Chapter 3: Slime Trouble (02)
Originally, slimes are creatures without intelligence.
Here, intelligence refers to something akin to that of insects—basic instincts for eating and avoiding predators.
With such intelligence, they cannot recognize a master, show affection or hostility to non-similar species, or make complex decisions beyond "eat" or "flee."
But this slime is different...
Boing-boing.
When I poked it with my finger, it dodged slightly and then used protrusions resembling arms (though the shape was so blunt that it was hard to tell) to grab my finger.
It's said that some high-level slimes possess a certain level of intelligence...
"Did I pick up a high-level slime?"
Certainly, if it were a normal slime, even if I used it as a personal toy, it would simply dissolve any bodily fluids I released. It wouldn't have the intelligence to extract them on its own.
In other words, while it could handle the aftermath, it wouldn't independently move to please me. Was I just naïve?
"Break time ends in one minute!!"
Ah, I didn't even get to rest properly or drink water because I was playing with the slime, and now break time was over.
'Oh, no...!'
Unfortunately, my water bottle was empty, so I couldn't drink within the remaining minute. Instead, I had to struggle to put the slime into the bottle during that time.
"Ban! What took you so long to get back?"
"Apologies!"
Luckily, I made it back before getting scolded by the senior knight...
'Ugh... How am I supposed to endure the afternoon training?'
---
Boing-boing.
When I looked closely, the slime seemed smaller than when I first found it.
Maybe it had dried out? Worried, I brought it some water, but instead of growing bigger, it curled up defensively, avoiding the water.
'Right... A slime's weakness is water and fire, isn't it?'
If fire damages their outer membrane, their internal contents burst, and their core is destroyed. With water, osmotic pressure shrinks their membrane, and their contents degrade.
"Hmm... The core seems to have grown a bit, though?"
It was now sitting in my palm, shaped like a small doll, as if trying to mimic a person. When I brought my finger near its head, it reacted like it was kissing me.
Boing-boing.
Though, it wasn't exactly a kiss—more like it was lightly bumping into my finger with its squishy head.
"What are you doing?"
"Oh, just playing with the slime."
When my colleagues saw the slime in my hand, they showed interest but quickly backed away after some thought.
"Ew, gross... If you used that for relief, throw it out! Isn't it full of, you know, 'that'?"
"No, it's already digested."
"Ugh! Then that slime is basically made of 'that'! So disgusting..."
They weren't wrong, and that thought left me feeling uneasy.
Although, considering Dane was the one asking to borrow it for his own experiments, he had no room to talk.
"Get back in there. I'll let you out later."
At first, I planned to throw it out like a typical slime, but now that it seemed attached to me, I couldn't bring myself to discard it carelessly.
Thinking it might get suffocated, I put it in the water bottle with the lid loosely closed before heading off to wash up and return for evening roll call.
'Of all days, why am I on duty tonight…'
It was my turn for the early night watch, so I geared up lightly, patrolled the area, and spent the rest of my shift chatting with a fellow recruit to pass the time.
"Ban, I heard you smuggled in a slime."
The rumor had already spread in the training camp.
"It just kind of happened..."
"Does it feel good?"
"Hmm, well, it's nice when it's hot. Feels cool…"
"Ah... On the way here, I stepped on slimes three times! Should've picked one up."
Who would have thought those common, trash-like slimes rolling around everywhere would become an object of envy?
It just shows how terrifying the recruits' desires are.
'Ugh... Did I just spread a dangerous culture here?'
The rest of the watch was uneventful, and I returned to my bed, trying to sleep.
"Man... I can't sleep well after guard duty…"
Unlike Dane, who could sleep instantly after finishing his shift, I'd toss and turn for over an hour.
Maybe it's because I've been releasing stress lately, but I eventually dozed off, my body relaxing bit by bit.
---
Bloop-bloop... Drip.
Boing-boing...
'Ugh... That's refreshing...'
Even though I was half-asleep, unable to move, I could feel a cool sensation on my lower half.
At first, the coolness was around my abdomen, but it soon slid inside my underwear, wrapping around me and moving rhythmically.
'Ooh... Oh... This feels nice...'
About a year ago, there was a trend among the trainee knights called lucid dreaming.
What was it? It was said that if you slept while half-awake, you could dream whatever you wanted.
Some even speculated among themselves: "Could we summon succubi if we wish for it desperately enough?"
This led 150 trainee knights to attempt it collectively. But naturally, instead of falling asleep, they ended up murmuring strange things or chewing bitter herbs to keep themselves half-awake—behaviors that couldn't possibly escape the senior knights' notice.
After all their effort, not a single one of them succeeded in having a lucid dream. Instead, they all attended training the next day with swollen eyes from exhaustion—a touching story of camaraderie.
"Is this what they call lucid dreaming?"
I felt a refreshing, pleasant sensation playing with my lower body, and amidst the intense pleasure, I came to my senses.
"This is dangerous...!"
This is going to come out. I was sure of it.
If I didn't wake up immediately and stop it, I'd find myself in a pitiful situation come morning, washing my underwear in secret while the night watch pretended not to notice.
There was nothing I could do about what had already started flowing out. To minimize the damage, I had to block it with my hand as a temporary measure.
"Ugh!"
Forcing my paralyzed body to move, I reached down just before the dam broke, grabbing hold of my lower body.
Boing!
"Huh...?"
What I grabbed wasn't my lower body but a cold, soft, squishy slime.
"What? How did it get out...?"
The slime, now the size of a small fairy, transformed into a humanoid shape and began moving its body on top of my dick
Naturally, since slimes lack internal organs or other structures, it was entirely possible for this small version to... well, fully insert itself.
And so...
Squelch.
It absorbed the fluids I released.
"Oh... Oh, this is... weirdly erotic?"
The moonlight reflected off its translucent body, and I could see the fluids I had emitted flowing into it.
When it was just a slime before, I hadn't thought of it as erotic, but now that it had taken on a vaguely human shape, it was... well, something else entirely.
"But hold on, what even is this situation?"
"Did I close the lid of the water bottle too loosely?
Still, it should run away if it escaped... why is it doing this...
Ugh!
While I was struggling, the slime once again inserted its protrusions... no, its hand into its own body and started shaking. I had to desperately block the unexpected second round.
No, no, if I pull out consecutively, I'll be in big trouble tomorrow...!
Though we are men of prime age, if we don't rest properly and keep doing this every day, it's bound to affect our stamina.
Moreover, the training knight process, where we push our bodies to the extreme, means that such stamina consumption is not wise.
Come out... at least...!
I carefully tried to remove the slime from my dick without letting it burst out, but it wasn't easy.
Drip!
The slime deliberately slipped through my fingers and tried to stick to my leg.
"Ah! No!""
Reluctantly, I got up with the slime still stuck to my lower body, staggering as I pushed it into a water container.
Even as it half-submerged itself into the container, it clung tightly to my glans with its tendrils, as if it particularly enjoyed doing so.
Squeeze...
"Whew..."
Thankfully, the slime took care of cleaning up thoroughly, so there wasn't much of an issue, but if this kept happening, it was bound to cause problems in the future.
'Surely it's not going to do this every night, right?'
If I had to find fault, it would be with myself for using the slime for self-pleasure and even bringing it into the training camp. That was undeniably my biggest mistake. Still, I never expected things to escalate to this extent.
'Should I try educating it?'
Judging from the fact that it could mimic human behavior to some extent, it was clear that the slime possessed a certain level of intelligence.
If so, perhaps it could learn some self-control with proper training.
For now, I would have to train it like an animal, using a mix of rewards and punishments.
"Ugh..."
Since I was already awake, there was no point in wasting time lying around idly.
"Alright, come on out again."
I pulled the slime out of the water container and began an impromptu late-night training session.
---
"Ta-da."
"Oh..."
Dane proudly held up a bucket containing a large slime.
"What do you think?"
"It's big."
If my slime was about the size of a fist, Dane's slime was nearly as large as a human head.
'At that size, isn't it dangerous? It looks like it could be acidic...'
"Hah, you might manage with a smaller one, but I need one this big for myself."
"Come on, I saw you in the shower. You could manage with a slime the size of a finger."
"That's because you haven't seen it in combat mode."
Frankly, I didn't care to see it in action, whether it was big or small. Just thinking about it disgusted me, and the memory of accidentally catching sight of it during a shower still made me nauseous.
"Anyway... slimes are really trending now, huh?"
I didn't have much room to talk, given that I helped popularize them. But after that outdoor training session, everyone seemed to come back with slimes of their own.
'What exactly is going through the heads of the people in this training camp?'
It was understandable that they were pent up after two years of training without seeing a single woman, but still... slimes?
"Well, I'm off to wash my slime. You'll see how great it is soon enough."
With that, Dane disappeared into a quiet corner with his slime. Imagining what he was about to do, I couldn't help but gag.
"Ugh..."
Unlike them, I kept my slime as more of a pet than anything else. Of course, it still demanded its share of... attention at night, but after some thorough training, I'd managed to set boundaries. It only asked for it when I permitted it.
Boing boing.
The slime, now sitting on my lap and begging for attention, wobbled playfully as I petted it with my fingers. Just as I was about to settle into my peaceful moment...
"AAAAHHHHHH!!"
Dane's and the others' blood-curdling screams echoed throughout the training camp.