Chapter 10: Should we just… sweep what just happened under the rug?

“So… you just… somehow gave the slime queen enough intelligence to the point where she learned a few words… and the system picked that up… and reset all of the slimes?” (Rob)

Well… I always wondered something, why the slime queen would release goo whenever mixed with other slimes?

“I think I have an idea of what happened” (Rize)

“Speak out your mind” (Rob)

“What if… mixing the slimes together as you did, added their intelligence together?” (Rize)

“As if they were linking their mental faculties when their cores are inside the same goo?” (Rob)

“Yeah, something like that” (Rize)

“...but if it were that easy, wouldn’t slimes have been reset a long time ago?” (Doraig)

Besides, whenever slimes were moved around using that method in my world, they never started talking…

“Yeah, that’s true I guess” (Rize)

“But what if that queen was special?” (Rob)

“Like if normal slimes had their intelligence multiplied by the number of cores inside their goo, but most of them had 0 intelligence… but the queen just so happened to have 1 intelligence?” (Rize)

“Well… I'm not sure that’s how it works but… is there really a point in making wild guesses?” (Doraig)

“So… what are we supposed to do now, anyways?” (Rob)

“Maybe we can just let the snowball roll around for a bit? who knows, the queen might show up again and explain it herself. she mentioned having learned my name, anyhow” (Doraig)

“You know… I’ve never felt such relief at simply ignoring the problems my actions have caused before” (Rize)

“What are you saying, I blame Doraig for all the events that have occurred today” (Rob)

“Hey, that’s not nice!” (Doraig)

“You’re right Robin, Silly me” (Rize)

“...” (Doraig)

“Let’s just go to the Adventurer’s guild for now… I don’t think they will have to deal with slimes for a while” (Rize)

“See? maybe getting them to become intelligent was a good thing!” (Doraig)

“...Dream on” (Rob)

I just hope this doesn’t blow out of proportions, though.

Rize’s perspective, 20 minutes later, at the guild.

“Miss Alka?” (Rize)

“Hello Mr. Rize, good to see you again so soon, what brings you here now? did you come to exchange the slime cores?” (Alka)

“Well… this will be a bit of a long story, do you mind if we… move somewhere else?” (Rize)

Why do I have to do these things, that damn Doraig… if I knew he had such a hard-on for Slimes… God damn it.

“Umm… sure?” (Alka)

Oh yeah, no.

“Alright, take a seat Mr. Rize” (Alka)

“Thank you” (Rize)

“So what happened?” (Alka)

“Well… so I'll begin with my companion, I guess” (Rize)

Let’s see… Doraig.

“Doraig, he… is a bit special, and sometimes I wonder if he has any notion of what common sense is” (Rize)

“What do you mean?” (Alka)

“You see, he seems to like Slimes, and their company, it looks like” (Rize)

“Does he want the quest removed?” (Alka)

“Not exactly… but I guess you should probably still remove it” (Rize)

“?” (Alka)

“He wanted to drive the slimes away with a method he said to have been taught by someone else… it consisted of mixing, or… inserting, I guess, two cores of regular slimes into the Queen” (Rize)

“I’ve never heard of that before! did it work?” (Alka)

“I… guess?” (Rize)

“Did something unpredicted happen?” (Alka)

“Yeah… the slime Queen seemed to have gained sentience around a minute later” (Rize)

“Oh! so the slime queen gained sentience… wait, what!?” (Alka)

I know… it sounds unbelievable, right?

She seems to have somewhat calmed down, now?

“And… what happened after that?” (Alka)

“She vanished” (Rize)

“Vanished?” (Alka)

“Yes, along with all the slimes in the area. Poof! gone” (Rize)

“You don’t mean…” (Alka)

“The slimes got themselves reset by the Queen” (Rize)

“Holy… shit!” (Alka)

Did she just.

“Miss Alka?” (Rize)

“You guys… do you even know what you’ve done!?” (Alka)

“It… it shouldn’t be so terrible, the slime Queen, she… she shouldn’t be a harm to the rest of us” (Rize)

“Hah…” (Alka)

“Do you even know how many Slimes there are in this world?” (Alka)

Shit… she’s right.

“Now, imagine ALL of them put together in one place” (Alka)

my face turns pale. We… might have just fucked up bigger than we thought at first.

“I… I’m sure it can’t be so bad, the slime queen thanked Doraig, maybe we can talk her into being peaceful to the rest of the races?” (Rize)

“You do realize that your companion is a Dragon?” (Alka)

“...So?” (Rize)

“The Dragons are not even from this continent, why would he even care about us that much? even if he, for some reason, did care for the rest of this continent… why would the queen be so thankful as to listen to him? many people become drunken with power after obtaining it easily. and her striking it rich like you’ve told me certainly counts as ‘obtaining power easily’” (Alka)

“Well… what do you think we should do? I accept it, this was our fault” (Rize)

“Rize” (Alka)

no formalities now?

“Yes!?” (Rize)

“Go and find the Queen, your dragon friend should know in what environment the slimes like to live. it is said, races that are reset get sent to whichever territory will aid their growth until they’ve taken their first footsteps after being reborn. there would be no point if they went extinct right after restarting. Imagine if the Karfi got sent to a lava zone by the system after their reset” (Alka)

“I’ll… see what I can do” (Rize)

I stand up and begin to walk towards the door

“By the way, Miss Alka, I'm 20 or so times your age” (Rize)

“So?” (Alka)

...Damn.

“no… nothing” (Rize)

“...Rize” (Alka)

“...Yeah?” (Rize)

“Good luck” (Alka)

Doraig's perspective.

“How did it go?” (Rob)

“She… yelled at me” (Rize)

“Pfft” (Doraig)

“I have never been yelled at by a woman younger than my little sister before” (Rize)

“Pfft” (Rob)

“Fuck you” (Rize)

10 minutes later… after we stopped laughing, we finally listen to Rize’s instructions, given by Alka.

“So… if it is like she said, I think I do actually have an idea of what kind of place they should have been moved to” (Doraig)

“What kind of place do slimes like to live in?“ (Rize)

“Hmm, well… for starters, they enjoy places where the temperature is mildly warm, with not many variations between stations. the ideal place would have a cave and a source of running water next to it as well… the cave should be proportional to the number of slimes. the one thing that makes the difference is that there should be a settlement in the 4 cardinal directions surrounding it. I have no idea why, but they always seem to prefer placing themselves in between settlements of any race that can think for themselves, independent of how far away the settlement is, as long as they put themselves at the intersection of the four of them they will be happy” (Doraig)

“‘Happy’?”(Rob)

“Yeah, when slimes get happy they get themselves to release some extra goo on the floor, no clue why, though” (Doraig)

“Hmm… there’s a few places like that, actually. do they like to have their own space for themselves? what do you mean by ‘proportional to their numbers’?” (Rize)

“Let me think… usually, a slime likes to have a personal space of… around a small house’s worth?” (Doraig)

“Hmm… something like that one?” (Rize)

“I would say half that one, actually” (Doraig)

“Okay… so there should be this many slimes… with this amount of space…” (Rize)

5 minutes later

“I think I got the place” (Rize)

“That was quick!” (Doraig)

“Where is it?” (Rob)

“East of us, there’s an area near where the Lizardmen and Naga live that should be just about right in size and conditions” (Rize)

“Alright, so we’re leaving now?” (Rob)

“I guess so, Pick us up Doraig, we’re going there now, should take about 3 days or so to get there” (Rize)

“...Ugh” (Doraig)

I have been reduced to a mount, why won’t you two just learn how to fly, god damn it.

In the other hand, the PLAN LIVES ON!

2 days later

We’ve been traveling the past 2 days towards the east, well, not exactly ‘east’ but it’s close.

On this day in particular day we are going to be entering the territory of the Lizardmen and Naga, so we want to go in an inconspicuous way, because the longer time we take, the more people will realize something is amiss, and they could possibly find the slimes before we do, which could provoke some irreparable damage. it’d suck if the slimes were attacked by people who think they’re still mindless, resulting in a full-scale war between multiple races, throwing everything inside this continent to chaos.

“Let’s see… let’s traverse this forest at earth level, that should help us move around without causing too much of a ruckus” (Rize)

“Sounds good, how about you move ahead and scout using invisibility?” (Rob)

“Okay” (Rize)

Rize leaves after disappearing into the woods, while we walk slowly in the direction we’re supposed to go into.

Rize’s POV

Let’s see, at 3 p.m. in front of me there’s what it seems like… a pair of naga and 3 lizardmen? they seem to be doing some adventuring in the forest… they are moving towards the... 10 pm direction? oh, they found a beast to fight. that’s a… Horse? it’s so massive… Did he throw a green blob? acid?

This forest should be called Virus’ Greenery. if I remember correctly, it should have level 20 or so monsters? so that’s a level 20 Toxic Horse?

Hmmm, they should be around level 18 or so then, if they’re leveling here. let’s go back and tell Robin and Doraig to make a detour so they don’t run into each other.

“Hey, 5 people in that direction. Let’s take a detour that way” (Rize)

“Hmm? Okay, we’ll do that” (Rob)

“Yes, Sir!” (Doraig)

“I’ll go back to scouting” (Rize)

“Alright, be careful” (Rob)

Hmm, this way is clear… Hm? explosives? what’s that sound? let’s go and take a look. it’s coming from my direction at 11 p.m.

A mage Lizardmen? He’s a fire mage, it seems. he… is fighting a… what is that? single horn, human head and torso, and a goat’s lower body? should be an intelligent species, why are they fighting? I'll get a bit closer to see if I can find out what is happening…

“Back off Keerus, the map is mine!” (??)

“Shut up, Jeris. it leads to the Sorcerer’s hidden castle, the items contained within are of no use to you! just quietly hand the map and I will spare your life” (Keerus)

“Dream on! even if I can’t use anything in there I can still sell it all! you have no say in what I do with the things that are mine” (Jeris)

“Hah, then I guess I will have to take it over your charred corpse!” (Keerus)

Map to a place called Sorcerer’s hidden castle? that sounds interesting… let’s quietly wait for the conclusion to this...

“Take this!” (Jeris)

Sparks? the five bolts of lightning are dancing on the ground in zig-zagging patterns…

“You think I'm so easily bullied? at least use something decent against me. Jeris” (Keerus)

Woah, he can jump so high? that’s at least 5 meters, isn’t it? what!? he kicked the air to go towards the lizardman called Jeris?

Gone!?

Oh, he’s over there… teleportation? no… there’s a trail of lightning left behind

“Give up, you can’t defeat a battle mage with your set of skills, Jeris” (Keerus)

“Hah! I may not be able to kill you, but I can at least escape without you being able to do anything” (Jeris)

Hey! that direction…

Doraig’s POV

What is Rize doing… after we heard the explosion he never came back to tell us what is going on

“Do you think something happened to Rize?” (Rob)

“Nah, he should be fine, but it’s annoying not being able to go invisible like him… I bet whatever the cause of that explosion was, it was more interesting than just waiting around for Rize to come” (Doraig)

Shouts?

“Stop running! just give up the map, you know I have two resources available for me to chase you around, unlike you, who can only depend on your stamina!” (Keerus)

“A chase is not only defined by one’s stamina! do you think some of the animals in this world would still be around if that were the case?” (Jeris)

Lizard and… human? no… demon? what the hell is that guy?

“Hey! why are you guys chasing each other?” (Doraig)

“Dragon?” (Jeris & Keerus)

“Yeah… so what’s up?” (Doraig)

“Help me fend this guy off, I will reward you plenty!” (Jeris)

They stopped running and are now eyeing me and themselves in a three-way triangle? by the way, where did Rob go?

“They have a map to a place that could be helpful to you. the one to your left is the one that has it” (Rize)

Rize? he is still invisible but is now next to me it seems

“What will you give me if I help you? that guy does not seem weak at all” (Doraig)

“He’s chasing me because I have a map leading to a certain place, if you help me against him we can share the split” (Jeris)

“...Why didn’t you guys split the rewards between yourselves?” (Doraig)

“Ask that guy, as soon as he found out I had it he went mad with greed and threatened me, there’s no way I will trust him!” (Jeris)

“Don’t listen to his lies! I was looking for the place on the map, but this guy stole it from me in a moment of carelessness” (Keerus)

“Let me think for a bit…” (Doraig)

“Watch out Keerus!” (Doraig)

“What!?” (Keerus)

He’s looking the other way!

‘Minor Destruction Breath’

‘Minor Destruction Breath’

‘Minor Destruction Breath’

‘Minor Destruction Breath’

“Why…” (Keerus)

Why? that’s fairly simple, actually.

“I hate liars with a passion” (Doraig)

Experience Received Level up: 13 -> 15

“Thanks for choosing to help me, but why do you say he was a liar?” (Jeris)

“That? just my intuition. besides, I could hear the threats going your way” (Doraig)

“I see… here, look at this map” (Jeris)

He’s coming this way while taking a paper out of thin air… his inventory, I assume…

“Heh… so this is the map? it seems it is not that far away” (Doraig)

“No, it’s just around the corner… but it’s a shame you will not see its contents!” (Jeris)

Heh, dumbass

“What!?” (Jeris)

Yep, that is Rize alright.

“Die.” (Rize)

I watch as Rize kills the guy that was awfully close to me. I maybe have died if he took a single strong hit on me…

“How…” (Jeris)

“I told you, I hate liars” (Doraig)

“Thanks, Rize, I owe you one” (Doraig)

“Come out, Robin!” (Rize)

“God damn, Rize. I almost shit my pants while hiding, why did you tell me to do so?” (Rob)

“If they saw the 2 of you together they could have banded together against both of you, it was safer for Doraig to be on his own. that way, they lowered their guards and instead wanted to gobble all up” (Doraig)

“I see… how did you know they would try to fool Doraig?” (Rob)

“I just had that idea due to the things they spoke about, both of them looked greedy enough to try and do so” (Rize)

Ah, that’s why he told me to be careful when approaching that guy…

“That said, though… I'm surprised they didn’t realize how you fucked up back there. I wanted to smack you really hard right there and then.” (Rize)

“Fuck up? what do you mean?” (Doraig)

“‘Watch out, Keerus’? how the hell were you going to explain knowing that guys’ name?” (Rize)

“Oh… I didn’t even realize that when you told me about which one was who, I just blurted it out without giving it much thought” (Doraig)

“...I’m glad both of those guys were retarded, then” (Rob)

“Anyways, move with me quickly, before the group that was behind us comes looking for the source of the explosions. This way!” (Rize)

In any case...

“So this map leads us to where?” (Rob)

“To a place, they called the ‘Sorcerer’s Hidden Castle’, that place should have many things to aid you, Doraig” (Rize)

“Sounds like a place that has magic... things in it” (Doraig)

“It doesn’t seem to be far. How do we go about with this?” (Rob)

“From the fact they wanted to go on a solo mission… it is probably safe enough. Let’s do this” (Rize)

“?” (Doraig & Rob)

“Robin will head to the place marked on the map, while I will bring Doraig to the place where we think the Slime queen and her race is at” (Rize)

“I will split off from you two?” (Rob)

“Will he be fine?” (Doraig)

“Yeah, probably” (Rize)

“...let me think about it” (Rob)

“Let’s move in the meanwhile, either way, we would have to split after exiting the forest” (Rize)

“Alright” (Rize & Doraig)

30 minutes later

“I’ve decided. I’ll go and explore the castle” (Rob)

“What made you decide to go?” (Rize)

“If I go… I will be able to avoid the disgusting things Doraig will probably do once we get to the slime queen, this pervert…” (Rob)

“Oi” (Doraig)

“Okay then, here’s the map” (Rize)

Rob nods silently and this look, he seems… preoccupied for us?

“Just be careful, okay?” (Doraig)

“Of course I will be, you guys don’t get made into Slime food either, okay? I still need you two to help me with the plot against the Prince” (Rob)

“let’s meet at the Lizardmen-Naga capital, Weierstrass, then. It should be a bit more ‘accepting’ of other races compared to the rest of their towns in the vicinity” (Rize)

“Alright, see you soon, then” (Rob)

“See you soon, man” (Doraig)

And like that Rob makes his way to where the castle is…

I put the points I've obtained after killing that guy into an assorted mix of vitality, agility, and intelligence, and I will save the skill points for that damn barrier… since I will need one either way, even if it costs me 10 levels worth of skill points to get it… goddamnit Mr. System, do you wish that hard for me to be the biggest glass-cannon-dragon in history?

In the meanwhile of my grumbling, we are now going into a more rocky and mountainous area, which I'm going to fly into with Rize, using the mountain range around us as cover.

“Onwards, my steed” (Rize)

“What the fuck” (Doraig)