Survival in Another World with My Mistress!, Volume 3, page 14
We came to a wall in the tunnel, and Lime helped me up. I smashed through the ground next to another metal grate and crawled down onto another path.
Oh, so back in their room I mentioned the whole ground-breaking thing I did on my way to them, and the slime girls said it wasn’t a big deal. The Holy Kingdom already knew they were down there, and they gave the area a wide berth. There were few people eager to take their lives into their own hands by venturing near, and even if some unwary adventurer came close, the advantage was so much on the slime girls’ side, there wouldn’t be anything to fear.
Which sounded pretty overconfident to me, and I said so.
“It isn’t confidence,” is what Poiso replied. “It’s what comes with being strong.”
Dang.
Lime popped a human form from the waist up out of the top of her steamed bun-shaped body and grinned proudly with her arms folded, only further emphasizing her massive chest.
Don’t be fooled, Kousuke. She’s a slime. Those aren’t real breasts. They’re fake breasts; they can look however she wants.
The girls didn’t actually have breasts, butts, or thighs. Regardless of the shape they took on at any given moment, it was all just another part of their whole. I really shouldn’t stare.
I did stare a little, though. I was bad at rebelling against those instincts. I know that Lime was too innocent to be doing this on purpose, and that made me feel even worse.
“What’s wrong?” Lime asked. “Ah, you wanna touch?” She smiled and bounced a little, making her chest jiggle.
“Not happening.”
Judging by her reaction, she might have been innocent, but she was definitely messing with me. Or was she? I couldn’t be sure! I had no idea!
Help me, Sylphy!
***
Far away, Sylphy jerked up in her chair.
“What’s wrong?” Said Ira.
“I thought I could feel Kousuke cry out for help…”
Ira grimaced. “We have to hurry.”
“If we can just figure out where he is, then we can get to him. Please, Ira.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got this.”
***
After I fought off Lime’s innocent advances, we finally arrived at the vein of clay and I got to digging. Unfortunately, since I still didn’t have any iron tools, I had to make do with my partner in crime: my stone shovel. Lime was very encouraging.
“Yay, digging!”
I jammed my shovel into the breach in the stone wall, revealing the clay beneath. Next to me, Lime transformed a part of her body and dug at the wall as well.
Er, wait a second.
“Um, Lime?”
“Hm? Yes?” she sing-songed.
“What are you doing?” I asked, and she just looked at me quizzically.
“I mean, you’re having no trouble at all digging without a shovel, with just…you.”
“It’s not hard. I can even dig right through Holy Kingdom armor.”
“O-oh.” That was impressive. “Well, uh, I’m counting on you.”
“’Kay!”
Lime extruded multiple shovel-shaped bits of herself and dug away at the clay wall with a speed on par with my own iron shovel. I should’ve expected no less from the resident physical powerhouse. This was wild.
Together we dug for a bit, but Lime had me beat for speed. If I had my old mithril shovel, I’d be doing way better. I’d even settle for my iron shovel!
We’d been digging for an hour, and she’d dug out multiple times more than I had, when we ran out of clay to dig.
“I win!”
“Don’t think this is over…” I grumbled.
“But it is!”
Yeah, it totally was.
But hey, I’d also spent time collecting the clay she dug up. And I was using a stone shovel. Of course I was gonna lose. I wasn’t even using ten percent of my true power!
“I’m winning next time,” I promised out loud.
“Then I’ll get even more serious next time!” she said.
Was she saying that her unnatural speed was just a casual effort? Well, hell, okay.
“Are we done?”
“I think this is enough for now,” I said. “It’s not like I’m going to be making a defensive wall or anything.”
“Okie dokie. Then are we going home?”
“Sure. Let’s go for a little walk and head home.”
“’Kay! Little walk! Little home!” Lime wrapped her body around mine so quickly that I couldn’t even protest. “I know you’re tired, so I’ll carry you!”
She shaped herself like a throne fit for a king. Once again, the back of my head was pressed up against, well, yeah. I tried very hard not to focus on it. It was just a part of her slime body.
“Let’s a-go-go!”
Lime slid off along the tunnel with me atop her. It was a really comfy ride, and pretty unique as far as experiences go. It was like…a wheelchair with no shaking or bumping whatsoever.
“How is it?”
“Super comfy. Can you go faster?”
She was moving about as fast as a brisk walk.
“Yup, yup! Whoosh!”
“Whoooa!”
Lime sped off ahead. It was at least bicycle speed, and since the tunnels weren’t that big, it felt especially fast to me.
“Amazing! This is awesome!”
“Heehee, I can go faster!”
“Oh, no, maybe we shouldn’t…” I started to say, but then I stopped to scream.
Lime zoomed onward at a wild speed. I still had Bess’s magic torch, but its range was small, and it couldn’t light the way ahead of us. We were speeding through a tight tunnel in near-total darkness.
So, you know, I was terrified.
We came straight up to a wall before turning sharply. Lime absorbed the inertia with her soft body, but that didn’t make this any less scary.
“Too fast, too fast! This is freaking me out!”
“But it was just getting good!” Lime sounded confused by my terror.
Lime might very well be a speed demon. I might not have heard of a slime like that, but the silver slimes from that one famous RPG kinda fit the bill. Which made me think of how I still didn’t get why metal slimes in that world were so weak… Well, maybe they technically weren’t weak, but they did have weirdly mediocre combat capabilities. With their speed and their tough bodies, they should have been able to kill someone with one body blow.
If Lime and the other girls were in a game, they’d probably be super powerful hidden bosses. Either that, or they’d be gimmick enemies that you had to run from because you couldn’t actually beat them. Or like, you beat them, but they regenerate endlessly or something.
The fact that they were so friendly really was fortunate. Being with them meant I was as safe as could be.
“Are we nearly there?” I asked.
“‘Yep!”
At one point, Lime attempted to pass through a metal grate while I was still sitting on top of her, but other than that, we made it back to the girls’ room with little trouble. Bess and Poiso welcomed us back. Lime was still pretty hyped up from the trip home.
“I’m home!” she sang. “We went on a fun walk!”
“It was…pretty thrilling.”
“I put Kousuke on top of me and went zoom!”
The two slime girls looked at me with something like pity. They must’ve already put together what happened. I really wish they’d have warned me earlier. That was legit terrifying.
“Did you gather what you needed?” Bess asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “I have more than enough clay now, so I’m going to get right to building a simple furnace.”
“I see. Then I’ll prepare the fuel.”
“You’re a lifesaver.”
I opened the crafting menu, selected “simple furnace,” and got to crafting.
Simple Furnace: Animal Hide × 3, Stone × 20, Clay × 5, Wood × 5
Great, I have more than enough materials. I quickly crafted the furnace and placed it in a corner of the room while the slime girls oohed and ahhed over my work. The only thing I’d really done in front of them until then was pull food out of my inventory. Although I did show Bess and Lime how I stored stuff, if that counted.
“This is a furnace,” I explained. “I can do basic ironworks with this.”
“I…see?” Lime said. Poiso was more direct.
“I don’t really understand what’s so great about it.”
“I figured.” From their perspective, it really was just a tiny furnace.
Bess handed me a red, luminescent charcoal briquette.
“Try using this.”
“Th-thanks… Is this part of your body?
“Correct.”
It was surprisingly heavy, and if it burned as well as charcoal, then it would be a great source of heat.
“I’d be honored to use it,” I said.
“There shouldn’t be any toxic gas if you burn it, but be careful nonetheless,” Poiso told me.
“Got it!”
Poiso nodded, and after taking a moment, I opened the furnace’s menu and put Bess’s magic fuel into the fuel slot. It displayed as “Bess’s Magic Fuel” in my inventory. Clearly not normal then. The girls asked how it was going.
“Looking good! Just the one of these will keep things burning for three hours. I’ve used lots of types of fuel up until now, but yours is by far the most effective.”
“Heehee, obviously.” Bess was giggling and in a great mood, undoubtedly because I was complimenting something she made.
Pressing on, I took the assorted metals I’d retrieved from the sewer and stuffed them into the materials slot, melting them down into iron. Since the fire was so hot, it went especially fast. Once I had enough of the stuff melted down, I crafted an anvil and a hammer and got to making some iron tools. The slime girls seemed entranced by the way the anvil, hammer, steel pickaxe, shovel, and axe materialized out of nowhere.
“You can really make things this easily? Incredible.”
“All shiny and pretty!”
“I thought you were exaggerating when you said you were supporting the Liberation Army’s soldiers on your own, but I can see now that you’re probably right.”
When the tools were made, I started crafting small tools so I could move on to the work table.
Basic Tool Box—Materials: Sturdy Wooden Box × 1, Metal Tools × 8, Mechanical Part × 2
Vise—Materials: Iron × 20, Mechanical Part × 10
Basic Workbench—Materials: Wood × 10, Nail × 40, Vise × 1, Basic Toolbox × 1
I combined everything together to make a basic workbench. I’d have liked to upgrade all of this, but…
Workbench Upgrade: Mechanical Part × 10, Steel Spring × 5, Leather Strap × 2
Simple Furnace Upgrade: Animal Hide × 5, Brick × 50, Whetstone × 3, Machine Component × 10
“I don’t have enough,” I said.
“For what?” Poiso asked.
“I want to up the speed of my workbench, but in order to do that I need to upgrade my furnace, and to do that I need whetstones. Plus, I just don’t have enough iron or skins.”
I had tons of clay to make bricks out of, but I didn’t get enough skins or leather cord from the pile of junk. I had lots of metals, but I’d used just about all of them to make the basic tools and the simple furnace.
“I know where you can find iron,” Bess said. “But whetstone…”
“I have an idea,” said Poiso. “I’ll get some for you tomorrow.”
“You’ll have to get the skins from the big rats that wander around nearby,” Lime said apologetically.
“I’m really sorry for leaning on you three so much… I’ll grab something good from my inventory for you to eat today.”
The three of them looked at each other and smiled brightly.
“In that case…” Lime sang.
“I suppose we’ll oblige,” said Bess.
“The world runs on give and take,” Poiso chimed in. “We’ll have our fill tonight.”
“Awesome. Just leave it to me!”
I still had lots of fresh food in my inventory. I was more than prepared.
Was it just me, or were they looking me up and down in an even weirder way than before?
You can’t eat me, ladies. Okay, you probably can, but I’d prefer it if you didn’t.
***
“Ah…”
“Morning, Kousuke!”
“Good morning.”
“G’morning!”
All three slime girls greeted me when I woke. It felt again like I’d had another weird dream during the night. The three slime girls were gigantic, and they’d picked me up and chewed on me. They took turns, of course.
I wondered if it was because of the hungry looks they gave me… Some folks theorize that sleep is designed to give your brain time to sort through information. Working from that model, it was easy to see how my fear of being eaten and the events of the last few days might have tangled up in each other as I dreamed.
“Y’know,” I said, “Having you girls take care of me while I’m naked is a little embarrassing…”
“Well, from our point of view, we’re always naked,” Poiso pointed out.
“We can’t wear clothes,” said Bess.
“Equal!” Lime chirped.
“Being equal isn’t really the problem here, though…”
Bess had cleaned my clothes for me, and when I grabbed them from her, they were still a bit warm. They felt great to the touch. They lacked that refreshing scent from when Poiso washed them, but they were still pretty great. Once again, I could really see their personalities come through when it came to stuff like this.
“What’s the plan for today?” Bess asked me.
“After breakfast, I want to look into that place Poiso mentioned, the one where I might find iron.”
“Understood.” Poiso nodded. “I’ll take you there.”
“I’ll find some whetstones,” said Bess. “And if I turn up anything else of use, I’ll bring that home as well.”
“I’m gonna be hard at work!”
What sort of work was Lime talking about? When I asked, she mentioned treating the sewer water, patrolling the underground, and guarding the area where the royal family slept. She was going to stay here with her main body and focus on controlling her copies. It sounded super exhausting.
“Lots of work!” she enthused.
“Lime is a hard worker,” Bess said.
“The hardest out of the three of us,” agreed Poiso.
“Seriously?” I’d figured she played around the most, but it seemed I was wrong.
After breakfast, Poiso and I began our journey through the sewer tunnels. As for Lime and Bess, they didn’t need breakfast that morning. I asked them why, and they told me they’d already had plenty of nourishment. Which sounded a little suspect to me. But they got nutrients from processing the sewer water, and they ate gizma meat once a day, so maybe that was enough?
Bess’s behavior left me a bit concerned, as did Poiso’s grin. As for Lime, well, she was always happy-go-lucky, which made her the hardest to read. Poiso noticed me mulling it over while we traveled the tunnels.
“What’s wrong? Something on your mind?”
“Nothing big,” I said. “More importantly, how far is our destination?”
“Not very. It should take less than thirty minutes on foot.”
“Gotcha. Then I suppose this’ll count toward my morning exercise.”
“Precisely. I’d also love to hear about the outside world,” she said.
“Sure. Hm, where should I start…”
I decided to start with everything I’d seen and heard since joining Sylphy’s group. Poiso came off as calm, but she had a strong sense of curiosity. Especially when I was talking about Earth, the planet I came from.
“Your stories are so fascinating…” she said. “When you first saw us, you didn’t seem remotely surprised. But there are no spirits or monsters in your old world, right? So why?”
“Well, slimes and monsters and the like are all ideas we’ve had over there, and there are also lots of different works that have characters who are slimes that take on human form.”
“Characters? Works? What are those?”
“Gaah, how can I explain this…”
This world had fairy tales and myths and that sort of thing. Did they have the concept of a “story” too? When I asked Poiso, it turned out that they did. In which case, an explanation shouldn’t take long.
I gave it my all to try to explain the gist of it.
“In other words…” Poiso said, once I was done. “You’ve seen and heard about beings like us, but only as fictitious beings in a story, which is why you weren’t surprised when you met us. I understand now.”
“Exactly.”
Ugh, I would’ve been able to explain better if I worked in sales back when I was alive. My storytelling skills were pretty dire. Poiso was shaking her head.
“But at the end of the day, something that resembles us is just that: a resemblance,” she said. “The real thing is always completely different.”
“You’re right about that. Ultimately, you can lump everything under ‘slime girls,’ but there are all kinds. On the flip side, because there are all kinds of slime girls, I looked at you ladies and went ‘Oh, they must be this kind,’ instead of freaking out. Mostly.”
“That does make sense.”
There really were lots of different kinds of slime girls. Ones without cores, ones that could or couldn’t produce copies, some that couldn’t talk, some that could only recreate patterns, and some that could reproduce actual clothes perfectly. And anyway, slime girls were just one part of the greater slime taxonomy. They were typically super strong characters with an array of abilities, so in that sense, I was always in a position to accept the girls for whoever or whatever they were.
“But even then, normal humans tend to fear the unfamiliar,” Poiso said.
“Well, yeah, the first time I saw Lime, I totally freaked out,” I admitted. “There are weak and strong types of slimes, right? And if the slime I encountered was violent, I’d end up fleeing through these dark tunnels. But in this case, the first thing she happened to say was, ‘Delish,’ so.” I shrugged.
