Two days later, atop the Fortress Wall.
A silver-gray Slime glimmered with a faint metallic sheen beneath the sunlight as it followed its assigned route, meticulously carrying out its patrol duties.
Its name was Steel Mud.
An ordinary Metal Slime.
Not long ago, it had still lived with its kin in dim, damp underground passages.
Every day, it had hidden and fled from the attacks of powerful Demonic Beasts, barely surviving by devouring trace metals from the rocks.
Until that day, when the King's loyal envoy, Lord Little Fatty, arrived. Like a blade splitting the darkness, he drove away the vicious neighbors threatening the nest and led them down the path to a new home.
They moved their nest into a safe outpost within the King's territory. From then on, no Demonic Beast dared bully them at will.
Being able to receive the King's protection made Steel Mud incomparably happy and secure.
Yet at the same time, an indescribable trace of loss quietly spread through its heart.
As a Metal Slime, guarding the nest alongside Slime Big Brother was its duty.
Yet beneath the King's gelatinous protection, the nest was safe. It seemed... it was no longer needed.
But that dejection did not last long. Lord Little Fatty soon returned to the nest with news—the great Slime King was recruiting "gunners" to defend the territory.
Steel Mud did not understand exactly what a "gunner" was supposed to do, but when it heard "defend the territory" and "serve His Majesty," it signed up alongside Slime Big Brother without the slightest hesitation.
That day was also the first time in its life that it left the underground city and truly set foot on the surface.
When it followed the group and trembled as it squeezed out from the dark tunnel entrance, an