"You have to beat my new and improved labyrinth first!" 

"A...  labyrinth?" Asked Nemu confused

Ramiris nodded heavily. "I'm also known as Ramiris of the labyrinth and by now it's an unbeatable dungeon! You know, Rimuru was also there a while ago, that's when we first met. But he destroyed my awesome golem." She puffed. "So I build even better golems!"

Nemu looked at Trewy and their eyes met. Actually, they knew they were probably just test subjects, but they had no choice. Besides, exploring the labyrinth of the fairy queen Ramiris? That sounds like fun. They were also sure that they wouldn't be in mortal danger there. Ramiris might seem a bit childish, but she had a responsible side without question. 

Trewy nodded and Nemu gave a thumbs up, by now he was able to make signs with his slime body. He had trained a lot. Only nodding still didn't work.

"When do you want to start?" Asked Ramiris, who was now much more excited than before.

"Hmm..." Nemu pondered. "I want to show Trewy Tempest, and besides, I have to take care of the slimes. Maybe in a week?" If they really wanted to enter the labyrinth they had to prepare. Besides, they were both sure it would take a few days.

"Good! I will prepare everything!" Ramiris said with motivation and laughed loudly.

"Where is the entrance? And I don't know if I can enter the Labyrinth either." Said Trewy thoughtfully. Unfortunately, Dryads can't leave the forest. They can only live where the roots of their trees grew.

"That's not a problem! Dryads can enter my Labyrinth. After all, I'm the spirit queen! And the entrance is... close." Why did she say close so quietly? 

"Wait... You already have the entrance of your labyrinth in the forest, right? Rimuru said you wanted to discuss it!" The question was immediately answered by Veldora.

Ramiris just shrugged and innocently averted her eyes from the others.

Trewy was relieved. That she could enter the labyrinth did not surprise her so much. Ramiris had basically created the Dryads, so this was probably one of her easiest exercises. But if the entrance wasn't in Jura Forest, it could have been problematic. She already had a plan for it, but it would take some time. At least that's what she thought.

Meanwhile, Nemu was getting impatient. Before they arrived in Tempest he had the plan to release the red slimes immediately. But now he had been here for hours. He knew that the talks were important and not just small talk, however, he really wanted to let them out.

"I want to free the red slimes." Nemu said after a moment of silence.

Everyone looked at him excitedly. More red slimes? Cool!

"Can you guys please go outside?" He was uncomfortable, but he had no choice because if they saw Veldora then....

It was Ramiris who immediately complained. 

"Why? I want to see the red slimes too!”

Nemu decided to be honest.

"Actually, it's because of Veldora. His aura is very intimidating and I don't think the slimes would take it well.”

As expected, Veldora was offended. It happened to him often. Many people in Tempest stayed away from him. This was especially true for the races with good magical perception. Of course, no one would dare to tell him to leave. But many people avoided him. He knew that. Nemu felt bad for him. Besides, there were many legends about him. Destroy an entire city and then call it a prank? He had actually done that. He wasn't like that anymore, but the people around him were extra careful.

"I'm hungry anyway." Said Veldora, obviously wanting to distract. Before he stood up, he noticed something. Something that everyone in the room hadn't noticed yet. "It's already evening? It's so quiet outside."

In the afternoon, almost all the people who take care of the city leave the building and in the evening only the residents are in the building. It was like that even before Nemu left Tempest. Actually, he wanted to show Trewy the building in the evening, but the slimes had priority.

"I'll come with you." Said Ramiris and stroked her belly. She was probably hungry too but most of all she wanted to be nice. Letting Veldora go alone would not have been nice.

Even Trewy jumped up. "Master Ramiris! Let me go with you!" Nemu knew Trewy would have liked to stay, but dryads worshiped Ramiris. Even more than the people in Tempest worshiped Rimuru. Though it was close. It was only a matter of time before Ramiris would also be annoyed by Trewy.

However, that was not the case yet and Ramiris nodded with a smile.

And so they left the room. Nemu was alone. Finally ready to release the slimes.

Nemu let out a silent sigh. He was looking forward to this moment. It was important for him to take care of the slimes. He had a connection with them. And that made him a little nervous. Still...

Pop Pop Pop Pop Pop

Five times it made a slight noise and the slimes were finally free.

There was complete silence in the room. The red slimes knew what happened, Nemu had already told them, also where he would take them. Still, everything around them was a completely new environment. They only knew the forest and caves. Fortunately, all of them had fully recovered. Since he had the slime in his dimensional space, he also had his aura permanently flowing into it.

Nemu looked at them while they observed the room. And then he felt it. Something is strange with them. 

Slimes permanently absorb magicules. So it is not unusual, no, it is even normal that they get more and more magicules. Of course, this was only the case in the Jura Forest, where the magicules were highest. But there were also other places in the world where slimes lived, the only requirement for them were the magicules. However, there is another rule. At a certain point, slimes split. And all of them passed that point. And not just barely. All of the red slimes had 3 or even 4 times as many magicules before they were supposed to split.

Nemu was confused. Fortunately, he had time to think about it while the slimes looked at the room. Nemu felt that they must be even more confused than he was, he could also remember the first time he saw a building. And that was not even two months ago. By now he was used to it like he never lived somewhere else.

He still had no idea what happened so he sought advice from his trustworthy companion.

‘Guide, can you tell me why they haven't split?'

[It seems like slimes don't split if they pass a certain point. It happened to you and the big blue slime, too]. Explained Guide.

'So because they were in my dimensional space, they didn't split even though they passed the point?' Nemu asked again to be sure.

[Exactly.]

'Will they ever split?'

[Considering you, Rimuru and the big blue slime, they lost the ability to split after they crossed the point.]

'Lost the ability is kind of a bad wording isn't it?' Nemu asked sarcastically. 

[...]

This made Nemu very happy. Even red slimes divide into two blue slimes and lose their consciousness completely. And now, he has 5 red slime mates that will not split! And they even became stronger. Not strong enough to fight monsters, of course. But slimes would have failed at even the simplest tasks in Tempest. Like opening a door. But as they are now, they should be able to do it. Nemu smiled.

At last he lost all his nervousness. He jumped on the table and introduced himself.

"Hello! I'm Nemu and Welcome to Tempest!"