9

Today, no, it's yesterday now. Yesterday was an eventful day.

We'd taken Haruka to Tofu's clinic to get something to calm her nerves. She's clearly been shaken by all she experienced, from being in the middle of a gratuitous display of teenage violence to suddenly fall into an entirely new and intimidating world with an honest-to-god yokai in it. And she'd really fallen into it; according to her, she stepped into the temple to find cover, only to smash face-first against a plushy barrier she couldn't see, she got sucked in a second later and I can imagine what happened next. Pretty much confirming that while she can't feel or see Illusion Barriers, she can interact and enter them.

That was all I managed to get from her before she closed off. She asked for some time to think about all of this. I can't deny that the way she said it didn't hurt a little bit, but it was understandable. If she decides to put everything behind her, including the budding friendship with the troublemakers who caused it all, it was her decision.

I sighed one more time, adding to the large count I've been accumulating through the night. No use worrying about that now, I guess.

The weight of my restored bat sat comfortably on my shoulder as I rolled it around, occasionally dropping it down to bounce it on the pavement just for the heck of it, sometimes I even used it as I cane. This was all mostly to feel the new leather wrapping moving on my palm, or to see the light of the lamppost dancing over its immaculate metallic surface.

It felt good to have it whole again.

A short while later, my midnight walk ended in the same place my Sunday began; the vacant lot a few blocks from my apartment and floating innocently right in the middle of it was the spherical shape of the Illusion Barrier I'd created in the morning. It was now spotting a light green color, contrary to the transparent hue from before.

Something had changed in it, that much was obvious, the fact that for some reason Minon died inside after hours of non-stop annihilation against monsters that couldn't, or at least shouldn't, be able to leave any lasting damage on her was telling enough. Maybe something else got inside, or the barrier itself leveled up. Any of these cases could explain the change of color.

I passed a nervous hand over my hair, finally disturbing the perfect gel-granted slickness that bravely held on for most of the day. The truth of the matter is; I don't have enough information to start making assumptions.

The rustle of clothes behind me told me that my follower had assumed her new favored position of the night.

"Stop that, Rin. I already said you can raise your head." Looking over my shoulder, I found the expected sight of Uehara Rin prostrating herself in a very low dogeza bow. She's been doing this each time we stop for more than a few seconds.

"T-This one can't, Aruji-sama!" She declared against the ground, not even trying to raise her head. "I-It wouldn't be proper."

I sighed yet again.

"I'm the one who rushed into danger without thinking. It's not your fault." I tried to reason with her one more time.

"T-This one's duty is to protect Aruji-sama!" She declared. "She should have secured the area of your honorable duel first hand; she should have made sure there were no unforeseen dangers or threats. Yet the Twilight Gate went undetected, causing one of Aruji-sama's favored to fall into it, later followed by Aruji-sama himself." Her voice began to break. "T-This useless one even failed to respond in time! If it weren't for Aruji-sama's own talents, her ward could have suffered mortal consequences. Oh please!" She cried out loudly. One would think she was trying to fuse her head with the ground right then. "T-This one implores you, Aruji-sama, lay down your rightful judgment upon her so she could repent!"

Anh, all this formal speaks jumbled with her weird way of talking. I wanted to sigh again.

"You really want to be punished so badly?" Matter of pride? Perhaps, or she just wants a consequence for her failure, I could understand that. "Ok… What usually happens to a Taimanin when she fails her mission?"

I could her jerking a little, her head rising to look at my feet and leg before going down again.

"A-Aruji-sama! A-a-a Taimanin should be disciplined by bathing in boiling oil to wash her sins, t-then her back should be whipped proportionally to the humiliation she brought upon herself, the noble Corp, and her master. Finally, she must be given to the barracks so her body may be useful in releasing the stress of worthier warriors. This must go on until her master or the Corp deems enough. After that, they would decide if she will be allowed back in active service, or if she must give up her life as a final form of repentance."

… Completely brutal, of course, with a dash of public use that makes the whole thing sound like a hardcore hentai. I suppose it makes a sickly amount of sense for something like Taimanin Asagi; even if the kunoichi manages to escape the sexual humiliation she would endure in the hand of the demons, she still has to endure the sexual humiliation that would be waiting for them at the hands of the taimanin corp, so she is fucked no matter what, meaning that the episode or game will always have H-scenes no matter the outcome.

To be honest, this level of punishment sounds incredibly stupid to me, why risk permanent psychological or physical damage to your highly trained kunoichi? They don't grow on fucking trees! It's a waste of years of investment goddamn it!

I shook my head from these thoughts and addressed the still bowing ninja.

"Look, I won't put you through punishment of this level, it's disproportional… would take too long, and I don't even have barracks where you could be used." I listed off and almost groaned when I saw that she still maintain the same position. "Alright, I'll think of something, I will punish you if you want it so much, but later,

I need you tonight, so raise your damn head!"

"H-Hai!" She finally did so, and quickly half jumped, half stumbled back to her feet.

…Is that a little blush? I just went drill sergeant on her ass why would she- oh, I said I need her.

Cute.

So cute, in fact, that I had to lean in and place a quick peck on her lips. Something she clearly wasn't expecting by the way she started stuttering and letting out weird squeaky noises.

Making no comment about that and still holding a deadpan expression, I turn around and let her deal with her minor freak out. Next step…

From darkness and shadows of what must be the most evil-looking summoning circle ever a cowgirl appeared.

"WOOOOOH MINON IS BACK!!!!" She proclaimed while raising her warhammer high, her voice booming across the area, illuminating windows and throwing distant dogs into barking fits.

"Volume!" I snapped, but inside I was relieved, looks like she stills the same Minon, the one I summoned this morning I mean. There was a real possibility that she would come out differently after her 'death', or another Cardian of Strength would take her place. But it seems I didn't need to worry.

She was slightly different in appearance though, her blonde and pink hair now only reaches her shoulders rather than fall to her lower back, and her skin color was a few shades darker.

"GRAH! SOR- I mean, sorry master, I forgot." She grinned sheepishly.

"I can see the pattern." I nodded. "Now tell me; how did you die?"

"Err." My Amazonian summon tilted her head. "I-Is that a tricky question? I'm bad at those, minon! I'm still alive master!"

"No, I…" I pinched the bridge of my nose and decided to try a different approach. "You… lost a battle early today, didn't you."

Mino pushed her lips petulantly, looking away.

Seriously?

"Minon…" I said warningly.

"Alright! I did, ok! That thing came out of nowhere!" She snapped. But she soon lowered her tone when she remembered whom she had snapped to. "… Sorry master."

Wearing her emotions on her sleeve is an understatement with this one. Still, I found her oddly charming because of this.

"Tell me what happened in detail," I commanded.

And she did so, sparing absolutely nothing she had seen, heard or felt… Until I told her to skip to the relevant part that it.

My shoulder dropped in relief… and a little disappointment.

"That's it?" I asked.

"Yes, master." Minon looked around, alarmed for my flat tone of voice. "Err, did I do something I shouldn't master."

A fucking slime.

… Ok, not a slime; the slimy phenomenon I witnessed with Ranma that one time, it seems like Minon managed to agro every slime in the map with her one-woman jihad against their species. They had fused together into one 'bigass jello' in Minon's word and conspired to take her down.

Wait.

"A Slime killed you, Minon?"

She blinked. "Ye…Yeah, that's what I said, master."

"But you're a woman." I mused.

The data I gathered from the experiments Ranma thought it were accidental, indicated that Slimes do not hurt women, ever. They only cling to them to dissolve their clothes, and that's it. Their acidic bodies don't even irritate the skin of a female Ranma, but they would leave ugly burns to a male one. Hell, they don't even go on the offensive when the female in question succeeds in damaging them.

That's why I didn't see trouble in leaving Minon alone in an IB that later I'd come to realize only had them.

Yet, she had been killed how…

Wait, didn't she die falling?

"… Mino, tell me again, how did you die?"

"Gladly!" She grinned and patted her biceps. "I was fighting bravely—"

"Without lying," I said, firmly.

The cowgirl choked on her word. "I-I…" She fought her tongue to not answer. "I… IrI… I tri-… I-IIIIIII tttttttripped." She finally rasped out.

She tripped and fell off a building. That makes more sense.

"I don't like when people lie to me, Minon. Especially when it's important." I said slowly.

I'm not an absolutist, I know there are harmless lies and fun lies meant to prank or surprise, but lies that keep me from seeing the real picture… yeah, those need to be ironed out.

"… I was ashamed." She admitted with her head hanging low.

"You should be more ashamed for lying to me." I sighed. "Look, never do this again, ok, not when things are serious."

She perked up a little.

"Ok, master! Never again, I promise, minon!"

Like talking to a small child, I swear.

"Rin!" The kunoichi that was curiously looking at our interaction snapped to attention. "The situation is much less dangerous than I imagine, but I'm still bringing you with me in case something happens."

It's only a bunch of slimes that fused together. Their level didn't really change. I won't even need to kill them. Just go in and erase the barrier.

That green tinge, though, it's worrying me.

"Hai!" The taimanin confirmed. Then she fidgeted a bit. "Get in... Could Aruji-sama mean the Twilight Gate in this lot? If-If so then, this one still has part of the Moonlit Road offering drawn upon her arms. T-this one can safely take Aruji-sama inside if he so desires!"

The Moonlit Road, I've inquired about that earlier, according to Rin, it was a sacrifice of blood and vitality to the moon in exchange for a way inside an Illusion barrier. There is also a twin ritual meant for day; The Sunlit Road offering. Those were the primary method the Taimanin uses to get inside an 'Oumagatoki' if they ever need to.

"I really need that crash course in magic you've promised me, Rin." I reminded her and myself, no matter how well I posed, I was still ignorant to the majority of the supernatural manners. This needs to be rectified fast. But first. "There is no need; you saw me getting inside, remember? I have my own means."

And with that, I sunk my arm inside the barrier, pushing myself up to the elbow before waving for the girls to grab on me. Physical contact is needed for my 'enter illusion barrier' skill to work on them.

Let's just erase this barrier and go home; after a day like this, I'm fucking tired.

-0-0-0-​

… It wasn't a fusion of slimes.

"Ah! It looks like me now, minon!"

Indeed, the enormous, gelatinous mass was spotting a protrusion that formed a torso, two limbs, a massive pair of breasts, and a horned head. It did indeed looked like Minon, albeit a half-melted version of her.

But more importantly…

Giant Slime/Gestating Slime Queen

Level: 30

It's the freaking boss.

…Ok.

This is not unexpected, I mean, I know what the gamer is, I may not know the exact mechanics but I know enough to build some expectations.

"Right. Looks like we'll have to use you, after all, Rin."

A level ?? taimanin against a level 30 slime, I was not worried.

"H-Hai! I won't disappoint you, Aruji-sama!"

It appears to be making a mess before we arrived as it already destroyed half of the replicated city block. Suddenly it moved in our direction, apparently finally noticing we were there. The pile of rubble and debris hissed and smoked due to the passage of the acidic body over the pieces.

Their movements were slow and sluggish; it took two full seconds to raise its arm at us.

I raised my eyebrow as I considered the optics of the fight; I knew slimes aren't the fastest monster in a barrier, but to be this slow—

Then the part where the shoulder met the arm began to bloat, ballooning outward in a grotesque, but oddly cartoony display.

"AH!" Cried out Minon, apparently recognizing the phenomenon. She nodded, "We should dodge!"

A little earlier would've been better, but still, we were well out of the way when the bubble finally burst in a violent pop, launching part of its acidic body to the place where we previously stood—

"Eek!" Rin gasped as she was glued to the wall with the blob of greenish slime all over her.

W… Seriously!?

Fucking- I know she is a badass ninja, she wouldn't have been able to erase an entire orc cartel otherwise, her level indicated this, what I knew of taimanin indicate this.

Then, what the fuck was that!? Is it because of her meek personality thing? Fuck, I thought it was just a little quirk from this crazy anime world but now it actually got in the way.

Whatever, going to talk to her after this is all over, she should be safe there. I mean, her clothes will melt, but she got an abundance of those.

"Oi Minon!" I shouted to the cowgirl at a distance. "It's only us now, get on her face, and keep the pressure on!"

"Aye, master! Minonnn!" She cried while rushing to the monster.

To anyone else, this would be suicide, but Minon was a woman. I don't know why the slimes don't damage women, but I plan to exploit the fuck out of this glitch like any self-respecting gamer would.

As for me, close combat wouldn't do me any good, so I threw my bat back into the inventory, and ran to a better position. I would play magical support.

As far as boss battle goes, this wasn't a hard one.

Minon crashed her warhammer against the gelatinous form, its head shinning with the effect of her Power Strike skill; the attack threw chunks of the monster everywhere.

The fact that she tries to retreat immediately afterward told me that she had acquired some experience fighting slimes and knew that they have a tendency to latch on whatever was attacking them. That said, because this particular slime was much bigger, she did not succeed in getting out of the way fast enough, and her leg got grabbed, not that it prevented her from laying another power strike on the stretched out thread of goo, freeing her leg from the larger whole.

Had she been a man, her leg wouldn't be connected to her body anymore, but as this isn't the case, she could press on with relative abandon, the only risk to being getting trapped beneath the weight of the slime and have her movements constricted. And that was precisely how the monster was trying to deal with her, cutting up her retreat and get more slime on her body to slow her down and make her clumsy.

Meanwhile, I was circling around the area, staying clear from the splashes of acid and lying thick on the Mana Bolt barrage whenever I could.

A simple and straightforward strategy, but one that was working.

But it wouldn't last.

Placing my arm over the destroyed remains of a window, I shot a few more mana bolts at the smile's torso and raised arm, interrupting her attempt at pinning the increasingly slime-covered Minon. The Boss responded to my attack by popping parts of her body, sending 'shrapnels' of acid in my direction and forcing me to change my position.

There was two way to kill a slime, one is to deal enough damage to their form, provided that it was magical damage, and the other is to destroy their 'core', a semi-transparent sphere inside the monster's gelatinous mass, we are trying for the first option because while it was relatively easy to find the core in a small blob on the ground, the boss is a blob taller than Minon and I couldn't even get close. But the thing is, the only attack Minon has that seems to affect the monster was Power Strike, and she needed a few seconds between uses to recharge. Everything else she could dish out just annoyed the beast and got her stuck. And with me, the only magic I had was Mana Bolt, which as effective as it is, it didn't seem to be able to do enough damage to truly worn the beast down.

I don't have a damage counter to know how well we're doing, but it certainly feels like we're not getting far; the slime seems to be able to simply regrown the mass that we blew off, or it used as ammunition, and sometimes that ammunition was directed at Minon rather than me, covering my main tank more and more in acid goo and slowing her down despite her best complains and loud promises of revenge. The straps of her bikini armor were looking thinner by the minute.

It all comes down to the lack of variety in my repertoire; if my one spell and it's few variations fail and I can't pummel the enemy to death with my bat, then I'm a sitting duck. I've meant to rectify that, but there are just so many damn things happening… Whatever, no use whining about it now.

Diving out of the way of a crumbling concrete wall that suffered too much structural damage, I decided to change tactics and pulled up my stat screen while I maneuvered my way through the rubble-filled street.

I had 10 points from the early level up, not enough to make a huge difference like before but enough to give me an edge. I balanced it out between the two stats that affected my magic.

As my back hit another wall with the fight raging on behind, I formed a Mana bolt in my hand. Then I continued to pour Mana in, making the inner light of the sphere swell and pulse as its form bloated out, growing from fist size to beachball sizes in three seconds flat, a new record.

Hit the fucker with a bigger gun, a simple logic, but I got nothing to lose.

"Hey, Minon, duck!"

The cowgirl couldn't see me; she had her back in my direction, pulling herself from the stretch out mass of her own gelatinous clone. But she heard me; thus, her body instinctively reacted to my command by throwing itself to the ground before her mind could process it. The thick thread of goo immediately started to drag her to the slime, but only until my giant Mana bolt traveled the whole way and hit it. Engulfing the majority of the monster topside in a bright light.

Then it exploded.

Arcane sneak attack leveled up!

Bits of acidic slime splashed everywhere, changing the layout of the area even more. For the first time, the monster completely lost it's Minon façade, seemly going limp, and liquid enough for the real Minon to detach herself and roll away from its reach.

"YEAH Master! That's how you do it!" The cowgirl cheered, pupping her hammer up in the air. The movement caused her large breasts to bounce a little too heavily and snap the already fragile constraint of her metal bikini top, not that she cared.

"Look alive, Minon. It isn't over yet!" I warned as what was left of the monster began to stir again.

There is nothing like breaking your opponent's illusion of invincibility to boost your morale. Now that we clearly managed to do a considerable about of damage, I could notice things I wasn't registering before, like the fact the slime was regenerating slower and slower, or how it doesn't seem to maintain its Minon-shape during a constant barrage. Now that I knew the monster wasn't simply shrugging what I threw at it, I could focus on winning.

Thus the same strategy was repeated, and this time I don't intend to stop until I'm out of mana.

However, this time the thing surprised us by literally reshaping a hole over its torso to let the oversized mana bolt fly past.

Shit, it's not completely stupid.

While it staggered back from one of Minon's power strikes, I launched another oversized mana bolt, only to see it retracting its head to let it past. This confirms that yep, it had figured out our most dangerous attack and now was actively working to doubt it.

"Minon, I need you to distract it for a minute!" I cried out while running further away across the ruble.

"I'll do my best, minon!" Was her response, but I didn't turn to look.

Finding a still mostly standing building on the edge of the battlefield, I hunkered down inside, killing a few vagrant slimes that had been attracted by the fight along the way.

Propping my back to a wall near a window where I could watch how Minon's efforts went, I activated my meditation skill. While the extra points had made it much easier to manifest bolt of that size and had allowed me to make way more than I could before, it was still very tasking on my MP. I could reliably use three and continue fighting, four would leave me all but empty, and as I was already a third of the way out when I started tugging them. I had to recharge.

Thinking through my labored breath was easier while I was meditating, numbing the sounds around me, I thought back on the fight, seeing what I could improve, and how I could put more damage in.

The big problem was speed; while a typical mana bolt was fairly fast; an oversized one was much slower, the difference was like a baseball and a basketball being thrown from the same distance, one you can only fully see if you train your eyes for it. The other you could easily get out of the way if you're paying attention, and as the monster had singled me out as the biggest damage dealer, it would definitely pay attention to whatever I did.

So either I fire at point-blank, or I do something about the speed… basketball and… baseball…

…

It was… so freaking obvious.

With the boost of inspiration carrying me, I jumped out of the window and ran back to the center of the fight, ignoring the growing numbers of slimes around me.

"Oi Minon, I got-!"

"Ahn~!"

Err-what?

It seems the boss had finally managed to pin Minon down and dissolve the lower half of her bikini armor… and then I finally got to see what happened when a slime finishes melting a woman's clothes, as the battle turned into a very different kind of 'fight'.

Shaking my mind of one of the hottest hentai scenes I ever saw, I capitalized on the monster's distraction to send another oversized mana bolt at it, aiming for the top size so as not to hit poor Minon at the bottom.

The gelatinous mass instantly leaped back with unnatural movements, not even trying to form its humanoid half. Crap; it was still focused.

The impact still exploded a considerable amount of rubble on the side, though, and it had the happy coincidence of showering its rubble over the monster. It wouldn't damage it, but it would slow it down a bit.

I couldn't let this opportunity pass.

Letting my baseball bat fall out of my inventory, I stead it in a tight grip and let my mana cloak its metallic form. Next, I formed a giant mana bolt, making sure to give it a solid surface like that experiment from before I fought the monster version of Minon.

And the rest was the logical conclusion.

"HORA!"

The beach-sized ball of magical destruction flew over the broken street like a bullet, fully engulfing the debris-covered slime in its bright. I'd like to think that if the thing had eyes, they would have widened, it was a thought that would give me pleasant dreams later.

*BOOM!*

The explosion resonated across the area, the biggest one yet. Like the impact and acceleration had increased the spell's destructive power somehow.

But I didn't stop there. Not giving a chance for the thing to recover, I repeated the process two more times, leaving just enough mana for an emergency action I case I needed to back off. The following spheres, each bigger than the previous one, cut a bright trail through the smoke before they too popped in twin explosion just as volatile and destructive.

I waited until the dust settled so I could confirm it with my own eyes. The greenish liquid was painting all around the vast crater like the scene of a massacre, not a hint of consistency or mass was left; a slime only goes fully liquid if it's a part that was forcefully severed from the main body…

Or if it was dead.

I sighed, finally lowering my guard-

Oh crap!

"Minon!" I exclaimed, quickly kneeling down to the prone cowgirl. "Are you alright!?"

I wanted to slap myself for the stupid question. Of course, she wasn't! It only occurred to me now, out of the heat of the battle, that the little show from early might not have been entirely consensual. Oh god, what she must be feeling—

"GAH!" She sat up abruptly, hitting my face with her horn by consequence. "Master! I didn't lose, minon!"

"Wh-What?" I try to make my mind stop swirly, really wasn't expecting the horn-slap.

"I didn't lose! The bitch kept pounding away at my cunt and my ass, but I didn't cum even once, no matter how she worked for it!" She opened a bright smile, pumping her fist in the air and making her slime-covered breasts jiggle. "VICTORY FOR MINON!"

I opened my mouth… and then closed.

I… At least she wasn't traumatized or something, non-con experiences are only fun in hentai and fantasies.

"Now, where is the bitch at, master!? I got to finish smashing her!"

"Ah." Seeing my summon enthusiastically going on all fours for her warhammer, I got back to my feet. "I dealt with her."

She paused as she grasped the weapon, looking back from for waging tail and inviting rump. "Really? Awesome master! That bitch was really tough." Using the butt of her weapon, she prompted herself back up, immediately going. "VICTORY FOR MASTER!" When she was on her feet.

God, it's almost like the violation had lifted her mood even more for some reason.

… Least I'd know what to do when she's feeling down, hogtie her and throw her naked in a pit of slimes.

I chuckled at my own joke and the cowgirl's endless enthusiasm. Without an enemy to focus on, the tiredness of the day dawned back over my shoulders. "Come on, Minon, let's find Rin and get out of here."

"Ah master, shouldn't we smash the little ones while we're here?"

Huh? The little ones- Oh the nearby slimes that were attracted by the fight, I don't think they would be a problem; I was about to erase this barrier after all.

Then… I noticed something… important.

The slimes aren't attacking us.

No, instead, they're wandered mindlessly past us in the cheerful hops of theirs, moving directly into… into the crate.

… This does not bode well.

A greenish, gelatinous hand suddenly surged from the deeps, menacingly gripping the edge of the crate with splashy grip. The greenish hue of the hand slowly turning pink.

Oh yeah, this did not bode well at all.

What rose from the crater wasn't the boss slime we were fighting until recently, it wasn't a green mass of ooze with a half-melted humanoid form jutting out of it. What came out was a pink colored, perfect replication of Minon, down to her smallest details, from the horns, the hair, the nipples, the genitals, and even her blank expression; all could be seen from the variation in pink tone from the new monster's body.

Pupiless eyes turned to our direction, followed by a twisting a beauty into a smile that could fit most horror movies.

Slime Queen

Level: 40

Great, it fucking evolved.

"She is back!" Minon cried out the obvious. She sounded almost happy. "Ohhh, this one is really tough! Let's make sure to smash her real good this time!"

I shook my head with a sigh. Still, Minon's enthusiasm and determination are self-assuring, and she is right, in a way, this is a fight with can't really run from, so the only option is indeed 'smash her real good'. Sure her level is daunting to look at, but we managed to snatch a relatively easy victory from a level 30 version of it, so I reckon it's manageable.

With these thoughts in mind, I bent my knees and formed a banishing version of a Mana Bolt, first I would throw her away to buy some time and recharge while—

*Slin*

It was an… odd noise, a combination of a buzz and a hiss, with a strange metallic note hanging afterward.

In one moment, Minon and I were bracing to face the creepily smiling, level 40 Slime Queen. Then, there was a bright blue-white line seemly made of light stretching from between us to the horizon of the imitation city, piercing the slime queen in the middle of her large breasts… right at her core.

I smelled the briefest hint of ozone before the line blinked out of existence like it was never there in the first place. The slime queen stood still for a second before liquefying into a pink puddle.

I… trying to work slacked my jaw. Was she dead? But it was so abruptly! What the heck just happened?

My mind had just finished processing that the enemy with the highest visible level I've met was terminated like a schmuck. When a soft, feminine voice echoed from behind us.

"Waga Aruji-sama…"

Oooh I know that voice, I have precious memories if it softly moaning my name and trying not to gasp.

Uehara Rin walked up to us with delicate steps over the broken gravel; her naked form seems to gleam in the mist, a thin layer of mucus making her look oiled and ready, her lengthy hair was swept back and wholly glued to the skin of her back, and her breasts, the mammoth pair jiggled slightly with each step, erect tips confessing her arousal or coldness, everything about her seems natural, perfectly controlled, and deliciously sensual.

When she deemed close enough, she gracefully knelt down, placing an arm over her leg and bowing her head, a perfect example of a kunoichi addressing her lord.

"The target was eliminated Aruji-sama, this useless ones humbly beg for forgiveness from her momentary inaction."

…

No.

It can't be.

For the first time, I've seen both the meek Rin and the sexy Rin at once; I see her changing and…

Just… Every time she appears one way, she… when she is her meek self, she's… and when she is the badass Yamado Nadesiko she's…

A tiny patch of fabric fell from the side of her left breast, the last piece of cloth over her whole form.

"Your personality changes… according to your state of dress!?"

It wasn't really a question or even a declaration; it was incredulity in word form.

Rin's reaction manifested as a small tilt of her still bowing head, demonstrating her confusion.

"Ah… What… That was awesome!" Minon finally caught up with us. "You're awesome! That bitch was so strong before, and she seemed even stronger now, and you just… just!" The cowgirl turned her blushing, smiling face towards me. "Master, permission to fuck this woman!" She asked, pointing at the kneeling kunoichi.

"What!?" I choked, my continued incredulousness growing ever stronger. "Why are you even-No!"

"Permission to sit on her face!" She presses on after my denial.

I blinked. "No, Minon."

"… Permission to have her sit on my face?"

"…Waga Aruji-sama." I snapped my wide eyes at Rin. "This one regrets to inform you that great pain shall befall your noble shikigami if she continues this indecent line of questions."

That's it; I threw my hand in the air

"Fuck it! That's enough headaches for me today! You figure… whatever the fuck this is out among yourselves. I gonna take a breather!"

Maybe it was not as smart idea to leave the horny cow with the naked kunoichi when she's in her efficient killer form, but I didn't care—too many shenanigans for one day. I'm calling quits!

Besides, there is something else that got my attention, something other than bickering, naked women.

The innocuous bundle objects in the pink puddle left behind by the slime queen.

A pouch with a large number of notes and coins, a transparent slime core with a hole right in the center, and more important of all, a small, purple book with a weird symbol on the cover which I spare no time picking it up.

You have found a Skill Book!

Do you wish to learn a new skill?

Yes/No.

Now, this. This got potential.

Lots of it.