Barely.

After a truly exhausting climb, I was close to the top of the chasm. I took a quick break to gain enough energy to make it. Unfortunately, it seems the chasm had a mind of its own, because the tornado-**** winds came back at that moment, almost immediately trying to blow me off and away, but I managed to hold on just barely to the rock face. With one final push off a crevice, I threw myself onto the top of the cliff, just past the edge. It seemed the winds were just limited to inside the chasm, because just as quickly as they came, they left, leaving me, an exhausted, damaged and freezing slime, alone. I didn't even think about the implausibility of how that worked because I took the opportunity to rest more thoroughly, shutting my eyes(?) and taking an impromptu nap.

By the time I awoke, the sun was setting and before long, it would be nightfall. I had to hurry and find shelter, lest I get killed by other monsters in the dark. I quickly surveyed my surroundings and saw a group of structures not too far from my location; most likely an abandoned village or town. I hopped over as fast as I could, doing my best to maintain stealth; as much as I would have liked to hope the area was free from monsters, there was a high probability that some had made it their new home. While my defense power was high for a creature of starting levels, I didn't have much attack power. Pure Land would help compensate, but it only worked if I stayed within its area, and I won't always be able to do that. My best chance at survival in the wild was to strike first, unnoticed. Maybe I should've chosen Assassin as my starting class; then again, without Ranger's lore books, I wouldn't have known where I was, and knowing is half the battle.

'Here's hoping what I have is enough .'

Well, whatever. I'd just have to make do with the cards I'd chosen. Approaching the village, I saw a palisade made of logs creating a defensive wall around it. A gap in the palisade formed the entrance to the village, with a well-worn dirt path leading up to it. Looking up top, I saw several goblins keeping watch of the entrance, crossbows in hand. While my stats were likely higher than theirs, it wouldn't matter much if they all swarmed me, so I needed an alternate entrance. Preferably a sneakier one than just marching through the front door. By the looks of the rotting logs, it wasn't built recently. The goblins probably just found the place and set up shop without checking it out. I scanned the palisade and found what I was looking for: A gap in the wall. I hopped over to it, using the now-lengthening shadows to hide from the goblin crossbowmen. As I thought, the hole was the perfect size for my form to slip through.

Now inside the camp, I snuck through the place, making note of multiple patrols through the streets. A few campfires were scattered around and host to several goblins, many of them chatting, eating and drinking like there was no tomorrow. I spied on one such campfire trio behind some crates to try and get any information I could. Surprisingly, I could understand what they were talking about, despite two of them sounding sloshed, no doubt from all the **** they were drinking:

"Heeey, save some for the rest of usss, eh?!"

"Y-You had your fill, and I'll 'ave miiiine!"

"Pipe down, you two!, You've given me a headache!"

" 'Ey, anyone hear 'bout that broad being imprisoned here?"

"Of course we know 'bout the broad! It's all anyone seems to be takin' about!"

"Have ta say, she's -Hic- she's a lookerrrr. Wannna go fuck 'er?"

"Do you have a **** wish?! The Chieftain said not to touch a hair on the broad! She's already banged up enough, so she won't be good **** material."

"Daaaaamn shame... Where'd the Chieftain said ta keep 'er again?"

"In the damn tavern, you toothpick! It's the only place in this dump with a basement. Supposedly she had two companions, but they managed to get away, though not without one taking an arrow."

"We'll geeeet 'em, don't woooory! 'Ey, what's thaaaat?"

I didn't even realized I was exposed until that goblin pointed it out. I hastily slinked away, ducking behind the building just as the sober goblin checked my hiding spot.

"Nothing! That's it, poxface! I'm cutting you off!"

"Yooou're no fun!"

That was close. I leaned against the wall, finally processing the absurdity of my situation: Going from human to slime, in a goblin-infested village set upon this world to help the Dark fight the Light and vice versa, and-

'Wait... why should I help them?'

Melanoche and Carnachias were probably hoping for me to be some degenerate bastard who didn't care about others so long as my pleasure was satisfied, but that wasn't what I wanted. There's already so much bad in the world; why should I add to it? Not to mention, if the Light was made up of pretentious folk like Ariel, I didn't want to fight for them either. They probably see themselves as haughtily superior to us. I probably couldn't go back home either (not that I'd like to return anyway), even if I helped either side win this stupid war that they conscripted me to fight in.

'...So, what do I want to do?'

Then, I remembered about the girl the goblins were talking about. She was to be sold as a **** to some random bastard who'd likely kill her for sadism's sake. Her companion was injured and out in the wild with no hope for help for miles. Maybe I could help them. A small objective to ignore the bigger ones.

'Well, it would certainly beat helping the horny Dark and high-sounding Light.'