That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Again?

Regret

Let's forget about Guy for now. I still need to interrogate Yuuki, but I'm afraid I would need to calm him down first.

Come to think of it, Ciel, where's Shizue's body? I know you transported Chloe, I checked and saw that she's successfully back at Tempest.

<<I'm still currently occupying it, outside your [Imaginary Space].>>

Is that so? Better return her control over her body so that she can go and see that the kids are okay.

<<Understood.>>

What were you even doing, anyway?

<<Well, master has already realized this but, there was a barrier right in front of where Yuuki originally was before master brought them here.>>

Eh?

<<Thanks to your quick-thinking master, Yuuki and the others failed to reach their destination. But it seems that the barrier had soldiers stationed right inside. They had full visual of us, while they were invisible to the naked eye from the outside.>>

O-okay, so, Yuuki wasn't heading in a random direction then...good to know!

But why would he rely on a barrier like that, it won't stop me from chasing him if it's just that. Unless something was going on behind the scenes...

Maybe the emperor has something to do with this, but it's no use thinking about things that will not happen now. Yuuki and the others seemed to have calmed down a little, I'll take this as my chance to interrogate him.

"Hey."

"What do you want..." 

His composure was barely visible when he responded to me.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to ask you, why?"

"...I would've liked to say 'why would I tell you that,' but even my own brain failed to follow what I had intended to reply."

True, Ciel did go overboard in smoking you out, but that's not my problem.

"....."

"Alright alright! Stop looking at me like that," Yuuki hastily said. "I heard from a friend of mine something interesting, at first, I was going to deny the offer and propose to postpone it maybe a year later. But I noticed something, and that something was you."

While still shaking, Yuuki faces Rimuru eye to eye with as much hostility as he could.

"I had everything under control at Ingrassia. But, when you first appeared along with Shizue-sensei, everything went south immediately. I was busy with Clayman's troops at the time. Then, you immediately went to see the kids after a brief meeting with me, I had no time to spare going after you. To be honest, if Shizue-sensei weren't there at the time. I would've tried to fight you, but lucky for me I didn't get the opportunity."

"Did it seem like that? I was simply prioritizing Shizue's wish in saving the kids."

"Nonsense! I knew that you were avoiding me on purpose! It's like you know where and when I'd be! I knew I had to do something to send you away, so I asked Clayman to do something for me. Fortunately, you did leave, enough time so that I could have contacted that friend of mine. But I had to distract you somehow, so I asked that woman to capture one of you're precious students."

"So it wasn't you that did the kidnapping, you had someone else do the deed. Even so, are you stupid?"

"......"

"Your plan only ended up in this, capturing the students was the mistake you made. I can't believe that you failed this badly, I thought you were better than this, Yuuki."