Slime

After eating a meal with Cecil, the first thing I did was check the Slime Bed in the Bedroom.

I had been distracted that morning, and Cecil was sleeping on the bed, so I had let it slide, but it wasn’t something I could just ignore.

It didn’t seem to have any intention of harming people, but….

I couldn’t just leave it be.

…It definitely wasn’t just because it had choked me.

When I opened the Bedroom door, the bed looked perfectly neat, as if nothing had happened last night. I thought its performance was outstanding, but I shook my head vigorously.

However, the air was slightly stuffy.

Opening the window, I approached the bed with cautious steps, and a gulp of saliva went down my throat in tension.

I cleared my throat and whispered to Cecil, pointing at the bed.

“…Cecil, if that thing moves on its own, immediately spray that and subdue it.”

“Yes, Asha-nim!”

Cecil clenched her fists and replied with a strong voice, holding the Flask containing ‘the liquid that hardens slime’ that I had given her.

Her pale, slender arms didn’t look very reliable on the surface, but knowing the strength those soft-looking arms possessed, my mind calmed down a little.

Hoo…

I brought a long rod from the Workshop and poked, poked the bed to check for any reaction.

The bed only squished softly and showed no particular reaction.

…Indeed, it was funny to be wary of it now, after having slept so well on it.

Since there was no reaction, I approached a little closer, intending to throw a bait, and poked it with my finger.

As usual, it made my finger feel soft and cushioned.

…That was all.

It was as if it was asserting, ‘Last night was your imagination, and nothing happened!’

‘…How could I forget?’

At the time, I hadn’t been exposed to semen, so my memory was relatively clear. Its feigned ignorance after using me to squeeze semen from Cecil’s penis made me feel strange.

‘Now that I think about it.’

I remembered something like a business card I received after buying the Slime Bed with Master’s money.

The words the woman who visited me at the time said as she gave it to me came to mind.

…She said I would know when it needed maintenance, didn’t she?

My face flushed.

Right, indeed… I certainly do know.

‘They operate like this, and there are no problems?’

No wonder there was no one around that area; so this was the reason.

…Though it seemed it was simply because it was expensive.

‘No, thinking about it that way makes me even angrier?’

They do this kind of thing after taking all that money?

Getting angry by myself wouldn’t mean anything.

With a flushed face, I fumed and opened the bedside table drawer, rummaging inside. After a thorough search, I found the paper that remained vaguely in my memory.

“Found it.”

As I held the paper in my hand, delighted, Cecil tilted her head and spoke.

“What is that?”

“Oh, this?”

I fluttered the paper in front of the bed, which was pretending to be still, and replied.

“It’s the one that told me to contact them if that thing gets strange─”

Wriggle.

Suddenly, a sticky tentacle shot out from the still bed and snatched the paper away.

I stared at the bed with a dumbfounded expression, and it remained quiet, as if it would pretend not to know about this too.

I pointed at the bed with narrowed eyes.

“…Cecil, just spray it.”

“W-would that be alright?”

“It’ll be fine, and… I need to find the paper.”

There was a free pass attached to it, you see.

There was also the option of discarding it entirely… but having once tasted the overwhelming comfort and convenience of the Slime Bed, I felt I couldn’t escape it.

…Ah.

So this is how they do business.

I inwardly gasped in admiration as I watched Cecil prepare to throw the Flask.

As Cecil approached, the slime seemed to sense danger and rippled its surface. It couldn’t move off the bed, seemingly unable to leave it.

But something strange happened.

The wriggling, squirming creature began to form some kind of shape, didn’t it?

“Cecil, wait a moment.”

“Yes?”

I stopped Cecil, who was about to scatter the contents of the Flask, and watched what the creature was doing.

…There was no special reason.

Just simple curiosity.

After all, if it could understand my words, didn’t that mean it had some level of intelligence?

And since it hadn’t attacked us, it seemed to have another purpose.

In the meantime, the bubbling creature formed a small ‘human’ shape.

It was truly… peculiar.

“It’s cute!”

What Cecil was looking at with a pleased smile… although it was a light blue color, it had a face that somehow resembled both me and Cecil.

Its size was barely smaller than one of my arms, though.

“…Hmm.”

As Cecil said, it was cute. Which was natural, considering it resembled me and Cecil.

The creature, having formed a shape, shook its head as if to say, ‘Don’t do that.’

Inside its transparent body, the paper it had just stolen from me floated around.

It seemed unable to digest it, as the paper didn’t dissolve and floated, crumpled.

‘…Interesting.’

I gazed at the creature and then spoke.

“Are you asking me not to get rid of you?”

Then, with a face resembling Cecil and me, it shyly nodded its head.

Cecil, watching from beside me, looked back and forth between me and the slime with an anxious expression. She had called it cute, so it seemed she was quite fond of it.

With complex and subtle feelings, I took a moment to ponder.

The first thing that needed to be secured to live with the creature was safety.

…Since it couldn’t digest the paper, it seemed that the only things it could eat were bodily fluids or secretions that flowed from the body.

‘Is that why it rushed at me yesterday?’

It made sense, considering it had been left unattended for a long time without any precautions, unable to leave the bed. That didn’t mean choking me was forgivable, though.

…Anyway.

I had something to say about this too.

Isn’t it natural, since I wasn’t informed of such specifications beforehand?

Or… perhaps it was a special case.

After all, it had consumed plenty of Cecil’s semen, which had the effect of making a woman’s penis stiff.

…Though it wasn’t something to boast about.

Fanning my flushed face, I observed the soft, squishy slime rubbing its body.

The paper was still perfectly intact, without any damage.

Cecil, watching with me, seemed to want to touch it, looking at me with sparkling eyes.

‘…It probably isn’t dangerous.’

From the start, even in extreme starvation, it didn’t attack but rather took actions to efficiently extract semen and bodily fluids. So, it seemed safe to assume it was harmless.

In a way… I wondered if it was a type that could coexist, like Harpies.

…I’d only know for sure after more observation, though.

Ultimately, my mind leaned towards leaving it be for now.

Seeing Cecil’s happy expression softened my heart, and as an alchemist, my curiosity was piqued.

However… there was one thing I needed to tell the creature.

I was about to tell it not to choke me next time… but I stopped. Cecil was there, and now it was just a matter of being careful not to let it starve.

When I said she could touch it, Cecil put down the Flask, climbed onto the bed, and flopped down to observe the slime.

The creature’s reaction was quite friendly too.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of its cute face rubbing against Cecil’s cheek.

I cleared my throat and also climbed onto the bed.

As I lay down, watching Cecil enjoying her time with the slime, the soft bed squirmed and gave me a massage.

It was an excellent massage, comparable to Claudia’s.

‘…Not bad.’

It knows how to flatter; quite impressive.

While feeling as comfortable as if I were sitting in a massage chair, Cecil’s voice reached me.

“Asha-nim!”

“Hmm…?”

When I replied with a relaxed, languid voice, Cecil giggled and said,

“What should we call this now?”

…A name.

I thought we could just call it a slime, but Cecil had a serious expression. I closed my opened mouth tightly, pondered, and then clapped my hands.

“Cecil can name it.”

“Me, Cecil?”

“Yes. Just like I named you, Cecil.”

Then Cecil blinked at me, looked down at the slime, and smiled.

“Understood! Cecil will think very hard!”

“Alright, tell me when you think of one.”

“Yes, Asha-nim!”

Cecil placed the yet-unnamed slime in her hand and pondered, muttering ‘Hmm…’ I was a little curious what name Cecil would come up with after such effort.

Then… I saw the paper lying carelessly on the bed.

…I was dumbfounded by its nonchalant abandonment, as if it had realized it no longer needed it.

‘It can’t speak, but it seems smarter than I thought.’

I picked up the crumpled paper and checked it; apart from being a little damp from being inside the creature, there seemed to be no corrosion.

After the final check, I tucked the paper into my pocket and surrendered my body to the bed.

…Indeed, it was an addictive sensation.

I had wanted to come back and calmly organize my thoughts, but somehow… I didn’t have the leisure for that.

However… I wasn’t particularly feeling anxious. Rather, I felt peaceful.

Was it because the thought, ‘Perhaps it’s okay like this,’ had settled in a corner of my mind?

…I don’t know.

As I lay down, my full stomach pleaded for sleep, so with a strange feeling, I closed my eyes and savored the soft bed.

I must have been extremely tired, as when I came to, the date had changed.

Opening my eyes with a refreshed mind, I saw Cecil sleeping with the slime.

To be precise, only Cecil was asleep.

When I woke up, the slime squirmed and looked at me.

…Does it not sleep?

As I got out of bed, it waved its tiny hand at me, as if saying goodbye.

“…Huh.”

In a dazed state, I waved back, then retrieved the Flask and quietly went down to the Workshop, making sure not to wake Cecil.

Donning my gown and descending into the empty Workshop, my mind calmed down.

To loosen my hands, which must have gotten rusty during the break, I picked up the materials I usually handled.

‘…What should I make?’

I hummed a tune with pleasant contemplation.