Three days passed uneventfully.

Amalia and I managed to complete a few more requests in the Hall and saved up a bit of money. During the day, we'd mostly search for plants or materials for what appeared to be local craftsmen and ... apothecaries? When we weren't doing that, I was attempting to make more sense of the economy and value of daily necessities.

During the night, I'd spend my time forming more diamonds. We'd stopped by Arnie's shop yesterday and inquired about selling iron or the gems. The fact I could more or less supply enough income to feed Amalia even if we did nothing else all day was certainly a welcome fact. After all, the requests on the board weren't infinite. It'd be foolish to assume the Hall would supply steady, suitable work.

Well, I still needed to eat, too. My body felt sluggish if I went without food and exerted myself. Thankfully, those Horned Rabbits were as delicious as ever.

While Amalia slept I was busy burning the midnight oil, so to speak. I needed less rest than her, so it'd become a habit to check her body for any abnormalities while she slept. There were no changes and my progress in understanding had slowed.

Rather than try to brute force my way through Rejuvenation and Detoxification level ups, I shifted my focus. Mineralization was my source of income, plus it drained my stamina. This left me with an abundance of Mana at night, so I practiced Meditation and Adaptive Coating.

Meditation would help me regain Mana more quickly, and I thought it'd also indirectly train my Mana Regeneration Skill. Adaptive Coating would likely help me blend in and hide more easily. I was hoping the Skill would be more efficient and less strenuous at higher levels, too.

It was three days well spent.

Skill increased!

Mineralization Lvl.1 → Lvl.2

Adaptive Coating Lvl.1 → Lvl.2

Meditation Lvl.2 → Lvl.3 Attribute increase!

Strength - 27 → 28

Vitality - 35 → 36

This whole Skill thing was still rather strange. I'd be less bothered by it if I weren't the only person who questioned how such things work. Amalia seemed completely at ease with mental popups, 'from the Gods'.

Bunch of negligent, slacker Gods if you ask me. Seriously, who whisks someone away to another world and doesn't even give them any notification or a user manual? Freakin' jerks. Hngh.

Theology aside, our income for the past several days amounted to roughly 17 silver Leafs, three of which had gone to food already. Against my better judgment, another 9 silver and 40 bronze had been spent on Amalia's clothing. Deducting the Hall membership fee, we were down to around 3 silver and 10 bronze after totaling up some miscellaneous expenses, including a blanket.

We had both income, some savings, and a way to procure food. My little wolfkin had been performing admirably aside from her disastrous slip-up. I wanted to reward her a bit since she'd been working like a dog the past few days.

Pun aside, 'twas a hiring bonus of sorts. It wasn't difficult for me to justify the expense as necessary either. Her ratty, ragged clothing was visibly offensive and painted a poor image of her work ethic and capability. In other words, had someone shown up at a job interview in that attire? I'd laugh and chuck them out, then spray air freshener.

It had nothing to do with the clothes looking fairly cute and at a cheap price. It doesn't have anything to do with me being envious of her ability to actually wear clothes. Absolutely, not in the least.

It was apparently Springtime, so thick clothes were starting to become cheaper this time of year. Discounted merchandise? That had been the nail in the coffin. Since Amalia was still camping outside with me, she needed something warmer and more comfortable too.

Anyway, my little knight looked a bit more respectable. She had a pair of medium-brown, leather boots. Their construction was simple and went up slightly past her ankles. To go with this, a pair of stockings was also purchased, along with some proper underwear. Primitive underwear, but still underwear.

Needless to say, Amalia's last pair was ... stained and disgusting, despite cleanings. I understand that women's hygiene was difficult given her situation and malnutrition, among other things, but ... let me put it this way.

—Had I known fire magic, those underwear would've been a blazing inferno and incinerated to the point ash wouldn't remain.

Never again. Filthy.

Continuing upward, a pair of thick, cotton trousers were now present. They were dark gray and had to be altered due to her inhuman anatomy. Her fluffy tail had wagged for quite a while after that one, so it appears she liked them. The tailor who finished the work for us went visibly stone-faced after realizing Amalia wasn't human. Pretty sure she charged us a bit extra too.

Well, at least the bitch managed to keep a professional demeanor. I'd keep her off my, 'to-eat' list. For now.

Finishing the attire was a white, linen undershirt that was deliciously soft and thin. Basically, it was meant as nightwear. Topping that was a thick, off-white abomination that resembled a cotton sweater and a dark-brown, leather jerkin meant to offer some vital protection. Perhaps one day I'd be able to purchase a proper suit of armor for her. I was planning to visit Arnie's and inquire about sharpening her sword.

For now, she'd be warm, less dirty, and not look like a beggar. To hide her ears and tail, we picked up a dark, green cloak. I personally thought the coloring horrendous, but Amalia insisted she liked it. It was also easier to hide underneath her clothing now, so that was a plus. If it started to heat up, I'd have to find a solution to her bestial heritage that didn't involve wearing three layers during Summer.

Problems for the more-capable, future-me. I'll stew on that one for a while. There was still time.

"Rozalin, are you okay? You got quiet."

Oh, right.

"I was just lost in thought. Don't worry about it," I replied.

It was still morning and we were getting ready to set out. I'd been messing about with Amalia's hair while she munched on some dried fruit. Great strides were being made to ensure my fleabag was a proud wolf, instead of a bumbling dog. While she munched the fruit, I was 'munching' her hair.

Slime translation: I was getting rid of all these split ends and foreign matter. Dead skin and the like. She was getting a trim.

I was far from a hairdresser in my previous existence, but I think I did a pretty good job. Much less shaggy and way more pettable. Her mane was now borderline fluffy, instead of thick-yet-stringy. Now I just had to keep piling meat on her until she took on an athletic form. Still too thin.

She'd been awful clingy the past few nights while sleeping. I kept having to sneak away from her grip. As someone who didn't like being touched by unfamiliar people much, this behavior confused me. I'd have to see if it persisted long-term and approach it then.

Well, she seemed to be in a good mood, so whatever.

After I was done fussing with her hair, we proceeded as usual and made our way to the Hall. The guard shift changed depending on the time of day, but it seemed like they were beginning to get used to Amalia's face and mostly waved her on. When we arrived at the Hall, however, difficulty struck.

"Roz, I don't think any of these requests are very suitable. ..."

Reading was still off the table, but given what Amalia noted back to me, they did seem rather ... ill-advised.

「Find My Lost Cat! - Reward 20 Bronze」

「Eating Contest ~ Iron Stomach Extravaganza! // 25 Bronze Entry ~ Winner Takes Half」

「30 Silver Contract* ~ Alchemical Test Subject Needed ~ Hearty Constitution Advised, See Details」

Ugh. Where are my stupid fetch quests and 'Slay X goblins!' jobs? I'll take some damn plant-finding ones, even.

I'm starting to think our timing was bad. Perhaps the 'good' jobs got snatched up in the morning? The quality had been on the decline. Especially after the request two days ago where we had to pick up a bunch of apparently poisonous berries. Surprised my Detoxification Skill didn't get a level up that night. Poor Amalia. No wonder the pay was so good. ...

"Hey, what about this one?" Amalia asked, "It says there's a Two-Headed Blackstag west of town. The reward is 7 Silver, more if the pelt is in good shape."

"What's a Two-Headed Blackstag?" I asked, genuinely curious. The pay seemed pretty nice. I was beginning to learn that a 'nice salary' usually meant bad things would happen.

"You don't know? It's, uhm, ... Well, it's like a Brownstag, except it has two heads and breathes black fire."

... Brownstag? Did she say fire?

"That's ... not going to happen. Do you think I'm invincible? Slimes are weak to fire. Even if I can win, it's too risky. I don't know enough about such a beast. We'll find something safer."

Amalia began mentally muttering to herself while I lazily tuned in, "O-Oh, right. Then there's, uhh ... No, that won't work either. ... That one's no good. ... Wait, why would you even pay someone to do that?"

While I queried Amalia as to what 'that' meant, there was an audible thump! from behind. When Amalia turned around, my vision met the source.

There was a very tall man dressed in lavish clothing. It was all a shade of dark gray and black. A puffy, fur-lined cape shrouded the man's shoulders, greatly contrasting his fading blonde hair and pale skin. It was hard to make out his outline, yet he gave off the impression of a stern personality and powerful frame. Probably mid-40s. His dignified looks were a stark contrast to the average merc's rough image in this Hall.

"Excuse me," was all he said. His voice was dry; quiet, yet deep.

This prompted Amalia to nod and move to the side. We watched quietly as the man hung a commission near the right side of the board before departing, wooden floorboards creaking under his weight.

And just like that, the imposing man was gone.

"Don't suppose you know that fellow?" I asked.

Amalia replied, "No. He dressed like a noble, but I doubt I've ever met him before. Unless he was in the military and has been to Kulve, we wouldn't have met."

Curious. For some reason, the man felt a little familiar. Or rather, there was a weird nagging feeling in my stomach when he approached. 'Familiar' might not be the right word.

"He hung something up. What does it say?"

"Oh, right! Let's see, let's see ..." Amalia started, shifting back over to put the newly hung parchment in view. Seconds later, her body shook.

"Th-this is—!"

"What is it? Calm down and read it to me."

While I'd spoken to Amalia at great length about managed her voice and the Link properly, whenever she got agitated or distracted I was still on edge about any more slip-ups. Given her rapidly increasing pulse, something was up.

"That man's commission! It says they're paying 1 gold Branch to anyone who can heal his daughter! 1 gold Branch! Th-that's enough to buy enough food for months!"

It was my turn to get agitated. Wasn't a Branch worth 10 Leafs? That's 1,000 silver Leafs, for crying out loud! That'd be more than enough to purchase a set of proper gear for Amalia! Hells, with that kind of capital, we might even be able to ditch our camping lifestyle and start looking into land and property prices.

It was a ridiculous amount. This, of course, caused my suspicion to rise. As they say, 'If something's too good to be true, it probably is.'

"Are there more details? Requirements?"

Amalia hummed to herself for a moment, "It's signed by a man named Alfonse Biron. I guess that was him? 'Experienced Healer required'. Something about scarring and vision restoration. Wait ... What's this? There's a suggested difficulty rating of ... Thirty-five."

Her shoulders slumped as she choked out those final words.

"What does that mean, exactly?" I asked.

With a sigh, she elaborated, "I'm not an expert, but I'll try to explain. Difficulty ratings are normally assigned to give an idea of what level a monster might be. For a request that isn't combat related to have one is unusual, but it's basically saying that a Healer would have to perform the magical equivalent of a combatant slaying a threat-35 enemy. By themselves, too ..."

That seemed logical, but I was still having a hard time gauging what a '35' meant. As such, I asked for some examples. Amalia and I moved away from the notice board and sat down for a moment.

"Fighting a Goblin would normally be a Rank 5 or so commission. Sometimes there are letters afterward—A, B, or C. That letter is a general guide to how tricky the Rank 5 request would be. Goblins aren't much of a threat if it's just one or two—that'd be a 5-C. If it were like, half a dozen Goblins, then it might be a 5-B. A Goblin infestation would be like a 5-A and require a large group of people or specialists."

That was easy enough to follow. I still felt the numbers were a bit arbitrary. None of the requests we'd done so far apparently had a threat rating assigned to them. The Horned Rabbits were considered a 'nuisance' monster at most. Basically, cannon fodder. Tasty cannon fodder. What was the point of a rating when everyone knew how weak they were? If you died to a threat 1 or 2 monster, you were a failure as a mercenary.

"So what's ... No, let me get this straight. What would, say, that Golden Thunderbear be considered?"

Amalia put a finger to her mouth, pondering for a long moment.

"Probably ... 20 or so?" was the uneasy response.

Huh. Didn't that mean the difficulty of this new request was borderline impossible?

"What would my threat rating be, then?" I asked. In hindsight, it was a thoughtless question.

"I'm not sure. ... How strong are you?" was the reply.

I mentally grumbled to myself. If I knew that, do you think I'd be asking? How the heck am I supposed to make sense of this world's nonsensical numbers?

Still, this was a tempting source of revenue. My mind began twisting and plotting ways to acquire such a large amount of money. From the sound of it, all I had to do was devise a way to mess around with some girl's eyeballs and hope Rejuvenation could fix scars. Which, admittedly, I didn't think it could do.

Yeah, I was likely out of my league with this commission. Couldn't hurt to take a peek though, perhaps? Nothing ventured, nothing gained. At the same time, I wasn't sure how good of an idea it was entering some noble's house where there would likely be guards. They'd probably at least subject Amalia to a search or selection process too. Unless I could come up with a plan. ...

"Rozzy, maybe ... we should find something else to do. I don't really like nobles, ... a-and it'd be bad if we got caught."

Oh? What's this? A rare moment of enlightenment from my pooch?

"That's very true. Allow me to evaluate this a bit longer. I might have an idea, so long as no one completes this request by then. If the difficulty and reward are this high, then I would assume they've exhausted normal methods? If that's the case, a day or two might not matter."

"Alrighty. What d'you wanna do in the meantime? Visit Arnie again?" Amalia asked.

"No. We've work to do," I replied.

"Work? Are we doing one of these jobs? I-I'm uh, not sure if it's a good idea to be an alchemy test subject. Don't they have you drink lots of weird things and poke you a lot? That sounds ... scary."

I sighed, "No Amalia, we are not doing anything so risky. Rather, we'll be hunting a wild beast today."

"Th-the Two-Headed Blackstag? Really!?"

At her sputtering, I was off-put by the fact she still hadn't grasped my personality and preferences yet. Like heck I'm hunting some crazy, fire-spewing moose—or whatever the heck it was supposed to be.

"No. We're going to look ... for that kitten."

It was easy money. Plus we could check out the city more and eavesdrop on conversations. If we didn't find the thing, then oh well. If we did, Amalia just got her food expenses for the day. There was no other reason.

Amalia replied in a sulky tone, "Rozalin, I ... I don't really like cats too much. They always hiss at me."

"Don't worry, I have a good feeling about this request. It'll be a piece of cake."

"Huh? Why would it be cake?" was the puzzled response I got.

... Honestly, this world is infuriating. Note to self: Teach Amalia how to react to idioms.

And so, the remainder of the day was finished uneventfully as we both spoke of inconsequential things and got lost in several alleys. We did manage to find the cat, much to Amalia's chagrin. There may have been just one more, tiny reason for this search.

I pet it vigorously. It was quite relaxing.

Later that night.

You have taken piercing(?) damage! -2 HP

"Ahh-! AhhHHhhh-! Y-You're using too much force!"

"B-But Roz, you said to push harder!"

"Because you were being too gentle! But n—Ow! Owowow, that hurts! It's tearing!"

"S-Should I stop?" came Amalia's worried voice.

"Ngh-! No, keep going! ... It's starting to feel bearable now."

"It feels really weird inside you. Are you sure this is safe?"

"Absolutely. Trust me, I have some experience with this kind of thing."

"Roz, everything's turning white! A-Amazing!"

"Hold on, I ... I need to concentrate."

I must say, I'd come up with a rather ingenious method to infiltrate this noble's house and attempt fulfilling this request. Or at least, I felt it was rather smart. Relying on Amalia to enact it still made me feel uncomfortable, but considering the potential payoff, I could write it off as having a good risk-benefit ratio. I'll just have to train her a bit and provide coaching.

"How does it look? Is it convincing enough?" I asked, feeling exhausted.

"Wow, Roz! I've never seen something like this before. It's a little weird, but you really do look just like a glove now."

That's right. My plan of infiltration was a dastardly plot of deception and misrepresentation. To diagnose illnesses using Rejuvenation, I had to come into contact with the person in question. The chance Amalia could talk some sick lady into letting a Slime hug her face was so abysmal, it was likely in the negatives. This was a huge problem. That reward money was a fleeting fantasy without overcoming that obstacle.

After much thought, I decided to work a little bit of magic. Quite literally.

Stretching myself thin enough to form a glove around Amalia's hand was painful and uncomfortable. It would probably be similar to having someone shove their fist in your belly and scramble your organs around a bit. Even with my handy resistance to pain, I still was not enjoying myself.

To sum up the plan, I would take on the form of a white glove. Amalia would present herself as the apprentice of a Healer, come to examine the girl's injuries with a 'special Magic Tool' and transmit the information back for me to 'make a judgment' as to whether treatment was possible. If I could heal this girl, then fantastic. If not, then they'd lost nothing except for a few moments of time. In reality, I'd just be examining the girl on the spot and figuring out if I could do anything to wring money out of their pockets.

Well, that's a nasty way of putting it, but if they were rich and I was doing them a happy favor, I certainly wasn't going to object to a juicy reward. Healing magic was beginning to sound like a small but valuable market. I might specialize in this in the future.

I was still working on a few angles about how to go about healing the girl should I be able, but I could save that for a later time. I had some ideas, that was good enough. Preparing for failure was more important to me than salivating over a paycheck that might not come my way. Preserving one's life and well-being was paramount, after all.

"Let me just ... relax a bit. I need to adjust. I'm not used to stretching myself so thin, or changing my coloration at the same time."

"Oh-Okay. Should I just ... hold still? Like this?"

"Yes, that's fine. I'm starting to get used to it. The pain's nearly gone."

We spent a quiet moment in silence near our small campfire. It was nearly night, but I wanted to make sure this plan would work before Amalia went to sleep. I could practice the coloration while she slept and work on stretching more by myself.

I had her do a few ranges of motion and wiggling of fingers. I could feel my body gradually adapt to this extremely bizarre situation, before finally there was something akin to a pop! in my head.

Skill increased!

Amorphous Lvl.3 → Lvl.4

Delicious.

Now I just need to work on my Adaptive Coating Skill and this whole process would be much less mentally taxing and unbearable. I wasn't sure how long I could hold this form without cramping up. Mana didn't seem to be an issue, especially if I only colored the exposed area. I could color the rest if needed, but it wasn't necessary right now. The rest of my body remained my regular shade of pink and hidden out of view.

I still don't care for the fact I'm pink. So obnoxious.

Anyway, this was good. Good, good, good. All the building blocks were falling into place. Now it was just a matter of phrasing and gaining an audience with this young miss.

'Young miss'. Tch. Must be nice having a father willing to spend exorbitant amounts of money on you. ... It was hard to make a comparison between Earth-money and whatever-money, but I'm pretty sure this was the equivalent of some people's yearly salary. Or more. I wonder what happened that they're so desperate?

Oh well.

I think in the coming days I'll start practicing those Ice Bolt and Magic Threads Skills. They sounded interesting, and if I could use Ice magic I might be able to counter any Fire thrown my way. Plus that Ice Explosion thing that old lady did was amazing. If I could do something like that, I'd feel a lot more confident. For Magic Threads, maybe I could take up 'sewing' in my spare time. Not sure how I'll manage without hands, but I can get creative.

The rest of the night was spent eating and chatting with Amalia. She seemed to be in good spirits lately. Still a bit clingier than I'd like, but I'd gladly take a dog-girl hugging me over poisonous bugs. She was starting to look less like that frightened little leaf I'd scooped up from those rape-happy bandits.

I wonder what their names were? Strange. I hadn't reflected on their deaths much. Surely they deserved it, but it was odd to think I'd caused the death of three humans so far. If this world has karma or something similar, perhaps it's better to abstain from any murder sprees in the name of profit. At least until I do more research.

Well, I am a monster now I suppose. Murder is practically required. They'd kill me too if given the chance. Survival of the fittest—just without the modern-day twist. It's literally 'kill or be killed', rather than 'cut throats or don't get a promotion'. And I seemed to have a penchant for destroying throats.

In a way, I envied Amalia's naiveté. Corrupting her morals suited my needs, but whenever I looked at her sleeping face or she gave me those head-splittingly stupid responses about justice and what's right, it bothered me. It's like a sour feeling building up in my stomach. I almost hope that she doesn't become as screwed up as I am, but ...

Annoying. Why am I thinking about this? There are things to be done.

With a sigh, I went back to my nightly training. No sense wasting time. Perhaps in a few weeks we could travel to another one of these 'dungeons' and find some more monsters to eat. I was looking forward to some tasty morsels and stat points. Still needed to save up funds and gather information.

Hours passed. As I was meditating and employing my Adaptive Coating Skill, I watched Amalia as she slept. Her face looked dumb as ever. It made me want to squish it and make her eyes tear up. Maybe I'll bully her for a while tomorrow. If I'm subtle, she'd probably never realize. Heheh.

—Ah, damn. I'm picking on children for entertainment. I really am bored. ...

Amalia was speaking in her sleep again. This time it was something about dresses and cutting trees. What a strange girl.

Come to think of it, I can't snore anymore. I could make a weird bubbling noise if needed. Did I 'bubble' in my sleep? Or perhaps accidentally use the Link and 'talk' in my sleep? I sure hope not. That'd be embarrassing. Worst-case scenario, if I accidentally slipped up and said something ... well, hopefully that doesn't happen. I'm generally awake whenever Amalia is anyway. Should be fine.

That's a scary thought though. I'm still overlooking things, just like when I forgot I can't smell. I need to do better. ...

Tomorrow we'd be checking out that high-pay request. If everything went smoothly, we'd have a lead on how to make a large sum of money, then get out of this dump. I'm tempted to try building a cabin in the woods. Some of the houses in town were serviceable, but I wanted to see what the best this country had to offer was like. Perhaps we could visit the capital? I think Amalia mentioned it was far to the West. 'Civilization'.

I'll just have to ensure things go well tomorrow. If I can't heal that noble girl, then we'll continue on as we were. This easy-going lifestyle isn't so bad. Self-employment with low expenditures. Who would've thought I'd end up doing such a thing?

Honestly. I can hear them now. 'The bitch got turned into a pile of goo!' I'm sure they'd get a kick out of it. Those guys and women back in the office would laugh their asses off if they saw me now, living in a cave and sleeping on the ground.

Well, I'd probably eat them at this point. A third of them were jerks or incompetent anyway. ... I'm only half-serious, but the idea still makes me laugh. 'Work harder, or I'll dissolve your legs and then you'll be stuck here doing overtime!'

Ah, what a joke. What was it all for? How annoying.

... I miss home.

While I was feeling dejected and meditating, Amalia rolled around on the leaves a bit, causing some noise. I turned my attention toward her and kept an eye on her for a long while. Light breathing filled up the cave. Wrapped in a warm blanket and nicer clothes, she was sleeping much better than prior nights.

Amalia had a dumb smile on her face and she quietly muttered my name. Or rather, my new name. A nickname. Rozzy.

She's probably having some silly dream. That makes me wonder if I'll wake up some day and discover this was all a lie. I'm not sure how or why it was me specifically that ended up here, but ... I guess it wasn't so bad.

I muttered softly to myself, "I'll spend some more time with you, Amalia. At least until you're not an annoying brat and can make it on your own. After all, a princess needs a knight, doesn't she?"

If I still had a face, the look on it would probably be just as dumb as hers normally did. After all, I'm a bit of a hypocrite. You should've realized that soon after you started following me, little dog girl. Now you're stuck with me.

... So hurry up and become a splendid knight. That way I can stop worrying about so many things, all by myself, each and every night.