"You know, you hated me just as much before I had that nickname two years ago, didn't you?"
Suddenly, Rimuru's clear voice rang in the ears of all three. Aoko Aozaki froze on the spot. A moment later, she snapped out of it and locked onto Rimuru, who stood not far ahead, holding the hand of a little white-haired girl. "Wahhh!" She dropped her suitcase and launched into a flurry of wild, tiny punches.
Rimuru pressed a hand against her forehead, both exasperated and amused, and wordlessly endured her blows as if she were taking out her frustration on him.
Eler stared blankly at the older girl throwing punches, then stared just as blankly at her teacher—
The cowlick atop her head wobbled. She scrunched up her face and thought for a moment. Once she'd finally figured out what to say, she excitedly raised a little hand and cheered, "Hit her harder!!"
"???" Rimuru froze, then turned and flicked the bewildered little girl on the forehead.
"Ow!"
"Are you done?" After scolding Eler for enjoying the spectacle, Rimuru deliberately grimaced as if he were in pain. Only then did Aoko finally draw back her slender hand, let out a proud snort, and look satisfied.
"What are you doing here?" Liddell asked, bewildered. Hadn't she told him to stay home and look after Eler?!
"Eler wanted to go out, and I thought it might be good training to let her meet the legendary Witch and Magician." Rimuru smiled. How could he not see what Liddell was thinking? She was simply afraid he'd steal her good friend again, like he had when they were children.
Such an innocent girl.
Rimuru had no idea that Liddell wasn't worried he'd steal Alice away. She was worried Alice would steal him away...
"Hello, big sisters! You're so pretty!"
"Eler...?"
Kuonji Alice stared at Rimuru, who was still only around a meter and forty-five centimeters tall. She kept looking at him until he walked up to her with Eler in tow. Only then did she seem to come back to herself. Her calm eyes turned toward the little girl, who still seemed a little dazed—
"Is she your... student?"
Kuonji Alice looked away and met Rimuru's golden eyes.
"Yeah, my student." Rimuru nodded. Kuonji Alice's deep, shadowy eyes were as still as a pool of autumn water, but he could see the deep delight in them.
To be honest, his memories of Kuonji Alice had grown quite fuzzy. But when the indistinct memories from both of his lives overlapped, they formed an even deeper impression. He'd thought he would be nervous when he saw her.
But for some reason, now that they'd met again, all he felt was a quiet calm—as if he were with an old friend he hadn't seen in ages.
"It's been a long time, Alice."
"Mm."
Alice nodded, lowered her eyes, and continued walking. After their brief exchange, the group headed through the Clock Tower in high spirits, toward Liddell's Lord's Lounge.
"High spirits" was a bit of an exaggeration. Aoko and Liddell walked side by side, enthusiastically complaining about Rimuru, while Rimuru walked along with Alice, wearing a wry smile.
Compared with the two in front, Rimuru and Alice were much quieter. Neither of them even opened their mouths.
Yet Rimuru didn't feel awkward. On the contrary, he felt relaxed and at ease.
He was used to it.
A flood of words wasn't their way of reconnecting after a long separation. Quiet and a harmony that needed no words were the essence of their relationship.
Rimuru had to match the little girl's pace, so he couldn't walk too fast. But Alice's pace was astonishingly in sync with his.
Even though the two in front had slowed down, they still had to stop every so often to wait for the others. Kuonji Alice, however, didn't need to say anything or deliberately slow her steps. She simply and quietly fell into Rimuru's rhythm.
It was a unique understanding between the two of them.
A Reason Enough: Being Able to Help You
Normally, a Lord's base of operations in their Academic City was a Magecraft workshop. Liddell's, however, was a hotel.
By that logic, while other Lords' offices were either huge laboratories or academic centers, Liddell's might well have been a large princess's bedroom, all soft and cozy, with a languid atmosphere.
And that was indeed the case. It wasn't quite as over-the-top as Rimuru had imagined, but the room was full of fans' gifts and stuffed toys. The girlish atmosphere made his teeth ache a little.
Eler seemed to know the place well. She let go of Rimuru's hand, scampered off, and threw herself headfirst into a giant stuffed toy with a muffled poof.
All the other Lords had sent familiars to show how closely they were following the situation, but Liddell was the only one who'd come in person to welcome them. After all... most of them could probably guess why these two had suddenly visited London.
Maybe because she was so familiar with everyone, Aoko didn't hesitate at all. She slumped onto the sofa, radiating an air of utter dejection.
On the way here, while chatting with Liddell and the others, she'd pieced together what was going on. Ever since she'd heard that Rimuru had started using his surname again and become a professor, she'd had a vague idea.
Alice had suddenly been so insistent about bringing her to London. Could it be... just to drum up support for her mortal enemy?!
After all these years as Alice's closest friend, she'd still lost out to that damned bastard Rimuru.
"I can hardly believe you're willing to return to London under the name Alice." Rimuru drew his eyes away from Eler and chuckled. "Liddell must have told you a lot of things she shouldn't have. Thank you."
If even someone as carefree as Aoko could guess Alice's intentions, Rimuru would have to be a fool not to figure them out.
Kuonji's arrival might not have brought any new changes to the Clock Tower, but at the very least, it silently showed that the Last Bird of the Dream Fairy Lineage was still watching—and standing behind him.
Oh, and she'd brought a Magician along as a bonus.
Rimuru glanced at the dejected Aoko and smiled. Without realizing it, he'd already established a firm foothold in the Clock Tower. Now he could focus his energy on getting stronger.
In truth, the arrangements his previous self had made while his memories were sealed had clearly surpassed what Rimuru could imagine at the moment. It was quite a pleasant surprise.
How to describe the feeling? It was like waking up after a long coma and discovering that your three dorm mates—the ones who'd once sworn you'd reach the pinnacle of life together—had become big shots in the military, politics, and business, and were now helping you in return.
It felt pretty good, but it also made your balls ache a little.
Still, Rimuru didn't feel embarrassed or inferior. With the Great Sage and his cheat abilities, he believed he could reach that level himself someday. But...
The overly smooth course of events still made Rimuru feel a little uneasy. That was why he'd wondered earlier whether people like the Director and Inorai had been deliberately indulging him or arranging things behind the scenes—
In response to Rimuru's thanks, Kuonji Alice gave him a mildly reproachful look, then calmly shook her head. Suddenly, she said, "I heard... you were assassinated."
Her voice was as calm as a stagnant pool, yet that didn't stop everyone from sensing the murderous intent and bone-deep chill within it.
"Ah... that did happen."
Rimuru paused, then glanced at Liddell. You really will tell anyone anything, won't you?
Liddell lowered her head and drank her tea. Aoko, on the other hand, suddenly perked up. "Huh? Who was it? Want me to rewind the scene for you?"
"No need to trouble yourself. I know who the assassin was."
Rimuru felt Kuonji Alice's deep eyes settle on his face, and a faint pressure seemed to bear down on him. "Relax. I'm keeping that person around because they're useful. Anyway, Alice, if you really want to help me with something..."
"I do have something I need your help with."
"Go on."
"How much influence does the Kuonji Group have in Japan?" Rimuru asked with interest. "Could they keep an eye on another city while monitoring Fuyuki City?"
"...It should be possible."
Kuonji Alice thought for a moment, then nodded slightly. Liddell suddenly added from beside her, "Keeping an eye on Magicians might be difficult, though. And if you rely on a lot of ordinary people, they might not even notice if they've been hypnotized—"
"Whatever. I only need a general idea of what's happening."
Rimuru waved a hand, unconcerned. "So, have you heard of Ryougi City?"
At that, Aoko and Liddell both froze. Kuonji Alice alone calmly nodded. "Is it still a major Magecraft family?"
"Yes. More precisely, they're an exorcist family. As for Magecraft families, I think only the Fujou family counts. But I need accurate information on the Tohno and Ryougi families, especially on one child from the Ryougi family."
"Hey, don't you think you're asking a bit too much?" Even Liddell couldn't let Rimuru's request slide. Aoko asked in confusion, "Right. No matter how much influence the Kuonji family has, ordinary people can only do so much about Magicians. That means Alice would have to handle all of this herself for you."
"Why do you think Alice went to Fuyuki City in person? Wasn't it because she was worried ordinary people would be affected by the Mysteries and make the information unreliable? And now you're asking her to go to Ryougi City too? That's the largest city in Japan after the capital!"
"Aoko, I never said I'd agree," Kuonji Alice interrupted, displeased with Aoko's indignation. Then she turned her calm gaze to Rimuru. "I'll help you... but you have to tell me why."
As the last pure-blooded Witch, Kuonji Alice had her own pride.
She could help Rimuru hunt down the person who'd tried to kill him. She could help him put on a show of strength and deal with the other old families.
But, to be honest, Rimuru had never once come to her for help with any of that. If not for Liddell, she wouldn't even have known he'd emerged from his self-imposed isolation and fully regained the pride and ambition of the Tempest family.
No matter how detached she was, it wasn't as if she felt nothing. The little irritation was simply insignificant beside their reunion and friendship.
When Rimuru asked her for help, Kuonji Alice had initially felt a little happy. But for his request to be the same as last time... that was a bit much!
She was practically the CEO of a major company, and she had plenty of influence, didn't she? Yet Rimuru kept asking her to run errands for him?!
She, Kuonji Alice—the pure-blooded Alice, the Last Bird, the Witch of Fairy Tales—didn't she deserve some respect?!
"Right. You're not really treating Alice like a subordinate, are you?" Aoko asked, making the worst of it on purpose.
"Of course not." Facing Kuonji Alice's suddenly deep, displeased gaze, Rimuru felt a surge of pressure. He gave a wry smile. "Actually, you misunderstood what I meant, Alice."
"Whether it's Fuyuki City or Ryougi City, I don't need exact information or someone watching every move. I just need to know when major events or changes happen."
"So I'm not asking you to go there and investigate. I only need you to have a lot of people keep an eye out. I chose you simply because the Kuonji Group has many branches and contacts throughout Japan."
"..." Kuonji Alice continued to stare at Rimuru, then calmly said, "Fuyuki City is for the Holy Grail War."
"Yeah."
"And Ryougi City?"
"The Mystic Eyes of Death Perception." Rimuru answered without the slightest attempt to hide it. "I won't keep secrets from you, Alice, Aoko, or Liddell."
"Eyes of Death Perception?" Kuonji Alice tilted her head. A red glint flashed in her right eye—her own Mystic Eyes, which had some power to charm. "The power of Mystic Eyes isn't worth..."
"Rainbow-level Mystic Eyes, Alice." The moment Rimuru said that, all three fell silent.
Rainbow-level Mystic Eyes stood just below True Magic, and were a power only the gods could possess.
"Are you sure?"
"Of course..." Rimuru smiled. For a transmigrator, revealing too much of the plot was a very foolish decision, but he didn't care.
He'd always felt detached from this world. In other words, he'd always felt as though he were a player in a game, an observer looking in from the outside.
He knew very well that as long as he retained the memories of his previous life, his subconscious would inevitably understand this world as an anime. He would never be able to immerse himself in it.
But he also had another set of fragmented memories: the more than ten years he'd lived after his memories were sealed. Those memories were why, when he faced Liddell, Alice, and Aoko, he felt a bond with them—and felt that this world was worth cherishing.
So he chose to trust these companions. Maybe he'd keep the fact that he was a transmigrator buried in his heart for the rest of his life, but he saw no reason to hide anything else, much less be on his guard—
Of course, accepting that Liddell was his close friend didn't mean he'd completely immersed himself in this world.
As he'd said, that didn't stop him from treating this world like a game to be conquered, then finding a way back to his original world after beating it. At most... he'd simply raised Liddell, Alice, and the others to the status of players he recognized.
As for everyone and everything else—
They were all NPCs... or monsters.
So even the future Ryougi Shiki was nothing more than an... elite monster he could defeat to strengthen himself.
"I'm curious where you got your information, Rimuru."
After a moment's hesitation, Liddell spoke. "I was already a little puzzled when you told me about the Holy Grail War and Akasha yesterday. But I trusted you, so I didn't ask. Now, though..."
Rainbow-level Mystic Eyes, and ones that would appear in the future at that. They couldn't suppress their curiosity or the worry in their hearts.
But now they were more concerned that Rimuru might be deceived or manipulated by someone—
"In the past, I was often able to see fragments and images of the future." Rimuru looked at Aoko. She blinked, then confirmed, "That's true. The Director talked to me about it."
Sure enough, Rimuru nodded. Given how well the Director knew Aoko, how could he not have asked her to observe Rimuru's timeline? In that case, maybe the reason the Director firmly believed Rimuru would be one of the variables in the future was that Aoko couldn't see his timeline?
"The Director told me this ability was called Revelation." With Aoko's confirmation, Rimuru continued. "My Revelation is a little different from the ones recorded in the texts, but the scenes I see really will come to pass at some point in the future—"
"So you're sure the events in those visions will help you?" Kuonji Alice asked softly.
"Yeah. At least, I need to make preparations in advance." Rimuru smiled. "You know me, Alice. I don't do things unless I have a good chance of succeeding."
"..."
Kuonji Alice stared silently at Rimuru, her thoughts impossible to read.
Aoko puzzled over it for a while, then finally figured it out. "You're not planning to take those Mystic Eyes for yourself, are you?"
After she spoke, she looked at Rimuru with a complicated expression. "...You really are... as despicable as ever."
"Wasn't I like this when you first met me?" Faced with Aoko's scorn, Rimuru suddenly laughed with ease. In his fragmented memories, Aoko's kindness and his own self-interest had always been at odds. Neither had ever managed to convince the other.
But differences in principle didn't necessarily make them enemies. At least, after Aoko experienced Mahoyo, seven years had passed. No matter how much she clung to her girlhood and old way of thinking, she'd still grown.
Especially since ninety-nine percent of the world's Magicians were selfish. If she kept trying to help everyone she met, she'd wear herself out.
"Can those Mystic Eyes help you?" Hearing that, Kuonji Alice tilted her head and looked at Rimuru as if asking him to confirm it.
"Revelation told me they can."
Before you continue