All evidence points towards the appetite of slimes being unlimited.

Many would suppose that slimes are required to eventually dispel a certain amount of nutrients; that there must be some kind of food or a meal of a low enough quality that they will refuse to devour.

Thus far, slimes have proven otherwise. They eat whatever they are able to fit in their mouths and disregard any attempts at moderation when it comes to their stomachs, but a common theory is that it is theoretically possible to feed a slime until it explodes from overeating; a morbid and utterly unnecessary end, considering the ease by which slimes are slain.

Slimes cannot control their appetites; as of yet, there are no exceptions.

-Daro D’Vari, criticized musician

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Finally.

Miro stared from behind Olivai as she stood in line inside the shop, eagerly watching the food in the window. At long last, the pit in its stomach would be assuaged.

Olivai was already looking through her purse, figuring out how much she was willing to spend on the starving slime. Miro decided that now was as good an opportunity as any to try and see if it could taste the air, and it opened its mouth slightly.

Scents flooded in. Mild amounts of sweat with stale boredom mixed in coming from the people around Miro. The heavy taste of wood was underneath it, thick and dense from the floor beneath Miro’s surface.

But behind all of that was the taste of glorious food. Sharp tartness tinged with sweet fruit in a hot roll, fresh and crispy pastry surrounding it. Succulent cordials, cold and refreshing even without being near it. The rich smell of cake, a variety of tastes mixed into their layers. Frozen meats, their juices waiting to be released.

Miro almost deflated from happiness. It didn’t know what Olivai was planning to purchase for it, but it was excited to find out.

The person in front of them moved away with their purchase, and Olivai walked to the counter. A burly man stood behind it, counting the currency he’d just received. He slipped it into a small leather bag as they approached, a wide smile spreading across his face. His clipped voice bore a faint accent. “Evening, priestess. How can I be of help to you?”

She smiled brightly at him. “Good morning, Bordi. I’ve acquired a pet of sorts. Would it be eligible for your all-one-can-eat challenge?”

Leaning over the counter, Bordi eyed Miro with no small amount of suspicion. “Your pet is a slime?”

Olivai dialed the intensity of her smile up a notch. “Indeed it is!”

Bordi’s gaze very slowly raised to make eye contact with Olivai, one bushy eyebrow raised extraordinarily high on his forehead. “Priestess, I owe you quite a bit, especially after you cured my headache a few weeks ago, but… I’ll just put it this way.” He put his elbows on the counter, looking quite reasonable. “A slime somehow got into my stores a few years back. Can you guess what I found when I opened the door the next morning?”

Olivai frowned. “A full slime?”

Shaking his head, Bordi waggled a finger in her face. “No, I found a wall of slime. The durrn thing had eaten everything in the pantry and grown so large it couldn’t get back out. I had to puncture it while it was still in the store. Do you have any idea how long it takes to clean up that much slime? It wasn’t even done digesting! I had to close the shop for a week, and that’s before resupply costs!”

Miro watched the angry store owner with no small amount of worry. He seemed to be angrier about the fact that the shop had closed than he had been about the death of a slime. Miro instinctively slid behind Olivai a little more.

Olivai backed away, raising her hands in defeat. “All right, no slimes. I do need to feed it something, though. Do you know if slimes have any foods they especially prefer?”

Bordi snorted loudly as he turned to go into the back of the shop. “Preferences? I’ve seen slimes eat everything from dead birds to salt. They don’t have preferences.”

Miro and Olivai patiently waited for him to come back. Miro would have been a lot more irritated about Bordi’s obvious dislike of slimes if he wasn’t going to get Miro some food. All things considered, Bordi was quite suddenly one of Miro’s top four favorite people.

Glancing down at the slime eagerly bouncing in place, Olivai chuckled. “You look rather excited for this.”

Miro could hardly respond, but it definitely was. With the variety and quality of food surrounding it, combined with the gaping maw that was Miro’s stomach, the slime was almost in nirvana. The smells of the food was incredible, but Miro wanted to eat. It wanted to eat everything.

The heavy wood door leading to Bordi’s storeroom opened, and the store owner walked out with a cloth-covered basket. “I couldn’t sell my stock of tarts this morning. They’re getting a little stale, but I’ll offer you a discount.”

Setting the basket on the counter, he pulled the cloth covering off, and Miro nearly deflated from happiness. Inside were a dozen crispy rolls, expertly breaded and folded over a fruity filling. Miro could taste the sweet punch from where it sat on the floor.

Olivai looked in and made a noncommittal hum. “What price were you thinking?”

Bordi thought for a moment. “Well, I’d ordinarily sell them for eight or nine silvers, but I wouldn’t be displeased with six.”

Olivai looked through her purse. Miro knew she’d given Castil some gold, but how much did that compare to silver? For all Miro knew, Olivai could be running out of money.

A sudden stab of guilt hit Miro. It was definitely edacious enough to eat the entire basket by itself, but what if in the process of filling Miro’s stomach Olivai lost a lot of money?

A polite laugh distracted Miro from what it’d been thinking about. Olivai held out some silver pieces to Bordi. “Thank you for the discount! I have a feeling Miro will enjoy these.”

Bordi doffed his hat, a mild smirk crossing his face. “I’m sure it will. Will that be everything?”

She nodded and started walking away, Miro following close behind. Bordi coughed loudly, and they both turned. “A word of advice, priestess. Slimes eat everything they can, whether it’s alive or dead. I wouldn’t keep one as a pet unless you’ve got a cage or a box you can put it in, and I definitely wouldn’t sleep with one anywhere near me.”

Olivai smiled insincerely. “I’ll certainly keep that in mind.”

They left the building without incident, Miro nearly foaming at the mouth with its gaze fixed on the basket. Heading over to one of the circular tables, Olivai pulled a chair up and set the goodies down.

Miro bounced onto the table and started bobbing up and down, ardently prepared to have food. Olivai put one delicate finger on its surface, and Miro stilled. “It’s important to thank Lystef for our meal… even if you’ll be the one consuming most of it.”

Miro gave her a pleading look. She admonished, “Wait. It may not seem important, but it is.”

Folding her hands, she closed her eyes. Her mouth began silently moving a moment later. Wholly confused, Miro patiently waited for her to finish. It took a full minute, but she finally opened her eyes and brightly smiled at Miro. “Alright, let’s get something in your stomach.”

Flipping the basket’s lid open, she removed a tart and set it in front of Miro, then took one for herself, delicately munching on the treat.

Miro cracked its mouth open. It could still clearly recall what had happened the last time it’d tried to taste the whole town all at once, and it had no desire to repeat the experience. Just as before, a sudden invasion of foreign aromas rushed into Miro’s mouth, but it’d already braced itself. Concentrating, Miro tuned out the majority of them. The ability came to Miro much easier than it’d expected, and it found itself surprised. It couldn’t remember having done such a thing before. Was it just something slimes could naturally do?

It shook the thoughts away like an errant moth. There was food to be eaten!

Sliding forward, Miro opened its mouth wide and pounced on the tart.

The world abruptly tinted pink as blasts of flavor washed over Miro’s mouth. The tart was every bit as sweet as it’d anticipated, but it also bore a sharp dryness from the crispy crust. Its texture gave way to filling, and Miro deflated from sheer happiness.

Olivai laughed at the ecstatic slime. “Bordi’s tarts are quite good, wouldn’t you agree?”

Miro couldn’t have agreed more if it had all the words to speak in the world. It pulled itself back together, moving towards the basket. Olivai gave it another tart, but Miro managed to stall its drive.

It’d eaten the first tart so quickly it’d barely even tasted it, and it desperately wanted to get a better handle on what was in the gooey treat. This time, it carefully put the tart in its mouth and started appreciating its deeper qualities.

The crust crumbled into smaller pieces in Miro’s mouth, slowly releasing the dry flavour of the sugar-sweetened pastry. How was such an effect achieved? Miro found itself wondering if it was possible to replicate the effect on other foods. Could normal bread be altered to taste like this?

Olivai raised an eyebrow at Miro as it thoughtfully munched on the flavorful tart. “I thought you’d be eating like a slime. Well,” She conceded, “I suppose it’s impossible for you not to. You are a slime, after all. I just thought you’d be… eating more quickly, I suppose. Are you all right?”

Miro was perfectly fine. It was having an unusual experience at the moment. Miro could almost taste the individual ingredients of the tart, although their flavors were muted. It didn’t know what they were all called, but it would find out. The filling tasted like it would go quite well with some of Otto’s bread, even though the two breads couldn’t be compared. Otto’s was thick and dense, with less flavor. This was light and airy, but most likely wouldn’t fill Miro’s stomach as well.

Finishing the tart off, Miro nosed once again at the basket. Where did these things come from? Bordi had gone into that door and then came back with them, which meant there was something behind it that made the tarts.

It made sense. People made things that made food. Food came… from people? But then where did the people come from?

Miro paused, half of the tart it’d been devouring falling partway out of its mouth. Was it possible for Miro to make people?

Shaking the thought away, Miro decided to focus on food for now. People produced food, but there had to be something they did to make it. It probably had something to do with their hands.

A blast of realization hit Miro. Miro had been summoned - perhaps food was the same!

If only Miro knew how to summon things…