Chapter 27

The Slimy Corridor was located to the southwest of the palace, taking a little over an hour to reach by horse.

Its gray stone roof and red walls were covered in dust, giving off an impression that was as historical as it was dingy.

According to the lore (history), the site once held the castle of a kingdom that perished before the empire’s rise, leaving behind only the corridors that had decayed and turned into a dungeon.

True to what Gina and I had discussed, the monsters appearing here were primarily water-attribute ones, such as slimes.

“Let’s go.”

When I called out, Gina stepped forward to shield me and walked into the corridor.

Lanterns hung inside, casting a warm light, and several other explorers seemed to be around.

Though they looked at us with mild curiosity upon seeing our attire, no one approached us.

I was well aware that appearance-wise, we probably looked like nothing more than a rich brat out playing around.

Because of that, I kept the possibility of getting hassled in mind, but everyone here seemed sensible enough to imagine the risks of picking a fight with nobles.

Having played through the original story from the protagonist’s perspective, I had held a generally negative impression of the entire empire, but ordinary people might not be like that after all.

Well, whatever… I still didn’t have much leeway to spare right now.

“Master.”

I snapped back to attention at Gina’s voice and spotted a monster with a blue, fluid body up ahead.

It was the rumored slime.

While their strength varied depending on the game, slimes in this world differed in power based on where they spawned.

For now, they were small-fry monsters that didn’t yet possess skills like physical attack immunity.

“I’ll use Slip.”

Gina probably expected me to use lightning magic, but since Slip worked just fine on slimes, I’d go with that to conserve our mana.

“Slip.”

As soon as I cast the spell on the floor, the slime slithered forward, slipped smoothly, and came hurtling toward us with increased speed.

The slime itself was panicking, but Gina didn’t panic or make a fuss, taking it down with a single thrust of her dagger.

Slimes possessed a core located at a single point in their upper circular section, and piercing that spot was the best way to take them down in one hit.

Once they grew stronger and gained physical attack immunity, they became a massive pain precisely because tactics like that stopped working, but I’d gloss over that for now.

Since slimes were also monsters that formed packs, it was safest to assume that if one appeared, others were lurking nearby.

“Master.”

Gina picked up a dropped item and showed it to it me.

“It appears we have acquired a Slime Robe. What would you like to do with it?”

“A Slime Robe, huh?”

If you synthesized and strengthened it, it ended up providing great resistance against physical attacks, didn’t it?

It was weak equipment for now, but we might make use of it eventually.

“Hold onto it for now, just in case.”

“Understood.”

Getting our hands on a Slime Robe right off the bat was a pretty auspicious start.