Chapter 2: Slime After Some Slime
Sir Mervyn may never have recovered his full range of movement from his fight with those mermen in our lifeboat, but my thirteen year old body still had trouble keeping up with him, even stricken as he was.
"Twist the blade when you parry, my lord!" He called out as our training swords clashed together.
He had taken it upon himself to teach me all he could martially while we were on this island, so that if the day came where we could leave I would be able to stand tall as a Zwaardrustan prince. His words, not mine.
I tried to take such training much more seriously than in my first bout of adolescence. I'd grown up the first time around in the castle of Cannock either reading books or being a troublemaker. I'd been well on my way to becoming a prince whose only purpose was to drink and know things before I'd left for the Hero Spring and eventually met up with my cousins for our quest.
With no library around I threw myself into rebuilding my old skills from my past life, and hopefully eventually surpassing them.
The slimes, oddly enough, were extremely helpful in this regard. Sir Mervyn knew three spells: Heal, Woosh, and Buff. And furthermore, while marooned would not normally have had access to any of the ritual materials necessary for me to bind those spells.
The slimes on the other hand, had the knowledge and supplies for an eclectic variety of spells.
The ritual materials were not near as luxurious and well made as those I had used as a prince, but they got the job done. I'd bound many of the spells I had had access to in my past life, although it would be years before I built up the control and mana in my new body to perform them all.
Unfortunately the one spell that could have gotten us off of the island, Zoom, was not one of those they had knowledge of the ritual for. And I was not near skillful enough of a mage to recreate the spell from pure magical talent alone. I am certain my cousin Gwen could have, she had even managed to learn Kaboom and Hocus Pocus by the time we confronted Malroth.
So I contented myself with increasing my magical control by practicing Heal and Sizz, the two I'd managed to regain in a manner of speaking, so far.
Sir Mervyn and I paused to take a breather, our tattered tunics made of washed up sail cloth and fibers from the plant life around the island were utterly detestable in their state of filth.
It was then, pausing to collect ourselves, that I asked a question we should have asked years ago.
"Hey, Sir Goowain?" The nearby slime knight perked up and bounced over.
"Yes, Prince Kain? How can I serve?"
"Where do the slimes here get their equipment? The armor, the weapons, and well even these short training blades you lent us I suppose…"
"Ah, yes! They are all forged by Dragoony on the magic item maker that washed up three kings ago!"
I took a deep breath as I processed this information, noticing that Sir Mervyn was perking up as well, "Magic...item...maker?" I questioned back.
"Indeed! We throw things in, Dragoony heats it all up, we smack it a few times and then something comes out! Sometimes it's a weapon, or armor, or clothes, or even jewelry!"
"You lads got your hands on a Fun-Sized Forge?" Sir Mervyn questioned incredulously.
I had no idea in either life about the item he spoke of so I remained silent.
"Yes, but it's only made slime-sized items for us so we never really had anything to offer goo, even with all your help with the cooking and the things you've helped us build, otherwise we definitely would have offered some items as thanks!"
Sir Mervyn gave a hearty, full bellied laugh at that, "Well, I'd wager it might have something to do with slimes doing the crafting! Perhaps we'll ask King Goolian and Dragoony to let us have a crack at it?"
I nodded vigorously, "That sounds great, Sir Mervyn! I'd love some better gear and well…" I tugged at my tunic, "Perhaps something more deserving of the term tunic?"
The Fun-Sized Forge they had scavenged from a shipwreck with the help of the colony of Shell Slimes that lived nearby as a kind of tributary group under the Slime Kings was a mix of fascinating and disappointing.
It looked like a mess, scuffed up and missing one of the four legs. However once Dragoony showed us how to work it with the help of Sir Mervyn we were able to quickly whip up some much needed unscavenged clothing.
Sure it was mostly still made from the materials we threw in, so it felt like processed sail cloth and plant fibers, but it had straps and buckles in all the right places so it was a vast improvement.
I certainly had plans to experiment with the item, and possibly try and repair it as well. While there wasn't a whole lot of materials on the island that could make me weapons or armor that were steel or better the potential to at least be decently kitted out if we ever got off of the island was there. Maybe a nice magical accessory or two and a half decent blade or spear.
This led to a new period of my training with Sir Mervyn, with access to better tools and increased involvement of the slimes. I regularly sparred with the slime knights and once I had managed to forge a decent enough shield I was even used for Frizz and Zam-based target practice by the younger slimes who were attempting to learn a little bit of magic.
One of these young slimes, Goolia, took a particular shine to me and it was through her that I learned how monsters grow, change, and gain power.