The failed Doppelganger Slime peaked out of the bag with part of its dark grey body, which had started to gain some energy, springiness, and luster after feeding on Ackster’s blood and flesh for a couple of weeks. It turned its tentacle-like protrusion in Ackster’s direction and tilted it.

It looked like an animal tilting its head in confusion when it didn’t understand what was said or what was going on. It was cute, but at the same time, it was a dark grey slime with no apparent features, so it was creepy as well.

“You know, disguises? I want to change my appearance, like, dye my hair.”

The slime raised its protrusion like it was nodding in understanding. Ackster had already gotten used to the slime’s intelligence and wasn’t awfully bothered by it. But he was curious about what the slime would do. So, when the slime pointed its tentacle in the direction of Ackster’s hand, Ackster obliged and held it in front of the slime.

When Ackster’s hand hovered below its tentacle, the slime grew the tip of the tentacle until it swelled to twice its size. The large tentacle hung downward as if too heavy for the slime to hold up.

Then, like a drop of water running down and off a leaf, the bubble of slime dropped, and the slime’s tentacle sprung back up.

The lump that the slime had just produced plopped down in Ackster’s hand without sound but with a wet feeling.

Ackster brought his hand to his face and looked at the goo in his hands. It looked more stable than the wobbly and soft slime.

‘Is this…?’

The slime’s tentacle pointing toward his hair confirmed Ackster’s suspicions.

“Hair gel?”

Ackster would have never thought that he would get hair gel in a fantasy world of swords and magic. Well, there were a bunch of magical conveniences, and magic could do anything, so even if the society were a little more medieval in most places, there was no reason for there not to be hair gel. It was a good way of styling hair, after all.

But to think he would get it from a slime. Ackster was a little skeptical. But he had no reason to doubt the slime. If anything, it was about time the slime started repaying the debt of getting a bite of him every day.

When the slime nodded its tentacle and looked, well, looked like it looked at him with some kind of expectation, Ackster decided he didn’t have anything to lose, and he rubbed the hair gel into his hair, doing his best to spread it evenly.

He felt like he had covered every last strand of hair, but since his eyes were attached to his face, he had a difficult time seeing how well he had done or whether it had worked. He could see a couple of strands from the corner of his eye, and they had indeed turned a grey so dark they were almost black. But what about the rest of his hair?

“How’s that?”

The slime twirled its tentacle in a circle as a way to ask Ackster to spin around. He did and showed off all of his hair. When he had done an entire lap, he looked at the slime with a raised eyebrow, awaiting judgment.

“Good?”

The slime nodded twice.

“Good.”

Ackster stood up and grabbed his bag. Now that he had at least disguised his hair, he could begin looking for civilization and the information that would entail. However, his little chat with the slime reminded him of something.

When he entered a town, the guards would want to search his bag. What would they think if he carried a slime?

There were tamers who could and did use slimes as their tamed pets, but Ackster’s profession was (Adventurer), not tamer. He could maybe use the brackets and come up with a lie that it was his tamed monster.

In a sense, it wasn’t completely wrong. Even if it wasn’t formal, and he hadn’t used any magic, he had still gotten the slime to be friendly and follow his orders.

It was better than trying to hide the slime and getting caught.

Ackster leaned back a little and spoke to the bag on his back.

“Hey, if anyone asks, you’re my tamed monster, ok? Wait, no, even if anyone asks, don’t react. Just act like an ordinary but cute slime, alright?”

Ackster caught a gentle nod from a tentacle that poked out of one of the holes in the bag.

“Good. Do you want a name, by the way?”

Since he had started communicating freely with the surprisingly intelligent and capable slime, Ackster decided that it needed a name. Just going ‘Hey’ all the time was a little annoying. He was also getting a little attached to the slime. Giving it a name now that they were on a first-name basis seemed appropriate.

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So, when the slime nodded again, Ackster began thinking.

“Maybe I should have asked that question after I came up with a name, but what do you think of Mio?”

The tentacle hesitated a little before nodding again. Ackster felt a certain depth behind that hesitation, but he wasn’t sure if it was his imagination or not. Even if it was, it was difficult asking anything other than yes or no questions to the slime. So, even if the slime somehow had a past, it would have to wait.

Ackster walked in silence through the field. Since it was a wheat field tended to by humans, he would come across either humans or signs of humans before long.

And after a while of walking, he encountered a road leading through two fields. He was unsure about what path to follow.

Since Lill was east of Badhurst, he could continue in that direction. But if he was unlucky, he would have already crossed the border quite a while ago and just passed a nearby city where he would arrive if he headed back west on the road.

Unsure of what to do, Ackster was about to grab a stick and let it fall to decide which direction when he spotted something in the distance.

Since it was steadily getting bigger as it approached, Ackster could pretty quickly guess that it was a cart of some kind.

He looked down at his body again and confirmed that he looked like an adventurer that had gotten caught up in a fight with a dangerous monster and fled. But in the process, he had lost almost all his gear and gotten lost. His clothes were a little too worn, but he could just say he had been lost for a little too long and that he would much rather have a nice bath or shower instead of talking about it.

Ackster stood by the side of the road and waited as the donkey-drawn transport carriage drew closer. It looked like only the man holding the reins to the two donkeys pulling the cart was on it.

Ackster had hoped that the man would be helpful or kind-hearted enough to stop and give him a ride since that would sell his story even better. But the driver clearly avoided looking in Ackster’s direction, wanting to avoid any possible trouble.

Ackster didn't look like a civilized person, so it wasn’t strange for the driver to be careful. Maybe looking at the guy on the side of the road, who looked more like a person raised by wolves than by other humans, would trigger him to attack.

The driver didn’t want to risk it, so he kept his gaze on the road and pretended like Ackster didn’t exist.

Ackster sighed.

“Hey, can you at least tell me where the closest town is?”

The driver flinched when Ackster spoke, more because he reacted to his fears rather than Ackster’s actions.

Ackster spoke when the driver was right by him, but the driver remained silent. Ackster was about to use a little force or at least start following the cart loaded with boxes to try and get an answer. But he didn’t have to.

“This way.”

The driver sounded reluctant, which was probably why he had waited until he was past Ackster before answering. He was honest enough to tell him the truth but too vigilant not to secure his safety first.

“Thanks!”

Ackster shouted and waved. Not that the driver turned around to see. But he walked behind the cart as it gradually shrank on its way west, the direction Ackster had come from.

It seemed like he had entered Lill a while ago without noticing it, which could either be a good or a bad thing. If he had gone too far, he would have ended up too deep in Lill to notice Karandiel.

But since he had entered Lill so quickly, it was unlikely that Karandiel had fallen yet, which meant he wasn’t too late.

Well, it wasn’t impossible for him to have missed it since she could have dropped down further up north or down south along the border. But he remained hopeful as he walked toward the town.

While walking, Ackster memorized the details of the lie he would use to explain his state in case he was brought in for questioning.

And before he knew it, he saw the silhouette of a city appear on the horizon at the end of the road. It looked like a big city, which was good since it would be easier for him to disappear and become one with the crowd than if it had encountered a small town with a small population and visitor head count.

When he was close enough, he saw a small queue of people with and without carts and carriages lining up as they waited to be allowed entry. They had probably passed where Ackster found the road before he found it or came from one of the other roads he had seen connected to the main road he followed to get to this city.

The lone driver who had shared that this town was closest was a couple of spaces ahead of Ackster, so there had come people from some of those sideroads.

Ackster looked around curiously. Both because he was curious and to sell his lie should he need it.

Since he was supposed to have lost himself in the wilderness of Lill before finding that road, it wouldn’t be strange if he didn’t know where he was. Naturally, he should be looking around to find any familiar landmarks.

Inwardly, he had hoped that he could recognize the city since it might be able to tell him where he was. But he didn’t know the names of many cities in Lill, so it probably wasn’t likely. There were a lot of cities in the country, after all.

And eventually, once the queue moved a bit, he heard people in the queue talking about Ilto. He also heard the guards welcoming people to Ilto when they granted entry.

He hadn’t heard of it.

But Ackster didn’t mind and waited patiently while slowly becoming aware of the fact that he reeked. He could see how the people closest to him wrinkled their noses and tried to distance themselves.

Considering he hadn’t taken a proper shower for several weeks while constantly fighting and getting covered in both his own and his enemies’ blood and gore, it wasn’t strange. He had tried to wash himself several times, but cold water wasn’t enough, especially if he wanted to get his clothes clean.

Since he was aware of it, he didn’t rudely impose himself on others and just waited, almost appreciating no one talking to him. While it had been lonely in the forest since he was the only one talking, he had come to enjoy it.

Now that he was entering a large city, where there were thousands, maybe up in the tens of thousands of people, Ackster felt a certain danger and wariness he hadn’t even felt in the forests.

Compared to the occasional eyes taking a peek at him before he could notice them, the countless eyes and presences of the city were slightly overwhelming. It would be difficult to distinguish between all the curious looks and the gazes with hidden intentions.

But that was another thing he could train on.

‘Let’s do this.’

Ackster motivated himself as it was finally his time to try and enter the town.