"Alright, Milim, you can just fly overhead. I'll be behind following you.". I was on Dun Stallion and Shuna was going to ride with me. She was sitting behind me and holding onto me tightly. I told her we were going to be going very fast and to hold on.
Milim started flying into the air before taking off, a pink trail following behind her.
"Alright, Rimuru, hold down the fort, and don't forget about the people that will be sent by the other demon lords. Especially, Carrion. His 'envoy' will be…aggressive. Try to be there when he does something 'cause he might not make it out alive from what the townsfolk might do to him in defense. Assuming he arrives if I'm not here. That's about it, I'll try to be back fast.".
"Yeah, I got it. Stay safe.".
I nodded at him and commanded Dun Stallion to start sprinting.
"Alright, Dun Stallion, how long can you maintain a full sprint for?".
"As long as you need me to, master.".
"Perfect answer, Dun Stallion. This is what makes such a good horse. You should brace yourself, 'cause I'm going to use some magic to make us go faster. You to Shuna, get ready.".
Shuna hugged me tighter and using Torrent of Light, I made us go fast. Very fast. The forest around us turned into a green blur. I looked at Milim above us and she seemed to be going at a "normal" speed. That theory of relativity stuff gets kind of crazy sometimes.
As we galloped through the forest, we eventually reached the border of the forest. I could see the terrain start to change little by little. From a very dense forest to something resembling plains and finally starting to transform into something more rocky and barren.
We were now in Milims' domain. I kept following her and we reached a small city. Most of her domain was rocky and barren, but the city was built right next to a lake. There was some vegetation around the lake and I could see that the city was built with the ake in mind. There were also some structures built into a mountain face that was next to the river.
This was something like Mesopotamia, except replace the rivers with a lake. I made it to the edge of the city and finally slowed down to a trotting speed. I saw Milim just go off to one of the places built into the face of the mountain.
'She left me here. Is she going to bring someone with her or do I just follow her? I'll just follow her.', I looked behind me and saw Shuna. "Are you feeling ok? Tell me if something's wrong. I can make you feel better really fast."
"I feel fine. I just have to relax a little.". Shuna was now leaning on me using me as a sort of headrest. It felt nice. Anyway, I started moving to where Milim went. I noticed that the population seemed to all live in the city. I was getting a few looks from the people, but they just left me alone.
I got to where Milim was headed and saw stairs. I got off Dun Stallion and also helped Shuna get off. "Stay here for now, Dun Stallion, we'll be back soon.".
"Understood, master.".
Me and Shuna went up the stairs. This should be where the temple for her is supposed to be. As we were going up we were stopped by someone.
"Stop! Who are you!". The one that stopped us had silver hair and blue eyes. He was wearing the priest robes that the dragon faithful wore. This should be Hermes. He was on the defensive, ready to attack if necessary.
"My name is Artoria Pendragon and this is Shuna. We come from the Jura-Tempest Federation and we have signed a pact with Demon Lord Milim for our nations to ally with each other. We have come here to accompany her for an announcement she will be making to her people.". I went straight to the point. How did it go? Introduce yourself, establish a relevant link, and declare your intentions. Or something like that.
"My name is Hermes, a dragonewt. You're the one Lady Milim was talking about. Follow me, she's inside…'talking' with Father Middray.".
'Oh, this is going to be good.', I thought to myself. She must have wanted to come here first to settle things with Middray and his whole things about serving food uncooked and all that.
As we got closer, I could hear the sound of fighting and things crashing all over the place. 'Is she really fighting in her own temple? Why not take it outside?', I thought to myself and I can assume that she is fighting Middray and if the whole thing with Rimuru is still affecting her, then she's probably fighting him with the intent to stop the whole serving food raw and uncooked.
I would say something, but considering how Middray is, this is probably the most effective way to change his mind. He's supposed to be someone who likes fighting and wants to show off his strength. Well, actually, she could just say something and declare it. She's supposed to be a goddess to these people. They'll follow whatever she says.
The whole thing with us approaching the fight was making the atmosphere kind of awkward, so I tried to make some conversation.
"So, Hermes, how does the government function around here? Milim didn't really give much insight into it.".
"Uh, well we give everyone an equal share of what we produce. We'll take all the crops produced and then give them out to everyone equally.".
Hold on a minute. I narrowed my eyes at his description. There are very few things I hate, but he was describing one of them.
"Is everything shared equally no matter what? Everyone gets the same amount even if some people put in more effort than others?". I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, just so I could make sure.
"No. We give everyone some amount of food. Even if someone dies nothing they get something, but we still recognize peoples efforts and give them more if they put in more effort and work than others.".
I see. So it's something like a universal basic income. Hmm, It seems I might have gone a bit ahead of myself.
"That's good. I thought it was something else at first. But we should address the elephant in the room. You know, the whole fight that is clearly going on inside.".
"Oh. Well, it seems that Lady Milim is deciding to make a change around here. One that I find to be long overdue after seeing how she gets when it comes to eating the…'food' Father Middray gives her. She just came in and challenged Father MIddray to a duel saying that if she wins, food must be served how people want it and if she loses then it will stay the same. I don't want to question her, but I feel that there may have been better ways to go about this.".
"I may or may not have something to do with that.". I just chuckled. Milim is "convincing" Middray in a way only he knows, with fists. But like, come on, the damage Rimuru has done to her is…I don't know. As long as it's only for something unserious then it's fine.
Mine doesn't count. That was an isolated incident.
"What do you mean?".
"To keep it short, she visited our nation and some…unwise decisions were made by someone and that resulted in me having to duel her. It's one of the reasons we made a pact. I beat her and she agreed to the condition set forth.".
Hermes' eyes were wide open after hearing what I said. "Y-You beat Lady Milim in a fight?!".
"Before you get carried away, no it was not a fight. It was a different kind of duel. I'm not going to tell you the specifics.". I had to make sure things didn't get too out of hand. This could work in my favor though. To our allies, I'll clear up the misunderstanding, but when this eventually gets out, I'll leave everyone else wondering what the truth really is.
I have to make sure it only affects the right people though. I can trust our residents in town since they'll follow my orders truthfully, but when it comes to our allies, only the top should know. In this case, Milim, Hermes, and Father Middray.
We eventually made our way to the top and we could see Milim jumping around and celebrating. Midday was sprawled out on the ground, not unconscious, but clearly needing some rest.
"YES! FINALLY!". While celebrating, Milim finally noticed us and rushed to me. "Artoria! Did you see? I used what you taught me and I made some changes to my domain! I don't have to eat that food anymore!", she said as she was shaking me back and forth.
"Calm down, Milim. Also, congratulations. Are you ready to announce our alliance?".
"Yes!".
We heard a groan coming from Middray. He was getting up and started patting himself down. "I will admit that it will take me some time to get used to your new rules, but you gave me a chance to keep things the same. That being said, are these the pens you were talking about, Lady Milim?".
Milim stopped her celebration and nodded her head, "Yup! We are now allies! I'll be making an announcement soon. This is Artoria Pendragon and she is Shuna. Artoria is one of the leaders of the Jura-Tempest Federation and Shuna is…", She paused a little bit before getting closer to me and whispering in my ear, "Who is Shuna supposed to be?".
How do I answer this? I mean, officially, we aren't engaged or anything like that. Actually, I know how to answer this. I would say the truth.
"Shuna is my fated one.". I just said it. That would explain everything. I looked over at Shuna and she was covering her face with her long sleeves trying to hide her face.
Milim just nodded in understanding. "And Shuna is her fated one.", she said to Middray.
I just said it loudly to everyone though.
"Look, let's get back on track ok? I'm sure there are some things you want to know. Especially about our alliance.".
Midday nodded his head. "I do want to know something. What made Lady Milim agree to your proposition of an alliance?".
Milim butted in before I could say anything. "Oh oh. She beat me in duel and one of the conditions was that our nations would be allies if I lost.".
"Wait, wait, wait, it's not that kind of du-", I tried to say something, but Middray looked toward me with clear intentions of fighting.
"You were able to beat Lady Milim in a fight?", Middray said as he got into a fighting stance. "You are clearly someone worthy of fighting, so let me see your skills.".
Oh, come on.
"Wait, Father Middray, this isn't a time for this!".
"Quiet, Hermes, I want to test her strength.".
Great. Just what I wanted. A battle maniac. I summoned my armor except for the helmet since it was not needed.
"Ok. Let's do this, Middray.".