CHAPTER 47: CH:47 EXP QUEEN, SLIME SLAYER, AND THE FORGOTTEN PRINCESS

As the field turned into a sparkly slime graveyard, Fran zipped back and forth like a ninja blender, slicing cores left and right with laser focus.

Sarios, sword drawn, slashed through a larger blue slime with a grunt. "Hyaah—! These things just keep coming!"

Meanwhile... Dila was flat on the grass, arms behind her head, eyes half-lidded, basking under the sun like a lazy cat on vacation.

"Ahhh... this is life," she sighed, watching a butterfly pass overhead. "Free EXP buffet. All I do is exist."

Suddenly—

☆ Level up! Level 17 acquired ☆

☆ Level up! Level 18 acquired ☆

Dila blinked once. Then smirked.

In her mind:

("Hehe... Nari~ You can’t resist it, can you?")

☆ Level—☆ N-no, Master. ☆ You—☆ Level 19 acquir—☆ I mean—stop smirking! ☆

Dila chuckled harder in her thoughts, barely able to hold in her laughter. ("Hahaha! System girl’s trying to be serious, but EXP won’t let her live!")

☆ L-Level up...! ☆ Level 20...! ☆ I can’t even finish a sentence— ☆

Dila rolled over in the grass, giggling into the dirt. ("You’re being outtalked by your own pop-up window, Nari!")

☆ This is harassment...☆ Nari’s voice cracked. ☆ I am a professional system assistant, not an EXP jukebox! ☆

Dila held her belly, tears forming in her eyes from laughing so hard. ("You’re the cutest EXP jukebox I’ve ever seen!")

Sarios looked back mid-swing. "Dila! Are you even helping!?"

She lifted a single finger in the air, still lying on the grass. "I’m helping emotionally."

Fran, slicing another slime in half, muttered, "I want to be mad... but honestly, mood."

As Sarios and Fran tag-teamed a massive slime with synchronized slashes, Dila spun a little weed between her fingers, a mischievous smirk creeping on her face.

("Nari...") she whispered in her mind. ("Sing me a song. Something soft. Something... wind-ish.")

☆ A song? W-well... alright, Master...☆

Nari cleared her delicate virtual throat.

☆ ~ The wind that dances through the trees... a gentle sigh across the— ☆

☆ Level up! Reached Level 21! ☆

☆ —fields... whispers secrets to the b— ☆

☆ Level 22! ☆

Dila snorted, barely holding her laughter.

☆ —birds who fly beneath the sk— ☆

☆ LEVEL 23 OBTAINED ☆

☆ ...ugh, seriously!? ☆

☆ ♪~ The wind that wraps ’round mountains high... and sings a— ☆

☆ LEVEL 24! ☆

☆ STOP! Just let me finish one poetic line! ☆

☆ LEVEL 25!! ☆

Nari’s voice cracked.

☆ Master... are you abusing me? ☆

Dila rolled onto her back again, giggling like a gremlin in a flower field.

("I-I’m sorry!") she laughed in her mind. ("I just— I can’t stop myself! It’s like EXP is chasing you with a kazoo!")

☆ I trained my voice virtually for a month when your out cold but... just to be reduced to a kazoo. ☆

Dila grinned wider, arms stretched out like a victorious hero of laziness.

("You’re my favorite kazoo, Nari.")

☆ ...Please uninstall me. ☆

And somewhere in the background, a slime exploded, completely ignored by the emotional breakdown of a digital assistant.

As Dila still laying dramatically on the grass like a noble sloth claiming her kingdom of wildflowers, Fran approached, her arms full of slightly goopy, cracked slime cores, still wiggling just a little.

"Sister," Fran said proudly, holding them up like trophies, "I bring these... for evidence! We cleared the slime quest!"

She knelt beside Dila, eyes sparkling with sincerity. "Where do I put them, Sister?"

Sarios suddenly froze mid-step and slapped his forehead. "Ohhhh I forgot to bring a bag! A BAG! For core collections! I had ONE job!" he groaned, eyes going glassy with defeat. "I’m a hero without a pouch! What’s next, forgetting my sword?!"

Dila waved lazily from the grass. "No worries~ Just give them to me."

Fran tilted her head, ears flopping slightly. "Why?"

Dila just smiled with that mischievous "I-have-a-secret-in-my-pocket" face. "Just trust me."

Fran hesitantly handed over a cracked core.

WHOOSH!

It vanished in a small puff of blue light right into thin air.

Fran blinked once.

Then again.

And then again... just to be sure her vision hadn’t bugged out.

Sarios leaned down, squinting at Dila’s empty hand. "Wait... where did it GO? Did you vaporize it? Did the slime come back to haunt you!?"

Dila sat up with a smug grin. "Nah, I just stored it. Somewhere safe."

Sarios rubbed the back of his head. "You know what? You’re a little weird sometimes, Princess."

"Wait—" Fran blinked again. "Princess...?"

Her brain clicked.

"Y-YOUR HIGHNESS!" she suddenly blurted, dropping all the remaining slime cores as she fell flat into a full kneeling bow.

And then another.

And another.

She was practically doing push-ups of royal respect.

"I-I-I-I didn’t know! Forgive me, I called you ’sister!’ I will now refer to you as Lady, Duchess, Supreme Star, Ma’am—"

"NOOOO—!!" Dila waved both arms like she was shooing away a flock of birds. "You don’t have to bow! Stop—stop that!"

Fran was already bowing so fast her cat ears were flapping like helicopter blades.

Sarios leaned back, arms crossed. "Well, at least someone respects royalty..."

Dila pointed dramatically at him. "You LIFTED me like a sack of potatoes five times this week!!"

Sarios blinked. "Royalty can be lifted too."

Fran continued bowing.

Dila flailed harder. "Please Fran, stop, my reputation can’t survive this!"

Nari whispered softly in her mind:

☆ Shall I add ’Princess of Awkward Moments’ to your titles, Master? ☆

"NOT HELPING, NARI!!" Dila shouted in her mind while still trying to stop her new assassin party member from worshipping her knees into the soil.

And far in the field, one leftover slime peeked up, saw the chaos... and just slowly oozed away.

As the last cracked slime core vanished into a shimmer of blue light in Dila’s hand, a soft chime echoed in her mind.

[Spatial Storage: Cracked Slime Cores – 96 pieces]

Dila nodded to herself with a small, satisfied smirk.

That should do it, she thought, brushing her hands together like a merchant counting coin.

The field now lay mostly quiet, save for a few slime splatters slowly dissolving in the herb patches. The morning sun had climbed higher, its rays now casting warmer light over the farmland. A gentle breeze swayed the tall herbs, the scent of mint and sweetgrass drifting through the air.

Sarios stretched his arms with a yawn. "Well... that was slimier than expected."

Fran sheathed her dagger with a single smooth motion and stood quietly behind Dila, her cat tail flicking once as she looked toward onwards the far far away village road.

Dila shielded her eyes, glancing up toward the sky.

"Midday already," she muttered. "Should we head back to the Guild Bar before the sun fries us like goblin bacon?"

Sarios grinned. "You just want to get the reward, don’t you?"

Fran nodded once, then added softly, "And maybe... lunch."

Dila chuckled. "Okay okay, greedy cats and hungry heroes, let’s go."

And so, with a full quest scroll, a quiet wind at their backs, and a pouch-less hero pretending to lead the way, the trio began walking back toward town—one slime-filled adventure down... and who knows how many more to go.

As the three made their way back toward the village, Sarios suddenly stopped in his tracks, eyes wide like he’d just remembered he left the stove on back at the castle.

"Oh no... Princess!" he blurted out, pointing at Dila. "The Exonory castle! They must be searching for you right now! It’s already midday—they’re probably panicking!"

His face broke into a sweat so intense, he might as well have taken a bath in his armor.

Fran blinked, startled. "W-Wait! S-Sister Dila is a princess of the Exonory Kingdom?!"

Sarios shook his head with an awkward laugh. "Ah, no no. Not Exonory. She’s actually the Princess of the Eldor Kingdom. She’s just, you know, visiting here... for reasons."

Fran’s cat ears perked up in amazement. "Wooooow..."

But before Fran could start fangirling, Dila cut in, waving one hand lazily in the air.

"As I’ve said before hero, I have no kingdom," she said coolly. "No crown, no titles. Nothing in my hands but what I carry. I’m just a free kid who goes wherever she wants."

Her tone was calm, but firm. No trace of hesitation.

Sarios frowned. "But still... you have a family to go back to, don’t you? Your elf father—the king of Eldor—and your mother, the queen. They must be worried. Don’t you miss them?"

Dila stopped walking. Her voice came out cold and flat.

"No. I have no family."

The wind blew softly. Even Fran stopped smiling.

"I have nothing," Dila added, eyes not meeting theirs.

Sarios sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Maybe... your amnesia is worse than I thought."

Dila turned slowly, eyes deadpan.

"...I don’t have amnesia, you idiot."

Sarios chuckled weakly. "Riiiiight... of course you don’t."

He whistled loudly and looked up at the sky like the world suddenly became very interesting.

Fran couldn’t hold it in and started giggling behind her hand. "Hehe... you guys are weird."

Dila rolled her eyes and walked ahead.

And With a long word."ye.... nohhh~~"

Fran just smiled, her tail swaying as she followed behind.