“Zareb...Sindile, huh? What an odd name,” the strange woman remarked. She looked at me intensely, as if trying to understand something about me. Her gaze was focused on my face, instead of other places, thankfully. Still, just because her eyes weren’t roaming doesn’t mean mine had to stay still. So while she was contemplating whatever was going on in her head, I checked her out.

Not her figure, I truly didn’t care about that. I was on the alert for any hidden dangers. I simply did not trust her or this situation I found myself in.

She had dark grey eyes, surrounded by a somewhat clear face of light colored skin. Her cheeks were slightly sunken, the only indicator I had that she might not have been eating well lately. Her black hair was lanky and slightly disheveled, but mostly kept out of the way by a hair tie. She was wearing what looked like dark colored leathers, with no skin visibly exposed below her neck. In this way, it was a little hard to get a good look at her figure, but there was no mistaking she was female.

Overall, I saw a kind of rough beauty in her. With a little more nourishment and hygienic upkeep, she would turn into a sparkling beauty, at least to me.

And that was exactly why I was wary of her.

Her face was blank, with maybe a hint of amusement, but not enough to shift her features one way or another. Generally I could tell what sort of personality a person has based on their smile, and a bit less accurately using other expressions, but blank faces give me nothing wo work with. So, for now, I brought my focus back to her eyes and waited for her to make her next move.

“What about me other questions? What are you doing here, why are you naked, and are you a pervert?” She asked.

Why such a focus on whether or not I’m a pervert? Maybe her lewd mind is plotting something...okay, sure, I’m not in the best position to complain, but I felt that she placed too much importance on that word to begin with.

Going with my standard story for situations like this (I had to come up with something after the fourth or fifth time or so when I was immediately interrogated upon waking up in a new iteration), I gave her what should be a plausible tale. “I was attacked by bandits and knocked unconscious. I only just woke up here a short while ago without my belongings, so I can only assume they brought me to their base for something. Or maybe some kind villager found me and brought me home? I was just looking around for someone to tell me where I am, but it seemed that this place was being attacked by slimes. You are the first person I have seen since I woke up...I hope the other residents are safe.”

She listened intently without interrupting, nodding once or twice as if confirming the details. I stopped at that point to keep things simple. The best lies use the least amount of words, after all.

“So then you killed all the slimes here? Without clothes?”

“Um…yes?” I purposely dragged out my response, trying to give myself an extra second to work out what angle she was trying to get at. What is she thinking?

“With that club?” She pressed, pointing at the weapon a few feet away. I didn’t bother walking around with it as I wanted to pick up the cores as quickly as possible.

“...Yes?” I dragged out again. Maybe she knows how difficult it should normally be to kill slimes with physical weapons. Not difficult, I should say, just tricky, which amounts to the same things in most people’s minds anyways so it’s a moot point.

“Did you use magic?”

At this point I figured I wasn’t going to get a chance to ask her the same questions in return, but I humored her as she might become a source of information later.

“No, I don’t know anything about magic.” Not in this world, yet, at least. “I was just really lucky in hitting those things.” The amount of luck I would have required to survive this horde as a normal person would be enough to win me every lottery in existence.

“Oh ho? Well, on that matter I believe you, since no one would have been dumb enough to do close combat with Blue Slimes without magic,” she said.

So that’s what they are called here? Just...Blue Slimes? So bland, ugh.

But why does she sound as if… “You were watching me?” I asked, with an intentional slight frown. “Why did you not help me then?”

“Yes, I saw you swinging that stick around, with all the ‘luck’ you could muster. I didn’t see when you started because I was busy with something else, but I came to watch when I noticed all the extra noise,” she explained.

With my eyes focused on hers, I suppose she expected that I wouldn’t notice her casual hand movements. They rested on her hips in what many would consider a non-threatening manner. Hmm.

She continued speaking, saying, “I can also tell you that you were lying about being taken captive by bandits or being rescued by some goodie-goodie villager.”

Uh oh. “Why would you say such a thing?” I asked, pretending to be appalled.

“Because I am the daughter of the former leader of this bandit troupe. And I set the trap that killed everyone here,” she declared.

...Yup, totally saw that coming. “You did? Why? This makes no sense.”

“Why? Because these fools only wanted to pile up the money they stole instead of using it to get the comforts in life. I mean, look at this place! Not a single proper house in sight!” She gestured wildly, but then relaxed into the same ‘casual’ position as before.

Well, I did wonder about the architecture here, but…

“So, since you’ve already lied to me once, I have no reason to believe anything else you might have to say. Therefore, I’ll give you a choice. Either swear to follow me as I build up a new, proper bandit group, or die right now.”

Ha...hahah….hahahahaha…..so cliche! I struggled hard not to laugh in her face, as it might make me miss a critical moment. Though, maybe a hint of it leaked out when I gave her my response. “Sorry babe, I have a rule against following murder-happy pretty girls, so I will have to decline.”

Her face twisted in anger for a moment, but then, as if thinking better of it, her body language relaxed completely. I tilted my head a bit, surprised in the change...and that’s when she moved.

She lunged forward with a dagger in her right hand, aiming to end my life in one strike to my throat. Her attack almost caught me off guard. Almost.

Too bad for her, I was expecting such a move.

My own right hand darted forward, grabbing hers by the wrist and yanking her towards me. Using her momentum, I pulled myself above her while pushing her off balance and into the ground. I quickly placed my left foot on her back and used my leverage to twist her arm until it popped out of its socket. She screamed in pain as she dropped the dagger. I grabbed it out of the air with my left hand, twirled it slightly to an underhanded grip, then dropped myself fully on top of her, burying the blade into the back of her neck.

She died in an instant.

Sigh. Well, anyways, time to look around and see what the rest of this place has to offer. I stood up, resolving to search her body once I have actual clothes on, and walked away.