- Shari -

After the meal, there was nothing else left to do.

Even with Liqu’s encouraging words I don’t feel too great.

Also, it is rather questionable if I should even listen to her.

It might be that I have a soft spot for praise.

And after all that I’ve been through, a little bit of soothing is something that is appreciated.

I never had a person who is always full of admiration and just thinking about me.

Well, my parents somehow, but they don’t count in this kind of relationship.

Otherwise, Liqu would be ranging equal to them, so please let us just separate those affairs.

Still, I am a bit worried about the effect her words have on me.

If I am like this able to overcome this hurdle, it might be good as a matter of fact.

However, regarding my identity, I fear how I will change.

Is it really fine that I completely ignore my identity as a human, by doing something completely inhuman?

Maybe I should stop to cling that desperately to what I consider as normal.

To become accustomed to my reality doesn’t mean I’m completely forgetting who I am.

It’s not that I have now after this dissolving the urge to go out and hunt me a human.

There is a difference.

Like this, it might not necessarily be wrong that Liqu impeded my self-loathing.

If I feel better, so what?

This way, I manage to calm down a little and rest myself against my corner.

It was a busy day and it ended in a mentally stressful way.

So my rest is well deserved.

I wake up in the middle of the night.

Well, waking up is the wrong notation per se, as I am always somehow awake during this time, just in some kind of meditative relaxation.

But what I was trying to point out was that my rest got disrupted.

The reason is the door.

Or more precisely, the mechanical clicking noises which are coming from the lock.

Liqu, who is naturally more accustomed to her sleep and has this predatory readiness going for her, is already prepared for everything.

I sign her to wait for now, as I want to know what is going on and have little motivation to kill whoever is coming in.

Like always, I am no fan of killing humans in general, but graver is the fact that killing inside the town will become a huge problem for me.

Who are they? What do they want? Were they sent by someone?

These all are questions that could prove fatal if I don’t be careful.

I have no time left but can manage to throw my cloak over me and change back into my leaning resting position at the wall, opposite the door.

However, to my dismay, the powder cover didn't survive the night on me.

Then the door opens.

Two guys I can just refer to as thugs are entering.

They aren’t even trying to be quiet.

That might be a problem, as the only reason for such a behavior is that they aren’t interested in us sleeping.

"Is that her?" (thug 1)

"Just one of them, the other one should be around too!" (thug 2)

I guess they are talking about Liqu, who hid behind the opened door.

The one who answered before is coming close.

"Tsk, why is she not in the bed?" (thug 1)

"Don't know, don't care. We are here for something else!" (thug 2)

He towers in front of me.

Then he draws his leg back and subsequently thrusts his foot into my stomach.

"With best regards from Cid!" (thug 2)

I feel nothing.

The impact just gets absorbed by my slime body.

But now I know who I have to thank for that visit.

The only question is if they shall live or die.

The problem regarding this decision is not just that I have problems solving this situation without exposing myself, what will seal their fate.

The real issue is that I was kicked.

That was rude from my point of view, but the absence of impact on me makes it far less aggravating.

That’s how I see this.

Emphasis on "I".

Liqu is slowly pushing the door closed, and her expression says it all.

This feeling of dread and awareness of what is going to happen is difficult to bear.

Shit, shit, shit! She is going to torture them to death.

I am totally lost if I can possibly keep her from doing what she is already set to do.

But she is still naked as I failed to convey to her that she should put her cloak back on.

Like this, for the sake of concealment, it is almost impossible to let them stay alive.

Well, I was myself not certain about killing them, but that doesn’t mean I think it’s wrong.

Also, I don’t really think I would benefit from delaying the inevitable for an interrogation, as I already have got the gist of it.

Just a bit of vengeance from Cid for Liqu being rude.

And for the matter how we’ve got found here.

We are two suspicious girls, always wearing cloaks, roaming around the town.

Not too difficult to find out where we are lodging.

And Cid might have mentioned that we just made some money.

So a bit of robbery should play in too.

"Hey, why aren’t you reacting at all, wench?" (thug 2)

You are just digging your grave deeper and deeper.

It seems the decision was made for me and I cannot really change the outcome.

I look at Liqu, raise my finger to my mouth, and make the respective gesture.

If they scream now I will have problems with the aftermath.

No! That’s not true! This is my room and they broke in. No one will judge me if they drop dead in here.

That says if they die by normal means.

There is no choice. I have to kill them fast.

I don't like killing, but as we are now there is simply no way to solve this without putting us in grave danger.

Otherwise, it will develop badly for us, concerning the resulting uproar.

It might even be merciful towards them if I do it instead of this sociopathic slime.

At least they would die quickly.

After my first sign, I hold my hand out for a stop gesture to make her hold her act.

While I can explain the corpses, this doesn't account for partly dissolved ones.

"What are you doing, you weirdo?" (thug 1)

It seems like I gave them enough hints and the two notice where I concentrate my attention.

The moment they turn around my dagger glides into my hand and I give my best to make it as sturdy and gluey as possible.

"There…" (thug 2)

They've seen Liqu.

It's dark but I need to react before the realization hits them and they start to scream.

I use my newly learned slime dash technique and close the distance.

Yet I need to pay attention, like Liqu said, that my core stays inside.

As the central, controlling point it is the one thing that isn’t moving but rather gets dragged along.

So there is the concern that my body could move too fast for my core to get along, repeating the situation when I pulled it out.

Which would be bad now.

In the blink of an eye, I am behind number two, who starts to prepare a yell.

Slicing his throat from behind is a safe way to prevent this.

"Urghrlb!" (thug 2)

"What did you... This wasn’t supposed to happen!!!" (thug 1)

Yes, the poor girl you were going to attack in her sleep has sadly not so much empathy about your predicament.

While he should be terrified of the slime monster blocking the exit, my attack seems to have made him focus his attention on me.

He has a club and raises it against me.

Should I laugh about the idea of fighting a slime with a club?

"Glrrb!" (Shari)

Okay, that was only a subconscious reaction! And wait, how did I just refer to myself?!

He aims for my head and I don’t even bother to dodge.

The hit is just a dull sensation through my cloak and I feel it sinking in some centimeters.

"Gotcha!" (thug 1)

I give him a look and he freezes at my sight.

I don't, and drive my dagger through the eye into his skull.

He drops dead.

I am not sure how much of this was me and how much was from this concerning predator instinct I seemingly have now ingrained in my core.

It is a little disturbing to think about and I feel bad about this.

I am not a natural killer.

I was attacked and retaliated for the sake of self-preservation.

And this is completely understandable.

But the way I did it was nothing I ever trained for.

The result was in accordance with my plans, yet I feel wrong when I think about how I did it.

Aiming for the weak spots, no wavering, no hesitation, not even missing the mark a little.

I assume this high-speed processing took part in it.

In fact, I was in that mode since they entered, to analyze the situation and make the right decision.

But this lack of reservation makes me anxious.

I’m extremely sure that I still don’t believe that killing is "Okay", yet the fact that I can do it this mechanically alone worries me deeply.

Well, it worries "me".

"You are so great! Perfectly done! And so competent! I knew you would get the hang on it! But why did you just use this metal stick? Never mind! Let’s dissolve them!" (Liqu)

"No, we don’t! I’m pretty sure you are already full and we have no way to get rid of your excess here. Now go and take your cloak, immediately!" (Shari)

She does so but still looks rather confused in my direction.

"Why aren’t we devouring them first? More could be coming any moment, and then it is better to have more than less.” (Liqu)

Is she already planning to eradicate the whole town?

Knowing her that doesn’t seem too farfetched.

“Exactly because we could have been heard and people might come you need to put on your disguise! And make fast!” (Shari)

Meanwhile, I take my black shirt and black pants. Everything that decreases my visibility will be helpful.

When I’m done I have to go on about the last most important step.

"Liqu! I need the powder! Please hurry! It is okay if you need to be wasteful and try to get the front done first!" (Shari)

Although she is still utterly confused, the part where I allow her to touch me is something that won’t escape her attention.

I even believe that she somehow blinked through the room when she heard it.

"I don’t know why you want this, but are you sure this is the right thing to do now?" (Liqu)

"Absolutely! I will need to talk with people, so I need my disguise!" (Shari)

Like I said before, she is fairly skilled.

This has maybe something to do with determination.

The prospect that I have no one else to ask and she can do it again if she does a good job.

That is enough of a motivation for her.

Like this, she only needs a short amount of time.

It seems they weren’t too loud or this is simply the kind of establishment where people don’t care, but no one came during that time.

So I use the chance to apply quickly a layer on Liqu as well.

What is concerning, is that our stock of the very handy powder like this decreased to one single application.

That's insufficient and I will have to buy a new box!

My precious money! Sob!

But now to the issue of the dead corpses in my room.

I take my gloves and make Liqu wear hers too.

After making sure with my mirror that the disguise works fine, I leave my room.

However, before I can do so I need to pay attention to the one weak point in my plan.

"And Liqu we had this now quite a number of times, but you won’t say a word. And only in the case that anyone speaks to you directly and leaves you no choice but to answer, just in that case, you are only allowed to say: "Those men came into our room! I was so scared! I don’t know what to do! This is all too much for me!

Got it?" (Shari)

"But I wasn’t scared! I just wanted to dissolve them! And make them suffer!" (Liqu)

"And that’s exactly what you won’t say! You must use my sentence, understood? Can you repeat it?" (Shari)

"Yes, yes! Those men came into our room. I was so scared. I don’t know what to do. This all is too much for me. Was this fine?" (Liqu)

"Please just try to put the merest hint of emotion in this if you need to speak." (Shari)

Then I head to the ground floor, followed by the slime on whose abysmal acting skills I’m relying on.

I approach the counter and go to the door behind it. I know this is where the private area of the innkeeper is located.

I take the first hard object I find on the counter and use it to knock, before laying it back.

We all know why my hands don’t work.

"THE HELL! What’s going on there! Dare you to disturb my sleep!!!" (innkeeper)

Somehow my plan just started to feel far less appealing to me.

And the innkeeper bursts through the door, holding the largest mace I’ve ever seen.

Thick spikes, pure iron if I'm right, and of a size as if the original purpose was to ground a fortress.

It's a miracle that something like this can get lifted, much less used.

What kind of monster is this woman?

Yes, I know, I’m the one to talk.

"YOU! What do you think you are doing?!" (innkeeper)

For once I feel a bit threatened by how she is holding that club, yet far more uneasy I feel because of Liqu and her very short temper when it comes to threats against me.

"I-I just wanted to tell you something important!" (Shari)

She still glares at me but lowers the club.

"I hope for your sake that it is important!" (innkeeper)

"It’s just that I thought you as the owner should get informed about the two dead men in our room. And before you say something, the time of the day and the fact that they broke into our room should speak of our innocence." (Shari)

She’s apparently dumbfounded and at a loss of words, which is absolutely understandable.

Most people would be taken aback when confronted with killed people.

"Oh fuck, not again!" (innkeeper)

What?!

"Excuse me?" (Shari)

Maybe my evaluation of this place was by far too positive!