“Heh. Milim, huh?” Veldora gave her a glance. “This is noble work, performed by grown-ups; it is far too complex for children like you. This is not a playground. Stay out of our way!”
He shut her down before I could even respond. This was work, more or less, but it sure didn’t feel that way to me.
“My master is right!” shouted Ramiris in a fury. “We’re on work duty right now, so go away and bother someone else for a change!”
Alas, Milim simply snatched the pixie out of the air.
Ramiris needed courage to try that with her, but she also needed strength to back it up. I’m sure not that brave.
“What do you mean, it looks ‘interesting’?” I retorted. “I’m planning a huge festival, remember? And I’m even gonna accommodate the request you gave me in your letter, too.”
“Huh?! You didn’t ignore my letter?!”
“Of course not. I’m inviting demon lords to this event, y’know. I’m not about to piss them off for no reason.”
Milim looked a bit peeved, although contented that I didn’t forget about her request.
“Wait a minute, Rimuru!” Ramiris shouted, livid about this treatment at Milim’s hands. “I’m a demon lord, too, you know! Part of the Octagram with you and Milim!”
“Oh yeah, Ramiris, I didn’t even need to send you an invite, huh? Not after you decided to just up and move here!”
“What? You moved here? Wait a second… Ramiris, are you living with Rimuru?!”
Ramiris began to a panic a bit. “Y-yes! Yes, I moved here, okay? So the invitation doesn’t even matter! I’m not alone any longer, and I’m living with Rimuru and everything, too!”
Great. Panic or not, that statement was bound to be misunderstood.
“Aw, that’s no fair! I wanna live here, too!!”
“Ha-ha! Tough luck! I’ve got a job here, remember? I’m helping out Rimuru! I’m not some overbearing, unwelcome houseguest like you!”
“What? How dare you say that! Why, I oughtta—”
Milim was ready to duke it out right now. Ramiris, despite how hopeless her chances were, refused to stand down. Me? I just watched it unfold.
Fortunately, this was just a verbal spat, limited to the two trading insults with each other. Neither had the vocabulary for this kind of contention, which made it kinda cute in a way. Ramiris occasionally accentuated her disses with a flying kick to Milim, who kept trying to grab her out of the air. It was kind of like a game of tag, and from the side, this almost looked like they were playing at recess. Apparently, they’ve known each other for a while, so perhaps this was just their way of expressing affection.
Their squabbling came to a close within moments, however—Shuna had just arrived with some sweets in tow, took one look at the two demon lords, and shot them a firm rebuke.
“No sweets for anyone who’s bickering!”
That immediately shut them both up.
A couple slices of cake later, and everything was roses. They were awfully chummy now—but more importantly, I needed to grill Milim over why she came here in the first place.
“So, Milim, what are you doing here?” I asked.
“Hee-hee! I told you! You looked like you were up to some fun stuff!”
“Um, is that really it?”
“Uh-huh. But now I’m really glad I came. This cake tastes so good, and I like what you’re doing with this labyrinth. I had no idea Ramiris could make herself so useful!”
“Ha! Sure showed you, huh? I’ve got untold powers at my disposal, you know. You just never noticed!”
You didn’t, either, Ramiris, I thought. But…man, Milim really has a keen nose for underground scheming like this. You literally can’t hide anything from her. She had two ex–demon lords in Carillon and Frey to deal with, but she still had the time and wherewithal to look into stuff all the way over here. Logic just didn’t work with her. She shouldn’t be able to get in here, but maybe it wasn’t unusual at all for Milim. Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised.
“All right. We have had our dessert— How about we get back to work? You can enjoy this, too, Milim, if you stay out of the way.”
Veldora was being unusually mature and accommodating. Come to think of it, a fight between him and Milim would be a serious problem. Milim was going easy on Ramiris, I could tell, but it’d be a different story with this dragon. If they started to tangle, this whole labyrinth would fall apart. Good thing she was on Veldora’s good side for now.
“No complaint there, Master,” Ramiris said. She and Milim actually got along pretty well, in my eyes—that fight just now must’ve just been some friendly teasing.
“All right!” exclaimed an excited Milim. “I won’t get in your way. Gimme all the work you want!”
I figured I was safe in accepting that offer, but one concern remained—something I needed confirmation for.
“Well, I don’t mind if you join in, but—”
“Great! This looks like so much fun! I wish you called for me back when you were planning it!”
“Right, right. But Milim, what about the people working under you? Did you get permission from Carillon or Frey to come here?”
She was a free spirit, to be sure, but she was also a demon lord—one with two ex–demon lords in her stable and all of Clayman’s old land to rule on top of her own. Even with Carillon and Frey running things in her territory, she had to be a lot busier than before. Did she really have the time to go poking around my domain for fun?
…Huh? Me, you ask? Hey, I got talented people working under me, so I got time for projects like this, yeah. I’d just get in their way if I bothered them. Besides, I had a fully valid motive for this plan—a desire to attract more visitors to Tempest. This wasn’t playtime for me, I promise.
But who cares about me? Milim was the
