kscans

Chapter 128 - The Princess, the Prison, and the Slime

The stone prison of the royal capital. In the cold air, Hero Ares sat inside a cell with her hands bound.

"We always get captured whenever we come to the royal capital, don't we~♡"

"H-how did it come to thissss…!" Ares collapsed against the wall, crying. Beside her, Zombie Count Robele, draped in tattered cloth, was quietly practicing his embroidery (which he was, for some reason, allowed to do).

"Ohoho… Ares-chan, don’t cry. The prison’s humidity is bad for your skin, you know."

The trouble had started the day before. Ares and Robele had arrived in the human royal capital, Riserum, and were immediately reported as "remnants of the Demon Lord’s army" at a private inn and promptly arrested.

The deciding factor was a rumor that the kingdom’s princess had been "colluding with the Demon Lord’s army."

"I can’t believe… that princess was an acquaintance of yours, Robele-san…!"

"Ufufu… because we were in an embroidery club together a long time ago…♡"

Robele seemed a little embarrassed.

Just as Ares’s despair was about to peak, the prison floor quivered with a `purun`.

"Hiee!? Wh-what was that!?"

"Ya~an, Robele-chan♡ It’s been so loooooong~!"

Suddenly, a jiggly blue mass of slime appeared from the prison floor, `muni`, and shifted into a human shape. It then transformed into a girl in a form-fitting dress, leaving Ares speechless.

"Th-the slime… talked!?"

"Let me introduce you, Ares-chan. This is Slime Princess Lumiere. She’s my best friend."

"I came to save you♡ I believed you weren't a bad person, Hero-chan!"

Lumiere winked with her perfectly round eyes, then slipped her entire body through the iron bars with a `surun` and unlocked the cell.

"Come on, let’s escape~! Being executed is no joke, you know~~~♪"

"W-wait, you can’t just do that!"

Robele was already preparing his escape as if in a dance. Ares was dragged along, crying, out of the cell. (Why am I always breaking out of prison? I'm supposed to be a hero.)

The Slime Princess’s abilities were versatile. She could enter keyholes to pick locks. Pass through cracks in the walls to scout. She even slipped into a soldier’s boot, tickled him until he writhed in agony, and passed by.

"Pupu, the rate at which these soldiers are weak to tickling is way too high~♡"

"Lumiere-chan, how can you do all this…?"

"Ares-chan. I hated ‘discriminating’ between monsters and humans. That’s why I’m aiming for a world where the Demon Lord’s army and humans can coexist!"

Ares gasped at those words.

(…She’s serious.)

When they escaped the dungeon and the night wind brushed against her cheeks, Ares’s feet stopped.

"I… have to get stronger."

"Eh?"

"Because… there are so many people like Robele-san and Lumiere-san among humans, too… If I can’t protect them, I can’t call myself a hero!" Her expression was different from before, filled with an unwavering resolve.

Robele smiled.

"It seems… your ‘embroidery’ has finally begun."

"Eh, eh? What do you mean, embroidery?"

"I’m talking about your heart♡"

And far away, Mamoru, who had been watching from the shade of a tree, muttered.

"...The ‘hero’ is starting to gather comrades connected by the heart."

The Hobgoblin coach teared up as he watched his disciple grow with certainty.