"Come out, come out, wherever you aaaaaaare…"

Sitting cross-legged and her eyes closed at the center of an occult circle, Tamamo was thoroughly checking the world in hope of finding something, anything that could tell her where her dear sisters were. She could see every magic flow, every slightly more powerful monsters, every person with the smallest magic potential… There were quite a few dark spots where she couldn't see anything, but there was no way that her sisters all hid there, was it?

She could see the jails of the castle where the artificially dimmed signatures of Morrigan, Astaroth and Kanon were residing. While she currently had little hope for the Ancestor of the plants, she still had some for the two succubi should their mother or older sister also decide to be reasonable for once. Granted, it would likely take years… But still, she would appreciate discussing with her once again.

However Minagi was nowhere to be seen. A part of Tamamo wanted to at least hear a report of a human man sucked dry to pinpoint her location. Instead, the succubus had gone completely silent. And thinking that there was no sign of her because she had reformed was pretty much wishful thinking. No… The succubus might have had a plan, which made her only more terrifying and dangerous than usual. Granted, since Tamamo herself was the one who usually did the thinking, said plan would likely be very basic… But it could still be enough to tip the scale of an encounter in her favor. Until recently, there had been some traces of Lilith's activities that Tamamo had hoped to use… But even the oldest of the Lilith Sisters remained silent after the Ancestors were freed. She simply couldn't find her.

There also wasn't a single sign of Saja. The kitsune had expected the big sister of the Ancestors to show up at the castle's doorstep and formally challenge Luka. Or at least make her intent to challenge Micaela known... but instead, she had completely disappeared. Tamamo could tell that the seraph had also become quite nervous, her movements becoming stiffer and her attitude unusually aggressive. Considering that one monster wanted to turn her into her personal toy, and that yet another one wanted to kill her... And that was not entering into what the third one would want.

Tamamo was also trying to look for Hiruko, but she knew that it was a losing fight already. The scylla could biologically transform herself to better hide in her environment, and if you saw her, it was likely already too late for you. The best the kitsune could do was checking Sabasa and hoping that the scylla would get noticed in her old stomping grounds before she started getting really hungry. She took a short look at the king, and was slightly relieved to see that that mountain of a man seemed as calm as ever. The king suddenly raised an eyebrow and turned toward the point Tamamo was watching him from. Surprised, the kitsune rapidly switched to focus toward his daughter. The blond princess also looked no different than usual, smelling of succubus ever since her monster blood awakened.

Tamamo sighed. With her current tool, she couldn't find a single relevant information to help her find her sisters. Maybe her informant network would be luckier... But she was afraid that they would be discovered and killed. She stopped channeling the spell that helped her scan through the world, and felt extremely cold when her mind returned to her body. She wrapped herself in her tails and stepped out of the room, deciding to make a small detour by the kitchen to grab herself a snack before going to check on Alice.

She found the Monster Lord in the throne room casually talking with Micaela. Her ears could understand that the conversation was about the Holy Energy corruption the hero was suffering.

"No, I don't know if it's even possible to siphon that energy of his body. I had some angels ask me already, but… You would need someone with the skills of Ilias in healing or in dealing with Holy Energy. On the bright side, if the other Ancestors don't attack and prefer waiting, he will have time to recover."

"Mmh. It is convenient that they arrive one by one… And the second one who shows up isn't hostile or aggressive…" Alice turned toward Tamamo with an inquisitive gaze as she was warned of the latter's arrival by the clacking of her sandals.

"Don't look at me like that! I have no idea what they're doing either, I initially expected them to rush the castle, try to imprison every one of us and party like wild animals! If I knew that, I wouldn't have spent so much time placing wards around!"

Alice sighed. "Whatever. Let's check on Kanade and Erubetie I guess."

"I'm surprised the former didn't kill anyone…"

"Yet. I hope Erubetie will put the information I gave her to good use."

Alice channeled her magic into a small orb, showing an image of Erubetie and Kanade together, apparently discussing in front of the entrance of Undine's Spring.

Erubetie seemed deeply involved, while the Ancestor had her usual, expressionless face. So far so good… As long as both of them remained stable.

Erubetie herself was indeed quite uncomfortable with the presence of Kanade. The area had been evacuated for safety precaution, and the Ancestor was quite incisive with her questions as she was looking at the still-polluted lake.

"So this was the greatest residence for our kin after millenia." Her voice sounded perfectly neutral. There wasn't a trace of disappointment, anger or any other emotions. The Ancestor was simply announcing what she was seeing like a fact. "They are now currently living in Plansect Village with the local alraunes..."

The Queen Slime looked down in shame. That was… Personal. Too personal. She felt that those words perfectly summarized her past failure as the leader of the race. However…

"Actually, there are still a few other slimes remaining on the Ilias Continent, and a few more near the Forest of Spirits… But we have suffered from pollution and war. Even more from pollution than from war."

"Mmh."

Taking this as an invitation, Erubetie continued. "I… Have my share of responsibilities. I never communicated with the humans near us, even when they showed that they were accepting of monsters. I could have cut short our suffering at any time."

"Mmh."

"Instead, I had chosen isolate myself with the remaining slimes and Undine in her spring, only fanning my hatred for humanity. When I heard that the Monster Lord was supposed to access the throne, I absorbed every willing slime to get more power in hope of beating her… And then I lost against Tamamo."

"Mmh."

"And afterward… I further fell into isolation, only feeding on my own hatred and humans that wandered near the spring in an anger-filled rampage. Until the hero came by and took Undine away… Later, I fought him in the castle, and he beat me… I think it was at that moment that I started to change. When the war started, I took care and welcomed refugees… Then the hero saved me when one of my own lieutenants betrayed me by poisoning the spring with magic mercury."

"Mmmh."

"It is then I realized that I was entirely in the wrong. There are different humans, just like there are different monsters. And some humans could be good and caring, when some members of my own kin could be cruel and a threat to ourselves. I started coming out of my shell, and when I asked for support to clean up Undine's Spring, everybody noticed the cleanliness of the place compared to other regions. The Grand Noah queen eventually decided that with the war ending, taking care of the environment in a joined effort would become a priority."

"Mmmh."

"But this is… Complicated. We have to inform people of the issue, make sure they understand that they have a responsibility themselves, and there's also the problem of maintaining chimeras. The equipment they need is quite polluting itself."

"Then we will make sure humans obey us and destroy all those chimeras. All those that do not follow this plan will be punished."

Erubetie jumped up in a goopy noise. "What? No! Why would you want to do that?"

"You told me. The existences of those chimeras are a threat to our continued existence. And we need those humans to clean the pollution for us."

"We simply cannot exterminate a whole species because their existence is a nuisance!"

"Why?"

"Because every other races could think they would be the next! We would be treated like the Spider Clan!"

"Mmh." Kanade's expression didn't change in the slightest. "You make for a good point. But how are we supposed to protect the environment if they pollute it simply by existing?"

"We are still working on it. We are working with the finest minds like that alchemist to find solutions…"

"And do you really think there even is one?"

"Six months ago, we didn't even consider that artificial monsters could be mass-produced. And I won't even delve onto the massive shift in relations sparked by the war with Ilias."

"Mmh. True." Erubetie was trying to keep her cool in front of her Ancestor, but the apparent carelessness of her interlocutor was slowly starting to grate her nerves. Well, she was concerned enough to come here and listen to what she said herself in the first place…

"I suppose I will let you lead the strategic aspect if you've already worked on it then. I will only personally deal with those that will get in the way of our kin."

Erubetie didn't answer. She was so surprised by the decision of her senior that she simply couldn't. Kanade, the Ancestor of all slimes, one of the most feared monster to have ever walked on this planet's soil, had simply relished control to her. Kanade had simply decided to trust her with the future of the slime race and to follow her. Was getting their respect as simple as showing that you were doing effort for their kin? Was it as simple as showing that she had a plan for the future?

…Of course it wasn't.

The very next day, Erubetie and Kanade met once again near a deserted Undine's Spring. The former was feeling exceptionally nervous. She had consulted Tamamo first to see how she could handle the... accident, but she was still worried about her immediate future. She steadied herself.

"Four men diseappeared near the Esla river last night."

"They tried to dump their wastes in the river. I only treated them like the trash that attempted to pollute our home."

"You could have simply stopped them and have them brought in front of the queen to be judged and shamed by their peer."

Kanade shook her head negatively. "They would have restarted. If they were imprisonned, they would simply have been an additional burden, and woul have returned to their old ways either by laziness or out of spite."

"But we can't just punish everyone by killing them as soon as they incorrectly dispose of their waste."

"Then what do you suggest instead? It is clear the punishment from the queen, or fines as she calls them, are not enough since they still disobey her orders. We have to give them an additional motivation to follow our order." Her voice sounded as neutral as usual.

Erubetie pondered what she could do as Kanade was entirely right. Even with all their effort, some people still polluted the region simply because they were too careless while guards were too busy to enforce the law on environmental protection. There had to be another way...

"We should reward positive behavior appropriately. Proper encouragements are in order. If we give prizes like gold or other awards, people will be more prone to respect the environment."

"Mmh. I suppose we can try that... Although I can already see a shortcoming with this solution of your."

And two days later, Kanade and Erubetie were once again meeting each other, this time accopanied by a purple slime that was a past resident of the spring. The latter was pinning a middle-aged man that was regularly trying to struggle on the ground, and was showing a disappointed expression. On his side were iron circles and wooden planks stained with a smelly alcoholic mixture that informed anyone of the item's past use as a barrel. When he saw the two powerful blue slimes, the man started panicking.

"L-Look! I'm sorry! I just wanted to place those near the spring under the cover of the night to pretend I was doing a bigger work the next day!. I heard that there was a special prize to reward workers, and I wanted to get it!"

Erubetie sighed. She thought she had found the perfect solution, and it took her two days to be proven wrong. She stared at the man. Unremarkable was the first expression that came to her mind to describe him. The man looked like so many other inhabitants of the city of Grand Noah. He wasn't even one of the more petty men that thought they could dominate monsters and fell on his knees as soon as he saw one. Just someone who hoped to make himself a little more money with his gig.

Kanade looked down at the man before talking in an unusually seductive whisper. "It is such a shame to deal with weak men. If you were honest, you would have tasted pleasures beyond your wildest dream. She leaned closer, her mouth barely a hair breadth from the man's ear. "Instead, you should be horribly punished for attacking us. You do understand that... This waste is more a problem for us than any of your punches. It is an unforgivable crime... However, we shall be magnanimous today. If we catch you again, you will be turned into food. But if you convince more people to take care of the environment, and take care of us..." She licked the hem of his ear. "We might consider rewarding you again. Are you... Interested?"

The man frantically nodded. As soon as the purple slime released him, he ran away as if he was chased by a herd of wolves. Kanade had her arms crossed under her chest, with reminded Erubetie both of the Monster Lord and of herself in her past time.

"You were right. Fear isn't enough to guide them. Motivation with a proper reward is also in order."

Erubetie's body bounced in surprise. She had expected Kanade to pressure her stronger and push her back to her, zealous self and instead she did acknowledge the positive results.

"But the queen's punishment is still not severe enough."

Erubetie sighed. "We'll get to that. But I maintain that we can't simply dissolve people because they were careless."

"And the ones who actively try to harm us?"

"We will judge them gradually. Minor offenders will be imprisoned by Grand Noah, while the more dangerous ones will be dealt with by the Monster Lord and the hero."

"They're too soft. In the old times, we would have directly eaten the offender alive with their families watching. Some change is in order."

The slime queen froze. "Do you intend to challenge them?"

"...Not if it means I can no longer protect our race."

Erubetie could feel a wave of relief through her body, and she was sure that everybody who watched felt the same. Kanade was pragmatic enough.

"...Then again... Slimes are not at threat of extinction..."

"This is why I want to work with humans. If they know they can live with us rather than against us, we will never run out of food or mates."

"Mmh. You are probably right."

Days passed as Kanade was slowly but surely accepting the way the world around her worked. Simultaneously, the environmental protection program and its laws were getting refined more and more to deal with every single possible loophole while trying to keep its spirit. Even in the short time span that had happened since the arrival of the Ancestors, the effect of the cleaning operations were visible: Undine's Spring was now livable again for all the slimes, several of whom happily returned to their homes. A large number of them still preferred living in the city to be closer to its activity and for their human lovers.

Erubetie herself felt slightly disappointed during the re-opening ceremony. The Queen of Grand Noah had made a small speech on the Spring being a symbol of a better future brought by the co-existence between humans and monsters, and her own bond with the local population had grown stronger, but when she entered the spring back herself, the place felt gloomier and less inviting than she remembered it to be. A part of her reminded her that even if that spring could now be once again considered an acceptable residence, a large part of her kin was still suffering in several other regions.

She decided to silence those voices. They would make this world better for everyone, one step at a time.

Even then… She couldn't really put a term on the emotions she was feeling: It was not the happiness of a task well done, it wasn't the relief of successfully eliminating a dangerous poison, it wasn't even the nostalgia linked to this place…

She looked at Kanade who was accompanying her. The Ancestor was still wearing her usual enigmatic expression. Erubetie closed her eyes and tried to remember the good moments she spent in the spring…

…And realized that those were in short order. This place had become a sanctum for weaker slimes against the rising pollution threatening the different natural streams, until it became one of the race's only homes. She had isolated herself with Undine, and had spent all her time fanning the flames of her own hatred against humans, humans with whom she had refused to communicate because she blamed them for her kin's predicament when she was just as responsible by isolating everyone.

It was also the place where she got betrayed. It was the place where the race nearly got extinguished because of the downright idiotic plan of a traitor who polluted the spring with magic mercury. And then she got nearly killed by a specifically-tailored chimera, Amphisbaena, and only survived because she owed her life to Luka. Even if the hero had first addressed her in the Monster Lord's Castle, it was the place where her old cynical world views had been tossed upside down. Her old self had died here to let place for someone who understood that she had to work with those that she had hated for so long.

And that latest memory was the only good thing she could remember of these caverns that used to teem with slimes because of her past failures as the queen of her race. Now that hindsight had settled, she hated all those evenings where she discussed with Undine about the evils of humanity in a desire to fuel each other's hatred for people who simply didn't understand the disastrous consequences of their actions. Her biggest mistake was being so slow to step up.

She now hated Undine's Spring. It was a relic of a past she wanted to leave behind her.

"Aren't you satisfied with the work done by humans?"

Her muddled state of mind hadn't escaped Kanade. The Ancestor was looking at her with actual concern in her eyes.

"I realize how much I hate this place. When it was polluted, it was the perfect symbol of my reign: A damp, poisonous cavern filled with festering malice.

"Maybe. But I never saw you do anything like that since I started watching you. Every action I saw you do where ones fitting of a ruler like Tamamo herself. You even stepped up to me. Not everybody would consider correcting the actions of one of the Six Ancestors."

Once again, Erubetie was surprised by Kanade. It was the first time the latter displayed any self awareness since they met her, and it was to compliment her. The compliment touched herself and she felt shaken… Until Kanade's expression turned into a malicious smirk as a large group of ministers and mages were discussing the nature of the cavern.

"Mmh… It looks like they could use some additional encouragement to help us further. I will personally give them some. You are free to go to Grand Noah for yourself."

Erubetie facepalmed as confused cries and moans started rising. Just like that, that moment of self-awareness from Kanade was gone. The way to correctly socialize the Ancestor was still a long one…

In the Monster Lord's Castle, the small group that had been watching those events unfold through an observation orb in the library now cut the communication. While Tamamo and Micaela looked relatively happy, Alice and Luka weren't exactly satisfied, half-wallowed on the table. The hero, in particular, seemed to mope as he was looking up to the spectacle.

"…I wouldn't call that the perfect resolution."

"Me neither. But… It's still infinitely better than what we initially feared. I mean, given her ego, what she lived and what she learned… I considered it a miracle when she at least decided to hear out her junior."

"As long as she doesn't attempt to overstep her boundaries, we should be fine. I thought Erubetie could be a little protective of her kin, but at least she did give me the impression of caring compared to her Ancestor."

"I warned you." Tamamo started fanning herself. "On the bright side, we can now officially back her and she will lend us her support." The kitsune smiled. "Wasn't there a story about cleaning an area on the continent to make it livable for slimes? I'm pretty sure we can have her take care of it to keep her busy for a while…"

Alice chuckled at the small pique, and Micaela slightly felt like an intruder in their personal life. Also, her eyes unconsciously wandered toward the rounder stomach of the Monster Lord. Before anybody could notice though, she centered the subject of the conversation back on the issues at hand.

"There are still three Ancestors out there, and the birthday of Ilias is tomorrow." She leaned back to stretch herself, and frowned. "And you can be sure that at least ONE of them will mark the occasion. I suggest everyone goes to bed early tonight… You want to be in good shape for an All-Night Babylon Special."

Tamamo shivered in disgust. "Thanks for reminding me of THAT one. I really could go for a bath right now..."

"You're welcome."

Luka repositioned himself in a more dignified posture and chuckled. "I know that she wants to spite the goddess, preferably be getting personal with her creations, but do you really think that she will show up exactly at Midnight like a demon from a curse to defile the last creations of Ilias?"

"Yes."

"Yes… Unless our preparations to counter her somewhere are too obvious, in which case she will attack somewhere else."

Upon seeing the serious expression of the two ancients, Luka sheepishly took a gulp from his drink while Tamamo continued.

"Still… We did take special precautions for San Ilia. The place is warded as all hell, there are traps to keep track of succubi, and we even prepared a direct teleportation channel. Mariel and the king also took some additional measures on their own, and I've given them some seals to protect themselves."

"And I'll keep an eye on Ilias Continent." Micaela finished her cup of tea. "This is the second place Minagi is the most likely to attack. There are angels in Enrika, and the village of the hero. I'll be there to defend them."

"You're sure you don't want to stay here? I mean you'll be safe."

"And what about the two villages? Don't worry, I'll only hold her back until you arrive. I'm not reckless enough to risk my life like that."

Luka turned slightly red faced, ashamed at his own selfishness.

"You're right… Still… Please take care."

"You too." She smiled gently. "See you soon!"

Once she got up and left, Luka sighed.

"Aww, is someone worried about his family?"

"Tamamo, please. Now is really not the time."

"Right, sorry… It's just that I'm worried for her as well."

Alice closed her eyes. "I understand that feeling all too well. I'm also worried sick for Luka each time he disappears. If only I could accompany him just like old times…"

"No. Nonono, you're now pregnant, so you're going to take it like all past Monster Lords in the same situation, you take it slow and you rest."

Alice sighed. "I feel like I'm stuck in a gilded cage. I can't even go out to visit the world."

"Sorry, but I'm not confident enough to let you out with three of the Six Ancestors milling around."

"Do you really think they would really attack me? I mean, you're still under order from the Dark Goddess to protect me, so we can assume she asked the same of your sisters, right?"

"Likely. But I don't want to give them the chance to do something stupid…"

Alice fell silent for a moment. "I can't say I really blame you after what the Lilith Sisters and that oversized rose have done, but still…" She slowly inhaled and exhaled. "Nevermind. I'm going to take a rest."

Alice silenly slithered away, only leaving Luka and Tamamo behind. After a short moment, Luka finished his drink in one large gulp.

"I can't wait to be done with your sisters and get this world back to normal."

"So do I, Luka. So. Do. I."

Warning: the next chapters are going to be about Minagi.

Expect horny, a lot of horny, even more horny, and every innuendos one can possibly think of.

It will die down soon enough though.