Chapter 48 – Messing Around
The development of Holloweye was set into motion. A ‘party’ was scheduled to celebrate recent events.
In the meantime, Violet, Lorely and Slade enjoyed their break time.
Lorely sprinted through the entrance of the palace and jumped off the cliff. Spreading her wings, she carried Violet in her arms.
“Wooooh!” The tipsy sovereign swung her bottle of liquor and yelled like a kid on a rollercoaster.
“Waaaaaargh!” Slade was wrapped around Violet’s neck and he screamed in terror.
“Flying away from responsibilities is the best!”
“That’s not the part of the flight you should enjoy haha...”
“Euuuaaaaaaah! Ayaaaaaaaah!”
Lorely tilted her head in disbelief. “Calm down Slade! You weren’t screaming as much when we got off from the collapsing bridge!”
“Back then, I was looking upwards at the beholders. But now, I can’t help but stare at the bottom!” Slade tightened around Violet’s neck.
Violet shoved her bottle of liquor into Slade. “If you’re scared, just cut your senses off reality like me! Here, take a drink and shut up!”
[‘gnoll pear liquor’ added to alchemy database.]
The slime spat out the foul liquid that was burning his insides.
“Hey! Don’t waste my drink!”
“I’m taking damage from drinking this!”
“Heh, at least you’re not scared of the height anymore.” Violet took a swig of alcohol.
“Because I’m scared of you killing me!” He cried, mourning his shattered delusions of Violet being a perfect lady.
A harpy pawn flew past them, sent to patrol around Holloweye.
Noticing this, Lorely poked the trembling slime. “Can’t you shapeshift into a harpy too?”
Violet nodded. “Pay attention! Because you too, shall conquer the sky with your wings someday!”
“...!” He glanced at Lorely’s serene smile, imagining freely flying at her side with his own wings. But this had to wait until he had enough cores for Violet’s safety.
Lorely dove, flying close to the bottom of the cave. She spun near the group of beholders, who waved their tentacles in greetings.
The three of them could enjoy the leisurely morning, thanks to Violet pushing her work on Griscent. And there was still time before her inauguration.
Flying over the gnoll clay soldiers, Violet imagined the future dungeon, eager to see it flourish. “A tavern there would be nice.”
The slime narrowed his eyes. “You realize this requires destroying the clay soldiers, right? Will the gnolls agree?”
“And will I agree not having a tavern? That’s your problem, mister mediator! Oh, we’ll have a big marketplace too!” She pointed towards a gathering, where an auburn-haired rook spoke with gnolls.
“Oh! Good timing, Milia is there!” Lorely locked on her target.
Her breasts inflated as she engulfed a deep breath. Her wings flapped furiously, diving at high velocity.
A wind wall smacked Violet and Slade’s face from the burst of speed. Their yells of surprise caught the attention of the unsuspecting minotaur.
“Hmm? Boss and bir-”
Splat!
Before she could finish her sentence, a shadow flew past and a thick white liquid splattered her face.
“Headshot!” Lorely cackled as she ascended.
“You’re so mean!” Violet choked, dying of laughter.
“D-did you just throw your poop at Milia’s face!?” He was astonished at Lorely’s childish side.
It was wrong on so many levels, but they couldn’t contain their giggles.
The minotaur froze in shock. The warm slimy fluid trickled on her skin and a foul odor seeped into her nose. Her trembling hand reached for her cheek. She stared at her sullied fingers, processing the situation.
Shaking with ire, Milia wiped her fuming face while the gnolls rolled on the floor.
That was it. They were dead meat. The next moment, she turned into a full minotaur and pulverized a clay soldier with her fist, prompting the gnolls to flee. The berserk cow charged after them, destroying every statue on her path.
Lorely flew away, and Milia’s curses were lost to the winds.
“Serves you right, cow slut!” A fresh grin bloomed on her face after releasing her pent-up frustrations.
Slade couldn’t reproach her for shitting on Milia, especially if the latter was slacking off. He had wanted to smack the minotaur a few times himself. But this time, she was actually working on a tight deadline for Violet’s inauguration.
“Wait, how can you poop on the fly? Don’t you wear underwear?”
“Erm… You shouldn’t ask such a question to a lady!”
Violet’s hysterical laughter resumed.
The embarrassment was unbearable, forcing her to justify herself. “Just like any bird, harpies need to stay as light as possible. So we have little choice but to flush out waste as soon as possible.”
“I-I see…”
“And it just happened that a fitting toilet passed by!”
“S-stop… Haha… killing me…” The teary warlock whimpered, the constant contractions tired and hurt her sides.
Slade got used to the height, allowing Lorely to ascend further.
“I’ve had enough of the cave, let’s leave!” A powerful flap of her wings sent them upwards in a burst of speed.
They flew out of the ceiling hole. The eastern light of dawn greeted them. Forests and marshlands extended on the horizon.
Lorely landed on a rock on the mountain’s side. “The Tower’s airspace is protected by gargoyles, so we shouldn’t go higher.”
“This world is beautiful.” Slade’s sparkling eyes scanned the lands at their feet. Hekalys was his birthplace, and the Dungeon his new home.
His only reproach to his new life was how unbelievably gross his faction was. They ate cockroaches, lived in dank caves, and threw poop at each other.
It was no life for humans like Violet. And it became apparent why she created a toilet slime to solve these issues.
“Yep, perfect for a break!” Lorely sat down, hugging Violet from behind.
“Everything you see shall become ours!” Violet spread her arms. “The surface shall bow before our might!”
“Yes! We will conquer the world for you, mistress!”
“I’m proud of you. I wouldn’t be able to see this scene if it weren’t for you guys.”
“That’s true. I had to go along with your selfishness, and you scared me beyond belief.”
“I’m sorry… And thank you.” Violet kissed the harpy’s cheek.
“Just the cheek?” Lorely closed her eyes, bulging her lips ever closer to Violet.
The mischievous warlock put the slime on the path.
Oh shit! Slade shapeshifted, forming teeth and tongue.
Lorely pressed her lips onto his, her tongue twisted inside his mouth in a passionate dance. Her arms squeezed Violet’s chest.
The harpy opened her eyes, feeling that the weight distribution was off.
“WAAAAH!” she screamed, wiping the trickle of saliva that connected her lips to Slade’s mouth.
“What a cute couple, hehe.”
“Sorry Lorely, but I already have a tentacle-friend.”
“Y-you! Stop making fun of me! I should throw you both over the cliff!”
“Heeeeh… It’s fine, let’s have an indirect kiss.” The warlock timidly pressed her lips against the slime and pulled away as quickly as she kissed. “See?”
The slime grinned. He wasn’t at the top of the mountain, but at the top of the world instead.
“You’re unfair, mistress.”
“Thank you for staying with me all these years, my dear Lorely.” Violet kissed the harpy for real this time.
Lorely returned her kisses. “I thought you would die this time.”
“It was my mistake. Will you forgive me?” Violet stroked Lorely’s cheek as she nibbled her lips.
“Hug me a lot.” Lorely buried her face into Violet’s neck.
“Understood.”
“... And then they fucked.”
“Doing it on a cliff is irresponsibly dangerous!”
“I owe you some apology too, Slade.”
“For making me drink your piss?”
“For taking you away from your past world… From Earth.”
The name of the planet wasn’t a translation of his Common Tongue skill. Violet definitely spoke about his former world.
“How do you know that?!” He never mentioned his past to her.
“I’ve seen everything that happened in the past week through ‘Prison of Illusion’. I didn’t realize that you were summoned against your will.”
“It’s fine now… You should have seen that I died on Earth. Rather than being taken away, I’ve been given a second chance to live.”
“In that case, will you continue to serve me from your own free will?”
“Heeeeeeh… I don’t know~? I don’t wanna deal with toilet stuff.”
After awakening his nature as spirit and slime, Slade wasn’t more disgusted by piss than pear liquor. Rather, his reluctance to absorb waste was about pride and freedom.
“That’s unfortunate… I have yet to honor a promise for your service.” Violet licked her lips and winked.
“You’re bluffing. You can’t make golems anymore.” He narrowed his eyes, not buying her lies.
“Oi, what are you talking about?”
Considering Violet’s circumstances, his old self would begrudgingly accept her requests. But Slade had learnt to go along with his selfishness, one of the roots of Tannhauser’s power.
He didn’t have the flexibility to stifle his instincts without uprooting his motivations and powers. Instead, he needed time and attentiveness to gently steer his deepest will.
Violet threw a tantrum. “Pleaaaaaase! I need you Slade! I’ll die if you abandon me! I beg you, stay with me!”
She relied on the slime to support her defective mana center, to rally the beholders and gnolls, and to maintain the peace with Crown. The moment she lost his support was the moment she would die.
The unbearable anxiety combined with alcohol turned her into a pathetic wreck.
Slade couldn’t understand why she asked for his agreement rather than forcing him like a puppet like she did when he first arrived in Hekalys.
Maybe she wants me to agree because she’s really kind?
Her request looked like an earnest plea on the surface, but Slade interpreted it like a rhetorical question or a joke that he couldn’t refuse.
“I’ll give you everything I have!”
“Mistress?”
“I’ll give you Lorely too.”
“MISTRESS?!”
Violet shoved her bottle of liquor into Lorely’s mouth to gag her. “I beg you, Slade.”
“... Fine, I’ll stay with you.” He opened up to her request, hearing the price she was willing to pay.
“Thank you! Thank you so much! You won’t regret it!” She squeezed Lorely and Slade in a hug.
“But I don’t wanna be your toilet.”
“Noooooooo! I don’t wanna get up in the middle of the night either! La~la~la, I’m not listening to any more demands.” Violet drowned any complaint by drinking the liquor bottle.
Slade looked upwards. What a pain in the ass.
“What do you mean by ‘I’ll give you Lorely’?!”
“Sssshhh… Thank me later when he shapeshifts into hot studs.”
“A hot stud wearing his silly face? Did you hit your head?” Her face of genuine concern for Violet’s sanity pissed Slade off.
He shook off his awkward feeling that a misunderstanding was going on.
He snuggled into Violet’s breasts to admire the landscape while Lorely and Violet bickered.
Gnolls crowded around the piles of rubbles. They grumbled, reluctantly moving rocks and clay soldiers around. A few bonfires and beholders provided light so that the gnolls could navigate after sunset.
Above them, Violet peeked her head out of a hole, sticking it out of the palace's broken walls. "Aren't there a lot more people than this morning?"
The number of souls hustling in the dark tomb tripled.
Violet yawned and went back to find a new book in Griscent's stash. It was filled with magic that she couldn’t use, as she was unable to wield anything but Earth Magic. But that wasn’t enough to stifle her curiosity.