- Shari -

Now that we officially got started on our journey, I should discuss our mission.

In particular, I want to speak about the relevant details of this endeavor with him, who is clearly better informed than we are.

It might truly be an advantage to group with a man like this, who has experience on being an agent.

I should confirm if he plans on lending us a helping hand.

"Now for real. What exactly are you going to do in Ekoras?" (Shari)

"Hm, to boil it down, I'm going to help you set up a base. Show you the ropes regarding interacting with authorities and informants. See if you're going to follow your orders properly. Maybe I'll be leading my own investigations. We're going to find out all we can about the slave trade. If it becomes clear that this is going to take longer than expected or you have to leave the town, I'm going to return to the capital to inform them about the situation and then it's traveling all the way back. This is actually very likely. Such an operation isn't just going to be bound to one single place. Rather, they presumably have several bases of operations. Yet for now, we'll concentrate on the place that is most likely. For my role as liaison officer, it's quite simple. Nothing you find out has any value if no one hears about it. That's basically my job at the moment. I'm the guy who's watching to see if everything works out and tells our boss about our findings." (Michael)

So he's some kind of support messenger.

Well, it's better than being left alone with our tasks.

This way, it's safe to assume that this mission isn't just an excuse to get us out of the palace.

"The mission is essentially to discover the operation and bring it down, right?" (Shari)

"That's an incomplete summarization. We also have to gather evidence. If we can expose the conspiring nobles as scum who sell the good people of Rakis, this will deal a heavy blow later on and grant us the opportunity to pose as the just side. At least it will grant us some leeway to arrest those directly involved or to directly take them down. You need to remind yourself, we aren't brutes who throw ourselves into the fray without any plan. We are agents. We find connections, infiltrate organizations, gather information, identify and assassinate key targets. This means we avoid open conflict. I was told you are capable of performing in such a way." (Michael)

"I don't like this. I'd rather directly get rid of anyone who's dangerous. That's more efficient." (Liqu)

Yep, this slime was always for the direct approach.

However, that makes her good at finding simple solutions and pointing out the obvious.

"Sometimes the roundabout way is more efficient. One should consider side effects. If you're aware of the whole picture it helps you to find the best way to strike and get the best results out of your actions." (Michael)

"Hm, if you say so. But humans make things always so complicated." (Liqu)

"I won't deny that there's the risk to overthink stuff. It's part of the thought process to determine what suits the situation better." (Michael)

"See? You're even thinking about if you should think! As I said, overly complicated." (Liqu)

Michael seems amused by Liqu but probably only because he didn't experience the reality of living together with her yet.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Yet the journey is long and I'm sure he's eventually going to get fed up with her.

Surprisingly, things are going smoothly.

The passage is free and we're completely undisturbed on the street.

I guess that's the advantage of traveling on roads in a civilized area without having a big target mark in the form of some VIPs on your back.

Actually, it's been quite some time since this was the case.

If it goes on like this there might be no issues at all on this mission.

I would appreciate this change from the usual.

"Uh, I have a question!" (Liqu)

Huh? That came quite suddenly.

Well, I don't have anything else to do.

"Yes, Liqu? What do you want to know?" (Shari)

"We're going back to that town, right? The one we were at before?" (Liqu)

"Yes, that's the case. Why are you asking?" (Shari)

"Isn't this a problem? Last time we had to flee from there." (Liqu)

Uh, yes.

There was this little incident with the assassination of the local gangster boss.

"You have a history in Ekoras? May I know? It might be of importance for the mission." (Michael)

Do I want to tell him about our short assassin career?

On the other hand, this man is a veteran agent, specialized in getting intel.

I might as well tell him now.

"We might have killed a local gangster boss." (Shari)

"Sigh. Let me guess, Liqu didn't like him?" (Michael)

"It was a bit more complicated than that. Something about a favor I had to repay and personal conflicts." (Shari)

Well, it was more akin to blackmailing and my obsession with keeping promises, but I want to word it a bit more positively.

Michael doesn't seem completely convinced.

"You should be careful. I might be the wrong person to tell you, but in your position, you should avoid drawing attention." (Michael)

"It's not like I'm idealistic. Only committed to keeping my bargains." (Shari)

"Well, that's good to hear. This kind of job doesn't work too well with morals. It leads to rash and counterproductive actions." (Michael)

I get where he's coming from.

If we, for example, find the slaves it might be wrong to jump in to save them instead of following them to where they go.

"What I want to know is if this is going to collide with our purposes." (Michael)

"There might've been some leads towards us. But obviously no one saw our faces back then, aside from some close associates. However, our masks might be memorable." (Shari)

"Not good. I think we should think about getting you new ones once we arrive. Hopefully this will be enough." (Michael)

"But didn't we flee there because it was dangerous?" (Liqu)

"Are you familiar with the saying 'letting grass grow over something'?" (Shari)

"What do plants have to do with this?" (Liqu)

This means no.

Well, rather than just going about the basics I might educate her for real.

"Liqu, do you know that sometimes humans say things which don't mean exactly what the words would imply? For example, when they make a joke." (Shari)

"Oh, yes, yes. But I usually don't get them. I remember, there was this one group. One said something about how he'd rather kiss a slime than the woman at their party. I only know that they were laughing. Then the woman kicked him between the legs and only the others continued laughing. But when I presented myself to them he didn't. So there must've been something to the words I didn't understand. I'm aware of that part." (Liqu)

I kinda don't want to know how it played out from that point on.

"Well, why don't I start by explaining the saying with the grass to you? You see, the origin isn't always entirely clear, but in this case, we can relate it back to what it describes. Just imagine you have a fight. A hard one. You were forced to move fast, leave slime behind, and dissolve not only your opponents, but also parts of the environment. Once you're done you notice that the next one who passes by here will be able to deduce that you were here. However, although it looks quite bad now, there's this convenient fact that grass grows well on slime. So all that has to happen is that the grass grows over the battle site and covers the traces. That's basically what this saying refers to. Just in a slightly roundabout way. Basically, you could say that it's about waiting long enough till people aren't talking anymore about the bad thing you did. If there's no longer anyone actively looking for you, then you can return to the place you had to flee from before and can hope that you as the returnee won't be linked to the past event. It will be as if the grass has grown over a battle site. You get it?" (Shari)

"Why do humans make it so complicated? Can't they just say they'd wait till things are forgotten?" (Liqu)

There she goes again, questioning common sense as something weird.

"They could, but for them, it works out this way." (Shari)

"Hah, that's probably the first time I heard an explanation like this." (Michael)

Sorry, I have to adjust a little bit here.

"I think I like him. He's friendly." (Liqu)

"Relieved to hear this." (Michael)

Sure he is.

It means he's not going to get dissolved for now.

Seems like, for once, there'll be no issues.