A:N- to keep track of Rimuru's age...from three months in Veldora's Cave then another three months traveling around, meeting Shizu, Cabal's party and the Oni, then ending at the day Shion took interest in music, Rimuru is exactly half a year old or 180 days. Then 9 days are spent traveling by Lizardmen before Orc Disaster and after that, five months naming the Orc King, Generals and Citizens and Dragonewts. 11 months in total and their first winter passed, and they subsided off of their stores, fruit and meat. By end of winter, Rimuru is exactly, one year old.

During building project took another half a year. Its at this time they met these ones.

Winning Demon Lords over through Food

Milim Nava, one of the Ten Great Demon Lords.

The appearance of a grade schooler, but has the power to raze a continent if left unchecked. And the most immature and excitable, befitting her appearance even if she was older than dirt.

See, she came from a meeting with Clayman, Karion and Frey not long ago regarding their project, Orc Disaster.

But there's so many interesting people who killed their pet project. So many Kijin...YOUNG Kijin in one place. And that winged girl!

If only Gelmud didn't die too fast, they could have seen more dammit!

So she headed on her own to Jura Forest. Without Veldora around, what Non-Aggression Pact? What's the point if he himself isn't around anyway?

With her 'Milim Eye', she'll start with where the strongest presence is...and it's easy to find!

From Clayman's territory in Jistav, she headed west.

Or maybe a little southwest. It's near Blumund, this presence!

xxx

Summer was about to end that the air is starting to cool.

Souei was back with the fruits of his labor that everyone is now perusing over and planning Counter Tactics with the council, until they felt a monstrous presence heading their way due east...and it's fast!

'Whoever this is, is faster than Gelmud!' Hakurou burst out in alarm, very wary of the fast approaching presence.

'Let's go deal with it!' Shion quickly suggested.

'I'll go first, you guys standby behind me!' Rimuru instructed. 'If things go dicey we can go apeshit. We'll greet this outside!'

'Ou!'

Needless to say they went out via windows while the goblins left behind prayed its a problem within their power...

xxx

Outskirts of Named Village...

Rimuru greeted the incoming being at the countryside and whoever that was, landed in front of her with a BOOM, creating quite the crater and sent her skirt billowing upwards.

Rimuru felt lucky that the Kijin aren't here yet by about a few seconds...

'OOOOHOHOHOHO!' came this obnoxious laughter from a young girl, straight out of anime, the kind an obnoxious ojousama would do. 'I am one of the Ten Great Demon Lords, Milim Nava!' she declared as the dust smoke cleared. 'I came to say Hello!'

'Er...demon lord?' Rimuru croaked out. Yeah, in anime, shit like this happens! She never dreamed she'd experience this trope in real life too!

'Yup!' Milim chimed cheerfully. 'You're that girl we saw in Gelmud's scrying orbs! But uh...you're not in that fancy blue dress?' she mused as Rimuru dressed casually, in a normal shirt and a pair of shorts and flip flops. Her long hair on a low braid.

'Well, I only wear that thing if I have to fight and I'm mostly a magician, not a warrior.' said Rimiru with a smile. 'I leave the sword and combat to my subordinates more.'

'Awww, even though you're the strongest?' Milim pouted, eyeing Rimuru's body. She can easily see that Rimuru has no fighting ability whatsoever, disappointing her. 'Geh~ I can see that now even though you're so strong magicule-wise...you're a Demon Lord Seed now, y'know?'

'Rimuru-sama's what?!' the Kijin popped out of hiding in amazed awe.

'Rimuru-sama's that strong?!' Benimaru squawked out.

'Haa?! You can't tell?!' Milim's eyes popped out.

'We never met anyone stronger than ourselves until Rimuru-sama happened, so we have no way of measuring, I'm afraid.' said Hakurou, stroking his beard with his left hand. 'Rimuru-sama, normally we should have started months ago in your training but due to all our busy workload our schedule got thrown off. I'll be at my utmost strictest in your training once everything settles down that you finally have free time.' Rimuru looked sheepish.

'Yeah, my power's worthless if I can't use it well anyway.' Rimuru said wryly. 'In the end, skill, ability and creativity with power matters more. So what if I'm a Demon Lord Seed, you guys can defeat me easily since I have no experience. Orc Disaster was painfully easy even for me to beat with the right skill and tactic.'

'You'd get along with my Head Priest, that was how he thinks too.' Milim scratched her head, astonished with the bluenette.

'Well, it's getting cold let's go to my house to talk more.' said Rimuru. 'I'm just glad there's no office work today.'

'Huh? Office work?'

'Ehehe, I'm the Guardian of our town, Tempest.' Rimuru grinned. 'I have office work because I overseer our many building projects and address issues that need dealing with so we'll make it in time before our second winter. Our main problem is housing and food, we're not done yet.'

'Heee...'

And so...

'Here, lunch time everyone!' Shuna and lady goblinas brought in vegetable dishes.

Milim choked in dismay at the vegetables. But...they're cooked and smell nice?

'This is...vegetables, right?' Milim croaked out, shakily pointing at the food.

'Yes?'

'You don't eat it whole as is?' Milim asked in wonder.

They wondered how the heck did she live with eating raw vegetables.

That's disgusting!

Benimaru who HATED eating vegetables according to Shuna looked nauseous at the idea.

'Er Milim, no sane person would eat raw vegetables straight off the farms.' Rimuru sweatdropped. 'Not only do raw vegetables taste bad being grassy-tasting or bitter, the texture is also too hard and its hard for the stomach to digest it so anyone would have terrible stomachaches. No matter what type, food should always be cooked!'

'DARN IT MIDDRAY!' Milim howled unhappily. 'I hate vegetables because I always have to eat it as is! Is cooked vegetables even any good?!'

'Well, try some.' Shuna encouraged. 'Everyone in our town eats COOKED vegetables.' Milim squirmed nervously before shakily taking some...and took a mouthful.

It was warm, flavorful...and tasty? 'Mm?!' she swallowed it. 'Its...sweet...and tasty? Huh?' she clearly could not believe something she hated could possibly taste good.

'See? Maybe your servants should learn how to cook.' Rimuru sweatdropped.

'They always insist I have to eat it fresh even though it's disgusting!' Milim complained. 'Food in other Demon Lords' places is better than mine it's not fair!'

They won a Demon Lord over with hospitality and food, needless to say, as well as treating her like a normal person.

Then the topic came to this after lunch.

'So Rimuru-sama is a Demon Lord Seed...' Souei mused during tea.

'She can become a Demon Lord actually. You interested?' Milim asked Rimuru hopefully as the Kijin perked in interest. This one is at a level better than Orc Disaster! Milim found a better prospect in this woman!

'Not yet for now I guess.' said Rimuru. 'I have a lot of worries and time is what I don't have I can't even be bothered to become one...after building seven towns, I'll train under Hakurou when building is finally over...so maybe in three years I'll try going for it I guess?'

'How does one become a Demon Lord anyway?' Shion wondered.

'Well, you'd clearly need to be at Rimuru-sama's stage first...what's after is unknown.' said Benimaru. 'Clearly, a condition must be met.'

'Been several thousand years, I forgot.' Milim shrugged. 'There's cool benefits in being a Demon Lord, c'mon!' Milim egged Rimuru on. 'You're even a Named Monster! Rimuru, was it?'

'Yes.'

'What kinda monster are you?'

'Oh? Welp, I'm a cute slime!' upon saying the last word, Rimuru turned into her true form, making Milim do a spittake, eyes wide at Rimuru's cuter form.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!

Yup, the Kijin thought, they think the youngest Demon Lord discovered that the next possible one, is a Slime.

'You guys continue what we're doing earlier OK? I'll show Milim around our place.'

xxx

'Dang, I can't believe it~' Milim carried Rimuru around in her arms. 'You're really a Slime...'

'I was born this way you know.' Rimuru snorted as she gave Milim a tour around the town. 'I'm a Magicule-Spawn. One day I suddenly existed, surrounded by magicules and I had to learn from good teachers to get by in my very short year-and-half old life.'

(Great Sage is preening itself smugly)

'Magicule-Spawn huh?' unlike monsters born from other monsters, magicule-spawn are born out of clusters of magicules usually caused by powerful monsters. 'That's one way to be born unique, I've never seen a slime like you.' Slimes don't have faces, nevermind being smart. 'And these guys here...' Milim's eyes roamed around in wonder.

'I named them all.' said Rimuru. 'Thanks to the trouble Gelmud caused, they're all displaced and homeless as well as living in fear, so I proposed that we all build our own town and our own farms. By living and working together, we can all settle down and live the rest of our days without fear. We cover each other's backs here. Before Autumn ends, everyone finally has a house. Food is on the way this coming harvest season.'

'Hummm...'

'Welp, wanna stick around and see how we do things?' Rimuru suggested. 'I'll also teach you how to cook tasty food.'

'Me? Cook?'

'So you'll get to eat delicious food every day.' Rimuru chirped. 'So what ingredients are available in your territory?'

'I dunno, let's ask Middray!' next thing Rimuru knew, she was flown out of her town.

xxx

Forgotten Dragon Territory, Milim's Temple...

Milim was quick to make demands of her followers in listing down what their territory has. Milim has spices, vegetables and seafood as well as fruit and grain. She basically has everything.

Yet she gets baskets of raw vegetables every day?

Well, not all monsters get an education beyond what was in their culture anyhow...so she'll overlook this...travesty for now, as Milim left everything to her. So Good Food = Milim's Good Will.

'Now then, looks like we got all we need...so! Let's get cooking! Since it's starting to get cold, we'll begin with Winter Dishes!'

'Wait, is Milim-sama cooking with us?!' Middray squawked in disbelief. 'Milim-sama doing servant work is unheard of!'

'She's interested, and everyone with a pair of hands should learn how to cook.' Rimuru tut-tutted with a finger wag. 'A person who can't cook, is a sitting helpless duck!'

Unknown to her, a lot of people, including Milim herself, choked in appalment at the idea, complete with a thunderstrike background.

Rimuru sent a letter to Benimaru that day.

xxx

Sundown...

A Dragon Priest arrived and made his way to Benimaru upon asking questions to find the guy and gave the letter to him before leaving.

''To everyone in town, I managed to earn Milim's good will towards us by teaching her people how to cook, so they don't have to eat food raw anymore, and I started a Cooking Class, teaching...a Demon Lord and about thousands of her priests and priestesses.' Benimaru began reciting to Gabiru, Rigurd and Geld as he had leaders of races with him to listen as to where their leader is. 'Winter is coming, so I'm teaching our warm cuisine, and to keep Milim's interest, sweets. I'll be here in her temple for a month, and I'll be home for our autumn harvest day. Please take care of everyone. -Rimuru'.'

'So she'll be gone for a while...' said Rigurd. 'At least we managed a miracle nobody did before.'

'That is?' Gabiru asked him.

'Survive Demon Lords.' said Rigurd wryly before he took on an awed expression. 'Only Rimuru-sama can manage fantasy feats like this!' he gasped in sheer reverence, hands clasped in prayer. 'Who else can claim they survived one through cooking?!'

'Well, only our master can do that...' said Geld, scratching his head.

'That's only possible if the right conditions are met.' Benimaru chuckled. 'Well, let's hold the fort as she asks of us until harvest day!'

xxx

Dragon Temple...

A bum is roaming around.

One of the Ten Great Demon Lords has no territory.

This person is a Datenshi-turned-Demon Lord, Dino.

Too lazy to do more than breathe, eat and sleep, he bums around whoever's willing to host him and he only bums off of his fellow TRUE Demon Lords. He has never even 'graced' the territories of the self-proclaimed ones.

As far as he's concerned, there's only seven of them.

He bums off them for a millennia at a time, while occasionally checking on Milim in secret before bumming off of a fellow. Milim is a fellow True Demon Lord BUT!

THE FOOD IN HER TERRITORY SUCKS ASS.

That was why Milim was bumming around as well, frequently mooching off of whoever Demon Lord has her taste at the moment. Her people are disasters in their own way.

However!

Nobody's around?

Worried, he searched until he found a massive kitchen elsewhere, and a blue-haired woman teaching cooking and EVEN MILIM is cooking!

His jaw dropped.

The dish projected by magic is a type of cake this time.

"OK? Looks like she finally got a teacher to stick around long enough?" Dino scratched his head. It's hard to keep Milim's interest that she does as she pleases when bored that teaching her was akin to pulling teeth off a dragon. By the time they're done, the smell of sweets wafted to his nose, and everyone happily ate their work, enjoying it. While Dino is aware cakes is served in Walpurgis, this one is...clearly different?

Once classes are over?

'That was awesome!' Milim squealed as Rimuru changed back to being a slime. Lessons always comprised of a soup or stew, noodle dish with sauce, fried food, steamed food, baked goods and roasts. Rimuru basically taught Chinese Cooking(the kind that uses as little oil as possible and she avoided spicy ones) through Great Sage downloading it for her though regarding sweets, she adjusted downloading based on what Milim's country has. 'My territory will finally have it better now!'

'How long were you eating...raw vegetables anyway?'

'Ten thousand years I think?'

'How miserable?!'

'Ya think?!'

'Ooooi...' Dino greeted, startling the ladies.

'Kyaaa!'

'Dino!' Milim recognized the...sleepy-looking guy. 'What brings you here?'

'Traveling and since I was passing by I checked on you.' Dino told her. Milim's teacher, is a slime monster as Milim carried said slime around like a pet. 'So this one is?'

'She's Rimuru, a new monster I checked out!' Milim chimed. 'She's a Demon Lord Seed!'

A what?

A slime, reach such a power level?

Dino checked Rimuru and indeed, she's strong for her...kind.

'Only in magicule terms though. I'm not a fighter even a blockhead forest aggressor can kill me if I got careless.' Rimuru piped up. 'I rely on magic to get by.'

'Then why not train?' Dino pointed out.

'Swamped with office work since overseeing construction and logistics piles up my paperwork?'

xxx

Tempest...

'Uh who's he Rimuru-sama?' Shion asked Rimuru who came back with Milim and a sleepy-looking winged person.

'Another Demon Lord, Dino!' Rimuru chimed as hundreds of jaws dropped in shock. 'Treat him well too OK? He wants to check out harvest season so let's get changing into our farm clothes!'

'OU!'

To Dino's surprise, even Milim...ran off, so he had to follow...

They went into a small cabin that's apparently, just a closet. The two rulers came out in just a plain shirt, a pair of shorts and boots.

And so, at the farms...

'Uweee...a Demon Lord, digging up potatoes...' Dino sweatdropped as everyone in town began reaping the farms and gathering the ripe goods in baskets. From a Hobgoblin to even a freaking Dryad...who clearly came here for potatoes. Two annoyed Dryads came, saying,

'Oneesama you're skipping on your work!'

'Ehhhh but I AM working!'

'No you didn't do all your jobs before coming out here to play, so you're going home AND finish it before going to play!'

'Yeah, we're not doing your share of jobs!' and they were gone with the wailing Dryad who's tied up with vines.

'Uwa, Treyni-san's sisters are formidable...' a Hobgoblin croaked out.

'Well, they're scary in their own way.' said Benimaru. 'Treyni-san's thoroughly-schooled.'

'I don't see what's wrong with potato-harvesting?' Milim inquired, puzzled.

'Well, Treyni-san grew to like the fried potato chips I taught in class...she apparently began skipping work to get more chips here.' Rimuru sweatdropped.

'Well, they ARE tasty...'

Harvest took about a week and recording everything. Rimuru put 'Team Preservation' to task while everyone else began plowing and tilling the soil to plant new seeds in.

Milim was on Team Preservation.

'THEY STIIIINK!' Milim and Dino shut their noses hard by pinching, unable to bear the stench.

'Its an evil necessity to preserve food for winter.' said Rimuru, passing out face masks. 'We prepare pickled vegetables by soaking them in pickling solutions. We also dry out vegetables.'

'Why wilt them on purpose?'

'Its not wilting, it's drying.' Rimuru explained the mechanics of drying food. 'That way we can get by winter. Given what Gelmud did, there's hardly any prey left in this forest, so we've all gone vegetarian to let them er, propagate. We'll also start baking bread and making noodles soon too...oh, and I'm going down south for seafood in my budding Port town.'

There is a way to make Katsuobushi and Dashi in this world. While getting seaweed for vegan dashi is easy, the fishy kind needs some skill...and strength.

'By the way, you still haven't shown me how that ended.' Milim reminded her. 'Show me show me!'

'Ah, nearly forgot about that...'