[DISCONTINUED] Regrets and Wishes: To the Parallel Past

Chapter 8 - Truth in Royal Court

(Rimuru's Perspective)

"Mister Rimuru, Miss Ciel," Kaijin says, "you were looking for skilled artisans, right?" He turns around, facing us with a gloom expression. "Would you settle for me?"

Kaijin definitely knows what consequences his action will bring. Punching a minister in the face is no joke. Knowing what kind of minister whom he messed with, it makes everything worse. At the worst yet most possible case, Kaijin and co. will be sentenced to lifetime forced labors.

"We don't need to settle if we have you," I reply.

"We'd be thrilled to have your help," Ciel says.

"Hmm." He wears a sad smile on his face.

***

A bunch of Dwargon guards had entered this workshop a while ago. They're led by Kaijin's younger brother, Kaidou.

Our hands have been handcuffed.

"C'mon, bro, what were you doing?" says Kaidou with a disappointed face.

"Hmph." Kaijin snorts annoyedly while turning his eyes away. "That fool was rude to my acquaintances, Mister Rimuru and Miss Ciel. I just gave him a little scolding."

"'Little'? You know it's unacceptable to do that to a minister, right?"

"Hmph."

"Don't think anything bad of me," says Kaidou to us. "It's just the law. I'll have to keep you all restrained until your trial."

We follow them to the prison. Of course, I and Ciel can free ourselves very easily at any time if we want to do so. But we choose to just follow the flow. We have another plan to deal with this.

(INSIDE THE PRISON)

"If only I hadn't lost my temper.... I dragged all of you into this problem." He bows deeply to us and the Dwarven brothers. "I'm deeply sorry."

"It's fine, it's fine," I reassure him. "That minister really is damn infuriating, isn't he?"

Kaijin used to be the captain of one of the seven orders of Dwargon royal knights.

Vesta meanwhile was his adjutant.

Vesta came from a marquis's family while Kaijin came from a family of commoners. It was only natural if they clashed all the time.

And when the Magisoldier Project went into complete failure and went up in smoke, Vesta dumped all responsibility for his failure onto Kaijin. He even got the forces on his side and convinced his friends among the high-ranked leaders to give a false testimony against Kaijin.

Kaijin assumed the responsibility and quit the forces. But even now, Vesta still holds grudge against him and often makes unreasonable demands of him, or rather him and his buddies, at every opportunity.

"Yeah, you got that right," says Kaijin. "But it's not as if he was a bad guy, really. He and I weren't a good match but he was always a hard worker and passionate about his research."

"Mister Rimuru, Miss Ciel"—he stands up—"I'll be under your care." He offers his hand to me.

"Yeah." I shake his hand. "Once our problem has been settled, you'll be completely under our protection."

Although I'm not sure if I can keep my cool in the court later.

"About that." Garm stands up. "We're going to follow Kaijin-san, too."

"Huh?" Kaijin is a little bit confused.

"Yeah." Dord also stands up. "If it means we can work together with Kaijin-san, we'll go anywhere."