Chapter 8: Teasing Jealous Children
"That's where we make our clothes. Oh! Right there is where our blacksmith shop is. Our blacksmiths are true dwarves! Awesome, right? Hehe!" Rimuru commented excitedly.
Tiamat followed Rimuru with a huge smile on her face while holding his hand. She was loving seeing the expressions Rimuru was making while showing her his village. He looked like an excited child showing his mother how hard he had worked.
Tiamat had to admit, however, that Rimuru did a great job. Tempest was still a village because it was still very small compared to a city, but it wasn't far behind.
The streets are well-paved with earth and stone, and the few houses and facilities were very well built. By her estimates, Tempest would become a city in the blink of an eye, if not for the Orc Lord who has already appeared. One positive point about that, however, is that after the Orcs join Tempest, the city's development will skyrocket.
'Now how can I make little Rimuru accept me as a mother I wonder. He may be a one-year-old slime, but inside he's still a man over thirty. It won't be easy, but obstacles like these are nothing compared to a mother's love!' Tiamat thought with a raised fist and a determined expression.
At that moment, Rimuru looked at her in confusion, wondering what she was thinking about.
As Rimuru continued to escort Tiamat, two people stopped in front of Rimuru and Tiamat, and when Rimuru saw who it was, he swallowed hard.
In front of them were Shuna and Shion. Shion had her arms crossed and a fake smile on her face, trying to hold back her fury. Shuna was close behind, also hiding dark feelings behind a polite smile. Shuna wasn't caring much about Tiamat a while ago, but when she noticed how Tiamat looked at Rimuru, she felt irritated.
Shion stared at Rimuru holding hands with Tiamat with a death glare. Rimuru, feeling Shion's glare, quickly let go of Tiamat's hand, and Tiamat pouted.
"H-Hahaha! S-Shion, what are you doing here? I thought you were helping in the k-kitchen?" Rimuru stuttered. He doesn't know why she was so angry, but she looked scary!
Shion's death glare disappeared and turned into a happy smile. "Ara! Rimuru-sama! I ended up being kicked out of the kitchen and came looking for you, after all, I'm your secretary. And coincidentally, while looking for you, I saw you here...with this woman."
"Oh my, yes! What a coincidence, fufu!" Shuna, who was behind Shion, said with a giggle.
'Coincidence my ass! And Shuna was clearly with me not so long ago! What's with these two?!' Rimuru thought scared, but on the outside, he kept a calm smile.
"W-Well yeah, I was just showing our human visitor the village." Rimuru said, and introduced Tiamat, "Shion, Shuna, this is Tia-san, our first human visitor in a while. Tia-san, this is Shion and Shuna, my secretary and our tailor, respectively."
Tiamat nodded politely with a smile, while Shion and Shuna just glared at her with fake smiles.
A heavy atmosphere quickly formed between the three of them, and Rimuru shivered. 'What's with this tense atmosphere?! Looks like a war is going to burst any moment here! I need to do something!'
Something clicked in Rimuru's mind, and he immediately put his plan into action. "S-Shuna! You still have textile work to do, right? I was wondering if you could make new clothes for me!"
The tense atmosphere around Shuna immediately disappeared and she smiled happily. "As you wish, Rimuru-sama! Fufu! You're counting on me, right?"
Rimuru nodded quickly. "E-Exactly! I'm counting on you!"
Shuna bowed and left in a good mood. Rimuru wiped his sweat from his forehead and sighed in relief.
'Yosh, now all that's left is Shion...,' he thought, but before Rimuru could say anything, Shion said something that surprised Rimuru.
"Rimuru-sama, please, you have a lot of work to do to be acting as a guide. You can let me, your secretary, take care of it!" Shion said, puffing out her chest proudly.
"Eh? Do you want to guide Tia-san in my stead?" Rimuru said surprised. Seeing how her mood was, he thought Shion was gonna make a scandal; he hadn't expected her to offer to trade places with him. Maybe he got it wrong?
"But of course! What kind of bastard would make someone as wonderful and busy as Rimuru-sama be a simple guide? Such a person must be very simple-minded, fufu!" Shion said with a polite smile, but nothing in her speech was polite.
Rimuru broke into a sweat and looked at Tiamat. He expected to see Tiamat irritated by Shion's comment, but Tiamat kept a smile on her face.
Rimuru sighed in relief seeing that Tiamat didn't look offended, and then became angry about Shion's behavior towards Tiamat. 'Phew! Good thing Tia-san doesn't look offended. Still, Shion! To offend a guest like this, what got into you?!' He thought.
While thinking of a way to punish Shion and compensate Tiamat, Tiamat did something that neither Rimuru, let alone Shion, expected. Tiamat took Rimuru's arm, pulled him over herself, and hugged him gently from behind.
Rimuru felt Tiamat's warmth on his back as well as two big, soft, and heavy things pressing against his head, then he processed what had happened.
"Eh? Tia-san?! W-What are you doing?!" Rimuru said confused while blushing; he didn't expect to be hugged so suddenly!
Seeing what Tiamat did, something seemed to break in Shion. A huge vein burst on her forehead and her murderous aura began to leak nonstop.
'What does this bitch think she's doing!? Embracing Rimuru-sama while forcing that useless mass of fat over his head...! Only I am allowed to do that! I will rip you apart!' Shion thought furiously.
The situation was getting out of control, but Tiamat had a satisfied smile on her face. That was Tiamat's revenge for Rimuru letting go of her hand!
That has nothing to do with her wanting to hug him and wanting to tease them both to see their reactions! Not at all!
"Rim-chan...My guide...Not you. Go away...Nuisance," Tiamat said with a smug smirk as she pressed Rimuru even more against herself.
"R-Rim-chan?!" Exclaimed Rimuru upon hearing the nickname Tiamat gave him.
"N-Nuisance you say?!" Another vein popped in Shion's head. Her expression darkened, and a wild smile appeared on her face as her magic power exploded around her. "Kukukuku...! You've crossed the line, you dairy cow...!
'Oh no! This is getting dangerous!' Rimuru thought, prepared to stop Shion in case she attacks Tiamat.
When the situation was about to become more dangerous, however, help came for Rimuru in the form of a red-haired Kijin.
"Oho! Rimuru-sama! I finally found you! I have something important to report."
Seeing his salvation, Rimuru got off Tiamat's embrace and ran away towards the red-haired Kijin. Tiamat clicks her tongue, annoyed that her fun is over.
"B-Benimaru! Great timing! What's the problem?"
"Rigur asked me to tell you that a messenger from the Lizardmen has appeared at the front gate and that he wants to speak with our leader. Normally it was Rigurd-san who was supposed to let you know, but he's in the infirmary with a strange pain in his chest. I think he's sick or something." Benimaru said, then he looked behind Rimuru and noticed Shion and another woman he didn't know.
The two women looked irritated; Shion was looking at the light blue-haired woman as if she wanted to kill her, and the light blue-haired woman had a disgruntled pout as she was looking at Rimuru. Benimaru immediately thought nonsense about them disputing Rimuru, which was not completely wrong. They just had different motivations.
Benimaru looked at Rimuru and gave him a teasing, mocking smile. "Ohoho? Did I interrupt something?"
"N-Not really! Haha! We were just having a friendly chat! Come on, let's see what the Lizardmen want! Shion, please take Tia-san to the canteen to get something to eat, she must be hungry. Also, be polite, okay?" Rimuru said as he pushed a confused Benimaru away with him.
Rimuru quickly left with Benimaru, leaving Tiamat and Shion alone.
"Tch! As you wish, Rimuru-sama," Shion responded with irritation. She looked at Tiamat, and Tiamat smiled sympathetically at her.
Shion got angrier when she saw Tiamat's smile, it was as if she was making fun of her.
"Rimuru-sama has given me the task of taking you to the canteen, so let's go," Shion said with clear disgust, then she turned around and started walking.
Tiamat giggled, finding Shion's expressions and jealous behavior endearing.
'Arara! Such a cute child! I think I'll adopt her too!' Tiamat thought happily as she followed Shion from behind.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Holo_Lover
Holo_Lover I wrote this chapter at lightning speed, as I have a lot to do, so don't be surprised if the interactions seem too fast.
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