"Slime castle?" With a stern expression on his face, the old man — the mayor
of a small village named Zeryll — told us about the place.
After moving to the capital, we had taken on a lot of quests. Even though I
had quite a lot of money, a life without work wasn't the kind of life I wanted, so
we decided to take a quest or two every few days or so.
That's how we found ourselves at the village. There was a monster situation
that needed investigation, so Elze, Linze, Yae, Yumina, Kohaku, and I all made
our way to this little place north of the capital. We got there in only two days
and asked the mayor for further details.
It wasn't hard to sum up what he told us.
There was an old fortress not so far from the village. Even though it was rundown and ancient, it recently received a new owner — a wizard, to be precise.
He had a strange obsession with monster research, with his focus being
Slimes.
Most of the villagers were freaked out by the weirdo in the castle and never
made any effort to get close to him, but the wizard himself started visiting the
village and buying food or things necessary for research.
However, ten or so years ago, the wizard stopped making his trips entirely.
The villagers began gossiping. Some said he succumbed to an illness, others
spoke that he got eaten by a Slime that left no bones behind, while some even
claimed that he cursed himself and transformed into a Slime.
Uneasy about the presence of such a castle near their village, the people
hired adventurers to investigate it.
But the adventurers that went to the castle would always return ragged, say
that they failed, refused to give any details, and leave quickly as if running away
from something...
"Did they ever say anything notable, though?"
"Mostly things like 'The wizard in that castle is rotten to the core.' They'd
often say something like that with a disgusted tone and just take their leave
after that..." Such messages would leave the villagers even more worried. It got
so bad that some would panic just by seeing the smallest Slime in the forest.
I distinctly recalled the guild's field guide saying that Slimes almost never
attacked humans. Though, there were some dangerous ones, like the
carnivorous Slimes that could melt flesh, Venom Slimes, or Lava Slimes.
All-in-all, there were many kinds of Slimes, and keeping track of them all was
difficult. Many said that the dangerous ones had strong coloring, but that still
wasn't an absolute rule.
"That is why I want a party to go out and investigate the castle again..."
"I see." I threw a glance at the rest of my party and saw them all — including
Yumina — looking really uncomfortable.
Slimes weren't exactly popular among women. That was because of the
nature of the little monsters. Though there were some flesh-melting Slimes,
most Slimes weren't able to melt anything but clothes. And many required a lot
of time and effort to do so.
Among such were those which, instead of liking meat, developed a taste for
clothing.
Green Slimes were particularly infamous for this. They really loved clothing
made from plant fiber and didn't hesitate to melt and feed on any sort of
apparel. It had quite a strange diet, honestly. For example, even though they
ate paper and cloth, they didn't have any taste for processed wood or actual
plants.
When faced with a Green Slime, female adventurers often ended up with
melted clothing, but weapons and armor intact. These were quite the wonderf
— Er, humiliating situations. Of course, men faced the exact same risks...
No adventurer worth his salt would ever leave such troublesome Slimes to act
as they wished.
"Very well! We will accept this task."
"Ugh..." The girls expressed their disapproval with a united groan. I expected
this!
"Do you intend to let these villagers live under the iron fist of fear?! Is that
what we adventurers do?! Nay! I say we do not!"
"But... someone else could do it, too..." Elze pouted as she talked back to me.
Won't take much to wear them down if I put on a little bravado... Raising my
hand, I adopted my most serious look.
"If one of the dangerous Slimes left the castle and attacked the village, we
would regret it our whole lives. Don't you think so?"
"T-Touya-dono... that is true, it is... but..." Yae folded her arms and tilted her
head with a pensive expression. Linze wasn't too perturbed by the situation,
though. Slimes had an extremely strong resistance to slashing, piercing, and
crushing attacks, but had next to no resistance to magic.
So, unlike Elze and Yae, who weren't casters, Linze had a way to fight back.
Still, she wasn't too keen on the idea of going headfirst into a hive of the
creatures.
The other caster in our team, Yumina, wasn't panicking either. However, she
was piercing me with suspicious eyes.
"...Touya, are you thinking of something inappropriate?"
"Wh-What are you saying?! Are you stupid?! I have no such thoughts on my
mind!" I'm being mostly honest, at least! A part of me does have something else
in mind, I'll admit it! But it's also true that we can't just leave the villagers like
this.
Yumina's gaze made a cold sweat drip down my head, but she eventually
sighed and looked down in resignation.
"I suppose we have no choice. It's not something that we can ignore, and
though unlikely, if Touya's nightmare 'Slimes destroy the village' scenario
becomes reality, we would never be able to live this down. It would affect my
father's reputation, too." If something like that actually happened, there might
be people who'd begin spreading slander about a princess who ignored the
pleas of the people and led a village to destruction just to protect her own skin.
Not like anyone around there besides the party knew that she was this
country's princess, though. Then again, if they did somehow found it out, we
wouldn't have any counter-arguments.
And even if the entire world forgave her, she would never forgive herself.
That's the kind of girl Yumina was. Proud and sincere.
"H-Hmm... I suppose we have to do this, we do..."
"Bah... I really don't like this at all, y'know..." With Yumina — the youngest in
the group — being willing to go, Yae and Elze couldn't let themselves bail on us.
They reluctantly nodded, almost teary-eyed. YES! I celebrated internally.
"Did you say something, Touya?"
"I-I SAID NOT A THING!"
"Is that so...?" As Linze glared at me suspiciously, I forced myself to adopt my
default facial expression.
Come to think of it, there might actually be really dangerous Slimes out
there... I have to be on the lookout for Slimes I've never seen before.
...Green Slimes get a pass, though.
The castle was on a hill about half a day's walk away from the village.
Though small, it was just about good enough to function as a living space.
However, with the walls ruined, it had no chance of being a proper fortress or
anything.
We passed through the small gate and entered the courtyard.
To the right, I could see a bergfried-styled tower. It was connected to the
residential building below. That was where people would've lived, while the
tower was just a lookout. Anything below was for dungeons and the like... In
normal castles like this, anyway.
"This place is super creepy..." Elze whispered while restlessly looking around.
Just as she said, it was damp and sodden. Clearly not the best place to live in.
The courtyard, overrun with weeds, had several puddles here and there.
As we observed our surroundings, one of the puddles changed shape and
began moving.
"Whoa!" My surprised voice made the puddle run away into the grass.
"The water moved, it did...!"
"That's no water. It's a Slime." A Water Slime, to be precise. They
camouflaged themselves as water and captured any prey unfortunate enough
to come close. Though dreadful, they were cowardly and never attacked
creatures bigger than themselves. These Slimes always opted to flee, so they
weren't much of a threat to humans.
"S-So there are Slimes here, then..."
"Let's be careful as we go. We don't know what else this place might have." I
listened to Linze and Yumina as I walked on the damp ground and passed
through the entrance arch.
We soon reached a large double door. I gently pushed it slightly open and
created a small gap.
I looked inside to see daylight coming in through a window, lighting up what
seemed to be an entrance hall. There was an old carpet on the floor, and on the
sides, I could see sets of stairs that led to the second floor. It didn't seem like
there were any Slimes there, at least not to my naked eye.
I cautiously walked inside.
"Seems like it's safe. You guys can come insi—" Before I could call them over,
a shockwave rocked through my head and I heard a great sound reverberate
through the hall.
"Damn it, that hurts!" It didn't hurt as much as the sound would make you
expect, but pain is pain. Something fell from above and landed straight on my
head.
The thing that fell on me bounced off and began to spin on the carpet at my
feet.
A metal pot...?
An actual metal pot fell straight on my head just now? WHAT THE HELL IS
THIS?! SOME KIND OF COMEDY ROUTINE?!
"A-Are you okay, Touya?"
"Yeah, I'm fine... It hurt a little bit, though." Linze got worried about me, so I
just waved my hand to signal that I was okay. It hurt, but not all that much.
The people in old comedy skit shows had wigs with metal in them, the metal
pots themselves were relatively soft, and the height was kinda low, so it was
quite safe for them to have stuff dropped on them during the skits.
But modern metal basins were hard and dangerous, so many major
performers warned people about trying to recreate such skits. I remember
reading about it on the internet once. Even in an entirely different world,
painful things were still painful.
I'm pretty sure fantasy worlds don't have any broadcast variety shows, so why
would a metal pot from a popular Japanese skit of all things come down on my
head...?
"Touya! The pot!"
"Huh...?" Yumina pointed at the metal basin, which changed shape into a
lead-colored Slime and scuttled away from the entrance hall.
"That was a Slime, too...?"
"I've never seen or heard about a Slime like this. This may even be a new
species..." If Linze is right about that, did the wizard actually create it? Wait,
what kind of use would a Slime that does that even have?
There are wizards who had Slimes as familiars, so maybe this one works for
him directly... I took out my smartphone, ran a search for "human" and didn't
get any hits for anyone except us. It seemed the guy was no longer in the castle.
I couldn't tell if he had just left or actually died, though.
We went through the door on the right side of the hall, split up and started
examining every room connected to the corridor. Most of them were
completely derelict.
"The only thing left of the books are the covers. I suppose the Slimes ate
them." In one of the rooms — likely the study — Yumina picked up one of the
dusty book covers. Paper was also made out of plant fiber, after all. There
could've been some Green Slimes nearby.
"Th-This book isn't melted." Linze took out one of the books from the remains
of the bookshelf. It looked more like a set of notes than an actual book. It
seemed to be made from parchment and displayed some unintelligible symbols.
I could only assume it was written in Ancient Magic Script.
"Do modern wizards still use Ancient Magic Script?"
"I-I hear they do it when they deal with research and results they wish to
hide..." Likely to prevent their secrets from being stolen, then. After all, these
texts are useless to people that can't read them.
Linze put her hand in her pouch and took out the pair of translation glasses I
had given her a while ago. They were imbued with [Reading], a translation
spell, and specified to enable the reading of Ancient Magic Script.
"This is... The log of his research results. Just as I had thought. It describes the
natures of various Slimes... The Slime from before is here, as well."
"The thing that fell on me? What does it say?"
"Uhm... 'Metal Pot Slime. Takes on the shape of a metal pot and has a
tendency to fall on people. This experiment was a complete failure.' That's all it
says..." Wow, I actually learned nothing from that! What an annoying Slime!
There were many more Slimes in those notes, so Linze continued to read with
great curiosity. Every now and then, her expression turned sour, likely because
of a particularly vile Slime.
"Let's take those notes with us. They could prove useful."
"You're right."
When we finished examining that room and began heading out to the
corridor, we suddenly heard a thud from the other room.
The ones examining that room were Yae and Elze. We hastily ran to see that
nothing bad had happened to them, but they walked out before we could
enter. The two were rubbing their faces. Kohaku peeked out, too, looking
slightly uncomfortable.
"O-Ouch... they caught me off guard, they did..."
"What happened?"
"One of those damn Slimes was camouflaged as the floor... And when we
stepped on it..."
"It trapped us both like an adhesive and made us fall face first... We hit right
onto the floor, we did..." Yae explained the details, rubbing her reddened nose
all the while. Again, eh? The Slimes here have some really annoying attack
patterns.
This is probably why the previous adventurers came back so battered.
"I've found it in the notes. It says 'Birdlime Slime. Can camouflage and has a
high adhesiveness. Cannot be used effectively due to its inflated ego. This
experiment was a complete failure.' Another failure, then..." Was the wizard
failing on purpose or something?!
There didn't seem to be anything else of interest on that side, so we decided
to go back to the hall.
We opened the door to the hall, and when I took a step forward, a frustrating
impact spread throughout my head and revived a recent pain.
"GOD. DAMN IT." I held my head and crouched down. The metal pot on the
floor turned into a Slime and squirmed away from me again.
"Hold still, you little bastard!" At the limit of my patience, I took out my
gunblade — Brunhild — and fired a few shots at the Metal Pot Slime.
Unfortunately, the stupid thing smoothly evaded my bullets and escaped to the
corridor on the other side.
Fast metal Slimes have no business existing out of video games!
"Are you okay, Touya? It sounded pretty bad."
"Ghh... It's... nothing I can't handle." The second hit hurt more, obviously. I
won't let you escape before this day is through, you little bastard.
I stood up while rubbing my head.
Suddenly, at the end of the entrance hall, I saw a Green Slime.
I knew you'd be around here. After I saw those eaten-up book pages, I knew
it'd only be a matter of time.
"There's a Slime over there. Watch out."
"Oh crap, that's a Green Slime, too. It won't kill us, but man, is it bad news..."
Elze expressed her disapproval. Green Slimes only melted clothes, so dying to
them was extremely improbable, but that didn't stop them from being a great
threat to girls.
"Your coat can't be melted, right, Touya?"
"Yep. That's because it's imbued with magic resistance. The clothes under it
would melt, though."
I have to make sure that doesn't happen. I don't want to be seen as some kind
of pervert who only prances around in a coat.
Guess it's time to investigate the second floor.
"Uhm... the Green Slime..." While I was considering a few things internally,
Linze suddenly tugged at my coat.
I looked over to the other side of the hall, where I saw a gathering of many
Green Slimes.
"Whoa there... what the heck?!" One was fine, but several tens of Green
Slimes made me a bit scared.
"Burst forth, Fire! Crimson Eruption: [Explo—]!"
"Linze, wait! Using explosive magic here is dangerous!" I stopped her from
finishing the spell. This is an old fortress, Linze...! The whole place could go
down if you made even one big blast.
Regardless of my reservations, the Green Slimes continued their slow, slimy
crawl toward us.
"Come forth, Fire! Crimson Duet: [Fire Arrow]!" The fiery bolt she released
hit a Green Slime and lit it on fire. However, the other Green Slimes merely
avoided their burning brother and continued their slow march.
Yumina and I assisted with some shots, but normal bullets were ineffective.
Elze and Yae couldn't help if they tried, and though our lives weren't in any
danger, the situation was looking pretty bad.
"Kohaku!"
"Fret not." Kohaku transformed back into his true form and released a
powerful shockwave from his maw. The Green Slimes were blown away, but the
stony wall began to shake wildly. Crap, this is too risky as well...
To top it off, the Slimes seemed relatively unharmed. They regrouped and
closed in on us like a green swamp.
"Hey! They're still coming closer!"
"Let's hide on the second floor for now!" We began running up the stairs to
the side of the entrance hall. For some reason, the Green Slimes didn't try to
come up after us. They just stopped and gently shook like jelly.
"...What is the meaning of this, Linze-dono?"
"Perhaps this fortress is split into many territories?"
"Doesn't matter. We're safe now, and that's all that matters." As we took a
breather on the landing in the middle of the stairs, something was slowly
closing in on us.
The realization hit me way too late. If the first floor was the territory of the
Green Slimes, it was only natural for the stairs to be another Slime's territory,
too.
"Let's just go up for now. We should get as far away from these gross things
as possible and... eek!" As Elze tried to go up the stairs, she fell down on her
behind. As we tried to figure out what was wrong, we noticed that the soft
carpet on the stairs was somewhat damp.
"Hey! What the heck?! It's so slimy!" Elze accidentally touched the carpet and
raised her hands to us. They were covered in a gooey, sticky liquid.
"Ah, it is over there, it is!" Yae pointed to the top of the stairs, where there
was a semi-transparent Slime that looked like kuzumochi, one of those little
chilled jelly desserts.
Its most noticeable characteristic was that it had leaked some fluid over the
stairs. Guess we know why the carpet's so damp.
"Linze, what do the notes say about this one?"
"It says 'Lotion Slime. When in danger, it secretes a liquid similar to lubricant.
Almost entirely harmless. This experiment was a complete failure...'" As she
read it, Linze's tone turned sour... I could totally understand her.
"Kyah!!!"
"Ugh!" Elze tried to get up, slipped, and fell once again. But this time, she
grabbed me by my coat and dragged me down along with her.
"A-Are you okay, Touya, ahh!"
"Hhawah!"
"Oh no!" Yumina tried to run over to me, and fell over, too. Moments later,
Linze and Yae got caught up, as well. Heck, even Kohaku couldn't escape it. We
all gained enough momentum to drop down to the bottom.
"Hyaaaaagh!!" We slid down the stairs, straight into a vile pool of green.
With a resounding splash, we were engulfed by Green Slime.
"Ghah!!"
"Kyah!"
"Auuugh!"
"This isn't happeningggg...!!"
"Noooooo!"
"Grr...!!" The first ones to escape the unpleasant sea of goo were Kohaku and
I.
Kohaku grabbed me by the nape of my neck and took me back to the landing
in the middle of the stairs with a single leap. But we slipped on the lotion again.
"Growlll...?!"
"Ow!" Kohaku let me go, and I fell flat on my back.
"Apologies, Master..."
"I-It's fine. I'm alright." I shook my aching head and I tried to stand up, only to
almost fall once again. I probably looked really miserable as I did it, but I was
able to stand up by supporting myself with the staircase's railing. Damn it. They
slimed me.
"Nooo!! Help me!"
"T-Touya!"
"Don't worry, I'm coming!" Think, Touya! Saying that's fine, but what can you
do?! Wait... if the Green Slimes can't come up the stairs...
"[Gate]!" I opened up a portal just beneath them. All of them — Slimes
included — fell through it, exiting the corresponding portal I'd made in the open
space one meter above the stair landing next to me.
The Slimes, forced onto the landing, backed away like a wave, slithering back
down to the entrance hall.
Aha, so they are territorial creatures.
"Is everyone oka—" I was unable to finish my sentence.
Their clothes weren't in the best condition, to say the least. Seemed like the
Green Slimes had gotten to chew on their fabric a little. Honestly, the girls all
looked pretty unladylike.
I could see several spots of exposed skin here and there, shining bewitchingly
thanks to the lotion on the stairs. The Green Slimes got busy enough to allow
the girls' panties to peek out, too. It wouldn't have been far off to call them
half-naked.
"Kyaaahhh! Don't look!"
"Ghuah?!" Elze punched me in the face with a gauntlet-clad fist. Argh, that
hurts! She used her other arm to cover her chest. As my consciousness faded, I
caught a glimpse of a light-red bra, but what I saw after that was nothing but
stars. Ah, the world is spinning.
Why didn't their underwear melt...? Wait, silk... silk isn't a plant fiber, right? I
think... I'll just leave it at that...
If only they'd bought cheaper garments... it could've melted too— No, no...
don't think that... Even though my heart had secretly yearned for such an event,
I had trouble deciding what to do after it had actually happened.
After I woke up, I faced away from the girls and glared at the Lotion Slime.
"Come forth, Fire! Crimson Duet: [Fire Arrow]!" The fiery bolt hit the gooey
creature dead-on. The Slime burst and released a gas that resembled steam.
All that was left was to climb up to the second floor.
Slowly, making sure not to slip, we clambered up the stairs on all fours. We
made sure to carefully calculate every movement. If we overdid it, we'd slip,
but if we didn't move enough, we'd slip too.
Man, I had no idea [Slip] was such a cruel spell. Now that I'm on the receiving
end, I don't like it one bit.
Calmly, cautiously, step by step, we traveled upward. We were in no rush. The
tension was stronger than it had any right to be.
Soon enough, I began hearing some complaints behind me.
"Ah... I really liked that clothing too..."
"Awh... more than half of my skirt melted away..."
"Th-They wore away at my sarashi, they did! Th-This is terrible, it is!"
"This gross goo made my underwear see-through, I hate this so damn much!!"
"Wha—?!" I was too focused on the words behind me to realize that my
footing was off, and I slipped down. How can I focus on being safe if you're all
talking about stuff like that, huh?! Show a little consideration!
"Uwaaaaaah!!!" The momentum made me slip past the landing (the girls
dodged me) and land straight on the first floor, where the Green Slimes awaited
me. Thus, I paid another visit to the green swamp. Holy shit, my life has actually
turned into a comedy skit. I need to get out of here! I— Oh, wait.
"[Gate]!" Just like before, I easily opened a portal. Except this time it was
straight to the top, Slimes and all. I should've done this from the start...
Once again, the Green Slimes backed away like an ocean wave.
Thankfully — if that word was appropriate — I only ended up with my pants
becoming shorts, and my shirt turning into the kind with an exposed midriff.
I opened a [Gate] on the landing, and another one just a few meters away on
the second floor, letting the girls get up there with no problem. And that's how
we escaped our sticky hell.
The four of them went straight into a nearby room. They're probably gonna
sort out their clothes. I wasn't allowed in, of course. So I stood guard outside.
I could hear sounds of fabric being torn apart. I assumed they were shredding
curtains or something to patch up their clothes. Getting back home and
changing into new clothes wasn't a problem thanks to my [Gate] spell, but I just
figured they didn't want to risk having their other outfits melted too.
While I waited, I killed time by using [Fire Arrow] to snipe some of the Green
Slimes on the bottom floor. Something like [Fire Storm] would've been more
effective, but I felt that using that kind of spell indoors wasn't wise.
The four finally left the room. Just as I had expected, they were covered in
pieces of torn curtains — one for the upper and lower halves on all of them.
They could actually move around, too, so that was a plus.
"...Any Green Slime we see next is getting crushed." The girls nodded in
unison at Elze's proclamation. Well, I could see why they were so eager. A part
of me was slightly disappointed, but I decided to keep that to myself.
And so we began exploring the second floor, only to find more of the same —
a display of strange Slimes.
We found a bizarrely elastic Rubber Slime.
A spiky Needle Slime that didn't let anyone touch it.
A Light Slime that did nothing but glow.
And a slightly electric Shock Slime.
While they weren't too dangerous, they were still monsters that could cause
trouble. There was no telling what kind of mutations they could create if they
merged.
"So, the wizard wanted to create a very specific sort of Slime and made many
failures on the way, right?"
"S-Seems that way, yes. He couldn't know the nature of the Slimes before
they were born, so luck played a big part in it." Linze answered my question
while looking at the research notes.
Slimes were magical creatures. One might even call them artificial, since they
began as a species as a by-product of human magic.
That was exactly why there was no guarantee that they couldn't end up being
dangerous. I had no idea how they multiplied, but I heard that Slimes could
create new types of Slimes by consuming other Slimes.
This castle had the potential of creating dangerous, unknown creatures. For
all we knew, the castle could already be housing Slime types that had evolved
naturally, rather than by the wizard's will.
"I feel like we should just burn them all down, along with the castle itself... a
purge, y'know?"
"I share the sentiment, I do. But is it really okay to do something like that?"
"The fortress is already abandoned, and I doubt my father would mind..." I
could hear some dangerous talk behind me.
Well, with this level of Slime infestation, it wasn't exactly a place we could just
leave alone. Even if we didn't do it, the country's knights or army would band
up and eradicate everything here anyway.
We finished exploring the second floor. All that was left was the third one. We
carefully made our way up. There could've easily been another Slime waiting
with a trap, after all. Safety was the name of the game.
Once we reached the wide corridor of the third floor, we were greeted by a
wall of plaster busts lined up on either side. All of them were in the shape of
naked women. Not only that, but they all seemed to have strangely large
breasts, too.
"What is this...?"
"Hey, why are you asking me?" As I listened to Yumina exhale a cold sigh at all
the nude statues, I couldn't prevent my gaze from falling on to their breasts.
Like all men, I was but a slave to my nature.
Most had pretty large ones, but one had a pair of bazookas so huge it
bordered on enormous.
"Hm...?"
"What is wrong, Touya-dono?"
"Nothing... maybe. I think I saw one of the boobs move..." Everyone looked at
me like I was a lunatic. I could even feel a hint of disgust at my wild imagination
or something.
I'm not kidding! I totally saw those boobs sway!
In an attempt to confirm it, I reached for the voluptuous breast of the statue.
"Touya, that's..." Linze started saying, clearly disappointed in me.
"S-So you like them big..." Elze said, as if a sad fact had dawned on her.
"A-Are you frustrated in that regard, Touya-dono?"
"That's slightly disturbing..." Yumina muttered.
C'mon you guys, that stings. Well, I couldn't deny that I looked like a weirdo
and a pervert to any third party.
I touched the left breast of the statue with my right hand.
It was squishy.
"It's soft?!"
The girls shrieked in disbelief. Whoa, it's seriously squishy... squidgy... heh...
squashy.
What the heck?! This feels amazing! I got caught up in the moment and
fondled the soft boob in my hand. Then the set of breasts fell to the ground.
"Hwah?!" I made a weird noise. Holy crap that scared me! The breasts
suddenly lost their statue-like color and transformed into a skin-colored Slime.
Camouflage, huh...
Without the Slime, the statue's breasts were slightly smaller than those of the
other ones.
"'Bust Slime. It fixes itself to female chests and camouflages itself. Tends to
aim for smaller chests. I'm getting close, but this experiment was still a failure.'"
Linze's voice as she read the description was less "disgusted" and more
"emotionless." That was only natural.
The Bust Slime slowly made its way toward Yumina. Err... what should I do
here...
"...Shred, o Wind. A Thousand Blades Born of the Gale: [Cyclone Edge]." The
windy blades Yumina unleashed tore the Slime into a thousand pieces. Whoa...
"...Growth period."
"Huh?
"I'm still in my growth period."
"O-Oh, right..." Yumina's whisper caught me off guard. Awkward...
Considering her age, it was only natural she'd be... small in that regard, so I
hoped she wouldn't mind it too much.
I checked the other statues, and it seemed like there was only one Bust Slime.
We gathered our wits, walked through the third floor's corridor and entered
the large room at the end.
It was extremely dim inside. The room seemed like the place where the
master of the castle would come just to calm down. Before stepping in, I made
sure to look up. That Metal Pot Slime... isn't here. Good.
The first thing I saw inside the stuffy room was a large couch with a skeleton
on it.
There was a wizard-like robe on the floor as well. The Green Slimes hadn't
come here to eat it, probably because it wasn't their territory. So this is all
that's left of the Slime-researching wizard, eh.
Wait, why did he take off his pants and underwear? Was he getting ready for
a bath or something? "Do you think this is the old wizard, then?"
"Probably." I couldn't help but wonder whether it was a natural death or if he
had succumbed to Slimes.
If it was the latter, this castle might've already created a kind of Slime that
melts humans.
...Not that they didn't exist already. Dungeons and other ruins had some of
those here and there. They were often called "dungeon cleaners" because they
ate just about everything.
On the table next to the couch, there was a logbook. It was almost identical to
the one Linze had found earlier.
Sure enough, it was written in Ancient Magic Script, except for the very last
bit.
"Uhm, let's see... 'It is done. My — no, every man's — dream became reality
this day. My life is one without regrets. With this, I take off my robe and wizard
hat. Ahh, I can see heaven...' What is this talking about...?"
"Touya, look!" Yumina pointed to the corner of the room, where I saw four
squirming, skin-colored Slimes. They were pretty large, too. A single person
could easily fit in them. Are they the Slimes he was experimenting to create?!
"They're transforming, they are!" So, just like the Bust Slime, they can disguise
themselves too? Wait, is this one of those generic scenarios where they all
merge into one large Slime? That didn't seem to be the case, however. The four
Slimes changed shapes independently and slowly took up a humanoid form.
They're Slimes that can mimic humans?! That's seriously bad news! If they can
become people, it'd be extremely easy for them to get their victims to lower
their guards. Who knows what could happen if they left the castle and began to
spread. We have to strike these vile things down here and n— Huh?! WHA—?!
"WHUH?!" "KYAAAAH!!!" The girls screamed in unison, louder than usual,
too. As their screams rang out through the building, my eyes focused on the
Slimes.
From the looks of it, these Slimes had the ability to change into that they
encountered. Specifically, women.
The four Slimes took on the shapes of Yumina, Elze, Linze and Yae. They
mimicked not just their skin, but even their hair and eye colors, as well.
They couldn't talk, obviously, so figuring out which was which was easy.
However, if both sides were silent, it was extremely hard to tell the real from
the fake. Even I didn't think I'd be able to.
... If the fakes weren't completely naked, that is.
"W-What are you looking at, Touya!"
"N-No! Stop!"
"T-Touya-dono! Look away!"
"STOP LOOKING RIGHT NOW!!" Red as tomatoes, the four screamed the same
thing at me in different words. W-Well, I can understand their feelings, but we
have to defeat them and... ah shit, now my own face is turning red! How do I
deal with this?! Okay, okay. They're only Slimes. They aren't the girls. Getting
distracted by them is just wrong. Get it together, Touya... Wait, why the hell
didn't they copy the clothes, anyway?! I glanced at the girls and then gazed at
the Slimes.
N-Naked... N-No, stop grinning! Stop grinning to yourself!
"Go to sleep."
"Augh!!" Yae hit the back of my neck with a knifehand strike. I was knocked
out cold instantly.
So that was the "man's dream" the wizard wrote about. He wanted to be
surrounded by naked ladies responding to his every whim and live the all-smiles
harem life... For that sake alone, he spent years researching Slimes and finally
made his dreams come true...
What a guy...
When I came to, the castle was burning. The raging blazes consumed it all, all
the Slimes likely perished with it.
"It's a purge."
"Purge, yes..."
"A purge, it is."
"A purge." With expressions as devoid of life as porcelain masks, the four
whispered as they watched the castle reduce itself to cinders.
And so ended the ambition of a certain wizard. Well, it wasn't really the end
there. He had already made his desire into reality. He died at true peace with
himself.
His cause of death might've actually been... no, there was no need to say it. I
had to be honorable about it. Even if he was milked completely dry, that was
likely exactly how he wanted to die.
Even though we successfully fulfilled the villagers' request, we were unable to
look at each other's faces for a considerable while.
After all, it always came back to my mind... My face would turn red without
fail.
And every time it happened. I said a little prayer. I sent my earnest thanks to
that magnificent wizard.