The day after the rotten night.
Alicia, Pepe and I left the inn and headed for our destination, the Walkley Underground Cave.
When I left the town, I was worried that the semi-transparent, semi-liquid beauty Pepe would stand out, but that was a needless worry. Because,
"...Pepe, you're cute. You were cute as a slime, but even now you look like a human girl...so cute."
"Ehehe. Thank you, Alicia."
Pepe now looked exactly like a human girl.
Skill: Mimicry.
This caused Pepe's translucent body to transform into a human.
The liquid body transforms and the clothes fit perfectly.
Every strand of her hair was smooth and silky, and she certainly didn't look like a slime girl.
…The truth is, during last night's friendship tournament, the proof of the
Well, anyway, we left town without arousing suspicion from those around us.
I carried Pepe, who was still a slow walker, on my back, and we arrived at the Walkley Underground Cave, feeling ticklish as he licked the sweat off my face and said, "Here's a treat ❤."
"Ugh, this is..."
And at the entrance I frown.
The water flowing from the cave, which looked as beautiful as a limestone cave, gave off a terrible, rotten smell.
Although the smell itself is not harmful, it is a bit strong.
"We need to do something about the source of the contamination quickly... Well then, please track it down, Pepe."
"Okay-"
Pepe, still in human form, nodded to my request.
"Hmm, maybe it's over there."
He activated his
To cut straight to the point, Pepe's food-finding skills were excellent.
The Walkley Underground Cave was a large cavern with water flowing along the sides of the passageway, and was quite complicated inside.
However, Pepe pointed to the path without much hesitation, saying, "It's over there."
Alicia and I followed the directions at a fast pace and in the blink of an eye we arrived at the place.
"This is..."
It was a particularly spacious space, almost like a dungeon's gatekeeper's room.
There was a pool of water there, like an underground lake, and a strange shadow was cast over it.
"The corpse of a poison zombie, perhaps?"
The corpse of a monster that has rotted so badly that its original form is unrecognizable.
They are dead monsters that for some reason were not eaten by slimes or the like, and turned into walking corpses due to an overemphasis on magical powers, etc. However, since they cannot be active for long, they can become motionless in places like water and pollute the surrounding area.
Normally there aren't many zombies strong enough to contaminate an entire water source, so perhaps the original monster was extremely powerful.
In any case, there was no doubt that the corpse in front of them, which was emitting a strong miasma, was the cause of the contamination, so Alicia activated her powerful purification skill, saying, "Well then... let's purify it..."
The water in the underground lake is purified in an instant.
"Phew, I'm glad I was able to finish work much sooner than I thought. Thanks Pepe. You were a big help."
"Ehehe. I'm glad I could be of help to you, master."
When I stroked his head, Pepe's expression softened.
I couldn't help but smile at the innocent expression on her face, which was hard to believe coming from the monster of appetite (or sexual desire?) that had devoured me last night.
"Well, it looks like the work will be done quickly then, so I should check out Pepe's skills now."
Yesterday I was so busy being devoured by Pepe that I didn't have time to think about that... but in addition to
Just like my Incubus skill, it could be a little dangerous if I don't know what effects it has, so I decided to test out various things while Alicia was busy with the purification work -- that's when I was thinking that.
"...Elio...wait a second..."
Alicia, who was working on the purification process, spoke in a firm voice.
"What's wrong, Alicia?"
Hearing the tense voice, I hurried over, wondering if something had happened.
However, upon closer inspection, the purification work did not seem to be progressing smoothly, and was nearly complete.
I didn't have time to test Pepe's skills at all, I was so impressed by the power of Alicia's
"What do you think this is...?"
"Eh...?!?"
The moment I saw what Alicia was pointing at, my whole body froze.
"Is this... a magic item?! And a quasi-national treasure?!"
The corpse of a poison zombie - a box-like object was tied to it, hiding it in its shadow.
It was as if the magical power was leaking out, amplifying the miasma of the Poison Zombie.
The quality and quantity of the magical power that flowed out was completely different from that of an ordinary magic item.
That is the kind of "status" that only my family or a royal family with even more power could possess.
No matter how you look at it, there's no way it could have come together with the corpse of a Poison Zombie by some coincidence――
"Could this water source contamination be man-made...?!"
At that moment, a voice escaped my mouth.
"You're right ❤"
"Huh?!"
Suddenly, an unfamiliar woman's voice echoed in the cave, where there should have been no one else.
"It's dangerous, master!"
"Huh?! Pepe?!"
For a moment, the white blade flashed.
Pepe pushed me away to protect me, fresh blood spurting from his body and he fell to the ground.
At the same time, another deadly blade shot through the air at incredible speed, aimed at the fallen Pepe and Alicia.
It won't be enough to help him in the normal way!
"Local wife!"
I instantly activated my warp skill.
Pepe and Alicia warp a very short distance to me, barely managing to avoid the attack.
"Huh? What was that just now? I thought I'd cut it off, but it seems I only cut off that weird brat and not my target... Oh well, whatever. I'm going to kill everyone here, starting with the Holy Knight anyway."
"...!? What are you...!?"
Our eyes widened at the sudden, deadly attack.
Tongue out.
A masked woman suddenly appeared, her grey hair flying, and licked Pepe's blood-splattered short sword with gusto.