SLIME LEGION

Chapter 3: Moressa

"HAAAH!"

A sharp gasp ripped out of my throat as I shot upright, my whole body soaked in sweat.

For a few seconds I just sat there, breathing like I’d run for miles. My heart hammered against my ribs so violently it felt like it was trying to punch its way out of my chest, and my head... my head felt like someone had cracked it open and stitched it back together.

"...What the hell just happened?"

Whoosh!

A familiar golden screen shimmered into existence.

[TRANSFER COMPLETE]

Right...

The memories.

I closed my eyes and let everything settle. At first it came in scattered flashes that didn’t seem to belong together, but the harder I focused, the clearer they became. Faces found names. Places found meaning. Conversations I’d never had suddenly felt as familiar as my own childhood.

When I finally opened my eyes, I knew everything.

I knew who I was.

I knew where I was.

I knew why I was here.

And, more importantly, I knew exactly what had happened two days before I woke up in this body.

"The idiot killed himself."

The words escaped before I even realized I’d spoken them.

I leaned back against the headboard, quietly sorting through memories that belonged to someone else. They felt foreign, yet somehow I could remember every little detail as if I’d lived through them myself.

"Pathetic."

That was the only word I could think of.

This bastard had everything most people could only dream about. He was born a prince, raised in luxury, surrounded by servants, wealth, influence, and opportunities that would’ve taken an ordinary person ten lifetimes to earn.

Yet he still chose death.

I understood why he broke.

What I couldn’t understand was why he gave up.

That was the part that pissed me off.

"So many people would’ve killed for this life..."

I looked down at my hands and clenched them until my knuckles turned white.

"...and you just threw it away."

The anger surprised me.

Part of it belonged to me.

Part of it... didn’t.

Whoosh!

The screen flickered again.

[PERSONALITIES FUSING]

My blood froze.

"...What?"

I stared at the words for half a second before my brain caught up.

"...WHAT?!"

"No!"

I lunged forward and swung both hands at the screen.

Nothing.

My fingers passed straight through it like smoke.

"No, no, no! Don’t you fucking dare!"

The screen ignored me.

[PROGRESS 10%]

A splitting pain bloomed behind my eyes.

"Shit!"

I grabbed my head with both hands, squeezing hard enough to make my fingers hurt.

Not this.

Anything but this.

I couldn’t go back.

Lorel...

He reminded me too much of the person I’d spent years trying to bury.

Weak.

Needy.

Always looking for someone else’s approval.

The old me.

The class clown who bent over backwards just to make people laugh. The pathetic kid who thought being useful meant people would finally notice him.

I killed that version of myself once already.

I wasn’t letting him come back.

[PROGRESS 50%]

"STOP!"

The room spun.

"Fucking stop already!"

No.

No.

Please...

I know what it took to become who I am.

Every humiliation.

Every rejection.

Every night lying awake wondering what the hell was wrong with me.

I remembered forcing myself to stop caring because caring only ever got me hurt. Piece by piece I tore those emotions out until there was almost nothing left to hurt anymore.

I didn’t survive all of that just to start over from the beginning.

"I’M NOT GOING BACK!"

[PROGRESS 99%]

"...Please."

The word came out so quietly I barely heard it myself.

[PROGRESS 100%]

Everything went dark.

...

I don’t know how long I stayed like that.

Time didn’t seem to exist anymore.

There was only silence.

Then a name surfaced.

Lorel Morel.

The Eleventh Prince.

Weakest of the eleven royal children.

Royal Trash.

That was the title everyone called him, and after seeing everything he’d done with his life...

God, I hated him.

Not because he was weak.

Weakness can be fixed.

People grow.

People change.

No, I hated him because he never even tried.

Everything had been placed right in front of him. He had authority, resources, his own legion, enough influence to build a future for himself if he’d just fought back even once.

Instead he let everyone crush him.

He let them mock him.

Beat him.

Humiliate him.

Then he decided dying was easier than fighting back.

"...Coward."

"LOREL!"

"HAAAH!"

I nearly jumped out of my skin.

My eyes snapped open to find a young woman leaning over me, her impossibly long midnight-blue hair spilling over one shoulder as brilliant azure eyes searched my face with undisguised worry.

"...Moresa."

She looked even more beautiful than Lorel’s memories had done her justice.

"It’s been three days already," she said quietly. "I couldn’t stay away any longer."

Right.

Now I remembered.

Lorel had ordered her not to enter his room. He wanted to be alone for a full week, and she’d respected that... at least until today.

"It’s only the third day."

"I know."

She lowered her head briefly before meeting my eyes again.

"I’m sorry for disobeying your orders. I’ll accept whatever punishment you decide on, but I’m not leaving you alone again."

There wasn’t even a hint of hesitation in her voice.

She’d already made up her mind.

I let out a tired sigh.

My head was still a complete mess. Finn’s memories mixed with Lorel’s until I couldn’t immediately tell where one life ended and the other began. Even my emotions felt tangled together, and that scared me more than anything else that had happened since I got here.

"I need a bath."

The words came out almost automatically.

She nodded without saying another word.

Only then did I realize she was straddling me on the bed.

More specifically...

She was holding me up.

Somewhere during all of this she’d wrapped her arms around me to keep me upright, and I hadn’t even noticed.

She quietly let go.

I slid off the bed, every muscle in my body protesting the movement. My head still pounded, though nowhere near as badly as before.

"...Stupid system."

I knew it.

The damn thing was defective.

As I made my way toward the bathroom, Moresa spoke again.

"Miss Helene came to see you."

"So?"

"I turned her away."

"... Alright."

I answered.

I pushed the bathroom door open and stepped inside.

Just hearing Helene’s name had been enough to make my heart beat faster.

It’s just like I feared, his emotions are affecting me.

His love for Helene.

His pathetic simping over a girl who’d watched him suffer without ever trying to help.

...I won’t let this affect me.

I won’t let myself become Lorel.

I pushed the bathroom door open and walked straight in.

I let out a long sigh and reached for the crystal embedded in the wall.

Whoom!

The familiar sound echoed through the bathroom as water rushed into the tub.

Magic really was convenient.

I rested my hand on the edge of the bathtub, watching the steam slowly rise while my thoughts refused to settle. My memories and Lorel’s memories were tangled together so tightly that I was starting to lose track of where one life ended and the other began.

"Finn," I muttered quietly.

Yes.

I was Finn.

That much I knew.

But...

Finn what?

I frowned.

Why the hell couldn’t I remember my own surname? It was right there, sitting at the edge of my mind, but every time I reached for it, it slipped away.

"...Seriously?"

I rubbed my forehead.

The fusion really had done a number on my head.

Maybe it’d come back later.

Maybe it wouldn’t.

Either way, there wasn’t much I could do about it now.

The tub finished filling with a soft splash.

I checked the temperature with the back of my hand.

Perfect.

Not too hot.

Not too cold.

Exactly how I liked it.

I climbed in and slowly lowered myself into the water, letting the warmth soak into muscles that still ached from whatever that damn system had done to me.

"...Haah."

A quiet breath escaped my lips.

For the first time since waking up in this world, everything was silent.

That was enough emotional bullshit for one day.

My own memories were still bumping into Lorel’s every few seconds, and now his emotions were trying to worm their way into mine too. If I wasn’t careful, I’d eventually stop noticing where the line between us was.

That couldn’t happen.

It wouldn’t happen.

I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to organize the mess inside my head.

"Do I scrub your back?"

My eyes flew open.

"...What the hell?!"

I turned so fast I nearly slipped.

Moresa stood a few steps away, looking at me like nothing was out of the ordinary.

She’d followed me into the bathroom.

"...Since when were you here?"

Then it hit me.

The door.

I’d never closed it.

"...Right."

I buried my face in one hand.

Of course.

Still...

That didn’t explain why she’d walked in.

Then Lorel’s memories answered for me before I could even ask the question.

...She always did this.

"...You’ve got to be kidding me."

I stared at the ceiling.

Talk about an insane habit.

Lorel had come up with this brilliant idea because he thought constantly being around a girl would somehow help him build confidence.

How the hell he’d arrived at that conclusion was beyond me.

The worst part?

It had become completely normal.

She’d seen him naked so many times that neither of them even questioned it anymore.

No wonder I hadn’t immediately reacted when she followed me in. Part of me didn’t even care to notice.

To make matters worse, just being around her was making Lorel’s emotions bubble back to the surface again.

Damn it.

I felt like I’d been thrown back into high school.

Hormones all over the place.

Getting flustered over every little thing.

It was embarrassing.

"I think you should leave, Moresa."

Her eyes widened.

She actually looked surprised.

Wait...

Was asking for privacy really that strange?

Thinking about it, I couldn’t remember Lorel ever asking her to leave before.

"...I just want to bathe in peace."

She stayed exactly where she was.

"Can you leave?"

I pointed toward the door.

"Like... now?"

"I’m sorry."

Her voice was calm.

"But I can’t."

I frowned.

"...Why?"

"Because the first time I came into this room, I found you drowning in this bathtub."

There wasn’t even the slightest hesitation in her voice.

"I don’t know what you were trying to do, and I don’t intend to ask. But after seeing that, I can’t leave you alone in here again."

Well...

Shit.

I couldn’t exactly argue with that.

She thought I was suicidal.

Actually...

Lorel had been.

"...I’m not an exhibitionist, Moresa."

I let out an exhausted sigh. freewebnøvel.com

"If you’re going to stay in here, then you’re going to be on the same level as I am."

"Bare."

I said it to scare her off. But for the love of me, she actually began to unbutton her top!