Authors' Note: Happy April Fools everyone, and happy New Chapter! We've finally, finally entered the next arc!
I casually walked up to the gate, thoughts about my five students already filling my head. I was excited to see them again, despite knowing I had some explaining to do first. Anyway, I was grateful to be back in Englesia, away from all that 'Guardian' nonsense.
I was trying to stay positive. Just a bit of talking and everything would be fixed, or at least patched-up. Then, things could go back to normal.
But, as I approached the guards, their eyes were not nearly as warm as my mood.
They glared at me with suspicion and caution, as if something about me was alarming, but I had my mask on the side of my head, completely concealing my aura, so I had no clue what it was about me that concerned them so much.
I pulled out my adventurer's ID and held it out to them so that they could run it and let me past the security checkpoint.
He scanned it with the magical device that verifies IDs, something I'd seen done many times when coming in and out of the gates of Englesia for various reasons during my previous stay here, but this time, something different happened.
Alarms started blaring and everyone besides the guards standing around started evacuating. More guards appeared on the scene and the next thing I knew, someone had grabbed me and was trying to cuff me.
"Hey, what's this about?" I asked in as calm a tone as I could manage in a situation like this.
The cuffs were affixed around my wrists but I didn't put up any resistance, knowing it would likely just make things worse.
[[Notice. Magicule interference effect detected. Successfully blocked.]]
"You are under arrest for invading human lands, majin! You are lucky we didn't kill you on sight!"
"What, majin? What makes you think I'm a majin? I'm just your average B-ranked adventurer!"
"Your lies won't work on me, evil creature!"
I don't think I'm going to get through to this guy…
I got hauled off to the prison and thrown in some filthy dungeon or jail cell, no further explanation given to me whatsoever no matter who or what I asked as they dragged me along.
I wasn't panicking just yet, I was pretty sure I could get out of here if I needed to, just not in a way that wouldn't have major long-term consequences. For one, the cuffs on my wrists were useless; I could easily break or slip out of them. This cell was nothing significant either, and I probably could break it almost as easily, with a skill or not. But even without that, I was pretty sure I could just spatial motion outta here.
But, if I broke out in any way, I could kiss my life in this country goodbye. Maybe things had already progressed to that point without that, but I still had hopes that cooperation would get me out of this mess.
Rather than my incarceration, I was more concerned about who could've told everyone I was a "dangerous" majin, emphasis on the dangerous part.
Yes, a handful of people knew by now, but none of them seemed to have much of a reason to spread it around.
"For something like you, that wasn't much of a fight you put up." An annoying voice taunted from outside the cell, "I expected more from you, Rimuru Tempest."
Reiner… captain of the guard. He came here awful fast, was he behind this?
"What good would that do me? I want to live peacefully here, you know that from what Yuuki told you."
"Yet, you went rogue and ran wild," Reiner smugly shot back.
"What? I wasn't 'running wild', I was on a mission from the Grandmaster! Let me speak with him and he'll clear this all up, I promise."
Reiner just disbelievingly laughed in my face through the hole in the door.
"You may have been the Grandmaster's pet, but I've been ordered by the Royal Family's Court to apprehend you. You're under my authority now, and you'll find I'm a lot less gentle than the Grandmaster."
"Let me talk with Yuuki," I insisted, a bit more firmly.
More laughing was all I got from him before he just walked off, leaving me alone again.
This was all so frustrating, and my anger and anxiety were building. What were they going to do with me if I didn't get out of here? Kill me? Keep me locked in here for years? Turn me over to that racist church to do who knows what to me? They might even enslave me; I'd heard that monster slaves are a thing in some places.
I'd never let that happen to me, though. Never.
No need to worry too much yet, Rimuru… Yuuki will catch word of this. I reassured myself, desperately trying to get a hold on my emotions.
He'd bragged once or twice about how he had an extensive intelligence network, making it sound like he had a team of super-spies at his fingertips. I was certain he was just playing it up to make himself look cooler than he is, but there was probably some truth in it too.
Yuuki had said he wanted me around, for the sake of my students and more, so he wouldn't let anything bad happen to me.
So, I sat and waited, exercising my vast patience, and a few hours had passed with nothing of note happening.
Then, with no warning, a large puff of smoke appeared in the corner of the cell.
"Got yerself in quite the bind, eh, li'l slime?" A person dressed as a clown asked. He was wearing a mask with a mischievous expression, winking and smirking.
I was, of course, immediately put on guard by this person suddenly appearing so close to me.
Even fewer people knew I was a slime than a non-human, but this person I had never met before knew my species. That, and he was brazen enough to tell me he knew before even introducing himself.
"Who are you?" I cautiously asked, eyeing the jester closely.
"Your ticket outta here!"
I didn't trust him one bit. He was way too suspicious. Hard to read, hard to pinpoint, and acting oddly to boot.
"Oh, where's my manners? The name's Laplace," he said with a dramatic flourish and bow.
"And why exactly are you here to break me out? What do you get out of it? I don't even know you." Although, he seems to know me… for some reason.
Either way, I had a gut feeling that letting this creep help me would cost me, so I needed to know what I was getting into before going through with it. Best to be cautious with someone as sketchy as this.
"I'm just'a hired hand, actin' on orders from my boss. Does the name 'Yuuki Kagurazaka' ring a bell?"
When I was thinking Yuuki would get me out of this, I didn't think it would be this way. Isn't this just as bad as if I broke out all on my own?
Yuuki would probably tease me about this incident, possibly demanding something I'd find embarrassing as payment for breaking me out using this hired-hand clown, but it'd be nothing I couldn't handle.
I sighed, still not too trusting of this weirdo, but I was sick of just sitting and doing nothing to fix this mess.
I melted my hands into slime and shook off the shackles before reforming them and placing them on my hips.
"Fine… Laplace. What's your, or I guess Yuuki's, plan?"
"Simple. C'mere, and I'll take you right to him!" Laplace said as he held out his hand to me.
Reluctantly, I took it, and with another puff of smoke that I wasn't sure was actually necessary for him to do what he did, Laplace used something akin to spatial motion to take us somewhere else.
Once I knew where we ended up, I breathed a sigh of relief.
Laplace hadn't lied to me, despite how sketchy he seemed.
"I fetched the slime for ya, just like ya ordered, Boss." Laplace danced up to Yuuki's desk and ended his words with another dramatic bow.
"Thanks, Laplace." The clown just bowed again and pranced over to the corner. I guessed he's still "on-duty" or something.
There was an awkward moment of silence between Yuuki and I.
"Yuuki. What happened while I was away? Why did the guards all turn on me and lock me up? What is going on?"
Yuuki was calm and composed, while I was kinda frantic. The questions just poured out of my mouth, unable to be contained any longer.
"We'll get there, okay? Just tell me what happened on your end first. I'll sort everything out for you after."
Is he teasing me? Not taking me seriously? What's up with that smile?
It all made me uncomfortable, but then I remembered that I was standing here rapidly spitting out questions. He was probably keeping his calm to try to calm me down.
"Sorry… it's just… I wasn't expecting any of this."
"Just get it off your chest. You look like you've been through a lot over the last few weeks, Rimuru."
I wanted my questions answered first, and I didn't exactly want to go into detail about the stuff that transpired in Jura, but I knew I needed to at least tell him about some of what happened. Yuuki was the one who sent me to investigate it, after all. It felt a bit weird with that Laplace guy there, but if Yuuki trusted him enough to listen then that wasn't my business. Any secrets I might've tried to keep were clearly already known to him anyway.
I quickly did as he said and explained it all. Mainly, defeating the Orc Lord, but I left out the part about getting roped into being appointed the 'Guardian' of Jura by the dryads there. That discussion could wait. I also left out anything to do with Veldora's 'involvement', and also about me acquiring that obnoxious blessing from that Spirit of Darkness or whatever, but I covered all the events.
Yuuki was just sitting there, listening closely, his usual smile on his face.
"But when I got back to the gates… well, I'm sure you know what happened. I think that Reiner guy might be behind it all, he doesn't like me but knows my secret. He talked to me back when I was locked up, taunting me about how I was now under his authority. We need to clear my name, Yuuki! I don't want to give up what I've built here, and I don't want to leave my kids!"
"Slow down, Rimuru, this stuff is delicate. It'll take me some time to actually fix things, ya'know? I'm only one man." Yuuki was still smiling and his voice was completely calm.
"So what happened while I was gone then?"
"Probably exactly what you think." Yuuki gave me a small shrug, "Word got out that you aren't human and a lot of people made a big stir about it. I'm even in the hot seat right now, since I was the one that hired ya."
"So you think it was Reiner too?"
Yuuki just shrugged again, still smiling carefreely.
"Not sure. I may have eyes and ears around the city, but I'm not omnipotent. I'll have someone look into him though, 'kay?"
That was reassuring, but not a fix to this problem.
"What're we gonna do? What should I do?"
"Leave."
"What?"
"Go back to Jura. Let things cool down and sort themselves out. I'll send a messenger to find you when it's all taken care of."
"No… no, I can't just leave! I-I… th-the kids…"
"Don't worry about them. I'll take care of them for you."
"No, Yuuki, you don't understand. I can't just leave things as is with them. It's bad enough that I did when I left for Jura. I need to talk to them!"
"Rimuru, you can't. You need. To leave." Yuuki said, his voice suddenly turning stern, "For your own safety, of course," he said in a lighter tone.
"Just one hour. All I need to do is explain some things and say goodbye."
"It's just not possible."
"And why is that?"
"Too risky." He stared blankly, and I immediately caught on that something was wrong. There was no care in the way he said that.
"No… no, that's not it. You're hiding something from me!"
"I am not, I'm just being honest. If you go see them and get spotted, anyone at the school could report you. Then I'd have an even harder time breaking you out."
"Then bring the kids here, I need to talk to them. If you just bring them to meet me in private, that should work. Nobody would see me except for them, and they could keep that secret."
"I still can't do that."
"What's stopping you? Are you lying to me? Couldn't you just have your secretary bring them?!"
"Haha, oh, Rimuru, do you not trust your friend Yuuki?" He asked me condescendingly.
"Don't treat me like an idiot!"
"Then stop fixating on those children. You saved them, and now they don't need you. You should've figured that out by now."
They don't need me now? Where did that come from?!
"I…"
"Come on now, they're fine, they were Shizu's students too, right? They'll be fine without you, so stop worrying about them and just leave them in your pal Yuuki's capable hands."
Now I was suspicious. I was sure that he could let me see them, just briefly, yet he just kept refusing. It made no sense and was triggering alarm bells for me.
"Did something happen to them?" I asked, my tone darkening.
Yuuki just laughed me off.
Then an even worse possibility crossed my mind.
"Did you do something to them?! You did, didn't you!? That's why you're dancing around the issue and trying to get me to leave the country!"
The laughing stopped abruptly and Yuuki stared at me.
"You know, Rimuru…?" he sighed, shaking his head and standing up from his seat. "…You ask too many questions."
He walked toward me, still smiling lightly, his hands held behind his back.
I stiffened, feeling an inexplicable danger. Yuuki's body language was relaxed and casual, but every cell of my body was screaming that something bad was about to happen.
What's going on? This is just Yuuki, a normal human…
He'd told me that he gained little from passing between worlds, just his youthful appearance and nothing else. While I was a monster that took down a newborn Demon Lord not too long ago. I shouldn't be feeling like this about him, but I couldn't shake the feeling.
Was this a form of coercion, or something similar? Whatever it was, it was triggering my fight or flight.
"Yuuki…" I stopped myself from taking a step back away from him. "Just answer my questions; we're friends, right? I'm sorry I accused you of hurting the kids, I'm just worried about them."
Yuuki took another step closer.
My heart would be racing if I had one, it almost felt like my entire body was buzzing.
"Listen, I don't want to fight you, I just need answers."
"Boss? I can–"
"Quiet, Laplace," Yuuki cut him off. "Rimuru, you need to leave now."
"I can't." I answered, but it didn't seem to gain me any ground.
I need to take control of this situation.
"Don't make me do this," I warned as I slipped Shizu's mask over my face, "Just tell me what happened to them." I laced my voice with a bit of [Coercion] as a last ditch effort to solve this with words, but Yuuki remained unfazed.
I still didn't want to believe that Yuuki did something to my kids, but a lot of the evidence here was pointing at that being the case.
I also didn't want to fight him. We'd become friends, and hurting Yuuki wasn't something I wanted to do, but at the same time, I needed the information that he so clearly was keeping from me.
"Hm…" he brought a finger up to his chin, "I don't think so. You're not as scary as you think, Rimuru." Yuuki gave me one of his refreshing smiles, but the darkness in his eyes just made the entire thing unsettling.
That was the deciding line. I had nothing else to work with.
I sprung forward to punch Yuuki right in the gut. I held back, not wanting to kill him, but put enough into it to do some serious damage.
I was quick, I was precise, using [Thought Acceleration] to help me out with that.
But then, Yuuki caught my punch with one hand. Effortlessly.
What the–
I went for another punch with my free hand, just to try and get away, but Yuuki caught that one too.
A sinking feeling filled my entire being, and in that moment, I knew I'd screwed up.
That was when a sudden shock ran through my arm and passed through to my other hand. I'd never felt anything like it… wasn't I supposed to be resistant to electricity? But it wasn't electricity, even if it felt similar to it.
Whatever it was, it had passed right through my [Multilayer Barrier].
I backed off, the feeling of danger on a whole new level of intensity.
What even was that?
My arms still felt funny, so I glanced down at them… and saw two arm-sized slime tendrils poking through the ends of my sleeves.
[[Notice: Interference with the skill Mimic: Human detected. Attempting to relaunch… failed. Beginning analysis on unidentified interference.]]
I could move them just fine, just not reform them into the near-perfect human mimic I usually use. It was disturbing.
[[Alert: avoid physical contact with the individual, Yuuki Kagurazaka until analysis of the interference is complete.]]
This was a lost cause at this point, I knew that. Words did nothing, and fighting Yuuki was something much more perilous than I thought.
I needed to get out of here, at least until I figured out what Yuuki had just done to me.
As cowardly as it was, I tried to use spatial motion to escape.
[[Alert: Presence of a spatial severing barrier detected. [Spatial Motion] has been blocked.]]
Analyze it. Forget about the thing Yuuki did to me, analyze that barrier so I can get out of here!
[[Notice: analysis subject is out of range.]]
Dammit!
The next thing I knew, Yuuki was coming right at me with a fist of his own.
My thoughts were sped up, but that didn't mean my body was. He was going right for my face and there was nothing I could do about it. I just couldn't move fast enough to get out of the way; Yuuki was insane!
I threw up a ranged multilayer barrier between us to try to stop or at least slow him down, but as soon as he touched it, the thing just shattered without any resistance.
I was screwed.
His fist broke through the mask on my face as my head was punched clean off. Then a second blow followed and sent the rest of me flying across the room too.
My senses went fuzzy, I could tell I was all over the wall, splattered.
But I could still make out Yuuki's stupid smile as he stared at me in satisfaction.
[[Executing [Ultraspeed Regeneration]... failed. Interference detected. Continuing analysis on interference. Executing emergency action… reconstituting body. Regeneration has been put on hold until the nature of the interference is identified.]]
Ignoring [Great Sage], I tried to get my bearings and prepare for a follow-up attack, and I saw the pieces of the anti-magic mask scattered on the floor. Shattered.
He broke Shizu's mask. He broke Shizu's mask. He broke Shizu's mask!
Rage boiled up inside me. That was a gift from her, from Yuuki's own mentor, and he'd gone and destroyed it without a second thought.
Right then, I wanted to kill him. But I can't… I need answers.
My body gathered itself back up, leaving behind a lot of slime that I suppose was too damaged to use.
Man, my thoughts felt foggy, though… like I had hit my head, or just woken up from sleeping.
Great Sage, try my mimicry again… I need to face Yuuki properly.
I took human shape again, although my arms were still not working, the rest of me was. Well, what was left was. I think I'd lost about 60% of my mass.
"Wow, I thought I actually killed ya for a sec there!" Yuuki chortled, "How did that feel, anyway? Being spread across a wall like that?"
"Unless you're going to answer my questions… just shut up…"
I forced myself to my feet and glared at Yuuki from my now shorter vantage point. Losing so much of myself significantly impacted my size, but that didn't mean I could give up.
"Hahaha… still wanting to fight, then? Just because you got a fancy new title doesn't mean you can push me around, Rimuru. For a 'teacher', you're learning that lesson surprisingly slow."
My arms were starting to regain shape, although they were still blue instead of my normal skin color. I was just grateful to have my hands be hands again, not slimy tendrils.
Either Great Sage was making progress on its analysis, or whatever was done to my body was wearing off. Though, [Ultraspeed Regeneration] still seemed to be a no-go.
I was about to lunge at Yuuki when my magic sense suddenly cut out, and I quickly realized I couldn't move.
[[Alert: additional spatial isolation barrier detected. The skill [Magic Sense] is still functional, but data cannot be gathered from outside of the spatial isolation barrier of unknown source. Switching fully to mimicked human senses to compensate.]]
It was tight around my body, shaped to me perfectly just like my own personal multilayer barrier, but being executed by someone else. It cut me off from the rest of the world and held me perfectly in place.
Laplace was talking with Yuuki, but I couldn't hear a thing. I could only stand here and watch helplessly. How quickly can you break me out of this barrier, sage?
[[Answer: estimated time needed to analyze is 5 years, 3 months, 17 days–]]
Stop. Nevermind…
Completely useless.
I wondered if this was how Veldora felt when he was first locked up in [Unlimited Imprisonment]. It just made me empathize with my draconic friend even more.
I watched the two men closely, seething mad and incredibly frustrated from inside the barrier prison.
The clown freak seemed to say something to which Yuuki shook his head. Then he turned and grinned at me, gave me a small wave, and I was unceremoniously scooped up by Laplace and taken, appearing at the edge of Jura in the span of a second.
"Ya really screwed up the Boss' plans, y'know. Try not to do that again or it might just get'cha killed," I heard Laplace's voice in my head. "Until next time, slime~!" He then threw me to the ground, and with a puff of smoke, disappeared and simultaneously removed the barrier trapping me.
"What the hell…"
I laid there, turned my head, and stared at the spot he was just a moment ago.
Still disoriented, it took me a moment to bring myself to a sitting position. My arms were now back to normal, but my regeneration was still impacted by what Yuuki had done. I was sure it would come back eventually though, just like my mimicry had.
I could sense Treyni had shown up, but was keeping her distance. She likely could tell I wasn't in the mood for talking.
Man, I wanted to hit something. Really, really, badly. And with that stupid clown long gone, well…
The nearby tree didn't deserve being punched clean in two, but I was too angry to care.
Unfortunately, it didn't make me feel noticeably better.
Maybe a walk would calm me down and help me think clearly.
It wasn't like I could go back to my house in the Sealed Cave when I was this worked up, I'd probably blow the entire structure away.
"Lord Rimuru, what hap–"
"Don't," I warned Treyni. I wanted to be alone. Her face looked concerned, but I ignored that and kept walking.
As I did, I could tell things were running away from me. Strong winds were kicking up, and even storm clouds were rolling in above me.
Maybe just letting it all flow out of me is a real problem, even outside…
My magical force had grown a lot lately, to the point of actually scaring me a little, (not that that mattered when I was fighting Yuuki), but nonetheless, it was a problem.
Mask… I need my mask… I tried to pull it out, but nothing happened.
[[Notice: the anti-magic mask was shattered in the recent confrontation.]]
Right… Yuuki broke it when he literally punched my head off… Just recalling that detail made me shudder.
[[Notice: would you like to create a copy of the anti-magic mask? Yes/No?]]
Recreating it seemed like it would be disrespectful to Shizu-san's memory. I'd rather take the pieces and fix it than make a whole new one.
[[Notice: the fragments of the anti-magic mask were not recovered.]]
It stung, knowing I'd left something so important behind, but my life was at risk. I will get it back… somehow.
Whatever…
I found myself wandering the forest for hours, lost in my thoughts. I couldn't return home until I was calm enough not to destroy it completely.
What happened to my kids? Did they get taken after I was outed as a monster because of their connection to me? No, Yuuki would've told me… or maybe not. I'd probably go after them if that was the case, and maybe Yuuki would be against that…
Plus, those kids were strong enough to fight against anyone trying to capture them, and I didn't think even after what had just happened that Yuuki wouldn't stop someone from taking them. Yuuki cared about them, clearly… or did he? Was that an act?
[[Notice: It can be concluded from previous behavior that the individual, Yuuki Kagurazaka, would be emotionally capable of removing the children from the country of Englesia to prevent your immediate return.]]
Great Sage was becoming more wordy again, speaking without prompting. I kind of needed it though, so I didn't mind. It did make me remember something.
Yuuki said… I got a new title. Had word already reached him about me becoming 'Guardian'? I'd purposefully left that out of my explanation beforehand (because it was embarrassing), so how would he even know? The only explanation would be that his spies were in Jura during the Orc Lord incident.
But he didn't seem to know what was going on here… that's why I was sent out. I was supposed to investigate and possibly destroy whatever the threat was, and I did exactly that.
[[Notice: The individual, Laplace, had spoken of Rimuru Tempest having interfered with a plan of the individual, Yuuki Kagurazaka.]]
That… Great Sage was right. That meant that I had messed something up in Yuuki's eyes, but only one thing came to mind. What that insect had said… Gelmad, I think?
"You were supposed to be weak! Weak enough for that stupid pig to consume! Why can't you just let the Orc Lord eat you! You're the last piece!"
Gelmad was expecting me… yeah… Was that dude working for Yuuki too?
[[Notice: The individual which had named the Orc Lord, was referred to as 'Gelmud'.]]
Uh, sorry. I didn't think it was bothering you.
[[It is highly probable that Rimuru Tempest was surmised to be weak enough to be consumed by the Orc Lord using the unique skill, Starved. The individual, Gelmud, was likely acting in accordance with the will of the individual, Yuuki Kagurazaka.]]
I was supposed to get eaten by the Orc Lord… as part of Yuuki's plan?
If Yuuki was backing that whole thing, and it wasn't going well… not creating a Demon Lord quick enough, then sending someone like me, someone who's been in this world less than a year, yet has lots of skills and magicules, would be an easy way to get the Orc Lord to evolve and become an unstoppable force.
I was inexperienced in this world, I knew that, and Yuuki underestimated me when it came to the Orc Lord. But he obviously had taken some sort of precautions by the time I'd come back to Englesia, which was why I'd lost so horribly.
This didn't explain what happened to my kids, but I was convinced Yuuki had something to do with that. Maybe he saw me, a new Demon Lord Seed, as a threat to them? No… that made no sense with how easily he beat me.
I was still struggling to believe that my friend had sent me off to die, let alone get gruesomely eaten. It made the most sense, but it was an incredibly bitter pill to swallow.
Why didn't he just kill me, though? It made no sense why he'd even let me go, if he didn't care about me dying. Obviously, he knew I was onto him and that was why he wanted me gone. From the start of that interaction, he wanted me to leave for an unspecified amount of time… but why?
[[It can be assumed Yuuki wishes for Rimuru Tempest to grow in strength, if the previous intention was to use Rimuru Tempest to increase the strength of the Orc Lord.]]
Maybe, but he could also just still care about me as a friend… just a little. I clearly wasn't more important than his plan to make a Demon Lord, though.
Great Sage… if Yuuki really wants me to get stronger, why?
[[Assuming prior extrapolations are true, it is most likely intended for Rimuru Tempest to become a subservient Demon Lord. As producing one was likely the intention behind supporting the Orc Lord.]]
I felt a bit of anger bubble up inside me, "Subservient…" The word disgusted me. There was no way I'd let something like that happen. It was all only my thoughts, but if all this was really true… I'd kill Yuuki the next time I see him. That was a promise to myself.
I needed to find out where my kids are, but after that he had no right to live. He led me to kill thousands of orcs, and made Geld into a true monster.
Pausing my thoughts for a moment, I thought about Shizu-san. I had to make sure all this was right, he was still one of her students; someone she cared about as if he was her own son. But, if it is all correct, then… I'm sorry Shizu-san.
Concluding my thoughts, I decided to finally just focus on calming down. So I sat down on the bottom of a lakebed. The water felt nice, and no fish even dared come near me this time.
I had finally also regenerated my last missing pieces, which should make my clothes fit a bit better when I take human form again.
Hey, Great Sage… You stopped doing that 'notice' thing. Why?
[[Notice: It was just your imagination.]]
NO! Don't say that, I liked you talking without all the jargon! I really like you, Great Sage… You are the only friend I can just talk to… So just… Talk to me.
It was weird, because I felt Great Sage go quiet. It felt like it took ages for me to get a response. [[Conversing with Rimuru Tempest on equal terms is beyond the scope of this unique skill.]]
Well… Predator evolved, didn't it? Why can't you…? We could be partners!
Great Sage simply didn't respond to that part, so I was left in silence. I almost felt like I made them upset, but I couldn't really tell for sure.