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“You’re right. I believe Colin will be fine for now, but lost blood and stamina don’t just return overnight. Make sure he eats nutritious food and gets plenty of rest to recover. Now then, let’s take care of your injuries, shall we?”
“Huh!? N-No, my injury isn’t that serious—”
“That can’t be true. Even from a quick glance, I can tell it’s practically no different from a stab wound made by a sharp blade.”

Since the wound was on her back, maybe she wasn’t feeling much pain. But it was dangerously close to being a fatal injury.

Still, Colin’s injury was also a reverse-diagonal slash from behind—an oddly precise cut that seemed like something inflicted by a highly skilled assassin. Just how vicious are the slimes around here?

I mean, slimes are supposed to attack by charging or dissolving things, right? But are they really the kind of monsters that can slice someone so cleanly like this? My impression of them was more like semi-transparent, jiggly creatures crawling around like wobbly jelly. Clearly, my understanding of slimes was all kinds of wrong.

“Occasionally, a rare metallic-type slime is discovered around this area. That’s probably what you encountered.”

Kaisa seemed to pick up on my curiosity and kindly explained.

“That thing is absurdly powerful for a slime. It moves at incredible speeds and can freely reshape its steel-like outer layer to attack, making it quite a nuisance. …Well, it’s only exceptional for a slime. As long as you can land a hit, even a D-rank adventurer can defeat it.”

Ah, I see… So, it’s an abnormal slime. A mutated monster coming at you out of nowhere, that’s a terrifying thought. With that explanation, I could finally imagine the creature and accept the reality of it, so I nodded firmly.

“At any rate, I need to examine your injury first… Um, I’m terribly sorry, but since this is a treatment for a lady, could the gentlemen please step outside?”
“But we are duty-bound to guard you, Lady Clara…”

The three templar knights and Cestlavie wore reluctant expressions, but after I properly explained the reasoning and circumstances, the two female adventurers serving as my guards pounded their chests confidently and declared:

“We will protect Lady Clara even if it costs us our lives, so you can rest easy.”

With that reassurance (though, from my perspective, I couldn’t possibly overlook someone else sacrificing themselves in my place…), the others reluctantly agreed to leave.

“You’re truly loved by everyone, Lady Clara…”

For some reason, Colin’s girlfriend’s quiet muttering caught my ear. If we’re talking about love, a girl with a boyfriend like her is a million times more enviable, though.

Anyway.

“Well then, everyone except the ladies, please wait out in the hallway. Treating an injury is a race against time, so please hurry.”

After making that request, everyone left the room, one after another, leaving behind the unconscious Colin lying on his back, his girlfriend diligently wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, and my bodyguards, Kaisa and Daniella.

“Are you sure about this? Won’t you be short-handed if something happens?”

Cestlavie was the last to remain, grumbling with a sour look on his face. But having a man present at the scene of a girl’s treatment would be ethically inappropriate, so I more or less shoved him out of the room.

“It’s all right. Besides, just in case something happens, I’ve already arranged for reinforcements on the way here.”
“Reinforcements…? Who?”

As if answering that question, with a loud noise, the thick door of the Adventurers’ Guild’s underground hazardous materials storage room was pushed open from the inside.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Lady Clara! Your ultra-competent maid, Coppelia, has arrived right away at your call!! Ah, so you didn’t forget about me after all. To think you deliberately kept me in reserve as your secret trump card for emergencies—just as expected of Lady Clara!”

With her usual energy, the maid clad in a French maid-style miniskirt was none other than the automaton Coppelia, crafted by the freak alchemist Professor Victor. She ascended from the underground with the same unshakable cheerfulness she had when we parted ways.

Following behind her, for some reason, was a Hobbit man about 140 centimertes tall, his face looking utterly gaunt and worn out.

““““““……””””””

“—Oh?”

Coppelia, noticing our bewildered expressions from not being able to keep up with her pace, turned her gaze toward Colin’s girlfriend, whose face had stiffened slightly, her posture seemed somewhat tense. Tilting her head with a puzzled look, Coppelia’s curiosity was clearly piqued.

“Could it be that the one over there is the failed artificial saint that my former master tried to create in collaboration with the secret society Morning Star of the Dawn within the Order…?”

“—!!” Colin’s girlfriend gasped sharply.

“I thought all of those were discarded, but it turns out the research was still ongoing, huh? Wow, what a surprise! —Well, Master Victor did take the research funds and just up and vanished before finishing the project, though.”

It’s probably not just from her injuries. Glancing at her, pale and blood-drained, I sorted through the scattered pieces of information in my head and reached a conclusion.

In short, once again, Victor and Coppelia are the root of the problem.

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