Slime Girl

- Shari -

After all this, my long-held wish finally became true.

I am back in a human body.

In the probably most twisted way, this concept can come to pass.

Yes, I am again human in flesh and skin.

In flesh and skin.

Like, literally.

I am right now manipulating the dead skin coat of one of my latest victims like some kind of flesh puppet.

The probably worst part about this is this unsettling sense of familiarity I get from flexing my fingers.

Twisting my arms, bending my legs.

Can I even call them mine?

I basically stole them.

Well, I'd say I won the fight fair and square, and the current law of this country, if it won't end up being usurped anytime soon, is definitely on my side here.

Nonetheless, from a moral standpoint, this is such a shade of grey that I don't even want to look too closely into it, fearing my own assessment.

Yet, despite all the familiarity, my current state also feels kinda wrong.

My hijacked body is a little sluggish, and I can feel the slime quivering beneath the surface.

But the strongest impression surely is how I constantly have to deal with the urge to finally trigger my dissolving, for the very simple reason that all this slime is so close to all of this meat and skin, and this would be the natural thing to do for a slime that got hold of such a food source.

To make this sensation worse, I'm not at my total max, as I couldn't fit all of my slime into this hull.

Still, I seriously got a body.

I can actually pass as a human again.

Although... can I?

I pull out my trusted mirror and start checking my appearance.

First, the eyes.

I'm currently looking through my victim's eyes.

Well, at least what remains of them.

Actually, I dissolved the goop inside them and filled them with slime, where I established the connection I usually apply to my eyes.

In practice, this makes them look rather bluish.

However, not to a degree where it would raise suspicion.

The same goes for my skin.

Yet it seems the hull I holed out might be a bit thin in some parts.

This leads to the slime shining through a bit.

But at most, one would think I'm a little under the weather.

Overall, it's actually pretty disturbing how I can just snatch myself a body and just appear so... human.

The same goes for Liqu.

With her, the telltale signs aren't even close to being visible.

I kinda feel like I'm losing to her if it's about posing as a human.

And this puts me in a very difficult mood.

"Wow, if I wouldn't know it..." (Vela)

"We're looking great, right?" (Liqu)

"Ahem. May I say that you're great comrades and there's no need to ever do something like this to me?" (Vela)

Seriously?

She seems actually uncomfortable.

"You know that you're safe with us. Don't act like this." (Shari)

"Whoa, your voice is different!" (Vela)

It is.

And the reason is simply that I don't have the space to adjust my vocal cords the same as usual with slime.

"Get used to it. I need to make some concessions to this form." (Shari)

Also, it should be as close as possible to that woman.

"Well, it sounds still human. Seriously, nobody could tell you aren't what you're pretending to be." (Vela)

"Just saying, I'm not sure how well I can pull this off. It kinda feels weird." (Shari)

"Really? I thought you'd be a 'natural' at this." (Vela)

Ugh, don't make me say that it's been quite a while for me.

Well, we'll have to see.

Not long after this, we get going.

Of course, we first looted what we could, but our current bodies are not as capable of serving heavy duty as our usual forms, as they might sustain permanent damage whenever we do something they were not made for.

This goes interestingly, in particular, for the muscle build Liqu chose as hers.

This forces me to become a little creative regarding equipment.

I simply swallow my smaller daggers and flasks, yet place a thick layer of slime around the former to avoid cutting me up from the inside.

As I said, I need to be careful with what I can take, but before everything else, there's something I definitely can't leave here.

My armor.

I never had it appraised, but you don't need to be a genius to know that something of such craftsmanship, coupled with all those enchantment that, aside from a few dents, keeps them pristine, even today, was certainly a bit above the kind of price range I'd be willing to afford.

So no, as nice as this leather vest looks on my host, I'm gonna go for a change.

So off with this stuff, and-

"Hey. Hey! Any decency maybe?" (Vela)

"What?" (Shari)

"You heard me right. I know, this was our enemy, but that's not a reason to strip it in front of others." (Vela)

Wha-

"I only wanted to make it quick!" (Shari)

"What's next? Visiting a whorehouse to give this body a try? That's a slippery slope, my dear." (Vela)

Who, in fact, does this woman take me for?!

"What about me?" (Liqu)

"First, you're still clothed. Second, I don't quite hold you to her standards, as Shari should know better." (Vela)

"Oh damn! Fine!" (Shari)

I grab all of my former clothes and walk into that small guardhouse, where I'll hopefully not be subjected to judging looks.

Yet problematically, I struggle a bit at the chest part, as this body does wield a pretty heavy frontload.

I never thought I would ever miss my malleable body, but here I am, trying to slip into too-tight clothes.

Truly, unneeded.

However, it works, somewhat.

"Cool! You're looking like any other soldier in good gear. It's honestly off-putting, if you know the truth. But only then, I guess." (Vela)

"Thanks... I guess." (Shari)

"I mean, if we can pose as them, it should be no issue to slip past Siras' defenses." (Vela)

"Still, we shouldn't leave here any equipment we might need later on." (Shari)

"That's a given." (Vela)

"I'm glad you think so, because you aren't quite done here yet." (Shari)

"Excuse me, what?" (Vela)

"You'll see." (Shari)

...

The point is, Liqu is wholly uninterested in her old clothes, and her current form doesn't look like it can be used for her own old equipment.

She's simply too big and bulky for this.

This means it's impossible for her to squeeze in there.

Therefore, Vela will get the honor of wearing that slime's cover.

"I am seriously not sure if that fits!" (Vela)

"It was made to be somewhat form-adapting. So it seems very unlikely that it wouldn't." (Shari)

"Urgh, it just feels quite constraining." (Vela)

"See?! I told you so!" (Liqu)

"Did I mention that this is weird? Like wearing her clothes?" (Vela)

"Are you two done complaining?! We need to get going." (Shari)

Every moment we dawdle here could get worse for my parents.

"Urgh, yeah. Yeah, I can walk." (Vela)

"Me too!" (Liqu)

“Great. Then I suggest we do so.” (Shari)

As such, we get moving.

I wish I could say it was close by, but from the river, it's still several days of marching until the landscape lightens up again.

We also need to be mindful of Vela's pace, as obviously Liqu can't carry her anymore.

I am as well considerably slowed down by the fact that I need to be careful not to strain this body too much.

Yet I could do without the nightly camps.

Although it might look weird to others if we'd march through the night.

However, even with our slowed pace, eventually nature becomes less wild, and fields and farms start to dominate the view.

Also, we walk past a lot of settlements that border being towns of their own.

Most seem focused on producing stuff, and in general, all the structures seem well-maintained.

So this is the territory of Leronne Eras, the Marquis of the West.

We march mostly undisturbed.

While there are occasionally soldiers, they don't seem interested in us and wave us through.

And then it rises in the distance.

White walls, adorned in decorations, as you'd usually only find them in buildings of particular importance, like the town hall in Aurea.

The bridge that connects our country to the rest of the world.

A testament to all the trade in Rakis.

This is it, the pearl of the West and wealthiest town of the country.

Siras!