391. Retreat

“Let this go? After suddenly attacking me and accusing me out of nowhere? My name is being tarnished and you want me to just ignore it……?”

Thermal points his sword at Volk.

“Alright, I’ll oblige. But… only after you beat me in a swordfight”

Volk holds his sword tight.

“H-Hey, stop already! Volk, don’t let him talk you into this!”

I said to Volk.

We may be in a less-populated street, but we’re still inside a big city.
My〖Presence Sense〗is already detecting quite a few people on their way here to find out what’s all the ruckus about.
We can’t afford to be fighting now.
Besides, even if we beat him, it’ll only alert the Demon King.
It’s true that I attacked him first and didn’t look up his true identity until later, but that’s actually a good thing.
If his true identity were to be revealed right now, it’d only cause a panic.

And…… I’m actually not sure if Volk can even beat Thermal.
Volk has greater physical stats than Thermal, but Thermal has a wider skillset of inflicting various status ailments which makes him more of a threat than Volk.
Since Volk has low magic stats, he’ll be easily inflicted by them.

If a fight starts, I’ll have to leave Volk on his own for a while.
My top priority is to get Millia to safety.

But in the event that Thermal comes after us, I’ll fight to buy some time.
I took a direct hit from his〖Poison Touch〗skill, but because of our difference in status, his poison isn’t dealing much damage on me.
In a fist fight, only difference in stats matter, and with my stats, it won’t be too hard to at least buy some time.
During that time, Alo and Nightmare will have escaped with Millia.

He was able to slip free from my hold before, but that must’ve been because of his〖Slime Body〗skill.
Now that I know that, I’ll be keeping an eye out for it.
Overall, he’s not that hard of an opponent to fight against.

I’m worried that the other head knights or more subordinates of the Demon King might arrive here for backup, but with a city this huge, I can only hope not.
It looked like it was Thermal’s decision to approach Millia.
I don’t think he plans on regrouping with his pals yet.

“I cannot back down from a challenge. Besides, I’ve always wanted to cross swords against one of the three knights. If he won’t yield, I see no reason why I should either. You did your best and fought valiantly, but you still weren’t able to win, so just leave this to me. Go take that girl someplace safe”

I’m grateful to Volk for fighting for my sake, but he’ll only beat himself up against someone like him, so I need him to stand down.
I’m confident that I can take him now that I’ve seen his status, he just caught me by surprise earlier……!
Since I have high resistance and high HP, I should be far less at risk than Volk.

“Now then, are you done discussing which one of you dies first?”

“Lord Thermal, are you causing trouble again!”

A voice is heard from behind Thermal.
Several people dressed in a similar fashion as Thermal are seen approaching us.
There are six of them in total. They must be the subordinates of the head knights.
I fooled myself into thinking that no reinforcements would come, but it was all just assumptions based on Thermal’s personality.

“Have you forgotten that Princess Chris told you to stop causing trouble! You’ll make Lady Mephisto angry again!”

The person in front said as he places his hand on the shoulder of the shortest one in the group with indigo hair. It’s a girl.
She looks out of place when paired together with the other five who look like old men.
She glances her expressionless face at Thermal.
She then glances at Volk and tugs the sleeve of the man in front as she glances back at Thermal again.
The man lowers his body and lends his ear to the girl as she whispers an order to him. The man nods and stands back up.

“Not to mention! That man before you is someone who was invited to Princess Chris’s party, the dragon-slayer Volk! What were you thinking?! Lady Mephisto is very displeased!”

M-Mephisto……? That matches one of the names of the three head knights.
So that girl is the one who was scouted by Princess Chris to join the royal knights?
I wonder if she’s a monster too……

“Mephisto-chan…… can’t you, like, butt off for now? I’m not stupid enough to do something so meaningless at an important like this, y’know”

Thermal turns a slight glance at the unconscious Millia.
Mephisto responds by silently shaking her head.

“Roguehale is angry too”

Mephisto said in a soft tone.
Thermal began to shudder at the mention of the name.

“…… Tsk, that old geezer, so bossy. Count yourselves lucky”

Thermal puts his sword back in its sheath.
D-Does this mean the fight’s over……?

“We’re sorry for the inconvenience, Volk-dono. We will leave Lord Thermal’s punishment to Master Roguehale, so won’t you kindly look the other way?”

The man in front of Mephisto bows apologetically.
I take this chance and check his status.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
Species: Night Slime
Status: Normal
Lv: 49/60
HP: 317/317
MP: 266/266
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

Night Slime…… a rankＣ+. And there are more of these guys roaming around the city?
Man, if the small fry soldiers are this strong, then this could prove troublesome on my end.
The palace is already crawling with monsters, isn’t it?
The Saint’s fears have come true.
And here I thought Lilyxila was the one who had the advantage, but from the looks of it, the Demon King’s influence has already started to spread.
Since Thermal is rankＢ+, the Demon King is definitely rank Ａ- or higher, or worse, Eldia-class.

…… But still, with all these slime-themed monsters about, I can only think of that slime I fought back in Noah’s forest. The one who had〖God’s Voice〗skill like me.
He should’ve died when we both fell off that cliff. Otherwise, how else would I have gained exp points after that battle?
Although, there’s a chance that it could just be some other slime monster.

But, I remember that slime being able to steal skills.
Even though he was only rank Ｄ, he gave me, a rankＢ-, a hard time in our fight. (Granted, I was exhausted after battling the Little Rock Dragon that time)
If that thing is rank Ａ now, I can’t imagine how strong it’s gotten.

As for that Mephisto girl…… let’s check what her species is.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
〖Mephisto Mercalua〗
Species: Dual Slime
Lv: 71/85
HP: 584/584
MP: 427/427
Attack: 313
Defense: 326
Magic: 497
Speed: 511
Rank: B+

Characteristic Skills:
〖Slime Body: Lv—〗〖Grisha Language: Lv3〗〖Automatic HP Recovery: Lv4〗
〖Automatic MP Recovery: Lv5〗〖Tentacle: Lv3〗〖Swordsmanship Talent: Lv5〗
〖Stealth Step: Lv7〗〖Presence Sense: Lv2〗〖Flight: Lv4〗
〖Double-Headed: Lv—〗〖Split Mind: Lv—〗〖Communication: Lv5〗

Resistances:
〖Poison Immunity: Lv—〗〖Paralysis Resistance: Lv8〗〖Curse Resistance: Lv7〗
〖Confusion Resistance: Lv4〗〖Physical Resistance: Lv3〗〖Magic Resistance: Lv4〗

Normal Skills:
〖Camouflage: Lv7〗〖Poison: Lv3〗〖Gravidon: Lv6〗
〖High Rest: Lv3〗〖Death: Lv4〗〖Ooze Bomb: Lv7〗
〖Mirage: Lv5〗〖Confuse: Lv5〗〖Disease Breath: Lv4〗
〖Water Blade: Lv5〗〖Tentacle Whip: Lv5〗〖Mucus Cage: Lv4〗
〖Self-Regeneration: Lv4〗〖Division: Lv—〗

Titles:
〖King's Fission: Lv—〗〖Final Evolutionist: Lv—〗〖Demon King’s Subordinate: Lv—〗
〖Three Head Knights: Lv—〗〖Phantom Butterfly Sword: Lv—〗
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

So she’s rankＢ+ too……
And, she’s…… a Dual Slime?
I don’t know what that is, but based on her skills, she seems to be the tricky type.
She’s not inferior compared to the Poison Ruler Thermal either.

Mephisto notices me looking at her.
I quickly look away. A look of suspicion is seen in her face, but she immediately shrugs it off and leaves, taking Thermal with them.

I hug Millia tight.
So they’re not even gonna apologize after seeing Millia unconscious?
They only apologized to Volk since he was invited by the princess and didn’t even pay attention to me.

I can’t use〖High Rest〗with my current humanized state.
Unless we find a healer who can detoxify her poison, Millia will die.
In the event that she enters critical condition, I’ll leave the city as far away as possible and have Partner cure her. I’ve gathered more than enough information already.
The Demon King and his cronies will not get away with this.

I look around us and notice that we’ve already attracted quite a few spectators.
When I face them, they promptly look away and leave the area. They were just enjoying the spectacle, weren’t they?
But then, a middle-aged man from the crowd comes walking to us.

“Um…… if you don’t mind, would you accept my help in treating her? I'm no white mage, but I used to run a pharmacy shop and am quite versed in medicines…… in exchange, won’t you please come with me to my house? I want to talk to you”