Stellar Train: I Open a Small Shop on the Train-Chapter 178

Stelle raised the Judgment of Shamash high and brought it down, but Milim didn't try to block it with her hands—she chose to take the blow directly with her head.

Getting hit didn't matter. What mattered was protecting the honey in her arms.

Stelle's sword struck Milim squarely on the head.

"Clang!!!" A crisp, ringing sound echoed. Ye Yun gave a thumbs-up.

Nice. That was a solid hit. Good head.

Stelle landed and looked at Milim like she was an idiot.

Milim was still tightly shielding the honey in her arms.

Seriously? For a jar of honey?

Milim stowed the honey into her dimensional storage, then rolled her shoulders and prepared to fight.

"You interrupted my snack time. That's a grave offense—I'm going to teach you a lesson!"

Stelle, not backing down, leveled Judgment of Shamash.

"Bring it on. I'm not afraid of you!"

Milim threw a punch at Stelle—her fighting style was always straightforward and brute-force.

Stelle raised her greatsword to block.

The moment the two collided, a terrifying surge of energy burst out, rippling in all directions.

Fortunately, Rimuru arrived in time and used Predator to absorb the energy, then released it safely into the sky.

A powerful energy wave shot upward, blasting a hole in the clouds.

Just then, Ye Yun suddenly appeared between them, placing a hand on each to separate them.

"Alright, break it up. We're all on the same side."

Milim, hearing Ye Yun's words, stopped immediately. In her mind, fighting wasn't nearly as worthwhile as eating honey.

She turned around, hopped onto a large rock, took out another jar of honey, dipped a finger in, and popped it into her mouth, face full of bliss.

Stelle turned to Ye Yun.

"Ye Yun, what is going on?"

Ye Yun thought for a moment and explained,

"Don't worry. Milim isn't hostile—she's just here to hang out."

Hearing that, Stelle put away her weapon and looked toward Milim.

At that moment, Rimuru, Benimaru, Shuna, and the others gathered around, all staring intently at Milim who was happily eating her honey.

Benimaru sensed the overwhelming magical energy radiating from Milim.

"Lord Rimuru, she's strong. Be careful."

Then, a green light shimmered before them.

As the light faded, the forest guardian, Dryad Treyni, appeared.

She bowed respectfully toward Milim.

"Lady Milim, welcome to Tempest."

Milim looked up when she heard her name.

"Oh, hey there. I think I remember you. A dryad, right?"

Treyni smiled and nodded.

"Yes, long time no see, Lady Milim. The last time you visited, you stayed with us for a few days."

Milim chuckled and nodded.

"Yeah, yeah! Don't mind me. I'm just here to have some fun again."

As she spoke, Milim noticed Rimuru in the crowd.

In a blink, she teleported in front of him.

"You're the one who defeated the Orc Lord, right?"

Rimuru thought for a second.

"Yeah, that was me. Why?"

Milim eyed him up and down, then suddenly said,

"Let's fight!"

Rimuru was baffled.

"Huh? Why!?"

Milim answered seriously,

"Because I want you to be my underling!"

As soon as she finished, Ye Yun flicked her on the head.

"Clang!!!" Another sharp sound—solid head, once again.

"Where did you learn that nonsense? Are you trying to start a gang? Making people your lackeys?"

Milim was about to throw a tantrum, but Ye Yun stuffed a lollipop into her mouth.

Milim immediately went quiet and walked off to enjoy her treat.

Truth be told, Milim had lived a long time and possessed top-tier strength in this world.

But mentally, she was still a child—playful, impulsive, and always hungry.

Rimuru, still in disbelief, turned to Ye Yun.

"Ye Yun, who exactly is this Milim?"

Ye Yun looked toward Treyni.

Treyni understood and began to explain.

"Lady Milim is a Demon Lord of great renown."

Upon hearing that, everyone—except Ye Yun, Welt, and Stelle, who already knew—was shocked.

Rimuru looked at Milim.

You're telling me this little girl, squatting on a rock licking a lollipop, is a Demon Lord?

Ye Yun noticed Rimuru's skeptical expression and added,

"It's true. And not just any Demon Lord—she's one of the strongest in your world. Top tier."

Hearing that, Rimuru had no choice but to accept the truth.

He was lucky Milim had been in a good mood today—and that Ye Yun was around.

If a fight had broken out for real, he wouldn't have stood a chance.

His current strength might barely qualify as an average Demon Lord.

Without the dragon egg he'd bought from Ye Yun and absorbed, he probably wouldn't even have reached that level.

Ye Yun glanced at Milim and called everyone to head back.

"Let's go. Milim's just here to play—there's no danger. I'm getting hungry. At this hour, Xiangling should've finished breakfast."

Everyone turned to head back.

Ye Yun called out to Milim,

"Milim, wanna come with us?"

Milim immediately leapt off the rock, landed beside Ye Yun, and put her hands on her hips.

"Yes!"

At Ye Yun's Shop

Milim sat at the dining table, crying tears of joy.

Everyone watching began to once again question whether she was really a Demon Lord.

Just now, Milim had followed the group onto the train.

After taking one bite of Xiangling's braised beef noodles, she broke into tears.

"It's so delicious! How can something taste this good!?"

Milim looked at the chopsticks and found them too annoying, so she reached out with her hands instead.

Himeko, sitting beside her, smacked Milim's hand with her chopsticks.

Milim was about to protest, but when she saw Himeko's serious expression, she inexplicably backed down.

With Himeko's stern gaze urging her, Milim obediently picked up the chopsticks and continued eating.

While eating, she cried again.

"Oh my god! What kind of miserable life have I been living until now!?"

Milim looked at Xiangling, who was still cooking.

"Xiangling! Are you the goddess of cuisine or something!?"

Xiangling froze.

"Huh? Goddess of cuisine? Why would you say that?"

Milim pointed at the bowl of braised beef noodles in front of her.

"This is too good! I've never eaten anything this delicious. Only a goddess of food could make something like this!"

Xiangling blushed from the praise—it was a bit over the top.

Still, it made her really happy. There was no better reward than having someone recognize the value of food you made with your own hands.

***

Xiangling smiled.

"Thanks for the compliment, but I'm really not a god."

Milim shook her head at that.

"I don't care. To me, you're the goddess of cuisine."

Xiangling asked,"Would you like another bowl?"

Milim immediately raised her hand!"Yes! I want the same big bowl that little shorty has!" she said, pointing to Paimon, who was clutching her personal food bowl and slurping noodles.

Hearing someone call her, Paimon lifted her head from the bowl, a strand of noodles still hanging from her mouth before she slurped it in.

"Is someone calling me?"

Lumine rolled her eyes at Paimon, feeling embarrassed, and pushed Paimon's head back into the bowl.

"No one called you. Just keep eating."

Paimon took that as permission and resumed slurping her noodles.

To her, food was the most important thing in the world.

Seeing this, Xiangling took a soup bowl from the cupboard, about the same size as Paimon's, and cooked up a full bowl of noodles for Milim.

Half an hour later, Milim lay flat on the ground, her belly round and full.

She let out a satisfied burp."Buuurp~ So full... I've never eaten this much in my life. Ugh, I'm stuffed."

Himeko looked at her.

"Milim, don't just lie on the floor. Get up and go lie down in the lounge area."

Hearing that, Milim struggled to her feet and obediently waddled over to the lounge area and flopped down on a floor mat.

She glanced at Himeko, confused about why she was so afraid of her.

If Ye Yun were here, he'd say one thing:

That's the natural parental dominance over a child.

Milim took another look at Himeko, then turned away.

Oh well. It's not like she disliked the feeling.

It didn't take long for her eyelids to start drooping, and soon she fell asleep.

Himeko sighed and shook her head, then went into the small bar area. From one of the cabinets, she took out a blanket and covered Milim with it.

There was a specific cabinet in the bar just for blankets.

These blankets were prepared for Klee, Bailu, and the others.

Sometimes, when they played too late or it got a little cold, they'd take out blankets to cover the kids and keep them from catching a cold.

Milim ended up sleeping for an entire day.

In her sleep, Milim vaguely felt a tickling sensation on her nose.

When she opened her eyes, she saw Stelle, Firefly, and the others brushing a feather against her nose.

Seeing that Milim was awake, Stelle stepped aside.

"You're finally awake. You've been asleep the whole day."

Milim sat up and stretched.

"Huh? I slept a whole day? Oh my gosh!"

Firefly nodded.

"Yep, you've been out all day."

Milim was instantly struck by the horror.

"Does that mean... I missed a delicious lunch?!"

Firefly was dumbfounded by that reaction.

Oh no... another foodie.

But after hearing Ye Yun talk about Milim's past, she could understand why Milim loved food so much.

Can you imagine eating nothing but raw carrots every single day for thousands of years?

Just imagining it gave Firefly chills.

At that moment, Hutao spoke.

"Milim, get up. We're about to play flight chess. Want to join us?"

Milim responded,"Flight chess? Is it fun?"

Hutao thought for a moment.

"Of course it is! Come on, I'll teach you. Xiangling, Ye Yun, Sandwich Sauce, and Mei are all busy cooking. It'll be a while before the food's ready."

Hearing that, Milim agreed.

Not only would she get to play something fun, but she could also eat Xiangling's food afterward—this life was just too perfect.

Hutao pulled a huge flight chess mat from her storage ring and spread it out on the floor.

It was a special version that allowed up to 10 people to play at once, and the entire board was enormous.

They had played it before, and even the fastest game had taken over half an hour.

Judging from the progress in the kitchen, they could finish a round before the food was ready.

Hutao had Milim sit next to her and started explaining the rules.

Milim listened carefully. Though it was her first time, she picked up the rules quickly.

After all, she was a demon lord—her learning ability was far above normal.

Soon, the game officially began. Milim shook the dice in her hands and tossed it on the board—five.

Seeing the result, Milim instantly pouted and sat on the ground, sulking.

So close! Just one more point and her plane could've taken off.

Next up was Hutao. Her luck was good—she rolled a six and launched one of her planes.

After one round, only three players had gotten a plane airborne.

In the second round, Milim's upper player Kiana rolled another six, but instead of launching a new plane, she moved the existing one six spaces forward.

Milim rolled again—this time, she got a six and was finally able to launch her plane.

Another round passed. Milim didn't roll another six and could only move her plane forward a few spaces.

Seeing that a few players still hadn't launched, she relaxed.

But unexpectedly, in the next round, Kiana's plane landed on the same space as Milim's.

Milim's plane was instantly sent back to the airport, waiting for relaunch.

Milim threw a tantrum, rolling on the ground.

"Ahhh!!! Kiana! That's so mean! You crashed into my plane!"

Kiana just grinned mischievously.

"Bleh~ If you've got what it takes, crash mine back!"

That provocation lit a fire in Milim's eyes. Today, she was determined to settle the score with Kiana!

Stelle and the others were having a blast playing flight chess.

Meanwhile, in the reception room—

Qingque, Guinaifen, and Lumine were sitting by the Divination Jade table.

Lumine said,"How about I go get someone from the flight chess game? I saw Kiana already won—she's just watching the show now."

Qingque and Guinaifen shuddered when they heard Lumine mention getting Kiana to play Celestial Jade.

Guinaifen's mouth twitched.

"Let's not, okay? Kiana's... just no."

Qingque agreed immediately.

"Yeah, let's not. Her luck is just too absurd."

The last time they played Celestial Jade with Kiana, they thought they could crush the newbie.

But they were dead wrong. Kiana's luck was beyond belief.

At her peak, she reshuffled five times in a minute.

That's five wins in a single minute. If that's not absurd luck, what is?

Since then, Qingque and Guinaifen swore they'd never play Celestial Jade with Kiana again.

There's just no fun in it. Qingque may be confident in her skills, but against an overpowered lucky draw machine? Not worth it.