We fought quite a few monsters and were now at a point where we could take a small rest since the king slime was only a few feet away. Its shiny blue jelly-like body lit the area up in a dim blue lighting under the canopies of the trees. I used a stick to explain how we would be fighting the boss. “When we fight the boss, you need to listen to my signal to attack. When the boss is almost low on health, you will need to get the last hit in. I can not kill it for you, but I can do my best to tank it until it is dead.”

    “Understood. Umm… When will you actually talk to me instead of writing on the ground?” The pink-haired thing asked. 

I looked at her and snorted as I wrote: “When you stop asking stupid questions.”

I watched in amusement as the pink-haired thing pursed her lips together. She was indeed an interesting character. During fights, I would yell my orders, and she would listen; after the fights, she would beg me to speak normally, which I ignored. To be honest, I found it much easier to use the stick to write what I was thinking than to actually say it. If I were to say it out loud, it would not make as much sense. It’s like as I am writing, I am able to put my thoughts into words easier than when speaking normally. That and I stutter due to being too nervous. All I can say is that social anxiety sucks.

The king slime, if I recall, was easy to defeat as long as you have enough strength to do so. As for me, I was currently level 15. That was 5 levels higher than the boss. I got no experience from the lower-level mobs that we killed on the way here, so I did not gain any levels. The pink-haired thing was able to level up to level 6, which was quite good. The pink-haired thing did not need to get the last hit on monsters on the way here, but for her quest objective, she did. If she wanted the staff, she would need to be the one to ‘kill’ the king slime.

I cleared up what I wrote and asked: “Are you ready?”
    
    “I’m ready.” The pink-haired thing nodded her head. I stood up and readied my sword. I had to be careful not to kill the boss, or else I would have suffered for nothing. 

We passed through to the clearing where the King Slime was. It was not much taller than us, but it was much bigger than a normal slime. It at least made for an easy target. The two of us quickly got into a normal attack pattern; I would attack first, dealing big damage, while the pink-haired thing would follow up. This kind of pattern was very good in a two-person team. But only worked if one person could out-damage the other to keep aggro. 

“Pass!” This was what I would yell out when it was the pink-haired thing’s turn to attack. She would sneak an attack in while I jumped right back into attack. We continued to do this over and over. The slime king really was only level ten, and it only had one charge attack, which all slimes had. Well, I guess it was more of a headbutt? Body blow?  Anyway, it would jump at me to attack, and I would dodge. “Pink-haired thing, finish it off!” 

“My name is Angel!” The pink-haired thing kept yelling something about her name being something else, but it flew in one ear and out the other, once a pink-haired thing, always a pink-haired thing. But she still followed my orders and began attacking nonstop. The battle went quite quickly, with me doing most of the damage, but the pink-haired thing was able to get what she wanted. It was nothing fancy, just a wooden staff with a small gem embedded into it. The gem glowed with a blue light. But it was a good staff for low levels.

I wrote on the ground. “Congratulations. I will help you leave the forest. Then I need to head out.” 

The sun was about to rise, and I wanted to be ready to go speak with Mary. I had to go get my sword skill. I figured by the time we got back, it would be late enough in the morning that I could actually visit her house without waking anyone. At least, I hope, anyway.

“Hey, can I add you to my friends?” I do believe I think I heard the pink-haired thing ask something very ridiculous. 

I stopped and looked at her for a moment before nodding my head reluctantly. Her big, round, expectant eyes were a little too much to say no. It was as if a puppy came up to you looking for food with a body that showed that it had not eaten in the past few days. While I am making excuses for my own blunder of nodding my head. It does make sense to have a few people I can rely on later on. As I grow in level, things will be harder to solo. And if I really want to gain levels quickly and upgrade my gear, I will need to take on dungeons, which are impossible solo.

The pink-haired thing sent me a friend request which I went to accept, but for some reason, it said Angel instead of a pink-haired thing. I took my trusty stick and wrote on the ground. “I thought your name was pink-haired thing? When did you change it to Angel?”

“It has been Angel from the start! I even told you this quite a few times!” For some reason, I really get a kick out of angering her. Maybe my sadist side is awakening.