The failed Doppelganger Slime peaked out of the bag with part of its dark grey body, which had started to gain some energy, springiness, and luster after feeding on Ackster's blood and flesh for a couple of weeks. It turned its tentacle-like protrusion in Ackster's direction and tilted it.
It looked like an animal tilting its head in confusion when it didn't understand what was said or what was going on. It was cute, but at the same time, it was a dark grey slime with no apparent features, so it was creepy as well.
"You know, disguises? I want to change my appearance, like, dye my hair."
The slime raised its protrusion like it was nodding in understanding. Ackster had already gotten used to the slime's intelligence and wasn't awfully bothered by it. But he was curious about what the slime would do. So, when the slime pointed its tentacle in the direction of Ackster's hand, Ackster obliged and held it in front of the slime.
When Ackster's hand hovered below its tentacle, the slime grew the tip of the tentacle until it swelled to twice its size. The large tentacle hung downward as if too heavy for the slime to hold up.
Then, like a drop of water running down and off a leaf, the bubble of slime dropped, and the slime's tentacle sprung back up.
The lump that the slime had just produced plopped down in Ackster's hand without sound but with a wet feeling.
Ackster brought his hand to his face and looked at the goo in his hands. It looked more stable than the wobbly and soft slime.
'Is this…?'
The slime's tentacle pointing toward his hair confirmed Ackster's suspicions.
"Hair gel?"
Ackster would have never thought that he would get hair gel in a fantasy world of swords and magic. Well, there were a bunch of magical conveniences, and magic could do anything, so even if the society were a little more medieval in most places, there was no reason for there not to be hair gel. It was a good way of styling hair, after all.
But to think he would get it from a slime. Ackster was a little skeptical. But he had no reason to doubt the slime. If anything, it was about time the slime started repaying the debt of getting a bite of him every day.
When the slime nodded its tentacle and looked, well, looked like it looked at him with some kind of expectation, Ackster decided he didn't have anything to lose, and he rubbed the hair gel into his hair, doing his best to spread it evenly.
He felt like he had covered every last strand of hair, but since his eyes were attached to his face, he had a difficult time seeing how well he had done or whether it had worked. He could see a couple of strands from the corner of his eye, and they had indeed turned a grey so dark they were almost black. But what about the rest of his hair?
"How's that?"
The slime twirled its tentacle in a circle as a way to ask Ackster to spin around. He did and showed off all of his hair. When he had done an entire lap, he looked at the slime with a raised eyebrow, awaiting judgment.
"Good?"
The slime nodded twice.
"Good."
Ackster stood up and grabbed his bag. Now that he had at least disguised his hair, he could begin looking for civilization and the information that would entail. However, his little chat with the slime reminded him of something.
When he entered a town, the guards would want to search his bag. What would they think if he carried a slime?
There were tamers who could and did use slimes as their tamed pets, but Ackster's profession was (Adventurer), not tamer. He could maybe use the brackets and come up with a lie that it was his tamed monster.
In a sense, it wasn't completely wrong. Even if it wasn't formal, and he hadn't used any magic, he had still gotten the slime to be friendly and follow his orders.
It was better than trying to hide the slime and getting caught.
Ackster leaned back a little and spoke to the bag on his back.
"Hey, if anyone asks, you're my tamed monster, ok? Wait, no, even if anyone asks, don't react. Just act like an ordinary but cute slime, alright?"
Ackster caught a gentle nod from a tentacle that poked out of one of the holes in the bag.
"Good. Do you want a name, by the way?"
Since he had started communicating freely with the surprisingly intelligent and capable slime, Ackster decided that it needed a name. Just going 'Hey' all the time was a little annoying. He was also getting a little attached to the slime. Giving it a name now that they were on a first-name basis seemed appropriate.
So, when the slime nodded again, Ackster began thinking.
"Maybe I should have asked that question after I came up with a name, but what do you think of Mio?"
The tentacle hesitated a little before nodding again. Ackster felt a certain depth behind that hesitation, but he wasn't sure if it was his imagination or not. Even if it was, it was difficult asking anything other than yes or no questions to the slime. So, even if the slime somehow had a past, it would have to wait.
Ackster walked in silence through the field. Since it was a wheat field tended to by humans, he would come across either humans or signs of humans before long.
And after a while of walking, he encountered a road leading through two fields. He was unsure about what path to follow.
Since Lill was east of Badhurst, he could continue in that direction. But if he was unlucky, he would have already crossed the border quite a while ago and just passed a nearby city where he would arrive if he headed back west on the road.
Unsure of what to do, Ackster was about to grab a stick and let it fall to decide which direction when he spotted something in the distance.