“What about me?” Shaki asked.

“You shall stay here to protect me with the few remaining troglodytes,” Violet said.

“And the rewards? I don’t get any?” Shaki asked.

“Hum… You get a break from digging. The other two will receive 300 sovereign points for their personal usage.”

“Yes, I’ll have enough for the Harpy Loft!” Lorely said.

“Hmm… I don’t like this,” Milia said.

“Why are you dissatisfied?” Violet asked.

“I want the Nanny instead of the useless bird brain,” Milia said.

“You!” Lorely slammed her fist on the table.

“I am not your nanny,” Shaki said.

Violet put her hand on the harpy’s shoulder, soothing her down.

“Why is that? It makes more sense for Lorely to go. She is a good scout, proficient with air magic such as haste. She covers your weaknesses,” Violet said.

Milia crossed her arms.

“An unreliable partner is dangerous, I feel more at ease having the smartest of us with me,” she said.

“The smartest one would rather finish digging,” Shaki sighed.

“Alright Milia, you are in charge of this mission. Shaki will assist you, as you requested. Once you’ve subjugated the gnolls, she will stay behind to organize the mining,” Violet said.

The dejected harpy slumped in her chair. Her pride was prickled from being pushed to the sidelines.

After settling with the plan, the rooks quickly moved on the preparations for departure.

Milia and Shaki supervised the troglodytes loading small barrows with preserved food and mining tools.

Violet lifted Slade to a summoned earth elemental. He hopped inside the golem’s socket.

[Skill: Symbiosis activated.]

“Good luck with your first battle, Slade!” Violet said.

“Why are they so cringy?” Milia mumbled to herself, leaning on a cart.

Shaki passed nearby, carrying a bag of mushroom. She smacked the minotaur’s butt.

“Stop slacking off.”

Slade pulled the supplies up the winding ramp leading towards the surface.

Violet stopped at the crystal mine entrance, before the micro army stepped under the sunlight.

“I will keep an eye on your situation with my ‘View Earth’ spell. You will reach the ore mine after two days of travel. Milia, I am counting on you,” she said.

The female minotaur nodded.

“Onwards!” she yelled.

The pack of troglodytes marched through the wood. Milia glared at Slade, mumbling disturbing curses.

“Fuck, why is that thing so slow?” she asked loudly for him to hear.

The pawns’ head perked up, constantly checking Shaki for orders.

Their instinct of serving their masters ran into a problem. They didn’t know how to please the irritated minotaur, failing to realize that her mood was out of their control.

“Violet knew our trip would last two days. She must have taken into account the golem’s speed,” Shaki said.

“Shit… To think that it’s a mere slime. How dare that thing slow us down?” Milia said.

“He does help the pawns carrying the barrows over the obstacles,” Shaki said.

The words of spite couldn’t reach Slade’s mind. Their bouncing breasts and butt distracted him.

His imagination alternated between hanging Violet on his golem dick and banging Milia while pulling her horns.

The troglodyte rook had very feminine features too, but her legs and green skin looked too alien for Slade’s taste.

“Say… Why do you act so grumpy? Don’t you love going outside?” Shaki asked.

“Of course I wanted to leave! Look, the sky, the lush forest, the soft ground! I love it!”

“Hmm…” Shaki nodded.

“But those two girls are getting on my nerves. That stinky granny doesn’t listen to anything we suggest. It hurts my ass to acknowledge, but even the birdbrain is more reliable than that wallflower.”

“Alright, I’ve heard enough.”

“See?”

“Yeah, I see that you’re still as bad with hierarchy as you were when we were coworker. Our mission is digging, and digging I shall,” Shaki said.

“Oh my god, can’t you be more human? Where is your heart gone?”

“I’m a troglodyte, though.”

“Damn it, Shaki. You know what I mean, we’re all humans at heart.”

Slade jumped in surprise.

Why is she saying that they are all humans at heart? Did they get isekaied like me?

The group finally stopped marching, setting camp.

Shaki stirred the troglodyte’s favorite mushroom soup while Milia was tasting the leaves of all the nearby plants.

“You’re not feeding it?” Shaki asked, pointing Slade with her chin.

”It will get a lot of food in the mine, like gnoll corpses or ours if it fucks up everything,” Milia snorted.

Slade spun inside the golem. The realization that they were betting their lives on his abilities weighted on his heart. After all, they had judged that they couldn’t deal with the horde of gnolls before Slade’s arrival.

M-maybe I should have trained a bit more before going?

AUTHOR NOTES

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