"Thump, thump, thump!"
A familiar knocking sound pulled Kaito from his sleep, but he had absolutely no intention of getting up.
"Click..."
The door swung open and Sakuya walked in. One look at Kaito still buried under his blanket and very obviously pretending to sleep gave her an immediate headache. Waking this man up every morning was, without fail, her greatest daily trial.
This time, however, she had not come alone. Another figure followed her through the door. The newcomer spotted Kaito in the bed, quietly walked over, and gave him a gentle nudge.
"Kaito-nii! It's morning, time to get up!"
The girl's soft, sweet voice reached his ears, and Kaito couldn't help himself. He poked his head out from under the blanket and opened his eyes.
"Uh... Nezuko, why are you here?!"
"I came with Shizu-nee! She went to find Rimuru-sama, so I came to play with Kaito-nii!"
"Shizu? What does she need to see Rimuru for?"
Kaito asked, genuinely puzzled.
"Miss Shizu came to discuss building a school with Rimuru-sama."
Sakuya, still standing nearby, answered his question.
"A school? Why would she go to Rimuru for that? Shouldn't something like this go straight to Kagaya?"
Although Rimuru had become the leader of the [Jura Forest Alliance], things hadn't really changed all that much. Apart from getting into trouble all over town with Kaito, Rimuru mostly served as everyone's beloved mascot, endlessly fought over by a rotating cast of girls. It made no sense that she'd be the one approached about building a school.
"Kagaya-sama has gone to Dwargon to handle road construction matters and is not currently in town."
Sakuya held out a damp towel as she spoke.
Kaito took it and wiped his face. "What about Rigurd? Can't he deal with it?"
"Rigurd-sama has gone with Geld and the others to prospect for iron ore. The town's population has surged recently, and there's a serious shortage of pig iron."
"Additionally, Benimaru-sama, Kanae, and the others all have their own duties and cannot spare the time."
Kaito caught the clear glint of amusement in Sakuya's eyes and understood immediately. So it came down to him and Rimuru, the two resident layabouts, being the only ones available to make decisions right now.
"Then why didn't Shizu come to me directly? Why go to Rimuru instead... ah."
He trailed off mid-sentence, something clicking into place. As one of the town's most dedicated idlers, he'd overheard plenty of gossip. It was apparently well known that Sakuya's greatest daily challenge was getting her master out of bed, and so when people truly had something important to resolve, they would go to Rimuru first.
After all, even if both of them were layabouts, Rimuru could at least handle things to some degree, unlike the veteran layabout Kaito.
"Ahem... Nezuko, you and Sakuya head out first. Once I'm dressed I'll take you somewhere fun."
"Okay!"
Nezuko obediently got up and left the room with Sakuya.
A short while later, Kaito came downstairs fully dressed and found Rimuru, Shizu, and Nezuko in the living room, sharing pastries that were clearly Sakuya's handiwork.
"Kai-chan! You're up!"
Rimuru spotted him coming down and waved cheerfully.
"Yeah. So, have you sorted out the school business?"
Kaito dropped onto the sofa and looked at Rimuru.
"Yes! Shizu-nee and I talked it over. We've decided to set aside a dedicated open space on the west side of town for the school."
"Right, and what will the school actually teach once it's built? Not math and science, I hope. And where are the teachers going to come from?"
Rimuru blinked at the barrage of questions. "You're asking me? I approved a plot of land, and that's already more than enough from me. You can't seriously expect me to solve all the rest of it too, can you?"
Kaito looked at the utterly unapologetic Rimuru and pressed a hand to his forehead.
[In the original story, Rimuru seemed capable of managing just about everything herself. And now she can't even handle something this small. I wonder whose fault that is?]
[Host! Doesn't someone already know the answer in their heart?]
[...Yeah, it's me. Fine then.]
In truth, it wasn't really Rimuru's fault. In the original story, she had no one to lean on and had to push herself to step up every time. But now, with the wealth of talent Kaito had brought back from the Demon Slayer world, plus Kaito himself to turn to whenever things got hard, she had grown quite comfortably lazy.
"Kai-chan! I actually already talked this through with someone else. Since the school will be taking in both human and monster children, it'll mainly focus on combat-oriented courses."
"For swordsmanship, I spoke with Hakurou-san, and he's agreed to teach the children at the school one day a week."
"For the remaining days, the Demon Slayer Hashira will take turns teaching as well."
"For magic, I've asked Shuna to handle that. And Treyni heard about the school and said she'd send her sisters over as teachers too!"
Shizu, who had been listening quietly from the side, smiled at the two of them.
"Eh, eh, eh?! Shizu-nee, you'd already prepared all of this?!"
"Heh heh! What else were you expecting? Did you think either of you were going to figure it out?"
Rimuru and Kaito both went slightly red at that. "Please stop, you're embarrassing us."
"Alright! Since you've thought of everything, Shizu, let's go with that. If you need anything else along the way, just come to us!"
Kaito said this with the composure of someone who had long since abandoned all shame.
"Of course. If I need anything, I'll definitely come to Kai-chan. And Rimuru too!"
"Bang!"
Just as they were chatting, the front door flew open with a crash. Gobta came sprinting in.
"Rimuru-sama, Kaito-sama! You should both come to the town entrance right away! A whole group of knights riding pegasi have arrived, and Benimaru and the others have already gone over!"
"What?!"
Rimuru was on her feet in an instant. Kaito already had a good idea of who it was.
[So they came after all. Gazel Dwargo, King of Dwargon. Though, wasn't Kagaya supposed to be at Dwargon? How did this still happen?]
"Kai-chan! Let's go quickly!"
"Alright, let's go see which great figure has graced us with their presence."
Kaito got up and headed for the town entrance alongside Rimuru. Nezuko and Shizu stayed behind, there was no need for them to come. Even though Shizu's combat ability was still considerable, if a fight actually broke out, it wouldn't come to that. Kaito could handle it himself.
Town Entrance.
Gazel Dwargo, mounted on a pegasus high above, looked down at the bustling town below him and murmured quietly,
"So this is the town where monsters and humans live side by side, just as Kagaya-dono described?"