I felt my non-existent eyes flutter open as I came back to consciousness after...

What was I doing before I lost consciousness?

I dug into my memories prior to me losing consciousness as several images flashed in my mind.

Right, I was killing Humans that harmed my people and ended up evolving into a Demon Lord like Milim and Carrion.

Somehow, realizing that I turned into a scary Demon Lord didn't overwhelmed me.

""Rimuru-sama, you're finally awake!"" A pair of melodic voices sounded above me, causing myself to look up and see both Shion and Shuna smiling down on me.

Well, mostly Shuna. All I can see from Shion are her eyes and horn because of her bags of hope and dreams barely being held by her shirt.

"Shuna, Shion." I greeted back as the two women stood up, with Shion carrying me under her arms, giving me a clear view of our surroundings.

The sight of repaired buildings in the village made me quickly realize that I was out for some time. Of course my clear view of the village square was quick to disappear as my people gathered around the square, most likely overhearing Shion and Shuna's words of me waking up from unconsciousness.

Excited and relieved voices bombarded my non-existent ears as words of my people overlapped each other.

Of course some stood out like Rigurd's, which didn't surprise me, followed closely by Ranga. I swear those two are in some sort of competition if I didn't add Shuna and Shion.

"It's good to see that you're finally awake, Rimuru-san." Shizu said with a relieved voice as she stepped forward from the crowd.

Seeing Shizu-san, I was quick to notice something new in her look. Her hair has gained some orange color to their tips, reminding me of a certain anime character that I know.

Jumping off Shion's arms, I shifted into my human form and quickly noticed that I gained some height.

Not only that, I finally have a curvature of a woman, albeit still on the petite side, but now on par with Milim's figure.

The thought itself made me depressed for a moment but, I countered it with a positive thought.

I have curves now! A natural curve without the help of my shape-shifting. Freaking finally!

[Due to your evolution, most of your transformations have improved, due to your increased magicule count.] Great Sage said.

[Please refer to me as Raphael. I have evolved from your previous Unique skill: Great Sage into an Ultimate Skill: Raphael.] Great-err... Raphael-san corrected with a tone that I could imagine was... pride?

And doesn't Raphael-san sound more articulate with her words now?

[It is just your imagination.] I sweatdropped at her dull reply.

I mentally shook my head and wondered what improvements did Raphael-san got, which was immediately answered by the now evolved skill.

A massive improvements list flashed in my mind as all of my previous skills appeared to have improved into an overpowered skill or some of them merged to become an entirely new multipurpose skill that is also overpowered.

One thing that got my attention through that massive info dump was that all of the people that I've named, which means almost everyone in the village evolved too and recieved improved skill and also new ones as well, which is a massive boon for everyone involved.

"Rimuru-sama, you look more beautiful than before!" I blushed a bit at Shuna's words as the latter approached me with a measuring tape in hand.

"Ah, Shuna-san. Before you start measuring Rimuru-san, we should get her back to speed on what happened when she was asleep." Shizu-san said, making the oni princess blink in realization.

"Ah, of course, Shizu-san!"

"Let's go, Rimuru-sama. We already have your office set up in advance!" Shion somehow evolved into a decent secretary- please tell me that's not an actual skill. I may have skimmed through the rest of everyone's skills but please don't prove me right that there's an actual secretary skill or I might have an aneurysm.

>>>>>

After relocating to my office, I didn't waste any time and started the meeting. The others were quick to report what details of what happened and I allowed them to share their perspective views during the event.

"So it really was the western church that was behind the attack." I said, frowning at the thought of my people being in their radar.

It was already alarming at first when Shizu-san and I encountered her old student Hinata Sakaguchi, who was trying to kill me for killing her sensei, Shizu-san. But in the end Shizu-san and I managed to convince Hinata-san that I didn't kill Shizu-san and the one in front of her is the real deal. We barely managed to survive that fight and almost made me use something drastic like faking our deaths. It was really fortunate that Shizu-san has several blackmail materials against Hinata-san, back when she was a kid.

"What of Mjurran?" I asked, putting away my thoughts for now and focusing on the meeting at hand.

Rigurd spoke, "Red-sama punched her in the chest."

What!?

"Yes, when we woke up, miss Mjurran encoundered Red-sama and he said something about a 'walking See-See-Tee-Vee' before punching her." Benimaru said, looking puzzled at the foreign word like most of the people in the meeting room.

Shizu-san who was sitting next to me asked, "Rimuru-san, do you know what's this 'See-See-Vee-thing' is?"

Rubbing the bridge of my nose, I replied, "It's a kind of surveillance system." I gave them a rough explanation, which thankfully everyone managed to understand.

"So Mjurran is dead." Great, there goes one useful intel I could've gotten.

"Actually, Miss Mjurran is still alive." Shuna said, making me look at her in confusion.

Huh? But you guys said that overpowered idiot punched her. That should've been a fatal hit-no, she should've turned to mist!

Wait. Maybe that idiot healed her like he did to Gabiru after literally beating him to death.

"Where is she now?" I asked.

Weird, I'm not having a headache immediately after hearing about something that has Red involved in.

.

.

.

I just jinxed myself didn't I?

Benimaru turned to Rigurd's son, Rigur as the latter nodded and left the room, probably to fetch the girl. I can already imagine the girl in chains and everything, given the devotion of these guys to me and to the village.

Not that it's a bad thing, it's just that sometimes they could be bit overwhelming at how devoted they are to me.

[Please, focus on the meeting.]

R-right.

It didn't take long for Rigur to come back with Mjurran being escorted by uh... Sona-san's sister?

"Hiya~! everyone☆!" Sona-san's sister cheerfully greeted with a wink.

Oh, she's one of those types, huh?

""Good afternoon, Serafall-dono."" Most of the people seated greeted with a few giving her nods acknowledgement.

So that's her name. Alright. But what's she's doing here?

"I've been told to watch over her by Red-chan, if you're wondering." Serafall-san said with a pout.

"Mou! I missing So-tan train her new familiar. Red-chan is so mean!" She childishly complained.

...What's with Red's group being weirdos? This one in front of me feels like everything is second compared to this 'So-tan' of hers, which I'm assuming is Sona-san, so she's a high-tier sis-con. Also, from what I'm feeling from her presence she's a lot stronger than me.

[Her magicule count or what is equivalent of it is around three times of yours. Antagonizing this person is ill-advised.] Raphael-san confirmed.

What the hell Red? Why is everyone in your hare- I mean, group, a bunch of monsters?

"Err... Rimuru-sama, I've returned with Mjurran-san and Serafall-dono." Rigur spoke, knocking me out of my conversation with Raphael-san.

"Thank you, Rigur." Good thing that I have decent acting skills to not appear disturbed and managed to continue on.

Now that I looked at Mjurran-san, my mind cleared out of distractions as I could only feel something dark inside me towards one of the people responsible for the attack.

"So, Mjurran-san." I spoke as I subconsciously leaked my power and fill in the room, making the others tense up.

"I heard from our discussion here that your actions were forced by you master is that correct?"

Lies!

Mjurran-san didn't answer as she closed her eyes.

See!? She's admitting it!

Kill her!

[Your emotions are starting to cloud your mind and may affect your judgement.] Raphael-san pointed out.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to calm myself down. Opening them again I looked at the girl who seems to be resigned to her fate.

"Sorry. I'm still a little bit upset at what transpired a few days ago. Now, please answer the question, Mjurran-san." I said to her.

"Yes, I was forced by my master to do his bidding using a cursed spell called Marionette Heart. Using that spell, my life was essentially in his hands, unable to go against his biddings or risk death if I disobey."

"Hm. So you were blackmailed by your master." I said to her, getting a nod in return.

"And who is this master of yours?" I asked.

"I normally wouldn't be able to tell you the name of my master before being killed by him, but thanks to Great Red-sama freeing me from my old master's control I can now reveal my old master's name..." A smile free of burden graced Mjurran-san's face.

"...My old master is the Demon Lord Clayman." Mjurran-san said causing everyone to turn their attention on me.

A Demon Lord, huh? Like Carrion and Milim this one is also a Demon Lord. Well, now that I'm also a Demon Lord, I'm going to make this bastard pay!

>>>>>

A few hours after the discussion at my office, I found myself walking aimlessly around the town with Shizu-san in relative silence. But after a few minutes of walking Shizu-san broke the silence, "So you are really going after that Demon Lord that Miss Mjurran mentioned?"

I stopped walking, making her look back at me waiting for my response, "Yes, he specifically targeted my people."

"What about the Kingdom of Falmuth? The Western Church? Are you going after them too? You know that if you go after those two targets, many countries will retaliate in return. Especially if you target the Western Church, whose followers are spread wide across the continent."

I nodded at the points she made. While yes I'm still going after those bastards that attack my city and my people, I know the consequences of going after those two.

"That would only happen if I openly went after that fat king's kingdom and the church. What I'm thinking is... how about a change of government? Or a lost of faith? I mean, Tempest doesn't really need to go after them, you know?" I said as an sly smile crossed my face.

"I see... You're planning to use Red-san's group to retaliate against them."

Wait. What!?

"Huh!? No! I meant I would have a puppet leader take over Falmuth while also discrediting the Western Church! What gave you that idea?" I asked in confusion.

Shizu-san at least had the decency to look embarrassed at her assumption, "W-well, their group is still present and currently an available option. They were also present during the attack and have friendly relations with Tempest, so I assume that's what you were going after..."

She does make some good points there, but if I went with that route it would look like Tempest can't defend on their own and must rely on others, like Red's group to lay down the mallet. From what I learned since waking up in this world is that news travels fast and when that reaches my sempai in medieval ruling, he would be disappointed in me.

Also, I know for certain that my people would like some payback as well. That action on the defense wasn't enough for them, I can easily tell, thanks to my hints in the form of Shion and Benimaru.

And with my plan of going after Clayman, there's a huge guarantee that a wide-scale battle will happen along the way. A perfect stress relief for the battle junkies in my side.

So I explained to Shizu-san my reasoning behind not relying on Red's group, which she easily accepted, much to my relief.

Suddenly, Shizu-san grabbed my hands with hers as she looked at me straight in the eyes, "Rimuru-san, can you do me a big favor? Can we not involve my student, Hinata-chan? And if she does get involved in this plan of yours, can we bring her to our side?" Shizu-san asked- no, pleaded.

"Of course!" I replied without hesitation. I may have been mad at Hinata-san on our first encounter but with Shizu-san, being one of my closest friends pleading for the sake of her student. I couldn't refuse. I may be a monster now, but I'm still a monster with a friend. And I'm not going to deny her this request!

...

On second thought, I'm still mad and petty enough at Hinata for trying to kill me. So when I see her again, I'm going to introduce her to Red.

Wait, now that I remember...

Where's that guy and the others? I know he's still here because Serafall-san is here and Shizu-san also said so.

I looked at Shizu-san, "Shizu-san, do you know where's Red and his group?" I asked.

"Ah, I was wondering when you are going to ask about him." Shizu-san gave me a teasing smile.

"Whatever you're smiling about it's not it." I quickly denied before she could let out a word.

"Hm? Is it wrong for me to smile, Rimuru-san?" I don't know why but her tone sounds familiar and scary at the same time.

"A-anyways! Where is his group?" I asked while supressing a shiver, which Raphael-san didn't address for some reason.

[-keno-san... scary...]

Huh? Did you say something, Raphael-san?

[A random input from this one is unnecessary. You are most likely imagining things.] Raphael-san deadpanned with the unspoken message of 'stop spacing out.'

I sighed and focused back to Shizu-san, "They're temporary staying in one of our lodgings. But at the moment, given the time of the day, they must be training around the area not far from Veldora-san's cave."

Huh, why does Red's group staying in our lodges reminds me of something ridiculous? Eh, must be nothing.

Also, 'Veldora-san'? Since when was Shizu-san been aware of Veldora? Was it back when I still have her stored in my stomach?

Ugh... More thoughts for later.

[Thoughts for later. Noted.] Thank you Raphael-san!

"Don't worry, I'm also aware of Red-san and some of the people in his group being quite destructive. He already took precautions and raised a powerful barrier around their training ground. Come on, I'll take you there." Shizu-san said as she began to head towards the general direction of Veldora's cave.

After leaving the general city area and ten minutes of walking later we arrived in front of a barrier with glowing symbols that circle around it.

I had Raphael-san assess the barrier to allow me to replicate it somewherein the future, but Raphael-san unfortunately wasn't capable of replicating things beyond her understanding.

Somehow, Raphael-san, an Ultimate Skill with universal level of understanding or something close to it can't understand the nature of the barrier in front of me.

[This barrier is created by the Ruler. A infinitely superior being that is above everything else. An Ultimate skill like this one can only with deal with subjects within its realm of understanding.] Was Raphael-san's response before going silent.

Just as I was about to tell Shizu-san that we can't enter the barrier and should just return, she grabbed my arm and dragged me inside the barrier without feeling resistance from the barrier.

Seeing my confused look, Shizu-san explained, "Red-san gave me and a few others the authority to enter his barrier and allow others too as long as the authrized person is holding them."

"Who are the few others?" I asked while idly surveying the training area, which I noticed is bigger compared to the outside. Space manipulation?

[A logical assumption.] Raphael-san said, but offered no more additional input.

"Rigurd-san, Shion-san and Benimaru-san." I felt an incoming headache when Shizu-san dropped the last two names.

Really, Red?

I was cut off from my thoughts as I felt the ground tremble as an explosion erupted from the distance.

Summoning my wings, I flew to examine the source of the commotion with Shizu-san close behind me with her own pair of wings out.

Getting a better angle of the area, I spotted Rias-san and what appears to be a blonde maid duking it out in the air.

I didn't rush down to help Rias-san as fully I'm aware that I entered a training ground and Shizu-san didn't seemed to be worried about Rias-san's opponent, so instead I simply watched the two fight.

Also, the maid looks kind of familiar to me for some reason.

Between the two, Rias-san looked to be on the defensive side of the fight as the blonde maid rained down fire from her lips, while Rias-san did her best to dodge the incoming fireballs or even destroy them by summoning several black orbs to nullify the incoming attacks.

"Yaaah!" With a shout, Rias-san rushed towards the maid with a spiraling red orb in hand, while the maid on the other hand matched the red orb with her fist, locking the two in a stalemate which didn't last long as the maid's gloved hand was shredded and her limb thrown back just as Rias-san's attack detonated in a small explosion, pushing the two away from each other.

The resulting explosion caused the two to suffer some light burns and teared up clothing as the blond smiled at her opponent and- Oi! Cover yourself up! One of your tits is hanging out!

I looked at Rias-san and the latter's state of modesty would've been worse than the maid's if her bra and panties didn't barely cover her important bits.

"I win, Rias-chan!" The blonde maid cheerfully declared, causing Rias-san to glance down on herself and pout with blushing cheeks.

"I'll beat you next time- Also your boob is out!" Rias-san shouted as she used her magic to restore her clothing.

"It's okay, Red-sama would like it!" The blond shamelessly declared.

Ugh, of course he would...

[Worry not. This skill's vast knowledge is aware of a known fact that 'Flat is justice'.] Oi. What are trying to say just now, huh?

"Cover it up you idiot!" Rias-san yelled at the maid.

"I told you it's okay~!" The blond maid sang causing Rias-san to fly to the maid and restore the latter's clothing.

"Mou~! Rias-san, stop sabotaging my plan to entice Red-sama!" The pervert pouted.

I looked at Shizu-san and she weakly chuckled at me with a small blush on ber face, "This happened yesterday as well but with Tohru-san against Artoria-san."

So this Tohru-san, is the pervert in Red's har- group. Got it. I'm going to avoid standing next to her in the future.

A dull thum reached my ears as I turned my head to look at just as a force of wind rushed pass us.

"Oh, who is training with Mister All Might today?" Shizu wondered as I went to follow her when she flew towards this All Might's direction, leaving Rias-san and Tohru-san unaware of our presence as the two went back to sparring.

A few seconds of tailing Shizu-san, we reached the location to see a star spangled muscle bound behemoth of a man- I know what I said and this guy might be a distant relative of Rigurd or an American counterpart of his- teaming up with a dark haired woman against Red.

With a dull boom followed by a powerful gust of wind from a single punch, Shizu-san and I silently watched as the man miss his target and be sent flying by a kick, courtesy of the overpowered idiot.

The American Rigurd's partner covered his absence and tried to keep Red occupied only for Red to grab a tree and smack her away with it. Ouch.

Red noticed our presence and waved at us, "Hey, you two! Wanna join?" He excitedly asked as if he didn't just smacked a person with a tree.

"Hell no." Was my immediate response as I backed away for extra measure. Even with my evolution to a Demon Lord, I'm not delusional enough to think that I can compete with that idiot on even grounds.

There's a reason why the title of the Ruler is a thing. Great Sage drilled that info in my head back then with uncharacteristic reverence.

[And this one shall pick up where my previous self left off.] Raphael-san intoned.

Shizu-san giggled and shook her head. "It's alright Red-san, I already had my fill from yesterday." She said while idly rubbing the back of head, which is quite unusual of her.

.

.

.

Even Shizu-san!? Benimaru and Shion are already in my list, please don't join and form the crazy trio!

Red grinned in response before turning around and throwing a punch to meet Rigu- All Might's own. Yeah, Shizu-san heard my mutter 'Rigurd 2.0' and was quick to remind me of the man's name- Anyway! Red and this All Might fellow's fists clashed causing the ground to explode under them with several trees being uprooted from the force of the shockwave.

I was honestly shocked when this All Might guy traded blows with Red with their fists clashing every encounter. A moment later the woman that Red smacked returned to join the fight, which barely fazed Red as he effortlessly handled them.

Watching the two team up against Red reminded me of Hakurou when he's teaching his students, but in this case everyone's moving so fast that the 'Me' prior to my evolution would've gotten a hard time keeping up with them.

With Red throwing All Might over his shoulder and catching an incoming kick from the woman, he then threw the woman back and said, "Alright, five minutes is up. Now you two better start dodging!"

In less than a minute, I watched as the two well-coordinated individuals earlier turn into into a terrified pair of arch-enemies, as one desperately used the other as meat a shield to 'dodge' Red's attacks.

"Oi. I don't see any dodging." Red roared as he delivered a wince inducing gut punch that made the woman throw up rainbows while being sent flying.

"I'm terribly sorry, Shishou!" All Might yelped as he barely managed to dodge a punch from Red, but the former still staggered back by the shockwave from the punch, which I'm pretty sure would turn anyone in the town aside from me into mist.

"I'm telling Sorahiko!" An angry voice from the distance cried.

"Don't tell sensei, Shishou- Ugkh!" Was all All Might managed to say before a foot rocket up its way between his legs before collapsing like a corpse.

Holy shit!

In the corner of my eye, I noticed Shizu-san wince while holding the left side of her chest as if feeling a phantom pain, which I'm definitely sure because that looked like a boob shot.

What the hell Red? Even Shizu-san didn't get mercy from you!?

"Toshinori! I'll avenge your future kid!" The woman dubbed as Shishou rushed pass All Might's form with righteous anger.

Seeing the direct charge, Shizu-san closed her eyes as if resigning her faith in place of the woman below.

I watched as the woman leaped into the air and delivered several kicks that looked impressived which were unfortunately blocked by Red. The woman flipped backwards and landed back to the ground before throwing a combination of high speed punches and kicks at Red, who easily deflected each strike. Red then leaned to the side to dodge a roundhouse kick aimed at his head but the woman transitioned the attack into a stomp, causing the ground beneath them to explode into a cloud of dust to block Red's view.

A moment later the woman emerged from the side of the dust cloud only to come face to face with a terrifying view of a smiling Red who met her head on, well more of feet first than his head because he mercilessly dropkicked the woman in the face, sending her tumbling back and landing on the prone All Might.

"Okay! One minute of healing break then we'll go on what went wrong, then we'll get back from where we left off!" Red said with his hand out glowing green to heal the two

That guy's a demon!

>>>>>

"So any regrets from bugging me to fight you two as if both of you are not my friends?" Red asked the two living corpses lying on the ground.

"My face hurts, but its worth the training." The woman, whom I learned is named Nana groaned.

"Same here Super Sensei." All Might or rather Toshinori as what Red called him gave him a shaky tumbs up, paired with a smile that shouldn't belong to someone who got kicked in the nuts.

"You two are idiots." Oi. Red, you don't deserve to call someone an idiot when you're the biggest idiot here!

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Red then snapped his fingers as the groaning forms of Nana and Toshinori were briefly covered by a green flash of light and were instantly healed.

Well that's very convenient, I wanna learn how to do that so it's not just healing potions and Nom Nom heelu being my healing options. Maybe I can ask him to teach me that later.

Red then turned his attention at Shizu-san and I, "So now that you're up and going. I figured you already have a plan of retaliation for those responsible for the attack?" He asked.

I nodded and told him of my plan.

He simply nodded at my words and said to me, "Well, I'm not the one responsible for your people so it's your call. Just let me know when you need someone's ass whooped."

I offered him a smile and thanks which he returned.

"By the way, just letting you know my group will be going back to the other side later tonight." I felt a bit of disappointment at his words but before the feeling could fully form he reassured me, "Don't worry though, I made the passage of time here and on the other side to be different. A week can go by there and it wouldn't have been a few seconds after we left."

"That cheaty power that I want. It's like a hyperbolic time chamber."

"Drag-so ball?" He asked and I nodded. I not really suprised he knows the reference I used, I mean who doesn't know that series? It's as popular as the JoStars series!

A few minutes later, Shizu-san and I went back to watching Nana and Toshinori train with Red, and I have to admit. Without my upgraded skills, I would've been outclassed by either of the two in a purely physical one-on-one combat.

A thrown tree there, a dust cloud there, the sparring area is quickly becoming a large empty crater as a sparring ground. And the trio responsible for it are still going strong with their sparring. An improvement from the previous spar, Nana and Toshinori still retained their coordination when Red increased the intensity of the sparring, where previously they were panicking but now they're doing their best to avoid the powerful blows and counterattack.

Of course, they still couldn't land a single attack on him and are still sent flying by Red. But none of the poor end of the spar are present anymore. They're still groaning on the ground, though. But at least there's no more rainbow vomiting from either of the two.

"This sort of reminds me when Benimaru and Shion decided to team up against Red-san." Shizu-san suddenly said with a small smile on her face.

Please don't remind me that you three went here to spar with Red out of all people. The guy doesn't know when to hold back and K.O for him means regurgitating your lunch.

>>>>>

After calling it a day with training, Red called Rias-san and the perverted maid to join our group. A few moments later the two girls appeared above the tree line sporting smiles on their faces as they greeted Red.

"Oh, good you two are here." Was the idiot's casual reply.

I held back a snicker as the two girl's beaming smiles died and both began to mercilessly jab Red's side with their fingers.

I was startled when several screens of magic orgins suddenly appeared in the air in front of us, each showing people engaged in their training.

"Hm, Team RWBY's teamwork is improving." Rias-san said as I watched a group of girls with distinct colors for their outfit, face off against a pair of women that looked to be related to some of the girls in the group.

"Summer-san is really skilled with the blade." Nana... -san said as I looked at her screen showing a woman in white cloak effortlessly repel attacks and counter at the same time with minimal movements wasted.

"Yeah, but Raven's quick draw technique is a lot cooler. Look." Rias-san pointed at her screen showing a dark haired woman evade a punch from a blonde-haired girl- oh! Now, I remember why these people in the screen looks familiar. They're the group that literally cleared out a room in of our buildings some time ago!

Anywas, this Raven woman moved in a smooth and quick manner as if reenacting a scene in anime and flash of red later the blonde girl's clothes exploded into strips of ribbon.

"Bwahahaha!" Red laughed and pointed, making Nana-san and Shizu-san faintly blush at the sight of the poor girl's modesty.

"Oi. That's rude!" Rias-san elbowed Red in the ribs.

"Aha... aha... sorry. Force of habit." Red rubbed the back of his head.

"Force of habit?" I turned to my side, seeing Toshinori-san who has the decency to look away from the screen.

"Darling has the tendency to blatantly laugh at people's misforture and right at their faces too." A new voice said, making me turn around to see Artoria-san making her way at us.

With brief exchange of greetings, Artoria-san situated herself next to Red, prompting Rias-san to do the same on his otherside, but was beaten to the punch by surprisingly Nana-san.

In the corner of my eye, I noticed Toshinori-san offer Nana-san a not so discrete thumbs up, while Rias-san and the perverted maid to sulk.

I know a harem moment when I see one, I stll can't believe that crap is happening right in front of me.

[Your irritation is understandable as you were too slow-]

Don't even start!

>>>>>

When news spread that Red and the others are going back to the other side, everyone was quick to assemble a giant metal pot of some sort- wait. Are we having crab for tonight? Yes!

Also to add to the nice things to expect to night, apparently several people that weren't training in Red's group earlier were doing some fishing and caught some several large fishes in nice quality too. Which turned out to be quite a delicacy and are comparable to Earth's seafood cuisine, some of them are even a parallel counterpart, which made my mouth water.

The people in charge of cooking took my expression as a sign of test and were fired up to meet and surpass my expectations.

Please don't go over board you guys!

A few hours later, the sun has finally set. The preparation party for Red and the other's departure are finished, minus the food as they are currently being cooked. The sight of the festive atmosphere of the plaze is as beautiful as the time I first saw it. Bright lanterns hang across the buildings around us, several stalls are set up in the street, each have people lining up for their products.

I smiled in content as I strolled around the cheerful feel of the plaza. I watched as a golden-haired boy wearing a dark blue jinbei excitedly drag around a green-haired woman wearing a white and blue yukata, who seems to be struggling with her geta sandals.

"Gil-sama, please wait!" The woman said.

"Come on, Enkidu! I want to try out that stall!" The kid said, nearly tugged further and nearly sending the poor woman tumbling to the ground.

"Bad Gil-kun." A dull voice said as an incredibly pale black-haired girl holding a bundle of three candy apples in each hand approached the two.

"But Enkidu is walking so slow!" The boy complained but he slowed down a bit.

"She might fall to the ground if you keep pulling her like that. Be patient." The black-haired girl said, getting a grateful look from the green-haired woman.

"Thank you, Neko-san. I'm not used to wearing geta." The green-haired woman thanked, getting an apologetic look from the boy.

I turned away from the scene as it seems to be already dealt with. I continued my stroll, seeing several faces from Red's group like Akeno-san and I think the other girl next to her is named Tsubaki-san? Hope, I got the name right.

Currently, the two girls are on a stall playing a game similar to fish scooping game but instead of gold fishes they're scooping up small slimes.

Further down the street I spotted some my dragonewts animatedly talking with Gabiru and a girl named Souka.

Team RWBY walked past me, each girl holding sweet treats of their own, chatting about the similarity of the festival here to Japan's, which I'm happy to hear.

I saw Red, Rias, Emi-san and Kanna-chan seated in a nearby bench with tables playing a new game from a stall manned by one of the dwarf brothers. The game involved trying to perfectly break out a fragile engraving of slime form from a fragile plate of material with a toothpick.

It was funny to watch Red and Rias struggle with the thing compared to Emi-san, who easily broke the fragile engraving out and is currently guiding Kanna-chan with the latter's own fragile plate.

Looking around me the festival is still going strong, given that it only started an hour ago.

I would've like to walk around a bit more and enjoy the festivities, but I have to bring a special guest out to enjoy it with the others.

Discretely stepping out of the lively plaza, I made my way to a certain cave, to hopefuly hide what I'm about to do and not ruin the surprise.

How many jaws would drop when everyone discovers that I have an adopted sibling?

____________________

Chapter 96 END

I'm alive. I've been busy spreading democracy throughout the galaxy, reading manga and watching anime. I also got engrossed on series too, thanks to several fanwork stories so yeah...

The last part was sort of beneficial though! 'Cuz while reading, it helped me cook some ideas for the story.

Anyways, it's nice to be back and I'll see you guys next update!