Attendance… plz…)
….
"I told you! Why on earth would you let Aoko babysit?! Do you honestly think she's capable of watching a child?!"
"I just thought she looked bored! And Erol was crying and begging to go play outside…" May turned her head away, guilt written all over her face. "Who knew Aoko would be that terrifying?"
They were in the car now, speeding toward the scene of the crime.
"The target destroyed was the Phantom Hunting Ground of the Gaiusling Academic City, "
"The Chimera Hunting Ground?" Rimuru's mouth twitched as a sudden realization hit him. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that a Reality Marble that spans several mountains?"
"…Yeah."
"Can we turn the car around?" Rimuru rubbed his temples, a migraine already forming. "Arson on a mountain scale? That's prison time. If I go there, they're going to Sealing Designate me for guilt by association…"
….
Clock Tower, Department of Zoology , Chimera Division.
The Academic City located in the suburbs of London was a massive Reality Marble overlaid onto the world, a place of sprawling, artificial nature. It was the domain of the Gaiusling family.
Unlike the Botany Department, the Chimera Division didn't just study magical beasts and Phantasmal Species; they were the supply chain for the Clock Tower's raw materials. They also provided combat support for tracking and hunting rogue elements.
Next to Mineralogy, it was one of the fattest, wealthiest cash cows in the Association.
And now, that cash cow had been blown sky-high.
By the person he had vouched for in the council meetings. And his own apprentice.
"…"
When Rimuru arrived, Lord Gaiusling was standing amidst the smoking ruin. The man greeted them with a stiff nod and a face so dark it looked like he'd bathed in ink. The look of sheer resentment he shot Rimuru made the slime's non-existent spine shiver.
The Dean's familiar, a shadowy, indistinct clone, had already arrived. You couldn't see its expression, but Rimuru guessed it wasn't smiling.
Standing before these heavyweights were Aoko and a small silver ball of fluff.
They were both bowing their heads obediently, enduring the Dean's lecture. Aoko, to her credit, looked genuinely apologetic (or at least was faking it well), promising to pay for the damages.
And then there was Erol.
The little silver-haired girl had her hands clasped behind her back, twisting her body back and forth pitifully. Her eyes darted around the wreckage until they landed on Rimuru.
Immediately, her face lit up.
"Teacher!"
She yelled excitedly, opened her short little arms, and sprinted toward him, diving headfirst into his stomach and nuzzling against him like a cat.
She's trying to 'Cute' her way out of a court-martial!
Rimuru stared down at her. He recognized this move. It was practiced. It was fluid. This definitely wasn't her first time pulling this stunt.
"…"
Rimuru shot a glare at May. The pink-haired girl whistled and looked away, clearly the culprit who had spoiled the kid rotten enough to make her this lawless.
"The losses incurred by House Gaiusling will be jointly covered by the Tempest and Archelot families," Rimuru announced with a heavy sigh. He turned to the brunette Magician. "As for you, Aoko… try to save Alice some money, will you?"
"Ugh…" Aoko grimaced, about to retort, but the Dean shifted slightly, and she instantly retracted her head like a turtle.
"Compensation is a given, but we cannot simply write a check and call this resolved. Accountability is required."
The voice cut through the air like a blade. Since the Dean was here, it was only natural that the Dean's assistant, Lorelei Barthomeloi, was present as well. She swept a cold, imperious gaze over the group.
"Agreed," Rimuru nodded.
He wasn't going to argue. Paying for the doctor doesn't give you the right to break someone's legs. Punishment was inevitable.
Rimuru gave Aoko a look that said 'You're on your own, good luck,' before stepping forward to take the bullet for his own charge.
"Regarding Erol's punishment, and my own failure to supervise her properly… I volunteer for one month of mandatory research assistance and will submit a formal self-criticism. As for Erol herself…"
"What's the maximum penalty Erol usually gets when she screws up?"
Rimuru turned to May, keeping his voice low.
When a child sets things on fire, the adults take the heat. That was the rule. But Rimuru also believed in setting boundaries. If he didn't instill a proper sense of consequences in Erol now, she might grow up to be a capable mage, but she'd be a disaster of a human being.
Rimuru didn't want a disciple like that.
He might have been a rich, spoiled young master in his previous life, but he was an only child who had been ground through the mill of high expectations. And he wasn't talking about piano lessons or advanced mathematics. He meant the basics of being a decent person.
If you mess up, you pay the price. Being a child might get you a discount on the sentence, but it didn't grant you immunity.
"Uh…" May actually stalled. She looked like she was trying to retrieve a corrupted file from her memory. Finally, she offered, "Solitary confinement?"
"…"
"Solitary confinement, huh…"
Rimuru looked down, thoughtful. His gaze met Erol's wide, shimmering eyes. The little girl tilted her head innocently, sensing the shift in atmosphere, and immediately buried her face back into Rimuru's robes.
Not a bad idea.
Rimuru didn't know the specifics of how traditional magus families raised their young, but considering magic was essentially the practice of walking a tightrope over a pit of spikes, he assumed they used pain as a teaching tool to curb curiosity and recklessness.
He knew the Matou family used the worm pit. Not for Sakura, not yet, but for Shinji.
Technically, the worm pit was corporal punishment. But fundamentally? It was solitary confinement weaponized with fear and disgust.
….
+10 chapters on my p@tr3on: Kazuma_trash
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