What stood before us looked like a liquid monster that had crawled up from a twisted underworld.

Two white glass beads were rolling around in its sticky, green tar-like body, and upon closer inspection, good heavens.

They were the slime’s eyes.

‘In <Hirome>, they certainly looked small and insignificant.’

Thinking about it again, it was the pixel art that was small and insignificant, not the actual monster.

The only fortunate thing was that its movements were extremely slow.

“I’ll handle this.”

As I gathered mana in my hand, the intricate magic circle drawn on the pistol absorbed my mana and glowed golden.

I aimed the muzzle at the sluggishly moving slime.

The slime’s eyeballs, which had been looking around in all directions, turned towards me.

The slime made a horrible gurgling sound, but I showed no mercy and pulled the trigger while aiming at it.

Bang.

With a crisp sound, the golden mana bullet shot out and landed right in front of the slime.

“……”

“……”

“Ahem, I’m not yet accustomed to this weapon.”

Strange. I did well when shooting the snowman. Is it because the distance is a bit far?

I infused mana again and fired another mana bullet.

Ting.

This time, it flew towards an innocent wall.

Feeling stubborn, I pulled the trigger repeatedly.

Bang. Bang.

Bang!

“……”

“……”

I soon found myself trembling.

At my terrible marksmanship.

It turned out I was extremely weak in actual combat situations.

To think I couldn’t hit the target even once after firing so many bullets that my mana vessel was nearly empty.

Looking at the still sluggishly moving slime, Sugar whispered without malice.

“Sugar thinks she could shoot better than Bel even with her eyes closed.”

While I was drinking a mana potion to recover my magic power during the break, it became Leo’s turn to deal with the slime.

“To defeat a slime, you need to find and destroy its core.”

Sir Penadel calmly explained how to handle slimes from the side.

The child’s weapon against the monster was just a wooden sword, but since slimes were so insignificant that they often became toys for village children, I wasn’t too worried.

“Even though it’s a monster, as long as it’s a living creature, it has certain movements. If you observe its movements well before attacking and identify specific patterns, it will be advantageous for both attack and evasion.”

Leo, who had been listening intently with a tense expression to his mentor’s detailed instructions, finally stood before the slime.

[The Star of Heroes has encountered the monster ‘Slime’.]

[The battle begins.]

Soon, a system window popped up, and a red HP bar appeared above Leo’s head.

Leo cautiously approached the slime one step at a time, not letting his guard down.

And then…

“Hiyah!”

Whoosh!

A cute battle cry followed by a not-so-cute fierce swing.

With that one strike, the slime that had been rolling its eyeballs around burst open with a splat.

“Sir Knight! I defeated it!”

“Well done.”

“Lady Belinda! I defea-! Ah, I mean… Thanks to Lady Belinda weakening the monster’s power, I was able to defeat it.”

“Yes, not bad.”

Kindly, Leo comforted me with a white lie, but my pride as an adult who failed to set a proper example was already crushed.

‘I really didn’t want to do this, but…’

Feeling my mana somewhat replenished thanks to the potion, I infused magic into the gun again.

Having cut off the mana I had sent to Sugar to conserve magic, I whispered quietly enough that Leo and Sir Penadel couldn’t hear.

“Sugar, 10 gold settlement.”

And I casually scattered ten shining gold coins in the air as if sowing seeds.

The gold coins disappeared without making a sound as they fell to the ground.

<Yay~ Order received!>

Sugar twirled above my head, sprinkling fairy blessings that sparkled like crushed stars.

If I had a stat window, it probably would have shown <Luck +10> just now.

Though it’s only for an hour.

There was no noticeable outward change, nor did I feel particularly luckier.

‘I’ll have to see how well this luck works.’

I looked sternly towards the straight path inside the dungeon and said solemnly.

“Let’s go now.”

After some time, Sir Penadel seemed to have noticed that slimes were the only inhabitants of this dungeon.

Nevertheless, he remained vigilant, carefully watching ahead, and when a slime appeared, he would step aside for me.

Each time, I pulled the trigger repeatedly, trusting in Sugar’s blessing.

Whether the power of luck really existed or not, about one out of four shots hit the target accurately.

The problem was that the trajectory was so unnatural that anyone could tell it was due to luck.

Ting!

A magic bullet that missed and hit the moss on the wall ricocheted off, attacking the back of the slime’s head in an unexpected trajectory.

Unlike hitting a snowman, golden magical chains immediately extended from the magic bullet, binding the entire body of the slime.

The slime struggled with its body tightly bound, but it couldn’t escape from the chains.

Since the purpose was target practice, I didn’t tame it separately.

Instead, Sir Penadel lightly stepped on it to dispose of the monster.

“The bullet went ting! like that, then bang! at the back of the slime. Amazing!”

Leo’s pure, sparkling eyes directed at me hurt my conscience.

As I couldn’t give any particular answer and just cleared my throat, Sir Penadel quietly said to me.

“No tricks, my lady.”

Tch, this is why I don’t like unnecessarily perceptive people.

I certainly didn’t explain about Sugar’s blessing. But he seemed to have noticed something.

Even though he’s usually not perceptive at all.

***

Conquering the ‘Slime Paradise’ was very easy, just like in a game.

Fortunately, Leo didn’t seem to have much aversion to facing monsters, and in just a few hours of dungeon conquering, he was able to greatly improve his vitality stat and sword skills.

[You have completed the elimination of 100 slimes.

Number of slimes eliminated: 100/100]

[The exit of the dungeon ‘Slime Paradise’ is now open.]

Out of the 100, Sir Penadel took care of about 50.

As soon as the system window appeared, the dungeon exit opened right in front of us.

As Penadel approached the exit, he spoke with a somewhat relieved tone.

“A dungeon with only slimes, it must have been a dungeon already requested for exploration.”

“Of course. Do I look like an idiot who doesn’t value his life?”

I nodded confidently.

“Then you must have thought about a way to return as well.”

A way to… return?

As I tilted my head in confusion and exited the dungeon, an unfamiliar landscape greeted us.

“Where are we?”

Leo chirped innocently.

As the child said, it certainly didn’t look like anywhere near the ‘Man-eating Lake’.

Come to think of it, I did see in <Hirome> that the dungeon exit isn’t necessarily connected to the area near the entrance…

‘I didn’t think this through.’

In the game, when you escape a dungeon, it automatically takes you home.

Penadel’s gaze, which had been surveying the surroundings that seemed devoid of even a single house, let alone a carriage, turned towards me.

I had no choice but to subtly avoid his gaze.

Well, you see, I learned about the world through games…

***

Forbes, a small village about half a day’s carriage ride away from Chavert Forest.

The main source of income for this seemingly unremarkable village was the lodging business, all thanks to the saint’s tomb behind the village.

70 years ago, after the remains of a renowned saint were buried halfway up the mountain behind the village, the place became a holy site visited by priests and devout believers on pilgrimages.

Naturally, inns where pilgrims could rest for the night began to increase one by one, until the entire village became involved in the lodging business.

Because of this, the innkeeper didn’t find it suspicious when guests arrived at the inn in the middle of the night.

“Prepare three rooms.”

If only it weren’t for the combination of this guest, a woman so beautiful it could make one’s eyes widen…

“If it’s alright, I’ll go up first to inspect the rooms.”

A northern knight with a menacing aura wearing a pitch-black iron mask…

“This is my first time at this inn.”

And a boy chattering away as if thoroughly enjoying himself.

It was an odd group whose relationship was impossible to discern. The innkeeper politely asked the woman who seemed to be the leader of the group.

“We only have two rooms left, would that be okay?”

“What? Only that many rooms left in this shabby inn in the middle of nowhere?”

This arrogant tone, she was definitely a noble.

It was not uncommon for nobles with villas in Chavert Forest to stop by the holy site out of curiosity and end up stranded in the village after missing their departure time.

This woman and the young master over there must be in such a situation.

It was a bit strange that there was no carriage that had brought them here, though.

The innkeeper, who had an uncanny sense for money, continued with an expression of genuine regret.

“Only that many rooms left in this shabby inn in the middle of nowhere, you must be very surprised, ma’am. A high-ranking priest visited the holy site near the village today, and somehow word spread, so visitors have flocked here to receive baptism and blessings from him.”

“Holy site?”

What? Aren’t they here to see the holy site?

Despite feeling puzzled by the woman’s question, the innkeeper recited the village’s tourist points as if he were a tour guide.

“Yes, yes. It’s where the remains of the White Salt Saint are buried, and true to her fame during her lifetime, it’s quite miraculous. Thanks to the holy relic imbued with her divine power, this area remains mild throughout the year, to the point where you can gather spring herbs even in winter. Because of this, our village is very busy with tourists from winter…”

His voice, which had been flowing smoothly, gradually became quieter and finally trailed off because the woman’s expression grew increasingly fierce as she listened to the explanation.

The woman crossed her arms, seeming to ponder something, then blurted out a single sentence.

“That can’t be right.”

“Pardon?”

What can’t be right?

However, she didn’t provide any further explanation, paid for the inn, and went straight upstairs.