- The Party -

Inside a chapel by the edge of a quaint little hamlet. A large crystal sits at the centerpiece of the interior. A layer of dust coats the surface from years of neglect. Nuns fussily attend to their daily duties within the circumference of the geological marvel.

Suddenly some nuns feel murmurs rumbling from the ground. They all look towards the crystal which now seems to glimmer in a deep purple glow.

“Oh heavens?!” one sister exclaims, “Get mother! Something is happening!”

A flash of light beams throughout the hall.

When vision was restored, a portly man stood in front of the grand crystal. Stark naked.

The nuns shrieked at the sight of him like vampires to sunlight. Some ran while others would peek inadvertently as they ran. The man stood there dumb struck, indifferent to the chaos around him.

“I… died?” he questions in disbelief through his thick mustache.

… Three weeks later…

Three exasperated adventurers burst through a saloon deprived of vigor. The patrons barely pay them any mind. The lanky leader of the party slumped into the bar’s counter. The other two join their limp bodied friend.

The bartender, never too far, gives the party the side eye. After a moment, the lanky one orders.

“ ‘ tender, get me a mug of ale!” he pauses…”And three cups please…”

With a slanted mouth the bartender obliges. As the bartender pours the ale, he comments.

“Another one bites the dust, eh?”

“What do you mean?” the thief of the party asks. The bartender places down the mug and distributes small glasses amongst the defeated.

“You’re not the first,” he motions to an unattended corner of the bar.

A portly man with a thick mustache sat in the dark. He holds his mug with an iron grip.

The healer of the party motions towards him. The three wordlessly agree to speak to the dark stranger. They meekly take their small cups to the man.

As the party seats themselves in front of the portly man, he spits into the corner.

“What do you want?” He barks…

The party were taken aback but the lanky leader speaks up first.

“You’ve also failed to get through this town’s dungeon, correct?” The portly man doesn’t respond, he merely takes another sip of his mug.

He spits into the corner again.

“It doesn’t make any sense…” laments the healer, “This was supposed to be a low level dungeon…”

“Well it wasn’t!” the thief shouts, “You should’ve been more careful regardless of level!”

“How could you disguise a platform as a trap door?! That’s ridiculous!” she protests,

The portly man twitches, but it goes unnoticed amongst the bickering crew.

“We desperately needed heals in the last fight! That oni was a killer! And you! -leader just ran away!” the thief further digs into the healer.

“Guys stop! This isn’t helping! We’d have no resources at all if I died!” The leader protests! Eventually the arguments dies down.

“...ell…ole” the portly man mumbles,

“Huh?...” the leader presses.

“I fell into the hole!!” mustachio collapses onto the table, “Ahhh! I fell at the platform! I lost everything! All my camping gear! My cooking supplies! All my gold!”

None of the party members expected the outbursts. The man sobs loudly while they awkwardly glance at eachother.

“W-Well if you look on the bright side... You could at least afford that mug of ale, right?" the leader attempts to cheer the man up,

He slams the mug to the table, “This is water!! WAhhh!!”

“I’ve heard enough!”
A mysterious voice spoke up from another nearby table,

All members of the discussion look over the source of the voice.

A female knight tightens the straps of her bracers as she stands.

“Let justice be done!” she declares. "Take me to this den of evil!"

……

“Mmmm…. Hmmmmm” Taro ponders as he lays on his back holding up a slime.

“Ugyuu!” the slime makes odd noises as Taro stretches and pulls on the cheeks of the soft creature.

“(Ahhh…)” he thinks to himself, “(These guys aren’t very effective in combat at all. Our main defense is Akari - but when she’s all by her lonesome, it worries me. We’ve been lucky that the previous traps filters some of the less dexterous adventurers, so that Akari won’t have too much on her plate. But it’ll only be matter of time before someone figures it out.)”

“Gyubu?” the slime makes a curious face,

“Ah, forget it,” Taro releases the slime, which hops over to someone else.

“Ara~ ” Shion says surprised as the slime jumps in her arms, “What are you thinking about Taro?”

“Thinking about our defenses, I feel bad that Akari alone, is our main defense.”

“True, that is quite troubling." Shion wistfully says and playfully pokes the slime in her arms ”It pains me that my subjects are harmed in order to assure my safety…”

“I hate that… Truly.” she says quietly and narrows her eyes,

“So… these slimes and Akari? Did you create them?” Taro asks,

“Create them? Oh, no such thing.” she continues, “The slimes come and go as they please, slimes thrive in these cave environments after all."

“These ones…” Shion pulls the cheeks of the slime as she explains, “They simply took a liking to me for whatever reason…”

“And Akari?” Taro asks inquisitively,

“...She wandered in one day and I’ve been taking care of her since,” She wipes a tear from her eye, “She was so cute back then… they grow up too fast… Boohoo…”

“Ahaha…” Taro laughs awkwardly, “Well, shame that. I was hoping that there was a way to gather more troops.”

“Hmmm…”Shion thinks,

Suddenly Akari runs into the room.

“Guys! Get ready! Adventurers are here!”

Akari looks distraught and out of breath,

“What’s the worry Akari, relax!” Taro tries to find out what the fuss is about.

“This one’s the biggest group so far!” She shouts, “There are five of them! One of them looks really strong!”

Taro’s heart drops.

In an instant his mind switches into a "strategy" mode.

“Shion, don't watch from the unseen halls! Head directly to a safe chamber deep within the dungeon!” Taro orders, “ Load up everything we can spare into the treasure room!”

“But Taro -!” Shion pleads,

“Don’t argue! Time is of the essence!” he continues, “Akari get into position! Wait for my signal! And no fancy moves this time!”

“Signal?!” Akari asks,

“You’ll know!”

“Mh!” She takes off to her position!

*phweet!

Taro whistles to beckon all the slimes to his call,

“You three! With me!” Taro commands,

“T-Taro!” Shion calls out to him,

“I need you to trust me, Shion.” He reassures her, “Once this is over we're going to beef up our defenses.”

He gives her a reassuring smile.

She bites her lower lip…

“Okay, I trust you,” She turns to leave,

…

Taro rolls up his sleeves.

“Alright, showtime!”

…

Down in the dungeon’s trap room…

“Uwahh!!” The portly man erratically flails his arms as he teeters, about to fall.

“Gotcha!” An arm outstretches to catch him!

It was the knight, she pulled him up as casually as lifting a basket.

“Stay sharp, the real battle starts here,” She warns,

The five person party makes their way to the next room.

There Akari stood firm, her baseball bat in hand, she braces herself. The party entered the room. They made a triangle formation, knight stood in the middle, left stood the leader, and to the right: the thief. The portly man and healer situates themselves on the back row.

The red oni stares down the group.

“Hoho…” The knight mockingly jeers “...are you scared?”

“...Are you?” Akari spits to the side,

The knight wryly smiles. Before returning to her stone faced expression.

She makes a pose: one foot in front of the other, Sword arm outstretched, Head straight on. She then recites her battle call.

“Let justice be done...”

“...lest the heavens fall!”

She takes a step.

“NOW!” Taro shouted from the unseen halls.

Three slimes descend from the stalactites above, one lands on the leader, another on the thief, and the last one aims directly for the knight's head!

But then - !

The knight makes a swift slash upwards and cuts the slime before it could reach her.

At that very instant Akari rushes the knight and makes a hardy swing at her! Too late to dodge, the knight narrowly blocks the blow with her forearm. Knocking her to the left side of the room.

“Kch!” The knight exasperates, “So that’s your game!”

“MMMhFF!” The thief and leader futilely attempt to get the slimes off their heads! And the remaining two could not process the events in the chaos.

It wasn’t over yet however, Akari goes in for another attack, but this time the knight was fully prepared for it! The knight's blade and Akari’s bat clash! The results of which shatters the bat into splinters!...

“E-Eh?!” Akari sputters,

Without giving Akari time to react, the knight then spartan kicks the poor red oni into the opposite wall! Right in front of Taro.

“Ack!” she cried

“Akari!” Taro fruitlessly calls out to her,

Taro looks up to see the knight. She tilts her head,

"Cook! Healer! Attack the slimes on your allies’ heads!” the knight barks!

“Y-Yes ma’am!” The two do as they were told!

*Twang!

*Bwoosh!

And with that. the remaining slimes were slain.

“Aahh! Demon!” The lanky leader screams upon his release,

“Together now!” Commands the knight!

The knight, leader and thief launches a three pronged attack on Akari!

“(Damn it!)” Taro could only feebly clench his fist.

…

The party then continued along to the next empty room…

When they had arrive at the treasure room, they find that it was filled with lavish treasures that overflow from the chest. The party becomes ecstatic, the portly man's eyes filled with tears!

“We did it!” he cheers

“I can’t believe it! This is enough for us to live like kings for a month! Even if we split it five ways!” the healer adds,

The party continues to cheer, save for one.

The knight continues to scan the room, she feels the walls as she walks the perimeter.

“(What are they doing?...)” Taro thinks to himself. (“Hurry up and get out of here!”)

At that moment a memory flashes in his head: a brief flicker, scarcely even a second.

A mere moment after Akari was kicked into the wall, he felt that the knight’s and Taro’s eyes met.

“Ah. It’s here.” the knight states.

She kicks the wall… into the unseen halls.

Rubble smoke and debris fills the air.

“Ack! Ack!” Taro coughs.

His coughs were cut short however, when he sees her silhouette amongst the dust.

The knight makes her signature stance.

“So, you’re the ring leader here, aren’t you?” She asks

Taro was terrified beyond words.

“No matter, your reign of terror ends here.”
the knight finishes…

“Let justice be done. Lest the heavens fall.”

(“Ah. Here we go…”) Taro thinks to himself,

He closes his eyes and brace himself for death.

…

*STAB!

The sound of puncturing fills the hall.

But there was no pain.

Taro opens his eyes.

Shion stood in view, her arms outstretched to protect him.

“N…No!” Taro stammers…

Her white dress slowly stains itself a deep red.

“SHIOONN!!!!!”