Rimuru's side
The next morning, we went to the clinic run by Ver. Finding it in the wide, bustling streets was surprisingly easy. The signboard showed a dragon holding a syringe, flashy enough to stand out at a glance, so Rimuru hurried over. After knocking on the door a few times, a beautiful woman in a maid outfit came to greet us.
"Welcome. My master has been expecting you."
But she wasn't human. She was a type of golem, something like a commander that directed other golems, and several small mechanical devices floated around her.
"Ah, welcome," Ver said.
Once we were shown into the reception room, Ver greeted Rimuru's group from the sofa. Soon after, the golem we'd first met, Amrita, came in carrying simple refreshments and tea. Ver took a sip and spoke.
"I already heard the story from my main body, but... are you really sure about this?"
"Hm? About what...?"
"I'm not really one to say this, but the Western Holy Church lot are pretty persistent, you know? I've driven them off again and again in the past, and they still keep popping up. And Kaval's group may already have told you this, but the headquarters of the Western Holy Church is right here in Ingrasia. The church in Rubelios is only for rituals—praying to their one god Luminas and receiving oracles. Their actual work gets handled here."
"Yeah, so I'm using this mask to suppress my aura as much as possible."
"Then that's good... Oh, right. You said you wanted to look around a human nation, didn't you?"
At Ver's question, Rimuru nodded.
"Aside from my country, Tempest, and Dwargon... there are all sorts of places like Ingrasia, Rubelios, Falmuth, Rostia, Doran, Siltrose, Blumund, Filtwood, and Grada. But if you want to see how humans actually live, staying in Ingrasia is your best option. This country's the most developed of all the human nations."
Ver added that if Rimuru planned to stay here for a while, it would be best to meet Yuuki Kagurazaka, one of Shizu's students. That had been Rimuru's plan from the start, which was why he'd deliberately brought a letter of introduction from Hughes.
"Well, that's good, but... oh, right. Be careful around that kid, Yuuki."
"Why? Is he strong?"
"No idea if he's strong, but he's definitely hiding something."
With Ver's warning lingering in his ears, Rimuru headed straight for the guild headquarters across the street. The entrance was enclosed in glass. He had never imagined he'd see something like glass doors in this world. But the moment he stood in front of them, he felt as if something was scanning his body, and then the doors opened automatically. Rimuru stared in shock. Glass doors would have been enough of a surprise, but automatic doors? They were completely different from the wooden church next door. Even Eren looked surprised, so this seemed to be a recent change.
"Welcome. What brings you here today?"
"Ah, yes. I'd like to meet the Grand Master. Here's my letter of introduction."
Rimuru handed the letter to the woman at the entrance. She went inside to confirm it, while Rimuru sat stiffly on the sofa like someone visiting a club for the first time.
After a few minutes, an elf in a secretary's uniform appeared together with the woman from before.
"Thank you for waiting. I was instructed to admit only Lord Rimuru. From here on, I, his personal secretary, will guide you."
An elf secretary? Lucky bastard, Rimuru thought to himself as he followed the elf woman. Passing through a magic circle drawn on the floor, he was teleported somewhere else, then walked a while longer before arriving at a reception room.
"The Grand Master will be here shortly. If you'll excuse me."
After the secretary left, Rimuru looked around the room alone. True to a fellow otherworlder, all the decorations were things Rimuru recognized.
And since he believed that making an enemy of this man would make it difficult for his nation to be acknowledged by humans, Rimuru decided not to fumble through some half-baked negotiation. Instead, he would earn the other's trust from the very beginning, so he waited in slime form.
Creak.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. I'm Yuuki Kagurazaka, the Grand Master. Please, just call me Yuuki—whoa! A slime?!"
A boy entered with black hair, black eyes, neat features, and a youthful face that still hadn't quite lost its boyishness.
He looked young enough that someone could easily believe he was still in high school.
Yuuki was startled by the sight of Rimuru in slime form. At first he was badly flustered, but he quickly regained his composure, shook Rimuru's slimy hand, and made a bit of light conversation.
"Wow... that really surprised me. Hughes told me, but I never thought a real slime had actually founded a nation."
"I was surprised too. I heard you were one of Shizu's students, but you're way younger than I expected."
"Ah, actually I'm in my late twenties. When I came to this world, I didn't receive a Unique Skill or any special ability, but maybe because of that, my physical abilities developed a lot. On the other hand, my body's growth stopped too, so I still look exactly like I did in high school."
After that brief small talk, Yuuki got to the point.
"By the way, Rimuru? Or should I say Miss?"
"Call me whatever you want."
"Then... Rimuru, you're a monster, so how did you get through the barrier around guild headquarters?"
"Hm? Oh, that. With this mask Shizu gave me... and this form."
Rimuru transformed into human form along with the anti-magic mask. Seeing that, Yuuki was startled all over again.
"I-I'm amazed. Aside from your hair and eye color, you really do look exactly like Teacher Shizu."
Yuuki stared fixedly at Rimuru, who looked so much like Shizu that one could believe he was her child.
"Um, if you stare that hard, it's kind of embarrassing..."
"Ah, sorry. I got a little carried away."
Since Yuuki had brought up the main topic, Rimuru returned to it as well.
"I want to stay in a human nation for a while... and see how people live there. Can you help me?"
"It's not difficult... but to be honest, it's still a little hard for me to trust you."
Figures it wouldn't be that easy. In that case!
'Please, Great Sage.'
"...Understood."
Then Rimuru went ptoo and spat something out. Seeing that, Yuuki was more shocked than he'd been by anything so far.
"W-whoa! What kind of magic did you just use, miss?!"
Somewhere along the way, he'd switched from calling him Rimuru to calling him miss, and now Yuuki stood there wide-eyed, holding a bound comic book that had come out of Rimuru's mouth.
Rimuru had put paper into his stomach, reproduced images from his memories onto it, and copied them over.
The result of using Great Sage to the fullest. Or, to put it another way, a complete waste of ability.
"As long as I have paper, I can make these whenever I want."
At those words, Yuuki put on the most serious expression in the world and ordered his secretary to bring in a huge amount of paper. Thoroughly bewildered, she obeyed. Once the paper was fed into Rimuru, he started mass-printing comic books like a living printing press.
As a result, Rimuru captured Yuuki's heart in one blow. Just like that, he secured both a place to stay and Yuuki's favor at the same time.
"Then please work at the school as a teacher, just like Teacher Shizu did!"
What? A teacher?
"I'll give you a room in the dormitory at the Free Academy, where I serve as chairman. I'll even provide a teacher's uniform that fits."
"Wait a second."
Rimuru cut him off.
"Why a teacher of all things?"
"Because all kinds of children gather at a school. So I thought that would be best if you want to see all sorts of people."
"And your real motive?"
"If you're far away, I won't be able to read manga whenever I want~"
This guy. He looked harmless, but he was surprisingly honest about his desires.
"But I don't know anything about teaching..."
"Don't worry about that. Teacher Shizu said she'd take responsibility and teach you."
Hearing that, Rimuru felt relieved inside. If it was Teacher Shizu, she would definitely have been kind to children.
At least, that was what he thought.
"You there! No resting—keep running!"
Shizu ran at the front, barking at the students who were already losing steam midway through. The children looked like they were about to collapse, but the more exhausted they got, the more strict and fiery her instruction became. Thanks to that, some of them actually passed out from exhaustion and had to be carried to the infirmary.
"No, that's not the image I had of Shizu at all," Rimuru said, denying reality.
Yuuki patted him on the shoulder and replied, "Sadly, this is reality. I went through it myself."
Yuuki's gaze drifted somewhere far away, and for some reason, he looked deeply pitiful.
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