about her brother, as there's sometimes a clone of her watching from just out of his sight. The small clones may have a much stronger compulsion to act on base feelings and desires. Plenty of stuff to work with to mess her up good!"

The mention of Iruma makes me stiffen. It wasn't a surprise, Ocho had already used him as a threat to try escape me, but I hate hearing 'Iruma can be used against Rimuru' implied all clinically like that.

Murmur swaps the notebook in his hand for a cup of tea. "Concerningly, this entry doesn't speak a word of your potential as a back-to-basics recruit, only observations that could be used against you. I'm sorry to say that this implies you were already marked as a suitable candidate before the Harvest Festival; Ocho's capture may have done nothing to help you evade the crosshairs of the movement."

Well, I already knew the movement was after me…

"It is what it is," I say with a shrug. "At least I've delayed them turning their attentions to students less able to defend themselves. Especially Iruma… I don't know what I'd do if people started targeting him just as a way to get at me…"

I'm supposed to be protecting Iruma while I'm in this world, so if he reaches the point where he can protect himself from the trouble he'd get into on his own, then I'd be an awful guardian if worse dangers came his way because of me. What if he ends up not even able to travel anywhere without a guard, just because he has me as a sibling?

Until now, I'd only thought of my stay in the Netherworld in terms of what I wanted for myself and what Iruma wanted of me. But I can't keep ignoring the waves I create just being here, and those waves will get bigger with every pair of eyes I draw.

Now it seems ridiculous that Sullivan brought something as unsubtle as a Demon Lord into the midst of a political crisis. If he knew what he was doing, he must either have one of those cunning plans only mustached men can come up with, or he's totally off his rocker. Probably a mixture of both.

"I wouldn't fret about it too much!" Murmur states with unusual confidence, perhaps just a mask meant to be reassuring to a troubled student. "Ocho's capture bought time by denying information to the enemy, and time is immensely valuable in protecting promising young demons as their abilities can grow by leaps and bounds. I think you should worry most about yourself."

"Worry about myself? No-can-do. Even if the signs are that I'm the only one being targeted, I'll still prioritize the safety of others."

"That sure is some confidence! But, it's not as though criminal organizations usually recruit through kidnapping, most demons join them willingly or at least semi-willingly. To put it in terms a noble like yourself would be familiar with, shall we talk about your faction alignments?"

"My faction?"

"Being affiliated with both Lord Sullivan and the Student Council would suggest to an external observer that you stand as firmly on the side of order, the same as Miss Azazel. But an observer with ears in the school would understand that you're a very… free-spirited individual, as well as that you were a soldier and thus must be already accustomed to bloodshed and the battlefield, with all of its gore and chaos. The information one can get without talking to you suggests you're a wildcard who could be exploited by any faction."

I frown at that.

Saying that anyone could bait me in and use me for their purposes makes me sound like some kind of gullible puppet.

"But I want to hear what you think about yourself. What kind of a demon do you see yourself as?"

"A free one," I explained simply. "I refuse to be exploited."

"Miss Tempest, a demon wishing to be 'free' can mean many things these days. It could mean anything from simply wanting to be unshackled, to wanting to cast aside all laws and morality. What do you mean by 'free'?"

"…I don't want to commit atrocities, if that's what you're asking. I'm aware that the back-to-basics movement claims to support 'freedom', but if all demons should be free to do as they please, then I should be free to wish for a safe and sane world. They'd never allow that. They don't represent 'freedom'."

"So, could you safely say that as you are, you'd never wish to become a primal demon?"

"Without a doubt."

"Then, what do your instincts and compulsions say?"

"…What?"

"You spent long enough as a soldier that, well… one would assume you've taken the lives of other demons. Would that be correct?"

"Ah, I get what you're asking. Whether a sense of bloodlust takes over despite my logical intent."

Murmur nods. "For some demons, especially the strong ones, the catharsis that comes from violence and destruction can get… intense. Addictive, even."

Sadly, I'm not entirely an exception.

It's not a strong feeling, but it's a little frustrating at times to have a body built and trained into a perfect weapon of destruction and, well, chaos, only to always operate at an infinitesimal fraction of my capabilities. That doesn't mean I'd prefer violence, but in a way, it's like not being allowed to exercise since I can't push myself.

At least there's something mitigating that issue: The strength limiter on my body that Ciel controls naturally gives the illusion of putting real force into things since I'm using a higher fraction of my 'full strength' at any given time. In retrospect, it's no wonder that of all the gifts I've given Milim, the weakness-cursed Dragon Knuckles are her favorite — I innocently figured it'd be a good way to protect ourselves, but now that I'm brimming with the same raw power as her, I know she needed it just as much as we did.

It also helps to indulge in the occasional outlet for getting physical; and I hate to admit it, but with the kaiju, the ambushes, and the arena fights Baal has given me a lot of welcome stress relief.

If only he didn't stress me out just as much, I grumble internally as I pour myself another cup of tea.

"I'll admit to some revelry in violence, but not when lives are on the line. The weight of a life is rather sobering, so when it comes to taking one, I feel only the things a soldier should out in the field. Wrath, pity, or simple indifference as needed. Not revelry."

That was 90% true. There's a point where the weight of someone's life means nothing to me, and Beluran found it, the point where I'd give in and turn his death into a blood-soaked spectacle for anyone who happened to be watching.

"That seems fine then. There's many cases of demons who are good-natured yet find the lure of violence uncontrollable, so I had to ask," Murmur mutters as he takes down some notes. "Well then! I'm convinced your personality won't let you easily be tempted into wrongdoing."

"Hmm? Is that all it takes to convince you? I feel like a student could've pretty easily lied their way through that if they were a real threat."

"I'm only the school psychologist, I was simply instructed to assess how safe the students in this notebook are from falling prey to the back-to-basics demons. Not to find out if this school is hiding another Kiriwo Amy. There are other countermeasures for that."

"Right, right, I'm too used to people treating discussions with me as interrogations…" I mutter, shaking my head.

"That sounds like it might be irritating. Do people just find you naturally suspicious or something?"

"I'll say! And the dumb thing is that Kalego gets especially indignant over my 'lack of vulnerability'! He blows up whenever his intimidation fails to work on me, he treated me as a potential cheater in the written exam because Balam's magic doesn't work on me, and he even got angry that I could see the anti-magic barrier he set up to prevent me from cheating!"

"Haha…" Murmur laughs nervously, "It's honestly really impressive how you keep defying him, even us teachers find him scary…"

"Scary? The 'Guard Dog of Babyls' seems more like a yapping puppy to me, all bark and no bite."

"Woah, hey! I know you don't like him, but that's going too far."

"Really? Then let me tell you a quick story that should explain my feelings: The first time I noticed an anti-magic barrier being used against me, I copied myself in preparation to fight for my life, only to be helplessly stabbed to death. Yet I was able to return home as my other self chose to cower in the grass and went unnoticed, terrified for my life as I fled. Now how do you think Kalego sounded to me when he got angry over me pointing out I could see his anti-magic barrier?"

Murmur looks horrified, and it takes him a few moments to answer. "… Um… naive?"

"Right! It makes it sound like he's never lived a life where failing to notice such a thing would get him killed. Sure, he's from a really strong bloodline, but his idea of strength is just making a big dog appear, so he has no understanding of the kind of strength that kept me alive through the fires of war. Strength means little when it's the only thing you have."

"Aha… You might actually have a point there. But don't go thinking he's a bad teacher because of that, he gets really good results with, well…"

"Normal teenagers?"

"I'll let you be the one that said it. Anyway, I would have asked how prepared you think you are for if the back-to-basics movement tries to kidnap you or something, but the answers speak for themselves… so skipping ahead, do you believe you've been contacted by any demons belonging to the movement?"

"… No, I don't believe so."

A total lie.

But I don't want to draw attention to my current situation with the back-to-basics movement since I've created a delicate balance for myself. I'm trying to keep my relationship with Baal in a state where it can't change, all for my benefit.

I've shown him signs of goodwill by helping him save face and eliminate Ocho, but if we continue interacting, our incompatible ideals will sour that goodwill and make us true enemies.

So I won't interact with him. At all.

And since he probably wants to keep a positive relationship with me too, he hopefully won't do anything insane to get my attention, since he'd squander any chance of me willingly joining his side.

If groups of weak fodder demons are sent at me, that's fine. Roughing them up a little is just harmless fun.

If he chases me himself, I'll fly so fast and far he could never catch up.

As long as I can stay just at his fingertips, no closer or further, hopefully he'll ignore Iruma. I need him to ignore Iruma.

…

The moment I leave Murmur's office, I run into a couple of particularly odd Student Council members who come up to meet me.

"Gyo!" Nafra greets me with a raise of her nubby hand.

"Uh… gyo!" I return the greeting, and she smiles until she's picked up by the collar of her shirt by the other Student Council member, who I am less-than-happy to see.

"Aha! Ronove has found the petite flower of the Student Council and thus a new assistant!" Ronove exclaims in mischievous delight before winding back his arm. "Goodbye, stinky!"

"Gyoooooo!" Nafra sails through the air, landing… right into my arms, as I zipped down the hall to catch her.

She was Iruma's buddy through many trials of the Harvest Festival, so I'm happy to go to that extra effort.

"Hey! Don't toss poor Nafra! Plus, I never even said I was gonna be your assistant, what makes you think I'd want to be?" I chide, walking back over to Ronove.

"Because we get to flaunt ourselves as the Student Council to all of the classes, of course!" he announces as though it's so obviously a great thing.

"Eh, pass."

"Rororo? But you were so willing to help when my Legend-daddy's park was under attack!"

"That was to prevent civilian casualties. Something actually important. What are you really supposed to be doing right now?"

"Miss Azazel granted me a most fabulous task! She wants Ronove to see what performances the first-years are thinking of doing, so that I may use my expertise to make them actually good!"

"Well, I suppose it'd be helpful to know what the others are thinking, plus that'd get back to my class eventually… But do you really qualify as an expert here?"

"Of course! Ronove was the star of the show last year! The producer, the director, and everything you can think of!" Ronove insists, seeming offended.

[[His boasting aside, I can at least confirm that he reached rank He through his contributions to his class winning the Music Festival.]]

"Alright," I relent. "But try to be quick, I want to get back to my class before the day is up. And we're taking Nafra with us, since I don't approve of you ditching her in an attempt to 'upgrade' your assistant."

"Fine by me!" Ronove agrees, opening up a bottle of perfume and directly pouring it on a fussing Nafra. "Ronove can be fast! Even faster if you zip and zoom us like when you were skulking about Walter Park!"

"You mean teleporting?"

"Yes, that!"

Class A

We appear before a door, and Ronove kicks it down. "Hello peasants! It is I, Ronove Romiere! … As well as Namba and Limulu."

Namba? Limulu? What?

A couple students in particular seem to have reacted to my presence, Eiko being a little startled and flushed while Orobas is simply startled.

"Now! Tell us your plans for the Music Festival!" Ronove orders.

"Uh… we'll tell a story by singing, based on myths and fairytales of the Netherworld!" one student hastily explains.

Oh, that sounds rather interesti–

"LAME!" Ronove interjects.

"Huh?! But that was actually a cool idea!" I protest.

"They can offer far better entertainment than that, my fair country bumpkin!"

"Country bumpkin?!"

Entertainment might not be quite as modern in Tempest, but do I come off as rural just 'cause I think some good ol' storytelling is a decent show?

I glare at him with all the hatred of someone who had thirty years of modernization work dismissed as rustic, but he just ignores me and plows ahead.

"Ronove wants more impact! Risk life and limb actually acting out the stories! Make the stage shine and sparkle like it's on the sun!"

Ronove then starts casting a nonverbal spell, and the room starts to smell like flowers.

"Pay attention to the minutiae, and fill any gaps you find with roses! Roses everywhere!"

As though leaving a review of how complete he thinks Class A's idea is, he then finishes his spell and fills the entire room with roses. "Alright, next class! Send us to their ceiling!"

I know I asked him to be quick, but not this quick!

Class B

"Dear, I'd leave my castle for you!"

"You can't, princess! Destiny has forbidden us from being together!"

Class B seems to be in the middle of practicing something as we quite literally drop in, Ronove cushioning his fall with another burst of flowers.

"But everything will be alright since the fabulous trio has arrived!" he announces.

"Gyo gyugoro gyoro?" Nafra asks.

"Yes! The trio of Ronove, Napsta, and what's-her-name!"

"Don't act like we're some special trio if you can't even bother remembering our names!" I complain, but I'm once again ignored.

"So, a play is it? A story of forbidden love between a princess and attendant?" Ronove asks.

"Um, pretty muc–" one of the actors attempts to speak.

"VERY BORING!"

"Huh?!"

"Be bolder! What if the princess transformed into a mighty kaiju? Then she could burn down the castle, and their love would heat up even more!"

"What kind of princess burns down castles?!"

Class C, D, E…

The next few classes we pass through are a blur of random singing and pure nonsense, making me wonder if being utterly insane is a requirement for winning the Music Festival since this is all coming from someone who reached rank He with his efforts last year.

[[I will consider ways to efficiently drive your classmates insane if that is the case.]]

You will do no such thing!

[[It was a joke.]]

A joke? From you? I pluck out a rose that had gotten caught in my hair.

[[Indeed. As Aoki's 'father', I must learn the concept of the dad joke.]]

Can't I be the dad? I sneakily liquidize part of my hair as I realize that a few other roses have gotten tangled in there.

[[But Master, by any logical definition, you are the one playing the role of Aoki's mother.]]

Ciiiiieeeeeeeel!

Before I know it, I'm back at the Royal One.

Misfit Class

We show up at the nap room right as Iruma bursts out the door, quickly shutting it behind him after he notices us.

"Oh! Hey, Rimuru! You're back!" Iruma says, seeming more nervous than usual for some reason.

"Is something wrong?"

"Uh… no. We were just planning for the Music Festival, and… Wait, why do you smell like roses?"

"The consequences of this guy's chaos," I jab a thumb back at Ronove.

"Ronove!" he cheers for himself, not willing to be referred to as 'this guy'.

"Right. But seriously, talking about smells, why do you smell like burnt toast? I know for sure I'm not having a stroke, but I'm also sure there's no way to mess up Music Festival planning so badly that everything's now on fire."

Iruma averts his eyes with a guilty look.

I quickly walk past him and into the room.

"… WHY IS EVERYTHING ON FIRE?!"

---

Author's Note: Make sure to thank Bellatrix for all her hard work and effort in helping me with this chapter! :)