Rimuru and Iruma's Adventures in the Netherworld

Dissolution Dilemma

Punctuation Key:

"Spoken dialogue"

'Quoting'

*Action*

Emphasis

Internal thoughts/talking to Ciel

[[Ciel talking]]

{{Thought Communication}}

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Rimuru POV

It's the dead of night and I've been looking into the records of the battler that seems to idolize Ameri if Ronove is to be believed.

"'Elicos, Schnell', huh?" I mutter to myself, breaking the silence in the room. I'm currently looking at the picture of this particular student on the paperwork I'm holding.

He's the President of Ameri's 'fan club'; a decent student, based on his grades. He's better than average at least. I'm not usually one to judge based on appearances, but he does look like a bit of a weirdo in this photo. There's something about his expression that slightly unnerves me, I guess.

Gray-ish hair combed straight back, rectangular glasses, and an unsettling smile. Not in the same way as Kiriwo's, which seems friendly on the surface but is conniving and malicious, but the type with potentially lewd intent behind it. It's much more subtle since I assume that his object of infatuation wasn't there when this photo was taken, but there are still hints of it. I've become keen on reading smiles like this; I get them fairly often myself.

But back to why I'm specifically training my attention on this boy; he's been requesting some interesting materials for his battler. Slowly too, like he's been planning this for a while and is trying not to draw attention to his actions. A spray bottle, a kit commonly used to brew certain potions, a camera, and various ingredients that I don't have much knowledge about but enough to know that they aren't used often. He has gone around asking different teachers for different things, slowly accumulating what he needs. All of these teachers were good about keeping records thankfully, otherwise, the evidence wouldn't be very useful.

It's not a cut and dry case though, since he might've had other uses for all of that. I'll have to wait for Henri to come back and tell me what was actually in that residue he collected earlier so we can compare it to the list of things Schnell requested.

I'll probably have to confront him tomorrow after the election so I can determine whether I'm correct or not. Tracking him down first thing in the morning would cause too much drama with how tense things are at Babyls; I think it's for the best that I show a little patience and wait until after the dissolution election has concluded.

I'm happy since I feel like I'm finally getting somewhere with this investigation; only a few pieces away from completing the puzzle. I've got a good feeling about this 'Schnell' boy being responsible.

I hope tomorrow goes smoothly for Ameri; not for her sake necessarily, but more for Iruma's. That and for the school too since Ronove is an idiot and I don't want him in charge. Ciel already assured me he wouldn't win, though, so I don't know why I'm even worrying.

[[Heh.]]

Yes, thank you, Ciel. I'm glad to have you around, reassuring me when I worry about stuff.

**The Next Day**

Iruma POV

The room I'm in is large and very crowded, with a set of two elevated podiums in the center. Ronove and Ameri each stand at one, both platforms raised in the air so everyone can see them.