By the time we heard the full lizardman envoy thundering toward us, about an hour had passed from the initial alarm call. I reverted to slime form, enlisting Shion to hold me in her arms. Just in case, I explained. I couldn’t help but feel overall safer as a slime.
Shion was all gung ho about her guardian role, too, and there was no reason to throw shade on that. I bet she wants to make up for that tea disaster, besides. Wonder how she did cleaning my place, though, come to think of it? …No, I couldn’t let that bother me now. I shook off the ill omens in the back of my mind and focused on the envoy up ahead.
There were around ten lizardmen, and after a moment, one of them, chest puffed out, dismounted his hover lizard and sauntered up.
The leader, I guess?
“Thank you for greeting me! I will give this village, too, the chance to submit to my rule and authority. I hope you will consider it an honor!”
Talk about a ridiculous opening line. This wasn’t a negotiation so much as it was a declaration. I was too dumbfounded to have an easy response. What was this idiot going on about? And none of my companions knew what to make of it, either.
“I apologize, sir,” Rigurd offered, “but asking us out of the blue to submit to you like this—”
“Pfft! Have you not heard yet? Those pigs, the orc race, are on the move! They will attack this very village before long. And I am the only one who can save your puny, pathetic hides!”
According to this lizardman, at least, we were already his loyal subjects.
Certainly, if we were about to be overrun by an orc horde, seeking solace under the direction of the lizardmen was one option. I was still waiting on Soei’s report, but until we knew exactly what we were dealing with, it paid to work together, perhaps.
Still, though…
“Ah yes! I understand there are some among you who have tamed the direwolf race to do your bidding. Whoever accomplished this task, I will gladly appoint as one of my top advisers. Bring him here now!”
Ummm…
Okay. We could fight together, yes, but what if the team we aligned ourselves with was a pack of idiots? “The great thing to fear is not a competent enemy, but an incompetent ally.” Napoleon or someone said that, right? It sounded true to me.
An incompetent ally would be nothing but a drag on my style. Especially in an environment as volatile as a battlefield. And especially if the ally was my boss. Simply entertaining the thought made me shudder.
I gave Rigurd a glance. He was silent, mouth agape. Benimaru was scratching his head, looking at me like he was asking permission to rip this guy apart. I wasn’t about to give it…but I still wasn’t sure how to react. I was struck dumb, even more so than I was with Shion’s “tea.”
Hakuro crossed his arms and closed his eyes, wordless. Was he sleeping? Shion, meanwhile, still had me in her arms, which she had tensed up out of anger. Whoa, you’re crushing me, lady!
I jiggled a bit to remind her I was still there. She apologized, breaking into a cold sweat.
She had a hair-trigger temper, it seemed. I’d have to remember that. Being held by her sure wasn’t bad, I thought, but it came with some danger. She had obtained the dual skills of Steel Strength and Strengthen Body, making her one book you absolutely couldn’t judge by its cover. Based on her act just now, she wasn’t in full control of her own powers, and getting strangled to death wasn’t on my bucket list. I’d have to watch my back around her.
But…yeesh. I had no idea the envoy would be such a damn fool.
“Okay,” I said, trying to move things along. “Um… I guess I’m the one who tamed the direwolves. Or, more like made friends with them, maybe?”
“Huh? You, a lowly slime? Enough joking. Let me see some evidence. Then I’ll decide whether to believe you.”
This guy had a bad habit of giving orders from whatever mountain peak he believed he was standing on. I was starting to get irritated. Refusing to listen to the other side in conversations like this… Someone needed to knock this dude off his high horse.
I occasionally had to deal with company presidents and government officials in my construction job back home, but not even they treated me like such an idiot. One thing I learned quickly with those guys was that the only way to beat them was refuse to play their game in the first place. Teaming up with idiots would earn you nothing.
So I decided to switch tactics.
“Ranga.”
“Here, sir.”
He stepped out from my shadow. He had been adopting it as a sort of standby post as of late—another way to adapt Shadow Motion, I supposed.
“Good. This guy wanted to ask you a thing or two. Could you hear him out?”
That’s right. I tossed the ball over to Ranga. Not because I was lazy or anything—I just figured Ranga would be more effective at dealing with this bozo than I’d ever be. Assuming I wasn’t worth the space I took up in the world just because I was a slime was ruder than even Rigurd was when we first met. Could anyone blame me for wanting to bow out? Besides, this dude hadn’t even noticed my aura yet. He couldn’t have been anyone special.
It was all pretty weird, really.
So Ranga, accepting my order, turned to face the lizardmen. A single glare from him was enough to make even the stout-looking guards in their iron chest pieces take a step back in self-defense. And why wouldn’t they? Ranga was huge. Not shrunken down at all. The whole of him was right there.
“My master has ordered me to interact with you. Speak, and I will listen.”
Ranga was using Coercion as he talked. It struck home among the warriors, who were now frozen in place. One, though, wasn’t—the envoy, who looked a tad groggy but still maintained his stately, puffed-out posture. I had to hand it to him; maybe he had more willpower than I thought.
“Ah… Yes. It is you, then, the ‘alpha’ or what-have-you of the direwolves? I am Gabil, warrior lord of the lizardman tribe! I am charmed to make your acquaintance. I am, as you have just heard, a named lizardman. Will you abandon this slime and join with me instead?”
How utterly brazen. I wanted to knock him out, but I held back. I had to take the high road here. Just let it slide.
I’m a grown-up, so just chill. And you chill, too, Shion. You’re going to permanently dent me with that vise grip you’ve got on me. A few more jiggles, and she bowed in apology. I really wish she could bottle up her anger a bit more.
Why was this lizard Gabil acting like he owned the world, though? I didn’t know him from a hole in the ground. I silently cheered Ranga on. Go get ’im, boy!