Slime Reincarnation

"Piyo piyo piyo~"

"Fufu, you really are quite friendly, aren’t you. I wish Lord Yabe would come visit as often as you do."

Princess Cassina was relaxing in her usual room in the tower. She’d opened the wooden window shutters and held her finger out to the chick perched on the sill. The chick pecked gently at her fingertip with its beak.

"Fufu, that tickles."

The chick kept pecking playfully at Cassina’s finger while quietly staying alert to its surroundings. This was, of course, the chick captain.

(I hope no attacker comes while things are like this...)

The moment that thought crossed her mind, as if to mock the wish, an overwhelming killing intent struck.

(What is this!?)

Looking over, someone was climbing up the wall from below, moving with unnerving ease.

"Piyoyo! An intruder!"

The chick quickly closed the window shutter and tried to push Cassina back away from it.

"What’s wrong, little chick?"

Cassina tilted her head, but then,

CRACK!

The wooden door was kicked open, and a brown haired man in leather armor dropped in from above, entering the room from the sky.

"Mmm, heh heh, assassinating a princess, this is gonna feel great."

"Wh, who are you!"

Startled by the sudden intruder, Cassina still managed to put some distance between them, moving closer to the room’s entrance.

"Me? I’m a hired killer. Got paid to off you. Man, this other world thing is great. Seriously the best! Cheat abilities, kill whoever I want. You’re the princess, right? Mind if I have some fun before I finish the job, hee hee hee."

"Wh, what are you..."

(Another world!? Cheat abilities!? Could it be!? Is this the man boss warned us about? If so, this is bad! I can’t protect her alone against something like this!)

"But work comes first, quick and clean, die!"

Before she knew it, the assassin had drawn short blades in both hands and lunged.

"Piyoyo! Shield!"

CLANG CLANG!

"Huh? What’s this? The princess’s magic? Or wait, is the chick using magic? That’s a rare one."

The killer looked genuinely surprised that his blinding fast dual blade strikes had all been deflected by a magical shield.

(This is bad! With that much power, the shield won’t hold next time!)

The shield stayed fixed in the air in front of the princess. If he circled around behind her, it would be over.

(All or nothing, I need to strike from behind first!)

Just as the chick captain moved at full speed to circle around behind and prepare a spell, though,

"Toooo bad!"

The killer’s eyes had already caught the chick captain’s high speed movement. A counter like flurry of slashes came down on the chick captain.

(Damn it... Shield!!)

CLANG CLANG SLASH!

"Piyyyyy!"

The shield managed to catch most of it just in time, avoiding a fatal blow, but the chick’s chest was sliced open, blood spraying as it was knocked into the wall and dropped to the floor.

"Little chick!"

BANG! The entrance door burst open with enough force to break it, and one of the maids came rushing in. This was Rösen, the eldest and most senior of the three maids who personally served Princess Cassina.

"Rösen! There’s an assassin!"

"Please step back, Princess!"

Rösen said this, flipping up the skirt of her maid uniform to draw a dagger hidden against her thigh, gripping it with both hands. As it happened, both she and the assassin fought dual blade style.

The two clashed at point blank range in an instant.

Both Commander Gracia and Deputy Commander Daimler of the knight order had made the grave mistake of forgetting Princess Cassina’s protection, but in a way it was understandable, since the knight order never regularly guarded her to begin with. But the queen would never leave her beloved daughter unprotected. One of the queen’s own trusted, highly skilled attendants had always disguised herself as a maid to watch over Princess Cassina. That was Rösen. She had served the queen faithfully even before the queen had married into the Kingdom of Barbaroi, a highly capable attendant.

"Ha ha ha! Wonderful! It’s been ages since I’ve felt this kind of resistance! Not bad, keeping up with my speed."

He kept his blades moving without pause, a repulsive grin plastered across his face.

"Do not underestimate me. As long as I, Rösen, am here, you will not lay a single finger on Princess Cassina."

She reversed her grip on both blades and readied herself again.

"Wow, wow, impressive, but hey, I’ve got a total cheat ability, no way I’m losing to some old hag like you."

The killer wore a distasteful grin, sneering as he spoke.

"...Ngh!?"

Rösen coughed up blood from her mouth.

"Rösen!"

Cassina let out a scream.

"Wh... what is this...!?"

"Poison Fog. While we were trading blows, poison mist was leaking from the tip of my blade. You didn’t notice and kept pushing into close combat, so now you’re poisoned. Well, I’ll be the one to finish you off soon enough, too."

"Y... you bastard!!"

Rösen closed the distance again and thrust her blade forward, but she’d already lost both her sharpness and speed.

"Ha ha ha! How pitiful."

After a few more exchanges, a kick sent Rösen flying.

"Ha, burn up and turn to ash. Fire Lance!"

"Kyaaa!"

The Fire Lance struck the immobilized Rösen directly, engulfing her in flames.

"Rösen! Rösen!"

Princess Cassina threw herself over Rösen with her bare hands, trying to smother the flames, beating them out without caring that her own hands were being burned.

"Well now, let’s finish this. The real target’s the day after tomorrow anyway. The princess here is just a warm up."

(...The real target is the day after tomorrow...?)

Though barely conscious, the chick captain didn’t stop gathering information even now. A dangerous killer, and his true target wasn’t the princess at all, but someone else, targeted the day after tomorrow...

(I must tell the boss no matter what...)

"So, what’ll it be? If you want to end it yourself, I won’t stop you."

The killer looked down at her with cold, dismissive eyes. Cassina stared back at him in silence, buying every second she could. Surely, surely, that person would come to save her. She believed it with all her heart.

"Ugh, what a hassle. Well then, goodbye."

The killer raised his right hand. But then,

A chill shot through the air.

"Wh, what!?"

An overwhelming pressure of magical power, an intense wave of killing intent bearing down.

"What is it!? Where!? Who’s there!"

The killer’s voice rose, all composure gone. But the room should have contained only himself, the princess, and the dying maid.

"!!"

The word "gliding" fit perfectly, as a man in a black robe walked through the air from outside the window into the room. His face was covered by a silver mask.

"Who are you?"

The pitch black robe covered him from head to toe, hiding even his hands and feet. Only the silver mask gave off a faint dull gleam.

"My name is Dark Knight... a slayer of evil hidden within the shadows..."

I was fully in the headspace of the protagonist of that hit light novel about a guy who wants to be the secret power behind the scenes. That kind of story, where the comedic timing is so wildly out of sync yet somehow it all lands perfectly, is genuinely irresistible. I remembered grinning so hard reading it on break at my desk once that a coworker gave me a rather unsettling look.

"This guy’s seriously irritating. In the end, nobody in this world can beat a guy with a total cheat like me!"

He said this, lunging at me with the blades in both hands.

I caught both his arms in an instant.

"Wha!? He read my movement!?"

CRACK!

"AAAAAAAH!!"

I bent both his elbows backward, snapping them the wrong way. I let go, shoving him back, and the man landed flat on his backside.

Looking around, Cassina was crying, and beside her the maid lay collapsed, badly burned and clearly dying. On the opposite wall, the chick captain lay fallen on the floor after being slammed against it.

I wanted to smash him to bits out of pure rage, but having already committed to this whole Dark Knight persona, I couldn’t afford to break character now. Still, if I took too long, people who could still be saved might not make it.

"Dark Pressure."

BOOM!

"AAAAAAAH!!"

The killer, both arms already broken, was further crushed under the pressure of darkness bearing down from above.