After I continued to refuse, the girl took a step back, frowning, and returned the spoon to the dish.
“So what are...” I said, deciding that this was a good time to get some answers about this weird situation, but as soon as I opened my mouth to speak, she moved.
“Got you!”
“...you two— Wugh?!”
She forced the spoon into my mouth as if she had been waiting for that opening. The hot and sticky fruit mixture filled my mouth. I wanted to spit it out, but with her hands on my face, the food had only one way out: down.
“Gwaaargh!”
“Hah! Hah! Hah!”
Still unable to move, I was forced to receive this onslaught of food. It had cooled down a little since the first spoonful, and now I was able to taste that strange mix of sweet, sour, and bitter. With each spoonful, I was forced to pick between burning my throat or letting my tongue absorb that weird flavor. By the time the bowl was empty, I’d lost all will to fight back.
The girl maintained her displeased expression as she looked at me—who was exhausted, despite being fed food that was meant to revive me.
“I’d say that the first thing out of your mouth should have been ‘Thank you for saving me.’ Don’t you?” she said.
“After being tortured like that...?” I replied.
“Even if I concede that this could be described as torture, which it obviously can’t, shouldn’t you thank us for repairing your arm and feeding you?”
“Ngh...”
I had no response. She was right. Objectively speaking, she had saved me. But with the situation being what it was, it was hard for me to just accept that fact without question. I didn’t even know what they wanted. People sometimes kept their victims just barely alive to continue torturing them...
“Before you ask who we are, I’ll tell you that we came here on a quest,” she explained.
The girl started to eat her own fruit puree. As soon as she took the first bite, though, she stuck out her tongue with a disgusted expression.
The more I looked at her the less she seemed like an adventurer. Of course, the glinting Sphere on her right hand was proof that she was one, but her cape and full-body robe with its golden embroidery in expensive-looking thread were what you would expect the daughter of a noble to wear. Her outfit was not something you would have on when out traveling, let alone when doing battle. Even wizards, whose physical abilities were much weaker, would wear leather armor under their robe when entering a monster’s den.
The girl’s clothes didn’t have any leaves or even any dust on them. It made me wonder if she was using magic to keep them clean or if the fabric itself had the ability to do that. At any rate, her outfit probably cost a fortune.
“A four-member party foolishly tried to take down a hydra, and only three returned to the guild, bruised and battered. The quest I took on was to head to the site, find out what happened, and if possible, bring back any of the deceased’s belongings.”
She glared at me, apparently having noticed that I was appraising her myself.
The party she mentioned was mine, no doubt about it. That meant her quest had been to find out what happened and why we were defeated. It did bring me a moment of relief to hear that the other three made it safely back to town.
“So you came to a hydra’s den alone?” I said.
“I’m not alone. Blue’s with me,” she replied.
The girl pointed at the blue slime that was still wrapped around my elbow. Through its semitransparent body, I could see the raw wound on my arm.
“So you’re counting this thing as a member of your party...” I said. “What would you have done if the hydra were alive?”
I said “if,” but it was more of a surprise that the hydra was dead by the time they arrived.
“That would not have been a problem. Even if the hydra were to have still been alive and breathing, it would not have posed any threat to my lady.”
The slime was the one who replied to my question—even though I couldn’t see where its mouth was. I wanted to ask about how it could talk, but I replied instead, “I’m sorry, what? Just so you know, that wasn’t your average hydra. It had a head where the end of its tail should’ve been. The bastard had three heads.”
My party hadn’t been forced to flee by some regular old hydra. We had gone into battle knowing how its two heads would’ve moved and how it would strike. The problem was that none of us had expected that third head in the rear. The monster had been careful and hidden its tail for the first part of the battle, unleashing its trump card when we least anticipated it.
Our archer and wizard, the two back liners, had been hit with its poison breath. Without their support, our front line fell apart too, resulting in our humiliating defeat.
“Uh-huh, a surprise abnormality, was it?” the girl remarked.
“Is that right... That certainly would have been a lot for four people.”
The two of them (although it felt weird to count the slime as a person) didn’t seem all too surprised. Their reaction was like if you’d been told the reason the adventurer stopped coming to the tavern was because he’d gotten married and retired.
“At any rate, you are receiving treatment from a slime who didn’t want you to die. I would expect you to show a bit more respect.”
Or so the slime said.
“I have worked to convert my fluids into a culture fluid that promotes cell division, and over the past three days, I’ve consumed any excess cells while keeping the wound disinfected. I’m expending all my energy to help you, lad.”
I still hadn’t worked out where its voice was coming from, but I heard every word loud and clear. I wondered if someone would think I’d gone mad if I told them this story in the tavern later.
“Without us, you would have become fodder for the monsters in the forest. With the hydra dead, they will fight among themselves over this freed-up territory. Some gratitude, please,” the slime finished.
I had no comeback to this explanation. Whatever the situation had been, the fact was that these two had come to clean up our mess. I had long since realized that being wary of them was pretty much pointless—now it was a matter of pride. Whoever they were and whatever they were plotting, since I was immobile, they would have done the worst of it by now.