…and jumped right into its open mouth!
✦ ✦ ✦
A second later, Mimi’s lid snapped shut with a clunk.
“Gaaah! Mimi, no! You can’t eat them! Spit them out!”
How am I supposed to make it up to Fighsly if my pet eats hers?! I have to save them, before it’s too late!
“Oh, it’s fine. No need to panic,” said Fighsly. True to her word, she seemed completely unconcerned about the situation. Maybe her slime status gave her some sort of insider information? Regardless, I wasn’t about to calm down until I had a very good reason to.
“How am I supposed to not panic?! For all we know, the Free Tuitions are getting digested as we speak,” I moaned.
“Nah, it wouldn’t try to eat them,” said Fighsly. “I mean, monsters turn into magic stones when they die. Other monsters know that, so they don’t bother eating each other.”
“That makes sense, actually!”
“Some people claim mimics like eating precious stones, magic stones included, but that’s just an old wives’ tale. The truth is they sometimes keep precious stones and items in them to make themselves look more like real treasure chests, and people got the wrong idea as a result. I bet your mimic’s never tried eating any gemstones, has it?”
“Now that you mention it! That’s such a reasonable explanation!”
Maybe there were monsters that really did eat gems out there somewhere, but I’d never seen Mimi eat anything other than dust. I had no reason to believe it could eat gems. That left one pressing question, though.
“Okay, so then why did the Free Tuitions jump into Mimi?” I asked.
“Who knows?” Fighsly said with a shrug. Even a slime like her couldn’t tell what the other slimes were thinking. “By the way, is Mimi what you call it? Nice name.”
I’d really rather not talk about its name right now, thanks. But now that you’ve brought it up—is it a nice name, really? Slime naming standards must be naturally simplistic.
At that point, Halkara came rushing over to Mimi’s side. I suspected Halkara felt a certain responsibility for it as the one who named it.
“Would you open your mouth for me, please, Mimi?” Halkara asked as she reached out toward the mimic.
Oh no. Please don’t let this turn out as terribly as I think it’s going to! Please don’t let us find four freshly generated magic stones inside in place of the Free Tuitions!
“Oh, look at that! It’s like you’re a real treasure chest, all full of gems!” Halkara exclaimed.
A chill ran down my spine. Oh. Oh no. Does that mean…the Free Tuitions are no longer with us…?
There were tons of mimics out there in the world, and for all I knew, some of them attacked monsters and ate magic stones. The only reason why I wasn’t totally convinced the slimes were dead was Halkara’s voice seemed weirdly cheerful and unconcerned, considering.
No, there’s no point thinking about it. I just have to look and see for myself, right away! Just go!
I rushed over to the mimic, which still had its mouth wide open.
Please, let it not really be full of gems! Let this be a weird misunderstanding!
I wasn’t far away from the mimic at all, but for some reason, it felt like it took an eternity for me to run over to it. Finally, I was close enough to peer into it…
✦ ✦ ✦
…and see all four Free Tuitions packed neatly inside the treasure chest.
✦ ✦ ✦
I had to admit: when the light of the sun hit them just right, they did maybe look just a little bit like gemstones. Slimes were translucent, after all.
“O-oh, thank goodness… They’re safe,” I said, so relieved I slumped to my knees on the spot. That almost gave me a heart attack.
“I think they’re just playing treasure and treasure chest, don’t you? Or maybe the slimes just like fitting into tight spaces? Either way, it’s downright adorable, isn’t it?” Halkara said, her voice bright and cheery as could be. “Isn’t it, Mistress Teacher?”
“Yeah. Sure is,” I said with a forced smile. Internally, I was fuming. “They’re adorable, but you need to learn a thing or two about being careful with your phrasing! Do you have any idea how badly you just freaked me out?!”
“Ah… Sorry, Mistress Teacher! I didn’t mean it like that! It was an accident!”
Mimi and the Free Tuitions spent quite a long time just sitting there, not moving a muscle. I had no idea how a mimic and some slimes could possibly be friends, but one way or another, they seemed to get along fabulously.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Do you think Mimi would like having actual gemstones inside it, too?”
✦ ✦ ✦
Halkara pondered out loud as she gazed affectionately at the mimic.
“Maybe it would. But, I mean—a mimic with gems in it…?” I said, cocking my head. “Wouldn’t it just be a normal treasure chest, at that point…?”
I’d like to propose a new theory regarding the origin of mimics: Maybe they’re just the monster form of a perfectly ordinary treasure chest.