- Shari -

 

Nia still appears to be quite out of it due to the painful process she just endured, yet I’d like to distract her a bit till she can hopefully calm down.

 

"By the way, how did you get away?" (Shari)

"Your shouting... helped." (Nia)

 

Yeah, yeah.
Wasn't my greatest moment.

 

"Uh, some people tried to catch my sister, lashing out at her, but they stopped after seeing she's a girl." (Okin)

"Okin, shush." (Nia)

 

They probably considered this their good deed of the day.
Though, I shouldn't be the one talking.
I basically did her worse.

 

"Do you really have to steal? This here was quite a good example that it might easily get you killed." (Shari)

"Of course we do! Nobody was going to hire us with all the older kids about and the guild has an age requirement of nine if you want to take on assignments. So we need to figure things out on our own, now that big sister Elin is gone and won't bring us food anymore." (Okin)

 

Elin?!

Well, sure.
Why not?
She had a life in this town before she went with us.
Must have been kind to these kids before she left.

If I memorized this right, Elin was an E-rank adventurer before.
This might indicate that probably every single street urchin and other desperate folk register at the guild.
It's probably an easy way to acquire cheap workers for the most simple tasks.
Also, it's probably not a loss if they die on some open fetch quest.
Morally that might be questionable, but on the other side, it might be the only non-criminal occupation for most of those living here.
Yet even they won't allow six-year-olds to head out into the Evergrove.

Once I look back up from my musings, I notice that the girl has fallen unconscious.
This isn't too surprising after the ordeal she just went through, but more severe might be her lack of any bodily reserves.
She probably should've eaten something before the treatment, as according to the description, mending potions drain the target of their energy to achieve their effect.
This means the girl needs some food or she'll be as bad as an hour ago.
Damn, but maybe I can get something out of this.

 

"Hey, boy! If you help us out, there will be a meal in it for you at our place. God knows your sister needs it." (Shari)

 

At least, I saw that some of Michael's ration remained, and I hope "informants" count as agreeable expenses.

 

"What?" (Okin)

"Was I unclear? Pack your stuff and get her over to our place! I can already see how she's again going to get an infection if she stays here, and I'd be really miffed if this is going to be the conclusion of all my hard work. Liqu, can you please carry her? If possible, while avoiding drenching her completely and without blowing your cover." (Shari)

"Yes, yes. I'll be careful! By the way, you dissolved that really well!" (Liqu)

 

Not really a compliment I need.
Fortunately, slimes are strong and Liqu can lift the girl within her blanket while still staying wrapped inside her cloak.
The boy, meanwhile, ogles us with wide eyes.

 

"Would you now snap out of it? I don't want to stay here all night. Get something warm for your sister. We don't have beds and she'll still need a change of clothes once Liqu is done with her." (Shari)

"We, we only have a blanket." (Okin)

"Damn, seems like I have to provide that as well." (Shari)

"I don't understand! Why are you doing this for us?! I stole from you!" (Okin)

"I already said, I don't like kids dying around me. So please, get ready." (Shari)

"How, how can I thank you?!" (Okin)

 

Well, now that he's asking...

 

"Do you happen to know where I could find a cheap door?" (Shari)

 

Surprisingly, the answer is yes.
The boy apparently knows about a dump where he could find one and offered to bring it first thing in the morning.
I'm not sure if it would be the right thing to assist that child with that job, instead of letting him do all this hard work, but I guess my service was valuable enough that insisting on giving him a hand would make him uncomfortable.
Especially, as mine are only made out of slime.

Though, for now, it seems like the fate of his sister is a more pressing matter to him. Especially, as that one is currently partly submerged within a slime.
Though, he should probably be smart enough to know that we wouldn't waste super-expensive potions to treat our dinner.
At least I hope he is.

Suddenly, I notice Liqu looking in my direction.

 

"You were quite good." (Liqu)

"What do you mean?" (Shari)

"The dissolving. That was pretty precise work. Wasn't sure if you'd manage since you usually avoid dissolving." (Liqu)

 

I get where she's coming from.
She means my "dissolving disorder".
Recently, I even dissolved corpses and have a bit more practice than before, but she's right, I usually avoid dissolving living people.
Therefore, it would make sense that I'm not too proficient at it.
Or at least too caught up in my troubled mind to get it right.
Yet this was something else.
I didn't dissolve the flesh of her arm to harm her, but quite the opposite is the case.
I was too caught up in the medical treatment for self-loathing.

 

"I didn't like it, but it was necessary, so I had to."(Shari)

"Sure, I just wanted to tell you how proud I am. Learning to dissolve properly is so important." (Liqu)

 

Important?

Wait!
This explains something!

 

"Was the true reason you refrained from helping out that you wanted me to practice dissolving a living being?" (Shari)

"I think that was good for you. Real experience only comes from doing stuff. Also, this healing thing is your project. As you said, we have to make our own experiences at times." (Liqu)

 

Seems like my argument came here straight back at me.
However, the "project" is still a girl.
Though, I doubt that Liqu cares as much about human lives as I do, apart from the few she fancies, like Anvenia, for example.
But, well, she's right in so far that I wanted to do this, so it's only right that I took responsibility for it and shouldn’t always hide behind her because I think she can do better.

We proceed through the alleys, and I'm quite sure that we're being watched.
Irritatingly, no one seems to feel obligated to act while we're carrying children around.
Eventually, we make it undisturbed back to our place.
Where Michael still waits.

 

"Uh, it's late. Maybe you should try getting some sleep?" (Shari)

 

I, as a slime, can do without, but humans still suffer from sleep deprivation.
It wouldn't do if he does doze off at a crucial moment.

 

"I'd like to do so. If not for 'someone' returning in the most-doubtful manner with, at best, questionable luggage." (Michael)

 

He looks at the slightly wriggling blanket-girl bundle in Liqu's grasp.

 

"I promise, she isn't supposed to be provisions!" (Shari)

"I'm honestly not sure if I wouldn't have preferred this compared to what you're apparently planning to do." (Michael)

 

Well, I can get where he's coming from, regarding compromising our base.
But he should've been prepared for that once he heard he's going to work with us.

 

"I'll have her sleep in my room. You won't even notice she's here." (Shari)

"Mhm. And our stuff probably as well." (Michael)

"I already stored the expensive stuff away." (Shari)

"Sigh. Whatever. It's your mission." (Michael)

"Wait! Weren't we all in this together?" (Shari)

"Oh, sorry. I think you misunderstood something. I'm just here as your supervisor to ensure that you're actually working on your mission. If you don't and instead go about and, for example, start an apprenticeship as an alchemist, or pick up street urchins to establish a non-profit orphanage then. As amicable as this might be, I'm going to report this. There is no camaraderie among spies. There's just the mission." (Michael)

 

As rough as the things he's saying might be, I can't deny that there's some point to them.

 

"You as well said that the apprenticeship is a good idea." (Shari)

"For you, personally? Surely. But there's a difference between improving one's chances and losing sight of the objective." (Michael)

 

Am I?
That's honestly not too farfetched.
At least for the alchemy training I need to admit that I'm doing this mostly because of personal gain.
Though, maybe I can at least justify what I'm doing now.

 

"We're looking for people who might know something about kidnappings, right? Well, maybe they know something. We can question them once they wake up." (Shari)

"Sure. And for that purpose it was certainly necessary to bring them here." (Michael)

 

Not sure about this.
Probably not.
But it's late and I don't feel like arguing anymore.

 

"You don't have to share your room. I'll keep her with me. Also, I stored the valuables in a safe place, so our situation won't get much worse from this random act of kindness. Aside from this, please go to sleep now. You seem to be grumpy when deprived." (Shari)

 

He doesn't answer, but just turns around and moves back to his quarters.

I do the same.
Or rather instruct Liqu to do so.
The front is too exposed, I don't want her sleeping in the backroom, and Liqu's place might be considered torture.
Aside from this, I can check on her a little while she's there.

When I see her lying there with her thin blanket, I decide that's not enough and search through my stuff to find every piece of fabric I own to cover her, especially any spare clothing of mine.
Otherwise, her body's delicate state might take a turn for the worse after the treatment.

This might be due to the guilt I’m feeling because it's kinda my fault that she got this injury.
There would've surely been a way to handle a thief I don't know more delicately.
Even if, objectively, I suppose I'm not responsible for the fact that she's committing crimes.

Also, yes, okay.
Maybe I have a soft spot for underage orphans.
I think there might be worse faults to find in someone.

Liqu is shortly gone to another room after everything's set up.
I'm very glad that I've got her so far regarding respecting personal borders.
It shows great development.

However, after my standby mode is over, I realize that watching a sleeping girl isn't just boring, but hella creepy.
Instead, I decide to do something productive and go down to the backroom, where I start to create potions with the meager low-quality reserves I have.
At least, I manage to refill my little salve box with the earlier prepared clearsprout solution.

In addition, I even manage to get a stamina potion right.
At least I think so.
There were actually quite some failures along the way that will barely perform better than the ingredient itself.
Hard to say without anyone to test it on.
Though, I have the girl.
Which was kinda the reason why I brewed it in the first place, to boost her recovery.
It doesn't make me a bad person that I'm essentially using her to experiment on, right?
However, the mixing was quite the difficult job and I’ve grown mentally exhausted.

So once I prepared a decent supply of the basic stuff I can produce, I move back to my room and spend the last few remaining hours of the night, or rather very early morning, skimming further through the compendium.
Mostly so I'm not staring at the sleeping girl.