Chapter 35: What We Left Behind
“Huh, so this is Lolcons.” Julia remarked with an unimpressed huff.
“Well, it used to be Dracons. The original border is still there a bit further north.” Henrek sighed.
“Pretty sure they up ‘n yoinked Nihola.” Barney grumbled as he looked around the familiar road.
“Is this where you and mom are from?” Junior asked as he looked around.
“Oh yeah, you haven’t been here yet have ya! Well not since you were in ya ma’s gut hah!” Barney laughed as he scruffled the 6 year old’s hair. Junior was riding on the front part of the saddle with Barney controlling the horse.
“Is the scary slime lady from here too?” Junior whispered, though not very quietly as Julia visibly pouted as she heard him say that.
“Now c’mon boy! She ain’t nothin but a sweet heart, what's gotcha so spooked of her?” Barney asked sincerely.
“She was the scary lady in my room, remember!” Junior whined, hitting his dad in the thigh with as much force as a 6 year old could muster for emphasis.
“Huh? That was a week’n before she arrived son it couldn’ta been her.” Barney sighed, but Julia suddenly put two and two together.
“Uh oh.” Julia gasped, causing Barney and Henrek to whip their heads around.
“It… couldnt’a been… right? We thought the boy just went ‘n wet himself.” Barney asked seriously.
“Uhhh…. Barney, Henrek, you remember all of that mass that got spilled in the watch tower…?” Julia asked, blushing.
“Yes…?” Henrek replied, unsure of where she was going.
“And you remember how I said I got that pulsating head ache when we found that other piece of me attached to the slime?” Julia continued as she nervously looked away, pressing her fingers together.
“Yeah…” Barney added, nodding slowly.
“And you remember that I said I couldn’t find the pieces I lost in Dryholm and said they must’ve disappeared because I didn’t have that headache?” Julia anxiously asked.
“Don’t tell me… The bloody bits what sunk in the floor boards attacked my son?!” Barney bellowed.
“NO! NO! Just uh, you know I can kinda imagine that if somehow, potentially, I was in that situation, I might, for example, hypothetically… try and… find someone… and be a little… confused…” Julia blushed, planting her face into her hands.
Her crush on Barney would most certainly have been shared by this other Julia, though given she would’ve woken up buried in 6 feet of dirt perhaps she wasn’t the most stable initially.
“SEE DAD! I TOLD YOU I DIDN’T WET THE BED! SHE WET MY BED!” Junior shouted indignantly, pointing at Julia.
“So what you’re tryna tell me there’s another you running around Dryholm?!” Henrek asked in a panic.
“Uhh, well… You remember that sealed pot Utarou wanted?”
“You’re kidding me.” Henrek exclaimed, slack jawed at the audacity.
“The hell’s he thinkin’?!” Barney shouted.
“Well… Guys if he didn’t even tell me, I think there’s probably a reason he kept it hidden…” Julia muttered, remembering how pained the green slime infused part of her had been.
“Yeah, I’ll trust his judgement… not like I have a choice. At least it isn’t with the girls back home right?” Henrek offered.
“Hmmm, I just wonder what he’ll be doin’ with it…” Barney wondered, uncharitable suggestions came to mind first.
Utarou did love monster girls after all.
…
“Also, run.” Utarou said to Penelope as she looked on in horror as the pulsating goo mass leapt off of Utarou’s legs and towards Penelope.
“AHHH! FREEZE!” Penelope squealed, the spell freezing everything in front of her solid, including Utarou and his tent.
“T-t-t-thanksh…” Utarou shivered, his healing factor quickly fighting against the freezing as fast as possible.
“What… the hell… was that?” Penelope panted as Hans and Rufus quickly ran over to see what the commotion was about.
Garf opted to stay with the horses.
“It… wash… Belrhg.” Utarou shook off the icicles in and around his mouth while Rufus helped Penelope up and Hans looked at the frozen ice block.
“What the… Is that a-a… A face…?” Hans stammered, looking at the grey blob to reveal some twisted melty of a woman.
As Hans stared at it he realized he recognized the woman.
“JULIA?!” Hans squealed, jumping back and grabbing his sword.
“Yep… Well, partially. Lemme explain.” Utarou sighed as he looked down at himself, seeing his pants had been devoured by the shebeast.
“As I’m sure you’re all aware, Julia turned into a Slime girl with some kind of new legacy skill called ‘Slimenoid’, we found that every piece of her became sentient the moment she unlocked that skill. These are the pieces that were left in Dryholm.” Utarou explained as he grabbed his frozen bundle of clothes.
“Penelope be a dear and unfreeze these would you?” Utarou asked with a sigh, tossing the clothes towards the confused witch.
“W-wait but why is she… like that?” Penelope asked as she grabbed the frozen laundry.
“Current hypothesis, something to do with the water.”
“The water?”
“I brought a book on monster physiology with me, it has a single page about slimes on it. Now assuming both this book is accurate and that this Slimenoid legacy skill acts identically to how a regular slime works… both of which I have reason to suspect…” Utarou sighed as Penelope threw him his freshly defrosted underwear.
“... Then water plays a key part in how a slime grows. The book mentions a couple varieties of slimes. Green slimes mainly grow off of plant life, grey slimes off of mineral water in caves and pink slimes with mana.” Utarou explained as he put on his underwear, tapping the ice cube containing the Grey Slime Julia.
“No mention of blue slimes, which is what our mentally stable Julia we all know and love is, presumably that’s a slime made out of flesh considering how I grew her mass.” Utarou continued, Penelope throwing his freshly defrosted pants to him to put on.
“So wait, why did this… thing attack me then?” Penelope asked nervously.
“Grey slimes are known to mindlessly attack any living creature to try and devour them. Notably, she wasn’t actually trying to digest me… partially… I think she was trying to drink my sweat.” Utarou hypothesized.
“Now… huh? Why the heck would she be tryna do that?” Rufus asked indignantly.
“I dunno, but I have a plan to try and fix her.” Utarou said with a sly smirk.
“Oh no…” Hans and Rufus muttered in unison, recognizing that look.
“What?” Penelope asked, naively.
“I simply need to take a bath inside of her.” Utarou declared.
“Huh? Penelope asked again, slack jawed.