- Shari -

Time to find out what this slime was up to.

"Okay, so you were here the whole night?" (Shari)

"Yes, you looked so stunning in there. So peaceful how you rested. I nearly had dealt with that person when she was about to wake you up. Furthermore, when she almost grabbed for your core." (Liqu)

I won't even start with how creepy it is that I got watched during my sleep, cause let's be honest here, Liqu is the very definition of "creepy".

In so many ways.

The main problem is that I believe that this almost would have ended badly for Elara.

And therefore us aswell.

"Good that you didn't. But please don't say stuff like this in front of others. Absolutely nothing that implies you might harm them in any way. Don't let them hear something like this. They might believe it." (Shari)

"But she nearly took your core!" (Liqu)

"But she didn't. I can watch out for myself to a degree. We need to really make some effort here if we want others to stop seeing us just as monsters." (Shari)

"That sounds so difficult." (Liqu)

"No one said it's gonna be easy." (Shari)

"I just need you. I don't want anything else." (Liqu)

"Well, I need clean rooms, no one who's out to kill me, and a stable environment that allows me to get my food without having to kill stuff. And if you perform sneak attacks like this, that sabotages my plans." (Shari)

"I didn't attack." (Liqu)

"And she will surely believe you when she spots you, ready to jump, above her head. Do you ever think how someone might react to stuff you do beforehand?" (Shari)

"Uhh, sorry?" (Liqu)

"We aren't done yet. I really dread to ask this, but I've certainly locked the door behind me. So there was no way in, the lock was still intact the next morning and you were certainly not in here back when I did so. So how did you get in here?" (Shari)

I am really glad that the maid is gone now, as the point that Liqu, a very dangerous and savage creature, can somehow sneak into locked rooms is surely not information I want to spread.

"Ehm, well. I wanted to see you, but you were here." (Liqu)

"And this leads to what?" (Shari)

"So I made a path." (Liqu)

"A path?" (Shari)

"There." (Liqu)

She points to the wall and I can't see anything first.

But then I follow her slime finger a little closer and spot a small hole in the wall, close to the ground.

Barely big enough for vermin to pass.

"Wait, how did you get through such a tiny hole?" (Shari)

The next moment I realize how stupid that question was.

"It had just to be big enough for my core and a thin membrane around it to avoid scratches." (Liqu)

Right. No solid body.

We can simply squeeze ourselves through everything.

I just blend it out at times.

"So you made a hole leading from your room to mine, without even asking if I would agree." (Shari)

Talk about intrusive behavior.

"And many more." (Liqu)

"What!?" (Shari)

"You said this is a dangerous place. Since I've started to use caves to rest, I learned that you should always have a second exit to escape when something strong enters. Or to come back after they left, thinking it was empty." (Liqu)

I can get behind that logic.

If the count decides that he doesn’t like us after all and sends his men we have an escape route.

"So you made exits?" (Shari)

"Yes. On all the sides of the building and some leading to the upper floors." (Liqu)

Now I am especially glad that this maid left.

"The upper floors?! What if someone finds them?" (Shari)

"I didn't break through yet." (Liqu)

Okay, that makes it less fatal for us.

"And how did you pull this off? I don't doubt you have the energy, but dissolving through all that concrete. What if someone asks why you need all this extra energy?" (Shari)

They might have no clue what happened, but such a sudden loss is still suspicious and we are certainly being supervised.

"No, no, I am fine. There were some critters in the walls." (Liqu)

The keyword might be "were" here.

"So you ate them?" (Shari)

"It's fine, it's fine. But there's something that bugs me." (Liqu)

"What is it?" (Shari)

"You're always saying eating. But slimes don't eat like animals, or humans, we dissolve. The way you say it it's wrong. Would you stop?" (Liqu)

Now this slime is coming at me with specifics!

As if that's making any difference.

How she always eagerly can't await her next meal looks totally like someone being hungry, or a total glutton.

There is barely any difference aside from the process itself.

Is that enough to demand a different notation?

"I could dissolve them on the way. So I'm perfectly replenished. Also, they already dug some tunnels. I didn't even have much to do." (Liqu)

"Okay, I understand this so far. What I don't understand is why you would want to move there in the first place." (Shari)

If it's about an exit here directly on the ground would be enough.

"I looked around. Wanted to know the area. Also possibilities. You can't ever have enough options in case of an emergency." (Liqu)

She makes sense in a way, but this was totally her acting rogue.

But as I can't change it now I might make the best with what I have.

"Do you have a way to enter the lord's office?" (Shari)

This might actually be useful for eavesdropping or getting a hostage if it comes to the worst.

"Don't know, but the already dug tunnels spread quite extensively." (Liqu)

I absolutely don't know how I shall feel about the fact that this slime has a system of tunnels, where she can spread everywhere in this estate and can reach anyone at any given time and might decide who lives and dies here.

Unsettling.

The point that this in some way applies to me as well doesn't make this better.

"Please at least tell me that the other exits aren't easy to spot. I don't even want to think about what might happen if this gets discovered." (Shari)

Even if they might look like the burrows of vermin, the fact that this one here still has slime oozing out due to the bad ventilation worries me.

I will later have to push the chest next to it in front of it.

Hopefully, I can manage to perform this without issues with this body.

"Sure, one leads to a bush, two are a good distance away from the building, and the last one leads to a wet tunnel where human excrement cover the sides. It was totally easy to glide through there. The water only occasionally comes by. It leads first to another building and then very far away. So I would recommend this one if it becomes necessary." (Liqu)

I think I grow sick.

I might not be able to become nauseous, but if I tell my mind that I could puke at that thought I might do so.

Keep it inside Shari!

I've just got some hearsay about this, but apparently, some nobles are rich enough to pay one or more water mages to regularly flood a system of channels below their mansions, which makes the water carry all the waste to a faraway place to ultimately get rid of it.

Liqu just found it.

And traversed it.

A very revolting impression.

Even if through dissolving there shouldn't be anything left on, and much more disturbingly in her, that doesn't help the image I have now burned into my core.

Stuff like that makes people think that slimes are dirty creatures.

Since some were found in the sewers of the royal capital, where they apparently thrived quite excessively, that was the common public assessment.

This was one of the points which made it much harder to deal with my sudden transformation.

And Liqu doesn't help in the slightest to better this public opinion if she does something like that.

"No, Liqu! Absolutely not! This way is off-limits. Never, ever consider it again!" (Shari)

If it wouldn't be impossible I would tell her to take a bath.

What I could ask for would be a complete exchange of her mass.

As much as I would like to pursue this option, to ease my troubled mind, we have no resources for this.

"I thought it would work well. It was so convenient." (Liqu)

"No, I won't approach that place and you as well will keep your distance from there and similar places from now on." (Shari)

"But why?" (Liqu)

"Because it's dirty! Gross! Disgusting! In short, wrong!" (Shari)

"What do you mean by dirty?" (Liqu)

"Exactly that what I'm saying! There is stuff you simply cannot touch. Much less let enter your body. Glurbsh. Bah! The thought alone is enough to make me retch." (Shari)

"I still cannot comprehend what the problem is." (Liqu)

"There is some stuff you just cannot touch." (Shari)

"But why? What is wrong with this? It has even some nourishing value." (Liqu)

I never wanted to hear this!

Really, I was better off before.

"Don't say that!!! It comes out of people! It's wrong!" (Shari)

"What is wrong with this? Much comes out of people. Blood, water, organs, if you dissolve them the wrong way. There is no difference." (Liqu)

"It stinks!" (Shari)

"Nothing stinks. It's just there. Isn't this just you behaving overly human here?" (Liqu)

"Liqu, I will try to pretend you didn't say that. Because if you did I might completely lose it and hold you responsible for the small point that the only reason I am not human anymore is that you had to force this all on me. So please don't pull arguments like this or I'm going to smash your head as often it reshapes until I lose that urge while looking at you!" (Shari)

She doesn't retort.

My rant must have been effective.

I might be able to relate to her to some degree.

For a pure slime who never had something different aside from this dissolving scan, there must be no reason to think some things shouldn’t be touched.

Even more when in the end everything becomes the same slime.

Yet for sure I won't stop being grossed out by such absolute creepiness.

I still have standards!

And to me that means I won't pass through the drainage where all this filth would mix with... me.

Urgh, I again feel like puking.

"Liqu, I don't want to ever hear something from you that is connected to human waste. Or any other creature's. We will never again speak about something that comes even close to this topic, understood?" (Shari)

"Yes, yes. If it is so important for you." (Liqu)

You have no idea how important. Unfortunately.

"Tock, tock"

The door?

"Excuse me, I wish to enter!" (Dion)

Great. What do I have to deal with now?