Volume 2 - CH 20

The slime queen lived in the upper world? How did that happen? …I know there are some people who have monster taming skills.

Perhaps it’s related to that? Then maybe they caused some trouble and were sent to the lower world like me? …No, that shouldn’t be the case. A monster would have just been killed on the spot. I can’t come up with anything.

“The upper world? I’ll ask you again, why?”

“Are you aware that in a certain country, they found some slimes and caught them?”

“…Right. If I remember right, they were used for garbage disposal, right?” I’d heard of that. Which country was that…?

“Indeed, that’s right. The water country Aquafield. I lived there day after day. The humans found a good use for us. Back then I was just a normal slime.”

“…I see.”

“But I slowly developed my ego. Not that I managed to reach my human like form while I was in the upper world.”

“…Then how did you end up falling to the lower world?”

“I fell into a river in Aquafield. After being swept away for awhile… I finally regained consciousness washed up on shore. Then I built up my strength living in the lower world. I finally reached this human like form after coming to the lower world.”

…I guess the environment in the lower world is necessary in for monsters to get stronger. The main difference would be magic. Since the magic power is a lot thicker than in the upper world, it must have some kind of effect on monsters.

“That’s why I hate you humans.”

“But… shouldn’t we at least join forces to face the werewolves? You get that things well be pretty difficult as they are now, right?” I said, to which the slime queen smiled fearlessly.

“It might be hard for your guys, but we’re different?”

“What?”

“They only managed to trick us. We wouldn’t lose against them in a direct fight. Although we’re weak to magic, there are only a few werewolves with magic type skills. We have the advantage against physical attacks.”

“…” I guess we don’t really know about the war potential of the slimes. They know the danger of the northern werewolves. If the slimes say they’d really be able to fight them, I couldn’t really doubt their judgement.

“Well then, why did you call us over?”

“We won’t join in something like an alliance. However, that doesn’t change that it would be bothersome if you were attacked. So until the threat of the northern werewolves is dealt with, how about we agree on a truce? I’d also like to thank you for the potion, so although we won’t join you, we also won’t be against you. How does that sound?”

…I see. Certainly forcing ourselves to find new comrades would only make living together into a big problem.

“Alright. Let’s do that then.”

“Then our negotiations are complete. Let’s continue on with neutral relations into the future.” Said the slime queen with a bow.

I lowered my head in return before turning around. “Let’s go home everyone.”

“…Yeah.” Everyone gave a light nod. After that, we left their forest.

〇

We hunted poison snakes as we made our way back to the village. Orphe seemed to be there in body, but not in spirit. When he was hunting poison snakes, he would leave a lot of his sword swings to only force.

“Orphe doesn’t seem to be doing too well.”

“…Right.” Livia and I watched Orphe‘s fight. All the talk about the northern werewolves probably brought back some feelings for him. “Hey Orphe, are the werewolves to the north… strong?” I asked as he finished off the poison snake.

Orphe looked to me as he wiped the blood off his sword with a leaf. He nodded his head with a serious look. “Yeah, they’re strong. …To be honest, back then I couldn’t even move my arms and legs.”

“…I see.” Seeing Orphe’s frustrated expression, I let out a sigh. “I plan for us to take down those werewolves to the north. …When we defeat their commander, in the one in a million chance they surrender… then you will be their king, Orphe.”

He looked at me in surprise.

“While I’m your ally, I have no intention of committing a massacre. So don’t give me that pathetic look, Orphe. I can’t leave the werewolves to you as you are now.”

“…Yeah, I’m sorry.” Orphe took a deep breath before looking up.

“In the off chance the slime tribe get’s done in, we’ll be next. We’d best prepare for battle.”

“Right.”

“Don’t lose this fight, Orphe. If you want to live here, you’ll have to butt heads with some enemies. The best thing we can do is to crush them before they can raise their power further.”

We were lucky that the slime tribe turned hostile to the northern werewolves. Orphe gave a quick nod to my words.