Episode 16
“Damn it, damn it!”
There are three animals I hate the most in the world.
First, mosquitoes. These little bastards are the main culprits ruining summer nights. I wish they’d go extinct. Number one on my list.
Second, cockroaches. Where do they even come from? You come home, turn on the light, and there they are, just sitting on the floor. And then they disappear at an unbelievable speed. Once that happens, forget about sleeping that night.
And finally…
*Squeak! Squeak!!!*
“Get the hell out!!!”
“Pfft, Hero~♡ You’re such a dummy~♡”
Rats. You might ask, what’s the problem with rats? Based on my experience living in a semi-basement, these little jerks are on par with cockroaches, if not worse.
They’re obviously way bigger than cockroaches, and the diseases they carry surpass cockroaches by a mile.
If a rat shows up in your house, a deep cleaning is mandatory. Unlike cockroaches, they’re not easy to kill because of their size. Killing and disposing of them is a pain.
And now, rats much bigger than normal ones are swarming toward me, attacking me.
…Please save me.
“High Priestess!! Do something!!!”
“Pfft, Hero~♡ Are you scared of rats~♡? A grown man who can’t even handle rats, what a loser♡.”
“…Damn it!”
Stop talking nonsense and help me!
I slashed through three Heavy Rats at once. Heavy Rats are weaker monsters than Goblins, so taking them down wasn’t hard.
The problem was the flesh, blood, and fluids splattering everywhere every time I killed one. I hate it so much because they look like rats.
“Ah, High Priestess! Help me!”
“What are you talking about~? This is a fight you need to overcome yourself~♡.”
“Ugh! Then I’ll use my wish card, so please handle this!!!”
“…Nope♡.”
You said you’d grant my wish!?
“Wishes are for other things~♥.”
“Isn’t it my wish!?”
“Really… I didn’t know you hated rats this much. Shouldn’t you be used to them if you lived in the countryside?”
That’s not where I lived! I lived in a big city!
“…Fine. Step aside.”
“Okay.”
Surprisingly, the High Priestess stepped forward. She stood between me and the Heavy Rats, raised her right hand, and brought it down.
…What did she just do?
《Holy Hammer》
*Boom!!!*
“…Whoa.”
Suddenly, a giant golden hammer appeared out of thin air and crushed the swarm of Heavy Rats. The squeaking stopped.
The hammer disappeared, leaving behind the crushed corpses of the Heavy Rats.
“Ugh, damn it.”
“Hero, you’re surprisingly squeamish.”
“…It’s because they’re rats.”
“Do you really hate rats that much?”
“…Does anyone like rats? They’re the main carriers of all kinds of diseases.”
Even in history, the Black Plague that devastated medieval Europe was spread by rats.
“Not that you’re wrong, Hero. But you should get used to them.”
“Why?”
As long as I don’t go into the sewers, it’s fine, right?
“There are a lot of monsters that look like rats~♡.”
“…Seriously?”
“Yes~♡ Are you going to tremble like a coward and beg me for help every time?”
“…Sigh.”
I really hate this.
#
As we walked further into the sewers, more monsters appeared, just as the High Priestess said.
The Heavy Rats were gone, but we encountered a group of Goblins living in the sewers and a bat-like monster called Sound Bats.
These Sound Bats were quite unique. They attacked by making strange noises with their large mouths.
Attacking with sound waves, these monsters were tricky to deal with since their attacks were invisible. But the High Priestess cast a blessing to protect our eardrums, so we managed to handle them.
“Hero, do you see that?”
“Huh?”
“That’s a Slime.”
Where? The High Priestess pointed at the sewer water flowing out.
“Can’t you see it with your pathetic vision~♡?”
“Where is it?”
“It’s blocking the sewer.”
“???”
…Are you messing with me?
The sewer the High Priestess pointed at was just flowing with water. Compared to other sewers, the amount of water was less, but…
“…Huh?”
“Finally noticed~? Your observation skills are terrible~♡.”
Why is the water flow less in that sewer? Looking closely, something transparent was moving.
“Ah, found it.”
“This time, I’m really not helping. Show me you’re not a loser who can’t even handle a Slime~♡.”
“…Okay.”
I heard you need to attack the Slime’s core. I’ll have to hit it first to make it reveal itself. In this transparent state, I can’t even see where the core is.
I charged with the Holy Sword and slashed the Slime. The Slime revealed its form and started moving.
I slashed through the Slime’s body, but it felt like cutting water. The Slime didn’t seem to care about the parts I cut off, sluggishly trying to escape.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
But I was wrong. The Slime wasn’t trying to escape. It stretched out a part of its gelatinous body like an arm.
“Oh my~♡.”
“…High Priestess?”
Oh no, was it trying to gain momentum to attack? But why is it targeting the High Priestess, who was just standing there…?
The Slime’s jelly-like body grabbed the High Priestess and lifted her up.
“Kyaa~♡ Hero, what do I do~♡?”
“What do you mean, what do I do? Get out of there.”
She’s way stronger than me, why is she acting so helpless? But then the High Priestess said something completely unexpected.
“Hero~ Did you know~?”
“What?”
“Slimes have very high resistance to holy magic~♡.”
“…What?”
…So you can’t break free?
“I have no way to resist the Slime~♡.”
“…Seriously?”
Then the Slime started enveloping the High Priestess’s entire body. A sizzling sound followed, and her clothes began to melt.
“…Crazy.”
“Kyaa~♡ Hero~! Save me quickly~♡ If this continues, I’ll be touched all over and violated~!!”
…Touched? What are you talking about?
The Slime is probably trying to eat her. Otherwise, her clothes wouldn’t be melting like that.
Even in this situation, the Saint didn’t manage to escape on her own.
…Looks like she really can’t get out? I was the one who attacked, so why did they grab the Saint?
“Kyaaa~♡ Hero~ hurry up!”
…Why does it seem like she’s enjoying this?
“…Wait a moment.”
First, I could clearly see the slime’s core. Since its entire body is jelly-like, it was easy to spot where the core was.
I grabbed the Holy Sword and stabbed right into the slime’s core.
“Huh?”
“What are you doing, Hero! You’re so useless~♡”
I definitely stabbed where the slime’s core was, but the core was actually next to it, and the sword had pierced somewhere else.
What’s going on?
I pulled the sword out and stabbed again.
“Hero, if you can’t even hit that, what are we gonna do~♡ You idiot♡”
“…Shut up.”
It’s not that I missed. The slime kept moving the core’s location.
Since its body can freely transform without a fixed shape, it seems it can do things like this.
“Kyaaa~♡ Hero~ my clothes are gonna melt away~♡”
“…Seriously.”
The Saint’s clothes had already started melting in several places. The glimpses of her pure white skin through the melted fabric were quite…what am I even saying?
“Hero! What are you looking at~♡ You beast♡ Pervert♡ Getting excited over a helpless girl, you trash~♡”
“…Damn.”
Should I really not save her?
But considering future plans, the Saint is essential. Alright, let’s think of her as a necessary item.
Every time I try to stab the core with the Holy Sword, the slime keeps moving it. So, what should I do?
…There’s a simple way.
I grabbed the Holy Sword again and stabbed the core.
“Missed again! You loser♡”
No hesitation. I pulled the sword out and stabbed again. The slime tried to interfere by stretching its jelly-like body like an arm, but I had the Holy Sword.
Just swinging the Holy Sword caused the slime’s body to collapse and fall to the ground. Then, I aimed for the core again.
I repeated this process, stabbing the slime dozens of times.
Catching my breath, I glanced at the Saint, and her clothes had melted even more than before.
…Let’s not look over there.
“Hero~ I’m really gonna get eaten~♡”
I need to speed up. Taking a deep breath, I stabbed the Holy Sword again.
After repeating the same process several times, my stabbing speed finally surpassed the slime’s core-moving speed, and I achieved results.
Stab!
“…Phew.”
Pulling out the Holy Sword, the slime’s core came out with it. Without its core, the slime writhed violently before suddenly stopping and collapsing into a puddle on the ground.
Destroying the core really killed it instantly.
“Kyaa!?”
Thud!
The sudden collapse of the slime’s body caused the Saint to fall on her butt. That must’ve hurt.
“Ouch…”
“Are you okay?……Ahem.”
I was about to check if she was okay, but realizing her state, I quickly turned my head. What was left of her clothes barely covered her important areas.
Ahem…I immediately took off my cloak and threw it to her.
“…Put that on.”
“…Hero~♡ Did you get excited seeing my body~?”
“No, so hurry up and put it on.”
“Eh~♡ Liar♡”
“Should I take the cloak back?”
The Saint giggled.
“You’re gonna take me to the guild like this? You pervert♡ I don’t like exposure play~♡”
“Stop talking nonsense and put it on.”
“Okay~♡”
I heard rustling sounds from behind. Without my cloak, I felt a bit empty.
A moment later, the Saint poked me from behind.
“Hero~♡”
“What?”
“Your equipment is pretty damaged. Should we go buy some?”
“…Didn’t you say we need to save money?”
“Since you saved me, I’ll give it to you as a gift~♥”
A gift? It’s only natural to replace damaged equipment.
Then, a voice tickled my ear.
“Thank you, Hero♥”
Startled, I turned around to see the Saint smiling with a sly grin.
“…Yeah.”
For some reason, my face felt a bit hot.
…Maybe I caught a cold.
#
After escaping the sewer, we returned to the guild and received our reward.
Bringing the slime’s shattered core, they surprisingly paid a good amount. Monster cores are useful for magic experiments, they said.
Including the loot sales, we received a total of 60,000 gold. I asked the Saint, who was wrapped in my cloak.
“But what about your priestess robes? They’re all melted.”
“I can get them from the church branch. The problem is, there’s no branch of our church in Habsburg.”
“Then what will you do?”
“What else~ I’ll have to wear other clothes for a while~♡ Did you not think of that, Hero? You’re so silly~♡”
…Is it okay for the Saint to wear something other than her priestess robes? It was unavoidable at the banquet hall, but shouldn’t she usually wear them?
“Then will you buy clothes and head straight to the church branch?”
“The nearest church branch is in Lancaster.”
Lancaster? That’s where the famous red rose family comes from. Seems like the author used real family names for locations.
“How far is it?”
“About a week by carriage.”
“That’s quite a distance.”
“So let’s go get your new equipment and my clothes~♡”
That sounds good. Nodding, the Saint laughed lightly.
“Let’s hurry, you clumsy Hero♡”
“…Yeah, yeah.”
