“Huah…So…sleepy…”

“Were you even listening!?”

Back at the ever-snowing mountain peak, inside the comfy warmth of a small wooden cottage, Leo lied idly on his bed as he yawned, ignoring the complains of the man sitting beside him, his head flashing so red that it’d probably blow up soon enough.

After all, who wouldn’t be pissed for getting ignored for an hour straight!?

Keeping his promise, after several days, he returned back to this cottage to see if he’s done anything about that recent ‘monster’ that appeared. But as he voiced his concerns, the boy only lied back at his bed and yawned several times, and almost fell asleep at one point.

“Of course not~…”

Not like he cared though. This old man just suddenly barged into his wooden cottage without any pleasantries and sat down, telling the same exact concern he had about that girl he asked Ilgua to watch on.

The casual answer he gave only proved to enrage him more, but he couldn’t just lash out. If he did, he would die so fast he wouldn’t even feel the pain of getting his body ripped in half.

“Besides~…I told you she’s not evil…Just let it be already…”

“B-But-!”

“I said she’s safe.” He abruptly said, shutting the old man up. Honestly, speaking to this old man feels like letting his brain cells commit suicide one by one.

“And besides, shouldn’t you be more worried about me?”

The man gulped in fear, realising that he had probably complained to him a bit too much. He couldn’t even look at him without feeling cold sweat pouring out of him like a natural waterfall. The aura he had swirling around him only screamed of death.

And the boy wasn’t even looking at him.

It only speaks volumes at to just how absurdly powerful this person before him is. He himself hasn’t seen the limits of his powers, but he’s seen him lift an entire continent up into the air and smash it back down like it’s nothing.

“Anyways~…my disciple is watching her…so it’ll be fine…”

“Y-Your disciple? That boy?”

“Mhm~…”

That boy was timid and weak-willed by nature, but his tenacity and knack at learning things were superb, even compared to Leo. He’s seen him and trained him enough to task him with such a mission.

And if anything goes wrong…then he still had that, just in case.

‘What are they doing now I wonder~…?’

…………………

Meanwhile, at a small village several miles away from the kingdom of [Gazelle], Diana and her party were having a chat with the village’s chief.

They came here after they took on a quest to slay a nearby goblin tribe that had been hunting down and kidnapping their women recently.

Sadly, most of the young men went out to become adventurers or knights, while the women and children were left behind without being able to fight, and the men that did stay behind are either too weak or too old to fight them.

The chief himself was an elderly man with many injuries on his legs, forcing him to use two wooden walking sticks to support him. From the sob story he told over some cups of tea, he lost those two legs of his after a battle against a ‘Goblin Chief’.

Actually, there was another quest that asked them to slay a group of bandits near here, but Diana decided not to take it, much to Crystal’s confusion.

In fact, Crystal has been suspicious about Diana for a while now. Starting from dawn, Diana hasn’t been the ‘Diana’ she knew, the bubbly, cutesy, and chill Diana. Instead, she was excited, humble, but ultimately genuine.

She didn’t bother questioning it further though, since she liked it either ways.

The air around her was much softer and kinder. Her smiles were softer but more expressive than ever. And she seemed to enjoy talking about magic and whatnot a lot more…Well, only Crystal has seemed to notice this change though.

Maybe she’s paying a little bit too much attention to her.

‘W-What are you saying idiot!? I-It’s not like I am!!’

How the hell did you even hear that? Anyways, after they finished listening to his request and all, they followed the lead he gave them and set off towards the small forest south from the village.

From what the chief said, there’s a layer of trees, before the inside clears out to the goblin tribe. According to his story, the goblins settled there several decades ago, cut down the trees on the inside, and built their camps there.

They were a small tribe at first, but as they kidnapped the women from this village and used them as breeding tools, their numbers blossomed and they quickly became a problem. However, as no one bothered to even come here, they were forced to finally make a request.

It wasn’t something Diana wanted to imagine, seeing those women get taken away and used for building the goblin tribe. The feelings of loss as the men watched their loved ones get taken away, and the despair the women felt as they were subdued to the goblin’s handling.

She could almost hear the cries of help, and the pleas they shouted as the goblins worked on them. That alone almost made her sick.

With those feeling bubbling inside her mind, she and her party slowly made their way around the trees, through the foliage, and towards the goblin tribe!

But, to their surprise,

*GUUUGHHAAA!!!*

Just as they were released from the trees, a horde, or an army even, of goblins stood before them, their weapons raised in the air and combat ready.

“W-What’s with this stupid number…?”

It was an event unlike anything Ilgua had ever seen, or even heard of! He hasn’t been to many different places, but his master had the power to see anywhere he wanted, so seeing cool little events like this was definitely up his alley.

But what’s with this number of goblins!? There’s maybe…hundreds? No, thousands.

And they even have classes and all that. There’s the goblin paladins, standing in front with their iron shields and swords, which they probably stole from some unlucky adventurer, standing behind them are the archers, and at the back row are the magicians.

‘Were they planning a raid dungeon or something?’

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“We were waiting for your arrival.”

Then, as everyone was getting ready to fight, an elderly goblin stepped out of the crowd. He was short, but his eyes shone with wisdom, and guessing from those two traits, this guy is probably some kind of chief, yeah?

“So…you guys already knew we were coming? Did you have a sonar or something?”

“Yes…we have been waiting for your, Slime Queen.”

Woah…woah woah, hold the phone. Did he just call her, [Slime Queen]? How did he know that!? She never told anyone about her being a slime queen, not even Crystal knows this stuff!

“…Slime, queen?”

“Umm…I’ll explain later. So? What do you want?”

“Our…’scouts’ back at the [Zena] Forest informed us about your existence, and sensing your approach, we readied our troops, just in case you went in to kill us all.”

[Zena]…Forest? She never heard of that name, but why does it ring a bell…

Hold on-

‘…Wait, was it that forest where I found Slimey and his friends?!’

It seemed like the most likely option. Since, she’s only ever really been to one forest, and when she was there, goblins were attacking her left, right and centre. Hah…Good times~

Well, that aside, they were sent here to exterminate these guys, and it won’t be that hard actually, but the old guy wasn’t instantly asking his fellow goblins to fire at her, so her will to commit monster genocide was diminishing as the clock ticked by.

But, still, these guys have kidnapped women to expand their tribe, so no forgiveness!...Right?

“Oi, old man.”

“O-Old man?”

Well, forgiven or not, Crystal didn’t care that much. There’s probably an entire legion standing before her, and oh boy is her battle-junkie heart pounding with excitement at the incoming battle!

“We’re here to kill you all anyways, so make this fight worth-“

“C-Crystal!”

But not on Diana’s watch! Which did come as a surprise as she turned towards a slightly angry Diana.

“Why though? It’s our quest, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but…Just, wait, okay?”

It’s not like she didn’t want to avenge those women who were stolen away from their loves ones either, but, something felt…off? She didn’t really know how to describe it, but there’s an odd feeling in her gut, and she knew damn well that her instincts were usually spot on.

And also to maximise this moment, she also gave Crystal her best puppy eyes, just to sway her to not kill everyone.

“…Alright. But if they attack, I’ll go.”

Crystal still felt somewhat disappointed, but, hey, no one’s going to escape from Diana’s cute puppy eyes! She won’t say it to anyone, but it was a nice treat to see her like that! It’s almost like having a too-pure for this world little sister!

“I…thank you for your kindness, Slime Queen.”

“Just call me Diana. Anyways, we’re here for a quest to hunt you guys down, because the village chief from nearby said that you have been kidnapping women and using them to make more goblins. Is…Is that true?”

“What…?”

The goblin chief’s eyes grew wide from shock. This…was not something he knew of. In fact, a lot of the goblins behind him were murmuring the same thing, struck in confusion about these seemingly fabricated lies.

Diana-, well, everyone noticed this of course. And they were shocked as much as the goblins were. After all, it’s common sense for goblins to steal young women to use breed.

But, if they didn’t do it, then who did?

Obviously, bandits are out of the question, because the chief did say that he once spotted goblins attacking and stealing women.

Then, could some of them be doing it in secret?

“I…I didn’t know anything about that…”

“But…how, do you give birth to more goblins then?

“Even back centuries ago-“

‘Centuries…?’

“-our ancestors created a rule to only allow sex between goblins. According to them…a baby born from a human and a goblin results in mixed blood, which then lowers the goblin’s expected life span.”

…huh. She, didn’t think about it that way. But, still, centuries?

If these guys stopped breeding with women centuries ago, then what about now? The chief said that it started only several years ago! What’s with this time gap?

“But…if you wish to prove me wrong, a mix-blooded goblin’s skin would be a much lighter shade of green, while pure-blooded ones are usually darker. Now…see for yourself, Slime Queen, are there any mixed bloods here?”

Umm…well, she couldn’t see entirely to the back of the army of goblins, and some of them were even wearing clothes and cloaks and stuff. But, from what she could see, there didn’t…seem to be any?

Her eyesight’s pretty bad though, especially after the many close-up gaming experiences she had back on her computer.

“…None.”

“Eh? Really?”

“…Un.”

…Well, Rei said there wasn’t any, so she’ll have to trust her here! Out of them all, she had the best senses after all!...There still could be one or two hiding in between them, but the number of ‘pure-blooded’ goblins in this group was just, huge.

“He~, so there’re differences between mixed breeds and pure breeds. Say, say, mister goblin, is there any more differences? Like power? Speed? Are they more durable? How much longer can they live? Why are their skin…”

It seems…Ilgua’s gone into his full question mode. His mouth was spitting questions faster than a rapper in his prime. Heck, he was even jotting down notes with his vacant hand as the goblin chief desperately tried to answer back his questions.

-Much questioning later-

Here’s what Ilgua has noted down from his escapades:

Any difference for pure from mixed?

-Natural strength higher

-Bodies more durable

-Age slower

-Human lifespan

-Evolution more possible (AWESOME)

It was literally written like that, so do forgive me for the writing. In reality, it was…even worse than this, because his note was absolutely crowded, and his strokes of ink went everywhere. His handwriting was also ‘beautiful’, so…yeah.

…Anyways! Goblin traits aside, since there’re no mix-blooded goblins around here, meant that all(or most at least) of the goblins here are bred by two goblins. Which meant-!

This goblin tribe didn’t kidnap the women?

‘But, where did all those women go then?’

The question still remains, but for now…

*Gu…gha?*

They should probably set down their weapons, yeah?

Now that they knew that these goblins weren’t the main culprit, it’ll leave a terrible after taste in her mouth if she allowed her friends to kill them all. That, and she was actually feeling slightly tired.

The road leading to this forest wasn’t monster clear this time around.

So, after they managed to calm down, and set down their weapons and all, a ‘treaty’ of sorts was made on the spot between her and the goblin chief. They even exchanged a handshake and all.

Either ways, because she was a ‘Slime Queen’, they were treated as guests of honour and such. After all, according to the goblin chief at least, the slime queen was a special existence that is born every millennia and whatnot.

This, also meant that she needed to explain why she was the ‘Slime Queen’, which then meant that she needed to retell the first ‘experience’ of hers in this world…while they were relaxing in a nice hot spring.

Yep, that’s right people! This goblin village has a public hot spring! It’s for both men and women, but Ilgua wasn’t determined enough to come in with them, so she’ll tell him about it later.

Also, this was the first time Diana had even stepped into a hot spring. Well, it’s a first for most of them actually. But…the hot water, and the nice steamy atmosphere…Ah~, it really was relaxing~

…Ahem, back on track. She was expecting them to laugh at her or something about her getting assaulted by a group of slimes, but surprisingly, they all just looked at her weird.

It’s to be expected really. She is a [Slime Queen], a legendary monster that ruled over slimes after all! Not everyone would have the chance to suddenly realise that this girl they’ve been travelling with was such a powerful existence.

It was also a revelation for Crystal as to why she was just so damn good with Slime Magic! Rei seems to have known this before though, probably because she could communicate with Slimey, and knowing that little guy, he probably boasted her status to her.

But…Slimey, huh…His fusion with her hasn’t been that long ago, but…it…felt like it’s been a long time. She felt somewhat lonely, but Crystal and Rei was with her, so it’s fine.

…Anyways, once her story time was over, they just had a nice chatting session, talking about, girl’s stuff, I suppose.

After that, they had a nice dinner with the fellow goblins. Thankfully, they weren’t eating human meat or something, so that’s a relief! Instead, they just ate some roasted boar meat from the forest.

Well...I say 'Roasted Boar Meat', but it looked like something straight out of lovecraftian horror, so her appetite to eat that time diminished greatly.

Oh! And talking about the forest, apparently, the goblin village they were currently staying in wasn’t the only village in this forest. There are more, and since this forest was pretty big, the distance between each village was pretty large, just to make sure they have enough space to grow.

Their total number was unknown, but the chief said that there’s about 5000 goblins all around, and there’s about 22 or 23 villages in this forest, which was…a lot.

And so, with dinner over, everyone went their separate ways to rest for the night…except for Ilgua that is, who kept pestering the goblin elder with questions and statements that he wanted to confirm.

His rattling went on for hours on end…

…………………

Meanwhile, back at the village,

“I-Impossible…”

The chief of the village could only look on in disbelief, as another wave of goblins struck and stole another young woman from them.

It was a bloodbath. The men who remained tried to take her back, but the goblins’ surprising skill in tactical battle caused several deaths for those who fought. And under the cover of the night, their attack was swift and deadly, barely leaving them any room to breathe.

And now, battle over, the chief could only survey the corpses of his fellow villagers, their parents and loved ones crying over the deceased.

And while all this was happening, a pair of eyes watched from the distance, before it disappeared into the night.