The Second Dragonoid's Tale

Chapter 55: Descend Into Ruin, In All Ways

Rimuru made plans for an expedition into the ruins in Clayman's former territory. The dark elves living there did not seem to care who owned the land. They were fine with Laden's hands-off approach of letting them live as they had before without interference. But now, they accepted a letter from Laden that told them he and a few others were going to explore the deeper levels of the ruins.

The ones joining in the trip were Milim, who was invited by Veldanava, who in turn was invited by Rimuru after Raphael's suggestion. The reason was not explained to Rimuru, but he could deduce that Veldanava, being the creator of the world, might have input on very old ruins. Veldanava, meanwhile, had two reasons for inviting Milim. Exploring anything without her was going to cause her to pout and she was back up.

Laden would also be joining, having yet to visit the dark elves and the castle Clayman used. Shion tagging along to spend some time with him. Then there were Yuuki and Kagali. The former is the head of the guilds and under Raphael's suspicion, while the latter works under him. With them, they brought a few curious minds who would be assisting the expedition. They had even brought carriages with them for the lords and their people.

"We appreciate it, Yuuki," Rimuru said as the party gathered outside the city, "But I'll teleport us there."

Before Yuuki responded, Rimuru transported the groups and the carriages outside the castle, "Woah, I was expecting a long trip! Amazing!"

"Welcome," A youthful dark elf woman, with silver hair and violet eyes in a maid outfit stepped forward from the castle's gates and bowed. "We've been expecting you. I am Eva, the acting governor of the dark elves."

Milim started to skip over to the castle, Veldanava tried to stop her from running off ahead, "Hey, we haven't finished greetings."

"But I've already met Eva before," Milim complained as she continued to run off. "Let me show you around!"

"Lord Laden," Eva was unfazed by Milim's behavior. "As per your instructions, we've prepared rooms for the others on the first floor of the ruins. And I have elected myself to show you the castle and Clayman's articles. Dinner will be prepared by our cook with the ingredients provided and instructions."

"Sounds fine," Laden turned to Rimuru, "You and the others can start exploring without me. Milim will probably join in soon once she's bored of playing tour guide, so do the sensitive work first."

"If I may," Eva commented, "There is a seal on the gate to the second floor. Setting it off will cause the ancient defense systems to go off."

"Then we'll tackle the seal to the second floor," Rimuru agreed and had a feeling that Raphael could deal with it.

Eva showed Rimuru and Yuuki's party to their rooms before bringing them to the seal. She then returned to Laden and Shion, who were both brought to one of the studies to read Clayman's books. He aimed to acquire more knowledge, not only of the former relationships of those who dwelled in the territory but the history of the ruins. They date back over two thousand years. Not too far from Milim's age.

In a previous conversation, Milim brought up the fact that she was technically his older sister. However, back when he was F/N, he commented that if they converted her age to human years, like cat years into human years, then he was older. Milim, shocked at the idea, blurted out and asked what two thousand years would be in human terms. He did not have an answer, since the conversion came from life expectancy, but based on her personality, he blurted out that she would be younger than she thought.

"My lord," Eva called as she opened the door to books stacked on the desk as Shion napped on the couch. "Dinner is ready."

"Shion," The woman instantly woke, sitting up and looking around the room. "Dinner."