The Prisoner

I'm back, Miitei-chan～

I'd returned to the game. The location was the same as before—a gap in the facility's walls. Probably meant for insulation, soundproofing, or piping, but it made for a convenient hiding spot for a Slime.

Coworker had mentioned it too, but I figured I'd try looking for other test subjects.

Making my way back to the lab where Miitei-chan was born by traveling through the gaps between floors—you could call it the crawl space below the floor or the space above the ceiling—I found the previously sealed-off floor had already been reopened and the flooring replaced.

Everything in the room was gone. The Slime suspected of being the culprit had been defeated, and the researcher who'd been in charge of the scene was already dead. With everything tidied up so neatly, they must have decided to hurry up and use it for the next round of research.

Well then, I guess I'll explore the other rooms on this floor.

I wonder if there's a captured girl somewhere? Could be a boy too. Actually, might not even be a child at all. An older sister type would be fine too. An older brother type would be the most boring option…

"Though realistically speaking, for this kind of research, they'd exclusively use adult males since they're sturdy, robust, and last longer."

Common sense dictated as much, you'd get better research results that way. Plus, this was the Demon Soldier Project, which meant creating soldiers. Adult males would provide the most proper data.

In other words, if cute girls were being used as research material, it'd just prove this really was a game after all…

"Yep, this really is a game after all."

Three rooms into my search, I found a girl chained up inside a cage.

The chains were connected to a heavy iron collar. On the right side of her head was a cat ear, but on the left, instead of an ear, there grew a red horn that looked like Kaentake, the poison fire coral fungus. It had an ominous silhouette, like branching fingers.

Her right eye was half-open and vacant. Her left eye was wrapped in bandages like an eyepatch. Her hands and feet were also wrapped in scorched bandages.

Her hair was green on the right side, but red on the left. It looked as if she'd been contaminated by the horn.

"… Ah… huh…?"

The captive girl spotted the transparent Slime with a red core that had rolled up in front of her, and a sound escaped her lips. She seemed conscious, and her gaze fixed firmly on me.

I was about the size of a human head, but my core was only about fist-sized. The bars of the cage were spaced wider than my core. For me, it was just a slightly narrow passageway.

"First encounter with a heroine! … Oh wait, I can't speak. I wonder if I could somehow replicate vocal cords as a Slime and talk… Ah, ah?"

My body just wobbled and jiggled. Maybe I should spend SP to get a vocal organ… While I was thinking that, the girl grabbed a cushion beside her with her bandaged hand and threw it toward me.

It landed with a thud in front of me.

It wasn't a cushion, it was a child.

The child's eyes were open but unmoving. No reaction to being thrown, no sign of breathing either… They appeared to be dead.

"…"

"Wha—what?"

… And the captive girl was watching me.

The way she'd thrown it wasn't like she was trying to hit me. It was more like feeding an animal.

"… You can eat it, you know? It's my food, though."

Ah, I see.

… Hmm. I feel bad for this kid, but I guess I'll partake. I used the Predation skill and swallowed them in one gulp… Alright, I acquired vocal cords. It seems like I can absorb things to some extent when I consciously use Predation.

"Ah… Aah, oh, my voice, is it coming out?"

"… I thought you weren't just a regular Slime, but… you can talk."

"I analyzed that child's throat and somehow managed?"

"I see. Giving you food paid off then."

Food. She'd mentioned that before too—so that child was her food.

What kind of research facility feeds children to other children? This was absolutely brutal.

"Um, you eat people?"

"They ran out of food, and it was, cost reduction, they said?"

"Sorry about that."

"No, it's okay. That child was my friend, so I couldn't bring myself to eat them. You really helped me out."

T-this is way too cruel! These research facility bastards!

Wait, the food running out is totally my fault. At least as an apology… Oh right, I had potatoes I stole from the food storage.

"As an apology… um, here."

"… It's a potato. And this meat is… from what?"

"I don't think it's human. Oh, but eating it raw would be bad. Let me find something to start a fire…"

"Mm."

I was thinking I'd need to spend SP to learn a skill and had opened the menu when the girl unwrapped the bandage on her right hand and held the potato in her palm. Her right hand was black like charcoal.

There was a sizzling sound as the potato cooked.

"Thanks. I'll eat it."

"Heh, that's a handy hand."

"… Is it? I can't scratch where it itches though?"

"Sorry, that's inconvenient."

"Mm, yeah. It's delicious. Thank you."

She also bit into the dried meat with a chomp. With jagged teeth—a mouth better described as fangs—she tore through that tough dried meat with a rip.

With a mouth like that, she could probably munch through Lizardman tail steak no problem.

"… Thank you for the meal."

Saying that, she tried to put her hands together in prayer, but only touched her fingertips together lightly.

"Hey… Slime-san, are you an angel? Did you come to pick me up?"

"Huh? An angel?"

"I heard angels have halos. And wings on their back? Slime-san doesn't have wings though."

Heh. So they have stories like that here too. I might be able to extend some wing-like tentacles, though.

"Well, if that's what you want, I could get you out of here."

"Really? Oh, but wait. I have a little sister."

"A little sister?"

"Yeah. If we can escape, I want my little sister to come too."

Apparently, the two sisters had been captured together, sold by slave traders, and turned into experimental materials.

She'd made them promise not to touch her sister as long as she herself remained cooperative, so her sister should be safe.

"I'll let you know if I find her. What's her name? Oh, tell me your name too. I'll need it when I find your little sister."

"Okay. I'm Annette. My little sister is…"

She tilted her head. Her red horn trembled with a twitch.

"… Little sister, um, name… huh?"

"Is 'Huh' her name?"

"N-no. Why? Her name, it won't come out. I don't know."

With a sudden lurch, her red horn grew slightly larger.

Something felt wrong. It was pulsating—dokun, dokun.

"Wait, Annette-chan. The horn on your head is—"

"Ah, uu, uu, mm. Mm… hah, hah…"

The horn settled down. It returned to its original size, but…

Annette let out a breath like someone recovering from a fever.

"My little sister is, my little sister, right? We're twins, so. She has a face like mine."

"O-okay. I'll remember that."

"They said as long as I'm alive, she'll be safe. So she should be somewhere."

If the researchers kept that promise, that is.

I probably shouldn't mention that there's a considerable chance she's not safe.

"… What's your name, Slime-san?"

"I'm Miitei. Nice to meet you."

"That's a cute name. Miitei-chan… So you were a girl?"

Well, yeah, probably. The end goal is to eventually become a Slime girl, so yes!

… Now then, looks like I'll need to find her little sister and also investigate how to remove that horn.

Even if I tried to use Predation to pluck out just the horn, it's the type that's already burrowed into her brain.