Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned the fact that Shizu is a catgirl now. To be fair, if I were in Hinata’s position, I would also want to see my catgirl teacher as soon as possible.

And the fastest way to get here would be through teleportation. And from her experience with my portals, I would say I'm the best person she knows in that regard.

And so, as I'm not one to keep a lady waiting, I open a portal and stick my hand inside. I don’t feel anything, so I stick my arm deeper into the portal up to my elbow and continue fumbling around. Still not finding anything, I stick my arm into the portal up to my shoulder while wildly waving my arm around on the other side.

Finally, I touch something. A familiar fabric. I grab onto it and pull my arm out of the portal. The portal expands and a familiar female Saint was pulled out by the collar of her cloak.

*Shing!*

Not even blinking, I hold my other arm out and catch the arm Hinata just severed before reattaching it.

Hinata- “Don’t do that.”

Hinata says as she resheathes her rapier. I just shrug.

How did she bypass my defences anyway…?

Hinata looks around, taking in the scenery, her hair blowing calmly in the wind.

Rimuru- “Welcome to Avalon. A beautiful city isn't it.”

Hinata- “Indeed it is… but Rimuru…”

Rimuru- “Hmm?”

Hinata- “Why are we on top of a skyscraper?”

It was then I realised that I'm still standing on the top of a skyscraper and this probably wasn’t the best place to teleport Hinata.

Rimuru- “… Oops.”

Well, I just teleported both of us down onto the streets anyway.

Hinata looks a bit uncomfortable with all the high ranking monsters around her, but I can tell she’s trying to get used to it. Times are changing, not all monsters are evil and Hinata is trying to accept that.

Good, I would hate to brainwash her.

Rimuru- “So what did you tell your superiors?”

Hinata- “…”

Rimuru- “… You did tell someone you were coming here, right?”

Hinata- “… It might have slipped my mind…”

… Oh well, not my problem.

No, wait. What if Luminous thinks Hinata got abducted and sends an army to Avalon?

Well, I doubt they can even FIND Avalon if I don’t want that (laughs in mirror dimension), but the Holy Church sending an army towards me is NOT good for public image.

So I open a portal and throw in a piece of paper. It’s a letter. Written on it are the words “I'm stealing your Saint for a bit. I’ll return her later. Sincerely, Rimuru.”

Rimuru- “All done.”

I feel like Hinata has this strong urge to roll her eyes, but it’s her fault in the first place so she doesn’t.

Quickly scanning Avalon, I easily find Shizu. Snapping my fingers, Hinata and I teleport over to her location.

Well, I teleport. Hinata just drops through a portal that opened under her.

Lol.

We reappear in another section of Avalon, and as expected, Shizu is there along with Mikoto. Surprisingly, Illya isn't with them. I wonder where she went…

I also happen to see a few familiar faces. I smile as I walk forward.

Rimuru- “Elen, Kabal, Gido!”

Yes, it’s the three stooges.

Kabal- “Oh, it’s Sir Rimuru!”

Gido- “It’s good to see you again.”

Elen- “Rimuru-san!”

Elen excitedly waves towards me, causing Shizu and Mikoto to take notice of us too.

Mikoto’s eyes widen as she smiles, taking a few steps towards me while opening her arms. I just wryly smile before jumping forwards and turning into my slime form, landing directly into Mikoto’s arms.

I see Hinata and Shizu squint their eyes at me. Don’t judge me!

Mikoto has been looking for physical contact with me a lot more ever since we confirmed our relationship, but she’s still too embarrassed to hug me in public while I'm in my human form. Thus, I turned into my slime form.

Shizu first saw me, but before she could say anything, she noticed my companion.

Hinata hasn’t seen Shizue in years, furthermore, Shizu looks younger than what she remembers. Even so, Hinata quickly recognised her.

And they just stare at each other.

They both look happy to see each other (although it’s hard to tell with Hinata), but it seems they don’t really know what to say.

Shizu- “… It’s been over ten years.”

Hinata- “… Eleven years, three months and fifteen days, to be exact.”

… Yup. Really awkward.

Even I, a person with Speech -100 can tell that answer was one of the worst. Even a simple “yeah” would be better. Mikoto’s lips are twitching.

And judging by the scrunched up face Hinata has, it seems she’s also realising that.

Hinata, desperately looking for something to talk about, notices a certain familiar item.

Hinata- “Your mask…”

Shizu- “Hmm? Ah, the Anti Magic Mask. Yes, Rimuru gave it back to me a while ago…”

Shizu says as she touches the white patterned mask hanging on the side of her head. I added a resize function under her request, so now it’s only about half the size of her head. Now she wears it on the side of her head as an accessory, hanging off one of her cat ears.

Hinata- “…”

Shizu- “…”

No one says anything. In the end, Hinata looks over towards me. I think she wants help.

I'm sorry, but you’re on your own.

I turn to Elen and her group.

Rimuru- “How is Guild Master Fuze, by the way?”

I haven’t seen him since I visited Blummund on my way to Ramiris’ labyrinth.

Elen- “Oh! He’s here actually!”

Rimuru- “Oh, well that’s surprising…”

No, wait, how ARE they here!? It hasn’t even been a few hours since I set up the airport, how did they get into Avalon!?

Ignoring Hinata’s glare, I turn to ask one of the only people who can sate my curiosity.

Rimuru- “Illya!”

.

.

.

Mikoto- “Illya isn't here…”

Oh right.

Rimuru- “Then, Soei!”

A shadow appears behind me.

Soei- “You called, Rimuru-sama?”

Rimuru- “When did these guys get here?”

I say while pointing towards Kabal and gang.

Soei- “They entered Avalon yesterday. It seemed like they had something to discuss with you, Rimuru-sama, but put it off in favour of enjoying the city.”

Gido- “We’re right here though, you could’ve just asked us…”

RImuru- “I see, thank you Soei.”

Soei- “Call me whenever you need me, Rimuru-sama.”

After saying that, he slips into his own shadow and disappears. What a smooth guy.

Although it seems like I haven’t been talking to him much, I call on Soei quite often and simply ask him random questions, mostly to do with the outside world.

For example, the situation in Farmus. Obviously, it isn't looking good since the King and some of the higher officials have disappeared along with the majority of their army. Not only that, there were many noble scions enlisted in the army, looking for easy war credit.

You know, since they thought they could steamroll over Avalon.

In short, Farmus is in turmoil. I have a feeling that’s what Fuze came to talk about as well.

I don’t really care about that country anyways…

Meanwhile, Hinata and Shizu continue having a stare-off, wondering what to say to fix their weird relationship.

I feel Mikoto start stroking my body. I look up and take notice of her expression.

*Sigh*

I'm going to have to fix this, aren’t I?

-----

Name: Rimuru

Race: Origin Slime

Protection: Crest of Space

Title: Highest Tier Spirit, Leader of the Monsters, Onii-chan, King of Avalon, Master of Headpats, Procrastinator King, The Nutcracker, socially awkward cringe slightly chuuni slime, True Dragon Slayer, Sensei, World's Strongest, Overpowered to a stupid degree, Mikoto's Equal

???: [Codex: Illyasviel]

Ultimate Skills: [Yahweh, God of Creation], [Odin, God of Runes], [Azathoth, God of Void (Alternative)]

Equipment: Yamato - Genesis