*A week ago…

An alarm is blaring in a research lab. The dim corridors fade in and out between different saturations of red. Numerous personnels dressed in white lab coats scramble about in sterilized hallways, running amok in a fervent search inside an intricate facility.

Random Scientist: Damn! Where could it have gone?

A lab worker enters a room with what looks to be an observation center with multiple other lab workers feverishly working at several button panel stations. In front is a transparent glass panel where various test subjects are being observed. Something appears to have broken loose from one of the test tubes.

“Find the test subject!” One of the scientists urgently yells with a hint of dread.

“Don’t let it get away!”

***

*Back to the present in Pillberry.

Tatsuo, Sharon and Victor are sitting against a corner of a gloomy alley like a crew of outcasts.

“Aw man…This sucks…we’re almost out of money…” Sharon groaned glumly with a piece of bread in her mouth.

“Why does Victor get to have food but I don’t…?” Tatsuo whined with the sound of his stomach grumbling, which only enticed Sharon to grow more irritated.

“Shut up! Who’s the one that wasted all our money??!! Victor has been using his restaurant money to provide food and shelter for us!!!” Sharon snapped back to Tatsuo.

Sharon turns to Victor. “I’m sorry Victor, you could’ve just used your money to get a map and left us here…”

Victor: Well…Like I said….I’d feel bad if I left you guys just like this…

Tatsuo: But now we’re almost out of cash, what should we do…?

A moment of silence passes as the group tries to come up with any sort of solution, until Victor finally speaks up with a suggestion.

Victor: I’ve been thinking. We’re now a guild right? Why don’t we make some use of that? We can try to pick up some jobs at the guild hub or something.

Sharon perks up – “You’re right! Great idea Victor!”

***

*At the guild hub.

The group takes the time browsing through the available quests on the quest boards, but are failing to find anything substantial.

Tatsuo: None of these sounds exciting…

“For real…” Sharon said in agreement with her head drawn near the wooden quest board in front of her, skimming through its contents again. “I know this is Irene, but there’s gotta be at least one dungeon that seems worthwhile to do here…Most of the requests posted here are just asking us to do menial mundane tasks… And the rewards aren’t great either…”

At the corner of Victor’s eyes, one of the quests catches his attention.

Victor: Hey guys. How about we try to go for this one?

Tatsuo and Sharon slide their bodies close to Victor. He points to a picture of a slime wanted alive for $1,000,000,000.

Sharon: Huh??!! Am I seeing things…??!! There’s no way this is real…! It’s gotta be a scam of some sort…!

Victor carefully reviews the quest paper – “But it’s got the ARS Army insignia on it though…”

Sharon:…!

Sharon: You’re right…!

This helped prove that this quest was valid, but the lack of context for such an outlandish request left Sharon perplexed.

Sharon: But why would the ARS Army want this slime so badly…?

Victor picks the quest off the bulletin board. “Well for now, let’s just go with this then…”

The group walks up to the reception counter to inform the receptionist about confirming the quest and promptly leaves the guild hub. On the way out, Sharon and Victor discuss how they should tackle the quest.

Sharon: But where would we even find it? What are the chances of us running into that one particular slime? For all we know it might not even be in this region and someone could’ve found it already…

Sharon’s prattle slowly comes to a stop as they exit the guild hub. Within Sharon and Victor’s peripheral view, an unusual light blue colored figure enters their sight. The two turn to look at Tatsuo and see a slime attached to his neck. Tatsuo looks back at them, wondering why they began to stare at him.

How odd. It wasn’t the first time the two of them have seen a slime, but somehow this one looked recently familiar.

Sharon and Victor: …..

Sharon: Hey Victor. Pull up the poster.

Victor lifts up the quest poster for them to view which depicts what the slime looks like.

Victor: Mm. Yeah. That’s it.

“THE SLIME!!!” Victor and Sharon shouted aloud in unison.

The slime gets startled by the two’s yelling and leaps off of Tatsuo’s neck. Its bean-bag like body nimbly bounces off into the pedestrian filled street.

Sharon: After it!

The three immediately give chase. Sharon and Victor crudely maneuver their way through the mob of people, promptly apologizing every couple moment for their startling movements. Soon, the two of them find their way out of the traffic of people as the street begins to clear up. Up ahead, the two have a clear sight of the slime bouncing away.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Victor: What the heck?! Of all places…?! It was here all along?! You sure that thing isn’t just some other slime?!

Sharon: I’ve seen regular slimes before! And you saw the poster yourself, that’s the one!

Victor (panting): Well how convenient...! Lucky us..!

Somehow, Victor’s words struck a thought in Sharon. She turns around to see Tatsuo gravely out of breath, slogging behind them.

Sharon (suspiciously): Yeah…

“Very lucky…”

She recollects the events she had with Tatsuo thus far. It seems that no matter what situation they find themselves in, Tatsuo would somehow lead them to a better one. Is it all purely coincidental? Or was there something more to it…?

Sharon (Thinking): I’m probably overthinking things…

Dashing her thoughts away, Sharon picks up pace to catch up with the slime. Meanwhile, Tatsuo is struggling to even move his body coherently. His stomach grumbles repeatedly more, the gut wrenching sound reaches even to both Sharon and Victor despite the large gap between them.

Tatsuo (gasping): Wait…! Hold up guys…! Can’t…

Tatsuo: Too….! Hungry…!

The sound of a moaning stomach bellows once again, with the sound growing smaller until it ends with a sudden flopping thud.

Victor twists his head back – “Hey, Tatsuo just fell…!”

Sharon: Don’t worry about him! Just focus on capturing the slime! That slime will solve all of our problems!

It pained Victor to leave Tatsuo behind, but Sharon was right, the slime was their top priority.

Victor: Damn! For a slime it’s pretty dang fast! Is that thing actually a slime even…?!

“Hey!” Victor turns his head to Sharon. “Can’t you shoot an arrow at it or something?!”

Sharon: The poster wanted it captured alive! We can’t risk killing it!

Sharon spots something on the ground and sees a can.

Victor holds his head up. His eyes wincing and his teeth gnashes together. He was already nearing his limit – No, this was probably the most extensive work out he’s ever done in his life thus far. Even with the intense burns he felt throughout his body, and the unpleasant sticky sensation of sweat running down his body, he forced himself to press onward. He couldn’t afford to let Tatsuo’s sacrifice and all their efforts be put in vain.

Suddenly a can whizzes past Victor.

Victor: What the…?!

The can swerves mid-air and it connects with the slime, stunning it and throwing it off balance. Victor turns around to see Sharon in her post-kicking pose. She lets out a relieved sigh.

Victor: Woah…! Nice Sharon..!

Victor rushes over to the stunned slime.

The slime squirms in disarray. Spotting the can that had struck it, It sucks the can into its body and then shoots it into Victor’s face.

Victor: Ouch…!

Victor brings his hands to his face, giving the slime the opportune to leap away.

Victor: Dammit…! That little…!

***

*Meanwhile somewhere else.

Tatsuo wearily roams the streets with no one else in sight. The town dims with the sun beginning to set. Tatsuo whines about his unbearable hunger.

Tatsuo: Aaaah…! So hungry~!!!

His stomach growls profusely. Tatsuo stumbles along sluggishly, his arms swaying side-to-side like a pendulum. Too fatigued to see what’s in front of him, he fails to notice a cloaked figure approaching him. He bumps into the cloaked figure.

“Ah…Sorry.” Tatsuo said, apologizing. His apology is promptly followed by his stomach growling, garnering the cloaked person’s attention. The constant growling of Tatsuo’s stomach causes the person to take pity on him. The cloaked person hands something over to Tatsuo.

???: Here…Take this.

Tatsuo looks at the stranger’s outstretched hand. Inside the person’s hand was a gleaming, spherical object. Without hesitation, he takes the stranger’s gift.

???: Get yourself something with that.

The cloaked person walks away with Tatsuo’s sight following until the person’s silhouette vanishes in the street.

Tatsuo looks at what the cloaked figure gave him.

Tatsuo: A jewel?

***

*Back to Victor and Sharon.

The two are lost in the middle of the street, their heads frantically turning as they’ve lost sight of the slime.

Sharon: Darn it! Where did that slime go…?! Cunning lil’ thing slipped into another crowd…!

In a dark alley nearby, the slime peeks behind a corner of a two story house to spy on Sharon and Victor.

A dog begins to bark at the slime, startling it. The dog continues to aggressively yap at the slime, its fangs bared at it. Rather than being intimidated, it grows irritated with every bark the dog makes, worried that it’ll give its position away.

The slime’s body begins to ominously expand like a balloon. It leaps into the air with its body now outstretched like a net. Its blank, expressionless eyes now positioned at the center gleam within its shadow. The dog flips from territorial aggression to fearful whimpers with the slime’s shadow casting over it. The slime wraps itself around the dog and a “crunch” sound is heard along with an abrupt yelp.

Victor turns his head back to the location of the alley that the yelp came from.

Sharon: What’s up?

Victor: …

Victor: I thought I heard some barking up until now….It just suddenly stopped…

After looking away, the slime emerges from the dark alley now in an sleek, amphibian-like quadruped form. It quickly scurries off into the distance, undetected by anyone else.

Sharon and Victor suddenly hear their names being called from afar. They see Tatsuo running, waving his arm and panting. After regrouping with the two, he places his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

Tatsuo (panting): What happened to the slime…?

Sharon: We lost track of it…

Victor: Sorry…It was my fault…If only I didn’t let down my guard…!

Tatsuo: AH well…That’s a shame…

Sharon (whines): Aaaaah~!!! It was a once in a lifetime opportunity as well~!!! And we jobbed it!!! Now we’re gonna be stuck dirt poor forever~!!!

Tatsuo recalls the jewel that the cloaked stranger gave him. He rustles his hands inside his pockets to show the jewel to them.

Tatsuo: That reminds me. – Tatsuo brings out the jewel.

Tatsuo: Somebody gave me this.

Sharon and Victor move their heads forward to take a closer look.

Victor: Wait….Is that…?

The two of them couldn’t believe what they were seeing. It was all too sudden.

Victor and Sharon: A DIAMOND??!!

Victor leaps in joy. “Praise be! Now I can finally go back home!!!”

“Amazing…You said a person gave this to you…?” Sharon said, still staring in awe at the diamond.

Tatsuo: Yeah.

Sharon looks up at Tatsuo. She begins to have second thoughts about Tatsuo's insane luck. That perhaps it all isn’t a coincidence. Perhaps there’s something more to Tatsuo. For some reason, this boy was blessed with good fortune.

If this is the case…Then maybe…If she were to stick with this boy…Would she be able to find just what she is looking for (the Mardi Gracias)...?

With the two rejoicing on their blessed fortune, Tatsuo nudges his head. He begins to wonder just who that mysterious cloaked person was.