[Slimy Slime] Chapter 65: A Proper City?

They approached but not in full heavy armor. A suit of Royal Knight armor was fine if you were on a mission, guarding a place, or a dozen other situations. It was not good if you wanted to enter a city and try to be even somewhat casual. Worse, entering a city with all of them at once might be taken the wrong way as well.

It came down to presence. What type of presence did they want to give? The best option was simple: Just a couple of humans that were nearby and curious. That way their guards would hopefully be a lot lower. Not only that but it should help draw less attention and the entire squad could be ready and waiting to attack at a moment’s notice.

And that’s how Tina and Jeremy ended up wearing only light leather armor they had while approaching the city gates, alone.

“Tell me again, Commander, how it ended up just being the two of us doing this? Don’t we have scouts for this?”

“Come on Jeremy, where’s your sense of adventure?” Tina replied.

“Dead and dying, the same state we’re going to be in a moment.”

“Come on, think of the rewards.”

Jeremy instantly thought about the power he could gain. Sure, Royal Knight training did plenty on it’s own, but there was always room for private instruction. From weapon use, to magic, to skill training… to even specialized class advancements. Even something as simple as speeding up his leveling… Jeremy was practically salivating at the idea. And reporting a potentially hostile city state of monsters practically a wall away from the capital… yeah that was reward territory.

“Alright, alright. But have you put any thought into how we’re going to approach? Some leather armor and a sword on our hip should be fine but…”

“Come on. It’s a city. Either we’ll be attacked on sight or asked to pay a toll to be let in.”

They both walked out of the tree line, into the large clearing. By now, the city guards, [Hob-Goblins] by the look of things, could clearly see them.

But nothing happened, which surprised them both. No sudden alarms or bells, no panic or surprise, they simply kept walking and the guards kept standing there. That could only really mean one of two things. Either even gate guards were trained to such a high degree that they were rigid as stone, or they were used to humans coming and going. Was there a lively human settlement nearby? There weren’t very many human settlements closeby, but there weren’t none. Or it could be worse, a rival kingdom like she’d thought. They’d have to play this one close to the chest if that was the case. They weren’t cut out or trained for spy work.

“Hello!” Tina called out as they got close, in Common. She hoped they spoke it. She got no response from either of them, despite them standing there in full armor. She frowned slightly but kept moving closer with Jeremy.

And closer.

And closer.

Honestly, she was feeling pretty shocked by the time she was right in front of them. She didn’t consider herself incredibly tall but [Hob-Goblins] weren’t exactly the tallest around either. Each at around four feet, she and Jeremy were over two heads taller.

They stood there, looking at them… and nothing.

“Can we go in?” She asked. No response.

She took a step forward, only for their halberds to cross and prevent her. Neither them or their appropriately sized weapons were enough to fully block the gate, but it definitely sent a message. Then, golem like, they pointed to a small indent on the side of the wall. Jeremy approached it.

It looked like… a flat piece of blue stone. It was clearly around the size of her head and around three feet off the ground. Or around chest height for [Hob-Goblin]’s. Cautiously, Jeremy reached out and touched it, only for his eyes to shoot wide open. He pulled back instantly but the guards didn’t seem to react. Jeremy was clearly checking his status right afterwards and the look on his face was priceless but the seriousness of the situation made Tina find no joy in it. It looked like he wanted to say a lot but, he clearly held back.

“Well… go on Tina.” He said.

Tina, as casually as she could, reached out against it… and had the same reverberating shock as Jeremy as she could clearly feel her mana being pulled from her. Unlike Jeremy, she resisted instantly pulling her hand away, and in a matter of moments, the sucking sensation was done. As soon as it was, the guards uncrossed their halberds.

Tina quickly checked her status, to see only 5 mana had been taken, but it still had been shocking. Casually, as if it was the most normal thing in the world, Tina and Jeremy walked beyond the walls. As they did, the pure amount of empty space that appeared shocked them. For miles and miles… there was simply nothing but grassland. Far, far out into the distance, they could see more walls, but it was an insane amount of cleared space.

Jeremy was silent for about a minute before-

“What the hell was that?!” He hissed out in a quiet whisper, looking all around.

“Mana drain. 5 for me. Was it the same for you?”

“Yes. And I know our mana isn’t the same amount, so, was that a tax? A mana tax?”

“...Probably.”

That was Bad. With a capital B. The amount of kingdoms or people that could set something like that up was few, numbering mostly with people that were Gold or Diamond level Wizards. I.E., not people they should even consider messing with. A whole new possibility, one where an Arch-Mage had set up shop and created a whole city, stretched itself out before them. Worse, if they taking Mana as tax… they had some way to not only store it, but also use it. That was not normal and spoke to a ludicrous amount of strength and not the kind that could only be gained from leveling. You needed centuries of magical craft to be able to design magical tools like that. To integrate it into a simple outside wall? The threat of this whole place just bumped up two orders of magnitude.

The amount of empty space they were seeing was incredibly disturbing as well. They had walked around the frankly ludicrous amount of space earlier, but they had just considered it a very large city. To see all of this space still empty… it suggested planned expansion.

They kept walking down stone roads, feeling the smooth cobble under their feet, before new sights started to come into view.

Farms. Farms that were oh so clearly run by [Hob-Goblin]’s. They saw more than a few and all the farms seemed to be…

“Wolves.”

It made sense but was pretty unusual. The farms weren’t anything special either though. Mostly just large pins with a clear area to eat and drink. Wooden fences, etc. Even then, the fences were clearly a bit… rough. She’d bet money that [Hob-Goblin]’s with little experience on carpentry had made them.

Which was why the houses they began to see were so shocking.

Wood and stone houses, looking like they were made by a master craftsman. They were large, sturdy, and well built. They could see around a dozen farms outside and it seemed like they all had that level. More than a few [Hob-Goblin]’s were outside, she could even see regular goblins out and about. Some wore clothing… but it wasn’t much. But it was far better and more than she would have expected them to wear. She’d heard about Goblin Kingdom’s before but it had always been hard to imagine. They had a frightening amount of power, like most monster kingdoms, to evolve and gain human level intellect and civilization. Most kingdoms made sure to put a hard stop to that, out of their own interests, but clearly this was what it looked like.

They kept walking, heading for the inner walls, and they caught quite a lot of eyes from the [Hob-Goblin]’s, far more life and interest than from the gate guards, but that was it. They seemed to be struck with awe and curiosity, but they weren’t hostile and they weren’t attacking them.

Jeremy looked increasingly nervous though. No doubt he was already imagining them having to run away from a horde, no, a proper army.

Finally, on their long walk, they made it to the inner walls and this time, the guards at the gate were far more normal. They were slouching, talking in Common, relaxing, and generally not taking anything very seriously. That all changed when they saw them.

They stood up quickly and stared at them in shock. Tina got the feeling it may be the first time they had ever had to actually do their jobs.

“Halt!” One called out and then look surprised he’d said that word.

Tina and Jeremy stopped and it seemed like the endless surprises were only just starting for the two. They stood there, silently, while the guards visibility panicked for a second before calling out again.

“Who…. goes there?”

“Tina and Jeremy, just a couple of curious humans wanting to see the city.” Tina called out with ease.

Both guards looked at each other, frowned, looked back at them and finally just shrugged. The other one called out this time.

“Pay the toll… and be let in!” And he just looked so damn proud that he’d actually gotten to say that too.

Tina was starting to like this place. Another blue wall, another 5 mana. They walked past the two and entered the City proper.

And Tina and Jeremy’s eyes nearly popped out of their skulls. Tina had no idea what she’d been expecting, but a fully moving, fully populated City apparently wasn’t one of them for some reason. It was just hard to imagine, despite the space the walls had taken up and despite the few monsters she’d seen that clearly had intelligence.

Now she was staring at fully paved… not just roads, but ground. A proper foundation of stone, with hundreds and hundreds of [Hob-Goblin]’s walking around, going about their day. She saw shops with small blue tablets built into them all, majestically created homes of both wood and stone, and even some [Hob-Goblin]’s working at different things. She saw a smithy, a clothing store selling literally just colored loincloths, and a tons of odds and ends. But it wasn’t simply stores, most of the buildings were clearly houses. There was… quite a lot of sounds of ‘passion’ echoing through them and she spotted what looked like a freaking castle out in the distance, in a direct line of the road, which had swapped to a different colored stone.

The only [Goblin]s she saw around, seemed young and she was struck by how normal they seemed. She had killed [Goblin]s before but they had always seemed like… dirty, terrible little demonic creatures. All of the monsters she was seeing looked clean and… intelligent. Hell, she even thought she saw a hairdresser and a bar.

As they walked in though, at first, no one noticed them. That didn’t last long. Then it was like a wave of green, as every single head turned and looked at them. Jeremy practically froze and Tina did as well. The idea of a whole city attacking her suddenly seemed… horrifying, scary, and difficult to survive.

The staring contest lasted for what felt like ages before they were swarmed. Jeremy and Tina were both ready and willing to pull out their weapons when-

“More humans? Wow!”

“Are you going to be like Sandra? She builds the best places!”

“Wow, hot. Hey, let’s go fuck! Michael always refuses.”

“Hey! I want to go first.”

“You’re both stupid, humans are prudes, remember? That’s what King Slime says.”

As one, everyone seemed to nod at that, but the questions and requests didn’t seem to stop anyway. But that last line had buried itself deep, deep into Tina. It was like a calling and a horrible fear hit her both at once. Because… there was a monster. A very very scary monster. One that even beat out goblins in hordes and could evolve into something even more devastating.

“Who…” Tina got out “Is King Slime?”

Many, many, many words were thrown at them.

Jeremy went white with terror, imagining a [King Slime].

But Tina? Her heart beat like a drum as more and more stories of praise and amazement were heaped on by the crowd. A grin unlike any other, sinister and malevolent and so very very joyful, grew onto her face, as something below her belt grew hard as a rock.

Oh… this trip was going to be just the best thing ever.