The moment Aiko stepped out of the teleportation slash, she seemed to hear my muttering and acted awkwardly.

It seemed... something had happened with the stealth slime herd during my absence from this military expedition, causing me to glance at my magic circle formation and see the pattern of the stealth slime herd, which spreading further away from Marquess Rommel’s knights.

There was no mistaking it...

Something had happened to the stealth slime herd, and they were on a separate ways from the exploration path of Marquess Rommel’s knights.

While watching Aiko smile awkwardly at me, the teleportation slash behind her slowly closed.

"U-Uumm, Supreme Commander..."

"W-Want to hear some interesting information about what we’ve discovered?" Aiko say, and telling a question that piqued my curiosity.

Aiko smiled and tried to keep calm in front of me, but unfortunately, her legs were shaking, and her body was making strange movements.

It makes me feel certain that something has happened to the stealth slime herd, which has caused them to separate themselves from the exploration that Marquess Rommel’s knights are doing.

"If it’s something interesting, I’d love to hear it," I replied, preparing for the worst-case scenario that Aiko might tell me.

While I was in the old castle town, the Soul Tame communication channel had been cut off from my mind. Whether the distance is too far or there is a limitation of the Soul Tame communication channel, I don’t know where the root of the problem lies between the stealth slime herd and Marquess Rommel knight.

"I-It’s not something that will make the Supreme Commander angry or anything..."

"It’s for the sake of being able to imitate what the Supreme Commander has done and sharing Supreme Commander burden, t-together," replied Aiko, who started to think of a way to telling the information she knew after feeling awkward.

Her eyes darted to the right and left, staring at the ground as if she was confused by her own thoughts.

"I-It shouldn’t be a big problem, because Sirius will take her responsibility for this," Aiko muttered, looking unsure whether to telling the information or not.

Sirius, huh?

If this is related to Sirius’s responsibilities, I can assume that she is doing something related to her high curiosity.

My gaze remained fixed on the magic circle formation that mapped the surrounding area and continued to expand into became a large map. Several red dots, which from the stealth slime herd position, seemed to be moving together at the same speed.

"While the Supreme Commander was away, I received a report from Sirius about an underground cave that appeared to have been built by a human, and Sirius tried to enter it... Then found a group of mysterious monsters living inside."

"At that time, I tried to stop Sirius actions and gave orders to help the Marquess Rommel knights who were tasked to exploring the deep forest. However, Sirius still entered the underground cave with the excuse of taking some unique samples inside."

"If I’m not mistaken, Sirius said that there was a strange wooden box, and it contained some shiny objects inside. She tried to take the shiny objects inside the wooden box to hand over to the Supreme Commander and divided the stealth slime herd into two parts. One part helped the Marquess Rommel knights and the other part would explore the underground cave with her," said Aiko, who looked awkward when telling what had happened.

Twiinnkk...

Twwiinnkk...

Aiko’s eyelids fluttered, and the smile on her face looked forced.

"Supreme Commander, you’re not too angry about Sirius’ decision to ignore your orders, are you?"

"I-I know that Sirius should receive a severe punishment for neglecting her primary duty to assist the Marquess Rommel knights who were exploring the deep forest as her primary responsibility, after I was ordered to maintain the Supreme Commander’s magic circle formation..."

"B-But believe me... Sirius didn’t do that on purpose!" Aiko shouted in a high-pitched voice, drawing the others’ attention.

What Sirius was doing, indeed seemed to be ignoring my orders to assist the Marquess Rommel knight.

"I left this military expedition because I knew there were still some people I could trust based on their abilities to fill my absence as the leader of the military expedition," I said in a weak tone and thought about what other action I should take after hearing this.

"U-Um, does that mean Sirius will be punished for disregarding your trust, Supreme Commander?" Aiko asked with curiosity, her face bearing a sad expression.

"I don’t know... it depends on what Sirius finds out after exploring that underground cave. There’s some reason Sirius could say for ignoring my orders and betrayed my trust in her, right?" I replied, smiling coldly at Aiko, making her tremble with anxiety.

Aiko lowered her face and looked gloomy, showing a vulnerable side of herself who was anxious about the fate of Sirius, who had blatantly ignored the orders I had given.

"There’s no need to worry like that, Aiko."

"Sirius has split the stealth slime herd in two while you were busy maintaining my magic circle formation, right?"

"That means... she was also aware of her responsibility to replacing you as the leader of the stealth slime herd, but she just went off to explore the underground cave that caught her attention."

"Now, I’m actually curious about the stealth slime who is responsible for helping Marquess Rommel’s knights explore the deepest parts of the forest," I said with a cold smile, and looked at Aiko, who was still standing in fear in front of me.

Srraasshhh...

Srraasshhh...

As I said that, I suddenly heard the sound of someone’s footsteps trampling the grass. My eyes immediately glanced toward the source of the footsteps and feels a presence of someone, who using stealth magic.

My hand immediately pulled out my magic staff that was stuck in the ground, and I immediately pointed it towards, that’s presence.

Kachiinngg...

Kachiinngg...

Simultaneously, Alice and Alyssa immediately drew their magic staffs after sensing the same presence as me. The key rings on our magic staff jingled, and several attack magic circles formed before my eyes.

Swiirrll...

Swwiiirrrlll...

With this fast chanting of the magic circle formation, I still restrained myself from making a quick magic attack and posing a threat first.

"S-Supreme Commander..." Aiko called out to me in a hesitant tone, and her hand grabbed my arm.

Srraasshhh...

"S-She was the one in charge while Sirius and I were busy with our own affairs," Aiko continued while pulling my arm to lower the magic staff that was ready to release a magic attack.

In front of the activated magic circle formation, ready to attack at any moment, I saw the form of a little girl releasing her stealth magic. Her hands were raised in surrender pose, and her mouth trembled, unable to speak.

"Su-Supreme Commander?" In a soft, gentle voice that sounded gentle to my ears, the girl called me Supreme Commander.

It felt strange because I had no recollection of ever meeting a little girl like this. Especially one who could use stealth magic, which requires a significant consumption of magical energy.

In other words, the little girl before me was no ordinary little girl. It was a little girl I had never met in person, but somehow... she calling me as her Supreme Commander.

To be honest, I already know the answer.

Maybe it was my fault too, for always relying on Aiko and Sirius, on every problem related to the stealth slime herd.

"I almost unleashed a magic attack on you..." I said in a calm tone and lowered my magic staff, while releasing the magic circle formation in front of me.

This little girl...

She the stealth slime that Aiko relies on, huh?

Her outward appearance was that of an innocent child wearing a military uniform, which was slightly larger in proportion to her slender little body.

Still looks cute for her, though...

"Thank Goodness that didn’t happen, Supreme Commander," Aiko replied as she let go of my hand with her trembling hands.

"..." I looked at the stealth slime figure in front of me carefully.

Her human form, which looked like a little girl, almost made me misunderstand her, and my hand reflexively reached for my magic staff that was stuck on the ground, almost releasing a quick magic chant along with my twin sister’s fast magic chant.

The little girl in front of me had pastel purple hair and eyes that matched her hair color, now staring at me calmly like a little girl who wasn’t afraid of my quick magic spell.

"Forgive me for appearing suddenly, Supreme Commander."

"I was just making sure Aiko was okay and still alive after going to the trouble of fulfilling the Supreme Commander’s orders."

"I see... Aiko looks fine after becoming a dried slime in the hot afternoon," she said while glancing at Aiko, who was still holding my arm.

Compared to seeing her as an innocent little girl, I actually see this stealth slime as a calm and more mature than her little girl form.

"Thank Goodness Aiko is fine and didn’t make the Supreme Commander worry about her body condition, which is drying up like a slime in the heat," she continue while smiling cheerfully and stroking her chest.

Is this just my guess, or is this stealth slime really more mature than Aiko and Sirius?

Even Aiko and Sirius never showed their mature attitude like this...

I’m not seeing things right, am I?

And my eyes aren’t deceiving me, are they?

"Yeah, by the way, may I know your name?" I asked, which inadvertently made me realize that there were still many stealth slimes that hadn’t been properly named.

"Ah, forgive me for being so presumptuous, Supreme Commander. My name is Stealth Slime number four hundred and one," she replied while bowing her head as a sign of respect to me.

"..." I was stunned for a moment and took a deep breath regarding my past self’s behavior of not wanting to think too much about complicated names for the whole stealth slime herd.

I mean...

With so many of them, my little brain would explode trying to think of complicated nicknames.

So I came up with a simple way to name them.

Even if it’s just giving them names based on numbers.

Somehow, I feel guilty about this...

And coincidentally, this stealth slime has qualified for get a nickname that suits her.

"Starting today, throw away the name stealth slime number four hundred and one..."

"At this very moment, your name is Iona," I said while staring at the stealth slime in front of me.

The moment I said that, I suddenly felt a rush of silent air and saw her body trembling.

Her head, which was bowed in front of me, immediately lifted and looked at me.

"M-My Supreme Commander, did I mishear something about me having to drop my old name and adopt my new one... Iona, which sounds too beautiful for this weak stealth slime?" the little girl asked while still bowing in front of me and holding her trembling body.

"Yes, did you... Want to refuse your new name?" I replied coldly.

"N-No, I-I love that... my new beautiful name, My Supreme Commander!! T-Thank you so much, My Supreme Commander!!" the little girl said, and she suddenly knelt before me.