Chapter 11 – The Crystallization of Beauty

I shortly explain how I made the story up to stop the man from killing them. Then, I mention my plan of creating a safe place for abused members of races other than Humans to stay. I try to be brief to not overwhelm them with information. 

“Long story short, I’m not planning to force you into doing anything horrendous.”

They both look at me with uncertainty. As expected, it’s not like they haven’t heard any lies in the past. It might take more than a few words to convince them.

“By the way. Knowing that you are kinda genderless… is it fine for me to address you as girls? I don’t want to call you ‘it’ and you have this feminine appearance.”

They nod in confirmation. I take off my coat. While I’m pondering what more to do or say, I notice a small puff of smoke near the thigh of the Green Slime.

“Ummm… Could you please… try not melting the sheets?” I try asking as politely as I can.

She quickly jumps to her feet, glances over the slightly burned sheets and falls to the floor assuming a sitting-on-the-knees position in front of me, lowering her head.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. I’m not angry, ok?” 

I wave my hands, but it only results in her starting to tremble a bit.

“You can’t control it too well right?” She starts to frantically shake her head. “Thought so. It’s okay, accidents happen—” Her head is still shaking sideways while I’m speaking.

I stop for a moment and think. “No as in you can’t, or no as in no, you can? Nod for the second one.” She stops shaking and nods. “Ah. Then why did it burn?”

No reaction. She just stares at the floor.

“Are you perhaps scared or nervous?” I throw a random statement.

She nods shyly.

I sigh heavily, then stand up. I stop blocking my Class effects and allow them to be released a bit. I wish for its effects to be moderate and relaxing or calming instead of fully arousing. Hopefully, this works. Well, I should have released it when I walked out in the public. I have no idea how random women react to the scent mentioned in the title. I might be a bit overcautious. Will it even work on Slimes?

Nevertheless, I move closer to the Green Slime and sit down in front of her. She stares at me slightly confused and still expecting me to hit her.

“Listen. I really do not want to hurt you. I know it’s hard to believe, but please, trust me.” I do my best to sound affectionate.

“I remember reading that your cores are fragile and delicate, while your bodies are highly resistant to any physical harm. But… do you still feel pain when it’s damaged?”

A confirmation.

“I see. Can you actually feel, like pressure or the touch, with it?”

She nods and at the same time waves her hand in the third sign we set.

“I don’t think it’s maybe or perhaps… a bit then?”

A confirmation.

“You must have been in a lot of pain at that idiot's place then…” I say with a sad sigh. 

At this point, the Blue Slime slowly sits on the side of the green one and we all end up on the floor. It looks a bit less scared of me than the other one.

“So, umm… Yeah. You can live here now. I’ll take care of you. No more pain and abuse, okay?” I say while looking straight at them. “Speaking of which, what do you eat? You do have to eat, right?”

They tilt their heads and then shake their hands. 

“Well, I don’t know what they fed you back there, but if you have something you like and you notice it here, please tell me. I don’t think I’ll be able to hunt game or monsters though.” I laugh awkwardly and they nod with a bit more energy. “How long have you stayed there?”

The blue one shows a number of her fingers on one hand. Nothing unusual, besides the fact that she shows eight of them…

“Eight years? That long?” She nods. “Damn…”

I take a glance at her figures.

“That reminds me, you have eaten Humans before, right?”

They look at each other, drop their gazes and nod with uncertainty.

“Don’t worry, I’m not blaming you. Can you tell me how many?”

Both of them show one finger.

“Ah. It’s the girls you look like now?”

Bingo.

“I see. Did you attack them?” They shake their heads. “They attacked you then?”

A nod.

“Nothing you could have done about that I guess…” I lean back and support myself with my arms. “It would be so much easier if you were the ones who could ask questions…” I say slightly dejected.

I look around to figure out something to say.

“Can you taste things? Like when you ate their bodies?” They nod. “I would have brought something normal to eat for you, but sorry, I don’t have anything here yet.” 

They shake their heads, most likely signalling that it’s not necessary. Again silence falls. No longer being able to hold back my curiosity, I blurt out a question.

“Hey… Would it be okay for me to touch one of you?” No response. They just simply look at me. “Figured out not…” I smile wryly.

But to my surprise, the blue girl draws a bit closer to me. I look at her and she nods. She slowly reaches out for my hand and places it over her belly.

“Woah… It’s so smooth… and slightly cold.”

I gently move my hand grazing over her tummy and enjoy the smooth and springy sensation. It’s nothing like I ever experienced. The closest thing I can think of is playing with very soft rubber or a slightly cold jelly, but that’s still far from this heavenly sensation. Tracing with my hand to her side I squeeze it a bit.

“Can you feel that?” I ask curiously and she shakes her hand. So, at least a bit.

I retract my hand and very carefully place it on her cheek. Then, I gently brush it with my thumb.

“You are quite a cutie, you know?” I say with a smile.

She closes her eyes, or mimics the action, and pushes her cheek more into my hand. I reach behind her ear and caress her carved hair a bit. My hand switches to the top of her head with me patting it. She starts to visibly wobble. Something like a small ripple is travelling through the surface of her body.

The green one also arrives closer to me, and I swear, it looks at me with expectant eyes. Which is hard to judge with them being one colour. I raise my other hand and very slowly approach her. Before I even confirm if she’s okay with it, she pushes her head under it by herself. I end up patting two wobbling Slime girls.

“Hahaha. Does it feel good? I don’t mind doing it for you from now on, you know?” I laugh sincerely at the spectacle in front of me. 

They start wobbling even more. Now, it’s more like strong waves on the sea. I take back my hands while chuckling to myself. Just now, I notice that their cores are floating in patterns inside their bellies. One is making horizontal circles while going up and down and the other traces a number eight with its path.

Slightly in awe, I subconsciously place my hand over the Green Slime's stomach and watch the core dance. Suddenly, my hand pierces the membrane and falls inside. I quickly glance at her face to check if I hurt her, but I’m met with a very charming smile.

She must have noticed my gaze because the core slowly floats towards my hand. I turn it over and the fist-sized ball lands in my grasp. It’s hot. And pulsating. Waves of heat and mana tickle my hand. I gently brush it with my fingers, to which her whole body starts to vibrate.

“Ah, sorry. Did I squeeze it too hard?” 

I release the core and start slowly pulling out my hand, but she grabs it with both of hers before I finish and shakes her head. The floating ball starts circling my fingers, nudging and grazing them. I catch it again very carefully. My fingers run over some protrusion and I remember the man speaking about his safety rings. I squint my eyes to see it better.

The slime’s body becomes more transparent. She’s quite a perceptive one.

“You can change your opacity too?” I ask and she nods.

In a few seconds, she becomes fully opaque, like a green statue. A moment later, her slime is barely visible; just a weak greenish tint. She then goes back to being somewhere in between. I smile at her and pull my arm back.

“Would it be possible for you to move your core close to the edge and stick it out a bit?”

She hesitates for a moment but complies with my request. I can now clearly see the ring with some runes on it on the half-out core.

“I’m going to touch it for a moment, okay?”

Seeing her nod, I trace my fingers over the accessory. Thanks to all the lessons from Cornelia, I can easily confirm that the man was telling the truth about its ability. I start injecting my mana into its circuits and after a few seconds, it breaks with a faint crack. It’s not some kind of a high tier artefact.

I gently remove the two pieces from her body. “We don’t need that here. Feeling better now?”

She takes back her core inside and spins it around a bit. With a euphoric expression, she jumps at the other girl and starts hugging her while wobbling up and down. The Blue Slime tries to peel her off but manages to only deform her body in weird angles. She makes enough space to see me again.

In an instant, she literally launches her core out of her body, straight my way. With an utterly shocked expression, I frantically catch it with both hands and cover it with my own body to assure that it won’t drop onto the ground. In the meanwhile, her slime splatters onto the green girl and the ground.

“Hey! Don’t surprise me like that! What if I didn’t catch it!” I speak to the orb in my hands. “Besides! Doesn’t that hurt your body?”

The other girl imitates a giggling motion and signs ‘a bit’. I release a sigh at her carelessness. Then, I repeat the procedure with the ring. After breaking it, I place the core back in the puddle of blue slime and she slowly reforms back.

“You really scared me, you know?” I say while rubbing my forehead. “I guess you are a bit less nervous now, huh?”

They both nod enthusiastically.

“That’s great.” 

I stand up and so do they. I give them a few more pats. Then I freeze.

“Wait. I never asked about your names. Do you actually have them?” I ask.

They tilt their heads, look at each other and shake them sideways.

“Huh. It would be much easier for me if you did. Do you mind if I give you them? It doesn’t have to be forever, just as long as you stay here.”

They nod even more vigorously.

“Okay… Hmmm…” I ponder for a moment.

「Should I just name them after some of my favourite characters? Or should I come up with something original...」

I glance over them, and suddenly, the phrase ‘crystallization of beauty’ appears in my mind when I think about their beautiful, semi-transparent bodies. When they become more opaque, it’s like they are carved from a huge gem.

「A gem… A crystal… Hmmmm… Sapphire? Emerald?」

“What do you think about Safi and Emi?” I point at the Blue Slime and then at the green one. “You are like those exquisite and elegant statues made out of emerald and sapphire.”

Their cheeks get a bit more opaque. And wide smiles appear on their faces.

「Did I just make a Slime blush?」

Emi starts wobbling and jumps at me with a radiant expression. Her jelly-like body slams against mine like raging sea waves against a breakwater, but thanks to her springy characteristics, I manage not to fall. She starts nuzzling her face against my chest while her core dances happily all around her body.

“Hahaha, easy now, Emi! I’m glad you like it.” I embrace her soft and chilly body with one hand and pat her head with the other.

Safi comes closer and tries to peel her off me this time, with a visible pout. Emi shows a smug smile and doesn’t back off. I’m watching as the two of them shift, entangle, stretch and reform. Truly a peculiar sight.

“Okay, okay! Enough fighting.” I gently bonk both their heads and they finally release me. “I’m enjoying having fun with you, but I still have a lot to do.”

They look at me curiously.

“This place isn’t your typical mansion. I can’t live off my benefactor forever. That’s why, there will be a business here. And I need to prepare a lot of stuff, like hire someone to cook, to clean, to take care of the whole place, manage clients, and a lot of other stuff.”

I list some things, more so I just don’t forget them. They nod along the way.

“So yeah. You can stay and live here, but the fact that it will be a brothel at certain times of the day doesn’t change. Ah. But it’s not like you would understand what a brothel is.”

While I’m speaking they start nodding with increasing speed. Their faces almost lose their shape.

“Wait… No way… You know what a brothel is?” I ask incredulously.

They nod.

“What? Then about procreation?”

Another one.

“Even the fact that some races do it just for pleasure?”

More nodding.

“The hell? How do Slimes know about such things?” I voice out my surprise and disbelief. “Wait. Don’t tell me that idiot has assaulted you?”

To my relief, they shake their heads. Well, it’s not like they have the particular organs to conduct such acts, but from a lot of news lines back at home, I know that Humans will always find a way to stick their head into anything. And somehow, they are almost always from Florida, huh.

“At least. But how then?”

Emi starts looking around the room for something to help her with the answer. Safi just stands in front of me with a thinking expression. After a moment, she claps her hands, making a slushy-slappy sound. 

She moves closer to me and grabs my hand. I look at her curiously. The core in her body starts floating up and stops in her head. She begins pointing at it with one of her hands. I look at her trying to figure out what she means. 

「Something about a brain?」 

I tilt my head while thinking. Noticing that it’s not working, she uses her other hand to guide mine close to her face and… chomps on it. Although without the biting part. The soft insides of her frosty and jelly mouth surround my fingers.

I stare at her munching on my fingers while pointing at her head in confusion. Emi must have realized what her friend tries to do because she walks closer and starts moving her hands from shoulders to knees over the shape of her body.

“Brain? Body? Eat? Ah! Don’t tell me, you somehow gained this knowledge from the girls in the past?”

I finally connect the dots and they start happily jumping up and down.

“That’s unexpected. But don’t worry, I don’t plan on forcing you to work like that. In the first place, it’s not like you have a lot to work with, and I’d rather not have people sticking their dicks in some random places around yo—”

I start feeling the insides of Safi’s mouth change. It gets more textured than smooth, some parts slightly harden, most likely the gums and ‘teeth’, and a freshly formed tongue starts tickling my hand, which is still in there.

She glances down and I follow her. And my eyes widen in surprise. On the tips of her previously plain and round breasts, slightly darker and more opaque nipples formed, even with areolas.

“Hahaha... How many times are you two going to amaze me today...”

Looking at her stomach, I notice a cute belly button forming. Slightly lower, in her translucent underbelly, I can almost clearly see a female reproductive system taking shape. Up from the ovaries to the very vaginal canal and its ending. And also part of the rectum behind.

I gulp audibly. It’s kinda getting even hotter in this room. If there were any doubts before, right now, in front of me is standing a ‘real’ slime girl. With the emphasis on girl. A very charming, slightly chubby, sapphire-coloured semi-transparent girl. Which is currently joyfully licking my fingers all over.

“Ummm… I did not know… that you can mimic to this extent…” 

I flash her an awkward smile, trying not to stare at her naked body. Well, she was naked all the time, but now, it rose to another level. She finally stops playing with my fingers. Pulling my hand back, I see strings of some liquid. It’s a bit chilly.

Safi steps even closer to me and pushes her bouncy chest against mine. Even through the vest, I can faintly sense her hard nipples, alongside the cool sensation of her jittery boobs. She looks at me from up close with her big eyes.

I shake my head to clear all the indecent images that fill my mind. I’ve seen too much Slime action back at home. I can already feel my pants getting tighter with every passing second. As if noticing it, she looks down and lays her hand on my crotch. A frosty breeze envelops my nether regions.

“Oooooohohoh…” Chills run through my whole body. “I’m glad that you now trust me a little more, but you don’t have to prove your ability to do those things.” 

I place my hands on her shoulders and start slowly putting some distance between us while my gaze is fixated on her enchanting blueish lips.

[It’s okay if it’s for Master.]

“Thank you, but that’s going a bit too fas—… Excuse me?” I start blinking totally dumbfounded.

「Did I just… understand her? But… I swear there was no sound...」

She tilts her head, and this time, I clearly catch her lips and tongue moving.

[Master?]

“Ha. Hahaha. Hahahahah!” I burst into laughter due to a sudden realization. “What the hell! I can read from lip movement? Why does it not say so in the Linguist skill! Goddammit, hahahahaha!”

I calm myself down and wipe the tears off my eyes. “This would have been so much easier! Hey, Safi, can you try saying something longer?” I ask and focus on her mouth.

[I don’t know what I should say, Master. Ummm… Thank you for taking off the rings? They really hurt.]

“Hahaha, so it truly works! And I’m happy I could help. Emi, can you try doing the same thing like her?” I turn to the Green Slime, which has been standing near us.

She opens and closes her mouth, but I can’t get any read from it. In the first place, she is still in her less detailed, plain form. Maybe that’s the reason I noticed only now?

“Oh well, it really will help to talk with you girls. But… could you please remove your womanly parts for now? It’s quite easy for me to get distracted, haha.”

[I’m afraid I can’t, Master.] Her lips move to answer my question.

“What? Why? Didn’t you just form them to show me?”

[Yes, but it happened because I advanced a stage. I can’t change it back now.]

“Advanced a stage? Wait, as you evolved just now?”

[Not exactly. We have to go through a few smaller stages before we can further evolve. I just crossed one.]

“Ah, okay, but why now?”

[Most likely it’s thanks to the energy Master leaked to my core when taking off the ring.]

“I see. So why does Emi not advance?” I look curiously at the other girl who assumes a sad expression. Safi pokes me and I turn back.

[I think I was already close to it. She might need a bit more time.]

I step closer to the dejected girl and rub her head. 

“Don’t worry. There’s no rush. Just make Safi translate for you for the time being. You could communicate somehow before, right?” I again look at the blue girl.

[Yes, naturally we can since we are both Slimes.] She smiles.

“Great. Oh, and I better find you some clothes. Actually... Safi, can you make yourself opaque to hide all the insides?”

She nods and turns fully sapphire, but… she now looks even more erotic due to all her curves up and down there. She is now just almost like a normal Human but with blue skin.

“Okaaaaaaaaaaay, that didn’t work… You can go back to your usual self if it strains you to keep this up.”

[Understood, Master.] She turns back to being translucent.

“Why Master? I took off the rings, you are free now.”

[Because Master is Master?] She tilts her head.

“We’ll work that out later. Anyways, you are free to explore the mansion. Just please, don’t leave it or peek outside the windows, okay?” They both nod. “I’ll go to the town for what I mentioned earlier. I’ll grab something for you to eat on the way back. Then, later we can talk about your stay here. Got it? Perfect. Let’s—”

I feel three knocks somewhere in the back of my head. I squint my eyes in confusion and turn around. Then, I realize it has to be the Notice spell.

“Be right back. Someone is at the door.”

I quickly walk out of the room and head to the main entrance. I can see a robed figure through the distorted glass in the doors. I push them open.

“Morning Al.”

“Eh? Cornelia?!”