I became the slime toy of the evil dragon girl?

Lilith packed the book into her cloth bag, picked up Ian, and left.

They walked toward the dessert shop.

That was the shop that Mirabelle had specially marked on the map last night; it's said to be the premier dessert shop in the eastern part of the Ash Kingdom.

A small queue had already formed in front of the store, mostly consisting of town residents and women with children.

When it was their turn, the plump female shop owner greeted them with a beaming smile: "Welcome! The strawberry pie is especially fresh today, and there's also..."

"One of everything, please." Lilith waved her little hand.

The female shop owner's eyes widened: "Every...everything?"

"Yes, wrap them all up." Lilith placed a bag of gold coins on the counter.

"Okay, okay!"

The female shop owner hurriedly began packing, occasionally glancing at Lilith and Ian.

It took a full ten minutes to pack.

Finally, a huge package was brought out, emitting an enticing sweet aroma.

Ian also took advantage of the time to pack up a dessert and started eating it.

After taking a bite, Ian shook his body in enjoyment, and the whole ball of jelly trembled slightly.

The rich cream flavor, the precise control of sweetness, the fresh and crisp fruit, and even some unknown magical spices are added.

Ian had to admit that humans were miles ahead of monsters when it came to making sweets.

In contrast, even Lady Vivian basically eats raw ingredients.

While it may not be as naturally nourishing as the fruits from Sweet Forest, it has achieved a remarkably high level in terms of pure flavor.

Vivian would probably like it, Ian thought.

After that, I visited a few more stores.

Everyone bought some miscellaneous items.

For example, Barbara bought a lot of clothes because the gilded rose had unexpectedly signed a contract, and the monster camp didn't have any clothes suitable for them to wear.

By the time the shopping ended, it was nearly noon, and Lilith and Barbara were carrying large and small bags.

Finding a secluded corner, Ian packed all the bags and packages into his storage space.

Feeling relaxed, the three headed out of town, preparing to return to the monster camp.

……

About ten minutes after leaving Honeydew Town, the path gradually disappeared into the sparse woodland.

Sunlight filters through the treetops, casting dappled patterns, while the wind rustles the leaves.

The surroundings were unusually quiet; not even the chirping of birds could be heard.

Lilith suddenly stopped.

"We're being followed," she whispered, her silver eyes scanning behind her through the gap in her hood. "Two of them, they must have come from the town."

Ian calmly executed a pincer attack and landed behind them.

Indeed, about eighty meters behind, two life forms were quietly following, using the trees as cover. Their aura strength was around level three, and they carried obvious malice.

They pulled their screens far apart.

They were the same two sneaky adventurers we'd seen on the second floor of the tavern earlier—the scarred man and the sinister thief.

"Those two small fry... Keep going," Ian instructed. "See what they're up to."

The three pretended not to notice and quickened their pace. After walking for a few more minutes, they came to a small clearing with relatively sparse trees and flat ground. The person behind them then stopped hiding.

"Halt!"

The two emerged from behind the tree.

But they're not the only ones.

As they appeared, five other people slowly emerged from the surrounding woods.

Two melee fighters, one wielding a sword and the other an axe; one archer; and one mage holding a staff.

There was also a burly man standing at the very back, whose aura was noticeably stronger, with a two-handed broadsword on his back.

There are seven people in total.

Ian quickly performed an analysis scan:

Name: Hawke

Race: Human

[Level: LV.41]

[Attributes: Strength 46, Agility 34, Constitution 39, Spirit 26]

[Talent: None]

[Skills: Two-handed sword mastery LV.3, Charge LV.4, Berserk LV.1, Cross Slash LV.4... (Expand)]

--------

Name: Fisher

Race: Human

[Level: LV.31]

[Attributes: Strength 12, Agility 16, Constitution 15, Spirit 36]

[Talent: Fire Magic Affinity LV.4]

[Skills: Fireball LV.3, Fireball LV.3, Fire Resistance Ring LV.2, Tactical Roll LV.3... (Expand)]

Apart from the leader who had just reached the fourth rank and had a total of seven or eight skills, including two level four skills, the rest of the skills were roughly level one to three.

Ian began to wonder why this kind of panel could be tier four.

Having only one or two level-four skills, plus a few attributes reaching 40, is that enough to qualify as tier four? And as for talents, there are none at all. Think about how much worse they are than me!

Could it be because my [Mind Manifestation] is only a skill on the panel, thus lowering its rank rating?

The mage on the other side only had seven or eight spells, and only four of them had skills above level one, including a [Tactical Roll LV.3]?

As for the other five opponents, they were all at the third rank.

Seven against three. A numerical disadvantage...

While Ian was still thinking, Scarface, who had been following behind Ian and the others, spoke up.

"A fairy..." Scarface grinned, revealing yellow teeth. "This is a rare find. We're a bit short on cash lately, so we'd like to invite this lady on a trip with us to exchange for some money for drinks."

The tall, thin archer nocked an arrow and said in a sinister tone, "You two are just weak women. If you listen to my advice, you'll suffer less physical pain, hehehehe..."

After the archer let out a few lewd laughs, the remaining men also started to chuckle, looking like they had the upper hand...

Barbara's face turned pale, and she subconsciously moved closer to Lilith.

Lilith stared coldly at them, a shadow sword already materializing in her hand, and said, "Slave hunters? How did you know I was a fairy?"

"Slave capture? Don't put it so harshly." Hawke, the leader of the fourth-tier warriors, finally spoke.

"We're just... helping lost young ladies find a new home. Some noble lords have a thing for people of your race, and they're incredibly generous with their money. As for how they figured it out..."

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly pulled out a small bottle of clear medicine from his pocket, uncorked it, and quickly dripped two drops into his eyes.

His eyes instantly shimmered with a pale blue light, and he chuckled wickedly, saying, "The pastor's wife has a very curvy figure~"

Barbara immediately curled up into a ball, covering her chest with her hands.

"True Sight Potion!" Lilith exclaimed in a low voice.

Hawke looked at Lilith as if she were a commodity: "You're a rare find. On the royal capital's black market, a complete Shadow Fairy can sell for over a thousand gold coins. We've been eyeing you for a long time..."

The others also became excited, their eyes scanning Lilith back and forth.

"And that white-haired one," a sword-wielding warrior licked his lips, "Although he's human, he's pretty good-looking... he should fetch a good price! And we can have some fun with him first..."

"Where's that lump of slime?" someone asked.

"What good are slimes, hahaha!" Hawke laughed maniacally. "But since they're together, let's catch them all! They look like some kind of mutated species because they glow; maybe we can sell them for some pocket money!"

"Laugh! Let's see if you'll still be laughing when a slime takes you apart into Gundam parts!" Ian thought to himself.