I became the slime toy of the evil dragon girl?

Ian turned his attention to the destination of his trip.

The chaotic scene before him caused even Ian, who was somewhat prepared, to freeze for a moment.

It was a vast open space that had been temporarily cleared out.

Like a junkyard, magic crystals, rune tablets, and various other materials that exuded a dangerous aura but whose names were unknown were piled up everywhere, making it difficult to even find a place to step.

Dozens of rock monsters, each the size of a mountain, crouched silently at the edge of the camp. Their rough rock bodies were covered with moss, as if they had been there in silence for centuries.

A group of short dwarfs, wearing greasy aprons but with exceptionally bright eyes, were arguing fiercely around a huge stone slab engraved with intricate magic circles, their spittle flying everywhere.

Ian had just hopped a few steps inside.

BOOM!

A loud explosion rang out, causing the surrounding magic crystals to clang, and then a small mushroom cloud rose in the distance.

The dwarfs moving around seemed not to hear anything and continued their busy work.

Sensing the chaotic and dangerous atmosphere around them, Ian said to Lilith with concern, "Aren't we going to get blown up?"

Lilith replied weakly.

"It's alright, dwarves are always a mess, but they shouldn't be killed by the explosion..." Lilith paused, looking Ian up and down, "...but the slime might be killed by the explosion."

Since we're already here, we have no choice but to stay for a while, even if we're reluctant.

Ian sighed and jumped deeper into the camp.

Before long, they arrived at the center of all this chaos, in a black tent that looked like it was about to collapse, where the old vampire butler Charles was standing.

Just as Ian approached a distraught Lilith, Charles finished yet another round of debate with someone else.

He turned his head and saw the hopping slime and the shadow fairy leaning on its sword, swaying precariously.

A faint hint of doubt flashed in Charles's bloodshot eyes, followed by a deeper weariness and a sense of inevitable helplessness.

He clearly recognized Ian, Vivian's recently appointed chief servant, a strange, glowing slime.

He knew Lilith even better; she was the notoriously eccentric shadow fairy of the territory, a troubled girl who always liked to hide in the shadows.

Charles rubbed his temples and muttered in a voice only he could hear, "Sigh... Lady Vivian is treating me like a babysitter again."

In his heart, he was on the verge of collapse under the pressure of the giant teleportation array and the crazy dwarf. This combination of slime and fairy was less like reinforcements and more like pets that Vivian sent to observe or play with on a whim.

Or worse, they were sent to make things worse for his already chaotic project.

But Charles, who was always conscientious, still cleared his throat and forced a polite smile on his tired face, though his voice was as dry as sandpaper.

"Lord Ian, Miss Lilith, you are welcome to wander around. If you get hungry, there are some freshly picked Starlight Honey Fruits over there. Be careful not to get too close to Miss Kiki's experimental subjects; those things are quite unstable. Perhaps later, I can arrange a guide for you two to tour the Sweet Forest..."

He waved his hand, as if to dismiss two unimportant children who still needed care, and prepared to continue his despairing work.

Clearly, in Charles's eyes, the two little ones were not even worth considering in a problem of relocating the forest. They were just two minor troubles that Vivian had thrown at him in her whim, requiring his attention.

Lilith was somewhat displeased with Charles's disdain. Her silver eyes widened as she tried to speak, but Ian instantly silenced her with a magical tentacle.

Ian was not surprised by Charles's attitude.

What weight could a seemingly harmless slime and a disheveled little goblin hold in the eyes of a veteran vampire butler?

He leaped in front of Charles and spoke calmly, his voice not loud, but clearly penetrating the noise of the camp.

"Butler Charles, Lady Vivian has sent us to assist you. Please tell us your current plans and the difficulties you are facing."

Charles paused, looked at Ian again, and his eyes showed a hint of surprise in addition to his weariness.

This slime speaks quite logically.

But Charles still didn't believe the other party could understand the complexity of the project.

Charles sighed, thinking to himself that he would just treat it as dealing with a child.

He pointed to the wooden table in the center of the tent, on which lay a blueprint.

"The plan? This is the only plan right now: a super-massive teleportation array. As for the difficulties..."

Charles paused mid-sentence, then gave a wry smile, pointing to the dizzying runes on the blueprints and the astronomical figures on the materials list beside them. He continued, "Materials, time, magic, success rate... none of these are easy, and..."

"The only plan? Who said that!" A sudden female voice interrupted Charles.

From Ian's low vantage point, all he could see was a pair of long, slender, fair legs, wearing boots, stepping into the tent.

Ian looked up and saw a mature woman with exaggerated smoky makeup. She was tall and wore a simple leather tube top and leather shorts, which made her look very simple and capable.

The fact that she had a bunch of parts pouches and a bulging tool bag hanging around her waist, wore a pair of intricately runed gloves, and held a huge wrench in her hand all proved that she was a craftswoman.

Humanity?

This was the first time Ian had seen a human since arriving in this world, and he looked at Lilith with surprise.

Lilith probably noticed Ian's confusion and whispered something to him.

"Her name is Kiki Wrench. She looks human, but it's said she has one-eighth dwarf blood. She hates it when people say she's human. A few years ago, she blew up a workshop in the human kingdom and then fled to the Monster Forest."

Completely oblivious to the newcomers Ian and Lilith, Kiki yelled at Charles, "Old man! Stop thinking about your ridiculously expensive super teleportation array!"

With an excited flush on her face, she pulled a small rune from a pouch at her waist and exclaimed excitedly.

"Look at this! Overload Burst Rune! With only a tenth of the budget for your teleportation array, I can bury 360, no, 500 explosive points beneath the forest! Detonate them simultaneously! Bang!"

She opened her mouth wide, mimicking the sound of an explosion, and then stretched out her finger, drawing a curve in the air.

"Then, whoosh! It's launched towards the dragon's nest! The deviation can be corrected by using the delayed explosion rune to create a secondary explosion."

"Materials? Time? How long does it take to plant the explosives? A few days will be enough! Brilliance! Efficiency! Do you understand, old man?"

Her eyes shone as if she could already see the magnificent mushroom cloud of the forest being blown into the sky.

"The moment of detonation, the light and shadow, the vibration, the beauty... Ahhh! Just thinking about it makes me tremble with excitement, hahaha~"

"That's the art of problem-solving!"