Chapter 5

Shuna made her way into the clothing store with one objective in mind; making Rimuru cuter than he already was. Before she would make the clothes herself, perhaps at times with some help from the dwarves, but most of the time she was free to design what she wanted.

Now in this world she had access to entire stores of clothes she would've had to take hours if not days to make just right. She still intended to make some of her own designs eventually, but for now, buying the clothes she wanted would do.

Now was more important than ever, with her competition over Rimuru getting ever more heated with the addition of Buku, she needed to maximize on the time she had before Rimuru ended up swayed by another.

To say she didn't have romantic interest in Rimuru would be a lie, but she was more than willing to let that go and move on should Rimuru find someone else. The problem was that she feared she wouldn't get to see Rimuru in all the cute outfits she used to put him in.

She had learned from Tanya that Buku was a slime as well, so her being with Rimuru was likely inevitable. She didn't know how reproduction worked with slimes, especially with Rimuru's mimicry, but she assumed that it was only natural that the two attracted, not knowing the actual reason had little to do with their related races.

However, in her mind, this meant that there was a chance this girl would desire for Rimuru to take on a more masculine role and form, causing the cute Rimuru she loved to dress up to go away. That would leave her only with Tanya who, while potentially adorable if she got her into the right dress, would probably destroy the city if she tried.

Assuming that Buku cared little for his human form and wanted him for the fact he was a slime, Shuna set out to find all the cutest clothing in the store, wanting the savor Rimuru and prolong the inevitable for as long as she could.

As she moved through the store, she finally found a section that seemed to be specifically tailored to cute feminine outfits for girls (or boys) with flat chests. It was as if the section had been specifically designed and inserted here for her to buy clothes for Rimuru. While she knew little of who was managing this world, it seemed that, for now, they were an ally of hers.

With time to waste and enough money to buy half a city, Buku decided to shop for clothes for her two children and her soon-to-be catch.

The easiest task was to pick something for Mare. He was eager to try anything on no matter what she presented and gladly would pose in both boyish and girly outfits. Aura was a bit more resistant to more girly clothes and usually showed her discontent during the tryout sessions.

As for Rimuru, it was unclear how far he could be pushed when it came to clothing but considering that his outfits were already on gender neutral side maybe all that was needed were the right words and the dirty little secret that him wearing girly outfits would turn her on to no end.

But just as she entered the first shop that had the right selection she noticed the last person she wanted to see; Shuna.

'And the bitch is here. Maybe I should give Pero some ideas to make her busy.' Buku quickly hid behind a clothing rack and started to observe the pink-haired kijin girl.

As she covertly followed her rival she started to notice a pattern, 'Those are not for her. Boy size but… the hell? She is picking girly outfits for Rimuru. I'll kill whoever sold her the info! If that nazi loli sold me out, she's dead!'

Buku emerged from behind the clothing rack and approached Shuna. With her arms crossed she said with venom practically driving from her voice, "Ain't that the little miss cockblock."

Shuna pouted as she saw the elf approach, "You're the one trying to take him from me! How am I supposed to dress him up if you turn him into some masculine husband! He's cute as he is, I won't let you change that!"

Shuna folded her arms, seemingly having misinterpreted Buku's own desires with the slime.

"Oh, don't bullshit me! Do you seriously think you can outplay me in my own game? Do you have any idea how many fucking men I have put in cute outfits?" Buku sneered looking down at Shuna.

"Well I've put Rimuru in plenty of outfits! Hell, I MADE the outfits! I won't let you- wait. You want to put him into a cute outfit?" Shuna's hostilities seemed to drop completely and immediately as if she had just forgotten why she was angry in the first place.

"Of course, I want to put him in cute outfits! Why do you think I have this?" Buku pulled one of the smaller maid's outfits from her inventory and shoved it in Shuna's face angrily.

But then the lightbulb lit up in Buku's head. 'Wait a minute. She has the same kink as me. No wonder she likes him so much. This is either very good or very bad. How to approach this? First I'll just see how she reacts to the maid's outfit.'

"While I can admit that would look adorable on him, I've already gotten him into a maid outfit before. Even a nicer one like that isn't enough. I had a bunny suit for him to wear but we ended up here before I could put it on… I always assumed you were attracted to him because he was a slime and that you were going to make him into a masculine husband. If you're just going to dress him up I don't mind what you do so long as I can dress him up too!" Shuna smiled at the elf, all air of hostility dropped as it seemed to be replaced by a calmness, though behind said calmness was a carnal desire to see Rimuru cuter.

"I am not the one who usually shares a man, but I guess some exceptions can be made as long as he doesn't knock you up." Buku nodded, weighing her options. Her pride demanded a clear victory but at the same time, she didn't want to drag it out for too long. 'The girl clearly has a lot of fighting spirit but she is soft and clearly inexperienced. I could get a lead and run the show how I see fit.'

"While I do love Great Rimuru, I don't believe I could be a proper sexual partner for him anyways. My desire has always been to make him look cuter. Though if you two happen to have a child, I would settle for being the godmother and dress up that boy or girl, or I guess… genderless slime? I'm not sure how slime biology works…" Shuna was surprisingly content with a role more on the sidelines, so long as she got her share of Rimuru or at the very least any cute offspring which Shuna could use as a substitute.

"So it is not a kink for you? In that case, I might have a deal in mind." Buku stepped closer, putting her arm around Shuna's shoulder, and continued. "Let me work with him freely and keep that purple-haired one at bay. I will get him to wear practically anything in no time and you got to see Ri

muru in those costumes." Buku gave her a predatory smirk as she whispered her offer.

"I'll do my best with Shion, but she is stronger than me. So long as I get to see Rimuru in cute outfits, I don't mind if you do anything else. I still wanna be the godmother though." She pouted at the last one. Whether or not Buku even wanted or even could have a third child was an argument in itself, but if it was possible, it was obvious Shuna wanted a special role.

"Deal." 'Child is not happening but she can dream.' Buku nodded in agreement and then added. "While we are here two of us can look for what would suit him the best."

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Her stomach betrayed her again. At first, Ankoro planned to stack up on drawing supplies but the nearest bakery shattered any semblance of willpower she had and enthralled her with the pleasant aromas of freshly baked goods.

Like a zombie, she lumbered into the sanctuary of all that is tasty and walked past a pink-haired girl that had glued her face to one of the cake stands.

Like an expert, it took her mere seconds to assess the whole selection and she stopped at the checkout.

"I will take four of these, seven of those, and the second row of cakes, uuh, and half a kilo of those lemon zest cookies."

"That's quite an order miss. Please give me a few minutes to pack it for you." The goblina working the shop said with a smile. She was used to outrageous demands for snacks, primarily from the pink one also in the room, so such an order was usually well-prepared in advance.

"Please no. I will eat it here. I also would like a double-sized chocolate syrup smoothie. The order to go will be much larger." Ankoro said with a rare burst of confidence.

The goblina nodded, "A-Alright ma'am. One moment please." She quickly scrambled to get all of the food she ordered before sneaking off into the back, frantically calling for backup cooks to aid her.

Milim finally perked up as she saw the cake she ordered placed at the stand, taking it and running to a large table where a small mountain of snacks was already prepared. No longer restricted by Tanya or Rimuru and with all the money she could need, she had made sure to order a whole lot of food before anyone could stop her.

It took a while to get the whole order but finally, Ankoro could move to the nearest table with an absolute mountain of treats.

Each thing was more delicious than the last. At first, she savored every bite but then she noticed the same pink-haired girl digging in a similar-sized pile of food as if she had been starved for years.

Ankoro usually was the least competitive person in the group and tried to not stand out unless it concerned food. Buku outshined her in almost every possible aspect but when it came to eating sweet things Ankoro had no equal. And thus that little demon inside her that urged her to show off and take the upper hand.

Ankroro made sure to make eye contact with the girl, opened her massive jaws, and shoved down half of a cake in one go while staring at the girl.

Milim seemed mostly unphased by this, however. While she enjoyed eating sweets, she had no desire to do so quickly. The faster she ate the sweets, the sooner they would be gone. Despite Milim's childish appearance to most, she remained among the smartest Demon Lords, and refused to give in to such a simple challenge if it meant giving up her precious sweets.

Seeing that her challenge was completely ignored her anxiety took over and she quickly hid behind her pile quietly nibbling on the food. 'I made such a fool out of myself again. Of course, she wasn't challenging me.'

The mood for treats was completely gone. She lifelessly drank the smoothie with loud slurping sounds and ate her pile of treats letting out a quiet wolflike whine from time to time.

Milim tilted her head as she noticed how sad the wolf-girl had become. She had intended to savor her treats, but she didn't want to upset her. Hoping to cheer her up, Milim picked up her giant cake and slowly slid it down the booth until it reached Ankoro.

Ankro noticed the girl standing in front of her table. 'Is she mad at me? Why is he holding a cake?'

"S-sorry. I-I didn't mean to ruin our enjoyment of the pasties." Ankoro quietly mumbled while staring at the floor.

"Eat the cake!" Milim insisted, placing it on the table for her to eat as she pouted with her hands on her hips.

"B-But I-" Ankoro tried to stutter out.

"Eat it!" Milim insisted again.

Ankoro shyly picked off one small piece from the cake and put it in her mouth while avoiding eye contact. 'Should I eat more? Do I say something?' Her anxiety only grew.

Milim continued to pout, grabbing a fork and taking a large chunk of cake and holding it up to her mouth. She would make her get back to enjoying the sweets even if she had to force it.

Ankro looked up, frightened. 'W-what she wants me to do?' With her teeth lightly clattering she ate the piece this girl was pushing in her face.

Milim made a wide smile, satisfied that she was eating again as she did it with yet another piece of cake, planning to continue until the girl had another smile on her face.

'She is happy when I eat. She looks so cute with that smile. If only she was about ten years older. Oh well, I can play along at least.' Ankoro took the next bit with much more enthusiasm.

Milim got the strange instinct that someone was questioning her age but decided to ignore it, continuing to feed the girl more food as her excitement returned, much to Milim's delight.

The goblina observed Milim feeding cake to a werewolf with a stony expression. Whatever was going on was clearly not her business as long as the two didn't get into a fight.

After all, 'not my zoo not my monkeys', was the best approach when it came to retail work.

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For Cocytus, the idea of free time spent on trivial activity seemed foolish at best but orders were orders.

Since there were no clear instructions on what he should buy the mighty insectoid wandered around the mall with no clear goal in mind.

He didn't need any sort of clothing or any other rather pointless accessories most of the shops provided.

Be did get an ice-cream from a stand in case he would have to report on his spending.

As he wandered around, one particular shop caught his attention. In the windows of said shop were displayed western style claymores and beside them were guns not too dissimilar to one Shizu was wielding.

'This looks interesting.' Cocytus stared at the weapons with growing excitement. He hadn't had any new weapon ever since his creator left him the God Slaying Emperor Blade as a parting gift.

The first impression he got was that the shop looked much larger than he would have assumed. There were rows upon rows of all kinds of weapons.

Benimaru had looked throughout the mall thoroughly already, not having found much of anything that interested him. Some of the food was nice, but he wasn't really hungry yet, and decided to worry about food later. For now, though, he found what appeared to be a weapons shop. While he had no intention of replacing his blade, looking to see the weaponry of this world, or more accurately of the various worlds this place combined would be interesting, if nothing else.

Benimaru headed inside, not yet noticing the giant insectoid at the other end of the store as his own fiery aura seemed to silently clash with the cold air coming out of the towering beast.

While many weapons seemed interesting to Benimaru, as usual he found his way towards the 'eastern' style of weaponry, though he only knew it as the ogre's style, in recent years however it seemed to be widely adopted within Tempest as a whole as well.

Cocytus became aware of Benimaru's presence the moment kijin stepped into the store.

'Lord Ainz wanted for us to form friendly relationships with members of Tempest. Perhaps I should try to engage this one. He strikes me as an honorable warrior.' Cocytus mused.

How long the alliance would last was not clear but all signs showed that both groups are likely to become permanent allies. With that in mind he approached Benimaru who, although busy looking at weapons, gave the impression of being acutely aware of his surroundings.

With that in mind Cocytus didn't attempt to sneak up on the kijin to test him but walked up to him without masking his presence.

"I SEE YOU HAVE A PREFERENCE FOR EASTERN BLADES."

"The village where my kind came from has used similar weapons for many years. Hakurou was taught by the man who introduced them to us several hundred years ago. I understand its shortcomings in durability, but in speed and flexibility I believe it to be unrivaled. With strong enough materials, durability can be overcome easily." Benimaru said in response, still looking at the sword in his hands as he put it back.

He slid his own sword out of his sheathe, turning to Cocytus as he showed it off, "This is a Unique Grade blade which lingers on the edge of Legend Grade. One of the members from my village, a Kijin like me, forges weapons like these. Rimuru and Tanya have one as well, though Rimuru's has certainly reached Legend Grade by now, and Tanya's is a mostly ceremonial rapier. It was made with Magisteel, though through extensive usage has evolved a bit beyond basic magisteel."

"A FINE BLADE." Cocytus remarked inspecting the weapon.

The amount of pride Benimaru held for his weapon didn't pass unnoticed by the insectoid.

In response Cocytus took out the God Slaying Emperor Blade out of his inventory and held it in front of him.

"THIS WEAPON WAS THE PARTING GIFT FROM MY CREATOR. IT WAS HIS FINEST CREATION."

"I can certainly tell. Far beyond what anyone in Tempest has, no doubt it's a God Grade weapon. I suppose that's to be expected when you have people as strong as you do. Definitely lives up to the term 'god grade'." Banimaru placed his sword away, looking back at the swords in the shop, "There isn't too much here that can really compare to my blade. Even if some of these swords are Unique Grade, my sword has bonded with my magicules, so any other blade would be less efficient."

Cocytus put his weapon away as well, putting his attention at the shop's selection. Indeed most of the items for sale were not of particularly high quality.

A large number lacked any sort of practicality and likely were meant for purely decorative purposes.

The concept of fusing your prime weapon with your own energies was an interesting one.

'Maybe I should try this as well. My energy pool would allow me to strengthen my weapons to a noticeable degree. I wonder if that is what Warrior Takemikazuchi did to make some of the best weapons ever seen in Yggdrasil.'

"The metal of that blade, can I ask what it was? It's a bit different from the Magisteel I know. Judging by how much strength it has, I would suspect it's Hihiirokane, but metal like that only exists in myths in my world."

"AS FAR AS I KNOW IT WAS FORGED FROM STAR SILVER AND AUGMENTED WITH MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF DATA CRYSTALS. MY CREATOR RARELY SPOKE ABOUT HOW HE MADE HIS WEAPONS. TO HIM THEY WERE THE MEANS TO AN END. EACH BETTER THAN THE PREVIOUS ONE, HE SOUGHT TO FORGE A BLADE THAT WOULD LET HIM DEFEAT HIS STRONGEST RIVAL." Cocytus spoke with reverence but there was also a hint of sadness in his loud and somewhat monotone voice.

"It's good to have a goal to strive for. I'd be surprised to see anyone hold up against a blade like that, but in the world you come from I'm sure it's not an entirely impossible sight." Benimaru commented.

"INDEED. THE FINEST WEAPON EVER CREATED WAS MADE BY AN ENTIRE GUILD OF SUPREME BEINGS AND IS HELD BY LORD AINZ. I HAVE LAID MY EYES ONE IT ONLY ONCE BUT THE GOLDEN STAFF HE WIELDS IS BEYOND GOD TIER." Cocytus said.

"I don't quite know how strong Ainz is, but from what I've heard he's stronger than most Demon Lords. If his guildmates were anything like him in terms of power, that would have to be the strongest staff in the world. I'm surprised he wouldn't carry it around more often."

"LORD AINZ RARELY SHOWS OFF HIS POWER. HE LETS HIS SUBORDINATES SHINE AND ENCOURAGES OUR GROWTH BEYOND HIS PERSONAL GLORY." Cocytus could not praise his ultimate master.

As he spoke while walking through the shop beside Benimaru, he noticed a large sign saying 'Cosplay Weapons and Armor.' But that wasn't the most surprising part. What shocked him was what he saw under it.

There clear as day sat replicas of the weapons supreme beings once wielded. Not for a moment he would mistake the forgeries for the real thing but even then they all were relic tier items.

A bit further away were mannequins with the armor including the one his creator once wore.

Of course there were a large selection of armaments he didn't recognize but they were of little consequence to him.

Benimaru looked through the section as he noticed Cocytus taking interest in it. While he looked to see if he recognized any of the outfits there, the ones he noticed weren't really anything he'd be too fussed over. Of the outfits there it seemed to include replicas of the outfits of many Demon Lords he had seen while at Walpurgis. Most of these didn't interest him, however upon seeing Tanya's military uniform for sale, his interest instantly peaked.

For Cocytus' dilemma was simple, would he settle for a replica of his creator's weapon or armor or leave it be. But if he left it as is, someone unworthy could buy it and that could not happen.

As he was about to inquire on how to purchase the said armaments a frost maid in a standard retail workers outfit pretty much showed up from nowhere. She gave Cocytus a silent stare and then started to pack up every single item that was a replication of what the supreme ones once wore, as if understanding what exactly he wanted to purchase.

The whole transaction took only a few minutes and Cocytus now had his inventory full with replicas.

Benimaru quickly ordered a version of Tanya's uniform in his size. Since Tanya had a flat chest, the uniform was uni-sex as was designed by the Imperial Army, not that he knew what that was. He took a quick mental note of the presence of Milim's outfit there, knowing his sister would want her way with it. By that, he meant she would force it on Rimuru.

Regardless he bought it fairly quickly with the excess of funds he seemed to have, in a way defeating the purpose of currency in his mind.

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Ainz concluded his shopping spree rather quickly as it wasn't hard to find gifts for his wife and daughter. For Splendora, he had gotten a medium-sized plushie since there was a lack of those in her new room.

As for his wife, Ainz bought a sizable amount of knitting and sewing equipment for Albedo. She had complained that there was none in the mansion they resided in and it was unclear when they would be able to return to Nazarick.

With his purchases safely secured in his inventory Ainz now sat on the bench of the mall's plaza area and watched the people. A lot of them seemed to be from Nazarick or another similar world. Dwarves, elves, and other nonhuman races mingled around without worry. Sure there were a lot of humans as well but they clearly didn't care about demihumans and even monsters roaming the shop.

His attention then was on a pair he recognized. Aura and Mare were the first to return. Aura walked in front of her brother with two ice creams in her hands, one of which she was eating. Mare on the other hand was carrying a pack of ten massive bags each looking bigger than him.

'Aura is using her brother as a free workforce again. Are those…oh, it means her pets are here.' Ainz noticed the writing on the bags, each being an animal food of some kind.

When they finally reached Ainz, Mare dropped the unreasonably big purchase on the ground and with a relieved expression snatched out one of the treats from his sister's hands.

"T-that's it. You can carry them from here." Mare exclaimed.

He plopped down on a bench next to Ainz and dug into the ice cream.

'They act much more like children now. I think Buku will be happy about it.' Ainz couldn't help but notice how casual they were around him now.

"Hey, you're supposed to help me!" Aura protested.

"M-mom said y-you shouldn't push me around."

The boy nervously looked around in hopes of seeing his mother and to his relief, Buku was walking towards them.

"I'm not pushing you around! Don't be a wimp and help me with these! Wisey needs food."

"Aura, are you pushing all your work on your brother again?" Buku suddenly appeared behind her daughter.

Aura looked up and gulped. "Mom! I wasn't"

"Aha," Buku said, her tone lowering.

"He is stronger than me. He can carry the bags." Aura didn't back down.

"Just don't overdo it." Buku gave in with a sigh.

Aura was created with such personality and there wasn't much she could do at this point. 'At least Mare is fighting back.' She flashed her son a smile and snatched the other ice cream from Aura's hands.

"Hey!"

"It was nice of you to get me my favorite flavor." Buku giggled, ignoring Aura's pouting.

Aura glared at both her mother and brother and stomped off toward the ice cream stand.

The next to return were Demiurge and Ulbert both having their hands full with electronics.

"Back to your prime duties?" Ainz asked, noticing a disturbing amount of surveillance equipment both demons were carrying.

"Hey if we can't have shadow demons, we're going for the next best option. Look, they even have palm-sized drones." Ulbert replied.

"This technology is fascinating. We will have a centralized intelligence gathering station in the mansion within a week." Demiurge said.

"Just don't let Pero get to it." Ainz shook his head.

Spying on everyone would sooner or later attract the perverted birdman and knowing the pair of demons they would be more than happy to sell him access to the webcams.

"Get what?" The avian asked, showing up out of nowhere.

"Access to our network." Ulbert cackled. "We will have eyes on everyone soon enough."

'Oh for the love of…' Ainz rubbed his empty eye sockets.

Leader or not he would not be able to stop their shenanigans especially when Buku joined in and requested access to all information regarding Rimuru.

While his group talked Ainz could overhear a conversation happening across the street between Rimuru and Tanya.

Tanya asked Rimuru, "Do you think Black Lightning can overload an electrical network?"

"Yeah, probably. Why?" Rimuru said in response.

Tanya simply made a glance towards the large pile of cameras and electronics the demons were carrying, muttering "No reason."

'This won't end well. Like I need two of them trying to outsmart one another.' Ainz sighed. No doubt Ulbert overheard the conversation as well and if there was one thing scarier than a regular arms race, it was the arms race between intelligence agencies.

While the two demons had next to no competition in the New World and now they had someone who could keep up with them. Tanya had proved to be just as cunning and trigger-happy as Ulbert.

Returning to the present moment he noticed the rest of his team returning. It was not hard to notice a mischievous smile on Albedo's face as she carried a bag without any markings on it.

Without any delay, she approached Ainz and sat down next to him.

"I found a wonderful shop and got a lot of things for us. I can't wait to show them to you tonight."

Unfortunately for Ainz, the bag was packed in a way that he could not peer into it and have any warning of what his wife had in mind but since Shalltear was carrying an identical bag it was not that hard to guess what kind of shop both had found.

The group instantly engaged in showing off what each of them had gotten. Pero was proudly showing his daughter manga and games he had gotten. Cocytus somehow had managed to get replicas of guild member gear and was pulling them out of his inventory one by one and showing them around sounding like a prophet who had gotten a message from the Gods.

'Maybe this isn't that bad?' Ainz asked himself. Sure Nazarick might be in danger but somehow he felt it wasn't the case and the new more relaxed life was a breather he was desperately longing for.

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'A network of security cameras is nothing, really. I'd expect more from a group of their power. All it takes is a few uses of my Illusion Master skill and suddenly all their cameras won't work without a magical upgrade. An upgrade that I can then nullify with my Magic Jamming skill and formulas. Best to let them think it works less they come up with something actually able to bypass my skills.' Tanya mused as she walked next to Rimuru to rendezvous with the rest of their group.

The rendezvous position was easy to spot with the literal tower of snacks and sweets stacked up to the roof of the mall at least fifty feet into the air.

"I believe I found Milim." Tanya commented as she gazed up at the tower of snacks while internally questioning how Milim managed to even stack them that high.

Rimuru sighed and walked with Tanya up to the group as most of them just stared at Milim hiding within the tower itself, completely surrounded by snacks and only visible through a hole she had eaten out herself.

Also within Milim's snack tower seemed to be the Lycanthrope from Ainz's group, Ankoro who was similarly eating snacks along with Milim. 'Those two are dangerous together. If this world doesn't have a world hunger problem it's about to with these two around.'

It didn't take long for everyone to arrive and begin showing off all of the items they had bought. Tanya was first in showing off the relatively mundane but practical items she had bought for the sake of convenience.

Rimuru, by contrast, stated he didn't buy anything. Tanya refused to believe this bold-faced lie, having known exactly which store everyone went into, but the rest seemed to go along with it.

Tanya then gave a confused stare at Benimaru who wore a mimicry of the Imperial Uniform from her last life, specifically one which was designed to match her own outfit. It was obvious he had tried to put the hat on, but it didn't fit well with his horns in the way, leaving it only half-on his head.

Shuna showed off a bag of cute, mostly cosplay-oriented clothing to Shion in particular, with Tanya internally noting that none of them were actually in Shuna's size, but would probably fit nicely on Rimuru.

Otto meanwhile proudly showed off a blueprint for what Tanya noted as an 'oversized headache' of a Panzer tank, having already drawn on potential ways to upgrade it and compensate for its numerous shortcomings. His drawings and notes seemed to include a rant on how stupid it was to have vulnerable ammunition storages.

Shion also seemed to have a number of bags, however all of them were unlabeled and she was reluctant to show anyone the contents of them. Just about everyone forgot about it immediately, but Tanya already knew what store she went into and decided to let Rimuru deal with the aftermath of it.

The only one that was left was Hakurou who had purchased nothing but a singular ice cream that he was now enjoying for himself. Tanya knew that this was just because he had spent the better part of the shopping time tormenting Gobta who was somehow around, but she decided not to comment on it.

While everyone was preparing to leave it was quickly noticed that Gabiru was nowhere to be found. As everyone began to look around with confusion, Tanya simply walked over to Milim's tank which had rammed a hole through the wall and pointed down. As everyone gathered around they looked down to see Gabiru passed out on the floor behind the tank, having been there for the last several hours.

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With all shopping done and Tanya's team being gathered as well, Ainz was ready to transport everyone. Since both houses were next to one another one gate would be enough for the task.

He cast the trusty spell and motioned for everyone to start moving through.

With everyone going through the portal all that were left was Tanya and Ainz, both the de-facto leaders of their respective groups, though Tanya's role was more of a co-leader as opposed to Ainz's position as 'absolute overlord.'

Manifesting a sort of UI with her [Illusion Master] skill, Tanya muttered "That went well enough, I suppose." Her hand moved and swiped in front of the glowing screens she manifested in front of her, looking at various maps, charts, and graphs as she did.

"I can fully agree with that." Ainz spoke beside her. "Our people can get along without major incidents it seems."

"I would sure hope so, because it's not looking like we're getting out of this any time soon," Tanya mumbled as the jewel attached around her neck began to glow a bright red color. After about a second of glowing it emitted a large magical shockwave clearly not meant as any sort of attack but still abundant in magical energy regardless. Almost immediately after doing this, numerous new screens manifested in front of Tanya, all showing what seemed to be data.

"I share the same sentiment. It may be just a hunch but I feel there is no point worrying about our respective homeworlds."

Ainz glanced at the numerous screens showing up, but didn't immediately understand the data he was seeing due to the unknown language used. 'Should I use the translation glasses? It may be seen as an intentional attempt at spying but then again I doubt Tanya would activate this if she had the intention to hide whatever she was doing right now.'

"For now we have no clear information about where we are and how to escape this world but it is safe to assume that we have no way to brute-force our way out even if we managed to release that imprisoned God Rimuru carries around."

Ainz added, putting the glasses to his empty eye sockets with one hand.

"I wouldn't say that exactly. I'll give you one thing, there's no way in hell we're getting out of here without the consent of whatever put us here. I'm not sure what kind of bullshit magic you can pull out of your ass but if it wasn't your first solution then we have nothing. To say we don't know where we are though isn't entirely true anymore."

Tanya swiped her hand across her monitors, bringing them to her side opposite of Ainz as she created a new illusion. As it manifested it took the shape of a strange looking snowglobe with a platform and an outer transparent shell, though rather than being fully transparent this one glowed in all colors, some of which weren't even visible to the normal human eye.

"Tabula is the most versatile of us when it comes to any sort of research and thus far he has not found any feasible way to contact anyone outside the pocket world we are in. I personally have not tried to use any sort of destruction-based magic but as you can see transportation works just fine. The only thing thus far failing is summoning and creation of new entities."

Ainz observed her actions with curiosity but could not figure out what exactly Tanya was doing right now.

"Mind me telling what sort of spell or ritual you are attempting right now?"

"It's not a ritual, it's an illusion. That magical pulse was like a magical sonar of sorts, a means to gather more data on this world we're in. One thing your friend is wrong about is that this isn't a pocket dimension, at least not in the conventional sense of one. The only thing 'pocket' about this world is its size. Otherwise the term 'pocket' implies that it's a sub-world of another, or at least a sub-world of a greater collection of worlds. That's not the case here, this is beyond even that. For all intents and purposes I don't believe this world to be in any way connected to either of ours. It's a completely independent universe that just happens to be incredibly small."

Tanya moved her projection as she gave her long explanation. Increasing the size of the snowglobe-like object she created showed the general layout of the city as well as further details on the barrier surrounding them, now seamlessly forming into a sky. Numerous text boxes appeared explaining the nature of the outer barrier, mostly in comparison to barriers between worlds in Tanya's own world which she compared to Ainz's.

Unlike the former UI, these text boxes were created in Japanese. Though to Ainz some of the grammar was far more complex and in some places incorrect in comparison to what was actively used in his lifetime, likely the effects of a hundred year time difference.

"Tabula gave a similar explanation but with his tendency to over-explain things I just settled on calling it a pocket dimension. The point is whoever did this is beyond what Gods are capable of. There supposedly are rules on how realities are created and whatever this is, it's made like a grade student's half-assed homework. Whenever the being holding us here decides to abandon this universe it will just collapse sending us who knows where."

"Whatever this world's made out of, it's protected by what seems to be Unlimited Imprisonment on eighteen types of drugs. Great Sage may be able to analyze it eventually, but with only data from the inside, it may take millennia until we get a breakthrough. Even that's assuming it's on-par with Unlimited Imprisonment. If I had to guess, it'd be hundreds of thousands of years before even Great Sage can locate a weakness. For a grade student's half-assed homework it's sure as hell secure, though I wouldn't anticipate it holding up without someone maintaining it as you said. Though, if it was truly a grade student who made this, do you think that the random grade student that appeared in our class has anything to do with it?"

Suddenly the panels started to glitch violently as the data started to get replaced with Egyptian hieroglyphs. On the central screen appeared a chat log where someone wrote in plain English.

"You think Great Sage can figure this out? How adorable. But you keep trying, it's so much fun to watch you all fumble around."

Ainz glanced at Tanya and then at the screens. "I think we both know who that is."

{ We must use the opportunity and try to get some answers out of this being. } He sent a message in hopes of that providing any sort of privacy.

"Good to know this traveler's probably Anglo, I don't speak English. Magic Sense can only translate verbal messages. Only Rimuru's able to translate languages by text. You'd think whatever being brought us here would know that, but I suppose it truly is just some child. I can't say I'm too keen on being used as a children's toy. Ainz do you speak English? Can you tell me what that says?" Tanya stared at the text confused, simply passing the illusion over to Ainz since she didn't actually know English, only knowing German, Japanese, and what was growing to become the 'Tempestian' language, though it was more of a sub-language of her world's primary 'common' one.

For a moment Ainz contemplated if it was a good idea to even out the playing field. 'This being is intentionally using language Tanya does not understand. Why?'

"Ah, I forget how paranoid you are. No wonder all bets were against me. It's so you play together with others you dipshit." Another sentence appeared on the screen.

'It's better to play along.' He reached into his inventory and pulled out another pair of translation glasses silently handing them to Tanya.

Tanya took the glasses and read the messages. Normally she wouldn't care about such a response, but this was a being using them as toys, so she had no real reason to be courteous, manifesting a message in response she says, "This is coming from the dollar store Being X, at least he wasn't so obvious. When are you letting us back into our own worlds?"

"Dollar store Being X? I'm hurt." An angry face appeared at the end of the text but immediately another line popped up. "There are no 'your worlds' to return to. You can't break out. No one is coming to save you. But if you win the game I will hand out prizes."

"Do not provoke this being. Hostility will do us no favors right now." Ainz said to Tanya and then addressed the creature asking the obvious question. "What will Regoz think about taking us away from his game? You are of his kind aren't you?"

"Maybe. But you are still here. No one is coming to break you out."

"I'm not liking her use of the phrase 'nobody is coming rather than nobody will. If this 'Regoz' you mentioned is equal in power to her, surely he would at least try. If he's not coming at all that means he has a reason not to. Your guess is far better than mine as to what that reason might be." Tanya stated as she looked up at Ainz for a response.

"My only guess is that time is not moving forward outside of this world. But what I am most concerned about is that this being said there is no world to return to. I think it is just a lie but there must be some reason for that phrase being used." Ainz said.

Tanya sighed, "We might as well ask. Worst case scenario they just don't give us an answer." Tanya once more returned to the chat screen and added "What did you mean by 'no world to return to'?"

"Do not worry about getting back. You are all free from those responsibilities. You can thank me later when you realize how much easier life in my world is." A smiley face was added at the end.

"What do you want from us?" Ainz asked. There was not much sense to type back if the being could hear them anyway.

"Just play along. Get good grades. Have fun."

Tanya folded her arms, "I still want an elaboration on those first two sentences. I couldn't care less about responsibilities but I'd rather not be the plaything of a child playing god."

"Yeah, you are kinda touchy about it. How many lives has your pal messed with you? Five thousand at this point?"

"Good to know that a being with control over our lives can't count to three. I should start calling this 'Being K' for kindergarten."

There was no response for a while as the screens glitched around again.

"I think you managed to anger it," Ainz remarked.

Suddenly another remote with a big red button appeared at Tanya's feet with a new chat box popping up in all caps. "PRESS IT! I DARE YOU!"

Tanya shook her head and picked up the button, "If only Being X had temper tantrums like this. It would've made spitting in his face a whole lot more enjoyable. This button is obviously a trap, but if there's nothing to return to then I have nothing to lose. I accepted my death two lives ago."

"I really don't think you shou-" Ainz tried to caution Tanya before she simply pressed the button anyways.

In an instant her eyes widened as her hair went from pitch black to a grayish-silver and she collapsed to the floor with a hand on her head as she shouted, "Ah fuck! I didn't even know I could get headaches as a demon! I suppose that's what happens when you cram that much information into someone's head. Just how many times do I need to kill that bastard?! Who the hell is Chloe?! There's ULTIMATE Skills?!"

Another text popped up. "Fun isn't it? You have been a good little toy for thousands of lives. Savor those memories they will fade in a few minutes leaving only a number behind. Oh, and if you want a temper tantrum from me I can make all that look like childs play."

"Tanya, I think it is not smart to anger this being," Ainz remarked.

"I've pissed off one all-powerful being before, what's another? ATHE-!" Tanya immediately passed out on the floor as her hair went from silver back to black as she made a 'thud' on the concrete below.

As she laid there a text message appeared once again, "Spoilers! Bit early for that!"

'Just great.' Ainz watched the UI panel fade away. The only thing they managed to find out was that their handler was a childish one and easy to anger.

He looked down at Tanya who slowly opened her eyes. He asked with some concern, "Are you alright?"

Tanya lifted her head off the concrete, staring straight forward as she simply responded with "No."

"Did you remember anything that could help us? It seemed you were cut off for some reason."

"Remember anything from what?" She muttered, still not getting up from the floor, mostly due to lack of capability at that moment.

"That's a no. For your own sake try not pissing off beings more powerful than you." Ainz said dryly walking off with his group.

Tanya groaned as she forced herself up and through the Gate, visibly exhausted and still with a headache, though she still found great satisfaction in fucking with Being K regardless.