Neige wakes me up, my eyes and mind are still fuzzy. When I look around, I notice that not only we stopped, but also that our way is blocked by some... Weird creatures? They have the shapes of humans, but they look slimy and colorful. I could see myself pass my hand through them, and these colors kinda make me hungry.

"Luciaa, be careful. We're under attack from the slimes."

Under attack? They do have spears pointed at us, primitive spears that is. But they look too cute for me to feel threatened.

"They're so cute, can't we just talk to them?"

"Did this girl called us cute? Don't you fear for your lives, peasants?"

"No, she didn't mean it like that, she's new around here."

Neige and Ada acts like we should be scared, but they can barely hold their spears because of the cold. Actually, it's like they're freezing, literally. Some part of their body a completely frozen. I doubt they could hurt us if they wanted.

"Are you sure you're okay? Your legs are frozen."

They all look at their legs, am I really the only one that saw that?

"Not again, why are we the ones on duty here, it's so damn cold!"

"Next time, I'll ask for a better pay."

Ada and Neige look pretty surprised by the situation, but all I see is that they aren't really threatening. I guess if I ask nicely they will let us go.

"Excuse-me, but can we-"

Neige puts his hand on my mouth before I could finish my sentence, he whispers in my ear.

"You don't want to negotiate with them, slimes are very dangerous and cruel."

Dangerous? Cruel? Their bodies are frozen, there's no way that they actually are dangerous. I remove Neige's hand from my mouth and start addressing to the slimes.

"Can you let us go? We really need to go, please."

The slimes look at each other before nodding their head. The one that looks like the chief among them start speaking to me, to the surprise of Ada and Neige.

"We aren't nice to strangers usually, but we decided that we will let you go if you get a permission from our leader."

Ada looks at me, her eyes shining of happiness. 

"You really did it, you convinced them! We still have to see their leaders, but you already did a lot!"

Really? They can barely fight, we could just go around them. I guess if Ada and Neige prefer it this way, we'll listen to them.

"So where is your leader?" I ask the slimes.

"You need to go to the old Choma's ranch. We would guide you, but we need to guard the area."

They can just say that it's because their legs are frozen. Not that it's important.

We go to the ranch we came yesterday, but it became a place with slimes everywhere. They rampaged and plundered everything there was. As we walk around to search for their leader, they all look at us like we are some kind of attraction.
After a bit a walking around, we find someone looking like their leader. She has some sort of crown and has a tasty pink looking color. Why are those slimes so delicious looking?
The leader notices us coming to her and start the conversion with a mighty yet cute voice.

"Intruders? Here? How have you been able to pass beyond my guards?"

Ada and Neige both are ready to fight. They really don't like slimes, is there a reason for that? I suppose it has to be me that will make the conversation.

"Actually your guards are frozen and can't move. They said we could pass if we got your permission."

"They're frozen again? I told them to take torches with them." The slime girl talk to herself, and suddenly change her behavior when she notices we're still here.

"I-I mean it's all part of the plan! Yes, we never messed up, it was all planned! Anyway, you can just go, you don't seem worth robbing."

I don't know if she meant that we're poor, but as long as we can go I'm fine with it. I was about to tell my friends to go, but the apparition of another human stopped me in my tracks. She looks like a princess of some kind. She points a sword toward the slime's leader and start talking in a very authoritative voice.

"Aolo, I had enough! Why are you causing problems once more? This place belong to my mother. Leave now, or I'll be forced to do something."

The human girl was so focused on the slime that she just notices us. After looking at me intensely, she points her sword at me and talk to me with the same tone in her voice.

"An elf? I didn't know you were still alive? Are elves and slimes plotting something? It is normal I suppose, lower forms of life stick with each other."

I don't really care about elves, slimes, or whatever. But I'm not going to let myself insulted like that.

"What? You're sad that you have small ears, unlike me?"

She looks outraged, and when I expected it the least, the slime girl started dissing her too.

"You're just jealous that you can't lick what's between your legs by yourself like slimes can!"

What? Slimes can do that? Not that I want to try or anything... Anyway, Neige start joining us, making the human even more pissed off.

"You must feel bad that a guy has better looking hair than you!" After Neige told her that, the girl started blushing really hard.

"A-A guy? You're a guy?" 

While she starts to regain her composure, Ada scold us like we are a bunch of kids misbehaving.

"Do you have any idea who she is? She's Kaen, the princess of the kingdom! It's not the kind of person you want to be enemy with."

The princess? Are the slimes that much of a problem that she has to intervene personally?
Kaen point her sword to the slime's leader once more before shouting to her.

"Enough! Aolo! I shall stop you and your allies once and for all! Tonight will be the end of the slimes!"

After saying these words, she turns back and leave. Is she really going to lead an attack here? I know that Ada and Neige both don't like being here, but I really want to know what is going on with the slimes. I directly ask the slime's leader.

"Why does she hate you so much?" 

Ada quickly covers my mouth and bow down to the slime to apologize.

"Ignore her, she doesn't really know a lot about the world."

The slime girl has a smile on her face after taking a good look at me. 

"I like you, what's your name?"

"Luciaa." I answer confidently. I really don't understand the problem with them, they seem pretty cool.

"You can call me Aolo, I like your guts Luciaa. If you were a slime, I'd make you a member of our team."

She slightly hit my shoulder in a friendly way, but now it's slimy there.

"Us, slimes, aren't really welcomed anywhere. It's hard finding decent jobs for us, and we have to rely on stealing from peoples that passes by. And on top of that, we even got robbed of our home! We used to live in a pretty hot place, but now we're stuck in this frozen lands. We always have to carry a source of warmth to not freeze, and now the royal family want to stop us here too. But we're not going to go down without a fight."

I can understand they would be stopped if they steal from others, but if they can't have work, it's the only thing they can do. I think they should talk instead of fighting together, it would be better for both sides. Ada takes my hand and bows down to Aolo again.

"Thanks for letting us go, we wish you the best." 

After saying what she had to say, Ada pulled me outside the camp. After being far away with her and Neige, they both look relived.

"Why are you so afraid of them? I don't understand."

"Slimes can be very cruel, some say that once, they killed someone just because he wanted to lick them to know what they taste like." Neige says in a very dramatic way. I'm happy I didn't ask to taste them.

"Apparently, if you pronounce their leader's name wrong, they torture you for eternity." Ada says that, but I have a hard time believing it. 

"I'm sorry, but I think the slimes aren't that, I actually feel bad for them."

The sky is pretty dark, the night is near. Will there really be a fight going on? It's for the best that we leave, we don't need to get involved, there's no reason to get involved.

What if they all perish? It will be our fault.

I don't want to listen to the voices, but they're right. Are we going to let them fight? They are going to risk their lives just because they didn't have another way to live.

"Luciaa! We're ready!" 

Neige calls me, Ada and him are ready to go, but am I? I don't want to give up on the slimes, it wouldn't be right.

"Ada, Neige. I'm sorry, I don't want to go yet."

Ada comes closer to me and puts her hand on my shoulder.

"But we need to go, it's going to be dangerous."

It may be, but I don't want to leave them alone.

"I want to help them, please."