33 Our new home.

(Shout out to Angel_Extinction for uploading all the character images. Thanks for doing that)

Laplace woke up to find the person he knew as Rimuru and a well-dressed black-haired butler standing in front of him.

"Laplace, I've come to bargain." I said

"What do you want? Why did you bring me here?" Said the clown standing up trying to collect his thoughts.

Laplace tried to activate his skills to find an exit out of this place but found that none of his skills were present.

"What did you do to my skills?!?" with a more panicked voice he asked.

"They are currently disabled. If you prove that I can trust you I may restore them, for now, how about we talk."

Thanks to a bit of an experiment from Raphael, with the use of Asmodeus and its power over the soul, and with Plunderer's ability to steal skills as a guide, I was able to disable skills. This was a process that required some careful work and a long time in order not to damage the soul so it wouldn't work during a fight, but it was great for situations like this.

The usually laid-back clown that likes to act silly turned serious for a second. He had been captured and his skills had somehow been disabled. He began to wonder if the person in front of him had a similar skill to Yuuki, capable of disabling skills.

"What do you want from me?"

"I want to form an alliance with the moderate jesters. Well, rather than an alliance it would be more of taking you guys in as subordinates."

"What makes you think that we would agree?"

"Well, there are two things. First, our goals do not oppose each other. All the Jesters want is to be able to live a happy life is it not? Kagali, Tear, Footman, and you would all be accepted in my kingdom. All you would have to do is help out here and there.

And also, if you all refuse, I have no problem getting rid of all of you. I know you guys were the ones behind Charybdis. A direct attack on my country. Usually, that would be enough reason for me to get rid of all of you, but this time I am willing to look the other way."

Laplace swallowed as he felt the danger that was in front of him.

"I cannot make that decision. It is only up to my lord Kazalim to decide who we follow, though I doubt they would agree."

"In that case, you will stay in here until the decision is made. Enjoy your vacations."

I let Diablo decide who would look after Laplace and left.

...

In a few days after everything had been settled a celebration for the success of the capture of Jistav and of officially being recognized as a demon lord by octagram would be held. The Demon Lord founding festival. It was now the day after Walpurgis and except for those who would stay in Jistav for the time being almost everyone else had returned to Tempest.

I teleported to the school in Englisia as it was the best place to go and headed towards the guild administration office. I had an appointment already so I didn't have to wait for long.

"Yuuki! How is it going? You look a bit tired, you know you shouldn't overwork yourself right? You might actually get old if you don't get enough sleep." I said with a friendly smile.

"Oh, hello Rimuru. I wasn't able to get much sleep in the past couple of days, busy with work and all of that. It hasn't been that long since we last talked but you feel way different than before. Big week?" Yuuki answered with a slight trace of irritation on his face, which was quickly hidden by another friendly smile.

"Oh, not really. Nothing big has happened lately, I am just visiting to pick up the students. All the preparations have been organized on my side. We have built a school and we have selected several knowledgeable people who can teach the kids. All that is left is for you to give the go-ahead".

"Is that so?" Yuuki answered

I swear I could almost see his eyebrow twitch.

"In that case, I see no problem. Here are all the files you need. You are free to go and pick them up. Take good care of them, I saw how happy they were with you as a teacher so maybe it is for the best."

"Thank you, just let me know when you have some more spare paper and I can get some more manga for you. I think I just remembered one that you might like, it's called Boku no pico, it's an anime but I think I could format it as a manga for paper." I said as my smile widened.

"I never heard of that one, If you're the one recommending it I bet it is pretty good. I don't have any spare paper at the moment but I will be sure to bring some next time. Just let me know when you have some free time and we can set up a meeting to discuss some other stuff too."

"Alright, I will see you next time then. Goodbye."

…

The kids walked into their classroom with their bags already packed. They had expectant looks on their faces and were looking around for me. Once they were all inside I emerged from the shadows and threw confetti out while blowing a party whistle.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I am proud to announce that the transfer process is complete. From now on you will be proud citizens of Tempest."

The kids let out a few laughs before they all started to ask me questions about what would happen in Tempest.

"Is there going to do more awesome stuff?" asked Kenya

"How is the food over there?" asked Chloe.

"Your clothes look really good! Did you get them in your city?" Alice said while pulling on my jacket.

After a few moments of catching up, I said

"Alright everyone, I know you are excited but the bus is going to leave if we keep talking here. Does everyone have everything packed? Yes? In that case" I snapped my fingers and the next moment we were floating high in the sky above Tempest.

"Hey look, I can see my house from here! If you look left you will see the fields where we grow the best produce you can think of. And if you look right you can see the road leading towards Dwargon."

The kids, however, did not find this as fun as I did. They were safe as long as they stayed calm since I was controlling their gravity. But I guess that was too much to ask for someone who wasn't expecting to appear so high in the sky. I was currently being grabbed by most of the kids for dear life in fear of falling. And Kenya, the unfortunate one who was a bit too far was floating off into the distance while spinning in random directions and screaming.

I teleported all of us down near the ground and slowly let everyone down.

"Note to self, warn people before teleporting into the sky"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! THAT… WAS… AWESOMEEEE!" Kenya screamed at the top of his lungs before bursting out laughing. I might have accidentally turned him into an adrenaline junkie, nothing that couldn't be fixed but I don't think he should pick up the habit of getting in dangerous situations for fun.

We began our tour of Tempest shortly after. The city has grown a lot since it first started. It could now start to be compared with places with lots of history such as Englisia. They got to see places such as the art district. A small section of the city in which people were allowed to do artistic stuff. The walls were all decorated with gigantic murals, some were just normal paintings but some depicted events such as the fight against the orc lord or the fight against Charybdis.

When I first saw them I was a bit surprised by their quality until I discovered that it had been Gutmut who had helped the most in painting them. Gutmut loved painting so much that he gained the unique skill Artist's Grace from the harvest festival, and now he was putting it to use to spread more art around the city. Gutmut being one of the first ogres I named could now bring his paintings to life to fight, and could bring real-life objects into paintings to trap them. So far he could only place small objects like rocks but all it took was practice to increase their capabilities. He had even started his own school for teaching art.

There were also statues here and there that looked great. They had been built by Gutmut's brother Muruk, another of the original named ogres. Like his brother, he had a passion for art. But instead of paintings, he made sculptures. It was a bit embarrassing seeing statues of yourself but that feeling soon got replaced with wonder. Muruk had awakened the Moonlight Sculptor unique skill, and just like his brother, he could bring his work to life.

Even though this district wasn't large at the moment I planned to allow the people here to continue to spread art around the city to bring more color to it. Just being inside of it gave people a sense of wonder and excitement and it was currently the most popular place with guests.

Leading the kids to a different section I showed them a big building. Entering inside you could see many people practicing with instruments. Since it hadn't been that long since I had brought instruments to the city they were still practicing and getting familiar with them. However, thanks to the usage of some skills they had made progress that would take months in weeks. The one who stood out was the last of the original set of named Kijin, Varuut. Though initially a warrior the moment he set his hands on the instruments he immersed himself in them. Pouring his heart and soul every day onto music he had awakened the unique skill Apollo by himself, even before the harvest festival.

It made him act like a bard as it had the power of strengthening his allies. Enhancing every single attribute of his allies temporarily. He was the main reason why everyone was able to learn so much in such a short amount of time. Enhancing the learning capabilities of anyone who heard him. His music would flow directly to the soul of those who listened, making them literally feel the music inside of their soul.

I led the kids through the kitchens where the food was prepared. The smithy where Kurobe showed them how he made a blade. The farms where they got to meet the dryads. They saw the sewing department where Shuna met them and gave them some new clothing she had made. The training area where Hakuro taught how to fight. Through every single department that it was safe for them to be in, and finally we made it to the school. After they had entered the classroom I asked them.

"Do you know why I gave you the tour of the city?"

"To show us how cool it is?" Ryota asked

"So that we become familiar with the city?" Asked Gale

"Because you wanted us to get to know some of the people in it?" asked Alice

"Well, all of those guesses are not totally wrong. But do you want to know the main reason why? It was to show you that you can become anything you want. Back in Englisia one of the expectations you all would have had is to become soldiers who would fight for those who summoned you. But in here, we have plenty of fighters, you can just live the life you want. You are free to learn and do what you want. If you want to become a chef, a musician, a blacksmith, an adventurer, anything you want, all you have to do is ask.

You will all have to continue learning normal things such as science, math, and things like that. But I won't force you to choose a path. There are plenty of people here who are masters at what they do, so you will have the best teachers by your side. I know it is stressful to have been brought into this world but I want you all to take a liking to it, after all, it is our world now. This is our new home."

Once I finished speaking I got tackled with a hug by Chloe, only to be followed by the rest. They had started crying and continued to squeeze me into their hug. After a few moments of the group hug, I said to them.

"Alright, alright. It is almost time to go to bed. We have a festival to get ready for pretty soon, and you are all going to sleep through it if you don't get ready to sleep soon. Let me show you your rooms."

Breaking the hug they all looked at me and lowered their heads and spoke at the same time.

"Thank you…"