(3rd Person Perspective)
Back in the capital of the Lubelius Empire, a blond haired man sat impatiently inside a room. He was the fake emperor of the Holy Lubelius Empire, Louis Valentine. A couple dozen of minutes ago, he sensed the bond between him and his twin brother—Roy—disappear. That being said, rather than helping understand Roy’s current situation, this event only confused Louis.
It was true that he had sensed the connection being severed, but the thing that he wasn’t able to feel was Roy being reabsorbed into him. As individuals derived from a singular being, once one of them perished, they would get absorbed back into the other. Yet, that was not occurring right now. And so, feeling uneasy for that scenario, he was busily waiting for his Demon Lord to arrive.
“Louis.” After a couple more minutes of waiting, a beautiful woman appeared in front of him. She was none other than Demon Lord Luminous Valentine, who was deeply staring at Louis with her precious heterochromatic eyes. She was alone.
“My Queen… How was your expedition to the Forest of Jura?” Louis wanted to address the matter of his brother, but in order of importance, Luminous and her task came first.
“It was… quite the surprise.” Louis raised his eyebrow at the unexpected answer. He truly expected Luminous to say everything went well. She was a Demon Lord, after all, and one of the oldest and strongest, to boot; she shouldn’t have encountered anything that could be described as a ‘surprise.’
“...What… Do you mean, Luminous-sama?” Luminous moved toward one of the windows in the room and looked outside of it. It was quite a high place, so she was able to see all the lights of the city from her position. Thinking Luminous perhaps was not planning on responding, Louis decided to push further his questioning. “Is Demon Lord Clayman being troublesome?”
“Don’t insult me, Louis. Clayman is just a sitting duck for me.” Louis bowed his head as he apologized. He also saw Clayman as a sitting duck, but currently, there was no other thing that he could Luminous would consider a ‘surprise.’
Ignoring Louis’s inner curiosity and anxiety, Luminous sighed before continuing. “Clayman is planning things in the forest, but he will autodestruct himself. When I left his Demon Lord meeting earlier, I had already thought the odds of such a thing happening were pretty high, but after what I saw tonight, I am certain it will occur. Clayman’s lifespan is running out.”
“‘What you saw tonight,’ Luminous-sama?” Louis picked up and questioned about the part of her speech that was the most remarkable to him; he wasn’t really interested in the lifespan or what not of a small fry Demon Lord such as Clayman. Even more if Luminous said that he would autodestruct.
“Indeed. Deep inside the Forest of Jura, there is a strong individual. So strong that I am not certain I would win against him in a head-on battle.” Luminous sighed tiredly. In the meantime, Louis’s face shifted into one of shock. Up until now, Luminous had only said such a thing about The Destroyer and the Lord of Darkness, known as the two strongest beings in the world, not only among Demon Lords. For his prideful Queen to admit such a thing… the individual she met had to be quite something. “When we entered his territory, Roy snapped at him and got eliminated within seconds; that is the reason why he is not here. I also tried to submit him by force before I left, but he completely neutralized me without even wrinkling his clothing.”
“?!” Naturally, Louis was shocked at the words of his Queen. Roy, despite being a fake Demon Lord, was not weak at all. In fact, he should’ve been able to fight head-on with some of the current Demon Lords. If the individual truly defeated Roy as Luminous described, and he also managed to defend from her assault, then this mysterious guy was not to be trifled with. “...How are we going to proceed?”
“...That’s a good question…” Luminous entered a thinking posture. A few dozen seconds of silence passed before she replied. “...For now, we’ll halt any activity we have in the Forest of Jura. In other words, we are going to leave that guy alone for now.”
“I understand.” Louis bowed and prepared to leave the room. He had decided to leave behind the concerns he had regarding Roy. If his mistress said Roy was eliminated, then there was no doubt that was what happened, regardless of anything else; questioning her declaration would be an offense against her. Just as he was at the door…
“...But, the moment an opportunity arises to bring him down, we are doing it.” Luminous called out to him in a tone different than the usual. It was one of helplessness, one that Louis had not heard in a long time. She had been so helpless in front of Rimuru, and now she has no other way of going against him other than being an opportunist. It was a big hit for the prideful Queen of Nightmares.
“...I understand.” Leaving those words behind, Louis finally exited the room. Luminous remained alone in the now silent room, staring at the little lights of the city that looked like ants at this distance.
◇◇◇
(Rimuru’s Perspective)
Crap, I totally messed up!
I totally went and made an enemy out of Luminous! I have to be an idiot, really! What was I thinking?! No, well, it couldn’t be helped. It was her fault for interrupting my family time!
Yes, yes, I began nodding my head as if saying that, trying to convince myself that I am not in the wrong. Because I am not! They were the idiots who entered my village first! What I did was legitimate self-defense!
“Mama, Papa is being weird.”
“Ignore him, he can be like that sometimes.”
“Ciel?!” I was deeply lost in my thoughts, but that does not mean I was not paying attention to my surroundings, you know?
I had just returned from sending Luminous home, and now we were all back to having our delicious dinner in our precious japanese-styled house that was built in the village. I was welcomed back by Ciel’s exasperated eyes, because I kind of made a mess out of the situation but… well, it's not the first time I’ve ever done that. Right, Ciel?
“Haaaaah, yes, you are always getting yourself into trouble, Darling.” See? I am right. I didn’t say anything out loud, though. Ciel took a bite off her hamburger steak before continuing. “So, what are we going to do with Luminous now?”
“Well, we will just have to see how things progress,” I began, “but, at least, I don’t think she will go on the offensive against us right now.” That’s right. I think I showed off enough power to make her understand that I alone might be a threat to her. Luminous might be prideful and arrogant, but she is not stupid; she will not wage a war she is not certain she could win.
“I see… I agree.” Ciel seemed satisfied with my answer and my thoughts, as she smiled at me. "Well, no matter what Luminous does, we'll deal with it, right hubby?"
"Yeah, no worries there." After answering back, Ciel stood up from her chair with her now-empty plate, and disappeared into the kitchen. A couple seconds later, she came back and sat down at the edge of the room, lying back on one of the walls with one of her legs completely extended and the other bent, forming together an incomplete cross legged sitting posture.
"Ciel?" I called out to her.
"Hmmm? Something wrong, Darling?" She turnef to look at me with confused eyes. But, I mean, she knows me better than myself, so she already knows what I want to ask. Stop messing around with me… "Fufufu, but it's so funny~, right Honey?"
"Yup~!"
"Reili?!"
So they like to mess around with me… I feel like I want to cry right now…
"*hics* A-Anyway, Ciel, why did you sit—Ciel?" I turned to look at Ciel, and she was… sleeping. "Ciel?"
As I called out to her once again, I felt a tug on my sleeve, and when I turned around, I saw Reili with a finger covering her mouth.
"Shhhh! Papa, Mama is sleeping! Shhhhh!" She was whispering, so I guess she really didn't want to wake Ciel up. Now that I think about it, why the hell did I want to wake her up just now? Like, I should just let her sleep.
"Yeah, you're right, good girl." I began rubbing Reili's head as she squirmed her eyes comfortably. "But, we can't leave her like this, let's tuck her in bed, 'kay?"
Reili nodded at my whispers. I had just finished my dinner as well, so I just stood up. I approached Ciel, and taking care of not waking her up, I picked her up in a princess carry.
"Ooooh!" Reili looked amazed, for some reason. I was blushing, meanwhile. It was my first time carrying her in a princess carry, you know?!
"Hmm? Dar—*blush*" Ciel, who apparently woke up from my shaking and nervousness, turned to look at me st the eyes as she looked sleepy. After she looked around for a few seconds and she understood the situation, though, her face blushed bright red as she covered it with her hands.
"Don't get embarrassed! It's embarrassing for me too, you know?!"
"Then let me down!"
"Mmm…but… even if it's a bit embarrassing… it's c-comfortable, you know…?" That last part was nearly a whisper, but for Ciel who could even read my mind if she wanted to, there was no was she wouldn't hear it.
"?! B-Baka…" She stopped covering her face with her hands, and instead buried it in my chest, equally hiding her embarrassment.
"S-So… I'll take you to bed." I began walking toward the exit.
"?!" For some reason, Ciel blushed even harder after listening to what I said.
"SO YOU CAN SLEEP! SLEEEEEP!" I realized my blunder and further explained myself.
"Reili wants to sleep too…" Reili began rubbing her eyes sleepily. Hmm? But she was so energetic a few minutes ago… well, but it is kind of late for her to be up, anyway.
"Okay, let's go, then. We can clean up the table tomorrow morning." We exited the room, Ciel still in my arms.
"Erm… Darling… will you put me down…?" Once we were in the bedroom, Ciel asked such a thing as she looked at me with pleading eyes. Weren't you embarrassed just now?!
"Erm… y-yes… I guess I will have to…"
"I-I see…" Ciel remained silent for a few seconds. I also didn't say anything, nor did I lower her down, as a matter of fact. "C-Could we… stay like this a bit mo—"
At that moment, I sensed a group of people entering the barrier. Ciel sensed them too, of course.
"Tch… I guess someone will have to die tonight." Ciel said something re~ally scary as she personally abandoned the princess carry she was in. She looked extremely annoyed. Perhaps even more than when I was interrupted during dinner.
"You really wanted to be carried that much…"
"N-No! It's just… it's just…" Ciel's irritation paused for a second, and she began fidgeting shyly on the spot. "No, you're right, I wanted to be spoiled more!"
"Ciel?!" I was a bit shocked at Ciel's unexpected honesty, but just before I could say anything else, Ciel was already gone from the room.
I hurriedly ran behind her, leaving Reili in a room I designed for her in my [Imaginary Space]. She was already quite sleepy, so she didn't complain and just lied down to sleep in her bed inside the [Imaginary Space]. It might sound weird to listen that I placed her in there, but my [Imaginary Space] is literally the safest place I could think of.
When I arrived at Ciel's location, I saw a very bruised and beaten up Benimaru, and a group of ogres behind him. There were some familiar faces among them that I hadn't seen in quite some time. Since the main timeline, as a matter of fact.
I really hope Ciel wasn't the one who beat these guys up.
"Rimuru-dono…" As he watched me arrive, Benimaru clenched his fists and fell to his knees. "The orcs… they killed everyone…"
-------------------------------------------------------
It's short, extremely short; I know; I am sorry. But bear with it for this week, please. I wasn’t able to write any more than that. I just kept writing things and deleting them because I didn’t like how they ended up. I swear, I have been sitting in my chair writing for several hours now, and I just can’t progress any further. I am not in the correct mood to write anything right now.
I am sorry.
Also, don't expect a new chapter next week, as it is a busy week for me and I can't guarantee I will have the time to write. I am not saying there will definitely not be a chapter, just that it is possible.
I hope to see you again next time, goodbye!