The World's Ego

Disturbances before Celebration

Rimuru POV

As soon as we arrived at the gates, we had a talk with the guard there and we were quickly allowed inside since Yuuki is the Chairman. After greeting the Principal, we made our way to the classroom. I opened the door and made my greetings.

"Hi! Have you kids been-"

I was quickly cut off by Alice, who rammed me into a tight hug.

"You're late, Sensei!" She complains

"It hasn't been that long!" I giggled, giving her head a pat

"But you promised to come play often!" Gale huffs

"Yeah, Gale is right. I was worried that you'd forgotten all about us!" Kenya grumbles, adding to Gale's words

"But now you're here, we're so happy, Sensei!" Ryota smiles happily

Despite those words, they were all smiling happily as Chloe also came running up to hug me.

"Welcome, Sensei!"

Yuuki observed this with a defeated sigh, "You're still as popular as ever. I'm envious."

"Ah, Big Bro Yuuki is here too!"

"Big Bro Yuuki, you're going to battle me today too, right?"

"Me too!"

"That's a good idea. I've been able to get a good grip of the spirit's power recently."

As soon as the kids recognized Yuuki, these were the words that followed from Kenya, Ryota and Gale.

"Haha, it'll take another hundred years before you get a shot at beating me!" Yuuki teased them, "I can be your opponent but not today."

"Aw, why?" Kenya whines

"It really is a shame but we are lacking time today." I interjected

"What are you saying?" Chloe asks

"Well..." I paused, letting the tension build up a bit before making the announcement, "I'm inviting the five of you to my country. There's a festival tomorrow, but if you are all busy-"

Before I knew it, there were a few excited remarks going around as the kids scampered to their rooms to pack their bags.

The teacher left in their classroom lets out a sigh of defeat, "Ah, how amazing. They never treated me with such affection..."

"Ahaha, you're doing well. It's gotten a bit better now but there are no other teachers who can handle those kids." Yuuki laughs lightly

"No, it's nothing. If you don't show your skill, they won't take your lead. It's, admittedly, a pretty reasonable demand. Embarrassingly enough to say, even I could lose if I were careless. The strength of those kids is the real deal. Anyway..."

He looked at me and I introduced myself, "I am the kids' former advisor, Rimuru. I apologize if I interrupted the class."

"Ah, you really are Rimuru-sensei. I heard a lot about you from the kids, so I guessed it was you. My name is Clouse. I was employed at this academy as your replacement. Don't worry about the class. I was informed in advance by the Chairman that the class could be on break for awhile." 

"Clouse-san was an A- adventurer from the subjugation division and he was slowly preparing for retirement." Yuuki informs me

"Eh? And you said the kids were rivaling you? I wonder how strong they have gotten..." I muttered in thought

"What are you saying? They are going around, proudly proclaiming that they were taught by none other than you." Clouse laughs lightly

"Yeah, that's right. Honestly, if I were ever to get foolishly careless, even I would lose to them." Yuuki admitted, much to my surprise