Led by a Shadow Demon maid, Milim soon arrived at the enormous, luxurious bathhouse.
It had been built by the Shadow Demon Corps and was large enough to fit three swimming pools. There was more than enough room to swim around freely inside.
In this era, ordinary people considered splashing themselves with water enough of a bath, while even nobles merely filled small tubs with hot water. Constructing such a massive bathhouse—one comparable in scale and extravagance to the palace of an ordinary kingdom—was simply unimaginable.
"Woohoo~~ No wonder you said there'd be a surprise today, Takumi. You secretly had such a huge bathhouse built! This feels amazing!"
Swimming through the warm water like a mermaid, Shizue let out a bell-like laugh. Even with Takumi sitting right at the edge of the pool, she showed no embarrassment whatsoever.
After spending so much time with him, she felt that there was only one thin barrier left between the two of them that had yet to be broken through.
So what if he saw her? There were barely any women here he hadn't already seen anyway.
Shizue had long since gotten used to it and remained perfectly composed, but Chloe was much more bashful.
Her face bright red, she carefully held onto Takumi's hand and called out in a tiny voice, "Big Brother Takumi~ Uu~~"
"Ahem. Don't be shy, Chloe. I'll teach you how to swim."
Takumi's eyes practically seemed to glow, and the unmistakably unserious tone in his voice made Chloe shyly turn her face away.
Embarrassed as she was, however, she didn't resist. Wearing a snug swimsuit, Chloe clung tightly to Takumi's large hand with both of hers and began kicking around in the pool.
Her tender little feet moved up and down through the water, and Takumi's gaze unconsciously followed along with them.
Even at such a young age, Chloe was already showing the potential to have a pair of legs people could admire forever.
What was she going to be like once she grew up?!
Takumi was just wondering whether he should make a tiny sacrifice and give Chloe a foot massage or something.
Who knew? Maybe it could even help her awaken [Lord of Time (Gold)] sooner.
The moment that thought appeared, Takumi realized just how shameless he had become.
He was actually instinctively coming up with excuses just to do something like that.
"Fuck! Why do I even need an excuse? Be bold and just do it!"
Takumi harshly condemned the version of himself from one second ago.
The next moment, a petite figure suddenly charged in from behind.
"Takumi!!!"
Milim launched herself at him and landed squarely on his back.
Thump~~
A muffled impact rang out.
If someone weaker had taken that hit, they might have been crushed on the spot.
"Why are you charging at me like you weigh a hundred tons?"
Takumi didn't even turn his head as he complained irritably.
Seeing his reaction, Milim puffed out her cheeks.
"Hmph~ We only just became friends, and you didn't even tell me about a place this nice!"
"This was just built, okay? Besides, like you said, we only just became friends."
"I don't care! Starting now, you're my best friend. If you have anything this good again, you're not allowed to hide it from me!"
Milim rubbed her flat little body against him, acting spoiled as she vented her dissatisfaction.
"We just became friends and you've already promoted me to best friend? You sure work fast."
Takumi muttered helplessly, though he still nodded in agreement.
The moment he accepted, Milim immediately beamed. She then stripped off her clothes in one motion and jumped into the water just like Shizue.
"Woohoo! This feels great! Hahaha!"
Milim swam back and forth through the bathhouse like a child let loose to play.
"Takumi, stop sitting there like an idiot! Come down and play!"
"Take this—Milim Impact!"
Floating on the surface, Milim swept up a stream of warm water and blasted it toward Takumi in a spray of droplets.
Splash!!
The water smacked Takumi directly in the face.
It didn't hurt at all, but the humiliation was immense.
Annoyed and irritated, Takumi patted Chloe before finally getting into the pool himself.
Looking at Milim's petite, fair figure, delicate as a piece of exquisite jade, he silently admitted that she really was beautiful—while showing absolutely no mercy with his hands.
"You want to play, huh? Fine. I'll play with you all you want!"
A nasty grin appeared on Takumi's face as he raised a column of water and began battling Milim in earnest.
Watching the big "kid" and little "kid" fight each other left Shizue completely speechless.
Them messing around wasn't the problem.
The problem was that these kids were ridiculously strong!
"Wait—pfft!!"
Shizue, who had been swimming nearby, was hit by the aftermath of a stray splash and almost got launched out of the pool on the spot.
Once Shuna, Shion, Souka, Kagali, Treyni, and the others arrived, the entire bathhouse descended into complete chaos.
"Hahaha! This is so much fun! This is awesome!!"
Even after being thoroughly tossed around by Takumi, Milim's hearty laughter continued echoing throughout the bathhouse.
In the end, Takumi had to hold her in place and dry her off himself before finally dragging her out.
After burning through an entire day's worth of energy, Milim soon began yawning.
Takumi arranged a bedroom for her, then returned to his own room.
As soon as he left, however, Shuna and Shion began fighting over who would follow him.
"Princess, I think you should take the night off today."
Shion grabbed Shuna, wearing an expression that said she was only thinking of her best interests.
Shuna gave her a smile that didn't reach her eyes and replied softly, "Shion, I think I should be the one attending Takumi-sama tonight. You can focus on your guard duties."
"I'm his secretary. Being a guard is only my side job."
Shion refused to back down, even though the person standing before her was the princess she had once served.
While the two of them were busy competing, Milim wandered down the hall hugging a stuffed doll, yawning as she silently pushed open the door and entered Takumi's room.
"Yaaawn~~ I'm so sleepy."
Smacking her lips, Milim mumbled to herself and walked straight toward the bed.
Takumi raised an eyebrow at the sight.
Why was it Milim instead of Shuna or Shion? Or even Treyni or Souka?
Expanding his senses slightly, Takumi immediately noticed several women fighting over each other outside.
They had all been planning a nighttime visit, only to run into one another.
And now they were actually arguing in the hallway.
Milim, meanwhile, was small and exceptionally good at concealing her presence. No one had noticed her slipping past them, allowing her to walk right in.
Watching Milim naturally lie down beside him left Takumi unable to settle in himself.
Milim was dressed in pink pajamas, her usual twin tails undone. Her smooth cherry-pink hair fell freely around her, lending her an unexpectedly charming air.
More importantly, without her usual spoiled, energetic demeanor, her lazy and slightly dazed expression was particularly endearing.
Takumi flicked the pink strand of hair sticking up from the top of her head and asked softly, "Why did you suddenly come over here to sleep?"
Already burrowing into the blankets, Milim mumbled a few times.
"I don't want to sleep alone. Besides, you smell really nice. I like it."
With that, she simply sprawled across Takumi's stomach.
That immediately got Takumi fired up.
So what if she was one of the three oldest Demon Lords?
She really didn't take him seriously at all. How could some little girl who had only lived a few thousand years possibly be a match for a twenty-year-old young man like him?!
Even if Milim had [Lord of Wrath (Gold)], Takumi was tempted to test himself against her.
With several Gold-grade traits of his own, how could he possibly lose to this brat?!
...
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