Slime Evolution

Chapter 424 - Interruption

With the agility of a silver flash, an imposing female figure appeared out of nowhere, cutting sharply between the two elf children and the little blue Slime, her right hand already resting on the hilt of a long sword gleaming with delicately inscribed magic runes.

The newcomer was an elite elf knight, wearing polished silver plate armor that gleamed under the sunlight, bearing the official emblem of Thalendor’s imperial guard.

She kept her body tense and her sharp eyes fixed on Lohan with obvious caution, while using her left arm to gently push the princes back, shielding the children from the unknown monster.

Even sensing that monster was far weaker than she was, it was still shocking to run into such a powerful Slime, which put her even more on edge.

If there was one thing she’d learned over her centuries serving in the imperial guard, it was that monsters notably stronger than their peers were, more often than not, also frighteningly more powerful than anyone she’d ever encountered before.

And this strange Slime fit that description perfectly.

In her hundreds of years, the most powerful Slime she’d ever encountered had probably been somewhere between level 6 and level 8, still considered a useless, weak creature.

But this Slime in front of her was at least level 15, maybe even higher, actively managing to hide his own aura and clearly possessing enough cognition to even answer the question the children had asked!

This set of observations she’d made raised the threat level this little Slime represented by a full tier!

"Step back immediately, Highnesses!" the knight commanded in a firm, polished, extremely serious voice, though she kept a respectful tone speaking to the children. "You mustn’t be reckless enough to approach unknown magical creatures in a public plaza! A Slime, no matter how bright and docile it may look at first glance, remains a beast with corrosive digestion instincts that could put your safety at serious risk."

The elf knight adjusted her combat stance, her purple eyes studying Lohan with surprise as she realized more and more that the density of mana radiating off the little Slime was even greater than she’d already sensed!

However, the two elf children showed not the slightest trace of fear at their guard’s safety warning.

On the contrary, both of them crossed their small arms and shot back at the knight with expressions of pure childish irritation, finding her interruption completely unnecessary for the moment.

"You don’t need to worry so much and make such a dramatic scene, Siria!" the little boy Vaelthas exclaimed, pouting with frustration as he looked at her armor. "Mr. Halon isn’t some dangerous wild beast that wants to eat us!"

"That’s right!" the little girl added, pointing her index finger toward Lohan with evident pride, as if boasting about an advantage of her own. "You only have this boring, exhausting job of watching over us constantly every minute of the day now, because this little heroic blue Slime saved our lives just in time the last time we snuck out of the castle to explore the forest and got captured by those evil humans! If it weren’t for him and his little fox, we wouldn’t even be here to listen to your boring safety lectures today!"

Hearing that direct, sincere statement from the two children under her care, the knight Siria froze her combat stance immediately, surprise completely taking over the traditionally cold, professional features of her beautiful elven face.

She subtly relaxed her right hand resting on her runic sword and looked at the little blue Slime with wide eyes full of shock, her mind processing that unexpected revelation with extreme speed.

Siria had been recently assigned to lead the two children’s personal guard after the swamp incident a few weeks earlier.

She’d heard secondhand, during the military reports on that incident, about the huge trouble the children had gotten themselves into that time crossing the safe boundaries of the forest of Mythlorien, and about how a mysterious pair of intelligent monsters, an anomaly of a blue Slime and, surprisingly, a Legendary Spirit Fox, had rescued the children from the clutches of an experienced but weak group of human mercenaries before the kidnappers could carry out their extortion plan against the crown.

"So... this little blue Slime in front of me is the famous Halon that Vulre and Elara spoke of with such respect and admiration?" Siria murmured to herself, her voice coming out in a shocked whisper.

She didn’t fully drop her military guard, still keeping the children’s safety as her top priority, but gave a polite bow toward Lohan, her eyes gleaming with a new, deep curiosity about that little creature whose name was already running through the mouths of Thalendor’s population, and of the outworlders who had recently arrived in the city.

Lohan watched Siria’s shift in attitude with quiet satisfaction, feeling that the network of connections and reputation he’d been building in Thalendor was expanding much faster and more efficiently than he’d imagined at the start of his journey in Elysium.

Obviously the main reason this elf had heard of him was because she was working with people directly involved in an operation he’d taken part in, but even so, he knew that little by little, his fame and influence would only keep growing more and more in this city, especially after what they’d accomplished the night before.

The little blue Slime kept his little jelly hand extended in the air, waving it gently to show he held no hostility toward the imperial guards, which helped completely disarm any lingering tension still hanging in the fresh air of the central plaza.

Seeing his display of friendliness, Siria finally took a step back, maintaining the upright, impeccable posture of a high-ranking soldier, though her gaze now held a trace of respect and curiosity toward the gelatinous creature lying in the flowerbed.

She remained wary and ready to protect the children, but at least she had now actively interfered with their contact.