"Shion-!" I looked over at my 'Royal Guard' for a moment, then changed my mind, "Hey, Shuna. Can you give me a shoulder massage really quick? Just looking at this garbage…"
Officially, Shion was my 'Royal Guard,' and Shuna was my 'Priestess' or something, but in reality neither job was really a thing. They just served me in different ways.
Shuna was basically my secretary. She helped me with paperwork, brewed tea, and did a couple of other things in my stead, now that she didn't need to help out the weavers 24/7.
As for Shion, her duties fell more toward the 'assistant' side. She carried me around town, poured Shuna's tea for me, and other things more-or-less of that nature. Basically, she just hung around, finding ways to be useful. Technically, giving me a massage would fit into her job description, too, but her care-giving abilities…
Yeah, I'd prefer Shuna there. Especially when it came to dealing with the phantom headache that I was getting just looking at this report.
It'd been twelve hours since Milim appeared in town. Just twelve. Literally half a day, and I already had a stack of reports almost as tall as Milim about the damage that she'd caused.
Water lines broken, streets cracked from random impacts, the women's bathhouse already needed a full refurbishing after she and Risa had a water fight, two holes blown in the walls of Risa's house… little things like that had already built up into a massive headache for me. I'd had to scold the two girls over a dozen times already. I was scared that, at this rate, the entire city would be reduced to rubble in a few weeks. Fitting for the Destroyer, I suppose.
Still, though. As much as I whined about it, having Milim here wasn't all bad.
Risa and I had been together since I'd been born into this world, with me taking care of her, teaching her everything she needed to know. In a way, I thought of her as something similar to a daughter. Seeing her as happy as she was around Milim was nice.
Plus, Risa and I had something called a 'Soul Corridor' between us. Basically, it was a strong connection between our souls, Me, Risa, and Veldora. Through it, Risa could talk to Wise One whenever she felt like it, and Wise One could read whatever data Risa sent to her Database Sub-Skill. Apparently, I could use that data to produce magic phenomena, too.
But Risa sent everything that she considered combat or skill-related into the Database for later use. So, all of the information that Milim tended to casually leak during their chats ended up in the Wise One's hands.
Privacy invasion? Maybe, but it was with Risa's permission, and she could ask the Wise One to snoop through my mind just as easily as I could with hers, so it was fine.
As I was thinking about this, though…
BOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!
A pillar of flames and power erupted. Right in the middle of the main street.
"Aww, come on, Milim!" I exclaimed, hopping out of my desk.
…
"Soei." As soon as I got down to the street, I called for my shadow, and he appeared beside me.
"We had a visitor… one that Lady Milim didn't seem to take very kindly to."
When I got to the site of the explosion, I found Benimaru, Hakuro, Rigur, and Rigurd, along with Risa, Milim, and a few other hobgoblins. Rigurd's shirt had a bit of dried blood on it, like someone had punched him in the face, but it'd clearly been healed already.
"Was it him?" I asked, referring to the dude on the ground, the clear target of Milim's rage.
He looked to be in roughly the same state as Gabil had been in last time, teetering on the brink of death, with his face twisted in pain, his tongue lolling out of his bloody, toothless gums.
…
While I tossed a potion onto the dude, I listened to Soei's report of the situation.
Apparently, this dark-haired idiot was a lycanthrope employed by Demon Lord Carillon. One of Carillon's 'Three Beastketeers,' in fact. He'd tripped Soei's alarms, but entered the city proper before the kijin could investigate and warn me about it, so he was at least fast.
Luckily, Rigur and Rigurd had already been onsite, and they'd been the first to handle him.
Basically, the beastketeer had gone, "I am Phobio, the Black Leopard Fang! One of Lord Carillon's three beastketeers and the strongest of all in the Beast Master's Warrior alliance! This seems to be a fine town, one fit to be ruled by the Beast Master, don't you agree?"
"Surely you jest-" Was all Rigurd had managed before getting punched out, just as Risa and Milim were coming out of our clothier building nearby.
"Rigurd!" Risa had shouted, which was enough to set Milim into action.
"YOU MADE MY BESTIE SAD!"
"Huh-? PANTHER FANG EXP-" Feeling the overwhelming aura from Milim's rage, Phobio had immediately attempted a powerful blow… that had been instantly blown away, just barely singing the hem of Milim's new dress.
BOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!! And thus, Phobio nearly died.
Meanwhile, the dude himself, "Geh!" I wasn't sure he was capable of speech anymore… had Milim's attack rattled his brain loose or something?
…
After scolding Milim again, punishing her with no lunch (Which wasn't that big a deal, since Risa'd immediately offered to share), I decided to have the Beastketeer brought into a conference room so that I could get the full story from him. Meanwhile, I asked the Wise One what it knew about Carillon from Risa's Databank.
'Demon Lord Carillon: New age demon lord, Lycanthrope: Lion. Beast King, King of Eurazania. Demon Lord Seed, an unawakened demon lord likely roughly as strong as you, Master. Physically stronger when Animalized, though by how much is unknown. One of the most active demon lords of the present age, aggressively expanding his power in 'vain' hopes of overcoming the vast gulf in personal strength between him and the older Demon Lords.'
I see. Wait, in 'vain?'
'According to Lady Milim, Demon Lords vary wildly in strength. Currently, Master would theoretically equal 'New Age' Demon Lords, Clayman, Carillon, and Frey. All other demon lords vary from roughly twice as powerful as Master to Demon Lord Guy Crimson, who is roughly as strong as Lady Milim, with the exception of Demon Lord Ramiris, whose strength cannot be measured in terms of fighting potential.'
Okay, so… let's not piss off the older Demon Lords, then.
Wait, so even Leon's stronger than the current me? That's nice to know. And a bit scary.