Chapter 8: New Season

-'I love you.'

Rimuru's head went blank. For what felt like hours, he just could not wrap his mind around what he had just heard. Was he delusional? He couldn't tell anymore. He tried to focus on the girl in front of him, trying to see if maybe he misheard and she said something else...her entire face was red and it looked like steam was coming off of her head.

'No, I could't have heard right...that is...she what?' his mind viciously fought to make sense of it. He was sure he looked like an idiot, but he could't be bothered to care. After a few more seconds, he finally realized he really did hear it...that she said she loved him.

-...'you...what?' was all the sounds he could make. Milim looked even more embarrassed than before, somehow, and nervously began to fidget with her yukata, her eyes trying to focus on anything but Rimuru's and mumbling incoherent sounds. 'Milim, I...' he tried to say but found he just didn't have the words. Not once did he ever though of what he would say to her if this situation came up. It just wasn't even an option. He tried desperately to rack his brain for an appropriate answer.

But then he realized, looking at the panicking Milim, that whatever he felt was probably nothing; she looked ready to faint at any moment. 'Right...I'm being foolish, aren't I?' he though to himself and made a decision. 'Damn it, I always say that I'm the mature one around here, I need to start acting like it!' steeling his resolve, he grabbed the girl's hands before she ripped a hole in her dress with her fidgeting, startling her. Then she froze, unable to look away as he locked eyes with her. Gulping, he answered 'Milim, I...I like you too.' he though he sounded corny as hell, but whatever did the job, he would take it.

-'Ah?' was all Milim could muster in surprise

-'I said I like...' he said to alleviate her confusion '..no...I love you too...' he began scratching the back of his head, trying to find the right words and breaking eye contact 'Damn it, I'm awful at this...sorry, but...' before he could finish, he was interrupted by a sob. He looked over at Milim, who had a tear run down her face. He never felt more panic in his entire existence and over two lives; it was enough to nearly bring him to tears too, but fortunately Milim spoke up

-'No, I...I'm just...really happy...' she said in between sobs 'You...' not able to find more words to say, she decided to simply say nothing and threw her arms around Rimuru's neck, pulling him into a hug. As she buried her face into his shoulder, he gingerly wrapped his own arms around her, accepting the gesture.

-...'it's okay...' he tried to reassure her, but she continued to sob for a few more minutes before calming down. They stayed like that for a while, neither wanting to break the silence, but eventually Rimuru decided to take charge

-'Are you okay now?' he asked as he gently pulled her back so he could look her in the eyes; more calmly but still with some tears in her eyes, Milim nodded, then began wiping her eyes with one arm. He smiled and took her hand away before wiping her with his hand 'Better?' she nodded again. He pulled her back in a hug. He wanted to stay like that for as long as possible, but life had other plans.

All across the forests, a number of bright trails began rising upwards, drawing the attention of everyone in the city, including Rimuru and Milim. A few seconds later, the sky was filled with a dazzling array of light of various colors and patterns. Pretty much everyone in the city stopped doing whatever they were doing and stared at the display, awed.

Staring up at Vesta's and Gabiru's handiwork, Rimuru smiled broadly and threw a hand around Milim; he had completely forgotten about the fireworks he had made the two to create for him, with instructions from him (with instructions from Great Sage). He had planed to go see everyone's reaction, especially Milim's, and now he had a front row seat. She had that look on her face whenever she experienced something new, staring starry eyes at the sky with a huge smile on her face. It was exactly the kind of thing he had come to really like seeing at her; and right now, he was certain he made the right decision to allow her to stay when he did.

'Hey Milim?' he called; she looked over at him, before realizing their position, then blushed before looking away again 'I'm glad were...closer...' he dreaded saying 'together' as he still wasn't sure if they would be considered that, yet 'But...'

-'Yeah?' she looked back at him with a hint of panic in her voice, maybe because she heard the word 'but'

-'I'd like it if we took it...you know, slow.' he reassured her 'I want to do this right...if I can.' he explained. She had that look when she contemplated things, then began scratching at her cheek

-'Ah, ha ha, okay...' she laughed nervously 'I'm fine with that...it's...not like I have any idea what I'm doing from here...' she admitted sheepishly 'It's just...I never felt like this, about anyone, so...' she tried to explain herself

Rimuru understood where she was coming from; even with all his years, with no actual experience on the issue, he felt like the prospect of a relationship now was like climbing a huge mountain as an amateur. She was literary centuries older, and had admitted to never have experience anything of the sort before. He could not really fathom what it must have felt like to her. But 'Me either...' he wasn't gonna let some tiny mountain get in the way 'so let's...see together, yeah?' he smiled

She smiled back

Dawn broke upon Tempest, startling the city of monsters awake. Or at least those who were not yet awake, as many had been woken up hours earlier, either by or as those responsible with the clean up. The city was again bustling with activity and would soon begin another day; more than anything, many wanted their Lord to wake up to a clean and orderly city and be proud of them.

Of course, Rimuru, as a slime, could not really sleep; he didn't need to, but he had learned to, essentially, force it. Whenever he went overboard with naming monsters, he would fall into a deep, slumber-like state as he recuperated, though he was still conscious. With the help of Great Sage, he began experimenting and reached a state where he was, for all intense and purpose, unconscious and could even dream. At least he though he was dreaming; he wasn't sure, as the memories were hazy- like a real dream, he supposed. The important part was that he could shut down and rest, as being awake all the time began to take some toll on his psyche at first; he was originally a human who had to sleep, after all, and it was just ingrained in his soul, he concluded. And so, he occasionally allowed himself to 'sleep', such as on this.

Unlike normal sleeping, he did not slowly and grudgingly wake up; it was more like a switch was flipped and he was back online. It was better than nothing. And this time, he had quite the great view awaiting him.

He was sat on the sofa located in his office, head resting on one of its soft handle; and resting on his chest was Milim, snoring softly, hair loose and sprawled all over and covered by his blue overcoat. He took a second to stare at her peaceful, content sleeping face and smiled.

After the events of last night, they had spent a few hours just talking over; when he heard she had been so terrified of being rejected she nearly ran away, his heart broke. He wasn't sure how things would work out, but he was sure of one thing: he would do anything he could to keep that smile he loved so much. After a few hours, they decided to head inside- mostly because Rimuru didn't want anyone to see them; he wasn't sure how he would break the news to people... once they settled on the sofa, however, Milim had fallen asleep really quickly, resting on his shoulder. Not wanting to disturb her, he let it be and at some point decided to rest himself.

He watched her for a few minutes and absentmindedly began stroking her hair.

He heard her stir up and slowly open her eyes to look up at him; he froze and stopped what he was doing 'Hey...' he said awkwardly. After a few more seconds; realizing the possition they were in, Milim's eye shot wide open and she quickly shot up

-'Ahh...umm, he...' she tried to form a sentence but failed; he smiled and took her hand

-'Morning.' he said in as casual as manner as he could, trying to calm her down a bit; it mostly worked

-'Morning...' she replied

-'You hungry?' he said as he got up, still holding her hand; she didn't reply. 'So, umm...anything you want to do?' he asked. She looked up

-'I don't know. What...what do people usually do next?' she asked; he tried to rack his brain on that

-...I don't really know?' he said more to himself 'I mean, would you like to go out of a date?'

-'Date?' she asked with a curious look

-'Yeah, a date...it's when you go out with someone you like and...have fun and stuff...'

-'Weren't we doing that before?' she asked

-'Er, no...not quite' he tried to explain 'going on a date is...' well, he never went on a date before so he didn't really know the damn difference anyway, so he tried to make something up that sounded good 'It's official, and stuff...' and naturally failed; not that Milim seemed to realize

-'Ooooo!' she said with excitement; 'official' sounded really good to her 'Then yeah, let's go!' she said as she quickly got up too and asked 'Where are we going?'

-'...' he really didn't knew, but didn't want to disappoint her 'we can just, walk around the city, like usual, really...' he wasn't sure just how corny that sounded but again, Milim didn't seem to care because she looked really exited

-'Hmm, perhaps I can help' a voice suddenly interrupted, startling them both; standing in the door, looking equally parts pleased and annoyed, was Shuna.

-'Shuna?!' he screamed 'how long have you been there?!' he asked in a panic; besides him, Milim was blushing madly

-'Ah, around the time you asked if she was hungry.' she casually said. 'Oh no...' Rimuru though embarrassed; Shuna ignored his concerns and continued talking as she entered the room 'Perhaps I could make a special diner tonight for this, Lord Rimuru?' she said

-'Special dinner?' he heard Milim say; he smiled at how her love for food made her so easily won over. On the other hand, Shuna's idea sounded pretty okay to him

-'You would. I appreciate it...' he wanted to say more but Shuna stopped him

-'But, I only ask that you come clean with your...relationship...to everyone.' at this, Rimuru wasn't sure what to say. Sensing his hesitation, Shuna continued 'You can make an announcement at today's council meeting; no one will be upset.' he thought it over; it was true that everyone was very supportive of him, and no one seemed to dislike Milim either, so...

-...Yeah, it...it sounds like a good idea. I should do it. Could you call everyone in?' Shuna bowed slightly and without another word left to call a meeting. He sighed and looked over at Milim, who must have sensed his trepidation because she squeezed his hand a little.

A while later, the room was filled with his top councilors. Not wanting to waste everyone's time, he decided to get to the main point as fast as possible, and began giving them the short version

-...So, in short...' he concluded while scratching the back of his head, trying to not look at anyone in particular '...me and Milim are a...thing now...' after a few more seconds, he got up the courage to look at them and gauge their reaction. As expected, some were shocked, mouth agape...but most just looked to calmly consider the news. The most vocal, of course, was Shion

-'I knew something was up!' she screamed; he doubted she knew anything, but kept that though to himself 'Lady Milim, it's not fair! Snatching Lord Rimuru all for yourself!' despite the absurd thing she said, it didn't sound to him like she was being malicious; in fact, she sounded more mad she (Milim) didn't tell her first. He knew the ogress had grown fond of Milim but didn't though it was that much

-'Ah, ha ha! Why would I, One-Horn? It's no big deal!' Milim tried to sound dismissive, but the huge blush on her face very much evaporated any credibility she had.

-'Shion, don't be mean...' Shuna told his secretary 'We should be happy for Lord Rimuru.'

-'I am!' the ogress shouted back 'It's just...a bit sudden.' she finished with more seriously (not realizing she outed herself that no, she didn't knew anything).

Benimaru spoke up 'Well, as long as you know what you're doing, Sir.' he said with a small smirk 'We have no objections, but...' he looked to contemplate how to say what was on his mind 'Would it be a problem? If the other Demon Lord's know about it, I mean?' this question was obviously more directed towards Milim

-'Indeed.' Hakuro said, and many others nodded their heads. Rimuru turned to Milim to see what she had to say. She was still blushing but had a more serious look on her face, thinking hard about something

-'No, I don't think It'll be any problem.' she said 'most of them won't really care at all, and if they do...' she smirked 'This is me we're talking about! They can suck it!' she proclaimed with arms crossed. He wasn't sure that was the best attitude, but he supposed she was the strongest of the Demon Lords; they would have to be pretty foolish to pick a fight with her 'Besides...' she added with a bit more gravitas 'It's not like I'm conquering the Forest or something...'

He supposed that was also fair; from what he heard, the Demon Lord's practiced a very delicate balance of power, trying to keep things as stable as possible between them as well as with the rest of the world. If one of them did in fact tried to take over the entire Jura Forest, with it's vast resources and population of monsters, it would certainly break the balance; however, as far as he could tell, Milim had absolutely zero interest in that kind of thing, and if he knew it so did the other Demon Lords, so he wondered if even one of them would consider her being here as anything other than her usual bout of fancy. Milim certainly didn't seem to think they would. But even so...

-'For now, I would like this to not leave Tempest, if that's okay with you...?' he asked Milim

She shrugged 'I don't really care if they know or not...' she dismissed.

-'Very well, Sir' Soei immediately said, already knowing what Rimuru wanted to tell him 'Me and my team will make sure this information dose not leave Tempest without your permission.' and he vanished. 'Seriously, this guy...he scares me sometimes...' Rimuru though

-'Well, Sir, we do sincerely wish you and Lady Milim to be happy!' Rigurd exclaimed, looking like he was on the verge of tears '...I...wish you the...best...' no, now he was crying. His son, Rigur smiled apologetically and began leading the old hobgoblin away. Some of the others too began dispersing

-'Ah, well..I..I'll see ya tonight, okay?' Milim suddenly said, still red 'I'll, uh, go make myself useful somewhere...' and quickly vanished before he could say anything. He scratched his head, wondering what that was

-'He he, it looks like she'll take some time getting used to this, Lord Rimuru' Shuna said amused

'Ah, so that's what it is?' he could't really blame her; he kinda wanted to hide too; that meeting was embarrassing.

-'Well, I'll get to work too. Shuna...' he looked over at the ogress with a smile 'Thank you, I mean it.'

-'It is no problem at at, Sir.' she answered back with her own smile 'And as promised, tonight I will come up with something very special for your diner date.' she finished with a wink, the left too. Unknown to him, she was beaming inside; the whole thing had given her a great idea about a new outfit for Milim, one she was sure would make Rimuru fall over himself. Her evil plan in mind, she left for her workshop.

As he watched the ogress leave, Rimuru suddenly had a chill run through his body 'What was that?!' he also suddenly had the urge to follow Milim's lead and run, but it was too late.

-'Lord Rimuru, congratulation!'

-'My Lord, such good news!'

-'As expected of Lord Rimuru, wooing even the greatest Demon Lords!'

-'Lord Rimuru, when do we start planing the wedding?!'

Were but a few of the many, many such compliments he had to receive over the course of the following day. He wasn't sure who let it out first, but the news of him and Milim spread like wildfire; even thought communication didn't account how fast it spread, as far as Rimuru was concerned. He almost felt like the entire city was eavesdropping on their conversation. He felt really sorry for Soei; keeping this locked up would be an undertaking even for him, but at the same time he was confident he would do it.

Other than the barrage of congratulations and questions- very uncomfortable questions- the day went on with no problems. There were no major issues, incoming calamities, diplomatic incidents or other such shenanigans. All their work was progressing steadily forward. The streets were crisp, so much so no one could tell there had been a large festival just the night before. A few small things came up, such as some minor decisions on their incoming exchange of delegates with Eurazania. Speaking of Eurazania, he wondered if he should come clean to Carrion once proper relations were established with his kingdom; from what he saw when he had visited to collect Phobio, the Beastmaster and Milim got along really well. At the very least, they had a healthy mutual respect; he didn't think it would be any problems. He would cross that bridge when he got there.

Right now, he had a date to get ready for. After some coaxing- read: begging- from Shion, he agreed to let her pick what he would wear. Surprisingly, she had something sensible in mind, a simple suite that Shuna had designed for his upcoming visit to Dwargo but abandoned; incidentally, he though it would be perfectly suited to wear when he would see his own delegates off to Eurazania, but right now it would serve a more selfish purpose.

Dressed up, he had to convince Shion that no, she could not come along to the date; though she begged and pleaded, he didn't budge. Though she didn't cry, she eventually agreed to leave, sulking; he felt kinda bad about it, so he decided he would make it up to her in the future. Next was convincing Ranga to leave his shadow; he liked the Tempest Wolf, but he could be far to clingy, and he also didn't want spectators. Eventually he had to be a bit more forceful

-'Go and do something else, you big baby!' he snapped; the wolf finally left, tail between his legs. Again, he felt really sorry about that, and would make it up to him later.

Finally, as night loomed, the time was almost there. He decided his office would suffice for the diner; no need to complicate things, and they didn't yet have any fancy restaurant or anything, so it would do. However, he did have some furniture better suited for diner hauled in, with a few other preparations; he even got candles ready. He was always a sucker for cliches. He then waited for Milim to arrive. Shuna had told him earlier she would take care of the dragonoid, as she had something 'special' planed. Another chill ran through Rimuru's body when he heard that.

Not long afterwards, he could hear a pair of footsteps rapidly approaching, and the door swung open a moment later, though not to roughly to break it- he was sure Rigurd would be sleeping well. Anyways, Milim jolted into the room with a bright, beaming smile, the kind the always had whenever she got something new to wear 'Hey, Rimuruuuu! How do I look?!' she excitedly asked while doing a twirl

'...Oh no, not again!' he though and thanked the stars that he had learned the ability to control his outward reactions better. Milim was wearing a loose, one piece pink dress that went all the way down to her knees, with long sleeves and a red ribbon on her chest. Her hair was in her usual twin-tails. It was simple, but on her it looked really well; by now, he was convinced she could make anything work well. 'I can't take much more of this...' he complained- though not really- and turned his attention to the real culprit, who was coming in from behind Milim 'Shuuna!'

-'Well, what do you think, Lord Rimuru?' the ogress asked teasingly with a smile

'You...evil woman!' he wanted to scream at her 'You know exactly what I think already, don't you?!' suddenly, as if she heard what he though, her eyes stopped smiling (though her face still was) 'I'm sorry!' he mentally prostrated himself, then began raking his brain to find an appropriate answer.

-'You...look amazing Milim.' he said eventually; the girl stopped her posing and stared before blushing, though not as much as before 'Beautiful, even...' he finished as he got closer, ignoring Shuna who was still smirking

-'Eh, he he...that's... the first time I got that kind of compliment...' Milim said bashfully 'It...makes me kinda happy.'

He smiled and took her hand; he didn't knew how long they remained standing there, looking in each other's eyes, but at some point Shuna had left, no doubt to prepare their diner. Noticing that, he decided to lead Milim to the table. She reached for one of the chairs, but Rimuru got there first and pulled it for her

-'Ah, no...' she tried to protest 'You don't have to do...' but Rimuru immediately interrupted

-'Nonsense.' he dismissed 'It's only the gentleman thing to do.' he told her with a charming smile; she blushed again and decided to humor him. After she was seated, he sat down himself across from her. The atmosphere was...kinda awkward, and he wasn't sure how to break the silence; luckily for him, Milim had something to say

-'Hey, erm, Rimuru?' she said slowly, looked hesitant 'I'm...sorry i just kinda, you know, ran off this morning...'

'Eh?' Rimuru though 'Why is that a problem?' he wondered to himself 'I was just really...embarrassed...' she said sheepishly. Rimuru stared for a bit; then had to laugh

-'Hey, what gives?!' she immediately asked. After managing to stop, he explained himself

-'Oh, nothing...but that was what I kinda wanted to do too!' he told her, then continued chuckling to himself. After a few seconds, she joined in. With the awkward atmosphere gone, they began to chat about various stuff, mostly how their day went. Turned out, Milim did indeed made herself useful, although it was more of a whim than anything. She flew into the forests and saw Geld and his orcs hauling the materials for their road construction, and offered a hand. And by 'offered a hand', she hauled their building materials for the next month within an hour; she must have cut down their timetable by at least half. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful.

-'Ah, but, I could have done without every single person I ran into going on about how happy they were for, er, us...' she said at the end

-'You too, huh?' Rimuru chuckled 'Yeah, I know...' he wanted to ask if any of those knuckleheads said anything too...embarrassing... but decided against it. It was bad enough they asked him, he didn't want her to have any ideas...ignorance was bliss, after all.

-'You have really nice people, Rimuru...' she said suddenly; he noticed she sounded a bit...sad, but he could't place it why. He though about what she said, though

-...'Yeah, I do, don't I?' he said

-'Everyone here is interesting and friendly...I think I get why it's so important to you, now...' she said smiling; he recalled the short conversation they had a while back. 'But, you know...' this times she had a serious look on her face 'Some people might notice you...and want to take it from you' he wasn't sure what she meant by that. He wanted to ask when Shuna walked into the room with a few servants carting trays of food. Any hope of asking Milim was gone now; she was in full 'food mode'. He smiled and shook his head at her.

The food was, as Shuna had promised, something else. If he had to rate it, he would easily put it there with the top dishes in a five star restaurant. He wasn't sure where she even got some of the ingredients, but otherwise he was very much impressed. And Milim, of course, loved every bite. After finishing the main dishes, the ogress brought in a special desert that he had helped design- it was just ice creme, really, but just making it in this world was a major success, especially with Milim.

After desert, they continued talking for a few hours. He learned some new things about, such as few bits and pieces about her followers- the Dragon Faithful in the City of the Forgotten Dragon- and a few accounts about some random adventures she had over the years. She had been around for centuries, so he imagined she had quite a few more stories to tell, if she even bothered to remember half of them that is.

Around midnight, Milim suddenly got the idea to drag him to the onsen; she was full, and now wanted to enjoy a hot dip. Internally, Rimuru was in turmoil: on one hand, it wasn't like he hadn't seen...everything, already, but on the other that was under the understanding that they were just friends. This was something else. He wanted to scream and protest, but she would have none of it. She magically teleported her dress off and dragged him in the pool with her ridiculous strength. Fortunately, he managed to change into his slime form and safely store away his suit before it got wet. Doubly fortunate, Milim didn't seem to care it was his slime form and didn't ask him to change into his human one. He wasn't sure he could even look her in the eyes if he stayed like that...

As usual, she spent the first few minutes splashing and swimming around; he knew better than to try and talk her out of it and just let it. It wasn't like he liked seeing her have fun like that; not at all. After a while, she settled down and allowed herself to soak up in the warm water. 'Ah, finally, I can relax too...' but his calm was short lived as she quickly swam over to him and picked him up in a hug. 'Noooooo!' he screamed internally at the position he found himself in. Milim was curled up, holding him on her legs and rested her head on top of him, a blissful smile on her face. Naturally, certain...parts were pressed against him.

'Wait, wait!' he wanted to shout 'This is to quick!' . He wasn't sure she understood just how bad this position was for him (or good, he would say in the deepest parts of his soul), or if she just didn't care. She certainly never really showed much resignation in showing skin before. In any case, he always considered himself a gentleman and didn't want to take advantage of her ignorance- or uninterest, whichever it was. He heaved up the courage to speak up...but noticed she had fallen asleep.

'Well...' he though to himself awkwardly 'Guess I have no choice but stay like this for a bit...how awful...' Eventually, however, he decided that he really needed to get both of them out of there before someone came along and saw them. He asked Great Sage to do something about Milim's clothes for him; he really didn't want to step out of bounds. Fortunately, his super-handy ability was quickly able to equip some cloths on her while at the same time get the both out of the water. Once out, he gingerly picked her up and headed for her room, careful to avoid anyone. Once he arrived, he gently placed her on her bed, covered her and turned to leave, however a small hand grabbed his shirt.

He looked down and saw Milim, still more asleep than awake, look up at him with pleading eyes 'Could you...stay...' she said softy.

'Ah, damn...no way I could possibly say no...' he told himself as he looked at her bright, pleading blue eyes. He decided to throw his worries to the wind; he got into the bed too, allowing her to cuddle up right next to him. She was fast asleep again before he could even pull the blanket back up.

He smiled softly and leaned down to kiss the top of her head, then allowed himself to drift to sleep too.