Great Sage? Does this count as a sonic attack?

[[That is accurate.]]

Thought so…

[[Damage is being repelled by Multilayer Barrier.]]

Well, that's a relief.

I never knew that Milim could snore as loud as she did that night. I blame the veggies from earlier. Maybe she had an upset stomach or something and it was disturbing her sleep. All I knew was that it was shaking the entire room and Milim wasn't showing signs of waking up anytime soon.

I endured this for a bit before deciding that enough is enough, and slipped away again.

It was full morning now, and there were already people out and about on the streets. I stepped through the doorway that led outside and did a little stretch to start my day, wondering if I should just wander around for a bit before Milim inevitably barreled into me after getting up.

Before I could pick a direction to explore, though, I noticed Hermes making his way right toward me.

"Oh, good, you're awake. Is Lady Milim still asleep?"

"Uh-huh. Can't you hear her snoring?"

"Yes… but she's… uh… faked that before," Hermes whispers very quietly.

"To avoid eating breakfast?"

Hermes gave a small, discrete nod.

"It's that bad, huh? Every meal?"

Hermes nodded a second time.

"It is our way."

"What? To eat the blandest, lamest food ever?"

The man sighed tiredly, "We are not supposed to alter what nature has provided. It's considered sacrilege. Or… rude, or something."

"And you don't agree with it one bit."

He lunged forward and covered my mouth with his hand.

"Be quieter about that."

I nodded my head mutely and Hermes removed his hand, rapidly looked around us, and started talking to me in a soft whisper."I've done more traveling than most of my people and I have experienced a variety of cultures. It's hard to be completely content with the Dragon Faithful's restrictive way of living after seeing how the rest of the world works. I know Lady Milim has done the same and agrees with me that the food served here is…"

"Something that barely qualifies as that?"

"Not exactly… but you get my point. I want better for Lady Milim, and I want better for the rest of us too. If our goddess doesn't support this restriction, then what is the point of it? I've tried speaking to Father Middray about this many times, but he's a very… devout man and doesn't listen."

"Has he ever tried real food?"

"Never."

"Well, then he doesn't know what he's missing. Maybe if we could just get him to try one bite of something delicious, he would change his mind! Especially if we give some to Milim too and show him her happy face. Doesn't he wanna please her?"

"But how am I supposed to take him out of the country to try that food? Father Middray won't go anywhere that doesn't 'understand the true way of Lady Milim.'"

"No need. I can cook for him and Milim." I gave Hermes a reassuring wink. "I'm no professional chef, but I at least know my way around a kitchen."

Although I may be a bit limited on ingredients… and appliances. Well, I'll figure it out.

"Lady Milim always brings home very interesting things…"

"Excuse me?" I scowled at him.

"People! Interesting people." He put his hands up in defeat and leaned away.

Well, it's not like I didn't know the people here don't see me as a person. Just Milim's latest 'toy', I imagine… Instead of wasting time, I thought it was best to get Milim involved in this.

"C'mon!" I grabbed Hermes' hand and ran down the hall, "let's go wake up Milim!"

"Hey! W-wait! Don't do that!"

I wonder what I should cook for them? What'll knock that melon-headed old man's socks off?

"Let go of my hand! If you must, go in yourself and let me stay outside where it's safer! Please!"

Something impressive, but not too tricky. I can't mess this up… oh, I know! That's perfect!

Milim was still sleeping soundly, snoring away.

"Milim. Wake up! It's morning now!" I raised my voice to try to outcompete the snoring, but it didn't seem to help.

Hermes was still whining about how this was a bad idea, but I just continued ignoring him. I knew Milim wouldn't want to oversleep if I was going to go do something fun without her.

Next, I tried climbing up onto the slab and nudging her awake.

No response.

Sheesh, she's really sleeping like a rock.

I didn't want to resort to this, but decided it was necessary. I dispelled the body double I made to replace myself as her pillow a short bit ago. Its dispersing into black magicule smoke made Milim's head hit the platform with an audible clunk, and Hermes gasped. But Milim didn't even stir.

What to do, what to do… I could try yelling louder, maybe even using Ultrasonic Wave to boost it.

So I did. Well, to some degree. I didn't want the entire city to hear me.

Either way, that didn't work either.

I had one last idea short of using an attack on her, and I didn't think that would go over well so I was going to avoid that.

I stood up and started mentally preparing myself for what I was about to do. Turning to Hermes I said, "you saw nothing. Don't judge me for using this method."

Hermes' eyes bugged out, "Don't do it! It's not worth it! Lady Milim will kill you!"

I kept ignoring his blabbering, and jumped in the air, intending to land right on top of Milim. The tried and true method everyone has used at least once in their childhood to wake someone up. Crude, but it should do the job.

Right before landing on her, I stopped, feeling a tightness around my neck. Milim's hand had shot up and grabbed me quicker that I could follow.

Oh no.

Milim's eyes opened wide, revealing their bright blue with draconic pupils; the way they appear only when she's angry.

All at once it came back to me. The primal terror, the intense urge to flee, and the feeling that my life was in grave danger. All from Milim, the same feeling I endured multiple times while 'training' with her.

"EEEEEEEP!" Without even thinking I squealed, my body taking over on instinct as I melted into ooze, flailing around until I got loose, then bounded across the room and shivered in the corner.

"WAHAHAHAAAA!" Milim chuckled as she sat up, "you got me good Rimuru! I haven't been surprised like that in a while!"

I just stared blankly, as much as a slime could. Milim's eyes rested on me and I squeaked again, trying to burrow into the floor, but whatever they made this place out of was magically reinforced.

"Aw, c'mon Rimuru," Milim cooed at me, "don't act like that again! You're stronger than that."

"Uh-um…" I shuddered, trying to get my body under control as she walked towards me, then made a grabby motion with her hands.

Understanding what that signal meant, I changed back to human form, and Milim scooped me off the floor, patting my head. "There," she grinned happily, "that wasn't so bad, right?"

I stayed silent, not really having the words to retort at the moment.

Also, the headpats and hug did calm me down a bit… they felt nice…

Over Milim's shoulder I saw Hermes was bowed almost to the floor, practically groveling.

"Hm, Hermes?" Milim turned toward him, "did Rimuru bring you in here?"

"Please forgive me Lady Milim, I should've stopped him before–"

Whatever Hermes was worried about, Milim completely bypassed it as a realization came, "you guys haven't been doing anything fun without me, right!? What have you been up to?"

"We-well, about that," Hermes hesitated, "he did fly around the mountain a bit last night, and–"

He was cut off as Milim gave him a headpat too, more roughly than she did with me. "Oh, I already knew about that!" She giggled. "Now, get up and tell me why you're here."

"Oh! Milim!" I took that as my cue to interrupt, squirming in her arms until I could push myself back enough to look her in the eye, "how'd you like to have an omelet for breakfast?"

Milim just tilts her head in confusion, and I couldn't help a stare of horror.

I was worried about that… we need to fix this asap.

"What is an… ohm-lit?"

"A delicious food made mostly of eggs."

"Those goopy things with crunchy outsides that you find in trees?"

"Yes, those."

"What… type of eggs?"

"Bird ones."

"You eat those?" Hermes gaped, "The unhatched children of birds?!"

"Well, when you put it like that it just sounds nasty. But when you cook them, they firm up and hold flavors very well. That's what an omelet is, lots of eggs mixed together with other tasty things."

"Father Middray will not like that…"

"He'll try it whether he does or not. I'm determined now."

"I wanna try an amulet too!" Milim shouted.

"Omelet," I corrected.

"Om-let… omelet. Yeah, that thingy. Sounds tasty!"

"Don't worry, I'll make you one to," I assured her. "That's the plan."

"Sure…"

Hermes seemed a bit hesitant, but whatever, he'd understand the joy of a freshly cooked omelet soon enough.

Eggs, unfortunately, weren't something I just had stored away in my stomach at the moment.

"Milim," I said, "are there any good places for collecting eggs around here?"

"Yes!" She cheered, "in fact, I know just the place! I'm sure Frey won't mind, come on!"

Grabbing both me and Hermes by the wrists, Milim streaked out the door and shot into the air, both of us flailing in the wind behind her.

We'd flown for a while, possibly a few hours. I thought this "place" was going to be closer… you know, in-time-for-breakfast kind of close? But I guess proper mealtimes don't matter to someone like Milim.

"Hey Milim," I called through the wind, "who's Frey anyway?"

"Oh, she's another Demon Lord!" Milim cheerfully responded, "she's super nice!"

Is she? A concerning pit opened in my stomach. "And has she… said you can come over anytime?"

"Well, no… But I just show up and she lets me in, so it's fine!"

"Milim." I paused and stared at her, but Milim didn't so much as glance back at me to show she heard me. "Milim!" I called out a second time.

Drat, and now she's completely ignoring me. I looked at Hermes to get him to weigh in, but he was asleep.

Weird time for a nap… but then I realized it was probably the speed Milim was flying at that knocked him out. Dang, poor guy. Must suck to be that fragile.

Really, it didn't feel like we were going fast enough for that to happen, but you never know. It made me curious though.

Yo Sage, just how fast are we going anyway?

[[Current velocity is comparable to Mach 5.]]

Woah, and I'm barely feeling it. I guess I'm getting used to the high velocity. I was actually starting to enjoy it, which I know wasn't how I felt about it when Milim first started doing things like this with me.

Up ahead I see a handful of dots flying towards us, which quickly turn into person-shapes with wings. Another race of monster?

I could barely hear something along the lines of "Halt! You are trespassing–" before we blasted right through their group and left them way behind, followed by Milim's characteristic "Wahahahahaa!"

Wow, she really is something else. Those guys didn't even stand a chance.

Milim's trajectory changed and we barreled toward the ground. I guessed we were aiming for a high mountain forest ahead. The ground neared… and we weren't slowing down.

"Milim!" I called, and as she didn't respond and the ground came up to meet us I shrieked, "Milim, Milim MilimMilimMilim!"

With a crash and a sound that sent massive boulders tumbling into gorges and off cliffs, we made contact with the ground.

"...Ugh…" I collected my semi-splattered slime self, taking in the crater and huge ring of trees that were blown down by Milim's landing.

Hermes was lying a few yards away, quickly I changed to human form and hustled over, checking his pulse. Okay, he's alive… and breathing… yep, he's fine.

"Wahahaha!" Milim, none the worse for wear, stood in the crater's center, hands on her hips and laughing merrily. "That was great, wasn't it? Now let's go find some eggs!"

Looking around at the devastation, I wasn't sure there were any eggs to find in this area. At least, not anymore, after that shockwave caused by Milim's 'landing'.

"Milim," I called, "after Hermes wakes up, let's start downhill!" I pointed to the part of the forest spared from her… 'excitement'.

"Aw, don't worry!" Milim laughed, "he'll catch up! Now come on!" She raced down the hillside yelling, "let's go!"

Looking back at Hermes, collapsed and unconscious, I hesitated a bit, wondering if it was safe to leave him with whatever large monsters might be around. But then, I heard Milim shout "Rimuru, hurry up!"

…Between Hermes' possible demise and Milim getting mad at me, I was more afraid of Milim. I raced after her.

"So!" Milim beamed once I caught up, "where do we start?"

"...eh?" I stared at her, "I thought you said we were gonna get eggs here."

"Duh!" I flinched as Milim flicked me on the head. "But you're the expert here!"

"...so you don't know what we're looking for?" I asked incredulously.

"I know there's lots of birds!" She grinned, "pretty clever, right?"

"Uh-huh… sure." Well, where there's birds, there's probably eggs… I guessed it was up to me to make this little expedition fruitful.

"Well…" I closed my eyes hard and started trying to scope out the area with [Magic Sense]. Eggs, eggs, eggs…

I wasn't used to using my skill at this level of detail. Last time I did, actually, was… the ogre village…

Well, my revenge on Yuuki was nothing new. So, was I supposed to manually search every branch of every tree this way?

Suddenly I noticed something, kind of with [Magic Sense] but not in a visual way. Something, a presence like an aura, was sort of wafting from one direction. It was hard to discern because Milim's always-intense aura was scrambling everything, like a blinding light in your eyes while you try to read, but I was pretty sure it was there.

"This way," I opened my eyes and started running in the direction of the aura.

"Woohoo! Good job, Rimuru!" Milim cheered. The compliment was a bit premature, but it felt nice.

When we got close enough I could see a herd of monsters, large bird-like ones sitting on nests on the ground, while others stood nearby on long, spindly legs ending in some very sharp talons.

They seemed flightless, with stubby wings and their size, which was big enough for an adult-sized human to ride easily.

"Pretty," Milim oohed, hiding in the trees next to me. "They're all sorts of colors!"

She was right, they were all bright, flamboyant colors, much like a rainbow. They each had similar patterns and markings, but which colors were where varied widely. They also each had two heads, one head would be up, looking around, while the other pecked in the dirt, then every few minutes they seemed to swap places.

The two-headed thing seems familiar, I'm not sure from where though…

"Rimuru!" Milim jostled my shoulder, "the eggs!"

I followed her gaze, and yes, tucked in each of the various dirt and pebble nests where three to four bright pink eggs.

"They're a perfect color," Milim whispered, "and they're sparkly! I bet they'll taste great!"

They're literally the same color as your hair, I thought, but there was no point in calling out a child for having childish thoughts.

"They look like they're practically made out of glitter! Weird…" I agreed, dazzled by the sunlight reflecting off them. They looked oddly delicious, really, and I found myself salivating as I stared at them. I could almost eat one here and now… but no, I shook my head, these eggs are meant for omelets. Maybe I'll try it with some slices of bulldeer meat another time…

"Well," I said, activating my little invisibility trick I'd used to get liquor in Englesia, "what're we waiting for?"

I snuck up to one of the nests, reached in, and picked up one of the eggs. They were almost the size of basketballs, and in this smaller-sized form I could only handle one at a time.

Suddenly one of the birds walked up, looming over me. I stared up at it in awe, while it cocked its two heads and examined the nest.

The egg I was holding should be safely concealed alongside my body right now, so I was just hoping these things couldn't count…

"Wahahaha! Wow, they feel so funny!" In horror I looked at a nearby nest, where Milim had just waltzed in and picked up an egg right from under its caretaker's bird-butt, thinking she could just get away with something that bold.

Of course. I was an idiot to assume she had any way of being subtle, or would wait for me in the trees.

" "SQUWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!" " One of the birds screamed an alarm with both of its heads, and the sound was like a war cry, ringing off the surrounding mountains.

Storing my egg with [Gluttony], I made myself visible again and ran over to Milim, hissing "what are you doing!?"

As I reached her, every head turned toward us, the birds' eyes glowing an ominous red. What is this, some kind of attack mode!?

"I'm helping you collect the eggs of course, silly," Milim scolded. "Now hold this," she shoved the egg in my hands and I quickly stowed it in my stomach.

The bird's eyes, previously dopey and spaced out, now looked a lot sharper. And meaner. The feathery crests on their heads that were formerly flat were now all standing straight up, flaring in anger.

Stealth is definitely off the table now.

"Ugh! Okay," I said, "grab as many as you can!"

As the birds charged us Milim and I stood back to back, then dodged in different directions, scooping up eggs as we went. Milim kept tossing me hers to stick in my [Stomach], and I used [Gluttony] to suck them right out of the nests.

It was a frenzy of dagger-sharp beaks, full of even sharper teeth and claws, all coming right for me and Milim. But the birds were too slow to keep up with us, and I was actually starting to have some fun!

Dodging, ducking, and weaving between all the frantic attacks from the flock of birds, we grabbed up every egg we could spot.

"Ha!" I taunted one of them as its head stabbed the dirt just behind me, as I scooped a single egg out of the nest right under it. "Nice try!" I left it behind while it was busy trying to get one of its heads out of the ground, the second head snapping at me as I ran.

"Rimuru! Rimuru!" Milim shouted, and I looked over to where she was pointing. "That's it! That's the best one!"

Following the direction of her finger, I saw a nest in the center of the others, with a single, huge purple egg. It was so big I could've sat comfortably inside its shell in my current form.

She was right. It was the best one, and I wanted it!

Maybe a little too caught up in Milim's excitement, I made my move.

"Out of my way, suckers!" I leaped on one of the bird's giant backs and grabbed its two necks, steering it into the mob. Leaping clear at the last second, I bolted for the egg.

THUD!

Out of the sky a massive, massive bird, at least twice the size of all the others, dropped into my path. Where did that come from!? Are they good jumpers or something?

Its huge, serrated claws were as long as my whole minified body. It looked down at me with three heads like some kind of hydra, opening its wings and flaring what was probably every color known to man on its feathers.

"Uh…" I stuttered, momentarily caught off guard. Was this an evolved version or…? I was unsure, but either way, I could tell it was stronger than the rest of the birds here.

[[Notice: This is an evolved form of those creatures which emerges in the unique event the creature survives a single decapitation and can fully recover it's magicule capacity.]]

"Right. Nice to meet you!" Catching myself, I dodged between its legs as all three heads came down right where I was a moment before. I leaped, somersaulted down the slope of the massive nest, and grabbed the egg with [Gluttony].

The three-headed monster bird screamed a shrill war cry, turning around and kicking its huge, velociraptor-like claws at me. Doubling back, I jumped over its head and landed on its back as its heads came down.

"Woohooo!" I shrieked in glee, clinging tightly as it tried to thrash me off. I wrapped [Sticky-Steel Thread] around its body, and then around each of its heads to create makeshift reins.

Pulling, I turned it around as it charged, shouting "Hey Milim, check this out!"

"Ooh, that looks so fun!" Milim laughed. In a single bound she jumped up and sat down behind me, waving a hand in the air and shouting "wheeeeeee!"

Dang, this thing was strong! I kept pulling to turn it as it charged and thrashed and jumped every which way, screaming its head off the whole time.

"Milim," I shouted, "I don't think I can stop this thing!"

"Don't worry about it!" She cheered.

This was a blast, but now that I was up here I wasn't sure what to do with it. It would be so cool if I could tame it somehow, but I didn't think it was going to listen much.

"Hang on," I yelled, "I have an idea!"

As the bird charged I pulled on its heads and steered it toward a cliff wall, where it ran full speed. At the last second I shouted, "JUMP!"

I released the threads and leaped off the bird before stopping myself midair with my wings, while Milim rode it all the way to the end, and was sent flying back as it crashed in a pile against the rock. "Wahahaha!" She laughed as she sat up after rolling in the dirt, "that was great Rimuru!"

So we had a cliff and the alpha bird struggling to its feet in one direction, and a whole, rainbow-y horde of claws and beaks and teeth bearing down on us from the other. Swooping toward Milim, I picked her up by the shoulders and started racing away.

The alpha (back on its feet) and the entire flock chased after us, stampeding through the trees with a sound like thunder.

Suddenly I heard and ominous hum of energy below me, and looked down to find Milim charging a HUGE attacked pointed at the birds!

"Milim, No!" I shouted at her. That thing easily had enough energy in it to blow away this mountain range.

To my relief, she put the orb of nuclear armageddon away and looked up at me.

"Why noooot?" Milim whined.

"We don't need to," I said, "they'll give up eventually."

"But Rimuru, they're gonna follow us forever…"

"No they won't. They'll get bored, give up, and go home. That way, they can make more eggs for us! We can come back and grab those later."

Milim seemed to think very hard for a few seconds before grinning at me.

"Ooh," Milim kicked and momentarily threw me off-balance, cheering "smart one, Rimuru! They don't like giving up though!"

"They will," I promised, "we did steal their eggs. Just give it a bit and they'll completely forget about us."

The birds didn't seem that smart, just full of feathery rage and nothing else. I bet within a few hours they'll stop bothering us.

Wanting to end this chase sooner rather than later though, I steered us toward a cliff, soaring over a drop that probably went all the way to the bottom of the mountains. The horde of birds stampeded after us, and leaped into the air.

Turning back to see the result, my jaw dropped.

"Those things can fly!?" I shouted at Milim.

"Hehee, don't ever underestimate monsters, Rimuru!" She chuckled. "After all, you're a slime who can fly!"

She has a point.

The flock was now beating their way towards us on their stubby little wings. It had to be magic or a skill, there was no way they could hold themselves up on those little stubs with conventional physics alone.

On the plus side, though, they were slow fliers. We outpaced them easily, and in a minute they were completely out of sight.

"Whoo!" I set Milim down in a random clearing before landing myself. "That was intense!"

Milim walked over and plucked a stray feather out of my hair, patting me on the head. "Good work Rimuru," she praised, "I knew I was right to take care of you!"

"'Take care of me'? Milim…" No… it isn't worth arguing.

Apparently I wasn't the first person she'd made a "pet," I would just let it slide this time.

"Aw… we got busted," Milim whined as she looked up at the sky.

I turned my attention up there and noticed what looked like a group of people much like the one Milim blasted through earlier. She was right, we'd been busted.

"Can't we just leave?"

"Yeah, but then Frey would call a Walpurgis just to complain about me… and she'd give me one of those stares. I don't like them!"

"Who is she, your mom?!"

"No, she's waaay younger than me! So I'm more like the mom," Milim confidently pushed out her chest with her hands on her hips.

"...what?"

I just shook my head at her.

That was when the air stirred and a group of winged women landed right next to us. One of the ladies had an especially commanding presence about her as she stood with her arms crossed, staring down at me and Milim from our spots on the ground.

Milim jumped to her feet almost immediately, "Hi, Frey! I was just showing my new Bestie how cool your… uh, domain, is! Yeah! He thinks it's super cool! Right, Rimuru?"

Don't drag me into this!

"Heh… yeah! It's very cool! Uh… Fr– I mean, Demon Lord Frey! Or Lady Frey? Whatever you prefer!"

She's so beautiful… and her clothes are so tight, and her chest is so bi– No! No, Rimuru! Don't stare at her like that!

I sort of felt like someone was glaring at me disapprovingly, but when I looked around, nobody was. It was strange, but I tried to ignore it.

Shrugging off the sensation, I stood up and cleared my throat to cover for my fluster.

It didn't help, though, based on the knowing smile she gave me right after.

"Ara ara, who is this little one? Is he yours, Milim?"

"Uh-huh! Rimuru is my Bestie!"

"I see, I see. This is the majin that has staked a claim over Jura, yes? Its 'Guardian', as some are saying?"

"That's correct, uh… ma'am!"

"I see," she bent down and stuck her face real close to me. "It's a shame," she smiled, "I would have had plenty of use for someone like you. When Milim discards you, you're welcome to come and work for me. I'll treat you very well."

"A-a-a-a-a…" I stammered as she gently brushed her fingers across my cheek. Too scared and entranced to do anything else, I melted into a pile of goo on the spot.

"Frey, you made him melt!" Milim complained, shoving her away. "Stop using your charms on him! And I won't discard him! Never-ever!"

"Well, the offer's always open, little slime," Frey smiled over Milim's shoulder.

I was really, really grateful to Milim for saving me like that. Milim was scary, but if she hadn't come along, and this Frey lady subjugated me… no. I'd never be able to stand up to her.

"Well, Milim?" Frey looked down at her with folded arms, "what are you doing in my territory?"

"Showing Rimuru the sights, that's all!" Milim attempted an innocent grin.

"Mm-hmm." Frey squinted, "and that would have nothing to do with the Aurora eggs you stole?"

"Nnnope, didn't see any auroras here!" Milim leaned against Frey casually, "I thought you were too far south for those anyway?"

"Milim." Frey leaned in at her, and I could see Milim jolt and start visibly sweating. "Those birds are protected here. Why do you need the eggs in the first place?"

"U-umm… it's his fault!" Milim pointed at me, and I sputtered in betrayal. "He was going to make me an omelet with those eggies! I've never had an omelet!"

"I-I'm sorry!" I resumed human form and kow-towed, "I didn't know we were coming here, I swear! I thought we were going to collect eggs in Milim's territory! When she took off it was too late!"

"Hm." If I could sweat I'd have been sweating bullets while the Demon Lord stared down at me. "Very well," she sighed, rubbing her head with a more casual attitude.

"G-great! In that case–" Milim made to grab me and run off, but before she could take a step Frey said, "hold it, Milim."

"Return the eggs you stole," she ordered, "and we'll give you some replacements that are proper for eating."

"U-um…" Milim looked at me furtively.

I can get away with this, right Great Sage?

[[Yes.]]

Like heck was I bailing her out here, she got me into this mess! "Yes, we're sorry!" I used Gluttony and summoned the eggs onto the grass.

Conspicuously, one very large one was missing. Less conspicuously, about a quarter of the smaller ones were as well. Milim eyed me.

Unlike her, I was decent at playing innocent.

"There. All the eggs we collected together."

Frey stared at me piercingly and I managed to maintain eye-contact and hide my little white lie.

"Thank you, little slime," she smiled kindly at me. "Go fetch Milim and her companion some eggs from the storehouse," she ordered the sleepy-looking girl.

"Yes, Lady Frey," the girl bowed her head obediently and flew off.

"Now," Frey paused. "In the meantime, why don't we have tea together at my palace? What do you say, Milim?"

"Will there be cookies too!?"

"Yes, there will be cookies," Frey answers patiently.

Milim started bouncing up and down from excitement, while I was standing there wondering if I was gonna be involved in this or not. Frey seemed to be more inviting Milim than me or even both of us.

I wanted to be polite, so I asked, "Want me to go grab Hermes and wait for you back home, Milim?"

Milim tilted her head at me, "What d'you mean? You don't want any of Frey's cookies?"

Frey's eyes turned cold as they locked onto me piercingly and I felt like I wanted to turn inside out.

So this is the 'stare' Milim was talking about… It made me wanna run for the hills, yet firmly pinned me in place at the same time, somehow.

"No, no! It's not that! I j-just didn't think I was invited!"

Frey chuckled lightly. "Your reputation precedes you."

Uh… what!? What does that mean!? This was freaking me out, was she trying to imply something?

After my brain ran circles for a few seconds, Frey sighed and spelled it out for me. "You are only one step beneath Milim and I as Demon Lords in your position. Some humans may even say your title as Guardian makes you one of us. You are not, of course… but you are still an important figure. You will speak with me today."

Was there a "not yet" in there? I felt like she was trying to drop hints with her tone. And I mean, sure, I'm kind of stuck with the title now–but I really don't want to be a Demon Lord.

On the other hand, being a Demon Lord means I can't be subjugated or pushed around by people like her and Milim…

"If you insist…" I couldn't imagine what she was about to pry into me about, and honestly, I didn't want to. "I'm not sure I can answer all your questions, but I'll try."

I needed some sort of 'out' to escape any overly-pointed questions I didn't feel like answering, so that was why I said that. I didn't want to be outright rude, though.

Frey giggled at me again (she seemed to be doing that a lot), "This won't be an interrogation, Rimuru, just a friendly chat."

I didn't know whether her 'reassurance' was more comforting or off-putting… I just knew I had mixed feelings about that delicate smile on Frey's face.

"Shall we go now?" Frey asked, readying her wings to take off alongside her 'guards' standing nearby.

"Sure," Milim replied.

But something occurred to me.

"What about Hermes? We kinda… left him hanging earlier, didn't we?"

"Yeah, he was too sleepy to help with the egg hunt."

More like was too oxygen-deprived… but that was just splitting hairs, so I didn't mention it.

Milim continued, "He's a big boy, he'll come and find us later."

"If you say so."