[hr][center][h3]Neir - The Drunken Bear > Slums[/h3]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/JhorTIT.png[/img]
《 Level 1 Panic 》
[@ERode][@TheMushroomLord][@PKMNB0Y][/center][hr]
"I can tell you with complete and utter honesty, I have not intentionally committed any crime in my time here." For the first time Connor actually managed to look the catgirl in the eye, though it wasn't for very long and the action seemed to cause him to immediately lose whatever nerve he'd worked up for that statement. But, as he sheepishly looked away--out of shyness, not nerves--he hoped, if she believed anything he'd said, that she would believe that.

[i]Maybe I'll contemplate murder, but only in like, self-defense. I'm [u]not[/u] a bad person.[/i] he thought to himself, clenching his jaw for just a moment. He just...couldn't trust anyone, yet. Not the people he'd come here with, not the natives. Not until he was strong enough that he couldn't be easily hurt by the mistakes he was sure to make.

"Th-thank you very much." he said politely to the waitress when she handed him the wrapped meal. Clutching it like it was valuable treasure, he meekly followed Meira out into what little remained of evening light. 

[i]Oh good, they have some form of street lighting. That should mean we're a little further into the "urbanization" phase of medieval history, right?[/i]

"Yes please!" came his immediate answer when the adventurer asked if he needed help finding his way back. As far as directions went, he thought he could [i]probably[/i] have managed, but he wasn't walking alone in some strange city he didn't know, into a slum that he'd already seen was full of those the rest of the city considered undesirables. But, as they were walking...

"Hey, another random question, but uh...do you know of any like...famous inventors? And what they're famous for...inventing?"

[i]Thinking of "urbanization," I already have proof that I'm not the [u]only[/u] isekai'd person here. So I think it's safe to assume we weren't the [u]first[/u] either. And if I was from a world with better tech than here, I'd damn sure try to get rich...[/i]

Just like that one guy, in that one anime, with the three super hot but really dumb girls.

[b]When they eventually made it back to the shack, however,[/b] Connor would rush into the dilapidated dwelling with an excited grin.

"Hey, can you hear yet? I found food--!" 

The shack was empty.

"Oh no." He dropped the sandwich. The blue haired boy practically threw himself to his knees, scrambling over to the roach-infested hole he'd made earlier and looking under the floorboards. "No, no, no..." He practically threw the tarp into another corner of the room. Nothing but dust lay underneath it. "Oh shit, no, oooooh noooo!"

With a traumatic expression on his face, he turned back to Meira and actually grabbed her arm.

"M-my friend's g-gone! They couldn't move w-without help, they're gone! Someone took them!" The guards? Did the guards come to investigate? Or did some squatter try to, well, squat? Cassius had said slimes weren't considered bothersome enough to kill on sight, but what else could've happened?! There was no blood--or slime--trail, was there?! 

[i]Wait, idiot, the messages![/i]

"Please please please please..." he let go of Meira's arm and started pacing frantically as he composed the mental "spell" or whatever it was. "[sub]Pickup pickup pickup...[/sub]"

[quote=CONTACT: SLIME][code]WHERE ARE YOU!? ARE YOU OKAY!?[/code][/quote]
[quote=CONTACT: CASSIUS][code]EMERGENCY! SLIME IS GONE DO YOU KNOW WHERE!?[/code][/quote]

Connor felt a sense of helplessness that utterly terrified him. Were they dead? Lost and alone? Did something eat them? Did someone attack them? If they found out the slime had a human mind or soul or whatever, would they torture them for their secrets?

[quote=FLASHBACK]
Nothing. Not even eyes or antennae or anything. For a moment Connor's overactive imagination, completely overdosed on all the tropes he mindlessly consumed instead of working on anything productive, managed to activate his dulled sense of empathy. To imagine what it would be like, trapped inside such a body...

But then there was [i]this[/i] poor soul. No eyeballs, no mouth, not even a functioning spine...

[code]Don't worry, won't leave u alone.[/code][/quote]
"Uuuuungh!" He grabbed his head as he shook it back and forth, trying to focus. What could he do? "Damnit, damnit, no, no, no!"

[hider=CONNOR'S DISCOVERIES][list][*]Acquired "Shitty Cloak!"
[*]Acquired "Knife Bandolier!"
[*]"Caliboard, the Holy 2x4."
[*]Learned "Push!"
[*]Learned "Cut!"[/list][/hider]