By spending the majority of the day, the small slime began to process its own slime body into what would become essentially a new arm for Luke. Muscle, nerve, bone, sinew, soft tissue, everything that composed the human limb was now being meticulously made from its body.
What puzzled it the most was how it was able to move his entire arm up to his shoulder by connecting its own slime appendages to the nerve endings of his severed limb. Taking control of his body felt like some sort of black magic.
'Hmm… so if I pull this one…' His whole arm jerked sideways which sent the slime rolling until it hit the rocky wall. 'Ow… wait, why did I feel pain?'
The very same sharp pang of pain that once coursed through its former human body was now faintly felt even with its slime body.
'Strange… I never felt pain back then…' It glanced around its surroundings and noticed the other slimes were in a semi-circle around itself as if waiting for something. 'Huh…? Why are you all…?'
They didn't seem intent in hurting it but something felt off.
"Ugh…"
Luke's groans made the slime ignore the rest of its brethren and quickly move to his side in order to continue the regrowth of the lost limb.
It felt from instinct that just how its core was an essential part of its own body, so too was blood for the human limb it was trying to reconstruct. Unlike its artificially created human form, it needed to create the perfect replica of an arm, outfitted with blood vessels, muscles, joints, bones, nerve receptors and ligaments. Things a slime would have no way of knowing the names of but thanks to the bodies it had consumed in the past few days, the memories of each part of their anatomy was still quite fresh in its core.
The process was still slow, if anything it was using way more energy to recreate the lost limb than all the time it spent training in human form over the past couple of days.
'This is tough…!'
Thankfully it had already remade most of his lost limb. Only the fingers remained to be reconstructed but at that point it was already running dangerously low on energy.
'I'm… losing consciousness…'
Despite its best efforts to keep going, the slime's body started to melt into a puddle on top of Luke's half finished hand. With its core exposed to the air, it would be a matter of minutes before it died off. The slimes around them started to slowly approach.
'No… don't consume him…' Before it knew, its core was swallowed by another slime. 'Ah… this is my end isn't it?'
If it had eyes, it would have surely closed them by now. Death by another slime. It was a sad yet poetic way to go. If anything it deserved to die at the appendages of another of its kind. After all, the first living being murdered in cold gel was one of its own.
'I… didn't accomplish anything… I couldn't even save him…'
Dreadful thoughts filled the slime with angst. Its yearning for warmth was met with hurtful spells, its wishes for redemption were cut short by the lack of strength, its meager existence to be snuffed out.
Or so it thought. Instead of consuming its core, the slime that had absorbed it was actively ripping its own core apart in order to leave its body for its new owner.
'Wha-! What are you doing?'
In an act of selflessness, the destroyed core melted within the gel and served as fuel to once again reawaken the slime from its mana-deprived stupor.
'This body… did you… did you give it to me?'
Of course, its question was met with dreadful silence as the former owner of that body was no longer alive. But even then, it felt like there was a purpose in that sacrifice. Something along the lines of 'continue on'.
Something it fully intended to do once it turned around to look at Luke, whose arm was being treated by five different slimes. As opposed to its initial thought, they weren't attacking him, no, far from it. They were continuing where it had left off.
'They are… healing him?'
Confusion struck it. It recognized its brethren were, for the lack of a better word, instinctual monsters. That much was true for most slimes, but not these. It was as if they shared the same consciousness with it.
'That's good but they'll end up tiring themselves out like I did.' That is when it had an idea. 'Wait… if people came from the outside, surely there is a way out from the other passage. I should be able to procure food for them.'
It started to blob its way towards the tunnel.
'No… this will take too long… I must be faster if I want to keep them away from becoming the way I did.'
Four thin appendages shot out in a cross direction before it quickly transformed into human limbs. Two human arms and legs attached to a round slime body. It wasn't exactly practical, if anything, it made it look stupid. But appearances were far from its list of priorities.
With a bit of help from both arms, it lifted itself up before breaking into a jog down the narrow rocky corridor. Its feet were constantly being wounded due the rough cave terrain, not to mention the strange center of gravity thanks to its weird human slime anatomy.
'Woah!' It slipped and fell, grazing its human limbs in the process. 'Ugh… the lack of balance is making it hard for me to move quickly.'
The blob of slime contorted and shifted until it spinned uncontrollably in a series of sickening clicks connecting the legs and arms formed from the once gelatinous body into a well oiled human machine made of bones and joints.
As the gelatinous body erupted into the creation of a torso, the crimson core of its body shot up through the middle as the rest of its light blue body enveloped it again in an oval shape before the texture of a fair skin surfaced from the depths of the light blue gel. White eyeballs emerged from the empty sockets before amber color started to appear from the irises as the eyelids formed and started to unconsciously blink.
Chin-length jet black hair framed its rather soft-looking face. Despite its looks however, the sharp eyes and constantly frowned eyebrows left it looking like a mean maid. Except it was buck naked in the middle of the entrance to the tunnel.
Its featureless feminine body was basked against the rays of sunlight coming from between the trees above. The chilly breeze brushed its hair against its skin—evoking a sense of freedom unlike anything it had felt before.
'This… this doesn't feel too bad.' It started to walk forward amidst the bushes while at the lookout for anything that a human could eat. 'Come to think of it. They would often go hunting in the forests near the mansion.'
It recalled a few memories of the maids inside its core. The visage of one of the maids using a weapon called a bow intrigued the slime.
'A ranged weapon huh?'
It closed its eyes as if trying to imagine how to make it, but with little success. While it was able to create the shape of a bow, the arrow and the mechanics of how the ranged weapon worked were far from simple in its mind.
'Ugh… I better think of something else to use as a weapon. It was in this absent minded state when it heard a low growl akin to a grunt sound coming from one of the bushes not too far ahead of it. 'What was that…?'
Instinctively, it spaced out its legs and raised both arms in front as if ready to fight barehanded, even while not knowing full well how it planned to do so.
'What should I do…?'
At that moment a low and bulky animal charged at it from the middle of the bushes without any warning.
"Ugh!"
It was a wild boar, a big one at that, it was fast and strong enough to badly injure its left inner thigh as its tusks gored part of it out.
The slime turned around as its limb rapidly regenerated itself. While the pain was mind numbing—its instinct was to transform both arms back into slime appendages as the board turned around to attack once again.
'No you won't!'
It flicked its body sideways once, then twice—slinging both appendages on each side of the boar's tusks. The animal kept charging at it but as the distance between them decreased, the density of its appendages also increased which made the boar slow down considerably until it was face to face against the slime.
"Ngh!" The light blue appendages started to contort and crack in a series of snaps before it turned back into human arms, but as opposed to the slender female arms, it increased its own muscle mass by weaving slime matter between each of the muscle fibers—reinforcing both limbs. "Aaaaargh!"
In a roaring crack, the young slime ripped out its right tusk before using it as a makeshift weapon to instantly kill the animal by driving it straight through its cranium—finally putting an end to its squeals.
"Ha… ah…"
While there was a sense of relief that the beast was no longer moving, the slime couldn't quite rest yet—the freshly slain beast was bleeding all over the grass and still had to be carried home. In fact, its muscular arms soon started to melt back into liquid slime while also letting some sort of steam rise from it as if it was overheating.
'Oh no… I've pushed myself too hard again…' Not only the arms, but its entire body was starting to lose shape. 'I need to bring this back to the cave…'
It started to lose consciousness as its body fully reverted back to a slime. The silver lining was the fact it didn't exert itself too much to the point of dying, but remaining imobile beside the corpse of a freshly killed prey was a one way ticket to becoming food in the middle of the forest.
'No… I can't… move…' Its surroundings were becoming darker and darker. 'Please… someone… help me…'
With a soft rustling of foliage everything faded to nothing.
From the depths of its mind, it felt warmth. Memories of those thrown down in that pit were resurfacing again like bubbles from a boiling pot of water.
"I'm sorry!" A female voice ranged in its mind. It was filled with a mixture of fear and anxiety as if it was its own. "I messed up again…"
"Don't worry." Another voice, one much softer and kind replied. "Everyone makes mistakes."
Its mind revisited one of the many memories it had experienced once it had consumed one of the maids. The unfamiliar scent of polished clean wood, the gentle hum of chatter down the hallway and the chirp of birds in the far distance enveloped its heightened senses as it revived the fond memory of the head maid.
"But even so, you must be more careful." Adele, the somewhat tall two horned maid, retained her composure and grace despite being on her knees cleaning the floor. "Hot foods such as soup not only can be dangerous to those around the person carrying it but it also leaves stains in clothing and floor alike."
"I'm very sorry, head maid." The younger maid bowed while still holding a tray with a large ceramic bowl halfway filled with a deep red colored soup. "When I heard young lady Leona was sick I thought it would be best to bring this to her as fast as I could."
"Be as it may." Adele stood up and reached for her slightly disheveled uniform before adjusting the black bow. "Young lady Leona would be sad if you were to hurt yourself while trying to take care of her."
The slime could feel the heat rising to the maid's face as she turned her head slightly away in order to avoid her gaze.
"I- I'll keep that in mind." With a brisk, yet careful pace, she made her way past Adele. "Thank you again, head maid."
The halls were brimming with life as each maid and occasional light armored knight were helping each other with the household chores. The young maid was still awestruck with how many of them there were considering Arcadia was primarily a human kingdom.
'I'm so glad to be a maid here…' She couldn't help but reminisce about the time she was wandering the streets to look for food before meeting Leona. 'If it wasn't for her…'
In her absence minded state she was walking straight past the corridor that led to the bedrooms.
"Where are you going?" One fully armored knight that was carrying a heavy bucket of water called out for her. "Looking for the Young Lady, are you?"
"Huh? Oh! Yeah!" She turned around and nodded nervously before asking. "I'm sorry, do you know where she is?"
"The sick ward, she is in the last room to the right."
"Ah, I see. Thank you very much."
"No problem."
The knight kept walking with the large bucket in hand.
She took a deep breath and with a firm nod, steadied herself.
'Come on, me. You've got to be in top shape.'
Her fingers instinctively clenched on the sides of the tray as she made her way to the sick ward. The mansion was big enough to house many, but one thing that was vastly distinct from other places she had been before was the existence of a place exclusive for the sick. While sickness was rather common, the Crossford household treated each and everyone with the utmost care. Even the servants received the same treatment as the noble family.
As a demi-human and a former homeless nobody, having work, pay and having a roof over her head to call home was nothing short of paradise.
She made her way to the ward and she noticed less and less movement from the other workers. A faint swish of mops against the floor echoed in the quiet hall, only interrupted by hushed voices of the few maids working there. Despite being part of the mansion designated for the sick, it was still well ventilated and somewhat warm thanks to the sunlight bathing the hallway's wooden floor.
The maid made her way to the hall where she was told Leona would be and stood in front of the door.
'This is it…' She closed her eyes and took another deep breath. 'The Young Lady is just beyond this door.'
She raised her right hand and hesitated at first before finally mustering the courage to knock twice before announcing herself.
"Young Lady? I've brought you soup. May I enter?"
"Come in."
A gentle voice came from within. As she stepped inside, her gaze was drawn to the figure by the window. Young Leona sat quietly with her blonde hair catching the morning light, her aquamarine eyes turned towards the maid with a gentle gaze.
The room itself was bright and warm with sunlight pooling across the polished wooden floor and illuminating every corner with a golden glow.
The maid forgot how to breathe for a moment. Golden strands of Leona's hair framed her face, shimmering as she turned around to face the maid. It was as if the morning sun created a halo of light around the top of her head.
"I… I've brought a meal for you, Princess." She was almost at complete loss for words as she stood by the doorway. "May I serve you?"
"Yes, please."
She smiled warmly. Underneath her kindness there was a hint of her sickness as she coughed lightly.
The maid took a sharp breath and slowly walked to her, each step carefully measured so as to not mess it up. Upon reaching the table and putting the tray down, she couldn't help but notice the smile on Leona's face was slowly fading as her gaze returned towards outside the window.
"Young Lady, is there anything I can help you with?"
She asked as she put the food in front of her.
"Hmm?" She glanced at the maid and her smile returned, this time somewhat distant. "I'm fine, thank you for asking."
The maid held her left hand within her right.
"If you need anything else, don't hesitate to ask. I shall be outside."
"Ah, umm… could you stay here? It feels a bit lonely here…"
"Huh? Oh, I…" Her heart skipped a beat at the request. Wondering as if she was overstepping her bounds, she straightened her back and said proudly. "If the Young Lady so desires."
She walked back and stood beside the table. Leona on the other hand giggled a bit as she extended her hand towards the other chair in front of her.
"You can sit down."
"Ah. Oh…"
She was trying to hide her nervousness but the unexpected offer was the last blow she needed to lose her composure.
"Don't worry." Leona said, her warm smile returning. "Food always tastes better with good company."
"Does the Young Lady think I'm good company?"
"Why, yes. Everyone in this household is."
The lack of hesitation in her voice made it clear how much she cherished everyone there. The maid started to feel something come up her throat as it became difficult to breathe. Her eyes were filling up with tears as she glanced down in order to suppress the urge to cry.
She had suffered much. Painful memories of the war raised from the depths of her mind only to be confronted by loving acceptance by none other than a human girl. Fate was truly a fickle thing.
"Hm?" Leona reached for her shoulder and said. "Are you alright?"
The maid answered between the uncontrollable sobs.
"Yes… I'm alright."
As she smiled back with tears coming down from her eyes.