So... that meeting went well. Right now Percival was sitting in his room, staring at what he supposed was technically his by birthright sword and feeling - not so much in over his head, but rather more like someone had made him stare into the vast gaping maw of the universe and made him appreciate a mere fraction of its infinity versus his scale compared to it. Him? He'd have to be in charge of this party and save the world? Oh, and don't forget the part where he'd likely have to have children with at least one of them at some point down the line. That was way too much for him to deal with!
"Do... Do you have to stand there, Dame -"
"Please, do address me as Melisenta," she interrupted. Standing smartly at attention in the corner of the room. His room. It was a bit unnerving really. "If we're to travel together, then best to drop formalities. You wouldn't shout out my full name and title in the middle of battle, now would you? It wouldn't be practical."
"Melisenta..." Percival said. Though he would probably not be able to shout that in battle either. Bit of a mouthful. "I really don't feel ready for this. My stomach's tying in knots as it is."
"Can you swing a sword?"
"Well, yeah..."
"Then you'll be fine!" she gave him a thumbs up. "Your blood will remember everything after you've swung it a few times, I'm sure of it. Relax. Enjoy the upcoming ball."
"Not sure that I can. A little too stressed out, you know?"
"I know!" All of a sudden Ariana had popped out from under his bed. What was she doing under there?! "If the brave hero is nervous, he should spend his time training!"
Next, Helen stepped out of his closet. He didn't actually have any clothes in there as of yet, but somehow she had a pair of his boxers hanging off her hat. Which made all kinds of no sense at all. "A spot of training near the castle should be perfectly fine."
Uh, hold on a minute. That's everyone except... Ingrid? Where was she then? There wasn't anywhere else in the room for her to hide, certainly nowhere big enough for her to -
"Yaaaargh!" and in she comes through the window. The closed window. Almost immediately maids with brooms came into the room. "Training? Are we training?! Yeah! Let's go work up a sweat!"
<hr>
So here they were outside the castle. Him at the lead, because apparently he was meant to be at the front. They'd be backing him up if things went awry. Still, it did feel quite a bit awkward. Leading was something he very much wasn't used to. That was kind of the point of this exercise though, right? Give him a chance to be at the head of the party, do a bit of practicing before going out into the world...
At least, that was the theory. In the practical application of that theory, he'd found himself staring down a single blue slime. It had hopped along quite happily over to the party, and was now staring up at him with an almost cartoonishly innocent smile. Big cute eyes on its tiny body. It looked like a pet cat or a lost puppy more than it did a wandering bloodthirsty monster.
"You can do it, Percy!" Helen cheered on from the sidelines.
"Indeed, a mere slime is no match for a descendant of the legendary hero!" Dame- Pardon, Melisenta added, nodding sternly.
"Ah, maybe you should l-let it hurt you a little so I can practice healing you?" Ariana suggested.
"Even a complete pervert should squish this thing flat in no time at all!" Ingrid said, pounding her fist into an open palm. Since when did being a pervert say anything about fighting ability?
Gulping nervously, Percival took out his sword. Despite being a legendary blade it somehow felt dull and looking at it closer it didn't look that impressive compared to the rest of the group’s weapons. Then, he reached out experimentally and poked the slime with the very end of the sword - and it popped like a water balloon, leaving the ground beneath it slightly damp.
Gross. Also, he kind of felt a bit guilty. Like he was picking on the slime, bullying it needlessly. Was that how a hero should behave?
"Hooray!" the girls behind him cheered.
"Congratulations on winning your first battle!" Melisenta said, clasping her strong hands on his shoulder. "The first of many."
"Just like a man to use a phallic weapon to make mother earth wet," Ingrid joked. He supposed she was joking. She <i>was</i> joking, right? He wasn't entirely sure of that yet.
"I guess that wasn't so bad..." Percival muttered to himself. "Doubt they'll all be that easy, though."
As if inviting fate, this was when a whole bunch of slimes to hop along, all of them with the same cutesy expressions on their faces. A whole bunch of them, all at once. It was like being at the wrong end of a stampeding horde of rabbits. Individually? Not a threat. All at once...?
Actually, come to think of it, that many all at once still wasn't any sort of an issue was it? If they all popped from merely being tapped by the end of this rusty old sword when he'd not put any effort in, then even this many shouldn't be a problem at all. Right? He could probably swing his sword and take out five of them in a single go! There were twenty in all, so... Four well placed swings and he's won!
Percival braced himself, and planted one foot forward with sword held in both hands. Then he tried really hard to not topple over so he could maintain what he thought was a kind of cool stance. He could do this! He could win! All he had to do was stand his ground and then -
Watch in surprise as the little blue smiling blobs all hopped around him without paying him any heed at all. Eh?
"Kyaaaaah!"
"I-Ingrid?!" Percival gasped, not expecting to hear such a sound from her. For a moment, he felt this dreadful terror, if something could make her scream like that... What could have happened? But then he actually turned around, and a trickle of blood involuntary dripped from his nose.
The slimes had jumped on Ingrid, you see. Snuggling up against her. Rubbing up against her body in a way that could only possibly be described as incredibly lewd. In fact, there were quite a few more than the twenty slimes he'd counted now, with at least ten on each of the girls. Where had the extra twenty come from?
"Unbelievable!" Melisenta grunted, brushing slimes off herself only for them to jump back on. Nuzzling into her armour without any seeming care. Huh? They weren't popping when she attacked them? "This many slimes, this close to the castle? It's unheard of!"
"Gross, gross, gross, gross, gross!" Ingrid yelled.
Helen didn't honestly seem that bothered. In fact, she seemed to be waiting until Percival was looking and then - "Oh no. I am beset by slimes." Then she pulled out a pin and started to pop them, causing herself to get drenched in whatever slimes were made of. It got all over her hair, her robes, and made them cling to her body in a quite provocative way. "Whatever shall I do." That wasn't a question. She seemed to be adjusting her robe to show off more of her cleavage, if anything, which one of the slimes took as an invitation to jump right on in. Right before it got popped as well, soaking her boobs in blue gunk.
As for Ariana, she was having the indignity of the slumes playing keep up with her skirt, while she desperately tried to bat it down.
"Ah! Pervy slimes!" she yelped. So she was only a pervert when it came to healing...? "D-Don't just stand there! Do something, hero!"
"Right!" he yelled - and then the slimes started to pop, seemingly of their own volition. Drenching the girls, a little at a time. Making cloth stick to their bodies, making their hair damp, making their skin shine in the sunlight. Looking over there right now seemed like a death sentence, so - Up to the sky. How beautiful it is today. With all the clouds and occasional bird innocently flapping its - Huh, those didn't look like ordinary birds...
"Awww, the poor things went and popped, I can't heal them like this..." Ariana pouted. "Oh hey, there's a whole lot more over there coming our way."
"Something's wrong here," Melisanta said. "There aren't usually anywhere near this many slimes."
"Uh, maybe we should give training a miss and pick it up another day?" Percival suggested. It wasn't that he was worried overly much about the slimes, but something really unsettling was definitely in the air. "I mean, they seem to be coming for us a little too eagerly, you know?"
All of a sudden, he was feeling quite a bit less nervous about that ball. Although... As they retreated towards the castle there was this weird prickling feeling at the back of his neck. Something was unquestionably amiss here. Was this the hero's instinct in him awakening? Maybe... Maybe not.
THUD. He fell flat on his face when a bit of former slime ended up under his foot.
Definitely not.
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