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The Caretaker of Tenants From Another World - Chapter 123
🕑 Added 2022-08-15 21:33:45 +0000 UTCAlt link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1axpMvc_GBqpBCQCy6IuJsfB0DXIsf8WXmZrackVowUY/edit?usp=sharing
Chapter 123
After informing Reggie and Grace what had happened, they came by right away. Neither of them could make heads or tails out of it. The netherfolk scholar they brought, an elderly serpent man who served under Tarcosa and whose lower half was the body of a snake, appeared just as perplexed.
Remmy had regained some control of her humanoid form again, but she still wasn't back to her original size and only stood at a meager foot. The netherfolk inspecting her returned to us with brows knitted tightly together.
"While I'm stumped as to how it happened, I do know that two slimes fusing together is possible. It has been observed in nature before, when two slimes are under duress or brutally injured, the healthier of the two often ends up consuming the other. Sometimes, if enough slimes fuse together, they become a slime king or queen," he explained.
"But Remmy is still Remmy, right? Does that make Saralash still Saralash?" I asked.
"Yes to both questions. Individually, they very much appear to be of sound mind."
"What we really need to know is who is in control?" Grace butted in with a question of her own. "Because Saralash, out of the five Royal Black Guards, inflicted the most destruction and hurt a lot of people. Is she still a danger?"
"Remmy is in control," the scholar answered promptly.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
"So Saralash has been reduced to a zit." Reggie chuckled.
"I heard that. Would you dare say that to my face, human?"
The small pink in Remmy's gelatinous body formed a face on her right shoulder. Reggie, the madman that he was, leaned in to do so with a smirk until Remmy shielded Saralash.
"No… bullying," Remmy said.
"Oh, alright." Reggie shrugged and backed away.
For whatever reason, Remmy was protective of Saralash.
"Remmy, are you okay with this? Saralash was the one who almost killed you," I said.
Remmy nodded. "She's my friend."
"Come with me." Grace pulled me out of Remmy's room like I was in trouble. "It's a damn miracle and a half no one died yet. If we didn't pull out all the stops to get netherfolk healers out there, someone might have. Professor Markel is still in a coma, and Saralash is being used as a rallying cry against netherfolk immigration."
"Then what are you going to do? Deport Remmy who didn't do anything wrong? Hell, you can credit her for cutting Saralash's rampage short. She could have done a hell of a lot more damage," I reminded her.
"And how do your other tenants feel about this?" she asked.
"Er… mixed reactions…"
Ange, Ivory, and Cresta had some choice words when they found out.
"Even the guy you brought says Saralash isn't a threat anymore. Remmy is in control. If anything happens, I'll let you two know. Don't you trust me?" I asked.
"No," Grace answered flatly and sighed.
"I'm fine with it," Reggie chimed in.
"You're fine with anything as long as you can get a smoke break every two hours. Okay, just… keep Remmy and Saralash indoors until the protests die down and keep us up to date. We don't have time to screw around for another hour," she said on the way downstairs.
"But I want to go to the beach soon!"
"Until the protests die down!"
When the three of them left, Remmy was back to playing video games like nothing was out of the ordinary.
"Are they gone?" Ange asked, peeking out of my room where she had been hiding in.
"You're really scared of Grace, aren't you?" I teased.
"Please." She scoffed. "When your livelihood hinges on whether or not someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed, it is not fate I wish to tempt. Without my magic— because of this damn armlet— I cannot compel her against deporting me if she so chooses."
"I'd like to hope you haven't been doing that… Anyway, I won't let her take you while I'm around."
Ange wrapped her arms around my neck and smiled. "I know. You want to see me in a swimsuit before letting anything touch a hair on my head."
"You're goddamn right."
"Hey, lovebirds! Remmy still here? They ain't taking her away, are they?" Ivory asked on the way upstairs with Cresta.
I gave them the short of what happened and what was said. They were relieved that Remmy wouldn't be sent back to Weyera, however…
When we looked into the room, a blob-form Remmy was in the middle of playing a game on the computer. Since she wasn't large enough to hold the controller by hand, she sat on the desk with multiple slime appendages on the buttons and joysticks.
"Choose the torture option. Do it!" Saralash urged her.
"But we won't get a special crafting item if he dies," Remmy said.
"The true gifts along the way are the screams and pleas to end their misery. We need not whatever it is he has to give."
It was like having a Star Wars sith sitting on Remmy's shoulder, coaxing the jedi towards the dark side.
"I know we have a lot of reasons to dislike Saralash, but Remmy's become fond of her. Let's try and get along normally," I said.
While driving Tamara home from school, we passed by a lot of protestors against netherfolk in the city. As I came up to a stop at a redlight on the intersection, some of them who were picketing on the corner recognized me and shouted obscenities.
"We don't want your kind here!"
"Get outta here before we chase ya outta here!"
I rolled down the window and said, "Buddy, you're sitting on a lawn chair with an umbrella set up for shade. I'd be impressed if you could chase your own shadow."
One of them threw a drink from Rocket Burger, but I brought the window up in time for it to splash harmlessly against the car door.
"Do something useful in your life and pick up your letter, alright?" I hollered as the light turned green for me to speed out of there.
"Are we really not wanted here?" Tamara asked.
My tenant had both hands folded together, twiddling her thumbs. First bullying, now ignorant protestors. It didn't seem to end.
"When there's hundreds of people yelling at you, it's easy to forget there are millions more out there who support netherfolks. Besides, I want you here. Isn't that enough?" I grinned.
She also flashed a smile.
"I want to learn some cuss words! I hear you and Ivory say it all the time. How do I use them?" Tamara glanced at me expectantly.
We somehow managed to steer Tamara clear of anything too vulgar in the dorm, but I suppose it was only a matter of time.
"Tamara, if I teach you profanity, Ange is going to give me a whipping. Here's a tame one: up yours!"
Tamara proceeded to roll down the window, stick her head out, and shouted at the protestors, "Up yours!"
Then returned to her seat, dying of giggles.
"Feel better?" I asked.
"Yeah!" Tamara nodded happily. "But why is it 'up yours'? Up what?"
It was at that moment that I knew I had made a grave mistake.
"On second thought, let's pretend I didn't teach you that." I sighed.
We arrived home to a shouting match coming from the living room. Tamara trotted in first. I followed after her to find Remmy and Ivory engaged in the racing game, Mario Kart. However, the ones yelling at each other were Saralash and Ivory.
"You will never defeat Remmy. You might as well put the controller down now. Who did you learn to play from? A cardboard box? I can tell, because it's about as empty as your head," Saralash taunted.
"Bitch! You're not even playing— Ahhhh! I didn't see the damn banana peel!" Ivory was one mess up away from chucking the controller.
Remmy came in first place as usual, and Ivory scored dead last behind the AI.
"I want to play!" Tamara dropped her backpack to the floor and picked up a controller to join them.
"Hah. Another easy win. It's like you're not even playing," Saralash sneered.
"I love ya, Remmy. But you gotta let me punch her face. Just once. I'm begging ya!" Ivory pleaded, popping a vein on their temple and raising a clenched fist.
"You're going to… hurt me, too…" Remmy mumbled.
"Looks like you're making yourself right at home," I said to Saralash, whose pink slime moved from one part of the body to the other in order to face me.
"Hmph. About as home as one can make it. How would you feel trapped within someone else's body without any control?" she asked.
"But you don't seem to dislike it."
The pink slime didn't answer and instead diluted herself across the sea of blue, giving Remmy a very light tint of purple.
"I thought she was never going to shut up. Thank fuck!" Ivory sighed.
"Fuck!" Tamara repeated enthusiastically when her racer fell off the track and as Ange entered the living room.
"Excuse me?" The succubus, appalled, shot me a death stare.
"It was Ivory!" I pointed to the perpetrator, who was no longer there and likely transformed into an object in the room. "Well, shit."
"Shit!" Tamara exclaimed with more gusto.
"Stop repeating bad words, you're going to get me in trouble!"
Ange let me go after a stern talking to. As evening came, and everyone was turning into bed for the night, I spent the late hours cleaning the bathroom once the last tenant cleared out. On the way up to my room, murmuring drew my attention to Remmy's room. Her lights were still on, which wasn't out of the norm. Slimes didn't need sleep after all, but she was stuck with company.
I couldn't fight the urge and tiptoed close enough to listen in on the conversation.
"You should try being nicer… to the others," Remmy said.
"Why would I do that? I've no need to make friends," Saralash replied nonchalantly.
"I don't want them to hate you…"
There was a pause. I almost thought they caught on I was living until Saralash heaved a sigh.
"Oh, child. Your worry for me is wasted, but very well. I shall… try to be more amicable. I only do this for you. The last thing I want is for them to avoid you by avoiding me. Happy?" Saralash asked.
"Yes," Remmy whispered.
"Good. Now boot up that game from earlier. Let's begin a new save file, and we shall commit to an evil run," she said.
It sounded like Remmy and Saralash were just fine. I went to bed, mind at ease knowing that.
