(1 week later)
Alright, I'll be a straight shooter and say it. Throughout the course of this week, I've got it on with Shuna. Now, I'm not saying I was some mindless beast or anything like that, but those dragon instincts can kick in aggressively, especially when thinking about children.
Anyway, that's not what's important. It was a relatively uneventful week. Hinata and her saints had already gone home, carrying with them equipment and other stuff to make the music they heard. And there were already some things being sent over to Lubellious to start the restaurant they like so much. Great success.
I think there was one thing I was forgetting. Probably not important. Wait, no, I'm pretty sure it is. Man, it seems Merlin's magic is making me forget things.
I was trying to remember when a blur appeared in front of me. It was Soeui.
"Lady Pendrgaon, here. I brought what you asked for." Soeui said as he presented me with a small notebook..
I remember now! Okay, yeah, this is good. I took the notebook from him and opened it up. I can see why it took a week. This is full of a lot of stuff, even with just a glance at it. All the crimes he's committed and a statement admitting to them. It had the signatures of everyone important in our justice department and some signatures of witnesses. All it was missing was mine and Yuuki's signatures.
"This is great. We just need to make him sign it. Follow me, Soeui." I started to walk, but a message from Rimuru interrupted me.
'Hey, Artoria, Diablo is back. And he's here with like, three more demons. I think they're like him.' I stopped walking and handed the notebook back to Souei.
"Hold on to this, Soeui. I need to go meet some people."
/\\//\\//\
"So a slime has you acting more weird than usual, which is saying a lot considering you who are, Noir, or Diablo it now seems." A yellow-haired demon said.
"Well, there is someone else. She's a little…interesting." Diablo said as he led the three Primordial Demons.
"Woah. Interesting? Coming from you? This world has gone crazy." Jaune said.
"Don't be overdramatic, Jaune," Violet said, disregarding Jaune's statement. She was calm about this situation.
"Overdramatic? I'd say you're way too calm at Diablo is saying!" Jaune fired back. Diablo was weird, but him being a servant to a slime? That was beyond weird.
"You're both wrong. Jaune isn't overdramatic, and you, Violet, are not reacting with the surprise one would expect at news like this." Blanc said, being the more mature of the two.
"We can fight over it." Jaune sais.
"Of course you'd do that, Jaune. I'd expect nothing less from a brute like you." Violet said.
'What'd you say?" Jaune shouted.
"And now you're going deaf. You must be dying soon. I'll meet you when you come back to life." Violet said, waving a hand at Jaune.
Jaune was ready right then and there to fight Violet. She was close to unleashing Nuclear Magic on the spot.
"Stop that, Violet. You two are acting like children." Blanc said, interrupting Jaune. For a small moment, it resolved the small conflict.
"It's fun to do. She's so easy to get like that." Violet said in a playful tone, enjoying how Jaune would act, "It helps that she's a little dumb." Violet muttered to herself.
"I heard that!" Jaune shouted, leaping to Violet, her Nuclear Magic on the verge of being unleashed.
"Okay, you two, stop. You two can fight as much as you want after Diablo finishes showing us this slime and maybe the other person he finds interesting." Blanc said, holding back Jaune.
"Fine." Jaune said, before following Diablo again.
/\\//\\//\
Rimuru was waiting in an empty field as he waited for Diablo to arrive. Though he preferred that Artoria get there first, so she could give him advice. And as if his wishes were answered, Artoria showed up, casually walking to him. He waved at her as he said, "So, what do we do, Artoria?"
Artoria got straight into it. "Alright, Diablo is going to ask them to be your servants, and then you'll need to fight them, or something, to show them you're worthy of being their servants. Though if you offer and make them bodies for them to inhabit, that'll help a lot. Like you did for Beretta."
"Oh, that? That's easy!" Easy for Raphael.
"Making the bodies? Yeah, but you might still have to fight. Or at least, show overwhelming strength to gain their recognition. To be honest, Diablo's word is already very good."
"Will you help me out a bit?"
"Sure, if it's necessary. But if it really comes down to it, just play defense. You can basically absorb anything with Beelzebub, and then Raphael can do what Raphael does best. You know, copy, analyze, and all that stuff."
"Wait, they're demons. Can't you just do your holy stuff, or something?" Demons are supposed to be weak to holy energy, so it made sense.
"I could, but I might steal a demon or two from you." She could do it, but she could probably unleash enough holy energy and magic to make even a Primordial Demon think twice. At the minimum. Just take out Excalibur, and do a quick sword beam, or Rhongomyniad, and unleash a few seals on it. Nothing much.
"Wait, are we really talking about Primordial Demons like this? As if we're trying to split them between us?"
"Yeah, it does sound a little weird. To be fair, you have Diablo on your side. I'd argue he's the craziest of the Primordial Demons. In terms of power, at least. Well, there is also Guy, but Diablo is on par with him."
"Oh, yeah, that guy. I remember seeing him at the Walpurgis. He was weird. The way he looked at Leon was…I don't know. It was also weird."
"Well, when you lived as long a Primordial Demon has, you can expect them to have a screw or two loose."
"And how long have they lived?"
"Since the beginning."
Rimuru was a little confused. The beginning? Is she making hyperbole or being literal? "What?" Rimuru said in confusion.
"Just ask Veldora. Anyway, they're here. Put on a smile on something."
/\\//\\//\
As Diablo and the three Primordial Demons got closer, they felt the presence of two people. Diablo let out a smile as he felt Rimuru's presence, not paying too much attention to Artoria.
Jaune, Violet, and Blanc, on the other hand, felt something different. While Diablo was focused on Rimuru because of his bias, the other three were focused on Artoria. They could see why Diablo called her interesting, but that might have been a small understatement.
"Diablo, are you sure the slime is the one we should focus on? That other one is different. Something's off about her." Blanc said, just from feeling Artoria's presence.
"We just have to fight them. That'll tell us all we need. I want to fight that dragon-spirit person." Jaune said.
"Of course, you do." Violet said.
Eventually, they came face-to-face. There, they saw Rimuru and Artoria. The first to talk was Diablo.
"Lord Rimuru, I've returned. I bring you these three who will be very useful to you as additional servants." Diablo said as he kneeled, looking up at Rimuru with eyes hoping that he would accept his "gift".
"Uh, thanks, Diablo." Rimuru said in a sort of embarrassed tone at Diablos' actions in front of everyone.
Jaune, Violet, and Blanc knew he was weird, but actually seeing this with their own eyes was something else.
"Oh, thank you, Lord Rimuru! I'm so happy to hear you like what I've brought!" Diablo said with an excited tone.
"Hold on! You want us to become servants to this slime?! That lady next to him seems like a better option!" Jaune shouted.
"Woah, let's calm down a little. We can talk about this a little. We'll gladly take you as servants, it doesn't have to be me, it can even be Artoria. I can make you bodies so that you can stay here in this world." Rimuru said, trying to diffuse the situation. And it worked.
"How merciful of you, Lord Rimuru," Diablo said. It might've been his way of his way of dealing with this.
"You can make us bodies for us to inhabit, so we can stay in this world? If you can do that, I can make a temporary contract to serve you," Blanc said.
"That's also fine with me. If it's just a temporary thing, I'm fine with it. I doubt we'll become your servants fully like Diablo wants us to." Violet said.
"That's fine, I'll give you all names as well," Rimuru responded.
Violet and Blanc looked at each other in slight surprise. Naming two Primordial Demons like that? Maybe Diablo had a bit of a point. But someone was strangely quiet. Jaune.
Jaune was quiet. She was only staring at Artoria. Artoria noticed and just waved at her. Jaune walked up. "You want us to be servants to you?"
"Well, not me, but Rimuru here, but if you want to be my servant, go ahead. Just have Rimuru give you a body and I'll go ahead and name you."
"I want to fight you for it."
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
In a flash, Artoria's armor appeared. In her hand was Rhongomyniad, and on her back was Excalibur. "You want fight here, or somewhere else?"
Jaune hesitated a little, but it was quickly replaced with the feeling of wanting to fight again. "I can feel it! You're going to be the best challenger I've had!"
"Diablo, I see why you said she was interesting. That lance." Blanc said quietly. She hadn't seen anything like this before.
"It's fascinating, isn't it? That lance seems to have some power that seems otherworldly, but at the same time, you can feel that it belongs in this world. Like it's a part of it." Diablo said to Blan as he observed the lance. That lance was more interesting to him than the sword on her back.
"I have to say, Diablo, that doesn't really make sense. How is it not from this world, but also part of it at the same time? It can't be both at once. And when you say 'part of it', do you mean like a fundamental part of the make-up of the world?"
"Maybe. I'd like to examine it further, but Lord Rimuru hasn't allowed me to do so."
It was a little unusual for Blanc to see Diablo act like this. Why couldn't he just take it from her? "Okay, but can you explain the other part? It can't be not part of this world, but also at the same time a part of this world. That's not possible. It shouldn't work."
"And yet, it does work. Paradoxical, but it works."
Artoria, who was facing down Jaune, glanced over at Diablo after hearing what he said. Underneath her helmet, there was a small smile. Nuclear Magic was a thing in this world.
"I see you're eager, Jaune, but I still want to know. Do you want to fight here, or somewhere else?"
"It doesn't matter to me!" Jaune rushed to Artoria, not caring about what or who was around her.
"Well, I wouldn't want to cause too much damage to the surrounding nature, so I'm taking you somewhere else."
As Jaune got close to Artoria, they both disappeared.