The Reincarnations of Veldanava

The Underground Dungeon

That concluded the second day of the Founder's Festival. It was full of surprises. Rimuru didn't expect to see Zegion and Adalmann, but Ciel just happened to have a different plan. And it amazed him that Masayuki had advanced to the final round.

The boy brimmed with confidence, but confidence alone wouldn't be enough to take down Ciel's unfinished masterpiece that was Zegion.

Rimuru had to remind himself that he must not underestimate Masayuki. He always lucked out of a dire situation, and this one shouldn't be that different.

'If Masayuki wins the fight, what should I give him as a reward? Wait, can Zegion be defeated in the first place? I know Ciel was a little disappointed by his performance, but he is still by far my strongest unevolved subordinate.'

Unless a miracle happened, the odds would be in Zegion's favor.

'But who should I cheer for then?' This question was more difficult than he initially thought. The obvious answer should be Zegion since he was Rimuru's own subordinate, but he adored Masayuki like a little brother and didn't want him to lose either.

'I should just wait and see it unfolds.' Rimuru thought as he was making his way through the Labyrinth. He was in his regular blue-haired form, and Ciel had already returned to his consciousness.

In addition to the tournament's final round, the Dungeon was also scheduled to open tomorrow as well, so Rimuru had to make sure that everything was presentable.

But when Rimuru arrived, he only saw Veldora. Ramiris and her servants were nowhere to be seen.

"Hi there, Veldora-chan."

"Hi..." Veldora replied with an unusual awkwardness. "Why is there a "chan" honorific after my name?"

Rimuru invited himself to the table, sitting across from Veldora who barely made any eye contact. He didn't know what had transpired, but Veldora looked quite tamed compared to his usual arrogant and boastful behavior.

"Why not? I met a certain blonde-haired beauty at the ryokan, do you want to address that?"

"I... don't know what you're talking about."

"You know that you can't hide it from me, right?" Rimuru said. "I'm quite open-minded when it comes to relationships. I mean, look at my wife."

Veldora sighed, "I know you won't mind, but it's kind of awkward when we ran into Big Sis and Guy this morning."

Velzard might tease him for it, but she wasn't a bully. After all, she should be desensitised to it by now after seeing Veldanava in all those dresses Lucia made.

'Thinking about this makes me feel both nostalgic and terrified.'

"Maybe we should change the topic. Where is Ramiris?"

¤

Ramiris was at the deepest floor of the Dungeon, the 200th floor. A concerned expression painted over her beautiful face as she watched two beams of light clashed into each other. Their collision intensely shook the whole Labyrinth.

Those two were Milim and Rael. They came here after the tournament ended. They wanted to fight, but doing that in the town could lead to many casualties, so they came here to use the Labyrinth as their playground instead.

Ramiris wanted to call them "responsible," but these two probably didn't come up with the idea by themselves. They weren't that smart. It was possibly a suggestion from one of Rimuru's subordinates, most likely to be Benimaru, too.

"You might not be Rimuru, but you're as strong as him."

"We wouldn't say that we are as strong as Lord but thanks for the compliment!"