10 Hope Is Noisy

Normally, the journey from the forest to Forger Village was a 20 minute walk. However, with the slimes slowing him down, it seemed as if it would become a 5 hour walk.

'I have enough technical know-how to build a pitfall trap... but a sleigh is beyond me.'

Alaric would persevere. No matter what, he had to bring these slimes back to the village, and show their worth. If he didn't, when news of his talent reached the village, they may lose all hope.

Throughout the years, his mother Pamela, his father Gunnar, and everyone else in the village had taken care of him well. It made adapting to this new, strange world much easier.

'Although I'll have to leave the nest eventually, I must show my loyalty and bring benefits to the village first.'

"Crash!"

Suddenly, Alaric heard some sort of commotion in the forest, where he had just been.

"Human?! Slime?! Where are you?!" a deep voice shouted, Alaric seeing a rocky-looking tail flinging about as it did.

"The almighty Grander is here to see you! Come out!'

'Yeah no, I'll just go back to the village.'

Relying on the fact that magical beasts beyond rank-2 couldn't leave the forest, due to the royal family's formation, Alaric quickly (slowly) continued towards Forger Village.

While he did, the mighty Grander continued to rampage.

"Those damnable humans! Locking me in this prison, preventing me from progressing! One good battle is all I need, and I can become rank-4! I'll find that human and take out my years of grievances on him! I'll destroy that slime for defying me!"

Little did he know, that human and slime had already been on their way.

...

Alaric had been journeying for 4 hours now, and he could already see the back of the village.

"Alright slimes! Wait here. I'll be back with friends soon, don't attack! Slip Slime, come with me."

From here, it was only a 4 minute walk.

Alaric planned to show the villagers his slip slime, as a good first impression towards the slime authority.

As he was walking to the village, Alaric heard a "Splish!" sound.

"Hm?" Alaric looked down.

It was blood.

"Blood?! Why is there such a huge puddle of i-"

Not far ahead of the puddle of blood, was a trail of it leading to... a body.

"Cini?"

The body of Cini, the village teacher, one of the only 3 in the village to have awakened. Her presence allowed others to absorb knowledge a bit faster, it was a rare support-type talent.

Without thinking, Alaric began rushing towards the village.

Cini had done a lot for him, being the main introduction of his into this strange world. But now wasn't the time to cry.

'I have to get Wurst! This means danger!'

Alaric, as he ran, didn't seem to notice that other bodies were lying dead on his way back, seemingly in a bout of hysteria.

4 minutes quickly became half a minute. Alaric was at the village.

The bodies of his family and friends were scattered about, the originally yellow paths and green grass had been dyed red.

Alaric trudged about, shouting, "Wurst! Cini is dead... Cini is dead!"

His foot interlocked with one of the corpses, making him trip.

"What?"

Alaric had finally seen it, or rather, he could no longer deny seeing it. 15 odd corpses littered the ground, women, children, and men alike. All of them, were people Alaric knew well.

"Why..."

Alaric got back to his feet, 'I need to find Wurst!'

He arrived at the center of the village, the originally orderly tables had been scattered around. In the center, was a man holding a saber.

It was Wurst. Slashes and stabs littered his corpse, and surrounding him was something Alaric had yet to see. More corpses, covered in deep purple robes, some had been cut in half, others stabbed, 7 in total.

"Even Wurst...?"

Alaric quickly turned, running towards his house.

His home.

The place where he grew up, the place where his parents had raised him. The place where he played with his friends, albeit pretending to be immature along the way.

"Slam!"

Alaric forced the door open, something impeding his ability to do so

"Dad..."

He saw his father, dead, Gunnar, surrounded by four of the robed corpses he had seen before, and his mother, Pamela, dead on top of his father's body.

Alaric collapsed onto his knees, the rotten wooden floor of his house cracking a bit as he did.

He screamed.

He screamed his heart out, as if he wanted his voice to reach his dead family and friends.

A blue light, bright and hopeful, emitted from Alaric's throat.

Slimes, a few hundred meters away, seemed to perk up.

The slip slime on Alaric's shoulder retreated in fear.

Pamela had given him a mother's love, what he needed to accept his change of environment.

Gunnar had given him motivation and freedom, what he had needed to progress in this new environment.

Wurst had given him protection, what he needed to survive in this new environment.

Cini had given him knowledge, what he needed to thrive in this new environment.

The others had given him community, a place to belong, despite being an alien himself.

18 years of happiness had died, in the most literal sense possible. And gone with it, would be Alaric's hope, his comfort.

Suddenly, streams of slime had arrived from the sky itself, as if 20 odd rivers had flown in from the sky. Each river had produced one little slime, all emitting a strange blue light.

They couldn't speak, nor could they use telepathy, but Alaric could hear them. They mourned, for reasons he could not understand.

Alaric went quiet. He didn't know what to do, but a grim determination had appeared in his eyes.

"Whoever, or whatever did this, will receive what they've given, tenfold!"

He looked at the 22 slimes and the slip slime beside him, forcing back the questions of how they arrived here, and asked of them one thing.

"Eat!"