- Liqu -

Seems my Shari is occupied for now.

I see how she moves her blades around.

The one I gave her as well!

That makes me happy.

Yet she can't interact with me while she's doing that, but I support that she's practicing.

Improving her abilities to survive will do her good.

It does increase her safety.

However, since I cannot help her with this, my presence here is unnecessary.

So I should leave.

I mean, watching her from my hole didn't bring up anything new during the past few hours.

Instead, I think I will take a walk.

This might be right.

I head back out.

While going down the hall those females called maids directly run away.

Well, that's rather excessive.

I even have those clothes on, since my Shari always insists that I wear them.

Like this, they shouldn't find any issues.

Yet I am not concerned about them since they're weak.

I go outside, in the direction of the fighters.

I find them interesting and, since I can't simply eradicate them all, I have to find another way to keep my Shari safe.

Now that my Shari, with all her lovely obsessing over me, is distracted, this is the perfect chance to pursue my plan.

I approach them, giving everyone my best smile.

They don't seem to like it.

While most of them show the typical expression of fear, some make a weird face that I can't really discern.

A mix of confusion and slight anger.

"Again!?"(soldier)

Says one of them.

First, I wanted to perform a little trick I made up.

I always had this problem that I can't use most of my techniques while being encased in these clothes.

Clothes usually get destroyed when I use any of my techniques, so I came up with something else that should prove effective.

Those fighters use these wooden thingies to slash their swords against them.

That means one can practice their attacks on the targets to test them out.

Yet all of them are occupied.

So I approach one of the soldiers.

"Ack." (soldier)

He seems to be surprised at this.

To soothe him I smile.

"Hello!" (Liqu)

"Whaah, wha-what do you want?" (soldier)

Clearly fearful.

And this after such a nice smile from me.

"Can I use this for a moment?" (Liqu)

I point at the wooden construct he just slashed against, but he doesn't respond very quickly.

"Pleeeeeaaassse?" (Liqu)

I drop my head to the side while saying this.

At least, my Shari seems to be weak against that move, so why shouldn't it work now?

"R-right. G-g-go ahead." (soldier)

See? It works.

I believe my new attack should flow as intended.

Nonetheless, I need to test this out to know for sure.

I let the gloves, which Shari makes me always wear outside, slide down.

This will just work without them.

Now I can get started.

I position myself a good distance apart from the wooden thingy.

Rather soon I notice that everyone around stopped to do anything at all and now all of them look at me.

But this doesn't matter to me.

Then I take a stance.

I hold my right arm behind me and put my left leg forward.

It reminds me of how I punched Eluca back then.

This is also kinda the inspiration because I imagine throwing a punch here.

Before I start to move, I first concentrate on my insides.

I have to gather and compress as much mass as possible in my right arm.

Then I make it swirl around as fast as possible.

The more pressure there is, the harder it is to control, but I am good.

When I think I'm ready, I rush forward and swing my arm in the direction of the thingy.

Release!

The moment it passes the arm's exit of this clothing, I let it expand.

Moved like it was, a great amount of slime gushes in the wood thingy's direction.

The swirl makes it move over the ground with a slightly rolling movement.

I still maintain the connection.

In a blink, it passes the distance.

Dissolve!

I activate dissolving the moment my slime touches the target, but only in this part of mine I sent out.

In mere seconds it ceases to exist.

Like this, I can perform an effective attack without having to get rid of my clothes.

"Yay, it worked!" (Liqu)

I smile.

While pulling all the mass I used back inside through the still established connection, I turn to the soldier who kindly left his place for me to practice.

"Thank you very much." (Liqu)

But for some reason, he's running away.

Well, maybe it's because his target is gone now and he is searching for a new one?

Because a lot of the other people are looking I wave at them.

There are quite some weird reactions from their side.

Suddenly someone comes from this smaller building straight in my direction.

I notice because this is rather unusual behavior for people towards me.

Usually, it means that they're going to attack me, but this one has no weapons ready.

Nonetheless, such behavior warrants my attention.

When the person comes close I realize that it's the one I caught today in my slime.

"You! What you're doing here?! Stirring up the whole training ground!" (Vela)

"Ahh, the one who belongs to me." (Liqu)

"Wha-what!?" (Vela)

"My Shari said you're mine, so that means I own you." (Liqu)

Flawless logic, if I do say so myself.

"You... What? No. You're wrong you crazy monster!" (Vela)

"In which way am I wrong?" (Liqu)

"You, you don't own me! I am a human and you're a monster. You can't own anything!" (Vela)

"But they said I'm an officer-something. That's more than you are, right?" (Liqu)

"You, you... That has nothing to do with this!" (Vela)

"But that one person said that one must do here what someone who's more says. Isn't that right?" (Liqu)

"J-just because the count fancies you, you can't do what you want." (Vela)

"I didn't say that. But my Shari said you are directly assigned to me. And I am more important. That means you must do what I say and can't simply say no. The same like I must do what those who're more than I am are saying. Or am I wrong?" (Liqu)

"I... You can't just... This, this is.... I'm just following my orders." (Vela)

"And this means I own you." (Liqu)

"Raahhh! You're wrong! You're totally wrong! This can't be right!" (Vela)

I didn't believe I could bring her so far, I'm not used to having talks like this.

However, my aim was to put her off, so that my original plan will have a higher chance to succeed.

Now I can get started.

"I want to speak with you. Can we go somewhere with fewer people? They're distracting." (Liqu)

"What do you want?" (Vela)

"Just talking with fewer people around." (Liqu)

She looks anxiously around the people gathered on this place.

Yet I believe she knows as well that that none of them would manage to help her in time should something happen.

"Alright, behind that building." (Vela)

She points at the smaller building.

I follow her there.

While walking she says,

"They've all seen us! If you do anything to me there will be no chance for you to get away with it." (Vela)

"Yes, yes." (Liqu)

As if those would be enough to stop me.

There aren't any more people, yet I still notice some in the closer vicinity.

Probably curious.

"So, what do you want to say?" (Vela)

"First, a very important question. What do you think about my Shari?" (Liqu)

"The other monster? She's as bad as you. If I had a word in this, we would directly drive both of you out." (Vela)

"Oh, that's too bad to hear, but anticipated." (Liqu)

"Was that all? Whatever you say, you won't be able to deceive me." (Vela)

"Deceive? But no. Why would I? I just have a request." (Liqu)

"Request?" (Vela)

"Yes. Whatever you're planning to do against me and my Shari, please just concentrate completely on me. That would be better for everyone. If not for my Shari I would have no reservations about dissolving every last one of you." (Liqu)

"As if I would believe a word you say! You won't be able to cloud my judgment!"(Vela)

"Is that so? How problematic. Then there is just one way." (Liqu)

With this, I expand and completely surround her, I make sure to close all the gaps to the wall so that she cannot escape, yet I avoid direct contact.

"Waah! What? No! You can't!" (Vela)

She seems to panic a little, but is too afraid to touch the slime, so she presses her back against the wall.

This should be the right setting to convey what I wanted to say.

Inside my created structure I can see how she frantic looks for an escape, naturally without success.

Then I realize that I can't talk to her in this state.

Also, she has no point to fix her attention to, which would lead any attempt of a conversation to be all over the place.

To remedy this issue I create a form similar to my usual upper body on the inside, in front of my guest.

After forming the necessary vocal cords I can talk to her.

"Wha... Y-y-you! You won't get away with this! They will know! You don't stand a chance!" (Vela)

On the edges of my vision, I see how two fighters, who apparently followed us, peek around the corner.

They are obviously surprised at this sight.

One seems to lose it and rushes in our direction.

The other one feels obligated to follow.

Meanwhile, I take the time to also shape my eyes, and with his my provisional body is ready.

Now I can start talking.

"I'm sorry to say this, but you're wrong." (Liqu)

The two soldiers are now close enough that I can identify them as the two unimportant ones who attended our meeting.

They already have readied their weapons.

"W-w-wrong?" (Vela)

She seems to be distressed inside my little containment room.

"Yes, it would certainly end up being like this." (Liqu)

I use an adequate amount of slime and direct it at the first one who has a big sword.

He slashes at the oncoming tendril.

Which is completely pointless as it doesn't hinder the mass in the slightest to move further on to him and pin him to the ground.

They apparently didn't consider that this could happen, which is kinda weird as they should know at this point.

The second one is already about to flee, probably to call some friends.

I quickly form another tendril out of the first one and send it after him.

It's near the edge of my range, but since he's less bulky than the other it's enough to grab his leg and send him tripping.

To do so I had just to create a bit more glue-like slime at the tip.

To decrease the distance and make things less complicated I pull him close while my priority is to gag his mouth.

There was already a yell, but I guess I still have some moments before any noteworthy force gathers.

"See? The ones who would lose are you soldiers. All of them. I can be much worse than you could imagine. But in another way you are kinda right." (Liqu)

My guest can see through the semi-transparent walls around her.

Fear and concern show in her demeanor.

Also, I notice that my talking creates some kind of echo that reverberates on the slime walls.

"W-what do you mean?" (Vela)

"You are right with your assessment of me. I am what I am and nothing else. Or to say it like this, the sole reason why I didn't eradicate every last one of you yet is that my Shari would dislike it. You all mean nothing to me. Worse, you are hindrances, threats. Stuff I generally want to get rid of, dissolve into slime. Am I clear?" (Liqu)

The two I hold down struggle quite a bit as living beings always do when I pin them like this.

The bulky one is putting up more of a fight.

Yet the solution is fairly simple; I only have to keep him from getting up.

This means, while I put pressure on him from above, whenever he puts pressure on a limb to the ground to push himself up, I always have to make sure that he slips on the slime.

This only needs meager adjustments on my side.

Meanwhile, the girl trembles, and some tears gather in her eyes.

I think she gets it to a degree.

"Why, why are you doing this?! What is your intention?!" (Vela)

"Even you should be able to understand this. I'm telling you that my Shari said I can't dissolve you. That is the only important point. You don't have to be afraid of Shari. She's really nice." (Liqu)

And then I draw closer, till I am almost in contact with her and calmly say,

"The one you should truly fear is me. If anything happens to my Shari there won't be any hope left for you or anyone else. If you decide to harm her I will kill all those who are close to you. Also, I will torture you so excessively that you will beg me for death. But it won't end with just that. I will keep you alive and make you tell me where the others important to you are. I will find and dissolve them, and force the resulting slime down your throat." (Liqu)

Now it seems like I caused a paralytic state.

Maybe I should clarify.

"But this will only happen if you wage such a folly. If it's only against me, then I'm not concerned. Sure, I will retaliate, but just within the limits. This might even convince my Shari to stop trusting you. You have nothing to fear as long as you follow that one, single, little rule. Just don't harm my Shari!!!" (Liqu)

The last part I let reverberate in my whole body so that everyone present properly gets it.

I draw back and everything becomes as it was before.

My little guest won't speak anymore and falls to her knees.

The other two manage to scramble back to their feet.

Knowing I was understood I smile at her and turn away to leave her behind.

The others come running to help her.

I ignore them, as well as the other fighters who come our way.

Well, none of them dare to approach me in the first place.

After all, they have no reason to.

No one was damaged so there is nothing to do about the situation.

Having done all I wanted I should now return.

After all, I was away from my Shari for far too long.