Free and Unfettered 144 Rainier's Musings

Naturally, this had led to a bunch of ways for him to take advantage of.

Usually, he would have ordered for them to attack, but he had seen these two silly looking humans around his Master before. Somewhat reluctantly, he called off the attack.

[Take it easy with those humans] Rainier commanded. [They're Masters, so make sure not to damage them!]

He received various acknowledgements from the vast majority of his descendants. Sometimes, he wondered how in the world he managed to split into so many different copies of himself.

The only good thing was that they all listened to him. However, unlike Mephisto, his spidery friend, he had more of a symbiotic relationship with his 'other selves'. The stronger one of them got, the stronger all of them got as a collective whole.

This felt quite normal to him, and it wasn't until his Master exclaimed and quietly praised him that he felt the first blossoming of pride take root within him. All the while, he had been quietly working, judging himself using human standards, until it suddenly occurred to him.

No matter how human he might have acted, or how he played nice with Nine's humans, at the core, Rainier was still a Magic Beast.

In essence, he didn't quite like humans, but neither did he harbour a hatred for them. It was more accurate to say he just didn't quite care for them. They were there, but if they weren't, he wouldn't lose any sleep over it either.

There were a select few that he enjoyed the presence of. Mostly, Master's brother, Deltan, Master's mate, and his fellow subordinates. The rest, he tolerated, if only barely.

Rainier eyed the dorky looking human in front of him. He quietly marvelled at how this human was lower in strength than most of his descendants. In fact, this was the weakest human he had seen in some time.

That even included Raphael, Deltan's spawn. The blue slime couldn't help but eye the man dubiously. How was he still alive after all this time when he was so tragically weak? Rainier didn't think he had ever been *that* weak even before he met Master.

Rainier moved forward and patted the poor human on his leg. What a poor soul. The weak human was growing on him. Like one of those green plants or something Master said. Fungus? Silently, the slime spontaneously decided to take a bit better care of the man. Who knew what would happen to him otherwise? He would leave the job to one of the others.

[Anyone wants to become the familiar of these two humans?] Rainier asked, leaving it to them to decide amongst themselves.

As if commanded, the hundred or so slimes surged at Rainier's question, smothering the poor man under a load of colourful slimes, but the shouts of joy that he produced indicated anything but his distress.

Rainier wobbled happily. He wasn't sure if it was because he inherited some traits from his Master, but he quite liked this one. If he hadn't already been attached to the best Master, he might have considered stealing this man for himself.

As it was, he could only leave it to his descendants to nab the chance should they want it.

A few other stray descendants made their way to the painter human instead, each reaching out with a small tendril as they touched him to determine whether they matched magically, if it all.

In the end, it was a grey-shaded descendant who won the magic lottery, and the rest of their brethren unlatched their tendrils with a bit of grumbling. Rainier dutifully tuned them out, used to his descendant's many complaints.

Luckily for these two humans, they were all descended from Rainier, who considered himself a friendly slime. He was a courteous slime, who would respond to your advances, and would leave you alone if you made no movements.

Rainier felt an upsurge swell of pride. They were slimes who knew when to advance and when to back off. Master said that he and his descendants were better than a lot of humanoids, even.

Over on the other side of the human under the avalanche of descendants, it was more competitive compared to the painting human. Each one of them were frantically making noises and wobbling as they tried to cover the largest surface area.

Rainier speechlessly looked at them. They were acting like newly born slimes with a fresh toy instead of the dignified species they should be!

Remarkably, the dorky human came out of this with his entire being intact. Rainier spared a thought to wonder how the weak human hadn't ended up crushed under the weight of his numerous descendants.

"Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup," Zenith said, pointing at the red, blue and green slimes in front of him respectively. He ignored the way the game box popped up, gathering all three small slimes to himself and cuddling them.

Valerius choked. He was naming them after the powerpuff girls?!

Rainier wobbled with appreciation. Names were always welcome, especially to Magic Beasts. It cemented the bonds between familiars and humanoids. The weak human had done well.

On the other hand, the other painter human hadn't named his chosen yet. Rainier eyed him dubiously.

Valerius leaned over and whispered to Zenith. "Hey, isn't that slime giving me the stink eye? I'm not the only one who thinks that, right?"

Surprised, Zenith paused in his cooing session over his newly bonded familiars, staring at Rainier's glorious blue, purple-tinted self.

"Huh. You're right. Must be because you haven't named your new buddy yet. You upset their daddy."

Valerius paused as he digested this information. Made sense. Couldn't argue with the game developer, after all. He plucked the slime, who had climbed there when he was distracted, off his shoulder, studying the way the little slime's eyes glistened as he looked at them.

"Erm… Harmony? Is that alright?" Valerius asked, extending a finger to the small slime.

Harmony similarly extended a tendril, touching his finger.

Rainier kept his mutinous look, feeling satisfied. Good. Since these humans were Master's, then they would treat his descendants right, and in turn, they would treat them right.

"Say, isn't that Nine's familiar?" Valerius asked as he studied the slime curiously.

Rainier, who had been in the process of leaving, stopped in his tracks, turning back around. He looked at the painter human with more appreciative eyes. Anyone who recognised his Master's awe-inspiring figure was a friend of his.

He patted the both humans on their legs, then left with his other descendants who hadn't been claimed yet. They had a job to do. They still had to get some training in before night set in, then fight against the undead whilst their magic reserves weren't full. There was no more time to waste.

With his descendants by their side, Rainier was sure that they would have no trouble leaving the forest and go back to the densely human populated city.

Soon, the horde of slimes disappeared, leaving two bemused humans and their new familiars behind.

"Well… that was not what I expected," Valerius mused.

"Yeah," Zenith agreed. "It was even better than I ever dreamed!"

"That's not what I meant, but alright."

"So, that painting of me is for me, right?"

"Wait-!"

Rainier dutifully ignored the sounds of the two humans scuffling behind him with the well-practiced ease of an expert.

Chapter end