It has been a week since the terrible Necromancer, Kazil, was defeated by the noble Shadow Inquisitors of the Dark Empire. It was a hard-fought battle where blood was shed from both sides, but thanks to the cunning of the Shadow Inquisitors’ leader, Zoreth the Onyx Vanguard, the Necromancer’s death magic was negated and countered, leading to this momentous victory.

Now, with the Necromancer bound and captured, the Shadow Inquisitors head back for Darkvault, the Capital of the Dark Empire—

“What are you doing?” a voice interrupted Zoreth’s scribblings.

He blinked, looking up from his Draken as a figure peered over his shoulder. Brim, the second-in-command of the Shadow Inquisitors, rode by his side and raised a brow.

“Is that a diary, Zoreth?” he asked.

“What? No— it’s not a diary. It’s an after action report.” Zoreth quickly hid the book and faced his companion. “What do you want, Brim?”

“Oh, I had a question for you.”

“Well, what is it?”

“You see, the thing is… I can’t seem to remember what it was now,” Brim said, shrugging.

“Are you seri—” Zoreth bit his tongue. He couldn’t let himself get wrapped up in this right now. “Whenever you remember what it is, just ask. If you’ll excuse me, I need to finish this…” He reached for the book.

But Brim quickly spoke over him “Zoreth.”.

“What is it, Brim?” the Onyx Vanguard sighed.

“I remember the question.”

“I…” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “What is it?”

“We’ve been riding for a week, right? And we’re heading for Darkvault.”

“Yes, and…?”

“Well, I was wondering…” Brim said, lightly tapping a finger on his chin. “Are we there yet?”

“No.”

“Awww…”

Brim deflated, and Zoreth reached for his book again. “Now—”

“What about now?”

“...no.”

“What about now?”

“No.”

“What about—”

Zoreth snapped. “Fucking— go bother someone else, Brim. I’m busy.”

The other Dark Elf shrugged. “Ugh, fine. How about… you.” He slowed until he was right next to the third Draken riding with the group.

Kazil, their prisoner, looked up. He was wrapped in glowing chains on the back of the giant lizard. Brim loomed over him, and his eyes widened.

“W-what do you wa—”

“Are we there yet?” Brim spoke over him.

“What…?”

“I said: are we there yet?”

“Uh…” Kazil hesitated, befuddled. “No?”

“What about now?”

Zoreth groaned, burying his face in his hands as this continued. He finally had enough and raised a hand, activating a silencing spell to tune it out.

“Peace and quiet and last.” He exhaled in relief. He rummaged through his Bag of Holding, searching for the book. “Now, where did I put my diary?”

—When they return, they will surely be greeted with a cacophonous applause. All will be singing praises for Zoreth the Onyx Vanguard. For his valor. For his might. The God King Himself shall personally welcome Zoreth at the gates of Darkvault for this achieving unprecedented feat…

* * *

“Please, I need your help. Or the village will be destroyed.”

Fissyah stood before the Arcslime, head bowed and speaking in a pleading voice. She didn’t know if Violet would listen to her request— it was something she’d desperately thought about ever since Ebsu’s defeat. The Chieftain said she didn’t have to worry about it, but she knew he was just trying to placate her.

Reality was much different. The only one who could prevent more needless deaths from befalling the village was Violet. So, Fissyah approached her. And it was in this tense moment of silence, the girl waited in frantic hope for a positive answer.

Would Violet be receptive to the request? Or would she be offended by the brazen begging of the girl? She’d already saved the girl’s life, and defeated Ebsu and his men before he could cause more trouble.

Really, Fissyah was asking for too much here.

Her hands shook, fingers trembling so loudly that the rattling of her bones was audible to her own ears. Violet didn’t respond. All Fissyah heard was the dripping of water, the hammering of her own heart, and the eerie silence that beheld them. Finally, she opened her mouth, and—

“Well, are you going to continue, or…?” Violet said impatiently.

“Uh, what?” The girl blinked.

“You said you need my help or Korukh is destroyed, right? I can’t just say I’ll help you without hearing more about it.”

“O-oh…” Fissyah flushed. “Right.”

* * *

Seriously, I wanted to help Fissyah, but I couldn’t if she was just going to stand there and stay silent after asking for my help. Elaborate! Explain the problem! I wasn’t going to promise to help her slay a Dragon or anything insane like that— I was nice, not stupid.

“As you already know,” the girl started, “Korukh is a small village located at the very edge of the Dark Empire. We’re not the only ones, of course. There are other villages around the area, too. But we’re the furthest out.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I remember Gort telling me that.”

“Even if we Goblins aren’t… perceived positively by Dark Elves and the other races, we all still fall under the protection of the Dark Empire. As such, there is a small barrack of Dark Elf soldiers stationed here, right by the entrance to the Karhid Caves. To protect us from monster attacks.”

I thought about my brief conversations with Ebsu during our battle. “You’re talking about Fort Erkaed, right?”

“Yes,” Fissyah said, pursing her lips. “And it is led by Captain Rioke, a brutal Dark Elf who enjoys terrorizing us for his own entertainment.”

“Why am I seeing a trend here?” I wanted to roll my eyes… but I couldn’t!

She shook her head. “It wasn’t always like this— Papa says that the man in charge before Rioke was not all that bad to us. We’d only get beatings once every few weeks. And no one would be unfairly killed under his watch!”

“Wow, your standards are very low if that’s ‘not all that bad’ to you.”

“But with Rioke…” Fissyah trailed off, glancing at the bloodstained earth at the center of the village. “If he finds out that his First Lieutenant and four of his men were killed while in Korukh, he’d surely slaughter us all, regardless of whether we were the ones responsible for their deaths.”

I watched as the girl clenched her fists, gritting her teeth so tightly I could hear them scraping together. I considered this for a moment before finally making a decision.

“Please… I know you’ve already done a lot—” she started, and I cut her off.

“Sure.”

Fissyah took a step back. “Sure…? You mean you’ll help us? Just like that?”

I bounced over to her and raised a rather long appendage to pat her on the shoulder. “Of course I would. This Rioke guy sounds like a real jerk, and maybe I can learn a few things from poking around this fortress.”

“But it’ll be dangerous!” she protested. “There are always dozens of soldiers in the fortress at any given moment. Even if all their patrols are out, there’s still nearly a hundred of them! And Rioke is higher-leveled than Ebsu too. It’s—”

“Are you trying to get me to help you or not?” I said, (metaphorically) rolling my eyes.

“T-that’s…”

“Look, don’t worry about it. You and your father have been nice to me, and your Chieftain has helped me out a ton. So, I’m not going to let Rioke do whatever he wants to Korukh. Not anymore.” My appendage receded as I gave her a reassuring look. “Trust me.”

Fissyah closed her eyes, speaking gratefully. “Thank you.”

“Now, where exactly is Fort Erkaed?” I glanced around, and she pointed in a direction.

“It’s that way. There is even a trail of the path the Drakens usually take to get here. If you follow it, you’ll reach the fort in a few hours.”

It took me a moment to make out this path she was talking about. It wasn’t exactly a proper path made out of gravel or bricks— certainly not a yellow brick road for me to follow.

“I see it, I’ll be back in a bit—” I started to take my leave, but Fissyah hurriedly spoke.

“Wait!” she said, taking a step forward. “I have… one more request.”

“Another request?”

She hesitated. “I would like you to…” she murmured something I couldn’t hear.

“You would like me to?” I stared at her curiously.

The girl struggled with her words. After a moment of standing there, silent, she eventually said, “I would like you to…” And she trailed off.

“I don’t get it. You would like me to…?” I thought about it and came to a realization. “Wait, I know— you like me? Well, I appreciate the sentiment, but—”

“What? No!” Fissyah stared at me, horrified. “That’s not it at all!”

“Then what is it?” I asked, giving her an expectant look.

She took a deep breath. “I would like you to take me with you.”

It looked like it took her a lot of effort to even say it. I was rather taken aback with the request— it was not what I was expecting at all. I considered it for less than a second.

“Mmm, no,” I responded without hesitation.

“You see, I’ve always been weak—” The girl blinked. “Wait, what do you mean no? Whatever happened to hearing me out and waiting for me to elaborate?”

“That’s for requests I want to help you with,” I said, waving an appendage dismissively. “And I don’t want to risk your life for something stupid. You said it yourself: it’s dangerous. There are at least dozens of Dark Elf soldiers in Fort Erkaed. I won’t be able to protect you, and I promised your father that I won’t let anything bad happen to you as long as I’m around.”

“Please,” Fissyah pleaded. “You don’t understand. I need to get stronger. I’m already five years old and I’m still this weak. I can’t just be a burden to those around me anymore.”

I slid up to her, placing an appendage on her head and said, “Fissyah. You’re not a burden to those around you.”

“I-I’m not?”

“Of course not.” I produced another appendage and pinched her cheeks with it. “You’re so cute. How can someone as cute as you be a burden to anyone? They’ll just take one good look at you and they’ll immediately be ready to go five more rounds in the ring to protect you!”

“Five more rounds in the ring…?” She shook her head. “No— that’s the problem. I can’t just be protected all the time. I have to become stronger.” Fissyah gritted her teeth, eyes welling up as she spoke.

I felt a tinge of guilt when I saw that. A part of me wanted to let her follow, but the rational side of me knew that would only get her killed. I let go of her cheeks and held her gently by her shoulders.

“You will become stronger,” I said reassuringly. “You just have to do push ups, situps, and drink plenty of milk.”

Her eyes glazed over. “Uh, wha—”

And I ran.

“AlrightI’vegottagoandbeatupRiokenowseeyoulaterhaveanicedaybye!”

The girl watched me go. I hopped as fast as I could down the trail to Fort Erkaed. When the village was far enough away, I halted and let out a sigh in relief. (As always, it was a metaphorical sigh in relief. I literally didn’t even have a mouth.)

“If I stayed there any longer, I’d definitely have been convinced to let her follow.”

I glanced back at the distant Korukh— I could still see the small figure of Fissyah standing at the edge of the village. I shook my head and continued on.

“Yeah, she’s still going to be following me, isn’t she?”

* * *

The path to Fort Erkaed wasn’t a straight one. It forked off into various different directions more than once, and the Draken tracks were relatively faded. I was pretty sure I was lost and strayed off down the wrong path. But still, I followed it, and I followed it until I saw a group of figures up ahead.

Six Dark Elf soldiers riding on the back of three Drakens.

[Dark Elf - Level 12 (Combat Power: 190)]

[Dark Elf - Level 6 (Combat Power: 113)]

[Dark Elf - Level 10 (Combat Power: 145)]

[Dark Elf - Level 7 (Combat Power: 125)]

[Dark Elf - Level 11 (Combat Power: 175)]

[Dark Elf - Level 10 (Combat Power: 151)]

Even though it was darker here than it was at Korukh, these Dark Elves soldiers spotted me bouncing along the trail. They slowed to a halt as I called out to them.

“Hey, I think I’m lost. Do you guys happen to know the way Fort Erkaed?” I asked, and they immediately burst into a babble of voices.

“Did that Slime just talk?”

“Fort Erkaed? It should be just down this way—”

“Shut it, newbie. You’re breaking protocol.”

“Seriously guys, that Slime just asked us a question. A Slime. That thing that’s usually just blobby and liquid-y?”

“I was just answering her question…”

“Remember, the patrol leader asks the questions, not you.”

“Is everyone just going to ignore that talking Slime or am I the one that’s crazy?”

“Halt right there, Slime,” the highest-leveled Dark Elf said, shushing the others. “We have some questions for you about the whereabouts of our associates. If you just answer our questions and cooperate, we’ll let you die.”

“Uhm, don’t you mean let me live?” I asked, folding two appendages together.

“Nope.”

“Oh.” I tilted my head back. “Then, I refuse.”

“Kill that Slime!” he yelled, drawing a bow.

The other Dark Elves rushed me as he nocked an arrow and fired. I leapt over it, and they surrounded me from all sides. All at once, they charged, but I simply sent five appendages out in all directions. They whipped the Dark Elves back, knocking two of them off their Draken.

I quickly slid across the ground as more arrows landed around me before bouncing up and crashing into the other two Dark Elves still on their Draken. I placed my appendages on their chests, not bothering to push them off, instead firing two [Arc Shots] at once.

The purple projectile punctured straight through their armor, and they fell. I hopped off the Draken— only for an arrow to strike me on the side.

“Ouch— that actually hurts!”

What was that? The highest-leveled Dark Elf had been firing arrows non-stop since the battle started, but they were all moved so slowly that I could see them coming from afar. However, that last arrow zipped straight at me like a speeding bullet. I couldn’t even react in time.

A Skill. I realized what had happened.

“Oh yeah? Then take this!” I fired another two [Arc Shots], aimed for the highest-leveled Dark Elf this time.

He kicked himself off his Draken, but he hadn’t been the only one riding on the Draken. The magical projectiles struck and killed his passenger instead.

“You can’t possibly hit me with that.” He grinned, dashing around me swiftly.

He was so light on his feet, it was like he was practically dancing. He loosed arrow after arrow at me, which I mostly dodged, but a few still managed to graze me. Those didn’t hurt anywhere near as much as the other arrow that had been amplified by his Skill.

“If you’re going to do that— then how about this?” I raised all five of my appendages at his general direction, shotgun blasting him with five [Arc Shots] at once.

“That’s easy— urgkagrbleugh!” He was riddled with the magical projectiles before dropping there and then.

“Alright,” I said, turning around to face the remaining two Dark Elves. “What about you— guys?”

I stared at one of the Dark Elves, lying dead on the ground. Apparently, when I knocked him off the Draken, he hit his head on a sharp rock before being trampled and killed.

“Alright, what about you?” I looked over at the last Dark Elf.

He was the lowest-leveled of the group, and the one they’d called ‘newbie’ earlier. He lay on the ground, arms raised and quivering.

“P-please don’t kill me!”

I mulled it over for a moment. “Hmm, I won’t kill you. I’ll spare you, since you were nice and actually gave me directions. However, whatever you do, don’t return to Fort Erkaed.”

“Why not?” He gave me a quizzical look.

“Because I’m going to go attack Fort Erkaed, and hopefully kill that jerk called Rioke.”

His jaw dropped. “W-what…?”

“I’m going to go to Fort Erkaed, and hopefully kill that jerk called Rioke,” I repeated myself. “Me, a monster.”

“Right, I heard you—”

“This Slime right here, not some angry Goblin, is going to go to Fort Erkaed, and kill Rioke,” I said it one last time clearly, just so he got the point. “It won’t be any Goblin from any of the villages around here, and it certainly won’t be any Goblins from Korukh, it will be me.”

“I get it—”

“No, I want you to say it with me: a purple-colored Slime is going to Fort Erkaed—”

“A purple-colored Slime is going to Fort Erkaed—”

After I got that settled, I proceeded to consume the bodies of the other Dark Elves and evaluate my Status.

You have replenished 30 Arcane Essence!

You have also replenished 15 Arcane Essence due to [Improved Absorption]!

You have replenished 50 Arcane Essence!

You have also replenished 25 Arcane Essence due to [Improved Absorption]!

…

You have defeated a [Dark Elf - Level 12 (Combat Power: 190)]!

You have absorbed their Physical Essence!

You have defeated a [Dark Elf - Level 10 (Combat Power: 145)]!

You have absorbed their Physical Essence!

…

You have advanced to Level 11!

- Arcane Essence +40

Name: Violet [Level 11]

Species: Arcslime

Combat Power: 340

Arcane Essence: 340/340

Skills:

[Appraisal - 10 Arcane Essence]

[Arc Shot - 20 Arcane Essence]

Passive Skills:

[Arcane Restoration - You restore 10 Arcane Essence for every ten minutes of rest.]

[Improved Absorption - You replenish an additional 50% of Arcane Essence from consuming bodies.]

[Morph Shape - Your body can take on complex shapes.]

I managed to level up once from this encounter and increase my Combat Power by 40, and I fortunately was able to restore my Arcane Essence back to its max, so there was no downside from taking this fight. In fact, I would say there was a net positive.

Not only did I confirm that I was going in the right direction to Fort Erkaed, I now had an alibi too. Once I killed Rioke, I didn’t want the Dark Elves to go around blaming innocent Goblins for my actions. Instead, they’d be after me— afraid that I could show up at any point in time and assault the fortress again.

I just hoped that whoever was Rioke’s replacement would be reasonable enough to see things that way. According to Fissyah, not all Dark Elves were completely deranged, like the previous Captain of Fort Erkaed. And my interaction with that ‘newbie’ Dark Elf made me optimistic that things wouldn’t go terribly wrong.

I continued down the path for a while, until finally, I arrived at Fort Erkaed.