“Who’s Demonia?” Ryu asked.

“She’s a witch that made a pact with a demon, at least that’s what everyone in town says,” Sylfie replied.

The carriage they were sitting in rattled as they traveled down the stone road outside the kingdom. The Slime Forest was a few minutes’ ride to the Wildlands, longer on foot. Aurora’s teleportation magic was still uncharted territory, so they donned their [Adventurer’s Attire] and decided to pay a traveling merchant to shuttle them there instead.

“Why’d she make a pact with a demon, nya? That doesn’t sound very fun,” Aurora remarked.

Sylfie shrugged. “Beats me. It could be for power, or to fulfill some sort of goal she’s after. Either way, you have to have some screws loose if you choose the Wildlands as your home.”

Ryu knew of several people in town with a few loose screws.

“H-hey! Why are you staring at me?! I’m not crazy!” Sylfie protested.

“You nearly turned us into charcoal,” he stated.

“I apologize for that,” she mumbled, her ears reddening.

Aurora crossed her arms. “I’ll consider forgiving you, nya.”

“I’ll buy you some fried fish from the market when we get back.”

“Apology accepted!” Aurora exclaimed, hovering happily in the air for a second.

The carriage continued along, passing open fields as far as the eye could see. The sea of green mesmerized Ryu. He had never seen so much grass in one place. Obviously, images of plains and other biomes surfaced here and there in books or on the internet, but in person, the most he’d seen was that of public parks, the grass dry and trampled underneath the feet of a million parkgoers.

His mind started to wander towards the café. Watching the view while sipping a cup of coffee would make for an amazing experience. “I’ve been meaning to ask, how is it that Miss Hazel is able to run a café out here when coffee is supposed to be hard to come by?”

“The adventurers,” Sylfie replied, leaning back and crossing her legs. “They bring back all the supplies she needs, and she takes care of their needs at the café. It’s sort of a similar situation to yours. Grandmother and Grandfather used to be adventurers too before they decided to settle down and live a quiet life. They left behind their homeland and started anew here.”

“Speaking of coffee, Ryu! Now’s the time for my present! You’re going to really enjoy it!” Aurora said, excitedly.

Ryu sighed. “Okay, I’ll bite, what is it?”

“First, you have to give me a coffee berry, nya.”

“And what are you going to do with the berry?” Sylfie questioned.

“Eat it!”

“No!” they both said in unison.

“Caffeine is toxic to cats,” Ryu scolded. “You should know better!”

“But—”

“No buts! End of discussion!” Sylfie exclaimed.

Aurora grumbled indignantly. “Never let me explain anything, nya. See if I try to give you a gift again.”

The carriage stopped in front of a gathering of trees. “We’re here,” the gruff voice of the merchant notified them.

They hopped off the carriage and entered the Slime Forest, the rickety clatter of wheels getting quieter as the merchant carried on.

Sylfie didn’t bother pulling out her bow, walking beside Ryu at an ambling pace. Aurora floated behind them, still muttering something under her breath about ungrateful friends.

Ryu felt at ease; this was where he was supposed to be. He could take down monsters and gather supplies at a casual pace, without worrying about harm befalling him. Even if the slimes were too much to handle—though Ryu highly doubted it would come to that—Sylfie was there to handle things.

They spotted a few slimes down the river leading to the coast. The monsters jiggled, their bodies made of seawater and algae. Ryu took the lead, confidently casting a few [Combustion] spells and disintegrating the creatures into nothing but vapor and agar. He scooped the contents into a small pouch, puffing out his chest triumphantly.

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Sylfie rolled her eyes, smiling. “Looking good, Nutcracker!”

“Just you watch, by the time I’m finished here, I’ll have a new title that reflects the kind of adventurer I really am. Something like ‘Slime Slayer’ or ‘Slime Destroyer’ just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?”

“I don’t think fighting amorphous blobs is going to net you any points for heroism in the townsfolk’s eyes,” she laughed.

“We’ll see,” Ryu huffed.

He continued incinerating slimes until his pack was full of pouches of agar. The poor monsters didn’t even get a chance to fight back, jumping about until Ryu’s spell connected with their gelatinous bodies.

“Good work, you basically cleared out this area. The slimes probably won’t spawn for a little while so we can check back again next week if we need more agar. For now, I think we should head back home,” Sylfie said.

Ryu breathed a sigh of relief. He was tired from using magic all day, and the sun had started to set. He was eager to get back to the café and jump into their plush mattress after a hot shower. He could figure out how to deal with sharing the bed with Sylfie when they got back. Perhaps he could convince Hazel to move a second mattress into the room. That didn’t seem like an unreasonable request.

After the fiasco in Kodama Forest, Ryu was hesitant to spend the night in another forest. Sylfie seemed to pick up on this fact. “Or we could set up camp here,” she said with a sly smile.

“No thanks, I’m perfectly comfortable sending for a carriage. It doesn’t make sense to camp here when the ride back won’t take too long.”

That much was true; they weren’t far from the main road. Even at night, the stone road was well traveled. It wouldn’t be hard to find a driver willing to shuttle them back to Cacao Town for a few Nibs.

“Ooh, are you scared?” Sylfie teased him. “You know, they say that if you kill enough slimes, you’ll anger their sovereign, the Slime King. He won’t stop until he’s gobbled you up and digested you in his belly!”

Ryu was unimpressed. “What am I, four? You can’t scare me with your grandmother’s bedtime stories.” He felt something on the back of his foot all of a sudden. Looking down, he noticed Aurora shivering behind him, clutching his pant leg.

“D-do you think the Slime King eats cats?”

“Oh he eats everything,” Sylfie said, putting on a scary voice.

Aurora scrambled up Ryu’s shirt, poking her head out of his collar. “Y-you guys will protect me, right?”

“Can’t protect you if we’re dissolved with you,” Ryu shrugged, playing along.

“L-let’s get out of here, please,” Aurora requested.

“Oh, alright, but only because we like you so much,” Sylfie relented in her teasing.

“T-thank you, nya.”

The Dark Elf turned to Ryu, a skill card suddenly appearing in her hand. “Hmm, you’ve been killing slimes all day. I’m sure you’ve met the criteria for a few levels by now.”

Ryu patted his pockets. “How did you—”

“Look at you! [Level 4]! That means you must’ve killed at least forty-five slimes and gathered five monster parts.”

“[Level 4] already?” Ryu raised an eyebrow. He shook his head, getting back on track. “W-wait a minute! That’s my skill card! You used that same skill to take it in Kodama!”

“The skill is called [Thief]. It’s a pretty low-level Adventurer Skill, but very useful even against higher-level foes. You can steal their weapons and armor in some cases if your aim and concentration are good enough. As for leveling up, it’s easier to level up in adventuring early on. That’s why there are so few Coffee Brewers. It takes a lot of repetition and discipline to master brewing but neither specialty is self-reliant. Adventurers and brewers rely on each other to make things work.”

“I see. So, how do I unlock [Thief]?” Ryu asked, curiously. It sounded perfect for getting out of hairy situations.

“You acquire it at [Level 5]. You’ll need to defeat an area boss and ninety-five monsters in total. But don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll come across more than a few if we keep combing the area later. They aren’t too difficult to defeat unless you run into an area boss in higher-level parts of the Wildlands.”

“That sounds like our next goal. Now hand over my card, I want to check my skills.”

Sylfie flicked Ryu’s skill card back to him, the latter scanning his statistics page.

[Adventurer card for beginners. This card signifies that the carrier in question is a novice in foraging and subjugation of local flora and fauna in the Wildlands]

[Current level: 4]

[Skill Acquired: Dehydrate]

[Skill Acquired: Hydrate]

[Skill Acquired: Hydrolyze]

[Level Bonus: Sapphire Gauntlets]

[Level Bonus: Sapphire Pauldron]

[Level Bonus: Aqua Staff]

“A lot of water-based skills…Was that because I killed all these slimes?” Ryu wondered aloud.

“It seems like it. I received more fire-based skills early on,” Sylfie replied. “We can ask one of the Mage Class Adventurers at the café about them. Some of them specialize in elemental magic.”

Ryu stared at his skill card. He could become a Water Mage with his skills! Just like the Battle Mage in World of Glory! I wonder if I can learn other elemental skills.

He turned to Sylfie to ask, but she was nowhere to be found. It was as if she vanished. Aurora trembled against Ryu’s chest, cowering inside his shirt.

“Aurora, did you see where Sylfie went?”

“S-Slime King got her!” she wailed.

Ryu’s head swiveled around. He spotted marks in the soil where Sylfie must have dragged her fingers. Why hadn’t he heard anything? Moreover, how had she been caught? Ryu took off into the forest, following the tracks back to the shore. When he reached the end of the trail, he craned his neck back, his eyes widening as the figure before him blotted out the moon.

An enormous slime the size of Hazel’s café towered over him. One of its tendrils was wrapped tightly around Sylfie, binding her arms and legs, and covering her mouth. She couldn’t cast a single spell, let alone reach for her bow. Ryu was on his own.

“Aurora—”

“[Level 70],” the cat whispered with fright.