Author: Kaburagi Haruka

Translator: s.h.i.+roiKaze/Soyokaze Translations

Chapter 25: Release

Translated by Soyokaze Translations: soyokazetranslation . Com

"… Eh?"

What did Master just say…?

He's setting me free?

"Eir, I said I'm releasing you."

That is certainly what I wished for. To be free. This is a joyous thing.

But… What then?

"… No."

What should I do after that?

My hometown community is gone. My parents are gone. Anyone I would think of as a relative is buried under dirt and sand.

Even if I went back to Mareba, I'd just be sold back into slavery.

Rely on the Maxwell Theater Troupe? That might not be so bad.

But leaving Master here would be… I can't just part ways with him like this.

"… I don't… wanna."

He was a complete stranger to me from the start.

Plus he's a boy who's planning to research the taboo of [Resurrecting the Dead].

If I stay by his side any longer, I'll just get caught up in trouble.

Even so, he's…

"I'll help… I'll help you, Master Rimuru. With your research. So…"

He saved me, and shared in my grief of losing my family. He's a friend.

That's why… I won't just go and leave him here.

"Let me stay by your side."

"Eir…"

I dove into Master's chest, and hugged him.

"Don't leave me alone. I have nowhere to go. I want to be with you, Master Rimuru."

"Ei—Gyaaaaaaah?!"

I was afraid of Master rejecting me, so I put some more strength in my hug.

"Keep me at your side?"

"Got it, I got it, just… Crus.h.i.+ng! You're crus.h.i.+ng meeeee!"

"Okay, appreciated."

I release my grip, and take some distance from Master.

I aim my best smile at him to try and hide my embarra.s.sment.

"c.r.a.p, and here I thought there was a nice mood going… What a pitfall…"

"Hm, Master Rimuru, were you expecting something?"

"I was, dammit! I've never had any girl I'm this close with until now, so of course I did."

Well that's odd. When you consider Master's looks, his abilities as a healer, and his future prospects, he should be really popular.

I'm sure this is a case of the person himself never realizing it.

He's the thickheaded magic nerd type, after all.

"Ain't this just the best talk…?"

Watching us from the side, Yig pulled a handkerchief from somewhere and was dabbing at the corners of her eyes with it.

"In any case, Eir, staying with me is fine, but I'm still releasing you from your status as a slave. That's fine, right?"

"Yes."

Hearing that, I put my hand to the collar at my neck, and store just the collar in "Dimensional Storage". And then I pulled my hand away and made it reappear.

In other words… The collar has been removed.

"Huh?"

"Mm, here. All yours."

"You took it off?!"

"Figured I could probably do it."

This gift doesn't work by taking in whatever I'm in direct contact with. It only pulls in the parts that I think about pulling in. In other words, if I only thought about the collar, I figured I could easily remove it.

This unusual ability is way too convenient… Or rather, way too powerful.

"About that~, I'm pretty sure it's because you're a successor to the G.o.d of destruction's lineage~"

"Is that why?"

"From the very start, [Sensory Confusion] was cast on your region, so you being a charcoal maker is a bit weird, y'know? Normally you shouldn't have even been able to get to the mountain."

"Why was such a confusing magic circle as that laid down…?"

"Y'see, it's because the G.o.d of destruction is the immortal enemy of the World Tree believers. When the World Tree was broken, a whole ton of a.s.sa.s.sins and stuff came~"

Come to think of it, before the war of G.o.ds and demons wasn't everyone supposed to be part of the World Tree faith?

Because of the G.o.d of destruction, there was a sharp decline in believers, so of course they'd despise that.

"When you put it that way, they're not doing things decently, huh…"

"So, with that being the case, there were lots of people in the G.o.d of destruction's progeny that had powerful gifts."

"Not really sure how those things are connected, but if it means I can be helpful, then whatever."

"It's rea.s.suring to have you cooperating with me, Eir. So uh, I was thinking…"

And then Master pulls a single bottle out of our bags of luggage.

By looks, it appeared to be an expensive bottle of an alcoholic beverage. But alcohol was supposed to be off limits…

"Master…?"

"Hey, no alternative motives here, okay? We're still minors, and I'm well aware from our previous experience that we aren't good with alcohol!"

"But we're drinking?"

"Well, I like alcohol… But more like, it's a celebration of your freedom, I guess? It's the type of mood where I want to drink a little."

"What kind of mood is that? Seriously…"

While spinning some excuses, Master prepares three gla.s.ses.

He pours water in them, turns it into ice by casting [Freeze], and pours the alcohol over top.

The [Freeze] spell creates ice that, unless the magic is dispelled, will never melt.

Though [Freeze] is a highly difficult spell, Master learned it because it was necessary for the morgue and the like.

This way, with the ice never melting, the alcohol won't get diluted, but we can still enjoy drinking it while it's cold.

"Okay then, to Eir's new life."

"For Master Rimuru's enrollment."

"Umm, umm, for uhh~… for what-the-heck ever!"

"Cheers!"

We put our gla.s.ses together and downed the strong alcohol in one gulp.

Being expensive alcohol, it went down easy, and one gla.s.s turned to two, and they kept piling up… Sure enough, we soon lost consciousness.

Translated by Soyokaze Translations: soyokazetranslation . Com

The next morning I was sleeping buck naked on the bed.

And this time I'm not even wearing underwear. Don't tell me I finally… Thinking that, I checked who was next to me, and Yig was sleeping there naked for some reason.

"… What in the world happened?"

Upon looking further, Master had been wrapped in a bamboo mat, and was rolling in the corner of the room.

I'm sure Yig did that. That has to be it.

Anyway, leaving him like that would be horrible, so I go over to free Master. I take the opportunity to slap his cheeks to wake him up.

Master normally wakes up easily, but when alcohol enters the picture he gets bad with mornings.

"Master Rimuru, Master Rimuru? Wake up."

"Hn, uurrr… Eir? My head kinda hurts."

"Hungover? Or it could be a cold. Considering how you slept."

"Why am I sleeping here?"

"I don't know either."

"Figures."

Then Master looked at me, and froze up to a startling degree.

"E-Eir…"

"Yeah?"

"Cl-clothe… Put on some clothes?!"

Oh yeah, I didn't get dressed yet. I guess my mind switched gears when I saw Master wrapped up like that.

"Hnn~, wha~?"

And then Yig slowly awoke.

To think he has two nude girls waiting on him in the morning… Not bad, Master.

"This is hardly my fault! Why the heck are you two naked anyway?!"

"Well ya see~, Boss went over to Chief and—"

"Don't say it! I have no idea what you're going to say, but I feel like it shouldn't be heard; just stop talking!"

"—then, after Chief wrapped Boss up in a mat—"

"I wouldn't do that, would I?!"

"—she forcefully took off my clothes, said "Yig, you feel so nice and cold," used me as a body pillow, and went to sleep."

"Aaaaahhhhh…"

"And then Boss was kinda squirming around when he saw the two of us entwined on the bed~"

"Uwaaaahhhh…"

The two of us take damage from Yig's revelations. Okay, yeah, no more alcohol. This settles it.

"anyway… Let's make plans for what we're doing next. Yeah… Forget what happened last night."

"Will do. At least the bad parts."

Seeing Master and I escape from reality, Yig seems to grin impishly.

"Gonna dress first. Wait outside, Master?"

"R-right."

"I don't really mind if he watches~. Wanna see us getting dressed?"

"I firmly refuse."

Master rushes out of the room in response to Yig's needless provocation.

After taking a little time to get dressed, we usher Master back into the room and continue from where we left off last night.

"First off, about what we're doing next. Although I pa.s.sed the exam, the entrance ceremony hasn't happened yet, so we can't go to the academy."

"Well uhh, yeah?"

"Which means we've got free time until the ceremony next month."

"Then let's go to the hot springs~"

"Quiet for a moment Yig. So I'm thinking I'll learn martial arts and magic from Yig, and we'll go on guild quests with Kevin and Amy in that time."

I wonder why though. We got a guild registration because it subst.i.tutes for a pa.s.sport, but we don't have any need to raise our rank.

When I voice my opinion, Master replied.

"The library at the academy is basically available to students at any time. However, the rare books and doc.u.ments are closely guarded in a restricted area. Even if it's for the guild, the rare books require yellow rank or higher, and in some cases green rank or higher to browse through them."

"What Master wants is a spell for [Resurrecting the Dead], so I guess we can expect that to be grouped in with the rare books?"

"Exactly. Well, it's not a certainty, but rather than finding that to be the case and then raising our rank, raising it now would make us better off."

"So you mean we're making double sure."

"Yep. Plus the academy has a dorm, but you and Yig can't go in there, see?"

"That so?"

"It is. The only ones allowed are students and attendants given special permission; in other words, only the attendants of n.o.bility are allowed. I'm no n.o.ble, and since you're freed now, you're not a slave. Which makes you a normal, unrelated citizen."

"A slave would be able to get in?"

"Slaves are treated a ‘objects' with no rights of their own, after all. But apparently all kinds of trouble would happen in exchange. Bullying, a.s.sault, defamation, and so on."

"That'd be… bad."

I can guess there'll be lots of n.o.bles in the academy based just on the time at the entrance exam.

If a slave was brought into a dorm where people like that gather together… I a.s.sume it would make for a very poor environment.

"Which is why I'm thinking of buying a house near the academy."

"Then I'll—"

"No you won't."

There's a pile of gold and platinum coins packed into my "Dimensional Storage". If we use those, then a house or two would be nothing. That's what I was thinking, but Master dismissed the idea.

"Sorry, but this is my problem. I'm willing to let you help me as an escort, but if I'm even taking your money… That just makes me feel like a b.u.m."

"A man's pride?"

"Though it's probably just a silly bit of vanity. Plus, even though I'm researching a taboo subject, I have no idea who I'm going to be rooming with in the dorms, and that's a problem."

A convenient single room would be a privilege reserved for the n.o.bility.

Normal citizens like Master probably be the first ones put in shared rooms.

Most of all, Master was at the lowest rank when pa.s.sing the exam. Giving a single room to a student like this would practically be unthinkable.

"Browsing through a pile of books related to resurrection in a room with someone else in it would obviously not work. Plus I'll probably have to mix up some medicines. I'd like to acquire a house to serve as our base of operations."

"Yup, that makes sense."

"What I'd like, if possible, is a residence as a facade, with a research facility in the back… Maybe a bas.e.m.e.nt would be good?"

"Once you buy a house, how about I dig up a bas.e.m.e.nt for you~?"

Yig nominates herself for the task.

But with how sketchy she is, would letter her handle it be okay?

"I mean look, I've got a powerful a.s.sistant in my breath attack!"

"You plan on going to your normal form in the middle of town?!"

"Is that a no~?"

"It is a definite no!"

Does that mean we'll have to dig by hand? Ah, maybe stowing the dirt away in "Dimensional Storage" would work somehow?

"Can you do that? Unlike water, you would have to pull in ground in a further range than you can see."

"Oh, right… When I pull stuff in, I have to be aware of it, so maybe I won't be able to take the parts that I can't see?"

"Guess that does mean digging by hand… If we send the extra dirt and sand to "Dimensional Storage," we can at least renovate without making it obvious anyway."

"Ah, actually let's go with the breath."

"That's way too conspicuous!"

"No, I'll use it."

"Hah?"

Master made a confused, "what are you talking about?" kind of face in response to my statement.

"We'll go outside the city, I'll pull Yig's breath in, and I'll use it. It'll be inconspicuous."

"Ahh, I see. That is an option. Then we'll keep that in our possibilities… But we might find a place that has a bas.e.m.e.nt already, so it could end up unnecessary."

"Gotta be double sure, right?"

"Sure do."

Translated by Soyokaze Translations: soyokazetranslation . Com

And so we began our search for a base of operations in Raum.