Charybdis 1

In the midst of the many new buildings in Tempest, by far the most popular were the public hot baths. They were Rimuru's pride, a luxury he had pushed hard for ever since he first became the leader of the hobgoblin village. Even as a slime, dipping in the warm waters was extremely refreshing, a sentiment shared by pretty much everyone who visited them. After a long day of work, nothing beat soaking in its warm waters.

Speaking of hard work, there was plenty of it still going on in the ever more bustling city that had grown out of their modest initial huts. Rimuru himself had plenty of things to keep him occupied, though most were out of necessities, and the issues never seemed to stop coming for more than a few moments. For example, just a few weeks ago, shortly after the visit of the beatemen, his goblin riders brought in a group of humans they had found in the forests, battling against a number of high level magical beasts. Among them were Eren, Gildo and Kabal, the three adventurers that accompanies Shizu, the woman Rimuru's human appearance was based on. With them was Fuse, the leader of the Free Association in Blumund, a small kingdom neighboring the Great Forest, who had apparently been dispatched by its government to investigate the rumors of the supposed monster nation that arose overnight. The man seemed reasonable enough, though he was a bit of a worrywart in Rimuru's opinion; in any case, they got along quite well and he was easy to convince that their nation posed no harm; he even agreed to use his contacts to spread the word about the 'friendly nation of monsters' to as many people as possible (the free vacation he spent for a few weeks in the city certainly seemed to help).

More importantly however was the larger group, an ad-hoc militia of rogues, petty thieves and other assorted petty offenders forced to join in on the defense against the increased monster incursions in the kingdom of Falmuth, a large and prosperous nation bordering the Forest in the west. They were led by Yohm, a crude but good man that genuinely cared about this group of bandits-turned-guards that had been forced by the kingdom into an unenviable position (either face jail time, or the monsters). He had helped Kabal's group and by extension had attracted the attention of Rimuru, who came up with the crazy idea of turning him into a champion, the figure who people would believed defeated the Orc Lord; he wanted it to be a hero, but according to Milim that was decidedly not a good idea: heroes in this world was a serious thing that only those chosen by the System could call themselves. Calling oneself a hero willy-nily was a sure way to invite disaster on oneself. So he settled on champion.

Somehow, after a little deliberation, Yohm accepted; Rimuru suspected he quickly regretted that, as he was put through the ringer of Hakuro's hellish training. In a few short weeks, he and his group were turned from rogues into damn near proper warriors, then given high grade weapons and armor and sent back into Farmus to spread the word of the 'champion' who defeated the Orc Lord; and possibly spread word of the helpful, friendly town of monsters located deep in the Forest that assisted generously. Thus was born Rimuru's long term plan to bridge the divide between humans and monsters; it was tiring work, with everyone working hard. Even Milim made herself helpful, mostly by assisting Kabal's group in hunting down the rampaging magic monsters in the forest; child's play for her, really, but once the influx of travelers he expected to see once his plan kicked into motion, it would make all the difference.

Speaking of Milim, he had gotten to know her quite a bit better over the last few weeks; at first he tried to get closer- well, closer from his perspective, she already considered them close- to coax as much info as possible of what she knew of the Demon Lords. However, he found she was, in fact, smarter than she let out because she was not falling for it. She would just smile and change the subject every time he tried to approach it, so after a while, he just gave up, though he did began to appreciate her more than just an idiot; during his failed coaxing, he dragged her- or rather allowed her to follow him- all over the town and made sure she was never far from something fun. Even when he gave up on prying info, he continued to do so; the way she smiled and her eyes sparked at even mundane thinks that were new to her, he found himself unable to say no. Indeed, he found himself unable to deny many of her selfish requests, though he did try to moderate it. For her part, Milim seemed to tone said requests down a bit over the following weeks; maybe it was because she had other things to do now, such as helping Kabal's party in monster hunting, but there she was, being almost considerate. She had snuck her way into the everyday life of Tempest, and no one seemed to be complaining anymore, not even him.

He began to notice little things about her too; for once, she was smart, but just could not be bothered most of the time and just did whatever came along. 'Maybe she lived for so long, even thinking became a chore to her' was what he though. She hated vegetables, and not necessary in a kiddy 'they're gross' kind of way, as she liked them just the same when they were cooked; just the sight of them raw however turned he face into one of the best triggered poker face he had ever seen. There were other small things here and there, but the most jarring happened the night before when, after a day of restless fun, she just sort of fell asleep sitting on a bench. As a gentlemen (gentle-slime), he was obliged to take her to a proper bed, so he picked her up in a piggy back ride and headed for her room. Along the way she woke up and still half asleep began talking.

-'Is this country that important to you, Rimuru' she asked slowly

-'What's this I hear? Its because its the country I built; it and everyone in it are important to me...' he answered honestly,

-'Aren't you scared? Important things...are fragile...aren't you scared of losing them?'

-...'I am scared...but, I can't let that hold me down.'

-'...me too...I've always...' she said as she tightened her hold on him, but not enough to cause him any discomfort

-'Just go back to sleep, okay.' he told her gently. He though about the thinks she said, wondering just how many things and people she could have lost over the long lifespan she probably had. Thinking about that, it made much more sense why she was so selfish; maybe it made it easier for her to let go? Or maybe she could pretend it didn't affect her too much losing something. He wondered about the things that he had lost over his 37 years in his old life, and tried to multiply it by centuries...he quickly abandoned that though before he dragged himself into a depression, though.

Next day, he had some spare free time in the afternoon, along with his councilors, so he decided to invite them all, Milim included, over for a picnic. They spent the day like that as more people began to arrive, curious what their master was doing, so the whole thing evolved into almost a festival kind of thing. He didn't complain; seeing the smiles on everyone's faces made all the work he had put in over the last few months more than worth it. He was especially happy to see Milim back to her plucky self; serious, unhappy Milim just wasn't right. He though his heart skipped a beat when, in the evening, she grabbed him in slime form and ran off into the baths with Shuna and Shion, but he dismissed that though; slimes didn't have hearts, after all. He also tried to convince himself he wasn't looking at her too much...again. This time, though

'No, I'm definitely looking...' he pondered to himself as he watch her and Shion get into a water splashing battle 'I like her, she's a fun friend to have, I admit that much...but...' he realized then that Milim had occupied his thoughts almost all the time ever since she first arrived; first as worry about all the trouble she would cause him, but now it was just in general, such as how he would sometimes work on paperwork and suddenly think 'I wonder how Milim's doing?' or 'I wonder if she'd like to try this new fun thing I though of'. Eventually, he just decided he would deal with the issue at another time; right now, he had so much work to look forward to, he was too exhausted.

After an hour of soaking, the four left the baths; Rimuru, in slime form, was being carried by Milim while she was arguing with Shuna over her hair

-'Lady Milim, you really should dry you hair first!' Shuna tried to scold her, to no avail

-'Its fine, its fine! Its not like I'll get sick or something!' Milim casually dismissed her. The continued for a little more as they walked through the street. Suddenly, he could feel Milim tense up at something; before he could react, she had handed him over in a hurry to Shuna, who was shocked as he was. Shion seemed to have picked up whatever Milim did because the two got into a fighting stance right facing the same way

'What's going on?' he tried expanding his magic sense but felt nothing hostile, only something familiar. Before he could put his proverbial finger on it, a transparent form shimmered into existence in the spot the two girls were looking at

-'Who goes there?!' Shion demanded; Rimuru had already identified the aura, and sure enough the figure was a dryad.

-'Wait, its fine. Its a friend.' he calmly informed the two; Shion seemed to recognize the figure and stood down, while Milim, no longer on guard, looked over in curiosity.

-'I am Trya, the dryad. It's been a long time, Chancellor.' the dryad name Trya, whom he remembered as one of the dryads that accompanied Treyni a while back, spoke politely

-'I remember, you were with Treyni; what brings you along? And what's this..weird aura I'm feeling all of a sudden?' he asked and wondered if said aura, which did not belong to the dryad, was what got Milim on edge

-'I bring grave news from my sister; the monster Charybdis has returned, and it is heading for this land.'