"The weather sure is nice today, isn't it Raphael?"

"Report. The temperature is around 21c with moderate clou-"

"Ok wait" I interrupted before they can continue "I was only making a comment, I wasn't asking for a full weather report"

"I see…" Raphael replied. Though their tone did not change much I could still sense a hint of poutiness coming from my partner. Not that I blame them though, I'm not very consistent with my expectations of them.

I was taking a stroll through the Great Jura Forest enjoying some time of work which seemed to have flooded me as of late. From the Walpurgis; to the clash with Hinata and just recently the Founder's Festival. The latter taking up a significant amount of my time, what with the labyrinth designing with Veldora, Milim and Ramiris; arranging new housing for the beastmen as well as discussing and working out the finer details with Mjollmile.

But that doesn't mean it was that stressful though. After all, I have some truly talented people around me that supported my endeavors. The founding festival was only such a resounding success because of everyone's hard work.

As I continued my trek through the forest, my steps became more jovial as I recalled the events in my head. Though I knew there was more to be done in terms of development and the current living standards were not completely up to my ideal, we have still made major progress towards it. And with the success of our latest festival, Tempest should become even more renowned throughout the continent and attract more people to our country.

"Though of course, not all attention is good attention" I think back to the information Souei dug up on the eastern merchants. It was clear they were staging some kind of operation on our land and from the meeting with the other kings, we know they are also active in various other areas. Though we don't know what their intentions are now, I can only assume the worst considering they were responsible for tipping Hinata about me and caused our initial conflicts.

Not to mention as Tempest develops, so too does the value of our nation which draws the attention of some annoying powers as well. I heard some rumors about the western council and how they are preparing to make their move shortly.

I breathed another heavy sigh before shrugging it off. "Let's put that to one side for now".

Frankly I should be relaxing right now as Shuna suggested, and muddling my mind right now would have an adverse effect instead. Not to mention she was very clear that she wanted me out for a while and was adamant enough that even I caved in. Her influence is certainly growing and heck, she's even got Benimaru wrapped round her finger these days.

Her point was also more compelling with the subtle indication of Shion's latest concoctions being at the dinner table if I failed to follow her instruction.

I shuddered at the thought. Though Shion's skill allowed her to make food that tasted good, the texture of her creations could not be described by the vocabulary I had. And that's disregarding how it looks as well. I understand now why food critics would blabber about things other than taste.

I quickly shook off these thought from my mind as I looked around. I had wandered into the deeper parts of the Jura Forest without even knowing.

"Hey Raphael, why didn't you tell me I was wandering of so far" I exclaimed, surprised that I was not even notified about how my casual walk lead me somewhere I was not even aware of.

"Answer. There were no signs of danger, and I can ascertain our location and calculate a route back"

"Always with the last word" I grumbled slightly. "Then could you tell me where-"

"Notice. I detect a hostile group of knight spiders, 500 meters northeast from our position" I was cut off by a sudden warning from Raphael. Although this was not something that would cause too much worry, the next bit caught me off guard. "Furthermore, I detect one unknown individual with the monsters. They seem to be surrounded, and their presence seems to be deteriorating"

Upon hearing this piece of alarming news, I immediately began to act.

"Ranga!" I cried out as my faithful companion appeared from my shadow beneath me and lifted me up. "Take me over there as fast as you can" I pointed towards the direction Raphael had relayed to me.

"Yes, master!" Ranga began sprinting through the forest at a breakneck pace, effortlessly weaving through the forest grounds whilst carrying me on his back.

Moments later, the group of towering spiders entered our vision. Drawing my katana I began my command.

"Ranga, distract the enemies. I need you to cover me while I help the person over there"

"Understood" Ranga halted just behind the knight spiders before howling towards the sky. Immediately following his cry, black lightning fell from the sky striking the nearby knight spiders. Surprisingly, they seemed rather unscathed by the attack, their exoskeletons only marginally charred by the attack. Ranga's assault was not over though. His body enveloped by the black lightning, he proceeded to charge the knight spiders and engage in close quarters combat.

Taking this opportunity, I leapt off Ranga's back in search of the wounded person that Raphael detected.

"The individual is located behind the trees west of you"

"Thanks Raphael" I quickly dashed ahead as a knight spider tried to intercept me with its legs.

I tightened my grip on the katana, igniting it with black flames. "Outta the way" With a swift horizontal stroke, I cleanly slashed through the monsters legs causing it to collapse to the ground. With the obstacle removed, I hurried to where Raphael guided me and there, I saw her.

The woman adorned a white jacket over her white dress, the design reminiscent of a military uniform. She had long sky-blue hair that was violet on the inner side with bangs covering her left eye.

Here's where it got weird though. Floating just above her head seemed to be a halo? Yup, my eyes didn't deceive me. There was a halo that rested atop her head with a light blue star within the center of it. And what was most concerning about her was not the fact that she rested against the trees, seemly injured as the tattered and blood-stained uniform indicated, but the fact that she seemed to be shimmering and phasing out like a ghost as if fading from reality.

Shaking off my surprise, I pulled out a full potion from my subspace and held it to her mouth. "Stay with me". I urged her to drink, in hopes of a quick recovery. Despite this, she seemed to barely react to my efforts as she continued to sit there motionlessly.

"Come on, wake up" I lightly shook her, being as careful as possible as to not worsen her injuries. I was about to pour the potion over her to heal her before she began to open her eyes.

I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that she was still alive and could be saved. I quickly took the full potion and held it towards her.

"You're alright now, drink this and you should be good as new" I encouraged her while trying to reassure her that she was safe.

She glanced at the potion before looking back at me in the eyes before breaking into a complex expression. It was an expression of exhaustion, relief and… guilt? I couldn't really tell. Though at this moment, that didn't really matter. What should be prioritized should be her survival. I was about to push on until she spoke up.

"I'm sorry, this is my fault" Her voice was almost a whisper, forced out as if she was trying her hardest to convey herself.

"This is the result… the consequences of my actions. It took me this long to realize that" Her eyes portrayed a deep sadness as she continued.

"I understand that I am imposing a huge burden upon you. One in which you had no responsibility of bearing to begin with" Sudden images flashed into my head for brief moments. Images of places and people I had never seen before.

"But I have little choice but to rely on you, nonetheless. I am running out of time after all"

"Alert. Interference from outside the world is-, immediate attem- reconne-"

I could feel Raphael connection slowly being cut off, yet I could not focus on anything but the women's words.

"Only you can free us from this twisted, distorted fate… and find the choices that will lead us to a new reality"

"Master!" I heard Ranga voice in the distant crying out, but I could not respond. I could only sense the world around me begin the shimmer and my vision fade to white.

"So, Sensei. Please…"

And everything faded into nothing.

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

A shrill sound filled the room, signalling the beginning of another day.

Lazily, I lifted my arm up and fumbled around with my phone in an attempt to silence the darn thing.

A couple of minutes passed before I managed to tap the device correctly to stop the alarm. I lay on my front; face first into my pillow I stayed there for what felt like an eternity.

I look towards my desk to the side where piles of documents sat, on top of which was a sticky note with "To be completed by Satoru Mikami" scribbled on it.

I stared at the daunting task ahead of me before plunging my head back into my pillow

…

No time to rest. I still needed to finish up the paperwork and hand it to the boss by the end of today.

And then I make sure Milim who's visiting doesn't cause too much trouble.

…

What am I talking about? Anyways, these documents need to be handed over so that the project meeting tomorrow goes smoothly.

Maybe I could get Shuna to help keep Milim calm with snacks.

…

Again, what am I talking about. And why do… I suddenly feel… slee…py…

…

A flash of white greets me as I slowly open my eyes. It feels like an eternity since I last slept this long.

"...sei"

The last time I recalled being out for this long, I was in the middle of evolving into a demon lord. That time, I felt like I was just floating around aimlessly.

"…up, sen…"

Comparatively, this time felt more like actual sleep with certain dreams. What dreams, I can't quite recall but there lingered a strange feeling of nostalgia. Dunno if I'm still dreaming though since I can still hear somethi…

"SENSEI, WAKE UP!"

I bolted myself up. In front of me was an office looking room. A fancy looking one at that, reminiscent of my previous world. It had a simplistic yet refined design, with large windows that gave a very clear view of the sky as well as some building rooftops. The furniture looks high quality too, as I pressed down on the sofa I was lying on.

"Scratch that, this is way better that any office I've ever stepped foot in"

"Finally, you've woken up"

I turned my head to the voice.

A young woman stood over me wearing a shocked expression. She had straight long black hair with blue eyes and some glasses. She wore a white uniform and a jacket that stretched all the way to her ankles. If I were to be honest, she was a beautiful lady, on par with someone like Shuna or Shion.

Then I noticed a few more distinct characteristics. Firstly, her ears. Elf ears. Not human ears, elf ears. Does that mean I didn't go back to my old world then, am I still in the current world?

Second weird thing. The halo floating above her head. Yup, my eyes didn't deceive me. There was a halo over her head.

"…what's with this sense of Deja Vu"

In any case this halo wasn't your typical, run of the mill, golden halo that angels would be depicted with. It was shaped like a crown, dyed in a mixture of light and dark blue.

And then finally, what was less weird and more worrying, was that attached to her waist was a white belt with golden buckles… and a pistol holster with a pistol. Though I was no expert in guns even in my past life and I couldn't be completely sure, its design made it seem like the genuine thing.

Of course I wasn't afraid of it. Far from it. I had grown strong enough to clash with demon lords and had even fought Milim (mostly) on even footing. So, a bullet is not something I was truly afraid of myself. It was more the implications this held.

"Were there any countries, that were developing firearms? I didn't dig up any information that suggested so. But if there were, it would have to be from the influence of another reincarnater like me"

I paused my train of thought as the woman in front of me recomposed herself.

"I'm glad to see you've woken up, Sensei"

"Sensei?" Now that's a weird title to call me by. Sure, I've been called that by Chloe and friends but that was because I was assigned as a teacher for them. And most certainly do not recall having more students, especially one that could be passed off as a modern-day model like her.

"I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Ah right" She spoke almost in a flustered tone. "I apologize for my manners; it is still quite chaotic. My name is Nakagami Rin, I'm a General Student Council officer from Kivotos, the academy city"

Now that raised more questioned than it answered. Kivotos is presumably where I currently am although that barely helps as to identify my location. And the General Student Council really is hinting towards the school aesthetic that seems to be popping up, even though I must reiterate that the school I was hired at had nothing of the sort.

"And you're a teacher that we have summoned here…" She continued "…or so it would seem" She seemed to have trailed off, glancing up and down at me. "Pardon my uncertainty, but I only say that because I still don't fully understand how you got here…and…"

To say her words were shocking would be putting it lightly.

"Have I just been summoned to another world…after already dying and reincarnating into a different world?" I was in disbelief; how could this have happened again. I was just coming to my own in my second life and you're telling me that I need to start over again?

Although I was having a mini panic attack, I was trying my hardest to outwardly express it. To hide it, I urged the elf to continue.

"And?"

She seemed to hesitate before continuing. "I heard our teacher was going to be an adult, but you seem to be quite… young" She seemed to be trying to find the right words. "Are you really an adult?"

"Hah" I snapped back, probably out of offence and irritation. "Of course I'm an adult, I mean look at…" I stopped for a second.

"Wait, I still look young? Doesn't that mean I'm still taking on Shizu's body." I did a quick look over my body, patting down myself and finding no changes to my current slime form.

"Right. I'm still the slime, Rimuru Tempest. I haven't died and reincarnated like before. I have only been transported to a different world. And if I can get transported to this new world, there should be a way to transport me back."

I breathed a sigh of relief as the panic from earlier began to settle. Noticing Rin was taken aback by my sudden outburst I quickly spoke up.

"Ah ha ha, my bad. I was just a little startled." Doing my best to cover up my hostility from before, I attempted a more jovial tone while rubbing the back of my head. "In any case, though I may look like this I am indeed an adult. My name is Rimuru Tempest. Nice to meet you Rin"

I extended my arm out for a handshake taking this opportunity to hopefully gloss over my earlier outburst. Thankfully she grabbed it back and shook, with a nod of understanding she spoke. "I understand this must be very confusing for you, but right now we are in the middle of a crisis" She let go of my hand and pointed towards a hallway connected to the office. "I would like you to follow me for now, there's something that I require your help with"

"My help?"

She nodded her head once more, this time with serious look "Yes, let's just say that it's a grave matter… one that could determine the very fate of the academy city"

"I don't not like the sound of that"

She walked towards the hallway, signifying to me to follow. "I can answer any questions along the way. Shall we?" She spoke with a dignified expression as she walked down the hallway. Though she hid it well the subtle urgency in her steps gave away how pressing the problems were at hand.

With little to no choice, I got up and followed her. I would have to find out more information one way or another and this is probably my only method to do so. Hopefully, we can solve this issue promptly so I can head back to my old world as quickly as peacefully as possible.

I would only know later that this would be a much, MUCH longer adventure than I could ever anticipate.