The Outpost Ruins camp at night welcomed an unprecedented bustle.
Faced with those outrageously fist-sized Stinger Bees, the adventurers and mercenaries who had not even managed to put on their leather armor properly very sensibly raised their hands and surrendered.
Now and then, a few drunks emboldened by alcohol and blessed with particularly oversized courage tried to grab stools or daggers and fight back.
But naturally, they were sent flying by a Metal Slime standing guard nearby with a Slime Charge, smashing through windows with a clang and landing in the mud outside, thoroughly knocked unconscious.
Before the night had fully passed, the entire Outpost Ruins camp had already been completely seized by the slime legion.
Aside from a few sharp-sensed assassins who successfully slipped away under cover of shadow and night, nearly all the adventurers and mercenaries remaining in the camp became prisoners.
They were ordered to gather in the open ground around the Wild Boar Tavern, guarded by Slimes carrying iron spears and Stinger Bees circling low overhead, forbidden from leaving at will.
"D-damn it, Slimes everywhere..."
"Which bastard went and provoked those green ancestors in the Swamp again?!"
Hearing the low buzzing of a passing Stinger Bee patrol, the adventurers stopped arguing and instinctively crouched down, shrinking their necks.
They had no idea what fate awaited them—becoming laborers, being ransomed for money, or something worse... They could only wait uneasily, and for a time the air filled with panic and oppression.
But soon, they noticed that the Slimes guarding the area seemed to stir before voluntarily opening up a path.
A Slime somewhat larger than an ordinary Slime, wearing a tiny crown atop its head and a red cape around its body, bounced into view before the crowd amid a cluster of Slime guards.
C-could this be...