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With the movement of our horses' footsteps being directed by the herd of stealth slimes. We had to make a troublesome movement. This movement involved a silence that made us have to be able to pass through the borders of the opposition nobles without being noticed by someone who was controlling the animals around us.

"Tamer ability, huh?" I muttered a little during this silent journey.

Without getting a clear clue about our enemy, it made Mio wary of enemies ability to control animals which would make they make unpredictable movement.

Information about the animals controlled by magic had been conveyed to Mio and her attitude became more vigilant after hearing the information about it.

My danger detector felt useless after these controlled animals served as their watchposts that naturally would not be suspected by anyone.

Once again, a clever way that made me want to know who was standing behind this perfect plan.

With their behavior being wary of their own territory, it made me even more suspicious of their very hostile attitude like this.

"We seem to have found an unpredictable enemy, huh, Mio?" I asked Mio in a low whisper.

The only sounds we made were the hooves of horses walking slowly and the sound of the stealth slime herd echoing in my head.

It seemed like they were busy taking precautions a few meters away from us.

I could hear Aiko dividing the two groups of stealth slimes that were tasked with monitoring the land and air.

"Aiko looks diligent when she's doing field work like this. It seems like staying inside the Main Mansion has made them bored and want to do something outside."

"I have to find a way to keep them from getting bored later."

Along with my little mutter that wanted to do something about the stealth slime herd that easily got bored indoors. I was surprised by the falling of a tree branch that hit the bird's body.

Krraasshh...

Buurrkkk!!

The fallen bird showed its head that was perfectly severed like the water cut magic chant that the stealth slime herd had used in hunting the Golden King Bear group.

Their tactics in carrying out silent and structured attacks without my direction seemed to have improved.

"Good job everyone," I praised the stealth slime's improved abilities on the Soul Tame communication channel.

Just by listening to my praise, the stealth slime who was on spy duty elsewhere and the stealth slime who was on duty near me seemed to get the same praise from me.

I don't know what the stealth slime herd who are carrying out infiltration and spy operations are doing. But I can be sure that they are doing something good and deserve my praise.

While I was too busy on the Soul Tame communication channel which was filled with various chatter from the stealth slime herd, I was surprised by Mio's hand that was raised in the air and continued with her index finger on something.

Following Mio's index finger, I could see a mine entrance filled with rusty mine carts and mine rails.

It looked like it had been abandoned several decades ago.

"We have to enter a mine like this to enter Earl Timoti's territory secretly?" I whispered to Mio.

Mio just gave a small nod and kept her silence.

I felt a little guilty when I started mumbling to communicate with the stealth slime herd connected to the Soul Tame communication channel.

Mio's complicated hand movements had given away her intention to enter first to make sure if there were any traps inside. However, I gave a small code not to do something rash like that and sent several stealth slimes to enter the mine door first.

The communication we did was simple hand movements that were easy for each other to understand.

Whether it was because I was too know Mio or Mio knew me too well, we were able to communicate with just small hand movements.

Mio was a bit stubborn when she wanted to see the inside of the mine door with her own eyes but I kept refusing her until we had to pull over into the tall bushes to discuss this.

"Lily-sama, it seems like I should go inside the mine entrance first to check the surroundings. Mines like this usually have poisonous gas that is only dangerous to humans. If stealth slimes enter it, they will be fine because they don't inhale this kind of poisonous gas," Mio said after we hid behind tall bushes.

Since our horses were hidden inside tall bushes, they enjoyed a little snack given by the herd of stealth slimes who were on guard duty in a circular radius several meters from me.

"I don't think that's a problem. You can distinguish between poisonous gas for humans, right, Aiko?" I asked Aiko who had just returned to gather the herd of stealth slimes that had spread out from their guard radius.

"Poison gas? Of course, we can distinguish it, my Supreme Commander," replied Aiko who seemed not to understand why we had to think about that.

"Is it possible that the Supreme Commander is afraid of poisonous gas like that?" Aiko asked with an innocent face that made me lose for words.

"Aiko, unlike stealth slimes that don't need to breathe to live. We need to breathe to live, if we inhale poisonous gas in a mine far from fresh air. Then we will suffer in the mine without being able to breathe freely. We also don't know how long we can survive in the mine before the meeting with Earl Timoti takes place," I said to explain a few things to Aiko.

Aiko tried to understand what I said with her innocent face.

Her attitude of wanting to know more about this was shown in her sparkling eyes and her happy smile.

"May I enter this mine first before you enter, my Supreme Commander?" asked Aiko who seemed to be thinking about something in her head.

"You can also observe my perspective using that perspective-sharing magic, right?" continued Aiko's words which gave a new idea about another Soul Tame magic ability.

I almost forgot about that one Soul Tame ability.

How could I almost forget about the Soul Tame magic ability which is very useful in setting up long-range attacks like that?

How careless of me.

"I can do that, but you have to be careful when moving inside the mine," I replied to agree with the little idea given by Aiko earlier.

Swiirrll...

Poofff...

By casting the Soul Tame magic that shared Aiko's point of view, a small screen appeared in front of me. That made Mio also see Aiko's point of view who was looking at me.

"Aiko, carry out an infiltration operation into the mine without being detected by anyone," I said to Aiko in this not-so-formal order.

Aiko just smiled when she heard my order and rushed towards the entrance of the mine which consisted of several abandoned rusty iron equipment.

A mine that had become a former iron mine only gave off a terrifying atmosphere like a place filled with hidden surprises such as deadly traps scattered inside the Dungeon.

Rather than deadly traps like in the Dungeon, I was more worried about finding a way out after entering the mine and encountering several narrow places that made me feel uncomfortable.

Just imagining it made my body tremble with fear. A fear of a narrow place and not knowing the way home to get out of the mine.

Seeing Aiko who looked happy with her steps that quickly went through the mine, she looked normal after passing through several mine tunnels that looked big enough for a horse to enter.

"Hmm..." Seeing these abandoned iron mine tunnels well maintained, I could only think of one thing about this.

"It seems like Earl Timoti always uses this iron mine entrance to move into Marquess Rommel's territory," my little mumble was heard by Mio.

"Is that what Lily-sama thinks too?" Mio replied while her eyes slowly turned towards me.

"Yes, this is too well maintained even though the entrance looks like it has been abandoned for quite a long time. There are even several puddles of water that are intended to accommodate water that enters through the mine entrance. Isn't this quite creative for an abandoned mine like this?" I gave my point of view on this one.

Mio seemed to think about my answer and her eyes returned to the corner of the field Aiko was sharing with us.

Through her sharp eyes at night, I saw her running speed in the darkness had increased rapidly along with her body giving off a visible small magic mark like a scent trail that allowed her to find her way home.

A clever way for a stealth slime to do, this made me wonder where Aiko learned something as clever as this.

"Aiko seems to leave something shining with every step she takes," muttered Mio who was curious about the traces left by Aiko.

"Yes, those are traces that can only be seen by fellow stealth slimes in the same herd. Other types of slimes cannot possibly see the traces left by Aiko," replied one of the stealth slimes with its body trying to form a human form beside me.

The answer she gave helped me to answer Mio's curiosity about the traces left by Aiko.

I also glanced at the stealth slime who had a little difficulty in forming its human form and failed several times in forming its human form.

"It seems like you're still having trouble forming your human form," I commented a little after she failed several times in forming her human form.

"J-Just having a little trouble forming a body suitable for moving, my Supreme Commander," with an answer filled with her behavior that failed several times, it made me see a human covered in a thick liquid.

It looked a bit disgusting indeed, but I appreciated her small effort in forming her human body with such difficulty.

With the formation of her human body that happened slowly, I saw a woman whose body proportions looked abnormal and was having trouble forming her body to look normal.

It would take a long time for her female body to form perfectly.

So, I'll ignore it for now and focus on Aiko's perspective that was being shared with me.

When Aiko approached another room in the mine, she saw a light coming from the lighting of magic stones attached to the walls of the mine.

That made me and Mio mutter to each other as if they wanted to see someone who was in the mine.

With calculated movements, Aiko disguised herself as one of the mine walls and moved slowly using her elastic slime body.

As our curiosity was revealed little by little, it made us feel relieved to see Earl Timoti waiting for us inside the mine.

"It seems like this is the real meeting point," Mio said with a small nod to me.

With the certainty of the meeting point's location, we moved again while carefully observing our surroundings.

Without leaving a trace, we moved silently into the mine entrance.