(A few hours later)
Rimuru returned from the Walpurgis, and the first thing he did was rush to Artoria. But also following him were two maids, who happened to be primordial demons. Rain and Misery.
And Artoria was at home eating after making dinner. Could she know that Rimuru was freaking out and running to her? Yeah, but she didn't bother to always have her senses up all the time, especially in the city. Though if something dangerous were to happen, she'd know instantly. And this wasn't one of those cases.
And of course, in the middle of her meal, a constant knocking was at her door. Artoria sighed and got up.
"Artoria, I really need to talk to you! Oh, and two of Guy's maids are here."
She could hear his voice through the door. But at last, her new maids were here. She opened the door, and there the three of them were. Before anyone could say anything, she grabbed Rain and Misery and instantly used Rhongoymniad to tie them up. She grabbed them and set them down on a couch.
"I'll speak to you two later. Just stay there and don't move, or make a sound," Artoria said to them in a serious tone. She would make them follow a certain set of rules, and she would make sure they would agree.
"Alright, so, what do you need, Rimuru?" Artoria turned back to the door where Rimuur was still. Seeing her manhandle two primordial demons like they were dolls was a sight to see.
"Uh, um, oh, yeah, right, uh, so, there's a new leader of all the demons lords, because of well, you know. What shocked me the most, though, was that we spent most of the time having to come up with another new name. It's crazy, because, well, you know, Guy is…dead. Oh, yeah, people are freaked out. They might now show it, but, like, they're more afraid of you know than they were before after what you did to Michael and Feldway. Oh, and Milim, like really, really wants to fight you. I can't tell if it's becasue she's mad, or because you're just that strong." Rimuru rambled on and on for what felt like hours, but was only a few minutes, which is still a bit long for having to stand at the door.
"Rimuru, okay, I get it. You can stop. And about Milim, if she's mad or angry, I know of a way to easily calm her down. It's a good thing we didn't do it during the war. And I'm going to need you for it."
"What are you talking about?"
"It's about her dragon. Now, before we find out if she's actually angry or not, we should go rescue her pet dragon and return it to normal. It's sealed away and for a good reason. We need to go to the Dragon's Den, enter the sealed environment,fight it a bit, and then you can have Raphael do it's stuff so it be cleaned and purified."
"How do you know this?"
"So, it happened like few hundred years ago. No, like some thousand years? Basically kind of like at the beginning of the world. No. Before the Walpurgis became what you know, and when it was just a tea party. This was when Ramiris was still 'pure' and not corrupted and led to her becoming a demon lord."
"Wow. You know, I never knew how old you are. How old are you? You're probably super old, because you seem to know a lot about the past."
Artoria closed her eyes and slowly breathed. Her fingers twitched a little as she put her hand near her waist.
"Hey, Rimuru, what does an artist do? Give me a one word answer."
"Draw."
Artoria opened her eyes and, with lightning speed, took out two revolvers with both hands from seemingly out of nowhere and unleashed an onslaught of twelve bullets into Rimuru, her thumbs cocking the hammer back so fast that it seemed like an automatic weapon. Rimuru fell back as blue slime splashed around. She spun her revolvers a bit before holstering them.
Rimuru looked up from the ground. "You shot me!"
Artoria put her hands up in mock innocence. "You're the one who said draw."
[You did bring this upon yourself by asking about her age in such a manner.]
'You too, Raphael?'
"Geez, Rimuru, you're never going to find a girlfriend like this. You're lucky I only shot you twelve times. Others would not be as kind as me."
"Kind?! Shooting me twelve times is kind?!"
"Quit your yapping and get up. We got a dragon to save. And plus, you're acting like being shot would do something to you. Once again, you're lucky I shot you only twelve times with normal bullets. I'll call you '50 Silver' from now on, since you 'survived' being shot that much."
"What? I don't get it."
"Yeah, you probably wouldn't. I wouldn't expect a Japanese person to get it. Not a rapper like him."
"A rapper? Oh, I do know that one guy. What was his name? I got it on the tip of my tongue, but I don't think it's rap." Rimuru, still on the ground, started thinking hard.
Artoria also started to think.
'Japan, not a rapper, popular enough that he knows him. Oh, wait, Japan is really into karaoke, right? I'll ask him.'
"Rimuru, would you sing this song in a karaoke room?"
"Oh, yeah, yeah! I would! I think I remember! Well, I would try, but the song was in English, so it wasn't that good. It went like, uh, something, something, club."
Artoria's eyes shot up, and she scoffed at what she came up with. 'There's no way, right? I know he's popular in Asia, but are his songs still popular like that? Maybe as a throwback. Wait, I need to make sure it's right.'
"Rimuru, is it Usher?"
"Yeah! Wait, and that's the song too! It's old, but it's a throwback!"
"Okay, okay, okay, okay, let's stop here. Get up. We need to go save a dragon. Chaos dragon to be more specific, since Gaia is no more. Kinda."
Artoria went to Rimuru and helped him get up.
"You even know the dragon's name? Wow, you really are…" Rimuru paused, catching himself again before he could say anything else. "...knowledgeable and well-read."
Artoria looked at him and shook her head. "You're hopeless. Anyway, the place we're going to is called the Dragon's Den. And given certain circumstances, we're going to be the ones who have to unseal it. It would've been Yuuki, and then Maribel Rosso would've been involved, but because of things that have happened, things have changed. Now, that being said, we can either go to the Free Guild, or whatever's left of it, and loot their knowledge, because Yuuki was already looking for it and might have found it, or we can just spread our senses and look for it. I'd go with the second option, because it should be easier."
"Uh, let's spread our senses."
"Alright. You can do that. I'll go back inside my house and talk to my new maids."
"I thought we were going to do it together."
"Nah. Besides, Raphael will do everything anyway."
Rimuru sighed, knowing she was basically right, but he got to it.
In the meantime, Artoria went back into her house, finally ready to confront Rain and Misery.
They were still tied up. There were no signs of struggle, but it's not like they could.
Artoria got a chair and sat in front of them. "Okay, I'm going to make things clear. You two will work for me now. You can forget about Rouge, since he's gone. And no, I don't care if his name was Guy or not, so don't bother trying to 'correct' me. Where I come from, some people care too much about their name and its meaning when it sometimes doesn't really matter, but it's different in this world, so I'll adapt and change. Anyway, since you two will stay in this empire from now on, you'll, of course, adapt and assimilate into the culture and environment of this place, as well as follow our laws. No stupid excuses about how it's different from where you're from and that we should accept it. We don't do that here. Anyway, now that we have the common sense stuff out of the way, which you two would be surprised at how it's not common sense, we can go to the terms of your employment."
"We just—" Rain tried to talk, but was shut down by Artoria.
"I haven't finished. So, right now, you two won't do much, but in about, let's say…eight months, you two will get really busy. We're going to really need the help. Anyway, you two will be maids for a few years, and after that, y'all can do whatever. So, it's very simple, nothing different from what y'all were already doing, except the punishment. Now, the only punishments y'all will receive will relate to what you do to my wife. And it's also straightforward in that case, too. Hurt her in any way, and you die. Very simple, right? Anyway, I'll have to leave soon, and you will be free. You're to follow any orders my wife gives you and help her in any way. And just in case y'all think y'all can sneak around and be funny, I'll call in someone to oversee you. You two know her very well."
Artoria got and set them free. "Well, I have to go and take care of something."
Artoria left Rain and Misery as they processed what she told them.
"You got it, Rimuru?"
"Yeah, I should have it."
"Great, we can get moving then. Are you going to teleport us?"
"Yeah, I'll set up a circle and all that."
"Wait, just one more thing before we leave."
Artoria sent a thought communication to Carrera. 'Carrera, go to my house and supervise some new maids I got; you'll know them very well. If they hurt my wife in any way, don't hesitate to put a bullet in their heads.'
And the response came quickly. 'With pleasure!'
"Alright, now we can go, Rimuru."
Rimuru nodded as the magic circle formed and lit up, teleporting them to where the Chaos Dragon was sealed.