Slime Girl

- Michael -

Shit.

Just a moment ago, my biggest concern was that my cover might get blown and the guards would barge through my door to take me for a lengthy session with an expert in loosening tension around the jawline.

Usually, by amplifying the receptors in other sections of the body.

Or removing said sections entirely.

Yet now I've got to deal with this.

I kinda would've preferred the torture.

"Could I please first get some more information about the situation?" (Michael)

"I would've preferred to withhold this information, but I suppose that is a requirement. Not like it matters at this point. You see, I lived in a village between here and Ekoras. Pretty remote place, nothing ever happened. Well, until Liqu happened. Happened right to me." (Shari)

"It was such a joyous day!" (Liqu)

She gives her a look, but ultimately continues with me.

"Now, to get to the point. I was a normal girl, I had parents, and I still love them. So when I decided to visit them on the way here and came to stop at the smoldering ruins of my village, where some escapees told me they got taken by soldiers from Siras, I was not in the best mood." (Shari)

Oh dear.

If I understand this right, the parents of our dearest Blue got into the latest acquisition raid of our dear marquis.

Human parents, that is.

Any time before, this would've been the kind of information I would kill for.

Okay, that doesn't mean much in my case, but let's just say, I'd have risked killing a lot of people to have known this some months prior.

However, now it's likely the most catastrophic thing I could've been told.

"So, to let me get this straight, you plan on following the trail of your parents no matter what, even if it leads you at odds with the biggest empire our world knows?" (Michael)

"Did I speak in riddles? Of course I will. I'm not sure if you can understand this, but after I became like this, I went to my parents. And they believed me. Believed me, supported me, were angry in my stead. All of this meant so much to me. Leaving them was hard, but I could hardly wait till I got exposed and have them deal with the mob in my stead. And they supported me again! No matter what I did, I received unconditional support from them. They only wanted me to forge my own luck. These people. For these two, I'd do absolutely anything. You get it? And if I have to march into Koreso and leave a slimy warpath behind me, so be it." (Shari)

Let's think this through.

Under any other circumstances, this would've been helpful.

Our dearest royal agent isn't all that easy to motivate, so a bit of personal investment wouldn't hurt.

Yet if I think about the time scale, this only leaves a single conclusion.

The two already crossed the border a long time ago, and are by now deep within Koresoan territory.

Now it's not a difficult question what our Ms. Emotional is gonna do once she learns about that.

Once this happens, we're gonna have a two-slime invasion on the most powerful nation in this hemisphere to deal with.

Once that happens, the rebellion is gonna be our smallest problem.

While those two certainly can pack quite a bit of power, my investigations showed that there are limits.

So was the green one for quite some time out of commission, after eradicating an army of several hundred.

While an impressive feat, I fear that Koreso can muster around a hundred thousand of the most disciplined soldiers in the world.

Not to mention, a significant portion of those are dedicated monster slayers, hardened by their service along the Everhold that wards off the expansion of the Evergrove.

Dedicated veterans who they may find considerably more troublesome than the standard forces.

So excuse me, but I'm starting to get a bit worried here!

"But would your parents truly want you to put yourself at such risk? I need to press, the Koresoan Republic is nothing like Rakis. If you cause a disturbance over there, you can be completely sure that the information about this will be distributed at the shortest notice. They'll raise an army in record time, and completely annihilate you two. Believe me at least on this, if what you said is true, and you struggled against the troop they sent after you at least the tiniest bit, then the direct approach won't end well. You'll achieve nothing, but die a useless death, and doom our country through the retaliation attack." (Michael)

"Why would they blame Rakis? We are slimes, for god's sake!" (Shari)

"Because you didn't do a particularly good job at staying concealed. You deeds are already the talk of the capital. Now, one could blame it on me being pretty well-connected, but believe me, I'm merely one of the first to know. Your deeds are spreading at just this moment through our country, and eventually across the border. So, what do you believe? How many countries can claim to have slimes in their employment? Do you truly believe the people looking for a reason will let this pass?!" (Michael)

This got her thinking, at least a bit.

"Shari?" (Liqu)

"Still, if I can't save them, I won't be able to forgive myself. Of course, I don't intend to let it come to this end, but I have to do this!" (Shari)

Yeah, she's determined.

There's no way to get her off this.

And I thought the good old 'would your parents want that' scheme would work here.

"Okay, but please, if you truly came here for my advice, then calm down a bit and think about this. Let's discuss the issue objectively." (Michael)

For now, I can only stall.

However, I'll have to give her something, or Lady Retribution is going to mark her own goals, before I can refocus her anger.

"Damnit! I already said, I won't give up on this." (Shari)

And she, unfortunately, is smarter and more cunning than one would give a literal slimehead credit for.

"That's not what I meant. I meant that it's common in your case to get a too narrow view on things. You got this one goal and need to accomplish it, which makes you ignore everything else." Michael)

"Okay... And that leads us where?" (Shari)

"First things first, Koreso wants living slaves. As far as I’ve heard, they’ve recently been sending them to support their war efforts against their neighbor Tarsona, but also for other means and purposes. The point is, your parents are likely not at any immediate risk. As bad as this sounds, the deployment of troops is a lengthy process, and it's unlikely their support units will see actual combat. Therefore, they'll live as long as they serve their purpose. Which grants us enough time not to screw this up. Which is why you're here, isn’t it?" (Michael)

Although I heard some pretty disturbing stories about the Empyrean Legion.

Hopefully, those are merely an exaggeration caused by Tarsonan propaganda.

And more hopefully, I'm getting through to her.

"...Okay, so what are we to do?" (Shari)

"Obviously, we need to find them. This means their routes, stations, supposed end location, involved personnel, recipients. Only if this is known can we actually hope to achieve anything concrete." (Michael)

"And what does that mean in practice? Should we ask people out there if they saw a convoy?" (Shari)

I'm sometimes not sure if she means the things she says or not.

But I need to figure that out.

"They wouldn't send them right through town. That would be poison for the populace's morale. Instead, I presume there are crossings along the whole river." (Michael)

"Okay, and how does this help us?" (Shari)

"It doesn't. At least, not in a positive manner. It tells us the issues we're facing and makes us avoid solutions that would lead us nowhere. In this case, there'd be no point to secret crossings and checkpoints, as well as contacts, if they were widely known." (Michael)

"Humans are sooooo complicated." (Liqu)

"No, my dearest, this is simply basic deduction application." (Michael)

It's still confusing in my head to speak in this manner to a big, gruff guy.

"Okay, but ultimately, this doesn't tell us what I'm supposed to do." (Shari)

"Well, in a way it does. If you want to know the concrete caravan routes, you'd have to take a look at the specific documents. You know, those right in the Marquis' chateau." (Michael)

Might not be much, but this fetch quest is all I've got for now to keep her from crossing the bridge and starting a war.

"Okay. So we get those inside the Marquis' place. Should be doable." (Shari)

"If it were that easy, we needn't worry about infiltrating Siras in the first place. You can believe me, the security measures for getting in there are going to be a good time tighter. Also, I doubt he allows himself to be as vulnerable to your wall-crawling trick as the lord of Ekoras." (Michael)

Regarding what I've heard, I'd assume he informed him about her visit, which prompted countermeasures.

"Well, in this case, it might be good that I'm basically invited into his place." (Shari)

What!?!