[Book 2] That time I got reincarnated as a slime,no, a DRAGON?

CH-12 Reunion

3rd person POV

The people of Tempest had a completely different reaction to Rimuru's aura on the other hand. Most of the monsters had some amount of magicules flowing through them, regardless of how small. It made them instinctively understand to whom this aura belonged to, even if they had never met before.

They instinctively kneeled. They weren't forced to kneel, they kneeled on their own. It wouldn't take much effort to stand up, yet they continued to kneel, to show respect to their master.

If Tia had been awake, she would have been shocked, and known that all her plans were for naught. Well, as for the humans who were present and awake, saw all the monsters kneel. In the academy, where even Ria and Liscia bowed, everyone was surprised at this spectacle. They could feel the aura themselves, and knew something major was going to happen. Something that would change the world as it was.

As for the person who was the cause of this entire spectacle, continued to remain in his loved one's embrace. After what felt like an eternity, did he finally leave the embrace.

"Sorry for showing such a disgraceful sight." Rimuru said, smiling, trying to hide his emotion and the fact that he was crying till a moment ago. His red eyes were the proof of this.

"No. It's fine. You don't need to hide it anymore. You've been through a lot." Ciel said as she took Rimuru into her embrace once more. Rimuru was surprised at first, but readily accepted.

"No. It must have been harder on you. You had to wait for 500 years after all."
"Atleast I knew that you would return. That you would come to life. I had a beacon to lead me. But you didn't. You weren't afraid of going against the laws of nature. You had no proof that I would return. Yet you didn't give up. You continued to try. I.... I wouldn't.... I wouldn't even be able to think of a life without you. A life where I.... I cannot see you.... Ever again."

To this, Rimuru just remained silent.

"Ah! Right! Let's control your aura, shall we?" Ciel said suddenly breaking the embrace. Now that everything had calmed down, and her emotional rush had finally died down, she really saw how embarrassing what she did was.

Seeing this, Rimuru just chuckled, relieved that Ciel was the same.

"Right. Right. Let's do that." Rimuru said as concentrated his aura inside himself. This definitely reduced the aura he released, but not enough to be safe. Ciel then helped him restrain his aura even more.

Ciel, ever since the fight with Ivarage, is a separate entity. She is no longer a skill that belongs to Rimuru. She is an independent Manas. One that is not under anyone. She is now a completely different being. A completely different species. This was all thanks to Veldanava. After the fight with Ivarage, it was Veldanava who helped Ciel become a being independent of the VOTW. Of course it came with downsides as well. Ciel could no longer access the VOTW archives. This meant any new data, information, skills or history could not be accessed by Ciel. But she didn't care about that.

Now that Rimuru had finally controlled his aura, Ciel took some of the turn Null from Rimuru, and used it to remake the surroundings that had been destroyed. After returning everything to how it was prior to Rimuru's revival, the duo returned back to Tempest.

The duo teleported straight to Rimuru's room. Apart from Ciel, and the maid who cleaned the room, no one was allowed here. So, obviously, it was empty. The duo exited the room, only to see two maids who were going across the hallway. Seeing Ciel, both of them bowed. They were surprised to see an unknown man inside the palace, but seeing that Ciel was with him, they didn't pursue the matter any further.

"Call everyone here to the meeting room. Tell Diablo to call everyone outside the city via thought communication. Tell them to assemble in ten minutes." Ciel said to the maid in a cheerful tone. The maids just bowed and went to fulfill their mistress's wishes.

Ciel could have herself called for everyone via thought communication, but decided not to. Hey feelings would transfer through the thought communication, no matter how much she tries to hide it. So she decided not to. After all, she wanted it to be a surprise for everyone. Everyone knew that his soul had been resurrected, but had no body to inhabit it. There were plans to make him inhabit a superior version of the magic dolls that the demons had inhabited, but Ciel denied it, starting that it would hold him back.

Both Ciel and Rimuru entered the meeting room, which was completely empty. But what caught Rimuru's eyes were the seating arrangement. Across the table, there were many seats, but there were two seats at the head of the table.

"Two chairs? Rimuru mumbled.
"Yep. One for you and one for me."
"I see."

As Rimuru sat down in one of the seats, Ciel took the other one. The first one to come in was Diablo. As soon as he came in, Diablo kneeled in front of Rimuru.

"Ah.... Rimuru-sama. It is an honour to see you again." Diablo said with tears in his eyes. But, he didn't stop there. He continued on worshipping Rimuru as if he was some kind of God. This was the last thing that Rimuru wanted to face, but considering that they ask had waited for a long time for him to return, he decided to endure. None the less, he was happy to see, that at least Diablo hadn't changed much.

But, fortunately, Diablo's speech was cut sorry as the next person to enter was Benimaru.

".... And take care. Good luck to both of you for tomorrow. I'll come to see you." Benimaru said to someone who couldn't be seen through the door. Benimaru waves goodbye to his daughters.

He then spoke without looking into the room. " Ciel-sama, I understand this is very important as it is connected to what happened yesterday but it...... Is.... My daugh- RIMURU-SAMA?!" Benimaru, who had turned to face the interior of the room, screamed.

"Huh... Eh?" For a good few seconds he started at Rimuru before bursting out laughing.

"Hahaha. This is quite a pleasant surprise." He said in a merry tone. But, his tone suddenly became serious as he kneeled.

"It's an honour to meet you again Rimuru-sama. I look forward to serving you." He said.

"Me too. Continue to serve me well." Rimuru said with a smile. Slowly, all the members of the twelve patrons had gathered, expert a few, that is, Shion, Geld and Gabiru. Each had a touching reunion. Even Zegion, who didn't speak much, talked. He might have talked more than what he had done in entirety of five centuries combined. Even Ramiris and Veldora were there. Ramiris, who had grown up, was much more mature and calm, and didn't cause a lot of problems. Veldora, on the other hand, hugged his sworn brother and continued to talk and show off, while trying to hide his true feeling, which was not very effective.

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I hope you guys like it. I tried to make it touching, but I am not quite experienced in writing such stuff. So do overlook if it isn't as good as you might have expected. I am free for suggestions tho.