“You sure you’re up for this?” Martrix asked for the millionth time.
“Yes,” I replied, snatching the fancy old key from her. “You’ll be gone for a week, you left money for food and emergencies, the company knows I’m staying here, so if I need anything, ask downstairs,” I repeated.
Martrix nodded.
“What’s the job?” I added curiously, as Petven helped Kimrel squeeze into his newly shined armour.
“Um…” Martrix grimaced. “Raptors.
My stomach dropped, as my veins seemed to turn to ice.
Frida shot Martrix a glare. “Monster sightings are on the rise. They’re migrating further east down from the mountains. The most likely explanation is that there’s something up there even meaner and uglier than them. So we’re on pest control duty, and to figure out what’s taken up home in the mountains.”
I nodded. “Cool,” I mumbled. “Be safe.”
“We will,” Martrix smiled. “We’ll be back in a week, alright?” She opened her arms.
“I know,” I huffed, leaning down slightly to give her a hug. It was strange, I wasn’t used to hugging people. But I held on for an extra moment. It was my first hug with a single arm, the gesture even weirder than it had once been.
Frida wanted a hug too, and so did Kimrel, though that involved a lot more being squished against metal armour.
“Take care,” Petven smiled, deciding to shake my hand for whatever reason. “Galine down at the front desk is excellent, and she really knows the area. So… seriously, talk to her.”
“Okay,” I nodded.
Before I knew it, I was now house-sitting for a bunch of mercenaries. So weird.
I sat on my bed and cracked my knuckles with my thumb. I was feeling mostly back to my usual self, well… as much as I ever would.
I wasn’t angry anymore, not that I had ever really been angry. Candy had just been a target for my frustration. Maybe I should have been more frustrated with the Tavern Crew.
It was… so stupid. I kept replaying the events in my head again and again. It all happened so bloody quick. I resented the loss of my arm, who wouldn’t? But it could have been worse. I had to keep reminding myself of that. I could have died again.
And the whole reincarnation thing didn’t really change the finality of death. It was almost worse. At least if death had been the end, I wouldn’t be sitting down in a stuffy stone room in a fantasy land, the faces of my family growing just a little more distant every day.
That was how you processed grief. The memories faded. And that was okay, that was good, it was good to move forward. But if I had life after life, how long until I forgot everything?
My 9th birthday party, when I had to go to the emergency room because I broke my toe tripping over a rock. Or my first kiss in high school with my best friend Angela, who promptly never spoke to me again. Even graduating in that stupid robe, surrounded by congratulations and smiles.
I had lost a whole life. My family may have lost me, but they still had each other. I was alone.
Fuck, I had spiralled immediately. I had hoped to make it a few days at least. I rubbed the weird nub of my arm in a new self-soothing gesture. It was kinda like having a built-in stressball, one which allowed me to feel the bone underneath.
Why was I even still here? As far as I knew, I had no life before the one on earth. Maybe it would have been better to have forgotten. I could have been properly reborn into this world, into a new family. Instead, I had just dropped into a random forest.
I was such an idiot. Yet wishing to forget everything I had ever known wasn’t a choice that could be made. In a sense, dying had been the easiest part of death. We all did it. It was as natural as breathing.
Anyway!
“Hey, Candy?” I asked. “What do I have to do to get you to be more than a plort?”
“Um… eat stuff?” She suggested.
“You don’t know?” I asked.
“The last time I didn’t… I wasn’t… thinking,” she explained. “I just did it.”
“Okay,” I nodded, forcing myself to relax. I needed to chill. Everything was fine. Everything was okay. “Maybe while the Tavern Crew is away, we can figure that out. I know you want to grow, and I also want to know that I finally can.”
“Yay!” Candy cheered. “We will get so big and powerful! And the sooner we start spawning slimes, the better, because then we will be even safer and that much closer to a dungeon!”
“Sure,” I smiled, not managing to find her degree of enthusiasm. But maybe getting swept up in her passion will do me some good. “But one step at a time, okay? We can’t exactly… start a hive or whatever in the city.”
“Why not? They said humans like dungeons, and then they will be easy to eat,” Candy grumbled.
“Because we can’t eat people, that makes other people upset,” I reminded. “People don’t like slimes, or anything that can hurt them, so… if we want to do slime things, we need to do it in secret.”
“I am above skulking around. If they’re so scared, then they should just serve us. There are already so many of them, and they would be very good at building a hive, I think,” she suggested.
“No, Candy,” I sighed. “Ruling through fear is better than relying blindly on love, but it is critical that we don’t become hated, or we will simply be killed. Being a tyrant will get us toppled or assassinated. Ugh… I wish I had my books,” I sighed.
“Why?” Candy asked.
“Because rereading The Prince right about now would provide some much-needed insight into feudal politics,” I explained.
“No,” Candy sighed, “I don’t care about your stupid book. Why would they kill us if they are terrified of us? We would become bigger and stronger. They would survive by obeying.”
“We’re too complex for that,” I grimaced, trying to formulate a clear and concise response. “Even in the current system, and admittedly, I’m assuming this world lines up with the world I'm from, most people can live their lives pretty much unbothered by nobility. Sure, they pay taxes, and they might get bossed around occasionally or mustered for a war, but… if you’re a carpenter, then you set aside a few chairs for your feudal lord and continue with your life.”
I paused, letting that sink in. I blew out a breath.
“People might grumble a bit, but with the divine right of kings being ingrained into the world view, what can you really do?” I surmised. “But… if people’s quality of life really begins to suffer, then it might be worth revolting regardless of the repercussions. So if you’re in charge, and as long as people bring you some of the food they grow every season, then they can go about their lives unhindered, then that would be far more stable than trying to convince a population to give you all their food. Because if their lives are already on the line, they might as well take up arms to change that."
“People are so complicated,” Candry groaned. Slimes just do what bigger slimes decide. It’s simple, it works, no stupid politics.”
I smiled. “Well… if you hadn’t used all my power to evolve, you would still be a lesser pink slime at the bottom of the pecking order. Would you like to be at the very bottom?”
“No, but I am at the top now, so it’s better,” Candy hummed.
“Sure, for you, but if you were still that little pink slime, and you could feel the things you felt now. Might you feel a little resentment or anger at being bossed around all the time?” I proposed.
“Yes, maybe, but… I could just be gobbled up, so it would be different,” she answered.
“Right,” I nodded, still trying to wrap my mind around slime hive structure, but… anyway. “The difference with humans is, no matter who’s the boss, no one is innately stronger or better than anyone else. It doesn’t matter how much social capital and gold you have, a guillotine will still cut your head off the same.”
“But that's not true!” Candry protested. “Strength is measured with stats and skills. I don’t know what a guillotine is, but having more power makes you stronger.”
I… had not entirely considered that. Ah shit.
“How much of a factor does that play here? Do stats determine social class?” I asked.
“How am I supposed to know?” Candy grumbled. “You are the people expert.”
“I’m not an expert,” I snorted. Still… this was a whole new aspect I had never needed to consider before. Now there was a whole other, very critical, part of the world that totally influenced everything. How could one overthrow a tyrant with the strength of a thousand men?
Well… magic probably. But still, this was a whole new factor of life worthy of analysis. Oh, I so hoped I could get into the academy and do some proper research. Please, please, please, universe!