Rimuru and her companions welcod Eurazania's delegation and prepared a grand feast, and the liquor Rimuru's side had brought was a huge hit with the beastn, especially Albis and Suphia.
They liked it so much that Albis had wrapped her tail around an entire barrel and was gulping it down like water, while Suphia had fully transford into her beast form and was lapping honey wine from a large bowl filled to the brim.
Both won were trendous drinkers, and the proof was the more than ten empty barrels rolling around near them.
Unfortunately, Vertis still had work left to do. After watching the festivities for a mont, he returned to his own country, sank into a soft sofa, and looked over his docunts.
"Hmm... a proposal to expand the arena... There shouldn't be any problems, right?"
In this country, arenas were regularly opened for warriors to hone their skills. Monsters fought one another in tournant matches to prove their strength, while the spectators watched and placed bets on who would win.
In other words, it was both a dueling ground for displaying power and a kind of gambling hall for the audience.
As he was sorting through paperwork like usual,
"Vertis!!!"
Boom! The door flew open with a thunderous crash. No, saying it opened wasn't quite right. It would be more accurate to say it had been blasted through. It had been flung so violently that the top hinge had torn off, the bottom one was barely hanging on, and the door itself had bent into an L-shape.
"Ah... that's going to cost money to repair."
"Vertis! I'm bored, so play with !"
The pink twin-tailed girl diving at him with a childlike smile was Milim Nava. She was his friend, and at the sa ti, the primary cause of both his headaches and back pain.
From Milim's point of view, she was just acting spoiled and asking him to play with her, but the degree of it was just a little excessive. At this rate, there was no way he was getting any work done today.
"What happened to the door?"
"Hm? The door? Oh, I ran all the way here because I wanted to play with you! Then I crashed into the door!"
"...Milim. You know your own strength better than anyone, don't you? If you swing your fist wrong even once, this whole room could vanish without a trace."
Just because a nuclear bomb lowers its output doesn't make it weak. Even if Milim was holding back, she was never anything close to harmless. Of course, she was currently wearing the Dragon Knuckles Rimuru had given her, the knuckles Kaijin and the others had made to help suppress Milim's strength, but even in that state, a building could go flying like a dry leaf.
On top of that, Milim was a draconic lineage-class powerhouse who had inherited Veldanava's power. Lately, she even felt like she was getting stronger. Had he played with her too much when she was younger?
"I did control my strength like you said. But then it went boom! and urgh! and then it just went boom!"
That didn't sound any different at all.
"Anyway, that doesn't matter! You're going to play with !"
...He let out a sigh. There was no helping it. Considering how much she would cry and throw a fit later if he refused, it might actually be better for his own sake to play with her now until she wore herself out and fell asleep. Besides, playing with Milim was, in other words, practically the sa as risking one's life, so an ordinary monster's body would never hold up. Once, they had rely been playing catch, and the ball Milim threw hit one of his passing subordinates in the head, leaving the poor monster at death's door.
Still, they had known each other for a long ti, so he knew very well how to take care of Milim.
"All right, then. What do you want to play?"
"Hm? What should we play... Nghhhhh... I didn't think that far!"
As expected. He had figured as much, but apparently she had co all this way driven by nothing more than the desire to play.
"You decide, Vertis!"
Seeing Milim look at him with those pure, innocent eyes, he pulled out a bell and a set of cards with fruit pictures on them from beneath his desk.
"Then how about a card ga?"
"Cards? Sounds good!"
Good. She seed to like the idea. The ga they were about to play was Bell Smash. No, Halli Galli. The rules were simple enough for Milim to understand, and more importantly, it had the advantage of being easy to set up.
It was a brilliant board ga that combined awareness and speed, simple mind gas, and even sleight of hand.
"Here, one card for you... one for ... actually, no, let's just split them evenly."
After dividing the deck exactly in half, he explained the rules as simply as possible.
"When the fruit makes five, ring the bell. Take the cards. If you run out of cards, you lose. Okay?"
"I understand!"
"Then... start!"
Milim and Vertis slowly flipped over their cards one by one from the top. Even though it was just a simple card ga, the tension in the air was intense. They turned over one card, then another, and just then, the card Vertis flipped showed five pieces of fruit. Milim saw it with [Dragon Eye] and instantly slamd the bell.
Ding!Crack!
But she must have hit it too hard, because the bell dented slightly, and the desk beneath it split cleanly in two. In the end, they had to bring in a new desk before resuming the ga.
Win so, lose so, win so, lose so. Their cards shrank, then grew, then shrank again.
Since it was only one-on-one, the match stubbornly refused to end. Every now and then, one of them rang the bell by mistake, and because of that, a huge pile of cards had built up beneath it.
'...Whoever gets that pile wins.'
Aiming for the final decisive blow, he flipped another card. Tension filled the air. But there was no need to worry. Hands were faster than eyes.
In front of Milim was a card showing three strawberries. If he revealed five of another fruit here, or two strawberries, he would slam the bell imdiately.
He flipped the card. The picture on it was...
...five pieces of fruit that were not strawberries!
Whoosh!Whoosh!
The mont they saw it, both he and Milim reached for the bell at the sa ti and struck it almost simultaneously.
Then...
Crash!
The bell couldn't withstand it and was flattened completely.
"Hmm... want to call it a draw and play sothing else?"
"Sounds good! Next ti, I'll win!"
Side in: Milim.
To Milim, Vertis was a man she truly adored, and at the sa ti, he was like a father to her.
Before Milim was even old enough to rember her parents' faces, they died in an unfortunate accident.
So from the mont she was born, Milim was alone. But she was not lonely, because by her side was a pet who served as her guardian and could be called her only family.
But one day, tragedy ca for Milim. Her pet was killed through the sches of a certain nation, and Milim lanted, grieved, and then grew enraged.
Milim's furious power showed no sign of subsiding even after she destroyed the nation that had taken away what was precious to her. Only after Guy and Ramiris, back when she was still the spirit queen, gave everything they had to calm her down did her rage finally settle.
When Milim ca back to her senses, everything around her had been laid to waste, and then a second tragedy ca to the girl who had awakened as a demon lord.
Because of Milim's demon lord awakening, the pet that had died was revived, but it had returned as a corrupted dragon that destroyed and rotted everything around it. In the end, weeping, Milim sealed her pet deep within the ruins of Amrita.
And so she beca completely alone. Truly alone. Then hope descended before her.
Sensing the aura of a being she had never felt before, Milim chased after it together with Guy and Ramiris, and the being they found was none other than one of the draconic lineage.
Originally, the rule of this world was that only four mbers of the draconic lineage could exist, but that being shattered the world's rule and appeared before them.
When she first saw him, she felt a savage lightning that seed ready to run wild at any mont, but also a gentle warmth that seed capable of embracing others. At the sa ti, the aura flowing from his body was absolutely not that of an ordinary being. He was the kind of existence for whom standing above others was simply natural.
To that naless being, they gave the na Vertis, and Vertis beca her family. And by Vertis's side was Milim's pet, from whom she had long been separated.
Its appearance had changed from before, but that aura was unmistakably her pet's. The pet received the na Gaia from Vertis.
Just like that, everything she had lost in an instant was returned to her. Her pet, Gaia, and her family. And Milim ca to know the love a family could give.
After that, Milim was always with Vertis. They grew together, and through that process, Milim beca able to safely control the infinite power she possessed.
"Vertis! Play with !"
"Shall we?"
A gentle being who never disappeared from her side. And above all, a warm presence who would cherish her, and so many others, forever. Perhaps that was why Milim had co to feel such affection for him. Being by his side was so very warm.
"Vertis!"
"Hm?"
"I love you so, so much!"
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