That clone of Rimuru, covered in sand armor and sent flying to lie in the sand, melted into a clump of light blue Slime gel. The cracked sand armor fell to the ground as the gel flew back toward Rimuru, eventually merging into his body.
"Rimuru, when did you release that clone? How did I miss it?" Saitama looked at Rimuru with confusion, brushing the sand off his jumpsuit as he spoke.
"Right when I released the sand armor," Rimuru said, then began explaining to Saitama exactly what had just happened.
Rimuru knew very well that a scheming baldy like Saitama wouldn't be taken down like that by the Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack. Aside from Saitama himself, Rimuru knew his physical limits better than anyone, so he absolutely didn't buy it.
He had intentionally caused a big commotion, letting the sand cover him to take the opportunity to throw out a clump of gel to transform into his likeness. Meanwhile, he completely suppressed his presence and used teleportation to appear not far behind Saitama.
Just as Rimuru suspected, that guy Saitama was faking it; he was just acting. After all, Rimuru hadn't even damaged his jumpsuit. As the Bald Demon King, how could Saitama possibly have fainted? It could only be said that his scheming skills weren't quite high enough yet.
"I didn't manage to fool you? I thought my disguise was pretty good," Saitama rubbed his chin. "But that was a great fight, let's do it again next time! I'll definitely surpass you, Rimuru!"
Saitama suddenly spoke like a protagonist from a hot-blooded manga, and Rimuru gave him a massive, disdainful eye-roll.
"You should stop coming to me for fights. I'm not interested. Wouldn't it be better to sleep a bit more? Or read manga? Or watch a few more episodes of Super Sentai? Honestly," Rimuru grumbled at Saitama. He dispersed the light blue Chakra Cloak, revealing the one-piece kigurumi pajamas underneath. His peach-pink Tenseigan also faded back to their original amber color.
With a wave of his hand, he brought Genos over from the distant sand dune. Pointing at the ground beneath them, a black hole appeared once more. After falling for a while, the two returned to where they were before.
"You two do whatever you want, just don't bother me. I'm going to get something to eat." Rimuru waved a small hand at them like he was shooing flies, then brought it to his mouth to let out a big yawn. He started walking home, planning to change clothes and take Mosquito Girl out for a meal.
Genos and Saitama were left standing right there by Rimuru.
"Ah, staying at home really is the most comfortable." Rimuru lay on the sofa, his head resting on Mosquito Girl's long legs clad in black tights. He enjoyed the snacks she fed him while flipping through a manga; life was simply wonderful.
Three or four days had passed since the last battle. Nothing particularly interesting had happened during this time, except perhaps for the fact that Genos had moved in here as well.
Initially, Saitama hadn't planned on agreeing, but then Genos pulled out a thick stack of yen. Rimuru did a rough calculation and estimated it was about ten million.
Saitama wanted to agree immediately, but then he remembered that the ownership of the house seemed to belong to Rimuru, so... "I'm fine with it. Give me half the money, and Genos has to do the chores," Rimuru said without a second thought after sensing Saitama's gaze.
Free money was free money, and it would help lighten Mosquito Girl's burden. However, what Rimuru didn't know was that Mosquito Girl didn't actually have that many responsibilities to begin with.
She just cooked, tidied the living room and kitchen, and cleaned Rimuru's room. Most of her time was spent following Rimuru's orders, letting him lie on her lap while she fed him snacks. Saitama always cleaned his own room.
The small nameplate hanging on Genos's door also featured a chibi design that suited him perfectly: a little robot, also made by Rimuru.
Just like Mosquito Girl's from before, it was something Rimuru had gotten from Ziles Mall.
While Rimuru was enjoying himself, the Hero Association phone suddenly rang. Rimuru put down his manga, marking it with a maple leaf bookmark before reaching for the phone.
This was a special phone given only to A-Class heroes and above. It usually didn't make a sound, only ringing when there were matters that B-Class or lower heroes couldn't handle.
"Ugh... it's from the Hero Association. How troublesome." Rimuru glanced at the content on the phone and immediately felt it was a bother.
The Hero Association headquarters sent a message asking Rimuru to investigate the Ghost Town in City Z. They had actually intended to send someone else, but the headquarters found that Rimuru was the closest and, being a newcomer, they wanted him to give it a try.
To put it simply, the Ghost Town was the outer district where Rimuru and Saitama currently lived. There were still people in the central area of City Z, but Rimuru was always too lazy to go there. If he were to go anywhere, wouldn't it be better to go to the more prosperous City A?
After replying with "I refuse this mission," Rimuru tossed the phone onto the table. To be honest, he didn't really want to go. Rimuru had asked before if frequently refusing missions would lead to being expelled from the Hero Association, but the higher-ups' response was that this condition only applied to B-Class heroes and below.
A-Class heroes could refuse missions at will, though they rarely did so. Any mission assigned to an A-Class hero was bound to be difficult; while more dangerous, the monetary rewards were also higher.
However, what the Hero Association didn't expect was the emergence of a freak like Rimuru, who wasn't short on money at all and didn't even want to be a hero.
Rimuru had just put the phone down when it suddenly rang again. This time, it wasn't a message, but a call.
"Tsk, how annoying," Rimuru clicked his tongue and complained with a bit of disdain, but he still reached out to answer the call.
"Hello? I refuse the mission, don't call me anymore." After picking up, Rimuru didn't even ask who it was before saying that, which left Tatsumaki on the other end stunned. Good grief, a mere 37th-ranked A-Class rookie had more attitude than her, the 2nd-ranked S-Class hero.
"I am S—" Before Tatsumaki could finish, Rimuru had already hung up. Back at the Hero Association, Tatsumaki stared at the disconnected phone, feeling absolutely livid and wanting to hit someone.
However, due to Rimuru's uniqueness, Tatsumaki suppressed her irritation and called Rimuru again. This time, as soon as Rimuru answered, Tatsumaki spoke first.
"I am the S-Class Rank 2 hero, Tatsumaki. You're the A-Class Rank 37, Rimuru Tempest, right? Go complete that mission, and I'll personally give you a reward."
"A reward? First, I'm not short on money. Second, I don't idolize any heroes. Forget the Rank 2 Tatsumaki, even Rank 1 wouldn't interest me. Under these circumstances, what kind of reward could you possibly give me?"
Listening to the cute, youthful voice from the phone, Rimuru suddenly became interested. "Ah, the tsundere loli Tatsumaki. Might as well tease her a bit."
With that thought in mind, Rimuru replied in such a manner.
"I will grant you one condition. As long as it doesn't violate my moral code or involve things I hate, I'll do it for you. I can even accompany you for a meal. Well? Are you motivated now?"
It was only because Rimuru's registered gender at the Hero Association was female. If it had been a male, Tatsumaki would have flown straight to Rimuru's house to treat her to a meteor, rather than speaking so politely.
"That sounds a bit appealing. Fine, I'll take it. Oh, and don't think about backing out; I've recorded this." After saying that, Rimuru hung up. Glancing at the mission location, he saw it was just near his house, so he might as well take a look.
After putting down the phone, he went back to his room to change into a hoodie and knee-length shorts. He put on his sneakers, grabbed his keys, waved to Mosquito Girl, said "I'm heading out," and began wandering around the neighborhood.
Wearing Miss Shizu's Mask and with his hands tucked into the front pocket of his hoodie, he surveyed his surroundings.
Actually, this mission hadn't been given only to Rimuru; other Hero Association heroes were involved too. But since it had already been assigned to others, why Tatsumaki insisted on having Rimuru do it was a question probably no one but Tatsumaki herself knew the answer to.
Tatsumaki looked at the phone that had been hung up on her once again, feeling both angry and amused. She casually destroyed some things within a certain range inside the Hero Association to vent her frustration, then floated into the air and left, leaving behind the high-ranking officials with wry smiles.
They immediately sent people to tally what Tatsumaki had destroyed. Before long, the results came in. Fortunately, they weren't important items. If they were broken, so be it; they would just have someone buy replacements.
Given Tatsumaki's unusual attitude toward Rimuru, the higher-ups also felt it was strange and immediately ordered an investigation into all information regarding Rimuru.
They wanted to know exactly how this A-Class newcomer had managed to win Tatsumaki's favor, or rather, pique her interest.
Meanwhile, Rimuru was wandering around, thinking of heading home after a bit more walking, when he suddenly heard the sounds of battle. He was instantly curious—why would there be a fight here? He walked unhurriedly toward the source of the noise.