"Thank you for registering with us. Do you need any help selecting the missions since you cannot read the language of this country?" asked Misha.
"That would be lovely, thank you." said Alpha.
Alpha and the others followed Misha to the board to pick their new mission. The other adventurers started to move backwards, impressed by Shadow Garden's demonstration of strength.
"Eto... You currently have a black rank, the lowest. This means that you can only pick black-ranked missions. As you can see, we separate the missions by color codes." explained Misha.
The girls looked at their leader.
"We will leave the choice to you, Shadow-Sama."
Shadow gave a quick glance at the board and took a random mission. "This one."
Misha read it out loud. "Subjugation request, slime infestation at the east of Brunhild. Ehem, are you sure you want this? No one wants to pick up this mission. They are slime after all."
"So what?" asked Epsilon.
"You know what slimes are? Creatures made of goo, extremely unpleasant. They dissolve clothing, leaving you naked and..."
"There is no need to worry about that!" laughed Beta. "We will complete this mission without a problem!"
And as the guild rules did not allow Misha to deny a mission to an adventurer, she returned to the counter to approve it.
"We need you to provide some proof that the mission was completed. We need you to bring a sample of the dead slime," said Misha as she gave Shadow Garden some crystal flasks.
"Understood."
Shadow Garden took the flasks and went on their merry way to hunt slime. In the meantime, healers managed to stop the man's bleeding, but they still needed to reattach their hands.
Then, the guild master, Relisha, entered, came downstairs, and noticed the commotion.
"What happened here?"
"A group of new adventurers came to register and made a show." explained Misha.
"What?! The newbies did this?"
Misha nodded. "Yes, this man tried to touch one of the newbies, and she responded by cutting his hands off."
Relisha could not believe this. The man definitely deserved to be put in his place, but this was just brutal.
"I want their names. Now!"
"They registered as a group, 'Shadow Garden.'" said Misha as she looked at the papers. "Their names are Alpha, Beta, Delta, Epsilon, and..."
"Kagenou." said Relisha, frowning.
"No, he registered as 'Shadow'. Do you know him?"
"He is an old friend of the Great Duke," explained Relisha as she pulled out her smartphone. "Great Duke? Can you come to the guild? Your guests just came, and they chopped someone's hands off. We need you and your healing magic now."
She hung up and went to get the poor man some help. "It will be over soon. Hold on."
And half a second later, Touya came through his null spell, 'Gate' alongside Lindsey, Yumina, and Leen.
"I am deeply sorry, Relisha-san."
"Control your guests!" complained the guild master angrily.
"Of course!" said Touya as he approached the man. "Mega Cure Wounds!"
Touya's magic finally restored the man's hands, and he bowed profusely.
"Thak you, Great Duke!"
"Just stay away from Shadow and his group, they are not well in the head."
"Of course, Great Duke, I learned my lesson, Great Duke!"
Touya sighed. "Where are they? We need to have a long talk."
"They took the slime mission no one wanted." said Misha.
"East Brunhild, let's go!" said Touya.
But he was stopped by Yumina and Lindsay.
"Touya, do you want to see naked women that much?" asked Yumina, with her face as red as a tomato.
"What are you talking about?" asked Touya, as he suddenly realized what he was about to do, and his face got red as well. He bowed to apologize. "I am so sorry, I forgot."
"Stop teasing him. We know that our darling doesn't have the courage to do something like this." said Leen.
"Thanks, Leen!" sighed Touya.
They decided to stay at the guild to drink something while they were waiting for Kagenou and his followers. Leen was the only one who got alcohol, as Touya preferred some tea, and the others a glass of juice.
And half an hour later, the door opened dramatically as five figures in black walked into the guild and walked to the counter. Shadow Garden has returned.
Relisha was waiting for them alongside Touya, and she was the first one to approach them.
"Are you the ones who just registered?"
The man in black nodded. "We are Shadow Garden."
"Look, it is normal for adventurers to have a fight or try to intimidate newcomers. But what you did was overstep the line. You are on thin ice, if I hear of one more incident like this, I will personally revoke your guild membership."
Epsilon raised an eyebrow. "Do you realize he started it, right? He wanted to touch me in a lewd way, and I just put him in his place."
"Yes, but cutting his hands was excessive!!" protested Relisha.
"But he started it!" insisted Epsilon.
"Stop it now!" said Alpha. "I understand, I'll make sure they behave. Right, Epsilon? Delta, you are the one who worries me the most."
"I am sorry, Alpha-Sama!" said Epsilon, lowering her head. "It won't happen again!"
"Alpha-Sama, Delta hasn't done anything! Please do not scold me!" begged the beastkin.
Touya then approached the group, making Shadow Garden bow before them.
"Great Duke, Yumina-Sama, Lindsay-Sama, and Leen-Sama, what do we owe the honor?"
Touya just sighed as he glared at Cid. "Listen, Kagenou..."
"My name is Shadow. He who lurks in the shadows, and hunts the shadows."
Touya rubbed his temples to fight the incoming headache. "Fine, Shadow. I don't care if you want to do odd jobs by being an adventurer, but don't cause any trouble. I cannot keep coming to the guild to cure everyone you and your 'Shadow Garden' hurt. Understood?"
"Don't worry, Alpha has it covered, or do you need me to intervene?"
"No, you can trust me, Shadow-Sama. We will not cause any more trouble, as we are guests of your honorable fiend. Right girls?"
The other three nodded in unison.
Touya nodded as well, but he knew there was a huge chance that Kagenou would continue to cause trouble.
When everything was said and done, Shadow Garden walked to the counter. Misha looked at them from top to bottom and nodded.
"I see that you decided not to complete the mission. I don't blame you; slime is very unpleasant. But I will have to give you a red mark for not completing a job. Understood?"
"What are you taking about?" said Shadow as he put the flasks full of dead slime on the counter. "We succeeded."
The rest of Shadow Garden did the same, putting their respective flasks on the counter.
Misha was speechless. "Ehem, do you mind if I check this out?"
"Go on." said Shadow.
Misha couldn't understand how in the world they managed to defeat slime with their clothes intact. It was a known fact that slime dissolved clothes, there was no way to prevent it. But after examining the liquid, she confirmed that it was authentic.
"Unbelievable... mission accomplished, but..."
Then she noticed that Epsilon had slime on her arms and was cuddling against her breasts, but her suit was not dissolving.
"Why did you bring a slime here?!" shouted Relisha, surprised.
"I like to take slime and keep it from time to time." explained Epsilon. "They make cute pets, and this was the last of the colonies we attacked, so I asked Shadow-Sama if it was okay for me to keep it, and he said he didn't mind."
Relisha rushed toward them, taking the slime from Epsilon's arms. "Is this a new sub-species that doesn't dissolve clothing, or what?"
But as soon as she touched it, Relisha's clothes started to melt. Relisha shrieked and threw the slime away. But it was caught by Beta, who handed it back to Epsilon.
"Here you go."
"Thanks Beta!"
Then, Epsilon turned to Relisha to explain the situation. "Our suits are special. Slime cannot dissolve them."
"What are those things made of?" asked Yumina, joining the conversation.
"Slime, of course!" explained Alpha.
Everyone in the guild turned to see them,
"Slime?!" asked everyone in unison.
Shadow gave them a twisted smile. "Didn't you know it? Dead slime is the perfect way to channel your magic power. With a minimum amount of power, you can do everything, like slime swords."
Shadow extended his hand, and the black goo materialized into a large sword. Everyone was looking at this in awe, as he turned the sword back to black goo, and then to two crowbars that finally turned into black gloves.
At this point, everyone has forgotten about the situation with Epsilon and stared at the groups with their mouths open.
Blushing by the attention they were getting, Beta transformed her black bodysuit into a green blouse with frills, black pants, and glasses. "Slime not only allows us to create and change our weapons at will, but our outfits as well. This is Shadow-Sama's very own creation."
Leen, a fanatic of new types of magic, took Beta's arm in her hands and started to feel the blouse, analyzing every inch of fabric. "You can do this only with a smile? This is unbelievable!"
"Do you want to try, Leen-Sama?" offered Beta, ripping a piece of her sleeve.
The sleeve regenerated as the piece she ripped turned into the black goo that Beta molded into a small ball and offered it to Leen.
Leen took the ball in her hands and stared at it, not knowing how to proceed.
"Just let your magic power flow and put it on your body, rubbing it as if it were shower gel, and use your magic power to mold it into the clothes you want to wear." explained Beta.
Leen did as he was told, applying the black goo all over her body. But as soon as it touched her body, her clothes started to melt. Leen shrieked.
"Eeep!"
"Let your magic power flow!" said Beta.
Leen nodded and put all her effort into having her magic flow, then transformed the goo into her goth-lolita attire, an exact copy. By the time the slime finished dissolving her clothing, she had already replaced it with a new one, made completely out of slime.
"You have to be kidding me!" said Yumina, touching Leen's new attire. "How does it feel?"
"Feels weird!" said Leen, blushing. "Touya, darling, I am not wearing any underwear."
Touya's face turned red, and he jumped in surprise.
"Huuuh?!"
Leen giggled. "I am just messing with you, my dear, this thing turned into a complete set of clothes, including underwear. Do you want to see?"
She made the motion as she was about to lift her skirt, but Lindsay and Yumina stopped her on time.
"Leen, we are in public! Do you want anyone other than Touya to see your underwear?"
Leen giggled. "I'm just kidding. But this slime bodysuit is very impressive!"
Shadow gave Touya a smirk.
"I can show you how to make them, but I cannot give the Wisdom of Shadows just like that. Wanna trade secrets, Mochizuki-kun?"
Touya seemed unsure. "Huh... is it really necessary? We are just fine without the slime suits."
But Relisha intervened. "Ehem, Great Duke, the discovery of the slime suit can be a game changer for adventurers. Slime infestations are hard to deal with, as adventurers don't like having to deal with the missions as they dissolve clothes. But with equipment like the slime suit, this will be a thing of the past! And it will also revolutionize the fashion industry!"
Touya sighed and looked at Kagenou. "What about an exchange? I have managed to create magic-based smartphones with my head scientist. I will have Doctor Babylon analyze your slime suit, and you or whoever makes stuff in the organization can analyze one of my smartphones."
Shadow nodded. "So I'm not teaching you how to make them, but have your scientist do it for you? Okay, it's a deal, Touya. Eta has been trying to replicate her own version of a smartphone since I told her what they areâthe one that Beta brought from our little trip to our old world but she is stuck. Your contribution will be of great help!"
Touya used her spell, storage, and got a smartphone that he gave to Shadow. Shadow looked at it, and gave it to Alpha.
"Give it to Eta as soon as you return to headquarters."
"Consider it done, Shadow-Sama!"
Touya nodded.
"Okay, back to business!" said Epsilon. "What about the reward?"
Misha shook her head. "Oh, right! Sorry, taking care of that right now."
She went back to the counter and gave every member of Shadow Garden the ten silver coins as a reward. It was a lot for a black-level mission, but no one wanted to take care of slime, so those types of missions had a higher reward than usual.
"That was boring! I want to hunt, slimes are no fun!" complained Delta.
"Well, we have missions to exterminate thunderbears, or tiger boars," said Misha.
"Yes, hunt! I want prey! Lots of prey! What do you say, boss?" asked the beastkin, Delta, waving her tail.
Shadow shrugged. "Why not? Let's go, Delta!"
Alpha looked at Misha. "Shadow-Sama and Delta are enough for simple hunting. Is there something else we can do?"
Misha looked at Touya, who shrugged. "You can go explore the dungeons. There are some teleportation doors for you to use."
Alpha nodded, and she went through the door along with Beta and Epsilon; as Delta and their master went hunting.
After they left, Touya apologized to Relisha. "I am very sorry, Relisha, I should have watched them better!"
"Hey, as long as the guild is the first to get the slime suits, I'll let it pass. Seriously, missions that involve slime are piling up, so having them will be of great help."
Lindsey smiled at Touya. "You may not like Kagenou, but you must admit the slime suit is just brilliant!"
"Yeah, didn't I say that before? He is very smart. Slime suits, and slime weapons, I hate to admit it, but he may bring something useful to the table, not only his problems with the Cult of Diabolos."