"Rimuru-sama, it's time for your inspection of the construction site." Shion said with a strained smile while looking at Shuna.

"I will take you there," Shuna insisted back with a similar smile.

To explain the current situation, Rimuru was being tugged between the two kijin, as always. Katsumi had escaped a while ago before the fighting started. Something about not wanting to be caught in the middle.

Well, this slime body does feel really nice to hug... Rimuru thought as the two female kijin continued to pull on their side. Even I hug a body double of myself sometimes. A body double! Why don't I give them each a body double of me?! Wait, maybe not... If I do that... It'd be a bigger death match than when I was naming them! I need some kind of stand-in for my slime body... A wood-carved slime! A slime sculpture! A metal slime made of metal! No, those aren't right. There's no point if it doesn't have the same feel as my body. Right... something like... One of those cushions that makes living beings sink into depravity! That might feel pretty close to the same thing. Beanbag cushions in my image! I'll call them Rimuru cushions! That sounds adorable! Like the first prize in a lottery! And the biggest one would go to whoever drew the very last lot!

Rimuru snapped out of his own thoughts to realize that the two girls on either side of him were still smiling stiffly at one another and stretching him out incredibly thin. By now, Rimuru was used this and knew he wasn't at risk of actually tearing like in the dream he had. He had double checked with Katsumi by having the girl pull him as far down the road as possible. To say the least, the girls would have to cross the entirety of town before Rimuru came even close to breaking in half.

"Uh, could you guys let go for a second?" Rimuru asked the two kijin.

"O-Of course." Both of them simultaneously released Rimuru, causing the slime to snap back into shape in between the two girls.

"I have a favor to ask of you, Shuna," Rimuru said once he landed on the ground safely.

"Of course. Ask me for anything you'd like," Shuna replied happily. As the princess and a seamstress in the town, Shuna sometimes felt like she didn't do enough for Rimuru, especially compared to the other kijin who were by his side. Therefore, she was always glad to help Rimuru out whenever he asked if it was within her power.

"There's something I want to make..." Rimuru trailed off. She probably wouldn't understand if I said 'stretchy material'... "Um, is there... some kind of cloth that's, like, really smooth and stretchy?"

"Smooth and stretchy?" Shuna echoed, rasing a finger to her face in thought. "Do you mean something like Spandex?"

"You know what that is?!" Rimuru shouted in shock.

"It was just sort of... a hunch, I guess." Shuna smiled at Rimuru.

"Women's intuition?! Shuna, you scare me!"

"That's easy," Shuna said, ignoring Rimuru's shock while Shion sat across from the pink Kijin clearly confused. "Just leave it to me, Rimuru-sama."

"Okay, so the next thing is the stuffing." Rimuru turned to Shion, who sat straighter when the slime faced her. "Shion, I need to talk to Garm."

"Of course, Rimuru-sama." Shion immediately stood up and picked the small slime up. Shuna pouted and puffed her cheeks but since Rimuru had things to do, she didn't argue with the other kijin, no matter how badly she wanted Rimuru to stay with her.

Shion walked to Garm's workshop with Rimuru held safely in her arms under her breasts. Rimuru had long ago abandoned the guilt of being pressed up against her breasts so often. Despite the fact that he was once a human man, Rimuru was technically a gender-less slime in this world. There was no moral issue with him enjoying the female body.

"Garm, I'm looking for poly beads!" Rimuru shouted as he walked into Garm's workshop. There was no real explanation to his declaration. Garm looked up from his work and greeted Rimuru as he put down his tools.

"Poly... beads?" Garm asked confused as he and Rimuru moved to sit down at one of the tables nearby. Garm had poured them some tea while Shion set Rimuru down and headed outside to allow them to discuss. "What are those?"

"Uh... They're beads that are so tiny, they're like powder." Rimuru wished that Garm had the same intuition as Shuna when it came to these material.

"And what are 'beads'?"

"Um... They're made out of styrofoam..."

"Styro...foam?" Garm echoed.

"Styrofoam is, like... basically..." Rimuru panicked and began sweating. He didn't know how to explain what styrofoam and beads were to the dwarf. Rimuru melted a bit before deciding to reword his question to Garm. "Is there anything with small grains, like sand, and a smooth surface?"

"Well, there's something called 'sarasa' that might come close," Garm mentioned, still a bit confused. "There's a big lake deep in the forest. I've heard it's the type of sand found on a sandbar there. It's ground naturally, so I'd say it's just about as smooth as you are."

"Well that's perfect!" Rimuru perked up. "I'll go get some right now!"

"Some sarasa? I dunno what you plan to do with it, but I wouldn't go there," Garm warned Rimuru. "There's a monster living in that lake. Once it grabs your foot, it's all over. It'll drag you right under... Or so the rumors say." Rimuru shivered slightly as Garm ended his dramatic story with a flare.

"Of course, to you," Garm said, completely changing the mood, "any monster is a pushover, so I'm probably worried over nothing!" Rimuru could only agree half-heartedly. Despite how much confidence Garm had in him, a monster was still a monster and that story made it all the more frightening.

"Well, at any rate..." Rimuru said trying to forget about the monster. "I doubt anything around here would try to attack us. Still, I'd be lonely if I went by myself, so..."

Rimuru trailed off in thought, then had a moment of realization. Quickly saying his farewells to Garm, Rimuru jumped off the seat and shuffled his way outside. Luckily, he managed to meet Benimaru and Katsumi right outside the workshop. They were lightly flirting, as they usually were. Benimaru clearly was winning as he had her entrapped within his arms while she was trying to push him away with bright red cheeks.

"Sorry to interrupt," Rimuru called. Katsumi flinched and shoved Benimaru away quickly, her cheeks redder than her lover's hair. Benimaru only pouted slightly, but separated himself anyways. "Can you get together a group, Benimaru? We're going on a gathering mission."

"Yes, of course." With a kiss to Katsumi's temple, he separated from her, heading off to get together some people while Katsumi made her way next to Shion, walking alongside the older purple-haired kijin.

"What kind of gathering mission are we going on?" she asked as she tilted her head slightly. Her white horn gleamed slightly in the sun as her heterochromatic eyes shined with curiosity.

"We're going to gather sarasa," Rimuru answered.

"Sarasa? You mean the sand sarasa?"

"Yea, you know what it is?" Katsumi nodded.

"I've heard of it before, but I've never seen it myself."

Rimuru hummed. Perhaps he should make it more than just a resource collection trip. Maybe a picnic? While Rimuru was in his thoughts, Shion managed to walk to the center of the village where a small group was now gathered. The group consisted of Rigurd, Benimaru, Katsumi, Souei, Shion, Shuna, Haruna, Gobta, Soka, Gabiru and his three loyal guards and Ranga.

"We're going to collect some sarasa! And let's all have a picnic while we're there!" Rimuru declared to the group in front of him. There was no explanation for why they were gathering sarasa, but the group excitedly cheered at the idea of a picnic.

"A picnic sounds great!" Gobta said as he clasped his hands behind his head.

"You can count on us to search near the water!" Gabiru declared proudly to Rimuru. The three guards followed up with their support and praise for Gabiru. Shortly after they started chanting Gabiru's name while Gabiru nodded at the praise.

"I wish they'd shut up..." Soka said darkly as she stared at her brother and his three minions. Katsumi glanced at the dragonnewt, giggling slightly at her tone. Benimaru glanced down at his lover as she smiled cutely, leaning over slightly to press a kiss to the top of her head. Immediately, Katsumi flushed.

"Stop flirting," Souei said with a hint of disgust at the two of them. Benimaru looked toward his friend, only sticking out his tongue childishly. Katsumi put her hands on her flaming cheeks, hiding her face with her hair. Meanwhile, Soka was staring dreamily at Souei.

"We get to go on an outing with Rimuru-sama!" Shuna cheered as everyone just ignored Gabiru's group. "I'm so happy!"

"I'll gladly go to the ends of the earth with you, Master!" Ranga vowed over the chaotic mess of the others.

"I told you, we're just going to a lake..." Rimuru said to Ranga, completely ignoring how Benimaru was purposely flirting with Katsumi to bother Souei for fun. The blue-haired kijin finally had enough and pulled his cousin away from the red-haired male. Katsumi was ignoring both of them while trying to hide herself from the world due to her embarrassment and Soka was simply just staring at Souei while he remained as oblivious as a rock.

"What are you going to make with the sarasa?" Shion asked curiously with a bright smile at the slime, not glancing once at the other portion of the group. Rimuru quickly brushed off the question, not wanting to tell her he was making a plushy version of himself.

The rest of the group was in shambles basically. Soka was now completely ignoring the cheers of the other dragonnewts as they continued to praise her brother. Katsumi was fighting against Benimaru saying that she was too shy to show that much PDA while Benimaru just held her tighter and nuzzled his head into her hair. Her face was bright red as she covered her face with her hands. Souei was on the side, ignoring Soka while giving Benimaru a look of disgust seeing how Benimaru cuddled up closely to the light blue kijin. Rigurd was on the side, unsure whether or not he should separate the two lovers in fear of their general dying at the hands of their spy, and then their spy dying at the hands of their healer. It was a chaotic scene indeed.

Rimuru turned towards Rigurd, Benimaru, Katsumi and Souei, who quieted down shortly after feeling his stare. Rimuru said nothing as he continued to look at them, so the four of them tilted their heads in unison out of confusion. The boys surely wouldn't care about the plushie, but Katsumi may have an interest in the plushie since she was a fan of cute things in general. Rigurd on the other hand, probably would want one, so Rimuru figured it would be safe to tell the two male Kijin and leave Katsumi and Rigurd in the dark.

Rimuru jumped off the makeshift stage he had been perched on, calling for Benimaru and Souei. Katsumi, glad for the escape, quickly pushed Benimaru toward Rimuru and ran to Shuna and Shion who immediately teased her about her bright red face. Benimaru was about to head toward Katsumi again, but Souei quickly rolled his eyes and dragged Benimaru toward Rimuru by the collar while the red-haired kijin flailed slightly, but eventually gave up and stood up himself, telling Souei to let him go. The blue haired kijin did so, but not without slapping him upside the head for flirting so much with his cousin. As Rimuru led the two of the to the side, he paused for a second to think before calling for Gobta to attend their secret meeting as well. He doubted that Gobta would be obsessed with the plushie too, so he should be safe to fill in. Rimuru led them into one of the side streets of the town, away from the main group who had begun to scatter to prepare for their trip.

"The reason behind this trip for sarasa is to use the sarasa to stuff Rimuru cushions," Rimuru explained to the two kijin that stood attentively in front of him as Gobta picked the slime up off the floor. "I plan to make a stuffed toy of myself to give to Shuna and Shion so they can stop fighting over me and pulling me in opposite directions."

"Please allow us to assist you!" Benimaru shouted out almost desperately as the other kijin nodded in understanding.

"H-huh? You're awfully gung-ho about this, Benimaru..." Rimuru trailed off in shock.

"Naturally!" Benimaru replied instantly. Souei only stared at Benimaru as he continued talking. "If Shion has a cushion resembling you, she'll take very good care of it. She'll keep it with her at all times and avoid getting it dirty... Which means, she won't go near the kitchen anymore!"

Rimuru and Souei gasped in realization. All of the present attendees to this meeting had met Shion's cooking horrors at one instance or another. Benimaru had taken the brunt of the attacks after Rimuru had assigned him to watch over her cooking. Benimaru glanced back to Souei, who smiled slightly and nodded back at him. He also would happily help the cause if it meant they were all spared the concoction that Shion claimed was food.

"This is an important mission," Benimaru said to the group determinedly.

"Agreed," Souei said.

"I shall accompany you, as well, Rimuru-sama." A voice came from behind Rimuru and the Kijin looked forward to see Hakurou standing there, a terrifying aura exuding from the white-dressed kijin. Benimaru and Souei quickly averted their gazes and appeared busy. Hakurou was seemingly angry that he wasn't invited to such an important task as finding a method to keep Shion out of the kitchen.

Good luck, Rimuru-sama, the two kijin thought mentally before they quickly retreated with the excuse that they were going to prepare for the outing.

~~~

No too long after, the entire group was ready to go. Souei, Soka and Rigurd were leading the group, followed by Shion and Ranga. On Ranga's back was Rimuru, Shuna and Haruna. Everyone else trailed behind. Taking advantage of the separation of the two cousins, Katsumi and Benimaru were walking hand in hand at the back of the group, chatting quietly as they flanked the group.

The walk to the lake wasn't too far. It was a light trek through the forest though time seemed to go faster as the group chattered endlessly. It wasn't until they reached the destination did the group finally quiet down.

"It's beautiful!" Shuna said, voicing everyone's thoughts. The girls all nodded in agreement and voiced their various inputs on the scenery.

"Okay, before we look for sarasa, we eat!" Rimuru declared. "Let's have lunch!"

Three large tarps were laid out on the grass, two of them farther up the hill and one of the right by the water. The dragonnewts immediately headed to the tarp nearest to the water. Quickly handing out all the food everyone had prepared for themselves, the boys sat down on one tarp near Rimuru and Ranga while the girls sat on the other and happily chatted away.

"Rimuru-sama, here's your lunch!" Shion said as she jogged over carrying a large pot. At her words, every Kijin in the area visibly flinched in horror. Shuna gasped and looked up while the boys broke out in a cold sweat and refused to look at Rimuru.

"My lunch?!" Rimuru echoed at Shion in horror.

You didn't stop her? Rimuru asked the kijin telepathically, a hint of betrayal in his tone.

Well, we said we'd all be responsible for our own food! Benimaru argued back, clearly horrified.

I thought she was making it for herself only... Katsumi defended as she looked down at her own food

This has nothing to do with me, Hakurou said as he turned around with his back to Rimuru and sipped his tea.

Souei simply disappeared without a word. Rimuru looked at them all in disbelief. How did no one manage to stop Shion despite knowing how horrible her cooking was?

"I made this, but..." Shion trailed off, catching Rimuru's attention back to her. "It seems this container isn't strong enough. The bottom is falling out."

Sure enough, whatever Shion had cooked in the pot was melting through the bottom of the large metal pot she was holding. A drop of it fell through a crack and landed on the grass, instantly killing and burning through the grass and dirt. Rimuru let out a small shriek of horror.

Katsumi and Shuna both winced, looking at each other and deciding that they wanted to go take a look at the clear water. Haruna quickly followed them, her eyes flicking away from Rimuru guiltily.

"I guess it's not big enough to hold all of my feelings toward you!" Shion told Rimuru brightly as the concoction she made continued slowly burning through the metal.

"W-Well, if it won't fit, there's nothing we can do about it..." Rimuru stuttered out, his eyes flickering between Shion and the pot that was pouring out a purple acid.

"So..." Shion set down the pot, only to have a large blast of steam come out from where the pot made contact with the ground, frightening Ranga, who had been nearby happily gnawing on a large bone, and Rimuru. The pot itself managed to burn a hole through the ground, the entire metal container sinking lower and lower into the ground until there was nothing left but a hole that was digging lower and lower from the purple acid that Shion had cooked up.

"I made this instead!" Shion said, ignoring the hole at her feet and holding a small brown package out to Rimuru. "It's a rice ball! Please, help yourself! Gobichi taught me the secret to cooking"

"S-Secrets?" Rimuru stared at the package in horror as he could imagine the waves of poison and acid exuding from the wrapped ball. Taking a small step back, he couldn't help but want to run away.

"Yes! He taught me that the most important ingredient is love! So this rice ball is packed with me love!" Shion reached for the string of the wrapped rice ball and unraveled t, revealing another monstrous ball of rice that clearly wasn't meant for consumption. Rimuru gulped in fear.

Taking a couple steps, Shion attempted to hand the ball over, only to step in the hole made by her pot earlier and trip. The monstrosity that she called food flew from her hand and began rolling down the hill. The dragonnewts, minus Soka, all scattered as it rolled towards them. The ball headed straight for the female so she opened one of her wings and bat it away. Unfortunately, she hit it right towards Katsumi and Shuna. The two girls screeched in fear as the poison was launched towards them. With quick reflexes, Katsumi shoved Shuna down onto the ground while throwing herself in the opposite direction just in time to avoid getting hit. Everyone watched silently as the ball flew into the water and sunk down before letting out a sigh of relief.

Shion, who had gotten out of the hole, marched her way down to the two groups, seething. She had worked hard to make that ball, yet no bothered to try to catch it. In fear for everyone's safety, Benimaru and Souei quickly made their way down to the two kijin, both of them grabbing their relative and quickly slipping away to safety. The kijin stayed a safe distance away while Haruna hid next to Rigurd who was shaking slightly as he eyed Shion. Thankfully for the moment, Shion had her attention set on Gabiru for not attempting to catch the rice ball. She stalked towards the dragonnewt, who tried to get away. He was unsuccessful as his sister stuck out a foot and tripped him before quickly backing out of Shion's reach. It didn't take long after that for Shion to beat up Gabiru and look for her next target. Unfortunately for her, everyone else was long gone and scattered around the area, either hiding or ready to run at the slightest hint that she was targeting them. Shion took a couple more angry hits at Gabiru before sighing sadly and making her way back to Rimuru.

"I'm so sorry about your lunch, Rimuru-sama!" Shion said, bowing repeatedly in apology.

"No, it's fine!" Rimuru said, relieved. She would've been more sorry if he actually did eat that ball of poison. Nonetheless, he tried to find an excuse to calm Shion down. "I don't need to eat, anyway! It's okay, it's okay! More importantly, you guys should get ready to go into the lake now. Let's get some sarasa!"

Everyone made their way into the forest in different locations to change into their swimsuits. The swimsuits themselves were made out of spandex and Garm had kindly fashioned a set for everyone going to the lake.

For the girls, Shion had a purple striped bikini with ribbons tying it together at the center of her breasts and the sides of her hips. Shuna had a pink, frilly bikini. Soka had a pair of white bikini bottoms paired with a blue sports bra looking bikini top. Haruna had a light yellow bandeau bikini with a bow right between her breasts. Lastly, Katsumi wore a light blue bikini tied with string around her neck and upper back. A red bead was tied into a string bow right between her breasts. Out of discomfort, she had wrapped Benimaru's long cape around herself and he was unsure whether or not he wanted her to keep the cape on or if he would prefer she not get the material wet. Unfortunately, neither Benimaru nor Katsumi had a say in it as Shuna forcefully stripped Katsumi of the cape, causing the girl to shriek and curl into herself to try to cover herself.. Rimuru smiled as he allowed himself to feast his eyes on the girls swimwear. The dwarves had really outdone themselves with making sure the swimsuits fit each girl.

A sound behind him caused Rimuru to turn around, coming face to face with the boys of the group. Rimuru couldn't help but fall over at the sight. The boys had fairly plain swimsuits for the most part, though three out of five of them could use more normal swimsuits in Rimuru's opinion. Gobta and Hakurou appeared to the wearing white mawashis, though the material was spandex and it sufficiently wrapped between their legs and around to the back. Rigurd simply had a pair of black swim briefs and was flexing as always. Even Gabiru and his three minions had swim briefs on. Benimaru and Souei had the most normal swimsuits as Benimaru had a pair of red swim trunks and Souei had the same in blue. Both were shirtless and the two of them were stretching lightly while chatting quietly. Soka couldn't help but blush as she looked at Souei. Katsumi glanced at her cousin and faked a gag as she stuck out her tongue. On the other hand, Shion and Shuna were laughing at how she couldn't make eye contact with her lover, who was smirking as he realized the same.

"Why do you guys have them, too?!" Rimuru complained from the ground. He scanned the area to see Ranga with his own swimsuit, colored red at his torso and black at his legs. Rimuru focused on Ranga's adorable swimsuit rather than the headache of the guys.

"Garm said he made a swimsuit for you, too," Shuna said as she walked up behind Rimuru. Behind her, Shion was laughing as she slung her arm around Katsumi who was bright red when Benimaru winked at her. The poor girl felt like her brain was melting. Haruna stood nearby giggling at the blue-haired girl.

"For me?" Rimuru asked Shuna, his eyes flitting over to the three girls quickly before concluding that there wasn't actually anything serious. Shuna nodded and held up a once piece swimsuit with Rimuru's name written across the top.

"A school swimsuit?!" Rimuru shouted in disbelief and disappointment. "No way! No way! That is absolutely not happening! Garm! You and your bastard brothers!"

Despite the efforts of Shion and Shuna combined, Rimuru managed to escape having to wear the one piece. Instead, he wore a pair of blue swim trunks with a black tank top.

"Well, this isn't so bad..." Rimuru reached his arms out and stretched lightly. Compared to the school swimsuit, this was way better. Shuna and Shion stood nearby, a bit sad as they placed the one piece back into the bag where all the rest of their clothes were.

"Then, shall we go now, Rimuru-sama?" Benimaru asked as he approached. He quickly wrapped his arm around Katsumi's waist before she could escape, the girl almost fainting as her bare skin came into contact with his.

"Yeah. Okay, guys-"

"Wait just a minute!" Rimuru was interrupted as a scream came from the sky and a flash of pink light streaked down from the sky. It landed right in front of the group, blowing away Gabiru and his minions. The kijin who were standing plus Rimuru quickly covered their eyes from the sand. Benimaru had moved to stand in front of Katsumi as a shield of some sort, his back facing the source of the wind. As the sand cleared, they all looked to the center to see Milim who had created a crater in the sand.

"Milim?!" Rimuru called out shocked. Milim raced up to Rimuru.

"You're so mean! Why didn't you invite me on your picnic?! Aren't we friends?!" Milim screamed in Rimuru's face, hurt that she had to invite herself to the party.

"Oh... sorry," Rimuru said, holding his palms facing outwards in a form of apology and surrender. He smiled apologetically, but hid the fact that he didn't invite Milim because he knew she'd make trouble if invited. "I figured you were busy."

"Even if I'm busy, I'd drop everything to be with my bestie when they ask!" Milim replied indignantly. "So, what were you about to do?"

"We were gonna swim out to that sandbar..." Rimuru reluctantly replied. Despite not wanting Milim to be here, he couldn't turn her away now that she was. This Demon Lord was too childish to understand.

"You're swimming, huh? hen, I'll swim too!" Milim declared.

"But you don't have a swimsuit, do you?" Rimuru refuted.

"I don't need one!" Milim screamed as she attempted to take her top off. Rimuru quickly grabbed her hands, stopping her from actually stripping her clothes off, while screaming at her to stop.

"Don't you dare!" Rimuru shouted at Milim angrily.

"There's no need to shout," Milim replied with a pout as she rested her arms behind her head. "Watch."

Milim raised her hand and a sigil formed in the air above her. Moving downwards, it magically changed her everyday outfit into a form with less fabric. Her sleeves, socks and boots disappeared though the strap around her left leg remained.

"What's that?" Rimuru asked confused.

"My swimsuit!" Milim said proudly.

"It may look like it, but that's not a swimsuit." Rimuru was slightly glad she didn't have the right material. It made it all the easier to turn her away. "Next time we go swimming together, I'll have Garm make you a swimsuit. For now -"

"I want to go swimming!" Milim interrupted angrily with a pout and puffed cheeks. Rimuru sighed. This Demon Lord really was unreasonably childish. With no choice, Rimuru told her she could swim, but couldn't make any trouble for anyone.

"Okay, everyone, if Garm was right, the sarasa's on that sandbar," Rimuru said once everyone had gathered around where he stood. "There are also rumors of a monster here, so everyone be careful!"

"Yes," everyone except Milim replied to Rimuru.

"Monsters can come at us all they want!" Miiim declared as she proudly put her hands on her hips.

"Hey! No matter what shows up, you're not allowed to do anything!" Rimuru scolded the Demon Lord. "You'll blow this entire area off the map! Promise, alright?" Rimuru threw a blue floating around the Demon Lord, who gladly accepted it as she promised Rimuru.

With that, they set off, though the girls opted to sit on top of Ranga rather than swim. Rimuru led the group with Souei following to his left and Benimaru to his right. Ranga was directly behind Rimuru carrying all five of the girls easily while they chatted happily. To Ranga's left was Milim, Gobta, Rigurd and Hakurou. To his left were the rest of the dragonnewts.

"I don't sense any significant presences," Benimaru reported to Rimuru as they swam. "This rumor about a monster may have just been an exaggerated rumor about someone whose foot got caught."

"I hope so, but it never hurts to be careful..." Rimuru responded, only to be interrupted as something pulled him under.

"Rimuru-sama!" Shion called out worried. Everyone had stopped once Rimuru had gone under and tried to scan the water.

"My foot's caught in algae or something!" Rimuru called as he resurfaced a bit to the left of the group before he was pulled under again. Quickly slicing through the yellow tentacle with his abilities, Rimuru freed himself, swimming as fast as he could to the surface to check on everyone.

As he emerged from the water, the first thing he saw was that the tentacles had managed to capture everyone that was in the water, wrapping itself lewdly across the girls' bodies, leaving them all in suggestive and compromising positions. The boys too were captured, although their positions weren't as inappropriate-looking as the girls'.

"Th-This is absolutely shameful!" Rimuru said with a blush as he looked at the girls.

"Oh, dear!" Rimuru heard Milim laugh easily from behind him. As he turned around, he saw that Milim had been wrapped from neck to toe and hung upside down. Rimuru used [Water Blade] to try to cut through one of the coils around Milim, only to see it regrow almost instantly.

"Rimuru-sama's slash attack didn't work?!" Benimaru called out surprised. Rimuru said nothing, but instead dived down under the surface of the water again. As Rimuru dived downward, tentacles wrapped around him, but he evaded by dispelling his [Mimic] and transforming back to a slime. On the surface of the water, everyone watched in concern as the clothes Rimuru was wearing floated up to the surface and dissolved.

Rimuru, in his slime form, made his way even quicker to the source of the yellow tentacles. They were coming from a shell resting at the bottom of the lake. This might've been the monster Garm was warning Rimuru about.

"Hey! Can you hear me?" Rimuru called out to the creature. More tentacles shot forward towards Rimuru, but he managed to dodge them all as he swam swiftly through the water. "You're making things difficult for everyone up there! Could you stop?"

It's pretty haphazard, Rimuru thought as he examined the creature and it's attacks. It doesn't seem like an attack... More like it's suffering. But what happened to it?

As Rimuru got closer, he noticed something floating in the water in front. Quickly approaching it, he noticed it to be Shion's rice ball, though someone had taken a bite out of it.

It tried to eat this?! Rimuru had found out the reason to this creature's behavior. And that made it go berserk and last out! We don't see many monsters like this.

"Hang on! I'll get you feeling better in no time!" Rimuru called out to the suffering shell as he propelled himself downwards. Rimuru quickly threw as many full potions as he could from within him at the creature, healing wherever they landed.

"There. You're all better now." Rimuru looked down proudly at his work. The which had once been black and red was now a healthy green color. Tentacles from around reached towards Rimuru, waving around though it didn't actually touch the slime.

"Hey, could it be that you can't see anything?" Rimuru asked. The tentacles stopped moving, as if agreeing. "Okay, just do what I say! I have this skill called [Magic Sense]."

It wasn't long before the tentacles managed to find Rimuru, indicating that the creature could now see. They gently pet Rimuru, as if thanking him.

From above, the tentacles which had been wrapping tighter and tighter around the group stopped moving.

"Did Rimuru-sama..." Benimaru trailed off, only for the tentacles to suddenly unravel themselves from around everyone, dropping the entire group into the water. With a yelp from the girls, everyone was plunged into the water. Thankfully, everyone knew how to swim decently and could tread water so they weren't drowning.

After a couple seconds of hovering in the waves waiting for Rimuru to resurface, Benimaru decided to lead the group back to shore in case the monster was going to attack again. With him and Souei leading the way, the entire group safely dragged themselves on the sandbar. Since everyone was safe on dry land, everyone turned their attention to the water, scanning whatever the could to try to spot Rimuru. He was the only one who hadn't surfaced.

"Okay, good! I'm gonna head back, then," Rimuru told the creature beneath the water. The tentacles around Rimuru visibly wilted. "You're so openly lonely! Just like a certain dragon I know!"

Rimuru sighed.

"Um... I'm after the sarasa on the sandbar here," Rimuru explained. "So I'm gonna go gather some. I'll come back to see you soon, so don't be lonely, okay?"

Before Rimuru could start swimming back up, the giant shell began to move upwards. Catching Rimuru gently on one of its ridges, the creature broke through the surface of the water by the sandbar where the rest of the group was waiting.

"Sorry I worried you guys," Rimuru apologized as he emerged with the shell. "I talked things over with the monster.

"Rimuru-sama!" everyone cheered, glad that he was safe. Before Rimuru screamed and blushed as he turned away.

Everyone looked at themselves, only to notice that the tentacles had been corrosive to the fabric of their swimsuits. The boys and Ranga had been stripped entirely of their trunks and briefs, leaving them bare. The girls had no time to even process that the guys were naked since they were more concerned about their own lack of clothes and covering themselves up. Haruna's swimsuit was completely dissolved while the Katsumi, Shuna, Shion and Soka were left with barely enough to cover themselves. It wasn' long before the strings on the girls swimsuits all snapped leaving them completely bare. As the girls all yelped and made quick work of covering themselves as best as possible. Quickly, Benimaru and Souei forced everyone to turn around and away from the girls, the red-haired kijin's face flaring bright red while Souei simply slapped him as hard as he could on the backside of his head to snap him out of it.

"Rimuru-sama, please stand aside!" Shion called as she pointed her broadsword towards the shell, completely ignoring her nudity.

"Wait, wait, wait! There's a good reason for this!" Rimuru cried out, trying to protect his new friend. "And put on some clothes!"

With the help of Milim, she managed to get the bag of dried clothes from the other end of the shore and gave it to the girls to get dressed first. Once they were decent, the girls gave the guys their privacy to change. Once everyone was dressed, they gathered back near the shell. While everyone was scattered lightly around, Benimaru made his way beside Katsumi, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling the girl to him. She rested her head against his shoulder as a light blush overtook her cheeks.

"To explain," Rimuru started as he jumped off the shell and morphed into his human form, "this monster here only grabbed us because it went berserk. Normally, it won't hurt us at all."

"It went berserk?" Shion echoed, confused.

"Yeah. Something caused it to gain incredible power and it temporarily lost control. That's all. Cut it some slack for my sake, okay?"

"I suppose we shall have to," Shion replied without argument. "But what made it lose control?"

"W-Well who knows?" Rimuru stuttered out. He didn't want to let Shion know it had been her cooking. Suddenly from behind him, a gurgling sound emerged. Rimuru turned around to see Shion's rice ball floating by the sandbar. Everyone stared at it, seeing the bite mark and making the connection, though none dared to look at Shion. Rimuru quickly used [Water Blade] and sent the poisonous ball away.

"Um, uh... Well..." Rimuru forced a smile as he changed the subject. "Hey! Doesn't the sane we're standing on feel super smooth?"

"Now that you mention it..." Shion said as she looked down, taking Rimuru's bait.

"It does," Benimaru agreed. "Could this be...?"

"It's super smooth! This is the sarasa!" Rimuru declared happily, gesturing to the sand beneath their feet. "Super smooth, super smooth sarasa!" Rimuru bent down and picked up a handful of sand, letting it slowly fall between his two palms in a steady stream. The rest of the group got to work by grabbing the various sacks and beginning to fill it with sand. Halfway through, it seemed that Shuna and Katsumi got distracted as they tried to build a sandcastle from the fine sand. Benimaru later joined them while Souei rolled his eyes behind the three.

"Okay, let's take all of this sand!" Rimuru commanded.

"What? But the bags we brought won't carry it all," Shion replied.

"It doesn't have to be all at once. We can make more trips here to collect it."

~~~

Once again, upon the group's return, Rimuru was being tugged back and forth between Shion and Shuna.

"I've made a stamina-boosting dish to relieve the day's exhaustion," Shion offered to Rimuru as she gave a tight smile to Shuna.

"No, please, try some of my cooking now and then," Shuna rebutted with a similar smile back at Shion.

"Um... Are you done with the cushions already?" Rimuru asked Shuna.

"Of course!" Shuna reported. "We'll take them home and use them with love!"

"No, um..." Rimuru trailed off not knowing what to say.

"I guess they were no match for the real thing," Benimaru commented with an amused smile as he, Katsumi and Souei stood nearby watching the two female kijin fight over Rimuru once again. Katsumi also ended up receiving a cushion, but Benimaru got jealous that she cuddled with it more at night, so it now sat on one of the chairs in the room. The red-haired kijin had banned it from the bed. Without much else, Benimaru looped his arm around Katsumi, pulling her away from the scene as Souei simply disappeared. They had to get out of there before Rimuru spotted them and dragged them into that mess.

"This is an important part of my duty taking care of you, Rimuru-sama," Shion insisted as she continued to pull on Rimuru.

"Don't be unfair! Let me attend to you, too!" Shuna rebutted as she continued to tug on her side.

"Oh forget it," Rimuru sighed in resign. "Just do what you want." With that, the cushions that everyone had helped to gather materials for were left forgotten for the time being in the corner of the room.

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Hey y'all!

Next chapter is the official last chapter of Through Thick and Thin. Some things about the last chapter:

1. When I post the chapter, the voting for the next story will also end. The earliest I will post is most likely early next week, but I might end up posting it later because next week is finals week >~<

2. I was requested to create some art for this story like I did in Black Shadow. I'm happy to do so, so I'll post the end result in the next chapter. It's going to be slightly different from the art in Black Shadow because I got a new iPad this quarter for school so I can actually draw it with a pen instead of with a mouse. It's a whole new world, I swear.

3. While I'm mentioning it, if anyone is down to create some art for this story, please do so! I'd absolutely LOVE to see it! If y'all okay with it, I'd love to post any art for everyone loving this story to see. Of course, that's only if the artist is okay with it <3 I absolutely loved the art in Black Shadow so I know I have talented artists lurking in the shadows here. XD

Anyways, for any college students on a quarter system (like the UCs), I'm wishing everyone does well on finals this next week! I hope that if y'all need some destressing, this chapter can help y'all out a bit. Remember to not burn yourselves out studying and to make sure y'all are taking care of yourselves during this stressful time.

As always, let me know what y'all think. Also as a reminder, this chapter is sort of separated from the timeline of the main story. The last chapter will continue from Chapter 16: Charybdis.

Stay safe and healthy,
ThePurpleDragon