Great [Monster] Journey 11

With a roar that could’ve come from a lion, Seira soared across the room and swiped the slime’s head clear off. The slime residue spewed over the bed and floor with a splat. Before Seira’s first strike was even complete, however, the slime began to re-form. Galen found the hair tentacles on his legs had turned to formless goo and attempted to use his partial freedom to knock the rest of the slime’s body off of him. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a good angle and couldn’t do more than deliver a weak knee to its back. Furthermore… her body was still gyrating over his cock with liquid motions. Either the slime’s body was too shocked to stop what it had already been doing, or it didn’t care enough about Seira to stop fucking him.

Not giving the slime time to recover, Seira took another swipe at her body, this time shearing off her shoulders. Seira’s roar was primal. Animal. Neither monster nor human. With the slime’s shoulder’s gone, all the arms securing Galen degenerated into goo just as her hair did. Grunting, he grabbed the slime as best he could by her hips and yanked her off while turning his body to the side. She fell, wordless, to the ground and struck it with a sound not unlike a wet rag. Galen momentarily regretted forcing her off, his dick still stiff and sensitive, but he quickly pulled his trousers back up and hopped off the bed. Seira ran over to the fallen slime and began stomping her body, growling out words with each rise and fall of her paw.

“I… told… you… not… to… touch… him!”

Galen’s attention darted back and forth between the battered slime and Seira, his face becoming more pained with each stomp. Surely this was enough? The slime wasn’t exactly trying to kill him. He ran up and grabbed Seira’s shoulder.

“Enough! She’s defeated!”

Seira spun toward him and snarled. This wasn’t the Seira he knew. Her eyes glowed with a fiery anger, unabated and wild. “It’s a slime. You can’t trust slimes. I made the mistake of giving her the benefit of the doubt for one little thing and she can’t even stick to that!” She turned back around and gave the slime another stomp. “I can’t believe I even gave you that much!”

Galen grabbed her leg before she could stomp again. “Wait! Stop! You won! Just let her leave!”

Seira’s fury snapped to Galen. She seized his shirt and lifted him up off the ground, gnashing her teeth loud enough for him to hear. “And what’ll that do? She’ll just come find you again and she might not stop with just a little meal. Red slimes are the worst of them--smart enough to know when and how to strike. Did you know that out of all the monsters in the world, there are only two that will absolutely, in every case, attack and milk a man when the situation arises? and that slimes are one of them? Of course you don’t.” She tossed Galen back onto the bed and resumed her slime smashing. “I’m going to destroy her body until she’s forced to show her core, then I’ll destroy that, too.”

Galen immediately got back to his feet. “Think about what you’re saying! You’re going to KILL another monster? Over what? Doing what she has to to survive? When did my well-being become important enough to you to warrant that?”

Her ears fell from their normal perky position almost to the point they touched the sides of her head. “W-what?” Blushing, she attempted to keep the fury in her voice, but her stutter betrayed her. Her paw stopped stomping as well. “I’m just doing this because she’s shown she can’t be trusted! I warned her!”

He crossed his arms. He’d struck something with her. He had to keep on the offensive, at least give the slime time enough to re-form and run. “So this isn’t the first time you’ve spoken with her? The first time you’ve met? And you talked about me?”

Galen noticed her hand-paws clenching shut and her eyes darting about the room. “Once. Briefly. And I told her not to hurt anyone in our group!”

Standing on his tip-toes, Galen leaned in, narrowing his eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me about it?”

His attempt to intimidate her by standing up taller backfired. She was still naturally taller, and shown a physical challenge like that, Seira couldn’t back down. She put her paws on her hips and leaned back into Galen, her ears pointing upright once more. “Because exposing her right then would’ve given her a chance to woo you with words. The only way for us to be able to trust her for sure was if she showed she was worthy of trust, and I’d say she failed that little test quite spectacularly!”

He pushed his face forward until their foreheads and noses met. Even after the ordeal of sex with that slime, he felt fired up and ready to take on Seira. “She deserves a chance to explain and defend herself!”

“She’s a slime!”

“And you’re a manticore! What does it matter?”

Her eyes went cold and her mouth twisted from anger to disgust. She pushed Galen back down onto the bed and pointed a single extended claw at him. “You are only getting away with that because you’re ignorant. Never put me--or even my species--on the same level as a slime again.”

“What do you have against slimes?”

Galen surprised himself. Under the wrath of Seira’s frigid glare and icy tone, he expected himself to wither up and nod, not shoot a question back at her.

“They’ll attack monsters when it suits their needs. They’re masters of deception and even assassins that use their body to get places no other monster can. They drain and kill men needlessly when the supply is already stagnating. And, as I already told you, they can’t be trusted. I gave her a chance, I really did. Even though I knew it would end up like this.” She crossed her arms, looking down to the slowly-moving slime residue on the floor below. There wasn’t much left of her.

Were slimes really that bad? Galen hadn’t heard much about specific monsters, but from what he knew about slimes he thought they were just like any other monster: they find men and rape them. Did they have such a terrible reputation? Was it warranted?

He frowned, shaking his head. No. What had Sybyll just told him yesterday? He was hearing this knowledge, so any flaws in Seira’s knowledge would be passed on to him, even if she didn’t realize there was a flaw. The only way he could know for sure was if he witnessed the acts of slimes for himself.

A gurgling rose from the space behind him. Seira’s eyes locked onto it, narrowing as another guttural growl rumbled from her throat. She drew back a paw and bent her knees, ready to pounce, but Galen stood in her way, shaking his head.

“I’m going to give her a chance to speak.”

Seira snorted, but let up. “You’re making a mistake.”

“At least it’s my mistake to make.”

With a scoff, Seira walked back to her bed and plopped herself down, keeping her eyes on the slime as it took it’s complete form. “I’ll be watching, and if I’m not satisfied, she’ll pay.”

Galen shot Seira a fierce a look as he could muster, then looked to the slime, now back in her usual form. She wasn’t all that intimidating as she stood, a couple inches shorter than Galen with a face more for cute smiles than nasty sneers. Her tentacle hair stuck together and bunched up at the tip, the ends playing with each other as the slime herself played with her fingertips. Biting her lower lip, she looked back and forth between Seira and Galen, not sure who to speak to. Eventually, she turned to Galen but kept an eye on Seira.

“Seira is scary.”

Just like that, all the tension melted from Galen. Even as Seira growled behind him, he had to fight to keep from laughing, covering his growing smile while trying to keep his eyes firm and serious. He forced himself to cough, then nodded. “Yes, she can be scary sometimes. But I think she has a good reason to. You have some explaining to do. Seira said she’s already spoken with you--warned you--about attacking anyone in our group. Is that true?”

She kept fiddling with her fingers, turning her head to the side. “Yes… she told me not to do anything to you.”

To him? Specifically? He glanced over his shoulder to Seira, considering asking her why him, but thought better of poking the beehive. Her cheeks were flushed red and her eyes were aimed to the floor. She must’ve been furious.

“And how long have you been following us?”

“Well, I haven’t really been following you, per se, but riding along.”

“’Riding along?’”

Seira spoke up. “I should’ve seen it on that first night. She was that goo in your glass container you thought was just spoiled food. After we found her like that, she caught up, hid in the container again and would shift to a clear color any time someone opened your backpack. The only reason I spotted her was because she was a little slow on the transition that morning after the milking in Silere.”

“Wait, if you’ve been in that bottle the whole time… does that mean you followed me from Nox?” asked Galen.

Her head lowered and she fixed her eyes on Galen. “Yes.”

Stunned, he stared at her blankly, blinking his eyes until he figured out a response. “Why?”

“I hitched a ride there about twenty years ago, thinking I could get back whenever I wanted. But with the Kraken stopping the ships from leaving, my chances of returning disappeared. Slimes can swim alright, but it takes a lot of concentration to hold our bodies together in large bodies of water. I would’ve dissolved before making it back. I spent most of my time near the docks, hoping to catch someone trying for the mainland. When I saw you heading out, I snuck into your pack.”

“Why would you want to travel to Nox in the first place?”

She shrugged. “I was curious. Plus, I heard there weren’t many monsters over there, which left more semen for me.”

Galen crossed his arms. “This doesn’t make sense. I never heard about a slime attacking anyone and if it happened I definitely would’ve heard about it. The village was so small any sort of news would reach everyone.”

“I never got caught.” Her face scrunched into a frown. “I shouldn’t’ve gotten caught tonight, either, but I was desperate which made me sloppy.” Grinning, she leaned toward Galen over the bed, he body extending itself for her face to move close to his. “But you enjoyed it at least, right?”

“Gah!” He took a step back, a blush on his face. Seira’s claws dug into the wood floor, scratching it loud enough for him to hear, but he shook his head at her before turning back to the slime. “Why were you so desperate?”

“Because the scary manticore told me I couldn’t feed on you, and there was no one else to feed from. Most monsters can get enough nourishment from sources other than semen, but it’s not that way for slimes. We can drink a lot of water and ingest certain foods to keep ourselves stable for a time, but it’s only a temporary fix until we find semen.”

“You could’ve used someone else once we made it to the city!” barked Seira.

“But I like Galen,” the slime said, shifting her body back and forth, trying to look as pitiable as possible.

“Oh, woe is you,” said Seira. “You still should’ve used someone else.”

Galen shot Seira a glare then asked the slime, “Why me? I don’t even know you.”

“But I know you! I watched the village the entire twenty years I was stuck on that island, and I got to know every pretty well.” Her eyes darkened. “The men, especially. I like you Galen. I think you’re a good person.”

His hand immediately went to the back of his neck, fingers digging into his skin as he shrugged. “Well, I do what I can…”

“She’s just saying that to warm up to you!” said Seira. “Don’t fall for something so simple as that!”

“Seira, let her talk.”

Gnashing her teeth, she grabbed two pawfuls of her hair, shaking her head back and forth, but didn’t saying anything more.

“So,” said Galen, rubbing his chin, “you were on Nox, living off the men, went stowaway on my ship and you’ve been in that bottle all the way up until here, where you were forced to get out to feed because you were starving. Is that all correct?”

The slime nodded with a smile.

“But Seira’s right about there being more than one guy in this city. You knew she didn’t want you near me, but you ignored her warning and fed from me instead.”

“I know you. You wouldn’t want me to attack some innocent man if it meant sparing you, right? Plus, I thought I could do it without waking you and avoid this situation altogether.”

Galen pushed a hand to his mouth, looking up and the slime then down to the bed separating them. She had a point--he'd much rather be attacked himself. For selfless reasons, of course. Not because it felt really good. Letting out a loud breath, he pursed his lips and inspected the slime’s face intently. She continued to smile unabated through his gaze, meeting his eyes with her own. His foot started tapping on its own. The slime glowed innocence and sincerity. Her story, while unexpected, made sense. He actually found himself mentally patting her on the back for holding off as long as she did. He knew what direction he was leaning, and that Seira wouldn’t like it one bit. But it wouldn’t be fair to the slime to refuse her a chance.

“What’s your name?” asked Galen.

“Mino.” She tilted her head to the side. “Pleased to meet you.”

“Alright, Mino. I’ve decided to forgive you for what you did. It was out of desperation and you made a clear effort to follow Seira’s warning, even if she didn’t tell me about it in the first place. You can go.” He tensed, waiting for the inevitable backlash. He didn’t have to wait long.

“Are you serious?” Seira stood up, grabbed Galen by the shoulder and spun him around. “She almost killed you!”

“I don’t think she did. Or that she ever even meant real harm.”

“But she--“ Seria stopped, turning to the slime. “You little minx! I am not going to fall for your excuses!” She took a step forward, claws out, but Galen blocked her way.

Taking a deep breath and puffing his chest out as much as he could, Galen glared at Seira. It took more effort than he would have liked to admit to keep from wilting under her fury, but this was something he knew he couldn’t back down on. Sweat dripped down his neck and his lower lip quivered, but he held his ground. “This is my decision. You can’t harm her for what she did. I was the one attacked, and I was the one who forgave her.”

Seira lunged forward until their faces were inches away. Galen could smell the anger on her breath. “She betrayed me, too! She ignored my warning!”

“Was it just a warning? You didn’t tell me about it and from what I figure, you didn’t warn her as much as threaten her.” He swallowed, the gulp slowly traveling down his gullet louder than a drum. Part of him wanted to run away, to shut up, to stop talking to his friend like this. He trusted Seira, so why was he sticking up to her for a complete stranger? Was he being sentimental? Weak? Or was this one of those ‘stupid things’ he needed to fight for?

Seira huffed, her snarling face shifting to a frown. Heat radiated off her face, whether from rage or shame from being rebuked, he couldn’t tell. “Fine. Fine! I’ll accept it, but it doesn’t mean I like it.”

When Galen turned away from Seira, he half-expected Mino to already be gone. The slime was still standing there, however, hands behind her back and hips swaying back and forth.

“Well, Mino, are you going to leave?” said Galen.

“I want to stay with you.”

Goosebumps rushed up his arms as the air behind him immediately froze. A barely-restrained huff left Seira’s mouth as she stepped forward, her eyes staring at Mino so hard they could melt her. Galen was about to stop Seira, but he held himself back. If those two didn’t come to terms with each other right now, things could get much, much worse. He had to let them figure this out on their own. Besides, the frigid air surrounding Seira had already frozen his body in place. He couldn’t have moved if he wanted to. Somehow, Mino was holding her own, keeping that innocent posture and a subtle smile on her face.

“I want you to understand something, little slime,” spat Seira, her paws clenching into fists. “Every second you spend around me or any of my companions, I will have my eyes on you. If you make one errant move, say one thing out-of-line, I will end you. No compromises, no negotiations, and no quarter. You would be much, much safer half the world away. Is that clear?”

“Mmm-hmm. But Scary Seira doesn’t need to worry about me. I’m a good slime.” Mino reached out to pat Seira on the head, but Seira snarled and forced Mino to draw her hand back. “I’ve been with Galen the longest, you know, and I haven’t done anything to him. Besides, I like you, too.”

A moment of silence hung in between them, glare meeting grin. Seira then spun around and jumped into bed, her back facing Galen and Mino. “I’m going to sleep. Try to keep it down.”

Galen frowned at her. He wanted to have something to say, something to smooth things over, but this conflict would have to be fought and won without him. He couldn’t just make Seira stop hating slimes. With time, hopefully he’d be able to help convince her to warm up to Mino. His knees buckled and he fell back into his bed. Rolling over onto his back, he looked up at the ceiling. He guessed his little group had another member now. He glanced over to Mino, who was now inspecting the chest of drawers on the near wall. What was he going to do about her? If he accepted her as easily as he did Sybyll, Seira would probably resent him for it. If he ignored her or acted cold, that would be needlessly harsh. She hadn’t earned that kind of treatment. Where was Sybyll, anyways? Surely if she was nearby she would’ve heard all this commotion. How would she react to Mino?

Sighing, Galen closed his eyes. It was too early in the morning to think.


**


“Excuse me, Galen, but there appears to be a slime in your bed.”

“Bwuah?” said Galen, eyes blinking to adjust to the light. Sybyll stood over him, face tinted with concern. She pointed to his side. He looked to where she was pointing and found Mino curled up on his bed, her front facing him and one of her arms draped across his chest. His first thought was of Seira seeing him like this, but when he looked over to her bed, it was empty. It must have been dawn, or close to it.

“Uh, well, that’s kind of a long story,” he said, extracting himself from the bed without disturbing Mino. Once on his feet, he yawned, stretching his arms and back.

“I should like to hear it, then.”

After a yawn, Galen managed an “Alright,” then went into the details of Mino’s arrival. It didn’t take long, as there wasn’t much to tell. Sybyll remained stern and collected throughout the story, from Galen’s picking up Mino at the Nox port to the end of the argument last night. When Galen finished, she nodded.

Galen rocked back and forth on his feet, expecting some sort of reaction from Sybyll, but the nod was all he got.

“Do not forget, we will need to meet with the information trader’s agent shortly before dusk.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t forget about that.”

She walked out the door, leaving a slightly confused Galen and a still-sleeping Mino. No reaction? Really? A potential new monster in their party, one who’s been riding along since the beginning and attacked him last night, and all she had was a nod? Sybyll could be mistaken for a statue sometimes.

That wasn’t enough for Galen. He rushed out of the room, glancing back to Mino one last time, then caught up with Sybyll in the hallway.

“Don’t you have any sort of opinion on all this?”

“An opinion?” she said, turning around. “Yes, I can’t keep myself from forming an opinion. But it is not all that important.”

“I’d like to hear it anyways.”

“Very well. I agree with Seira in that she should not be a part of our group. I do not, however, believe she should be killed for what she did. It is a natural thing for monsters, especially slimes.” Unlike Seira, Sybyll spoke with no malice in her voice, simply stating her stance as if giving a lecture.

“Why don’t you think she should be in the group?”

“While Seira’s opinion of her seems to come from a bias, it is not without its truth. Slimes absolutely need to feed off of men to survive, and they must do it semi-frequently. Should this slime, Mino, come with us, how do you suppose she will be getting her meals?”

Galen ran a hand through his hair. “Ah, well, I didn’t really think about that. She could probably feed in the cities, right?”

“That is possible. But we will almost certainly not be in cities for an extended period of time. Once you find where the blacksmith and Poseidon are, you plan on traveling there, yes? Mino will need a man to feed her on the journey.”

His hand rubbed his scalp with more intensity. “I guess she will, huh? Oh well, I can live with that.”

“Furthermore,” said Sybyll, speaking louder, “what do you suppose will happen should her access to her meals be threatened? What if Seira and her end up becoming outright enemies?”

Galen’s eyes lowered. How come he hadn’t thought about all this? It should’ve been obvious. Seira probably had been considering it, too. That’s part of the reason why she’d been so mad. Galen had focused too much on being kind and fair, he forgot the real implications of letting another monster join them, especially a slime. If he took his acceptance back now, that likely wouldn’t do much to help the situation. Not only would Seira still be mad, but he’d look weak and indecisive. He wouldn’t discount Mino to follow them without permission, either. Bringing his hands to his face, all he could think was: ‘This is quite a mess you’ve gotten yourself into, Galen.’

“Galen.”

He looked up to Sybyll as she put a hand on his shoulder.

“There is merit in such valor. Do not discount all the positives because the negatives seem so haunting.”

She left Galen with that, walking out the front door with that dignified stride of hers. His feet wanted to rush after her so he could hug her, but at the same time, they were as heavy as lead. One day, maybe, he’d figure Sybyll out.

The rest of the morning and afternoon passed without incident, though not without its share of anxiety for Galen. He watched the front and back doors constantly, rarely wandering outside for fear of running into the lamia again. Seira apparently had no such worries, as she again spent most of the day off on her own. Galen didn’t even bother asking her where she went; her face told him more than enough when she returned. Sybyll stood watch where Galen did not, alternating between front and back whenever Galen would switch himself. They shared few words, speaking more with their faces and postures. Sybyll’s confident stride and calm face seemed to tell him to relax and stay focused, while his beads of sweat, dilated eyes and twitching feet responded with a weak “I’m trying.”

The innkeeper was gracious enough to allow them to stay at least another day. Sybyll was an object of attraction, it seemed, and as long as the patrons saw her face, he was happy. Galen made a mental note to ask the information trader about lizardmen. Not only for his own curiosity, but for Sybyll, as well. While she may have acted as if the status of her race was unimportant to her, something told Galen she was just hiding it. Surely someone could not become so disconnected, even after a thousand years away from their kind?

Most of Galen’s day was spent with Mino. After she woke, she clung to him like a child would sweets, asking him every little thing that came to her head. She already knew plenty thankfully, due to her time spent in Galen’s backpack, but there was still much she wanted to know. Galen’s mind, splintered between worrying about the lamia, Seira, the meeting with the information trader, and how to handle the addition of Mino to his group, couldn’t handle her barrage gracefully. He hoped his inability to answer would discourage her, but any noncommittal answer only strengthened her deathgrip on his arm.

‘Energetic’ was Mino in a word, if a bit oblivious. Either she couldn’t pick up on Galen’s state, or wholly disregarded it. He had to admit, he’d been excited to meet and learn about various monsters on his journey, including slimes, but now was not the time for it. And from what he’d heard of slimes--both from his father’s stories and Seira--Mino was not your average slime. The Mino from last night--that's what he thought of when slimes came to mind. Relentless, seductive, flexible, and hungry, not the hyper, excitable, and eager slime following him around. He remembered Seira saying red slimes, specifically, were more dangerous. Did that mean there was a significant difference between slimes based on their color?

When the sun finally lowered to near the horizon, Sybyll came to fetch Galen for their meeting with the information trader. Dashing his fear as best he could, Galen nodded, checking both his swords before following her to the door. Mino, however, tugged at his shirt, stopping him.

“Can I come?”

“Eh, well, I don’t know if that’s a good idea. I’m not sure how safe it’ll be,” said Galen.

“I’m a slime! We’re real sturdy!” said Mino, inflating her chest and giving it a good smack.

“If I may interject,” said Sybyll. “The man we spoke with yesterday will be expecting a lizardman and a human, and only that. It would be unwise to catch him off balance with an additional participant. Our meeting will be a delicate thing.”

Galen nodded in agreement. “That’s a good point. Mino, stay here and watch our stuff. We shouldn’t be gone all that long.”

Her body exaggeratedly deflated, but she accepted the decision. “Oh-kay! I will guard your stuff really well!” She sent them off with a wave.

Oddly enough, Galen found his legs steady on the walk to the spot they found the agent yesterday. Maybe he just wasn’t good at waiting around for things to happen. Now that he had a clear mission, he felt his usual gusto returning to his body. He walked with his back straight and his head held high, though his figure was still dwarfed next to Sybyll. He observed her with sidelong glances, imitating her posture almost in a game of sorts. He swung his arms at the same intervals, kept his steps in sync with hers, nudged his chin to the proper level, and even went as far as to try to mimic her breathing pattern.

So caught up in his game, Galen didn’t realize they’d arrived until Sybyll came to a halt. Just down the street, in the same shadowy spot as yesterday, the man, the information trader’s agent, stood leaning up against a wall.

Only then did Galen come to a terrible realization.

“Oh no,” said Galen, the color draining from his face.

“What is it?” An alien element of alarm crept into Sybyll’s voice.

“I forgot to do my morning routine!”