The World's Ego

Heroes of the Past

-Ten minutes ago-

Rimuru POV

Still going against Granbell, I noticed that he seemed to be looking at somewhere else and used my <Universal Detect> to check on the new arrivals. Surprisingly, it was Leon and behind him were several knights.

"Hi, Leon! I didn't think we would meet again! Well, definitely not in such a chaotic battlefield!" I laughed breezily while greeting him as my blade clashed with Granbell, stopping it right there

Leon nods slightly, hiding the twitch of slight annoyance on his eyebrow.

"You have come, Demon Lord Leon-dono." Granbell noted with a grin

"Don't act all familiar now, who are you?" Leon asks

"Oh yeah, this is our first time meeting. As a matter of fact, all the children you bought in the past were gathered by me. I must apologize to have troubled you to come here personally for the delivery this time." Granbell explains with a small smirk

"What are you talking about? I didn't come to see you. The reason I am here is-"

Granbell cuts Leon off, "Ah. I summoned children with the technique you taught me. Are you going to claim you knew nothing of it? Don't you just want to fortify your forces with these unstable Otherworld children and make them into spirit-wielders? So you can build strengthened warriors like Shizue Izawa. How many failures do you think I have sacrificed so you can summon who you want? The people here are the answer."

Hearing this, I turned to Leon after looking at the Otherworlders I had rendered unconscious, "Is it true?"

"Of course it's true, Demon Lord Rimuru. Where there is demand, there is supply. Us merchants were happy to provide." Granbell answers me with the same smirk on his lips

I glanced at him before returning my attention to Leon, "So it wasn't just Shizue, but other children too? Even when you knew that unstable children would not survive for long?"

"That-"

"Kukukuku, kuHAHAHA! How funny, Leon. Wasn't your request for us to provide Otherworld children under the age of ten? As opposed to performing stable summonings of Otherworlders and commanding that, why not 'rescue' unstable children and do them a favor? And then manipulate them to make them your weapons, didn't you?!" Granbell hollers

I sighed under my breath, "I'm only going to ask one more time. Is this all true, Leon?"

"Yes, but I have my reason-"

"Enough." I gritted out, sheathing my katana, and walked over to him, "If you were in the wrong, you just need to admit it. I hope you have that jaw of yours clenched."

Leon stops his subordinates from moving to protect him as I am finally in front of him and with a swing of my right arm, my open palm connects with Leon's cheek. There was a harsh, dull sound when the connection happened. Leon seemed surprised at how much force I had put into the slap, I made sure it was more than enough to damage the inside of his mouth, so he took a handkerchief to wipe the blood that dripped out.

"You got it out of your system now?"

I shrugged nonchalantly, "That was for Shizue. You are as bad as Kosma when it comes to communicating with others."

"... You are weird."

"And you need to learn to understand a girl's emotion!" I complained with a small pout

Leon grumbled under his breath as we turned our attention back to Granbell. Hinata was once again taking up a battle stance with her guard up as Granbell ignored her for a bit to look at us.