"Oh? Is that so?"
Ellen tilted her head slightly, a playful curve tugging at the corners of her mouth. Looking at Luna Belle's flushed cheeks, she deliberately drew out her words.
"But... Belle, your face is so red, just like a ripe apple. Could it be that you were scared by such a low-level monster? Or perhaps..."
She paused deliberately, leaning close to Luna Belle's ear and lowering her voice, speaking with a hint of teasing laughter. "...is it because I'm holding you?"
Warm breath brushed against her ear, and Luna Belle felt like steam was really about to puff out from the top of her head, just as Fairy had said! She gave Ellen's shoulder a gentle, embarrassed push.
"It's... it's not! Put me down already!"
Seeing Luna Belle on the verge of dying from embarrassment, Ellen finally let out a soft chuckle and carefully set her back on the ground. "Alright, alright, I'll stop teasing you. Be careful not to step on any more 'little friends'."
As soon as Luna Belle's feet touched the ground, she immediately took half a step back. She pressed the back of her hand against her burning cheeks, trying to calm her racing heart. She forced herself to shift her attention back to the "culprit" from a moment ago.
That little blue Slime she had stepped on didn't attack or dissolve away as she had expected. It just slowly returned to its original shape like a piece of modeling clay, turning back into a round, jelly-like ball. Then, it looked up, its surface rippling slightly to form two dots that looked like eyes, with an even smaller dot in the middle for a mouth. Together, they formed a clear "OoO" expression.
It let out an extremely faint, cute sound like a "pujiu," shaking its round body as if expressing grievance, or perhaps curiously observing the two strangers before it.
"..."
Luna Belle looked at the little Slime, hesitated for a moment, then tugged at the maid's sleeve beside her and asked in a low voice. "Ellen... this little guy... doesn't seem dangerous at all, and it's quite cute... Do we really have to... clear them out?"
Seeing Luna Belle's reluctant expression, Ellen sighed and rubbed her forehead helplessly. "Hey now, Belle, don't forget the Request. While Slimes might look harmless, they can block roads and damage crops in large numbers. Some variants are even corrosive. Since the Guild issued a clearing Request, it means they really have caused trouble."
Despite her words, Ellen's grip on the Shark Pruning Shears loosened slightly. Facing a creature that seemed so non-aggressive and even a bit cute, using violence directly did seem a bit... too brutal?
Just then, Luna Belle did something that surprised Ellen. She carefully and slowly crouched down, trying not to make too much noise. Then, she reached out her index finger and tentatively poked the little blue Slime that was still tilting its head and looking at her with an "OoO" expression.
The sensation from her fingertip was cool, bouncy, and smooth, like poking a piece of high-quality jelly, yet the surface was quite resilient. Instead of avoiding the poke, the little Slime seemed to find it comfortable. Its body trembled slightly, and it let out a more cheerful "pujiu~" sound, even proactively rubbing against Luna Belle's finger.
"Look! It seems to like it!" Luna Belle turned back to Ellen in surprise, her dark green eyes sparkling.
Ellen watched Luna Belle playing happily with the Slime on the ground, then looked at the surrounding group of Slimes still wriggling slowly, seemingly showing no hostility toward their presence. She slowly lowered the Shark Pruning Shears she had been carrying on her shoulder. She sighed, walked over to Luna Belle's side, and crouched down as well, looking at the blue ball affectionately rubbing against Luna Belle's finger.
"It really is... different from what the information provided by the Guild said," Ellen mused. Usually, when Slimes encountered strangers, even if they didn't attack, they would avoid them warily. But these ones seemed far too... docile?
"Fairy~" Luna Belle called out in her mind. "Can you scan and analyze these Slimes? Are they really a threat?"
"Request received, Master. Starting scan and analysis of the target organisms," Fairy's voice rang out. A moment later, the analysis results were relayed back. "Scan complete. Target organism: Slime. Energy reaction is weak. Composition is mainly viscous colloid and pure water elements. No aggressive mana fluctuations or corrosive secretions common to monsters were detected. Behavioral pattern analysis: Shows affinity toward Master. Threat level assessment: Extremely low."
"Extremely low?" Luna Belle's eyes lit up. She looked up at Ellen and said, "Fairy says they're almost no threat! And they seem to... really like me?"
Ellen arched an eyebrow. She was quite inclined to trust the analytical capabilities of Luna Belle's AI assistant. If these Slimes were truly harmless, then the so-called "clearing" Request became a bit complicated. Was it a misjudgment by the requester? Or... was there more to it?
While the two were crouching on the ground studying the Slimes, a slender figure hung upside down like a bat in the shadows of the cave's ceiling, taking in everything happening below. A hint of surprise flashed through Sayu's violet eyes. She had originally expected to see a battle, but she hadn't expected such a... harmonious, even somewhat heartwarming scene.
"That blue-haired girl... seems to have some kind of Affinity Constitution? These Slimes actually haven't attacked her?" Sayu was a bit puzzled; reasonably speaking, it should be impossible for these Slimes to be so docile. She had seen plenty of adventurers attacked by Slimes...
Inside the cave, Luna Belle was still gently poking the blue Slime. The little fellow let out a pleasant "pujiu" and even tried to hop onto her palm. Other nearby Slimes also seemed attracted by the activity. They slowly wriggled over, surrounding the two with jelly-like balls of various colors. With "pujiu" sounds echoing one after another, the scene became somewhat... dreamlike for a moment.
"What do we do now?" Luna Belle looked at the growing number of "OoO" and "^o^" emoticons around them and asked Ellen, caught between laughter and tears. "Are we still doing the Request?"
Looking at the situation, Ellen rubbed her temples, also finding it a bit tricky. "Hmm... let's figure out the situation first. If they really are harmless, maybe we can explain it to the Guild and see if the Request content can be changed... or, talk directly to the person who issued the Request?"
In any case, Ellen felt she couldn't bring herself to "clear out" these little guys that looked so harmless and even acted cute. She glanced at Luna Belle beside her, who clearly adored these Slimes, and sighed helplessly...