As the wagon continued its bumpy journey, Mike closed the system screen with a thought, his mind abuzz with possibilities.

Then his thought turned to his immediate problems, the slaves walking behind the wagon. [ Bond of Servitude ] sounds like a high level skill. There was also the stipulation to form a magical bond.

In his experience, slaves were unreliable, so he wouldn't use them given the chance. The human desire to be free is a strong motivator that makes people act in unpredictable ways. In the end, not worth the effort.

But letting the slaves go might be a liability. They knew he had killed three slave traders and where he would set up camp.

The slave traders mistook him for the son of a noble, so if the slaves went into some town and started blabbing about him and what he had done, people might come after him.

Perhaps it would be better to dispose of all of them? No, the chances of killing them all would be low and leave me with a lot of corpses to deal with.

And corpses meant Monsters. What if ten of human body is enough to lure the Drakes?

Also, killing them might get me in trouble if there is something like Karma in this world...

Hmm, Maybe better to just let them go before they could know more about him.

The road continued through a small hill with trees blocking much of the view, and all of the horses flicked their ears when they started trekking up.

Mike didn’t miss that tick and reached into the wagon.

When searching earlier for any weapons, he found a bow and a few arrows, none of which seemed very well made. Likely to be used as a last resort.

He took aim up the hill, searching for anything that the horse had noticed subconsciously.

After a moment, he detected the shrubs moving and spotted a shadow shifting among the trees a hundred meters away.

Archery had been a hobby of his around four or five lifetimes ago, so he was understandably rusty. The released arrow veered off course as it flew between the trees, but where skill and equipment failed, luck succeeded.

Mike didn’t see what he hit, but there was a shriek of pain that he did not recognize and the sound of rustling as multiple things running off.

“What was that?” Cinder asked.

“Maybe, one of those goblins you mentioned.” This was getting dangerous.

“You stay here,” he told Cinder. He brought the wagon to a stop and went back with his knife and the key.

He cut the slaves’ binds and unlocked their collars. “You’re all free to go, get out of here. But don’t even think of trying to follow—”

They ran off before he could finish his sentence.

Good, that would make him less of a sitting duck, and they’d draw the attention of anything that might want a piece of him.

He returned to the driver’s seat and turned to Cinder, holding up one of the coin purses.

“Get me to that safe spot, and this is yours.”

He could see some rocky mountains peak in the distance, but other than those, there was nothing to be seen from the top other than the foliage of the lush trees, so they continued.

After half an hour, the forest thinned a bit, the trees spreading out far enough for the wagon to go off the road and head toward the sound of running water.

Finally, they arrived at a clearing where a waterfall thumped on exposed rock. It was isolated, just the place Mike needed.

There was even a cave behind the waterfall where he could hide from predators. However, they were not the only inhabitants.

“Cinder, what are those things?” he asked, looking at the four barrel-sized creatures sliding across the ground. At first, he thought they were giant slugs, but realized they were translucent.

“Slimes, sir," Cinder said while eyeing the slimes.

Mike felt his eye twitch at the words. Of course, they are slimes. Maybe next would be Orcs or Hobgoblin or something.

Damn, that woman totally scammed him. Adventure.

"Anything you know about slimes?" Mike asked watching the little creatures.

"Basics only, sir. Their undersides are like huge mouths, devouring whatever they crawl over. Thin skin, and if you tear it, its insides pour out.”

“Are they dangerous?”

“Yes. Anything that their undersides touch will melt, same with anything you stab them with. The bigger they are, the faster it happens, and the faster they can move.”

“How do I kill them?”

“You have to hit their brains.”

The slimes hadn’t noticed them yet, so Mike aimed with the bow at the nearest one. Where is this fuckin brain?

It was hard telling the front from the back of these things, but he spotted an apple-sized lump of solid tissue floating inside.

He released the bolt, missing the creature’s brain by several inches. It rumbled in pain, and its gelatinous insides spilled out of the wound like a runny nose.

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Upon contact with the air, the viscera began to congeal and develop a layer of skin. It formed an extension of itself, like a second tail, now searching for what had injured it.

Not only its insides pour out, but it forms a part of its body.

Already, the arrow was halfway dissolved, with smoke wafting from the entry wound. That thing was like a giant moving stomach.

He would have preferred to take care of these monsters from a distance but didn’t have enough arrows to risk losing. It would also get dark soon, and he didn’t want to try and look for another spot.

He turned to Cinder, cut her binds, and handed her one of the coin purses. “You’re free. Go wherever and do whatever you want, but don’t even think of taking anything from the wagon.”

He got up from the wagon and approached the waterfall with one of the slave traders’ swords in his hand. It was the worst of the two, useful at least for experimentation.

He approached the slime, already back to full health after being shot with the arrow. It didn’t appear to have eyes. Only their strange tail like appendages.

He picked up a stone from the creek and threw it, sending it bouncing a few feet away. It pounced on the rock with surprising speed, smothering it with its body and absorbing it.

Vibration or sound? If it could see, it was probably short-ranged, based on movement, or more likely, it could sense vibrations in the ground.

He took another rock and threw it at the slime, ripping through its fragile skin and spilling its guts. The blow stunned it just long enough for Mike to sprint over and slice through its brain.

Then, as quickly as he attacked, he darted back. He had learned through numerous occasions always to expect an enemy to get back up. Plus, he wanted to avoid getting sprayed with any guts.

Originally a nauseating yellow, the monster turned gray, and its exposed insides began to smoke and dissolve.

Unfortunately, smoke was also coming from his sword. This really was a nasty acid. Mike wiped the blade on the grass and then rinsed it in the river to clean it.

Unfortunately, it had undergone severe corrosion. Hopefully, it would last until he killed them all.

One thing made him happy, though. When he killed the slime, his body felt a burst of warmth, like an energy being absorbed by his body.

It was miniscule amount, but noticible in his hightened state.

After the slime stopped moving, he check his status again.

Status

Name: Michael Collins

True Name: Cain Adamson

Race: Human ( G-Grade - Lvl 0 > Lvl 1 )

His race level has increased from 0 to 1. Though there was no other changes.

But higher should be better.

He started having excitement as soon as that first fireball was launched at him, and when Cinder said it was a slime, he really had been reincarnated into some kind of RPG world.

The greed to increase his level was born inside him, but he squashed the growing seed. The baser instinct was not helping him control his base personality and almost reverting the whole effort he put into create a neutral personality.

After a deep breadth, he repeated his strategy with the other three slimes. A fist-sized rock thrown with sufficient speed and accuracy could pierce the monsters and stun them long enough to deliver a fatal strike.

After the third slime, his sword broke in half, the end completely melting off. There was one slime left, but it would be tricky. It was slithering behind the waterfall, unaware of what had happened to the others.

The vibrations of the water would probably mask Mike’s movements, but he didn’t want to take the chance.

He crept behind the waterfall and threw another stone, striking the slime near the brain. Its body curled up like a slug sprinkled with salt, and Mike rushed over.

This time, he thrust the broken blade straight in. Mike managed to stab the brain, but the sword slipped into its body.

He pulled away before his inertia could send his hand plunging into the acidic muck, but several drops splashed him, and he could feel his skin dissolving.

Mike thrust his hand into the waterfall and steadied his breathing as the pain faded. That was too close for comfort. He’d have to find another way to stop those things if he reencountered them.

There was no increase in his levels, but he felt the energy accumulating. Hopeful, he would be able to control it soon.

The area was secure, now to set up camp. He stepped out from behind the waterfall, and to his surprise, he saw Cinder standing by the wagon, waiting for him.

“What are you still doing here? Run away, you’re free.”

“I ... don’t know what that means. I don’t know how to be free.”

Is she really a slave from birth? Most other slaves had looked at him as an opportunity, making it easier for him to free them. But a slave from birth…

"I gave you money. Take it to the nearest town and buy yourself something to eat and some new clothes. Look for anyone who will hire you, hopefully offering room and board in exchange. From there, start your new life."

"Is that an order?"

“No, it’s advice. You don’t have to take orders from me, I’m not your master. I hired you to be my guide, you got your money, and our contract is complete. Now we part ways.”

She continued to stand there, looking like a puppy in the rain.

A sigh escaped from his mouth, glancing at the trouble, “Take one of the horses. You’ll be able to get to town faster and outrun pursuers.”

“Does that mean you want me to prepare for your arrival in town?”

“You don’t have to do anything for me. You’re your own person now.”

“But I’m not. I’m yours,” she whimpered.

This girl was needier than he would have liked, but her subservience made her more trustworthy than anyone he could expect to find in this world. At least he wouldn't have to train her from the start…

Maybe it would be good to have an extra pair of hands to help him that he could trust, at least until he got out of this forest. Besides, it wasn’t like this was the first time he had owned a slave.

A maid would be good and he could train her in other things if she showed some talents.

There were many dark timelines when he followed the rule of ‘when in Rome, do as the Romans.’

“And why should I accept you? What skills do you have?”

“I can count to one hundred, I can write some, and I can tend to livestock and work fields, as well as perform household chores. I am also very experienced in pleasing men, so I can service you whenever you desire,” She bowed her head as she spoke, not seeing Mike raise his eyebrows at her last sentence.

Depressing as her words were, he wasn’t interested in the last one.

What was new in coupling that he hadn't experienced already?

On the other hand, nothing about her current appearance stoked his libido. He was standing twenty feet away and could smell her like it was twenty inches.

Sitting next to her in the wagon had been very unpleasant. Just letting her bathe in the river wouldn’t get the job done.

"Let’s get the camp set up, and then we’ll talk. You said you can tend to livestock, correct? Then I’ll leave the horses to you. Get them watered and fed, and then remove these dead slimes to the sides. I imagine they’ve lost their acidity in death."

Cinder obediently went to work while Mike gathered all the chains and collars used to lead the slaves. There was also plenty of rope in case their binds broke during transport.

He snapped the collars off the chains and used them as hammers to break the weaker links and separate the chains into multiple short segments.

He split the rope into thinner strands, set up a perimeter around the campsite, and then hung the collars and chains like Christmas ornaments.

Any intruders that tried to enter would hit the tripwire, and the jingling chains and collars would give them away. The horses were the second detection line, and if they started acting up, a threat was nearby.

"I’m going to go collect some firewood. If any monsters approach, get into the wagon and scream for me. Try to use the sword to make them stay away,"

Cinder seemed to have the gist of what he was saying. “Yes, Master,” she said with a bow.

Mike didn't try to correct her that he was not her Master yet.