"Stop being so tsundere and hurry up and eat. Otherwise, when Saitama sees this later, he'll start another argument." Rimuru cut off her tsundere act directly. Since he had Temperature Nullification, he reached out and pulled the scalding hot king crab and lobster straight out of the steamer, skillfully extracting all the edible parts from them.
He took a pair of chopsticks from the holder, shoved them into Tatsumaki's hand, and then started eating for himself with a satisfied expression. "Mmm, as expected, this kind of food is the best."
"Eat, eat! Don't just stand there dazed." Rimuru stuffed his mouth with crab meat and spoke casually to Tatsumaki before ignoring her and swinging his chopsticks to devour the meat.
As for choking—you're overthinking it. How could Rimuru possibly choke on food?
Seeing the meat on the plate rapidly disappearing, Tatsumaki stopped putting on airs and began using her chopsticks to eat. However, she hadn't expected the food to still be so hot. How could Rimuru eat so fast? Wasn't he afraid of the heat?
The moment the meat entered her mouth, it was so hot she wanted to spit it out. But for the sake of etiquette, she could only endure the heat, frantically tossing the crab meat around in her mouth before finally managing to swallow it.
While she was'stir-frying' the crab meat in her mouth, Rimuru had already finished most of it and prepared a dipping sauce. "Eat slowly, no rush. These are all yours."
When Tatsumaki turned her gaze toward him, Rimuru suddenly whispered those words to her. Having finished, he didn't forget to wipe his mouth before carrying the dipping sauce back to the dining table.
Saitama was still foolishly waiting for Rimuru to return so they could eat together, unaware that Rimuru had already sneakily eaten half a lobster and half a king crab.
"Rimuru, you're so slow. Honestly, if you'd come back any later, the food would have gone cold. Seafood doesn't taste good once it's cold." Saitama began to complain as he saw Rimuru finally return. Taking so long just to get dipping sauce—Rimuru was really dilly-dallying.
"Xiao Wen put the seasonings away according to her own habits, and I couldn't find them. That's why I just finished." Rimuru decisively shifted the blame to Mosquito Girl. However, Mosquito Girl wasn't exactly an innocent scapegoat; after all, Rimuru had specially left a large lobster for her, and she was currently eating it in secret.
"By the way, isn't Xiao Wen eating with us? And that little girl who came back with you?" After hearing Rimuru's explanation, Saitama stopped complaining and asked about Mosquito Girl and Tatsumaki.
"Don't worry about them. I bought enough seafood to go around. Let's eat." As Rimuru spoke, he reached out to pick up a large scallop, used his chopsticks to pry it from its shell, dipped it in the sauce, and tossed it into his mouth.
Mmm~ So chewy and delicious! Seafood really should be eaten in variety; every kind has a different texture.
After Rimuru and Saitama had finished about two-thirds of the seafood in the pot, Tatsumaki finally returned. And yes, she didn't forget to wipe the corners of her mouth. The main reason she was so late was because Rimuru had told her not to let Saitama find out, or he'd be very annoying. So, after she finished eating, she had thrown away all the shells of the king crab and lobster.
Of course, that included Mosquito Girl's lobster shells as well.
Saitama, already full, was sitting back in front of the TV playing games with a controller. He glanced back after hearing the noise but didn't pay any more attention to Tatsumaki.
"Go ahead and eat, these are all yours." Rimuru was curled up on the sofa reading manga. Hearing Tatsumaki return, he looked up and pointed to the remaining seafood in the pot on the table.
Actually, after eating half a king crab and a lobster, Tatsumaki was already nearly full. There was no helping it; those king crabs and lobsters were huge with plenty of meat, and her own appetite wasn't that large.
However, she still nodded, sat in Rimuru's spot, and tried every kind of seafood in the pot. Then, rubbing her stomach, she lay down beside Rimuru.
"I've eaten so much, I'm going to get fat. Hmph, hateful Rimuru! If I grow fat, the blame will be entirely on your head!"
Tatsumaki spoke to Rimuru quite unreasonably, her small face slightly flushed.
In truth, she was just using awkward words to thank Rimuru for treating her to such expensive food. It wasn't that she couldn't afford it normally, but she wouldn't go out of her way to eat such things.
Rimuru waved his hand and said in an extremely indifferent tone, "Ah, it's fine. Blame me if you want."
This attitude made Tatsumaki bristle again, and she started bickering with Rimuru. Mosquito Girl silently cleared the table, not forgetting to sneak a few bites during the process.
Tatsumaki stayed at Rimuru's house until evening. After checking the time, she looked at Rimuru. "I'm going home. I'll come find you to play again next time."
"Yeah, stay safe on the road. Oh, right, that one-month period only counts when you're by my side. For example, today. In other words, you still have twenty-nine days of servant life left."
Tatsumaki had actually been quite happy, as this was the first time she had stayed at someone else's house for so long. However, a single sentence from Rimuru made her bristle with rage again.
"You hateful jerk!! Why do you have to have a mouth!" Tatsumaki said, giving Rimuru a fierce glare before storming off in a huff.
It had been five days since they last ate seafood together. For these five days, Rimuru had been cooped up at home, never going out. If he wanted snacks, he just had Mosquito Girl bring them back when she went grocery shopping. Besides, Rimuru didn't have any missions that required him to leave the house.
Three days ago, Saitama had gone out to perform the 'weekly good deed' required of C-Class Heroes and ended up arresting his 'wife,' Sonic. No famous scenes occurred this time anyway, so Rimuru didn't feel it was a pity.
Genos, who was helping Mosquito Girl clean the bathroom, suddenly received a call from the Hero Association. They said a meteorite had deviated from its original orbit and, after calculations, was projected to land in City Z. Therefore, all S-Class Heroes were being summoned to discuss the matter.
Furthermore, the Hero Association had somehow found out that Genos was with Rimuru and asked him to bring Rimuru along. After all, following the last incident, Rimuru had already risen from A-Class Rank 37 to A-Class Rank 15. Aside from a certain Caped Baldy, Rimuru was likely the only one to rank up so quickly.
"Ah!! What a pain! Can't I just not go?" After hearing Genos's words, Rimuru looked at him with an extremely resentful gaze. He just wanted to be a homebody Slime; why was it so hard?
Actually, Rimuru already knew what was happening as soon as Genos finished speaking. He hadn't expected the plot to move so fast. Was it already time for the meteorite? Then he would likely soon meet that big brother who captained the spaceship.
Rimuru vaguely remembered that this incident had a very negative impact on Saitama. Just thinking about it made him angry. Forget it, he might as well go.
Genos was still pondering how to get Rimuru to go with him when he suddenly saw Rimuru return to his room. Genos was stunned. Was this... a clear refusal? Or was he being annoying?
The robot fell into deep thought, his CPU nearly burning out.
Fortunately, Rimuru wasn't slow in changing clothes, saving Genos from having to replace his CPU. Rimuru put on his pupil of the fog city gear and donned Miss Shizu's mask. "Let's go, I'll go take a look with you." Rimuru's voice sounded a bit muffled, likely because of the mask.
"Hmm? Why aren't you moving? Not going anymore?"
Rimuru had already put on his shoes, yet Genos was still standing there like an idiot. Rimuru asked in confusion. Hearing Rimuru's question, Genos immediately snapped out of it and walked quickly to the door.
He didn't ask why she had suddenly changed her mind; as long as she was coming with him, it was a good thing. Why ask useless questions? Genos and Rimuru walked together toward the City Z branch of the Hero Association. Before leaving, Genos went to grab something, and now held a black briefcase in his hand.
Rimuru naturally knew what he had taken, so he didn't ask.
When they arrived, the place was empty. Well, except for a wrinkled, white-haired old man with a slightly hunched back.
"Oh, Genos-kun and... Mr. tempest. You two are quite fast. This old man is called Bang. Pleased to meet you." Bang almost used the wrong honorific, but fortunately, his reactions were quick and he corrected himself in time.
"Bang... I remember he's S-Class Rank 3, called Silver Fang, right?" Rimuru didn't care about Bang's strange way of addressing him. He rubbed his chin with his thumb, looking at the old man while muttering to himself.
"No need to go further inside. This Hero Association branch is already empty. As for the summoned S-Class Heroes, I'm the only one besides you who showed up. Oh, and this A-Class Mr. tempest. The other heroes are either too far away or have other business."
Seeing that Genos still wanted to walk inside, Bang spoke up to remind him.
"What 'other business'? They're just afraid of the meteorite. They make it sound so nice, but while some might truly be tied up, most just didn't want to come." Rimuru bluntly tore away the fig leaf covering the other S-Class Heroes.
Bang just smiled and didn't answer; after all, this was something everyone knew in their hearts, and there was nothing to refute. Genos didn't listen to Bang and still walked inside. After looking around and finding that there really was no one there, he returned to the entrance.
"A meteorite, huh? What a troublesome thing." Rimuru's tone was full of distaste. He raised a hand to scratch his head and, without waiting for Genos to come out, walked straight outside.
Under Bang's watchful eye, Rimuru bent his legs slightly and leaped lightly to the top of a building. He then crossed the gaps between buildings in succession, running off into the distance.
When Genos came out and saw the empty hall, he opened his briefcase. Two pitch-black mechanical arms attached themselves to his hands. He searched for Rimuru's location and hurried after him.