The horn echoes across Shallowglade, driving its inhabitants into their homes. Three dozen orcs armed with clubs and slabs of iron as makeshift swords race to the entrance. What was a bustling town moments ago is now vacant streets and shuttered houses.

"Get back home. I'm going to help them." I tell Ana.

"Be safe. Please look after my husband!"

When I climb onto the platform overlooking the clearing, an army of centaurs greet my sight. At a glance their numbers are far greater than the orcs. The only thing keeping them from stampeding is the palisade. If the forest terrain permitted siege weapons, Shallowglade wouldn't stand a chance.

Roga brandishes a pair of rusty claymores and growls. "Don't count us lucky just because there's a wooden wall in the way. A hundred charging horsemen will knock this down like paper."

"At the cost of their own lives?" I gasp in horror.

"They've done it before."

Though their numbers are many, they are still creatures with instincts of self-preservation. I can easily dispatch a sizable chunk of their army with magic. But… centaurs are as much natural residents of the Weeping Expanse as the orcs. Am I right to pick a side here? 

The orc that guarded the gate earlier, whose name I came to learn is Clem, leans over the palisade and spits. "Back for another beating?"

The centaurs begin stomping in place, causing tremors in the ground. One centaur strides forward, much larger and muscular than the rest wielding a lance twice his size.

"Hand over your women, Clem. We may spare you yet."

"Ha!" Clem reaches into a barrel and pulls out a bag that's giving off the most rancid smell. He flings it over the palisade, and it crashes before the centaur's hooves. His antics earn a round of laughter from the orcs. "That's my answer."

"My queen has charged me with subjugating this part of the forest. I will have it one way or another. Charge!"

The ground trembles at their approach, and the orcs clench their weapons bracing for the inevitable clash.

There must be something I can do. This entire town is doomed and more will die if I do nothing. But what?

"Wait, this is an emergency!" I reach into my satchel and pull out the seeds labeled for this very occasion. I can only hope whatever Headmaster Anora gave me can be useful for something.

I scatter the seeds over the wall and douse them with the growth serum. 

Please be something useful. Please be something useful. Please be something useful. 

A hundred tentacles sprout from the ground, halting the centaur army's advance with their grasping appendages. The anoragrathi assault them in every hole they have, spewing the juices all over their unconscious bodies.

"God, damn it. I knew it." I mutter under my breath. "Well… might as well just to keep them down."

I point my staff at the regenerative substance and cast, "Transmute!"

The white liquid loses its viscosity and color, turning into water. With half their army defeated and risking a loose butthole the centaurs begin to fall back.

"Whew. You may want to uproot those, or you'll have a bad time tomorrow— w-w-whoa!" I'm lifted onto Clem's shoulder. He throws a fist up and cheers.

"We're saved thanks to the witch! Ellori has saved us this day!"

The other orcs also throw their hands into the air and shout triumphantly. Shallowglade's residents creep out of their homes and seeing that the battle has been won, also join in the celebration.

"Miss Witch, you're strong. I like strong women. What say you and I have a row?"

"Er, what?!" Clem's fingers find their way under my robes. His large hands caress my thighs, sending shivers up my body. A large finger teases the entrance of my slit. "Nnh— oh… no, I can't! You're way too big, I'm sorry!"

"It'll be fine! We have a special lube that the women use. I guarantee you'll be screaming for more until the morning." 

I swallow hard. While it sounds tempting to stuff the largest cock I've seen yet into my pussy, I'd rather not go down a rabbit hole I can't crawl out of. "I'll… have to respectfully decline."

"That's too bad. I got a raging hard on just looking at you." He puts me down in front of him, giving me an eyeful of his erect member. 

"Putting that aside…" I try not to stare too much or show interest. "Do you know anything about this queen that was mentioned?"

"Dunno. They've been fighting in her name for months now." Clem says, adjusting his loincloth.

Is it Eudora Faust?

Wait a minute…

"Are your people aware that the forest has been enchanted with magic?"

"Aye, but we're lucky."

"Lucky, how?"

He scratches his chin and says, "It'll be easier to explain once I show you."

I follow Clem further into the settlement until we reach a communal longhouse in the center of town. It's reminiscent of the kobold tribe where a dryad's tree resided. Could this be…?

He opens the door to a large open room, furnished just like the other cabins. The only thing distinctly different is a wooden tub and inside it a large, pulsating red slime. 

Immediately, I lift my staff to protect myself. "Y-you're keeping a red slime? Do you know how dangerous these are?!"

"We were scared at first, too, but it isn't malevolent. Even its fumes don't harm us."

A… benevolent red slime…?

In the wild, these creatures consume everything it touches without bias. That this slime lays there, not even disintegrating the wooden box, makes me wonder if it's been somehow tamed?

"So how exactly does this slime protect you from magic?" I ask with genuine curiosity. As far as I know, while slimes do have some degree of magic resistance, they cannot impart magical resistance to another.

"We drink from it!" He says as a matter of factly.

"You… drink the corrosive slime…?"

Clem shakes his head. "We ejaculate into the tub, and it secretes a watery liquid that makes us more resistant."

"I'm sorry, what?!"