Chapter 5

'Those border guards were fast. Frey's and Clayman's forces can't even compare. I hope it was enough for them to bring out that elemental.' A little poking around was bound to entertain her, at least for a little while.

She changed her trajectory a bit, so she landed in a clearing near the walls of the central city. As eager for a fight as she was, killing massive amounts of Veldora's toys would cause too much long-term trouble.

Just before hitting the ground head-on, Milim did a graceful flip and landed on her feet, causing a small shockwave and leaving a heavy dent in the ground.

Without a rush, she stepped out of the dent in the ground and clapped her boots together to shake off the dirt. A predatory smirk appeared on her youthful face as a black void appeared in front of her.

'Oh, that is the black-winged woman, and that is the leader of Tempest.' She immediately recognized the two of them. The third after them was a six-winged angel in blood-red armor. After the angel came a red-haired woman in dark plate armor with a large sword and shield, and finally, a demon with a red-striped suit.

'Let's see…' Milim activated her |Dragon Eye| ability and observed the five figures. 'Huh!? All of them are above most of the current demon lords.' Even that was a low estimate. On top of that, the central figure holding the golden staff was above his peers with a legion seemingly standing behind him to lend even more on top of his already impressive power. 'How is this possible? Veldora couldn't create such powerful pawns, could he?'

And then there was the angel. At first, she was unsure what was wrong, but as she brute-forced her way past all the tricks, Milim's heart stopped for a moment in shock at the feeling she felt.

This indescribable feeling of pure wrongness. That thing, whatever it was, shouldn't exist. The abomination lurking beneath the angelic facade was something so wrong, so out of place, that it even made someone like her shudder.

'What is that? What sort of monstrosity did Veldora pull from who knows where? I need to go… No! What am I even thinking? I am Milim Nava the Destroyer. I can't run from some creepy majin!' She harshly reprimanded herself for the cowardly thoughts.

The central figure finally spoke in a deep and regal tone. "Who are you and for what reason have you come here?" There was no fear in that voice.

Milim blinked for a moment as she gathered her thoughts. 'I can't just fight to show dominance. We would destroy everything in Veldora's realm within a heartbeat and maybe even break him out of his prison.' her eyes moved towards the creepy angel-majin 'And I surely do not want to fight that thing. Veldora should send it back to whatever hell he pulled it from. They all combined are… What is even going on? I am looking at a full-blown demon lord council here. Right, back to the present moment. Let's go for a level-headed approach.'

"I am demon Lord Milim Nava and I came to say 'hi!'." She said with a cheerful voice and let out a boisterous laugh at the end.

'Came to say hi? Does this monster really think we are that stupid to fall for her childish facade?' Momonga observed the renegade girl critically. Her barely curved figure was heavily underdressed and she exuded absolute confidence in herself.

While she laughed in the manner of a teenage delinquent, Momonga silently cast an appraisal spell to gouge her power. 'That can't be?' Even on the lower end, she had at least half of Veldora's power, if not more. And worse, there was no upper limit for the spell's estimate. Momonga cast the appraisal spell a few more times but in the end, got the same results. This girl who claimed to be one of the demon lords didn't have an upper limit or at least the spell couldn't tell if there was one.

{ Everyone, do not provoke her into combat! She may be more powerful than all of us combined! I can't even get her true power limit reading. Unless she shows signs of aggression, stand down and let me handle this! } Momonga messaged the group.

"I am Momonga Tempest, the Supreme Overlord of the Tempest Hegemony. Is arriving unannounced a custom of Demon Lords I am not aware of?" Momonga asked Milim who was smiling boldly.

"Depends on the demon lord, really. Some do." Milim then looked around and asked. "Where is that big elemental? I wanted to see it."

"I'm afraid he is not available at the moment." Momonga responded.

"Awww, but I wanted to play with it." Milim let out a whine.

{ Good acting. } Buku remarked.

{ What do you mean? } Momonga asked.

{ She acts like a careless child, but her body language shows calculated confidence. She likely knows she is stronger than us and is not afraid to show dominance. The overplayed childishness is used to lower our defenses and to make us reluctant to go all out on her. } Buku explained her observations.

{ I see. The question remains of what she really wants. Maybe she is sent out as some sort of test to see our real power. No doubt the other demon lords want to know what they are dealing with before making their move. }

"Are you here on your own or on behalf of someone else?" Momonga asked. Maybe she would reveal some snippets about her real intentions.

"What do you take me for? I am a demon lord, not some majin lackey who does someone else's dirty work." Milim said, lowering the tone of her voice.

Before Momonga could come up with an appropriate answer the last man he needed in a tense situation just appeared in front of him.

"Hey, Milim! Came to visit your uncle?" Veldora's boisterous voice interrupted the tense moment.

Milim tilted her head in genuine confusion as a shirtless, tanned man appeared in front of the group and walked towards her with a confident stride.

'Veldora! He is out? Wait a minute, why is he so weak?' Milim observed the man and then it clicked. 'Oh, there is no core. This is just a magicule avatar. Still would kick most of demon lord asses though. Why did he call himself my uncle? Did he know my parents?' A plethora of thoughts swirled in Milim's head.

She never knew her parents. In fact, she didn't know who they were and why she was born so powerful. Even growing up her only friend was a pet dragon. A dragon that was killed, and in her grief she got so enraged... Milim hastily pushed her past memories away.

"What do you mean 'uncle'?" She asked, raising her eyebrow.

"You didn't know? You are the only kid of my big brother. He bragged about you all the time!" Veldora said with his trademark laugh and grabbed Milim sideways by the shoulder. "How have you been, kiddo?"

"I… Wait a minute!" Milim protested as Veldora was already dragging her past the shocked group.

"Come, let your uncle show you around. There are so many fun things for you to see!" Veldora enthusiastically dragged along the very confused Milim.

Milim looked back at Momonga, who had lifted his right hand with an extended index finger in a silent question, with an expression of asking to be rescued from the clutches of the enthusiastic dragon, which Veldora either didn't notice or chose to ignore.

{ Veldora, what are you doing? } Momonga messaged.

{ Hey, I have not seen my niece since… well, ever. I'll just show her around a bit. Don't worry, I will not tell her about Nazarick and other secret stuff. }

Momonga clutched the insides of his empty eye sockets with two fingers and said to Albedo. "Put at least two floor guardians near them at all times."

"Lord Momonga, should we let them just wander around?" Albedo asked.

"If she really is related to Veldora I doubt she will attack us for no reason. For now, let's treat her as a royal guest and then see what measures need to be taken."

"I'll warn Pero to keep his hands off the loli demon lord. That bird brain might have gotten a stupid idea or two in his head already." Buku remarked.

"I am not an idiot!" Pero hissed, appearing next to his sister. "So Momo, do we just let her roam around and treat her like a bigshot?"

"For now yes, but just in case, let's be ready to contain her if things go south."

"I'm sure it will be fine. If she is anything like Veldora, you can give her some manga and sweets, and she will be eating from your hand in no time." Pero remarked.

"That girl was acting up her childishness. I wouldn't be so sure she is that easy to handle." Buku said as she put the sword and shield in her inventory.

"In either case, fighting her is not a good option. You heard what Veldora said. She is the daughter of his older brother, and if I recall correctly, his brother was the Creator God of this universe. That would also explain her power." Momonga said. 'Would it mean that she might be by far the strongest demon lord? I need to find out more about them to make any sort of countermeasures.'

"Let's just hope she can be bribed with sweets. I have about half a ton of chocolate stashed away and the shop keeps producing about forty kilos a day so that should be enough… right?" Pero said.

"Did you just say you are the one who has taken all the chocolate the shop is producing for the last few weeks?" Buku asked in a sweet tone as she approached her brother.

Pero flinched, hastily took a handful of packets of chocolate out of his inventory, threw them in his sister's direction, and teleported away.

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This was the third plate of delicious food she wolfed down. First came a plate of potatoes boiled in oil. Then something called a burger, which topped even the first dish. The final dish she devoured was a large piece of apple pie.

'So sweet and crunchy!' Milim gushed as she stuffed the entire thing in her mouth without any worry about table manners.

How could something so delicious exist and she was not aware of it? Milim picked up all the pie crumbs and shoved them in her mouth.

"More!" She demanded impenitently.

"Calm down. The stuff is not going anywhere." Veldora said while he ate his own piece without any hurry, savoring each and every piece of the delicious treat. It wasn't his usual method of eating, but he simply couldn't lose out to Aura and Shalltear, both of whom ate in a slow and refined manner. Aura in particular eyed him with curiosity.

{ Hey, don't look at me like this! } Veldora messaged her.

{ Like what? } Aura responded with a hint of amusement in her voice.

{ Like that! } Veldora argued.

{ Sure. } Aura said and resumed her neutral expression while staring at Veldora.

{ Stop messing with me! }

{ I am not doing anything. It's you who is getting paranoid. }

{ Whatever. Did you at least get all the manga I asked for? } Veldora gave up.

{ Of course. Lord Momonga told me to help you with treating the guest. }

Meanwhile, Milim puffed her cheeks to play up her cuteness. "But uncle Veldora! You promised to treat me with delicious things."

"Sure I did. How about I get you something special?" Veldora said.

"Something special? Even better than this?" Milim's eyes lit up.

"Yes. The best stuff there is." Veldora responded with laughter while frantically messaging Pero. { Hey, can you be a good bro for once and help me out? }

{ What did you promise her? } Pero asked.

{ I need a lot of that delicious chocolate you are hiding. }

{ Sorry but I can't help you, man. }

{ Come on, I already promised Milim I would get her some }

{ I don't have any. Buku took all of them away from me. You will have to ask her. By the popular vote, sis is now in charge of chocolate distribution. Man, who would have known that all of them would get so vicious and angry at some… } Veldora just cut off his friend's ramblings.

Without skipping a beat he contacted Buku. { Hey I need some of that chocolate you have. You see I promised Milim… }

{ Sure thing. You can come and take some. Do I have to ration it out or do you have some self-control? } Buku responded after a few seconds.

{ What do you take me for? I… }

{ Veldora? }

{ I have self-control, and I will not let Milim eat too much of it as well. }

'Bargaining with those two is such a chore. Ehh, at least Buku responds better to compliments and sweet talk.' Veldora mused. He then stood up and turned to Aura "Show my niece the stuff. I'll be back in a few minutes."

True to her word, Buku gave him quite a supply that would last at least a few days. Satisfied with the results, Veldora returned to the quarters his niece was given as a guest and found Milim and Aura sitting next to each other, with Aura explaining the scenes from the manga both were reading. With a smirk, he opened a package of chocolate and put it in front of both girls.

Like responding to a siren's call, Milim looked up to see the source of the delicious smell and instantly grabbed the package, pushing a few pieces in her mouth. With her pupils dilating, Milim shoved a fistfull of chocolate in her mouth.

"You better slow down, once it runs out you'll have to wait for the next treat." Aura remarked as she turned the page.

Milim slowly turned to look at Aura like there is no happiness left in the world, "What do you mean?"

"Chocolate is generated in limited amounts. Once everything is eaten we have to wait for more to be made." Aura said and turned away from Milim to protect the manga from the demon lord's messy eating.

Milim turned to Veldora with desperation in her eyes to which Veldora responded with a smirk. "Don't worry kiddo, we can have a few more, but Aura is right, that stuff is limited so we have to be careful."

Armed with the knowledge that her newest treat could run out, Milim slowed down and resumed reading Manga with Aura.

'This place is so strange. They have so many wonderful things to enjoy and so many powerful creatures.'

"By the way, I wanted to ask, why has nobody here declared themselves a demon lord? Many of your people are above most demon lords. Uncle, did you forbid them?"

"I don't really care about politics, my buddies are doing all that boring stuff. You should probably ask the Chief that." Veldora replied as he tore open his own packet of chocolate.

"Who is the Chief?" Milim asked.

"Momonga. He is the one in charge. I'm just the adored protector of Tempest and he runs the place. He is also one who rules… never mind, that is not important."

'Hmm, maybe I could get them to treat me the same as Veldora? I'll have to make Momonga treat me the same as my uncle.' Milim mused. This place was simply too good to just leave it alone. And having someone who wanted to be her family was not a bad thing, either.

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The next few days went by in a blur. So many new experiences happened that they all started to blend together in one joyous ride. From eating wonderful meals three times a day to touring the city and looking at the accomplishments of the Tempest's denizens.

At this point, it was more than obvious that the actual ruler of the place was Momonga, with Pero and Buku as the next in rank. Veldora was just enjoying life and not caring one bit about actually running the place or even being in any sort of control. Her uncle, one of the true dragons, was just a decoration to scare off anyone into coming in and claiming Tempest.

'I wonder what is really going on. Uncle neither created nor empowered anyone but he surely gets along with them like friends. Veldora of all people is having fun with his friends.'

However, her contemplation faded just as quickly as it started. Having fun was more important than thinking about the implications of Tempest's existence.

In the end, it didn't really matter. She was treated like royalty and that was good enough for her. Milim even got a few new sets of clothing, as according to Buku, her main outfit was far too revealing. Her new default clothing was a suit similar to the one Aura wore most of the time. At first, it felt very restricting, but she was not about to lose to the elven girl who effortlessly could perform acrobatics dressed like that.

Since they finally started to trust that she would not attack anyone for no reason, the security around her was getting progressively laxer, and her only companion today was Aura.

Both rode a pair of Aura's personal tempest wolves, which were empowered by her, through the Forest of Jura. The rest of their escort had fallen behind as they simply couldn't keep up.

"This is awesome!" Milim squealed as she got the lead. There was no rule against her offering part of her own power to the wolf for him to gain additional speed.

Undeterred, Aura started to do the same and both started reaching speeds that were hard to comprehend by the few random low-level monsters unlucky enough to roam near their path.

"I know!" Aura shouted back. "But we should turn around. Mom told me to not get too far away from the capital." and slowed down her wolf.

"Do we have to?" Milim asked as they both stopped and let the wolves take a breath and rest for a moment.

"Sorry, but I must also finish my chores for today." Aura replied as she took out two pieces of meat from her inventory and fed it to both wolves.

"Aww…" Milim let out a whine at the prospect of losing her playmate for a while.

Seeing Milim's reaction, Aura sighed and added. "We can play later. Work comes first, but I do not forget my friends."

"You think we're friends?" Milim asked loudly with a posture radiating self-importance.

"Yeah, we have been hanging around a lot for the last few days, haven't we?" Aura said, completely ignoring her boisterous posture.

'Friends… I guess… It's not like I can just boss her around so… I have a friend.' Milim thought. "We are friends!"

Proofreading by Kazuma, I AM THE STRING CUTTER, Abbysalidiot, and Sad_Smiles.

AN: Thank you for reading the story, and if you have caught up to the latest chapter, you can check out my other work or join my discord server (Link is in my profile) where additional chapters are available.