Chapter 45: Poor Slimes, Come See Mama!
Freya spent the following hours counting them off one by one. Five, yes, five whole hours, because, unable to sleep in this sort of situation, she’d had nothing else to do but watch them tick by, with the nagging feeling of having been cursed by the entire world.
She’d made use of the reprieve all the same, upgrading the Summons category to the next level.
[ Summons Category — Level 3 -> Level 4 — Cost: 600 mana points ]
As always, the upgrade unlocked a Mycofox designated for each of her new buildings, just one per building, with the exception of the Silkweavers, which came with a cap of six, likely the minimum required for them to then start breeding a few more of their own. And, on top of that, she could now summon two more Worker Mycofoxes and two more Soldier Mycofoxes, in addition to the ten of each she already had.
After the girls had woken and gotten back to their usual tasks, she gave her instructions to the Mycofoxes stirring from sleep as well, namely to put the dungeon back in order, to repair the walls, the floors, the labyrinth, and everything else the fight had left in ruins.
She kept a few of them on hand all the same, two of whom were already busy upgrading the mines, now upgradable to level two.
She’d granted them the night to recover after the battle, but the time had come to get back on track, even if the idea that these poor foxes would never get so much as a single weekend struck her as a little cruel all the same.
But we don’t have that luxury yet. I promise, little Mycofoxes, I’ll make kings of you one day. So for now, be my good little slaves...
Catching herself thinking a line worthy of the shadiest of tyrants, she reined herself in at once and swore she’d truly keep her word, so as never to become one of those politicians she so despised back on Earth.
She then designated the location of the Crystal Mine, for three hundred mana points, before summoning two Worker Mycofoxes in the process, for ten points.
[ Summon x2 Worker Mycofox for 10 mana points? ]
Taking the time to welcome them properly, she crouched down to scratch them between the ears and gave them their names, Nijūkyū and Sanjū, before the two little ones scampered off at once to bustle around the new mine’s construction site.
She took the opportunity to summon two Soldier Mycofoxes as well, for twenty points this time, and since there was no question of playing favorites, she reserved the same helping of scratches for these two new grumps, whom she christened on the spot Sanjūichi and Sanjūni.
That done, she cast a glance at what she had left in reserve.
[ Mana: 385/10,000 ]
Not enough to go wild. Might as well hold on to all of it for now.
She’d rather wait and save up enough to treat herself to a full building chain all at once, rather than picking up an isolated building here and there that wouldn’t be much use as long as the rest of the chain was missing.
Her mind made up, she left her little workers to their site and went to fetch Naïa, whom she found bent over the very lessons Aria had left her before departing.
"Come on, I’ll teach you a couple of little things."
"Yes, Madam!" Naïa answered, with a seriousness so utterly excessive that Freya was left momentarily thrown.
Wait... had she been waiting that long for this, to react like that?
The hours that followed, they spent making a full circuit of the dungeon. Freya took the time to explain and describe all of it to her, the buildings and their functions, the production chains and the possibilities they opened up, right down to the underground tunnels the Mycofoxes dug to get around and everything they allowed for.
And to her great surprise, Naïa didn’t merely listen politely. She asked questions, and not just any questions.
"If the Crystal Mine consumes ten mana points a day to run," she asked, frowning at the construction site, "does it actually end up bringing in more than it costs, in the long run? Or do we build it mostly to feed the rest of the chain?"
Freya paused, caught a little off guard.
Well now. She put her finger right on the real question. It’s not the building itself that matters, it’s what it makes possible further down the line.
"That’s exactly it. On its own, it doesn’t pay off right away. But paired with the Cutter’s Workshop and then the Enchanting one, it’s the whole chain that gains value. An isolated link is never worth much, it’s the whole that counts."
Naïa nodded slowly, visibly filing the information away somewhere, and Freya caught herself looking at her differently.
She learns fast. Really fast. Maybe I’ve got my future manager on my hands after all.
It was as they passed the guard room that she was accosted by three Mycofoxes, Nana, Hachi, and Jū.
As always, she’d have been incapable of saying how she knew their names, but several windows opened before her, and she understood that, through sheer training, the three had at last reached the threshold of evolution.
So they took the time, together, to choose the right path for each of them, and the three each turned toward a different branch.
Which now brought her ranks to one Sentinel, one Berserker, and two Stalkers, Roku included.
Only seven others left to take the leap, or for Roku to push on to the next evolution.
And that thought alone was enough to stir something in her. Because, when it came down to it, she had no idea who’d tip over next, nor which branch he’d lean toward once the moment came. Each evolution was a little surprise in itself, a card flipped at the very last instant.
So who’s next, then? And what’s that one going to pick?
The question, all on its own, sent a jolt of adrenaline coursing through her veins, and she caught herself fidgeting with impatience at the thought of finding out, to the point where she’d have all but bet her entire dungeon on the answer.
Get a grip, you poor thing! Since when did you get this addicted to gambling?
She slapped both her cheeks, as was her habit, under Naïa’s once-again judgmental gaze, who kept her thoughts to herself all the same, and then the two of them headed off toward the next buildings without breaking off the explanations.
Until they came out in front of the slime farm.
Which was, incidentally, already quite full, a good thirty slimes bobbing peacefully in their basins, translucent and plump, huddled up against one another.
Freya looked at them a moment, these little translucent things clapping about defenselessly at the bottom of their basins, without the slightest inkling of the fate in store for them, and her heart clenched all at once.
She couldn’t help herself.
"POOR SLIMES, COME SEE MAMA!"
She strode up to the basins, and the little gooey creatures pressed against her at once, half enveloping her in a cool, sticky embrace that did nothing to help her state.
"Mama’s going to set you free! Mama’s going to give you a real chance to live, my poor babies..."
She rattled off tirade after tirade in the same vein, half sniffling, visibly overcome at the thought of the sorry fate awaiting these unfortunates, reduced to a food reserve, if she didn’t free them with her own hands.
Beside her, Naïa stared at her without a word, but her gaze said plenty, sliding slowly from her tearful mistress to the utterly indifferent slimes, before coming back to rest on her with one more ounce of despair at each round trip.
That was how Freya led her little herd of thirty slimes to the forest that stretched out before the dungeon, waving them great goodbyes, gestures far too sweeping for mere slimes.
Live a beautiful life, grow strong, and make your mama proud, my children!
What Freya didn’t know, however, was that among all these slimes she’d just saved, one of them wasn’t quite like the others.
For he too had been reincarnated, and he’d been so with, in his grasp, the unique skill Gluttony.
Neither Freya nor the world could have suspected it, but the day she released these thirty slimes into the wild, she released above all a future demon king, of the kind who would mark the world centuries later, for better and for worse.
For the moment, however, he merely gazed at this mother multiplying her grand gestures, her face crumpled like that of a grieving parent watching her children drift off toward freedom.
Mother of this new world! I will grow strong enough to one day repay you for all your kindness! Despite the harshness of the place where I was born, I always knew you had a true future in store for me! Thank you, Mother!
He knew nothing of what "his true future" would have been had luck not seen to it that Freya passed by that day, and deep down, it was just as well that way.
Wiping an imaginary tear from the corner of her eye, Freya set off back toward the dungeon with Naïa, finishing off the rest of her explanations along the way.
It was then that a detail, on the screen of the butterfly stationed at the forest’s edge, caught her eye.
A man stood there, in a hero’s armor.