I’m currently sitting under a tree in Lilia’s garden, watching people as they pass through the streets. There’s a lot of them. I’ve been only sitting here for less than what seemed to be 30 minutes, yet the count already passed all the fingers I have. This is quite a busy town.

“This isn’t working.” I’ve been red up to my ears for quite a while now. Yeah, it’s just the heat, totally nothing embarrassing happened. I pressed Rimu to my face, trying to erase the memory from my brain. Oh, that’s right, I named the slime Rimu from a famous slime back on Earth! He also somehow turned darker in color when I named him. I hope he grows up big and strong.

What? Why am I red as a tomato? It’s nothing really. It’s not worth your time. What? You still want to know? Alright. Alright. I don’t really want to but I’ll tell you. So after we ate, I wanted to help clean up the table. I misjudged how much my little hands could carry though which ended up with me spilling some of the leftover soup on myself. With my clothes now dirty, Lilia took me to her room, stripped me naked, and changed me to my original dress. I tried fighting back, telling her I can do it myself but she wouldn’t listen, more like she couldn’t. She even removed my underwear!

After that, she brushed my hair and tied some parts of my hair to my horns using a blue ribbon. I tried removing the ribbon but she started lecturing me. I couldn’t understand what she was saying, but it was still scary nonetheless so I left it as it is. Now, my horns are totally hidden by my hair and a ribbon.

I could never have imagined that I would be stripped out of my clothes by a beautiful girl. I mean, our gender’s the same now, but still.

“Forget this, I’m gonna take a walk.” Taking Rimu with me, I decided to take a walk around the yard. Behind the house, I saw Lilia hanging the oversize shirt that I wore and my underwear. Yeah, I’m on commando right now. What about it? Look, I didn’t have any spare underwear with me alright? And Lilia only had one her size so I can’t do anything about it.

“Lilia! Lilia!” I called to her while tugging at the back of her clothes.

“Hm?” She hanged the clothes that she was holding then looked at me .

“Book?”

“Boo-ook?” She tilted her head to the side.

I already toured inside Lilia’s house on a mission to find a book, but it looks like she didn’t have one. I thought that maybe I can use the book to learn this world’s language. Thinking I’ll never get the message through, an idea came to mind. I picked up a stick lying on the floor and drew a book.

“Ah... Libre?” Finally able to understand what I wanted, she just patted my head and said “Bikus.” Thinking that I managed to tell her what I want, I went back to the tree to continue my people-watching.

*+*

The next day, after noon, Lilia suddenly took me out of the house. We went to this building with many parked carriages and rode one. After waiting for the carriage to be filled, we set out on our journey. On the way, we passed a lot of grassy hills and farms growing wheat. The houses that we passed by looked like those stone houses from the 1700s. I continued gazing from afar admiring the clear blue sky and the grassy hills. Less than 30 minutes later, we arrived at some kind of huge city gate. We were checked by the guards, took taxes (I think? Lilia gave some things that looked like coins), questioned us about Rimu (probably because the guards kept looking at him while they were talking), then allowed us to enter shortly after.

The inside of the walls was like a different world. People of different races going their own ways. Humans, elves, people who seem to have animal ears and tails, and even demons like me. The only thing is, the demons are wearing a metal collar on their neck, some even getting pulled by a chain. There were even demons that looked younger than me that had collars on their neck.

“So this is why Lilia wanted me to hide my horns,” I mumbled to myself. Wait. Should I really be trusting Lilia then? I mean, she did save me from that giant wolf and took care of me these past few days. But what’s the guarantee that she won’t turn me into a slave or something?

In the distance, I saw a place that has metal collars hanging on the outside. We were slowly making our way towards it. Cold sweat started forming on my forehead. I knew it! I shouldn’t have trusted this girl!

I immediately stopped walking. Lilia was holding my hand at the time so she immediately noticed. Since I was still glancing at the metal collars, she probably had an idea why I suddenly stopped. She knelt down to my eye level and smiled at me, then patted my head. I guess this is her way of reassuring me? We continued to walk after, but I started to walk slower. When we passed that area, the feeling of relief went through my whole body. I guess Lilia really was a good person after all. I'm sorry for doubting you.

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After walking for some time, we reached a place filled with stalls of different kinds. Some stalls have small pieces of jewelry, some have clothes, and some even sell different kinds of weapons like swords, bows, and shields. The aroma from cooked food floating through the air and people shouting trying to attract as many customers. It’s like a festival. Since we haven’t eaten lunch yet, Lilia walked us toward a food stall selling meat skewers then held up 2 fingers. The guy selling handed one to Lilia then two to me while showing me a big smile. I placed Rimu on the ground since I couldn’t really hold him and the skewers at the same time. I grabbed the skewers then gave a slight bow showing my gratitude. Thank you for the free skewer big guy!

Seeing the meat in front of me, Rimu jiggled its body. Now that I think about it, what do slimes even eat? I lowered one of the skewers to him and tried giving Rimu a piece of meat.

*Glob*

“Ahh! Give it back!!” Rimu jumped and ate the whole skewer. I quickly tried to pick him up to try and take the skewer back. But before I could, the whole skewer had already disintegrated inside of him. Watching the meat get instantly turned into dust made me immediately toss him down. What the hell? Slimes are scary! Lilia laughed at the event that transpired in front of her. She ordered another skewer then gave it to me.

After having our chaotic lunch, we continued walking and arrived at a street with fewer people. The atmosphere here is completely different. The street was fancier, even the lamp post has more intricate carvings. The shops here were inside their own buildings. Each building had glasses in front of them letting you see inside. This must be the district where rich people shop?

We stopped at a fancy-looking store. There was a large sign outside but I couldn’t read it. Looking through the glass though shows different kinds of clothing. As we went inside, a bell rang signaling the arrival of a customer. In this case, us. A woman wearing a black tight skirt and a white blouse topped by a black vest came out to greet us shortly after.

The inside of the store was fancy. There was a glass chandelier hanging in the middle, illuminating the inside of the store. They had a variety of clothes, from shirts, pants, dresses, and even gowns. They were neatly separated by gender and age.

Lilia showed a card to the woman then talked to her. A bit later, the woman squatted to my level and said some things to me. Not understanding what she said, I just stared at her blankly. Seeing this, Lilia immediately interrupted and said something to her, then took Rimu from my arms.

The woman smiled at me and started gently pulling me to a small room on the back, presumably a changing room. I have a bad feeling about this. Inside was a huge mirror. For the first time in this world, I can finally take a look at my whole body. I looked pretty young. If I’m gonna guess, probably about 9 years old?

While I was thinking to myself, the woman entered the changing room, bringing in a huge amount of clothes. Just looking at the pile is enough to give me headaches and make me tired. She started undressing me and changed my clothes. Again, I wanted to do it myself but she wouldn’t let me!

The first dress that I tried out was a white short-sleeved dress extending to the top of my knees. It has blue frills on the hem of the skirt and sleeve, and a white, rounded collar. It also has a large, soft-looking, blue cloth wrapped around my stomach and tied to a ribbon at my back which nicely complemented the blue ribbon I already had tied on my hair. I then went out to show my new clothes to Lilia.

I can see that she’s trying really hard to stop herself from hugging me or something. How did I know that you ask? She’s intensely hugging Rimu to her chest. You’re gonna crush him if you continue that you know.

Even her mouth is a bit open. Her eyes were also screaming cute. To test out my theory, I tried holding the front hem of my skirt, tilted my head down, and looked up at her, acting embarrassed. The scene probably was too much for her since she ran to me and hugged me. I can also see the woman clenching on a dress. Heh! I think I just discovered a dangerous weapon.

I continued trying the dresses prepared for me but none came close to the first one. We ended up buying the blue dress and a couple more dresses. Of course, we didn’t forget about buying underwear. We left the store with me already wearing the dress we bought. I couldn’t believe it. I thought I would hate trying out those clothes but I actually enjoyed it. Maybe because I’m cute now? I never really liked buying clothes in my past life. I only saw it as a bother. I just buy whatever and use whatever I find in my closet. So this is what girls feel when they try out clothes.

The next shop we went to looked like a bookstore. Unfortunately, I was left outside the shop while Lilia went inside to buy some books. Why am I outside you ask? I don’t know. I couldn’t understand them. I just know that the owner stopped us when we were about to enter. I tried my newly discovered weapon (cuteness) on the owner. I think he flinched and almost let us in but he managed to persist. I guess my weapon wasn’t as omnipotent as I expected, or maybe my technique is still lacking. Having nothing to do, I took a seat on the bench in front of the store.

“I’m really in a different world now.” I looked around at the scenery in front of me. Street lights slowly fired up after the sun set. Carriages are being pulled by big, gray wolves. The streets are not that bright compared to an average street on Earth. Even the amount of moons are different. There are two moons in the sky.

After a while, I heard a relaxing tune from a flute that got louder and louder as time went by. I also started smelling a scent akin to the scent of a lavender. A bit later, a man in a light purple suit slowly approached me and handed me a purple flower. It looked like the scent was coming from this flower. I took another sniff.

“It’s so relaxing..” I murmured to myself.

“What a great city! Even its people are friendly!” Was the last thought I had in my mind before finding myself inside a metal cage.

*+*

“Do you have any books for children?” I asked the old man in front of me. I was buying one at the request of Lumina, a demon child I came across in the forest.

“We do have some. Please wait a moment.” He replied and started looking for the children’s book in the shelves near the counter

“I’m sorry about not letting your child in. I had bad experiences with children here in the past.”

“No. It’s fine, I understand. But she’s no-” Before I could tell him that Lumina wasn’t my child, he immediately cut in.

“You have a very cute child though.”

“Tha- Thank you” I replied as I let out I dry laugh.

“Do these books work for you?” He asked as he spread 5 books on the table.

“Yes these will do.” I could use this book to teach Lumina how to read.

“Do you also have a board and chalks?” I added. Teaching her how to write can also be beneficial. It’s a bit expensive but I never really used my money so I have a lot saved up. I spent more time looking around, looking for interesting books a child would like. This store was big, it also had a lot of different kinds of books from stories, mathematics, and history. Deciding that that’s all I needed to buy, I paid for my things and left the store.

I went out of the store to find out that Lumina wasn’t sitting where I left her. Only the slime that was with her and the clothes we bought was there.

“Lumina? Lumina!” I tried calling for her name but there was no reply. The first thought that came to mind was kidnapping. Lumina looks really cute and pretty, specially with the dress that she was wearing. It would be easy to mistake that she was a daughter of a noble. I dropped all the things that I bought and ran around the vicinity while shouting her name. I also tried asking some of the people but to no avail. I'm so stupid! I should've seen this coming!

“Another child is missing?”, “Again?”, “Another one huh.” I overheard some people saying to each other.

“What do you mean another one?” I hurriedly asked them. I might have accidentally surprised them since they answered me in a tense manner.

“Re- recently, children are disappearing without any warnings.”

"Y- yes, it started a month ago. Children from the slum was slowly disappearing one by one."

Hearing what they said. I immediately sprinted to the nearest place where knights are stationed, but there was no one there. I then ran to the headquarters of the knights in the kingdom. There I found that I wasn’t the only one scrambling to find someone.