Rimuru and Iruma's Adventures in the Netherworld

The Dinner Party

This is the final chapter before this is all caught up with my ff.net posts! Updates will drop to weekly every Friday!

Punctuation Key:

"Spoken dialogue"

'Quoting'

*Action*

Emphasis

Internal thoughts/talking to Ciel

[[Ciel talking]]

{{Thought Communication}}

I also have a discord server for discussion, questions, suggestions, or whatever. https://discord.gg/SVkTU2CQ2s

Iruma POV

The door opens and I'm greeted with a room full of women of different races, the one that answered the door being someone I recognize. It's Shuna, greeting us with a smile. The other women are smiling as well, but one person in the room isn't; Rimuru. She's standing in the middle of the circle of people, looking much different than she did when I saw her last. Rimuru is tiny again, the same size she was when we first met, but this time she's wearing something much different. She's dressed like a doll; that's the only way to describe the frilly clothing she's wearing. It's too exaggerated to be something that you'd actually have a person wear unless they were being entered into some kind of beauty pageant for little girls.

Rimuru's standing there stiffly with her small arms pinned to her sides and her hands balled into fists. She's looking down and to the side, probably trying to avoid looking me and Benimaru in the eyes. Her brows are furrowed and her cheeks pink from embarrassment while her lips are formed into a small frown.

I hear Benimaru stifle a chuckle at the sight before addressing his sister who's still standing directly in front of us.

"I see you still haven't lost your touch, Shuna." Benimaru quips amusedly, still peering at Rimuru over Shuna's shoulder while wearing a sly grin.

Shuna just nods before speaking up.

"Are you here to take Lord Rimuru somewhere?" Shuna asks, ascertaining his reason for being here.

"Yes, it's almost time for the feast celebrating his temporary return to Tempest. I came here with his guest to bring both of them to the banquet hall."

"Oh, is it already time for that, Brother? I must have lost track of time while I was spending time with Lord Rimuru!" Shuna cutely says, her pink eyes growing large with surprise. "I best be going since they will likely need my help with the food. I will see you at the feast, Brother, Lord Rimuru, and of course his guest." She says with a deep, respectful bow. She glances back at Rimuru one more time, seemingly sad to be leaving him, before leaving the room along with the other women.

It's a stark contrast from the commanding air she had about her when coercing Rimuru to leave with her earlier. I'd say dichotomy is scarier than the one I've witnessed with Rimuru, but that's hard to say since I haven't spent much time around Shuna.

Rimuru then hesitantly looks up, finally making eye contact with me, wincing as if expecting me to judge them based on their current appearance. Part of me wants to say something to get back at Rimuru for all the times she's teased me, but I bite my tongue. I know full well that any more humiliation would be nothing short of bullying. It'd be cruel for me to make fun of her right now when she's clearly already mortified by this situation. Plus, I know Rimuru would get back at me in turn later, so yeah, it's probably best for me to keep my mouth shut.

Even though I don't plan on making a scene, it seems like Benimaru might have a different idea. He steps forward, leaving me near the doorway, and approaches Rimuru. She turns her gaze to him, looking like she's bracing herself for some teasing.