Archive Of Potentialities.

Short story: Of Slime and Blood -- 15.

Imperial College of Magic, ten hours ago.

Where is he?

I don't know how much time I spent battling the God of Trials, but it seems to have been enough for Rimuru to get carried away with something, seeing as I couldn't even sense him on the planet.

"Don't tell me I'm stranded here..." I murmured in annoyance.

Well, I doubt he would leave me here forever. Which means he has something to take care of right now.

"But still..." I muttered under my breath as I watched the men and women below.

They were clad in magically enhanced clothes, incredibly light armor, essentially.

They were all on high alert as they surrounded I and Rimuru's suite.

"Right, Rimuru probably did something to that vampire."

I wasn't there to see what actually happened, nor did I care.

I activated Spatial Motion and set the destination to that woman's atelier.

"Oh?"

The spell was blocked. What'd I expect?

Well...brute force it is.

I attempted to cast the spell again, beating away at the arcane wards with my magicules, and finally, I was through.

It was still midnight, so I didn't really expect her to be awake.

"You could have simply asked me to let you in." She commented as her eyes met mine.

Unfortunately, she was.

Sitting in front of her was that blonde, Erich, whose face paled as he caught sight of me.

I didn't acknowledge him, turning towards his employer.

"Where is he?" I asked, walking over to the sofa in the center of the room.

Agrippina closed her eyes and sighed, before reopening them and signaling her servant to leave.

The boy seemed eager to oblige, seeing as he left the room while making virtually no noise.

I won't eat you, you know?

"So, do you know?" I asked again.

She pulled out a pipe that was somehow already lit.

"I'm flattered that you think I would have information of that nature, really."

"Just answer the question." I don't have it in me to argue with this woman right now.

"I do not. But I did see him flying towards outer space, if that's enough."

Huh, so he was still in the neighbourhood, good to know.

"Hm?" Agrippina made a sound, retracting her pipe from her lips and looking at my right hand.

She closed her blue eye and took off the monocle on the other, inspecting me closely.

"What?" I asked, before I remembered.

"Ah right, I was still holding on to this.." I glanced at the soul pulsating with energy and authority that was sitting snugly in my palm.

I wasn't confident about leaving a soul of such quality in an arbitrary storage space. Who knows how the thing could influence it?

If I had something like Rimuru's stomach or whatever he calls it now, I wouldn't be lugging around a god's soul.

"What the hell is that?" She asked, turning her barriers up to what I guessed was their maximum output.