The demon Grousis and the demon Myuran were walking through the forest in human form.
A group of humans was due to pass by at any moment.
Grousis was a wolf beastkin, so even without his transformation, he looked no different from a human.
It was five hundred years ago that
Those were turbulent times — an era of fierce upheaval among the Demon Lords, with old and new constantly replacing one another. The event in question took place right in the middle of what was said to be a Great War that erupted every five hundred years.
Three other Demon Lords were born during the same period.
The most recent Demon Lord who had never experienced a Great War was
These six young-generation Demon Lords were collectively called the new generation.
In contrast, the old generation consisted of those who had survived two or more Great Wars, and it was said their power was on an entirely different level.
Because of this, many of the new-generation Demon Lords were scheming to expand their own influence.
Carrion was one such Demon Lord, and his relentless pursuit of the strong was, in a sense, only natural.
Grousis had been elevated to demon status one hundred years ago.
The lifespan of beastkin was no different in length from that of humans. However, they retained a youthful appearance for a long time — roughly thirty to fifty years after reaching adulthood, their looks would not change at all.
Once those outward changes began, their Physical Body would rapidly deteriorate, and within about two weeks, they would reach the end of their natural life.
Carrion, king who ruled the Beast Kingdom "Eurazania," had been born with extraordinary magical power.
Through his own self-evolution, he had advanced from demon to Demon Lord. It was even said that he had defeated one of the Demon Lords of his time, though Grousis did not know whether that was true.
Grousis did not possess enough magical power to undergo self-evolution, but he did have exceptional stealth abilities and combat strength.
It was on account of those abilities that he had been given the opportunity to evolve into a demon.
The ritual involved receiving and drinking the king's blood.
The survival rate was a mere ten percent. Overcoming this trial was the proof of one's worth.
Grousis had triumphed over this ordeal. He had passed through the narrow gate.
As a result, his body had been transformed into a kin of the king, granting him a lifespan and abilities on par with the king's.
Though he was a demon born only a hundred years ago, Grousis's abilities were by no means inferior.
Myuran's situation, on the other hand, was more complicated.
She had been a witch. Persecuted by humans, she had fled and, after three hundred years in hiding, discovered the secret art of evolution and cast it upon herself.
She had grown young again, obtaining eternal youth.
The reason she now served Demon Lord Clayman was a matter of a deal.
Clayman had inherited the title of Demon Lord four hundred years ago.
At that time, he had been defeating prominent demons and monsters, seizing their hearts.
He extracted oaths of loyalty, and through the curse marks inscribed on their hearts, placed those he had defeated under his control.
She, too, had been among the conquered.
Even with her power as an evolved demon, she was no match for Demon Lord Clayman. She had been defeated, and a mark of domination had been carved into her heart.
At the same time, her rank as a demon had been raised, but that was nothing for her to celebrate.
Since then, she had been one of Clayman's marionettes.
She could not understand the feelings of someone like Gilmud, who willingly wished to be dominated.
She was constantly on the lookout for an opening — waiting for the chance to undo the curse mark placed on her and strike down Clayman.
Yet her long life experience told her that this was virtually impossible.
The gap in power between them was suffocating.
She would continue to serve. She clung to the hope that one day she would be freed from her bonds...
And this occasion was no different.
Her objective was intelligence gathering — she would just coast through it! That was her plan. She would use whatever tools were available. Grousis, the group of humans — anything!
She would not be picky about her means if it meant securing her own liberation.
For now, she had no choice but to obey Clayman.
Having originally been human, disguising herself as one was trivial for her.
Two people — a man and a woman — were walking ahead of Youm.
The pair who had just joined their group.
They claimed to be siblings — a sister and brother. Neither looked like an ordinary person.
Youm watched them with an appraising eye.
They were chatting casually with the other members. Apparently from the Empire, they were well-dressed.
Suspicious, no question. But if they had at least moderate strength, there was nothing preventing two people from passing through the forest.
The monsters of the Great Forest of Jura were generally not individually that powerful — though that only held true when they weren't as active as they currently were.
Right now, going out of one's way to cross the forest was far too dangerous. It was safer to take the route through the Dwarven Kingdom.
Still suspicious after all. Better stay on guard.
That was Youm's internal conclusion.
Their story had no holes, and they had quickly bonded with the other members. On the surface, there seemed to be nothing wrong.
But his instincts were screaming that something was off. In that case, he would trust his instincts. That was the way Youm had always lived.
Well, they were clearly capable — he might as well put them to use!
It was simple, really. Even if they had their own agenda, he could turn the tables and use them in return.
His group was small in number and light on skilled fighters.
These two were clearly skilled. Having them join could only be welcomed.
As for the truly suspicious ones — those would be the three adventurers they had captured.
These three were every bit as shady.
They had been entrusted with guiding the group to the mysterious town, and they showed no signs of deception. Which meant the town truly existed.
They made no attempt to flee, so the ropes binding them had been untied.
These three had also quickly warmed up to the other members, swapping stories and boasting.
It seemed their claim of being adventurers was genuine.
Since they hailed from different nations, Youm had never heard their names. Moreover, being B-rank adventurers meant they weren't well-known enough to be notable.
Veterans with solid skills — that was the best description.
"So, there's a town up ahead? And it's a monster town?"
"That's right! The first time we went there, they served us grilled meat!"
"Delicious, wasn't it!"
"Wasn't that when we were being chased by a giant ant swarm?"
"We went through hell, I tell you!"
"But hey, thanks to that, we got to meet Lord Rimuru, so it worked out!"
"Lord Rimuru?"
"Yeah, the boss of the town! It's mostly a settlement of Human-Ogres, but the one running the show is a slime called Rimuru!"
"What? A slime commanding monsters?"
"That's right! And it's the cutest little slime you've ever seen!"
"Hold on, are you guys sure you should be blabbering so much? I don't know anything about this, mind you..."
"Well, since we're bringing them there anyway, isn't it a done deal? We need to leave a decent impression — if something goes wrong after all this, we're the ones who'll suffer."
"True... Being told 'don't ever come back' would be pretty awful..."
"And we haven't even bathed..."
Whether they were being careless or playing a part, they were answering questions freely without pause.
Youm simply could not figure out what they were after.
All he could think was that the town likely did exist.
If this were all some delusion of theirs, the details were far too specific.
"Hey! I can see it!"
The thief-like man named
Youm looked ahead as instructed. In the distance, past the trees, the silhouette of what appeared to be town walls was visible.
So it was real. As that thought sank in, he tensed up.
A town built by monsters. It was hard to believe. And yet the town was there.
Would they find demons or snakes waiting inside?
Youm flashed a fearless grin and pressed on toward the town.
————————————————————————————————— Guiding Milim through the town.
That turned out to be heavier labor than expected.
Anyone who had taken a small child to a theme park would understand.
The moment you looked away, she was gone. Exactly like that.
"Hey! I told you to stop running off on your own!"
"Hahahahaha! Over here! What's this?!"
"Listen! Just calm down and hear what I have to say!"
"Hahahaha! What is it? I'm listening!"
She was clearly not listening.
Running around at full throttle with an inexplicably high-tension energy.
Earlier, she had spotted
A Dragonewt!
Hahaha! How are you doing?"
"I am Gabiru of the Dragonewts! What is your name, tiny girl?"
Smack.
"Excuse me? What did you just say? You wanna die?"
She lightly kicked Gabiru's knee, shattering it, and as he lost his balance and toppled forward, she drove her fist into his stomach.
"Guoooh!" — Gabiru was reduced to the brink of death in a single blow.
W-wait a minute... What happened to the promise about not causing trouble without permission?
"Listen up! I'm in a very good mood right now. That's the only reason I'm letting you off this easy.
Don't you ever pull that kind of nonsense again! Seriously, who are you calling tiny..."
More to the point, if she hit him any harder, he'd be dead.
Milim, one terrifying girl! No, genuinely terrifying!
Gabiru was lucky enough to have brought along an experimental Recovery
The standard Recovery Potion wouldn't fully restore his health.
That blow was truly close to a one-hit kill. She must have been holding back considerably.
But this meant the promise not to cause trouble might not be worth much of anything.
Gabiru slunk away with his head bowed.
Milim nodded magnanimously and waved him off.
Then she turned around as though nothing had happened.
"That guy's pretty tough! Maybe I'll go a little harder next time?"
Please don't ask me that. I genuinely wished she wouldn't.
"No! Absolutely not! Really, you mustn't bully the weak!"
"Hmm? Is that so... Bullying the weak is off-limits! I knew that!"
"Y-yeah. If you know, then please don't do it again..."
That was all I could manage — a feeble warning.
There hadn't been time to stop her before it happened.
The Demon Lord Milim's triggers were apparently numerous and varied, so all I could do was pray that I'd be her only victim for the day.
And so the tour continued.
She was shown the armor workshop and made to promise a set of armor.
She was shown the clothing workshop and turned into a dress-up doll by the women.
She was shown the farmland and helped plow the fields. The terrifyingly fast pace at which the fields were cultivated was oddly satisfying to watch.
The day ended much like that.
By nightfall, the rumors of the little tyrant had spread throughout the town.
I decided to gather the senior members in the grand dining hall and introduce her.
"I'm
When Milim introduced herself like that, "Huh? Milim... Isn't that the name of a Demon Lord?"
"Haha, what are you talking about? There's no way a Demon Lord would be here!"
Benimaru laughed and dismissed the thought.
This was bad. The earlier tragedy of Gabiru flashed through my mind.
I was about to open my mouth to smooth things over when— "What is your relationship with Lord Rimuru? Did you become friends somewhere along the way?"
Souei asked.
Instantly, the anger that had been about to erupt gave way to embarrassment.
Her face turned bright red as she stammered: "Um, well... more than friends, we're... best friends!"
"I see — my apologies. I am Souei, Lord Rimuru's loyal servant. Pleased to meet you!"
Souei, as expected. He really was too handsome for words.
And Milim — since when had we become best friends?
"S-so... since when were we best friends?"
I asked cautiously.
"Huh? We're not?!"
Tears welled up in her eyes in an instant. But even faster than that, the fighting spirit coalescing in her fists was rising!!!
"Just kidding! Best friends, of course! We're gonna be buddies for life!"
A quick save narrowly averted disaster.
I had nearly stepped on a landmine myself. I had no intention of following in Gabiru's footsteps.
"You had me going there! You're pretty good at catching people off guard!"
She was beaming.
Easy to handle — but also dangerously unpredictable.
I had to stay vigilant going forward. I'd learned that lesson.
Benimaru still hadn't caught up with the situation. I'd have a word with him later.
Compared to Souei, he had absolutely no understanding of women's feelings. He was on my level, or possibly worse.
Good looks gave him a pass, but without them, he'd be dismissed out of hand.
Dull men had it rough everywhere.
With Milim as the other party, "rough" wouldn't even begin to cover it.
The conversation eventually moved on, and the meal was served.
Milim ate in high spirits.
I too took on my human form and removed my mask.
Seeing this, Milim said: "Oh! So you were the one who took down Gilmud! I knew it!"
She said it with a smile and continued eating.
But the others weren't about to let it slide. Their eyes demanded an explanation as they all turned to me.
It seemed there was no way to dodge this one.
After the meal, Milim looked drowsy.
I asked
There were no beds here — only futons and tatami-like mats.
Well, what couldn't be helped couldn't be helped. I left Shuna to handle that and got down to business.
I told everyone about the events of the day.
"I see... That explains the devastating blow."
"I could see my old man waving from across the river!"
"What? He's still in high spirits, huh? Your old man's still alive!"
"Ah, so he is! My apologies!"
Setting aside Gabiru's reaction, the others were also shocked.
Well, of course — a Demon Lord had shown up.
"But she promised not to cause trouble without permission, so it should be fine, right?"
When I asked that, "Not every monster is incapable of breaking a promise, you know. What the Dwarven King said was partly correct, but it wasn't the whole truth."
Hakuro and the Ogrekin nodded.
"Lord Rimuru, for example, I can lie with no problem whatsoever."
"I'm the same. If anything, I'd say I'm a pretty prolific liar!"
Souei and Benimaru said.
What did that mean?
"Allow me to explain..."
According to him, it was true that naturally spawned monsters had difficulty lying.
But monsters born from parents were more lax about it. What the Dwarven King had described applied specifically to cases where someone invoked oath magic and swore upon their own existence.
I hadn't listened closely enough to the Great Sage's supplementary explanation — that was my mistake.
The Demon race was under stricter restrictions, apparently, but ordinary monsters were not nearly as bound.
So in other words...
"You're saying Milim could lie without batting an eye?"
"That would be the case..." Hakuro nodded.
Well, what now?
"But the thing is, she's not actually causing any trouble, and even if we wanted to stop her, we couldn't, could we?"
That was true. Even all of us together probably couldn't stop her.
"Indeed. Let her do as she pleases, and if anything goes wrong, Lord Rimuru can handle it. You're best friends, after all!"
"Agreed!!!"
What?! Benimaru, you—!
By the time I thought that, it was already too late. The very same "pass the buck" move I always pulled had been used against me.
There was nothing to be done. I let out a sigh.
And so, an unspoken understanding was reached: Demon Lord Milim was Rimuru's responsibility!
The typhoon that was Demon Lord Milim had made landfall, and the first day had somehow come to an end.