“Elizabeth von Morningwood, reporting in.”
“Liz, I’m glad that you’re okay!” A brunette woman with a bob-cut hugged ‘us’ while carrying a clipboard. She was in a green uniform that resembled a track suit, as were several other individuals at the base of the mountain. She had a colorful, box-shaped badge on her chest, so I assumed that she was one of the superior officers. The mimics we had seen in the mine were also here; some were sitting around resting, and others were talking to the uniformed individuals.
By ‘us’, I was referring to Liz’s hollow body, which contained Coffee’s and mine. Although it wasn’t as… hollow as I thought it would be. It was more like being inside a chamber made of moving muscle. In front of us were rows of jagged teeth that were retracted slightly to allow us to glimpse the world outside. Two tongues stuck to the roof of her mouth, but they didn’t drip saliva. A box-shaped uvula slipped through the tongues and dangled in front of us. Liz’s mana core.
Let me explain.
Only moments after we had begun questioning Liz, we realized that her missing presence was going to be an issue, particularly considering her occupation and her reason for being at the mine in the first place. This was the plan Liz proposed: she would take us to her home at a nearby town using our previous strategy. Coffee and I would hide inside her body, and she would talk her way out of the situation while we ‘advised her’. As our safety insurance, Coffee would hold Liz’s mana core in the proximity of her sharp fangs.
To fit in Liz’s body, I had to revert to my slime body, but that was trivial. All I had to do was release the Manifestation mana-generated 3D model that was constantly draining my mana bit by bit. According to Coffee, each of those lines that I was manipulating was a Modeling Vector, the basic unit of Manifestation mana. Every time I released a vector, a part of my slime returned. Given the complexity of transformation, I wondered how slimes or mimics maintained a humanoid form for such a long time. Especially when shapeshifting was considered an Advanced Class spell. A question for another time, I suppose.
“What exactly happened down there?” Liz’s supervisor asked.
“As you are aware, there was an explosive attack on the mine. The primary suspects are Frank Overwood, Tony Ponywood, and Claire Duskwood. Their motivations are unconfirmed. Please send a unit to the western plateau, and have them confirm the existence of an unregistered entrance. I believe the perpetrators used it to transport magical explosives into the mine. I was in the middle of investigating when this happened,” Liz informed her while moving her body on the right side, and I assumed that she was waving her arm around. I could see Coffee’s face pale as bulging muscle slapped her on the top of her head.
“Your co-worker has informed us that you were the one to notify him about the explosions first,” Liz’s superior said. “How did you discover their plan?”
‘Little help here guys,’ Liz hissed.
‘Tell her that you were investigating something in an unused tunnel when the three came and discussed their plans while you were hiding,’ I suggested.
“I overheard them talking during my break. In an unused tunnel,” she paraphrased.
“Sigh… Here’s the deal Liz. Your co-worker says that you disappeared immediately after talking to him, which is giving the others reason to implicate you in this incident. You say that you were investigating something, and I trust you,” Liz’s supervisor said, and then switched to a hushed undertone. “But until that’s confirmed, you should stay low. I also say this because those three you mentioned haven’t been found yet. They escaped before we got here.”
“Affirmative. I’ll head out now,” Liz said after a pause.
“Take the Boxrail. I take it you know where the nearest station is?”
“Yes, but isn’t that expensive?” Liz gasped. “Only top level company executives and nobles can afford to use the Boxrail.”
“Charge it to the MSG division office. I’ll come by tomorrow and let you know how the case is progressing.”
“Thank you Captain,” Liz saluted with her right hand, causing a piece of internal muscle to slap Coffee on the head again. I saw a vein throb on Coffee’s forehead.
----------------------------------------
‘Phew! I thought I was going to die of suffocation in there,’ I breathed in the fresh air of Liz’s living room. Liz’s house was a clean, minimalistic bungalow with a balcony that overlooked her town atop a rocky hill, along with the other houses in the neighbourhood. It was essentially a series of boxes lined up perfectly. The interior was an intricate assortment of, you guessed it, boxes. The tables were boxes. The chairs were boxes. The magic-powered light cubes were shaped like boxes. Even the knives, forks and spoons were box-like. I was currently on what appeared to be a box-like rug.
What kind of obsession mimics had with boxes, it had to stop. That said, most things in non-mimic society were curved, and perhaps mimics viewed our curved objects the same way.
Liz’s town was sparsely populated, and seemed almost like a ghost town. Many buildings were deserted and worn over, like they hadn’t been touched in years. The only area that seemed to have any foot traffic was the town central square, where a statue was erected from one of the mana-veiny stalagmites in this dungeon floor. It was of a strange looking mimic with over 100 eyes, and had the buffest thighs that I had ever seen. Easily half a meter in diameter, each.
‘Who is that?’ I asked Liz, who was currently in the process of transforming back into a human. Strange. I didn’t sense any Manifestation mana.
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‘Who? Oh, the Hundred-Eyed Sage? He was said to be the first Mimic to have ever walked in this Dungeon, and was father to the current Three Kings who govern our Kingdom,’ she replied. ‘This town was named in his name, Baeknun. We’re currently in the Joviacht region, fifty kilometers east of the Great City of Jovia.’
‘Jovia?’ Coffee asked.
‘The city you saw previously. The one with the Great Eye,’ Liz clarified.
‘Why was that thing built, anyway…’ I shivered, clearly remembering that naked golden eyeball rotating in mid-air to stare at us.
‘It’s our government’s pride and joy. They thought that it would help reduce the rate of births by shaming couples, but it’s just given birth to a new culture of people who enjoy being watched as they have sex,’ Liz explained. ‘I’m going to take a bath now, so please wait here.’
‘Wait,’ Coffee immediately interjected, giving off a cold aura. ‘I’m coming with you.’
Liz’s eyes sparkled as if she was offered a piece of candy. She started breathing heavily, and her half-transformed face turned beet red. ‘H-h-huh? O-okay! I’ll do my best! I’m not v-very experienced with girl on girl—’
‘W-w-w-what the fuck are you talking about?!’ Coffee stammered. ‘I just want to make sure that you don’t pull a fast one on us.’
She turned to me vehemently and glared.
‘Don’t you dare peek, pervert,’ she shot, pushing Liz into the washroom. Liz’s face was ecstatic.
‘Sigh, didn’t you say that you’d forget about the thing…’ I said weakly, unable to finish my sentence before the door banged shut.
I plopped myself onto the box-shaped sofa, which was hard and uncomfortable. Nothing like the ones we had at home. I ignored the giggling and arguing that was going on in the other room.
Now that I finally had time to myself, I was feeling a little homesick. I missed everyone so much. How were my parents? How was Andrea and Lily? Was the village okay? With none of the answers to these questions, my core began to ache. It was then that I noticed a bunch of newspapers stacked messily on the coffee table next to the sofa. The top-most article read:
***
Experts project the current food crisis to continue, if not worsen, in the coming months. Efforts to genetically modify the existing food supply to increase production and output are undeniably failing...
The Kingdom’s One Child Policy, established thirty years ago to counter the projected food problems, has been re-established as the No Child Policy. Contraceptives will now be provided at local convenience stores at a government subsidized rate, as are clinical Qualification-Type Soul Mana tests for pregnancy confirmation and termination...
The cost of ration cards is ever increasing, and there has been a crackdown on forged cards and terrorist activities by the MSG. Government officials insist that they are doing everything they can to put a stop to illegal activities, and that all steps are being taken to ensure the health and well-being of our citizens...
King Long Wood has proposed the idea of building a wall in the south to protect against illegal immigrants from nearby Mimic settlements….
***
Genetic modification, huh. I guess science was more evolved here in the Mimic Kingdom, but I assumed that was something driven by necessity. I couldn’t imagine that their techniques went much further than artificial selection of fertile and healthy livestock, though. Using molecular techniques to modify the very DNA of live animals was even beyond what scientists in our world were capable of. That is, unless magic could be used to a similar effect.
Sifting through the articles briefly, I found some that dealt with expansion projects for the Mimic Kingdom, some that gossiped about who the Three Mimic Kings were courting these days, and others that were advertisements for either storage or prostitution, with the misleading title: Large Chests <3.
However, one of the titles stood out among the rest:
***
An incident in the Morana region of the diplomatically neutral Slime Kingdom was affected by an Emperor Class Chaos spell that teleported its inhabitants throughout the dungeon. Six villages and one major town have been reported to be affected by the terrible event, and over 1000 individuals are currently missing. The specifics of the incident are not known at this time, but it is rumored that the Slime Kingdom has determined the primary perpetrators to be their diplomatic enemies, the Vampire Kingdom.
The Slime Kingdom requests that all dungeon inhabitants report if any of the missing are found. Experts analyze that the probability of an individual being returned to their homes safely is less than 25%. This takes into consideration activities of hostile Kingdoms, bandit groups that may try and trade prisoners for ransom, and the possibility that they will be teleported into dangerous subdungeons.
The economic fallout of this event will be unprecedented, with rich agricultural sectors, skilled workers, and thousands of homes being wiped clean and teleported throughout the dungeon. An anonymous testimony claims that the once lively region is now nothing but an empty crater.
On the other side of the dungeon, the Vampire Kingdom has not taken kindly to the Slimes’ allegations of terrorism, denying any involvement in the incident. In agreeance, our Kingdom has reached out to the Vampire Kingdom to express how unjust these unproven claims are, and has called for an official apology from the Slime Kingdom. In the meanwhile, our Kingdom has successfully struck a trade alliance with the Vampire Kingdom, perhaps in light of this new friendship.
The current list of missing slimes can be found at your local Town or City Hall.
***
...
Wasn't this referring to the teleportation event? Shit... That means that our village wasn’t the only one affected. Was it really related to Coffee? Who was responsible for the event? Why did the slimes think that it was the Vampires? Wouldn't it make more sense that it would be mimic-involved given what had happened...? Moreover, how does all of this political crap happen in one da—
…
Unless…?
‘Ahhh, that was a good bath,’ Liz said, opening the door and letting out a cloud of steam. She had finished her transformation, and was now a young blonde woman with a short side ponytail and mesmerizing amber eyes. Standing about 163 cm, she was much taller than Coffee, who was barely 110 cm. Wrapped in just a white towel, I could definitely make out some decent chests hidden underneath; she was almost as beautiful as Andrea, and had radiant, olive skin. But that wasn’t what on my mind right now.
Well, maybe a little, but give me some credit here.
‘Liz, when was this article written?’ I asked with bated breath, lifting the paper I just read.
She walked over to a chilled cabinet and pulled out three bottles, throwing one to me. ‘Here, these were included in our rations since a little while ago. Being a carnivore, though, juice doesn’t really suit my tastes. Anyway, what were you saying? Oh yeah, that one was printed about half a year ago, why?’
My eyes widened in horror. Half a year… It couldn’t be, right? I mean, Coffee and I just woke up less than 24 hours ago. This must be referring to another incident…
That’s when I realized that the bottle I was holding had a familiar feel to it. Like I had seen the design before. I read the label:
The image printed on the label looked exactly like me.