After her pleasant meeting with Gaz, Diana’s back at the goblin village, and right before everyone woke up too!
Once morning truly came by, everyone got up. The goblins were preparing their breakfast, which was some kind of suspicious looking sliced fruit, Ilgua was out jogging in the forest, alone, and the rest of her friends were just waking up.
And now! Everyone’s patiently waiting for the goblins to finish up their breakfast!
Except for Crystal that is, who was still sleeping inside apparently. She was sent into the hut to wake her up. Well, it didn’t bother her much, since she used to be like that too.
As a full-time gamer and anime addict, once she falls asleep, she…sleeps, for a long looong time. She could probably past an entire day just sleeping from her 700+ episodes of One Piece Marathon.
Well, all that aside, she’s glad no one figured out that she sneaked out last night, cause-
“Oh! Diana, you’re back. So, where did you go last night?”
‘W-What!? S-She knew!?’
Or…not. Seems like Crystal somehow managed to find out.
“Of course. I woke up and then you weren’t inside the hut. I couldn’t even sense your mana. Where the hell did you go?”
‘N-Nani!? She woke up early!?’
“I did! You must be proud!”
‘How the hell did you read my mind!?!?’
……A…Anyways, she’s awake, and breakfast was ready now, so she pulled her up and went to the campfire in the centre of the village, where they would be having a small prayer before breakfast.
She’ll just tell about it later.
The prayer was quite interesting actually, with the goblin elder reading what seemed to be a mantra of some sort before lighting the fire and offering several fruit slices into the fire. She’ll ask the elder or Ilgua about it later.
With the prayer done, breakfast comes!
But…Well, everyone’s eating the fruit slices just fine, but…how could she put it…there’s just a feeling that’s telling her to just ‘f*ck no, throw it away’
And looking more at it, the slice she picked up seemed to be cloaked in some sticky substance, like some sort of mucus or something. And the smell is…I won’t explain it. It’ll be good for your safety.
Though…Anna’s eating it just fine, so…it should be fine, right…? Well, here goes nothing!
*Munch!*
…
……
‘B-B-BIIITTTTEERR!!!’
Yes, it was horrendously bitter. Not only that, the sticky substance was sticking in her throat now, and…ugh, she almost felt like puking.
“A-Ah…”
“Oi, Diana? You okay?”
Ah, and the world’s spinning now. Her head was aching like hell, and it feels like there was a lump of flaming lava boiling in her throat. It wasn’t very pleasant.
“A-Ah~…”
“O-Oi. Diana? You’re…blushing.”
No good, even her senses were getting mixed up now~…The pain’s all gone, but in its place came an arousing aphrodisiac effect, and…It feels…really good~…
Her body unconsciously tipped and her head landed on Crystal’s lap, who just happened to sit there beside her. Slowly, the world began to black out, until she finally fell unconscious. This seemed to cause much dismay and worry to Crystal and the rest, but deep inside, Crystal was secretly enjoying this.
And, while she’s unconscious now, deep in her mind, she made a vow.
Before she eats something, ask what the hell it is.
…………………
2 hours later, she finally woke up,
To an intense headache that is.
In her dazed and pained state, the goblin elder did his best to explain to her what the hell it was she just ate. Which proved to be quite difficult since she seemed like she would just drop dead if he wasn’t watching her.
The rest were also intently listening, just in case it was something serious, while Crystal’s mind was in the clouds as she felt Diana’s weak embrace.
(Diana held onto her just for support)
From what nearly seemed like gibberish to her, the fruit she ate was called the Obra Fruit, a mango-like shaped fruit that had dark purple skin and thorns growing around it.
It’s known for its ‘exceptional’ taste, which was a ‘miracle’ since a lot of the fruit grows in this forest, which the goblins could use as food.
As for that mucus, it was only the ‘juice’ that would usually seep out from the fruit once cut.
And as to why she collapsed…the goblin elder didn’t know. He just shook his head and dismissed it as her tongue not being able to comprehend the ‘amazing’ taste or her nature as a slime queen.
Anyways, after she managed to regain much more focus, she moved away from Crystal(earning her a soft whimper from said person) and began the serious talk.
…Or she would, but she almost felt like puking again, so she asked for some water.
-Much H20 later-
Alright, she’s ready to inform the elder about what she found now.
“Umm…Elder?”
“Yes? What is it, Slime Queen?”
“Call me Diana damnit. Last night, I sent out a clone to guard the village we were sent by. At that time, a group of goblins did come into the village and take away several women.”
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“W-What!? But…none of us would dare to do such a thing…”
And she guessed that’s true as well, since, while it was dark, those goblins seemed to have a lighter shade of green for its skin colour, meaning that they weren’t part of this forest’s goblin tribes.
“T-T-Then, w-what about the women, M-Miss Diana?”
“Huh? Oh, they’re fine.”
Anna sighed in relief hearing that, probably guessing that she the one to save them or something.
Diana also asked the goblin elder if he knew Gaz.
He did not.
But, with the talk done, and the pressing matters told, the goblin elder and several of his guard headed out into the forest to gather the other elders to talk over this problem, and maybe, hopefully, probably not, sniff out what group of goblins did this.
And so, that left the MC and her friends with nothing to do.
Or so she thought.
For starters, Ilgua and Anna suddenly became good friends, and they were planning to go deeper into this forest to train further. Just in case they decide to pull a Zoro, she gave them a small slime dogoo to lead them back.
Next, Rei was getting a bit hungry(as always), so she’s out with other female goblins to search for more of that wonderfully ‘tasty’ fruit. She also gave her a small dogoo and warned her to NOT eat the fruit once taken.
Not sure if she actually listened though.
Which meant,
‘I-I-I’m alone with D-Diana!!’
For some reason, Diana was suddenly getting chills, and a premonition for her to get the f*ck up and book it. Looking over to Crystal, who was fidgeting, looking overly eager to strike a conversation yet to embarrassed to do so was looking quite dangerous.
She’s a fan of tsunderes when done right, but this…this, borderlines on Yandereism!!
Well, she’s just pretty bad at socialising and expressing herself, but still…
Actually, an idea just popped up in her head. It sounds bad on paper, and is probably even worse in practice, but…meh, why the hell not, eh?
You see, if you think about it, she hasn’t actually gotten any ‘true’ sleep yet. Yes, she collapsed for two hours just moments ago, but that was her doing her best to avoid drowning in the Sanzu river, not sleeping.
So-
“Crystal?”
“H-Huh!? Y-Yes?”
“Do you…mind if I sleep, on your lap?”
At that moment, Crystal.exe stopped working.
It was as she expected of course. After all, she wants to have more time to spend with her, while she needed some good time sleeping. Win-Win situation, am I right?
“N-No! Go ahead!”
“You’re too eager. Okay, good night~…”
And so, she took her chance!
Meanwhile, inside Crystal’s head:
‘K-KyashessittingonmylapwhatamIsupposedtodoIwantedthisbutthisiswaytoofast!!’
Wonder if anyone can even read that. Anyways, as you may very well see, her mind’s an absolute jumbled mess right now. And, oh boy, does Diana love this!
That, and she’s comfortably asleep now. Crystal’s lap was pleasantly soft to sleep on.
‘Ah~, h-her hair’s so soft…’ She softly stroked her hair. Also, by the way, she was just fangirling on her. Nothing deeper is happening at this current moment. Nothing.
And so, the morning peacefully passed by.
…………………
Meanwhile, somewhat far away from where Diana currently was,
There stood a large and tall cliff, one that loomed above the grassy land below, the one that had the large and powerful kingdom of [Albion] standing atop it.
[Albion] was a mercenary kingdom, meaning that it sides with someone as long as said side brings them enough payment to commit to their duties.
Built out the remains of a fallen kingdom in the past, this kingdom’s hierarchy was built in the same way as the wild. One who is strong looms over the weak, controls the weak, and gathers the strong.
Such is the rule that [Albion]’s king, Grazure the Third and his ancestors have enforced.
But, such a rule shall become the kingdom’s demise.
Even now, as the pleasant sunlight washes down on the grass, a darkness, one that is bred from the darkness inside the hearts of man shall soon consume the land.
Due to a curse once placed by him, once the kingdom is overrun by this ‘darkness’, ruin shall come to follow. Sadly, the king of the past was too prideful and arrogant to even take notice to his words as he left their kingdom behind.
But, one man knew of this curse, and he will go to any lengths to destroy it.
That was why he now had nearly a hundred virgin women, all tied and locked away in his cave. Such an offering should surely cleanse the kingdom of it’s terrible curse.
He had no proof of it, just an ancient scroll detailing a way to break curses, but he has put his trust into it, and by this point, there was no going back. Wherever this path leads him, he shall take it.
So now, here he stood on this steep cliff, his figure hidden under his velvet coloured cloak, eyes staring at the kingdom below him.
For he shall break this curse.
No matter the cost.
……………………
Lunch,
“*Gulp* Umm…What is…this?”
Well, she came to expect that the things humans and goblins eat are severely different, but…still, what kind of an abomination of a hot pot stood before her…? It’s terrifying!
First, there seems to be some kind of meat in there, but it’s grey, it’s also glowing. Yes, GLOWING. The last time she ate something glowing she doubled in pain and almost died. Ha, how nostalgic.
Next, there’s something that looked familiar to this thing we call ‘Broccoli’, but, the hell? The stem is blue, and the flower cap is rainbow coloured. It looks like some kind of drug you’d use to get hallucinations.
And finally, there’s…THAT.
“Huh? You don’t know this, Miss Diana? It’s a Gravon Heart.”
Yeah. You heard that right. A HEART. You know, an ORGAN. Placed inside and boiling HOT POT. Like…what?
First off, what’s with that name? Does Gravon mean something? Where the hell did this come from. And why the hell was it put inside this hot pot? Questions, oh, so many questions, and no logical answer to greet her at the other side.
And everyone’s asking her to eat FIRST.
Cause she’s a Slime Queen and all. Gotta give priorities to the queen.
“W-Well…’I-Itadakimasu’. *Nom*”
The one she picked out was the meat, cause the vegetables look deadly and that heart looks even deadlier. And…Well, it’s a bit chewy, a bit hard to digest, but it’s surprisingly goo-
“Mgh!?”
Never mind, because once that thing hit her stomach, all painful hell broke loose in her digestive system. She dropped the wooden bowl she was carrying(which was luckily empty) and clutched her stomach.
It’s not as bad as breakfast, where she literally dropped unconscious in seconds, but the pain was intense!!
She leaned in on Crystal for moral support, just in case she drops unconscious again.
After she escaped the pain(somehow), she ran into one of the huts and silently cried, now knowing that the dream of going around and cooking fantasy foods like Toriko was as far as the stars.
She also tried the other foods, and the same happened, although as he ate more the pain lessened and lessened.
It still hurts like hell, but it’s slowly diminishing in effect. Never mind her depression then! The dream still lives and shines like the sun!
PRAISE THE SUN!!
Anyways, she ended up getting interrogated by Ilgua though about the subject, since this was something he had never seen before. Heck, he even came up with several different theories that could possibly explain why this is.
There were 3 she found most convincing though,
First, it’s probably because her body wasn’t used to ingesting this kind of food. To begin with, she was a Slime Queen, and add in the fact that she was a person from another world, and the effect might have multiplied.
Second, it’s because many things in this world is infused with mana. Plants, dirt, caves, and food. They were all infused with mana. So, if that’s the case, then maybe her body wasn’t used to having mana being ingested inside her stomach.
And third, a Slime Queen wasn’t supposed to eat these kinds of things. Normally, a slime would digest something by corroding them and ingesting the nutrients, much like how she ki-…took out those bandits from before.
She just hoped it wasn’t the third theory, ‘cause that’d suck.
Anyways, the problem still stands that she’s hungry and she needs to fill her stomach somehow. After several more failed attempts at trying to eat the food, and she’s definitely NOT touching that heart thingy, she just filled her stomach with some herbal tea the elder made her.
And guess what?
She even felt pain from that too! Not as bad as before mind you, but damn! It still hurts!
Actually, now that she recalled, she didn’t have any trouble eating her own cooking, or any of the food she ate at the kingdom, so why was she having trouble here?
Wait…Ilgua did mention that most things had mana…
And…Diana’s a slime.
And a slime is weak to-!
She got it!
She told her newly formed theory to a rather excited looking Ilgua, and after some thought, he agreed! She, well, they had solved the mystery!
See, as a slime, she was naturally weak to magic, or, at least high quantities of it being launched at her with the intent to kill her. That’s why she’s always so careful to not let herself get hit by magic in her slimy form.
Here’s how her theory goes: Maybe, just maybe, the mana in the food they were eating, the one that came from this forest that is, had a high mana quantity, which then led to her slimy nature being hurt!
Haha! Diana’s being smart again!
…Wait a sec, that still meant that-
“Ooh…sh*t.”
She still couldn’t eat anything in this forest anyways.
……Well, f*ck. She’s going to starve now.