Attendance… plz…)
….
"Alright," he said, turning back to the mess of broken trees and magic residues. "Let's go wipe their asses."
The mess caused by Aoko and Erol wasn't exactly world-ending, but it wasn't a minor fender-bender either.
Unlike the last time, where Aoko tampered with the timeline and unleashed a magical shockwave capable of turning London into a crater, this disaster was more… tactical.
It started with Erol. The kid managed to provoke a Phantasmal Species into attacking. That triggered the Gaiusling family's automated defense systems, which, frankly, were built like a magical military fortress.
Aoko, being a Magician, could have easily ignored the defenses and walked away unscathed. But she had a five-year-old to protect.
So, she fought back. She dismantled the facilities attacking Erol. Unfortunately, destroying the defenses convinced the Reality Marble's logic core that a full-scale invasion was underway. It swarmed them.
And then Aoko snapped.
She treated the response with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, obliterating the small hunting ground and shattering the bounded fields holding it together.
Rimuru's job was simple: help Lord Gaiusling and his students rebuild the barrier around the academic city's suburbs. Honestly, he was just thankful Aoko had the directional sense of a headless chicken. She'd wandered into the low-level student hunting grounds instead of the deep woods where the Griffins actually lived.
Three hours later.
Rimuru returned to central London, mentally and physically drained.
[Notification: The designated time has elapsed, Rimuru.]
The Great Sage's voice echoed in his mind.
"Mn? Is she asleep?" Rimuru asked, expecting the answer to be yes.
[Answer: No. She has remained awake for the duration.]
"She's awake?!"
Rimuru froze. Panic spiked in his chest. He immediately began the process to release her. "I told you to let her out the second her mental state started to deteriorate! Why didn't you…"
In Rimuru's script, this was supposed to be a curve. Erol would get bored, feel wronged, cry a bit, tire herself out, and fall asleep. The time spent sleeping wouldn't count as stress.
[Observation: That is the issue. Her mental state remained stable. She held back her tears the entire time. She is quite Resilient disciple.]
"Resilient…?"
Rimuru fell silent.
A second later, space warped, and the small girl appeared in his arms.
The sudden warmth and the return to the real world broke her. Erol, who was clutching the mystic code Boundless like a lifeline, looked up. Her big eyes, brimming with three hours of unshed tears, finally overflowed.
"Waaaah! Teacher! Uuuuuu…!!"
The dam broke.
Rimuru felt his heart get squeezed in a vice. For the first time, he felt like absolute scum. Oh god, this hurts my conscience.
"It was so scary! That place was so scary! Waaaaah!"
Her voice was hoarse. Rimuru couldn't even imagine how much she had whispered to the inanimate weapon in that endless dark just to keep herself sane.
She buried her face in his chest, tears soaking his shirt.
Rimuru frantically searched his brain for a solution. He realized with horror that two decades of elite education and a previous life as a successful contractor had taught him nothing, zero, zilch, about how to comfort a crying child.
Google! I need Google! How do you stop the crying?!
Eventually, after she cried herself into exhaustion, she lifted her head. Her eyes were swollen, her small mouth pressed into a tight, trembling line.
"Tea… Teacher."
"Mm?"
"Don't… please don't hate me, okay?"
"…Pft."
Rimuru let out a soft, helpless laugh. He lifted Erol up, watching her signature silver hair cascade down like a waterfall.
"Erol. Listen to me."
His voice was gentle, stripping away the sternness of the punishment.
"You are the first student I have ever accepted. Right now, you are the only student I cherish."
"You will inherit my techniques one day. You are allowed to make mistakes. You are allowed to cause trouble. But I hope that in the future, you won't risk your life for reasons as ridiculous as… 'Griffin eggs are tasty.'"
"Uu…"
Erol kicked her legs in the air, looking at him with a mix of confusion and relief. The lecture was a bit too complex for her age, but she understood the keywords.
Cherish.
"So… Teacher doesn't hate me… right?"
"Of course not."
"Then… then!" Erol's eyes lit up, hope returning instantly. "Then I don't have to go back to the scary place?"
"As long as something like today doesn't happen again."
"Uu… I promise!"
"Good. It's dinner time. What does Erol want to eat tonight?"
"Anything?"
"Yep. As a reward for being brave and not crying in the confinement room."
"Then!"
Erol bounced back to her usual vibrant self in a split second. She dove headfirst into Rimuru's chest, rubbing her face against him happily.
"I want Griffin eggs!!"
"…"
….
In the end, Rimuru kept his word.
It took calling in favors through May, leveraging Aoko's intimidation factor, and bleeding his own wallet dry to compensate Lord Gaiusling, but he managed to secure a single Griffin egg.
He barely maintained his dignity as a mentor.
But when the little girl held up a spoon, offering him half of the egg with a beaming, angelic smile… well, he pretty much decided he would die for this kid.
Truth be told, Rimuru wasn't actually that interested in the egg itself. Sure, it tasted incredible, rich, savory, and imbued with magic, but for a Magus, the appeal lay in the massive boost to vitality and mana capacity. It gave a rush similar to a mana transfer ritual.
For a slime like Rimuru? It was just a snack.
He was far more interested in Griffin stew.
Unfortunately, Lord Gaiusling had been adamant. Whether it was due to their ancient contracts or simple stubbornness, he refused to sell a live Griffin. He made it clear that while he would sell feathers, claws, and blood, selling a whole beast was out of the question. Even parting with the egg had clearly caused the man physical pain.
Rimuru was a little disappointed.
He couldn't eat the live ones, and waiting for one to die of old age seemed impractical. Reluctantly, he shelved his culinary ambitions and shifted his focus back to his real job: preparing his curriculum and researching his own abilities.
….
+10 chapters on my p@tr3on: Kazuma_trash
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