That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime Again!! {Ver.2}

King Gazel

King Gazel, known as the hero king is standing before us. We weren't handcuffed like last time, nor would the venue have been a court if not for Charlotte.

She was royalty from the Empire, Gazel couldn't be careless with her at all costs. I can see from his expression that he thinks this would be a troublesome situation.

"Princess Charlotte, what brings you here after our meeting an hour ago?" (Gazel)

Gazel started off by asking a direct question.

Naturally, Charlotte was more than happy to answer. "King Gazel, please do forgive me for coming back here when we just met. But your minister, Vesta, has attacked an important acquaintance of mine."

Hmm? Does she mean me by any chance?

"Who is this acquaintance of yours?" (Gazel

"Rimuru. I won't tolerate what your minister tried to do to Rimuru. Please find a suitable punishment for him." (Charlotte)

Gazel sighed, "Princess Charlotte, can you tell me what Vesta did to this individual?" (Gazel)

"Your minister dared to strike Rimuru, to which, only ended up as his own injury." (Charlotte)

Charlotte was pretty heated for some reason, and Gazel only remained aloof. He probably knew that something happened the moment Vesta called for him with his arm in a bad state.

And with Charlotte's story, who's probably different from Vesta's, Gazel has come to a conclusion.

"I see. I have no further questions to ask." (Gazel)

All of a sudden, Vesta's face lit up, and started to speak. "That's great, your majesty. I was injured because of that stupid individual, it's right for them to receive punishment."

Uh-oh, I had a bad feeling about this.

"W-well, I apologize for injuring you..." (Rimuru)

I tried to make Vesta calm down by apologizing to him. But, I remembered what pompous nobles would do if you boost their ego. 

"Hahahaha! That's right, you better apologize you wh*re!" (Vesta)

At Vesta's words, almost everyone present in this room had gotten angry at him. With the brief silence, I accelerated my thoughts to the maximum.

This is strange, even Vesta before he worked for me on my previous timeline wasn't like this. What is going on? 

«Master, it seems like Vesta has come into contact with the enemy that forced us back in time. I'm afraid with the little residue, it's almost impossible to connect it to an entity.»

I see! So that's why Vesta's like this? But that news is bad in more ways than one, this unknown enemy could have possibly tracked us back here.

«It is highly unlikely.»

Why is that?

«I wouldn't let it follow master. Much less endanger you. I made sure its path was blocked, in the end, it wasn't able to follow us into this timeline.»

Then how did Vesta get like this?

«I'm still analyzing the cause, master. However, I can free Vesta from that unknown's influence.»

Her last sentence was all that mattered right now, we can deal with the others after Vesta gets freed from that things grasp.

After deciding that, I returned my thoughts to how it was before.

"Why you, that's it! Vesta, take that back, you bastard!" (Kaijin)

Seeing an angered Kaijin being held back as Kaijin tries to punch him, Vesta cowered in fear. "Y-your majesty, d-do you see his unruly actions? He just tried to attack me!"

Gazel answered, only this time, clear with anger. "Vesta! You yourself are showing unruly and dishonorable actions! You dare behave like that in front of me?" 

At Gazel's loud voice, Vesta snapped out of it, it was like he was in a trance until now.

"I will decide on your punishment later, for now, you are to be held on house arrest! Be wise and think of things thoroughly with the time I'm giving you." (Gazel)

"A-as you wish..." Vesta could not protest nor did he seem to have his attitude before. It looks like Ciel did something. That's great, phew, thanks, Ciel.

«Mhm»

I could feel Ciel was in a good mood.

"Apologies, I did not wish to make you witness that. He wasn't like that before." (Gazel)

"No no, it's fine, please don't apologize." (Rimuru)

Gazel looked at Charlotte, then Kaijin and the three brothers, and then finally at me. 

"It seems like Vesta was the one at fault, so nothing will be charged against you Rimuru." (Gazel)

Thank god, I didn't want to be branded a criminal.

"However, Kaijin, you showed hostility and was about to attack Vesta just now, weren't you? I cannot let that slide." (Gazel)

I thought as much... thought Kaijin.

Gazel raised his arms and stated in a loud voice, "Kaijin, I hereby exile you from Dwargon. I wish I could've had the chance to recruit you once more." 

Kaijin kneeled down, "I'm... I have chosen who I want to serve, thank you for the offer, King Gazel." He had the same expression as before, regretful that they had to part like this.

Thanks to Charlotte, this whole ordeal was less than what it should've been and would've taken more time.

We were dismissed, Kaijin and I were about to start heading to his shop to gather his things. But before that, I had something to say to Charlotte.

"Oh right, Charlotte, thank you very much for what you did. It could've ended differently had you not been there." (Rimuru)

Charlotte giggled, "Nonsense, I think part of it was because Kaijin and you were there." 

Wait, what?

"Indeed. If not for Princess Charlotte, we could've been imprisoned or worse! Hahaha!"

Kaijin's tone was suspiciously one with familiarity to Charlotte. Could it be that they know each other?! "Do you two know each other by any chance?" (Rimuru)

"That's right boss, I've met her highness before." (Kaijin) 

"Indeed." 

That's one amazing coincidence. Even Gobta wouldn't have expected that. Wait, where is Gobta anyway?

"Rimuru, I have a favor to ask of you." (Charlotte)

"A favor? What kind of favor?" (Rimuru)

"Would you go with me to the empire!" (Charlotte)

Excuse me!??!??!

***

Back at Gazel, he had just witnessed a monster unlike any other acting like an average joe in front of him.

"Rimuru was it..." (Gazel)

Her magicules were completely hidden, yet she was powerful enough to slay Armorsaurus hordes like they were ordinary lizards. Unbelievable, are we dealing with a demon lord here?

"Your majesty, I believe we should be cautious of that individual." (Minister)

Gazel agreed, thinking that they were on the brink of a disaster. Even I couldn't gauge that individual's powers, and I consider myself on par with the one they call Hinata. Or at least, that's what Gazel thought.

If Hinata were to encounter that beast, how would she react? In any case, Gazel prioritized monitoring the individual to make sure it wasn't up to no good.