A loud roar filled the forest as a small group of hunters surrounded an an angry dinosaur looking creature, a drake. A fire drake to be precise, as a woman in the trees observed, sitting on a branch while watching three people on the ground dodging a bright flame conjured by the monster in front of them, each of the fighters experienced enough to deal with the creature without any fatal injuries.

One of them, a man in his thirties managed to land a hit on the drake’s shoulder with his sword, the blade cutting deep into the tough skin. The woman on the branch sighed. A cut that big would certainly reduce the hide’s price quite a bit.

She put an arrow on her bow and pulled it back, all still while crouching. Ice formed at the tip of the arrow while the woman waited for her teammates to create an opening in the monster’s defenses. One of them, a woman in her late twenties, kicked her foot against the drake’s jaw, the great force throwing it off balance. The crouched woman didn’t hestitate as she released the arrow from her grip.

The arrow hit the drake on the forehead, piercing the hide but not the skull. Ice spread over its face, covering its eyes and blinding the roaring creature. It stumbled and fell over, so the man with the sword quickly finished it off with a quick stab through its throat. The woman jumped off her branch and landed lightly on the ground beneath her and started walking angrily towards the man that was now cleaning his sword.

“Andry, are you crazy, slashing the thing it like that? What were you thinking?” She yelled at the man, who was now looking at her.

“Sorry boss, I couldn’t have dodged its next attack without injuring the thing myself. I tried to minimalize the damage though.”

The woman grunted in response. “Well you better start cutting it up, and I’ll have your head if I find another slash like that. We can’t afford to lose such high quality hide to your flashy sword skills. And stop calling me boss, we’ve been in the same team for two years for fuck’s sake.”

“Yes boss,” The man named Andry replied sheepishly. The other teammember grinned.

‘One of these days,’ the woman sighed, knowing the man was just teasing her. She was glad that the cut was on the beast and not on Andry. A few lost coins were nothing compared to the loss of a good teammate. And even though Andry could be a complete moron sometimes, he was a good swordsman and a dear friend to her.

The same went for the rest of the team consisting of four members: A swordsman, a fighter, a healer and herself, a ranger. Their jobs were simple: they killed animals and sold them. Not the best-paid job, nor the safest, but they had always managed to survive in the end.

“You alright Amy? That kick seemed heavier than usual, you sure you didn’t overdo it?” She asked the woman, the fighter in the group, who was now removing her reinforced iron gloves. Amy looked up and rolled her eyes.

“Geez Claire, stop acting like my mother, I’m not a child anymore. Don’t worrying too much, I’ve become a lot stronger you know?” She said while hanging her gloves in a nearby tree and stretching her strong hands.

“And that goes for all of us, even for Andry. And besides, we still have George to heal us if we fuck up, so sit down and relax a bit, I know you need it. You’ve been taking shifts every night.”

The mage named George looked up as well and nodded at Amy’s speech. Even Andry stopped skinning the dead drake to give them a thumbs up. Claire smiled at them, thinking about when they had first met. They had indeed improved quite a bit since then, and she was proud of them for coming this far. She tried to relax a bit like Amy had told her, but tensed up as soon she heard a rustling behind her.

Jumping into a fighting stance, the huntress waved her hands to attract her teammates attention. The others didn’t hestitate and immediately got into position around Claire, who already pointed an arrow towards the bushes. Andry prepared his sword and George prepared a healing spell, should the need arise. Amy had her gloves on again and had scanned their surroundings, prepared for a suprise attack on their ranger.

Just when Claire was about to shoot a warning arrow, a small blob of slime rolled out of the bushes, its brown eyes looking confused at the four hunters in front of it. Everyone in the team relaxed a bit, relieved to see their expected enemy to be a mere slime, or at least looking like one.

“Thank god, it’s just a slime. You scared me, you little bastard. Cheeky fellow, eh?” George said, putting his hands down and cancelling his spell.

Amy still looked a bit wary. “Don’t get too close yet, it could be dangerous,” she said to the man.

“Why, it’s just a slime?” Andry asked, putting down his weapon as well. “It looks just like a regular woodslime to me, not particularly dangerous, right?”

“Woodslimes usually don’t come out during winter, so it might be a swamp or even poison type, judging by the colour. Either way it’s not wise to get overconfident. What do you think, Claire?” Amy said looking at Claire, who hadn’t said anything yet.

“It’s so… cute,” Claire wispered. Everyone cocked their heads at their leader and gaped at her. Claire wasn’t the person to call things cute, and certainly not a monster they had just encountered in the middle of the woods.

“Boss, it’s just a slime,” Andry said confused after a moment of silence, but the woman didn’t listen to him and walked towards the creature, still inspecting the hunters with interest in its eyes.

Claire started petting the slime, which left her hand dripping with slimy goo. The slime seemed to like it though, wriggling with glee. Meanwhile, the rest of the team took a step back and observed the scene with a mix of suprise and utter disgust.

“Say George, there is no indication of mind magic, right?” Andry asked the mage who looked like he was about to throw up.

“I kind of wish there was, but no. I do sense some mana coming from the slime, but no mind magic spell. I’m not sure why it emitting mana though. Perhaps it has evolved? That could maybe explain why it hasn’t frozen to death yet.”

Their conversation was interrupted when Claire turned around with the slime in her hands, her face a little bit more serious as usual.

“Alright team, let’s call it a day. Tomorrow we head back for Eyden to sell the drake hides, so make sure that you are well rested. I’ll take the first shift when we get back at our camp.”

“And the slime? Do we kill it?” George asked, trying to stay as far away as possible from the dripping slime Claire held in her arms.

“Lily is coming with us,” the huntress said, shooting an annoyed look at the mage, who returned the gesture.

“You gave it a name? Claire, you can’t be serious!” Amy said with disbelief in her voice, eying the blob while it moved excitedly, seemingly happy with it’s new name.

“It’s a she, and yes. Now let’s get moving, it’s getting dark already and we still have a drake to skin before we make our way back.” With that the conversation was ended. Only Andry wispered one last thing before they returned to their jobs.

“But slimes don’t even have a gender…”

---

“Claire, wake up. Something is wrong.”

Claire woke up and immediately got up, expecting a large monster or a group of bandits attacking their camp. Instead, she found her teammates surrounding Lily, who was laying on the ground while shaking uncontrollably. Claire walked over and crouched over the tiny slime.

“What happened?” She asked nobody in particular.

“Your pet seems to be having some trouble here it seems. It’s not an injury, or at least not a bad one. I’ve tried healing her, but nothing happened. Then again, I’m not very familiar with slime anatomy,” George asnwered.

“Maybe it’s cold? I knew it was strange that is was walking around in the middle of the winter, so perhaps it’s finally at its limit?” Amy suggested.

“No, it looks more like-,” Andry was interrupted when Lily suddenly splurted a mixture of saliva, slime and other unholy juices over the man.

“-she has a belly ache or something,” he finished his sentence, wiping the drool off his face with a disgusted expression. The others couldn’t help but chuckle over the sour face of the slime covered man while Lily rolled over and stopped shaking. Claire checked on her, but she was simply sleeping and seemingly in no danger.

“Wait, she spat out something else,” Andry said, less happy with his situation. The other calmed down a little, looking at the object in the man’s hand.

“A chestnut? George, can you see if there’s something special about it?” Claire asked, giving the nut to George who examined it with interest.

“Yes, there’s definitely something about it. It would be strange that a woodslime couldn’t digest a regular chestnut, and since I feel some mana in it, it’s probably a magic tree. Pretty rare, but I’ve never seen a seed like this. You should ask a botanicus or something, maybe you can get a few silvers out of it. I think I’ve heard of one in Eyden.”

“Good. Let’s leave it at that, we still have a long way back and need our rest. Dismissed,” Claire commanded. The group didn’t argue and went back to their sleeping bags, some still smiling. Only Andry left the camp, to wash himself.