196 Chapter 7 Hiiro?

"So...mind introducing us?" I asked, while glancing at the rather emotional sight in front of me.

Benimaru coughed awkwardly while gesturing to the apparent cause of this whole mess "Right..."

The person in question actually looked somewhat similar to Benimaru, it was to the point that I could probably mistake them for biological brothers if I didn't know better. He in fact had the same blood red hair as Benimaru, however it was longer and tied into a ponytail. He also had one black and one white horn coming out of his head, a fact that was oddly similar to my own horns except for the fact that his white horn was shorter than the black one.

"This is Hiiro, he is someone that I consider a brother." Benimaru gestured towards the person in question.

Said person bowed slightly in greeting. "Hello there miss."

"I see..."

Apparently this Hiiro had come here with two of his companions, seeing the orcs working on the road he had attacked them out of both pure uncontrollable rage and because he believed that they were going to invade Tempest or something like that. Thankfully Benimaru and the other kijin had arrived just in time to put an end to it before anyone got hurt. As for myself, well, I had teleported over here not long after to help out but it appears it wasn't needed, I also sent one of my clones to get Rimuru who should be here soon.

(I guess that I can't really blame him for attacking Kuro and the others considering what had happened in the past.) I thought to myself with a slight sigh. (Honestly...I probably would have done the exact same thing if I'm being honest with myself.)

Turning away from them for a moment I walked over to Kuro who was standing off to the side. "You alright?"

"I am quite well." He answered while watching as everyone began to talk amongst themselves once again. "I must say though he was quite the skilled combatant."

"How skilled exactly?" I asked curiously with a slight tilt of my head.

"His capabilities were lesser then my own in both strength and versatility, however his sword skills and overall speed were far better then my own in comparison." He admitted with a slight glint in his eyes.

"Good to know I suppose."

Soon after all of this Rimuru ended up arriving and began talking with our new visitors as well as the others who were still close by, honestly I wasn't really paying attention although I did pick up on a few things. For one, it would appear that Hiiro and his merry band of two helpers had come all the way out here just for some kind of diplomatic mission or something like that. To be completely honest I really couldn't care less about all of that at the moment however, mostly because I was a little distracted by something else right now.

The thing that had seemingly caught my attention was what I believed to be the "transportation" of our new guests. To be more specific, I was currently looking at the three draconic looking creatures with two wings and two legs, they somewhat resemble dragons just far smaller.

One of Hiiro's companions had apparently noticed my interest in the creatures as he politely turned to me. "Have they gotten your attention, miss?"

"Just curious as all." I answered with a slight shrug of my shoulders.

"Well, if you really want to know they are wyverns, flying mounts that can be tamed given some effort." He explained with a smile.

"Yeah, I kind of picked up on that just by looking at them..." before this conversation could really go anywhere I felt something, well, to be more specific I sensed it. "hummm?"

It took me a second to realize what it was, although the moment I did however I glanced over at a certain pink head kijin that I knew rather well. (Right, I guess Legion would be back considering that Shuna and the others have also returned.) I mused while looking at the ground beneath my feet.

"Anyway, we've come here to speak with the two new demon lords, we have something we wish to speak about with them." Hiiro spoke up, suddenly catching my attention.

"And what exactly would that be?" I asked, causing the red head to glance at me solemnly.

"It involves our current ruler and the person who gave me a name."

Hearing that Rimuru decided that this probably wasn't the best place for this. "Then how about we take this conversation elsewhere."

"Very well."

(Here we go again...) I thought as I opened a rift from everyone that led back to Tempest.

It took some time to get everything ready, mostly because Rimuru insisted on allowing Hiiro and his group some time to rest from their journey over here. Of course once that was over and they had something to eat as well as drink we got down to business not long after. Although there were far less people than our usual meeting this didn't stop us from getting down to the topic at hand, however Fuyuko did end up making an appearance just before we started though.

At first everything was relatively upbeat all things considered, at least until Hiiro mentioned something that brought the mood down rather quickly. He had apparently left the previous ogre village to become a mercenary, a fact that Benimaru and the others already knew about, however what they didn't know was where exactly he had ended up afterwards.

Unfortunately for Hiiro he soon entered the services of one demon lord Clayman, honestly just hearing that asshole's name again pissed me off quite a bit. Anyway, he and the ogres that went with him tried to rush back to help the village when they found out that the orcs were going to attack their people, sadly for him would never make it in time. His companions were killed by Clayman's men and Hiiro only survived thanks to the person that ended up naming him.

In the end he arrived too late and could only stand in the ashes of his former home, afterwards he returned to the person who saved his life and now serves under her willingly. Although that brings us to the reasons why he came here to begin with.

Apparently queen Towa, the person who saved him, was now very, very sick because of some kind of cursed magical tiara or whatever. The thing has been passed down in her family and can grant the user rather interesting healing abilities, the only downside is that the tiara slowly kills those that use it the more they tap into its power. The problem is that she has been using it constantly because of the poison in her kingdom's water supply that seems to return no matter how many times she removes it.

Despite the somewhat tragic story being told right now I wasn't really focused on that, in fact my mind was elsewhere. At the mention of Benimaru's old village an idea had popped into my head, an idea that got me thinking. (Wait a minute...could that actually work?) I asked myself but was suddenly brought back to reality when Rimuru released his aura out of nowhere.

"Was that really necessary?!" I hissed in annoyance.

"Sorry." He muttered sheepishly before turning to Veldora who was laying down behind him. "Hey Veldora, can these guys use part of the Forest Of Jura for resource cultivation?" As to why he was asking this, well, because Hiiro had come here for this exact reason, he was hoping that it would take the strain off of the queen of Raja, Towa.

"Sure, so long as they don't become annoying or anything like that it's fine with me." The blonde dragon in question simply shrugged without much care at all.

"Vel..." Hiiro muttered and one of his companions finished for him.

"Dora...?"

"Ah right, this is my friend Veldora." Rimuru hummed while gesturing to the person in question. "Say hi Veldora."

"Hello there, I am indeed Storm Dragon Veldora Tempest, it is nice to meet you." He waved without looking up from the thing laying next to him.

(Is he seriously reading manga right now?) I thought with a roll of my eyes but stopped myself when something entered my sensory range.

"Humm?"

"What is it Mistres-?" Fuyuko tried to ask but was interrupted when a pink flash of light shot into view.

"BIRDY!" Was all the warning I got before a certain person slammed into me while wrapping their arms around my neck.

"Hey...Milim..." I muttered, I could already feel the redness leaking onto my face.

"Oh my~" Shuna mused, causing Shion to giggle and say.

"So bold of you lady Milim~"

"Shut up would you..." I muttered rather flustered at the moment.

Of course the teasing didn't end there, in fact even Hakurou and Fuyuko joined in somewhat. "Ah, young love."

"So this is the one who stole her heart."

"I said shut up!"

After being thoroughly teased by everyone present, a fact that Milim found rather amusing to say the least, things continued. Rimuru agreed to Hiiro's previous request and he even asked to visit this Kingdom Of Raja, mostly because he believed he could help the queen but he also wanted to go and discuss their agreement with her in more detail.

"Yeah...I'm not going." I hummed with a shrug.

"You sure?" Rimuru asked not really all that bothered either way.

"Yep." I answered without any hesitation. "I mean sure, I'll send one of my clones with you as well as some of my subordinates as well just in case but I have shit I need to deal with here."

"That means me and Birdy get to spend some time together!" Milim announced happily.

"Y-yes...I guess t-that's true..." I muttered before returning to the topic at hand. "A-also I don't think that leaving Veldora in charge of protecting Tempest unsupervised is a good idea."

"Why?!"

"No offense but you're just not exactly city managing material." I pointed out and Rimuru agreed much to Veldoras dismay.

"She's got a point."

"So yeah, I'll be staying here but feel free to take Gramps and the triplets with you." When I said "the triplets" I was referring to Agony and the other two.

Hearing what I just said Milim tilted her head in confusion "Who?"

"Lady Suu's new subordinates, there are quite a few of them now actually." Shion explained and Veldora just had to add his input as well.

"Yep, my future niece-in-law even made an entirely new species of lesser dragon."

"Ooooooo."

"Would you please stop calling me that you dumb lizard!"

"Anyway..." Rimuru sighed with a slight smile. "Let's get back on track shall we."