"Guh! I lost! Kill me." Esdeath revived once more, back in her peak condition, but she no longer had any intention of fighting.
She couldn't win. Not even a little.
Who knew from what corner of the world this group of monsters had suddenly popped out from?
Why couldn't she beat a single one of them?
"Wake up. I've already taken back the revival Curio. If you die again, you'll really be dead. Don't go falling in love with the taste of death, now," Chen Li said, walking up to Esdeath and gently patting her cheek with the half-eaten remains of her personal sword.
"…Alright, I understand. So, where are the soldiers you want me to lead? As long as the quality of the troops is high enough, I can conquer a vast territory for the Empire!" Esdeath's voice was filled with heroic ambition.
She had already accepted reality. The reality was that this group of people wasn't human at all.
Moreover, Esdeath could vaguely sense that, due to her loss in the contract, she could no longer freely control her own life.
But it didn't matter.
The strong prey on the weak. This was the creed Esdeath had always believed in.
She couldn't even beat a child. She deserved to be trampled underfoot.
But as long as she was given time to grow, Esdeath believed that sooner or later, she would be able to trample on everyone who had trampled on her.
She had only died twice today and had already awakened the ability to stop time. Esdeath couldn't even imagine how far she could develop.
I, Esdeath, will one day, step by step by step, reach the very top!
When that day comes, call me Gauss!
"Here, behind you."
"Gurgle!"
When Esdeath turned her head and saw the "soldiers" Chen Li wanted her to lead, she felt her world collapse.
"Slimes are made of ice, and soldiers are troops. 'Ice' (bīng) and 'soldier' (bīng) are homophones, so these are the troops you're to lead," Chen Li introduced.
[That's really hilarious.]
"Shut up."
[You got it.]
"These things are the soldiers you want me to lead? Forget conquering new territories, they can't even defend a single region, can they?" Esdeath was incredulous.
"You can't beat it," Chen Li said.
"How is that possible?"
I may not be able to beat you, but you think I can't beat this blob of slime?
In a fit of anger, Esdeath swung out an ice blade, viciously stabbing at the Ice Slime.
And then… not only was the slime's "clothing" not even slightly dirtied, it even grew a little bigger.
"This thing is immortal. Its shield is immune to ice damage, and it can absorb and store all cold energy."
"…"
Esdeath's attack seemed to have triggered the slime's automatic counter-attack function. Two nearby Ice Slimes began to charge up together, then leaped, descending upon Esdeath with the force of Mount Tai.
Esdeath merely glanced up at the shadow in the sky, lightly raised a hand, and an ice pillar shot upwards, sending both slimes flying.
Esdeath couldn't beat the Ice Slime, because her personal longsword had been eaten by Chen Li, but the Ice Slime couldn't beat her either.
"Gurgle gurgle gurgle guh!"
"They said they'll be back," Chen Li translated.
"I don't need you to translate for me. However, if it can store cold energy, it seems it would make for a decent soldier." After a simple test, Esdeath was reasonably satisfied with the proposal of slime soldiers.
If nothing else, being able to store cold energy for her was good enough.
"But where are my soldiers? I have three great generals under my command."
"You mean the Three Beasts?"
"That's right."
"Those two slimes you just sent flying were two of them. The other one, Liwa, is still staying in Yakumo Yukari's gap," Chen Li said.
Of Esdeath's Three Beasts, only Liwa was actually a decent person.
"???"
"Forgot to tell you. These Ice Slimes are all formed from people burdened with sin. Each one has their own prison sentence, and they'll only change back after their term is up. And right now, the Imperial Capital is full of Ice Slimes like this."
"A prison sentence? That's quite an interesting concept." Since her three subordinates weren't truly dead, and she wasn't as strong as her opponent, Esdeath was willing to admit defeat.
Moreover, this meant that Esdeath no longer needed to worry about the lives of her "ice soldiers," because they couldn't die.
Although Esdeath was cruel to her enemies, she treated her own soldiers very well.
She had no other bad habits; she just loved to fight, loved battle, and loved war.
Though that in itself was a pretty big problem.
"Chen Li, this is the last sinner in the Empire who hasn't been turned into a slime. I've brought him to you," Yakumo Yukari said, arriving at Chen Li's side. She snapped her fingers, a gap split open, and Minister Honest fell out.
"Gr-gr-great lord, long time no see! I've missed you dearly!" Honest's mental state was very poor; he seemed to have suffered considerable psychological torment in the gap. His eyes lit up when he saw Chen Li, and he quickly scrambled over.
But before Honest could get close, he was stopped by a Spear of the Void that stabbed into the ground five centimeters in front of him.
"Gr-gr-great lord, what is the meaning of this? I am Honest, the one who listens to you the most! You exchanged three punches for my eternal loyalty, and you promised to let me go afterward!" Honest wailed, tears and snot streaming down his face.
"Let you go? I promised, but many others did not," Chen Li said, shaking his head.
Even a three-year-old child in the capital knew that Honest deserved to die a thousand deaths.
And Chen Li wouldn't dare accept Honest's loyalty. After all, the previous emperor he had pledged loyalty to was personally poisoned by him.
"B-but you promised me."
"Oh? Did I ever tell you my name?"
"Holy Lord! Your name is Holy Lord! You told me yourself!" Honest nodded repeatedly.
"Then that's right! As everyone knows, Holy Lords don't keep their promises."
Snap! Chen Li snapped his fingers. Golden chains instantly pierced Honest's four limbs. A miraculous power acted upon him, and a brilliant light erupted.
Amidst Honest's pained screams and wails, as the light faded, an Ice Slime appeared before everyone.
"A sentence of 114,514 years? My goodness, the sins you've committed are quite numerous."
Chen Li was truly in awe of the extent of Honest's sins.
"How many years?" Esdeath was stunned for a moment.
"114,514 years."
"…" Esdeath figured she probably had the shortest lifespan in her own army now.
Based on her knowledge of the capital's nobles and officials, if Honest had a sentence of over 100,000 years, the others should have at least several hundred or a thousand.
Oh no, now the lifespan gap is a real issue.
And as the greatest filth in the capital, and indeed the Empire, was swept away by Chen Li at this moment, and as Najenda, with Chen Li's support and Yakumo Yukari's help, had all the powerful and sinful individuals in every city across the Empire stripped of their power and thrown into prison, this empire-wide cleanup was finally complete.
Chen Li's cleansing was recognized. The merit on the [The Cleaner] Miracle Card, which had originally decreased due to him turning countless sinners into slimes, was instantly repaid several dozen times over.
Each time a cleanup was completed, Chen Li would also receive a corresponding random reward.
And this time, the reward was…
"A Golden Slime King Statue?" Chen Li stared at the fist-sized lump of gold in his hand and fell into deep thought.
Do I look like someone who's short on money?
Alright, he was indeed short on money.
But having the Aeon of Erudition clean up a venue yielded a trend-setting reward. Cleaning up an entire empire and only getting this seemed a bit inappropriate.
Or was it because he had used slimes to do the cleaning that he received a Golden Slime?
"Ah, there's an instruction manual? What does gold need an instruction manual for… oh, I see." After reading the manual, Chen Li could no longer look down on the golden slime that had seemed like a joke.
This wasn't a Golden Slime.
This was a [Noble] Golden Slime.
It was a Golden Slime with extremely high plasticity.
Any item forged from this gold would be imbued with the permanent [Noble] Entry.
If the Golden Slime were integrated into a bloodline, it would turn all the blood in the body into flowing gold, even allowing this bloodline to be passed down forever, creating a noble, eternal Golden Family!
After reading the description, Chen Li felt a sense of reverence for this lump of gold.
Such an extremely precious material naturally couldn't be used carelessly.
Otherwise, it would be a waste!
Wastefulness is shameful! It should be a crime!
"So… where's Vill-V? Help me forge this lump of gold into the Golden Homu King's Crown! It'll definitely be super cool!" Chen Li began to look around for Vill-V.
[If wastefulness is a crime, then you should get a life sentence! By the way, aren't you a forger yourself?]
"Being strong is a matter of the current meta, but being cool is for a lifetime. And I've worked so hard to forge so many Curios, can't I enjoy myself a little? What's wrong with outsourcing some of my business to another forger? Brave people enjoy the world first!"
Voom! Before Chen Li could find Vill-V, a purple mirror hanging from his chest began to slowly float up.
The palm-sized mirror instantly expanded to be taller than a person after leaving Chen Li. Then, the surface of the mirror slowly disappeared, and Big Herta elegantly stepped out, stroking her hair.
"You're out? Finished tutoring Sirin?" Chen Li greeted Herta.
Originally, Chen Li had planned to send Sirin to the Herta Space Station for tutoring, and he had indeed done so. But when he was about to skip through time, Herta had proposed an idea: why not bring Sirin over and use this fast-forwarded time to give her some intensive lessons?
"More or less. It's not that I'm done teaching, but that Sirin is done holding back."
"Done holding back?" Chen Li tilted his head.
"Chen Li… Chen Li? Chen Li! Where's Chen Li?" A mournful voice, like that of a female ghost, echoed from deep within the mirror space.
At Herta's signal, Chen Li poked his head into the mirror space before him.
Before he could adjust to the rather dim light of the mirror space, a purple figure shot straight at him, plastered itself to his face, and hugged him tightly, refusing to let go.
"Oh my god, a facehugger!"
"Brave Herrschers enjoy their Retainer first!" Sirin said, holding Chen Li's head in her arms and nuzzling him vigorously.
[In a way… it really is a face-hugging "bug."]
"Stop nuzzling, it kinda hurts."
"Nonsense, I'm clearly a D," Sirin retorted.
"Like I'd believe you. You and your teacher Big Herta combined don't even make a D!"
"…" Herta, who had been watching the fun from the side, suddenly fell silent.
Staring at Chen Li standing in front of her mirror space, Herta slowly moved, found the right angle, and kicked him straight into the mirror.
"Damned heretic! Go drown in your big-thunder dreams in Sirin's arms!" Herta roared.
---o---