By the time Fio came to her senses, she had no idea where she’d run off to.

“W-Wow… that was scary…”

She glanced back, made sure Leon hadn’t followed her, and let out a small sigh of relief.

Fio hugged her arms, still shaken.

If she’d been even a little slower just then, Leon might’ve tackled her and taken her virginity right there.

“That guy… does he have nothing but (censored) on his mind? The only place I’ve ever seen a man that crazy is in hentai.”

Thinking about it that way, she was even worse off. How had she gone from being a candidate for a light-novel harem to a hentai character destined to get ravished?

Fio’s mood sank even lower.

“Sigh. This is just my lot in life, I guess. I’ve signed a slave contract, so I can’t run away anyway.”

After pulling herself together, she decided to keep her spirits up and finish the job at hand.

Now that Leon had cut off her allowance, she’d have to put up with doing odd jobs for a while and think about how she’d get by in the future.

“Why isn’t there a way to make money just by lying around?”

Fio grumbled as she walked through the forest, searching for slimes.

All she had to do was defeat ten slimes and collect their fluid to finish the quest and claim a 300-yuan reward. That’d be enough to buy a few doujinshi and pass the time.

“All right! For the doujinshi, I’ll do my best!”

The silver-haired girl cheered herself on, unusually caught up in the spirit of hard work.

…

“Ice Sword, come forth!”

Fio’s Ice Sword pierced the slime. It let out a wail, then melted into a puddle of liquid.

She went over to its remains and filled a test tube. Looking at the pale blue fluid, Fio wiped the sweat from her face.

“That makes nine.”

Ever since Leon had left, Fio had been running into slimes much more often. This was already the ninth.

“Hmph. I knew Leon was up to something. He must’ve done something to make this happen. How else would I keep running into slimes so easily when I’m alone?”

The blazing sun hung overhead. Under its scorching rays, Fio’s sweat had already soaked through her undershirt.

“Huff, huff… It’s so hot… Do I really have to work in weather like this? Isn’t there something I can do?”

As she searched for the last slime, she tugged open her collar and fanned herself, grumbling about the heat.

…

Suddenly realizing something, Fio covered her face with one hand.

“Am I an idiot? I’m an Ice Dragon… I could’ve just used magic to cool myself down.”

She raised her palm. A small whirlwind of snowflakes spun above it, growing larger as magic stirred it to life. Fio began chanting a complex spell at an unhurried pace.

“Weather magic: Falling Snow!”

Snow-filled winds swept in every direction, and the air temperature dropped at once. In the blazing heat of midsummer, snow had actually begun to fall.

Among humans, only the Great Sage could use weather magic. Fio had cast it with ease; for her, it really wasn’t difficult.

In her Dragon King form, she wouldn’t even need to chant a spell. She’d come with a blizzard effect built in.

“That’s better. Much cooler.”

Fio hummed a little tune, pleased. The burning heat had faded, and she felt much more comfortable.

“Slime~ Slime~ where are you~? I’ve been looking so hard for you~ I’ll draw your blood~ peel off your skin~ and trade it for money~ then I can buy doujinshi~”

The girl’s cheerful voice echoed through the forest.

Maybe her bizarre lyrics had scared all the slimes away. She walked for ages without seeing a single one.

Fio grew irritated. She even started wondering if she should use a huge area-of-effect spell to clear the whole map and blow the forest to pieces.

But then she thought about how angry Leon would be if she did that, and how he might beat her up, so she decided against it.

“Slime~ oh, Slime~ where are you~? I’ve been looking so hard for you~ I won’t draw your blood~ I won’t peel off your skin~ I don’t want money~ I don’t even want doujinshi~”

Fio changed the lyrics and sang out loud.

Perhaps the gods had been moved by Fio’s heartfelt song, because she really did spot a slime.

In a bush ahead, she saw something that looked like a slime: a flowing, blue, translucent body, with part of it sticking out.

Fio immediately fell silent and grinned with delight. “Take this!!”

She forgot all the lyrics she’d just sung, summoned an Ice Sword, and sent it flying. Then she heard a cry of pain.

“Ugh—!”

That didn’t sound like a slime at all. It sounded more like a woman.

Oh no. Had she mistaken it for a slime and hurt someone?

A bad feeling welled up inside Fio. She hurried over and pushed the bushes aside—and froze at the sight before her.

It was a girl, with the alluring curves of a young woman. She wasn’t wearing a thing.

But she wasn’t human, either. Her body was made of blue, translucent fluid, just like a slime’s.

In short, she was a slime monster girl.

Her eyes were full of fear, and her body trembled slightly. Fio’s Ice Sword had cut her leg, and blue, translucent blood was still flowing from the wound.

Fio tried to approach her, but the slime girl cried out in fear, making Fio feel even guiltier.

For some reason, killing slimes didn’t bother her at all, but hurting a slime girl felt absolutely awful—even though, at their core, they were the same kind of creature.

Should she choose the slime girl, or the 300-yuan reward to buy doujinshi…?

Fio thought it over for a moment. The slime girl mattered more than the doujinshi, so she gave up on killing her to complete the quest.

“Miss Slime, I’m sorry! I was wrong to hurt you just now. It was an accident.”

Fio raised both hands to show she meant no harm.

The slime girl seemed a little less hostile, but she couldn’t speak. She blinked.

Fio reached out and slowly closed the distance. With the slime girl watching her, she actually managed to touch her body. A soft, pleasant sensation came back through her fingertips.

Perhaps Fio’s sincere apology had made the other girl less wary.

“Miss Slime, I don’t know how to use healing magic. This happened because of me, so let me take you to someone who can treat you.”

Not many people in this world could use healing magic; it was quite rare. But as far as Fio knew, the clergy at the church in the City of Sunrise would definitely be able to.

The slime girl seemed to understand Fio and gave a slight nod.

Seeing that she couldn’t move easily, Fio quickly carried the slime girl on her back. Fortunately, the slime girl was very light, so even Fio’s weak stamina in her human form could handle it.

“Oh, right. Leon’s into non-humans. If he sees Miss Slime, she’ll be in danger. I have to avoid him at all costs!”

Feeling the slime girl’s weight on her back, Fio’s face filled with resolve.