Interlude III

Sometimes, there are consequences to our actions that we could have never foreseen. 

Beware a storm, ye Tempest.

Morning

Just North of Tempest

Great Forest of Jura

"Whoa." Mary voice brushed across Tanya's ear. "That's…"

"What the hell…?" Tanya landed softly, her gaze locked forward on the city ahead. Tempest, in other words.

Or rather, what had become of Tempest in their absence.

It had taken a near day's effort to get back, the latter half of yesterday's hellish, battle-strewn affair involving a swift return to their inn, gathering hers and Mary's things, and an even swifter exit out the southern gate as Xerxes reawakened around them.

Really, the only reason it had taken long was because Tanya was too drained, physically and mentally, to fly both herself, Mary and their bags, the considerable distance between the city and their home.

Just because she could have (probably) managed it did not mean she wanted to.

So, the duo had instead spent the next several hours alternating between walking and resting. After a good while, they found a stream, and with the sun beginning a descent, the two exhausted reincarnates decided to settle down for the evening and night.

Even in the cold of winter, it was a surprisingly comfortable spot to camp. A small barrier spell around the immediate area to trap in heat and some blankets they definitely hadn't stolen from the inn to rest on, and they had the perfect spot to spend a night in the woods.

 The next day, mostly refreshed and a sizable amount of caught and cooked fish for breakfast later, the two had continued their trek, this time from the air.

Carrying Mary piggyback had been just as annoying as it was on the trip to Xerxes, but at least they had the thought of home to keep them from getting too snappy with one another. Luckily, it hadn't been long before they made it back. They had Tanya's excellent flying abilities to thank for that.

Which, naturally, leads us to the here and now.

"Huh." Mary hopped off Tanya's back, both bags again hanging over her shoulders. "What happened here?"

She blinked, not quite understanding what she was seeing. There was something notably different about Tempest right now.

Something very, very important had changed. Something that blanketed the city of monsters at large, a veritable curtain or veil covering the area.

Tanya put a hand to her chin.

"Hm." She thought for a moment. "In a way, this makes sense. It is about time for Christmas."

"Eh?" Mary looked at her, "Wait, it's that time of year already?"

"In our old world, the time would line up with around mid-December. It's near the end of the year here and all. At least, I'm fairly certain. I suppose it just slipped my mind, since we were in Xerxes this past week, and they didn't get any snow." Tanya paused, as something occurred to her, "Actually, it wasn't even cold. At all."

Mary blinked. "Now that you mention it, it was pretty mild up there. But that doesn't make sense. It's higher up north."

"True, but… hm." Tanya thought for a moment, "Those walls had runes on them for Scylla's schemes, but the only reason they could have gone unnoticed is if there were already runes in place. That, or they had some sort of misdirection field or illusion in place."

"No, they couldn't have." Mary shook her head. "I saw them just fine."

"Yes, but," Tanya glanced at her, "I wonder if your Unique Skill only works consciously, or if there some deeper component to it. That would allow you to look past such magics, right?"

"I- maybe." Mary allowed. She didn't look convinced. If such a thing were true, she had a feeling it would have come up before now. "Well, anyway, they definitely had some sort of temperature feature then?"

"They probably did, yes. And I imagine the wind wasn't an issue because of the walls themselves. Not that it matters now." Tanya pointed forward, "Because regardless, we have to deal with this now."

"This", of course, referred to the several meters thick blanket of snow that covered Tempest.

What? Expecting something else?

Right, of course not. Tempest was perfectly safe. The worst of its potential troubles had just been dealt with the other day by Tanya and Mary.

Definitely the worst. As far as they knew, Tempest was in the clear once more.

Totally, 100%, perfectly fine.

Ahem.

"That's... a lot of snow."

Tanya strolled forward a bit, to one of the nearer piles of snow. The fact that she had to look up to see it's top told the two of them enough.

"It sure is."

"…We don't have to deal with this, right?" Mary asked, with an odd lilt to her voice.

Tanya was silent for a moment. She looked at the snow, then at Mary, then back at the snow, her expression blank. You could see the gears turning.

"You know, I am still a bit tired after everything." She finally said, inclining her head slightly in agreement.

"And we really did work hard the past few days." Mary added quickly, "After stopping a bunch of god wannabes and maniacs."

"True." Tanya slowly nodded, "We did do that."

"So…"

"So what?"

"So, how about we take a well-deserved day off?"

"Mary Sue." Tanya glanced at her, the signature half smile of hers forming, "That might be the best idea you've ever had. Which, given how low the bar is-"

Mary flipped her off.

"Just stop talking after the compliment!"

-=-=-=-

Late Morning

Outside the Assembly Hall

Tempest, Jura Tempest Federation

This was going to give her another stress headache, she just knew it.

Luckily, she knew exactly who to blame, given they were directly in front of her.

"Lord Rimuru, you're setting a bad example." Shuna put a hand to her forehead in exasperation.

"Mmph. Hmmph. Mmp." Came the muffled reply.

She sighed, turning away from the pair of legs sticking out from one of the many large piles of snow towering up around the Assembly Hall. The urge to cast a fireball spell directly in front of her was too great to continue looking.

"Shion, would you please pull him out."

"Of course!" Shion stepped forward, quickly grabbing Rimuru's ankle and yanking upward.

Rimuru escaped his snow imprisonment with a muffled poof, snow debris clinging to him as he hung limply in Shion's grasp.

"Hahaha," He laughed nervously, "Hey there, Shion. Shuna. How's it going?"

Shion made to put him down.

"No, hold him there." Shuna commanded, letting her hand drop from her face.

Shion held her arm back up, keeping Rimuru locked upside down in place.

"Sh- shuna?" Rimuru stared at her incredulously, ice dusting his eyelashes and blue tinging his lips.

Snow and frost still stuck to him at various points, his coat and pants thoroughly covered. If it hadn't still been below freezing, he'd be drenched, and even so he would be soon. He looked incredibly cold, in other words. Almost enough so for Shuna to feel some semblance of pity towards his current situation.

Almost.

See, he's a slime. He had immunity to extreme temperatures and was in fact blue in slime form. Neither the cold nor the appearance of cold on him would fool her.

"Lord Rimuru, please understand that our nation is full of people who look up to you. Some-" Shuna coughed into her fist, making sure to keep from glancing at Shion, "Some more than others. Incredibly impressionable individuals. Children. And not children, like Rigurd, and Gobta. What do you think will happen if they see you jump out of a 3rd story window into a pile of snow?"

Rimuru opened his mouth, then, wisely deciding to not respond, immediately closed it. He shook his head, hoping that was the correct response.

Thankfully, Shuna seemed to have the smallest kernel of pity left within her. No doubt this was because the day had yet to truly begin, and thus her energy was still at its fullest.

"Shion, what do you think?" Shuna said, this time looking at the other Kijin, "If Lord Rimuru believes it is okay to jump out of a 3rd story window, what message do you believe that sends in your opinion?"

"Well, generally…" Shion tilted her head, "If Lord Rimuru thinks it's fine, then it'd definitely be fine! Our leader has proven himself plenty of times in the past for this to be true."

"Thank you, Shion, for proving my point." Shuna resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose. When had she become the impulse control for half of Tempest's Executives?

Well, about a week, give or take, since that's how long Tanya had been gone.

Believe it or not, Tanya was an excellent deterrent for stupidity, serving as a great check to Rimuru and a few others' more childish whims.

Shuna had never seen Benimaru eat more carrots than when Tanya glared at him for wasting food. That strict gaze of hers had a way of bringing out the responsible adult in person.

Well, "adult" is certainly right, at least when she and I would…

Shuna shook her head.

Not the time.

Milim, especially, was much easier to handle with Tanya around. Their personalities clashed and cancelled in just the right ways to mitigate a large amount of potential trouble. A large part of that was likely because Tanya was one of two people in Tempest willing to regularly spar with Milim. The other, of course, being Rimuru.

Rimuru who was also able to handle Milim particularly well, given that they were "besties" and all that entailed.

That being said, Milim had been mellowing out as of late, causing (relatively) less mischief and overall chaos, and entirely without the need for specifically Tanya's or Shuna's interference (or, as the case often was, Mary's interference on Tanya's orders).

Shuna had an inkling as to why that was, though she'd never call out the Demon Lord Dragonoid on it. Let Rimuru open that can of worms himself.

It was his fault, after all.

"Um, Shuna…" Rimuru's tentative voice drew back into the present, "I'm sorry?"

"Is that a question?"

He shook his head quickly.

"It's not! I really am sorry."

Shuna stared at him.

"…Fine. You can drop him down now, Shion."

"Right!" Shion dropped him unceremoniously. He faceplanted in the snow, luckily not falling back into the hole his body had previously occupied.

"I meant- never mind. Let that be his lesson." Shuna sighed. She shivered slightly as a breeze brushed past, quickly covering her mouth with her hands and blowing hot air to warm them.

"Now, this snow won't melt itself. Lord Rimuru, you should-"

-=-

The white long sleeve shirt is definitely Tanya's btw

Art by @tanjaded