CH 105

Chapter 105 – People Who Think Each Other Are Unusual

“Anyway, I’d like to go to a place where we can settle down and talk… Unfortunately, I don’t know of any such convenient places.”

“I don’t think I can give you a tour of the royal capital right now, either. Do you want to go outside?”

A pair of golden eyes are pointed at me from behind a hood that she wore deeply. Hmm? I don’t remember Melty having such a prominent eye color…? Or rather, I feel that her atmosphere is somehow different.

Well, that’s okay for now. I can ask about it later.

“If we’re going to leave, we’d better leave separately. I’ve already exceeded my period of stay, and the gatekeepers might try to get me into trouble.”

“I should leave first. But before that…”

Suddenly Melty was hugging me from the front. It’s a shame because my leather armor makes it almost impossible to feel her breasts against my chest plate. What a shame, really.

“I’m glad… I’m glad that Kosuke-san is okay. Regardless of how things turn out, I’m really glad you’re okay.”

“Ah… yeah. To be honest, I’m also relieved to see Melty. I didn’t think anyone would take the risk of coming this far.”

I hugged Melty lightly and patted her on the back. When I did, she seemed satisfied and pulled herself away from me. The color of her eyes that look up at me with a bit of blush is gray… Eh? Why is that?

“Melty, the color of your eyes is…?”

“Eh? Ah, the gold color of my eyes? I’m a little excited… No, my eyes change color when my emotions rise.”

“…What a strange constitution, huh?”

Is that an aggressive color? I should try not to piss Melty off.

“Yes, mysterious, isn’t it?”

Melty smiles calmly. There is no sense of intimidation or urgency. For some reason, the suspicions she had about me a while ago seem to have eased considerably.

“Or rather, Melty. Your horns…?”

I believe that Melty had a magnificent curly horn on her head, but there is no trace of it on her hooded head. Could it be that they are removable? Or maybe it can be retracted?

“Oh, I cut them off.”

“Cut…?”

“That’s needed in order to find Kosuke-san. Sylphy insisted on coming, but there’s no way to hide her features. Even though Isla, the Harpies, and the others were making a lot of noise, they are even more out of the question than Sylphy. As long as I remove my horns, I look almost the same as a human, and I can hide the marks of my horns with my hair, hat, or hood.”

“No, but your… your horns are very important to you, right?”

“Of course. They’ve been with me since I was born.”

“Will they ever grow back…?”

“No? The deer beastman does grow back every year, but the others basically don’t.”

She said this with a nonchalant expression.

“That means the scar will last a lifetime…?”

“That’s right. For the horned race, losing a horn is the highest form of punishment. In some cases, it can even lead to death. And even if you survive, if you contract an infection from the wound, you’re almost certain to die, and you’ll be forever pointed back at by your own kind and other horned species.”

“W-what?”

I couldn’t help but widen my eyes at what Melty had just told me as if it were nothing. It’s a scar that will last a lifetime. Has she done all this just to find me?

“W-why would you do that…?”

“I was the right person for the job, considering the various conditions. And besides, Kosuke-san is an indispensable part of the Liberation Army, and there are many people waiting for your return. Also…”

“Also?”

“I was thinking to make Kosuke-san indebted to me.”

Melty smiles at me. Oh, this is something that I shouldn’t touch.

“I’ve done this on my own, but… you wouldn’t abandon me after I’ve done so much for you, would you?”

“Well… yes. I feel responsible, painfully so.”

“Right? That’s why I include that in my calculations.”

“Melty’s a yandere…”

“Yandere?”

Melty tilted her head when she heard the unfamiliar word I used.

“The nature of a person’s love and affection is such that it can lead to self-inflicted wounds or aggressive attacks on rivals… Though you’re quite different.”

“I don’t attack other girls, you know? Even if it involves self-harm, I only did it because I had to.”

“You’re right. That’s the difference. If anything, you’re more like someone who is willing to make sacrifices, acts manly, and is very calculating. It’s not a yandere.”

“Calculating, you say… That’s not the only reason I’m doing this to find you.”

“Of course I know that. I feel respect and awe for the fact that you have come alone to save me without regard to danger or sacrifice. If I were a girl and Melty was a boy, I’d be dying of love to you.”

“You’d die of love if I was a boy?”

“Unfortunately, the only person I’d die of love for is Sylphy.”

“Thanks for the treat.”

“You’re welcome.”

“You can eat me too if you want.”

“I’ll give it every possible consideration.”

“Yes.”

Melty smiles and clasps her hands in a triumphant pose. Hmm, it’s a little light.

“What’s the situation with Sylphy and the others?”

“I’ve already talked to them.”

“As expected, you’ve got it all under control.”

“Of course. So, why don’t we get moving?”

“Right.”

Melty took the lead, and I followed close behind, never straying far from her. Soon, we reached the castle gate, and Melty, who had been walking ahead, seemed to have gone out first after a brief check.

I thought I might get into a bit of trouble, but Ellen had arranged for me to stay at the cathedral, and I was able to get through the gates of Merinesburg smoothly without being accused of anything.

I met up with Melty, who was waiting for me at the gate, and we headed out of the city streets to the entrance of the underground passage.

“Where are we going?”

“Do you know that there is an underground passage for escape under the castle?”

“I’ve heard of it, but I don’t know much about it. It’s only a rumor.”

“I see. So that’s what we’re heading for. Do you have any information about the slimes that live in the underground passages, or rather the sewers?”

“Lime-san and the others, huh? They’re alive and… well, speaking of which, they are not likely to die.”

“They’re invincible, aren’t they, Lime and the others?”

“Yes, that’s true. I can manage one on one, but three on one, I don’t think I have a chance.”

“Eh… you can win one on one?”

“Yeah, I can win.”

“I-I see…”

No way, right? How can she beat Lime and the others who seemed to be completely impossible to beat? Melty? Let’s definitely not piss her off.

I mean, seriously? I don’t think any normal life form can compete with them… I mean, they’re not really slime anymore; they’re more like some kind of dangerous creature that makes a noise like Tekeli-Li. From the intelligence perspective, they’re in the lord class.

While shivering inwardly, I cut through the forest and moved to the destination point. I thought I might get lost, but fortunately, I managed to find the entrance because of the distinctive rock that hid it.

“Is this it?”

“Yes, this is it.”

I took out a torch from my inventory and walked deeper into the dimly lit cave.

“It was time to enter Lime and the others’ territory…”

I was unable to continue my words. I was smashed by something soft that fell from above me, wrapped around me, and swallowed me whole. There are only three persons I know of who would do such a thing.

“Kosuke! I was worried!”

“O-oh… I understand that. Can you let me go?”

“No!”

“Is that so…?”

I was rejected with full force. In the meantime, Lime is clinging to my body, not only under my armor but also under my clothes, rubbing all over my body. In fact, it’s as if I’ve been put in a washing machine, with only my head sticking out of the machine and being turned around.

“You’re very fond of him, aren’t you…?”

“Of course. Kosuke is our… our?”

“What is it?”

“What?”

Lime’s upper body grew out of the main body (?) that enveloped me, and she tilted her head. I don’t know what’s going on with her.

“Anyway, he’s an important material.”

“I see… Was it good?”

“Kosuke is good, you know?”

“Would you allow me to join you?”

“No problem. Let’s go to Lime and the others’ house!”

“Um, I can walk on my own. Can you let me go?”

“No!”

“Yes…”

After a few minutes of being taken in by Lime, we arrived at the home of the Lime and the others that I had missed.

“This is certainly Kosuke-san’s base, isn’t it?”

Melty nodded while looking at the improved workbenches and blacksmithing facilities that were still in place. And as for me?

“I will drown! Stop doing that to my face; I’ll suffocate!”

“You don’t even contact me! I was really worried about you!”

Beth was hugging me. That’s fine, but please don’t shove your moderately stretchy slime in my face. It covers my face so tightly and without any gaps that I’m seriously suffocating.

“I’m next-nanodesu.”

“Lime, too.”

“Lime is after me because you already enjoyed it earlier.”

“I’d like to be in the queue. but…”

“Well then, you’re after me.”

“Mmm…”

I feel that Lime and others… Including Melty, who for some reason was treated as a thing of the past, were tortured, and by the time they released me, I was totally exhausted.

“Ah… where do I start?”

“I’d like you to start at the beginning. I’m also curious about how you got in touch with Lime-san and the others.”

“Roger that.”

I sat down on the sofa-shaped Lime and began to explain the situation.

I was taken by surprise by Qubi and kidnapped, put in a cell in the basement of the castle, used the items in the cell to make a stone ax, broke through the stone floor and escaped to the underground passage, met Lime and the others, and made preparations to infiltrate Merinesburg to make a golem communication device.

“So, how did you end up with the Adel religion people?”

“There’s a complicated fate to that…”

I went to a money changer to exchange the fake empire currency for mithril, and I heard that it was difficult to get mithril products. I decided to make a donation at the Adel cathedral to get a mithril rosary, which was a risk but a sure way to get one.

“Why would you take a risk on the word of a single money changer clerk…?”

“It’s been nearly a month since I disappeared, you know. I thought that if I didn’t get in touch with the Liberation Army as soon as possible, or rather Sylphy and the others, they might act recklessly. In other words, I took the time rather than the risk, you know. In fact, since Melty has come this far after making a reckless move, I think I made the right decision.”

“Ugh… that’s for sure.”

“But, well, that’s where the unforeseen happened.”

When I went to the cathedral to get the mithril rosary, I saw that it was the day that the saint was preaching, and there were a lot of church knights there. If I turn back on my heels after seeing that, I might be spotted as a suspicious person, so I had no choice but to participate in the prayer, and at the end of the prayer, when I was about to receive the blessing from the saint, the man behind me suddenly attacked the saint with a poisonous dagger, and I quickly saved her and was stabbed.

“Why are you protecting her…? Why don’t you just let it slide and let her get stabbed?”

“The saint, beautiful?”

“Kosuke seems to have a soft spot for women.”

“Yes-nanodesu.”

“I see…”

“That’s not it. That’s not the reason. The guy behind me made a strange noise and pushed me away, so I just elbowed him in the face.”

“Let’s pretend that’s the case-nodesu. So what was the poison-nodesu? That antidote I gave you can cure most poisons…”

“They said it was basilisk venom. And conveniently enough, it stabbed me in the liver.”

Melty spouted. Lime and the others looked puzzled as if they had stopped thinking. What the hell?

“Why are you still alive-nodesu? It would be strange if you didn’t die instantly-nodesu.”

“Kosuke is strong.”

“It’s not something we could survive, let alone a human being.”

“I-I’m really impressed you’re still alive…?”

“Would you guys please stop looking at me like I’m a rare animal? Well, that’s what the saint said to me. It’s like I have the life force of a cockroach or some such.”

“Even a cockroach is no match for the basilisk’s venom.”

“Are you trying to say it’s more than that? Hmm?”

“Well, anyway… What happened after that?”

“Nh… Well, I’ll tell you the rest.”

I fell asleep in the cathedral for a while. I was nursed back to health by the saint and the sisters of the Adel religion. And then, I tell them that the saint discovered me to be a marebito.

“You were discovered?”

“It was obvious at a glance. Something like a glow? The saint said that she could see some kind of glow in her eyes. She said she could see the blessings of God as light. Since the time of the preaching in the cathedral, she already knew that I was not normal.”

“That’s troubling… So, what happened?”

“You know what?”

I told them about the oracle that Ellen had received before she came here and about my interaction with her in as much detail as I could remember. As I did so, the initially tense faces of Melty and the slime girls grew colder and colder, and by the end, the eyes of all three except Lime had turned as if they were looking at a female enemy.

“Kosuke-san… again?”

“It’s not my fault! It’s not my fault the God gave her that oracle! It’s not my fault!”

“Kosuke, popular?”

“Don’t you think you’re too blind to see what’s going on?”

“You’re really a lady-killer-nodesu.”

“I haven’t done it. As I said, I haven’t done it.”

“Really?”

Melty glared at me. She’s not happy about it. I know.

“A-anyway, you know what? The main point is that the Holy Kingdom or even the Adel religion is not monolithic, and also, you can make a pipeline with those who might be pro-subhuman among them.”

“…Well, that certainly sounds like a useful network.”

“How are you going to get in touch with them? You mean Kosuke isn’t going to go see her every time?”

“Yeah, that’s the thing. I need Lime and the others to cooperate.”

“Cooperate?”

“Yes. I’m going to leave the high-powered Golem communicator I’m planning to build here, and I want you to help me communicate with Ellen… I mean Saint Eleonora through it.”

“Ellen, hey… that’s fine, but how exactly?”

“There’s a compartment where the royal family lives, right? Ellen will somehow get there by herself, and I want you to meet her there.”

The slime girls looked at each other at my suggestion.

“I don’t want anyone to go near that place if possible.”

“Of course. Just the first time. After that, you and Ellen can discuss and decide where and how to contact.”

“If that’s the case?”

“Just the first time is fine.”

“Thank you.”

I’m glad the slime girls agreed to this. If they hadn’t, I would have had to go to Merinesburg to see Ellen again.

“What exactly are you planning to do, Kosuke-san?”

“I don’t have a concrete plan yet, but either way, I don’t think we can stop fighting until we kill all the Adel religion’s believers in the Merinard Kingdom, right? At some point, peace must be made, and Ellen and the denomination to which she belongs are the most suitable window for that.”

“Well, that’s certainly true.”

“It seems to be a denomination that does not get along well with most of them. The fact that Ellen and her denomination has power should work to the advantage of the Liberation Army.”

“That may be so.”

“And it seems that the current anti-subhuman Adel religion is suspected to be a distortion of the original Adel teachings by the survivors of the Omit Kingdom, which was destroyed by the elves hundreds of years ago…”

“The original Adel religion?”

“It seems like there’s a desire to investigate the Great Omit Wilderness, the site of the Omit Kingdom, in order to investigate that area. It may be possible to overturn the Adel religion and even the Holy Kingdom.”

“I see…”

Melty nodded at my explanation and pondered. I think Melty can do a much better job with this kind of intrigue and politics than I can, and to be honest, I’d rather leave it to her.

“This is the only thing I can explain… Now, let’s get to work on the Golem communicator.”

“That’s right. I’d like to tell Sylphiel that Kosuke-san is safe as soon as possible, so please do your best.”

“Leave it to me.”

I’ll start by alloying the mithril rosary with copper. I want to hear Sylphiel’s voice as soon as possible. I’ll hurry up.