We stand in front of the classroom as the kids watch on in anticipation. We had told them we had a very important announcement to make so they had high expectations. It only makes sense, we had already told them we had a lead on how to save them so such a major announcement could only mean so many things in their minds. I watch as Rimuru with a smile on his face walks up to a small stool to help him get a better look at the students, after all we aren't actually very tall, people who walked in without context would probably just think we were their seniors rather than teachers.
As he looks down at the kids he finally announces, "Alright kids, get ready! We're going on a field trip to the Ulgrasia Republic!"
Gale, as the most mature of them for now asks, "We're leaving the country?"
I respond, "Yes, that's where the Dwelling of the Spirits is."
Alice asks, "What's the Dwelling of the Spirits?"
I smile jokingly, "It's where the spirits dwell, obviously, don't be stupid."
She pouts angrily, "That's not what I meant!"
As the kids laugh for a little bit eventually they focus again on the task at hand. They already know the basics of our plan like how we are planning to use Spirits to save them. However, they don't really know the specifics. Chloe asks a little worriedly, "Is this really going to save us?"
As they look up at us I happily respond, "Sure, definitely! You don't need to worry about anything! Like we said, we're going to save you and we are going to complete that promise no matter what!" They happily laugh and smile before finally starting to cry, relieved that they are finally going to be saved. I can't believe people just gave up on these kids, how morally wrong is this world?
I walk over to them and ask them to come with us. As Rimuru opens the door and we walk out I can almost see some of them have a spring in their steps. Walking outside to where we were training the other day I create a teleportation circle designed to send us to the one I put near the Dwelling of the Spirits and take us all there. Thanks to limitations with teleportation in this world I can only send one at a time but that's not much of a problem. As Rimuru goes in I take one last look at the school as I teleport there myself.
Walking out the circle I see as the kids look around with wonder in their eyes. "Quite the magical forest this is, huh kids." They nod as they look around. Kenya grabs a huge bug and shows it to the kids. Holy shit, didn't expect that."
Rimuru tells them to stop doing that because it could be dangerous, instead he points their attention to the entrance of the Dwelling of the Spirits. They all go whoa! As they see the fantasy doors into the dwelling itself. "Are ya ready kids!?"
"Yes sir!" I limp down, not the response my mental health needed right now.
I walk over to the doors and pull them open revealing an old looking hallway. I instantly spot something normally invisible on the ground. "She was here, and not that long ago either." This means that bastard probably hasn't gotten to her yet or has only just gotten her. My fist clenches a little.
Chloe notices and worriedly asks what's wrong.
I smile to try and reassure her and say, "Nothing, don't worry about it." Moving past that I look around. Alright, where are you Ramiris?
{Notice- A small magical presence was located 50 meters away hiding behind a small rock on the right wall.}
Thanks, [Great Sage].
Suddenly we hear a quiet high pitched laugh in the labyrinth we just entered scaring the kids who cling onto either Rimuru or me. Chloe was closer to me but went for Rimuru. Guess some things never change.
I could call out Ramiris right now, or play her little game. Realizing it'll be much more entertaining to play along I yell out, "Who are you!? Show yourself!"
"Ahahaha! As if I would ever reveal my magnificent, beautiful appearance to you!" Magnificent and beautiful, huh. I wouldn't exactly describe you like that.
Rimuru continues, "We're just here to summon some spirits! We'll leave as soon as we're finished! If it isn't too much to ask, can you help us!?"
"Ahahahaha! You know what, because you entertain me I shall help you, but only if you pass my test!" Here it comes.
We walk forward as Rimuru looks around cautiously for her test. Eventually we reach a more open area similar to a battlefield. I notice that she's been following us from behind a special fairy sized corridor she made for herself. Not a bad design I guess.
My thought process gets rudely interrupted by a large metallic crashing sound not too far away. There you are, elemental colossus. It moves towards us and prepares a punch which Rimuru dodges while I stand my ground. I catch the things fist by slowing down its momentum with a barrier and shatter its arm with a single [Detonation].
A panicked screaming voice yells, "Aaah! What are you…"
Using another one centered on the middle of the thing's body I shatter the Golem with a single attack, sending scrap metal everywhere. Some do get sent flying towards the kids but Rimuru has it handled with [Gluttony]. Making sure Ramiris is thoroughly terrified by using [Magic Sense] to analyze her movements, I turn around to look directly at her and say, "Now you can reveal yourself." She flies out of the rocks shaking a little bit asking, "You knew!?"
Crossing my arms confidently I respond, "Yeah, pretty much as soon as we opened the doors. Are you gonna help or not?"
She puts her hand to her chin like a cartoon character and wonders, "Uh, well…"
I make a threatening face with a wide smile and ask, "You want the Golem treatment?"
"I'll help! I'll help!"
"Glad we could come to an agreement."
Everyone including Rimuru just stares blankly at me as they see how easily and bluntly I dealt with this situation. Ryota asks if I always act like this. Rimuru responds, "If you think this is crazy, you should have seen how he acted around Milim."
"Milim?" Asks Gale.
"Uh, never mind. Maybe I'll tell you about it later."
Ramiris doesn't hear Rimuru over her preparation to declare how great she is, "I am…"
Her over the top introduction doesn't make it too far though because I immediately interrupt with, "Ramiris of the Labyrinth, a pillar of the ten great demon lords, blah, blah, blah, I get it, can we move on now. You're starting to remind me of Gabiru."
Her mouth drops as she asks, "How did you know!?"
As she asks that everyone agrees, they want to know. Of course I can't tell them as while Rimuru is trustworthy, the kids are easy to manipulate and Ramiris is simply too childish. However this does lead to a comedic moment. As I stand silent raising the tension for my response I just say, " I can't tell." With a smile on my face. They all look disappointed at my response, especially Ramiris.
Moving past that I ask, "So, are you going to take us to the High Spirits or not, Miss Spirit Queen."
Everyone looks even more confused as I say this because one, how do I know who the Spirit Queen is when I've never been here and two, she looks nothing like how a Queen of the Spirits would look in you head so their convinced either I'm crazy or this world's Spirit Queen is just a big pushover. After another bunch of questions which I again respond with, "I can't tell." We finally get a response from Ramiris, "Fine, I'll take you."
"Great, also, did Milim come by recently?"
She turns around just as confused as before, "Yes, how did you know?"
"This I can give you an answer to. I analyzed the floor and walls and there are signs that Milim walked through here. For example, her fingerprints are all over that wall over there." I point at a wall to my left. "I asked because she's my friend, she's been missing for a while so knowing where she's been is a nice update."
She just looks at the wall, impressed at how I was able to tell just from that. She then looks at me with a strange glare, "Wait a minute. Are you two the Slimes that established the city of monsters!?"
The kids don't know we're Slimes yet so they look at us. Yuuki hasn't told them, we haven't shown any clear signs and we haven't told them ourselves so this is news to them. I say, "Yes, that's correct."
She freaks out. "Eh, and when she came to brag about you I laughed in her face!" She flies over to where Rimuru and I are standing clearly a little mad and starts yelling, "Stu…"
Quickly clapping with her in between my two hands I say, "Yup, not happening." As I open my hands she recovers only a little woozy and quickly yells, "How dare you do this to a Great Demon Lo…" Clapping again the same routine happens all over again.
Five minutes later we all calm down as Rimuru invites us to sit down and have a normal conversation with her. For this conversation Spirits nearby acquire food from god knows where and help us get comfortable. The kids decide that instead of listening to us they would rather go play with the Spirits which they promptly do.
This conversation gets off to a great start as Rimuru asks how it's possible that people who come in never come back according to stories he discovered about it from [Great Sage] if she is the one controlling it, subtly implying she isn't capable of doing that due to her childlike behavior.
She catches on and yells, "That's rude! Hmpf!" Calming down she actually answers the question saying, "I guess they get lost. They probably eventually find their way out in some foreign land…eventually."
A little concerned for the adventurers he asks, "Isn't that also a little cruel in its own way?"
"It's not my fault, why are you blaming me! It's not like you two are saints!" She turns to me with the expression a child might give you if you break their favorite toy. "That Golem was my greatest masterpiece and you ruined it!"
I smile, "You called it a trial, it is your fault if you think about it."
"But, but, I didn't tell you to destroy it!"
With an even more malicious look I say, "Should've specified."
"But, but, but." She gives up and just angrily pouts.
"Actually that reminds me, wasn't that the magi-soldier projects the Dwarves wanted to work on? You stole it."
She quickly responds, "They threw it out! They weren't going to use it so I decided to take it!"
"That's still stealing." Clearly still a little mad at me I decide to finally calm her down saying, "You know what, since I destroyed your toy, how about I give you a new one."
"You what! Really!?"
"Really, just take us to the Spirits and I'll do it."
"Deal!" She puts her arm up in a salute and flies off telling us to follow.
She takes us to the deepest part of the labyrinth to summon the Spirits we need. Letting Rimuru do the honors I stay behind and watch from the sidelines. All the Spirit summoning's go the same as in canon. Good sign, good sign. As Rimuru comes back with Alice who still asks for Rimuru to carry her, Rimuru then takes Chloe with him. Here's the big moment.
As the summoning commences a shaking is felt throughout the entire room we're in. Suddenly I white glowing human figure appears and flies around the room. Noticing me she stares at me with a noticeable look of confusion before finally spotting Rimuru. She flies downwards and gives him a phantom kiss before floating right through him and prepares to enter Chloe.
"Oh no you don't!" Ramiris yells trying to stop her.
Rimuru asks, "What's wrong!?"
"Can't you tell!? She's bad news! We have to stop her!" As she tries her hardest to stop Chronoa she inevitably fails as Chronoa enters Chloe and goes dormant like in the original timeline.
As Chloe collapses Rimuru asks, "Is she going to be okay?"
Ramiris says, "Well, for now yes, but there's no telling what that thing might do."
Rimuru, seeing a smile on Chloe's sleeping face says, "Well, we'll deal with that later. At least for now, everyone is safe, that's what matters."
As Rimuru and Ramiris walk, or in Ramiris' case, flies back to us I assure Rimuru nothing will go wrong and we are on our way. Of course, I won't forget my promise to Ramiris of course. Before we leave I make a doll and summon a Greater Demon in front of Ramiris, Rimuru and the kids. As they all hide behind Rimuru I converse with the Demon. Asking it to inhabit the doll and serve Ramiris the Demon immediately follows my command and accepts a 100 year long contract with her. The Demon fully integrates itself into the doll and bows, swearing absolute loyalty to Ramiris.
Before I leave I drop one last bombshell on Ramiris as I casually name it Beretta and walk away leaving her speechless at just how casually I can both summon and name a Greater Demon. "Alright then, I guess I'll see you later Ramiris." I walk away as I see Beretta patting her head trying to calm her down. What a day.
I look at Chloe who looks back at me, so I guess that means there are previous timelines where I don't exist. You and I both know what this means. I'm a space-time anomaly. Something that wasn't supposed to exist in the first place. But that leaves one question.
If my existence alone can save this reality thanks to my previous knowledge doesn't that mean all the sacrifices Chloe and Chronoa have gone through were all for nothing? With me here, Chronoa's presence isn't even needed anymore. If I was in the original first timeline I could have saved Tempest without Chronoa's help, stopping the chaos timeline on the first loop. That's actually kind of depressing. All that hard work and suffering, just for some random guy to come out of nowhere and solve everything first try right in front of you. I wonder when she'll remember more, hopefully you aren't too affected by this in the future.
{Notice- Unique Skill [Sage's Link] has been activated. Using Unique Skill [Sage's Link] to obtain Extra Skill [Spatial Travel].}
Guess Rimuru upgraded [Shadow Step]. Well, time to head back. Taking one last look at Chloe I start to feel a little bad for her. If only that god had sent me to the original timeline.. I could have saved Chloe all that excruciating effort.