Rimuru and Iruma's Adventures in the Netherworld

Exploring the Monster Country

"I'm trying to enjoy my coffee right now. Alone."

"But I brought a guest with me who you might want to meet. He's Japanese, just like us." Rimuru says, gesturing toward me.

"You mean that teenager?" she asks, looking at me with her cold eyes.

This woman terrifies me for some reason and I have no idea how to respond. So, trying to hide my apprehension, I give her a forced smile and a small, awkward wave.

"Yeah, he's my friend who's visiting Tempest for the first time." Rimuru continues.

"Tch. Figures you'd befriend someone with the same level of maturity as yourself." Hinata says matter-of-factly as she takes another sip of her coffee.

"Hey, now! You don't have to say stuff like that!" Rimuru says, sounding both annoyed and amused at the same time.

"Whatever." She says before turning her attention to me again. "What's your name?" she asks.

I take this as my queue to approach the table and cautiously sit down across from her.

"Iruma Suzuki, ma'am," I squeak out nervously while under her cold gaze.

"My name is Hinata Sakaguchi. It's nice to meet you, Iruma." She says politely. "I take back what I said, this boy seems more mature than you, Rimuru."

"That's harsh...I think your words hurt more than that sword of yours did when you tried t-"

In a flash, Hinata's blade is pointing at Rimuru's throat. I don't think Rimuru's too bothered by it, though, considering that she's still smiling breezily at Hinata. Scratch that; maybe Rimuru's a little nervous, but not to the degree that you'd expect from someone who has the tip of a sword held against their neck.

Even though I couldn't react to the motion of the sword, as soon as I comprehend what's happening, I instinctively lurch back and away from the blade, almost tipping my chair backward enough to make it topple over. Luckily, I managed to regain my balance (by flailing my arms) before fully losing it and embarrassingly falling to the floor.

"Why do you have to bring that up you stupid slime?!" Hinata asks angrily, her cold eyes even icier than before.

"Haha, sorry, sorry. I went a little too far there, didn't I? Can you please put the sword away, though? You're scaring Iruma and the other people trying to enjoy their food." Rimuru says, slowly pushing the blade away from her neck using one hand.

Hinata then sheathes her sword, looking annoyed.

Rimuru gives the other customers in the café a friendly smile to assure them that everything is alright since some of them look scared and others look like they might attack Hinata for her aggression. Their reactions are justified if you consider who Rimuru is to this country, but they relax as soon as Rimuru shows them that there's nothing for them to be worried about.

Soon, a waitress comes over and takes our orders, looking very nervous. I'm not sure if it's because Rimuru is so famous or the fact that Hinata just pulled a sword on her a moment ago though. I'm still petrified, wondering why Rimuru would still want to sit with this Hinata woman after having her life threatened.

Rimuru, noticing that I'm still freaked out sends me a telepathic message.

{{Don't worry Iruma, she wasn't serious about killing me or anything. We're sorta friends and she wouldn't try something like that here anyway.}}

There Rimuru goes again, downplaying crazy stuff to the point where I doubt her sanity a little. Needing to say something in response, I change my ring's setting discretely under the table.