Talks, Walks, and Water Glocks

Rimuru POV

I waited a bit, giving the kid some space, but after a few hours of nothing, I finally 'called' Iruma, but got no response.

It's almost morning, I should probably go check on him.

So, I use Spatial Domination and warp to Treyni's bar.

Iruma fell asleep, somehow. Yeah, the first thing I see once I get to the place is Iruma snoozing with his head lying on the bar, a half-finished mug of hot chocolate resting next to him. He must've been pretty damn tired to fall asleep like that.

I shake my head at the sight, knowing that I can't leave him like this.

"Finally came to pick up your kid, huh?" Hinata coldly asks from a nearby seat.

"Well, yeah, I'm not gonna let him keep sleeping in a bar of all places. This place is safe and all, but he needs a bed to sleep properly. Did you stay with him all night or something?"

"Nobody else was keeping an eye on him, and I was already here."

"I offered to watch the boy, Lord Rimuru, but Lady Hinata insisted on doing the job herself." Treyni chimed in.

"Uh-huh…that's what I thought."

Her soft side is showing again…I wish she'd be like that with me every so often!

"I insisted on staying for other reasons." Hinata clarifies.

I have the sneaking suspicion she was trying to escape Luminous, but I won't bring that vampire up right now. She's already caused me enough problems for one day, and if I mention her, for all I know she'll hear me and show up.

I was about to use my skills to send Iruma to his bed, but then Hinata speaks up again.

"He told me some interesting things too…" Hinata says, pointing at Iruma. "For example, I didn't know you were pretending to be a schoolgirl in your free time."

Nope, nope, nope! I am NOT responding to that!

"I don't know what you're talking about."

I immediately teleport away, taking Iruma with me, still asleep. There's no way I could easily explain myself without sounding like a total pervert, so I'm not even gonna try. Let's just hope that she'll keep that little secret to herself.

Iruma, warped to appear right above his bed, flops forward onto his stomach, still asleep.

"Eep!" A high-pitched scream rings out, and I notice that there's someone in the room with me, outside of Iruma.

It seems I startled her by appearing out of nowhere like that.

Katelyn POV

(A/N: Everyone always seems to forget who this character is, so to avoid confusion, Katelyn is the maid that was assigned to Iruma.)

First thing in the morning, I'd gone to wake up the boy that I'd been assigned to, just to find his bed empty and his room's door ajar. At first, I wasn't terribly worried, but for the sake of doing my job right, I needed to track him down.

I searched everywhere; EVERYWHERE!

I knew that he went to the festival banquet with Demon Lord Rimuru, so I looked for him there, but no. I swear I paced up and down every hallway and poked my head into every room in this entire place and I still can't find him!

"I should tell someone that he's gone missing…but, with such an important job, I'm sure I'll be fired if I do! What should I do, what should I do!?"

Mumbling to myself, I walk in circles in his room, trying to decide my next step.

I feel like I wanna cry right now…

Suddenly, I hear movement behind me and look in its direction, just to find the exact person I was searching for, now lying on the bed. And, standing next to him is the Demon Lord Rimuru himself!

When did he get here?!

I've been caught teary-eyed and pacing around a room, rather than doing my job (or at least looking like I'm doing my job). It's not a good look, I know that, and I can only hope that Lord Rimuru will show me some mercy again.

"Lord Rimuru! I am so sorry to disturb you, I will leave right away so you can have some privacy!" I quickly say, bowing deeply to him.

"Hey, hey, calm down. Why do you seem so panicked?"

I don't even know where to start or how to explain myself, but I can't just not answer a Demon Lord asking me a direct question like this!

"I was…I…I entered this room to wake Sir Iruma, but he was not here until just a moment ago. I was unaware that he was with you, my Lord, so I may have gotten a bit worked up attempting to find him."

"And then I startled you by bringing him back so suddenly."

"No, my outburst was my fault, not yours, Lord Rimuru."

He lets out a small sigh at my words.

"Go back to your other duties for now. Iruma needs to sleep, so don't wake him up before the afternoon. If you need to clean this room, wait until after he's awake; I'm sure your supervisor would understand." he orders as he hastily throws a blanket over the sleeping teen in the room.

"Yes, of course, Lord Rimuru," I replied, bowing to him again before watching him exit the room.

Rimuru POV

After calming down Katelyn, I left Iruma's room and went to my office.

I sat there alone for some time just brooding about the events of the day, I've enjoyed most of them, but a single bit of mold can spoil an entire loaf of bread, ya know? I have a few things at the back of my mind I needed to remind myself of anyway. At the end of the week, after the festival, I'd definitely need to replenish the magicule count of the forest.

The magicule concentration of Jura was mostly held up by Veldora's aura in the past, both before and after he was sealed. His presence kept the place magicule rich, however with him no longer releasing his aura all the time, and all our magical devices in Tempest. Well, eventually that concentration dropped.

So to fix that, every once in a while, I go on a walk and release my aura in a controlled way.

I think I should be able to hold off till the end of the festival.

[[Magicule concentration of Jura has dropped below recommended levels. The events this year have been particularly taxing.]]

Well, never mind that idea. It seems like I'll need to take care of this sooner than I thought.

It's not that bad of a thing; an easy fix, really. Plus, right now? I feel like unwinding, so a walk would honestly be nice.

I'll spend some time out there then, Ciel. Thanks for telling me.

I'll leave the aura regulation to my trusty partner, though, so it will be more a job for Ciel rather than me. All I'm gonna do is go take a walk out in the forest; nothing special.

So, I stand up and go to one of my normal starting points. The city of Rimuru is pretty big these days, but the sealed cave can still be considered on the very edge of it. There aren't cars in my country after all, so the infrastructure is very dense. So, starting right on top of the mountain housing the sealed cave is a great place to look out upon the city, and also a great place from which to give my citizens a little light show. Why not, right? A festival is going on, so I think it's fitting to do my part and make a spectacle to enhance the mood.

I release a bit of my aura and let Ciel take control of it. It feels nice, and as it spread out around me, it made a facsimile of an aurora on the barrier around Rimuru city, glowing brightly with newly replenished magicules. Our own waves of light in the sky to accompany the festivities still going on.

After giving the city a little show, I turn on my heels and walk in the other direction. For some time, I walk through the trees, passing rocks, creeks, and all the other beauties of nature. And, using my Universal Perception, I inspect anything that catches my eye for more than a few moments.

As I'm passing over one of the small rivers that leads to the Ameld in a few hundred miles, Ciel speaks to me again out of nowhere.

[[Would I be allowed to use Master's skills for something?]]

It's not exactly an uncommon request, but knowing her, I have to be careful about my answer.

For all I know, she could cause some insane monster to appear as one of my new subordinates, and I don't know if I can handle that right now. Although, she'd insist I could if I tried to use that excuse.

What exactly for, Ciel?

I can feel Ciel getting annoyed that I'm being more astute than she's expecting. After a few seconds of exasperated silence, Ciel finally says something again.

[[I wish to experiment with the imbuement of intelligence into a simple monster.]]

That kinda sounds like how I was born, a human soul incarnating in a slime, though maybe she has a different idea. Still, I don't feel like fighting over the specifics right now. I'm trying to enjoy nature right now, not argue with my personal Manas. It seems harmless enough, I suppose. Plus, Ciel really does always have my best interests in mind, so even if she is being a bit sneaky right now, I think it should be fine for me to give her the okay.

Go ahead, just try not to do anything too crazy.

I'm sure Ciel would be smiling right now if she currently had a face, her entire core filling with glee for a moment after I gave her the answer she wanted. This was only for a moment, though, as she seemed to quickly hide the feeling away from me for whatever reason. Again, her sneakiness right now is a bit suspect, but I really do want to support her when she wants to do things for herself and her own interests. Ciel's happiness matters to me, after all, so supporting her when she asks to do things for her own reasons is something that I support.

As I walk along, I even notice a few slimes manifesting from the aura I'm giving off. Wanting to get a closer look, I stop.

It's always interesting to watch the magicules naturally arrange themselves into a puddle or pull water out of the air. Forming basic magic circuits, and then those circuits turn into basic chemical magics, then those chemical machines turn into magic-based cells. The fact such a miracle could happen, just from me being around, has always been kinda nice as a feeling.

So, after watching that happen a few times, I decided to pull back in my aura and teleport back to my office. I plop into my desk's chair, causing it to spin a little, and resolve myself to finish a bit of paperwork before I go and deal with some of the festival's events.

"Is it just me, or is something missing from this room?" I ask out loud, feeling a strange sense that something is off about my office.

[[...]]

Ciel's silence tells me that it's probably nothing so I pick up my pen and dive into the stack of papers in front of me.

Iruma POV

*Bzzt…bzzt…bzzt…*

I open my eyes, waking up from the sensation of my phone buzzing in my pocket.

"Why's it going off? I didn't think it worked outside of the Netherworld…" I mumble, barely awake.

Then I remembered; recently, Rimuru did something to it so it would still work, even letting me talk with my Netherworld friends from this different dimension.

But still…who's blowing up my phone so early in the morning?

Opening it, I see that it's not that early in the morning, actually. I totally overslept!

Grandpa sent me some really cool photos, though. That's why my phone buzzed.

They're of some kind of rainbow aurora thing up in the sky while it was still dark out, clearly taken here in Tempest. I didn't know that kind of thing happened here, and I'm kinda bummed I didn't get to see it with my own eyes.

I also wish I could send these cool photos with my friends, but I can't. Sharing anything to do with Tempest with them is not something I can do, sadly.

Wait…why am I still wearing the same clothes I was yesterday instead of pajamas?

It takes me a moment to remember, but the last thing I can recall before waking up was actually somewhere completely different. That bar place that Rimuru sent me to, and talking with Hinata for a while and drinking hot chocolate. I must've fallen asleep there, just to have someone bring me back to my room.

"Oh man…no wonder I overslept! I was up super late last night!"

I feel so disoriented and groggy still and am struggling to get my bearings. But, I think my head is starting to finally clear.

There's still lots of festival stuff to enjoy; Rimuru was bragging about it to me. Costume contests, games, and little workshops where you can explore different jobs around here. Wasting my time in this room is a bad idea when there's a lot to do.

But then, I notice something resting on the small table at my bedside. It's an envelope with my name on it. I carefully open it up so I don't accidentally rip whatever it is inside and find a piece of paper along with a ticket of some kind.

"Hey, Iruma. Go to the arena at noon and show the ticket collector the ticket I left with this note. (You can even cut the line with it! hehehe…) There's a special event I think you'd like to see, so make sure you're not late. Sullivan and Opera each have one too, so you can all go together if you want to. - Rimuru"

Special event? I wonder what that'll be…

**Later**

After enjoying some of the fun of the festival with Grandpa and Opera, we three walk up to the arena like Rimuru's note said.

"This is the right place, right Grandpa?" I ask just to make sure.

"I believe so."

"That is a very large structure," Opera commented as he looked up at the high walls of the colosseum.

It really is huge, I can't even imagine how many people can fit inside!

As we walked past the line, we got some dirty looks from those waiting, but as soon as I took out the ticket Rimuru gave me and showed it to the people allowing the crowd inside, we were hastily ushered in by one of them.

"Oh, it's one of those teleportation things," I say as we approach a magic circle on the ground that we were being brought to.

It looks similar to the thing Gobta brought me to when we went to Dwargon. That whole situation turned out badly, but I still remember it, even if I think Rimuru doesn't want me to.

"Yes, this will bring you up to Royal Box A, as indicated by your tickets." The hobgoblin man leading us explains politely.

Royal Box A? That sounds super fancy!

"Grandpa?" I whisper as we wait for the attendant to activate the circle. "Does that mean–"

The circle suddenly lit up, cutting me off, and we were whisked away by the teleportation magic. The flash of light from the teleportation momentarily blinded me, but when it was done, I found myself in a large room with lots of detailed decorations on the walls. The three walls, actually, since the fourth wall is completely missing, leaving an open view of the colosseum below.

"Hey, you're here!" Rimuru waves and I see her sitting on a really fancy couch towards the front of the room. Suddenly, I realize what 'Royal Box A' must be.

"Eehhh!? Rimuru!?" I panicked a bit. "I thought you didn't want me to be seen with you in public!"

"Calm down," she waves me off. "This room is designed so most of the audience can't see in, and it's not such a big deal when people can't approach us. Have some snacks!" She suddenly stands up and grabs a platter of little cake things off a nearby table, before presenting them to me like a professional maid, which I didn't expect from her.

"I must say, you're giving us the royal treatment," Grandpa says as he takes one of the cakes, sitting on the couch next to Rimuru's spot like it's the most natural thing in the world.

"Well of course!" She grins, "only the best for my favorite Grandpa.~" Rimuru teasingly replies.

"Are you sure it's alright to have us up here?" Opera is twitching nervously. Like me, I guess he's not used to this level of pomp–or at least, not used to being on the receiving end of it.

"For sure," Rimuru gives him the same nonchalant response she did to me as she puts the plate back down and sits next to Grandpa, crossing one leg over the other elegantly. "This box is especially for me and my personal guests, and nobody important really comes to this particular event."

"But you're someone important, right?" I ask.

"I guess," she shrugs, "but, I mean, like, state guests and stuff. Well, you guys are state guests as well, come to think of it, but it's not like I need to worry about diplomacy with you three…"

"Come sit down, my precious Grandson!" Grandpa pats his lap invitingly. "You too, Opera. Rimuru is being incredibly gracious."

"Really, it's not a big deal," she insists, but I ignore that as I take a seat in Grandpa's lap. Opera grabs the plate of cakes and sets it between us, and taking a bite immediately calms my nerves. Wow, these are great!

"So what's the event?" I ask curiously, leaning out of Grandpa's lap a little to look at the arena floor.

"Well, this is a festival we put on for kids mainly, right?" Rimuru answers, "and a few adults too, but still. So, we have a little 'battle' in the arena with water guns so the more active kids can show off their stuff. I don't usually come to this, actually, but I figured you'd like it."

"It must be very intimidating for those children, knowing you're watching." Opera comments.

"Heh," Rimuru grins. "Well, actually, I put up an extra measure today. The box is covered with illusory magic so nobody can see we're inside. The kids might get too worked up if they know I'm watching, after all. Especially the monster children."

"That's really considerate of you, Rimuru," I say, munching on another cake.

"Hey, slow down with those." Rimuru scowls at me and grabs my fourth out of my hand, biting on it herself. "You'll get sick," she grumbles with her cheeks full of cake.

"Pffff," I couldn't help snickering at her silly look. "Like you're any better!" I respond, pointing at her still-bulging cheeks.

"On the contrary," Rimuru retorts with a smug look on her face, "I can't get sick!"

"It seems the event is starting," Opera says, interrupting our little argument. I look at the arena and see there are two groups of kids being led out from both sides of the arena entrances. They're all dressed in cute little uniforms, orange on one side and green on another.

The kids seem to vary pretty widely in age, between eight and fourteen, approximately.

"Wow," I said, "I could participate if I wanted, couldn't I?"

"Do you want to?" Rimuru's expression suddenly changes to one of concern, leaning forward to look at my face. "I figured this kind of game wasn't up your alley, but we can always register you last minute–"

"No, no!" I waved my hands frantically. "That's okay! I was just noticing that some of them are my age!"

"You would be excellent out there though, Iruma." Grandpa pats my head lovingly, "with your Overwhelming Crisis Evasion Capability, you'd be undefeatable!"

"Grandpaaa!" I whine, "don't call it thaaaat!"

"He's right though," Rimuru grins evilly. "You'd be great out there!"

Rimuru pulls out what looks like one of the same water guns as the ones the competitors have and shoves it into my hands.

"Can we just forget it?" I whimper, not wanting to draw attention to myself by being forced out onto the stage–late, even!

"Sure, sure." Rimuru relents. "I'll just register you next year."

I let out a yelp of horror at the idea and immediately began pleading. "No, Rimuru, you really don't need to, please!" But she just looked at me with her 'big sister smile.'

I wasn't getting out of this next year, was I? Realizing I wouldn't be winning this argument, at least not now.

"Oh good, more snacks!" Rimuru gleefully says as someone comes and brings in more things for us all to munch on once the event starts.

Rimuru takes a bowl of potato chips out of them and begins eating them, her eyes trained on the arena. She looks distracted, and I have an idea of how to get back at her for her teasing. I have a water gun in my hands right now, and the side of her head looks easy enough to aim at. I don't think Rimuru would get mad at me for this…

Rimuru POV

"Hey, Rimuru!" Iruma says, trying to get my attention.

"Hmm?"

I look towards Iruma and find myself looking down the barrel of a water cannon.

"What the-"

*BOOM*

The blast of water only lasts a second but hits with the volume and pressure of a fire hydrant. Without a chance to brace for it, little ol' me is like a leaf in a waterfall, and the next thing I know I'm staring at the ceiling while lying in about an inch of water.

[[No hostile intent detected.]]

I wasn't gonna ask…

"I'm so sorry Rimuru! I thought you'd find the surprise funny, but I had no idea that would happen!" Iruma quickly apologizes.

I sit up in the water, spitting out a stream like I was half-drowned and then chuckling a bit. "Hehe… Doesn't that just make it funnier then? I don't think I've been surprised like that in a long time."

This kid's getting a lot bolder… He did something most people would consider unthinkably offensive and stupid because he thought I'd find it funny, and he was right. I guess hanging out with demons is rubbing off on him!

With a snap of my fingers, the room is instantly un-drenched, and Iruma looks around in amazement.

"Sorry about the mess, Rimuru, you can have this back!" Iruma says in apology, trying to hand back the water cannon.

"No, no, keep it. You never know when you might need a means of retaliating against water-based attacks! Heheheheh…"

"Huh? Ohhh…. Oh no!" Iruma says as he realizes that he's sparked the competitive streak of a Demon Lord.

"Look! They're about to start!" I point out, immediately changing the subject and distracting him from whatever he's imagining.

"So, in this game…what are the rules, anyway?"

"You see the two teams, right," I point to the two groups filing into the arena, "They have to knock every member of the opposite team out of the circle drawn around the edge."

With the referee shouting "GO!" into their microphone, the match starts. The older kids immediately start shooting, already having strategies cooked up ahead of time. I wouldn't be surprised if they've been repeat competitors over the years.

Then, the first direct hit happened; one of the kids on the orange team was sent flying halfway across the arena after getting struck flat in the chest with a blast of water. Iruma's eyes bug out in horror at the sight.

"...Rimuru?" he asks me in a strained voice.

"Yeah?"

"They'll be okay…right?"

"Oh, yeah, they'll be fine. Those magically enhanced water guns do pack quite the punch, but we have potions on hand for any real injuries. Plus, that kid's a high orc; they specialize in defense so he'll walk away with a bruise or two and nothing more."

"...thank goodness I didn't ask to participate…" I hear Iruma mutter quietly as he continues watching the onslaught happening in the arena.

I just continue watching too, snacking on a new bowl of chips (since the ones I was eating before are all soggy now).

"That looks quite fun." Opera's tail and ears are twitching with excitement as he spectates too. "Do you thinkI could participate next year?"

"I said it's for kids, Opera!" I shoot him down immediately. "You're way too old."

"Yeah, wouldn't that be cheating anyway?" Iruma adds, backing me up.

"Yes… I suppose you're right." He sighs, ears drooping.

"Now, don't be so downcast, Opera," Sullivan comforts him. "I'm sure you and I can have a game sometime."

That seems to perk him up, and we return our attention to the game. It's kind of nice to witness a side of my nation I don't often see since I don't usually attend these smaller events. The kids look like they're having a (literal) blast, and it fills me with joy.

The younger ones get out pretty quickly, which is par for the course. We allow kids as young as seven to join but they don't usually fully participate until the next year. The first time is a trial run, to see if they like it and get a feel for the game.

I'm actually seeing some pretty talented little kids down there. Maybe I should come to these more often. I'd always come in secret, to be sure, but it's a good way to check up on the progress of the nation. A few of those kids would make good military recruits if they wanted to join–not that I'm going to push that. I possibly could increase my police force a little since Jura is massive, but there's no rush. Pushing military life onto these kids just sounds flat-out wrong to me, anyway.

This is actually just the first battle of the day. Tempest is huge, so to let everyone who wants to participate do so we set up multiple matches. I once thought about doing a tournament with this game, but that would mean having repeat teams on the field, and with the massive amount of participants we couldn't fit it all in one day.

Besides, it's just for fun.

It doesn't take long for the match to finish, and the green team ended up winning. I stand up, readying myself to leave; I've got something I need to take care of, and unfortunately, that means leaving Iruma again.

"Sorry, guys, but I have something I need to go do. I'll see you later, okay? Enjoy the festival some more in the meantime."

"Wait, Rimuru, where are you going?"

"I…just have some plans. Some plans that I can't weasel my way out of."

"Oh! Didn't you say yesterday that you were gonna talk with Hinata? I talked with her last night, so maybe you won't have to now!"

"Oh, I know how you talked with her, Iruma. You talked with Hinata a little too much, actually, didn't you?"

Iruma's smile immediately faded.

"No, don't make a face like that, you didn't do anything wrong. If Hinata was the one asking you questions, I can't blame you for answering, and with how honest you are most of the time, I get why you spilled the truth."

He still looks like he feels bad about it, even though I just tried to assure him he didn't screw up.

"I tried to explain it so it made sense!"

"Yes, I'm sure you did. I just need to clear up the details with her. I better get going."

Iruma still looks a bit troubled, but I seriously need to get going. I have a sort of 'dinner date' with Hinata, although not the type I'd like to be having. After…refusing to answer her earlier, I know this won't be an easy or fun meal spent with that woman. So, I brace myself and teleport to the place where I'd arranged to meet her.

…

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Hinata coldly says after I finished explaining everything to her, and I mean everything! I want her to have a full understanding so she doesn't get the wrong idea about me!

And here I thought our years of friendship would be enough for her to take my heartfelt and honest explanation more gently, but instead, I'm getting that familiar judging stare from Hinata that still sends a chill down my spine to this day.

"What? Weren't you listening to what I was saying?!" I loudly respond, annoyed with her blunt, rude answer.

"I was. If you don't see the issue with any of this, then obviously the last vestige of your common sense has finally been corroded away by wallowing in the collective insanity of hundreds of teenage demons in a hellish realm." she drives the dagger in further with another harsh answer.

"Hey, while demons don't think like us, they're still reasonable in their own way. Honestly, that's what's fun about them. It seems insane and you never quite know what to expect, but they're still a sensible culture in their own right, not simply some parody." I explain further.

"I get that, but… why a schoolgirl? I refuse to accept that you don't understand why that's weird and creepy." Hinata glares.

I sigh, reluctant to explain this again.

"While the reason I ended up in that role was purely circumstantial, it does make sense if you think about it. I was raised as an ordinary person, so I'll always value being able to get along with ordinary people, but fame and reputation can make that impossible."

"So you're trying to escape your own fame by hiding in the Netherworld? But that doesn't answer the question."

"Actually, I'm already fairly famous in the Netherworld despite trying to stay low-key. Being seen as a schoolgirl is the only thing that's been keeping my reputation in check."

"Aren't you making far too much of an effort to avoid being who you are in that case? You're hiding away in another world, pretending to be a child. What, you've been a Demon Lord for just a few decades and you've already gotten bored of it?"

What Hinata just said gives me pause, and when I don't immediately reply she has a surprised reaction.

"Wait, don't tell me you actually did get bored of it? I was saying that as more of a joke, but you seem to be taking it seriously!"

"Hey, I'm not planning on giving up being a Demon Lord or anything! But all the other Demon Lords always had rivals or struggles, something to do with their thousands of years of life. It just seems a little unfair that I pretty much 'won' after only a few years in the role. I mean, what would you do?"

Hinata stops and just stares at me with her dark eyes for a few moments, seemingly trying to read how genuine I'm being. But then, she closes her eyes for a few seconds and looks away before reopening them.

"I myself never thought the challenges and struggles of being a hero would end. And then they ended." Hinata says, her voice quieter than before. "So what would I do? Well, now I mostly just teach my skills to those weaker than myself. That, at least, is a challenge, and a rewarding one at that. I guess you've figured out the same thing, even if you're going about it in the most harebrained and perverted way imaginable."

"There's nothing perverted or harebrained about it!" I shoot back.

But, my reassurances seem to be falling on deaf ears because Hinata didn't even grace them with a response and instead just stands up like she's gonna leave.

"I'll be going now. I get that you're still trying to figure out your place in the world, but don't let this little mid-life crisis of yours damage the balance you've established, Rimuru."

"You know I'm not dumb enough to let that happen."

I don't exactly like her calling it a mid-life crisis, but from Hinata's perspective, that's probably what it looks like. Honestly, I'm more bothered by her thinking that I'd let my little hobby wreck the peace I worked so hard to achieve! I know she's just concerned, but it's still annoying that Hinata thinks I'd be so careless.