Rimuru and Iruma's Adventures in the Netherworld

Souls Aren't on the Menu... THIS Time

Iruma POV

Mornings are rough, especially when a Demon Lord was training you last night. At least said Demon Lord is nice enough to tuck me into bed and let me properly sleep. I'm talking about Rimuru, of course, who's now walking with me to school.

Azz and Clara are still away training; I've texted them both a few times during our training period, but our time face-to-face has been pretty limited. Especially lately, for some reason; I miss them both a lot.

"I forgot to ask, but I didn't mess up your training too bad last night, right? You seemed pretty pepped up."

"When Bachiko called me and I had to pick you up? Nah, it's no biggie, I was just doing some combat training while under a bunch of physical limiters and with no help from Ciel."

"That sounds tough."

"Not really. Nothing the dude training me threw in my direction put up much of a struggle. Although, I got a bit creative with that last one..."

"Did you come up with a new move to fight with?"

Rimuru smirks to herself, "Kinda, but it's nothing you should ever try. It'd scare you badly on top of being very dangerous for most people. Gross too, if you don't have the stomach for slimy things."

I'm not sure I want to know the details...

"You're excited for the Harvest Festival, aren't you?" Rimuru suddenly asks.

I nod, "Uh-huh. What about you?"

"Nah."

"So you don't care about winning or anything?"

"I may have a competitive streak, but no. Winning doesn't matter to me... I've already 'won' a previous Harvest Festival. Hehe." Rimuru giggles a little at that last part.

"Does your world have a Harvest Festival too?"

Rimuru's expression turns more serious as she looks me in the eyes.

"One that I hope you'll never witness or participate in, yes." Rimuru shakes off the tension, "Unlike in this competition, it didn't involve harvesting ingredients, but something else entirely. Hell, it wasn't a competition at all either, more like a trial or a rite of passage."

"It's something bad, isn't it? I still remember how you reacted when you heard 'Harvest Festival' in class."

"You noticed that?"

"Everyone noticed."

Rimuru sighs, "You could call it bad, but also good. Going through it enabled me to save a lot of people precious to me. But, it was also a line that couldn't be uncrossed."

Then, like a switch was flipped, Rimuru suddenly smiles cheerfully, "I bet you can't wait to show your tutor all those things I taught you, right? You said you wanted to impress her."

"Oh, yeah!" I smile. "Master Bachiko's been really tough with me. I think it's because she wants me to succeed... so I hope that she notices the new things I've learned!"

"Heh." Rimuru smiles. "I'm sure you'll manage to show her your stuff since that's so important to you." She pats me on the shoulder.

"I really hope so," I admit.

...

After extensive practice and training with my bow, the day has come for the Harvest Festival. Yeah, I'm definitely not perfect with it yet, but I don't have any more time to train for this.

"You've got all your equipment, right? Didn't forget anything?" Bachiko asks, checking me over as she circles me.

"No, I have everything here."