...Before the Storm

Today was the last day of the festival. And I had the day free until the last event today. I had met up with Shion early in the morning and we were going to spend some time together. We were currently inside the kitchen, the most dangerous place to be with Shion. This morning we were cooking without using Shion's Cook.

"Alright, so we want to start by mixing the flour with milk and a small amount of sugar and salt."

Shion nodded before grabbing the salt and was about to dump it into the bowl.

"Wait!" I said with a small amount of nervous sweat forming on my forehead. A great feat considering I can't sweat.

Standing behind her I helped her measure the amount needed for the ingredients.

"See here in the recipe, it's supposed to be a teaspoon, not a cup."

Shion's body somehow moved automatically to reach for either the wrong ingredients or towards the wrong amount. And with a little bit of assistance, she was able to progress relatively close to smoothly.

"Alright, now I gotta flip it" said Shion with determination. "Really carefully.."

After she had finished she had placed the pancake on a dish and cut two pieces of it for both of us to try. And

"It's good!" I said with surprise in my voice. Turning around towards Shion I saw an unexpected view.

Shion had fully started to cry.

"It's actually good!" She said before launching for a hug. "I actually made something that tastes good!"

Caressing her head until she calmed down she stepped back. And shone the brightest smile she had ever expressed.

"Thank you!" After a short kiss she stepped back. "Can you help me make tea? It's supposed to be really easy but.."

"It would be my pleasure." I said, returning the smile that quickly turned sour.

"Shion… why are you grabbing the soy sauce?"

"To make tea of course. How else are you supposed to?"

....

After cooking with Shion I was greeted by the little nuke.

"How is it going, my little nuke? Had fun during the festival?"

Milim smiled and said

"The festival is so awesome! I have never had something like this back in- wait. Who are you calling little? I'll have you know that I am not little" Milim puffed up her cheeks before her star necklace began to glow.

"So you are not denying the nuke part?" I said with a small laugh "But actually, have you gotten taller?"

"Hehehe, so you have noticed. Quite observant you are. I am indeed taller than when we met." She said as she began to boast.

"Wanna go on a walk with me? Since I don't have much time before I have to go back I wanted to spend some more time with my… Best friend…"

"Oh? You trailed off a bit at the end there. Could it be that you are considering taking the second offer I gave you when we met?" I said as I began to tease her.

She blushed before speaking loudly.

"Speaking of offers, how come I haven't gotten any honey in a while?" She said as she tried to change the topic.

"Well, my little nuke, all you had to do was ask." I said as I passed her a couple of jars of honey.

….

Walking around for a few hours led us to meet Luminous and Hinata.

"Howdy Luminous" I said after seeing the cowboy hat Luminos was wearing.

"Howdy partner, guess who just won one of the games." Luminous answered, she had been in a very good mood since she had gotten here.

"Well, judging by your fabulous hat I am going to guess it was you."

"Looking good, Luminous!" Milim said

"Right you are, and it only took me 20 tries to get the hat." She answered with a proud expression.

Hinata, who was standing behind her, had an extreme poker face.

<<Say, Hinata, have you ever wanted to fight a really strong dragon?>> I asked her with thought communication after seeing her expression.

She raised an eyebrow with interest.

<<What kind of dragon? I have defeated regular dragons before.>>

<<Well, you know… The true dragon kind..>>

A small smile appeared on her face before she replied.

<<You know, I would actually really want to. Is it->>

<<Yup, head to the main office and ask for Treyni, tell her I sent you. She'll take you to him. Just make sure to stay quiet about him. Have fun.>>

Hinata grabbed the sword that was on her waist with anticipation before speed walking away towards the main office

Taking a look at Luminous, whom I had added to the mental conversation, she now had a frown on her face.

<<I thought that damned dragon had finally died.>>

<<Well, Veldora doesn't die when he is killed, true dragon perks and all that. So he was bound to come back even if he had died. Why let that ruin your mood?>>

Luminous sighed before saying

<<I'm going to go watch the fight, maybe he will get a bit beat up. I'll see you at the final event.>>

….

The final event had finally arrived. It was a dance. Lina had suggested it and we had decided to add it.

As the night came on the final day and the lights turned on music began playing on the speakers throughout the city.

This was the last and final chance to win prizes. And many people were excited to be a part of an event that would normally be reserved for nobility.

Many sections of the city had been cleared up to allow people to dance. And, in the location the orchestra was playing, were all of the people who had been invited to the previous dinner and some more.

Everyone had gotten dressed up for the occasion, and some dances had already begun. King Gazel was dancing with the leader of Dwargon's covert organization, Henrietta. And she had a bright smile on her face. Rigurd was dancing with Yugen, an elven woman from Jistav that had been the one to teach most of us how to dance.

I had done my first dance with the one who was the most excited to try out new things, Trya. She was very energetic and had practiced a lot with Yugen for the occasion, and she was wearing a light green dress that matched her hair.

After Trya I danced with Lina, who was wearing a grey dress. As she had mentioned before, she was not very coordinated. She was a bit embarrassed at the beginning and made some mistakes but after some time she calmed down and she was able to dance properly.

Shuna was wearing a red dress, and she was very sophisticated with every step she took. It seemed this sort of thing came naturally to her. She had learned the fastest and was the best at it by far. If I hadn't used plunderer to learn how to dance I might not have been able to keep up with her.

Shion, who was wearing a purple dress, was a surprisingly smooth dancer. While most of the time she preferred to do things by force this time she was moving delicately. She was still riding the high of having made propper food this morning and appeared to have entered a zen-like state since then as if nothing could annoy her for the moment.

Souka was wearing a light blue dress. She wasn't a big fan of dancing, yet she still gave it a try. She hadn't practiced with Yugen, so we only did a simple and short dance. And after that, she had done more than enough dancing for the day.

I had seen Hinata just lingering around the food, she had appeared to be deep in thought before I approached her. She was wearing a black dress that showed her back.

"Wanna dance?" I said as I extended my hand.

After a short pause, she extended her hand and accepted.

While dancing we began to speak.

"How did it go in the fight?"

"I was completely defeated, Veldora wasn't even trying to fight me properly."

"Well, Tempest wasn't built in a day. I'm sure if you continue to fight him you might be able to give him a run for his money."

She gave a light smile before she answered.

"That's not quite how I remember the quote."

"Well, we are building roads everywhere, aren't we? Pretty soon all roads will lead to Tempest."

She gave a small laugh. It appeared that her fight with Veldora had helped her get out of her poker face mode.

"You have built quite the city, haven't you. I don't know how you did it but you have even been able to recreate the commodities of our past world. I may have given an apology before but I didn't really mean it. I guess I now owe it to you. As my teacher would have said, you are not a bad slime." She gave a light smile before continuing. "I apologize for attacking you and not listening when you tried to explain yourself."

"You don't have to worry about that. We are allies now after all. Feel free to drop by Tempest whenever you want. I am sure Veldora would appreciate getting to fight some more. Plus the kids would enjoy having you as their teacher."

"I will consider it…"

After Hinata's dance, I approached Luminous who was wearing a pure white dress. We began to dance and she was the first to speak.

"I like Tempest."

"I like it too." I said with a joking voice and a laugh.

Luminous smiled

"Why did you build this Empire? You already know why I built mine."

"Well… because I wanted to. You already know how this world works, most of the people in power are a big pain to deal with. So I wanted to create a place in which I could be happy without having to deal with those people. Truth be told, I'm not planning to take over the world or anything like that.

But if I will do what it takes to defend my empire. If they leave us alone, I will probably leave them alone. But if they try to attack us first, I will make sure they won't be able to threaten us ever again."

"Well, in that case, I'll make sure to not get on your bad side" Luminous answered with a soft smile.

We finished the dance, and Milim also wanted to dance. She had never done so before, but she was pretty good for a beginner. And by the end, she had become an expert. She was using her thought acceleration skill to analyze each movement and learn at a great speed. We didn't talk much but she seemed happy with dancing.

And soon enough the final event of the festival came to an end.

…

Some days had passed since the festival had ended, and most of the visitors had left. Milim said that she would be back to visit once she had finished all of her assignments back in her country. And Hinata said she would come back once she had properly finished some things she had to do with the ten great saints. Luminous was also going to begin the preparations to awaken Chronoa.

Raphael was starting to take portions of Chosen Hero out from quarantine. For now, the only function that was released was Heroic Charm. The skill was not yet in its full capacity to prevent another incident like before. Raphael was trying to replicate what had happened in a safe manner.

The town was finally getting back to normal, and many people were ready to begin working once again. I was in my office with Souei standing in front of me.

"I think the best course of action would be to send one of my clones. We have not been able to properly gather information on Granbell's actions. Since I also know how souls work and I have access to Hanzo's skill I am probably the best person to spy on him."

"I agree Lord Rimuru, Granbell was last spotted at-"

[WARNING!] Raphael shouted in my mind.

At that moment the streets of Tempest glowed for a moment in two different colors creating an intricate pattern.

There was a moment of silence before a moment later Tempest was struck with tens of synchronized nuclear magic attacks. Creating a gigantic explosion. And creating a gigantic cloud of dust.

Granbell had made his move. He had one thousand years to prepare to defend the world from a big threat. A threat that even Chronoa, the one who had sealed Veldora, would not be able to deal with. A threat he believed to be the new demon lord Rimuru. And unlike his fight with Luminous.

He was going all out.