A Day Out In Tempest

Rimuru Tempest, king of the Jura Tempest Federation, personal friend of Storm Dragon Veldora and all around nice slime, was in a dilemma. That dilemma was the dragonoid Demon Lord loli known as Milim Nava, who was currently dragging him all over the outdoor bath; completely naked. One one had, she was on the small size, making it...somewhat questionable, legally speaking. On the other, he was no longer a human, but a slime. And even more than that, she was not human either, but a freaking Demon Lord that was thousands of years old-allegedly- and didn't seem to care one bit about being seen completely exposed. And even further...no, he was just making excuses at this point. Would anyone even care he was looking? He seriously doubted. In his own world, people as young as 13 getting married was very much the norm for the vast majority of human history. Didn't mean he agreed, but that was just how things were; from what he gathered about this world, it wasn't far off the mark. According to Eren and her party of adventurers, the age of adulthood in most nations was 15, and monsters as young as two or three years old were considered fully grown up. He pondered just how Milim fitted in: she obviously stopped aging a long, long time ago and, despite her childish persona, glimpses of a far different girl came through every so often, as expected of an individual who had probably been alive longer than half the city combined; at least that was what he had noticed in the one day he had known her. Speaking of which, his ordeal as her 'chaperon' began shortly after their impromptu 'battle' concluded...

Flashback:

'Huh?' was all Rimuru could muster to say to the new developments; Milim simply ignored him and continued to laugh for a few seconds more, then abruptly stopped.

-'Hey, any of you guys have something to drink? This thing is great but, but its making me kinda thirsty...' she said motioning to the jar of honey. Of course, she didn't really need to drink but they didn't need to know that. After a few more seconds of just staring at her, Rimuru decided it would not be worth the hassle to try and convince her to leave. So he just sighed

-'Sure.' he said dejectedly as he turned to leave, Milim following close behind 'I'll get you something in town...'

Thus the group began its short journey back to Tempest, Demon Lord in tow. Rimuru was riding on Ranga, with Milim right behind him; he wasn't sure if Ranga approved, but no one was stupid to refuse her now. He wondered if all Demon Lords were as pushy and selfish as her...they he realized that, yes, probably. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, after all, and not always in the 'oppressive tyrant' kind of way. They probably had to have been selfish and power hungry enough to reach that point in the first place; with that though, he wondered just what drove this girl who didn't look older than 14 to become as absurdly powerful as she was. 'She called herself a 'dragonoid'; what dose that even mean?' he wondered to himself

Notice: a dragonoid is a unique race belonging to someone born of a dragon and a lesser race.' Great Sage helpfully answered. 'The offspring of a dragon and a lesser race? Wonder how that works? Can dragons turn themselves into humans?' His though was interrupted by Milim calling him from behind

-'Hey, be straight with me: have you ever considered becoming a Demon Lord?' Rimuru honestly never even considered that an option, and he answered in kind

-'Nope. I haven't and i won't. Never gonna happen.' If he was paying attention, he would have noticed Milim scowling at the answer. Ever since they began moving, she tried really hard to figure out why this person- this slime- peaked her interest in the way he did. Ever since their first talk, she had this...feeling, deep in her heart, that she couldn't quite make out. She wondered if maybe it was just her intuition telling her this 'guy' had great potential to become a great Demon Lord, so she asked him. His answer was not what she expected

-'Ah? But then why did you absorb the Orc Lord?' at this question, Rimuru had to turn around in a surprise. He was met with a serious looking Milim 'Yeah, I figured that out when we first met earlier. You just have a special kind of feeling to you...'

Rimuru considered carefully how to answer that 'I didn't absorb him to become a Demon Lord' he began as he turned back around 'I did it to end his rampage. In the process I also saved him and the orcs. That's all.' He could feel Milim's gaze on him linger for a second

-'So why not become a Demon Lord? It's quite fun, you know! You have respect, you get to fight all kinds of powerful people, you...'

-'No thanks, sounds boring. Aren't you bored of that?.' he could practically sense Milim making a comically shocked face, nearly dropping her jar of honey in the process. 'Bingo, huh? Are all Demon Lords just bored?'

-'Then, then...what do YOU do that's so fun, huh?!' Milim asked quickly, obviously no longer thinking to much about what she said

-'Lots of things. But I'm mostly just really busy with running my nation.' he answered back thinking the idea would push Milim to get disinterested and leave. How wrong he was...

-'Lots of things'?! Hey, hey, what are these 'lots of things'? They can't possibly be just running a nation! What are you doing that's so interesting? Tell me!' she screamed and began shaking him from the back

'Ah, is she trowing a tantrum?! This backfired! Abort! Abort!' Rimuru began to panic again 'Ah, no, no its nothing that would interest you, really!' he said sheepishly, then realized it was to late. Milim wanted to see the city, and wanted to see what he was doing. There was basically nothing he could do to change that. So, he decided...

-'Listen, if you promise to behave in my town, and that means holding back your aura and power, then I'll show you around, yeah?' at this Milim instantly calmed down and beamed a bright smile

-'Yeah, you got it!' hearing her say that with that smile on her face made Rimuru feel something he wasn't quite sure where to place. He decided to ignore it, and for the sake of his own sanity entertain his new 'friend'. 'Friend, huh? Why not...'he decided to voice that opinion

-'Then I guess that makes us friends now.' he answered back with a smile of his own. Hearing him call her friend, made Milim feel strange again.

-'Friends...'' she muttered without anyone hearing it. As she said that, they finally came around the hill and entered the city proper. Rimuru looked over at Milim and saw her sport a look of excitement that almost made all the trouble so far seem worth it. However, he still wanted her to behave, so he began laying down some rules...

-'Just promise me a few things, okay. Don't wonder around, and don't cause trouble unless I...' before he could even finish, however, Milim was already breaking his first rule speeding off into the street. 'This is gonna be a long day...'

Thus began Milim Nava's first day in Tempest. To put it plainly, for Rimuru it was a roller coaster of entertaining and nerve wrecking. Right off the bat, Milim got into a scuffle, or rather a one sided curb stomp, when she ran into that dolt Gabiru who called her a little girt to her face. Lucky for him, she held back...in so much that he didn't die instantly from one punch. Scolding her seemed pointless, especially as Gabiru kinda deserved it for being rude in the first place, but still; he did ask her to not do something like that again, but she made no promises. Well, he tried. The next thing was to have everyone gather in the central square so he could formally introduce Milim to the city; mostly so everyone knew who she was so as not to repeat the Gabiru incident.

During the introduction, she grabbed the microphone out of his hands and began introducing herself

-'I'm Demon Lord Milim Nava, and I'll be living here starting today! Nice to meet you!' she announced casually

-'Wha...what? What dose that mean?' he asked

-'Pretty self explanatory; I decided to live here for now.'

-'But don't you have your own home right now?'

-It's fine!' she said dismissively 'Long as I visit every now and the it'll be fine!' and so she turned back to address the gathered crowd 'Me and Rimuru are friends now! No actually...Best Friends!' she proclaimed such, and the crowd went wild with cheers and applause. Apparently, Milim was surprisingly popular among the Demon Lords, despite of her reputation as the Destroyer. Thus Tempest gained a new citizen- and extremely overpowered one. The day that followed was hectic to say the least; his helpful councilors decided to just throw the responsibility of handling Milim firmly of his shoulders ('You're her best friend, after all' said that bastard Benimaru), and so he had to, as promised, show her around. And...he found himself enjoying it, though he would deny it to hell and back if asked.

Among the different things to do in Tempest, by far her favorite thing was the food; as Rimuru quickly deduced- or rather Great Sage informed him- someone with the power of a Demon Lord simply no longer had any need to eat, drink, sleep or even breath oxygen; all of their needs were met by their vast magicule reserves, making them effectively immortal. As such, things like food and drinks were simply a novelty to stimulate their senses, and stimulate her senses Milim was all about, it seemed.

-'What the...how dose some vegetable soup taste so gooood?!' she asked as she was eating in one of the dining halls

-'Ah, that's the smoked meat we put in it'. he informed her, to which she made the most curious expression. As she continued to eat, he decided to ask her something 'hey, is the food in your place not good?' at that, her face change into a scowl. 'Bad question?'

-'Bleh, the cooking in my nation stops at 'roasted meat' and raw vegetables...' she informed him with disgust 'Good thing I don't need food to live...'

'Stops at roasted meat? RAW vegetables?! Uaa, no wonder she finds even this simple soup good...' his thoughts were interrupted by Milim slamming a fist- quite gently for her, as the table didn't explode into splinters- and exclaimed

-'Rimuru! Think you could do me a favor?!' she asked with pleading eyes; as much as he hated to admit, he would't be able to say no to the expression she had even if she wasn't so dangerous 'Think you can take one of my people in to learn all of these delicious dishes?! Please!'

-'Ah, sure.' he didn't though this would be much of an issue, so he agreed rather quickly. His reward was another bright smile from Milim 'Maybe this isn't so bad...' he though with a smile of his own

The impromptu tour of Tempest continued with a visit to the workshops; he was especially eager to take her to Shuna's clothing place so that, maybe, Milim could put on some proper clothes as her usual appear left...quite a bit to be desired. As it turned out, Shuna was quite pleased to meet Milim and quickly took to turn her into her personal fashion doll, to which the Demon Lord did not object. In fact, the various new outfits she gained out of it made it so that he barley convinced her to leave. 'Girls love new outfits, I guess, no matter what world it is or how godlike powerful they are...'' he thought to himself as they left, glancing at Milim who was now wearing a sort of sailor uniform that was quite the improvement to her first one outfit.

Next were the crop fields, where things escalated quickly; seeing the hobgoblins hard at work, Milim got the idea to lend a hand. Rimuru was skeptical at first, but it turned out had no reason to worry; quite the opposite. Milim was a quick learner, to put it simply; after having one demonstration of what to do, she proceeded to till the fields like an expert that had done it her entire life. And by 'tilling the field' he did not meant one parcel or two; no, she did almost the entire thing in a few minutes, moving so fast even he had trouble keeping up. And somehow, there was no dust or insane wind speed from her movement; he reasoned she suppressed both with her aura, or something. In any case, she did the job of hundreds of workers in less than an hour, much to the shock- and cheers- of the guys working. Everyone except Ririna, who was livid that her carefully laid schedule for the crops were completely ruined. Rimuru quickly took Milim out of there before the goblina could say anything.

By the time night fell, he was mentally done; even if he had some fun along the way, he mostly had the pain of keeping Milim in check from this and that, and just couldn't be bothered to do anything else as he led her to the main dining hall where all his councilors were gathered. There, they had a nice diner- sweet, delicious curry- and began talking about various small things.

-'You are just amazing, bestie!' Milim bellowed in between messy mouthfuls. He wasn't sure exactly what she was referring to, but decided not to ask. 'How do you even think of all these amazing things?!' he wanted to say something along the lines of 'I'm not that amazing' but was interrupted by a certain ogress

-'Fu fu fu, even Lady Milim recognizes your greatness, Lord Rimuru!' Shion said in between equally messy mouthfuls 'No no, don't encourage her!' he wanted to shout, but though better of it. 'Just keep eating, Rimuru. Keep eating.' A conversation erupted among the group on what Shion had said, but he decided to tune it out. Instead, he looked over at Milim, who stopped eating and was also staring at him, a small smile on her lips. ''Eh? Was she serious?' he wondered 'Me, amazing? Nothing here would have been possible without everyone's hard effort...'

As if reading his mind- this was becoming a regular occurrence- Milim spoke up among the chatter 'Yeah! I mean, nothing here would exist without Rimuru, right?' she asked no one in particular.

-'Indeed.' Surprisingly, it was Hakuro who answered 'Talent is useless without a proper guidance, after all. The people of this city came together to make all this because they believe in Lord Rimuru.' he finished with a grandfatherly smile

-'Yes, indeed!' said Rigurd, nodding vigorously, as another round of chatter erupted among the occupants of the room, all about how he was somehow the greatest thing to ever exist. He looked over at Milim again, who just continued to eat and smile. 'This girl is dangerous, in more ways than one...' he thought, finding himself smiling back.

A while later, after everyone finished eating, Shuna asked Milim if she would like to take a bath; Milim asked where the bathroom was, confused. Apparently, bathrooms with small bathing pools are the norm in this world, even for aristocrats, so she was rather confused when she was directed outside...of course, confusion turned to excitement when she saw the massive onsen they had build. So much so that she didn't hesitate to take everything off and jump in. Of course, only the women- specifically Shuna and Shion- were with her, while the guys (him included, sadly) waited their turn. Much to Rimuru's mix of delight and trepidation, a few minutes later Milim burst through the door wearing nothing but a towel, excitedly explaining how you could even swim in the onsen, it was that big. 'You're not supposed to swim in the onsen, though...'' he wanted to say, but before he could make any sound she snatched him off the table- he was now in his slime form- and ran off into the onsen with Shuna and Shion running after her.

...and thus, Rimuru Tempest ended up in his current predicament, being used as a water ball by Milim as Shuna and Shion just watched from the sidelines. Eventually, however, the Demon Lord tired and let him rest. She herself looked really content, just soaking up in the heat; he could barley tell it was the same person from a few seconds ago. With her hair down like this, she looked quite a bit more pretty that she already was. If it wasn't for her more excitable part of her personality, he could almost feel safe with having her around. He continued to keep an eye on her- 'I am not ogling, thank you very much!' , he reassured himself- and kinda lost track of time; at some point, both Shuna and Shion had left the pool to dry off, leaving them by themselves, and the night sky got completely dark and covered in stars.

-'Hey, Rimuru...' Milim's voice sounded softer than usual as she spoke, looking up into the night sky 'Even the stars look kinda nicer from here...' she absentmindedly said.

'What is she talking about?' he wondered, looking up himself for a moment 'Er, they look about the same to me...'

-'No, its true. I've been around you known, and...' as she said so, she moved a little closer to him and got lower so they were at eye level 'this is the best spot I've found!' she finished with a playful smirk.

-'Ah, is that so...glad you like it.' he said as he turned to look up again and try and see what she was talking about (and certain not to avoid eye contact). After a while, he could feel her leaning against him. 'At least she's not thrashing me all over the pool...' They stayed like than for a while, until Rimuru thought to ask her something that he was curious about

-'Hey, Milim?'

-'Yeah?' came her immediate response

-'I was just wondering...why did you become a Demon Lord?' at this, the girl's blue eyes suddenly became distant, as if she was recalling a long forgotten memory. He though he saw a flash of sadness in them, but it was quickly gone as she responded

-'Ah...something bad happened, and I got really angry?'

-...'Why are you asking me?' he asked confused, noting that Milim seemed to look confused herself.

-'I don't know... It was a long time ago, so I forgot!' she dismissed as she turned to look away 'Oh...it probably wasn't a pleasant memory, huh?' Rimuru realized. 'Seeing her look all dejected like that just feels wrong, somehow...'

It there was one thing Rimuru came to realize about Milim Nava during the short time he knew her was that being sad just didn't suit her at all. But more than that, she never let it drag her down for more than a moment. Sure enough, she was right back to her cheerful self before he could even feel sorry for her, splashing water all over him. This time, however, he decided not to try and calm her down and just enjoyed himself for once too.